It looked like a faint star to began with. one that as redish in color, and was just sitting there within a group of other stars that we were viewing.

Suddenly it started moving, slowly then with increased speed.  It changed directions a few times then seemed to be accelerating towards earth, because the tiny faint star increased it's level of brightness probably 25 to 50 times in brightness.  It then turned and seemed to be gowing away and at an angle to what seemed like the east, then accelerated quickly and suddenly vanished within a short distance in the sky, like a shooting star, but simply could not have been, due to all of the directional changes and starting out so faint and slow.  
A very similar event again happened to me in Washington State in the late winter of about 1999. The last time the star that just up and seemed to start moving was one that was due west next to the big dipper.
Witness indicates that date of the event is approximate.  PD