1985-10-01 - Monroe, NC - Sphere

Years ago, my husband's aunt and I witnessed something very strange on the way to work early one morning. It was about 5:30am and we were traveling north from Monroe to Matthews on Old Charlotte Highway. We had just passed the Bakers vacinity and were passing over the railroad tracks when I looked over at her (she was driving) to say something, and saw what I first thought was an enormous reddish-orange moon hovering on the horizon. I remarked that it was the biggest moon I had ever seen in my life, and she glanced over too and agreed. She was not a person to get excited about ANYTHING, so she just kept driving. I leaned down to get a better look, and instantly realized this was no moon! It was the size of a garbage can lid held at arms' length at that point (enormous!), and it was perfectly round and glowing red/orange like the the color of lava. Because we were still driving, I couldn't tell if it was moving or just stationary. All this happened very quickly. I knew this was something very strange, and tried to get Aunt B's opinion, but she refused to look at it or comment on it (she was just that way, ignore it and it will go away). She said, "It's just the moon". I thought it was awful strange that it appeared to be "on fire" and yet, it was not lighting up the entire sky like a glowing red fireball probably would. Instead, it appeared to be just glowing, as if it had an inner light source. Nothing else looked unusual about the landscape or weather. It was very clear and cold that morning. I looked around to my side of the road, thinking everything should be orange colored, and looked up at the sky and panicked when I saw the real moon way up in the sky, white as snow, and the shape of a tiny fingernail! I begged her to stop the car so I could get a better look, but she silently just kept on traveling. I again looked out her window, saw the giant sphere glowing in the sky beside us, and suddenly, we passed by a stand of trees that blacked it out for a moment, and when we emerged, it ! was gone ! I tried to find a explanation for it, but nothing worked. It wasn't the upcoming water tower (she and I both agreed on this) as it was yet to be in view, and it was on the wrong side of the road. To this day, she has never discussed it, and gets furious if I bring it up. I did report this to MUFON by email, and they responded that it was probably a "ball of gases" since there is a fault line in the vacinity. I don't believe that for one second! This was perfectly shaped, brilliantly colored, enormous and didn't appear to light up anything else around! I couldn't hear anything, but then again, we were still going up the road. I have no explanation for it, and am relieved to read on here that others have had a similar experience.


((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the incident is approximate. PD))