Help Me Understand My Sighting

Hey, everyone.

I've been struggling with this sighting for almost three years now. Right after it happened, I went straight to the MUFON website and reported it. No one ever followed up with me. I also did a little bit of searching to see if anyone else reported what I saw, but never found anything.

I live in Columbia, SC. Fort Jackson, one of the largest military bases in America, is also located here.

At the time of this sighting, I lived near Irmo, SC which is just west of Columbia. I lived about two blocks away from the Lexington County line.

The date was January 1st, 2012. I lived in a condo at that time and my bedroom was the master bedroom on the second floor. Instead of a traditional window, I had a sliding glass door that looked out over the parking lot, facing to the Southeast.

It was about 8:30 p.m. in the evening and I was leaning out the sliding glass door, watching fireworks go off while talking on the phone to my best friend.

Southeast of me I saw a light in the sky. It was orange-red with a yellowish corona. The light was steady and did not blink. There were no additional blinking lights on the object. The sun was and had set some hours earlier so it could not have been reflected sunlight. It was moving from West to East, vaguely in the direction of Fort Jackson. It was not, however, moving in a straight line. It seemed to dance and jump about as it moved.

My brain struggled for a moment to comprehend it. At first I thought it was a kite, moving in the wind. Then I asked myself why would a kite be lit up in such a manner. Then I thought it was perhaps a Chinese lantern, but the object was not moving away from me or upwards, but in a horizontal direction. At no time was the object moving in a straight path, it always danced like a dragonfly or hummingbird, but it did have a general direction in which it was moving.

This all went through my head in a fraction of a second. I said out loud, "What the hell is that?" My best friend asked me, "What?" I stared at it for a moment and said, "I have no idea."

I looked down in the parking lot and saw two men standing beside an SUV, talking. I went to say something to them about if they could see the object as well but the words didn't come and I just went back to looking at the object. "What is it?" my best friend asked me again. I said, "It's some kind of light in the sky and it's moving strangely."

Just then, a mortar firework went off and I got a sense of depth perception. This thing was WAY up in the sky. I've seen many, many airlines fly through the sky before (we have a fairly large airport here in Columbia). It was not as high in the sky as an airline jet flies, but still substantially high. I'm not trained in such things so I won't approximate any distances/altitude, but it wouldn't surprise me if it was more than 10,000 feet.

A moment later, the object had moved out of sight behind my roofline. I rushed downstairs and went out behind my condo to get another glimpse of it, but could no longer spot it in the sky.

If you're interested in following along on Google Maps, I'll give you my impressions of where it felt like the object was when I saw it. My experience with the city gave me the impression that it was over West Columbia when I first spotted it. I lost sight of it as it would have passed over downtown, heading towards Lake Katharine.

It was far above the rooftops of the surrounding condos. It was just in line with the tops of the trees I could see from where I was standing. I'm not sure if that can help someone determine its position in the sky.

The entire sighting lasted for about 20 seconds. I know this because of how much time it takes to say the things to my best friend on the phone. I've repeated the conversation as slowly as possible while timing it and it never took more than 20 seconds for everything to be said, even with long pauses.

I'd love to hear suggestions on what else it could be besides an alien spacecraft, but it was most certainly a UFO since I couldn't identify it.

Perhaps it was a "sentient Plasma Ball." There is information to enlighten you in the thread by ATODASO, called "What's the Deal With These Sentient Plasma Balls?" It's also discussed toward the last fifty pages of the Language of Vampyr thread. There you will find others discussing similiar sightings, and what it may have been. It's, of course, of interest that you were very near a military base.

LINK

Researcher s at the University of Missouri have devised a method of creating and launching rings of plasma through open air. Depending on your point of view, this could have significant repercussions for the energy generation and storage industry… or, more realistically, this could be exactly what the nascent plasma weapons industry needs to finally get plasma rifles and shields onto the market.

Despite what you may have learnt at high school, there are actually four states of matter: Solid, liquid, gas, and plasma. Plasmas are similar to gases in that they don’t have a definite shape or volume, but they also differ significantly, in that they are electrically conductive and produce a magnetic field. Some common examples of plasma are lightning, neon and fluorescent lighting, the Sun, and — this will blow your mind — plasma televisions.

Can you describe the movement a little better? Was it traveling in a clear direction but making weird movements? Describe those weird movements.

So let me try and make my question a little less vague. Was it moving in a straight line but up and down or side to side or just all over the place?

from my personal experience, it is when the UFO comes and gets you, that it is a problem.
and from my personal experience, that is pretty scary.

I wouldn't worry too much just about seeing UFO's or what it means.

When you start to see them up close, and lose time as a result, come see me.

Fourth of July.

Steady drift of object at one altitude and in one direction? Like a road flare tied on a balloon for instance? I used to do that on the fourth. Tie road flares to helium balloons set with a cigarette fuze to gain altitude before becoming visible. If winds were breezy aloft they used to "dance" sorta from the long safety wire we hung the flares from the balloon with.

Endless cheap thrills.

Your description 'sounded like' that. Yes, everyone we did it over the ocean so it didn't start fires. If they worked and we could see them, they burned down and tumbled sometimes thousands of feet to the ocean.

We even made our own flares form magnesium shavings and road flares to give it more "oomph".
Oh, the memories of the fourth on the beach.

maybe some sort of cheap LED setup attached to a balloon.

I saw something similar recently round where I live. I don't know that is what it was, but it's a guess

A Nickelodeon blimp? A google image search for red orange blimp gives a good variety.

a reply to: RockerDom

Intentionally done or not, rest assured that you have been introduced into the Twilight Zone.

The thought processes such an incident causes in the typical individual can be priceless as a new perspective gained, whether it was a genuine UFO. or a secret government device. Or you can forget the Twilight Zone aspect and accept what most people will tell you that you saw something completely mundane but under unusual conditions.

a reply to: stormcell

I've seen blimps, they move slowly and plod along in the sky. They don't move in a manner similar to a dragonfly or balloon, and this object did. Plus, this thing was moving incredibly fast. I've seen airplanes move through the sky and this was going three or four times as fast.

I'm going to address several of your questions in one post instead of quoting everyone.

This was going in a direction, as I said, at the same general altitude. It was not going up or away from me like a balloon would. It's movement was erratic, but straight. Imagine a Plinko ball from The Price is Right, but going from right to left (from my vantage point). It was dancing or swinging but moving in one overall direction at a consistent altitude. It bobbed slightly up and down, but it also went back and forth. It's extremely difficult to describe effectively. It had a mean altitude it kept, even if it varied slightly. It's direction was absolutely East to West and it was going quick.

I could say it moved like a saucer if you skipped it across the water, but I think that quote has been used somewhere before.

A flare is an interesting proposition, but this didn't flicker or burn like you'd expect a flare to. Plus, with the speed it was moving, you'd expect a heavy wind that night. The trees weren't moving.

a reply to: RockerDom

Hm. Would you call it an angular snaking motion, more left to right and only a bit up and down - not fluid but jerky? I'm just trying to understand the movement better.

There are several people on ATS who are very knowledgable about the various small drone/mini-copter devices that people play with these days - I am not, however, so I hope one of them will come on and see if it makes sense.

Another recent sighting thread had a very similar description:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Does this sound anything like what you saw?

peace,
AB

My first guess would be that, since fireworks were going off, someone knew that people would be looking skyward, and they sent up an RC helicopter with lights attached. That could account for the erratic movements, or at least it might, depending on how erratic they were. I am not sure how high such a thing could fly, but as long as the air is thick enough for the rotors to create lift, and the radio signal is powerful enough to reach that high, it could probably be done. That is assuming that your assessment of the altitude is relatively accurate. I think that this would have been a perfect time for some prankster to pull such a stunt. Could you tell how large the object was? RC helicopters can be somewhat large, but they are going to be over a few feet most of the time, and the largest I've ever heard of was maybe around 6 feet or so. Most will be smaller.

a reply to: AboveBoard

That does sound similar, but at no time did I see it move in a straight path. It was consistently wobbly during the entire sighting. Like a saucer skipping across water or the way a balloon moves when buffeted by the wind. The difference is a balloon moves upwards and this object's path was definitely East to West.

a reply to: JiggyPotamus

No, an RC helicopter has a distinct movement path. This moved erratically but very fast. Also, the object itself was emitting a bright light that did not blink and there were no other lights on it that did blink. If there were such lights, the object was so far away and high in the sky that my eyes could not perceive them. If it was at such an altitude, yet was still visible to me, then logic dictates that it's size would have had to be ENORMOUS. I don't feel that's right.

Based upon where I saw it in the sky, the fact that it was moving above the roof line and brushing the tops of nearby visible trees, I can triangulate about how high it was in the sky. When the mortar firework went off and I got a good sense of depth perception...well, let's just say I don't see any way an RC helicopter could have been that high. We're talking in the neighborhood of 7-10,000 feet.

I 10000% agree this was the perfect time for a prank. Absolutely, totally agree. Before this experience, I enjoyed hearing UFO stories but always felt there had to be a rational/logical explanation for them. This sighting has proven exceptionally difficult for me to explain, which is why I decided to post it here.

The best suggestion I've heard so far was the flare attached to a balloon. It's movement reminded me a lot of a balloon or a Chinese lantern, but the light that shone from it was not consistent with something that was on fire. At no time was there a difference in luminescence, there was no visible smoke trail, there was no "waviness" like you see from an object that's emitting heat radiation.

I really appreciate everyone's replies, even those that I don't agree with. Thanks, ATS!

I've been searching around for the thing I saw recently. I think it was one of these ...could be the new Chinese Lantern.

Mixed color LED light up ballons party pack of 20 a variety of colors
Bright LED light in each balloon. simply pull the tab to start the LED light shining
Inflate the balloon with helium or air
Plain balloons

Five bucks for a pack of 20

originally posted by: RockerDom
I'm going to address several of your questions in one post instead of quoting everyone.

This was going in a direction, as I said, at the same general altitude. It was not going up or away from me like a balloon would. It's movement was erratic, but straight. Imagine a Plinko ball from The Price is Right, but going from right to left (from my vantage point). It was dancing or swinging but moving in one overall direction at a consistent altitude. It bobbed slightly up and down, but it also went back and forth. It's extremely difficult to describe effectively. It had a mean altitude it kept, even if it varied slightly. It's direction was absolutely East to West and it was going quick.

I could say it moved like a saucer if you skipped it across the water, but I think that quote has been used somewhere before.

A flare is an interesting proposition, but this didn't flicker or burn like you'd expect a flare to. Plus, with the speed it was moving, you'd expect a heavy wind that night. The trees weren't moving.

Viewed for 20 seconds,

How much of the sky did it cover in the 20 second viewing?

a reply to: RockerDom

That does sound similar, but at no time did I see it move in a straight path. It was consistently wobbly during the entire sighting. Like a saucer skipping across water or the way a balloon moves when buffeted by the wind. The difference is a balloon moves upwards and this object's path was definitely East to West.

so it sort of zig zaged across the sky in that direction.

The best suggestion I've heard so far was the flare attached to a balloon. It's movement reminded me a lot of a balloon or a Chinese lantern, but the light that shone from it was not consistent with something that was on fire. At no time was there a difference in luminescence, there was no visible smoke trail, there was no "waviness" like you see from an object that's emitting heat radiation.

It couldn't have been a satellite and the movement you say is an effect many get when viewing satellites if was a zig zag or a skipping as you describe it?

It was a how many hours after sun set as the sun can illuminate objects in the sky after its set, it just depends on the object elevation or distance from earth.

a reply to: InhaleExhale

How much of the sky did it cover? That's hard to calculate, but it was significant. When I first saw it, it was due Southeast of my position. Within 20 seconds it had moved so far to the West that it was blocked the the edge of my own roof.

If my window was a flat plane then when I first saw the object it was about +60 degrees in relation to the plane. By the time it moved out of sight, it was about -13 degrees of that plane. If it was an object at ~9,000 feet, that's moving extremely fast.

I've seen satellites on clear nights. They are small, fast moving lights. The size of this light was roughly 6 or 7 times as large, meaning it was much closer to the ground than a satellite would be. Also, it's movements were FAR more erratic than something moving through orbit. It danced or skipped as it moved. Again, imagine a Plinko chip from The Price is Right as it moves downwards through the Plinko board. Now flip that horizontally. That's the kind of movement I saw.

It couldn't have been a balloon. I've seen balloons lifting up into the sky on numerous occasions (I used to work at Disney World and kids lose them all the time). This moved in a manner that was similar to that, but no balloon goes in a pattern that is side to side around a mean altitude.

Loving the suggestions, though!

a reply to: RockerDom

I've seen satellites on clear nights. They are small, fast moving lights. The size of this light was roughly 6 or 7 times as large, meaning it was much closer to the ground than a satellite would be. Also, it's movements were FAR more erratic than something moving through orbit. It danced or skipped as it moved. Again, imagine a Plinko chip from The Price is Right as it moves downwards through the Plinko board. Now flip that horizontally. That's the kind of movement I saw.

Not sure who or what Plinko chip is,

However it doesn't necessarily mean something is closer to the ground because the size of the light was bigger than other satellites you have seen, have you seen the ISS and have you checked online to see if it might have been passing overhead at your location around the time of your viewing?

I say that its the ISS or some other satellite because it seems you didn't have a wide view of the sky because you said your roof blocked your view and how the object moved or how you perceived it moved, skipping and dancing across the sky.


Heavens above web site tracks satellites and has a special page for ISS I believe where you can check, there are few other sites where you can track satellites and comes in handy when spotting something you mention.

Not all satellites will be on these sites dedicated to tracking as there are military satellites that are obviously kept out of public records.

Or just popped into my head, what colour was the light?

There are a few threads about some secret aircraft a few members have said to have witnessed in recent times, long threads in the aviation forum, great reads and maybe you might get some clues as to what you witnessed if it might have been one these craft that the treads are discussing.