-

204898 sightings reported...
and growing

Empire, Michigan (United States)

Sighted on Wednesday 08. August 2012
Reported on
Shape: Sphere | Duration: Undisclosed
Source:

We were camping outside of Empire, Michigan on August 8 and had just noticed the sky had darkened enough to see many stars. My partner and I walked out to an open space and spent a moment watching the sky. We saw two different satellites and a meteorite and decided to walk back to our campfire to give our necks a rest from looking up. As we walked back I looked up through the trees towards the southwest and saw a very bright star through the trees. I immediately thought "wow, Venus is really bright tonight" and made a note to myself to look at it the next time we went to look at stars. When we sat down at the campfire I suddenly saw movement out of the corner of my eye and looked up to see a solid white light moving from the southwest towards the northeast. I first said "hey, there's a really bright satellite". The light was solid and unblinking and the object was moving (at first) in a straight line at a steady pace, like a satellite. However, it was bigger than a bright Venus (and was the object I mistook for Venus a moment before). We both watched it move past our campground. It was night with minimal clouds so it was difficult to judge the elevation, but it was too low and bright to be a satellite, and too fast and silent to be an airplane and had no blinking lights anywhere. The object at first seemed to have a large light, but soon we realized that the object itself seemed spherical and also seemed to glow from the inside. The light was very bright, similar to airline landing lights. However, it was low enough and close enough to us that we would have heard the engine if it had been an airplane. There was no noise. The forest was fairly silent (no moon yet) and we heard nothing from the passing of the object. We watched it move slightly overhead heading northeast, then it arched in a steep angle curving back to the west and descending. After that, it stopped in place and descended like a helicopter until it disappeared behind the tree line to the northeast. We did not see it again, nor did we see anything else like it the rest of the night. This campground is next to a small airport, but this object was completely silent, very bright, and running long distances in the dark. If it had been an airplane, we would have heard something. Earlier in the day we were listening to RC airplanes being run on the airport grounds, so we would definitely have heard something this big. Between the two of us we tried to come up with a logical explanation for the object. It was too low and bright for a satellite. It was too silent and moved illogically for an airplane, but was also too silent to be a helicopter. It had no other lights than the glow of the object itself. No strobes, or colored lights were visible. It was also too quiet, big, and bright to be an RC vehicle. We cannot come up with something that explains it.

comments powered by Disqus

Top 100 nearest sightings ordered by sighting date (100 miles radius):

Location Sighted on Shape Duration
Location Sighted on Shape Duration
South of Cadillac on the horizon, MI, USA 2023-09-03 Cylinder Still there
Cadillac Michigan 2023-08-13 Disc or cylinder. Side view. Hours
On Stiles Rd approaching Johnson Rd in Scottville Michigan, USA 2022-08-08 Baseball size orbs 30 seconds
S azimuth Dr. Traverse City 2022-05-12 Round 7 secs
Charlevoix, MI, EE. UU. 2021-11-17 Circular 20-30 seconds
Manistee, Michigan, USA 2021-06-15 White cylinder, propane tank shape 30 seconds
Traverse City, Michigan (United States) 2020-06-05 Circle 00:05:00
Maple City, Michigan (United States) 2020-05-03 Circle 00:15:00
East Jordan, Michigan (United States) 2020-05-02 Circle 00:03:00
Michigan (United States) 2020-04-08 Unknown 00:00:00
Michigan (United States) 2020-04-06 Unknown 00:00:00
T, Michigan (United States) 2020-03-06 Star-like 00:20:00
Michigan (United States) 2020-03-05 Unknown 00:00:00
Traverse City, Michigan (United States) 2020-02-25 Star-like 00:05:00
Rapid City, Michigan (United States) 2020-02-06 Star-like 00:10:00
Traverse City, Michigan (United States) 2020-01-16 Circle 00:06:00
Baldwin, Michigan (United States) 2019-11-03 Cigar 00:03:00
Ellison Bay, Wisconsin (United States) 2019-08-23 Circle 00:02:00
Michigan (United States) 2019-08-04 Unknown 00:00:00
Michigan (United States) 2019-05-03 Unknown 00:00:00
Michigan (United States) 2019-03-02 Teardrop 01:01:01
Michigan (United States) 2019-01-16 Saturn-like 12:00:00
Michigan (United States) 2018-10-01 Sphere 03:00:00
Manistee, Michigan (United States) 2018-08-31 Diamond 01:00:00
Michigan (United States) 2018-08-27 N, A 01:00:00
Traverse City, Michigan (United States) 2018-08-17 Round 10 seconds
Michigan (United States) 2018-07-07 Sphere 00:15:00
Michigan (United States) 2018-05-05 Other 00:00:30
Michigan (United States) 2018-05-04 Fireball 00:20:00
Ludington, Michigan (United States) 2018-04-24 Round 10 minutes
Traverse City, Michigan (United States) 2018-04-19 Square, Rectangular
Michigan (United States) 2018-02-01 Circle 01:00:00
Michigan (United States) 2017-10-19 Disc 00:02:15
Michigan (United States) 2017-08-21 Disc 00:00:10
Michigan (United States) 2017-08-19 Cylinder 00:01:59
Elk Rapids, Michigan (United States) 2017-08-12 Sphere 00:00:01
Luther, Michigan (United States) 2017-08-06 Oval
Boyne Falls, MI (United States) 2017-07-20 Square Less than 5 Minutes
Charlevoix, Michigan (United States) 2017-07-20 Other 00:30:00
Bellaire, MI 2017-07-12 Unknown 3 hours
Frankfort, Michigan (United States) 2017-07-08 Circle 00:06:00
Traverse City, Michigan (United States) 2017-07-07 Star-like 00:01:00
Michigan (United States) 2017-07-07 Circle 00:00:30
Elmira, Michigan (United States) 2017-07-05 N, A 01:00:00
Traverse City, Michigan (United States) 2017-06-14 Sphere 00:10:00
Michigan (United States) 2017-06-11 Star-like 00:03:00
Lake City, Michigan (United States) 2017-06-06 Sphere 00:05:00
Michigan (United States) 2017-05-27 Star-like 00:08:00
Michigan (United States) 2017-05-14 Sphere 00:03:00
Michigan (United States) 2017-05-11 Sphere 00:00:08
Michigan (United States) 2017-05-09 Circle 00:01:00
Sister Bay, WI 2017-04-13 Light 2-3 minutes
Michigan (United States) 2017-04-10 N, A 00:00:07
Michigan (United States) 2017-04-10 Sphere 00:01:00
Lake City, Michigan (United States) 2017-04-07 Unknown 01:50:00
Traverse City, MI (United States) 2017-03-16 seemed round 10 seconds
Scottville, Michigan (United States) 2017-03-06 Star-like
Manistee, MI 2017-02-26 Unknown 20 minutes
Michigan (United States) 2017-02-09 Cylinder 01:30:00
Fife Lake, Michigan (United States) 2017-01-01 Circle 00:02:00
Michigan (United States) 2016-12-26 Egg 00:20:00
Michigan (United States) 2016-10-08 N, A
Michigan (United States) 2016-08-23 Other
Mesick, Michigan (United States) 2016-08-20 N, A 00:30:00
Charlevoix, MI 2016-08-12 Sphere 2 minutes
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2016-08-11 Star-like 00:05:00
Frankfort, Michigan (United States) 2016-07-30 Star-like 00:10:00
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2016-07-23 N, A Undisclosed
Michigan (United States) 2016-07-08 N, A 00:00:15
Traverse City, MI 2016-07-07 Formation 5 minutes
Leland, Michigan (United States) 2016-07-03 Star-like 01:00:00
Empire, Michigan (United States) 2016-06-30 Star-like 00:15:00
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2016-06-19 Sphere Undisclosed
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2016-06-10 Sphere Undisclosed
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2016-06-09 Square, Rectangular Undisclosed
Cleveland, Michigan (United States) 2016-05-29 Cross Undisclosed
Fife Lake, Michigan (United States) 2016-05-29 Star-like Undisclosed
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2016-05-21 Sphere Undisclosed
Michigan (United States) 2016-04-28 N, A 01:00:00
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2016-03-04 Cylinder Undisclosed
Mancelona, Michigan (United States) 2016-03-01 Disc Undisclosed
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2016-02-14 Circle Undisclosed
Michigan (United States) 2016-02-11 Saturn-like 00:04:02
Ludington, Michigan (United States) 2015-12-15 Other 02:00:00
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2015-11-08 Star-like Undisclosed
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2015-11-08 Star-like 00:15:00
Ludington State Park, Michigan (United States) 2015-11-03 Other 00:00:05
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2015-11-02 Other Undisclosed
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2015-10-25 Sphere Undisclosed
Traverse City, MI 2015-10-19 Flash 3 seconds
Bellaire, Michigan (United States) 2015-10-11 Star-like Undisclosed
Boon, MI 2015-10-09 Flash ~10 minutes
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2015-10-05 Sphere Undisclosed
Mesick, Michigan (United States) 2015-08-28 Star-like Undisclosed
Traverse City, Michigan (United States) 2015-08-21 Sphere Undisclosed
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2015-08-21 Square, Rectangular Undisclosed
Ellison Bay, Wisconsin (United States) 2015-08-20 Oval Undisclosed
Elmira, Michigan (United States) 2015-08-13 Sphere Undisclosed
Undisclosed, Michigan (United States) 2015-08-10 Star-like Undisclosed
Boyne City, MI (United States) 2015-08-10 circle 3 mins