NUFORC Sighting 54282

Occurred: 2006-12-31 22:30 Local
Reported: 2007-01-02 01:55 Pacific
Duration: 2 minutes
No of observers: 20

Location: Paramount, CA, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object

Five Lights Sighted Over LA Area on New Year's Eve.

On New Year's Eve I was at a party outside in Paramount, CA, very close to Long Beach, CA. There were approximately 20 people standing outside and eating and drinking. Suddenly someone pointed to the sky and we all looked up as we saw five very bright lights. There was a cloud cover that night, but the lights were below the clouds. There were five lights and they seemed to be very high up. Immediately we started speculating and ruled out the chance of them being helicopters, as they were very high and unlike any helicopters I have seen in my military service. We then ruled them out as airplanes, as the cluster of five lights seemed to be hazardous for any airplanes to fly in. Also, there were no flashing wingtip lights as seen on normal aircraft. The third incident, which ruled them out as aircraft to us, was when two of the lights started to converge together. Briefly, they became one light as they met up for approximately 10 second, then they broke off and became two separate lights once again. We thought that perhaps they could be comets, as we could definitely tell that there were fiery sparks breaking off from the lights, which happens when an object enters the atmosphere. But the strange activities of the two lights made it seem nearly impossible for them to be comets. The five lights were not moving in any specific formation, just a round cluster of about three lights on top and two on the bottom, with one following behind the other. We watched the lights for a couple of minutes, speculating, when it looked like one of the lights went out. Perhaps it disappeared into the cloud cover? I do not know, but it looked very much as if someone had put a candle out as the light died out. Right after the first one went out, then slowly and in succession the other 4 lights started to go out, until there was only one. It waited for about 20 seconds, and then that one went out. I would say about 30 minutes later one light reappeared in the sky, lower to the horizon and over the city. This one! light l ooked very much like one of the five lights previously seen. It zoomed around briefly and then disappeared into the clouds. We tried taking pictures and video on our cameras, but we didn't have good enough zoom to capture the lights, as they were very high altitude.

Posted 2007-02-01