2011-11-25 - Palmetto Bay, FL - Other

Object features fire, structure and lights.

At the time of this incident, I was waiting for a crucial phone call after my second interview for a job. I was concerned that filing a UFO sighting report might not help my chances of getting the job, so I never got around to filing the report, until now. (I never did get that fucking job.) I went out for a later-than usual walk at about 9:45 p.m. on Friday, November 25, 2011. After a little more than 5 minutes, I was heading westbound on SW 178th Terrace, when I looked up and saw what looked like one of those “orange fireball” UFOs that Linda Moulton Howe had been discussing on her Earthfiles website, a few weeks earlier. The object was headed southbound, going slowly. I was trying to discern whether it was one of those Japanese sky lanterns (a candle suspended under a small, parachute-type thing that retains the hot air for lift). There was a guy about a half-mile southwest of this spot whom I had seen launching those Japanese lanterns, although he was downwind of this location.

The wind was blowing from east to west at this time. Once the object got as far south as the street I was on, it sped up and changed its heading toward the southwest. It sped up from about 10 m.p.h. to about 75 m.p.h. I concluded that it started moving too fast to be a Japanese lantern as the wind was blowing perpendicular to its course when I first saw it and it was still on too much of a southbound trajectory to be blown by the wind as a Japanese lantern travels. Beyond that, the “fireball” section was too big. It was an exposed fireball (not enclosed by any lantern covering) and it was large enough to have immolated anything that could have been keeping it aloft.

I observed 3 smaller orange lights trailing the “fireball” part, which appeared to be mounted on some structure (apparently some sort of beam, similar to the beam behind the engine on a helicopter). After it turned, the smaller lights appeared to be surrounding the fireball – so it changed configuration at that point. It appeared to be about 1,500 feet above ground level, depending on its size.

Just as it was disappearing from view, I approached a house with the father, mother and (approximately) 20-year-old daughter all looking up at the object. The daughter was photographing it with her iPhone. I had been trying to do the same thing but it was too dark. When I got in front of the house, the mother looked at me and asked: “Did you see the UFO?” (I never thought that someone would be asking ME, “Did you see the UFO?” That’s the question I usually ask.) I went over there and we discussed the event.

The mother said that she observed a triangular shape to the object. They had been watching it longer than I had been and she had more time to look for structure. The daughter was unable to get a good picture because the iPhone of that vintage was ill-suited for such photos. I had the same problem with my first-generation iPhone. As I walked away, it was exactly 10:00. I was thinking that the object appeared to be headed toward Key West, and by 10:00 on a Friday night, everyone on Key West would be drunk, so no matter how many witnesses there might be – nobody would ever believe them.