SIGHTING: WHITE SANDS, NM

Witness Testimony

"bright lights playing tic-tac-toe in the sky for over 2 hoursAt the white sands nat.l monument, twilight, as many as 6 bright orange hourglass shaped lights (individually the size of my little fingernail at arms length) appeared due south about 10 miles away, 7 of us watched them hover in place, changing formation, forming a triangles, artistic patterns, side by side pairs, stacked pairs, diamonds, we joked that it was like watching an aerial tic tac toe game. The event lasted for over 2 hours and continued even after we left the park when it closed at 10 pm. The lights were rising in altitude about 25-35 degrees off the horizon, hovering, and descending below the dunes as they changed formation. They seemed to remain only in the southern quadrant of the sky keeping the same distance from us. There was no noise and only once, for 10 minutes, did I notice 2 circling aircraft (that seemed very small compared to the lights) in their vicinity. It could have been some desert military exercises with helicopters, but I never saw any strobes or nav. lights, and the movements/formations seeemed unusual behavior for helicopters unless they were practicing for some blue-angel air-show event. It just didn't seem to be the way helicopters would support ground troops at night. The movements were not quick, but deliberate, and seemed to be precisely mathmatically coriagraphed. The lights seemed to have two stages, shaped like an hourglass, self illumined, not attached to any structural object, very intense, unwavering, steady, piercing, never did they turn off and on, turn away from us, they were always on, face to us, and only disappeared when descending below the dunes. The diamond formation was especially visually pleasing, and overall the serenity of the twilight>night white sand afterglow, starlit, clear desert sky with the dancing lights made for a serene, spectacular, and awe inspired evening. There seemed to be no unusual concern, outside of the 2 briefly circling jets, from Holoman AFB five miles to the east of white sands, and after watching the strange lights for a couple of hours it just seemed as no big deal for us either, almost as commonplace as the sunset, and as beautiful. This did occur strange to me the next day when thinking about it. Hmmm..."