Light over Elgin, IA

The report, as filed

I went outside around midnight with a clear sky and a ball of red light caught the corner of my eye. I turned toward the direction it came from to try and figure out if I was imagining what I saw. Shortly after I was watching the area of interest, another ball of red light shot straight up into the air from ground level at least 4-5 miles away. The ball of red light reached an elevation of approximately 3000-5,000 ft. Once the ball of red light reached this altitude, it sat stationary for about 15 seconds and then took off horizontally. The red ball of light came somewhat towards my direction and the red ball of light disappeared after about 3 miles of flying a perfect straight line. I continued to watch and a couple more of these red flying balls did the same exact thing as the previous one I had watched 1 -2 minutes before these. I continued watching and 4-5 more of the red balls did the exact same thing as the previous ones except without becoming stationary once they reached the same altitude. Once the last 4-5 red balls reached altitude, they shot off horizontally, following the previous ones path and also the red lights all diminished around the 3 mile mark of coming in my direction. I did have my phone on me and tried taking a video, but it was unsuccessful due to the towns street lights being brighter then the red balls of light at a distance. I was very disappointed as this would have been my only proof. This was definitely ufo related. There is nothing else that could come close to traveling these same paths and speed. Witness elects to remain totally anonymous; provides no contact information. PD

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #147152). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.