NUFORC Sighting 101996

Occurred: 2013-09-07 01:15 Local
Reported: 2013-09-07 04:11 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Tampa, FL, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object, Left a trail, Emitted beams

3 flat, black, disc shapes w/lights descending rapidly over interstate in FL, looked like a flares or rockets.

Tonight while driving Eastbound on I-275 from Clearwater to Tampa, myself, fiancé & daughter were in vehicle and I noticed a flashing white & red light descending rapidly in the sky. First thought it was an airplane or a Chinese lantern, but when it started getting lower thought it was possibly a life flight helicopter. It descended straight down rapidly at a 45 degree angle, almost like a flare from a flare gun. It stopped blinking and began pulsating - we tried to slow the vehicle down to take photos but couldn't get a clear shot.

There is a large blue water tower on the left side of the highway - between the Ybor City exit and the I-4 interchange - and when we began driving past it I started screaming "what is it". It was a flat black and round (as if you'd lay a car tire on its side) with one large round blinking white light on the left, and two large round red lights in the right side. It was near the same size AS the water tower so I was surprised nobody else could see it, it was VERY large. My daughter began crying and we couldn't find an exit to turn around to look for it. The craft came straight down, and literally STOPPED beside the water tower, it was hovering beside it. That's when I started panicking because if it was an airplane, it was close enough to crash into the tower. It was not a small engine plane as it had NO wings at all. Just a large black round & disc shaped with the 3 lights. It made absolutely no noise, and when we started passing it, it very rapidly rotated out of sight to the right side, back behind the water tower.

About a half hour later, we drove to the roof of the parking garage (5th floor) at the Hard Rock Casino in Tampa to see if maybe we could be high enough to see it or take a picture, but only had cell phones and the video was poor quality. My fiancé stood on the hood of my car and I was just outside the car, and there were two more of the identical craft, approximately 1000 feet away - but these ones were ascending straight up. Not at an angle at all, not very fast. The same 1 white light and 2 red ones on each. I have never seen anything like this before in my life, I'm still really shaken at how close they were.

Posted 2013-09-09