Mobile Bay, AL being encounter — November 1973

A security guard reported an unusual low object over Mobile Bay during November 1973. The Hatch record places the observation at approximately 2 a.m.; a later Rosales compilation assigns 17 November. The object was described as a brilliantly yellow, translucent ovoid, approximately five feet by five feet in the catalogue, positioned only about six inches above the water. The reported distances were fifty to one hundred feet offshore and roughly three hundred feet from the observer. Rather than moving steadily, the object reportedly jerked back and forth with a hummingbird-like motion, without audible sound. Through its luminous exterior the guard perceived four dark figures moving in what looked like an internal corridor. Their movements also seemed abrupt. The account does not resolve faces, body proportions, clothing or equipment, so it supports silhouettes rather than a particular alien type. Rosales links the case to David Webb’s 1973: Year of the Humanoids and notes earlier blue-light observations by the witness. Later health claims in that compilation do not establish that the object caused illness. Although the Atlas includes an underwater-event classification, this encounter’s described action is hovering above the bay, not a witnessed dive or emergence. The reconstruction keeps the object over the water.