NUFORC UFO Sighting 134506
Occurred: 2017-06-09 22:30 Local
Reported: 2017-06-10 13:13 Pacific
Duration: 20-40 seconds
No of observers: 3

Location: Cherokee, NC, USA

Shape: Circle


UFO Report 06/09/2017. On Friday, June 9, 2017, my two friends and were at Smokemont Campground just outside Cherokee, NC, in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. We were not staying there, but had driven there from a neighboring town where we live, specifically to see the synchronized fireflies event that happens in late May, or early April, every year.

We parked and decided to walk along the path along the creek to first see the “glow worms” that my friends discovered the year before in the root bank of a tree up the hill that had a small spring in it. Tiny glow worms, but they're nonetheless, cool.

We walked back to the campground, found the darkest spot away from the camp fires, set up our chairs, and waited for the show (synchronized fireflies event). The turnout was low, probably because it was cool, and there was a full moon (strawberry moon, in fact).

I had just gotten back from a short walk down the road, and when I returned, I noticed that my friends were looking up at something in the sky. Naturally, I looked up and there in the sky was a white glowing object, seemed to be round in shape. At first it looked like a giant firefly but it was too high up in the sky. The first thing I noticed, was there were no blinking lights like an airplane. It continued in a line, then stopped, then moved forward, then seems to turn on its side like a tire rolling down a road and disappeared. The whole encounter lasted 20-40 seconds. There was no sound and I would have expected a sound since it was that close to us. The time was around 10:30 pm.

Two of us early saw the object stop and hover.

We left and the park and headed home. On the way, several cars were stopped in both directions, and we could see an elk on the side of the road. We thought that was all that there was but as we passed, we saw an elk calf was down in the road, likely hit by a car.

Being that we were from the area and the others were likely tourists, my friend called her friend that works in the park to determine who we should call about the incident. He stated that park officers patrol all hours and that they would know in short order. I am adding this one detail for one reason. When my friend told her friend on the phone that we had seen what seemed to be a UFO, he then relayed a similar experience that he and a coworker had in the park just last Saturday. He described a white object that moved through the night sky, then stopped and moved again, etc.

I am a 57 year-old female. I have never seen or reported a UFO. I do not drink or use drugs and I do not believe in aliens.

I know what I saw and from my account, this was a real UFO experience.

Posted 2017-06-15

NUFORC UFO Sighting 112819
Occurred: 2014-08-23 23:00 Local
Reported: 2014-08-24 01:28 Pacific
Duration: 3 seconds
No of observers: 0

Location: Cherokee, AL, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Triangle light formation flew away after a bright flash.

3 lights in a tight triangle formation. color was bright green. Few several hundred feet in a split second.

Then a bright flash lit up the sky then it flew into a cloud faster than any man made aircraft could travel.

And lite up the cloud as it flew into it this disappeared into thin air.

Posted 2014-08-29

NUFORC UFO Sighting 113043
Occurred: 2014-08-23 22:00 Local
Reported: 2014-08-29 20:48 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Cherokee, NC, USA

Shape: Diamond
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted beams

Light moving at slow speed stop and moved from side to side 3 times and then vanished.

At first, I though it was a plane but it was very close and it stop and moved side to side about 3 times.

Then it just vanished.

The light was very bright. It was going at a very low speed bcs it would stop and then moved from one side to the other and it would continue.




NUFORC Note:

Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD


Posted 2014-08-31

NUFORC UFO Sighting 102700
Occurred: 2013-08-15 17:00 Local
Reported: 2013-09-27 23:06 Pacific
Duration: 3 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Cherokee, NC, USA

Shape: Diamond
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

grey oval diamond shaped craft with v like indention in center

a friend and myself were in the mountains in north carolina,I was visiting from Tennessee he took me to a friends cabin and we were taking picture s of the beautiful scenic terrain and my friend billy said hey look he was pointing streight in front of him ....my right I saw what he was pointing at and it was oval to diamond shaped craft it had a v like place cut on the back or front of it it was moving erratic in a small area and hovering almost like a zigzag but staying in one spot it was about the size of a aproximately 1/4 of an inch with naked eye, if I were to try to scale it to measure infront of my view it looked like maybe 1500 feet up in the sky it was silent it made no noise and when it moved you could tell the shape of it top view and a side view when it moved,position in the sky was level to top half of mountain ridge top and slightly above it was grey to dull color almost black and it moved up stopping for a few seconds and then went straight u! p until it disappear out of sight it was very fast, but when it first started moving about as it was maybe 90degree shift from left to right very weird ive seen nothing move like this that's conventional aircraft flying this way,we had a camera taking pictures of the beautiful mountainside and we were not sure we got it on the camera till we checked what we shot pictures of we me and my friend billy were in shock of what we witnessed we looked at one of the pictures and it looked like a disruption around it.if I were to guess the size from what we saw I would say 50-70 foot long maybe.



Posted 2013-09-30

NUFORC UFO Sighting 102693
Occurred: 2013-08-15 15:00 Local
Reported: 2013-09-27 11:29 Pacific
Duration: 3 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Cherokee, NC, USA

Shape: Diamond
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

there was a haze or disruption around object

was with a friend and saw this craft no noise at all shot out fast then disappear after a brief time hovering and dancing in the air

Posted 2013-09-30

NUFORC UFO Sighting 118538
Occurred: 1979-06-30 13:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2015-04-20 19:00 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 20

Location: Cherokee, NC, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object

Camping at Cherokee campground Great Smokey Mountains in North Carolina, mid to late 1970's, around the middle of the day, this silver disc shaped object was spotted hovering back and forth in and above the tree line above the creek everyone tubed on.

Several campers came running out and saw it come over the tree line right down into the middle of the campground, it hovered for about 30 sec's and then shot off straight up and opposite direction it had entered extremely fast. It was a silver disc shaped object with red and green flashing lights pulsating all around.

My brother and I were really young maybe around 8 years old or so at the time and we thought it was the space ship from the amusement park in Pigeon Forge. It was back when there was nothing in Pigeon Forge, but the little amusement park on right heading in to Gatlinburg, some ice cream shop, and few other places.

This UFO was witnessed by my dad, brother, myself, and several campers in the campground.

I've searched for anyone reporting the same thing around the same time at this campground.

The campground is now a water treatment plant in Cherokee, North Carolina.






NUFORC Note:

Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD


Posted 2015-04-23

NUFORC UFO Sighting 25741
Occurred: 1978-10-15 20:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2002-10-22 12:26 Pacific
Duration: 2 min.
No of observers: 3

Location: Cherokee, NC, USA

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Unknown white orb followed by approxmately 4 known objects

I am not sure of the date or the time, I was at my sisters house sitting near a picture window watching tv. I happen to look outside and saw a large white light travelling to the southeast. I yelled for my sister and her husband, we went outside to get a better look. Seeing the light was astonishing, but we were concentrating on the light so much that we did not see at first the most astonishing part of the whole episode, behind the light ( it was hard to distinguish how far behind the light they were) was approxmitely 4 jets following the light. We watched for around 2 min. until they disappeared. I followed the newspapers, radio and tv for the next week, but could find anything mentioning what we saw.



NUFORC Note:

Date is approximate. PD


Posted 2002-10-28

NUFORC UFO Sighting 17911
Occurred: 1971-05-01 19:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2001-06-04 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 20 mins
No of observers: 2

Location: Cherokee, AL, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Landed

i was 13 when this event (i am 43 now ). we were returning home from visting friends when i was looking out at the sky. i saw a bright light coming towards us. i thought it was a helicopter. it kept coming at us faster and faster. when it came over us it was not a helicopter. it was so bright we were blinded . we pulled over and watched it it come down some where in a cornfield. we parked and to searched for it. we didnt find it. it just disappeared.



NUFORC Note:

Date is approximate. PD


Posted 2001-08-05

NUFORC UFO Sighting 13041
Occurred: 1965-11-23 20:00 Local
Reported: 2000-06-07 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 0

Location: Cherokee, OK, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted beams, Electrical or magnetic effects

There was one silver metallic craft with small lights, no sound, no windows, no red or green lights, and no blinking light.

There was only one craft. The craft was silver metallic in some areas and dark gray metallic in other areas. There was no center light on the bottom. There were small lights on the bottom and on one row in the side of the craft. The lights changed color in intensity and in hue, but not dramatically. There were no green lights and there were no red lights. The craft was a perfect square as seen directly from the bottom. The craft was a flattened diamond shape as seen from the side. The craft clearly had three or four levels on the bottom and on the top, each section smaller than the larger primary section which formed the main body of the craft. There was absolutely no sound. There was a feeling of static electricity in the air close to the craft. The craft came upon us fast. Then it hovered over our heads, about thirty feet away. Then it slowly moved away, returning in the same direction that it had come. The craft appeared to be about 50 feet X 50 feet square, each side being about 50 feet long. The craft appeared to be about 25 feet from the bottom tip to the top tip. If it had windows, we did not see them.

Posted 2000-06-21

NUFORC UFO Sighting 8388
Occurred: 1860-08-02 23:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 1999-07-18 00:00 Pacific
Duration: less than a minute?
No of observers: 12

Location: Cherokee, NC, USA

Shape: Fireball


meteor or fireball passage (circa 1860)

"I found this interesting comment in a letter written by my great-grandfather in 1860. I have scanned the letter and can send you a JPG of it, if you wish. He was in western North Carolina, in the Oconaluftee area near Cherokee, NC, on the southern boundary of what is now the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. "Last evening about 11 o'clock there was a curious circumstance took place as I was returning from evening meeting. There was a large comet passed so near that we could plainly feel the heat and in a few minutes after it passed there was two loud cracks, one immediately after the other, and went off with a droll lumbering for several minutes, like unto hot rocks thrown in to a barrel of water, which alarmed some of the females very much."

Notes by great grandson of the author of the above letter: "Number of witnesses" is a guess. The "meeting" was a religious gathering, may have been more than 12. I would think that since he described it as a "comet" it probably would be described in today's terms as a fireball with a trail."

PERSONAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF THE ABOVE LETTER:

William Riley Killian born 03 May 1814, Virginia or Pennsylvania; met his future wife in Oconaluftee (Lufty, Oconylufty) area of western North Carolina; married & moved to Missouri in 1833. Died while returning to Missouri from a trip to North Carolina, 13 October, 1860, near Irving College, Tenn.

He was a farmer in Webster County, MO, as well as a circuit riding preacher; but the purpose of this trip to NC was to visit his wife's relatives (and possibly his own?). He was age 45 when this letter was written. He made the trip on horseback, accompanied by a fellow Missourian & circuit rider, Roby Goss.

((

NUFORC Note:

Please note that the letter dates from 1860, NOT 1960, as our computer indicates. A photocopy was sent to us by the grandson, and reads exactly as indicated below.

We believe that the incident is much more characteristic of a meteoritic event, than it is of a UFO sighting. It is relatively rare that witnesses report sonic booms associated with UFO sightings.

It is interesting that the witnesses felt the heat from the object's incandescence, even though the source, apparently, was tens of miles from their location. The fact that they heard two sonic booms suggests that the object may have exploded prior to reaching the earth, as many meteors do.

Our thanks to the person to forwarded the information to NUFORC, and well as to his great grandfather, who so thoughtfully preserved the event for future generations.

We provide above personal information about the great grandfather. In addition, we provide below the complete text of the letter. PD)


COMPLETE TEXT OF LETTER))


[transcript of letter from Wm. Riley Killian to wife Margaret Hughes Killian,
with spelling corrections and best-guess punctuation added for clarity]


Northcarolina Jackson Co August 3 AD 1860, Oconylufty PO

Dear Wife and Family, I now embrace this opportunity of communication by letter
to let you know that I am in tolerable health at this time and hope these lines
may find you all in good health at their arrival. I have not received any
intelligence from home, only one letter as yet that I received about 15 days
back. I am very anxious to hear from you all at this time. The friends are well
as far as I know. There is some cases of sickness in this country now. Such as
flus [flu] and fever. As to the health here I don't consider it any better than
Missouri. My health has not been very good since I have been here although I
have not been confined but a few days. I feel thankful to the great head of the
church that it is as well with me as what it is.

I have just passed through a very interesting meeting on Lufty which commenced
on last Friday and closed on last night with a general stir. There was only 2
or 3 conversions during the meeting. The whole neighborhood pretty much belongs
to the church and they seem to get along in harmony. I have enjoyed my self
tolerable well with the brethren here.

There is a meeting commences tomorrow at Shoal Creek which I expect to attend
and from there to Savanna and then to Locus Oldfields [don't know if this is a
place or a name] which commences on Friday before the third Lords day in
August, then I expect to start for home as soon as possible. My mind is on home
and on my family all the time and my prayers is for the welfare of you all. I
hope the Lord will permit us all to meet again and enjoy each others company and
according to my feelings now. I don't think I shall ever take as long a trip as
this from my family while I am permitted to live. I hope you will all remember
that we are only probationers here and prepare for another mode of existence
which is eternal. As for riches in this life it is vanity. I have tried the
things of this world in different ways and have proved them to be vanity and
vexation of spirit. By the grace of God I am determined to serve the Lord while
I live; and now my children, companion & friends, if I never see you in this
life, take my advice: if you have set your hearts on any known sin, forsake it
immediately and seek forgiveness with a firm resolution to serve the Lord while
you live, and the Lord will answer your petitions in mercy.

I could write many things on the subject of religion but I hope these few
remarks will suffice at present and that you will bear them in mind and make
that necessary preparation that if we should never meet in this life that by the
grace of God we may all meet in heaven where parting is no more.

Last evening about 11 o'clock there was a curious circumstance took place as I
was returning from evening meeting. There was a large comet passed so near that
we could plainly feel the heat and in a few minutes after it passed there was
two loud cracks, one immediately after the other, and went off with a droll
lumbering for several minutes, like unto hot rocks thrown into a barrel of
water, which alarmed some of the females very much.

I have not heard from Roby Goss since he left. He was considerable on the mind
when he left here. I have nothing more of importance at present to write only
if S. L. Killian hant sold my place I want wheat sowed in good time and fodder
taken, etc.

Yours affectionately
Wm R Killian

END OF LETTER))


Note to above letter by great grandson--S. L. Killian was his oldest son; his closing comment was apparently written in jest. I will mail you photocopies of the letter.


Posted 2000-12-02