2015-01-16 - Venice, FL - Circle

A bright red round object with an orange light hovered and glided for over twenty minutes

Sighting occurred the night of January 16, 2015, above a housing plan called "Circlewood," off of Englewood Road in Venice, Florida. I had gone to my car to retrieve a book I wanted and as I returned I saw the object hovering and gliding around low in the sky. The sighting occurred from about 8:10 till 8:30 PM.

The object was round and bright red with a bright yellow spot in the lower right section. The object glimmered or pulsed in brightness. Visually in size in appeared to be about one-sixth to one eighth the size of the full moon.

Since the trees and houses blocked my view of it as it went behind them, I estimate that it was at least 1000 feet away, perhaps a quarter mile or even half a mile or more, so it seemed quite large. Its movements were very strange in that it seemed to float, totally silent, in various directions at various speeds, mostly at moderate speeds. It went upward in a straight line, floated both left and right, reversed directions easily, descended below the tree line, then quickly ascended to its previous position and again moved around the sky silently.

After observing it for two minutes or so, I realized I had my cell phone, and began videotaping the object. After videotaping for a minute or two, I ran into the house to get my girlfriend. She came out and together we watched the object for another three or four minutes, videotaping with my cell phone again, until the object descended behind the trees and houses toward the ground away from us at good speed. It descended toward the north.

At that point, it did not return so we went inside. Several times over the next hour I checked the sky and did not see it again. Two videotapes were made of the object. The cell phone video does not do justice to its actual visual size in the sky. However, its gliding, floating movements are well recorded.