Other over Chatham, ON · Canada

The report, as filed

I saw the red cloud from my living room at first then went to my balcony to video what I was seeing. The light from the cloud would grow dim then brighten as it appeared to have some sort of rotation or movement occurring within the cloud. Two videos were taken - 1st one just over 2 minutes long and the 2nd video approximately 1 minute, 43 seconds in length. I paused one of the videos and took a screenshot to have a still photo of the cloud. I enhanced the photo to see of a definitive object would appear. The cloud was in the north sky above the city lights and tree lines. I watched it for approximately 20 minutes before it darkened, then disappeared completely. I sent short versions of the videos to Jason Wilde, a MUFON investigator as well as the enhanced photo. He stated he had never seen anything like that before and termed it bizarre. He contacted local officials who verified there were no fires in the area at that time. Chatham-Kent does not have the pink grow lights for agriculture and there were none in the area. Videos and photo were sent to local news agencies, but there has been no feedback from them. I live on the top floor and have a great view of the sky at night from the NW to the NE half of Chatham. No one else has revealed if they saw the cloud as well after the property manager posted the videos and photo on the complex Facebook page. There were no aircraft (planes, helicopters) in the area at the time of the sighting. It is still a mystery, and I would like to know what it could possibly have been. This is an addendum to the original report for May 9, 2023. I just saw where NUFORC classified the red cloud as light from the Canadian wildfires burning a great distance north and west of Chatham, ON. MUFON confirmed with local officials there were no fires in the area at the time of the sighting. I would appreciate the conclusion NUFORC has entered being amended to reflect this fact. There were no wildfires, barn fires, structure fires or any nature of fires at that hour of the morning. The cloud appeared in the direction of the north, as my apartment faces North. The next town north of Chatham of any consequence, is a small community named Wallaceburg, ON. Wildfires have not been visible from Chatham-Kent. We have had air quality alerts because of the fires in western Canada. Chatham-Kent is only about 75 kms. or 50 + miles from Detroit, Michigan. We are in the southern most part of Ontario and situated between Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair starting in June. There was definite rotation/movement within the cloud itself as the brief videos show, growing brighter then dimming as the movements occurred. Thank you for you interest.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #176978). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.