NUFORC Sighting 13380

Occurred: 2000-07-04 22:15 Local
Reported: 2000-07-11 00:00 Pacific
Duration: <5 minutes
No of observers: 4

Location: Riverview, FL, USA

Shape: Circle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Left a trail

Similar orange lights viewed simultaneously by people in two states in two time zones, (IA and FL).

Myself, my wife and two children were out in our driveway lighting fireworks. We had been doing this for over an hour when my son yelled at us to "look at that firework!" What appeared to be a skydiver (I thought) with a bright orange flare, was spiraling, but not really downwards! We could all see the smoke from the trail. Being a pilot, I thought there was certainly an explanation for this. I guessed it to be about 10000 feet AGL, and for over two minutes it illuminated the clouds and did not descend. Seemingly, at about three minutes, it appeared to travel downward in wide, slow descending circles. Then at about four + minutes, it went "out." I didn't think anything at all about this, other than how strange...But today, I received a letter from my brother in Des Moines, Iowa. (his note posted here): "about 9:15 on the 4th, i saw a strange light in the sky. at the climax of the lion's park fireworks show, i noticed a bright red light on a cloud just west of ny circle. it looked like a lasar light on the bottom of the cloud, but it didn't go "into" it. strange. the guy in the driveway next to mine said, "what's that light?" I said I thought it was a lasar...then it started to move OFF the cloud and was in the blackness between two clouds. The clouds were moving NE slowly and the light moved independently on a more easterly tack, very slowly...like the clouds. it came to a dead stop directly overhead...i walked up about fifty feet to mary and our neighbors who were watching the fireworks. "what's that?" I said...they all looked at it and it began to move slowly to the east again...it went behind a couple of clouds, emerging into the void between. still bright red. definitely not a reflection from the sun, which was way down by then. constant brightness; no fluctuation. the 15 yr old neighbor kid ran in to get his telescope. i went in for the binoculars, which i couldn't find immediately and I went back out. The light had moved further east, and the neighbor lady said she saw a bright red spot leave from it and shoot off to the north quickly. her 10 yr old son said he saw this too. about this time the telescope comes out, and the kid fixed the position...when i looked at it now, it was over dsm. the color changed from red to orange to yellow to white, blinked a couple times and went out...like a switch. we didn't see it again. i called news 13...the guy there said several other people called to describe the same light. no explanation...never saw anything in the paper either. haven't told this to anyone else except you. don't want to end up in a loony UFO bin and i'm glad there were other witnesses. cool huh? --------- This was my brothers account of what I'm now wondering is a related incident??? My being in Florida (EST 10:15) and his being in Iowa (CST 9:15). Could this be the same event viewed simultaneously from Iowa and Florida? Certainly there would be other reports from anyplace in between, but I didn't see any on your sight! Crazy!

Posted 2000-07-23