NUFORC Sighting 67883

Occurred: 2009-01-05 20:34 Local
Reported: 2009-01-06 18:43 Pacific
Duration: 3-4 minutes
No of observers: 6

Location: Whippany, NJ, USA

Shape: Formation
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object

Red lights in triangular formations seen for several minutes in Whippany (Morris County), NJ





Received call from parents at 8:34pm from parents who live 2.5 miles away. They were seeing strange lights in the sky. We looked outside and the lights were also visible from our house.

My account: Sky was mostly dark. The sky was overcast. My guess is that the cloud ceiling was 5000-10000. I saw 6 red lights moving very slowly across the sky. They were due west when I first viewed them at about 35 degrees above the horizon. The lights were in a formation resembling two opposing triangle. The two triangles were separated by roughly 5 or 6 times the length of the side of one of the triangles. They were not in a tight formation, but stretched over what appeared to be a large distance. My feeling was that the six lights were not part of one object, but they were independent of each other. This seemed to be true based on what was observed later.

The lights had a "blurry" look to my eyes, not crisp. I do not wear glasses. There was no unusual noise to be heard. The lights moved from the western sky to the southern sky slowly. At a quick glance they might have appeared stationary, but they were indeed moving. After watching for ~90 seconds, the lights were in the southern sky and the three lights of the triangle to my right independently broke from the formation and seemed to move away from my vantage point. The lights got smaller and smaller until they were not visible. It appeared they ascended into the cloud cover and were no longer visible. Within another 15 seconds or so, the other three lights in sequence did the same thing and vanished.

I am 39 yrs old and have never seen anything like this. It was completely unlike anything I could imagine. Honestly, as it was happening, I was convinced I was seeing something from an extra terestrial world.

I called the police about 45 minutes later to report this and they said many other people were calling with the same report. He went on to say they heard from a neighboring police department that the lights were caused by weather balloons with road flares tied to them. After hearing this, I doubted my first assessment. However, the police report was not definitive.

The day after this happened, Jan 6, this appeared on our local news station website: ###### source: http://www.news12.com/NJ/topstories/article?id=223402# (01/06/09) MORRISTOWN - It was something out of a sci-fi movie Monday night in Morris County when residents spotted mysterious lights in the sky.

Residents in Florham Park, Hanover and Morristown saw the hovering red lights in the sky. Some are even wondering if the lights were a UFO, leaving some to think we’re not alone in the universe.

Some who saw the lights called police. The authorities contacted a local airport to scan the sky with radar, but found nothing. According to police, the lights were possibly helium balloons attached to road hazard flares.

#### To me, the balloon and flare story is plausible based on what I saw. When the flares went out, this could have been perceived as the lights moving away from me and then vanishing into the cloud cover. However, I would like to know who set these balloons afloat and why they had flares tied to them. Until then, the jury is out for me.

One last note: from my parents vantage point, they saw 5 lights and not 6 like me. We both claim the lights were clear as day to see so I can't explain the discrepancy in our accounts.

Thank you.

NUFORC Note:

Source of report indicates a date of January 28, 2009, which is not correct. Moreover, he provides no contact information; he elects to remain totally anonymous. We assume that this is a serious-minded report, but these facts make us wonder. It may be intended as disinformation, but we cannot be certain; it is our best guess. PD


Posted 2009-01-10

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