written by Rich Sanner. Sanner is a certified field investigator with the Mutual UFO Network (Mufon), and has studied the UFO phenomenon for more than 40 years. He is also an amateur astronomer.

February 28, 9:10 AM

The New Year has brought with it a flurry of unidentified flying object (UFO) reports in the greater Pittsburgh region.

The most interesting case occurred in the Pittsburgh suburb of White Oak on January 3. The witness was driving west on Lincoln Way toward the intersection of Route 48. He happened to look to his right when he noticed a bright string of lights forming on an obtuse, triangular-shaped formation hovering motionless above a Giant Eagle parking lot.

The witness admitted to being a poor judge of height and size, but claimed the object was huge and close to the ground. As he watched the object, more lights started to appear on the edges, and it appeared that all of the edges suddenly lit up with a brilliant flash before returning to the original light pattern.

At this point, the witness stated he started feeling "nervous, with a sinking feeling in his stomach". He stopped at a red light and looked back, but the object just seemed to vanish into thin air. The witness got back into his car and parked in a small parking lot at a nearby restaurant. He made a call to the local police to report the incident, and within 10 minutes an officer arrived on the scene, and the witness tried to describe what he had observed.

The officer didn't ask many questions and said that there wasn't much that he could do because the object obviously was gone. The officer suggested that the witness report the incident to a UFO group.

Other reported sightings in southwestern Pennsylvania

Moon Township - 2/10/09 - Two girls were driving home when they saw a huge flash that was yellow at first, then changed to a blue-green. It was a clear, cloudless night and the flash only lasted for a few seconds.

Bedford - 2/8/2009 - Two individuals were travelling on Interstate 99, heading towards Bedford to access Interstate 70. Watching from the passenger window, one witness described what he first thought was a planet, only to discover the object was more than one color. He described the object's appearance as multi-colored, almost rainbow-like.

The object seemed to follow along the road for a period of time, then became stationary, until the witness realized their vehicle had pulled ahead of the light. The light would increase in intensity, until it was finally blocked out of sight by the treeline.