NUFORC Sighting 15793

Occurred: 2001-01-05 20:00 Local
Reported: 2001-01-06 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 30sec-5min
No of observers: 1

Location: Jackson, MI, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Very bright light from east, shoots off in to north sky?

Driving east on I-94, just past Sargent road I saw a light I thought was a planet just above the horizon at "one o'clock" my driving direction. This light started very small and was very bright. I was driving about 65 mph, I rolled down the window, it was pretty warm. After Willis road the light was "nickel" sized at arms length and at "eleven o'clock" above my side view mirror. At the Weigh Station (it was open), the light was at "nine o'clock", half-dollar sized, very bright. Suddenly, it shot straight up, leaving a bright streak on my eye, it was gone. It dissappeared, it didn't fade out. It kind of freaked me out, I felt scared and very emotional. It felt like a couple of seconds, but it was at least 3-4 miles of driving at 65mph? As I was watching I noticed partly cloudy conditions, with clear above that. A couple of planes at average altitudes with blinking lights were coming from east and west. I kept expecting to see airplane lights on this light. From several angles there were no other lights or form. At the brightest, this light had a dark band in the middle that could be seen. Upon driving back past this area, Waterloo Recreation area, I noticed that it is a particularly dark area (between Ann Arbor and Jackson) no towers or airports in this area. Did anyone else see this?

Posted 2001-02-18