Appearance / Description of Object(s)

It seemed to be at a great distance, perhaps a mile and a half or more away from my position. But it was a clear view, as there were absolutely no clouds to obstruct my view of it. It seemed to be spherical, as round and defined as a metal marble, and shiny like polished chrome. What appeared to be a reflection of the sun was consistent with its relative position- that being from my vantage point the sun was slightly to my left while facing west/northwest, and the object to the right of the sun. The "reflection" was on its upper left side, and the visual distortions consistent with a chrome ball or maybe the backside of a spoon were, at what seemed quite a distance, visible.

Size of Object(s)

The relative size was between three-quarters of an inch to half of an inch. There was nothing near enough to gauge what I thought would be its actual size, it was higher than any trees, lightposts, buildings or telephones. But if I were to make a completely naive guess, it could have been as big as eight or possibly ten feet across.

Distance to Object(s) & Altitude

One mile and a half to two miles away, at an altitude of no higher than six hundred feet.

Description of Area / Surroundings

The area of my shop is mostly restaurants, some nightclubs, a few retail businesses. Nothing real industrial in nature that I can think of. There is an air force base miles away, south, near Clear Lake. Towards the area where it could have been hovering over would be similar to where my shop is, with the execption of some neighborhoods, apartment complexes, but otherwise typical retail businesses and strip centers.

Full Description & Details

It was approximately 5:15 p.m. I was standing in front of my store near the intersection of Richmond Ave and Fountainview, facing west/northwest. Weather conditions all day long had been clear skies, not a cloud to speak of, medium winds, and somewhere in the mid to high '60s. I had stepped outside the store to smoke a cigarette, and I walked to the western end of our front walkway. As I reached the end I looked up casually, and I immediately saw this metallic sphere. It drew my attention because it was the only thing in the sky besides some birds and the sun. The sun was obscured from my view by a building on the same side of the street as my shop, which would be the south side of Richmond Ave. This sphere stood out from the light blue of the sky on account of its shiny appearance; it looked somthing like a highly polished metal marble, maybe like a small pinball or a large bearing. It appeared to be hovering, or at the least it was making no movement. As I started to try to register what I was looking at, it gradually disappeared. I use the term gradually because it was not sudden. Likewise, it didn't take a long time, but it just evenly and gradually dissolved into the same color as the sky. I was even more astounded at its disappearance than I was at the first glimpse of it. I was in mid-sentence in my conversation with my friend and I began to stammer, trying to verbalize what I'd just seen. "I just...I saw....I saw something weird just now..." A few seconds later, maybe fifteen to twenty seconds, the sphere reappeared instantly and in approximately the same position. I hadn't let my eyes wander nor did I look away, I was scanning in the same area of the sky, at something like a fifty-to-sixty degree angle up, in a west/northwest direction. It seemed to make no motion initially, but after about eight seconds it made an arc to the left and upwards, continuing then to the right, as if to draw a small half circle from the bottom, leftwards, to the top, and starting- as it were- from a six o'clock position to the twelve o'clock position. Maybe a couple of seconds then, and it disappeared as quickly as it had reappeared previously. I had seen something more unexplainable than I've ever seen in my life, and I hung up with my friend and continued to stare at the same area in the sky for a few minutes, giving way finally to scanning broader and broader fields until I was convinced I wasn't going to see anything else.

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

It seemed to be on the same side of the horizon as the sun, and with no clouds to speak of it stood out in contrast to the light blue of the sky. The sun was still at a position of about ten o'clock. I could all but precisely make out the objects finite shape, that of a spere, but it definitely didn't have wings and I could detect nothing in the way of blinking lights or moving parts (like blades on a helicopter). The way it disappeared and reappeared, as well as its arc-movement, I don't know of any man-made aircraft which can do that. I've seen the way the sun reflects on the side or the underbelly on some commercial airliners as they make a slow bank turn- it wasn't that for sure. The only thing I could compare it to is a highly polished, chrome/metallic surfaced sphere. I don't know of anything in nature which would come close in comparison to what I saw.

Witness Background

I manage a video store. I've worked retail and delivery, inventory control for a small warehouse/storefront business. I'm an amateur musician, having played in rock/alternative bands for over fifteen years. I've been drawing as long as I can remember and take various illustration and design jobs on freelance. I graduated high school, in college I only got as far as Associate of Arts, but I am a voracious reader- History of Middle Earth, National Geographic books and travel journals of Sir Richard Francis Burton, Mayan/Aztec/Incan archaeology, and lately books concerning the JFK assassination and the ensuing discoveries of links between principles of that and the evolution of the intelligence apparatus, all the way up to Bush, jr. and the current war. And my personal recommendations for your reading pleasure would be "Creature from Jeckyll Island" by G Edward Griffin, and "End of Sanity" by Martin L Gross.

Views on UFOs, before and after sighting

I have to be skeptical. I always have been- in regards to UFOs in any case. When I was young I went through a phase reading books (aimed at children) about UFOs and aliens and men in black and all that. Over the years of growing up (I'm 36) I've seen the countless frauds and hoaxes exposed. I had all but decided there was no such thing. I still have to wonder about all the Area 51 and Roswell, NM business. But I watched a UFO video one time called "Voyagers of the Sixth Sun" which reported on "ovni" or UFO sightings in Mexico since the solar eclipse of '91 (I think?). That video made me rethink what I believed about visitors from space, or at the least the existence of technology, regardless of whose it is, which is unlike anything the general population of the world is familiar with. What I saw today would appear to be the same as some of what I saw on that video, in terms of the appearance and the way it disappeared and the minimal movement I observed. When I looked up and saw it, it was already hovering there. It could have been there longer, but from the time I saw it to its final diappearance was a matter of less than a minute.

Other Comments

I have always considered myself to be a rational thinking person. I have scoffed at people who try to make their statements the final word about anything. When I've heard "eyewitness testimony" about supernatural things, I take it with a grain of salt. I never take one person's word, and I guess I really never consider anything to be a closed case- I'll listen to any opinion or argument. With God as my witness, over the course of about forty-five seconds I became "one of those people", the ones who claim to have seen a UFO. But I saw what I saw, and I've never seen anything like that in person before. With my own eyes I witnessed something I cannot for the life of me explain.

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