NUFORC Sighting 36542

Occurred: 1995-04-21 09:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2004-04-26 00:08 Pacific
Duration: 8 Seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Palatine, IL, USA

Shape: Fireball

Bright red fireball in the sky. Seen two seperate occasions. Resembled a flare.

In April of 1995, I was in my house typing when I noticed a bright red fireball in the sky slowly heading north above the tree line above Hicks Rd. My vantage point was from the east side of Hicks in my neighborhood, Reseda. I initially thought it was a flare or a firework but I dismissed that notion quickly due to the fact that from my point of view, it was about the size of a marble and it was traveling in a straight horizontal line. Although it looked exactly like a flare, the middle of the object clearly had a large amount of mass, which looked to be slightly ovular. There was no discernable texture on the object, just bright red light. After about eight seconds it disappeared behind the trees. Later that year in October, I saw the object again traveling roughly the same speed at an altitude of about 200 ft. It was heading west over Reseda. This time I was outside on my friend's driveway waiting for my buddy to come out of the house and I got a good fifteen-second glimpse of it. For a while, I believed it may have been ball lightning, but based on the altitude of the object and the size from my view it should have been about the size of a car or a truck, traveling at about 40 MPH. Both times, the object appeared to be slowly hovering in a direct horizontal trajectory. The object never appeared to be flaming nor did it leave a trail. The object made no sound. Incidentally, I have no witnesses to back me up on either of the accounts. Though I can back it up with maps, drawings and similar pictures. I've experienced some weird things in my life, but this is probably the weirdest so far. I do apologize for the long and detailed explanation of this incident, but I'm hoping someone else may have seen the same thing as I.

NUFORC Note:

Date is approximate. PD

Posted 2004-04-27