Fireball over Port Barrington, IL

The report, as filed

I went outside to let the dog out during a football game at half time. The dog ran to the front of the house barking. Since the dog is usually very calm, I knew something was up so I followed him. When I came around the corner I saw that he was barking at the sky. I looked up above the house next door and saw an orange fire ball that had sort of a ring around it and thought at first that it was the flame from a hot air balloon and wondered why it was flying at night. I watched it for a few minutes and the flame didn't shut down the way a balloon would but it remained stationary during that time and made no sound. I think it was about 500 feet north of where I was standing and maybe 1000 feet up so it wasn't a helicopter. It then started moving to the east very slowly and when it got to be what I would guess to be about a mile or so away, it looked sort of like a burning cross in the sky. At that point I saw a single flash of white light and it was gone. I have no idea what this thing was, All I can say is that I can't stop thinking about it.

Held as-reported from National UFO Reporting Center (record NUFORC #115055). Witness text is preserved verbatim, including its spelling; nothing is edited beyond formatting.