Reconstruction — A Meridian, Idaho witness watches a domed disc with color-changing vapor and diamond-like perimeter sparkle hover silently above his neighbor's roof, May 5, 1977.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP SIGHTING REPORT
1977: Idaho witness sketches details from low hovering UFO
Late on the night of May 5, 1977, a man pulling into his driveway in Meridian, Idaho noticed a disc-shaped craft hovering just above his neighbor’s rooftop. He watched it for twenty to thirty minutes as it slowly approached his position, close enough to resolve structural detail: a nipple-shaped dome shrouded in a swirling, color-changing vaporous cloud, a perimeter zone that sparkled “like diamonds,” and pulsating colored lights in rectangular panels on the underside. The object made no sound and emitted no detectable exhaust, yet its lights — though very bright — did not illuminate the ground or adjacent buildings. The witness provided three detailed illustrations with his report.
⚠ 39-YEAR REPORTING DELAY — ANONYMOUS WITNESS:
This event occurred in 1977 but was not reported until March 23, 2016 — a thirty-nine-year gap. The witness remains anonymous in the MUFON filing (Case 75381). A female passenger went immediately inside and did not observe the craft. The report includes a claimed telepathic experience — the witness stated he seemed to “hear in his mind” an authoritative male voice saying “This is not of this world” as he first looked at the object. This element is noted but cannot be evaluated. The structural and behavioral description is unusually detailed for a delayed single-witness report, supported by the witness’s own illustrations.
Date: May 5, 1977
Sighting Time: Late night (exact hour not recorded)
Day/Night: Night
Location: Meridian, Ada County, Idaho
Urban or Rural: Suburban residential
No. of Entity(‘s): 0
Entity Type: Not Applicable — no beings observed (telepathic voice claimed but no visual entity)
Entity Description: Not Applicable
Hynek Classification: CE-I (Close Encounter I) — Structured object observed at close range with resolved surface detail. The existing page’s NL classification is upgraded: the witness described a disc with dome, panel detail, and perimeter features at rooftop distance, not merely a luminous point source.
Duration: 20 to 30 minutes
No. of Object(s): 1
Description of the Object(s): Disc-shaped craft with a nipple-shaped dome on top. The dome was shrouded in a swirling vaporous cloud that changed colors. Around the perimeter of the disc, a sparkly zone shone “like diamonds.” The underside featured pulsating colored lights arranged in rectangular panels, visible when the craft passed closer to the witness. The craft’s lights were very bright but did not appear to illuminate the ground or adjacent buildings — a physically anomalous observation. No noise or visible emissions of any kind.
Shape of Object(s): Disc with domed top
Size of Object(s): Not precisely estimated; hovered above a residential rooftop, implying a minimum scale of several feet to tens of feet
Color of Object(s): Multiple — color-changing vaporous dome cloud; diamond-like sparkle at perimeter; pulsating colored lights in rectangular panels on underside
Distance to Object(s): Initially hovering above a neighbor’s rooftop (within one or two house-lots distance); slowly approached the witness’s position
Height & Speed: Just above rooftop level. Moved slowly and noiselessly toward the witness over the 20–30 minute observation period. Still present over the neighborhood when the witness went inside.
Number of Witnesses: 1 (anonymous male witness). A female passenger immediately entered the home and did not observe the craft.
Special Features/Characteristics: Extended observation duration (20–30 min). No sound or visible emissions. Lights did not illuminate ground or buildings despite high brightness — a physically unusual characteristic. Color-changing vaporous cloud around dome. Diamond-like sparkle effect at disc perimeter. Rectangular light panels on underside. Claimed telepathic communication (“This is not of this world”). Witness provided three detailed illustrations. Object still present when witness went inside.
Source: MUFON Case 75381 (reported March 23, 2016; event date May 5, 1977); investigated by Charles Stansburge, Idaho STAR Team
Summary: A Meridian, Idaho resident observed a disc-shaped craft with a color-changing domed top, diamond-like perimeter sparkle, and pulsating rectangular light panels hovering above his neighbor’s roof. He watched it for 20–30 minutes as it slowly approached. The object made no sound and its bright lights did not illuminate the ground. The witness reported the event to MUFON 39 years later, providing three illustrations.
Case Status: Insufficient Data
Related Cases: 1967: Circular Object with Dome and Two Figures — Idaho Falls | 1967: Ririe, Idaho CE-III Encounter | 1970–1979 UFO/Entity Sightings by Date
Detailed Report
According to the account filed as MUFON Case 75381, the witness was driving home in his truck late on the night of May 5, 1977. As he pulled into his driveway in Meridian, Idaho — a residential community in Ada County, then a small town west of Boise (population approximately 6,600 in 1977, now over 130,000) — he noticed an unusual object hovering just above the roofline of a neighbor’s house.
The witness reported that as he first looked up to view the object, he seemed to “hear in his mind” an authoritative male voice stating, “This is not of this world.” He stopped his truck, exited, and stood watching. A female passenger — the report does not specify the relationship — did not remain outside; she went immediately into the house, concerned about the safety of children inside. She did not observe the object.
The witness watched the craft for an estimated twenty to thirty minutes as it noiselessly and slowly approached his position from over the neighbor’s roof. As it drew closer, he was able to resolve increasing structural detail. The craft was disc-shaped. On top was a nipple-shaped dome surrounded by a swirling vaporous cloud that changed colors. Around the perimeter of the disc, a sparkly zone shone with a diamond-like brilliance. Initially he could not see detail on the underside, but as it passed nearer he observed pulsating colored lights arranged in rectangular panels.
The object produced no sound and no visible emissions of any kind. The witness noted that although the lights were very bright, they did not seem to illuminate the ground or the adjacent buildings — a detail he found unusual and specifically mentioned. The disc was still hovering over the neighborhood homes when the witness eventually grew tired and went inside. He did not see it depart.
The witness provided three illustrations with his MUFON report, showing the craft in profile with annotations describing the dome, vapor cloud, diamond perimeter, and underside panels. These illustrations were produced as part of the filing and are credited to the witness in MUFON’s database.
The event was reported to MUFON on March 23, 2016 — thirty-nine years after it occurred. The case was assigned to Charles Stansburge, an Idaho STAR Team investigator. Openminds.tv published a summary of the case in April 2016 based on the MUFON report.
Researcher’s Notes
The Meridian Hovering Disc — Ada County 1977 and the Problem of a Detailed Memory Filed Four Decades Late
- Source Chain and Reporting Delay: MUFON Case 75381 was filed on March 23, 2016, describing an event from May 5, 1977 — a 39-year gap. The witness remains anonymous. The case was investigated by Charles Stansburge of MUFON’s Idaho STAR Team. No contemporaneous documentation exists: no police report, no newspaper mention, no neighbor corroboration from 1977 has been identified. The only evidence is the witness’s narrative and his three illustrations, both produced in 2016 from memory of a 1977 event. While delayed reporting is common in the UFO literature and does not automatically invalidate an account, a nearly four-decade gap severely limits what can be verified, corroborated, or investigated. Meridian’s 1977 population was small enough that a hovering object visible to anyone looking up from multiple properties should have generated additional reports — but none have been located.
- Classification Correction — NL to CE-I: The existing page classified this sighting as NL (Nocturnal Light). This is incorrect. The witness described resolved structural features: a dome, a vapor cloud, a diamond-sparkle perimeter zone, and rectangular light panels on the underside. These are surface details of a structured object, observed at close range (rooftop distance), over an extended period (20–30 minutes). CE-I (Close Encounter I) is the appropriate classification — observation of a structured object within approximately 500 feet, with sufficient detail to exclude misidentification of a conventional object.
- The Telepathic Claim: The witness reported hearing an authoritative male voice in his mind stating “This is not of this world” as he first observed the object. Telepathic communication claims appear in a subset of CE cases and are inherently unverifiable. This element is noted as part of the witness’s account but does not change the Hynek classification (no entity was visually observed). The archive neither endorses nor dismisses the claim — it is recorded as reported.
- The Non-Illumination Anomaly: The witness specifically noted that the craft’s lights, though very bright, did not illuminate the ground or adjacent buildings. If accurate, this would represent a physically unusual light characteristic — directional or frequency-limited emission that does not scatter or reflect in the expected manner. This detail has parallels in other close-encounter reports but cannot be evaluated without instrumented data. It may reflect a genuine anomalous optical property, a perceptual artifact under high-stress observation conditions, or a reconstructed memory detail after 39 years. The witness’s specificity in noting it suggests it was a genuinely striking observation at the time.
The Meridian case is a study in the tension between descriptive quality and evidentiary weight. The structural detail is excellent — dome morphology, perimeter effects, underside panel configuration, non-illumination anomaly, approach behavior — and the witness’s illustrations demonstrate engagement and specificity. But the 39-year reporting delay, anonymous filing, absent second witness, and lack of any contemporaneous corroboration prevent the case from advancing beyond Insufficient Data. It is retained as a detailed single-witness observation from western Idaho’s Boise metropolitan area, one of the few reports in the archive from Ada County.
MEDIA
Witness illustration. (Credit: MUFON)
“Drawings are attached showing the shape of the craft from the side. It had a ‘nipple’-shaped dome on top which was shrouded in a swirling vaporous cloud which changed colors. A sparkly zone shone ‘like diamonds’ around the perimeter of the disc.” 
