Sighting draws UFO research

by ellen ast

albany democrat-herald

LACOMB — One clear evening last September, Raye and Derral Laufer spotted what they thought were strange objects in the sky above their home on Moran Lane in Lacomb.

They reported the incident to the National UFO Reporting Center, and the Democrat-Herald reported on their experience in October.

Since then, Raye has heard from about 100 people who have seen strange things in the sky, and a few saw what she and her husband did: Two silver, bullet-shaped objects heading across the sky and a glowing ellipse size of a Greyhound bus that hovered for about a minute above the treetops of their forested backyard and emitted sparks.

One caller was upset that the couple didn’t take any pictures. The Democrat-Herald touched base with Raye again last week.

“I’ll never get to the bottom of this,” she said. “I’ll never get answers.”

Three members of the Mutual UFO Network, known as MUFON, visited the Laufers early last month from its headquarters in Bellvue, Colo., and spent most of a Sunday afternoon scouting their backyard with equipment for remains of the craft the Laufers saw.

“They walked the property, wrote reports, wrote down stuff, picked up stuff,” Laufer said. After heading to Albany for lunch, they returned to her home and stayed there until about 10 p.m.

“We drew the pictures of what we’d seen and they took pictures,” Laufer added.

The Laufers and the MUFON group talked about sightings and spirituality. Raye and her husband of 19 years were raised Baptist. Raye, 50, said she always figured the universe was large enough to support other life but wasn’t concerned about proving it.

The Laufers moved two years ago to their home about five miles outside Lacomb from Lebanon, where they lived for 13 years. Both were raised in Eugene and have three grown children from prior marriages. Derral has worked for 13 years as an auto technician at a Corvallis car dealership.

Raye TiVos programs about unidentified flying objects and researches them on the Internet. She’s learned about an Oregon UFO Festival held each May at the Hotel Oregon McMenamin’s in McMinnville. She said she plans to attend with her daughter and a friend.