Description

Take a look at the map below. I used to live in Portland, and right near where the V is pointed. The Yellow V represents the amazing view we had from our back deck, which was about 200 feet above the Columbia River directly north. We could see at least 45 miles to the north, and one of my favorite parts about living there was that I could sit in my dining room and watch the planes on final approach (red line) to Portland Airport. As they passed my house, they were at 500 feet or so. I'm a pilot and a total plane nerd, so I pay close attention to the different planes and patterns here. Great place. Off the map to the north are the foothills of the Washington Cascades, leading up to Mt. St. Helens (yes, I watched a few eruptions from my back yard) and even Mt. Adams on a clear day. With this as the landscape setting, I can now tell my story:

3:00 am, and I wake up. I often do right at 3:00. But this time something actually woke me up. I lay there listening for a minute, then realize that a rare (for Portland) thunder storm is going right over. I love to watch storms, so I got up and went out on the back deck. It was actually a pretty dark night, but by the time I got outside, the storm was just passing from south to north. It was basically right over the river, and moving quickly north. I would guess that it towered 20k feet or more, very compact, straight up, and lots of very cool lightening. It was warm out, and the wind was blowing out from the storm now, and the sky above me was becoming crystal clear. Each time a strike happened, I could distinctly see the very sharp outline of the towering clouds as they moved over the hills in Southern Washington. The storm was directly north, and a bit east of where the point of the V is on the map.

At this point I noticed an airplane on final approach to my right -- east. This was totally normal. I could see the bright light as it came out of the north east, around the storm. And as it got closer, the light faded as it turned the main beam to its final heading, and I could see the wing tip, and beacon lights as it passed by and out of sight on short final to my left -- north west. The only thing odd about this was that it was about 3:30 in the morning, and not many planes fly at this time. It may have been an airline ferry flight, it was not a large plane, and as it came in it did fly a slightly odd pattern to avoid the storm, but it kept its height as normal--and this is important--which was slightly up, but pretty much straight out from where I was standing. This is where it gets strange.

The plane had passed by between myself and the storm, and the storm was still raging as it moved further north. But a minute or two after the plane landed, the lightening strikes distinctly retreated up into the cloud, instead of striking the ground. And then another light showed up. It took me about 30 seconds to sort of absentmindedly (I was just really enjoying myself at 3:30 in the morning) realize that this light was not a plane.

There are a few reasons I know it was not a plane. First, I know planes. Second, it came directly from out of the center of the storm cloud, lightening all around it, and in my sleepy condition, it took me those 30 seconds to snap to attention because this light was at least 10k feet up. Opposed to looking at a normal plane in the area, straight out, I was tilting my head back and eyes up to see this light halfway up the towering cumulus cloud. It was WAY too high to have anything to do with Portland Airport approach. Third, although it did FADE into view from out of the cloud, it never moved after that. I believe I watched it for 2-3 minutes. Fourth, the lightening stopped while the light was in view. Fifth, the light FADED back into the cloud and disappeared, and then the lightening started up again.

The only other thing I can tell you about it is that although it was a long way away, I had the impression that it was spinning, and that its slightly warm color may have had greens and blues flashing in it. Otherwise, that's all I can tell you. I will never forget it.

I will never forget my other two UFO sightings as well. I'll post in another thread.

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