Sphere over Camp Sherman, OR

The report, as filed

Stargazing by our campsite, a friend and I witnessed an orange orb of light come drifting over the treeline above the river. It didn’t look like any of the satellites, drones, planes or meteors we’d seen previously the same evening and made no noise. The object was randomly changing speed and direction lazily and was “blinking” off and on we originally thought, but may have been actually disappearing? And reappearing a little further ahead on its path. It got our attention immediately and we watched it for a few minutes. It crossed the river and began moving behind the silhouette of a tree. For a moment we lost the object and then I saw it emerge from the other side of the trees. I pointed at it and excitedly said “oh there it is!” The object immediately flashed the brightest most blinding white light that I’ve ever seen. It lit up the whole forest and other side of the river for a split second. This startled us and before we could finish reacting it did it again. Then it shot straight up faster than anything I’ve ever seen and vanished completely in the blink of an eye. My friend was very frightened and grabbed me by my jacket and we took off running back to our fire.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #166122). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.