To: artesia@usa.net,jimskinny@hotmail.com,artesia@usa.net
From: Submitted-Sightings
Subject: Submitted UFO Sighting Report

LOCATION : Belle, MO
DATE-Sighting : Oct. 1988 ?
TIME-Sighting : around 8:?pm

This is your Submitted Sighting Report :

Hello,

My name is Bryan Clark. I had a sighting about ten years ago and I never
had the resources to check out what I had seen until I got on the net. Which
brings me to the point as to why I am writing you. The official comments that
were made about the sighting were unacceptable and I believe, would be to anyone
who actually saw this object. Unfortunately, I can't pinpoint the exact date,
which is a problem. However, there are other details that may help identify this
sighting. That way, someone may be able to help me find more realistic
explanations as to what I saw that night. Below is an account of the events as
I remember them.

It was Oct. of 1988 (unsure of these dates) about eight o'clock or a little
later, when I was going to visit a friend, who lives in a rural part of
Missouri. I pulled into his driveway, got out of the car and went to the door
and knocked. My friend was not at home. I got ready to get back into the car and
leave, when I noticed several lights in the western sky. They were moving
toward me at a slow but steady speed. I moved away from the car and into a field
adjacent to my friend's house. I could not make out what it was. There was no
discernible silhouette, just several lights coming my way. The object then got
directly over head and seem to take up the entire night sky. I then noticed that
the lights (There were at least three lights maybe more, I don't really recall.)
seem to be attached to one large object. The lights seem to be facing toward the
object instead of facing outward as you would expect. When I looked at the
object, I got the impression that this is what a blimp would look like if it had
been flying at night with the lights turned toward it. The object seem to be
just above my head, about two hundred feet or so, I'm just guessing. There was
dead silence, I heard nothing that would explain its propulsion except the wind.
Even though the object moved slowly, I think it would have moved even slower if
governed by the wind alone. I continued to watch the object until it
disappeared in the eastern sky. This may have been a total of five to ten
minutes. It never once slowed down or veered from a straight course and seem to
stay the same distance from the ground the entire time. I got into the car
trying to sort out what I had seen, debating on if I should tell anyone else. I
went to eat a late dinner and then decided I would go and tell another friend of
mine about the experience. I got to his house right at ten o'clock. The local
news was just coming on. Just before I had the chance to tell him about my
experience, the first line of the news cast said "If you saw it, you weren't
the only one." They continued to say reports had come in by the hundreds and
that it had been seen in at least seven different states that night. An
investigation was under way. The next morning there was a small news segment
about scientists thinking it may have been a gaseous cloud that had ignited in
the upper atmosphere but it was still being investigated. On the following day
the official report stated, it was a Russian Rocket that was reentering the
earth's atmosphere. I have problems with all the above explanations. For
instance, Anything burning I believe would at least flicker. This was not
consistent with what I had seen. The lights never blinked or seem to diminish in
any way. It maintained a slow but direct course and stayed the same distance
from the ground the entire time. I have never seen a falling star or meteors do
anything like that. If they had said it was a low flying blimp, I would have
believed this before any of the other explanations. That is, before I heard it
had been reported in seven different states that night. But after hearing this,
I began to wonder if there may have been more than one object roaming the skies
that night. What I am looking for is any other credible explanations as to what
this may have been. If you have any info on the sighting I am referring to or
can lead me to others that may be able to help me. Please feel free to forward
this letter or e-mail me. I would very much appreciate it.

Thank You,
Bryan Clark
(ClarkB@npwt.net)