SIGHTING: ASHLAND, WISCONSIN (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"May 2000 Sighting of Object Over Lake Superior:My wife and I live in New Brighton, Minnesota, which is a northren suburb of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul). Every few weeks or months for the last decade, we've made numerous overnight trips to North-Central Wisconsin, or the North Shore of Lake Superior. We enjoy the beauty of the lake and country around the area of Washburn and Ashland, in particular. When Laura and I travel to North-Central Wisconsin, we almost always stay at the AmericInn on the east side of Ashland, next to Lake Superior.On a May morning about eight years ago, I got up shortly after dawn and went out to the north patio of the Ashland AmericInn to sip some coffee and smoke a cigarette. As I lit my cigarette, I scanned the lake for boats and ships, noting very few. But my attention was attracted to what I at first took to be a bird spiraling up from the surface of the lake. The "bird" was initially near the surface of the lake, I would estimate at a distance of one mile to the north-northeast. The "bird" was rising slowly, flying in a tight upward spiral, counterclockwise as seen from above. After awhile, I became increasingly puzzled, since the "gull" never deviated from the tight, rising spiral, as one would expect some randomness in the flight of a bird. Also, I noticed that the object flashed most brilliantly when it passed through the west side of its spiral, pointing somewhat in my direction, though the sun was of course in the east. Curious, I watched the object for some minutes, as it continuously spiraled upward. I would guess it was eight to ten minutes. Eventually, I lost sight of the object at an elevation above the horizon of about 70 degrees, owing to eye strain and growing altitude. Given the object was initially about a mile away, and its elevation was eventually greater than 70 degrees, it's altitude can be calculated as about 14,500 feet, or 2 3/4 miles. It would seem strange behavior for a bird to deliberately fly so high. Given 9 minutes, with the time of flight of about 0.15 hours: 2.75 miles / 0.15 hours = 18 miles per hour, vertical velocity. Also, the rate of rotation in the spiraling was about 30 revolutions / minute (2 seconds per revolution). At no time did any sound come from the object.In addition to the object being white, I had the impression that the brightness was primarily generated by the object, itself - that it was not reflected light. As I mentioned, it went through a bright phase on the west side of its spiral, when it was visible to me. There were very few people on the patio that morning, and I did not think to ask someone else to watch the object with me. In retrospect, that is unfortunate. But, I didn't realize I was watching something strange until the object had gained some altitude, such that it would have been difficult to locate anyway. "