Long Beach Fireball

Based on the reports of at least 27 observers (one of them being my wife), a mysterious fireball slashed its way through the California nights skies early Sunday morning (July 12, 2015).  According to my wife, who observed the phenomenon at around 12:25 AM while driving her car down 7th Street near Recreation Park in Long Beach, the fireball was yellowish-orange in color, far brighter than the full moon, and descending at a 250 degree angle.  What follows is an excerpt from my wife's report filed with the American Meteor Society:  "It looked so close that I actually slowed down to brace for impact.  We have an airport nearby so I thought maybe it was a plane on fire at first, but it was round, and didn't look man-made.  I thought for sure that it was going to crash into the neighborhood nearby.  When I didn't feel anything hit, I rolled down my window and turned down the radio.  I didn't hear anything, but I swear I could smell some sort of burning scent in the air."  Alas, there were no other cars—and therefore no other witnesses—driving down 7^th Street at that same time.  Still, one can read over two dozen corroborating reports (from a plethora of surrounding cities as close as Carson, CA and as distant as Phoenix, Arizona) at the American Meteor Society's website by clicking HERE. 

It's intriguing to note that the fireball appeared to approach from the west (i.e., from the Pacific Ocean and nearby Catalina Island).  Though my wife certainly doesn't believe she witnessed something paranormal in nature, nonetheless it's worth noting that for decades researcher Preston Dennett has chronicled reports of mysterious fireballs emerging from (or descending into) that approximate area of the Pacific coast.  Indeed, such reports predate Dennett's involvement in the UFO field, extending at least as far back as 1956.  I refer you to Dennett's article "UFOs in the Ocean," Chapter 11 of his 2005 book, UFOs Over California.  For many years, the repeated sightings of such fireballs have been inextricably linked to rumors of a fully functioning UFO base located beneath the waters of the Pacific somewhere between Long Beach/San Pedro and Catalina Island.  In that regard, I recommend Dennett's 2006 Fate Magazine article, "Is There an Underwater UFO Base Off the Southern California Coast?," which one can read by clicking HERE.  

If one studies the 27 eyewitness reports mentioned above, one will immediately see how the fireball apparently flew from Southern California all the way to Arizona within a very short period of time.  Right after my wife told me about her sighting, I (half-humorously) played her my DVD of Jack Arnold's 1953 alien invasion flick, It Came from Outer Space.  When she saw the opening shot of the meteor (which is inevitably revealed to be an alien space craft in the film) streaking across the sky, my wife said, "Yeah, it pretty much looked exactly like that."  Where does the fireball land in the film?  Arizona, of course (the fictional town of Sand Rock, to be exact), the precise location where the sightings of the 7-12-15 fireball abruptly ceased.  Yes, it seems the line between reality and schlock science fiction grows thinner and thinner every day....

If you would like to read more about the phenomenon of "mysterious fireballs" and their connection to UFOs, read the chapter entitled "The Harvesters" in George Hunt Williamson's classic 1953 UFO book, the wonderfully titled Other Tongues--Other Flesh.  You can read Williamson's entire book by clicking HERE.