SIGHTING: AVON, NORTH CAROLINA (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"I had just let my dogs out in my backyard which faces the ocean; I'm about 1/4 mile from the beach. The night was clear and the wind was calm. My neighbor's security light usually washes out the stars, but it's been "on the fritz" so I took a moment to take in the night sky. I immediately noticed a small but very bright red glowing object over the ocean; it appeared to hover. I immediately got my binoculars to get a better look. I was having trouble focusing with my glasses on, so I removed them and was able to see that the red "ball" seemed to have some slightly yellowish light in what appeared to be its slow direction of travel. The red portion of the object was much larger than the lighter "side" which gave me the impression of something that was more triangular than round--though the direction in which the object was moving could have skewed my perception. No white lights were observed from the "rear". I thought it could be some sort of emergency flare, but I've never seen one that looked like it as it remained illuminated for about two minutes and drifted slowly southward, vanishing in an instant. Almost immediately, a second object--identical to the first--appeared and mirrored its actions. There was no observable launch from land or sea--no trails. I dismissed that they were distress signals from recreational boaters (who don't piddle around at night in early April)--and the Coast Guard isn't known for pyrotechnics if they're performing a rescue. Definitely not fireworks. Both objects simply disappeared after a total sighting time of approximately five or six minutes. I was absolutely fascinated by the whole thing and wanted to see if a third "appearance" would manifest, but it didn't happen. "