Fireball over Sumner, IA
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Upon walking out of a house to get to my car, I looked at the stars and noticed movement. Around 500 yds from ground and over a mile away was a red-orange fireball moving North, then SW and stopped. I asked a friend to look for anything odd in the sky, and the witness immediately noticed, stating this was the second time he saw a fireball at this location within a month. Using hunting binoculars, I was able to steady the view to confirm that the fireball was moving quickly once again. I did this by focusing the binoculars on a star, then witnessing the red light cross the star and continue going. Witness and I watched the light change course, from going N/NE to slowing, then heading W for a short distance before regaining course N, until the fireball was behind the treeline. Calm and clear night in a rural area, the object didn't make any noise. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #112044). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2014-07-23 → 2014-08-09