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

May 31, 2014 · 10:00 PM · FIREBALL

Elgin, IL

Saw 2 fireball shapes flying side by side. One seemed to disappear into thin air. A few minutes later another appeared and disappeared very quickly.

May 30, 2014 · 12:30 AM · TRIANGLE

I saw the first object, traveling northeast to southwest straight from my house front door. It was 5 lights in the shape of a triangle, or from the angle I saw it the shape looked like a "backwards" checkmark. The 5 lights changed from a very bright (soft) white color to all 5 turning red with no dimming in between. It was either white or red. The lights pulsed all at the same time between white and red. The object flew in a direction I haven't seen flown by aircraft in my area. The object moved very slowly and made no sound. After a minute or so it disappeared behind trees. Within a minute of the object disappearing I saw the second object. I saw it exactly in the sky where I first saw the first object. The pulsing lights, colors, apparent height, and speed were to me exactly the same as the first object. It stayed in my view the same amount of time as the first object, and disappeared over the same area in the trees as the first. Later when I was! thinking about this I came up with the idea (possibly) this was actually one object and I saw lights on the front and backside. Unfortunately, I don't remember seeing the stars in between the lights being blotted out. I wasn't even looking for that at the time because I assumed it was two separate objects, especially since it would have been a massive size. FYI, I am an amateur astronomer for about 20 years and have fairly good observation skills. The things that strike me about this is the number of lights and their colors, how the lights blinked in unison with no dimming in between, the slow speed, no sound, a different flight path from normal over my area, the fact the second object (had they both been airplanes) would have been flying in the "air wake" of the first, which I think airplanes avoid.

May 25, 2014 · 9:00 PM · SPHERE

Algonquin, IL

Southeast to Northwest trajectory. First pro arrived on its own. Approximately twenty minutes later three addition pros appeared flying in a singular pattern again heading northwest. Altitude was lower than high flying airliners. No discernable engine noise was witnessed. Color of orbs were orange and did not fluxuate. No navigational lights. Color was constant. Speed was steady but fastand eventually traveling out of sight. After the three about. Fifteen minutes a fifth sphere appeared demonstrating the same characteristics as the those before and then twenty minutes later a sixth and final orb/sphere.

May 24, 2014 · 10:00 PM · FIREBALL

Yorkville, IL

Me and about 15 other friends were sitting around a bonfire last night, we all at once looked up to see a bright red-ish ball of light in the sky, I know for a fact that it was a possible UFO and or 'being' and was not a conventional aircraft. I see normal aircraft on approach to chicago airports Midway and O'hare all that time. This object moved slowly then stopped 3 different times then went straight down towards the earth at crazys speeds than stopped around 10k feet for about 5 seconds and without a sound vanished as if it were never there. This is my first time ever seeing something like this, and kind of scared us. I am still having a hard time understanding what we all saw last night.

May 24, 2014 · 9:15 PM · SPHERE

Joliet, IL

I was on my way home tonight at about 9:15 Central time. I saw what appeared to be a round ball of fire hovering in the sky above the Louis Joliet Mall here in Joliet, IL. It was red or red-orange in color with some yellow streaks in it. It literally looked like someone picked up a flame and somehow enclosed it in a globe. It looked like it was at about the height that a helicopter would fly at but did not appear to be moving. The mall parking lot has large lights on tall poles and this was much larger than the lights and seemed to be almost perfectly round. I pulled off into my subdivision which has a lot of trees and drove slowly down the street and could see it on and off between the trees and I stopped once to look at it. It didn't move and I rolled down the windows to listen for sounds of a airplane or helicopter. I heard nothing. I drove further up the street and lost it momentarily because of a large group of trees and then stopped at a large clearing and had an open view of the sky to the north. Nothing was in sight. I drove a block back to the south to a school parking lot so I could see in all directions and nothing was in sight. The thing had completely disappeared in a matter of about 5 minutes. I've never seen anything like this and never heard of any UFO sightings that fit this description, but I'm convinced that this was not any kind of an airplane or helicopter. I'm a retired educator and I think I'm pretty observant. This is the second time I've seen a possible UFO, but the first time was nothing as spectacular as this, and it was in Minnesota. I don't know how frequently such sightings occur in this area.

May 20, 2014 · 10:40 PM · LIGHT

Atlanta, IL

Observed May 20th, 2014 approximately 10:40pm West of Atlanta IL. My daughter and I were sitting on the front porch when I observed a white bright strobe in the sky. The bright light only flashed one time similar to a camera flash. I saw a total of five flashes that placed the source literally miles away from each flash that was approximately one second apart from one another. The first flash appeared as if the source was 20 plus thousand feet in the sky and to my south west. The second flash was same approximately 20 plus thousand feet however to the north west of the sky, literally miles away from the first flash. The third flash was even higher than the first two, and was directly above where the second flash was located however thousands of feet higher as if it shot straight up. The fourth flash was directly beneath the third flash as if it had fallen straight down and appeared to be lower than all the other flashes. I could see that it literally shot back to the south with the last flash being literally miles away in one second. My daughter and I have no idea what we witnessed. I am 51 years old and skeptic to UFO’s, however I know what I saw. There is no way that this was anything like we have on earth. This was not a jet, I see jets all of the time flying over….this was covering miles in one second bursts. There were no green or red lights. Strictly one white flash placing it miles apart from each flash.

May 18, 2014 · 9:00 PM · UNKNOWN

Nason, IL

Was early evening and the sun had set,on my way home south on highway 148 from Mt.Vernon once I had made it about 5 mins from Waltonville on 148 there was an object in the sky that cought my eye. This object had three lights on it with there being two green lights one on each side with an red slow flashing light on just one of the sides. My first thought was an dubble propelled Helicopter. Once about home, I noticed this object wasnt moved much at all. I then got home outta the car and by this time I was running to look at this object as best I could with it being dark and by this time the object had moved over the little town of Waltonville. This object that I had thought was maybe a Helicopter wasnt one because the object made no sound once so ever. As the object moved from being south near Nason to moving West NorthWest over Waltonville, it then moved faster northward toward Mt. Vernon.

May 18, 2014 · 8:32 PM · UNKNOWN

Glen Ellyn, IL

UFO Report from May 18, 2014 I am reporting this event witnessed by myself alone outside. It was so unusual, I thought it would be reportable. I have never made a report like this before. I am skeptical of UFO’s in general, but believe that people like myself report unusual occurrences in order to find out the truth regarding such occurrences. There may be a plausible explanation for certain occurrences. I am a retired firefighter, living in the suburbs of Chicago. I am a U. S. Army veteran. I have a college degree. I have always had a keen interest in military aviation and space travel. I have been to many of the annual Chicago Air and Water Shows at the Lake front. I watch the skies for jet travel, local and transcontinental, and recognize the “circle route” when I see it. I also have friends who are airline pilots. Yesterday, May 18th, in the evening, I witnessed what I would call an unusual occurrence. I was at a local dog park with my Golden Retriever. It is located at 185 Spring Ave., 60137 (41.865944, -88.044325). This park has a large open sky area. At approximately 20:32 hours, right at twilight, I witnessed what looked like a single jet contrail moving across the sky at a very high altitude. I could not visualize the aircraft, but it seemed very small. The surprising fact was that the front of the contrail, was moving faster than anything I have ever seen before. The contrail itself was smaller than a commercial aircraft contrail that I have witnessed, single, hazy, and white. The background of the sighting was blue sky and I was facing north. It also was evaporating at a fast rate as it crossed the sky. It was moving from the north to the east, at a heading of approximately 100 degrees. It disappeared in a very few seconds. The altitude appeared to be as high as I have ever seen a commercial aircraft. The aircraft appeared to be moving three times faster than a commercial flight. The aircraft may have been in a circle route, because it appeared to be gaining altitude in a straight line. The contrail stopped, and disappeared without any further sighting. So my first thought is maybe a military fighter jet. I have seen them before at this approximate altitude. What was missing was the roar of the jet engine. No sound came from this fast moving aircraft. That is all I remember at this time. Respectfully submitted

May 17, 2014 · 9:00 PM · TRIANGLE

Chicago, IL

My 77 year old mom and I were driving east on I55 just passing the Pulaski exit when I notice something in the sky at the 1 o'clock position. Let me say I have seen many planes come out this path or make their approach to land at Midway airport, but this was no plane. I seen planes past by this area for a lot of years, but again this was no plane. I knew it wasn't a plane because it had 3 lights on each corner and 1 one on the bottom middle. The light on the bottom sharply blink a very bright light and omitted no noise. I asked my mom, is that a plane? She said, that's not a plane, it don't look like a plane. She said, it has a weird shape to it. I kept looking at it as I got off the California exit, passed a container yard then I didn't see it anymore. I hope you get other reports.

May 10, 2014 · 11:00 PM · CIRCLE

West Chicago, IL

While at the Drive-in theater watching a movie, my wife looking to the right said; "what is that!?". I then looked in that direction and immediately seen in the sky,a group of round circles that were orange/copper in color. The circles fluctuated from bright to dim. They where moving at a reasonable pace. Then I seen another group of these circles behind these. Then all of a sudden they dimmed and slowly vanished.

May 10, 2014 · 10:00 PM · FIREBALL

Chicago, IL

Hello, Last night about 10:00 pm, I witnessed and orange/red fireball, very high in the atmosphere traveling from east to west in the northern sky over Chicago. The object came into view to my right (East) and traveled the entire span of the sky at a high rate of speed fading to my left (West). I have seen many Meteors enter the atmosphere and this was entirely different. It glowed red/orange and appeared to be burning.

May 10, 2014 · 9:35 PM · LIGHT

Tinley Park, IL

heard a fire truck siren, then happened to look up towards the east, and saw the first three of five orange red lights heading to the north. The first three (moving fast like a jet plane) disappeared just over the Orland Park area, the final two (bringing up the rear) were flying slower, one shifted to the north east, the other slowed and stopped over the Orland Park area and then disappeared. There were no sounds that we could hear from them, just the orange red light.

May 3, 2014 · 11:30 PM · FORMATION

Sightings

Elgin, IL

Woodridge, IL

Algonquin, IL

Yorkville, IL

Joliet, IL

Atlanta, IL

Nason, IL

Glen Ellyn, IL

Chicago, IL

West Chicago, IL

Chicago, IL

Tinley Park, IL

Glendale Heights, IL

Lombard, IL

Mclean, IL

Mount Pulaski, IL

Mokena, IL

Riverdale, IL

Lacon, IL

Romeoville, IL

Antioch, IL

De Land, IL

Jerseyville, IL

Bolingbrook, IL