Unexplained lights in rural area

This experience happened to me about a decade ago, but I’ve started to think about it more and more with all of the UAP press. I’d like to hear if anyone has experienced something similar.

I grew up on the outskirts of a college town in Alabama. The surrounding area was extremely rural, so rural that bands of stars in the night sky were visible due to minimal light pollution. During high school, my best friend and I routinely would take drives to stargaze. It was a lot of fun, because there wasn’t much to do in our town. When we took these drives, we often ventured pretty far out, taking random turns in search of the darkest spots.

One night, we ventured quite far, taking dirt road and dirt road, until reaching a pretty large clearing. It was a beautifully clear night, and we sat on the car’s hood, waiting for the headlights to automatically turn off. Once they did, however, our awe at the night sky quickly turned to fear as we noticed intensely bright, white lights flickering rapidly among the treetops across the clearing. They moved in a chaotic and swift manner, unlike anything I have ever seen. We were frightened and got back in the car as fast as possible and sped off. Even now, I can’t explain what we witnessed. I’m curious if anyone else has experienced something similar. The lights’ erratic and rapid movements were truly bizarre. We didn’t go stargazing after this happened, because it was quite frightening.