overflite

Residents See Strange Lights in the Sky

Several area residents have seen more in the sky during the past few days than just the waxing moon.  Over the past six days local police have logged at least four reports of unusual lights in the night sky and a number of other area sightings have been reported.

In most of the reports the light or lights were described as orange or pink in color.  Some said they watched the lights travel over Main Street before disappearing.  Others said they viewed the lights for as long as 10 minutes as they hovered stationary in the sky.

The first sighting was reported Wednesday night by a college sophomore, police said.  William B of Chestnut Hill said he and a group of about 15 other persons first noticed an orange object in the sky around 11:58 pm.  The light came from the west and then swung south, following South Main Street, police stated.  Mr. B told police that he watched the light for about three minutes before it lost altitude and disappeared somewhere south of the business district.  The object did not display the flashing red or green lights carried by aircraft.  He estimated the height of the object at 7,000 to 8,000 feet.

Two more reports were filed Friday evening around 6:00, police said.  Vies A said he was driving into town on Lewin Road when he was hailed by a neighbor Richard D.  Mr. D told him to "get out the the car, quick," Mr. A said this morning.  Mr. D then pointed out three "pinkish-yellow" lights in the northern sky, perhaps as far away as five miles.  The lights appeared to be hovering across the river or over the US Army Research and Engineering Laboratory.

The lights were at an angle of about 20 to 30 degrees above the earth, he added, were a "considerable distance apart" and about a quarter the size of a risen moon, he said.  Other neighbors near Lewin Road, Mr. and Mrs. Everett M watched the lights from their home for 10 minutes Mr. A said.  Mr. A watched the lights with Mr. D "for about a minute," then drove back to his home to tell Mrs. A.  By the time he had driven the two blocks to his house, the lights had disappeared, he said.

"As far as their being an other-worldly thing, I'm very skeptical," Mister A said.  His theory is that AREL might have launched some weather balloons.  But AREL public affairs officer Dan Y said this morning that the laboratory does not use weather balloons.

No FAA Explanation

Officials at the Federal Avation Administration Flight Service at the Regional Airport offered no explanation for the alleged sightings this morning.

Minutes after Mr. A's phone call, police received a second report from a two college students.  Gregory C and Dawn G saw a "concentrated thin point of light" above the Country Club around 6 pm. Friday, they told police.  Tht "orange-amber " lights were five to six times the size of a star, Ms. G said. The lights hovered over the golf course, first in a triangular pattern, changing later into a horizontal shape on the horizon, police reports said.

Big Orange Star

Ms. M said this morning that she was leaving work around 11:45 pm. when she spotted what looked like a "big orange star" in the sky.  The light moved east over the town, lost altitude, moved further east then traveled south before disappearing, Ms. M said.  She said she called the light to the attention of a passing student.

A meteorologist at the Regional Weather Service said this morning that a meteor shower might be responsible for the sightings.  Large showers occur annually around the first week of January, he said.  Richard D. had no explanation for the three lights he and his neighbors saw Friday night, but he said this morning that he was certain they could not be an airplane.  He said  "I told myself, 'My God, this has to be something out of the ordinary.'"