I am sure it could have been a plane as PR_Tom points out. But I knew a guy who was really into rocketry when I lived in oHIo and he had a couple rockets that were in excess of 20 feet tall. I could see him launching one of those bad boys and it looking exactly like that. But he always got clearance from the FAA when he launched.
I got to watch one of them take off and it was truly incredible
http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/mo...ocket-launched