NUFORC Sighting 83231

Occurred: 2011-08-13 21:30 Local
Reported: 2011-08-17 07:16 Pacific
Duration: 30 sec.
No of observers: 2

Location: Forest Park, IL, USA

Shape: Changing
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Black object tumbled northwest to southeast on 8/13/11, seemed to change shape. Very quick.

On Saturday, August 13th, 2011, I was outside on my balcony with my roommate, facing east, at around 9:30 PM. She saw an object in the sky to our left (north) and asked me if it was a bag blowing by above us. I looked, and at first it seemed like a helicopter without any lights and no blades. I realized it was not a bag or balloon, but I understood her confusion because the object seemed to change shape. There was no sound - none. A very, very light rain was falling and we both agree that we could see rain glinting off the side of the object.

The object seemed black or dark - matte black, except for an occasional glint of rain on the side. There was a full moon that night, which was visible on and off through the clouds. The object seemed to have what I can only describe as a rudder, because I don't know what else to call it. We saw that when the object passed by the moon, but the rudder wasn't always on top because the object seemed to rotate or tumble. I can't describe the shape because it seemed to change shape. It had weird edges that we could sort of see in the outline of the moon, and the object was moving pretty fast. It moved in a straight path - northwest to southeast. I guess it must have been pretty close for us to notice it was wet. It never changed course and maintained the same altitude, and we lost sight of it traveling southeast.

I am certain it wasn't a plastic bag or a balloon. Though it seemed to change shape, it seemed solid and it was not undulating like a bag or ascending and bobbing like a balloon. The rudder-thing may have been rotating in an opposite direction of the body, clockwise v. counter clockwise. I have seen strange orbs before, certainly in this part of IL, and I know my neighbors have seen them too - there are some videos on YouTube. But I have never seen anything like that black object. That was totally new to me, and I'd love to get a look at it again. I am terrible at guessing distance but I know this object was below the clouds that evening. It did not seem large and it happened quickly - I could only guess that it was bigger than a breadbox but much smaller than a commercial jet. If I had to guess the path, facing due east, the object emerged at 8:30 and moved out of sight at approximately 2:30.

I think the object was moving pretty fast and the whole thing might have lasted less than 30 seconds. As I mentioned, I've noticed orbs before so I remained clam as I watched this thing and took brief notes after, and reported them to MUFON. I would like to know if there is a way to find out if this was a conventional aircraft (flight data?), or what it might have been. Did anyone else see it? I live between O'Hare and Midway, and I feel comfortable knowing the difference between commercial aircraft, helicopters, blimps and small airplanes compared to the weird black thing I saw with my roommate.

There was a helicopter in the sky to our right when we saw the object, which is very normal - there is a flight path to O'Hare over my neighborhood. It is not unusual to see several helicopters at the same time in this area. We also saw a commercial jet come from (approximately) the same place but well behind the object, by miles.

I have a neighbor in Forest Park who posts videos on YouTube by the name of "Guttergawker". I have never met him personally, but he has quite a few vids of orbs and things. I recently came across his vids when I went on-line Sunday morning, to try and find something similar to what I saw on 8/13/11. He has a sort of s-shaped, boomerang, tumbling black object recorded on a different day. I don't think it is exactly what I saw, but the tumbling motion is comparable to what I saw. I have been noticing some unusual lights in our sky lately. I wonder why. I don't think they're all satellites.

Posted 2011-08-21

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