THINK ABOUTIT UFO|ENTITY SIGHTINGS REPORT

2000: Something at Home — The Whittier, California Incident

Late on the night of October 11, 2000, a Whittier, California homeowner heard an unexplained rustling sound in his kitchen while his family slept, followed by the entire house losing power. Believing he had a home invasion in progress, he armed himself with a belt buckle and cleared every room, only to find his wife sitting bolt upright in bed, badly shaken, insisting a tall, dark, faceless figure had been standing over her. Minutes later, walking the block to check on the neighborhood’s power, he watched an intensely bright light descend low over the street, hover silently over his own house, then accelerate away at a speed he estimated at 30 to 40 miles in under a second, first horizontally, then straight up, before vanishing entirely. The power came back on moments after he told his wife what he’d seen.

Date: October 11, 2000

Sighting Time: Beginning approximately 11:15 p.m. (kitchen noise/power outage phase); light phenomenon observed shortly afterward, around 11:30 p.m.

Day/Night: Night

Location: A residential street in a hillside community in Whittier, California, near a fenced-off mountainous area and a then-dormant oil drilling facility to the north

Urban or Rural: Urban (hillside residential community)

No. of Entity(s): 1 (per the account of the witness’s wife, a separate observation not captured in this site’s legacy field data)

Entity Type: Humanoid, unconfirmed

Entity Description: Described by the witness’s wife only as a tall, dark figure standing at the foot of their bed, looking down at her; no facial features or other detail could be discerned; she initially believed it was her husband before he confirmed he had not yet entered the room

Hynek Classification: NL — Nocturnal Light. Given the witness’s estimated altitude of less than 250–300 feet for the light source, this case sits close to the boundary with CE-I, though no solid structure was directly observed, only an intense light and its beams; NL is retained as the primary classification with this proximity noted.

Duration: The light phenomenon itself was observed for several minutes before its final, near-instantaneous departure

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): An extremely bright white light source, its exact form obscured by its own brightness, casting distinct beams downward through tree branches onto the street; moved slowly southbound at low altitude with no visible structure, no sound, and no aviation lighting of any kind, before executing a near-instantaneous horizontal acceleration followed by a vertical ascent, shrinking in apparent size from that of a “grape” to a “small pea” before vanishing entirely

Shape of Object(s): Circle/unknown (light source only; no solid structure directly visible due to its brightness)

Size of Object(s): Undocumented; obscured by brightness

Color of Object(s): Extremely bright white light

Distance to Object(s): Estimated 500 feet or less; witness’s more specific estimate placed the light’s altitude at less than 250 to 300 feet, comparing it to less than a football field in height

Height & Speed: Below 250–300 feet altitude, moving slowly southbound at an estimated 5 to 7 mph before accelerating horizontally at a speed the witness estimated covered 30 to 40 miles in under one second, then executing a vertical ascent at an even greater speed before disappearing

Number of Witnesses: 2 across the full incident: the primary witness observed the kitchen noise, the power outage, and the light phenomenon directly; his wife separately observed the humanoid figure at the foot of their bed but did not witness the light phenomenon itself, having remained inside the house

Special Features/Characteristics: Incident began with an unexplained, sustained rustling sound in the kitchen while the witness was the only person awake in the house, with an unobstructed sightline down the hallway ruling out a family member’s involvement; total household power loss coincided with the end of the kitchen noise; witness’s wife reported a tall, dark, silent humanoid figure standing at the foot of their bed moments before the witness entered the room, though he did not observe it himself; the light phenomenon produced no sound, no rotor or jet engine noise, and no aviation lighting of any kind; only the north side of the street lost power, while houses across the street retained porch lighting; household power was restored within seconds of the witness describing his sighting to his wife, while she was still on hold with the power company, who reported no identified cause (no blown transformers or downed lines) for the outage

Case Status: Insufficient Data — a detailed, multi-phase, single-family account combining an unexplained sound, a localized power outage, a separately witnessed apparition, and a directly observed light phenomenon, none of which have any independent corroboration, physical evidence, or third-party investigation located

Source: MUFON Case #33244

Summary/Description: On the night of October 11, 2000, a Whittier, California homeowner heard an unexplained sustained rustling sound from his kitchen while alone and awake in the house, followed immediately by a total loss of household power. Believing an intruder was present, he cleared every room and found his wife sitting upright in bed, shaken, describing a tall dark figure that had been standing over her. Walking the block afterward to check on the neighborhood’s power, he watched an intensely bright, silent light descend low over the street, hover briefly over his own house, then depart first horizontally and then vertically at extraordinary speed before vanishing. Household power was restored within seconds of him describing the sighting to his wife, with the power company unable to identify a cause for the outage.

Related Cases: None documented

Full Report

We had moved into our new Whittier, California home in July of 2000. Our residence sits close to the top of a hillside community, three blocks from a fenced-off mountainous area to the north of our residence. The incident I’m sharing took place three months after we moved in, approximately around October 11th, 2000. I should also note that somewhere to the northeast of our residence, inside the wild, uninhabited area mentioned above, is an old oil drilling facility that at the time of the incident had been dormant for many years according to local neighbors. At the time of writing, there is local political and social debate regarding the reopening of that facility, but in October of 2000 there was no activity in the mountain area.

I arrived home late from work on the night in question, at approximately 11:15 p.m., to find my two young children asleep in their bedrooms and my wife asleep in our room at the rear of the house. I checked on them and, without changing out of my shirt and tie, went to the living room and began watching TV. The living room was dark except for the light of the television; the only other lights on in the house were the kitchen light and the adjoining laundry room light. The local news was near the end of its broadcast, weather and sports, when the incident began.

I heard a distinct rustling in the kitchen, like the sound of opening a rolled and clipped potato chip bag. The noise caught me off guard, since I was the only person awake in the house. From my chair I had a clear, unimpeded view down the hallway to the bedrooms and would have seen or heard if anyone had gotten up. My children never woke after falling asleep at that age, and would have called out if they had. My heart raced; I knew none of my family were in the kitchen. The rustling lasted five or six long seconds. I called out, “Who’s up?” The rustling stopped immediately. My hair stood on end and I felt a burning sensation down my spine. I called out again, more forcefully, and prepared to defend my family, quietly removing my belt to use the buckle as a striking tool. As I began to stand, the power to the house cut out entirely, the TV and both kitchen and laundry lights going dark at once.

Certain I had a home invasion in progress, I moved into the kitchen, belt buckle in hand, prepared for a confrontation. The soft moonlight through the kitchen window showed nothing and no one. The laundry room door was shut and locked. I armed myself with a knife and flashlight and cleared the house room by room: both children’s rooms, both asleep and undisturbed; the children’s bathroom; the master bathroom. As I exited the master bathroom into the bedroom, roughly nine to ten feet from the foot of our bed, I was startled to see my wife sitting bolt upright, though she had been asleep the entire time up to that point. She whispered, in a perturbed tone, “Why were you standing over me?” I told her I had only just entered the room. She replied, now more upset, “Someone was standing at the foot of our bed looking down on me. It woke me up. I know what I saw.” I motioned for her to stay quiet and finished clearing the room, then the office, the last room in the house. Nothing was found anywhere.

I brought my wife and children together and we moved back through the house, rechecking each room as we went. In the living room, I asked her to describe what she’d seen; she could only say it was a tall, dark figure she had first assumed was me, until I confirmed I had only just walked in. She lit candles and called the power company. Looking out our large front window, I noticed the street lamp across the street and porch lights on the south side of the street were still lit, but every house on our side, the north side, was dark, which was not normal.

I told my wife I was going to walk up the street to check the extent of the outage. She strongly objected, not wanting to be left alone with the kids after everything that had happened, but I felt compelled to go regardless. I walked west under the old ficus trees lining our street, reached the corner, and saw porch lights on to the north, meaning the outage wasn’t neighborhood-wide. A wave of unease came over me and I turned back, heading east toward home, watching the ground to avoid the ficus berries that stain carpet when tracked inside. As I got closer to home and started to relax, I glanced up to see faint moonlight through the branches, then looked back down, when suddenly the entire street lit up in an intensely bright white light.

I stopped, disoriented, and looked up to see intense white beams piercing through the tree branches, bright enough that I had to squint. The light source itself was above the trees, moving slowly southbound from the direction of the mountainside. It was too bright to make out its actual shape. My best estimate of its height was less than 250 to 300 feet, less than a football field. It continued south at an estimated 5 to 7 mph, now directly over the middle of the street, and I stepped out from under the trees into open space nearly in front of my own house, where an unobstructed view showed the light now positioned over the house directly across the street.

There was no sound at all: no rotor blades, no jet or turbine noise, no aviation lighting of any kind. It was far too low to the ground to be any aircraft I had ever seen. Suddenly it accelerated horizontally, at a speed I can only describe as ten to fifteen times faster than a meteor entering the atmosphere, covering what I estimate to be 30 to 40 miles in under a second, completely silently, shrinking almost instantly to the apparent size of a grape. Then it took a vertical trajectory, like a child sliding up rather than down a slide, accelerating even further, shrinking to the size of a small pea before vanishing entirely, apparently leaving the atmosphere altogether.

I stood frozen, staring at the empty patch of sky, heart pounding, feeling sick. I knew in my heart that whatever that light was, it wasn’t from anything on this earth; the speed was beyond anything our civilization has. I walked back to my front door, where my wife, still on hold with the power company, opened the door and asked what was wrong, saying I looked like I’d seen a ghost. I told her, “I just saw a UFO. I can’t explain what I just saw.” She confirmed she hadn’t seen it herself, having stayed in the den on the phone. Moments later, the power company representative came back on the line and told her they’d found no blown transformers or downed lines to explain the outage in our area. My wife hung up, and within five to ten seconds, the power came back on, startling us both.

The events described above are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge. I have shared them with a few friends and family members but had not formally reported the incident until now, so that it can be documented for possible future reference.

RESEARCHER’S NOTES

Whittier, 2000 — Three Anomalies in One Night, and the Case for Treating Them Separately

Entity information was missing from this site’s legacy data and has been restored. The wife’s report of a tall, dark, silent figure at the foot of the bed is a distinct, separately witnessed element of this incident, not captured anywhere in the original field data despite being described in detail in the full account. It has been added to the entity fields above, flagged as originating from a different witness than the one who observed the light phenomenon.
This account bundles at least three distinct anomalous elements that deserve individual scrutiny. The kitchen noise and localized power outage, the apparition at the foot of the bed, and the aerial light phenomenon are three separable claims, each with its own evidentiary character. Treating them as automatically connected simply because they occurred the same night risks overstating the case; this entry documents all three as reported while noting that no causal link between them has been established beyond their shared timing.
The localized, unexplained power outage is a specific, checkable detail. The witness’s account that only the north side of the street lost power, that the outage had no identifiable cause per the utility company, and that it resolved within seconds of the sighting being described, is a concrete claim that, if accurately recalled, is unusual regardless of the light phenomenon’s ultimate nature. No utility company record has been independently obtained for this entry.
The light’s departure sequence is the account’s most extraordinary specific claim. An estimated 30 to 40 miles covered in under one second represents a speed far beyond any known aircraft and, if taken literally, well beyond orbital velocities as well. This is the kind of extreme performance claim that is inherently very difficult to verify from a single ground-level eyewitness account without instrumentation, and should be weighed with that limitation clearly in mind, independent of how sincerely and consistently the witness describes it.
Single-family, uncorroborated account with no independent investigation. No neighbor, additional witness, physical evidence, or third-party investigation of any element of this incident has been located. The account’s internal detail and consistency are notable, but it remains, in full, a single family’s report.

A Whittier homeowner spent ten minutes convinced he had a home invasion in progress, cleared his entire house with a belt buckle and then a knife, found his wife shaken by a figure she swears was standing over her, and stepped back outside afterward only to watch a silent, blinding light cross miles of sky in under a second and vanish straight up out of the atmosphere. The power went out with the noise and came back on the moment he told someone what he’d seen. None of it has ever been explained.