Light over Seaside Heights, NJ

The report, as filed

At approximately 22:00 on August 12, 2018, I observed a UFO with my brother and mother. It was seen from a second story deck about 400 feet from the ocean. The light appeared in the direction of the ocean; it was a bright red light. I shifted my body from side to side to try and estimate the distance of the light from me. I was able to tell, based on a beachside restaurant that the light was above, that the light was with 100% certainty out over sea. It was not moving at all, remaining completely still, initially leading us to believe it was a star or planet that was having a strange effect from the atmosphere/light of the boardwalk (again, the light was a very, very vivid red, like a traffic light). After about one minute of observing it staying completely still, it began to move South, or to the right from our perspective looking out at the ocean. It moved very smoothly; fluidly. My brother proclaimed that it was just a helicopter, but I dismissed that because there was very clearly not a blinking light of any kind, and we did not hear propellers. It smoothly came to a stop again after about 10 seconds of southward travel. At this time, I suggested that it could be a drone. Even though it was clearly out at sea by a significant distance, we accepted that this was a likely scenario. Shortly after we reached this conclusion, however, the light went out. As if someone flipped a switch, it was gone. I did not think a drone would do this, and a helicopter *absolutely* would not. I cannot completely rule out that it was a drone, but I must reiterate that it was a fair distance out at sea, as the three of us had concluded based on moving from side to side and seeing that the light not move while buildings right on the beach did.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #142692). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.