1997-11-20 - Cedar River, MI - Fireball

Bright Green Fireball over the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. Fireball went straight up and then down at high rate of speed. The Fireball had a long tail of greenish-gold "sparks".

I was sitting on a couch in front of a fireplace at our family cottage in Cedar River, when I noticed a light moving quickly over my shoulder. I glanced out of the sliding glass door and saw what I believed to be a green flare shoot up out of vision above the window/door. A few seconds later this same green ball fell down out of my line of vision. I jumped up to see if the ball would hit the water, but could see nothing. It had either not entered the water, or did so before I could stand to see over the back of the couch. This sighting was over the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. Thinking that what I had seen was a distress flare from a boat, I called the local Sheriff's department to advise the water rescue unit. I was told that there was no green marine flares used and that it was probably fireworks. A few days later, I had seen a T.V. news story about many such sightnings from Chicago, IL to Green Bay, WI over Lake Michigan. The object was very bright green with a long tail of much lighter green-gold "sparks". The fireball appeared to move straight up, but the tail had a slight cork screw type of undulation. I could hear no sound, but I was inside of a cabin with a radio. My wife was also with me, but did not turn soon enough to see the object. I saw the same type of fireball two more times that same autumn (11/97) and once again the following year (11/98). Three of the four sightings were of the object shooting up and falling back down, one of the four was only of the object falling. Because of the windows I was viewing through, I never saw the object reach apogee or fall into the water. My wife also did see one of the other subsequent objects with me. I am in managment of a small manufacturing company.