Sphere over Baltimore, MD

The report, as filed

Well first, I'd like to say that at the time of the sighting in 9/2021, I posted my vid & thoughts to Reddit. Many thought it was Chinese Lanterns, which I swear these can't be. I've seen them at launch and in they sky...lanterns weave with the wind; the color flickers because of the flame source. These did not. A web-reporter from a web blog, Pen News asked me to share what I saw for their site (name withheld on purpose). I never saw the article. I also did not post on MUFON because the last time I did, the investigator sent me googled pics of pigeons for comparison, so I can't take them seriously. What I did write and what I saw is below, as written to the reporter: 1. Where and when was this recorded? I recorded it on Saturday, 9/4/21 between 8:15-8:20pm. I was on McMechen St., walking east towards McCulloh St., where I live, here in Baltimore, Maryland. Specifically, Baltimore City. 2. How did you come to notice the shape in the sky? I noticed the objects as I came out of a corner store on Druid Hill Drive and McMechen St. I was crossing the street and looked up. They were bright in the sky and I live in the city, so it was odd to see. 3. What did you think it was when you first spotted it? In the video, you hear me say, "So, what the f*** are these?" That was my first reaction, heh. My first action when I saw them was to grab my phone. I have a Samsung s20+ with the side button set for a double-tap to get to my camera. I thought, "I gotta get this." I wasn't sure what I was looking at. In my part of the city, we constantly have police helicopters day and night. Those have running lights even when the spotlight isn't on. Other helicopters like MediVacs and news choppers make plenty of noticeable noise. These were silent so I knew they were odd. 4. Can you describe its appearance? (This helps for visually impaired readers) When I first looked up, there were a good six, maybe seven big, bright orange lights. They were distinctly orange, solid and round. I say round, but I mean the light. I couldn't see anything inside or behind them or anything like that. The center of the orbs was a bit brighter orange than the outer edge, like a soft glow. By the time I started filming them, I could only see four of them, so they either faded or were out of vision behind the trees within line of sight. In the video, the fourth light had dimmed and looked like a regular star. It wasn't orange anymore. You can faintly see it to the left of the top left orange light, moving at the same speed as the others. The last three lights that are prominent in the video held a triangular formation that did not stretch, warp or twist. I've heard other people comment on similar sightings that the lights started moving around in fast motions or rotate around each other. These lights did not. They were either floating or flying slowly toward the left of my vision. At this point, I'm still standing on McMechen St., and start walking toward my apt. building on McCulloh St. I was facing to the East, so these lights were floating toward the North, as far as I could tell. If I had to judge, I'd say from the ground to where these lights were located would maybe be 40-45 degrees vertically? I didn't have to strain my neck to look up or anything, they were very noticeable, but also high above the horizon. I panned left, because the kid walking by in the video scared me a little and I turned my head. I try to be alert when walking at night, but didn't see him because I was focused on the big-ass lights in the sky! I also thought they were awfully bright to be seen under the street lights in the city. You can see the glare from the street lights in the video, dancing around but that is purely lens reflection. When I got to my corner, two of my neighbors with their baby were sitting on the stoop, looking up at them too. I asked if they had any idea what they were, but they said they were still trying to figure it out too. I should've asked how long they were watching them, but I ran inside (to the 3rd floor) to get my friend to see if we could see them. By the time I came back outside, they were gone, so I just showed him what I just filmed. I say there were three orbs or lights, because other viewers have asked if it seemed like a solid triangle. It did not. I didn't seem to notice anything blocking out the sky behind them or anything, only the lights. I thought they looked individual. 5. Have you had any good explanations for what it might have been? A lot of people have suggested Chinese Lanterns and drones, but from my knowledge, I can not confirm that at all. Nor do I believe it was close enough to the ground for drone flight, residential at least. If it was drone activity, they were far enough away that I wouldn't hear any motors. If they were lanterns, they were awfully coordinated to keep steady in that type of formation. A user on Reddit posted a video in my comment thread for an example of a triangular shape using lanterns. While they managed to make the triangle, the video was filmed from right below the launch point with no way to determine elevation. It wasn't convincing to me at all. I see drones used by private users as well as commercially for architecture projects. I know they need to be registered and need to have lights to avoid potential air-traffic collisions. Even zoomed in, I couldn't see anything like that on the orange lights. Farther off in the same direction, would be Harford County. In that county, there is Aberdeen Proving Grounds. Someone said it could've been military activity? I doubt that, as I've never noticed anything like that in these skies since we moved here in '85. To the south of where I am, there is BWI Airport in Linthicum, MD. Someone mentioned possibly static-looking airliner headlights. I've seen them, know them well. That effect is usually seen on planes coming in from the Northwest. Plenty of those I've watched until they've come into focus. These are moving away from the airport, as far as I can tell. 6. What do you think it is now? Is there anything that makes you doubt it? I still don't know what I was seeing Saturday night. Until I hear otherwise or another user from Baltimore chimes in with a better video, I was seeing a UAP as far as I'm concerned. 7. Do you believe that there is intelligent life in space? If so, do you think it has ever visited Earth? I am a firm believer that there are intelligent beings in space, probably here on Earth as well. I do believe they've been here for a long time, visiting, living, using/helping mankind or the planet for whatever reasons there may be. Too many possibilities to rule it out. EVERYBODY can't be wrong or lying. I'd just like the knowledge that there is more than this. 8. Have you encountered something like this before? Only once. I was waiting for a Lyft at lunchtime (12pm) in Harbor East, Baltimore and I looked up. I always look up. Way up in the sky, I'd say northeast of where I was looked like a star, moving very slowly towards the South towards the bay. It was glinting. Not uniformly and not like a reflection off of a plane. The only thing I could think of was like a wrinkly, mylar balloon, like the "birthday" type? The only thing about that was, it was far too high to be a balloon. If it was, that had to be the largest balloon in existence lol. It was too high to see any shape, I could only see the light glinting. It was steadily moving slowly...from my line of sight, it went behind a construction crane and I waited for it and sure enough, it kept going. When my ride came, I told the driver about it and I could still see it after moving a block away. He was completely uninterested. I actually filmed that and sent it to MUFON. An investigator contacted me via email and asked for the photos, which they compared to google map pictures of freaking pigeons at building height. Needless to say, I did not send this in to MUFON. 9. Is there anything else you'd like to add? Apologies for the noise.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #168758). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.