UFO. United States

Disk-shaped UFO with dome under perfectly clear conditions at less than 100 feet altitude, motionless.

This happened in Omaha, NE in 1968. I cannot pinpoint the day or month because it was so long ago, therefore I could not enter that info in the box above, but it was during the Democratic Presidential Primary election (Bobby Kennedy vs. Eugene McCarthy). I had come to Omaha from Indianapolis as a campaign volunteer. I became acquainted with 3 other campaign workers, 2 of whom were instructors at the University of Iowa. A day or two before the election, we went to dinner at a family restaurant–NO ALCOHOL SERVED.

The dinner conversation covered many topics. It developed that the name of a former English teacher from my alma mater was mentioned under his pen name, Brad Steiger. I informed the group of his real name and from there the talk led to the paranormal, Steiger’s main subject in those days. UFOs were mentioned at length, but after awhile our dinner talk went on to non-paranormal subjects.

It was dark when we left the restaurant; I believe it was about 9:00 PM. As we walked out the door into the parking lot we noticed a school bus in the lot full of what appeared to be high school students. Several were leaning out the windows, screaming and pointing upwards behind us. When we turned to look we got the shock of our lives. Directly over the restaurant’s parking lot, at an altitude I estimate at no more than one hundred feet, was a UFO.

The object was circular, with a flat bottom and an opaque dome on the top. I estimate the diameter of the object at 35 to 50 feet. It held absolutely still and made absolutely no noise. On top of the dome was a single, steady white light. Around the rim were solid white lights in the shape of rectangles with rounded corners, separated from each other by unlit space. The lights flashed around the rim in a counter-clockwise direction like lights on a theater marquee, but I assure you, this was not a theater marquee we were looking at. Conditions were ideal to observe. There was not a cloud in the sky. There was plenty of moonlight behind us so that the bulk of this UFO was outlined against the sky.

I assure you this was not a hot-air balloon. There was no flame, no hanging basket. Besides, a balloon, even if tethered, could not have been so absolutely motionless as this object was.

As other people came out of the restaurant, they also saw the object. I remember parents with children taking one look at the object, then RUNNING to their cars and leaving the lot as fast as possible.

Eventually, one of the men from the U. of Iowa started timing the object. It was more than 2 more minutes before the object began to move away. But I stress that we were able to look at the object for quite awhile before it occurred to anyone to start timing it. While we were timing it, we also asked each other to describe to each other what we were seeing. Our descriptions agreed.

When the object began to move, it moved VERY slowly, maybe 4 or 5 MPH. Again, it made absolutely no noise. There were no ports or windows in the object, just the disk shape with the dome on top, illuminated by the lights described. We watched until the object was too small to see with the naked eye. While it moved away, it maintained its low altitude.

I have often wondered if anyone took photos of this. Let me tell you, if there had been video camcorders in those days, we would have had, without any question whatsoever, THE CLEAREST, MOST DRAMATIC, LONGEST-LASTING SIGHTING ever made of a UFO.

We got in our car and attempted to follow the object, but this was tough to do in a city we were not familiar with. Later that night we thought we saw it again on the outskirts of town, but we could not be sure. Now, SOME PUZZLING THOUGHTS. Was it just coincidence that our dinner conversation had been, in part, about UFOs? Did our collective thoughts produce an illusion? But then, we were not the first to see it.

More puzzling: this was Omaha in 1968, still the active headquarters of the Strategic Air Command, and yet there was not one other aircraft anywhere in the sky. You would think that this thing would have been seen on radar and all kinds of aircraft scrambled to intercept it. Unless, of course, it was one of ours.

But, if it were one of ours, why would it hover so low over a busy part of town where it would be sure to be seen? Why were there not at least some police cars chasing this object? At the time, I was 23 years old, and had attended a small, private, church-sponsored college, majoring in instrumental music and minoring in English. I do not recall what departments the 2 men from the U. of Iowa were in, but much later, maybe a year or so later, I happened to see them both in a story on the national TV news related to some event taking place at the U. of Iowa.

I have never forgotten this incredibly vivid encounter.

But, I’ll tell you this: I never want to see another UFO.