1999-01-09 - Longboat Key, FL - Light

Pulsing light over the Gulf of Mexico changing color, frequency, and intensity moved in an erratic pattern across the clear sky. The motion stopped for a few moments as the object hovered and glowed dimly pink and then accelerted at an astonishing rate.

I stood on the beach with my wife watching the stars and occasional planes and helicopters move across the sky over the western Florida coastline and the Gulf of Mexico. I saw a distant object, approximately 40-50 miles away pulsing from bright white to red to blue randomly and exclusively. I pointed the object out to my wife, who then pointed it out to another couple walking on the beach. From my perspective, the object first appeared due west of my location and was moving toward the coast south of me. Over the next few minutes the object's flight path looked like the pattern of angles that can be found on the side of a car key. The object occasionally doubled back and retraced its steps. When the object was directly south of me (possibly just west of Ft.Myers over the Gulf) it hovered in place for a few moments at what looked like about 20,000 feet, held a red color that slowly faded to a dim pink, and then accelerated faster than anything I've ever seen. It took the object approximately 350 milliseconds to move from its hovering perch about 15 degrees above the southern sky through a path directly over my head toward the north until it faded away. From my perspective, the acceleration path was a straight line that went between Orion and the Seven Sisters, fading in the vicinity of Polaris. I witnessed a similar event the next night at midnight. The only other time in my life I saw anything remotely similar to this was in late April, 1996 in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. The 1996 event was also witnessed by a truck driver traveling I-70 between St. Louis and Kansas City. Perhaps at some point I'll take the time to write a summary of this one as well. These are the only unexplainable aerospace events I have ever witnessed.