NUFORC Sighting 129476

Occurred: 1975-06-21 12:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2016-08-24 16:25 Pacific
Duration: 30 seconds
No of observers: 3

Location: Rock Island, IL, USA

Shape: Other

UFO remained stationary for 30 seconds then went straight up at extreme high rate of speed

I wish I knew the exact date of my sighting but I was only 8 years old at the time. Best Guess is June 21, 1975. I found a note I wrote about the incident right after it happened (emailing note to you) as even at that young age I knew it was significant. The note does not have a date on it unfortunately, but does say “Saturday 75” The sighting was reported to the Black Hawk State Police Headquarters in Rock Island, Illinois, by telephone. Back in the 1970’s, they were called the State Police District 7 officially. If they keep records, an investigator should be able to search their telephone records on Saturdays (from April – October of 1975). As the state police did say that they had received other calls about the object.

It was around noon (Best guess 11 am -1 pm) on a Saturday. Nice day. Not too hot at all. My parents were pulling weeds in our front yard. I was 8 and bored so I laid on the ground near by facing the sky to watch clouds. I noticed an object appear in the Western Sky and move towards the North slowly before stopping and holding itself in mid air. It was metallic colored. In terms of positioning in the sky, it wasn’t as high as the clouds – definitely under cloud level, but not as low (but close) as a helicopter would be if it was flying over. It looked large. I had seen helicopters fly over before. It was probably 2 to 2 ½ times the length of a helicopter. The shape of this object was unique. I had seen images of saucer shaped ufos before in magazines and on the television even at 8. It did not have the expected round shape of a flying saucer. I will tell you what I thought at the time in my mind as a 8 year old in terms of the shape – It very much reminded me of a model kit! I had from AMT called the Star Trek Romulan Bird Of Prey. I’m not talking about the entire model just the main body (if you took off the wings and the supports to the wings) and just kept the main body – that would be the basic shape of what I saw (metallic colored). As what I saw was wingless.

I called my parents over to look at it. My mother saw it and my father didn’t see it. I kept trying to point him in the right direction but he had trouble spotting it. The object remained motionless for 30 seconds. No lights. No sounds. Then it immediately shot straight up at an extreme rate of speed. This happened in 1975, and to this day, I have never seen a craft accelerate so fast. If I had to describe the acceleration I saw in one word – it would have to be insane. In about 1 second it was completely out of sight. Unfortunately it did not go up through a cloud but straight up between clouds where there was blue sky. So it didn’t puncture any clouds.

I asked my father to get his binoculars in case it came back so he went inside the house. My mother went in to call the Black Hawk State Police head quarters in Rock Island (about a mile or so from our home). State Police told my mother that they had received calls about an object and were looking into it. The three of us spent several additional minutes watching the sky but the object did not return. We checked the local papers the next day and saw nothing reported.

The two things that still stick in my mind most was the shape and the unreal acceleration when it took off. Even in 2016, I have not seen any craft accelerate that fast to date. The acceleration is what made me realize even more so than a wingless craft, that what I had seen was extraordinary.

I recently found the note that I wrote as a 8 yr old immediately after the sighting detailing what I had seen. I have been looking for this for several years before I was going to contact you with this report. Will send that hand written note (I even signed it as a 8 yr old) immediately following the 1975 sighting attached to this report along with a photo taken in 2016 from the position in the yard where I saw the object, a map of the yard, and a drawing of the object. In the 2016 photo, I circled the section of the sky where the object had been in 1975. The tree in the photo was not that high in 1975 so our view was not obstructed. We had a clear view. I looked online to see if there were any other reports from my area at the time and all I could find was a Princeton, Illinois, June 14, 1973, by three girls traveling who saw an object and reported to State Police District 7 in Rock Island Illinois (That’s what locals call Black Hawk State Police – Their head quarters at the time was in Black Hawk State Park in Rock Island).

I noticed on this submission form, you had asked me to check boxes if I wanted to be contacted by investigators. I didn’t know if such a old report from 1975 would be useful to you. If you find it would be, I would be willing to talk to anyone from your organization or take a collect call from them.

Posted 2016-08-25