The following experiences are NOT spooky or scary, but, for me, extremely puzzling. Perhaps one of our esteemed readers can help shed light on them for me.
Three times in my life, I have seen unexplained lights in the sky. Each time it was during daylight hours. Each time, I had at least one witness.
My first recollection would be sometime in the early to mid- 1950s. It must have been summer, as the trees were in full leaf, as were my Dad's precious grape vines. I was outside with my dad and granny. I sat on the side veranda step, while Gran stood slightly behind me. My dad stood under the grape vines, facing us. The adults were chatting while I, for some reason, sat scanning the expanse of brilliant blue sky.
Unexpectedly, my eyes lit on a curious cigar shaped object in the north sky. It seemed quite high up, but as I watched, its metallic silver sheen changed colours. First to red, then to green, then back to silver again - it was definitely not an aeroplane. I drew the adults' attention to this strange phenomenon, and we all watched the colour changes for a few seconds. Suddenly this object shot off at an incredible speed and was lost to sight. Darn! If only I could recall what my elders said about that.
My second sighting occurred when I was twelve years old. I was in Standard 5 (Grade 7), and our class was taken on an excursion to our airport, which served as our local meteorological station too. We were learning about the weather, so were being taken to get some hands- on experience. We watched a couple of small planes land and refuel. We were shown how minimum and maximum temperatures are recorded, along with a whole bunch of uninteresting stuff. Then came the release of a weather balloon!
This was the highlight of the expedition. We watched as the balloon was pumped full of hydrogen, and were told how this white, seemingly fragile object could be tracked. The whole class watched as it was released and how it swiftly rose above us. I was standing next to my best friend, Sandra, as we both craned our necks to watch its progress. At one point, I lowered my head to relieve my neck muscles for a moment or two. As I looked up again, I exclaimed that we were not told that the balloon would change colour. Sandra gave a snort of derision, asking what I was talking about... There was the balloon, and it was definitely still white. I followed her pointing finger, and to my amazement saw the white balloon, which had drifted to the left. "Well, what is THAT?' I asked, pointing to a silver 'balloon' floating at about the same height, but more to the right.
We both hurried off to find our instructor, Mr Borstap, to find out if another weather balloon had been released. The answer was an emphatic "No!" In addition, of course by the time we looked again, neither balloon was visible to the naked eye. Mr Borstap jestingly suggested that it may have been a flying saucer - I still wonder if he was correct.
My last sighting happened in the early to mid-1970s. My husband was working late shift in the Traffic Department. I decided to give our three little girls a treat - bought fish and chips for supper to eat in the lounge. Just for the novelty, I lit a lone candle, placing it on the large coffee table from which we would eat. The three girls sat in a row on the couch, with their backs to the large window; I sat on a chair opposite them.
At one point, I glanced up at the window to see an orange light above our neighbours' garage roof. At first I thought, it was the reflection of the candle on the windowpane, although it was not yet dusk. After a couple of seconds of mental calculation, I deduced that a reflection at that angle was impossible, and called the girls attention to it. The eldest claimed to see it too. I jumped up, almost upsetting the table and candle in my rush to the open front door. I was just in time to see the bright orange 'ball' streak off in an easterly direction. A few days later, I read in our local newspaper that a small meteorite had fallen some distance to the east of us, causing a large veldt fire next to a train line. This happened at approximately the period of my sighting. I cannot help but connect the orange glow and the veldt fire; but if that was a meteorite, I will eat my hat! I have never heard of a meteorite standing stationary for even one second.
I am still baffled, on all three counts as to what I saw in the sky.
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Not trying to poke holes in your story, just offering ideas. And as one poster already said, a UFO is just that, an unidentified flying object.