NUFORC Sighting 92846

Occurred: 2012-09-15 20:15 Local
Reported: 2012-09-17 10:17 Pacific
Duration: 5 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Peoria, IL, USA

Shape: Triangle
Characteristics: Lights on object

Two sets of flickering orange lights in triangular form (6 lights total) seen over Rt 6 between Peoria and Chillicothe, IL, 9/15/12

At approximately 20:15-20:30 of Saturday, September 15, 2012, I and another were driving NORTH from PEORIA, IL toward CHILLICOTHE, IL on ROUTE 6.

As our vehicle got further from the city, the treeline allowed us to see what was previously obscured: two sets of what appeared to be TRIANGULAR LIGHTS. The two sets of lights were EAST from our location. We were very confused and fascinated at first, uncertain of what we were seeing. My companioned asked, "Are those stars?" But I had mistaken them as lights of communication towers. However, we quickly both understood neither was correct, as: -We were unable to see any stars due to light pollution from being near the city.

-There are no communication towers in that specific spot or at that specific elevation.

-The set of lights nearest to us were found to be slowly moving.

There were two triangles, very large and very peculiar ih their shape and position in the sky. It was enough that we immediately knew we were not witnessing something normal. We have traversed Route 6 many times at night and never have seen these before. Both sets had three individual lights which flickered or twinkled like fire or a very bright star. The color of the lights was ORANGE-RED. We pulled over on the side of Route 6 and turned off our lights to get a better view after approximately two minutes of witnessing the phenomenon.

By this point, the lights furthest from us (Figure B in my illustration) were either too distant/sunken behind the tree line to see, or had very peculiarly suddenly disappeared. Either way, we were unable to see Figure B any longer. Figure A (the nearer set), was drifting very slowly toward our location. NO SOUND was issued from the lights. I strained to see any more details, but was unable to. I was unable to see any visible lines or structure of any kind between or connecting the lights. I was unable to determine the make or nature of the lights, other than that they resembled fire of some kind, orange and flickering.

Unfortunely, I am not equipped to determine how high the lights were, but am able to say they were below a thin and scattered/spotty cloud cover.

One by one, they began to slowly fade. First the light nearest us, and then the two behind at the further end of the triangle. The lights dimmed very slowly and then went completely dark. We were unable to see anything again after that, and after waiting for a moment, once more turned on the vehicle's lights and resumed our drive.

I distinctly recall seeing a program on television a year before about triangular sets of lights a few years back in Tinsley Park, which is a few hours from this location. From the amateur footage and photographs I saw on the television, these lights matched them very well. I wanted to obtain a photograph or video footage as proof of the objects, but the triangles' lights were not bright nor large enough for my phone to be able to capture among the surrounding darkness.

No visible moon was present at the time.

After pulling alongside the road, the remaining lights were visible for approximately 2-3 more minutes, making the total window of visibility at approximately 4-5 minutes.

Posted 2012-09-24