As mentioned, there have been several sightings of unusual glowing objects near the Northrop RCS facility. While it’s tempting to dismiss them as merely the product of the overheated imaginations of UFO buffs, that could be a bit hasty. Perhaps it would be best if the jury remains out a bit longer on this issue. What follows is a brief collection of some of the sightings in the area, listed in increasing order of detail and reliability (admittedly subjective on my part).
Probably the most common, and most poorly documented (and therefore least reliable), are the reports of the local residents. They tell stories of going out at night and watching lights dance up and down in the distance. Unfortunately, seldom are specifics given and it’s quite likely, although not absolutely certain, that the lights are the headlights of vehicles moving on the facility.
Next is the account of Richard Boylan. In April of 1992, Boylan made what he called a “Grand Tour” around the southwest, hitting all the favorite spots of the UFO community (Area 51, NTS, Dulce, etc.), and wrote a report of his experiences. Part of his journey included a visit to the Tejon facility. Given his background as a strong proponent of UFOs and abduction phenomena, it’s reasonable his observations be subject to a high degree of skepticism. However, having also been to most of the places Boylan visited and reported on, I find that while I strongly disagree with most of his interpretations of what he saw, I found his basic observations to be reasonably accurate. Accurate at least in terms of facilities, structures and locations. I can’t speak for flying lights, as I’ve never seen any of those.
As Boylan relates his story , he was lurking about the Tejon facility during the early morning of April 15, 1992. He reports he observed 4 glowing golden orbs, performing various maneuvers. He estimated their size at about 50′ in diameter/length, and when on the ground and “de-energized”, appeared as silvery aircraft fuselages with backlit windows. For Boylan’s full story, and more details on his Tejon visit, the interested reader is referred here.
Moving up perhaps in reliability, and less so in specificity, are accounts passed on to me from an individual at JPL. He told me that co-workers at JPL had gone out to the area, and observed large glowing balls of light moving around the facility. These were technical types, but had no idea of what they were seeing.
Finally, the following is a pretty coherent account recently sent to me concerning
the sighting of something strange at the Northrop facility. The message has
been slightly edited to preserve the anonymity of the author.
Begin report:
I was visiting your web site the other day and read your bit on the Northrop Tejon Ranch facility. I just wanted to pass along my two cents worth of what I saw up there. I can't say what it was, but it seemed unusual. I was working with a friend on a project, when the subject of UFOs came up. He said that he and his buddies used to go 4 wheeling out in the desert near some kind of base. They said that they would see strange things coming out of the base. He gave me observing directions, and when I checked the map it turned out to be the Tejon Ranch Facility. This was around the summer of 1991. He seemed sincere enough. So, with my tongue pressed firmly in cheek, I headed out to the west Antelope Valley one night with my telescope and binoculars to see if there was anything to see. I figured it would be a nice night out in the desert. I got setup before sundown, and sat back to soak up the scenery. At around 7:30 pm, I was looking all around (because all I could see of the facility were a bunch of building lights), when suddenly a flash of light caught my eye. This bright gold light sort of sputtered to life. Sort of a "flash.......flash.........On". The light stayed steady. Suddenly the light started to get real bright. It got so bright that I walked behind my car (I know this sounds crazy, but I thought that the light was so bright it would explode). Then the light started to rise slowly into the air. When I checked it out through my telescope it had the profile of a football but as a solid gold light. When it stopped moving, the light dimmed a bit. It seemed to hover for a few minutes, then move to one side and stop. It then moved about a half a mile to the west, stopped again, and finally descended to the ground. When it went out of site, it seemed to go behind a rise in the ground. This "whatever it was", repeated itself almost every hour. At one point there were three of these things in the air at one time. Two to the west and one to the east. The two to the west started to arrange themselves relative to one another. Sometimes aligned horizontally, changing at intervals, switching stations left and right. Then they alternated a vertical stacking. All the while the easterly one just sort of moved about slowly on its own side of the facility. The ones to the West would stay and "wander" off to the west. The one on the east side kept to its own side as well. All of the movements observed were very slow and deliberate. There was about a 15 mph wind blowing from the west the whole time. While these things were up in the air, you could see vehicles driving around at the base. Using the trucks as a size reference, the width of these objects was about the same as a good size "doolie" pickup truck or perhaps just a little larger. The height was about half or just under half the overall width. The gold light seemed very intense at times, yet did not light up this half of the valley which the brightness would indicate. At no time was any sound heard. On the inside of my windshield I drew with dry erase markers the paths of several objects. In the morning there seemed to be some sort of concrete or light colored pad where the objects started from. I have no idea what exactly it was that I saw. I could have been a light, an optical countermeasure of a vehicle or model, or an optical by-product of some sort of propulsion. I have been out several times since, but this was the only time I saw the "gold footballs".
End report
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