Fireball over Manteno, IL
A witness account on file, unevaluated. Most of the archive rests here, and honestly so.
The report, as filed
Object Exploded after being struck by lightning
Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center. Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.
Ask for the records
What would the paper say?
For a dated, located U.S. sighting, FAA radar data and ATC communications are the records most likely to exist. Through Aletheca, the house instrument, anyone can commission the request — filed, chased, and published in the open, refusals included. The draft goes over already written: the records sought, and the date window they would live in.
Routed to: Federal Aviation Administration · records window 2011-03-01 → 2011-03-18
From the same sky
Related entries
April 17, 2020 · 9:15 PM · TRIANGLE
Manteno, IL
Last night around 9:15 my wife and I were sitting in our backyard when my wife thought she saw a shooting star, I turned to look but what we saw was definitely not a shooting star. There were three aircraft flying extremely fast going north without any lights and they made no sound. They flew in a tight formation and then went East and were quickly out of sight because of no lights. They weren’t very high up, maybe 15,000 feet. I’ve never seen anything like it.
April 17, 2020 · 9:15 PM · TRIANGLE
Manteno, IL
Last night around 9:15 my wife and I were sitting in our backyard when my wife thought she saw a shooting star, I turned to look but what we saw was definitely not a shooting star. There were three aircraft flying extremely fast going north without any lights and they made no sound. They flew in a tight formation and then went East and were quickly out of sight because of no lights. They weren’t very high up, maybe 15,000 feet. I’ve never seen anything like it.
August 27, 2019 · 7:22 PM · SPHERE
Manteno, IL
Upon inspection I noticed an Orb that must of shot straight up and to the right in less than a minute. Source of report elects to remain anonymous; provides no contact material, and no photographic evidence. PD
June 7, 2017 · 3:00 PM · DISK
Manteno, IL
Looking at it closer, I noticed it was not moving. I took off my sunglasses to see if I could see it better, but as soon as I did, that it disappeared. Putting them back on, you could easily see it again. I figured this was related to the polarized lens....very weird though. I immediately changed my direction to head north towards it. Driving very fast, I was only about 2 miles from the object that was only about 3,000 feet in the air. I had never seen anything like this in my life. As I got closer the object began to move. At this time, I immediately felt light headed and a headache ensued (which I rarely get...related idk). At the same moment hundreds of birds began to flock away from the object from the adjacent tree line. It changed its direction a few times and began to head north. I hopped on I-57 towards Chicago and drove very fast so I would not lose sight of it. As I did this, the craft picked up incredible speeds towards increased altitude dramatically. If I had to guess, roughly 15 times faster than a typical 747, but this is likely an underestimate. I was dumbfounded, concluding the only explanation is new military technology or extraterrestrial. Unfortuantely, the object moved so fast that it disappeared in the distance in less than 30 to 45 seconds. I decided I would turn around at the next exit at this point as it was long gone. I slowed down a bit because I noticed an unmarked all black police car flashing white, yellow, red, and blue lights pulled off on the side of the interstate. I could not identify the model, as it was a car I had never seen before, and I know my cars very well. I would say the closest car would be a Chrysler 300 with a sleek body kit, maybe it's the 2018 version. Who knows. As I approached it, I noticed it had US Government plates, with no other vehicles pulled over next to it, and I could not see into the windows as I passed, they were tinted which striked me as odd. I thought it might be related to the presence of the craft so I kept driving past the next exit. I continued on the expressway for another 10 to 12 miles to see if anything odd would appear. As I began to merge into the right lane to get off the expressway I saw it again...maybe 10 miles West of me hovering above a radio tower. At this point I tried to snap a photo, but figured it would not work as I could not see the object without my polarized lens. I got off the freeway and headed west towards the object which was likely above Frankfort, IL. At this point I noticed a prop plane heading towards it from the east and two dark planes flying in formation from the north. At this point I was only a few miles away from it, but as the jets approached the craft it accelerated south at a very high speeds. The best pa! rt was the fact you could see it breaking the sound barrier within a matter of a few seconds. It picked up speeds so fast and headed into the skies where I lost sight of it within 10 seconds. I pulled off the road to turn around and see what types of planes where approaching. They were two fighter jets, maybe the F35 but I couldn't say definitely. They had no chance of keeping up with the object though. I hopped back on the freeway and on my way back home I noticed a strong presence of police cars. I saw 15-20 in the 20 minute drive home. As I approached my town I noticed more police lights, a fire truck, and ambulance which was weird because it was right where I began to have a headache. There was a car in the ditch on one side of the road and two cars that collided at the intersection. Maybe it was just all a coincidence though, but it was very odd coincidence. I reviewed the photos I took and I managed to capture the object on one of them, which I will upload. I watched the six o'clock news to see if anyone else reported it, but no news at all regarding craft, military testing, fighter jets, etc. Hoping someone will see this post and possibly confirm some of these events. Lastly, I have been keeping an eye out for an odd activity over the last few days. I noticed a strange, constant light that traveled much faster than the any of the other planes that fly over my house the night after the initial sighting. Additionally, I worked outside the day after and today on the landscaping. I kept hearing roaring jet engines over the house. This occured 6 or 7 times since I saw the object on thd 7th. Unfortunately, it has been cloudy here since then, but I can only confirm that I saw a fighter jet on two of these occasions during the day. I've lived hear since 2004 and have only seen a fighter jet once so all of this is very odd. Hope someone else can provide an explanation. Thanks. Note: the attached photo is the original unedited photo. It has the object on the right side, if you zoom on you can see the radio tower in the distance 10 to 15 miles away or so. It is directly above the radio tower.
July 3, 2014 · 9:00 PM · SPHERE
Manteno, IL
Seen amber orbs light up in the Eastern sky. Moving fast they would get bright and then disappear. This happened several times for about half hour. One made a sharp turn to the South. Was watching fireworks at the time. Orbs appeared to the North of the display. Neighbors seen them also. Called my grandson in Normal, Il. and he seen two around the same time.
May 22, 2011 · 11:31 PM · FIREBALL
Manteno, IL
Vibrant, stationary orange light hovering above farmland