Triangle over Carbondale, IL
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
I saw a metalic triangle with semi-cirles at the points traveling above the tree line N to NW at 3:35 PM. It picked up speed and left.
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center. Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
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Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2003-10-04 → 2003-10-21
From the same sky
Related entries
November 22, 2022 · 6:05 PM · TRIANGLE
Carbondale, IL
My wife and I were sitting outside by our fire pit enjoying the fire when I happened to look up to the North East sky and I saw this V shaped object flying overhead coming towards us moving west, I told my wife to look up as well and we both watched this object pass over us. It was a very brief sighting as it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.
September 21, 2018 · 1:30 PM · OTHER
Carbondale, IL
Location and conditions: Carbondale, IL, 09/21/2018, time 1:30 PM (about). Sky partly cloudy, visibility very good, temp about 85 F. Slight breeze from the north which the weather channel had reported as 5-10 mph. I was traveling east on the University Mall Drive, approaching the Post Office. I happened to look up and saw a black object moving from, approximately, North to South at about the speed you would expect a helicopter to travel about 60 mph. We frequently have medi-vac helicopters in the area as there is a local hospital 3 miles west of that location and I am used to seeing them in the air. In fact I used to be one of the ride-along RNs many times in them so I am used to watching them. I estimate the altitude at about 800-1000 ft. or so. This was not a helicopter, I am certain. Because of the unusual characteristics of this object, however, I continued to look at it as best I could while driving. Although the altitude and speed were similar to a helicopter, as mentioned, no other aspects matched. There was no noise, no tail boom, no skids, no windows, and was a completely different shape. This appeared to be sort of an elongated, many-sided polyhedron. As it moved, the sun would reflect off a shiny facet now and then as if it had a glossy surface. It did not move like a balloon. There was no bobbing or slight irregularity in motion as one would expect from a balloon. Its course was steady. Also, the speed at which is was traveling, as above, estimated at about 60 mph, was way above the surface wind speed by a lot. I do not have a wind report for the altitude the object was traveling at (800-1000ft), but there was at least one vulture aloft also in the area, about 300 yards further away than the flight path of the object and I judged, from the steady circling of the vulture, that winds aloft were not very high. That is, there was not a noticeable southward drift of the vulture's pattern that could match the speed of the object. I pulled into the Post Office parking lot and got out of my car to get a better look. My cell phone was in a zippered bag and I was concerned it would take too long to retrieve so I just continued observing. It came directly over IL Hwy 13, the major East-West route through town, passed the Post Office and appeared to make one course change from about SSE to about due East, then head in that direction at a steady speed. This would be unusual behavior if it was a balloon because the course change happened cleanly with no bobbling or turbulence as one might see if a different air mass intercepted the object. The course change looked to me like I would see a helicopter perform, but, as I mentioned, there was no noise, no tail boom and no other characteristics like a helicopter. I watched it until I could not longer see it due to buildings and trees behind the Post Office. The most striking features: 1. Silent and swift with no apparent lift surfaces or engine sounds. 2. Steady course with one course change. Stayed at same altitude during period of observation. 3. Nothing like anything I have ever seen in the sky. This I knew within seconds of spotting it.
December 9, 2017 · 8:15 PM · FORMATION
Carbondale, IL
At approximately 8:15 PM, my husband was coming home from work and spotted a formation of lights in the sky. He called me and told me to go outside and look at the lights. The lights were directly over our property and were approximately 1/4 mile wide. There were 18-20 red lights that were flashing in a sequential order. The lights were exactly the same distance apart and looked liked they bowed near the end. There was absolutely no sound and the object was moving very slowly. I called our neighbor and asked her to go out and look. She saw and reported the exact same thing. I also called the Jackson County Sheriff's office and they dispatched a deputy out. The deputy reported to me that he had seen the exact same formation and really didn't know what it was. He also said they had been getting reports from towns and counties in surrounding areas. We live a few miles from the regional airport and are very familiar with small planes and helicopters flying over. This formation was flying at about the same height. It was flying low. I did receive a call back from the Jackson County Sheriff's dispatcher, and she said Scott Air Force base had been contacted and they claimed they had planes flying in a formation over the region. This is absolutely impossible, but not unexpected. The object blocked out the stars, was moving much too slowly for a plane (s) or even helicopters, the formation of lights did not deviate position at all, and there was absolutely no noise.
March 19, 2015 · 8:15 PM · LIGHT
Carbondale, IL
I was driving north from Makanda to Carbondale at 8:15 pm. About a mile north of the south end of Union Hill, I saw some lights in the sky to the north of me. 2 large white lights floating motionless in the sky, and some smaller colored lights that appeared to be helicopters. The white lights were, from my vantage, about 5 degrees above the horizon. Apparently floating 500' above Hwy 13, or somewhere to the north of Hwy 13. The light on the left was floating about 200' higher than they one on the right (This is a very rough estimate). They were bright, big, glowing, white. The helicopters were moving to the left and right, back and forth, maybe circling. 2 were flying around near the SIU farms, west of McLafferty and South of Chataqua. The other 3 were roving around in the vicinity of the 2 white lights. I was driving into Carbondale to visit a friend. From his house I could see the white lights and 1 helicopter. I went inside his house for 2 minutes and dragged him outside to see. He saw the helicopter. The Light seemed to have moved a bit when I saw it again, it had drifted a little lower, partially hidden by trees and buildings. I went inside. Came back out 15 minutes later. No sign of lights or helicopters. ((ADDENDUM FROM WITNESS)) Yes, April. (sic. March 19, 2015) Just learned that they local small airport was holding night-flying training that night. Which doesn't explain the 2 white lights but I dunno, maybe they were some kind of markers. I'm feeling like my report may have been a false alarm. Sure was spooky tho. ((END ADDENDUM))
November 21, 2014 · 4:50 AM · SPHERE
Carbondale, IL
This morning (11/21/14), I was lying in bed and through the blinds I thought I saw a shooting star falling straight (horizontally) across the sky, south of my apartment. I got up and looked out of the blinds and realized that this ball of white light was moving too slowly to be a comet. The orb stopped and made slow movements around in the sky. It was rising and falling, making circular motions. Most of its movements were slow, but some were really fast. I watched it out of my window for over an hour. Sometimes it hovered and looked just like a bright star in one spot for a while, then it moved to the left or right across the sky and then it stopped again. Sometimes when the orb turned I thought I saw some red and green light, but it was mostly bright white light that I could see. I tried to take a cell phone video of the UFO, but I couldn’t get a good shot of it because it was pretty far up in the sky. When it was getting close to 6:00 a.m., I looked out my window again and it was finally gone. It should be noted that I saw a similar UFO a few years ago above Harrisburg, IL. - A 3L Law Student at SIU
September 8, 2009 · 8:30 PM
Carbondale, IL
3 bright lights over southern IL ((NUFORC Note: Possible sighting of ISS and Shuttle. PD))