Scammon, Kansas sighting (MUFON case 16421)

A MUFON case numbered 16421 recorded a sighting at Scammon, Kansas, at 1:23 a.m. local time on April 4, 2009 (BAASS April 2009 report). MUFON activated a STAR team Category 2 deployment on April 7, and an investigator was named lead (BAASS April 2009 report). The same summary was repeated in the June 2009 report (BAASS June 2009 report).

The investigator interviewed a woman and her 17-year-old son in Pittsburg, Kansas, on April 7. They had drawn sketches, and the woman showed a photograph taken with her cell phone (April report). They said the object was as large as a small house, hovered about 200 feet above the tree tops and made no sound. They also said it caused no electromagnetic effects (April report). They had been out looking for a missing 14-year-old boy, who was later found in a neighbor's basement. They said the object moved left, left, then returned, and was last seen behind trees (April report).

A neighbor, the grandfather of the other boy, had said he saw a Chinese lantern float past his window (April report). At the Cherokee County sheriff's department, the dispatcher was unclear whether an officer had been sent. The sheriff first said fireworks were seen, then said a man had set off three Chinese lanterns (April report). By April 23 the sheriff had not supplied the names, the police report had not arrived, and the railroad said whistle blasts vary (April report).

The investigator wrote that he did not believe the witnesses saw Chinese lanterns, and gave the conclusion "UAV unknown" (April report). His notes recorded calm wind, the International Space Station not visible, and the Moon at 29 degrees altitude (April report). The April report states that these summaries are preliminary and not final case reports (April report).