The catalog
Sightings
Witness reports, held as-reported. Each entry keeps its source, its coordinates where the record has them, and its place in the larger pattern.
3,749 entries
August 12, 2023 · 9:15 PM · FORMATION
Rochester, IL
Was watching the perseid meteor shower looking West when my girlfriend and I noticed 1 orb of light moving across the sky going South East. As we watched 2 more orbs appeared also going the same direction. All 3 were in a triangle formation. They would stop and hover for a few seconds before moving across the sky. They disappeared one at a time around the same point in the sky. These lights didn't appear to be satellites or aircraft and they didn't have the usual blinking green or red lights most aircraft have.
August 12, 2023 · 12:00 AM · SPHERE
Grand Chain, IL
On this night there was a haze in the sky with some moon. There were mostly orbs and one after the other for an hour before moving away. I have seen these for months now with other objects mixed in. This was a small portion of video of that night and went on continuously for an hour. They would come into view coming from the north and split off, some moving southeast and some going south. I think the haze in the air made them glow when they made there turn. They always seemed to making very big circles miles even. I have had trouble sending in reports. I think I have been trying to send to much video so I have kept it short this time. I have many hours of video. I do not live near a airport and they are not people flying drones and I know what a satellite looks like. If you need more call.
August 11, 2023 · 11:18 PM · UNKNOWN
Olney, IL
Was walking out back and as I was closing the door behind me, I noticed large oval shaped lights about 20 feet above the tree line, pretty low, shooting off south into the distance, extreme speeds, once it beamed it had a slight trail that disappeared in less than a second. It all happened extremely fast but it did accelerate for a millisecond and then just beamed away. Very bright haze covering the object, however this was all completely silent, after it was gone I heard a number of owl and coyote in the woods, I'm not sure if there's a correlation with the animal life but the timing was pretty strange.
August 11, 2023 · 8:45 PM · LIGHT
Morrison, IL
Saw flashing light in sky. Did not move and then shot upward. 2 dark planes with red flashing light flew on either side of this thing and then flew away. The flashing light then started traveling into the distance laterally not further into space. THEN looking back in the original direction my boyfriend and i see a line of Green lights hovering just above our tree line in our backyard. We are awestruck and just stare at it until it starts to move in the same direction the flashing light went until it disappeared from sight.
August 11, 2023 · 8:43 PM · LIGHT
Schaumburg, IL
My husband and I were sitting outside on the patio and I was noticing that there were a lot of clouds and not sure if we’d be able to see any of the proceeds meteor shower tonight. When something caught my eye and I looked up and there was a very bright light and I told my husband look and he turned to look and it grew very bright as it was slowly moving and then it faded away and it was gone 10/22 tops. I do not think it was a meteor because it was moving very slowly.
August 11, 2023 · 7:25 PM · CIRCLE
Chicago, IL
Very brief sighting, object was hovering in the air stationary. Shining like a star, but in the daylight, clear skies. From the moment we saw it, it was only there for 10 secs or less. We were driving in a semi truck, on I-294 headed south, it was toward Harvey or Lansing, Illinois. Another truck blocked our view briefly and when we looked in the same direction again it was gone. Definitely wasn’t a plane and definitely wasn’t a star, but the whole object was shining bright like a star, and before we could see again it was gone.
August 1, 2023 · 12:19 AM · LIGHT
Quincy, IL
I was talking about UFOS and their existence stepped outside to take my dog I suddenly felt weird so I looked up quickly. Within seconds a bright light that was stationary suddenly dropped rapidly in elevation towards me and just as quickly shot off into space. The whole incident was not even 5 seconds. The light was very similar to a star. Impossible movements that no humans are capable of. I was talking about them beforehand which I thought was very odd. It was a light. It didn't have lights on it. It was too fast to capture I'm lucky I saw it. No sounds. No trail .
July 31, 2023 · 11:30 PM · SPHERE
Peoria, IL
Ive watched for 2 yrs. now. This object moves , stays in a area., flashes.. A weather balloon doesn't stay put in one area. zooms every direction fast. hoovers
July 17, 2023 · 9:50 PM · LIGHT
Chicago, IL
I was driving west bound on Lawrence and saw two red objects in the sky. They were slowly moving, rectangular/diamond shape, and lit from within. It almost looked like two car break lights because of the shapes and light. I hit a red light at Clark and the objects moved behind a tall building. When the light turned green and I passed the building, the objects were gone.
July 7, 2023 · 7:50 AM · CUBE
Oakwood, IL
7:50 AM, saw a wingless craft heading south from east side of yard. Looked like two white cubes with space between, silent. Airplane speed and altitude. Saw again one week later from west side of house, heading south like the first.
July 6, 2023 · 9:40 PM · FORMATION
Dekalb, IL
Northern sky shifted drastically many times
July 3, 2023 · 9:20 PM · LIGHT
Justice, IL
I was watching a fireworks show when I saw a red orb coming towards my direction. I was stunned because the same thing happened to me eight years ago. That time I was with someone and saw 6 red orbs over roughly two hours. As tonights orb came towards me a Southwest jet was coming from the southwest towards Midway airport. I'm located about 6 miles southwest of the airport. At one point the jet was under the orb. I would take the elevation of a jet six miles before landing, and double it. That would be the elevation of the orb I saw tonight.
July 1, 2023 · 10:42 PM · CIRCLE
Quincy, IL
I saw it land my family owns a decent size property in landed and this thing came out tall it was walking with a limp but the limp would switch between legs as it walk it’s mouth was huge almost as if it was unhinged from its jaw teeth small but so many of them it started walking blankly in a direction slowly then stopped slow turned it’s head and stared directly at me it then made a crackling sound almost like a firework that sparkles it started to walk towards me but stopped walking towards me it look as if it had no eyes but it did as it opened them it had 3 eye orange with what I saw and orbs as it’s pupils it then I don’t know how but I understood it it had me feeling a way that I was in distress but at the same time in a harm hopeful place a place where I was calm but it was almost talking to me and it keep repeating you are not alone I veiw you and another it said bugs live under your skin peel the open open your self to my fate it soon walked back to its ship and flew away so fast I couldn’t keep up I ran back to my house but didn’t say anything to my parents I have adhd and I was scared they’d think I was going crazy but I know what I saw it was real life I cried the rest of that night and I know what I saw was real it was no dream or be going crazy I was scared and this thing is out there weather it be no longer on earth it’s out there
July 1, 2023 · 9:12 PM · SPHERE
Woodridge, IL
My husband and I were sitting on our patio and suddenly we start seeing these pulsating, red and orange orbs flying over our heads. It looked like fire in the sky. At first we thought they were drones. But they kept coming we knew they couldn't be. As they flew over us, we saw they were all flying to a specific location. Our experience was amazing.
July 1, 2023 · 8:50 PM · SPHERE
Marion, IL
While doing runway inspections spotted crafts to the west toward the town of carterville/ Carbondale moving horizontally to the north then upward into clouds. There were 7 total objects but my camera only could pick up 2 of them the rest could only be seen with the naked eye. No air traffic on local freq or on ADSB Weather METAR at the time reported METAR KMWA 020155Z AUTO 17005KT 10SM SCT050 OVC060 24/24 A2985 RMK A02 T02370235
June 24, 2023 · 9:14 PM · CYLINDER
Rural Kirkwood, IL
A cylinder shaped object flashed across the sky on my phone video I took. The object made a slight curve change in direction and the colors changed when I enlarge the video and slow it down. Moving at a very high rate of speed!
June 21, 2023 · 9:15 PM · LIGHT
Niles, IL
Double light, green pulsing/indigo, dead still in sky, zoomed east with white flashes, stopped dead, zoomed west, stopped, zoomed away west.
May 31, 2023 · 11:14 AM · FORMATION
Plainfield, IL
There were lights in the sky that became visible and invisible. Please see the video.
May 28, 2023 · 10:00 PM · CIRCLE
Volo, IL
Saw a white light moving across the sky on a southeast heading somewhat slowly, a minute or so later a jet came in the same location as the white light. The white light disappeared. Cool vape trail at night.
May 27, 2023 · 8:30 PM · OTHER
Elgin, IL
I was sitting on my patio around 8:30 pm facing west, twilight. A large circle of very bright light passed over my house. If you hold your thumbs and index fingers together and make a circle and hold them up, that was about the size, pretty large. It was moving east to west fairly fast. The house behind me have some large trees. It only took about 3 seconds from when I saw it until it went behind the trees. I ran to the back of the yard to try and see through the trees and beyond. It was gone. This was a round circle of very bright light. It wasn't fire, but did seem to be high energy. This circle of light / energy did not emit light and there was no sound from it. I live about 20 miles from O'Hare airport. we have planes that circle Elgin and start there decent to land. The altitude of this wasn't treetop, but I believe well below the altitude of planes we see which will land at the airport. Again, this only lasted about three seconds, but was incredible. My wife told me not to tell anyone, but I can't forget this. I'd like to know if there was anyone else had seen this and reported it to anyone. I'd like to stay anonymous other if someone would want to contact me.
May 26, 2023 · 10:03 PM · FIREBALL
Streamwood, IL
I was sky watching for scheduled ISS crossover. Some thin clouds. A Red streak with wide (hazy?)signature crossed in front of path of the ISS. It raced across for maybe ? 3 seconds then I couldn't see beyond trees to know if it was viewable longer. I noticed it at aprox 65-70 Degr high it 'appeared' from West headed NE. moving much faster than even the ISS. While ISS appears to 'arc' in the sky, the 'Streak' actually seemed possibly closer to earth and appeared to move more parallel to horizon than any meteors Ive seen. The ISS was on its way, arcing 'up' and crossed the Red Streaks' path aprox 30 Sec to 1 minute after It (red streak) had already transversed the area and out of my line of sight. Im thinking maybe it was space junk burning up or a meteor (tho Ive never seen a red one) Im reporting this because I saw another strange thing in conjunction with the ISS about...5-7 ?? years ago (that I did not report) where an 'object' was trailing the ISS across the (evening) sky staying a constant, even, distance behind it, (for at least 5-10minutes) clear as the ISS itself, but appeared to be smaller. I was on the phone with a friend who witnessed the same. We were about 21 miles apart - watched and commented to each other over the call until ISS was out of sight. I didn't report, assuming it was garbage from the ISS (?) Then, sometime later I saw a few reports about 'objects' following the station. So, now Im wondering about that event, and curious about what I saw tonight. Could very well have been junk or a meteor I guess. I didnt find any meteor showers listed to happen tonight. Just wanted to report this, see if anybody else saw, and to see what you all think.
May 17, 2023 · 10:14 PM · LIGHT
Chicago, IL
An object was observed moving east to west across the night sky add an extremely high velocity. The location is very urban; near downtown Chicago. The object appeared as a point of light that I initially thought was a plane. It was moving so quickly it caught my eye and I looked up. It appeared to move in a straight line. I live in a place where I regularly see planes move from east to west, preparing for landing at Chicago Midway airport. This light was not following one of the typical plane paths that I see approach the airport. Since it was just a single point of solid whitish, blue light, I thought it might be a plane very high in altitude, but as I watched it move, I realized it was something much smaller and much closer to the ground. I cannot rule out a drone entirely, but the speed and distance seem to rule that out. The object was moving at a somewhat steep angle, seemed to come from quite high in the sky, and move towards midway airport in a descending motion approaching lower altitude. The sighting only lasted about two seconds. In that short amount of time I watched the object move from nearly above me to a great distance from me, perhaps closer to the airport. If I had to guess I would say the object was moving at the speed of miles per second. My guess based on google maps is that in those 2 seconds the object may have moved 3-5 miles. Its speed was constant and its direction did not change from a straight line. Estimating the objects altitude is tough for me, but roughly I would say it started a few hundred meters up in the sky, and where I lost sight it may have been only 100 or so meters in the sky. I lost sight of the object when it was blocked by other buildings on my immediate horizon. It could have been a piece of space debris falling to the ground, but most shooting stars I have seen are very quick wisps that move across the sky and disappear. Also, I have never seen a shooting star in the city. This object did not seem to fit that pattern. The object left no trail in the sky and was completely silent.
May 14, 2023 · 2:29 AM · UNKNOWN
Greenup, IL
Kept seeing flashing lights every few seconds out my window, tried to see if there was any storms, and there's no rain or thunder. Heard some unexplained noise (didn't go outside)
April 30, 2023 · 6:02 PM · TRIANGLE
Pittsfield, IL
I’m an amateur photographer, and was noting how cool the hole in the sky looked. I started snapping pictures, when I saw 3 faint lights in the clouds, seeming to keep form for several minutes. I will include the original photo, and then the one I use filters to enhance to bring out the light. It was then, with the additional contrast, that I noticed the triangular form, as well. Freaky.