(NewsNation) — Catalina, California, is an area known for strange sightings, and NewsNation traveled to investigate the waters in the area and hear one witness’s terrifying story.
NewsNation correspondent Ben Hansen traveled to the area, using a remote-operated vehicle underwater to see how an unidentified submersible object, or USO, could hide under the waves and evade detection using an underwater canyon.
Hansen interviewed a man who has had multiple strange experiences while on the water near Catalina Island.
Boat captain Thor Laizans recorded a video in 2021 showing three orange orbs over the waters around Catalina Island. The video was also taken in the same general area where the famous “tic tac” UFO encounter was documented by the military.
That video was tested for a logical explanation, with little found. There were no emergencies or flares fired in that area and no nighttime drills from nearby Camp Pendleton.
The Vandenberg did launch a SpaceX rocket with Starlink satellites that night, but it was 25 minutes before Laizan’s sighting and 155 miles to the north.
Those lights weren’t Laizans’ only encounter with something unexplained.
One night on the water, Laizans had another encounter.
When the boat drove over the object, Laizans said it began flashing lights up, which he described as similar to stadium lights, with a bright white appearance.
“We drove over something, I know the water’s like, 1300, 1400 feet deep, it drops off really deep out there,” he said.
Laizans rejects the idea that it could have been naturally occurring phosphorescence or algae, which he is familiar with.
“It glows a green color,” he said, not the bright light he saw.
The lights were in an area of about 50 yards, Laizans told NewsNation.
“Sat there the rest of the night with a gun in my hand, waiting for something to come creeping out of the water,” Laizans said. “I was that scared.”