2008-12-23 - Kinnelon, NJ - Formation

Five motionless hovering lights in a formation, just above treetops of a wooded area, slowly moved over a nearby field , then vanished.

On the early evening of December 23, 2008, my husband (Air Force veteran), I (mother and professional), and our 11 and 27 year old (student and attorney) daughters were driving home after dinner at a nearby restaurant when we saw an unusual formation of five lights, hanging very low over the treetops in our neighborhood (Southwest from StoneHouse Road and West of Kinnelon Road, slightly Southeast of Long Meadow Road). It was so unusual and SO LOW in the sky that it appeared you could touch them, i.e. they were reachable somehow at the treetop line. These lights could NOT be ignored. Anyone who saw them would have stopped in wonder. THIS WAS NOT A PLANE OR A BALLOON OR A STAR. These lights were each BIG and the formation stretched out about the distance of a couple football fields, I would say. They were NOT spotlights. There was no trail or wake of light or aura. We, ALL FOUR of us, saw the exact same thing and actually turned the car around to park to get a better look. The lights were hovering at the 8, 10, 12, 2, and 4 o’clock positions and appeared to be part of a whole, but there was no “body” or “craft” perceptible. They seemed to have been there awhile, because they were still where we had first noticed them and not moving. We stayed and watched them, discussing it for about 5 minutes (What to do? Was this a UFO?), when “it” suddenly “seemed” to move very slowly over a field beyond us not far from its original location but out in the open. “It” was no longer above the trees but at the same height or a little higher. It was very difficult to calculate distance from the ground because the lights were so big, they seemed very close. They seemed to be in the “air” near the ground not “high enough up in the sky” where a plane would fly. We drove that way in the car, as it was on our way home, and continued to look as we drove by it. We could not see anything but those lights (white) in the same formation. Then it literally vanished in less than a second. No noise was! heard, no perceptible movement in its departure. We thought to report it, but my husband said “everything is explainable” so we didn’t want to appear foolish. Others MUST have seen this, though no other cars were on the road where we were at the time. We laughed about it and our 11 year old said it might be Santa. We left it at that, but it has been bothering me and thought I should report it. It was just very strange.