| ID | #1605527305 |
| Added | Mon, 16/11/2020 |
| Author | July N. |
| Sources | |
| Phenomena | |
| Status | Fact
|
Initial data
Around the winter of 1980, probably in January, I had just finished work at 21: 30 from a car dealership (I was a car salesman at the time). I drove towards the city Toronto, Canada, on the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) eastbound to meet friends at a bar on the Esplanade (a street with night clubs). I didn't drink or smoke pot that day / night.
As I was driving, I noticed a string of lights slowly rotating counterclockwise over the city of Toronto, at about the ten o'clock position from my point of view. This caught my attention because this formation of lights was very unusual. Obviously, the lights were circular in shape, about two-thirds of which were visible, and the other third disappeared from view. Imagine a pie plate with about 25 light bulbs around its circumference. When this" pie plate " is rotated, a third of these lights will be hidden from view, as if they were blocked by a solid body.
It was night, so all I could see was a rotating garland of lights, but they were definitely on a "fixed" platform as the lights rotated in unison.
Although I had heard about UFOs and was curious, at that time in my life I didn't think much about them. I have always been interested in nature and especially the universe. I saw all kinds of planes and advertising blimps at night. I drove a taxi for fifteen years on the night shift and saw countless meteors, lightning, satellites, etc.
Twice I even saw very bright, slow-falling green meteors of fireballs illuminating the earth, for a few seconds, as if it were daylight. In the years that followed, I read that other witnesses reported green fireballs as UFOs. I chuckled to myself, thinking how easily" UFO believers " can be deceived by a natural phenomenon.
In any case, this circle of lights slowly descended and approached me (in a westerly direction), while I was driving at 115 kilometers per hour on the highway in an easterly direction. These lights were getting closer and closer as "we" got closer to each other.
I remember thinking that it must be some kind of advertising balloon, and those lights were letters. As I drove, I paid more and more attention to this object, because the closer it got, the more unusual it looked. I kept glancing at it as I drove, waiting until it was close enough to read what the messages said, still thinking it was some kind of advertising blimp. The closer he got, the more I looked at him.
Now, in my position at nine o'clock, the string of rotating lights began to list to the left, as if the plane was "turning right." I realized that these lights were not letters at all. They were yellowish-white lights of various shapes.
The reason these lights were different in shape was because they were "implanted" in some body. When the lights were visible head-on, they were round. But when they rotated out of view, they changed shape, like the various Crescent moons of the moon. That's why they were different shapes. In any case, at the time when this object began to list to the left, from my point of view, I was struggling with myself, trying to figure out whether it was a plane or a balloon.
It was too slow for an airplane, but too fast for an airship. Also, it didn't look like it was flying or floating. I can best describe this movement as if it were "floating" across the sky. What is interesting here is that the human brain tries to link what the eyes see with something that has already been seen or experienced before.
Every time I came to terms with what I had to witness, I drew a new conclusion. This jump from one conclusion to another occurred throughout the experiment. I imagined things. For example, if it was an airplane, the only way to place these lights would be in a circle, because this airplane would have to have some kind of support structure around the circle from the wing tip to the wing tip. It didn't make any sense. I've seen commercial planes before. Nothing like that. Not even close.
Then I tried to imagine a "Goodyear blimp" with letters that cross in the side. There was nothing like it here. So, I was trying to drive and watch this object at the same time. As I drove, I started to slow down because I kept looking at that circle of lights more than the road ahead of me.
As the object continued to roll and roll more and more, it eventually ended up completely perpendicular to the ground! The first thing that came to mind was a large Ferris wheel spinning in the sky. At this point, I slowed down to about 50 km / h (30 mph on the highway at 60 mph for my American friends) and put my four-way flashing emergency lights on my car, fearing that another car would hit me in the back for driving so slowly on the 100 km/h highway.
When I was fascinated by this UFO, a wave of adrenaline hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn't realize how big it was. At first I thought it was pretty close to the size of an airplane. It was huge! At least twice the size of a football field, bigger than an aircraft carrier! I don't know what gave away its size. Maybe reflections of light on the ground.
The best way I can describe it is a sudden realization, like one of those illusions that many of us have seen. Do you know when you look at a pixel drawing with an image that you don't see until you look at it for a while? After a while, do you look at a woman's face or something?
This is the kind of transformation I experienced. At first I thought the object was the size of a large plane, but then I actually saw it. It was huge! I shouted loudly to myself: "leaky shit, it's huge." I don't believe it, damn it, but it's fucking huge!
At first I thought it was pretty close, but it was much further and more than my brain could first understand. Speaking of that adrenaline rush. Have you ever had a really close chance of a car accident? When does your heart rate skyrocket to 180 beats per minute? That's what I felt when I realized how gigantic this object was! I could literally feel my heart pounding. To be honest, I was literally scared to death when I realized how big it was.
At this point, I lowered my window and pointed out this giant "Ferris wheel" in the sky to other motorists, but no one seemed to notice them shouting next to me at normal highway speed. I remember how cold it was when I rolled down the window. It was something like minus 30 degrees Celsius below zero.
After, I do not know how long, probably just a few seconds of rotation in this perpendicular position, this thing began to rise, straighten and "float" back in the direction from which it originally came. I rolled up the window, turned off the emergency light alarm, and started speeding up to chase him. Still, it seemed that other motorists did not notice this object. It still annoys me.
As I approached the city limits, this object was again in a flat position, climbing over the city. Then, all of a sudden, the rotating lights went out, except for a red flashing indicator that looked like an airplane (which I had never noticed before). A few seconds later, the rotating lights came back on.
It was like in the movie "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind". The lights just came on. Then a few seconds later, they switched off again, as it seemed to be right above the city. Strange behavior. Now I was leaving the highway for Spadina road. I lost these lights because of the tall buildings. When I was on the street I was going down, I saw a police officer parked on the other side of the road, writing that the Parking lot was marked.
I stopped in the middle of the road and ran up to him. He was quite taken aback by my seemingly aggressive approach.
I asked him ," how long have you been here?"
I forgot what he said, but I asked: "Did you see that big circle of lights flying in the sky? He said no."
After I parked my car, I met my friends at Baily's bar and told them what had happened, but they didn't take me seriously, as they already had several and were more interested in women.
After "sitting alone in a bar" for a couple of hours, I went home. At the time, I was living at my parents ' house, temporarily, so when I got home around 1:00, I called the police. I didn't know who else to call.
They didn't take me seriously, of course, so after that I called Toronto international airport, managed to get through to air traffic control and asked them if they had called anyone with a UFO report. Nothing.
So I called the police again and convinced them to take me seriously as I wanted to file a report. They told me they could send a couple of officers to my house. Since it was late and my parents were asleep, I told them I'd better come to the station the next day and report.
The next morning, when I was thinking of going in, I decided not to go, for fear they would think I was some kind of nut. As the days passed and I searched the Newspapers in vain for "UFO sightings," I began to doubt myself. I tried to convince myself that maybe I was wrong somehow. Maybe it wasn't unusual at all. Maybe it was a balloon or some kind of plane.
And now the conclusion.
About a week later, on about page ten of the Toronto Star, in the lower-right corner, here it is! Small article. "Dozens of MISSISSAUGA residents reported a UFO the size of a football field!" I don't remember the whole article. I never doubt myself again, no matter how much ridicule I am subjected to. After about 27 years, I just had to let it out.
Original news
Around the winter of 1980, January perhaps, I just got off work at 9:30 p.m. from the auto dealership. I was a car salesman at the time. I started driving towards the city of Toronto, Canada, on the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) eastbound to meet some friends at a bar on the Esplanad (a street lined with nightclubs). I didn’t have anything to drink and didn’t smoke any pot on that day/evening. As I was driving, I noticed a string of lights slowly rotating counter clockwise over the city of Toronto, at about the ten o’clock position from my point of view. This caught my eye because these formation of lights were very unusual. The lights were evidently in a circular pattern with about two thirds visible as the other third rotated out of view. Imagine a pie plate with about 25 lights around the circumference of it. As this “pie plate” would revolve, a third of these lights would be hidden from view as if they were obstructed by a solid body. It was at night so all I could see was these rotating string of lights but they were definitely on a “fixed” platform as the lights were revolving in unison.
Although I’ve heard of UFO’s and was curious, at that time in my life, I didn’t really give that much thought about them. I’ve always been interested in nature and especially about the universe. I’ve seen all kinds of aircraft and advertising blimps at night before. I drove taxi’s off and on for fifteen years on the night shift and have seen countless meteors, lightening, satellites etc. On two occasions I’ve even seen extremely bright, slow falling, green fireball meteors lighting up the ground, for a couple of seconds, as if it was daylight. I’ve read, in later years, were other witnesses reported green fireballs as UFO’s. I chuckled to myself thinking how easily “UFO believers” can be fooled by natural phenomenon.
Anyway, these circle of lights were slowly descending and approaching towards me (westbound), while I was driving about 115 kilometers per hour on the highway eastbound. These lights were getting closer and closer as “we” approached each other. I recall thinking to myself that this must be some kind of advertising balloon and those lights were letters. As I kept driving, I was paying more and more attention to this object because the closer it was getting, the more unusual it looked. I kept glancing at it, while driving, waiting until it was close enough to read what these letters were saying, still thinking it was some kind of advertising blimp. The closer it got, the more I looked at it. Now at my nine o’clock position, the string of rotating lights started to bank left like an airplane would “turning right” At this point, I realized that these lights were not letters at all. They were different shaped, yellowish white lights.
The reason these lights were different in shape was because they were “ingrained” into some body. When the lights were seen head on, they were circular. But as they rotated out of “direct” view, they changed shape like the different crescents of the moon. That’s why they appeared to be all different shapes. Anyway, during the time when this object started to bank left, from my point of view, I was struggling with myself trying to understand whether this was a plane or a balloon. It was flying too slow for a plane, yet, too fast for a blimp. Also, it didn’t appear to be flying or floating. The best way I can describe it’s motion is that it looked like it was “sailing” in the sky. What’s interesting here is that the human brain tries to associate what the eyes are seeing, to something already seen or experienced before. That’s why I was at war with myself trying to decide whether this object was a plane, blimp or a balloon.
Every time I resigned myself to what I must be witnessing, I jumped to another conclusion. This jumping from one conclusion to another occurred during the whole experience. I was imagining all kinds of things. For example, if it was a plane, the only way these lights could have been positioned was in a circle because this plane must have had some kind of supporting structure in a circle from wing tip to wing tip. This didn’t make any sense at all. I’ve seen advertising planes before. This was nothing like this. Not even close. Then I was trying to imagine a “Goodyear blimp” with these letters going across it’s side. This was nothing like it either. So here I was, trying to drive and watch this object at the same time. As I was driving, I started to slow down because I kept looking at this circle of lights more than the road ahead of me. In retrospect, I don’t even know how I kept my car on the road because I was so awed by this display in the sky.
Here is the killer.
As the object kept banking and banking more and more, it eventually ended up totally perpendicular to the ground! The first thing that came to mind was a big Ferris wheel rotating in the sky. At this point I slowed down to about 50 KPH (30 miles an hour in a 60 MPH highway for my American friends) and put my four way, flashing hazard lights on my car fearing that another car would smash into the back of me for going so slow on a 100 KPH highway.
Here is the shocker.
As I was mesmerized by this UFO, a surge of adrenaline hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn’t realize how big this thing was. At first I thought it was the size of an airplane fairly close. It was gigantic! At least twice the size of a football field, bigger than an aircraft carrier! I don’t know what gave away it’s size. Maybe the reflections of light on the ground. The best way I can relate this sudden realization is like one of those illusions most of us have seen. You know, when you look at a pixel drawing with an image you can’t see until you stare at it for a while? After a period of time, you make out the face of a women or something like that?
That’s kind of the transformation I experienced. At first I thought the object was the size of a large plane than suddenly I really saw it. It was huge! I yelled out loud to my self, “holey crap”, it’s huge”. I don’t freaking believe it, It’s freaking huge! I thought it was fairly close at first, than bang!, it was much farther away and larger than my brain first comprehended it. Speaking about this surge of adrenaline. Have you ever had a really close call having a car accident? When your heart rate skyrockets to about 180 beats per minute? That’s what I felt when I realized how gargantuan this object was! I could literally feel my heart pounding like crazy. To be frank, it literally scared the hell out of me, when I realized how big it was. At this point, I rolled down my window and pointed to this giant “Ferris wheel” in the sky to the other motorists, but it appeared no one seemed to notice as they screamed by me at regular highway speeds. I remember how cold it was when I rolled down my window. It was something like minus 30 Celsius below zero.
After, I don’t know how long, probably only a few seconds of rotating in this perpendicular position, this thing started to climb and right itself and “sail” back to the direction it originally came from. I rolled up my window, turned off my hazard lights, and started to speed up to chase it. Still it seemed other motorists didn’t notice this object. It still irks me to this day. As I was approaching the city limits, this object was in it’s flat position again climbing over the city. Then, all of a sudden, the rotating lights turned off except for a red “aircraft like” blinking light (which I never noticed before). After a few seconds, the rotating lights turned on again. It was like in the movie “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind”. The lights just blasted on. Then after a few seconds they turned off again as it seemed to be right over the city. Strange behavior. Now I was exiting off of the highway on to Spadina Rd. I lost track of these lights because of the tall buildings. When I was on the street where I was going, I saw a cop parked on the other side of the road writing a parking ticked.
I stopped in the middle of the road and ran over to him. He was quite taken aback by my seemingly aggressive approach. I asked him, “how long have you been here?” I forgot what he said, but I asked, “did you see that big circle of lights flying in the sky? He said “no”. After parking my car, I met my friends at the bar, “Baily’s”, and told them what happened but they didn’t take me seriously as they’ve already had a few and were more interested in the ladies. After “sitting at the bar by myself” for a couple of hours I went home. I was living at my parent’s house at the time, temporarily, so when I got home around 1:00 A.M., I called the police. I didn’t know who else to phone at the time. They didn’t take me seriously of course so after that, I phoned the Toronto International Airport and managed to get through to Air Traffic Control and asked them if they had anyone call in with a UFO report. Nothing. So I called the police again and convinced them to take me seriously as I wanted to make a report. They told me they can send a couple of officers to my house. As it was late and my parents were asleep, I told them I’d rather come to the station the next day to report. Next morning, when I contemplated going in I decided not to, fearing they would think I’m some kind of wacko. As the days went by, scanning the newspapers looking for a “UFO sighting” to no avail, I started doubting myself. I was trying to convince myself that perhaps I was somehow mistaken. Maybe it was something not out of the ordinary at all. Maybe it was a balloon or airplane of some kind. Maybe like thousands of others, I witnessed something that I misinterpreted for something else.
And now the conclusion.
About a week or so later, on or about the tenth page of the Toronto Star, bottom right hand corner, there it was! A short article. “Dozens of Mississauga residents reported a UFO as big as a football field!” I don’t recall the whole article. I’ll never doubt myself again no matter how much ridicule I’ll be subjected to. After about 27 years, I just had to let this out.
Hypotheses
Investigation
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