If you saw a bright light blazing across the sky early Saturday and thought you might be going crazy, you're not, and you're not alone. Dozens of witnesses across the state and the region reported seeing what astronomers are calling a fragmenting meteoric fireball. Witnesses saw the fireball as early as 12:18 a.m. and as late as 1 a.m., with the majority of the area sightings coming at about 12:30 a.m. Some of the witnesses also reported hearing delayed booms.

The fireball - a term used to describe an unusually bright meteor - is believed to have entered the atmosphere near Washington and traveled northwest before terminating in central Pennsylvania, according to the American Meteor Society.

The society received reports of sightings by 13 Marylanders among the 60 witnesses, who saw the meteor in Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio.

Four reports were submitted by residents of Frederick County, one each from Frederick, Thurmont, Brunswick and Walkersville. Two sightings were also reported in Westminster.

"It was the brightest traveling object I have ever seen," the Walkersville witness wrote.

"It was neon bright," reported the witness in Brunswick.

Woodsboro resident Ryan Ritchie said he and a passenger saw the fireball at 12:33 a.m. while he was driving south on U.S. 15 near Emmitsburg.

In an email to The Frederick News-Post, Ritchie described the meteor as very bright and appearing to be about one quarter of the size of the moon. He said he saw a flash that he initially thought was lightning.

"I said 'I didn't know it was suppose to rain,'" Ritchie wrote. "I then looked up at 70 degrees south as I was driving and saw a meteor shining through the clouds then go through an opening in the clouds then back behind the clouds again. There was about 3 seconds between flash and me seeing the meteor."

Ritchie said he called his mother, who was driving in Frederick, to see if she had seen the same thing. She said she had seen the fireball as well, he said.

In 2012, 2,126 fireballs were reported to the American Meteor Society, which claims there could be as many as 500,000 in a given year, most of which go unnoticed because they are either over the ocean or occur during the day.

Saturday's fireball came 45 minutes after one reported in Colorado. It is unclear whether the two events are related, according to the society's website.