Two separate light events at same time off of Sullivan's Island, SC
Two friends and myself witnessed an amazing sequence of mysterious lights in the Charleston harbor in South Carolina. We were at the beach on Sullivan's Island on the evening of May 24th, 2005, to watch the sunset. It was the day after a full moon, and we sat up in the dunes because the tide was coming in. After the sun set, and it finally became dark, the tide was so high that we were forced to stay in our position on the dunes. It was while sitting, waiting for the tide to go out just enough for us to be able to walk back to the beach access, that we began to see lights in the outer harbor, between Sullivan's Island and James Island.
At first we saw only one orange light. It was located at the inside end of the jetties of the Charleston Harbor. From where we were sitting, we were pretty much staring out towards James Island. My first assumption was that the light was a flare, that maybe a boat was having problems in the harbor. Then a second light appeared to the left, seemingly the exact same light just in another place. I thought that perhaps the would-be boat launched another flare. While staring out at the lights, we slowly began to realize that if it were a flare, it would have at least moved in the wind or began to fall out of the sky. These lights remained at a constant position. Then it seemed that on of the lights -- the one on the right -- began to split, first in to another orange light.. then, each orange light split off to include a red light connected with a beam. Two immensely bright orange and red lights connected by a beam. They continued to dazzle us with a series of brightening and dimming, growing and shrinking, disappearing and reappearing, but never in a different spot. The one on the right seemed to be more active than the one on the left.
We were frightened, but after coming to terms with what I was looking at, I thought enough of the event to try to capture a photo. I actually captured 4, but with a Nokia cell phone camera which probably would have been only 1 mega pixel at that time. I still have the phone somewhere in a drawer, with a picture I took of the sunset that same day, but its retired and no longer has service hooked up. I transferred the four pictures of the lights a few days later, but I think you would have to have been there to recognize what they represent. I tried to capture a video, but it refused to show up the same as it would for a picture.
In the meantime, we had been drawn to another series of lights in a slightly different area of the sky. After the experience I mentioned above began, at least a few minutes passed before a bright white light began to appear in the sky out towards the open ocean. Since we were staring out towards James Island, we had to look to our left and up in the sky to see this one. A white light would appear and disappear. We were never sure if it was going to come back, but each time it did. At first I thought this was lightning, but there was no flash of light associated with it. It was a steady light that was there and then it wasn't. We were so amazed and occupied by the orange/red lights that were giving us a show in the harbor, that I don't recall exactly how many times it happened. But, after several times of appearing and disappearing, as kind of a grand finale the light appeared as five or six separate lights that all streaked across a small section of sky together at the same speed, then disappeared for good. In the end, five or six bright rectangular-ish objects that are equally sized and evenly spaced between each other, moving the same speed and same trajectory.
Both instances of lights occurred simultaneously, however seemingly independent of each other. The styling of the two sets of lights were completely different. The harbor lights were bright orange/red, fairly constant acting, and the ocean light(s) were white and more seldom. None of the lights made sounds. There didn't seem to be any aircraft or cargo ship activity in the area at the time.
Two friends and myself witnessed an amazing sequence of mysterious lights in the Charleston harbor in South Carolina. We were at the beach on Sullivan's Island on the evening of May 24th, 2005, to watch the sunset. It was the day after a full moon, and we sat up in the dunes because the tide was coming in. After the sun set, and it finally became dark, the tide was so high that we were forced to stay in our position on the dunes. It was while sitting, waiting for the tide to go out just enough for us to be able to walk back to the beach access, that we began to see lights in the outer harbor, between Sullivan's Island and James Island.
At first we saw only one orange light. It was located at the inside end of the jetties of the Charleston Harbor. From where we were sitting, we were pretty much staring out towards James Island. My first assumption was that the light was a flare, that maybe a boat was having problems in the harbor. Then a second light appeared to the left, seemingly the exact same light just in another place. I thought that perhaps the would-be boat launched another flare. While staring out at the lights, we slowly began to realize that if it were a flare, it would have at least moved in the wind or began to fall out of the sky. These lights remained at a constant position. Then it seemed that on of the lights -- the one on the right -- began to split, first in to another orange light.. then, each orange light split off to include a red light connected with a beam. Two immensely bright orange and red lights connected by a beam. They continued to dazzle us with a series of brightening and dimming, growing and shrinking, disappearing and reappearing, but never in a different spot. The one on the right seemed to be more active than the one on the left.
We were frightened, but after coming to terms with what I was looking at, I thought enough of the event to try to capture a photo. I actually captured 4, but with a Nokia cell phone camera which probably would have been only 1 mega pixel at that time. I still have the phone somewhere in a drawer, with a picture I took of the sunset that same day, but its retired and no longer has service hooked up. I transferred the four pictures of the lights a few days later, but I think you would have to have been there to recognize what they represent. I tried to capture a video, but it refused to show up the same as it would for a picture.
In the meantime, we had been drawn to another series of lights in a slightly different area of the sky. After the experience I mentioned above began, at least a few minutes passed before a bright white light began to appear in the sky out towards the open ocean. Since we were staring out towards James Island, we had to look to our left and up in the sky to see this one. A white light would appear and disappear. We were never sure if it was going to come back, but each time it did. At first I thought this was lightning, but there was no flash of light associated with it. It was a steady light that was there and then it wasn't. We were so amazed and occupied by the orange/red lights that were giving us a show in the harbor, that I don't recall exactly how many times it happened. But, after several times of appearing and disappearing, as kind of a grand finale the light appeared as five or six separate lights that all streaked across a small section of sky together at the same speed, then disappeared for good. In the end, five or six bright rectangular-ish objects that are equally sized and evenly spaced between each other, moving the same speed and same trajectory.
Both instances of lights occurred simultaneously, however seemingly independent of each other. The styling of the two sets of lights were completely different. The harbor lights were bright orange/red, fairly constant acting, and the ocean light(s) were white and more seldom. None of the lights made sounds. There didn't seem to be any aircraft or cargo ship activity in the area at the time.
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Sullivans Island
USA
15-20 minutes
15-20 minutes
32.77
-79.84
light
SC
Occurred : 5/24/2005 20:00 (Entered as : 5/24/2005 20:00) Reported: 8/10/2008 10:12:50 PM 22:12 Posted: 8/12/2008 Location: Sullivans Island, SC Shape: Light Duration: 15-20 minutes Characteristics: There were lights on the object, The object emitted other objects, The object emitted beams, The object changed color
Two separate light events at same time off of Sullivan's Island, SC