1986-06-01 - Atlanta, GA - Sphere

Awakened by a orange glowing sphere floating in my bedroom in 1986.

This event happened many years ago, but I have never been able to forget it and am reporting it because I would like to know if others have ever experienced anything similar. I was deep asleep in my bedroom when I was suddenly awakened by a orange glowing sphere hovering near my dresser. It was the size of a dinner plate, had a faint orange glow, and was somewhat transluscent. At first I thought it was a beam of light that someone was shining into my bedroom (I was in college at the time), but my curtains were shut. I noticed that the light rays did not bend when it floated near the corners of my furniture and quickly realized that it was 3 dimensional sphere of light just floating around. I suddenly became very frightened and got a strange "feeling" that it was looking for something. Here is where it gets even stranger - I bolted out of bed in total panic and ran into the hall to turn on the light. My screaming had awakened my parents, and when I flipped on the light switch, the ENTIRE HOUSE interior lit up in a brilliant white flash (like an enormous camera bulb flashing) and then the electricity went out for several minutes. Although no one else saw the sphere, my mother witnessed the bright flash and became frightened herself. She had been awakened by a strange "crackling low hum" (as she describes it) about a half hour before my incident, and had actually gotten up to look out the window to try and see where the noise was coming from. She saw nothing and said the noise lasted for about 5 minutes. After reading so many UFO sighting reports that mention a correlation between a UFO sighting and an electrical disturbance, my interest in trying to resolve what I saw in my bedroom in 1986 has provoked me to research this event further. Whether it was just ball lightening or of extraterrestial origin, I need to know.