Appearance / Description of Object(s)

Oval shaped, flat, two-dimensional, gray. No lights and made a rhythmic, swishing sound. No engine noise.

Size of Object(s)

Unable to tell size, but covered up the moon briefly.

Distance to Object(s) & Altitude

object was at cloud level. Clouds were scattered and coming from southwest.

Description of Area / Surroundings

Urban area in a small town. Possibly a Sunday night. Very quiet. No traffic.

Full Description & Details

My wife and I were renting a house in Holt, Michigan during the summer of 1961. We had been out and returned home about 10:00 p.m. When we got out of the car , I noticed that there was a full moon and some of the features were especially vivid and distinct. When we went into the house, I decided to get my binoculars to get a better look at the moon. My wife stayed inside. I remember leaning over the hood of our car and resting my elbow to support the binoculars. There was no traffic on our street and the night was quiet. Suddenly, I heard a rhythmic, swishing noise coming from my left. MY first thought was that the noise was at street level, but quickly rejected that because of no traffic. At that point, I knew the noise was coming from above and traveling east to west. I could not see anything and could only hear this swishing sound. When the sound reached my line of sight with the moon, I was amazed to see a huge, oval shaped object traveling in a westerly direction. There were no lights; only the swishing noise and a flat-looking,gray oval shaped object. I quickly tried to see the object with my binoculars but do not remember seeing much. Since there were very few clouds, I thought that it was unusual that I could not see this object until it was back-lighted by the brightness of the full moon. When the object passed from under the moon, I could no longer see it but could still hear the swishing sound. I was somewhat familiar with the aircraft of that generation because I had been in the Air Force r.o.t.c. program at Michigan State and had opportunities to see different kinds of airplanes.I know that it was not an airplane, a balloon or a dirigible.

Can sighting be explained as any conventional man-made or natural object?

Definitely not! This was not an airplane, not a blimp( no engine noise) There were no lights. I could not see it until it was back-lit by the full moon. I could follow its travel by the distinct swishing noise.

Witness Background

I am a salary retiree from General Motors. I have a B.A. from Michigan State University. I am married and have grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Views on UFOs, before and after sighting

I had no previous convictions about ufos before that experience in 1961. Since then, I have read about the subject extensively and believe that they do exist.

Other Comments

Although the actual sighting was 5-10 seconds, the swishing sound was longer; possibly 30 to 60 seconds.

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