Third Sighting: September 15, 1998
- Cle Elum, Washington -

Actual Location (Facing East) & a Depiction of Seven Lights

Animation of Orb at Actual Location of Sighting
(Note: The Orb in This Graphic is Not the Moon)
(Witness Stated That Orb Moved More Smoothly Than Animation)

Third Sighting:
Date: September 15, 1998
Time: 10:30 PM P.D.T.
Date reported: December 1, 2004
Location: Cle Elum, WA (Approximately 100 Miles E. of Seattle)
Latitude: 47.21099 Degrees North
Longitude: 120.94868 Degrees West
Weather: Partly Cloudy  
Duration: Unknown
Number Witnesses: Two

Description (In Witness's Own Words): On Sept 15 while I was watering the horses around 10:30 pm I looked up at the clouds to the East and saw what I thought at first were bright stars. Then I realized the stars were moving and out of the clouds came 7 of these lights (see illustration). The lights passed overhead the length of the yard and I ran after them. They then angled to the northwest and I lost sight of them in the light of town (Cle Elum).  We had company so our friend came outside. We were standing by the pasture and I was describing what I saw when a huge golden yellow orb appeared to pass from behind one cloud to another. The orb sighting was later in the evening.  (see illustration) It was much bigger than the oval light objects.

Investigative Notes: This is the third in the series of sightings made by the witness in 1997 and 1998.  This sighting began with seven lights which moving in formation from East to West.  She then sighted a large well defined golden yellow orb.  (The illustration provided shows the orb to be orange.)  A check of astronomical data shows that on the date of the sighting the moon rose at around 1:30 AM and set at around 4:30 PM.  Also the moon was in the "waning crescent" phase and was only 23% visible.)  Therefore the moon was not visible at the time and location of the sighting.  A check of sightings in the area from the National UFO Reporting Center website showed that a bluish-green fireball was sighted over Puyallup, WA at 11:00 PM PDT.  The Cle Elum and Puyallup sightings are not likely related as the characteristics were quite different.

Special Note: The witness has had several encounters with UFOS and strange lights.  She keeps a record of dates and writes down her experiences in a journal.  For this reason she has been able to provide accurate details of sightings that occurred several years ago.

Bottom Line:  I have checked available UFO databases and have found no record of sightings in this area.  These strange lights behaved intelligently and do not fit any astronomical or meteorological phenomena.  Therefore based on available data I can't identify this sighting.