t e m p o r a l
d o o r w a y
3/21/85 - 'B', Derby / Ansonia, CT 9:20 PM
| Report Summary | "'B' and his friend had just left from work [heading] south toward downtown
Derby [near Griffin Hospital]. At this point, they both noticed what looked
to be a brightly -lit aircraft about 1.5 miles ahead of them and at about
a 45 degree angle above... upon closer inspection, [it] gave the appearance
of being 4 or 5 white lights arranged in the shape of an X. As the lights
that constituted this shape randomly blinked off and on, the formation moved
through the sky in a similarly unusual fashion; advancing slowly then stopping,
reversing direction, then going forward again, only to just as erratically
'drop straight down', then rise to its previous altitude... a Derby policeman
as quoted in the New Haven Register [corroborated this observation, saying]
'The objects have been described as slow-flying with a lot of blinking lights
underneath them... they seem to stay in one spot, then move a couple of
miles, then stop.' "...[they] turned west on Seventh Street [and] were able to get and even better look at this thing, which now appeared to have a 'flattened football shape' with a 'white dome light' on top of it and numerous red lights lengthwise along its middle[footnote 1]... 'M' saw out of her house... a 'huge' group of lights, at least as large as her outstretched hand in apparent size. It seemed to have 'a shape to it', noticeable due to what she perceived as rectangular 'panels' of red, blue, and yellowish colored lights which were arrayed all over its bottom surface. These 'panels' did not flare as most light sources normally do... instead, their glow was more similar to that of flourescent lighting... "...the lights... began to switch off and on randomly as it hung motionless in the air. There was no sound... even though... it could not have been much more than a single mile due east... ['M' obtained binoculars and examined it more closely and] claimed to have been able to detect a 'grey structure' that was partly illuminated by the 'glowing' panels across the bottom... "Eventually, the object began to move slowly to their left (north), all of the lights simultaneously turning amber as it did so... after a couple of minutes, the object was gradually obscured behind the rooftops and trees in the distance... "The total duration of the sightings was close to a half hour"[footnote 2] |
| Hynek Classification | NL |
| Original Vallee Classification | Type III b/c/e |
| Current Vallee Classification | MA1 |
| Minimum Distance | 1 mile |
| Object Appearance | A large wing / disc / spindle of lights, with luminous panels and randomly flashing lights. Lights became amber after a direction change. |
| Object Behavior | Spent one period hovering, moving, hovering, changing altitude. Later stayed in a hover, swung around, and departed. |
| Physical Effect | None |
| Medical Effect | None |
| Comments / Conclusion | A well-described and characteristic Hudson Valley flap sighting |
Footnotes
1. A similar description was made of objects observed in Exeter in 1965, according to Fuller's Incident at Exeter
2. UFO Events in Fairfield County: 3/21/85 and 8/31/89, Mark Packo, 8/95, unpublished, courtesy Anastasia Wietrzychowska, State Director, MUFON Connecticut