Bright white trapezoidal objects viewed ascending into clouds over Gulf of Mexico off of Anna Maria Island
On the night of July 3rd, 2011, between the hours of 22:00 and 23:00 Eastern Standard Time, a group of us witnessed a very unusual sighting off of Anna Maria Island, on the west coast of Florida.
After fireworks had been launched off the pier around 17:00, there were six of us in a group hanging out on the second floor walkway of our condominium which looks out over the beach and Gulf of Mexico. There were also two men who were renting a condominium on the first floor who were also outdoors.
Sometime after 22:00, we saw two or three objects take off south of Anna Maria Island, going from east to west, and rising into the sky at a climb rate similar to a small airplane, i.e., approximately 15 to 20 degree incline and moving around 100 to 130 knots. The interesting thing about the objects was that they had no navigation lights (no red or green wingtip lights or navigational beacons), but instead emitted a steady glow that I would describe as either white, or white with some golden color.
The objects were trapezoidal in shape, with the top sides being longer than the bottom sides, and looked to be about the size of the full moon when they were at their closest point. They glowed steadily, and moved at what appeared to be a constant rate of speed.
One of the people in the group used to be a pilot, and mentioned that there is a website where you can track aircraft movements. I remembered that flightaware.com does just that, so I proceeded to look at aircraft movements out of the Sarasota/Bradenton airport for that day.
The last flight had taken off at approximately 8:15 PM, at least two hours before this sighting, and I distinctly remember the aircraft flying overhead, as it was a Boeing 717. No further flights were recorded after that time, which would indicate to me that the objects were definitely not aircraft coming from that airport, which is the only nearby airport.
When we observed the first group of objects in the sky! , I yelled out "what the heck is that?" At that point the two gentlemen that were down below immediately ran upstairs, and said that they saw the exact same thing that we saw. We discussed what we had seen for approximately 10 min., and then sign another group of objects following the exact same path as the previous objects appeared. I watched as they climbed to the cloud base, and disappeared into the clouds, just as the previous ones had. I assumed that the objects were very close, within a couple of miles or so, because the base of the cloud looked very low and hung just offshore, as there were thunderstorms in the area within the hour .
One of the gentlemen also said that he believed the objects had to be very low, as he saw their reflection in the water. The objects emitted no detectable noise whatsoever, which was one of the features that were so unusual about them.
During the sighting of the second group of objects, I ran into the condo and got my binoculars. Although I was only able to lock onto one for about a second and a half, there appeared to be a very distinct thin line surrounding the trapezoid, but not touching it, in the shape of a hot-air balloon.
I immediately handed the binoculars to one of the other gentlemen from downstairs, so that he could see with his own eyes what I was seeing. He stated that he saw the exact same thing I did.
I would normally speculate that the objects were some kind of luminaries, but the fact that the flame or light was fully contained within a trapezoidal shape, along with the speed at which the objects were traveling, makes me believe that there's no such possibility that they were luminaries.
I am at a loss to explain what we saw, but Iām assuming that hundreds of people had to have seen the same thing, as it was a weekend and people had recently been outdoors just a few hours ago to watch the fireworks, and so surely many would have lingered on the beach, or outside on balconies as we had.
I found no writings in the newspaper about the strange lights, and have no clues as to what could be their source.
On the night of July 3rd, 2011, between the hours of 22:00 and 23:00 Eastern Standard Time, a group of us witnessed a very unusual sighting off of Anna Maria Island, on the west coast of Florida.
After fireworks had been launched off the pier around 17:00, there were six of us in a group hanging out on the second floor walkway of our condominium which looks out over the beach and Gulf of Mexico. There were also two men who were renting a condominium on the first floor who were also outdoors.
Sometime after 22:00, we saw two or three objects take off south of Anna Maria Island, going from east to west, and rising into the sky at a climb rate similar to a small airplane, i.e., approximately 15 to 20 degree incline and moving around 100 to 130 knots. The interesting thing about the objects was that they had no navigation lights (no red or green wingtip lights or navigational beacons), but instead emitted a steady glow that I would describe as either white, or white with some golden color.
The objects were trapezoidal in shape, with the top sides being longer than the bottom sides, and looked to be about the size of the full moon when they were at their closest point. They glowed steadily, and moved at what appeared to be a constant rate of speed.
One of the people in the group used to be a pilot, and mentioned that there is a website where you can track aircraft movements. I remembered that flightaware.com does just that, so I proceeded to look at aircraft movements out of the Sarasota/Bradenton airport for that day.
The last flight had taken off at approximately 8:15 PM, at least two hours before this sighting, and I distinctly remember the aircraft flying overhead, as it was a Boeing 717. No further flights were recorded after that time, which would indicate to me that the objects were definitely not aircraft coming from that airport, which is the only nearby airport.
When we observed the first group of objects in the sky! , I yelled out "what the heck is that?" At that point the two gentlemen that were down below immediately ran upstairs, and said that they saw the exact same thing that we saw. We discussed what we had seen for approximately 10 min., and then sign another group of objects following the exact same path as the previous objects appeared. I watched as they climbed to the cloud base, and disappeared into the clouds, just as the previous ones had. I assumed that the objects were very close, within a couple of miles or so, because the base of the cloud looked very low and hung just offshore, as there were thunderstorms in the area within the hour .
One of the gentlemen also said that he believed the objects had to be very low, as he saw their reflection in the water. The objects emitted no detectable noise whatsoever, which was one of the features that were so unusual about them.
During the sighting of the second group of objects, I ran into the condo and got my binoculars. Although I was only able to lock onto one for about a second and a half, there appeared to be a very distinct thin line surrounding the trapezoid, but not touching it, in the shape of a hot-air balloon.
I immediately handed the binoculars to one of the other gentlemen from downstairs, so that he could see with his own eyes what I was seeing. He stated that he saw the exact same thing I did.
I would normally speculate that the objects were some kind of luminaries, but the fact that the flame or light was fully contained within a trapezoidal shape, along with the speed at which the objects were traveling, makes me believe that there's no such possibility that they were luminaries.
I am at a loss to explain what we saw, but Iām assuming that hundreds of people had to have seen the same thing, as it was a weekend and people had recently been outdoors just a few hours ago to watch the fireworks, and so surely many would have lingered on the beach, or outside on balconies as we had.
I found no writings in the newspaper about the strange lights, and have no clues as to what could be their source.
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Bradenton Beach
USA
45 mins.
45 mins.
27.48
-82.70
other
FL
Occurred : 7/3/2011 22:10 (Entered as : 07/03/2011 22:10) Reported: 7/15/2011 6:24:14 PM 18:24 Posted: 7/17/2011 Location: Bradenton Beach, FL Shape: Other Duration: 45 mins.
Bright white trapezoidal objects viewed ascending into clouds over Gulf of Mexico off of Anna Maria Island