Yes, it's true, even in the year 2002, strange and mysterious things are occurring right under our noses, or I should say, right above our heads, in the skies over Florida. Here's just a small sampling of more recent sightings in the Sunshine State gleaned from the National UFO Reporting Center (www.nuforc.org).

April 8, 2002: Tampa (Hillsborough County): While exiting onto a top parking level with an unobstructed view of the sky from the Westshore Plaza AMC Theater at 9:45 P.M, two people witnessed a firefly-like light erratically maneuvering about the skies over Tampa. The primary witness initially thought that a meteorite was falling or skipping into the atmosphere, but it began to turn and move quickly, "zig zagging like a person shining a pen light on a board and moving it in motions like a composer." The object was also reported to move in and out of clouds and travel at a rate estimated at a mile a second.

May 10, 2002: St. James City (Lee County): A bright orange chevron shaped object was spotted at 10:00 P.M. in the western sky over Pine Island. While watching Jupiter appear, witnesses saw the object, which also had a bright glowing vortex. The sighting was approximately 12-15 seconds in duration. At one point the vortex of the chevron flared stronger.

May 12, 2002: Orlando (Orange County): At 2:23 A.M. a security guard atop a downtown parking garage saw what appeared to be three craft approaching from the north. Further observation distinguished that they were spaced too closely to be regulated aircraft. As they got closer to downtown O-town, they began to make strange aerial motions, such as turns, banks and doublebacks, not in formation, but in a random manner. The front of the craft had half a dozen white lights. There was no sound during the sighting. Upon closer examination with an 8x eyepiece, the craft were black in color, triangular in shape and twice the size of a large commercial jetliner. The weather was clear with some haze, and the objects were moving slightly faster than typically commercial jet traffic headed to Orlando International Airport.

May 21, 2002: Tampa (Hillsborough County): At 7:56 P.M., about an hour before sunset, a couple from the north tip of the Interbay Peninsula in Tampa witnessed a high altitude wide round silver disc directly overhead. It was flying in a straight line at a steady pace and had no contrails. The couple appeared to be well versed with aerial activity claiming to have good skills at identifying aircraft on approach to Tampa International Airport and nearby MacDill Air Force Base.

May 30, 2002 and June 3, 2002: Spring Hill (Hernando County): At 11:00 P.M. on May 30, 2002, while watching the night sky, witnesses saw an isosceles shape formed by lights. As it moved across the sky, stars disappeared behind the object. There were airplanes around the object. The object abruptly stopped and then vanished. Several days later, on June 3, 2002 at 10:00 P.M. a rancher in the same general vicinity saw a faint light through the trees as he was driving the grounds of his property. As he approached a clearing he could see a faint triangular outline with 6 small lights. The object hovered for about three minutes, slowly headed north and out of sight. The object made no noise.

July 24, 2002: Haines City (Polk County): Walking out to his back yard to view a full moon at 1:00 A.M, a farmer living in a ranch house surrounded by orange groves on all sides, and his girl friend saw a flash of light off in the distance about 3-4 miles away. The farmer decided to take a closer look, as he had never seen bright lights ever come from that area before. The object was at least 2 acres long flashing bright red and white. It was oblong and flat in shape. It hovered about 200-300 above the ground. When discussing the sighting the next morning with his family at the breakfast table, his brother told him that earlier that same week he was inside his room one evening when a very bright red light flashed outside and was so bright that the light penetrated through the blinds of his room's windows. Unlike his brother, he did not bother to investigate the bright light any further!