Appearance / Description of Object(s)

The object was a matte gray, definitely non-reflective and looked like a large 55gal drum. No lights were emitted.

Size of Object(s)

I estimate the size of the object to be 10ft tall by 7.5ft wide. I gather this estimate by comparison with the height of the trees it was in front of. Relative size, add an inch to both height and diameter of a 12oz pop can.

Distance to Object(s) & Altitude

Estimated distance from me is 150yrd and height at 40ft.

Description of Area / Surroundings

Rural transcending to Suburban, along the shore of Grand Lake St Mary's. The lake has a military history as an inert bomb range, but is no longer used for that purpose. Closest military base is Wright Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH. There is a small airport in Montezuma, OH on the other side of the lake and one in New Knoxville, OH about 20 miles from my locaiton at the time.

Full Description & Details

I was driving east on Ohio State Route 703 from St Marys to Celina. West of the WSU extension campus I heard a high pitched tone through my window (it was about half way down). I looked toward the noise and saw a cylinder shaped object keeping pace with me against the trees and along the shore of Grand Lake St Marys. The object kept pace with me for about 0.25miles and entered into some wooded lots that also had homes. When I reached the other side I no longer saw the object but could hear the tone become fainter and fainter as I gained distance from the last known location.

The trees are about 40-50ft high, all pine. The object was near the tops and was about 1/5 the height of the trees. I was about 125-150yds from the tree line. The object looked similar to a very large flying 55gal drum that was dark grey in color. Weather conditions were overcast with a slight breeze coming off the lake, the water was not very choppy. I was traveling at 60mph and the object was keeping pace with me. I noticed the drive of a pickup in front of me was also looking out the window and tapped his brakes when I could no longer see the object. We pulled up side by side at an intersection of OH703 and OH29 and asked eachother about the object. He was driving an F-150, I was driving a GMC Sonoma. He (Steve McGregor of Celina, OH) told me he thought it was spinning on the vertical axis, I did not think it was spinning, but it was asymetrical with no lights, could make it hard to tell. He also noticed the high pitched tone.

On the way home I took the same route back, I did not hear the high pitch tone nor did I see anything resembling what I had seen on the way there.

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

Hard to say. My dad was in the USMC for 22yrs living around aircraft much of my life I have never seen anything I would say resembled this. My best guess as a man made object would be some sort of rocket stage maybe falling. To the best of my knowledge no such rockets are launched in this area. I would not rule out the possibility of this object being man made.

Witness Background

I have a background in Chemistry, Statistics, and Quality Engineering. I am a Six Sigma black belt and am finishing up my QA engineering degree. I grew up on military bases and was used to seeing aircraft on a near constant basis as well as other military vehicles. I do not believe that aliens exist.

Views on UFOs, before and after sighting

I believe UFO's are what they are and that the term is relative. If you can't ID a flying object, it's unidentified. A UFO and become and IFO later on. Do they have anything to do with alien species? I don't believe aliens exist.

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