SIGHTING: SHENANDOAH, VIRGINIA (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"I was sitting at the park & ride in Shenandoah, VA texting my Daughter. I was looking down at my phone, I looked up and out of nowhere were 4 bright orange balls of light. I was in awe, I immediately got out of my vehicle and got my camera pulled up on my cell phone to take a photo. By the time I snapped a photo one of the lights had disappeared. I then called my Daughter who was at home located .5 miles from my location, and told her to go outside and look into the sky, she was unable to see anything from our home location (sky view is obscured by trees and buildings). She immediately got into her car so she could come see what I was seeing. I told her to hurry because one of the lights had already disappeared. It took her approximately 2-3 minutes to get to the park and ride, at that point they had all disappeared. It was not a gradual disappearance, but sudden. I thought the objects were sky lanterns, though I have never seen one in person, I imagine they would look similar to this. I chalked it up to being sky lanterns and forgot about it until I seen a post on a local "confessions" page. A page where a person can submit anonymously thoughts, rants, feelings etc. The post stated it was from a F/59 who seen lights shoot from Roundhead Mountain, a mountain located in Stanley, VA a neighboring town. Although this person did not give their exact location, in order to see Roundhead Mountain you have to be very close to Stanley or in Stanley, a minimum of about 10 miles, Roundhead being even further into Stanley at about 14 miles. This struck me as being a bit too far to see sky lanterns, two people seeing 4 lights at least 10 miles apart does not reasonably seem to equate to sky lanterns, though it may be possible. I am not familiar with their visibility range. It also struck odd to me that 3 of the lights were aligned almost perfectly, surely sky lanterns would not be able to align themselves. They moved slowly, almost as if they were simply floating, which lent credence to them being sky lanterns. They faded into the night as quickly as they arrived. Another odd aspect was how they faded, it was almost too perfect, and in order. One after the other within seconds. I did not feel fear when I seen the lights, they were amazing to see, I was in awe. I always watch the skies and over the years I have seen a lot, but this was absolutely the most significant thing I have ever seen. I was a little shocked to see them and very excited. Files numbered 6 & 7 are google search results, I googled 4 lights in the sky and found exactly what I seen but flipped the other direction. File 6 is the google image unedited. File 7 I flipped the photo to show my perspective. File 10 is a Google Maps Street View of my location where I witnessed this. "