Police Officer Witnesses 75-Foot, Circular UFO Hover Silently Over House

At 11 p.m., sometime in 1988, Officer Robert Lunsford of the Chesapeake, Virginia, Police Department responded to a call from homeowners reporting that a strange craft was hovering over their house.

When he got back to the station, a shell-shocked Lunsford decided to call a UFO report hotline number he found in his police handbook after he filed his report.

Officer Lunsford picked up the landline, dialed, and told his strange but credible story to the man on the other end of the line.

"When I arrived, what I saw was, um, a real large, uh, craft in the air. Circular. I would say it was at least 25 yards wide, or diameter actually would be.

And it was hovering over a house; it was motionless. It had bright red lights coming from it," Lunsford said.

Lunsford

The man at the other end then asked if the object was making any noise.

"No, I didn't hear any sound at all. It didn't appear—never saw it land, and from the people I talked to, they never saw it land either. I was in the military before, and I've never seen any aircraft whatsoever that looked like that," Lunsford added.

Lunsford

The young officer then told of watching the silent disc move west toward another city. Afterward, he checked with the airports and Langley Air Force Base to confirm whether they had picked up any radar hits on the object, or if it could be one of theirs.

The recipient of the call was Robert J. “Bob” Gribble, a retired Seattle firefighter, who established the hotline using his own money when he founded the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) in 1974.

In 2004, Gribble donated this treasure trove of primary-source UFO witness audio recordings to Wendy Connors, a respected UFO historian in Albuquerque, NM, who archived them for posterity.

As he listened to the young police officer, Gribble did not lead him on; in fact, his calm, deadpan voice was reminiscent of an elder Catholic priest hearing confession.

Historic Sighting

Near the end of the conversation, Officer Lunsford said that he and the homeowners were not the only witnesses to such sightings, and that others in Chesapeake, Virginia, had also made similar reports recently.

Gribble said he hadn't been aware of any such sightings, but asked the officer to have such individuals contact him if he heard of any more.

Lunsford pointed out that the first UFO sighting in the United States allegedly occurred near Chesapeake, Virginia, according to a letter written by two witnesses and sent to Thomas Jefferson in 1813.

Here is the Text of Entire letter:

From Edward Hansford and John L. Clarke
Portsmouth Va July 31st 1813.
most honorable Sir

We the subscribers most earnestly solicit, that your honor will give us your opinion, on the following extraordinary Phenomenon Viz:

At (blank) hour on the night of the 25th instant, we saw in the South a Ball of fire full as large as the sun at Maridian which was frequently obscured within the space of ten minutes by a smoke emitted from its own body, but ultimately retained its briliancy, and form1 during that period, but with apparent agitation. It then assumed the form of a Turtle which also appeared to be much agitated and as frequently obscured by a similar smoke. It descended obliquely to the West, and raised again perpendicular to its original hight which was on or about 75 degrees. It then assumed the shape of a human skeleton which was frequently obscured by a like smoke and as frequently descended and ascended—It then assumed the form of a Scotch Highlander arrayed for battle and extremely agitated, and ultimately passed to the West and disappeared2 in its own smoke. we are honorable

Sir with Sentiments of very high respect & esteem Your most Obedient very humble Servts

Edward Hansford, Keeper of the Washington Tavern in the Town of Portsmouth Virginia—

John L. Clarke, of Baltimore

Hansford and Clark

Listen to the Audio of the entire call from Officer Lunsford:

Here is a reenactment of what the officer witnessed based on his call:

Chet is an award-winning print journalist who has covered technology, government, and the Pentagon for various news organizations in the Baltimore/Washington corridor for over a decade. Chet has completed stints as a reporter for the Washington Business Journal, the Federal Times, and the Baltimore Daily Record.