SIGHTING: HUTCHINSON, MN
Witness Testimony
" Strange orange light lbject flying overhead.On Friday, July 25, 2014, at 1020 pm local time (Central time zone), in Minnesota, I was walking home with my digital camera. I was shooting wildlife pictures earlier when there was light, but when it got to dark, I just put the lens cap on and turn off the camera. I then went for a 4 mile walk. About a block from my house, I looked up in the pitch black sky and saw a strange orange light – sort of like an “orange moon” color when the moon is low on the horizon. This was just a very small sliver of orange light, so I was thinking it must be a slice of the moon low on the horizon. As I watched this light, it was approaching me, and now it looked like an object that was on fire flying though the air. I was thinking this was an airplane on fire and would be falling to the ground. This orange light was bright, it looked like a campfire type of orange – like it was on fire. I suddenly realized I had my camera with me and by the time I got the lens cap off, camera, turn on the object was directly overhead. I had the camera in full auto mode, so my first shots the flash was on and the auto-focus could not operate properly due to low light – the shutter stayed open because it was expecting the flash to expose the object – so the first shots were just light moving while shutter open. I quickly switched modes on the camera. The object appeared to about 2,000 feet high about the level that helicopter fly at, but it could have just appeared to low elevation due the brightness of the light. This object made no sound – it was completely silent. I snapped off several photos of this object as it was now moving away from me. Its speed appeared to be that of a rescue helicopters (flight for life) that often fly over during the night – my guess about 200 to 300 mph. It was out of range in about 15 seconds. I snapped off 17 photos, but all you can see is the orange light in a pitch black sky. These are 18 mega pixel photos so they can be blow ! up to view better. However, the actual object size, shape, etc. cannot be determined – I am assuming that this orange light was some sort of engine or propulsion system. It was traveling Northeast about 90% north and 10% east coming from the Southwest in a straight line. There was nothing fancy – no sudden movements or exotic speeds – straight line flight about 300 mph. Years ago, I was in the Air Force and stationed at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas. The “Top Gun” school for the Air Force is station their and it is called Red Flag. When Red Flag is going you can watch all sorts of aircraft taking off and flying at night. I know what afterburners look like and what jet engines look like. I also know what aircraft landing lights look like as well as the other light on the planes wings. Stealth aircraft do not have engine exhaust that is visible from the ground. The orange light did not look like anything I had ever seen before. I have no idea what it was – might be a perfectly simple explanation, but for now that flying object is unidentified. "
