Appearance / Description of Object(s)

For a split second I thought an airliner was on fire, or disintegrating. It was a round fireball, with chunks of fire breaking off the back end, almost as if in slow motion. It was very surreal, like a firework. The chunks would flip out and twirl in pinwheel fashion. The object itself appeared to be made of magma. The impression I keep getting over and over again is the Medusa, for some reason.

Size of Object(s)

Relative size was probably the size of a nickel; actual size, who knows, maybe 65-70 feet in diameter.

Distance to Object(s) & Altitude

It was probably a few hundred feet high, and less than one mile away.

Description of Area / Surroundings

Suburban area, late night. I was standing by the pool looking over the fence at the sky, talking on my cell phone. It disappeared in the direction of an Indian reservation, which is largely unpopulated.

Full Description & Details

I was talking to my brother who lives in Seattle on my cell phone by the pool, in my backyard. It is usual to see airliners approaching Sky Harbor (Phoenix) in this area. Being an aviation enthusiast, something in the air caught my eye - I looked up and to the near West, where a large fireball was slowly moving North-Northeast towards the Indian Reservation. It was in level flight, for the most part, with a slight bob. Sparks and chunks flew off the back of it. It was visible for a good 10-15 seconds at least, before some trees obscured my view of it. It was totally unreal. I was certain there would be thousands of witnesses. I am surprised there was not. I called the airport and air force the next day to see if something had crashed. The air force took a report.

Can sighting be explained as any conventional man-made or natural object?

Not really. Unless somebody staged an elaborate hoax using flares and remote control balloons, or something. That's all I can think of.

Witness Background

Project Accountant for large Engineering and Architecture firm, BA Business Administration, University of Oregon 1999.

Views on UFOs, before and after sighting

I've always liked the subject of UFO's since childhood. I read a lot about them, but had never seen such a convincing example. Everyone has seen strange lights of course, but this was large and obvious. I feel lucky in a way, but I can't share the story too much, since people don't really care.

Other Comments

It is a very bizarre feeling to have seen this thing. It's like walking into your house and finding the dog walking on the ceiling, upside down. Totally surreal. You keep asking yourself over and over 'what is that'? 'what IS that'?! Then it's gone. I thought of every explanation I could to resist the UFO explanation.

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