NUFORC Sighting 31129

Occurred: 2003-08-30 00:15 Local
Reported: 2003-09-01 23:10 Pacific
Duration: 45 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Merrick, NY, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Aircraft nearby

4 elliptical lit objects surrounded by a haze/halo, proceeding to individually dive, climb, zigzag. Lasted about 45 minutes.

I went outside, to my backyard, at approximately 12:15 AM. I was sitting on a chair on my deck, facing east, towards Bellmore, when I noticed an elliptical shaped light/object moving at a high rate of speed across the sky, followed by another. It was not a shooting star, as I have seen those before. These were much, much larger! The objects were behind a haze that was in front of the objects. The sky had some cloud cover, but there was also clear patches of sky. The objects had a haze/halo in front of them, even in the portions of the sky that were not cloudy. At first, they passed in a straight line, with a short distance between them. One of them was brighter than the others, at times. They were larger, very much larger, than an aircraft. I called my husband to see them, and after about 2 seconds, he promptly dismissed the lights as the type of lights at a grand opening, and he went to bed. However, there was no beam going up to where the objects were, and the objects were not rounded, as grand opening large beams of light. I have seen grand opening beams, but never like what I witnessed in the sky, on Saturday night. I began to time the lights in the sky, to see if there was any kind of pattern to their movements, but there was no pattern. Another object then joined the other two, and several minutes later, a fourth object joined them. They appeared to be following each other. At this point, I didn’t think much of it, but my curiosity riveted me to the spot, as I have never seen anything like it in my life.

I live on the water, on the wide estuary that separates Merrick from Bellmore, a few hundred feet down from where Newbridge Park meets the water, so I had a clear view, with no tree line to obstruct my vision. The objects then switched from flying in more or less a straight line, to doing what I can only term as insane acrobatic type movements. They were individually zigzagging, diving, and going every which way, in steep ascents and descents. They weren’t following each other, at this point, but each doing *their own thing*. I watched as they came together (all 4 objects seemed to meld into one), for a few seconds, and then they split apart and began diving, climbing, and crossing the sky in a way I have never seen anything fly, dive, climb, in my entire life. This scenario kept being repeated.

I phoned the police, to see if there were any events that might have large lights being beamed into the sky. The police had no knowledge of any events, nor would such events be permitted at such a late hour, due to local ordinances. I went back outside and continued to watch the scenario playing before my eyes, totally fascinated. I did not feel fear, nor did I feel any strange sensations, other than an amazing curiosity. I called the police about 15- 20 minutes later, asking if anyone else had reported seeing what I saw, but no one reported it. (They probably thought I was nuts-I was beginning to think so, myself!) They asked if I wanted a car to come to my home, but I declined, as there was nothing to be done about whatever it was that was in the sky, and they would assume I was a real nut case.. Two airplanes flew over my house during this time, one small plane, and one commercial jetliner. That only served to confirm that what I was seeing was not an airplane. The lights were as different in size and shape, as night and day, as was the altitude.

I grabbed a regular flashlight, and one of those powerful beam flashlights, to see if I could duplicate what I was seeing, with the idea that perhaps it was kids playing with flashlights, across the water. With both the regular flashlight, and the beam flashlight, I could not shine a beam up without seeing the path of the beam. In another words, I saw a trail of light on the beam going up, as I was shining it, whereas, whatever was up there, had no beam leading up to it. What ever the heck it was that I saw, seemed to be creating its own light. Furthermore, the light from the flashlight and the beam light would not go even a fraction as high as the light that was coming from these objects.

My next thought was heat lightening, but this was not like any heat lightening I had ever seen. These were individual, specific lights, despite the halos around them. Heat lightening crossed my mind, as a possibility, due to the haze/halo around the objects, but then realized heat lightening was quite different than what I was observing, not being individual lights.

About 12:45 I went upstairs and got into bed. My 6-foot bedroom casement windows faced the area of the sky in which the acrobatics were taking place, so I watched from my bed. At 1:08 A.M, I became so fascinated by what I was observing, that I decided to get my binoculars, so I could try to see more clearly, to try to solve the mystery that was playing out before my eyes. I went downstairs to get my binoculars, but when I came back upstairs, the objects had vanished.

I am a mature adult, a 58-year-old woman, and had no drinks at dinner or after dinner, other than a diet coke. I rarely ever have a drink, and then, only a beer, on occasion. I feel like a fool reporting this, but I know what I saw, and have never seen anything like it in my entire life. I sure wish someone could find a rational explanation for what I observed.. I have not seen the objects again, since Saturday night, but I will tell you that I am very hesitant to go outside again, alone, late at night, after what I witnessed. I wasn’t afraid, then, as my curiosity left no room for fear, that night, but now, I would not be comfortable being alone outside, late at night. I sure as heck hope you will tell me someone had an opening event with weird lights, despite the local ordinances, but I truly do not believe this was the case...

Posted 2003-09-04

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