'White cylindrical object' photographed over Illinois

An Illinois witness out conducting a land survey looked up between 10 and 10:30 a.m., October 27, 2010, and watched and photographed a "white cylindrical object" with a "dark band around its middle and one end dark," according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.

While no town name was provided in the public portion of the MUFON report, the witness stated the object was observed from Grove Road, about 1-2 miles north of Route 126.

"When magnified, the object appears to be mainly white with a dark band around its middle and one end dark," the witness stated. "In the direction of travel, the dark tip is leading the rest of the craft. But most important of all, it appears to have no wings at all. Although it was an exceptionally windy day out there today, this was not floating debris. I had watched the thing fly in a perfectly level (from my vantage point) tragectory for several seconds, an impossibility if it was a floating piece of paper or a bag of some kind. I eventually lost sight of the object against the blue sky and the brightness of the day."

View the original photograph here. The MUFON report was filed on October 27, 2010.

Illinois is a current UFO ALERT 5 rating with a lower number of reported sightings than other parts of the country.

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, October 27, 2010 - white, dark coloration, cylindrical, no wings, no sound. MUFON Case # 26140.

I was conducting a land survey when I noticed the object today (Oct. 27/10) between 10-10:30am and which was viewed flying north from my position on Grove Road, about 1-2 miles north of Rt. 126. The object caught my eye because it seemed to be moving rather fast, and it also made no sound whatsoever. It seemed odd for some reason, so I attempted to take a couple of photos of it. I had trouble finding it in the view master of the camera because of the time of day, and also trying to find something so small is like the proverbial needle in a haystack. Anyways, I later loaded the photos onto my computer.

At first I thought I had totally missed it, but then on one shot, I saw that I did indeed capture it. It is not a great shot, but it may still prove important. It is a white cylindrical object just above the tips of the leaves on the trees near the lower middle portion of the frame. When magnified, the object appears to be mainly white with a dark band around its middle and one end dark. In the direction of travel, the dark tip is leading the rest of the craft. But most important of all, it appears to have no wings at all. Although it was an exceptionally windy day out there today, this was not floating debris. I had watched the thing fly in a perfectly level (from my vantage point) tragectory for several seconds, an impossibility if it was a floating piece of paper or a bag of some kind. I eventually lost sight of the object against the blue sky and the brightness of the day.