09 Oct, 1995 CE1/AN1 (Added 2/2/99)
09 Oct, 1995 CE1/AN1
Date of Sighting: 09 Oct, 1995 (date estimated)
Place of Sighting: South Minneapolis
Local Evaluation: Unexplained - Ordinary Significance (High if
additional witnesses or accompanying CE4 event)
Type of Report: Close Encounter or Anomaly of the First Kind
(CE1/AN1) - large object over populated area
Date of Report: 13 February, 1999
Investigator: Craig R. Lang - Field Investigator, MN MUFON
Sighting Background:
I was informed of this sighting by another MUFON member, who is
acquainted with the witness. The witness had informed him of the
event, and he in turn informed me. I then interviewed the witness
and performed a followup investigation. Since this event occurred
in a way that should have attracted considerable attention, I have
spentconsiderable time attempting to locate additional witnesses.
To date I have not been successful. However, this investigation is
ongoing.
Witness Description:
The primary witness is a woman who lives in south Minneapolis, across
the street from the apparent location of the object. She has a high
school education, with significant self study and training and training
in business administration. Her age at the time of this report (March
1997) is 44. She indicates that her health, and hearing are good, and
her vision is correctable to 20/20. At the time of the sighting she
was employed as a billing supervisor for a large health care
corporation in the Minnesota Twin Cities area. She indicates that
she has not had any other UFO sightings, but has had metaphysical
experiences.
Sighting Account:
The witness was sitting in her apartment, watching television sometime
between 8:00 and 9:00 PM CDT. At this time, there was a power failure.
She located a candle, lit it, and went out into the hall, to the front
landing to see if others were also affected by the blackout.
About five minutes following the onset of the power failure, she was
standing on the front landing (between the first and second floor) of
her apartment building, looking out of the window onto the street.
She indicates that she "felt compelled to look up". When she did,
she observed a large dark oval-shaped object which appeared to be
over the top of the buildings across the street (see sketch). She
watched the object for about 30 seconds to one minute. She was not
sure of the actual distance to the object but noted that while she
was watching the object, an airplane passed behind it in the distance.
She was able to hear the airplane, but could hear no sound from the
object. She also noted that there were a number of people outside
(approximately 10) on the street and sidewalks during the blackout.
She felt that they should have noticed the object.
Click here for view of building front with object.
CL Sketch to witness description, showing object over building block
across street in front of witness's apartment. The object was somewhat
larger than the city block. It was dark with interspersed red and
white lights on the edge. She was unable to see any structural
details of the object itself.
She then turned her head around to try to point out the object to two
of her neighbors, who were standing and talking in the hall about
twenty feet away (Note: CL Estimate of distance). She was unable to
get their attention, and so turned her view back to the object. When
she did, the object was gone. She then remembers the lights coming
back on within what she felt was 1/2 hour of this event. She then
went upstairs and watched the 9PM news, which was already in progress.
Analysis of Time Interval:
Blackout Timing was given by the Oct 10, 1995 Star Tribune as follows:
Outage began "shortly after 8PM", and was restored at 9:05 PM. - thus
the outage lasted approximately one hour.
Thus, the probable sequence of events looks something like this:
- 8:05PM CDT (approximate): Witness watching TV when power failure
occurs.
- 8:10PM CDT (approximate): Witness has located and lit candle -
exits apartment to hallway, looking out window
- Moments later: Observes object - watches for about 30 seconds, then
attempts to attract attention of neighbors When witness turns to
again look at object, object has vanished. - this would have been at
approximately 8:15PM CDT
- 9:05 PM CDT: Power restored (witness felt this was approximately
within 1/2 hour of sighting)
Note: The witness was not sure how long it was from the time the
object disappeared until the power came back on. However, she felt
that it was within 1/2 hour of sighting. From the chronology, a time
interval of approximately 50 minutes is suggested between the sighting
and power restoration. Thus a possible discontinuity in time
perception ofapproximately 20 minutes might exist, but is not clearly
established.
Additional Witnesses:
No specific additional witnesses are known. There were several
persons were in the bookstore, and about 10 people in the street. We
have been attempting to locate possible additional witnesses, but have
not been successful.
The witness indicated that two neighbors had been conversing in the
hall of the apartment building during the time of the power failure.
I contacted one neighbor, who remembered being there at that time, and
remembered the witness being in the hall, but did not remember the
witness trying to get their attention.
The owner of the bookstore remembered the time of the power failure.
He indicated that people in the store "acted weird", and did not go
out into the street, but "just hung out there" for several minutes.
Another customer who was in the bookstore indicated that she did not
observe anything unusual, but did not have a view to the outside of
the store. Thus, there does not appear to be any direct witnesses
associated with the bookstore.
Assuming that the object was truly anomalous, then one possible
hypothesis is that the object was "interested in" someone in that
building block. Thus it would be beneficial to determine if a CE4
event might have occurred in that area at that particular time.
However, at present no reports exist of possible CE4 events at that
place and time.
Weather Conditions (MSP WX report from State Climatologist for
Oct. 9, 1995, 2100 CST):
9/10 coverage high (20,000 ft), thin clouds.
Visibility 15 miles, temp 47, dewpoint 45,
Wind from 180 deg at 7 kt.
Natural Phenomena Check:
The possibility of some sort of cloud formation was considered by the
witness as she was observing it. However, her description corresponds
to no known type of clouds. In addition, the sudden vanishing of the
object would argue against this explanation. However, at this date,
it is not possible to completely rule this explanation out.
Manmade Phenomena Check:
No known human made object would account for this event.
Other Possibilities:
It is possible that if the object is truly anomalous, there may have
been a CE4 event in progress which was inadvertently partially
observed by the witness. This event is not provable unless a CE4
event can be established at that particular place/time.
Sighting Evaluation:
Sighting Type: CE1/AN1
Evaluation: Unexplained.
Significance: Ordinary (Note: If additional witnesses can be located,
will increase to High significance).
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