MY FAMILY AND I HAD BEEN UP WATCHING BI-CENTENNIAL FESTIVITIES FROM COAST TO COAST ON NATIONAL TELEVISION; TALL SHIPS, ETC. BY 2 AM MOST OF THE FAMILY HAD GONE TO SLEEP EXCEPT FOR ME AND MY DAD AND OUR GERMAN SHEPARD, HUSKY MIX DOG, LAYKA, NAMED FOR THE FIRST DOG IN SPACE BECAUSE WE FOUND HER/SHE FOLLOWED US HOME SCRAWNY AND EMACIATED THE DAY THAT NEIL ARMSTRONG TOOK THE FIRST STEP ON THE MOON. BY 2:30 IN THE MORNING MY FATHER AND I WERE NODDING OFF AND LAYKA WAS ALREADY SNORING BUT IT WAS TIME TO PUT HER OUTSIDE BEFORE RETIRING FOR BED. MY DAD LET HER OUT THE BACK DOOR A COUPLE OF YARDS FROM WHERE I STOOD AND I HEARD HIM SAY "OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT?" THEN HE CALLED ME TO LOOK AT "SOME STRANGE LIGHTS". WHEN I GOT TO THE DOOR I COULD ALREADY SEE WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT AND I COULD HEAR THE DOG START TO GROWL. UP IN THE SOUTHERN SKY ABOUT 100 - 200 METERS FROM OUR HOUSE WAS THREE PULSATING, BRIGHT LIGHTS OF WHICH WE COULD DECIPHER A HUE, IT WAS EITHER YELLOW YELLOW THEN GREEN OR YELLOW GREEN YELLOW (THAT'S THE ONLY PART THAT GOT HAZY OVER THE YEARS)THE REASON IT WAS SO ODD WAS THAT, RATHER THAN JUST RESEMBLING AIRPLANE LIGHTS THEY JUST STOOD THERE IN THE SOUTHERN SKY, AS IF HOVERING, AND NOT MAKING ONE SOUND!!! BEFORE WE EVEN HAD A CHANCE TO DISCUSS WHAT WE WERE LOOKING AT THE THREE LIGHTS SEPARATED INTO THREE DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS AT AN INCREDIBLE RATE OF SPEED (THE TWO OUTER CRAFT GOING EAST AND WEST AND THE CENTRAL CRAFT SPRINTING DUE NORTH. OUR MOUTHS DROPPED..."OH MY GOD" "DID YOU SEE THAT?" WITHIN MINUTES WE WERE BACK IN THE HOUSE HAVING A CUP OF TEA AND MY FATHER WAS RELATING THAT HE HAD SEEN SOMETHING SIMILAR AS A KID GROWING UP IN BRASIL. I SUBSEQUENTLY HAD ANOTHER U.F.O. EXPERIENCE IN BRASIL TWO YEARS LATER IN 1978 WHILE ON A SHORT JAUNT NORTH OF RIO INTO THE MOUNTAINS OF PETROPOLIS AND THERESOPOLIS. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE EVER SHARED THIS STORY PUBLICKLY. MY FATHER WAS AND STILL IS A MECHANICAL ENGINEER AND I AM IN TELEVISION PRODUCTION. MY FATHER HAD JUST TURNED 56 THE DAY OF ! THE SIGHTING AND I WAS A 12 GOING ON 30 CHILD-PRODIDGY-INTELLECTUAL((deleted))