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Florida couple claim to witness speedy UFO zig-zagging through the night sky


A couple in Ormond by the Sea, Florida reports that they saw a bright object flying “zig-zaggy” through the sky at a high rate of speed. The sighting took place last night as they were watching the stars from their backyard. The husband says he was a military brat and served 14 years in the U.S. Army, but he says he has never seen anything like it.

Ormond by the Sea in relation to Orland and Tampa. Ormond by the Sea is at the location of the red marker. (Credit: Google Maps)

Ormond by the Sea in relation to Orland and Tampa. Ormond by the Sea is at the location of the red marker. (Credit: Google Maps)

The witnesses posted their account of the UFO sighting today in the reporting database of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), along with a drawing demonstrating the path the object flew.

Ormond by the Sea skyline as seen from the top of the Granada Bridge in Ormond Beach, Florida. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Gamweb)

Ormond by the Sea skyline as seen from the top of the Granada Bridge in Ormond Beach, Florida. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Gamweb)

Here is the witness statement, verbatim:

My wife and I were outside, in the backyard, looking at the stars, because the sky was unusually clear. We had been observing the stars and constellations for approx. five minutes when the object appeared, suddenly, out of the west, headed east out over the ocean there is this extremely fast, at extremely high altitude, brightly (white) lit object that transits the sky in less than ten seconds… stops… remained motionless for a few seconds, then flew southwest back inland making erratic movements, kind of jittery and zig-zaggy, then abruptly stopped again and remained motionless. The speed was incredible.The object then flew south/southwest until it was lost in the illumination (glow) of the city lights of Daytona Beach. 

I was an Air Force brat, and a veteran of 14 yrs military service in the US Army, and have seen all types of high performance military aircraft flying… this was not a plane or satellite. 

Never seen anything remotely this fast. It made erratic changes in direction, and complete stops with no perceptible slowing. 

I’m actually a very rational person. A highly trained and experienced observer. I’ve seen the ISS, space shuttle, fighters fueling from tankers, high performance aircraft, and numerous satellites over the years… never anything like this. At first we were excited, as we thought it was a satellite, then our feelings turned to awe as we watched it perform incredible maneuvers, radically changing direct, coming to abrupt stops, all from very high rates of speed. 

Bright single points of light moving erratically in the night sky are often reported. Satellites can often be seen at night, especially in the hours just after sunset. However, satellites are not very fast, and just fly in a straight line. What this couple saw is anyone’s guess. Let us know in the comments below if you think you know what they might have seen.

Witness drawing of erratic movement of UFO. (Credit: MUFON)

Witness drawing of erratic movement of UFO. (Credit: MUFON)

The vast majority of UFO sightings turn out to be mundane objects, but once in awhile there are sightings that are much more difficult to explain. MUFON conducts investigations on sightings submitted to their website, and if they share their conclusions, we will let you all know. Meanwhile, others will likely chime in and we will try to keep you up to date with any discoveries. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the object in the comments below.

About Alejandro Rojas

Alejandro Rojas is a radio host for Open Minds Radio, editor and contributing writer for Open Minds magazine as well as OpenMinds.tv. For several years Alejandro was the official spokesperson for the Mutual UFO Network as the Director of Public Education. As a UFO/Paranormal researcher and journalist, Alejandro has spent many hours in the field investigating phenomena up close and personal. Alejandro has been interviewed by media organizations around the world, including the largest cable and network news agencies with several appearances on Coast to Coast AM.

17 comments

  1. Earl Grey Anderson

    Hi Alejandro! You know this, but I’ll mention that I’m a MUFON field guy, I keep getting cases that turn out to be people goofing around with radio controlled drones. That’s the first thing I’d look into with the case. Kids do dogfights with them now, and if you’re unaccustomed to seeing it, it can look pretty weird.

    Could’ve been UFOs! Interesting case, Thank You! 🙂

  2. My father and I watched something very similar in the late 1970s in England. The most amazing thing was the apparent lack of acceleration and deceleration.. It seemed to be at full speed from rest and rest from full speed in an instant. I was just about old enough to appreciate anything with mass shouldn’t be able to behave like that. The paths it took sound the same… Big triangles!

  3. Yep. That’s what I saw when I was about 10 years old. It definitely zig zagged. Extremely quick. Hovered on the spot at one point from memory and disappeared. Australia.

  4. Thus fits my exact case, I was standing on the beach but saw it fly off into th distance

  5. The description fits the exact same UFO that my family and I witnessed one summer night in the late 1980’s when we were on vacation at Crescent Beach just north of Matanzas. About 9:30 or 10:00, the object appeared at an extremely high altitude, a single dim white light almost directly overhead moving, for the most part, in a southerly direction parallel with the coast but performing very erratically. The object could appear totally motionless and then accelerate from a complete stop to an incredible speed in the blink of an eye. It would change directions spontaneously, not in slow sweeping curves but in sudden diagonal increments, zig zagging its way across the horizon in what I can only describe as imitating a Hummingbird in flight. There was no mistaking that we all saw it, we just don’t know what we saw.

  6. In 1993 I was talking with a co-worker one night in Ohio when I spotted a star-like light rapidly zig zagging across the sky. It happened too fast to have the guy I was talking with look. Then five minutes later it happened again with two lights zig zagging with instantaneous angle changes across the horizon.

    In explanation I’ve wondered if it’s possible there were astronauts above with laser flash lights, perhaps enjoying seeing the ground lighting up below but doing so in rapid zig zags so as not to disturb anyone as might occur if done more slowly over one spot.

    I only saw the zig zagging lights above, not on the ground. But perhaps laser lights from the space shuttle could have been reflecting on the atmosphere? So that’s my more rational potential explanation but deep down I’ve always suspected it was something extra terrestrial I saw.

  7. I have seen a UFO in my back yard. But I have aliens living in my house I need someone to help. I feel like I’m going crazy I have beams of light all around my house especially at night. I have video cameras all in my walls. I need to talk with someone fast. Thank you

  8. Walt Robertson

    In 2003 I was looking up at the stars just as it got dark outside. I noticed what looked like a shining star. shoot rapidly in zig zag formation. It also stopped on a dime. It was high altitude also. I was yelling for my wife and son to come out side and see it with me. They laughed and thought I was making it up. I watch it for maybe 5 mins. At the end it shot off faster than anything human made PERIOD! In fact it did not disappear. It shot off to the other side of the planet. I watched it curve down in the atmosphere and got smaller and smaller as it left out of sight. Just like a boat curves with the planet as it disappears in the ocean. I am a respectable business man. No gas coming out of planet or drugs. We are being visited by god knows what. Humans wake up! Be watching on clear nights. They are letting us know they are here, why?

  9. For me it was in February 2009 near midnight. I was at my grandparents for the weekend, enjoying an unusually clear sky with my grandma, counting stars and trying to relax as I had panic attacks every night back then. Suddenly a white, thick looking “star” appeared, very far away from us and very high altitude. “Look at that huge star in the sky!”

    And that’s what we thought it was…until it started moving. As others said before me, there was no sign of acceleration or deceleration, it moved in zig zag patterns at an extremely fast and impressive rate of speed, as if it owned the sky. After about 10 seconds it came to a complete stop and hovered completely still for a bit, as if to set a flight course. Moments later it shot off in a way which I can only describe as warp drive..

    Yes, it looked like some Sci-Fi shit. It shot off so fast in a 9 o’ clock direction it looked like it took an express flight to another planet. I’ve seen drones, planes, satellites, meteorites, military aircraft. My grandmother was military. We actually had a hard time even talking about what we saw the first 10 minutes after it happened. I’m afraid I have no theory on what this thing is, but I’d assume no human can withstand such speed and g-force.

  10. In 1987 my wife and I were anchored at Ease Kangaroo Island in the Furneaux Group ,Bass Strait,Australia.
    It had not long been dark and there was a clear starry sky with no light pollution. Mary was below and I was sitting in the cockpit. I saw what I thought was a satellite moving in a straight line. I could not judge altitude. It looked like a star , but as I said , moving at a constant velocity until it started to zig and zag. The amplitude of the zigs and zags increased until it accelerated towards the southern horizon to such a speed that it became a streak of light as it dipped below the horizon. I heard no sonic boom. This is the only thing I have observed in my life thus far that I cannot explain other than to say it was a UFO.

  11. I came across this site trying to find answers as to what I’ve seen close a year ago in the Vegas night sky. I was star gazing and witnessed what it looked like a star slowly moving (thought, cool that’s a satellite) then all of the sudden it turned around very fast, I was like wth! Keep moving straight and again boom, it would turn around again, the it would zig zag, it didn’t stop but it would move both fast and slow. It was really high so no way it was a drone. I’m still puzzled to what it was, very strange. After a few minutes of seeing this, it dissapeared.

  12. I also had an encounter of the same exact thing. Id say around 2001ish I was fishing with my buddy at a state park in indiana the sky was clear I could see everything. I was just enjoying the sky when I though I witnessed a comet flying across the sky then it stops and just sits there really bright and really high. Then it does a zig zag pattern and stops again and takes off so fast that it leaves my sight on ome end of the earth in 1.5 seconds. I was in shock I couldnt believe it. The craziest part about it all was about 5 mins later same thing same pattern. Im blown away still and cant understand it.

  13. So my experience happened around 2001 on an indiana lake at around 11pm. I was fising with my friend the sky was clear as can be. I start to look up and start to just enjoy the view when a light orb starts to move across the sky really high up. Then it stops and starts moving pretty fast from point to point zig zagging in the sky. It stops for a few seconds and the bam warps off so fast it almost looked fake. Then 5 or so mins later pretry much the same pattern and everything. It made me look at the sky for years after that to nvr see it again. Ive been seeing latley that these have been around. I wish i knew more info!!!

  14. I seen what this couple has seen, 20 minutes later into my experience I seen the object way closer, to sum it up, whatever I seen looked like a fucking orb/star. It was pure bright white, above the trees outside. Maybe slightly bigger then a soccerball? It hung in one spot and started to slowly drift out of view. No I didn’t chase it. It had a bright glow to it..also it was dark outside, 1 AM or so. I was in Michigan by the way.

    That night was one hell of a mind fuck, and I hope they have good intentions

    I do know one thing, when I seen the object closer, it was clearly intelligent and aware I was staring at it if anyone was wondering

    life has been a hell of a ride and still is, it sucks that we die yall

  15. I also came to this site to try to comprehend what I have seen. I am in the southern hemisphere (Tasmania) and have seen this three times recently now, I have just started waiting for the ”star link” satellites to come over, watching a random satellite it suddenly started turning and going off course, the first one wasn’t a big movement and I put it down to collision avoidance system (if they have such a thing), the other times were very large and fast movements, it’s getting to the point here now that I can go out any clear night and after getting my eyes accustomed I can see this.

  16. It was a very cold snowy January night about 1965. I was about 15 years old. I went out to the back of the house to see if there was going to be any more snow. I lived in Lurgan, Northern Ireland at the time. The sky had just cleared and I could see some puffy clouds because of the lights of the town reflecting off the newly fallen snow.

    Away out to the southern horizon my attention was drawn to two fairly bright star like objects behaving in a very peculiar manner. They were both zig zagging across the sky, in parallel, in a very abrupt manner, but maintaining a straight trajectory. Both objects appeared to be synchronised to each other as they both made the exact same movements at the same time. They were about 4 times the width of the moon from each other (as we see the moon from earth) They were two separate objects as I could see the background stars between them. From one side of the zig to the zag was about 4 to 5 ‘moon widths’ , as we see the moon. They were above the clouds but when they went behind them I could still see them and follow them until they came out again.

    The two objects moved south to north but maintained their bizarre zig zag flight pattern throughout. They almost came directly over my head. They made no sound. They left no trail and they maintained the same magnitude throughout until they went out of view in a cloud bank near the northern horizon. The sighting lasted for about 30 + seconds.

    Some weeks later Patrick Moore ( presenting astronomer on the BBC Sky at Night programme) mentioned that someone else had reported seeing the same zig sagging objects while out walking near the Mourne Mountains, which by the way, were almost due south from my home. He said he was at a loss to know what they could have been.

  17. Circa 1973 summer night sky above Indiana, USA: What appeared to be a shooting star (left to right) stopped, then made two or three rapid starts and stops at reverse angles to its original trajectory, then shot back towards its point of origin. No noise.

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