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They’ve been reported as red, yellow or orange orbs or sometimes as balls of fire in the sky. At first, UFO analysts thought these things were hot air balloons or airborne party favors called Chinese lanterns. The fly in the ointment here was that many of the reports state that the multiple bright balls were usually moving in geese-like formations or in single lines independent of wind direction. Logic would dictate that a group of randomly released Chinese lanterns would not be expected to move in such an organized manner. In a recent Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) UFO Journal article, a spokesman for the National UFO Reporting Center indicated that there are case reports about these red, orange or yellow orbs going back decades. The curious thing about the fireball sightings here in New York from 1890 to 2006 was that there were only 14 reported. Then, in early 2007, these colorful craft began regularly appearing, with more than 107 sightings being reported in New York and hundreds more sightings reported across the United States. One cautionary note: It’s difficult to say if there has been an increase in these events since 2007 or simply an increase in reporting due to the enabling ease of the Internet.

 Let’s examine some “ball-of-fire” sightings in New York skies:

In June 2008, a man in North Syracuse was having a leisurely front porch conversation on a summer’s evening when he witnessed a bright flash of light in the northern sky. He reported seeing a large, bright, round ball of light that glowed orange, red and yellow. After a few moments it flew off in a streak. In 1983, in the North Syracuse region, three men up at 4:30 a.m. doing early-morning chores witnessed what they thought initially was a shooting star. The bright fire ball moved across the sky then seemed to stop and hover over a nearby field. After a few minutes, it began to rise into the sky, then it shot away at tremendous speed. In another sighting, an Upstate woman in her 60s recounts that in the 1970s, she and her beau were fishing on the northeast shore of Lake Delta, near the town of Western. They noticed a light on the horizon, a light that kept getting bigger and brighter. They watched it for perhaps five minutes when the bright yellow ball of light became a red object. The red object began moving away when its color shifted to blue and it disappeared. At the time, they thought it might be related to Griffiss Air Force Base. She states that this event was so incredible that neither she nor her husband will ever forget it. If you have a New York sighting story to tell, I’d love to hear the when, where and what. Email it to [email protected]. The names of witnesses will be omitted to protect their privacy.