Tennessee 01-05-12

I was driving back home to Knoxville after dropping my child off at her mother's. It was a very clear night and I was scanning the sky as I often do under favorable circumstances.

I was just turning my head forward from glancing at Venus to my left and then I noticed a star above the trees ahead.

There was oncoming traffic coming up the other side of the hill that I was ascending, so my attention was briefly drawn to switching to my low-beams, while also noticing the light from the other cars' headlights reflect off of the power lines on the left-hand side of the road.

Precisely at that moment, the star (which was directly ahead and to the right of the power lines) suddenly increased a little in brightness while changing to a pale orange color.

It then ascended straight up, getting exponentially faster as it went, and changing to a pale blue color, and disappeared.

Immediately afterwards, the oncoming vehicle came into view and I had to turn my attention back to driving.

Now I have driven this road hundreds of times, day and night, and in all conditions, with oncoming traffic on any given stretch including this one, and never have I seen any normal lights play such a trick on my eyes, so now I start contemplating what I saw.

There is almost always air traffic within a few miles, because the airport and Air National Guard base are close by. But, I am probably more familiar with different types of aircraft than the average person.

My father was in the Air Force for twenty years and I have been to a few air shows and to the Wright-Patterson Air and Space Museum a number of times. This was no conventional man-made aircraft.

I know the experience was brief, but I know what I saw. I also remember feeling as if, when the light brightened, it wanted me to see it. I havent been able to quit thinking about it, so I must tell someone. Who better else to tell than MUFON?