NUFORC Sighting 8584

Occurred: 1987-08-18 22:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 1999-08-04 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 20-30 seconds
No of observers: 2

Location: Lincoln (near), IL, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Lights on object, Left a trail

I saw something in a cornfield very close to the road we were on. It was hovering about 30 feet up in the air.It was large and fairly quiet. It stayed there maybe 10-20 seconds and then in an instant it lifted and disappeared in a flash of light. No doubt it was something not of this earth unless the U.S. has something we all don't know about.

My husband and I were driving from Clinton, Iowa to Mt. Pulaski Illinois in August of 1987. Our children were staying at their grandparents and we were driving there to stay for the weekend and to pick them back up. On the way there on a 2-lane highway we were driving on, out in the country, (in between towns)I observed something hovering close to the road (approx. 20 yds. from the road away)in a field. It was very large and as I remember wasn't loud at all. It was probably about 30 feet off the ground.(if that)Very close and very large. I got my husband to slow down and to look while he was driving and he couldn't tell what it was. It was lit up with lights. I don't remember exactly where the lights were but it seems to me they were around the middle of the craft. It seems to me they were just white lights, not colored ones. It was like a dome in shape. I could see a top and a bottom to it. Metallic I would think. It hovered there for about 10 - 20 seconds and then all of a sudden it just lifted up and sat there for a second and then in a flash it was gone... so fast I couldn't even see where it went other than in the direction it started leaving in. It was like there was just a streak of light where it'd left from.I knew it wasn't a helicopter or anything else like that. It wasn't shaped anything like a helicopter. It scared the hell out of me and I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I have told this story over the years to people and they tell me I need to report it but I never had because I'm not the type of person to call the police or anything about something I see. I was going to my in-laws and they are pretty much on the straight laced side and they would have thought I was crazy so I never said anything to them but I was really scared about what I saw. My husband says he didn't really get a real good look at it but he was driving but he said it didn't look like anything he had ever seen. I know what I saw as plain as the nose on my face. My GOD I was only 20 yards from where it was hovering. I ! had a very close encounter.I have always wondered if there was anyone else that night who DID report seeing something in that particular area. There were other cars on that road. Please let me know what I might have seen and how common this type of sighting is. I feel like most people see something in the sky and I happened to see something that was much closer than that. I could have reasoned this through, in my mind, that it was something else until it just vanished into thin air. You can just contact me through my e-mail if you'd like unless you would like to talk to me more about it. I just want to know how normal this type of sighting is and if I really saw a once in a lifetime thing. If I can help in any way though please let me know.

Posted 1999-08-10