Sphere over Portland, OR
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Spending a lot of time at home, I've been watching the sky quite a bit, honestly in hopes of stuff something else after having witnessed something extraordinary last October when i saw a "v" formation of star-magnitude lights materialize high in the atmosphere and instantly zip away at multiple mach speed silently. I reported this to you guys and mufon. I hope that doesn't damage my credibility with this sighting, it just has been something I've been unable to rationalize since. On last Saturday evening, I was watching the sky outside my door when i noticed what i thought was a small airplane on a low angle trajectory coming slightly towards me in a E/SE direction. It had the notion and speed of a plane but made no sound and i couldn't see wings. I turned my music down and heard nothing. I live close to PDX and while air traffic during the pandemic has massively decreased, planes do still take off. This thing was rising from the far north of the airport and i thought it might be from some small airfield across the Columbia in Vancouver. Still it seemed strange and i watched it. I had eye surgery years ago which corrected my vision to 20/39, so not perfect but i can see pretty well at a distance and i could never make out wings. It just continued on this slight upward trajectory until it was out of sight in the sky. It never wavered, slowed down, sped up, made any discernable sound although it had to be within a couple hundred yards at most at it's closest. It was black, spherical although seemed to reflect no light, and i thought i could make out something dangling from the bottom like a cord or string that was attached to something like bucket attached directly to the bottom. This observation made me think it had to be a party balloon but it in no way acted like one. It was not a windy day, but there were currents and this did not respond to them at all. The entire time, i made no attempt to photograph or call my roommate who was within earshot. I thought about both things multiple times but easily rationalized away the ideas immediately before acting. I don't know, this was nothing like the first sighting in creating cognitive dissonance, but the more i reflect, the stranger it seems. I don't think I've added anything to the memory to cause that, but that's what they all say. I literally do not know, and that's the hardest part of this whole thing. I hope that's worth something to you, and if you are interested I'd love to talk about my sightings. Thanks.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #157196). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2020-06-24 → 2020-07-11
From the same sky
Related entries
October 19, 2023 · 8:20 PM · TRIANGLE
Portland, OR
My girlfriend picked me up to go to the store. As soon as we started heading south we noticed 3 very bright lights in the sky, flashing colors not typical of aircraft, satellites, planets or stars. I immediately had a gut feeling I knew what it was. Upon driving to the store to get a better view, I noticed they changed positions slightly. Once at the door I was able to locate them again and finally snap a picture with my phone that has 100x zoom. As you can see, the light pattern is not typical of anything usual. I proceeded to try and take video, but my camera can't take video at that zoom level. We went into the store and came out. They were all gone.
October 18, 2023 · 10:35 PM · CHANGING
Portland, OR
In sky above me in SE portland oregon. I first noticed bright light in sky hovering at 10:35pm and when I zoomed in saw it changing shape and size. A streak went across sky from one end of horizon to another. From north to south. A friend an hour away in newburg about same time saw bright light across sky too. I have video and pictures of everything but the streak
October 4, 2023 · 6:09 PM · SPHERE
Portland, OR
Exited swan mart with 4 year old son. While placing son in car seat, he reports “look at those lights, mama.” I look around parking lot and said, “what lights?” He stated, “No mama, in the sky.” I viewed glimmer lights, about 15 orbs in a V formation, at the same altitude as birds(was low) at onset. Secured son in car seat with tablet to distract, closed door of car. I then took pictures and video for 3-4 min or strange lights. . They were nothing I had seen. No sound or wings observed. The orbs reflected light and were glimmering. Initially, moved north but dissolving into the sky at times, very hard to see. Orbs, reappeared far in the distance (toward the NE) on one occasion briefly, then again dissolved into the clear sky that evening. Reappeared one final time, near the SW and disappeared into the sky. [NUFORC annotation: Birds - Possible]
September 6, 2023 · 11:19 AM · CIRCLE
Portland, OR
See above
September 6, 2023 · 11:00 AM · SPHERE
Portland, OR
Slowly moving and hovering over the City for the last hour.
August 23, 2023 · 4:53 AM · SPHERE
Portland, OR
Saw stationary lights in the sky northeast of me. At first I thought they were the lights of a cell phone tower. But I know the area well and there was no tower in that direction. Observed lights for about 23 minutes. Lights remained stationary for a long time. Then they shifted very quickly to the right. And again remained stationary. I was able to take pictures with my cell phone, but It’s an old flip phone and doesn’t have a great camera. At the end of the sighting the lights moved away to the north out of view. This movement was extremely fast. Almost in an instant. That the thing that astounded me about this sighting. Is how it remained stationary for so long. Then in an instant it moved. First to another position in the sky. And then out of sight. Is speed was incredible. For the entire encounter the lights were silent. I worked in the airlines for over 20 years. I’ve worked security for 3 years. I’ve never seen anything like it. From experience, I know this was not plane, helicopter, and it moved too fast to be a drone. I’m stumped.