SIGHTING: VALRICO, FLORIDA (UNITED STATES)
Witness Testimony
"The incident took place in valrico, florida at approximately 12.40 am on sunday, march 19th 2017. to give you an idea of place, i live in a one-story brick home that has a spring-fed lake behind it. the lake is not large in breadth, maybe measuring 150 ft across. on the bank directly opposite my house stands a large tree with some smaller cypress trees around it. beyond the trees is a golf course. on the night of march 18th/19th i was in my bedroom (at the back of the house overlooking the lake and the golf course). the night had been beautiful and pleasant weather-wise, so before i went to sleep i decided to open up the blinds and windows to let some cool air in. i did just that, and took a deep breath in before looking outside. it was remarkably dark. i sat there in front of the window for a few minutes before i suddenly noticed a reddish-orange glowing orb "hovering" above the tall tree that stands on the bank across the lake. it was as if it appeared out of thin air. my first thought was that it was a star or a planet, but i quickly dismissed this as i noticed the intensity of the color. not only were the golden red colors incredible, but the object was casting a strong, linear reflection across the lake. now, i've seen (and heard) helicopters and planes fly over the house and lake. there is a hospital not far from where i live and many rescue copters have passed, shaking the house from time to time - and they move low and with some speed. there is no doubt as to what they look like and what they are. the object appeared to be larger than anything else in the sky, about the size of an aspirin from my perspective. i honestly cannot say how close or far away it was...But for whatever reason it "felt" as though it was far away. i stared at it and felt paralyzed...I wanted to grab my phone and take a photo, but i couldn't move or take my eyes off of this large, glowing orb - it was so strange, as if time stopped. it pulsed, twinkled a bit like a star or a planet, but it was far too large and close to be either. my mind felt like it was going a mile a minute trying to work it out, but i was completely calm and in a sort of "trance" - a very weird dichotomy. i should also mention that i have two cats who were in the bedroom at the time, and both of them love the open window, but during the event their hair was up and they were standing away towards the back of the room. then it was as if a switch was turned and i suddenly felt that what i was seeing wasn't normal...I started becoming scared. the object pulsated but faded out - disappeared - its reflection gone in an instant. the silent spell was gone, and there was a lot of activity in the darkness - things moving around in the bushes behind my house. i slammed the window and the blinds shut, and sat on my bed trying to work out what i had just witnessed. i surmised the entire event probably lasted just over 2 minutes. i ruled out chinese lanterns, flares, fireworks, drones... tried to find out if there were any rocket launches from the space coast - there was but it was at 8.18 pm, over four hours prior. also, this unidentified craft was definitely round, appeared one minute and then gone the next. i am not far from an air force base, so i don't know if this object could have been related to that, but i've never seen anything like this in size or gorgeous color. i couldn't sleep much after this... so hard to make heads or tails of it. i am hoping to find some answers and hope someone nearby may have seen the same thing. i wish i could have forced myself out of my "trance" and had the wherewithal to try and photograph it. the paralyzing feeling was so, so strange. "
