1998-12-11 - Pensacola, FL - Fireball

illuminating firey red ball that slowly sunk over the bay between Pensacola and Gulf Breeze

It was that evening that I saw something that still has me wondering to this day. A bright red ball that illuminated the sky a little and drifted down over the bay. I was playing a joke on my sister and her friends to try and scare them. We had an awning that would roll down to protect the glass door. It was rolled down and I was going to beat on it to scare them in the living room. I first noticed what looked like a plane's headlamp coming at me, but that was normal because I live near the airport. So I started pushing on the awning a little to see if anyone would notice when I realized it was getting brighter outside. I look back at where I saw the plane and there was a bright red ball in the sky slowly sinking over the bay. It seemed so close that I was too scared to run 10 ft to the garage door! I beat on the awning like crazy until one of the people there opened it and saw the object before it went behind the trees. 10 minutes later there was a huge thuderstorm that spawned severe thunderstorm warnings. It was really strange. I've never really put much confidence in the whole extra-terrestrial thing but I know I saw something that night and struck me as very strange that other people here reported similar sightings. Many people here I know have said at some point or another they have seen something wierd in the sky, mainly at night. Not all are valid obviously, but many people in the Pensacola, Gulf Breeze, Navarre and Pensacola Beach area seem to have seen a red firey looking object moving around the bay or gulf.