"Lizzie - I've seen any amount of such lights in the skies these last few nights - they are, of course, Chinese Lanterns. We watched a formation of 8 earlier on doing pretrty much what you describe above."


Sorry, I strongly disagree with you on this one. I'm well aware of Chinese Lanterns, one almost set my tree on fire last year.(they look pretty but they're dangerous things)

These were five lights, exactly one underneath each other, in a line. Chinese lanters don't form into straight lines or formations, you know...they don't 'all meet up in a certain place' even if they're let off into the sky at the same time. These were bright, large lights which stayed very close to one another, even when they were moving direction. And when they started to disappear they went upwards, straight upwards, staying in that same line. All four of us watched it happen..we'd pulled over because we couldn't believe what we were seeing and wanted to watch more closely...We watched them change their pattern, then re-form back into line...spellbound...

They moved upwards slowly at first, then faster and faster, ALL at exactly the same time...Whoosh! and within seconds they were gone. They ascended fast, keeping their line exactly. It was a very clear night, there were no clouds to be seen, just stars...so our eyes could see far up into the sky....but they disappeared in no time at all, unlike a plane that you eye can keep track of for quite some time in a clear sky...or a 'chinese lantern' being carried on the wind..The speed with which they suddenly disappeared was scary to be honest...

I told you that a plane went past them, and that had the flashing landing lights you'd expect to see, but this was something very different, Suibhne.