A couple in Fairbury, Nebraska, witnessed "a self illuminating light about the size of a dinner platter hovering motionless about 4 feet off the ground of the city street outside their apartment building" on July 23, 2009, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.

Don and Yvonne Aken watched a silent and pulsating object in the street from a window in their apartment - approximately 30 to 40 feet from the object.

Don Aken had gotten out of bed at 2:30 a.m. to use the bathroom, and as he left the bathroom, "he noticed a light shining through the window curtain. He woke up his wife, who also watched the object through the window.

The Aken's then called Fairbury Police, and they said an officer arrived on the scene, watched the object, and then came inside to talk to them.

The Fairbury policeman is reporting that the object was actually a broken sign, but the Aken's point out that the broken sign is not visible from this window, and that the actual UFO was at a different location.

Reached at their home on H Street Monday, Mrs. Aken said she was woken by her husband that night, when he said, "I want you to see something." She said she went to the window, leaned against her sewing machine, and "stood there watching it for 15 minutes." The light was so powerful, she said, it was flashing on the wall behind her in the bedroom.

Mrs. Aken said that when the police officer arrived, he sat in his cruiser for about 10 minutes watching the object in the street. He then came inside and stood by her husband at the same window and watched the object. She said that when the officer left, the object was still in the street pulsating light, and that she and her husband went to bed. In the morning, the object was gone.

She said that the broken sign is in a different direction, is lit with only a 60-watt light bulb, and was not the object in the middle of H Street that they reported.

Looking Back

Mrs. Aken recounted an odd event that their family encountered on Halloween in 1963. She said they were driving their young daughter to an aunt's home. They were driving a quarter-block further along H Street from where the current sighting occurred, when "this circle of light above us, engulfed us in light." She said her usually tough husband "almost drove into a ditch."

She described it as a "circle of light" in the sky that beamed light down to the ground that completely covered them.

Later, the family was invited to a gathering where Mrs. Aken finally admitted to a friend what had just happened. But to her surprise, instead of being ridiculed, the friend recounted how, on the very same day, her family had driven to the airport in nearby Jansen to watch airplanes take off. While they were watching the air strip, the same thing happened to them - "a circle of light came down and engulfed them."

Mrs. Aken said that her daughter, who now lives in Lincoln, still remembers the light that covered them that Halloween night in 1963.

Fairbury is in Jefferson County, population 4,262.

The following is the original witness testimony for this case from MUFON.

Nebraska, July 23, 2009 - A pulsating self illuminated light about the size of a dinner platter was observed floating stationary about 4' above a city street. MUFON Case # 18386.

Last Thursday evening about 2:30 a.m, Don Aken got up to go the bathroom when he noticed a light shining through the window curtain. Looking out the window, he saw a self illuminating light about the size of a dinner platter hovering motionless about 4 feet off the ground of the city street outside their apartment building, approximately, 30-40 feet away. The object was motionless and made no noise but was pulsating.

He awakened his wife, Yvonne, who also saw the object. He then called the Fairbury police department because he wanted independent confirmation. A few minutes later, a police car arrived and the policeman stood outside observing the object for some time. He then came into the apartment and talked to Don & Yvonne about the object. He said something to the effect of, "I think we both know what this is." He then left and Don & Yvonne went back to bed. It is unknown when or how the object left, but was gone in the morning. The name of the officer is not known.

Please note: This report was submitted by Mike McCord, Yvonne's nephew, with her permission.