Unidentified freaky lights fill the Stephenville Sky

‘Unidentified freaky lights’ fill the sky
By WHITNEY WHITE-ASHLEY
Staff Writer
Whitney.ashley@empiretribune.com
Published: Sunday, February 8, 2009 4:10 PM CST

County residents are once again seeing more than just stars in the night sky. Reports of large, orange lights started pouring into law enforcement Thursday night.

Erath County Sheriff Tommy Bryant said the county dispatcher reported six calls between 7:33 and 7:44 p.m. coming in from various areas in the county. From Highway 108 to Highway 67 and out to CR 454, callers reported clusters of large orange or amber lights.

Joel Stroup called the sheriff’s office when he spotted the lights on FM 205.
“The whole horizon coming into Stephenville was lit up with lights,” Stroup said. “There’s no doubt when you see them.”

Stroup said the lights were about the size of oranges and flashed on and off. After about 30 seconds, the string of lights disappeared.

Junior Chacen, who also witnessed the lights in October 2008, was once again at HEB in Stephenville when he saw the lights Thursday night.

“It was pretty much the same thing as last time,” Chacen said.

He saw about eight to nine lights moving in the sky. He said they disappeared after about 45 seconds.

“Shortly after that we did notice a couple of jets. Then everything disappeared,” Chace“n said.

Norma, who declined to give her last name, was lying in bed in her Dublin home when she saw the lights.

“I have cafe curtains in my bedroom and I was lying down in bed and heard motors that sounded like airplanes or helicopters. I looked out the window and I nearly lost consciousness,” Norma said.

She saw orange lights that seemed to drop off one by one.

“I wouldn’t call anybody or tell them because I was afraid they would think I was crazy,” she said. “When it happens to you, it is awesome. You become fearful.”

Justin Sellers, who commutes to work in the Fort Worth area, was driving home when he saw the lights north of Bluff Dale around 7:30 p.m.

“They kind of moved across the sky from the west to the east,” Sellers said.

He pulled over and saw what he thought were two military jets flying eastward. Then the lights disappeared.

Michelle Stilwell and her family were heading home on Lingleville Road when her 10-year-old daughter spotted something in the night sky.

“We saw lights in the sky, me and my whole family,” Stilwell said.

They saw four or five lights in the sky that flashed on and off.

When the family arrived home, her husband Travis, Stephenville High School principal, began searching the Internet for similar sightings.

The family tried to cope by naming the objects UFLs - unidentified freaky lights. But her two daughters were still worried.

“They were so scared they wouldn’t even go back to the car or get their backpacks,” Stilwell said. “It was the wildest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.”

Mike Carroll was standing outside when he saw something at 7:30 p.m. Carroll, who is the assistant athletic director and head athletic trainer at Stephenville High School, saw the lights during a football game last fall. But he said this time, the lights were much brighter.

“I saw four real bright lights right in a row on the horizon,” Carroll said.

He did not hear any sound and the display only lasted about 20 seconds.

“Two planes came in at a real high rate (of speed),” Carroll said, then the lights disappeared.

Steve Hudgeons, an investigator with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), confirmed that new reports have been logged on their Web site, www.mufon.com.

Stephenville Police Captain Jason King said they received a call just after 7:30 p.m. that a lot of cars were stopped near Highway 8 and Highway 108 looking at bright lights in the sky. He said an officer was dispatched and responded to the scene within four minutes, but found no cars and saw no lights.

“From our perspective, there’s nothing to it,” King said.

United States Air Force Reserve Major Karl D. Lewis with the 301st Fighter Wing said people most likely saw a training exercise.

“F-16s from the 301st Fighter Wing/457th Fighter Squadron continue to train in the Brownwood Military Operating Area (MOA) during the day and night for training operations. We were conducting our normal training in the Brownwood MOA on February 5th,” Lewis said.

Source: http://www.empiretribune.com/articles/2009/02/08/news/doc498f555d5ae4a435373093.txt