NUFORC Sighting 35180

Occurred: 1967-03-16 23:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2004-02-19 12:34 Pacific
Duration: 2 to 3 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Galesburg, IL, USA

Shape: Oval
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted beams

Close encounter with saucer shaped object.

My fiancee and I were driving east on South Lake Storey drive when we saw lights ahead of us near the road that looked saucer shaped as they appeared to be placed along the outside edge of the craft. The object was about 1/2 mile from us. We thought it was an airplane coming at us but as we got closer we noticed it was not moving. Why I did this is beyond me now, but I pulled up next to it and stopped. It was hovering above the ditch in the exact location where the main entrance to Carl Sandburg College is located now. The college campus didn't exist there in 1967. My fiancee opened her door and stood on the pavement looking at it. I leaned towards her open door then got out my side also. A beam of light like a spotlight came on and shown at an angle down on the ground to the west then it slowly moved off tinto that direction. The object was approximately ten feet to our right and 20 feet in the air so we were very close to it. It sounded like a huge vacum cleaner. There was no air movement, like blade wash liike from a helicopter, nor was it an airplane. We drove down to a corner and turned south just in time to see it accelerate then shoot straight up into the air in southwesternly direction, and at an incredible speed. A police report was filed and an officer went back to the area later that night with me. There had been a few strange lights observed in and around Galesburg a few days before, and one hoax where a few guys floated a large balloon with a light attached to it, over town. This was no balloon., airplane, helicopter, or experimental aircraft...not in 1967.

NUFORC Note:

Date is approximate. PD

Posted 2004-03-02