In the stillness of a clear night over Halifax, Nova Scotia, something extraordinary caught my eye. It was just past midnight, around 12:45 AM on August 12th, 2001, when a brilliant fireball tore silently across the sky from north to south. Unlike any meteor I’d seen before, this fiery orb bore three evenly spaced jets of flame, the middle one blazing brighter than its twin flanks. The flames trailed smoke like a ghostly plume, drifting steadily as it glided above us.
What struck me most was the eerie silence accompanying this spectacle. No sound betrayed its motion, no crackling or roar—just an unbroken hush as the fireball made an unwavering, straight passage toward the Atlantic Ocean. Six of us witnessed this strange phenomenon, drawn by its hypnotic glow against the darkened sky.
Having seen meteors before, their tumbling chunks and erratic brightness, this apparition felt different—precise, purposeful, like a crafted craft rather than a piece of the cosmos burning up. Was it a rocket, or something less easily explained? The mystery lingers long after the fireball disappeared beyond the horizon, leaving a trail in both the sky and the depths of our imaginations.
For those captivated by the unknown, this silent, radiant visitor from the night sky over Halifax remains an unforgettable enigma, stirring questions about what truly passes unseen within our atmosphere.