Ive seen some crazy stuff over the Tohono O'odham Indian Reservation near Tucson. One time a random red/orange light just appeared out of nowhere. It was about the size of a small car, and about 500 yds away. It didn't do anything special, just sat there for about a minute. The light dimmed a little bit, came back on, then went off for good. It almost looked like a huge street light being turned on and off. We jumped of the quads to see if anything was there but we saw nothing. I'm not sure what the hell that thing was, but i haven't seen anything like it since then.
I saw something similar to what you describe here in central Wisconsin probably 8-10 years ago. Just thinking about it makes my hair stand on end, and gives me a weird feeling in my stomach.
I was driving home about an hour after dark, in the early winter (I'd been out calling coyotes). About 3 miles from home, I approached a stop sign at a "T" intersection, with a large field in front of me (my house was past the field). As I slowed to stop, a light appeared in the sky, and I've described it exactly as you did- it looked like a large red/orange or amber street light.
My first guess was a plane, and I was thinking maybe it was a landing-light or something, but it wasn't moving, and there are no large airports nearby. A small grass strip is closest, maybe 10 miles away. My curiosity piqued, I sat at the stop sign and watched. The light just stayed stationary. I'm thinking, boy, it looks odd, but it must be coming directly toward me, or going directly away from me. As time stretched into 30-45 seconds, I abandoned that idea and decided I was seeing a light on a helicopter. No other lights were visible (I was looking for nav-lights, etc). Just this big, stationary orange light in the sky. It seemed "close" (within a few miles), and not more than 2-3000 feet high. I opened my window to see if I could hear anything, but I can't.
Then, the light just turned off. Now, I'm thinking, "Yup, musta been a helicopter or something". As I looked l/r to continue on, the light turned back on. Through my windshield, the light was dead-center through the drivers side (same place as originally). Then four more lights turned on in succession- the first under my rear-view mirror, the next three spacing out to the right, so they're lined up like this in my windshield-
/ O O O O O \
Now, all four lights just sat there for 15 seconds or so, and again, I'm thinking "Hmm, some sort of formation of helicopters?". But I'm not so convinced anymore. They're perfectly in line, and the synchronization of them all turning on was "spooky-accurate". And they're in a perfect line. And none are moving AT ALL that I can see. Who formation-flies in the dark, with that kind of accuracy, with that much spacing? I'm getting nervous...
Then, bang, they all turn off at the same instant. I'm actually kind of relieved it's over, and I go to put my foot on the gas. Bang! They all turn back on at exactly the same instant. Not cool. About 3-4 seconds later, they all move away from me at "high speed", and before they go out of sight over the tall pines on the other side of the field, they all blink off at the same time.
I'm one to believe that the military has stuff they don't "share" until it's practically obsolete. And I know they do maneuvers through this area occasionally (F16's, F14's, A-10's, C-130's, etc). I'd generally say "odd" things in the sky are military, or some other phenomenon. What I saw out there on a country road, in the dark, seriously has me questioning that though. I'd actually like to find out that what I saw was "normal", but I don't think it was. And with my interest in aviation, I can honestly say I cannot think of any man-made device that fits the description of what I saw, or that could "hover" and then move away that fast, without any of them being a bit too high/too low, or a little slower to accelerate, etc...
The hair is standing up on my arms even thinking about it again, lol!
