A resident of Lonsdale in Garland County, Arkansas, reports sighting a low-flying UFO with bright lights and windows.
According to the witness, in a report filed as Case 77398 in the Mutual UFO Network ( MUFON ) archives, he was riding a motorcycle due west along Highway 70 on the night of July 2, 2016, and had passed the 70 and 128 intersection by about half-a-mile, when, at about 10 p.m., he spotted flashing lights just visible above the tree line to the north.
It was a warm night and visibility was good, he recalled, according to Open Minds TV .
“The road was three lanes wide with approximately 40 yards from tree line to tree line,” the witness wrote in his report submitted to MUFON . “Tree height was 30 to 40 feet.”
#Arkansas witness details low flying #UFO https://t.co/uFUsGuEZQa via @openmindstv pic.twitter.com/S3UZLJhmC4
— Open Minds UFO News (@openmindstv) July 12, 2016
The object moved across the sky southwest, diagonally across the witness’s line of sight, about 60-70 degrees above the ground, the witness reported.
“I first noticed flashing lights just entering my view above the tree line to the north of my line of sight,” he reported. “The object appeared to be traveling diagonally across my line of sight to the southwest. It appeared to be at approximately 60 to 70 degrees above the ground.”
He first thought it was a small, low-flying aircraft. But as he watched it fly across the sky, he noticed that its navigation lights were atypical. But because it was moving very slowly, he concluded it was likely a blimp.
But that did not explain the unusual navigation lights.
“However, I quickly realized the ‘navigation lights’ were unlike anything I had ever seen on any aircraft,” he wrote. “My next thought was that due to its apparent low speed and height (my impression) that it could be a blimp. However, it didn’t have a traditional navigation light pattern.”
According to the witness, the UFO had two bright and flashing white lights — an upper and lower white light — at the rear end. It also had a red light at the front with a row of strobing white lights along the underside behind the red light.
On the side of the UFO was a single row of six, square-shaped windows through which very bright, white light with a bluish tinge shone. The body of the craft, as far as he could discern in the dark, could have been light blue, gray or silver.
He could barely make out the outline of the UFO, but it appeared to be V-shaped.
Only one side of the UFO faced him throughout the sighting, but he perceived a glow from the other side of craft that suggested the arrangement of lights on the other side was symmetrical to the side facing him.
“It had a flashing white light at the back with a second flashing white light slightly below the first. A row of sequentially strobing white lights along the underside with a single red light at the front,” he wrote in his testimony.
“I got the impression that the ‘windows’ or ‘light panels’ were attached to a V-shaped ‘hull,’” he continued. “I could only see the side facing me, but it seemed that there was a glow from where the other side would be, so one might assume that it was symmetrical.”
The UFO stayed in view for about a minute as it moved slowly across the sky until it was blocked from view by nearby trees.
But as the witness rode along, the object reappeared briefly for about 10-20 seconds before it finally disappeared.
It appeared to fly in a straight line and at the same height throughout the sighting, the witness recalled. He was unable to give a precise estimate of the size of the object or distance.
“If I extended my arm and turned my hand horizontal, I could have covered the object with my thumb, from the tip to midway past the first joint,” he said. “This is an approximation as I was not able to do this at the time. My only feelings were of curiosity as to what the object was.”
Reacting to the suggestion that he may have been intoxicated or under the influence of drugs at the time, the witness insisted he does not take drugs, “legal or otherwise.” He insisted that he abstains from psychotropic drugs and rarely drinks. He also avoids most narcotic pain killers because he is allergic to them.
“The object I saw falls outside of my personal experience… I am a rationalist.”
Also responding to suggestions that he may have mistaken a small aircraft for a UFO, he insisted that he has lived in a high air traffic zone most of his life and was familiar with the appearance of most classes of aircraft — including drones — at night and daytime.
He insisted he has seen blimps in the daytime and at night at several sporting events and could not have mistaken a blimp for a UFO.
“The object I saw falls outside of my personal experience, and searching online I was unable to find any aircraft with lights of this type, including blimps and the Virgin lightships,” he insisted. “I am a rationalist and a firm believer in Occam’s razor. I enjoy debunking other people’s misidentifications and wild conclusions. I would be quite happy to have you identify this as a blimp, if, in fact that’s what this was.”
[Image via Shutterstock]