Rectangle over Clayton, NC
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Object sighted in sky relatively low, appeared to be a white bright translucent light moving from left to right
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #170501). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2022-07-14 → 2022-07-31
From the same sky
Related entries
November 4, 2023 · 7:27 PM · FORMATION
Clayton, NC
Saw flashing lights in night sky that were in a formation. It was flying fairly low [NUFORC annotation: Aircraft - Probable]
September 4, 2023 · 5:16 AM · LIGHT
Clayton, NC
It was close to 5:00a.m. and I went to the store just about 5 miles from where I live south on US70, I got to the store at 5:00a.m., I got what I needed then I walked back to my car got in and started to drive, I was going North to get back home on US70 the time was now 5:15a.m. and something told me to glance over my left shoulder, I looked and thêre it was l, a bright light flying fast and flying low, my first thought was this is flying too low to be a plane but I said nevermind and kept driving, I finally get to a point where I could turn left off of US70 so I did, soon as I turned the light turned to the left with me. I told myself ok I didn't just see that I must be tired and seeing things so I kept driving, on my left hand side is Clayton high school but now the light is on my right hand side and seems to be getting loét, I make it to a stop sign on main street and I make a right turn, the light turns to the right with me, At this point I'm starting to think I'm going crazy cause I know nothing of this world can do that so I tell myself jokingly I'm going to stop and if this light stops I'm getting out of hêre so I stop, The light went about 2 or 3 feet then stopped in mid Air, once I saw that I freaked out, it didn't move until I made a U-turn and started following me again, I made my way back to US70 going south and it followed me all the way back to the store I originally went to, I parked and got out and thêre it was hovering above the store but now it was higher up in the air, it was making slow movements inch by inch in all directions, People that came in and out of store I pointed it out to thêm and they all said they didn't know what it was especially cause they even pointed out the stars that were in the sky and we all agreed what we were looking at definitely wasn't a star, I took out my phone and started to film then I got back in my car and stayed in my car until 6:30a.m. The light was still above the store, I told mýelf I'm going to drive to another store 5 miles from this one going North, I started driving and the light took off following me again slightly ahead of me until I reach the store, I got out to film it but thí time it wasn't showing on my screen, I could see it with my eyes but it wasn't showing on my screen, it's 7:00am I get back on the car and start to drive home. The light followed me until I almost got home then it vanished, My video is short but the few people I sent it to that are like me and done believe in this kind of stuff all said they can't explain what they are looking at
September 2, 2023 · 11:00 AM · OVAL
Clayton, NC
I was walking my dog at approximately 11:00 am on September 2, 2023. It was a beautiful clear day. There may have been a few wispy low level clouds that I noticed earlier during the walk but at the time of my encounter there were no visible clouds. I reached Latitude 35.655348 Longitude -78.350902 and was climbing a small hill north of a small pond next to Triangle YMCA when I looked NNE and saw a hawk in a dive approximately 30 degrees off the horizon. Behind the hawk, I saw a small, oval, white “orb” for lack of a better description. It was slightly larger than a sesame seed held at arms length. I wouldn’t have paid any attention to it, but the movement of the hawk caught my eye. Otherwise, I most likely would have missed this. In fact, initially I thought it was a white bird, perhaps fighting with the hawk. I lost visual sight of the hawk because it blended in with the tree line, but the white orb sat motionless in the sky. I used to be an aviator with the US Air Force and I am used to spotting objects in the sky and familiar with their movement patterns in order to de-conflict traffic. This object was behaving abnormally due to its lack of motion in the sky but honestly, I didn’t think much of it. I continued to walk with my dog off the leash heading north, and the object became obscured behind a tree that was close by me hindering my view. It took me 10 to 15 seconds to pass by the tree and obtain another unobscured view of the sky as a crested the small hill. Curiously I looked up for the object and saw that it was gone. I thought that was a little strange and I proceeded to scan approximately 30° off the horizon from west to east several times looking for movement. I could see nothing, not even small aircraft which frequent the area. I took my eyes off the sky for a few seconds for whatever reason (maybe glancing at my dog or looking down to secure footing), and then looked back towards the area and was surprised to see the object had returned. I stopped walking and decided to observe the characteristics of this object. Again, it was motionless and about a outstretched hand’s width further to the east. I noticed that the object seemed to increase and decrease in size every few seconds, making it clearly visible one moment and then harder to see the next moment. At this point, the object really had my attention solely for the fact that this was unique. I immediately began trying to determine what I was seeing. My first assumption is that this was an aircraft on the horizon, making turns which allowed it to reflect the sun at variable brightness based on its profile in various positions, making it more visible and less visible as it maneuvered. The problem with this assumption is that it appeared motionless in the sky for several minutes. I considered that perhaps it was moving away but that wouldn’t it explain why it appeared to be decreasing and then increasing in size from my vantage point. I considered that this might be a balloon but how could it be motionless when visible, disappear and reappear few miles from its original position and becoming motionless again? It is not my intention to speculate on this craft, but I think it’s important to let you know my mindset as I was observing this. Had it acted like any aircraft I had seen in the past while flying, I wouldn’t have paid any attention beyond a curious glance. It was the uniqueness, and it’s characteristics of flight that caught my attention. It made no sense to me. As I stood and watched the object, I speculated on what it could be, then I realized that my dog was off leash and wandering the field alone behind me. I turned my head to call him back to my side and as I turned back to continue observing the object, it was gone. I began meticulously scanning of the horizon for movement and remember laughing out loud at how odd this situation had become. I didn’t observe any motion in the sky. A lot of times, when an aircraft adjusts its attitude and position, it will no longer reflect the sunlight and become less visible, but your eyes can still catch movement of the craft. There was absolutely nothing observable in the sky after it disappeared. I hooked my dog to my leash and settled in to observe the sky for the next several minutes. I would estimate 2 to 3 minutes passed when the object came into view a third time and was another one to two hand widths across the horizon towards the east. It slowly faded into view and behaved just as it had before. It appeared motionless but this time remained a constant size and brightness. At this point, I determined I wasn’t going to take my eyes off it except to blink. I patiently observed this object sit motionless, 30° off the horizon for about 90 seconds and then fade out of view over 3-5 seconds as if turning down a light source using a dimming switch. I must’ve stayed in that field for another 10 minutes, scanning the horizon and looking for any movement, but saw nothing. So I resumed my walk back to my house about 15 minutes away. The only reason why I am reporting what I saw is that I have lots of experience as an aviator and this object behaved like nothing I had ever witnessed. Had it only popped into view once and disappeared, I would’ve dismiss this as an aircraft. But to watch it sit motionlessly, disappear, move unobserved across the horizon, then reappear only to sit motionless again was very strange. I have run through this scenario several times and every logical explanation simply returns with questions on the strange flight characteristics of this object. It most likely was an aircraft, but I just can’t explain how it behaved. There are plenty of little airfields locally and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base is about hour’s drive from this area. I consider that this may be a fighter jet maneuvering on the horizon but we hear those jets all the time. This object was absolutely silent. Another strange thing was that I had no desire to pull out my phone and record this. It’s strange to me because recording seemed to not even be an option. It was like I didn’t even remember I had a phone on me. Maybe I was task saturated with observing this object and fleshing out what it could be?
September 2, 2019 · 11:35 PM · CYLINDER
Clayton, NC
Cylinder shaped craft seen flying up and down with no sound flashing red, blue and white and eventually disappeared behind the trees.
December 4, 2018 · 5:30 PM · CIGAR
Clayton, NC
December 4, 2018 about 5:30 pm at dusk. Sky was orange colors from sun set. Clouds were dark. Very pretty sunset. In my car, waiting at traffic light at highway 42 west, to turn left onto Government Road in Clayton, NC. While waiting to turn, I was looking West. Something moving caught my attention. At the tree level, which I estimate to be around Cornwallis Road, which is West of Government Road about 1 mile away. Something was flying low above tree level. Very long, (comparing size with distance) slender shape. No lights could be seen on shape. Dark like the clouds; black silhouette. Could not see wings or tail of an airplane. No sound was heard. Object was moving very slowly from south to north. I had to move with traffic, so, I made my turn. It was very unusual. We see military large cargo planes all the time around here. They fly low, but, this was even lower.
December 11, 2017 · 7:00 PM · SPHERE
Clayton, NC
I was working at my grocery store tonight and I was collecting carts outside. I look up into the sky and see what I thought was a very bright star. It is a bright orange and a little bigger than common stars you will see. I then notice it moving slowly, there were no flashing lights and no noise coming from it, so it could not be an aircraft. There was no light streaking off of it and the speed was very slow, could not be a comet. It began to move faster and went over store and off into the distance before I could get any photographs or video. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD