The anonymous report describes a "fast-moving red light, with flashing white and green lights," which the person making the report said stopped and hovered before quickly departing.
The description relates at about 9:30 p.m., in Woburn, on July 16, "while sitting in our yard having a cigarette, my wife and I observed a very bright red light, with white and green flashing lights on top, coming across the sky from the direction of Winchester, MA, at approximately the height one might expect from a helicopter, but at an extremely high rate of speed."
The writer added, "I remarked to her 'Wow, that's really moving,' , when it suddenly stopped and hovered for about 10 seconds, before proceeding to speed in the direction of Wilmington, MA, where it again stopped and hovered for a few seconds, before proceeding to return back in the direction I was standing."
The writer said the writer's wife went into their home and told their son, "who also observed the object move, stop, and hover again, before proceeding rapidly in the direction of Stoneham, MA, and out of sight. At no time was there any sound noted."
The report concludes, "The only thing it could have been was a drone, but the height and especially the extreme speed, makes that very unlikely in my opinion."
Based in Washington state, the National UFO Reporting Center allows for the anonymous recording of sightings of unusual objects in the sky.
Follow-up by the center, under the direction of Peter Davenport, is unlikely, because of the high volume of sightings reported in the database. However, the database allows others to read, debate and perhaps corroborate information.
"I wish we had the staff, the budget and the facility to follow every one of the reports that you see, but we don't," said Davenport of the National UFO Reporting Center, in operation since 1974. Davenport said, "We are simply a clearing house of UFO iunfornmation. There is no way to track who might have posted it. That is the only way we can do our business."
The reporting center's database notes other recent UFO reports in the area, including in the Tewksbury vicinity.
A UFO, strictly speaking, is an unidentified flying object. In the end, Davenport said, a so-called UFO could be something quite ordinary, but said the reporting database allows for discussion about possibilities of the object's nature and source.
Another group, MUFON, or the Mutual UFO Network, is a nationwide organization with state chapters of volunteer investigators. Eric Hartwig, originally from Lexington and the Massachusetts chapter director, said reportings can be assigned for an investigator to look into further, with objectivity.
Hartwig said the July 16 report from Woburn does not sound familiar. However, Hartwig said, "It is very similar to reports I have gotten in the past, of tree-top lights or a little higher. Usually they are not going that fast."
Hartwig said, "The first case I handled was from Winchester. He referred to it as a 'board game,' like Scrabble or whatever, that looks like a UFO, and that was somewhat typical of these sightings that aren't that high." However, Hartwig said, "Looking at the evidence, a lot of these cases kind of fall apart."
Investigators in the Mutual UFO Network strive to examine any reports dispassionately and without preconceptions, Hartwig said. "What it really comes down to, is that it's based on science. That is really the object of the whole thing. Best case scenario, they would have some empirical data, and so we remain as scientific as we can and look at only the facts."
'We may never know'
Brian Gonsalves, a meteorologist from Woburn, said, "I hadn't heard of any other reports from the area on the same day, which means that what they likely saw was lower and closer than they thought."
Gonsalves said, "My theory is they did see a drone. There are several types now, and one of them is steady red with green/white flashing. I've seen a few of these hovering around fireworks displays in the last couple years."
© Associated PressA strange set of flashing lights was reported over Woburn recently, but meterologist Brian Gonsalves said the apparition could have been caused by a drone - like this one.
But, Gonsalves said, "I suppose we may never know for sure."
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