Weird Black Cloud/Contrail

About a half hour ago, my husband and I were outside smoking a cigarette and looking up at the moon. Its partly cloudy to night, with thin, fleecy clouds passing about. We suddenlysaw, passing in front of the moon, what looked like a black contrail that was running parralell to a white contrail like cloud. First thought was it was a weird looking break in the clouds. But it blotted out the moon as it passed. To further prove that it was at the very least, a cloud, it passed in front of a star, and blacked it out from the sky as it moved. It moved about the same speed as the clouds, and was moving east/south east. It was black. It was darker than the unclouded sky, and darker than other other clouds. It moved out of sight, then not very long afterward, we heard a gaggle of geese flip out. Ive never heard geese go nuts or honk at night unless something had disturbed them.

Maybe it was just a coincidence. It was pretty bizarre. I have never seen anything like that. Ive never seen black contrails unless the plane was on fire. This black contrail was paralel a normal white one.

Anyone know what I saw?

My first thought was that it would be an engine fire etc. But then again, thats not good either.

This would turn up in the news though, eventually, right ?

In the four corners area about 3 months ago I saw a dark grey contrail, parallel to the usual white one. It seemed to be a shadow but not on any type of background. This occured about 11 am, partly cloudy. Maybe just an odd meterological anomaly.

[edit on 14-11-2005 by whaaa]

Wow, I saw a similar thing as well this past evening, definitely between 2210 and 2220 EST, and...I took a photo of it! Not sure what the photo will come out like, I noticed the clouds and contrails as I was walking into work and only had time to snap one shot as I did not want anyone to think I was crazy standing in the parking lot and taking photos at night. The regular cumulus clouds were moving quite fast and the lower, thicker cloud cover was still; what caught my eye was how the moonlight shone through a sort of cone-shaped break/thinning of the cumulus clouds, which was unusual-looking to begin with...but the large, white contrail down the middle of the cloud break was the icing on the cake.

I was located just outside of Worcester, MA, USA, and looking to the west/northwest when I observed this. The contrail ran roughly northwest to south and looked very steep, like the plane that layed it was going almost vertical.

I will have to put the original as well as some slightly doctored (my photo software only adjusts lighting and exposure, it does not magnify or crop or do anything fancy) versions of the photo on my site when I have time, I promise you all it should be within 24 hours.

I expect the contrail to be difficult to find in the photos and I wonder if someone can direct me to any freeware online where I could have the ability to draw a line superimposed on the photo to point out the contrail, as I have seen many photos on this site done.

I have seen something similar to what you are describing that was left behind the November 1998 Boloide during the Leonoid Meteor shower. If you search around the web, you can find a picture of that Boloide, as an observatory well north of where I was at the time caught it.

Originally posted by Dulcimer
My first thought was that it would be an engine fire etc. But then again, thats not good either.

This would turn up in the news though, eventually, right ?

That was my first thought. We are very close to a naval station, Whidbey Island, which has the aircraft carrier, USS Abraham Lincoln (the one that Dubya floew in a chopper and landed on to impress his friends when the Iraq conflict was offically "over) and my mom said she did see one jet go screaming off from that direction. She saw and heard only one.

I checked the local news, because something like that would be in the local broadcasts. No mention of anything as of yet. For extra assurance, however, I am still planning on watching the news tommorow morning to see, even though it occured before our nightly news broadcast. I doubt it though, because there was only one jet, from what my mother described, it sounded like an F-18, but I could be wrong.

Originally posted by defcon5
I have seen something similar to what you are describing that was left behind the November 1998 Boloide during the Leonoid Meteor shower. If you search around the web, you can find a picture of that Boloide, as an observatory well north of where I was at the time caught it.

It wasnt a bollide. I judged the elevation of the "contrail" to be about 10,000 feet. At that elevation, we would have heard it, trust me. Last year we had a monster of a bollide explode about 100 miles south of us, and we heard it clear up here. I find it odd too that a bollide "contrail" would go parralell to a normal white one.

Originally posted by Skadi_the_Evil_Elf

It wasnt a bollide. I judged the elevation of the "contrail" to be about 10,000 feet. At that elevation, we would have heard it, trust me. Last year we had a monster of a bollide explode about 100 miles south of us, and we heard it clear up here. I find it odd too that a bollide "contrail" would go parralell to a normal white one.

Not to argue with you or anything, but I have seen quite a few bollide’s and I have never heard one make noise. I think that the one up by you last year that made noise was because it exploded over seattle.

If you live by this naval station, maybe it was a jet running its afterburner (though that is usually pretty loud), or one taking off with JATO ( again pretty loud). Of course noise is going to be affected by distance from the plane, altitude and wind direction. Was this out over the ocean?


[edit on 11/14/2005 by defcon5]

Originally posted by defcon5

Not to argue with you or anything, but I have seen quite a few bollide’s and I have never heard one make noise. I think that the one up by you last year that made noise was because it exploded over seattle.

If you live by this naval station, maybe it was a jet running its afterburner (though that is usually pretty loud), or one taking off with JATO ( again pretty loud). Of course noise is going to be affected by distance from the plane, altitude and wind direction. Was this out over the ocean?


[edit on 11/14/2005 by defcon5]

The Bollide did not explode over Seattle. It exploded about 80 miles south of Seattle. It was heard for over a 100 mile radius. A bollide this low with that kind of streak would have made some sort of noise.

As I said, it was 1 jet, not two. I am not concerned with the visible contrail, only the black one.

This was not over the ocean. It was over the southeastern part of the City of Everett, and it was heading toward the mountains.

The alititude was about 10,000 feet by my estimates. The contrail actually MOVED like it was a cloud being blown, it moved at the same speed as the other clouds. The white contrail twin was moving at the same rate. Ive never seen contrails blow like wispy clouds, in one single line. Everey contrail Ive seen just spread and eventually disspated.

It was just very strange. It was pitch black, visible because of the relatively dark blue sky lot up by the waxing moon. It was certainly weird!

Well, another day. No news about any plane crashes last night, or any unusual meteor activity, both which would have made the news.

Im still stumped. Maybe weird cloud activity? Weirdest one Ive ever seen.

Folks my apoligies for not sharing the promised photo yet, I am not as good with the software as I thought I was and I need to wait for my fiance to play with it. Will let you all know when the photos are ready.

I saw an odd black contrail the other day too. Cant say I've seen anything like it, it stood out so much. It was in a completely clear area of the sky, quite thick and almost pitch black. The odd part was that it was so uniform, like a piece of string someone cut off. It didnt fade in either end. I cant describe how long or high up it was though, I'm lousy with distances. Measuring by hand, I'd say it was a full hand length over the horizon, about the length of a thumb.

But I'm not very familiar with cloud behaviour, it could be something ordinary. This was in Sweden so its not connected to the first post.

Originally posted by merka
I saw an odd black contrail the other day too. Cant say I've seen anything like it, it stood out so much. It was in a completely clear area of the sky, quite thick and almost pitch black. The odd part was that it was so uniform, like a piece of string someone cut off. It didnt fade in either end. I cant describe how long or high up it was though, I'm lousy with distances. Measuring by hand, I'd say it was a full hand length over the horizon, about the length of a thumb.

But I'm not very familiar with cloud behaviour, it could be something ordinary. This was in Sweden so its not connected to the first post.

I am more familiar with cloud formations. This was certainly no cloud, although it behaved like one. Both contrails were being blown, intact, by the light winds that were blowing the other clouds. If this was a cloud, it is a very rare, unusual, and facinating cloud.

Which is a possibility I could accept with good evidence, and would be pleased if it turned out to be a cloud, that I got to witness such a rare oddity with my own two eyes.

Note. I am not saying it came from a UFO. I put it in this forum as opposed to the secret government projects forum because I was unsure if it was A contrail/chemtrail or something else.

Thus, while I dont believe the black "contrail" was an alien spaceship, it was and still is unidentified to me.

Just thought Id clear it up.