Orange Balls?

[AriLea]

Just over forty years ago, I was a youngster on a military cadet summer camp, in the north of Scotland. It was a fine warm day, very few clouds in the sky. As we stood in line for our lunch, I looked up and noticed a shining triangular surface, way up high, far above airliner height. I'm certain it must have been in earth's orbit and whatever it was, it must have been huge. It shone very much like the moon, so it was reflecting sunlight, but it wasn't the moon. The two longest sides were straight, making it look almost the same shape as a folded paper dart (like we made from a sheet of A4 paper and threw as kids), but with a concave rear edge. It stayed in the same place and was clearly visible for about fifteen minutes and then suddenly vanished. We all saw it. I have no idea what it was and have never seen anything like it since, despite having had an aviation career for over 37 years..

Very-Very cool! I have always wondered if UFO craft have changed over time, lending itself to a relationship around current human trends. This gives a bit more longevity to that one configuration at least.
It's a big-big universe. Even bigger if there are dimensions. I would expect things to be varied rather than predictable change over time.
There are many ways to measure things. You can see I use reasoning to attempt alternatives.

You have to consider such things as UFO may belong to organizations or perspectives that have rules. They may want to dress it up in such a way as to not cause too much stress for the natives. But enough different that they get curious, or challenged. I can easily see why such tactics might only upset authority in our human world.

 

[JNR]

Alright, enough people have opened up about potentially embarrassing stuff, so I'm game. I'm either insane, was once temporarily insane for 10 minutes, or I saw something once that was f@#$ing insane.

I had just come home from work as young man I was skygazing as I usually would for the 10 second walk into the house. One clear summer night, it was around 1:30 AM, a perfectly round metallic looking Disc with no visible markings from the ground (unbelievably similar to round UFO's seen in Hollywood movies) overhead about 2000 ft in the air and about 30 degree angle Southeast where I was standing. Disc was maybe 50-100 feet diameter and was perfectly silent, I stood frozen 20 feet from my front door, wanting to bang on the window to wake up my father, but then realizing if this flew out of site how pissed he would be at me for waking him for some crazy BS. (He is more no nonsense than I am.) I was going to wave at it, then realized, if this is real, then those "crazies" who say they were abducted might not be crazy, so maybe I should just watch.

After about a minute, it then shot over about 1000 feet horizontally in about a few seconds or less on a plane maybe 15 degrees off parallel to me so came just a bit closer to me, but it didn't seem like it was coming for me necessarily. There was no perceptible acceleration or deceleration, just, BAM!, from here to there at constant speed, which I know is technically impossible because to go from 0 to anything, you have to accelerate, the point was that the acceleration to speed was so incredibly fast that I only noticed the constant velocity from point A to B, the stop was also almost immediate, but smooth. This was when I was thinking of waving at the disc or waking my father. Then after about 20 more seconds of it just sitting there still and silent, it shot off into the distance Southwest. Considering it was a clear night, maybe I could see 10-20 miles into the horizon. So it went from visible to gone in no more than 5 seconds. I now live near an air base and near medium sized airport so I'm used to seeing planes flying at 500 mph or so. This was so much faster.

Based on my own unreliable estimates and doing the math, this thing did at worst 2 miles/second, that would be 7200 mph, and I'm giving benefit of the doubt. It could very well have been 20 miles in 2 seconds (36,000 mph). So I don't want to hear about some secret Government BS. This was over 20 years ago, what technology are we going to sit on for that long that can go as fast as that and make no noise? (Question is rhetorical-please, no one answer it) As an older adult and reading the skeptic sites online, every alternative posted to what I saw is really just a dumb f@#$ing explanation because they just assume it can't be real? However, I have no proof, so I figure I'm either insane, was temporarily insane, or there is some technology that someone/thing possesses that is literally out of this world.

 

[NSTG8R]

I didn't have a chance to check out the "reports" you guys posted until now, VERY interesting! I mentioned earlier that I saw a show awhile back that had a report by Kelly Johnson (U2 creator/aeronautical genius, and Lockheed's Skunk Works bigwig), and JNR's account made me try to locate some more information about it since they're so similar. Here's a little quote from Johnson, and a link to the website. Quite a bit of reading, and pretty detailed, but fascinating none the less.


The most fascinating single point in the file is its clarification of Kelly Johnson's opinions on UFOs. Far from sharing the skeptical attitude that Hall Hibbard displayed in 1947, Johnson reveals himself to be committed to UFO reality:

"I should state that for at least five years I have definitely believed in the possibility that flying saucers exist - this in spite of a good deal of kidding from my technical associates. Having seen this particular object on December 16th, I am now more firmly convinced than ever that such devices exist, and I have some highly technical converts in this belief as of that date."

Here's the link where I got it from if you're interested:

http://www.nicap.org/reports/lockufoinc.htm

 

[Norahsbed]

My belief is, We are not alone in this solar system, Galaxy, universe, space or time! Just hope they're friendly folks when they deside to stop and say "Hello!"

 

[Sam]

I know about the Spooklight. Grew up in Oklahoma 10 minute car drive from there and went many times to Spooklight Road. A couple of times it was on hayrides, many times on dates and the best was when Mom would load her car and go with about a dozen kids. Mom could tell the best scary stories. Out of possibly 100 visits, I saw it about 8-10 times.
Once, when I was 15 I drove my Grandpa's Datsun on a double date. We had a flat there and I didn't know a spare tire could be kept under the car, so I went to Spooky Joe's to call my Grandpa. Spooky Joe's was a place at the start of the road. Had juke box, pool tables, pinball machines, etc. in an old house. Spooky Joe was the expert. It was about a 3/4 mile walk. As I'm going along I look off to the side and notice the full moon through the trees. A little further I look off to the other side and see the full moon there. Oops. When I look the other way, I see it was the Light. It was moving the same pace I was, maybe 100 yards away. Of course, I take off at a dead run and it paces me. There were a few other cars parked along the road and I tried to get a couple of em to let me in. They saw the light and wouldn't open the doors. Always the Light would wait for me to start running again. About 50 yards from Spooky's it flared real bright and blinked off.
Mom told me a story about a double date she went on when she was a teenager. Said while they were there her friend, who was dating the car owner, had to pee so the girls got out and went behind the car. Soon the Light started down the road towards them, so they ran to the doors. The boys had them locked out and were having a good laugh until Mom's friend launched a rock the size of a grapefruit into the windshield. They unlocked the doors.
When I was a kid, every July we had an Indian Pow-Wow about 5 miles from there. I remember in the mid 1960's an old Kickapoo Indian was telling a bunch of us kids stories. He said theories about the Spooklight being cause in some way by car headlights was hooey(his word). He said he was 85 years old and had seen it before he was 10.
Don't know what it is, except that it's cool. I've heard that now if you park along that road and law enforcement catches you, you will be fined and shooed away. Memories are wonderful.

 

[wheaters]

I'm not saying everything is a false alarm (not by any means, see my post above), but it is possible to get overly concerned about stuff when there's nothing really there. I bought a new car and the first time I drove home in the dark and the rain I kept seeing something unexplained. There was a small but very bright light outside. I took it to be a bright star at first then realised it was moving, keeping pace with my car. I lowered my window to have a better look and it disappeared. I wound the window up again and it came back. I then realised I was seeing the reflection of the electric window switch marker light reflected in the window!

 

[NSTG8R]

I'm not saying everything is a false alarm (not by any means, see my post above), but it is possible to get overly concerned about stuff when there's nothing really there. I bought a new car and the first time I drove home in the dark and the rain I kept seeing something unexplained. There was a small but very bright light outside. I took it to be a bright star at first then realised it was moving, keeping pace with my car. I lowered my window to have a better look and it disappeared. I wound the window up again and it came back. I then realised I was seeing the reflection of the electric window switch marker light reflected in the window!

Had something like that happen just this morning. I got to work a little earlier than usual, and didn't feel like going in the building. Reclined the seat back a bit to relax a little (with a conscious effort not to fall asleep) and noticed a orange rectangular shape floating up in the sky to my left. For a split second I was confused , then I realized it was from my parking light button on my dash reflecting off the side window. You can't see it with the seat in the driving position due to the steering wheel, and never really paid attention to it until just then....the HUD effect at work.

 

[AriLea]

However, I have no proof, so I figure I'm either insane, was temporarily insane, or there is some technology that someone/thing possesses that is literally out of this world.

I just read this one to my wife. She says "Use temporary, that way you can claim that you are better now!" :-) ( she liked hearing the recount of the event )
I know exactly how it feels to flop from "not possible" over to "oh, oh something's up here". It highlights how the experimenter is never separate from the experiment, and also not separate from the observation of reality.

I totally support the sanity of the honest skeptic. And, rightly, I expect him to stay so. I also totally feel for the person knowing that if he does not acknowledge, at least to themselves, what they have actually seen, is both dishonest AND insane. At the same time there is no requirement to publicly overpower the opinion of vocal and accusatory skeptics.

Unfortunately, in the camp of both skeptics and believers there are all levels of dishonesty and agendas. Also some people aren't very good with critical thinking. An enlightened person has both logical skills and key experiences to rely on. This is why I value people with skills you can trust ( in either camp ) as well as the personal experiences for oneself.

Fortunately there is a third group, the open minded agnostic. But, I think the skeptic group generally views the third group as being a poorly skilled believer. And stark believers view them as stubborn skeptics.

Unfortunately your own experiences most often aren't a viable trigger point to convince a skeptic at any level. No level of trust can compare to a person's belief in their own version of reality. They need their own key experiences if any change is warranted. In my view it's best to let them find their own way. Well maybe suggest they consider a few things. I have had just a little success at cracking the door open past only seeing what you expect.

 

[ElioDigger]

everyone has faith, in what is the question. skeptics have faith it will fail and we have faith it will happen.

 

[NSTG8R]

Aaron Rodgers and a couple buddies saw an "orange ball" too!

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl...unter-with-ufo/ar-BBqPW5g?ocid=ansmsnsports11

Nothing around here in quite a while, but then again it hasn't been 'sit on the patio and stare at the night sky' weather either.