SIGHTING: IMPERIAL, CA

Witness Testimony

"Amber cigar shaped object with segmented light in zig zag pattern, reappearing 3 miles away in a giant ferris wheel shaped object.I was driving N/B on SR-86 approaching the intersection of Aten Road. This is a metropolitan desert community. The vicinity is a commercial/light industrial area with farm fields on the outskirts. The Imperial County Municipal Airport is immediately to the N/W of the intersection. The weather was clear and there were light streaks of clouds in the sky highlighted by the moonlight. There was a bright full moon and bright stars.When approximately 1/2 mile from the intersection, I observed just east of me, a dull amber glowing, cigar shaped object in the sky with a zig zag or snake-like pattern of multiple colored individual lights adjacent to the amber object. The amber portion was much larger than the multiple colored lights. The multiple colored lights seemed disconnected to the amber object and were all evenly spaced from one another. The entire group appeared to be at least 500 feet from end to end, again, it did not appear to be solid, but instead, segmented. The individual lights adjacent to the amber cigar shaped object were yellow, green, red, and blue, respectively. There might have been other colors of lights, but I do not recall. All of the multi-colored lights were rectangular and solid. There was no display of any sort of blinking night-time aviation flight lights.The object was estimated to be at an altitude of at least 3,000 feet, although it was hard to discern because it was night time. It appeared to be stationary. After about 10 seconds, it suddenly disappeared and you could see slight cloud streaks and stars in the background where it had been. It was not like a solid object that merely blacked out but was still there, in which case it would block out any objects behind it. Instead, it was completely gone. About one second later, another object, or possibly the same one, just suddenly appeared from nowhere, about 3 miles further north, probably in the vicinity of SR-86 and Keystone Road., and about 1/4 east of that intersection. This time, it appeared to be in the form of a giant Ferris wheel in the sky: the same individual multi-colored lights were in a wheel shape that was vertically turned on its axes and at about a 45 degree angle. I could not discern whether the center was solid as that portion of it was too dull. The entire object was surrounded by a very soft white aura or haze. This too was completely stationary, not moving or rotating. The entire object was much larger than the previous one that first appeared to the south. It too was at least 500 feet in diameter. This stayed in view for at least 15 seconds, and then faded away to a very bright, small amber glowing cigar shaped object that remained stationary. After about 10 seconds, it suddenly disappeared.! I remained in the vicinity for at least 15 minutes to see if it, or they might reappear, but there was no further activity. I am very familiar with the area and the activity in and around the airport. This certainly had nothing to do with airport activity or any sort of night time crop dusting activities. "