Marysville woman confirms South Whidbey UFO sighting

A Marysville woman has stepped forward, claiming that she too witnessed strange lights in the sky last weekend. Katie Kinman, 59, contacted the Whidbey News-Times after reading a story published Wednesday about Dick and Carol Johnson's account of unexplainable lights over their Bush Point home this past Saturday.

A Marysville woman has stepped forward, claiming that she too witnessed strange lights in the sky last weekend.

Katie Kinman, 59, contacted the Whidbey News-Times after reading a story published Wednesday about Dick and Carol Johnson’s account of unexplainable lights over their Bush Point home this past Saturday.

According to Kinman, she also witnessed strange lighted objects that evening but these were in Marysville at 10:30 p.m., about two hours after the reported phenomenon on South Whidbey.

“I was pretty happy someone else saw it because I was feeling pretty alone,” Kinman said.

Kinman was able to record video footage of the event. Shaky and with hard-to-discern details, the footage shows at least one orange light similar to those described by the Johnsons.

Kinman said she was driving with her 6-year-old stepson and had just merged onto Shoultes Road from 142nd Street when she saw two bright objects low in the sky nearby.

The distance was hard to gauge, she said, but they were stationary and about the height of a streetlight. Pulling over, Kinman began recording the object when she felt a “strange sensation.”

“As I held my arms up shooting this video, I got a strange feeling something was above me, so I looked up directly above me to my left; that’s why I accidentally filmed the ground,” she said.

One of the objects was just above her and the experience turned from one of apprehensive wonder to one of terror because the “long and oval shaped” craft began moving toward them.

“My stepson began screaming and pounding on the window for me to get back in the car,” she said. “It scared me so bad I stopped recording and jumped in the car. I shook so bad I could hardly drive. Then it just vanished.”

Kinman drove home and immediately called a television news station to report the incident but she said they only laughed at her frantic claims.

“They said, ‘We’re going on the air in three minutes and don’t have time for this’ and then they hung up,” she said.

Kinman said she realizes “this sounds crazy” and was extremely relieved to have read the Johnsons’ account because it not only occurred on the same night but there were some similarities.

“It had no sound,” she said.

Since the Johnsons’ account was published Wednesday, several people have called the newspaper to report experiences of their own. One was Jerry Shimek, a Bush Point resident who lives across the street from the Johnsons.

Shimek said he also saw two lights Saturday night, at about the same time. They were low in the sky and traveling east but he believes they were nothing more than what are commonly referred to as “Chinese lanterns.”

“They looked to me like hot air balloons released just for fun,” Shimek said.

Others Whidbey Island residents who called in offered their support for the Johnsons and asked for their contact information so they could share unexplainable experiences of their own.

As for Kinman, she believes she witnessed some type of secret military aircraft, as opposed to something extraterrestrial in nature. All she knows for sure, however, is that they were no hot air balloons.

“Like Dick Johnson, I don’t drink, I don’t smoke pot and I’m not crazy,” she said.