Illinois UFO Sightings: Read the 2016 List

If you think there’s life on other planets or you believe the truth is out there, you’re not alone – and there are other residents in Illinois who feel the same.

An organization known as the National UFO Reporting Center keeps track of all reported sightings – from flying saucers to fireballs to unexplained lights in the sky – and in December alone, there were eight reports in Illinois.

Skeptical? Some of your neighbors might not be. More than 150 reports came from Illinois in 2016, from towns throughout the state: Chicago, Plainfield, Naperville, Springfield, Frankfort, Schaumburg, Woodridge, Ottawa, Aurora, St. Charles, Oak Forest, Orland Park, Oswego, Brookfield, Oak Lawn, Skokie, Buffalo Grove, Yorkville, Algonquin, Joliet and New Lenox. The most recent sighting was reported on Jan. 18 in Chicago.

Most reporters chose to remain anonymous, but left detailed descriptions of unexplained phenomena.

One resident – who claims to be a retired police officer, described seeing “a planet or bright star-shaped white object moving fast” in the night sky.

“My family witnessed about 20 or ore orange lights in the sky, not too high up,” said a resident of South Elgin. “They looked like they were hovering but not moving.”

Another report stated, “My wife and I were in Chicago and we witnessed 8 orange/red/bright spheres slowly going overhead. I am ex Navy and stationed on the USS Midway back in the mid 80's. I worked on the flight deck identifying aircraft so they could set the arresting gear for the correct plane landing (I know my aircraft) - you use the color and shape of the pylons on the aircraft to identify it. This was way slower and way lower than a regular plane would fly. It was much smaller too … The 3rd or 4th one was right overhead in fact my wife grabbed my arm as I joked that if these are real UFO's one might beam me up and she was deathly afraid that it might.”

You can read more about each of the UFO sightings in Illinois here. The report dates back decades.

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