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Enigma Labs UFO Reporting
The UFO flew by at around ten mph, and nearly scrapped the top of a five story building nearby.

UFO case files revealed pt V

Thessaloniki, Greece, 1967

Illustration by Michael Schratt

Illustration by Michael Schratt.

On September 4, 1967 Dimitrious (last name removed) and his brother were setting up stereo equipment on the terrace of their three story home in Thessaloniki Greece. Just as Dimitrious was about to turn on the equipment, he younger brother called out to him saying: “Hey, Dimitri, what is this?” Both described a disc shaped craft that flew no more than 20 feet directly over their heads. The UFO flew by at around ten mph, and nearly scrapped the top of a five story building nearby. The object was described as being approximately twenty five feet in diameter and seven feet high. Small lighted square shaped port-holes were located around the outer rim. A small six foot diameter dome was located on the top surface of the craft. The witness described the exterior as having a light gray “hammered” metallic surface. The object had no spinning motion about the vertical axis, and its flight path was described as “gliding on an oil pathway in the sky.” Both witnesses stood in amazement as the object disappeared from sight, heading towards a nearby Air Force radar station on the top of Hortiatis Mountain.

Original sketch done by the principle eyewitness.

Original sketch done by the principle eyewitness.

Gresham, Oregon, 1988

Illustration by Michael Schratt.

Illustration by Michael Schratt.

Note: This report has been reproduced in its entirety from the original CUFOS case file.

The time of the sighting was 9:45 PM. The circumstances were as followed. My friend, Tom (last name removed to protect identity) and I dined out in Vancouver, Washington, drove back along the Columbia River and crossed over Oregon on I-205. It was a clear, moonless night. The music from the car radio was soothing, and I had laid my head my head back on the seat and closed my eyes. Tom exited from I205, and swung the car onto 84N, going east toward Gresham. Six or seven minutes later, we topped the rise on the Freeway at 181st, and as we began the assent on the other side, Tom spotted wavering lights rotating to the left of and about sixty feet above the freeway. I heard him gasp, “what in the hell is that?”

My eyes flew open, and I looked up in a direction he was pointing. There, just slightly in front and about 20 feet above the car was what at first appeared to be flickering letters turning counter-clockwise, and I started to comment that it must be a helicopter with an advertising sign, but before I could complete the sentence my mind had seen the flaws in that scenario, and the object had moved about thirty feet ahead of us. The heat waves that had caused the shimmering effect when we were beneath the craft were now ahead of us, and we could see the object more from the side. What we were looking at was a classic UFO, some forty-five feet across (we later figured) with a dozen lighted windows followed by a dozen dark windows. These windows rotated counter-clockwise with the craft once every twenty-six seconds. The windows were located on the outside rim of the saucer part.

The saucer seemed to lead us, then it stopped across the freeway on the far side of a row of fir trees. It floated about ten feet below the top of the trees. When it came into a hovering position, we pulled off the side of the road, turned off the lights, and sat and watched it. We were now on the right-hand side of the freeway – facing east, and the saucer was hovering just across the four lane highway, and near the top of the trees. This put our view approximately 200 feet from the UFO.

Cars and trucks occasionally passed us, unaware of the phenomenon. “Why aren’t they stopping? Why don’t they see it?” I cried. (To me, this will remain one of the most mysterious parts of the sighting.) We could not take our eyes off it. I suggested that we make verbal notes of every detail to transcribe later, and we were soon making statements, such as, “I count 12 windows before the dark ones appear. It’s hard to count as it turns, but – there – see, there are twelve at one time!” Or, “The part that doesn’t turn – that conning tower, is as tall as it is wide.” The details that I will relate came from these verbal notations and notes I made as we drove to my home afterward – which was about five minutes from our parking place on the freeway.

When we first saw the craft, it was directly overhead, there was a faint noise similar to a helicopter. Now looking at it, we could hear nothing. The craft floated in exactly one spot with no up/down or side to side variance. It was round in girth, flat on the bottom, with large rectangular windows about four feet by five feet on the outside rim. There was space – guessing four to six inches – between each window. The light in the windows was a brilliant white, yet emitted no beam outside the craft. The light was so bright, we could see nothing inside.

The object itself was a dull non-reflective black. Had it not been for the fact that the object was back-lit by the lights of Kruger’s Truck Stop about ¾ of a mile away, the dull black portion, against a moonless night sky, would have made the object invisible. As it was, it was in clear silhouette. The object had what I termed a “conning tower”. As tall as it was wide – some fifteen feet in width and height, this portion did not turn with the outer portion. It was stationary. This was easily ascertainable by the fact that on the left side, a rectangular shaped pole at least six inches across projected upward – around three feet. Two red ball shaped were located on the flat top of the conning tower. We could see one slightly offset to the left behind the one in front. These lights appeared to be about the size of a basketball, and did not blink.

The conning tower appeared to be almost 1/3 of the entire width of the vehicle. During this time, Tom and I had discussed his getting a camera out of the trunk. I couldn’t imagine that a normal camera could take such a picture at night. Certainly, it would have blurred. But I now regret that we didn’t try. I was not anxious to have him out in the open. We had been forced to conclude that we were watching a vehicle from outer space. If it was manned, it was manned by beings alien to us. While we did not feel threatened, we had a strong feeling that we were not only being observed, but being considered for some reason.

We continued watch for at least five to six minutes. Suddenly, the craft began to move upward, and toward the southeast. It was headed directly for a large passenger plane beginning its landing approach over Gresham – for its decent into the Portland Municipal Airport. Within three seconds, the UFO had risen the approximately 3,000 feet to the plane, circled around the far side behind the tail, and came to rest just under the left wing where it floated in exact position as if held by an invisible thread. We were able then to compare its size: it was about 2/3 of the length of the wing. During the time it flew under the wing, the airliner seemed to be fully lit and shiny silver – which I will mention later. About two minutes later, the UFO seemed to tire of that game, and flew back down in a northeasterly direction – coming out just beyond the Wood Village exit. By then, maneuvering to keep the vehicle in sight, we were just entering the off ramp. As we came to the top, the UFO was speeding along the freeway toward Troutdale, about twenty feet above the freeway lights at a speed that must have been two or three hundred miles per hour. I say that because in the minute it took us to reach the top of the ramp, it was disappearing in the distance.

At this point, we returned home. I made a few notes on the way, and more when we arrived. We discussed the encounter briefly, and Tom left. It was not until the following Thursday that the event seemed to come back full force, and we both realized that we should take some steps toward reporting the event. We began by calling the Troutdale airport. They had no reports of a sighting. At Portland airport, it was the same. We were given a phone number in Washington State to call. It was answered by a bored voice, who took down the details and hung up. Two months later, we heard of a UF club (PUFON)   at Mr. Hood Community College and attended a meeting hoping that someone aboard the plane had been a witness. Although there was one report UFO’s hovering over a house near that date – it was of a type where the windows were on the conning tower portion. Not our type at all. We came to a blank wall. We could find no bona fide agency to report to.

Both Tom and I had been skeptics of UFO’s and those who reported such incidents, and our emotions were mixed. During those first few days, we had to adjust to facts we had hither-to found unbelievable. To accept that we are not alone in this world, that we are being visited by aliens and alien craft, is a difficult transition. It took us from Saturday until Thursday. We could not, however, deny what we had so clearly seen. Nor could we believe that for some unexplainable reason we had both experienced eight minutes of total insanity. We have, as Americans, been brainwashed since birth, lied to by our government, convinced that UFO’s don’t exist, told that 99% of all sightings are weather balloons, and embarrassed publically. So, it was with some shock and great humility that we felt it necessary to share our experience. Our friends were….polite. Our families were amused and astonished that two upstanding grandparents (Tom was 68 and I 58) could even think of such a thing. Tom was a retired lithographer, and I was a retired ballroom teacher turned secretary who was soon to get a full FBI clearance in order to join the US Department of Justice. Our friends and relatives knew we weren’t liars or weirdoes, but it was hard to believe something they had not seem themselves.

After that, we watched the skies, and we knew what to look for. Not only did we never see anything close to the UFO, we never saw an airliner on its approach over Gresham – at night – that shone silver. We must assume that the UFO by some means had lit up the side of the plane. One has to believe that the pilot of that plane saw something, but our nation does not provide a viable atmosphere where a pilot can feel secure if he makes such a report. I wondered if the passengers had reported it, but had no way to find out. I guess if I had one wish about that night, it would be that the pilot would step forward and describe what he saw. In the end, we were left with three very bothersome questions: Why are we being observed? Do they all come from the same place? (The variety of UFO’s seems unending.) Where are they staying now? Surely they don’t commute to home base every night. Doesn’t that last thought scare you just a little bit? Wouldn’t we all feel better if our government would stop sweeping this under the rug, and begin a search for where they are staying?

AutoCAD drawing by Michael Schratt.

AutoCAD drawing by Michael Schratt.

Maracaibo, Venezuela, 1972

AutoCAD drawing by Michael Schratt.

AutoCAD drawing by Michael Schratt.

Note: The following case has been reproduced in its entirety, and was derived from the original witness report and sketches from the CUFOS files.

This report of activity may be of interest in that the operational pattern appears to differ from the norm of most sightings. The units observed moved in a manner similar to that of a normal aircraft. Changes in direction, altitude, or velocity were smooth and regulated. No oscillation or rotation noted, and no lights as such were visible. Two were sighted, a few minutes apart, both following the same track, and observed until disappearing on the distant horizon. Since there are interesting points concerning each, I will describe them individually.

This incident occurred in Maracaibo, Venezuela on December 26, 1972 at approximately 8:00 PM. My family, wife, daughter, and myself were living in a top floor (14th) apartment. My wife and I had just stepped out on our balcony to watch for an aircraft, a Convair, which usually came in low over the building most evenings. The weather was clear, and visibility unlimited. The bright city lights however, did affect night vision. The sky and countryside away from the city looked black.

We were facing the northeast, watching the activity in the streets, and expecting to see the Convair when this object appeared about two to three miles away as low as some of the apartment buildings coming straight at us dead level. It gave the appearance of an aircraft engine fire, flaming from the lower half of a nacelle under a wing. As it approached, I kept trying to spot an aircraft to go with the engine fire, but about four or five blocks away the object turned and pulled up to miss various buildings, and I could see it was not a conventional aircraft. After passing two tall buildings about two blocks from where we stood, it corrected to its original flight track, and descended to just above our observation level and passed within about 150 feet of us when passing our building. We moved quickly to the back side (south west) of our apartment, and watched as the object went toward the airport (about 15 miles away). At the airport, the object made smooth level turns, and followed around the contour outside the field (so help me! It did!) until back on its original course, and continued until lost in the distance, possibly 30 miles or more away.

We had a very distinct clear view of this object (underside only) as it passed close to our building. Its shape was somewhat elliptical, more rounded in front, and a little tapering toward the rear, with a small almost straight section at the stern. Width was forty feet, length fifty feet. Attached beneath the vehicle slightly forward of the center were two large (about 36 inch diameter) opposed hemispherical type “insulators” with two opposing “electrodes” about seven inches in diameter with a “gap” of about five inches between them. Between these two “electrodes” was passing a full, complete, and continuous “electric” arc similar to a carbon arc lamp or a welders stinger. Although exceedingly bright, you could watch the arc with the naked eye (at least for a few moments). Small wisps of smoke came off this arc just as they do off an arc lamp or welding rod. The odd thing of note is that this smoke wasn’t blown away in a slipstream, but seemed to travel along with the vehicle. Some had floated out as far as the periphery. This arc lighted the underside of the craft in fine detail, but its brightness prevented any accurate visual inspection of the top side against the dark night sky. This “light” was described by a friend and co-workers who observed this craft from a distance as having the appearance of a fireball moving over the city.

Moments after the first vehicle had disappeared on the horizon, my wife and I were still discussing the incident when I looked out toward the airport, glanced up, and was surprised to see a second craft almost above the building traveling very slowly (semi-hovering, about ten mph) on the same course, and directly over the same path of the first vehicle. This one was at about 500 feet altitude (about 350 feet above us). At this point I told my wife to take a look, and sent my daughter across the hall to borrow a neighbor’s binoculars. She returned with them in a few seconds. This second craft was identical in size, shape, and configuration to the first, but to see it in operation floating along ever so slowly, almost in a hover was like watching something out of science fiction. The same bright “electrical” arc was in operation as observed on the first, spreading an intense light on the underside of the craft. Around the perimeter starting about one third of the way back on each side was a series of ports or vents arranged in pairs out of which issued what would be described as flames. Through glasses, these had the appearance not of actual fire exhaust, but of an electrical type discharge. Unique is the fact that all the flames issued in a similar three dimensional wave design, and although there seemed to be movement within the “flames” the overall size and shape remained constant. Looking behind the “flames” inside the ports, as the craft moved away, it appeared there may have been some sort of circular, horizontal flow about the craft of whatever was causing the discharges.

Toward the stern of the craft were a couple of small shadows, possibly indicating circular openings. As it neared the edge of the populated area of the city, this second vehicle accelerated, and passed by the airport flying the same pattern around the field as the first, and continued until lost in the distance. Much more description could be given, but would serve little purpose without something tangible, and the main points have been touched upon. However, may I add that these two craft described were identical, finite pieces of hardware, and probably not too far beyond something any one of our top aircraft plants could produce.

About Michael Schratt

Michael Schratt (military aerospace historian) has lectured across the country on the subject of "Mystery Aircraft", and classified propulsion systems buried deep within the military industrial complex. A recent guest speaker at the “OSHKOSH” AirVenture 2006/2007 event, (the world’s largest air show), Michael has developed a number of contacts who have had first hand experience dealing with classified “black programs”, including former USAF pilots, retired Naval personnel and aerospace engineers who have maintained a TOP SECRET Q “MAJIC” clearance. A private pilot and military aerospace historian, he currently works as an aerospace draftsman/researcher near Tempe AZ.

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