INTRODUCTION TO SIGHTING
Recently, I was contacted by Lawrence Gessner, former Sheriff in Sheridan County, city of McClusky, North Dakota. He related a UFO sighting to me, and sent along copies of the original police report, titled "Unidentified Flying Object Report." The report references an event that occurred on July 10, 2003.
The report reads as follows:
On 07-10-03 at approximately 2300 hours, my wife Kelly went outside on our back deck to have a cigarette. While she was looking up into the southeastern sky, she noticed a small formation of three or four stars.
One of the stars shot straight down and stopped. A series of red lights came on, and the object started moving in a northwest direction. She yelled for me to get out there, and when I got outside I saw what I first believed to be an aircraft, except the red, white, and green lights were in a vertical formation, not horizontal.
DESCRIPTION OF OBJECT
I now noticed that the speed of this object was relatively slow. I listened, and heard a muffled sound much like a jet aircraft makes. The object got closer, and I estimated it to be about 1,000 feet in the air.
It was just light enough to make out a silhouette. The object was longer from top to bottom than it was from front to back. It had depth to it, and if I were to associate a shape to it, I would say diamond-shaped.
The craft had two small, red lights on the front of it, and two small, red lights on the rear about in the center of it. When it got closer, I noticed several larger windows that projected light from inside the craft.
LIGHT CONFIGURATION
There were three larger red and green lights running vertically along the front edge of the craft. I was trying to pay attention to as many details as I could, and the one thing that stands out in my mind is that the speed was so slow and the muffled jet engine sound did not match and the sound was farther behind the craft.
I also estimated this craft to be around 100 feet long and approximately 200 feet high. It was moving too slowly for its size. The sky was lighter in the west, and I was hoping that when it got in a position that the sky was lighter, I would be able to tell what it was.
SHAPED LIKE A DIAMOND
As the craft got to this position, I noticed the diamond-shape of this craft, and that it was not flat, but did have some depth to it. We had been watching it for approximately 30 seconds. I knew it was right over my deputy's house, so I ran inside and called him.
I told him to go outside and look up, because there was some sort of UFO over his house. My wife had run out to the front porch, and I went outside and she told me about the same time I said UFO that the craft stopped, the red lights went out, the jet engine sound stopped, there was a soft, white glow around the back of the craft, and the craft shot straight up and disappeared. The craft was approximately 6-10 miles away at this point. My deputy called back to tell me he saw nothing.
WITNESS CREDIBILITY
I have spent 14 years in the U.S. Air Force, all of them around jet aircraft. I cannot explain what we witnessed using any logical means. Our Law Enforcement dispatch center is handled on a state wide basis.
I called State Radio and identified myself by my unit # 4610, and inquired if they had received any reports of strange aircraft or UFO reports. I was told NO. They informed me that if they did, they would notify me.
The report is signed:
Lawrence F. Gessner
