On the night of a full lunar eclipse in the autumn of 1996, Richard Cornwell and I were stopped at a small roadside motel for a rest in our Southwestern journey. We enjoyed dinner and went to our room. We had been able to watch the progress of the lunar eclipse as we ate our food and we were anxious to get the binoculars out to watch its culmination from the parking lot.

The parking lot was adequately lit for security, but it didn't diminish the light from the full moon as it gradually went a bloody brownish color. The motel itself was the only establishment on the road for at least a mile or so. There was nothing on either side of the hotel or the other side of the highway except desert.

We were leaning against our rental convertible, passing the binoculars back and forth as the moment of full eclipse approached. Only the thinnist sliver of reflected light was left showing as we both appreciated this natural phenomenom above the roof of the adjoining motel rooms.

Suddenly, motion just below the moon caught my eye. I turned my head to the right to follow it and briefly saw the object as it flew off at a disturbing speed. What I saw doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard described before. Likewise, Richard's description is unique, but only shares a few similarities with what I saw.

We both saw something, because, I turned and looked at Richard and he said, "Did you see that?"

My description:

The first view I had was only a glimpse of motion. When I turned my head I saw for just an instant what can only be described as a net of dim stars. It was a loosely structured object with a network of greyish "lines" which were actually various series of points. This grid structure was moving in all directions at once in an undulating fashion. It reminded me of watching a fisherman's net being tossed around in the waves, or an amoeba floating around on a speciman slide.

Even though it didn't seem to have a method of propulsion, it was flying too fast for my eyes to follow it as it crossed the highway and headed out into the desert night.

Richard's description:

Richard only got one glimpse of it as it passed underneath the moon. He saw what he called a gigantic skeletal bird, flapping its wings.

At first, this doesn't sound like it could be the same object I saw. But, it is similar in that large sections of the object were moving, and that there was not much mass to the object, but a lot of empty space in it.

Skeptics answer:

This was obviously a flock of birds flying low over the hotel. Even though I've never seen birds fly so fast that I couldn't keep up with them visually for at least 3 or 4 seconds. And, there was absolutely no sound.

Then it must have been some piece of debris flying in the wind. Even though it was a still and completely cloudless night.

Written: 9/25/00