2016-11-05 - Ithaca, NY - Light

Saw a cluster of 5-6 lights, fading in and out, slowly moving within proximity to each other but also moving as a pack.

I am writing this on Thursday, November 10th, regarding a strange occurrence I witness Saturday, November 5th, between roughly 9:45 and 10:15 and again, briefly, on Sunday, November 11th.

Last Saturday, my wife and I were getting ready to watch a movie. As she normally does when we watch a movie, my wife began making popcorn. I went outside to walk around. This last summer I purchased a FitBit (pedometer) and I sometimes walk up and down our long driveway to meet my step count goal. We live just outside the city, on the margins of town, so while we are not completely in the country we usually have a clear view, if it is not too cloudy, of the sky.

On this Saturday night, many of the constellations were out, it was so clear. Pacing back and forth on my driveway, listening to a podcast on my phone, with my earbuds in, I was struck by a set of, what appeared to be, constellations roughly 30 degrees north east of our location. This pattern of what I presumed to be stars were among the lowest and closest to Earth of all the stars in the sky.

What struck me upon given these “stars” a second look was that they were fading and reappearing with increments of maybe 3-5 second. Had it only been one light doing this, I would have quickly assumed it was a satellite, but this appeared different because satellites are never clustered. There were five, possibly six, of these lights, fading in and out of visibility, out of sync with one another. There was no specific clear pattern or shape to them, although they were spread out from each other in what looked like a skewed pentagon (like a small child attempting to draw a pentagon). One of the lights was somewhat more central to the others and the fading in and out appeared a second slower than the others, although it was hard to tell because, again, they were out of sync.

Staring at this with some disbelief, I moved into the road for a clearer view. There was a large tree in the distance which I was using to gage the location and movement of this cluster. No movement was visible to the eye, but after about ten minutes I could see that this cluster had indeed moved northbound and lower toward the ground. Using my phone, I called my wife inside the house and asked her to please come outside to look at something.

When my wife walked outside the door, I flagged for her to come over toward the road. I pointed to the cluster saying, “there is a cluster of what looks like stars over there”, while pointing vaguely toward their direction. I stopped myself, however, realizing this might plant a seed in her mind of what I wanted her to see. I wanted her view to be as objective as possible. My wife is much more of a skeptic than myself. She almost immediately noticed what it was I was talking about. She, too, found it very curious and unusual. Assuming there was probably an explanation, quickly getting cold (the temperature was in the lower-to-mid 30s), and hungry for popcorn, my wife, after a couple of minutes, went inside. I stayed a few minutes longer, so that I could store in my memory what I was seeing.

After watching the movie, which I had trouble focusing on at first, I popped back outside to see if I’d notice anything else unusual. By this point, the sky had become so foggy that no stars or anything else were visible.

I would have written this experience closer to the date it occurred, but having a 2-year-old, being a teacher, and on the cusp of an election, I had not found time to sit and write this until now.

It is worth noting that the next night I did go out to observe. I noticed one light, slightly stronger than any I’d seen the previous night similarly fading in and out. On this night, unlike the night before, I was intoxicated and became anxious and panicked pretty quickly, so I only looked long enough (30-60 seconds) to confirm with myself what I was seeing, but otherwise went back inside rather abruptly.

I have always had a long interest in UFOs and stories of encounters, so I am very familiar with phenomenon stories, though, prior to this, had none of my own. Knowing that I am prone to believe such events, it was important to me to get confirmation from my wife that the pattern I observed was both real and unusual. She agreed. Even this morning, when I told my wife I would document my experience, she again confirmed for me that this pattern was uncanny. Additionally, several dogs in the neighborhood were barking or howling. Also worth noting is that the pattern I witness was placed, more or less, over the vicinity of our local airport.