Picture this. You walk outside after a storm and there’s a giant white dome sitting in the middle of your street. That’s exactly what happened to folks on North Pasadena Street when severe weather blew through Indianapolis, Indiana on a Wednesday evening. The thing looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, complete with scuff marks and a partially open hatch. Neighbors couldn’t stop staring at it.
- A large white dome mysteriously appeared on North Pasadena Street near 19th Street after severe thunderstorms with 65 mph winds swept through the area
- The object turned out to be a radome, which is a protective shell for radar equipment, from nearby V2X Technology, though the company admits they have no clue how it traveled that distance
- Residents joked about alien visitors and the sidewalk became an impromptu tourist attraction before the dome was removed that same night
When Your Sidewalk Becomes a Tourist Attraction
Sandy Jones lives right where the dome landed. She told reporters that her Indianapolis, Indiana, sidewalk turned into a tourist spot within hours. People were walking over, driving by slowly, and stopping to take pictures. Can you blame them? How often do you see a giant white sphere just chilling on a residential street?
The dome itself was pretty wild looking. News anchor Chelsea Helms said it looked like an eyeball. The thing was beat up from the storm, with scuff marks all over and a hatch hanging open on one side. It sat there on a flat bottom, taking up a good chunk of the street corner at 19th and North Pasadena.
So What Was This Dome?
A neighbor figured out pretty quickly that it was probably a radome. If you’ve never heard that term before, you’re not alone. Think of it as a fancy protective shell that goes over radar equipment and antennas. They’re made from lightweight materials that don’t mess with radio signals, and they keep weather from damaging expensive gear.
Now things get weird. V2X Technology has a facility just over on 21st Street. They’re a defense and aerospace company that took over what used to be a Raytheon site. If you check Google satellite view of their property, you can see several of these domes sitting around.
Andrew Belush, a site executive at V2X, confirmed the runaway dome belonged to them. But get this. He told reporters that the radome had been sitting unused on the side of their building. When asked how it ended up blocks away, he seemed genuinely confused. His best guess? The storm winds flipped it over and it rolled or bounced its way down the street.
Could the Dome Really Just Blow Away Like That?
The storms that came through packed winds around 65 mph. That’s strong enough to knock down trees and tear off roof shingles. These radomes are designed to be lightweight and hollow, kind of like a giant beach ball made of tougher material. So yeah, strong enough winds could definitely pick one up and send it flying.
What’s crazy is that it didn’t smash into cars or buildings on its journey. It somehow made it from the V2X property to Pasadena Street without causing any damage. Lucky for everyone living in between those two spots.
The Alien Angle
Of course, people started joking about aliens the second they saw this thing. The Jarvis family, who lost power during the storm, told reporters they were planning to lock their doors just in case. “Aliens, you never know,” they said with a laugh.
Belush made sure to go on record stating that it was definitely not an alien satellite or spaceship. But come on, if you saw that thing sitting there without any context, you’d at least think about it for a second. It really does look like something that could have dropped from the sky for reasons other than weather.
Questions Nobody Can Answer
The dome got removed by Wednesday night, ending the brief Indiana tourist attraction on North Pasadena Street. But people are still scratching their heads about the whole thing. How does a radar dome travel that far in a storm? Did it roll? Bounce? Get picked up and carried?
V2X seemed just as surprised as everyone else. You’d think a defense contractor would have their equipment pretty secure, but Mother Nature had other plans that day. The good news is nobody got hurt, which is honestly the most surprising part of the whole story.
This isn’t the kind of storm aftermath you see every day. Usually it’s fallen trees, scattered trash cans, maybe some roof damage. But a full-sized radar dome sitting in the middle of a residential street? That’s the kind of neighborhood story that gets told for years.
What the Mystery Dome Means for the Neighborhood
You have to wonder if V2X is now bolting down all their radomes a bit more securely. This incident shows that even stuff you think is too heavy to move can take flight in the right conditions. The whole thing reads like something out of a local urban legend, except it happened and there’s video proof.
For the folks on North Pasadena Street, they got a story they’ll probably tell forever. Not many people can say a piece of defense equipment showed up uninvited in their neighborhood. And hey, at least it wasn’t aliens.
This post may contain affiliate links, meaning we may earn a commission if you make a purchase. There is no extra cost to you. We only promote products we believe in.
