Coming home from grocery store on a brisk fall evening I noticed something in the sky to the NW of our location. Stopped car to take picture and the object slowed and stopped and left at an excelerated speed. Have never reported to any national group but did report to Monroe, N.C. police dept. I am a trained R&D scientist and with flight time and I cannot explain what I saw.

I am a 51 year old R&D scientist who has worked for over 25 years with fortune 500 companies (2). The nite that we saw the object was a ver normal evening and my wife and I with the 2 kids went to Monroe to get groceries after a day at work. Coming home I noticed a bright beam of light coming straight down froma an object in the sky and proceded to analyze what I was looking at, but could not explain the object. Having my oldest daughter in the back seat I asked her to look in the sky and describe what she saw (@5 years old). She described the oval disk with the ring of red light around the side and the beam of light coming down but not touching the ground. My wife also saw the object as described. We stopped the car and I attempted to get my 35mm camera from the trunk but was not quick enough and the object stopped as if reading my mind and proceded to star to move away. In an instant it was a streak across the sky and became a white dot that transversed the sky in seconds. I am not crazy and don't drink or do drugs but when you tell people this story they wonder. I called the Monroe airport to check for traffic and there had been none and ther were ni clouds for bouncing images. Aperfest cool clear fall nite. Have carried this event for years and finally decided to tell this tale so others will know!! The object was absolutely silent.