2002 UFO Investigation Reports
Date/Time of Sighting: 02 January, 2002 - approx 5:30 PM CST Place of Sighting: Bloomington, MN Local Evaluation: Inconclusive - Possible Unknown Type of Report: NL/MAAA1 - distant maneuvering light seen by two witnesses Date of Report: 05 March, 2002 Investigator: Craig R. Lang WUFOD# 1-850-MN Sighting Background I and the witness are both friends of another MN MUFON member. I was informed of the sighting by this mutual friend, who indicated that it would be OK to contact the witness. I contacted and interviewed both witnesses on 27 February, 2002. Both witnesses gave full form 1 reports. The primary witness also wrote his description of the sighting in an attached writeup. Witness Description The witnesses are a couple that lives and works in the Bloomington area. The primary witness is a 25 year old male. The second witness is his girlfriend. She is 22 years old and has excellent health and hearing. She describes her vision as less than great (somewhat nearsighted). She was not wearing her glasses at the time of the sighting. Both witnesses indicate that they have had no health changes since the sighting. Both witnesses work at the same place, and both were there at the time of the sighting. Sighting Account The primary witness had left work to run a quick errand at a nearby store in the same strip mall where he works. At about 5:30 PM CST, as he was walking between locations, he looked to the southwest to observe a bright light which appeared to be stationary, about 45 degrees up in the southwestern sky. He felt that it seemed unusual - not a star or airplane, and was curious about it. He watched it for several minutes, as he walked back from his errand. The light was briefly obscured by a building and when it became visible again, he again saw it at the same location. Along with the first light, a second light was now approaching on an east to west path, from a location closer to due south. As he watched, the second light approached the first from the left (east) at a steady rate, and then merged with it. The first light remained at the same brightness, and in the same location. He ran into work to get his girlfriend (the second witness). They both stepped outside to observe the light, which remained motionless in the southwestern sky. They observed it for slightly less than a minute more, as it rapidly, faded out and was no longer visible. Object Description: The primary witness described both objects as solid white lights, which the witness described as about the brightness of the moon. [It was not clear what this meant, and therefore what the actual brightness was. However both witnesses felt that it was brighter than any stars present]. He indicated that they had an observable diameter to them. He also notes that at the end of the sighting, the remaining object faded from view. The second witness described the object (one object only, since the two lights had merged by this time), as reddish and about the brightness of a star. She was not wearing her glasses at that moment, so could not discern any size to the object. She observed it suddenly vanish - "it just wasn't there". Additional Witnesses: None Weather and Sky Conditions: Witness description of weather was clear and cold, with unlimited visibility, and no clouds. It should be noted that the sun had just set, and the sky was still partly lit, especially in the southwest. This light would have been fading while they observed the lights. Natural and Manmade Phenomenon Check: No bright planets were in the southwest at the time of the sighting. Mars was nearly due South, at an elevation of approximately 45 degrees, with a brightness of 0.8 magnitude. This could be considered as a null hypothesis, although the witnesses clearly stated the location as southwest. Also, as a null hypothesis, the vanishing object might have been an aircraft, with its landing lights initially visible to the witness, and which subsequently "disappeared" when the landing lights were either turned off or were no longer pointing in his direction. This does not explain the stationary object, however, which was seems to have been stationary for too long a time to be explainable as an aircraft. It is also not clear in any null hypothesis, how the rapid fade-out would have occurred at the end of the sighting. This factor and those described above suggest that the object(s) observed may have been unknown in nature. Sighting Evaluation: Inconclusive - Possible Unknown