1978-09-20 - Tampa, FL - Sphere

round object-big as about 5 hot air-realy big-- ballons-lights-windows-saw people aboard-spectators

My mother and I were travelling in the outskirts of Tampa, Fla------one evening-daylight-6:00pm?-summer, clear weather---hot, Tampa summer--------were in orange grove rural area-----mother was a salesman-------I was riding with her on an appointment-----I was late teens---- she was late 30's------------we were in the car-----saw a huge object------dark blue with an orange glow within------the glow was clearly from windows------we could see people, or whatever, inside------it was almost like a tourist thing----that was my impression.-----some of them waved--and seemed to be talking excitedly to each other --and seemed excited to see us------we lost track of the object several times------and tried to follow it with the car--it seemed friendly, the craft, not menacing---it seemed to float like a baloon in a lot of respects--no sound-----it came within about 50 feet of the ground at one point-----it was so huge that it almost seemed to have it's own gravity----or electricity----it floated like a baloon-----but it seemed to zoom up into a diminishing perspective very easily, like floating----it did this several times during the sighting it seemed very much metallic------and not like a plane, more like a baloon------my mother and I didn't really speak of this in any detail while it was happening----except to try to keep it in sight and follow it with the car--------there was a time loss of about three hours-----near the end of the sighting------I recall becoming aware of my surroundings standing by the car---we were in an orange grove-----not sure how the car got there, my mother was walking out of the row of orange trees--------dazed-----I was too-----we just got in the car and went home without talking----once home we decided to write seperate accounts of what we had witnessed----- they were identical------except that she was apparently abducted during the time loss---as far as I know I was not abducted------my mother has no real memory of what happened if she was abducted-------just of being alone in a srtrange place-----before my time loss I remember the craft zoomng straight up into the evening sky to a very pin-point, and then being gone. I am not entirely sure how this may be related to black helicopter sightings that have occured to various members of my family in the Charlotte area since the sighting described.