The Oscillating UFO

Recently an elderly man in Denver, CO described three UFO sightings he's had over the years. The first, in the late 1960s, may be of greatest interest.

Around the summer of 1969 the man, then a teenager, and his sister were atop the roof of their parents's house, in Denver, watching the stars. Soon their attention was attracted by a luminous orb, swinging back and forth like a pendulum while descending. The object was some distance away to the south. After oscillating and falling for a while, it landed--and abruptly vanished. According to the witness, the object came down in Windsor Gardens near GW high school in Denver. He did not see it reappear, ascend or leave.

Despite the brilliance of the object, and its appearance over an urban area, there are no known witnesses other than the boy and his sister. There was no report of it on TV or radio, or in local papers like The Denver Post or The Rocky Mountain News.

Oscillating behavior is fairly common in UFOs. The first report of "wobbling" objects, at Maury Island in 1947, was a hoax. Other reports, however, appear genuine. In 1979, policemen in Van Nuys, CA saw swinging motion in a green UFO. Similar motion was noted over Campinas, Brazil in 1954, at Karachi, Pakistan in 1955 and at Vaddo Island, Sweden in 1956. Often, oscillating was interpreted as flight trouble. "Stricken" craft sometimes dropped debris or gave off smoke. It is an interesting aspect of UFOlogy and may have a startling interpretation.

An anomalous orb, perhaps like that over Denver c 1969.