NUFORC Sighting 161044

Occurred: 2020-12-06 20:10 Local
Reported: 2020-12-06 17:43 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Indianapolis, NY, USA

Shape: Orb
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Animals reacted

Red/orange orb hovering and moving in a serpentine pattern in western sky

I was out walking my dog in my parent’s neighborhood in an area known as Geist. It’s semi-rural, mostly suburban.

The dogs in the neighborhood had been barking a lot this evening (not unusual, as there are quite a few foxes and occasionally coyotes). I am visiting from New York City and needed to walk my dog down their street because of the activity earlier (dogs barking, coyotes can snack on dogs as small as mine!).

I was on the phone with a friend and it was quite dark on their street (yards have lampposts but no streetlights). The sky can be quite remarkable here as it’s far enough from major light pollution. Tonight the sky was quite mixed with clouds and some stars peeking through with heavier cloud cover to the west.

There are small airports nearby- so I’m used to seeing and hearing small aircraft and larger planes. Mostly all unremarkable- I do believe some folks may also have drones, but it doesn’t track...

I looked west as I was walking the dog after looking up to see Mars overhead (in an area where the clouds were patchy). My eye was drawn west and I saw a red/orange bright light/orb. At first I didn’t pay much attention because, as I said, there are a number of small aircraft consistently out all hours of the day and night in this area. I thought it might be a helicopter, as it was sort of winding and weaving at a relatively consistent altitude about 45’ from the horizon. It was moving in sort of a serpentine fashion. As a New Yorker, I’m very familiar with helicopter flight patterns (and most especially after this summer). The altitude and the brightness of the light (it was an orb) were too bright and also too diffuse for a helicopter. At the size, I would have been able to hear it, even if the wind was in the opposite direction. It wasn’t more than a couple of miles away based on the size (and the altitude).

It weaved back and forth, sometimes appearing to stop. It was a red/orange light- no green visible even as the object appeared to turn and dip. The altitude, like I said, was relatively consistent with some dips.

I ran inside and brought my dad out, we watched it for a few minutes and then went inside to get his star-gazing binoculars (the sky can get dark enough here to enjoy a lot of stars on a clear night). We went through the house and to the back deck with the binoculars. He switched on the porch light and I asked him to turn it off- he did and we looked for the light and it had disappeared. The cloud cover was too high for it to have disappeared through it (high, thick clouds to the west, where we saw it, but not low enough for where this aircraft was to disappear in less than 90 seconds). We went outside immediately (their house is a small ranch).

The object had completely disappeared. I have no good explanation for how it could have moved suddenly that quickly or dropped low enough to be out of eyesight in that minute and a half as we were transitioning through the house. The light was also notable- as I said it was a ruddy sort of light, and quite diffuse. Very weird! Also notable that after the light disappeared, the dogs in the neighborhood seem to have settled down. (Again, probably and very likely unrelated based on the creature activity here)..

Posted 2020-12-23