I was camping in the desert in the Rachel, Nevada area over New Years. Actually, the area I was in is called Tikibu Valley. This area is a hot spot for weird things happening. As I was driving into the valley my cruise control on my brand new truck went nuts and pegged the throttle to the floor for about 10 seconds. I stopped my truck in Tikibu Valley but could find nothing wrong with it.

I pitched a tent and built a small fire after stopping in the valley. About 2 hours after cooking dinner, I noticed blurry looking purplish lights almost directly above me. After looking at the lights I could see that the stars were blocked in a triangle pattern. It was very dark with no moon. I couldn't decide wether to grab my handgun or my camera from my truck. I decided that shooting the 9mm handgun at the craft would probably just anger whoever or whatever was flying it. I reached for my Olympus 5 meg digicam and set it to manual and extended shutter (12 seconds set face up on tailgate). I figured if the craft stayed still a while longer I would at least get the lights in the picture.

It was sitting above and slightly to my side, not moving. If I had to guess I would say it was at 1,000 feet above me; it looked very large. There was no loud noise but you could hear some kind of low resonance. The very low pitched hum for better words was like nothing I have ever heard. I watched it for a few more seconds, or should I say it watched me. I bent over to set my camera for another shot and I heard the hum stop. I looked up and it was gone. I had to increase the brightness and contrast of the picture (enlargements below) to be able to see the triangle shape blocking the stars.

--Michael D.
Long Beach, Ca