What did I see when I was a kid?

[Orinoccoi]

I was about 9 years old, standing in our garden, waiting for something that I don't remember. Clear summer day, blue sky, a few scratches of cloud.

Suddenly, something caught my eye - an object falling from the sky. It was rectangle, and falling with the narrow end downwards. It fell in a completely straight line - not tumbling or chaotically. It didn't drop like the proverbial stone - it fell quite fast but in a very controlled way.

I cannot estimate how far away it was - it was on my horizon, which was the top of a hill about a mile or two away. I can't estimate the size, but on my horizon, it was definitely big enough to watch, much bigger than an aeroplane.

It was pale grey and looked oddly flat. There was no stream behind it, no aircraft. I watched it until it disappeared behind the hill.

I'd mostly forgotten about it, but every now and then I do wonder what it was I saw.

What could it have been? Any guesses?

Did you see it for a long time or just a second or 2?

Sorry - I should have added that. It was a few seconds. I'd estimate about 8 - 9 seconds. It was long enough to feel vaguely occupied with watching it.

Hot air balloon? Although you say it was a rectangle shape you also say it was on the horizon so perhaps the view of the shape was distorted.

When was this? And whereabouts?

It was in the mid 80's, near Carlisle.

The shape was very defined - it was a completely symmetrical rectangle, and it looked like it almost slid rather than fell, in a way.

I have a strong memory, aged about 9ish, of seeing a strange grey space ship like object in the sky. I remember staring at it absolutely transfixed, until something suddenly shifted in my perception
and I realised that it was a hot air balloon. The brain is very good at taking something that we can partially see and filling in the gaps for us. That’s why pareidolia is a thing.

That's really interesting! I'll have a google around that.

My main memory is the falling motion - the sliding down, almost like it was a lift in a shaft.

I posted too late after a convo with my sister who mentioned it - I need to get to bed, but I'll catch up in the morning. Thanks for your thoughts, everyone.

my first thought as you mentioned it was on top of a hill, it was sliding down and the shape of a triangle with no stream, was that it could of been a large kite? and perhaps as a 9 year old you perceived it as bigger then an aeroplane but in reality it wasn’t just looked like it from a distance iykwim?

I saw something strange in the sky a couple of years ago, it was like a white round thing that was moving around the sky very quickly and very high up in the sky so I couldn’t see it clearly (during the daytime) and I thought it was a UFO but then I thought about it more and logic tells me that it was probably a plastic carrier bag or a balloon or something and my mind was making up the rest!