California UFO covered up as a "kite"

[Ron Caliburn]

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- Dozens of Bakersfield folks spotted a strange, bright light in the sky. It could have been a kite, fitted with a light.

But, many observers say this thing was moving fast, high, at quite a distance, and that light was bright. It was seen Tuesday night south of Bakersfield from about 8:30 until 10:30.

"It was eerie," Wayne Miles told Eyewitness News. "We saw something. A big, giant, bright light. It was brighter than anything else around."

"I don't know what you'd call it," Chuck Wise said. He'd spotted the object when he was standing in the church parking lot at McKee Road and South "H" Street. "It was all the way over against the mountains."

Others also described the light as being near the Grapevine, quite high up. And it moved very fast.

"It kept jetting around the sky, up and down, back and forth," Sherrie Guess said. "We knew it wasn't an airplane, moving that quickly. It wasn't a helicopter, I thought it looked like a hang-glider's movement, sort of."

Guess called Eyewitness News, a friend called 911.

"They said a lot of people had called," Guess said.

Guess and her husband also saw the light from the church parking lot. Then they drove south on "H," and stopped when they spotted it again. That's where a sheriff's deputy also stopped.

"He had gotten out his night vision (goggles)," Guess said the officer told her. "He said it was a kite with a light on it."

"With a string," Ed Guess added. "He saw a string."

A check of websites, shows video on YouTube of kites being flown at night. A couple websites also discuss how to put lights on a kite, and take to the dark skies.

There's also a Face Book page.

"The goal is to make this Community Page the best collection of shared knowledge on this topic," reads the Face Book page. "If you have a passion for Night Kite Flying, sign up and we'll let you know when we're ready for your help."

If it's a new type of hobby, Sherrie Guess has some misgivings.

"I think it's kind of silly because it causes a lot of worry for a lot of people," she commented. Guess had seen a number of drivers pull over to look at the sight.

Eyewitness News could not identify which sheriff deputy had stopped at the roadside to tell the Guesses what he saw.

According to Sr. Deputy Michael Whorf, there are no local laws about kites, except restrictions on flying them near airports.

If Monday night's bright object in the sky was a kite, some are still not convinced.

"I can't imagine that kind of bright light, one light on something being that big," Miles said. He admitted the movement he saw, did look like how a kite could fly.

But, Chuck Wise has more doubts.

"It climbed, and it turned around and came back down," he said. "Faster than any kite could ever fly."

No one could say exactly where the kite could have been flown from. None of these observers saw anyone who might have been flying a kite.

If anyone knows who could have this kite, we'd like to see it. Give Eyewitness News a call at 325-6397.

The phenomenon was something to see and wonder about.

"I thought it was kind of big for a kite," Sherrie Guess said. "And I thought it was an awfully big light to be able to fly on a kite."

[Logan]

If it was a kite, you'll never see it. If it wasn't, one that is plausible will be designed.

We don't worry about ours.

A UFO flap is a great cover for test flights, which is why "experimental aircraft" is such a convenient explaination.