SIGHTING: BRANDON, SD

Witness Testimony

"About 7-9 orange objects appeared in the sky to the East, moving Northeast; each faded out after about seven minutes.Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 12:00 am while traveling West on 264th street, just outside of Brandon, South Dakota (approximately 4.4 miles) the front seat passenger noticed an orange light in the sky to the North. To fully view the light we continued through the densely wooded area to an opening on top of a hill. The front seat passenger and rear seat passenger tried to identify it as a star, however, it was visibly much larger than any of the other stars in the sky, including Venus and Jupiter. Also, it was a different color than either of the planets and due to the size, appeared much closer. As we rounded the road to the top of the hill, about a mile and a half away from sighting the first light, the rear and front seat passengers turned to face the object, which had now drifted to the Northeast. Upon relocating the object, and getting above the tree line, they noticed another light to the East. I, the driver, was also able to see the objects clearly.We were only about a half a mile from McHardy Road, which runs North and South; we decided to turn North onto it to get a better view. While turning and advancing down the road the sky became more visible as the trees receded below us and about three more orange objects were clearly visible.The two passengers kept their eyes one the objects as we proceeded another half mile North on McHardy before pulling over and stopping the vehicle. It was then 12:07 and we exited the car to watch the objects. At this time, we decided to call the NUFORC hotline and report the sighting; also there now appeared to be seven orange orbs in the sky. During this time, the objects seemed to drift or float toward the Northeast slightly, and nearly one by one they faded out. It did not appear that they moved beyond our visible sight, just that they were fading and no longer present. It took approximately three minutes for the entire group of lights to completely fade (12:10am).About thirteen minutes passed and the lights failed to return so we decided to get back into the car and head East in the general direction of the lights. We traveled into Manly, Minnesota, before deciding to call it a night and turn back. (NOTE: although many of the streetlights in this area were similar in color, what we witnessed were very clearly in the sky and above the horizon, also they were moving) The next day we phoned the National Weather Service and found that the wind direction was going South at three miles per hour that night, and not to the Northeast, the direction in which the objects were moving.All three of us are students at reputable Universities and involved in noteworthy activities on campus. None of us were under the influence of any legal or illegal drugs or alcohol."