UFO Case Report:

Disc-shaped UFO, larger than full moon, seen by police officers and others

Date: September 26, 1963
Location: Sunnyvale, California, United States

During the early morning of September 26, 1963, a UFO was sighted by people in scattered locations around the San Francisco Bay area. Officer Galen Anderson of Sunnvale Police Dept. observed the UFO for 45 seconds and submitted a particularly detailed report. This object appeared larger than a full moon, according to Officer Anderson, about basketball size at about 8 feet away.

Illustration of the sighting in Sunnvale, CA in 1963. (credit: NICAP / Hall)

Classification & Features

Type of Case/Report: StandardCase
Hynek Classification: DD
Shape of Object(s): Disc
# of Witnesses: Multiple
Special Features/Characteristics: Police, Group Sighting

Full Report / Article

Source: NICAP / Richard Hall, 1964 (reported in San Jose Mercury News and SF Chronicle)

Disc On Edge Reported

During the early morning of September 26, 1963, a UFO was sighted by people in scattered locations around the San Francisco Bay area. Paul Cerny, Chairman of the Bay Area NICAP Sub committee, conducted an investigation and located nine witnesses. (The sighting was reported September 26 in the San Jose Mercury News, Los Altos Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.) A particularly detailed report was obtained from officer Galen Anderson of the Sunnyvale Police Department, who observed the UFO for about 45 seconds.

About 4:20 a.m., Officer Anderson was patrolling the streets in a squad car. A radio call from other officers alerted him, and he stopped to watch the UFO. The object was traveling from east to west at an elevation angle of about 45 degrees, at about the speed of a propeller-driven aircraft. The leading edge was brightly illuminated, the main body grayish in color, with a small point of light visible on it. (See sketches and description prepared by Bay Area Subcommittee). The UFO then made a turn toward the northwest, was momentarily visible edge-on, then quickly disappeared from view.

In nearby Monta Vista about 4:15 a.m., George W. Scott was on the job as a supervisor at the Permanente Cement Company. One of the work crew called his attention to a strange object in the sky, and he watched its flight for about a minute. To him, it appeared that the UFO stopped briefly each time the small body light pulsed, then moved 3 to 4 degrees between pulses. The UFO continued on a westerly course, disappearing behind the coastal mountains.

This object appeared larger than a full moon, according to Officer Anderson, about basketball size at about 8 feet away. It appeared as a disc on edge, with about 3/4 or more of its outline showing. The trailing 1/4 of the circle, if it were there, appeared more or less invisible. Police Officer Lt. Haag told Anderson that he saw what appeared as heat waves in this quarter area and further to the rear. The disc appeared grayish in color except when the small spot of light ("A") lighted up about every 3 to 4 seconds. The color then changed to yellowish - white, some trace of orange, but predominately along the front leading edge portion ("B"). This produced a pulsing effect every three or four seconds. This, in turn. gave an eerie lighted haze or mist illumination of the area just outside the disc circle itself as if it were glowing or surrounded by a gas, or thin cloud, halo, etc. At each 3-4 second pulse, the small inner bright light would move around erratically to various new positions within the disc area.

The object was visible about 45 seconds to Officer Anderson and traveled in a perfectly straight line over Sunnyvale toward Los Altos, then suddenly made a turn and was momentarily edgewise and vertical to Anderson's vision, then immediately disappeared from sight. Officer Anderson and Lt. Haag were only about a third of a mile apart at the time and Officer Girard was perhaps a mile to their northeast. Speed of the object was about that of a propeller driven military aircraft, elevation about 45 degrees from Officer Anderson, estimated altitude 4000-6000 ft., visible about 45 seconds. Brighter than full moon.

Case ID: 645 edit: 645

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