Light over Hilton Head, SC

The report, as filed

My family visits Hilton Head for a week every September. Two years ago my brother and I were fishing the surf after dark when we noticed very strange lights in the sky. Here is the link to that report: http://www.nuforc.org/webreports/136/S136513.html After reporting what we saw to NUFORC two years ago, we realized that the amount of orange light sightings off the coast of SC is stunning, so we knew that our chances were fair to possibly see them again. So during our 2018 beach trip we went out to the beach for a bit a few different nights… but we didn't see anything, so this year we returned with the idea to hike out to the beach consistently each night, set up our chairs, and look for anything strange from 7:30pm - 10:00pm. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights we saw nothing. But on Tuesday night at 7:53pm we saw the start of an amazing display! My father, brother, sister in-law and myself were all at the beach when all of a sudden two bright orange lights appeared approximately 1-2 miles up the coast, seemingly over the beach itself... maybe even over a nearby hotel. It's hard to approximate their altitude, but they couldn't have been more than a thousand feet off the ground. The light on top was larger and brighter, while the one below it was smaller and more faint, but both were clearly visible. When we noticed them they were already visible, so we didn't see how they appeared. They did not move in any direction. We watched them for about 20-30 seconds, before the larger and brighter one slowly faded out, immediately followed by the smaller light fading out as well. The entire time they were visible they made no sound, and there was no smoke in the sky. All 4 of us saw the lights, and everyone was so excited. In 2017 my brother and myself were the only ones on the beach when the lights appeared, so having the validation of two more adults in our family seeing the lights was great. We kept a watch out for more, but after about 30 minutes or so my dad and sister in law decided to head back to the house. However, my brother and I stayed. Shortly after they left, we noticed that two fighter jets flew over the coast at a very low altitude and speed. One had what seemed to be normal lights on, while the other had only a couple very minimal green lights and was very hard to see. It was too dark to see what they were exactly, but they were most like FA-18's from the nearby Marine Corp Air Station in Beaufort, SC. They were extremely loud, in star contrast to the silent orange lights we had seen. These were the only such planes we saw the entire week, so we though it was worth noting since it was about 30 mins after the lights appeared. Then, at 8:47pm, almost 50 minutes after we initially saw the two orange lights to the north, things got really interesting out over the water. Straight out and slightly to the south from where we were sitting, orange lights began fading in and out for short periods of time. It's hard to say how far apart they were (they were further away from us than the first lights). There could have easily been miles of space between the individual lights at times, and other times they appeared close to each other. Between 8:47 and 8:57 these lights turned on and off (always gradually fading in and out) at in different places out over the ocean. At first they were not moving, but completely stationary. Then, we saw one moving south. It faded in, stayed lit momentarily, then started to fade out again. But as one light disappeared, a previously unseen sphere positioned next to it lit up. Then when that light faded out, one next to it faded in. The lights turned on and off down the line a t! otal of six times, then the last one faded out. It was as if a straight line formation of 6 objects was traveling south at the same speed and lighting up one at a time in from east to west. After that one or two more lights faded in and disappeared here and there for a minute or two, but that was all we saw that evening, and we didn’t see anything else every following night for the rest of the week. These were the exact same lights we had seen two years ago. How are these appearing with such predictability and frequency and yet nobody is talking about it? Whatever is out there, it's an amazing thing to behold, and it was a treat to get a glimpse at the lights again! Unfortunately I couldn't get my phone to focus on the lights because it was so dark on the beach. However, I made some animations which I'm submitting to NUFORC to show what we saw. The positions and time of appearance are approximate of course, but these animations accurately convey what we saw looking out over the waves. Animated Illustration for 7:53pm sighting: https://imagizer.imageshack.com/a/img924/4563/QxF4Tb.gif Animated Illustration for 8:47pm sighting: https://imagizer.imageshack.com/a/img921/4967/lNFDb4.gif

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #149383). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.