A cylinder-shaped UFO about 3 to 5 times larger than a commercial plane hovered low over a California freeway, according to witness testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.
The September 3, 2009, sighting was recently posted to the MUFON UFO reporting area by a witness who was driving to work along a stretch of Highway 80 between Pinole and Hercules about 5:50 a.m. that day.
As the witness came within one-quarter mile of the object, it appeared to be between 50 and 100 feet off of the highway, and between 500 and 1,000 feet off of the ground.
The silent and hovering object was described as three cylinders - "two smaller cylinders on the outside and one large cylinder in the middle that protruded past the smaller cylinders. It appeared all three cylinders were connected. There was also no markings."
Pinole is a city in Contra Costa County, California, population 19,039, and is located 20 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Photo: San Pablo Avenue, Pinole. Wikipedia image.
A similar report was made to MUFON on September 5, 2009, regarding a September 4, 2009, incident along the same stretch of I-80 between Pinole and Hercules at 8 p.m. In MUFON Case # 19077, the reporting witness described a pulsating object where the lights indicated it may have been a rectangular shape.
Following is the unedited and uninvestigated report from MUFON. Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If Northern California MUFON investigates and reports back on this case, I will release an update.
CA, September 3, 2009 - Large Hovering Cylinders off I80. MUFON Case # 20830.
At around 5:50 on sept 03, 2009. I was driving on my way to work. Sky was very clear with no clouds & still dark. As I was headed down a small hill between Pinole & Hercules on Hwy 80. I noticed two very bright lights just slightly above the tree line on my left side.
They were pointed in my direction which was roughly a mile away. It caught my attention as those lights were not normal for that area. My 1st thought was roadwork.
However the lights were too high up to be flood lights. Since I was on a hill going down the hwy. I had a clear view of anything in the far distance. I glanced around and noticed nothing other than flowing traffic. Next I thought it was a traffic helicopter or possibly there was an accident & someone was being airlifted. At that time in the morning it’s not uncommon you see accidents as people are rushing to get to work.
I focused my eyes on the light trying to determine what the source of light was. About 3/4 mile away two smaller lights started to strobe back & forth. The large bright lights still remained on. As I got closer the lights were so bright you had to squint a little. When I was roughly 1/4 mile away I noticed there was this very large dark object hovering about 500-1000 feet from the ground.
At first glance the object was dark & cylinder shaped. It didn’t appear to have wings nor windows. It was roughly 50-100ft to the left of the hwy. I slowed down to about 40mph and the car behind me stepped on his brakes & went around me. When the object was directly in front of me I rolled my driver window down & stuck my head out the window. It was 3-5 times bigger than a commercial plane. It made no sound and was just hovering like a kite.
As I drove past the object I could see there were THREE large cylinders. Two smaller cylinders on the outside and one large cylinder in the middle that protruded past the smaller cylinders. It appeared all three cylinders were connected. There was also no markings.
At the moment I had to make a quick decision if I should stop and pull over or keep driving to work. Also the junction to switch hwy’s was around 1000ft so I had to act quick. I was so dazed & confused about what I was seeing my reaction was to head to work. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen so about a ½ mile away I turned around and headed back. It took me less than a minute to get back to the spot where I saw the object but it was nowhere in sight.
I searched the local news papers to see if anyone else had reported seeing the object but I didn’t find anything. I know for a fact someone else had to have seen what I saw as it was right next to a major highway. Luckily I found this site & Im hoping someone else saw what I saw. One last note. I thought it was strange while I was searching the internet for reports of the object. There was a UFO convention (The bay area UFO EXPO) the following week.
I told my family & friends but they didn’t believe me. Honestly I don’t care what they think. I know what I saw!
