SIGHTING: RUSTON, LOUISIANA (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"NOTE: I discussed this report briefly with Georgia State Director Ralph Howard. He encouraged me to submit a report and offered to handle the initial interview with me should that be more convenient. (We have already met, and I intend to become a Georgia field investigator.)The date and time of this report are approximate. I was nineteen years old and my fellow witness was around the same age. In January of 1998, I was with a friend returning to Ruston, Louisiana, from Monroe, Louisiana. It was late in the evening, but I do not recall if it was before or after midnight. The weather was quite cold, probably just above freezing. As shall be discussed, we observed the sky to be very clear. So much so that a comment on the clarity of the sky was made by my friend shortly before the observation.Here is the narrative:My friend and I were traveling West on Interstate 20 between Monroe and Ruston, Louisiana. Approximately halfway into the trip (which usually took about thirty minutes), my friend looked up and commented on how clear the sky was. I, who was driving, looked up and agreed. I observed a bright white light at my eleven o'clock just above the horizon. I do not recall the elevation, but it was quite low. I agreed with my friend's comment about the clarity of the evening and went on to note how bright Venus was. My friend, who is an Eagle Scout, looked at the light I had observed. He disagreed with me, however, and said that the light was not Venus. Having some knowledge of lights commonly in the sky, I argued that it had to be Venus because of its brightness, clarity, and constancy. We both continued to observe the light for some minutes as we drove westward. Eventually, we both observed that the light was not staying at a relatively constant position, as a distant object would appear to do. In other words, as the highway curved, the object was observed to change position relative to our point-of-view. Very soon, we knew that the object was much closer than a star or planet and that we would pass it.Pass it we did a few minutes later. As we approached, the light was astonishingly bright, clear white, and utterly constant. I slowed the car but did not stop. Here is the heart of the observation:While driving West on I-20, my friend and I observed a large object of triangular shape hovering (or evidently hovering) just above the trees. The object appeared dark, although I cannot say with certainty that it was black. I can only guess that it was around fifty feet across, but it could have been far larger. I doubt that it was much smaller. It had a massive white light in the lower center. That light reminded me of a Xenon light. I did not discern any blue tint to the light, as one would expect from an HMI or similar light. At each apex, a red light was visible. These red lights were also constant and not as bright (not nearly) as the center white light. We appreciated no sound, however the sounds of driving could have obscured any sounds coming from the object. We appreciated no movement, however our movement (at a very slow rate of speed) in a westerly direction could have masked some movement. No rotational movement was observed, nor was any change in altitude appreciated. After passing the object, we drove into town where we knew some friends would be. We collected those friends and drove quickly back to the location of the sighting. The object was gone. During the sighting, there were some other cars on the highway. We did not observe any stationary cars. We did not observe any other aircraft at the time."