A love of outdoor activities has led Dennis and Joan Carter across the country. They've seen animals of every stripe and size.

On Monday afternoon, while returning from a weekend camping jaunt at Kerr Scott Reservoir in Wilkes County, the couple was startled to the point of awe when a huge cat crossed in front their vehicle on N.C. Highway 115 in northern Iredell County.

"It was a cat, I'm sure of that," Dennis said. "It didn't look anything like a dog or coyote. It walked and moved like a cat, not like a dog."

The couple said they spotted the animal on Wilkesboro Highway near Taylor Springs Road and Rupard Road. Dennis described it as being light gray in color and about 6 feet long, including "a long curled tail."

The animal was traveling west direction with a "loping" gait until it reached the street.

"And then it took off," Dennis said, "and jumped down into the creek."

The question is: What did the Carters see?

One Pennsylvania family has had four UFO sightings - and recently produced illustrations of them. All four sightings occurred in 2008. Here are their original and unedited reports from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.

If you have a UFO sighting to report, always glad to get information directly from witnesses, but please log your case into the MUFON database at mufon.com.PA,

June 19, 2008 - RED pulsing classic shaped UFO w/white lights

My 12-year-old daughter was up talking on phone to friend looking out her bedroom window (facing south) at the moon when a red-glowing pulsing craft came into view instantly (in the blink of an eye) to the right out bedroom window over a wooded valley in front of our house.

It had a row of white lights along lower edge that raced one at a time to the right, then traveled back again, repeating. The whole craft glowed red that got brighter then dimmer. It moved slowly just above the tree line until it was directly in front of her window where it hovered silently (moving slightly, not stationary) for several more seconds.

Sketchy details are emerging of an event that took place near the city of Tokushima on Shikoku Island in the Southern part of Japan last year.

By all accounts in the early evening of July 16 last year a small technological object or UFO was seen losing control and hurtling to earth. On impacting earth a loud explosion was heard and smoke and fire were seen coming from the spot of impact. Numerous witnesses, both on the ground and in nearby planes, saw the craft descend. One witness alleges the craft shaved a nearby bridge prior to crashing. The Japanese Defence Ministry initially confirmed that it could not identify the craft.

The UFO Traffic Report for Wednesday, May 6, 2009, includes nine selected sightings over eight states, according to witness statements filed in the past 48 hours with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.

Today's stories begin with two triangular UFO sightings in Georgia and Missouri. The same specific descriptions coming out of these continuing reports seems to point to new U.S. flight achievements, but you have to ask the obvious question - why are they testing these craft and scaring the population at the same time? Come clean and brag about your new ships. Otherwise, my guess it's alien technology. We have continuing reports of U.S. jets seeming to intercept - or are they tagging along with their own U.S. pilot companions in the UFOs?

Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If MUFON investigates and reports back on any of these cases, I will update this page. You can read my selected cases by type of UFO report at the UFO Traffic Report main page.

A mysterious illness that's driving some indigenous Nicaraguans to hysteria has authorities scrambling to find answers.

No one is entirely sure why the so-called grisi siknis -- the Miskito term for ''crazy sickness'' -- has returned to this port town on Nicaragua's northern Caribbean coast, but it has residents on edge.

One man can't rest until he knows the mystery behind the Ouija board, and the secrets that only two dead Baltimore brothers knew

Perhaps if Bob Murch had thought to ask his first Ouija board, it might have told him what was ahead: meandering trips through dank graveyards, hours of rooting through archives for patent files and court transcripts, landing in the middle - and helping resolve - a nearly 100-year feud between the families of the two Baltimore brothers who marketed the "all-knowing" slab of wood.

But he didn't, and 15 years later, he's still immersed in his quest to document the history of "The Mystifying Oracle" - that diviner of the future, that gateway to the spirit world, that simple lettered board, born in Baltimore, that went on to become an icon of both pop culture and occult subculture.Murch was merely doing a favor for some friends - wannabe frat boys in need of Ouija Boards for rush-related scavenger hunts - when he bought his first one at an antique store. He bought more at flea markets, and some online. Most had these words at the bottom:

WILLIAM FULD, BALTIMORE, MD., U.S.A.

A Phoenix woman reported today on an August 31, 2009, UFO she photographed near South Mountain, Arizona.

Following is her original report on what she saw.

Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If MUFON investigates and reports back on this case, I will update this page. You can read my selected cases by type of UFO report at the UFO Traffic Report main page.

The following report is unedited.

This is a shot that was taken in Phoenix behind South Mountain on August 31, 2008. This was seen around 5-5:30 pm in broad daylight. My husband, myself, and my son all witnessed it from our backyard.

It was moving at a slow steady and purposeful speed below the high clouds heading from south to north around the I-10 freeway.

I was thrilled to hear others have seen this triangle object too. To us, it appeared like three round white objects held together.

The UFO Traffic Report for Monday, May 4, 2009, includes 11 selected sightings over nine states, according to witness statements filed in the past 72 hours with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.

Today's stories involve four Bright Light cases - one includes video and another with a single photo. There were also four cases of Orange lights in the sky - two of those were at the tree line level. Two cases of triangle UFOs - where the Pennsylvania report states that the object was at or under 500 feet. And a report out of New Mexico of a domed-shaped object with a flat bottom.

Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If MUFON investigates and reports back on any of these cases, I will update this page. You can read my selected cases by type of UFO report at the UFO Traffic Report main page. The following reports and their headlines are unedited.

The UFO Traffic Report for Friday, May 1, 2009, includes 12 selected sightings over 10 states, according to witness statements filed in the past 48 hours with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.

Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If MUFON investigates and reports back on any of these cases, I will update this page. You can read my selected cases by type of UFO report at the UFO Traffic Report main page. The following reports and their headlines are unedited.

Four stories of triangular-shaped craft over Florida and Nebraska, and two accounts from Washington. In this first story from Florida, the witness says the object emerged from a cloud as a massive triangular-shape at least 100 yards long, and it was silently and slowly coasting at a low altitude.

The following are the latest UFO sighting reports that have been received from across the country. All sightings have occurred within the past two days.

White Hills, Arizona - Witness reports multiple sightings

Multiple sightings of mysterious lights have been reported around the area of US 93 near White Hills, Arizona. The witness told his wife about frequent sightings in the same area. The most recent occurred when the witness was driving with his wife and young son. They witnessed a very bright light hovering, not moving, in the sky. What made this peculiar is that it occurred in the same spot that the witness reports seeing similar objects in the past. The object was very large and remained stationary. The family was able to find a safe spot to pull off of the road to get a better look. They could barely make out about four small lights lined up on the object, forming a sort of boomerang shape. Not long after they pulled their vehicle over, the bright light turned off, and a small red blinking light on the bottom turned on and the object began to move towards Las Vegas. The object appeared to "transform" into a plane with movements and light patterns similar to conventional aircraft. The witness explained to his wife that this is exactly what the other objects had done - appearing to transform into planes if you stopped and watched. They continued on their journey when they observed another bright stationary light just a little farther away than where the first light had appeared. This object also seemed to be hovering at a higher altitude as well. They stopped the vehicle once again and realized that the first light still appeared to be stationary, but made a strange looping circular motion. The object made this movement a couple of times. After observing this event for a couple of minutes, the second object turned the bright white off and turned the red blinking light on. It started moving in the same direction as the first object that had disappeared from sight. A third object appeared, and displayed the exact same characteristics as the first two.