What Happened
At 5:15 a.m. on February 10, 2016, before sunrise, with the stars still visible, a Lebanon, Oregon, resident went outside with his dog. Standing in his yard, he looked toward the northeastern sky and saw something unexpected: two white lights about 20 degrees above the horizon, apparently about half a mile away.
The witness described the lights as “hazy,” almost as if seen through fog, although the sky was clear. They appeared one above the other and moved slowly toward him, at the speed of a sailing ship. As they drew closer, he realized they were not two separate objects but parts of a single circular structure. Some of it seemed invisible, like jelly with transparent and solid sections.
As the structure passed overhead, the witness could see its underside. At the center was a white triangular light, with another, smaller and slightly dimmer white light inside the triangle. The triangle’s edges were rounded, not straight, and thin circles surrounded the structure. The lights remained steady, without flashing.
The witness tried to record the sighting with his phone camera, but the footage came out dark and showed nothing. He estimated that the structure appeared about as large as a large serving platter held at arm’s length, and that it was less than 500 feet above him. It traveled in a straight line southwest, at about 210 degrees, and disappeared behind the trees after roughly 30 seconds.
This was the second time the witness had seen a similar phenomenon in the same location. On September 9, 2015, he saw lights in different colors: red, white, blue, and orange. He said the structure did not sound like a drone or look like an ordinary aircraft.
Context and Significance
The report is logged in the NUFORC database, which compiles accounts of UFO sightings from various sources. What makes this case distinctive is the light’s complex shape: a triangle with a light at its center, surrounded by thin circles. This configuration is uncommon in reports of familiar objects such as balloons, aircraft, or drones. The fact that the witness saw the structure twice, and reported different colors on the second occasion, suggests the phenomenon may not have been a one-time event.
Summary
The report is an unverified eyewitness account of a circular object with a white triangular light passing over a Lebanon, Oregon, resident before sunrise. The sighting cannot be explained definitively, but the detailed account invites further investigation and discussion.
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