These orb sightings are fascinating. I've seen the white ones up close. Not sure if the same as yours but on 12/6/24 two of them flew over the trees and stopped right above me, turned off the lights, and floated upward and out of sight. I think they saw me and got out of there. My wife and I had been seeing these lights for a few nights flying around the perimeter of the property but never this close. When they turned off the lights, I could still see two large dark balls with a slight red glow around them. Almost the way a lightbulb has a faint afterglow. I never thought I'd have another close encounter after 1998 and yet here we are. They must be rather common. It's been almost a year and they haven't been back. It's a wooded property with a marshy area in the center of where they were circling that week. I've been thinking of taking a metal detector back there and searching the marsh, just in case they were looking for something they lost. My wife thinks it's a bad idea :)

Evening Ken, it was odd to watch it go by without out a sound. Crazy that you mentioned your account in the late 90s, I was in Oscoda fishing with a friend in the latter 90s and the two of us witnessed a bright white orb that was in the sky over the Ausable river. We were at the high banks after dark and saw it just sitting in the sky totally silent. After a few moments it made a high and low zig zag move then shot away like a bullet! We went to Desis restaurant the next morning and were questioning if some of the patrons were from another world. The Air Force base was very close so who knows what that orb was?

What you're describing sounds remarkably similar to the close encounter I had in 1998 with three amber orbs. They were silent and moved slowly above the ground until finally turning upwards and flying out of sight. It was the impetus for creating this website. People have said that larger craft eject these orbs, possible to survey the area. It's anyone's guess what they're doing here!

Thanks Ken,
No, did not have any airplane attributes, as it went by, I heard no sound. It was not an airplane, helo or drone. Just a burnt orange glowing ball with no trail. After thinking on it the only thing I thought it could be was a Chinese Lantern, yet it did not rise into the sky like others I have seen. It stayed parallel to the ground and moved due East faster than the planes I see and hear in this area.

Thank you for your report. No sound and a fire-like glow could be an orb. Could you see an aircraft-like fuselage as well?