NUFORC Sighting 62869

Occurred: 1977-03-20 20:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2008-04-24 21:47 Pacific
Duration: 5 min
No of observers: 1

Location: Ridgway, IL, USA

Shape: Rectangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aircraft nearby

rectangular in shape with a dimly glowing red globe on each end, hovering at 150 ft. , football field sized

I was 15 yrs old at the time, my mother had just picked me up from softball practice and we approached a tee in the road with a stop sign about a mile out of town. I had laid my head back to rest and noticed a dim red glowing ball in the sky outside my window. I rolled down the window and saw a rectangular shaped craft approximately the size of a football field with dimly glowing red globes on each end. Since the ballfield lights were still on they gave some illumination to the bottom of the craft, which was hovering at approximately 150 ft. I noticed what appeared to be ducting all over the bottom side, and the red glowing globes were veiny.

At this point we were at the stop sign and I told my mother to stop, while I had my head completely out of the vehicle. There was no noise from the craft whatsoever. It slowly moved to the South about 50 ft, then changed direction to the North about 50 ft. and then the craft changed from it's horizontal position to a vertical position and started moving. There was still no sound from the craft.

I instructed my mother to stop but she told me other cars were coming up behind us and she began travelling North on the highway, and the object mirrored our speed and direction for approximately 4 miles before rapidly accelerating off toward the North.

We arrived at our home a minute later, and I stayed outside to see if it may return or if anything more may happen. Aprroximately 20 minutes after I had last seen the craft, I noticed red lights approaching from the West and another set approaching from the East. As they got closer I could easily hear that they were jet aircraft. What did surprise me was that they were flying straight toward each other and at the point they intersected one aircraft turned 90 degrees and headed North, which would have put it on the same flight path as the unidentified craft. It seemed strange to me, and knowing the distance of a local Air Force base I rationalized that it was possible the craft showed up on radar and that they were trying to fly a grid in order to find it.

I never saw the craft again, but I remember it now, some 30 years later, as vividly as the moment I saw it.



Posted 2008-06-12

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