NUFORC Sighting 04356

Occurred: 1993-01-20 18:50 Local - Approximate
Reported: 1998-08-10 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Gainesville, FL, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

A bright orange ball of light hovering approximately 500 feet above the tree line with no sound coming from it.

I saw this bright orange ball of light hovering about 500 feet above the treeline 3 times during a two week period in the month of January 1993. The first time I saw it I was driving home from work aroung 6:30 pm EST. It had been dark for half an hour. I was traveling north on 441 about 7 miles north of Gainesville on my way home. I then noticed this orange ball of light hovering above the treeline. It just sat there. It glowed but didn't move. At first I thought maybe it was a heicopter searching for something, but the more I looked at it I realized it couldn't be a helicopter because the light wasn't a searchlight. It didn't reflect a beam of light: it just glowed. It couldn't have been a plane or helicopter because there were no other lights on it and no strobes. There are some towers in this area but it wasn't them because I could see them off in the distance and besides they having flashing red lights on them. I didn't stop to watch further because I had to get home. It was still in the same place as I watched from my rear view mirror until I was too far away from it to see it anymore. The second time I saw it was about a week later with my wife in the car as well. It was in almost the same spot that I saw it in the last time, but I think it was further north along the road. She didn't want me to stop and look at it so we continued on home. I saw it again about a week after that. So this time I stopped my car on the edge of the road to check it out. Unfortunately because of the height of the trees next to the road, it blocked my view of the orange ball of light. There was no sound from that spot in the sky. I thought surely I would hear an engine of some kind, but I didn't. When I got backl on the road I could still see it above the trees until I was too far away to see it anymore. I never reported this to anyone because of the skepticism most authorities have towards this type of siuation. I have driven this stretch of everyday for the last 7 years and I have seen nothing like that before or since.

Posted 1999-01-28