SIGHTING: JIMENA DE LA FRONTERA, ANDALUCÍA (SPAIN)

Witness Testimony

"Because the temperatures in spain have been so hot, we have taken to sitting out on the roof terrace in the late evening to enjoy the coolness and look at the night sky. on monday we were looking out at the bright full moon which was in the southern aspect of the sky. the lower horizon was fairly misty in the valleys coming up from the coast, so the moon was beautiful. because it was so bright, i was curious as to how many stars we would see. looking up towards the ne, my eye caught a bright flash of what could have been a star just uncovered by a cloud, then covered again - however, there was not a cloud in the sky. curiosity made me keep looking in the area of the sky to try to figure out if it was a plane and its trajectory. i know it was not a sattelite as we had observed one a few days previously as a single light travelling in a straight line across the sky from sse to nnw with no trail. nor was it a shooting star, which we see regularly. i pointed it out to my husband who confirmed that he too saw it and its eratic placement in the sky. the second flash was about 8 seconds later heading towards the east. the next one was back towards the north. i sat down in order to 'frame' the area i was watching, using the posts and poles of the of the terrace, to have a reference in case i was wobbling. the next few flashes i noted the direction changes were random, as if it were spiraling or looping the loop. the time interval between flashes varied between 3 and 12 seconds appart. as i was watching, and anticipating where the next one would be, i noted that associated with the flash was a pinpoint of light that i could follow with the naked eye. the bright flash seemed to eminate from this point every time. after a final swirl of movement that i was able to clearly see, it flashed really bright and then the brighter dot streaked off leaving a faint trail, in a nw direction and was gone. i felt intrigued and convinced that it was a ufo. one thought i had was that if it was a craft with one surface that was more reflective than the others, then as it turned in flight, it may have flashed with the reflection of the bright moon that was in the nearly opposite quadrant of the sky. that would explain why i felt it was spiraling - almost 'playing'. there are large eagles that soar during the day in the jimena area as the village is situated at the base of a castle that had value as a strategic point at the time of the moors and the romans. the apparent spiraling movements of the lights reminded me of their soaring flight with the air currents, and how they can disappear from view when end-on. i have spoken about this to colleagues at work and was told that there are others who have witnessed exactly the same phenomenon in the same region, but viewing from further west - looking east and north over the national park. please note, there is a supposed 'top secret' us base at 36.479370, -5.599288 - see file 2 "