NUFORC Sighting 98111

Occurred: 2010-07-04 10:00 Local
Reported: 2013-05-25 16:53 Pacific
Duration: 45 seconds
No of observers: 50

Location: Knoxville, TN, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object

Big reddish-orange (planet-looking) light hovering over Knoxville, TN during 4th of July festivities

I'm surprised that no one else mentioned this!

When I lived in Knoxville, TN in 2010, my husband, best friend and I were walking closer and closer to the river during the 4th. of July festivities in World's Fair Park to get a better look at the fireworks. We kept walking and walking and walking until we got up to a neighborhood right next to the river, and we couldn't walk any further. There were a whole bunch of people sitting on their front porches, sitting in their front lawns.....etc watching the fireworks. There was a middle-aged man on the sidewalk with a pet boa constructer, my 19 year old friend was wearing a cute, white sun dress, and she (being the daring type of person that she is) asked the man if she could touch it. It weighed about 70 lbs, and she was tiny herself, so I was very surprised and completely distracted when the man said, "Sure," and instead, draped the gigantic snake over her shoulders, and she was totally freaking out.

I was kind of giggling and no longer paying attention to the sky and the fireworks when I suddenly noticed everybody walking out into the streets like they were mesmerized or something. I didn't understand what could've been so wonderful about the fireworks, because I was getting bored with them and paying attention to my friend's nervous reaction.

I suddenly turned to my husband iand asked what the big deal was to notice that he was in a daze staring at the skies as well. He pointed and said, "Look" while still partially in a trance. I looked up, and there was this small, but distinctive, ball of a red-orange light that looked like it was far in the distance and getting bigger and bigger as it seemed to be quickly approaching. I felt like I was dreaming but looked around to realize that everyone else was still looking at it too, which made me realize that it wasn't even close to my imagination! As I looked back up again, I noticed that it was gigantic. Granted I di! dn't have my prescription glasses on at the time, but to me, it somewha t resembled a small planet or something, and it seemed like it was so close that I thought that it was going to hit us. Instead, it seemed as if it was hovering a little bit higher than a high helicopter right in front of everyone in the neighborhood, but over the water.

It hovered over there for a long matter of seconds, and suddenly (out of nowhere), it quickly darted off almost directly right and disappeared in a split second almost as if it never was really there. Once again, I thought that I was imagining it, and realized that everyone was still standing around looking up at the sky for a couple of seconds after it disappeared. I mentioned that I wished that my son was there to see it as soon as I came to, and I looked back at my friend who still had the snake draped over her as if the snake was barely even phasing her anymore until she 'came to' again, and finally asked the guy to get the snake off of her.

Posted 2013-06-02