2012-07-07 - Seattle, WA - Fireball

Multiple "fireballs" seen over North Seattle

I was heading to the grocery store and approximately four blocks before I arrived at my destination, approximately three large orange lights caught my attention. At first glance they appeared to be street lights, but I knew right away that based on the location of the lights the source was absolutely something aerial as they were far too high in the air, and too far from any road to be street lights.

I then saw another set of lights fly over Holman road, from north to south, as I pulled into the parking lot of the store. I immediately parked my car and got out to get a better look.

At this time I realized that there were at least 10 of these lights, in no particular formation, flying southward into the night sky. They did not appear to be ascending or descending. One of them hovered momentarily above me, long enough for me to attempt to get my phone out. Of course, my phone battery was completely drained of battery life. Instead I gazed at this thing, taking mental notes of it’s dark orange center that blended in a gradient to a dark red around the circumference. It appeared to have some kind of texture on the orange portion that is hard to pinpoint or describe in a way that does it justice.... it almost looked like it was organic, for lack of a better term. Like the surface of the sun almost. It just appeared to have some kind of motion and energy to it. It was fuzzy, like I just couldn’t quite make out fine details on it.

At this point, a fellow witness drove up toward me in a late model camaro (or possibly trans-am / firebird / i-roc - early to mid 80’s model in great condition) and stopped her car. She asked me excitedly if I could see them too. I informed her I could of course, and she got out of her car to watch them with me.

She got out of her car just in time to see the last one disappear from site. It was not clear whether these myseterious lights faded out due to distance or due to their light source slowly being extinguished.

The only thing I could compare these to would be Chinese lanterns, but that doesn’t feel right. They were, at least from my perspective, too large to be Chinese lanterns, and too perfectly round. Plus the lighting was so perfect....almost unreal. It was so even over the surface of the sphere it almost looked matte. The lights were not extremely bright, they were actually quite dull, as if they were just bright enough to illuminate the body of these objects.

I can say they were definitely NOT fireworks of any kind, as they were visible far too long and moved way too slowly. I can say they were not standard aircraft because they did not make any audible sound and did not have the standard FAA required lights flashing anywhere on them.

That’s it. They disappeared and I’m in awe.