SIGHTING: DERBY, KS

Witness Testimony

"Formations of glowing and non-glowing spheres hovering over a Kansas city.Of course, this 4th of July involved fireworks. Note that what I am reporting as "fireballs", "glowing lights", or hovering spheres, are not the likes of any firework which I am familiar with.Around 9:15 p.m., a friend and I sat on my back porch watching fireworks displays from various neighborhoods around us. We set off a few of our own, but nothing big. Neither of us had any alcoholic beverages that day or night, nor do we do drugs; our states of mind were as sharp and relaxed as possible.When looking south, during a lull in the fireworks, we both noticed (and promptly pointed out to each other) 4 objects in the dark sky. We were looking at about a 35 degree angle of elevation. The objects seemed to hover in place, making only minuscule adjustments to hold formation due to strong winds. They glowed with an orange-red light, the closest approximation of which I can make is the HTML Hex code #CC1100. It was not an extremely strong glow, in that I could not see it illuminating any objects on the ground, trees, or even that much of the smoke present from the fireworks. However, it was clearly bright enough (or close enough) to reach my friend and I with no problem. They were arranged in what looked from our viewpoint to be the shape of a rhombus or diamond shape, but I cannot say for sure due to our angle and imperfect depth perception concerning their distance from one another. They seemed to act together, as though they were all present for the same cause or of! the same force.Other similar formations could be seen from the front of my home looking northward; one directly north and one in the north-northwest. The latter formation was at a greater distance from us, causing the glows to appear smaller and sort of blend together, creating uncertainty on the number in that formation. We could only assume that there were also four there, as this is how the others were arranged.The formation to the south was still closest to us, and we mainly observed it. It remained still, emitting no beams or objects, but the objects seemed to alternate positions every 45 min. or so. About 5 min. after a rotation, the object closest to us (on a the point of the rhombus) darted towards us significantly. It hovered now above the pond directly behind my house. It faded in color and luminescence as it neared, becoming completely matte black by the time it reached us. It hovered there, and had it not been for fireworks on the horizon and city lights illuminating the haze, it would have blended easily into the night sky. We had a Nikon D5000 with an external flash and telephoto lens, and immediately started fumbling for it to try to capture it on camera. The camera would not boot up.It usually takes about half a second to turn on and become ready to shoot, if that. But it wouldn't. The battery was charged, for we tried two of them, both of which had been charged that day. It was in the right way and there should have been nothing to interfere. In the dark, I tried to use my lighter to see if there was some fault or something that could prevent it from working. It was a push-button or electronic butane aerosol lighter, where one clicks a button down, creating a spark, and igniting a jet of butane fuel. The fuel came out as usual when the button was depressed, but the spark would not work. Neither would my friend's.We took this to mean that after going into some sort of less detectable mode, it also activated a device that shut down certain electronic capabilities within a reasonable proximity. Unable to capture it, we could only stand in awe. It looked to be about 15 ft. in diameter, and rotating a bit in one direction before reversing its spin. It spun fairly slowly, almost like it was just drifting there. After about 3 min. of suspension, it flew back to its formation. It did not change color, but by the time the craft got back, the formation was then the same shade of matte black. It was unbelievable how...black it really was. It seemed to just suck in all light. There were minor indentations around the craft, visible when not luminous, around the "equator". Just short dashes, impressed into the material. This allowed us to notice the rotation before.After reforming, the formation flew northward at unnatural speeds. There was no time for acceleration. It was just...going. It went from a stop to its desired speed immediately and remained steady at that speed until arriving near the northern formations. They joined to form a loose squarish shape. This larger formation flew northward while gaining altitude at a steady pace. I can't imagine why only the one formation would go into its "undetectable" or stealth mode while in the larger formation, but it remained that way during its exit.My friend has done no real research into ufology or related fields, and previously was just oblivious. He had no opinion. He always took a tolerant, but non-believing, attitude towards matters like this. I have read numerous books, online articles, and viewed a vast amount of serious multimedia on the subject, including photographs, video recordings, and audio clips. I don't consider myself to be a serious researcher by any means, but I do take matters of this nature seriously."