NUFORC Sighting 120048

Occurred: 2015-07-04 16:40 Local
Reported: 2015-07-04 20:28 Pacific
Duration: 2-3 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Toms River, NJ, USA

Shape: Rectangle

Postcard in the sky.

The (presumably) same object was seen in two different locations at two different times by the same observer.

Driving east on Route 37 I spotted a rectangular object to the east. My position was near the intersection of Hooper Avenue on Route 37 East near 149 Route 37 East in Toms River. The object was rectangular, white, and moving southward relative to my position. It was very small leading me to believe the object was a mile or two from my current position.

My first impression was, "This was just a large banner someone's flying over the Seaside Heights beach." Beach banners tend to be red letters on black netting, rather than presented as a large bedsheet. What convinced me to contact MUFON was not seeing a plane towing it. My father-in-law was in the car with me, I remarked, "That's strange," but he was oblivious or thought I was talking about something else. Before I approached the Stop and Shop on 353 Route 37, the object was now low on the horizon and difficult to observe.

The distance between the two points is a little over a mile.

We made a stop and drove south down Coolidge from Bay Avenue. While heading south on Coolidge, and passing Raider Way, time approximately 17:05, I saw the white rectangle again. No plane was visible towing the object.

After (maybe) two minutes, the object went behind trees while heading south. The rectangle was a bit larger from this vantage. The object was hidden by treetops before I reached the light on Windsor Ave. This time I pointed out the object to my father-in-law, he remarked, "Huh," but made no further comment.

I believe there's a chance this might've been a case of mistaken identity, this being a banner, but banners tend to be much longer rather than having the dimensions of a postcard. It's strange enough to report, and I'd like to know whether or not there's a prosaic explanation.

Posted 2015-07-06