SIGHTING: SPOKANE, WASHINGTON (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"I was in my kitchen making lunch and I noticed my neighbors (about 5 of them, one who is retired military) were all outside talking, pointing and looking at the sky, and one of them had binoculars. So I went out to see what was up. It was noon and the sky was absolutely clear of clouds. I observed was a spherical object moving across the sky, coming from the SE, headed in a NW direction. It was moving at a steady speed, slower than a satellite, maybe as fast as an airplane that was REALLY high (so I am guessing around 500-800 miles per hour). The object appeared to be higher than most aircraft fly around here, but still definitely within the atmosphere. It was extremely shiny. It glinted a lot as it reflected the bright noon-time sunshine. The light it reflected was white, which gave me the impression that the object was silvery and metallic. It was hard to make out any details other than light, but because it was so evenly reflective, it seemed like it must have had a smooth surface.The object moved at a constant speed across much of the sky, all the way from the SE horizon until almost to the NW horizon, in about 5 minutes time, until it stopped and just sat in one spot for about 10 minutes. It still seemed round and very shiny. I thought it was a single light, but my husband and my daughter thought they could sometimes see two "lights," very, very close together. It glinted a lot, like the object or the surface was moving ever so slightly, even while seemingly standing still. There was never a time when there was not light reflecting from the object; it just changed in intensity, like a silver beaded windchime blowing in the breeze (but without any visible change in direction).After a bit, the object started to move again, toward the South, at the same speed as before. It soon went behind my neighbor's trees, from my vantage point, and the object was so far away and it was so bright outside that I couldn't find it again. After a bit, the neighbors lost it too and went back inside. During the sighting, there were no other aircraft in the sky (which is not very common around here, since the Spokane Airport and Fairchild Air Force Base are only about 10 miles away). However, about 10 minutes after the UFO disappeared, I noticed two airplanes in the sky (with an obvious airplane shape to each of them, as opposed to the UFO), and both left distinct contrails. The UFO had left no trails at all, even though it was traveling at jet speeds.The UFO did not give off any sound that was audible to me, but neither did those two airplanes, so it doesn't mean the craft didn't make noise way up high. If I were to guess, I would say this object was larger than a Boeing 747, but not more than twice as large.After the sighting, it seemed like there was more airplane traffic than usual, but it may just been because we were looking to the sky more than usual. Again, we live close to an airport and a base, so airplanes are common in our skies.The thing that makes this sighting stand out to me is the fact that the object had been moving in a NW direction, stopped and hovered in one spot for several minutes, and then started moving in a S direction.No airplane I have ever seen can hover like that, nor does it look round. Drones have wings or arms for rotors, so they should look more irregular than a sphere, and they shouldn't be as large as this was. No helicopter I have ever seen appears to be silver and round and that large when that high in the air (one would have been a speck). The ISS and satellites do not stop and then change direction.I have never before seen a UFO and I was so shocked by this sighting that I watched, dumbfounded. I was worried I wouldn't be able to locate it again if I went for my camera, plus I wasn't sure if my camera would capture more than a glinty speck because the object was so far away. After the fact, I regret that I didn't dash quickly for my cell phone and get a video of this so as to share it with friends and family."