Woman Snaps Photo of Large Formation of Lights
Near Ellensburg, Washington

Date: September 17, 2004
Date reported: November 23, 2004
Location: Ellensburg, WA
Latitude: 47.0 Degrees North
Longitude:  120.5 Degrees West
Weather:  Partly Cloudy
Time: Near Midnight P.D.T.
Duration: Unknown
Number Witnesses: Two

Description: I received a phone call from a gentleman who said that he knew a woman that had taken some photos of numerous large lights in Eastern Washington.  Subsequently the lady sent me the photos.  She said that she spotted them to the Southeast and took a couple of photos.  She said that she knew what they were and thought that they were flares being used for tested by the army.   She thought that the flares were 15 to 30 miles away when she took the photos.  She said that the lights were very bright.

Investigator Notes:  An interview with the witness has revealed that the photo was of military flares being tested by the Army near Yakima, Washington.  (The U.S. Army regularly conducts exercises over a large area near Yakima.)  The witness stated that a local TV station had issued a bulletin telling viewers not to call 911 because the military was testing flares near Yakima (to the Southeast of Ellensburg.)  The witness immediately grabbed her camera and her son viewed the lights through binoculars.  The witness stated that she could actually see the smoke trails from the flares.

Bottom Line:  The photo above is of military flares.  (Perhaps some other sightings of groups of lights by witnesses could be the result of flares.) No further investigation of this case will be made.