Huge ball of light seen on the ground in Talladega National Forest/Sweetwater Lake
This occured during a weekend hiking trip with my brother and a friend from college. We had to night hike for a few hours on Friday. The exact location of the sighting was across from a dirt boat ramp on Sweetwater Lake, which our hiking trail passed by.
As we broke into the field that runs along the lake and watershed, the fog was very thick. This is when we first noticed flashing that we assumed to be heat lighting or something similar. By the time we reached the boat ramp, we were away from the field and completely out of the fog.
The flashes were coming from 3 points. Two points were far away enough that the source could not be seen. The 3rd flashing was across the lake and only a short distance inland (I guessed around 100 yards at the most). The light was flashing at various intensity, length, and time. Ranging from a very small fraction of a second to nearly a second. The intensity also ranged from: just enough of a flash to see the low level clouds light up with a white ambient light, to a bizarre ball of light that peaked over the tree line by many feet. When the ball of light was large enough, it resembled plasma. The colors were red, yellow, white, purple, etc. The ball also appeared to move around, by maybe 30 yards to the left or right.
Other than describing it as plasma, my friend suggested the side of a huge water tower was reflecting the flashes at us. There is no structure at all in the area. The flashes were coming from the center of the Talladega National Forest, indeed, there is no plumbing.
I should also note that the "ball of light" as I've called it, was only 300 yards away at most, and completely silent. We watched the 3 flashes for about 30 minutes until they became quite infrequent. It was such a strange thing to see and we still have no good idea as to what it was. I hike there frequently and may inspect the area sometime.
My best guess to date is that we saw military testing of some kind. Heflin, the nearest city, as I now know, has many reports of strange sightings and some other odd things. The Fort McClellan Military Reservation was to our West as we watched the light to our East. The Comanche helicopter was supposedly tested in that area. Also, that whole area of Alabama is a huge military arsenal. The military has installed solar powered sirens throughout the forest recently and some old timers explained that there is a history of weapons buried in the forest during the Cold War era who's keepers died with the knowledge of their location.
Backgrounds of Observers: age 24 - College Senior in Software Engineering age 22 - College Junior in Chemistry age 18 - High School graduate
This occured during a weekend hiking trip with my brother and a friend from college. We had to night hike for a few hours on Friday. The exact location of the sighting was across from a dirt boat ramp on Sweetwater Lake, which our hiking trail passed by.
As we broke into the field that runs along the lake and watershed, the fog was very thick. This is when we first noticed flashing that we assumed to be heat lighting or something similar. By the time we reached the boat ramp, we were away from the field and completely out of the fog.
The flashes were coming from 3 points. Two points were far away enough that the source could not be seen. The 3rd flashing was across the lake and only a short distance inland (I guessed around 100 yards at the most). The light was flashing at various intensity, length, and time. Ranging from a very small fraction of a second to nearly a second. The intensity also ranged from: just enough of a flash to see the low level clouds light up with a white ambient light, to a bizarre ball of light that peaked over the tree line by many feet. When the ball of light was large enough, it resembled plasma. The colors were red, yellow, white, purple, etc. The ball also appeared to move around, by maybe 30 yards to the left or right.
Other than describing it as plasma, my friend suggested the side of a huge water tower was reflecting the flashes at us. There is no structure at all in the area. The flashes were coming from the center of the Talladega National Forest, indeed, there is no plumbing.
I should also note that the "ball of light" as I've called it, was only 300 yards away at most, and completely silent. We watched the 3 flashes for about 30 minutes until they became quite infrequent. It was such a strange thing to see and we still have no good idea as to what it was. I hike there frequently and may inspect the area sometime.
My best guess to date is that we saw military testing of some kind. Heflin, the nearest city, as I now know, has many reports of strange sightings and some other odd things. The Fort McClellan Military Reservation was to our West as we watched the light to our East. The Comanche helicopter was supposedly tested in that area. Also, that whole area of Alabama is a huge military arsenal. The military has installed solar powered sirens throughout the forest recently and some old timers explained that there is a history of weapons buried in the forest during the Cold War era who's keepers died with the knowledge of their location.
Backgrounds of Observers: age 24 - College Senior in Software Engineering age 22 - College Junior in Chemistry age 18 - High School graduate
No
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No
Yes
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Off
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Yes
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No
Heflin
USA
30 minutes
30 minutes
33.61
-85.59
sphere
AL
Occurred : 10/21/2005 20:00 (Entered as : 10/21/2005 20:00) Reported: 11/8/2005 8:18:54 PM 20:18 Posted: 12/16/2005 Location: Heflin, AL Shape: Sphere Duration: 30 minutes Characteristics: There were lights on the object, There was an aura or haze around the object, The object changed color
Huge ball of light seen on the ground in Talladega National Forest / Sweetwater Lake