In a most unexpected phone call Thursday afternoon, a woman I had known most of my younger life named Alice called to report a large, bright UFO over Painted Post.
When I was in high school, I used to shovel Alice’s winter side walk and mow her small lawn. As a kid, and later as a teenager, I was offered more glasses of milk, cookies and conversation on her patio than I can count. Most the neighborhood kids called her Aunt Alice, though none of us were related to her.
When I received her call, there was a tone of urgency in her voice. Alice is now in her mid-80s, but during our conversation I could tell her mind is still sharp as a tack.
Alice told me that on Wednesday evening this week, she and her adult son had just returned from grocery shopping. It was about 7 p.m., and they were unloading the car in the drive way of her North Corning home. Suddenly, something bright caught her eye.
“I looked up and saw a huge, bright light to the west,” Alice said. “It appeared to be hovering over Painted Post.”
She pointed the bright object out to her son, and the two of them watched the UFO for perhaps 10 minutes trying to figure out if there was a practical explanation for what they were witnessing.
“There was a thick cloud cover, as we had been having snow flurries all day,” she said. “That thing was clearly under the winter cloud cover. There were no stars visible.”
She told me that after her son brought in the last bag of groceries, perhaps five minutes later, they both stepped out on her back porch to see if the bright light was still there.
“It was gone,” Alice recalled. “I wish I had seen it leave. It was the most amazing thing that I’ve ever seen.”
Let’s look at some other recent UFO sightings in New York Skies:
Feb. 8, 2017: At 12 a.m., a resident of Centereach in Suffolk County witnessed a bright object hovering at near tree-top height. He watched it for five-10 minutes before it disappeared.
Feb. 9, 2017: At 7:40 p.m., a couple of Canajoharie in Montgomery County watched a bright white UFO hover about 1,000 feet in the air. They said the object seemed to oscillate from side to side.
Feb. 10, 2017: At 7 p.m., a resident of Long Beach in Nassau County saw a large sphere slowly moving across the sky.
Feb. 13, 2017: At 6:40 p.m., a resident of Staten Island in Richmond County reported seeing a bright white light traveling at great speed, totally silent. She said the bright object was flying underneath the cloud cover.
If you are interested in joining a monthly UFO discussion group in the Onondaga County area, drop Cheryl an email [email protected]. If you have a UFO sighting to report, you can use either one of the two national database services: nuforc.org or mufon.com. Both services respect confidentiality.
Cheryl Costa would love to hear the when, where and what of your New York sighting. Email it to [email protected]. The names of witnesses will be omitted to protect their privacy.