# I saw a UFO today **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 31, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554 "2003-10-31T00:30:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/1 "2003-10-31T00:30:52Z")
Yep. At about 5:00 today I was sitting in the park, writing in my notebook, when I happened to glance up. At first I thought it was a plane. But it seemed much smaller and was flying pretty low. And it was oval shaped. And it was glowing. I have no idea what it was. It was moving pretty fast in a straight line. Eventually it disappeared behind the trees on the horizon. I’m sure there’s some prosaic explanation, but I am baffled. I don’t usually see strange stuff like this. Does anyone have any idea what it could be? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/2 "2003-10-31T00:48:59Z")
Where are you located? City, suburban or rural? Any nearby airports? Any nearby universities? Any other witnesses? Was it daytime, night, twilight, dusk, dawn? ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/3 "2003-10-31T00:57:58Z")
Any nearby military bases? ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/4 "2003-10-31T01:24:49Z")
_puts on his sunglasses_ _Takes a silver thing out of his pocket_ _FLASH_ It was swamp gas reflecting off a weather balloon. Move along, nothing to see here… ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/5 "2003-10-31T01:52:34Z")
[eerie Twilight Zone music] They’re going to come back get youuuuu… [/eTZm] ---
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/6 "2003-10-31T01:53:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor > > Where are you located? > > City, suburban or rural? > > Any nearby airports? > > Any nearby universities? > > Any other witnesses? > > Was it daytime, night, twilight, dusk, dawn? Central NY Suburban One very small airport One State University Just me Daytime. Sun goes down around 6:00. I didn’t notice the position of the sun at the time. That could account for the glow. No military bases… _that I know of…_ ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/7 "2003-10-31T01:53:36Z")
Damn it, I thought my Space Deep Ones had their cloaking device fixed. Stupid incompentant help . . . ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/8 "2003-10-31T02:43:41Z")
[TMQ] They were just taking the alien life form known as “Kurt Warner” back to his homeworld, now that his mission has been completed. [/TMQ] ---
**Author:** ![beegirl13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@beegirl13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beegirl13)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/9 "2003-10-31T03:42:02Z")
:eek: Central NY? I’m there too, though I wasn’t looking outside at the time you describe. _Gets out tinfoil hat, just in case_ ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/10 "2003-10-31T05:15:40Z")
Sounds like an airplane to me. Smaller because it was farther away than you thought. All the other parts of your description sound rather airplane-ish. ---
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/11 "2003-10-31T06:24:27Z")
The reason I think it was not an airplane is that it was low enough that I could see detail on it. It was definately oval-shaped, no wings. There appeared to be another raised oval shape in the center of it. The more I think about it, the more it seems like some sort of balloon. It’s just that it was moving so fast and deliberately. Maybe it really _was_ swamp gas reflecting off a weather balloon. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/12 "2003-10-31T06:42:11Z")
Was there any wind that could explain the motion of a balloon? If it was glowing, the balloon hypothesis is unlikely anyway, as balloons generally do not glow. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/13 "2003-10-31T07:00:53Z")
Could it have been an AWAX banking? You would be seeing it from the side in a bank, and the AWAX thingy is oval shaped… That said, I saw one when I was 6. It was on my birthday, June 24. I was lying in the grass, just watching the trees and soforth. I so a flash, and noticed a bright silverish thing wayyy high (it seemed) it was like a plane without the wings. It had a contrail. I was 6 in 1952. Jets were very rare. Mylar wasn’t invented. Don’t know what it could have been, but thank Og, they didn’t kidnap me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/14 "2003-10-31T12:35:54Z")
Airports can and do release weather balloons. So do Universities. I mistook a weather balloon for a UFO back in the 70’s, & I was pretty skeptical, then. Even more so now. ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/15 "2003-10-31T12:47:40Z")
I saw an Unidentified Flying Object when I was younger. It was a white oval orb with green, blue, and red flashing lights on the edges of it. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/16 "2003-10-31T12:49:29Z")
Other than oval shape glowing what details were you seeing? It can be very difficult to judge the speed of an airborne object. How fast would you say it was going? ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/17 "2003-10-31T13:08:51Z")
Did it look like any of [these?](http://www.doorbell.net/tlr/ufo.htm) Note one is an glowing, oval shape. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/18 "2003-10-31T13:09:13Z")
It’s Greg Brady with a curtian, flute-thingie and a flashlight. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/19 "2003-10-31T14:57:29Z")
Just be thankful you weren’t abducted. Or not. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554/20 "2003-10-31T15:02:49Z")
Just read a relevant portion of Sagan’s **Demon-Haunted World** last night. Regarding high altitude balloons, he says the can seem saucer shaped when seen from the ground. If you misestimate how far away they are, you can imagine that they are going absurdly fast. Occasionally they abruptly change direction in response to gusts of wind, unlike aircraft. Chapter 5, page 83. Not saying this is THE answer, just a possibility. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-saw-a-ufo-today/210554.md?page=2)