Purple cloud may have been cloaked UFO

In light of the recent National Geographic show about USO's and how often witnesses report the uso's are hidden behind brightly colored clouds, I am more convinced than ever that the bright purple cloud I witnessed in Winston-Salem, NC, in 1971 was actually a cloud disguising a ufo. The rich purple color was so brilliant that it was easily seen against the night sky.

I would be thrilled to hear if other people saw this particular cloud in 1971. Or if anyone has seen anything similar, please write in about your sighting!

Well, I'm normally one to debunke a story with a plausible explanation - but aside form the purple picture posted (huzzah for alliteration by the way), I can't think of anything that would cause this kind of a sighting.

First, it wasn't during the evening, as the sun was still setting, but was rather during the night you said. That's the real catcher. That purple cloud event that was pictured only occurs during an evening. Since you said it was BRIGHT Purple, far brighter than the sky around it, that also adds weight to it being a true UFO sighting. If you could please be very specific if it was night (as in, black sky), and not just a dark dusk or twilight. Accuracy is essential for pinpointing whether this is a true UFO sighting, or, as those who deny ignorance, if it is just a rare, intriguing, but natural event.

Next, the speed that it moved at sounds interesting. Was it moving in the direction of the wind? Or against? If it's against the wind, it adds to it being a UFO, if it's with the wind, it adds to it being a cloud. Please be truthful here. If you don't know, just say "I can't remember exactly/for sure" and it goes in the neutral book.

Next, the "boiling" statement you make sounds intriguing to me. I'd really like to know what you mean by "boiling". Take a look here; en.wikipedia.org...

Do any of those look like what you saw? en.wikipedia.org...:Clouds_edited.jpg This one currently sounds like what you're describing. I'm not saying it is, I'm just saying that it is the closest comparison I can make with the words you've used. Further investigation into Wikipedia also showed me this:

en.wikipedia.org...:Mammatus-clouds-Tulsa-1973.png

It's called Mammatus. I've never heard or seen it before, but it's definitely what I would call "boiling". The only thing is that this only appears in conjunction with Cumulonimbus or Cumulus clouds - and I can't see it as "moving" that fast. Still, some verification if this is close to what you saw would be useful.

Also of note, the Mammatus cloud is denoted as "Blue-ish Gray". Once again, this is where if the night was really night, or just late dusk is important in uncovering the truth behind what you saw.

So yeah, sorry to sound like a skeptic, but I'd really like to verify that this is a real UFO story we're dealing with here. In either case however, it sounds like you witnessed a rare event anyways! So stand tall and be proud at whatever answer comes out of this

Hey again. Glad you brought this thread up again, I have some 'news' for you.

Like I've explained I had a simular sighting involving cloaking, but what I didn't want anyone to know was at that moment (last summer) was that it wasn't my first sighting involving cloaking. The first sighting I had was some 8 years ago and I believed it was a figment of my imagination since it's 'technology' was just too high tech, that and I was kinda lying on a swing, letting blood flow into my brain. I still don't know if what I saw actually happened but all signs except the blood rushing one point to yes. I only recently decided I wanted to release this information to this board, maybe a couple of months ago, when I was discussing something. So yeah, I've probably seen two camouflaged UFOs in my lifetime.

I wanted to tell you this all along, but for some reason I held it back, and that is that my first sighting also had this billowing and boiling texture.

Let me start from the top by describing what I saw. I was lying there on the swings with my head dangling down, looking at the sky when I noticedsomething in my periferal vision above a house less than 50-60 yards (

Edit of sorts: Couldn't find the edit button on my post, strange. Anyways, lost_shaman noticed an inconsistancy in my sighting wich I'll explain away now. This was at night, after dinner time and it was beginning to become dark. Since we don't have the words 'dusk' and 'dawn' in the Swedish vocabulary it's easy to mix them up, I basically learned these words from a certain Tarantino movie.

So it's Dusk, not dawn. Is that right? Jeez, who'd thought 'skymning' would be such a difficult word to translate.

Thanks for the responses.

I saw this cloud about 9 p.m. It was dark with no moon visible. I saw it as I drove towards a grocery store that was about 1 mile from my house. I was probably going about 35 m.p.h. and it was easily going that fast or faster. It seemed to be headed in the same direction as I was. I can't say for sure it was following me but it was going in the same direction because I watched it as I drove along. I pulled into the store's parking lot, stopped the car and jumped out. I asked a man who was just coming out to his car if he could see it and he said yes. The cloud flew right over the parking lot. There were several other people that saw it but there was no more discussion about it. We all went about our business.

Thanks for the photographs of the Mammatus clouds. They look very much like the cloud I witnessed. What I saw was a rich grape-colored purple cloud and it boiled like purple smoke - that's my best description of it. It maintained its cloud shape as it moved along.

I can't say what it might have been cloaking because I never saw anthing but the cloud. It seemed to move in a definite path and didn't seem to be disguising itself. No cloud that earth produces looked or behaved the way this cloud did.

At the time, I was a teenager and just dismissed it. Now, after having seen several other ufo's I realize this was my first ufo sighting. It's like they (whoever they are) hide in plain sight and dare us to go public and make a fool of ourselves. Yes, I believe they appear to certain people for some reason, I just can't figure out why. I would like to think they revealed themselves to me for some noble reason, but quickly I remember I'm just a regular average person, 51 years old, not too jaded, with maybe some psychic ability, a college graduate and B+ student, and I love dogs and horses.

Any thoughts?

Thanks for confirming the Mammatus cloud, and including more detail! I can say for certain now a few things.

First, this cloud wasn't moving. The cloud that you saw was, in fact, just a cloud - but it's that there was something on the OTHER side of the cloud. That's probably why it appeared to be boiling - since the light moved on the top-side of the cloud, it gave the appearance of a cloud that was moving forward.

Now, the fact that it was dark, and no moon was visible, lends further weight to this. Essentially, it was a cloudy night - and so the Mammatus clouds would have been invisibile, had it not been for what was on the other side of them. Thankfully we can dismiss the whole "cloaking" technology question right here because of this. This is a good sign - we're getting closer to the truth.

So the question now is, what was on the other side of the cloud that did this?

I was tempted to say a Fireball - since thse are mistaken for UFOs ALL THE TIME. They also light up clouds that they move over, and can give the illusion of a cloud that lights up and moves. The best description I heard was that "it looked like there was a constant fire-works display going on the other side of the cloud".

However, a Fireball would move faster than what you're describing. Normally Fireballs appear yellow, red, or green. I could imagine that a bright whitish red Fireball, going over clouds that normally "shine through" blue, could create a purple looking cloud. This is dependant on a major thing - how long did this incident last for? A minute? 30 seconds? 10 seconds?

The longer the length, the less likelyhood of it beind a Fireball.

Otherwise, it was a UFO. And by that, I mean I won't be able to identify it. It could be extraterrestial in origin, or could have been some new technology being tested by the government (hoping that the night and cloud-cover would have provided a good visual screen against people seeing it).

Also, was there any sound to it? If so, then it's almost definitely something terrestial (if mysterious) - but if not, then it's lending weight to a Fireball or to extraterrestial origins.

Thanks again! It's good to really in-depth try to find the answers, eh?

I saw a strange red cloud once when I lived in Arkansas... I was driving at the time, so I tried keeping up with it but I couldn't.

Turns out it was the aurora borealis, which is quite rare in the lower latitudes.

However, I couldn't dig up any occurances of the aurora in the states in 1971.

Another explanation could be that of a missile test launch. I've seen a couple of those and they can produce some really colorful clouds... but then they don't really move that fast.

Of course it could be a UFO, but if I were an alien, I think I'd want to conceal myself in a WHITE cloud, not a purple one... or better yet, just use a cloaking device.

I was driving to work the other morning at about 7 30. I looked up in the sky for some reason as I as slowing down to an intersection. I saw what I thought at first was like clear plastic bag floating about 100-150 feet above the ground. The as i got closer i realized it was actually far away in the distance. Then I thought it was a flock of birds, but I couldnt make out the actual birds. Then this distortion moved incredibly fast to the right side of the sky and I lost it after that. I thought it seemed like a distortion of light, but it was something. What was that?