NUFORC Sighting 39681

Occurred: 2004-10-06 16:00 Local
Reported: 2004-10-08 15:57 Pacific
Duration: 15-20 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Normal, IL, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Aircraft nearby

Three of us saw 3 seemingly tumbling shiny objects move leisurely across the sky, holding in pattern briefly, then vanish to the east

On October 6, 2004 I stopped at my parents' house after work to pick up some photos from a recent family event. It was 4:00 pm and a clear, sunny day. My dad (age 61) was across the street from his house with two neighbor girls (both under the age of five years old) and they were looking up in the sky eastward. My dad had his binoculars and I thought he was looking at a plane or a bird. As I got out of my car he called for me to come over and take a look at what he was seeing. There was a jet passing overhead that was quite high in the sky, and I initially thought he was looking at the plane with the two neighbor kids. He told me to look up toward the plane, and I did, thinking the plane was the object we were focusing on. In actuality, it wasn't the plane, but what looked like three twinkling stars in the area of the plane. At first I thought the plane had dropped something and that the three objects were just debris falling from the plane. But one twinkling object was higher in the sky than the plane. I looked through my dad's binoculars and the objects were still tiny to my eyes, but they were still twinkling exceptionally bright in the sunny daytime. To me they each looked like a tumbling shiny polygon of some sort. They must have been much higher in the sky than the plane because even looking through the binoculars the objects were not more than "twinkling stars". They seemed to be reflecting light, not creating their own luminescence. My dad said something to the effect that he thought they looked like they were tumbling down to earth, and I agreed. Shortly thereafter, we lost sight of one object (the plane was now long gone) but the higher of the two remaining objects descended an was now holding it's place in the sky diagonally down from the other object. Both objects which had seemed to be tumbling stopped in this position for about 45 seconds. Then one object disappeared under the tree line (my parents live in a neighborhood with tall trees everywhere). At this point the girls' mother came out and my dad pointed out the twinkling lights to her. A few minutes later the mother took the girls inside for whatever reason. I lost sight of the objects but my dad said he could still see one. Since I didn't see anything anymore, I went in and got my photos and came back outside. My dad said the last object drifted under the tree line. He told me the objects had started out directly above him minutes before I arrived, then becan travelling slightly to the norteast (more east than north I'd say). Since I live about a mile east of my parents, I went home hoping to see the objects lower in the sky as there are few trees in my neighborhood. It took me about 2 minutes to get home, but I saw no more of the twinkling lights. If I were to learn that these objects were some sort of falling high altitude debris, I could certainly believe that. However, I would be very surprised to find out they were some kind of common man-made flying machine due to their shape, their incredible brightness in a sunny sky, the odd "tumbling polygon" look they had, their strange movement, and the fact that they left no exhaust or trails.

Posted 2004-10-27