Illinois, 2023: UAPSRS Case No. 35
| Country | United States |
| State or Province | Illinois |
| City | Forest City |
| Date | 9/23/23 |
| Time | 9:40 PM |
| Weather | Fair |
| Duration | Multiple hours |
| Solid Object | Yes |
| Size | Similar to a small plane |
| Shape | Rectangle or square |
| Shape Details | More rectangular than square |
| Metallic/Shiny | Not Specified |
| Color | Not Specified |
| Glow/Halo | Not Specified |
| Lights | Yes |
| How Many Lights | 6 |
| How Bright | Muted, not harsh |
| Light Coloration | Reddish pink, green, golden, blue/turquoise (4th color unsure) |
| Sound | Yes (identical to a small plane) |
| Motion/Speed | Similar to a small plane, moved like a drone |
| Number of Objects | 1 (possibly 2 later on) |
| Coordination/Communication | Not Specified |
| Windows | No |
| Occupants | No |
| Description | WITNESS ACCOUNT: The UAP sighting I’m about to disclose was my first ufo sighting. I could tell you how excited I am but I will stick to business and tell you my experience. This occurred on Saturday 9-23-23, it and happened to be the evening of the fall equinox. Overview: 3 people saw a UFO that looked like a huge flying rectangle with 3-4 different colored lights -none of them flashing- that were soft and muted in tone, not harsh. This flying vehicle sounded identical to a small plane; it had a smooth engine sound. It was similar in size to a small plane, but moved like a drone. It was way bigger than an average drone though and it was flying above the state forest for multiple hours. Testimony: I had embarked upon a night hike with 2 friends of mine at Sand Ridge State Forest in Forest City, IL. We had set up camp at their main camp ground: Pine Camp. However, we had made a commitment to go hiking out to a back country campsite called BC3, which features a beautiful clearing among towering pine trees that are not normally native in Illinois. We had hiked the trail to BC3 once already that day in order to explore it. While walking the trail again that night (it was called yellow trail) we made it a point to head towards a prairie-land clearing that sat just beyond the bend of a right turn in the trail. We were hoping to see some stars above the clearing. It was around 9:40pm. As we stood at the bend of the elbow and faced South towards the prairie land, we were disappointed to find that the stars were all covered by precipitation and clouds. There were no visible stars or lights in the sky at all. We still admired the beauty of the area, and I started to head North on the trail towards the forest. Once I was among the trees, about 30 feet from the Prairie bend, I turned to see if my friends were coming. It was then that I saw a large, bright golden light on the Southern Horizon. This light was sitting still, and it had appeared on the other side of the prairie land from where we were. It appeared to barely kiss the tree line and was not moving at first. This was larger than a star, and larger than a utility light on a tower. The three of us deliberated on what it was with intent curiosity. The light was still for a moment, but then I watched as the light slowly moved diagonally upwards into the sky, away from the tree line. A few seconds went by before I realized that the object was then slowly coming towards us. It coming right at us, on a horizontal plane of movement to where the light got bigger in our perspective but did not move up or down as it headed our way. The golden light source looked relatively round. I have 20/20 vision and I will tell you that the light beams from this source only came out in four directions. It had 4 divergent light rays: one vertical ray, one horizontal ray. Normally with lights at night, divergent light beams will come out in many and all directions to give lights a starry look. This was different. In summation, it looked like the round light source was encased in a 4 point star because of how the beams shone outwardly. It looked magical and this detail stood out to me. I knew it was not a helicopter or a plane. Everyone was seeing it come closer and get slowly bigger. We were all mystified and we all reacted with uncertain curiosity. I moved father back into the trees and called my friends to do the same. We moved far enough back on the trail to where we couldn’t see it, and it could not see us. Within 20-30 seconds of us hiding back in the trees, it was passing above us to the right- continuing to head North. We were all crouching down on the sandy trail and I watched it very intently. I did not move at all and I saw it clearly for a few moments as it passed. The speed/ velocity was similar or identical to a small plane. It absolutely sounded identical to a small plane. It was similar in size to a small plane. The sound was not choppy at all; it had the steady whirring of an engine. It was however shaped like a giant drone. It looked nothing like a plane in any way. I couldn’t tell if it was a solid object, but it seemed like a solid object. It was square or rectangular, almost more rectangular. It was definitely way bigger than any drone I’ve been able to find on the internet, even the home-made ones. It appeared to be bigger than something a person could hold in their hands. It had 6 lights total. It had one light on the bottom of each corner, and two smaller lights in the front center that were in line with the two front corner lights. All of them pointed downward. The thing about the lights is that each corner light had its own color. One reddish pink, one green, one golden and one…maybe blue or turquoise? I can’t quite remember what the 4th color was. It was abnormal. They were not like LED lights, there were softer in tone and not as harsh or bright. None of them were flashing at any point! This was not like a police or surveillance drone I have ever seen. Once it passed by and appeared to be gone, we collected our belongings from the back country campsite nearby and we booked it back to Pine Camp. We discussed among us the fact that we had heard voices in the woods before embarking on our trip to the prairie area. There were many other campers around the forest that night. After this sighting, I thought I saw a light dimly illuminating the woods beyond where we were walking. It was very dim though so I couldn’t tell what that was. Everyone was asleep when we got back to the camp ground save a few quiet campers sitting around a fire nearby. We deliberated many different options on what the UFO could have been. We felt that whoever was driving it had spotted us. Maybe they were looking for nocturnal animals. There’s a lot of logical options, but the size and colored lights don’t add up to anything we could think of. You don’t need a huge drone to look for animals at night or for surveillance, they have smaller ones that work really well for that purpose. A few last important details: When we were back at the campsite, gearing up to go to sleep, my friend spotted a wavering star in the sky. It was the same light we had seen but much farther away, it looked white now instead of gold, and it looked the same size as a star. A star that was absolutely moving without question. We saw it through the trees as we stood totally still, as the tree was totally still, and it was definitely moving. It had the same prominent four sided star look rather than the normal twinkly starburst I discussed earlier. I decided I was done and so I said goodnight! I went to go hide in my tent and try to go to sleep. I was in a different tent than the other two but in the morning I confirmed that three of us absolutely heard almost certainly the same flying vehicle circling above the camp ground and it sounded the exact same timbre of engine as the thing we spotted. It was close to 11pm and it was still flying around above us and creating noticeable wind in the trees that we could hear from inside our tents. It was not a helicopter! I thought I had even heard two of them flying and doing wide circles above the forest and camp ground- sometimes they’d sound far away and then circle back around and sound like they were above us. I was tired and sort of shocked so I can’t say if there was two but I know that there was at least one. In the morning, I asked the camp ground manager [NAME REDACTED] if he knew about anything like this. He thought it sounded weird and said whatever direction the craft came from was private land. He said he saw a lot of [Chinooks], C130’s, CH47 vehicles around. I looked those up and it did not look like any of these. [NAME REDACTED: Camp ground manager] said the nearest military bases were in towns that were more than 45 minutes away. Still, maybe it was the military or the government doing some weird training. With some weird giant drones. I would say maybe it was aliens but I’ve heard many UFOs are silent. I’m still left to wonder. It didn’t look like anything I’ve seen online, but my research is limited. I’m not sure what the truth really is, and I’m fascinated overall. |
| Nearby Landmarks | Sand Ridge State Forest, Pine Camp, BC3 campsite |
| Latitude | 40.343 |
| Longitude | -89.8189 |
| Altitude | Not Specified |
| Propulsion | Not Specified |
| Advanced Capabilities | Not Specified |
| Visible Payload | No |
| Radar | Not Specified |
| Signatures | Not Specified |
| Awareness | Not Specified |
| Aggression | No |
| Health Effects | Not Specified |
| Physical/Environmental Effects | Wind disturbance in trees |
| Animal Disturbance | Not Specified |
| Witness Feelings | Mystified, fascinated |
| Witness Assessment | Uncertain, suggested it could be military or government training with large drones, but also considered the possibility of extraterrestrial origin due to its unconventional features. |
| Additional Info | The flying vehicle was heard circling above the campground later at around 11 pm, causing noticeable wind in the trees. |
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