2016-06-12 - Kure Beach, NC - Diamond

Orange lights over Kure Beach, NC.

At approximately 21:10 on June 12th, 2016, I noticed a strange object in the sky at Kure Beach, NC, over the ocean about one mile south of the pier.

The object appeared to be heading up the beach, slightly offshore, traveling north. At first I believed it to be a helicopter, as military flights are common in this area, but unlike any aircraft I have ever seen (military or otherwise) it had no red or green navigation lights. The only lights I could see were several bright orange ones (approximately four, but it was difficult to tell exactly as they were very close together) which were pulsing, going dim and then becoming bright again, unlike typical aircraft lights which flash rapidly.

I observed the object traveling towards me for over a minute, after which it began an eastward turn out over the ocean, which is also very uncharacteristic of aircraft (both military and civilian) in the area as they always travel right along the beach, never turning out over the water like that.

At that point I could see that the orange lights were arranged in somewhat of a diamond pattern with one light out front, one light to the rear, and two lights in between those two with one being slightly higher and one slightly lower. When the object had completed its turn and began to head out over the water, the lights quickly began to fade and the object had vanished entirely a matter of seconds after making its turn. The object appeared to be much too low to have disappeared into the clouds, which were very high and sparse and would not have hidden the object from sight for more than a few seconds anyway.

Throughout the entire sighting, I never heard a sound from the object which appeared to be close enough that at least a faint sound should have been audible.