On the night of December 8, 1967, at about 7:40 p.m, Marilyn Wilding, age 15, of Idaho Falls, USA, went out on her front step of her parents' house to look for a friend coming by to pick her up. The evening was dark and overcast, cold, with snow on the ground. She first noticed a light source reflecting on the snow, and she looked up to find out the source.
She saw a large light above, partially obscured by the roof of her house.
She stepped out into the yard, and saw a large, brightly lighted object hovering not far above the end of her home. It was so bright that she was unable to perceive any other color than white. The object was circular in shape, and she said it was "about as big as a car."
She told the NICAP investigator that it was close enough for someone to have thrown a rock at it and hit it.
As she stood looking, the object tipped and rotated partly so that she was able to see that it had a domed top. In the dome, which was transparent, she could make out the indistinct outlines of two figures, but she was unable to make out any details because of the glare.
She ran into her house and called for her younger sister to come and look, but the youngster was barefoot and did not come out. She then ran back outside in time to see the object begin to rotate, in a clockwise direction as seen from below. It maintained its tilted attitude while rotating, and therefore gave the appearance of wobbling.
With this motion, it began moving away toward the north. As it receded into the distance, the light dimmed and turned orange in color.
At its closest, the object was no more than 100 yards away, and from 50 to 100 feet above the ground. The incident lasted for approximately three minutes.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilding were not at home at the time of the incident occurred. The UFO's departure was observed from inside the house by Miss Wilding's younger brothers and sister, who had been alerted by the witness.
The sighting was investigated and its witness interviewed by Reed Ricks of the NICAP.
