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Missouri UFO photos one of MUFON’s best cases of 2014

Thursday, March 10, 2016 15:51

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A mother and son captured images of a strange object moving towards them in June of 2014. The Mutual UFO Network’s Scientific Review Board (MUFON SRB) took a look at the photos and could not figure out what the object might be. They consider this to be one of the best photographic cases from 2014.

In the MUFON SRB’s Top Cases from 2014 report, which can now be read online, they list this case first. The sighting took place in Oakville, Missouri, near St. Louis at approximately 7:40 pm.

The case description reads: “A mother driving with her 14-year-old son noticed a metallic object in the sky in the late afternoon of June 8, 2014. At first they thought it was a plane, but the reflection of sunlight from it appeared very bright. Initially the object appeared small but that changed as it got closer. As it approached it appeared gray with an oval shape. Her son rapidly took 13 photos within about 8 seconds. Shortly thereafter they lost track of the object as they exited the freeway.

Analysis of the photos revealed that the object’s apparent size in the sky was roughly that of the full moon. Photo analysis eliminated the possibility of an insect, bird, bat, or conventional aircraft as the object in the 13 photos. The object was disk-shaped and its distance was between 500 to 1,900 feet away. This would fit with an object between 5 to 20 feet in size and traveling between 150 to 600 mph.”

Map of St. Louis in relation to Oakville. (Credit: Google Maps)

10 of the photographs (seen below) and the witness’ description of the events can be found in MUFON’s Case Management System.

The witness wrote: “When just getting off of Interstate 255 via Exit 2 I noticed a metallic object in the sky. It was very brightly reflecting the sunlight. At first I thought it was a plane but the reflection of sunlight from it appeared very bright. The object appeared small but it did appear larger later on as it got closer. It appeared grey at a distance but then it looked black later on. It was very close to the JB Bridge. The shape is hard to tell with how bright it was but it looked like it was the shape of an oval. The object was first far away from my location. There also appeared to be another object in the photos although I did not see it unlike the main object. They were nearly above the JB Bridge. My son rapidly took 13 photos within a about 7 or 8 seconds. The objects traveled very quickly in a very short amount of time. It is hard to say how far they traveled because they appeared too far away to tell where they were precisely. They traveled way too fast to be planes or helicopters. They both moved north west toward me. They both traveled together too. They then started traveling south and they both left “streaks” in the sky. These streaks looked as if they were both at lower elevations than the objects were at. They both moved fairly quickly then but definitely not as fast as they did when traveling north west. I lost track of the object because I was just getting off of Interstate 255. During the sighting I felt very excited but a little frightened to see such an unusual object. After the event I felt as if this had to be shared.”

Close-up of the object in one of the witness photos. (Credit: MUFON)

Close-up of the object in one of the witness photos. Click to enlarge. (Credit: MUFON)

In an interview on Open Minds UFO Radio with Robert Powell, MUFON’s Director of Research and head of the SRB, he says knowing the speed of the vehicle the witnesses were in and their exact location was a great help in estimating the size and speed of the object.

Often images with a small object moving quickly through the screen turn out to be bugs, but he says with the car moving at 50 miles per hour and the speed of a bug, it would have only been in view for a fraction of a second and it would not have been possible to catch it in several photos spanning a few seconds.

In order to check the SRB’s work, Powell sent the photos to IPACO, a conservative group of UFO photo analysts in France, which have been involved with official UFO investigations in their country. Unlike the U.S., France actually has an official UFO investigation organization that is a department in their national space agency.

“They looked at the 13 photos and their conclusion was the same,” says Powell. “They could not identify that it could be any type of bird, insect, anything like that.”

Powell says one possible conclusion was that the object is a disk-shaped drone, but it does not have any of the tell-tale signs of a drone, such as propellers.

Most of the photos from the case can be seen below. Take a look and let us know what you think.