Did you ever think you were witnessing a UFO and than realized moments later it wasn't one after al

There's a lot of weird things in the night sky. All of us have watched the videos and obvious hoaxed photos of possible UFO's. I thought it would be a great ides for ATS members to be a little humble and relate an experience in which you felt "hey that's a UFO," and realized shortly afterwards it wasn't one after all. Maybe we can educate each other how some lights in the sky can really create an emotional let down.

I always try to keep an open mind when I see things. Small lights in the sky don't impress me much, but when they fly erratically or show some kind of rotation, you can't help but think UFO! Here are a couple of my humbling moments...

I was driving alone one night and all of sudden something with rotating colored lights caught my eye. Of course I thought what the heck is that? It wasn't very high in the sky, but at the same time I couldn't make out enough detail. I had the radio on and I started hearing the disc jockey talking about people calling the station saying they were seeing a UFO. Holy cow, and I'm following it right now! I started driving down a dirt road, and not being aware of my surroundings, I didn't realize I was close to our airport. As I got closer to where the object was, just about a 100 feet above my car, I noticed it was a helicopter that had a digital advertising marquee rotating at the base of the copter in different colors. What a bummer. Although it was a great way to advertise your business!

The other incident was looking out my bedroom window late at night and a saw this white light approaching our house. It was traveling quite slow but the glow was definitely getting larger as it approached the house. My view point was straight on and I quickly called my wife over to the window. We both looked at this thing in amazement. As it turned out, it wasn't as amazing as we thought. It turned out to be another helicopter with its nose light blazing. The light was so bright, it masked the entire helicopter in its glow. My wife called me nuts and went back to bed.

I think we all need these moments It helps us to question and analyze lights in a better perspective before we claim "hey it's a UFO!"

So what's your humbling UFO story?

reply to post by WeRpeons


Have to be the first time I saw the ISS crossing the sky.

I got all excited but fortunately I didn't tell anyone and figured out that it was some sort of large satellite seconds later.

A check with the net and I'd identified it as the ISS.

I saw a little amber dot mysteriously appear in a clear blue sky followed a several more moving high across the sky. After half a minute of watching them I realized that they were leaves being carried aloft by the wind a few hundred feet in the air

Yes I have, but only after I saw my first.

On June 18, 2010 @ 4:15 p.m. I was done mowing my neighbors lawn. I went inside to get a glass of water, which I brought outside to drink and smoke a cigarette. It was a very clear and calm day. There wasnt a single cloud in the sky. As soon I looked up, I noticed three objects reflecting light from the sun which was being blotted out by our maple tree. If you held your arm out to the sun, the objects were maybe a little more than a finger's width from the sun.

One of the objects started moving and flew directly over me, in the E / NE direction. It was a light gray metallic sphere flying absolutely steadily through the air. I watched it in complete amazement. My jaw literally dropped when I realized what I was seeing. As soon as the object reached the edge of my porch roof, and was effectively out of my sight, I looked back at the sun to see the other objects fade away.

The next day, while watering my Morning Glory plants, me and my father saw a very dark Blackhawk helicopter fly over our house, so low that we could hit it with a baseball. I looked at my phone and it was around the time I had seen the objects the day before. Realizing this, I went to the "field," or the pipeline behind my house to smoke a cigarette. Before doing so, I noticed a flying black sphere make its way in front of a large white cloud. The object vanished once it hit the blue of the sky. Since then I have witnessed 6 of these black spheres.

Later that week, I received a call from MUFON after I reported the sighting, and learned that a family north of me saw "dozens" of these spheres that day, and that a guy south of saw one and even photographed it. After that, I have learned very carefully, that two of my neighbors saw the same thing that day.

After that day, I decided it was time to buy a video camera, being a visual journalism major and what not. Since then, I have seen weather balloons, space shuttles, the ISS, meteorites, satellites, military aircraft, regular balloons, and airborne bags. None of them has ever come close to what I saw that day.

I only talk about these on this site and with people that either freely express their belief in UFOs, or have personally said they have witnessed such things. Whether they are human or not is actually moot to me, and irrelevant to other people, considering that what I saw was so astounding that it doesn't even matter where it came from.

Lol Great idea for a thread, this got me laughing thinking about a night last summer.

I was down at the marina fishing at about 1 in the morning with a buddy, clear night and I had a few cold ones flowing through me. I was just staring at the stars, kind of dazing out waiting for a bite and from the hill behind us maybe 300 or 400 yards away a glowing orange light came slowly rising up, completely silently. I tapped my friend and asked him what the #**$ is that. As we were staring at it 6 or 7 more came floating up behind it. It took about a half an hour us thinking the invasion was beginning before they were close enough to see they were chinese lanterns.

The worst are distant airplanes...

reply to post by SubPop79


I think people who believe we are being visited (like myself) wish at times we can have such an experience and sighting. Than again, I often wonder what I would do if I did have a close encounter. Would I be overcome with fear or would my inquisitive side want to investigate more. I've seen some strange things, but nothing that I can unequivocally say it was something not of this earth.

reply to post by QuestionsEverything


Great story to recall with friends. I've had a good number of hilarious stories after having a few cold ones with friends, but nothing like thinking we were being invaded by aliens. I bet you guys had a good laugh after realizing they were Chinese lanterns.

reply to post by chr0naut

I think I saw the ISS one night. It looked like a star traveling at a good clip. But than again, maybe it was a UFO.

reply to post by WeRpeons


Neither have I, just things I can unequivocally say are not your typical every day objects without visible propulsion systems.

reply to post by dashen


I find it amazing how viewing objects at different perspectives can make them seem totally different than what they truly are. I saw a silver mylar balloon that was partially deflated floating on its side at a distance. At first glance you could actually think it could have been a metallic saucer because it was kind of hovering and not being blown in the wind. Combine that with the glare of the sun, and it can really plays tricks on your eyes.

reply to post by SubPop79


That's true, sometimes you have to give them a second look to tell yourself it's just a plane. I've always felt if it has a blinking light it has to be ours. Considering other advanced beings would have technology much more advanced than us to help identify their own airborne vehicles, but than again, who really knows?