Size of Object(s)

disk=shaped, 20-30 feet in diameter

Distance to Object(s) & Altitude

2 blocks

Shape of Object(s)

disk

Color of Object(s):

glowed reddish-orange

Full Description & Details

In the early summer of 1965, I think it was June, because we were on summer break- two friends and I watched a diisk 20-30 feet wide hover for 20 minutes at treetop level about two blocks away. We gauged the width of the disk by comparing it to the large tree it was near. Our ages were about 16, 14, and 13. We were sitting on the roof of the duplex that we were living in (they were sisters living on one side and I lived on the other). The disk glowed an orange color and there were what appeared to be thick lighted windows around the middle, although we did not see anything through them. We had a pair of those opera glasses-type binoculars that fold down like an old-fashioned cigarette case. The object was totally silent. It was a very quiet neighborhood, and we would have noticed a noise. When the aircraft departed, it did so at an amazing velocity; it did not seem to require time for acceleration. The craft was smoothe in its flight and totally silent. ONE OF THE MOST INTERESTING things about the aftermath of that night was that there was an article in the the Des Moines Register and Tribune the next morning about a number of U.F.O. sightings nationwide the previous night. In addition, one of the local radio stations (KIOA or KSO, I think) had a summer-long nightly program where people could call in their U.F.O sightings. I cannot find any record of that online, but my neighbors and I were on the roof almost nightly that summer listening to the radio show and looking for more U.F.O.'s. I saw at least one more that I vowed to remember--a U.F.O. that was flying at hundreds of miles an hour across the sky, high up, and without slowing down, went straight up at a right angle to its flight path. It was flying faster than any jet I had ever observed at the time. I would love to know if the Des Moines radio station kept any records of that "U.F.O. call-in" program, or if any of the old disc jockeys remember it.

Witness Background

I'm a professional with a master's degree; I think I'm pretty rational.

Reported Sighting?