2001-11-18 - Annapolis, MD - Triangle

I saw luminous triangles, flying in formation during the Leonid meteor shower

I set my alarm for 4:30am on 11/18/01. I was to meet some friends to watch the Leonid meteor shower. After dressing in layers to ward off the chill, I stepped out onto my back balcony to see if I could see any shooting stars. I saw three almost immediately. I went in and excitedly phoned my friends - It was going to be great!, I said. I stepped back out again, not wanting to miss anything. I saw another shooting star, and then two large, luminous triangles appeared over the houses and trees from the north, headed south. At first I related the illumination to the meteor shower, but when I looked directly at the objects an instinct kicked in that these were NOT stars, and I was witnessing something incredible. I live a block and a half away from the Naval Academy and I am used to Navy flyovers, Blue Angels, etc. THIS WAS DIFFERENT. The triangles did not project light to the ground, they themselves were yellowish, white light. Their edges were not sharp, they were slightly rounded with the glow of the light. The light did not fade or throb, it was constant. They appeared to be flying in formation - points facing down, close together, on a diagonal. Together, they were about the size of a half moon. Their movenment was fluid and quick and they were SILENT. My field of view is not very wide out my back porch, so I was only able to watch the objects for 7 seconds or so. Soon after they disappeared from my view, I heard a boat horn sound twice quickly. It occurred to me that maybe someone on the water saw the same thing, as the objects were headed in the direction of City Dock. I met my friends on the back campus of St. Johns. I told them I was pretty sure I had seen UFOs (a first for me, by the way) and quickly described my experience. They reacted with friendly skepticism. We were lying on a blanket, enjoying the wonderful meteor shower when I saw the triangles again in the southeast corner of the sky. I sat up, pointed, and said "Look!!! There they are!!!" Thank goodness one friend was ! able to see them. They were much farther away - about a third of the size they were before, and not as luminous. They were now reddish orange in color and continued flying quickly in a southeast direction. Just before they disappeared from our field of view, one triangle broke out of formation and darted ahead. It was surreal. It seemed as though the triangles were animated - right out of a movie.