SIGHTING: BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"I couldn't sleep, so I went out to the patio of my apartment to have a smoke around 3:00 a.m. I looked up at the sky as I always do, and noticed what I thought was a star that was bigger and brighter than the others, just above the tree across the parking lot. It was far away, but visible just above the treeline.As I looked at it I saw it moving just a bit, and this really got my attention. It lowered to just below the top of the tree and I could still see it through the leaves. It didn't move fast, it just eased down, but there was no doubt it was being propelled. It also appeared to be flickering, and there seemed to be different colors flickering in at times. I was excited and a little scared.It basically hovered there for a while, moving just a bit from time to time. I got spooked and went back in. My curiosity won after just a few minutes and I went back out. Now it was a quite a ways above the tree and just hanging there. I watched it for a very long time, and occasionally it would move to the side and up a bit - maybe just a few hundred feet at a time - hard to really say how far it actually moved. Again it wasn't a super-fast move, but definitely propelled. Now that it was a little farther away, I felt safer (silly I know), and was just fascinated.After a while, it's way up in the sky and just hanging there. All of the sudden it starts moving a little faster, but in small spurts, like it really might be about to go somewhere. Well, about that time.out of the corner of my eye, I see a red, teardrop shaped craft cruising across the sky just above the treeline to my right - again, it was far away, but MUCH closer than the one I had been watching, and very easy to see. I immediately shifted my attention to it.All I could tell was that it appeared dark in the center, but definitely had a translucent red border (like an aura maybe) around the entire perimeter. It was moving at a pretty good clip - I'd say it was in my sight for my 5 seconds. Quiet as a mouse - it didn't make a sound. (JAW DROPPED) I'm not sure why this didn't really scare me - I was just in awe.Then, about 5 minutes later, there was a flash in the sky in the general area the craft had passed through. It wasn't huge, but I would say it was fairly big, and the best way I know to describe it was like a flash on a camera, but it had a star shape to it. Again - not a sound.My neighbor two doors down, has 4 large grow-lights on his patio that he keeps on all night for his garden. Well I'd say about another five minutes after the flash in the sky, his grow-lights flicked off and on 4-5 times. This is when I got really spooked and quickly went in the house. Then I got to thinking it was close to daylight, so maybe his lights were on a timer, and they were just shutting down.I waited about 10 minutes and stuck my head out, and his lights were burning bright, with no flickering.I only stuck my head out a couple of times after that, and the craft way up in the sky was still there. I just went out for the last time about 5:45 a.m. Central time - daylight is just beginning to break, and the craft is gone.I've always wanted to see a UFO - looks like I got my wish! WOW!"