A rural Illinois witness is frustrated his camera phone did not do justice to the huge, silent, orange ball of light seen moving across the sky that quickly moved straight up into the air at high speed, according to July 3, 2011, testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.
The witness was talking to his parents on the telephone when the object was first seen.
"I was on the phone parking the car when all of the sudden directly in front of me, traveling horizontally from south to north along the tree line. I saw a bright orange ball about the size of a tangerine held at arm's length. My first thought was, 'Oh, look at the gorgeous firework'. Then I realized that it was moving far too slow and steady to be a firework and way too level to be a Chinese lantern. I exited the vehicle quickly realizing that this was not something I had seen before, and was both alarmed an in awe. I am surrounded by farmland and it's a clear night on the Fourth of July. I am used to seeing all kinds of stuff this time of year, but this was different. This could only be described as nothing other than a bright orange fireball. It made no noise whatsoever."
The witness attempted in vain to capture a good image of the object, and then followed the object on foot to a nearby field.
"It was at this point that the object had slightly curved ahead of me, and was now directly due north. It was then without warning or sound that it moved straight up in the sky at a high rate of speed until within milliseconds it went from the size of now a ping pong ball held at arm's length, to a the size of a large star, only to shrink to match the size of any other star within the night sky. It dissipated into the sky like a star just fading out."
A few minutes later, the witness watched three helicopters flying in formation.
"As I began to explain, from the corner of the sky where the object originated, came three helicopters, flying in formation moving in from south to north following the direction the object went. I watched them until they disappeared from site...they took much longer, and they made noise."
One image was included with the MUFON report, which was filed on July 3, 2011. The incident occurred on July 2, 2011. See Image # 1. No town name was mentioned in the public portion of the report. The above quotes were edited for clarity.
We recently covered this Illinois story too: Black triangle UFO moves low over suburban Chicago barbeque
A similar report was made from Stanwood, Iowa, in this July 2, 2011, event, where an object moved into view, hovered in place, and then shot quickly away in MUFON Case # 29888.
"I was visiting a friend in Stanwood, Iowa. We were outside at around 10 p.m on a clear night playing with the kids when I noticed a white light moving across the sky from the southwest," the witness stated. "I asked my friend if he could identify the object as it didn't look like a plane or any other object I had ever seen. Then the object stopped and remained stationary for about five minutes as we both watched in awe. I noticed that it was oval shaped and by now was a deep orange color in the center and darker red toward the outside. It appeared that the object was surrounded by a red halo as it emitted rays of red light. Then in a blink of an eye it accelerated into the southern sky as it got smaller and then vanished into the distance."
Illinois is a current UFO ALERT 3 rating, with a high number of UFO sightings nationally. Illinois had 27 reports in June 2011 - while California had 42 UFO reports - the highest reporting state in the nation.
You can read more details about other recently reported cases at the UFO Examiner home page. The most up-to-date UFO information can be heard at web radio show UFO Traffic Report every Wednesday, 9 - 10:30 p.m. EST, which includes a UFO Witness Testimony Program segment, and an update of the UFO ALERT national rating system. Past shows are available at the Archive page.
The following is the unedited and as yet uninvestigated report filed with MUFON. Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If Illinois MUFON State Director Sam Maranto investigates and reports back on this case, I will release an update. Please report UFO activity to MUFON.com.
IL, July 2, 2011 - Very bright, very large, Orange Ball of light moving horiziontally across the sky until it it shrank to the size of a star and dissapeared. MUFON Case # 29872.
I was on the on the phone parking the car when all of the sudden directly in front of me, traveling horizontally from South to North along the treeline, I saw a bright orange ball about the size of a tangerine held at arms length. My first thought was, "oh look at the gorgeous firework". Then I realized that it was moving far to slow and steady to be a firework and way to level to be a Chinese lantern. I exited the vehicle quickly realizing that this was not something I had seen before, and was both alarmed an in awe. I am surrounded by farmland and it's a clear night on the Fourth of July....I am used to seeing all kinds of stuff this time of year...but this was different. This could only be described as nothing other than a bright orange fireball. It made NO noise whatsoever.
I hung up the phone and quickly tried to take a picture with my camera phone. But try as I might the photos weren't clear at all, and I was now running to keep up with it as it continued along the horizon gradually getting only slightly smaller. I then proceeded to try and get a video of the object from my phone...however the camera only saw black sky on the viewfinder. Now I was confused, alarmed and increasingly agitated . In the video all that can be heard are crickets and me saying "what is that?! and why is not visible on the camera? "
(That's right I am the stereotypical guy that could not get video of the blasted thing in a day when EVERYONE has a camera on them. I wont waste your time by posting the video its 20 seconds of me yelling at myself )
I put the camera away as I came up on the end of the dead end street I live on and met the edge of a large farmers field. It was at this point that the object had slightly curved ahead of me, and was now directly due north. It was then without warning or sound that it moved straight up in the sky at a high rate of speed until within milliseconds it went from the size of now a ping pong ball held at arms length, to a the size of a large star, only to shrink to match the size of any other star within the night sky. It dissipated into the sky like a star just fading out.
I kept repeating to my self now, "no one will believe me, I couldn't get it on film... I maybe have on VERY blurry picture of it. I cant tell anyone... who will believe me??"
I stared waiting to see if I would see anything else for only a minute or two...perhaps firework or a plane or anything, and it was just silent. Nothing. I turned to walk back to my home and proceeded to call my parents who I was on the phone with when this whole thing started, to explain to them why I had hung up so abruptly. As I began to explain, from the corner of the sky where the object originated, came three helicopters, flying in formation moving in from south to north following the direction the object went. I watched them until they disappeared from site...they took much longer, and they made noise.
I have NO explanation for what I saw... it was huge, it was glowing bright orange and looked almost like it was on fire....it moved slowly and completely parallel to the ground until it shot off into the sky. It just defies explanation.
I am attaching the one phone photo that actually came out. Its a really lousy picture, with no frames of reference and would never hold up in court... but its all I have. I just don't know what to think.
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