Center of a UFO Storm - Event Date July 4, 2010

As can be seen in the map above that shows the intensity of UFO sightings in each state, Nebraska, a state that usually ranks no better than average for such things, was the center of a UFO sightings storm that lasted for no more than two hours one moonless evening on Independence Day in the year 2010. These sightings were also concentrated in the eastern porton of the state near the border with Iowa or south of Sioux City (Iowa) and west of Omaha (see map below). What follows are excerpts from nine sightings out of fifteen that were reported to either the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) or the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) within as little as just minutes to as much as two weeks after the sightings took place.

At approximately 9pm, in Papillion, in the southern Omaha area, a twenty year military veteran who works around aircraft saw an amber/orange fireball travelling from west to northeast at a very slow rate of speed. He said that the light was very bright and seemed to be on fire and that "I know what a plane looks like and this was not anything I have seen before." (reported 7/13/2010 to NUFORC's internet site; note: sunset was at 9pm)

Although no time for the next sighting was given, it would appear for two reasons that this report came from a time not long after the first report above and at least a bit earlier than the next report (which was at 9:55pm). People were in the thick of shooting off fireworks rather than at a time when they were winding down or just following them as is the case for many of the other reports. Also, this report is the furthest north in the area on that evening and the minimum of half a dozen witnesses saw the red/orange orb UFO travel from north to south along the river that defined the border between Nebraska and Iowa (3 miles east of the observers). In other words it was moving towards where most of the sightings took place from 10-11pm that night. It was noticed by at least one observer that the object pulsated, dimming and brightening in a manner similar to breathing. It moved steadily and fairly slow, never speeding up or making sharp turns. (reported 7/18/2010 to MUFON's internet site).

At least most of the remaining sightings happened between 10pm and 11pm. The 5 MUFON sightings had no times given except for one that mentioned multiple appearances with the last one happening at 11pm. In that event, a family that was watching fireworks on their pateo in North Bend saw an orange glowing sphere traveling in a straight, steady yet fairly fast pace across the sky. They saw it appear and disapear three times with 15 minutes between the first two sightings. Each time it was flying on the same path and same speed and disappeared into the north. During the last pass of the object, the person making the report said that their father used binoculars to get a better look at it and described it as a "sphere with 5 to 6 lights around it". (reported to MUFON on 7/5/2010)

Two sightings were reported to MUFON that were witnessed in Lincoln. One person, who was looking at the fireworks through an east facing window, first saw the orange light traveling from northeast to west. It headed towards his location and when it passed over his house he went outside with a pair of binoculars. Its speed and light were constant (no flashing lights like on a conventional aircraft), but then it started to dim. As it became faint while moving west he looked at it through the binoculars and saw a circular greyish object. He went back inside when it disappeared, but venturing outside again a bit later saw one coming from the west going east. He got his father to come out to see them and they saw a pair of them in the north moving from east to west and then one last object from the south heading north. (reported to MUFON on 7/5/2010)

The other sighting from Lincoln was by a couple who had a close encounter with one of three red orbs that exited from a hovering triangular craft. One of the orbs came within one hundred yards of them. That spooked the wife and they went back inside. They said it was completely silent, didn't behave like conventional aircraft and that it was obvious that they were intelligently controlled. (reported to MUFON on 7/5/2010)

The second earliest report time for Nebraska on this evening for sightings logged at the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) was at 9:55pm or almost an hour after the first one. At that time, one witness in the small town of Fort Calhoun, 8 miles north of Omaha, was out taking pictures of fireworks with his expensive camera. He noticed a reddish/orange light coming from the town of Bennington in the southwest. It was moving slower than a plane and heading north. It had no blinking lights and was traveling just over the cloud base on that partly cloudy evening. When he used his telephoto lens to zoom in on it he realized that it was actually three orbs close together. He went in the house to get his wife to come out to witness the event. They saw the object turn and move closer to their location for a short distance and then loop towards the south. At this point it was about twice as close as when he first observed it. Long before it would have faded from sight in the distance it simply blinked out. (reported to NUFORC on 7/14/2010)

Another sighting from North Bend (the previous one, a few sightings above this one, having been reported to MUFON), seems to be from a second group of witnesses to the very same event. They also mention that between the first and second appearance of the object 15-20 minutes had passed. They indicate that the first object was seen at 10pm and the third one at 11pm. It had first been seen coming from the southeast and traveled to the north (the other report also said it was traveling north). Its light was constant and it traveled at a fairly fast and steady clip as it moved silently through the sky. When it was northeast of them it quickly faded out of site. Each time the object appeared and disappeared it traveled along the same path as before and vanished in the same spot. On its third showing they had binoculars ready and found most of its light to come from the "perimeter of the circumference" of the sphere and it burned like the light of a candle. It was said to be ten times brighter than the brightest star. It was a moonless night. (reported to NUFORC on 7/5/2010)

At about 10:15pm in Columbus, a mother and her son were traveling home from the store when she spotted a basketball sized object in the west just above the trees that had "a red center with an orange misty glow around it". She turned down streets to follow it and saw it over a nearby house before she traveled a few more blocks to her house and ran out of the car to have her husband come look. By then it was getting smaller and dimmer in the south, but still too bright to be a star. A few minutes later it disappeared but returned once more about ten minutes later. (reported to NUFORC on 7/5/2010)

A third report from Lincoln (the most for any one location on this evening in Nebraska) was for a sighting that began at 10:30pm. At that time a couple witnessed "2 orange lights which were very bright in the sky, moving slowly and hovering over some residentials east of us. This was right over 21st & Superior." They then went inside to get dressed for work. A short time later a father of one of the two called to them that if they wanted to see a UFO that they better get back outside. In the same spot as they had seen the two orbs before they now saw five in a straight horizontal line formation. The two lights on each end then faded out and the three remaining lights formed a very large triangular pattern in the sky. "The top one than faded away and the 2 remaining "lights" on the bottom looked as if they began shifting. It truly looked like the circle lights were almost "morphing" into a crescent moon shaped light. Than quickly faded away." (the witness wasted no time to report this to NUFORC, 25 minutes after the sighting began)

For a more recent UFO storm that was 15 months ahead and just over 200 miles SSE of this one (both flaps also occurring near the Missouri river), go to a longer hub of mine entitled "Center of a UFO Storm -Event Date 10/4/2011".