Sighting record / 2009
Saturday, 23 May 2009. Just before nine in the evening. In Klínec, a village south-west of Prague, a five-year-old child pointed out something strange in the sky. Four orange lights, flying at roughly equal intervals. No sound. Michal Šturma raised his camera and kept shooting as the lights went out one after another. The last one sped up before it vanished. It was only the beginning. Over the following nights, orange lights were reported over Chrást near Plzeň, Říčany and Brno. Readers sent Novinky.cz hundreds of reports, photos and videos. Radar recorded nothing. The army said it wasn't them. And the debate over sky lanterns had only just started.
Spring 2009. Orange lights had been reported over Britain for months, including objects near Liverpool. The Czech Republic had its own share. In February, Stanislav Strmeň photographed four lights in a row over Cheb, and in April more than ten people in Domažlice reported lights. Then came the last week of May.