Good news on this sighting. I think we have an ID on this case. It involves glasses, as in not wearing them when she should have. JO emailed me with her discovery months later when she happened to put on her glasses when she was up in the night. She said "aha!" as she recalled her UFO sighting. The look of street lights didn't look spiny or spiky! I'm definitely inclined to accept her solution to her UFO mystery. A more careful investigation probably would have discovered this solution. We now believe it was just an airplane flying very low over Portland on that night viewed without her glasses on. Remember, not all UFOs are flying saucers. Some are "IFOs"!
I have known this witness as a good friend since 1990. We met at a local Portland area monthly UFO get-together and worked to help manage the little group for many years in the 90s. She is a level-headed person just like many of us who happen to be interested in UFOs. She is no New Age "woo woo" person. She is a reader and has increased her knowledge over the years by reading good books on the subject. In all the time I've known her, she has never reported a UFO experience, not even a possible far away sighting. But she emailed me this past August and said, "I think I've seen my first UFO, Keith." I called her up and we both puzzled through her sighting trying to find a plausible ID. We finally decided she'd probably seen her first UFO, just like she thought.
I encouraged her to report her sighting to mufon.com, which she did. I also asked her to make a drawing of the object she saw. Thank you, JO, for doing the drawing.
UFO Type: One prominent, glowing, spiny UFO.
Sighting Duration: About 20 seconds.
Date: 8/24/2019
Time: 12:25 AM.
Place: SE Portland, Oregon.
Witness: J.O.
Here is JO's sighting in her own words from her initial email to me:
Hi Keith, It's JO. Well, I think I finally saw my first UFO early this morning about 12:25am. I was seeing something flashing thru my miniblinds in my east facing bedroom and got up to look. Wasn't wearing my glasses but I sure didn't need them! I saw a large circular prickly looking bright flashing/pulsing thing going from north to south from our house in SE portland. Was pretty large. I would say about a dime at arm's length. Definitely not a plane or helicopter. Moved slow enough for me to follow until it went behind trees and I lost sight of it. Colors? I think pink, yellow pulses maybe? Heard this from anyone else yet?? [Editor: No, we hadn't and still have not as of 9/13/19. Many times, very prominent UFOs are apparently not seen by anyone else. Is it a reporting problem? Or is it something else? Such as a UFO display meant only for the person who saw it. Believe it or not ufologists think that sometimes the latter explanation is the right one!]
And some added details from her MUFON UFO sighting report entry:
. . . The thing that impressed me the most was the prickly surface appearance and the large size. It had short reddish spines all over its surface, resembling a ripe horse chestnut. The spines were even visible with the glow from the orb. . . . Hard to estimate its actual size or distance from me. Maybe a mile away? Definitely not in my back yard!
Here are her drawing and a photo of a spiny fruit reminiscent of what her UFO looked like:
