Date:
June 19, 1985
Location: Redwood Valley, California, United States
Three
children were camping in their Redwood Valley backyard
when they heard a "whoosh" and saw a bright
light. The flying "ball of fire" made three
circles above their yard. Debbie, 11, said the object
was bigger than a beach ball. The object began to get
smaller and increase its speed until it disappeared in
the southwest.
Brother and sister Jessica and Shawn White, listen as
their friend Debbie Crumrlne
describes a flying "ball of fire" that circled
the White's yard while the three kids were
camping out with sleeping bags and lawn chairs. (source:
Bev Reeves, Ukiah Daily Journal)
Source:
Ukiah Daily Journal (Ukiah, CA), June 20, 1985
"UFO
startles camping kids"
By
MISSY CHESSHER Journal staff writer
Ukiah Daily Journal
When
three youngsters camping in their Redwood Valley backyard
Tuesday night heard a "whoosh" and saw
a bright light, they at first thought it was a jet and
then a fireball. Now, they don't know what it was.
"So
when do jets grow larger and larger?" asked 11-year-old
Debbie Crumrine to her camping companion, 8-year-old Jessica
White, who suggested the noise and light about 1 a.m.
could be a jet.
Shawn
White, Jessica's 11-year-old brother, thought the noise
was traffic until the bright light made him curious. "I
thought they were shining the flashlight in my face,"
Shawn said.
"It
just appeared from thin air," Debbie said. She
said the flying object came from the south and was traveling
north. The object then paused below the treetops in their
neighbor's yard "just like it had a mind of its
own," she said.
Debbie
said the object was bigger than a beach ball. She said
the object was red on the outside and blueish-green on
the inside - "Like the color of fire."
When
the object paused, she said the middle stopped while the
outside continued turning.
"The
thing that scared me the most was when it paused,"
Debbie said. "She was crying, and I thought I
was going to faint," Jessica said.
After
the object paused, Debbie said it continued traveling
on its path and then returned and made three circles above
their yard.
The
girls had seen enough. They covered their heads with their
sleeping bags, but Shawn continued to watch.
Shawn
said after the object had circled their yard, it began
to get smaller and increase its speed until it disappeared
in the southwest. "It went from a big rock, to
a Softball, to a star farwawy," he said.
He
said the object had a muffled sound like a jet and a streak
of fire behind it. "It was so big; it was so bright,"
Shawn said. "I thought I was going to get burned
up."
Debbie
said it was a cool night but the air seemed warmer while
the object circled in the sky. She said the incident lasted
about two or three minutes.
After
the object disappeared, all three children spent the rest
of the night on the floor in the house. Debbie said she
never wanted to spend the night outside again. But Jessica
and Shawn both said they would like to see the object
again.
"I
wished they had beamed me up," Shawn said.
Debbie
was anxious to see their story in the paper because she
assumed other people would report the incident too. "I
know you don't believe me," Debbie told her mother,
"But just wait till you see the paper tomorrow."
Spokespersons
at the Ukiah Airport, Federal Aviation Administration,
and Mendocino County Sheriff Department each said nothing
similar to the incident had been reported to their agencies.
Robert
Gribble, a staff member of the UFO Reporting Center in
Seattle, said the center had not received any reports
from the Redwood Valley area. "It's not a real
common thing, but we have gotten reports similar to this
in the past," he said.
Debbie
and Shawn attend Redwood Valley School, and Jessica will
attend the school this fall.
Virgina
Crumrine, Debbie's mother, said, "My daughter's
not prone to makin' things up."
Source:
http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case944.htm