Strange Orbs
For the past few years, movie footage has been taken by several witnesses of what appears to be 'fleets' of strange orbs or spheres in our skies. What are they and why are they here?
We report on some of the most famous cases including 'The Phoenix Lights' and 'The Rockford Orbs' that have been witnessed by literally thousands of people.
The Phoenix Lights
Recently a documentary was aired on Channel 5 (UK) concerning 'The Phoenix Lights' event that happened over Phoenix, Arizona on March 13th, 1997. This documentary started a debate on Egroups about what the footage could actually be, including claims that they were nothing more than people shining lights on a nearby mountain. We got in contact with well known UFO researcher Bill Hamilton, who not only witnessed this event, but also appeared on the Channel 5 Documentary to get his reaction. Below is what he has found after three years of research and interviews with the various local residents of Phoenix.

On March 13th,1997 in Arizona, thousands of people reported formations of circular orange lights moving silently over the Valley of Phoenix. The slow-moving UFO was seen from multiple cities on a path from Las Vegas to Phoenix, including Kingman and Prescott. Several dozen people shot videotapes - some of which focused on the lights for up to 106 continuous minutes. Many people shot video footage of the event. They showed numerous lights all in a straight line, in an arrowhead formation, and showing from five to nine lights. One of the shots showed three of the equally-spaced lights growing into fiery circles with perfectly defined edges - like that of the sun when looking at it through thin cloud cover. Some witnesses said that nearby Luke Air Force base scrambled at least two jets to go and take a look, though of course, they deny this, and they say nothing appeared on their radar screens. It was said in the documentary that the lights could have been army flares, but how could flares last for over an hour in the sky?

CLICK HERE to view Video Footage of the Phoenix Lights
NB: It maybe quicker to right-click and save target as... The movie file is over 1MB.

Below is a report by Bill Hamilton who witnessed the event and has
been carrying out research into the event ever since.

Bill Hamilton writes:

For clarification of what happened on March 13, 1997 over Phoenix and Arizona I made the following event analysis after initial investigation:

Event 1 of a Type 1 object is the sighting of the boomerang formation. However, the number of lights in the boomerang seemed to vary along the path of the object from 5 to 7 according to the witnesses. Some of the witnesses described this formation or object as huge, even up to 1 mile in span. It traveled, according to all witnesses, on a trajectory from Northwest to Southeast. It traveled at slow velocity along most of its course with one exception where it seemed to accelerate quickly. Its altitude was estimated to be below 5,000 feet. We know this is simply an estimate as it is difficult to determine the altitude of a flying object in the night sky.The witnesses agreed they could hear no sound emanating from the boomerang. The color of the lights changed between white and red.

Event 2 of a Type 2 object was the big black triangular form that was estimated by some witnesses to be as large as 2 miles in span! The lights on this object varied from none to as many as 9 amber lights. Some saw white lights, but they did not glow brightly. This object was seen to apparently deploy one of the lights to the west as it was moving on its southeasterly trajectory. The independent light-object has been described as a small orb or sphere that glows, but does not cast a corona, glare, or reflection from opaque surfaces.
 
 
 
 

Event 3 - lights were the formation of amber-gold-orange lights seen arrayed near the Estrella Mountains and videotaped at around 10:00 p.m. It turns out by actual count that 8 lights formed part of an arc and 1 light was separated from this arc by a downward 10-degree angle from an imaginary coordinate system. This separated light from a closer perspective was actually two lights extremely close together. These lights looked to be perfectly round when seen through a telescope and had no corona or glare emanating from them.

Event 4 - of a Type 3 object were the 2 large top-shaped object with engirdling pulsing rings of red light seen by Bill Greiner near Luke AFB. These lights were also seen traveling North to South on the west side of the valley. Bill reported seeing 3 jets take off from Luke AFB to intercept the nearest object. That object then performed a rapid vertical ascent leaving the planes far behind.

Event 5 - Globes were reported seen in the vicinity of the triangle described as Event 2. These were large white luminescent globes that hovered silently over Fountain Hills, east of Scottsdale. These were somewhat similar to the objects seen by Bill Greiner, but no pulsing ring was seen. At this point in the analysis we knew that these objects were unconventional; they did not behave like a conventional aircraft or natural objects. They were unidentified; they were not identifiable as a known class of objects or aircraft according to the descriptions given by witnesses. They were unknown; the origin and nature of the objects are not generally known. As we probed further my co-investigator Michael Tanner came up with a further analysis:

1. FORMATION OF HOVERING ORBS - First observed in a hexagram pattern at about 7:30 p.m. over the Superstition Mountains area east of Phoenix in the characteristic 8+1(or 2) formation of amber orbs and was next seen in two separate arc patterns with "trailing lights" over Gila River area at about 9:50 and again at 10:00 at the southern edge of Phoenix where they were seen by thousands and videotaped by a handful who had camcorders close enough at hand to catch the fleeting minutes of their displays. These amateur videos have immortalized the orb formations, becoming known around the world as The Phoenix Lights. These are the very same lights that started the controversy over "flares" and that will be taken up in the next chapter. The last appearance of the hovering orbs of the night was made over a now recognized "hot-spot" of Rainbow Valley arrayed in a "V" formation at about 2:00 a.m. on March 14th (and again appeared on January 14, 1998).

2. "V" FORMATION OF FLYING ORBS - First seen leaving the Henderson-Las Vegas area and entering Arizona at high speed, a V-formation of five to seven orbs, variously seen as bright blue-white to a yellow-white, came through the Prescott Valley area at low altitude by 7:50 p.m., turning south, where by 8:28, were videotaped (displaying their characteristic movement within the formation) at the north end of the valley that comprises the Phoenix metro area. In an apparent slower mode of flight, the orbs appeared at that point as amber in color as the formation moved along Interstate 10 angling toward Tucson after having been visually seen (not on radar) to intersect air traffic coming in on approach to Sky Harbor International Airport. After hovering for several minutes over a car full of witnesses driving north on I-10 at 65 mph, the formation was then picked up by observers in the Oracle area who reported the orbs' color as red to red-orange before the formation split up, going in separate directions while skirting the edges of the Tucson metropolitan area. At various points independent of this very specific formation, individual orbs were seen to shoot across the metro Phoenix valley with some moving away from and then re-docking with one or more of the Very Large Objects (VLOs) which came through later in the night.

3. CHEVRON VLO (narrow angle) - Observed first as a "V" formation of five white lights moving slowly and silently toward Prescott Valley from the northwest at about 8:15 p.m., the "chevron" was soon clearly seen as a single object. The huge craft made a pivot turn over the witnesses' home there while the lights shifted into an arc formation while the lights turned red and then it shot off at blinding speed toward Phoenix. At that time the next set of witnesses in central Phoenix saw the object coming directly toward them (estimated at Mach 2 or 3) while still in the "turbo" mode arc configuration, and then, as if to slow back down again, was seen to change back into a "V" whereupon it cruised silently and slowly right over their heads (only 100 to 200 feet above at 10 or 15 mph). The craft was later seen to zigzag through the valley, even changing altitude at various points and hovering for five minutes at the edge of Sky Harbor before proceeding south (right over the Village Lab building) to Interstate-10. After following I-10 several miles to Picacho Peak, the enormous craft (estimated at 900 feet or more on each leading edge and more than a mile in length to its "taillights") hovered once again for 10 to 15 minutes until there was no further track of it. According to Michael, this is a possible docking point for this craft and the giant triangle that followed it down I-10 some fifteen minutes later. This same "chevron" or similar craft was seen traveling east to west over north Phoenix at about 10:50 p.m.

4. BOOMERANG VLO (wide angle) - This "V" formation, consisting of five groups of three lights, was confirmed to be a single huge object by various Prescott-area witnesses, being equivalent to a formation of five 747s flying absolutely lock-step in formation toward Phoenix. The craft was seen to make a southerly turn at about 8:25, once again, in the Prescott Valley area, after first approaching from the northwest. This VLO was later seen (although not clearly enough to identify) by an America West pilot who called Sky Harbor tower wondering what "those nine lights were", and an amateur astronomer in Phoenix who wrote it off as a formation of conventional airplanes. It is possible that this craft was the same as the giant triangle(wide angle) described below.

5. TRIANGULAR VLO (narrow angle) - This is the one seen by the family in Chandler. It may be the same Triangle or Deltoid craft seen by others as a wide angle craft. It had definite structure complete with panels in a grid along with lights at each of the three corners and a larger center light. Multiple witnesses confirm its northwest to southeast flight path through the eastern part of the valley with some observers seeing one or more orbs leaving and then re-docking with this VLO at various points. This particular craft was seen to "split in two" by a resident in Gilbert, south of Chandler.

6. BIG BLACK TRIANGLE (wide angle) - By all accounts the largest of the VLOs in the March 13th parade of craft, this gigantic craft was first seen at close range over north Phoenix between 8:30 and 8:45 where the key witnesses (real estate people who subdivided the area) estimated its size to be as much as two miles wide as its wingtip lights fell over two parallel streets that are 1.8 miles apart. Its flight path brought it low to the ground at this point (less than 2,000 feet) where it was seen to not only have dozens of lights along its leading edges, but also a row of windows wherein the silhouettes of "people" were observed! At some point further south, other witnesses reported that they saw nothing but the row of windows with beings (also in silhouette) as all of the lights were turned off at that point. By the time the VLO was seen over I-10 south of Casa Grande, however, three large lights were seen to be turned on, one at each corner, with smaller lights on along with the leading headlight. The witnesses here reported that it took them one to two minutes to drive under this immense ship while they were driving at 80 mph! They estimated the width of this VLO to be at least two, possibly three miles wide and big enough for a C5-A Galaxy or "Condor" troop transport (the largest conventional aircraft known) to land upon it! The craft had definite structure to it and the family of witnesses described its color as a flat blue-black like the color of a shotgun barrel. They also reported seeing rectangular "panel-like" structures on the underside of this craft. Another large triangle was seen moving just north of Thunderbird Road at around 10:45 p.m., but the configuration of the triangle was different. That triangle had a V-cut into its trailing edge to give it a very distinctive look.

7. GIANT DISCOID VLO - Witnessed first by a retired airline pilot, his sons and a friend, and seen coming down Scottsdale Road at about 10:20 p.m., this huge circular craft, featuring amber lights around its perimeter (at an estimated one mile in diameter) was seen to make a purposeful turn toward Sky Harbor at about Camelback Road where it also intersected air traffic before disappearing from view over South Mountain. The corroborating central Phoenix witness, also a former pilot (Vietnam) and retired U.S. Marshal, described how the craft both reflected the city lights on its underbelly and blocked out the stars with its upper half, attesting to its being a single craft of spectacular "mile-wide" proportions. This witness also claimed to have videotaped what he saw from the roof of his apartment building, but his tapes mysteriously disappeared in what may amount to a genuine "men-in-black (MIB)" episode. This craft may also have docked with the "chevron" craft and cloaked in "visual stealth" mode in its earlier pass through Phoenix at about 8:20 to 8:30, but this is purest speculation. The two craft reappeared (or two similar ones) in June and were photographed together at high altitude over Phoenix by the same witnesses with a 35mm camera while also viewing them with binoculars. A separate set of unconnected witnesses also reported the sighting of a huge discoid craft (bigger than Sun Devil Stadium at ASU) hovering at treetop level right off of the west end of the Sky Harbor runways at between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. one morning about two weeks before March 13th.

8. MILITARY JET/UFO INTERCEPTION ATTEMPTS - We have to date identified four such events (there may be more) that clearly point to the conclusion that the Phoenix Lights UFO incident of March 13, 1997 was certainly no secret "black ops" or classified military exercise as many people would like to believe. A woman who lives next to Luke Air Force Base in the west part of the valley surfaced to report that at least 6 pairs of jets and as many as 8 were "scrambled" out of the base on the night of March 13th, something she could never recall witnessing before. One researcher called Luke AFB and asked someone who was out on the flight line if anything was seen by base personnel, and, unofficially, he answered that "they" were all over the place. The response from Luke spokesmen and their response to FOIA requests indicate that they were receiving phone calls about the lights, but never scrambled any jets to pursue them. Witnesses say different.

Here are the witness reports:

A) Crown King at 5:30 p.m. - A formation of 3 huge "Vs" were seen hovering over this pine-topped mountain and were soon joined by a diamond-shaped or triangular craft which appeared "out of thin air" (at first seen as an amber light). As the four objects were hovering together, two jets were seen to come low from the south (from the direction of Luke AFB) at which point the UFOs went into a "stack", collapsed upon each other while going "into a ball", then totally disappeared! This would be called a case of high strangeness. Finding nothing there, the two jets circled the Crown King area and returned in the direction of the base. Similar disappearing acts of formations of "Vs", one over Lake Mead that afternoon and on March 27th over Elmont, New York were reported to Village Labs after seeing the article published in USA Today.

B) Central Phoenix at 8:15 p.m. - A pair of F-15s were dispatched from Luke AFB to attempt an interception of one or more of the Vs approaching or entering the valley at that time. This was reported to NUFORC by a ground crewman at Luke who stated that the aircraft were equipped with gun cameras and that one of the pilots had to be helped out of his plane because he was so shaken by his encounter. A cursory check revealed that Luke AFB no longer has F-15s in its inventory and only has the F-16 aircraft. However, at one time both were maintained at Luke. Could these F-15s have been visiting aircraft? There is still some attempt to locate the civilian witness who corroborated this story.

C) North Phoenix at 9:30 p.m. - One of the witnesses who had earlier witnesses with his wife the giant wide-angle triangle reported that when he was later at home, he saw in the distance what appeared to be the return of the triangle, this time with only three lights on, one at each corner. As the UFO hovered near the Deer Valley Airport in northwest Phoenix, he saw two military jets approach the triangle, with one jet seen to pass one side of it and the other seen to fly up under it, veering down at the last moment to avoid midair collision.

D) Luke AFB at 10:00 p.m. - (The original Event 4 - the first aircraft/UFO encounter to be reported). A truck driver who had been watching two unusual amber lights move ahead of him to the south for fully two hours as he drove down I-17 from Camp Verde, reported that as he neared his destination, a materials plant near Luke AFB, the two UFOs seemed to have stopped their movement and were hovering.

Once at the plant, while waiting for his truck to be unloaded, he stood on a pile of materials to watch what were now seen as two identical, toy-top like amber orbs (like hot air balloons without hanging baskets) having a white iridescent sheen and a band of red pulsating light, with the nearest to him being one to two miles distant right near the runway at Luke. Suddenly, two F-16s, followed by a third, "blasted out of Luke with their afterburners on full", made a steep bank directly over the witness and headed straight for the nearest UFO. At the moment the lead jets were about to close on the UFO, it shot straight up and disappeared "in an instant" as the jets passed right through the very spot where the object had been hovering. The second UFO also vanished, as it was no longer hovering in the northwest. As you can see by Michael Tanner's event analysis and my own event analysis, there was a lot of activity on March 13th, yet the media chose to cover only 2 of these events. The Big Black Triangle has been virtually ignored by the journalists and is considered significant since these triangles have been reported more frequently throughout most of the world.

Bill Hamilton Executive Director Skywatch International, Inc.
website: http://home.earthlink.net/~skywatcher22


The Rockford Files

Strange Orbs Seen Over Rockford, USA

Cosmic Conspiracies were recently contacted by Todd Livengood, a resident of Rockford, Illinois. Strange orb-like objects have been spotted in the area by several hundreds of witnesses.  Mr. Livengood asked us if we could do a feature on these amazing events, as they do not seem to be getting any news coverage outside of his home state.  The orbs are being spotted to this day and show some similarities to 'The Phoenix Lights' (see 'Phoenix Lights' on menu page) After further investigation, we have compiled the very latest news and sightings.  Which include the appearance of triangular craft and orbs. We include witness reports, one of which comes from a Police Officer.

New Years Eve Aerial Visitors over Rockford, IL

Long before the fireworks New Years Eve, folks in the Rock River Valley got a different kind of light show. Mysterious orange and red lights were reported over the skies of Rockford [Illinois] and surrounding communities before the clock turned to midnight Friday. Another witness says he saw a comet [meteor?] about three hours later. Theories on what might explain the unusual sightings range from errant fireworks to a meteor shower to extraordinary visitors. Officials at Rockford police headquarters, the Greater Rockford Airport, and the National Weather Service are unable to provide a concrete explanation.

One eyewitness would prefer to think she misunderstood something in the night sky. But knowing that others saw something also, she said, "Now it's scary."

[Source:  The Rockford Register Star. Originally published: January 2 2000]

Unexplained Fiery Orbs Return to Rockford, IL

Rockford, Illinois -- Bob Streeter was playing cards Wednesday [Feb 16] in his home near CherryVale Mall with his wife and two friends when the foursome found themselves staring at three fiery balls of light in the sky above Rockford from Streeter's driveway. "Their glow was like watching a barn or a house fire in the distance. It was like a bonfire," Streeter said. "The first grouping was three (lights) spaced apart like a triangle. The next was three above and one considerably double in length down below it." Streeter first saw the lights at 9:30 p.m. He said they floated slowly, then vanished.

Local police say they didn't receive calls about lights in the sky Wednesday night, and the National Weather Service and Federal Aviation Administration say they have no record of anything unusual then. But the sightings, similar to those reported New Year's Eve in Rockford, continue.

Peter Davenport, director of the National Unidentified Flying Object Reporting Center, received two reports of fireball-type objects in the skies above Rockford Friday night. His center also fielded a call about a sighting in Galesburg Sunday night and several calls from the Rockford area on New Year's Eve.

The Rockford Register Star also received half a dozen calls reporting glowing orange balls in the sky this week.

The Coan family of Beloit, Wis., [Rockford is some 15 crow miles south of the border with Wisconsin] reported seeing several bright orange glowing balls in the sky above Rockford Friday night [Feb 11] . Jeff Coan, 40, said the lights were "brilliant orange" and "very noticeable" to the naked eye. The Coans recorded the sighting on videotape. Davenport's center, which collects about 5,000 reports each year of UFO sightings, has received similar reports of glowing orange lights in Texas, Oregon and Arizona during the past two weeks.

"What's so interesting about these reports is that when you have the same phenomenon happening at the same time, it's difficult to believe that it's just a hoax," Davenport said from his Seattle-based center. "What we try to do in these cases is rule out possibilities -- like it's not a traditional airplane. It doesn't sound like it's a hot air balloon or some kind of unusual aircraft ... It sounds very intriguing."

Geoffrey Heberlein of the Rockford Amateur Astronomers said the sightings could be several things -- the Northern Lights or Aurora Borealis, comets, planets, aircraft or iridium satellites. Heberlein also said the solar system is experiencing a time of high activity, which is causing several unusual, spectacularly visual events in the skies above.


[Source The Rockford Register Star .Originally published: February 18 2000]

Rockford TV Station Receive 600 reports of UFOs Over City!

ROCKFORD -- WREX Channel 13 Television and other news media reported that they had received some 600 reports of UFOs over this city in Northern Illinois around 9:00 PM on January 11, 2001.  As many as twelve lights or UFOs were reported conducting maneuvers over the city.  Some reports of computer and electrical shutdowns coincided with the reports.  Later that night on all three of the news stations in Rockford reported the sightings. Some people reported seeing six lights while others reported seeing a dozen yellow orange lights hovering in the sky.  The light sightings were made from 8:50 to 9:00 PM.  Sightings have been fairly regular in recent months over the city.

Were those lights in the skies over Rockford Extraterrestrial?

Joel Coan of Beloit shot video images of lights in the skies over Rockford, Ill., on Friday, Feb. 11.  Whatever else they might have been, the orange lights that Jeff Coan and his family saw over Rockford, Ill., the night of Feb. 11 constitute a "close encounter of the first kind."

What makes the Coans' experience more than an interesting, perhaps embellished, story is the 7½-minute videotape that 16-year-old Joel Coan shot of the five lights as they seemingly flew in formation and in maneuvers around each other.

The Coans live in Beloit. That Friday night, 5-year-old Hannah wanted to eat at Chuck E Cheese's pizzeria in Rockford, so her dad and mom, Jeff and Lori, packed up the family, and her older brother, Joel, brought along his new video camera.

After the Coans left the restaurant about 9:15 p.m., they were driving on State Street and saw the lights.

 "Traffic was busy," Jeff Coan, 40, recalled. "We all saw 'em at some time. They were all flying so strangely, and they were so brightly orange. They were not that high, no more than a couple of thousand feet."

The Coans were not the only folks who saw the lights. Rockford media reported several sightings on Feb. 11, 12 and 16. Peter Davenport, director of the National UFO Reporting Center, said Monday that his private organization had received as many as two dozen calls reporting the Rockford sightings. Furthermore, similar events were observed on or near the days in question in Florida, Arizona, Oregon and Texas, he said.

Observers' reports of the sightings Feb. 11 and 12 already are posted on the center's Web site, ufocenter.com, Davenport said, and he expected to have the observations from Feb. 16, posted within a couple of days.

"Everybody was looking at the same objects at the same time," Davenport said of the Rockford sightings.

Although he has not seen the Coans' video, Davenport believes the lights that people saw over Rockford were not conventional aircraft because they were not lighted as conventional airplanes are--red light on left wing, green light on right wing. And Davenport doesn't think the lights were on experimental military aircraft because he doesn't think the military would risk an observation of a new top-secret aircraft or risk an easily detectable accident with a new piece of equipment over a densely populated area such as northern Illinois.

The Rockford Police Department reported "no involvement" when a shift commander was asked if the department received any reports of sightings or if any officers saw the lights. "We didn't take any reports on it," a shift commander at the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department said when asked the same questions.

Deputies heard scuttlebutt about sightings, but it wasn't from other deputies talking about what they saw, the shift commander said.

The Rockford Police Department's statements of "no involvement" and "no reports" concern Karla Soeprasetyo, a resident of Rockford's northeast side. On Feb. 16, Soeprasetyo's four children--ages 9, 12, 13, and 15--were going to bed about 9:30 p.m. when they called their mother to look at the lights in the sky. Soeprasetyo, 34, and her children saw two sets of orange lights: first one of five, then a diamond-shaped formation of four. "After the first one faded away, the second came in," she said.

Soeprasetyo is concerned about police saying they had no reports of sightings because she called the police to report hers. "The children were upset, so I called the local police," said Soeprasetyo, who also shot videotape of the lights. "I talked to the police department, but they didn't know what they were. I told the kids they were weather balloons. I didn't know what to say to my kids."  "Being of sound mind and body, I can say there was something in the sky."

Earl Wilson, operations supervisor of the Rockford Airport control tower, said he was not aware of radar confirmation of the phenomena reported by residents. But, he added, "we see a lot of stuff that isn't airplanes." Most aircraft carry radio transponders that enhance their radar images and report information, Wilson said. If an aircraft does not have such a transponder or if the object is something else, such as flock of birds, it shows up only as a "pinprick of light," Wilson said. "Those pinpricks are scattered all over: birds, radio towers, cars sometimes, planes without transponders."

A Gazette reporter watched Coan's video but was unable to view Soeprasetyo's.

Most of the Coan video shows five small white lights with four of them seemingly in tandem as two pairs. The lights seem to perform maneuvers, flying around each other, lining up and hovering. At one point, Joel Coan was able to zoom in, and two of the lights appear as orange balls. To Coan, the lights appeared to "fly in intelligent formation." Soeprasetyo thought that each set of lights, which she and her family saw for several minutes, was attached to a large object. "This was big, huge," she said. "The lights were bright orange and connected."

Coan and Soeprasetyo maintain they are not fans of "The X-Files," a TV show that often portrays encounters with extraterrestrial life and government cover-ups of such encounters. While Coan is a fan of other science-fiction, Soeprasetyo is not.

"I saw something," Soeprasetyo said. "I haven't thought about it being (extraterrestrial). This could very well be a UFO. With what the police said and all, I thought it could be military. There was something there."

Coan believes that Earth is not the universe's sole home for intelligent life. "Whether that's what we saw, I don't know," he said. "It could be military, maybe other countries."

Davenport operates the National UFO Reporting Center as a "labor of love," he said. Asked why, he replied: "We are quite sure that something extraordinary is going on, and the government doesn't want us to know about it. ..." "Investigators all over are reporting the same phenomena. The number of reports certainly is on the increase."

Asked if he believes the phenomena are extraterrestrial, Davenport said: "Absolutely. Based on a number of things: The quantity of sightings from seemingly credible people is strongly convincing. These people are seeing things that by all external measurements should not be there."


(Published Tuesday, February 22, 2000 10:39:12 AM CST)

By Mike DuPreé/Gazette Staff

Reports of night sky show increase

Scores more Rockford-area residents contacted the Register Star Tuesday with personal accounts of having seen strange lights in skies over the east side last Saturday night, but none offered solid evidence concerning the source of the phenomenon. Photographs in Tuesday's paper by the Register Star's Gary Carlson showed orange-gold lights making curious patterns in the sky northwest of the intersection of Harrison Avenue and Mulford Road

Source: Rockford Register Star. Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2001

UFOs? A Prank? What are they?

It happened again - strange lights in the night skies over Rockford's far east side - and this time there was a Register Star photographer there. Veteran photojournalist Gary L. Carlson snapped these images around 10.30 Saturday night near the intersection of Harrison Avenue and Mulford Road.

Carlson said he saw seven lights but got pictures of only five of them. The photos were taken with 5-second time exposures, which created the patterns seen here.

Carlson said the lights were in the northwest sky and were moving in a southerly direction.  The lights were also seen by other residents, and similar objects were spotted in the same area Jan 11 and a little more than a year ago.

Jack Dickerson said he, too, saw seven lights as he was driving home Saturday night. 'I've never in my life seen anything like that,' he said.

Source: Rockford Register Star, February, 2001

Craft Attempts to Land in Illinois

DOWNERS GROVE -- Beth Skerrett sent an e-mail stating, "I am writing to you about an occurrence outside our corporate building where I am the admin for the management office. Everything I have to say in second hand, I have not seen anything myself but, at about 8:00 PM on July 12, 2000, the security guard of our sister building called the security guard of my building and asked, "What are all those lights about?" The sister building is north of us, and the lights were apparently to the south of the building. The guard went out to the south parking lot and saw "a huge object that was trying to land in the parking lot". He said, "It was as long as eight buses, and almost as high." He said it was a dark silver/blue with a goldish strip across it, and underneath looked concave. He said, "The UFO hovered over the parking lot for almost a minute without making any sound." At that time some of our tenants came out because this object was right outside their window. Even the entire cleaning crew saw it as well. Then he said, "The object, this 'silver ball', shot up into the air and off to the west moving so fast it was hard to track." It appeared to pause over the town of Aurora, about 15 miles away for several seconds before departing. What is odd is that none of the tenants will talk, report to the police or the news media. I wonder how many things like this happen, and people just see it, and then go on their way?

Police Officers Chase Triangular Craft!!!

Occurred : 1/5/2000 04:15 (Entered as : 01/05/00 0415)
Reported : 1/5/2000 07:05
Posted : 1/7/2000
Location : Summerfield,Approx.1/2 mile west of, IL
Shape : Changing

After being dispatched to the north side of Lebanon, I saw two large,very bright white lights that changed into one, then when I got closer,it changed into a cigar shape,then when it flew almost directly over me, it was triangular. It made no noise as it flew overhead. I last saw it heading south-west towards Shiloh,and advised the dispatcher to let them know. A total of four police officers saw this. Myself(Lebanon PD), Shiloh, Millstadt, and Dupo,. All are in Illinois.

At 0415, I was dispatched to the north side of Lebanon, Illinois, in reference to a call received by the St.Clair County Sheriff's Dept. about an object that was described to be as big as a two story house with bright lights flying around the northern end of Lebanon. While heading east on Widicus Road, I saw what looked like two big, very bright white lights, very close together, in a stationary position, over the town of Summerfield. I called this in to the dispatcher, and advised that I was going over there to check on it. I also told them it definately wasn't the moon or a star. While heading south on Rt.4, it changed shape, and looked like the two lights merged into one big one before my eyes. After getting into the town of Lebanon, I turned eastbound onto Rt.50. While traveling eastbound, I watched it change into what looked like an elongated cigar. It was to the south-east of me at this time. There were a few cars on the road, so I turned on my overhead emergency lights, I was going approx. 75-80 mph while heading in the direction of the object. When I turned onto old Rt.50, it started moving slowly noth-east. I stopped my squad car, turned off the overhead lights,and turned off the car. It then headed south-west at a very high rate of speed. It looked like it was somewhere around 2000 ft above the ground. It passed just south of my position, approx.150-200 feet away from me. When I began to tell the dispatcher, it then accelerated, and headed south-west, towards Shiloh, before I could finish what I was going to tell the dispatcher, it looked like it was over Shiloh's south-east side. I told the dispatcher that if a Shiloh officer would look up, he should see it. Right after the end of my transmission, Shiloh advised he could see it, and that it was still heading south-west at a high rate of speed. Soon after that, the Millstadt officer told the dispatcher that he could see it. The next reporting agency was the Dupo police Dept., who said he was watching it through his field glasses. I couldn't discern what shape it was until it flew almost overhead. When it did, it looked like a large, narrow triangle, with the sides being longer than the base. It had three large, very bright white lights in what appeared to be the three corners. The lights were pointing straight down, with no oscilation.There was one red light that blinked near the base, just in front of, and in between the large white lights. When it was moving away from me, the back end looked long and narrow, with white light coming from it. The light looked like it was one long unit. There were multi-colored lights spanning the length of the back. I could tell there was more than one color, but not sure which ones because they seemed to blend together. Total length of observation was approx.4-5 minutes. Also,when it flew past me, It made no noise. I've drawn a total of five pictures of what I saw, and the Shiloh officer has drawn one. The Millstadt officer said he was able to take a picture of it, but that it turned out fuzzy due to the cold.

CASEYVILLE -- On April 21, WBBM Radio an all news station in Chicago reported hourly that police in the East St. Louis area had reported UFOs. Police received six reports from callers between 3:30 and 4:30 AM, reporting a strange light in the sky within a radius of a couple of miles of Caseyville stated Sgt. J.D. Roth. The first report came from a woman who said she saw unusual lights in the horseradish field west of Illinois 157 behind St. Stephens Catholic Church. Roth and officer Steve Epps left the station and searched the field but found nothing. Just then, dispatchers told Roth that a St. Clair county sheriffs department deputy on Interstate 255 reported seeing lights in a field over Caseyville about a mile north of the original sighting. While the law enforcement officers traveled toward the field, they heard radio traffic indicating Collinsville Police had gotten a call about a strange light accompanied by a loud humming in the area of Fairmont Park Race Track which is less than a mile from the Cahokia Mounds Complex." We met up there with other officers, discussed the reports. A 911 call from a woman said there was such a bright light in the air it impaired her ability to drive." Roth said. While the officers were in route, another call came in reporting a light moving up and down near Illinois 157 and 161. Roth said the calls seemed to be from different individuals." There was no reports of structured craft but only lights that might have been associated with a storm that earlier pelted the area with rain, high winds and lightning. There is some speculation that these were not UFOs, but plasma or ball lightning sightings. This was unlike the January 5, sightings where many policeman described a flying triangle in Highland, Lebanon, Millstadt and Dupo. The best UFO sightings occur in good weather and good visibility. ``Sightings usually go in waves,'' said Forest Crawford of Collinsville, assistant director of Illinois MUFON. ``It's actually very common to have a number of sightings in an area over a short period of time. Officials at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois according to KTVI Channel 2 newscast from April 21, were provided with the police UFO sightings reports. When I worked in intelligence at Military Airlift Command Headquarters at Scott my boss Bob Woods got those reports.

Prankster balloonist behind night lights?

ROCKFORD — The odd visions continue to baffle many, but a new theory has begun to gel in response to the latest reports of bright lights in the night sky. Several sources speculated Tuesday that orange and gold glowing orbs spotted Saturday night were helium balloons carrying flares or candles, likely launched from someone's back yard as a novelty or prank.  More than 40 people — some from as far as Byron and Caledonia — contacted the Rockford Register Star to relate accounts of a phenomenon that started New Year's Eve 1999 and returned twice in as many months.

Lee Carlson said four amber-colored lights floated past his Hillcrest Road home in a path from Gregory Elementary School, across Newburg Road and past A.C. Thompson Elementary School. "I heard them pop as they went by and saw them slowly burn out," said Carlson, who suspects the balloons landed near the U.S. post office or Hamilton Sundstrand headquarters on Harrison Avenue.

Duane Ingram, a physics and astronomy professor at Rock Valley College, said he doubts from descriptions he's heard that people are mistaking stars, constellations or planets as the phantom lights. Ingram said juvenile hijinks seems a more plausible explanation. Such tricks could include lasers shot against low clouds on dry nights or items attached to helium balloons, such as tiny flashlights or flares. "Let's see. Saturday night? Come on," he said.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Liz Isham Cory confirmed Tuesday that nothing unusual showed up on radar Saturday, including at the Greater Rockford Airport. But she noted that operators in the Quad Cities control tower saw bright lights that coincided with the Jan. 11 rash of reports in Rockford.

Cory blamed weather.

"These lights seem to have a seasonal pattern," she said. "They appear on cold, clear nights and have done so at the beginning of the year."

Peter Davenport, director of the UFO Reporting Center in Washington, a nonprofit organization that posts sightings from across the country, including several from Rockford, said local reports "don't appear to be consistent with extraterrestrial crafts," mostly because of slow travel speed. "I suspect some human being is behind these," he said.

Kathy Webb, wife of RVC theater director Mike Webb, said she watched from campus Saturday as a dozen lights shifted position to form the letters J, A, X and V. "I think they're aliens," she said. "But I don't think they're going to hurt us. I think they're just observing, to see what our lives are like compared to theirs."

By MARK BONNE Rockford Register Star


Analysis

Todd Livengood, who sent us many of these reports, as well as bringing our attention to this phenomenon, believes that lanterns are not the answer to the 'Rockford Orbs'. He has also come across evidence that the authorities in Rockford are covering up the full facts...why???

He writes:

This is a very interesting article, But I would definitely have to say that they were not balloons. Reasons being:
1) I can't see balloons revolving around one another.
2) The light intensity was synchronous (Illuminating brightly and dimming )
3) they would flash off then flash back on
4) Their speed would very from fast to slow (They definitely looked controlled, If they were a prank then someone must have spent quite a very large sum of money) And as for the laser beam theory, That is totally ridiculous. I have seen my fill of laser shows so believe me when I say that they definitely were not lasers.

Besides, It was a clear night. I knew it would only be a matter of time before we would start seeing the
Debunkers. Especially now that the sightings have been increasing steadily.

Best Regards,
Todd



Hello,

I just had the most remarkable event happen to me at exactly 10:30pm on Saturday the 10th of February 2001. I finally saw the strange glowing orange orbs over Rockford, Illinois. It was witnessed by Myself (Todd Livengood), Rick Livengood, his girlfriend Carrie Shultz, And 5 other witnesses two blocks north of State St. on Alpine. There were exactly 9 orbs they were all at the same intensity at producing a glowing orange light. then at random individual ones would flash off then turn back on.

At one point all off them flashed off except for 3 of them. That formed a triangle then the light intensity shot up very brightly then dimmed back to normal then the other orbs flashed back on. They swirled around one another moving slowly. I estimate the siting to last about 15 minutes. It was very remarkable.
 
 

Sincerely,
Todd Livengood
 

Yes, This is getting very weird. I will say this. The sightings don't seem to be so random anymore. Well, at least not to me. I have dates and times and most of all where they seem to always be spotted. It always seems to be around the Mulford, State St. and Alpine St. area of Rockford. And it always seems to be anywhere around the time of 8:00pm to 10:00pm. I'm still comparing the dates. But I have recorded all the sightings. My brother and I are investing in some Telescopic night time photography equipment. Were going to try to get a close up photo of these orbs. The siting we saw last night was very close. My brother and I are x-military. We have done night time combat maneuvers. We have seen ball lightning. And just about anything else most people would think as very extraordinary. Now my brother Rick has seen combat in Panama and the middle east and he has witnessed a lot of new technology in warfare, and he was the first to say (Todd, I have never seen anything like this before in my life). And we are now more open to talk about it with the locals, because as we were watching the event we were pulled over along the side of the street and I would glance over to see lines of cars. There had to be at least 10 or more cars pulled over as we were. And I'm sure someone had to have had a camera or
something.

And do you want to know what is even more interesting! I talked with a lady name Cheri. She's about 45 years old and she works as a karaoke DJ at a bar called 'The filling Station' in New Milford which is next to Rockford. The last siting which was in January at around 9:00 was posted in the newspaper. And it stated that nothing was picked up on radar from the greater Rockford airport tower that night in January.  Well, Cheri told me that her son works in the greater Rockford airport Tower. He didn't work on that night of the sighting. But when he came in to work the following night he talked with a friend of his who told him that they had a power shutdown and had to switch to back up power and that was barely enough to keep the equipment working properly. The lights were barely on. And all the clocks stopped working at exactly 9:00pm. I'm going to talk with her some more to find out the name of this gentleman so I can get more info about this. And why would the papers not include this tidbit of information in January?

Best regards,
Todd-

So here is evidence of some type of cover-up (yet again) by local authorities for reasons best known to themselves? If you are a resident of Rockford, please send us any sighting reports or information.


National UFO Reporting Center
Sighting Reports

Occurred : 11/30/1998 01:00 (Entered as : 11/30/98 1:00 am)
Reported : 3/15/1999 21:07
Posted : 4/2/1999
Location : Rockford, IL
Shape : Triangle
saw 2 very bright objects in western sky, one disappearing from view somehow (not sure where it went) the other object was huge, triangular, w/a few lights on the sides + middle. was flying very low and no sound

Driving home late one night last fall, my boyfriend and I were heading from the east side of Rockford to the west side. Immediately, we noticed 2 very bright lights in the western sky and they appeared to be flying quite low. I assumed they were helicopters because they were too low to be planes, plus they were not going very fast. Within a minute, we lost sight of one of the objects and it never did reappear. What happened to it, I do not know. The other object, however, was within view during our whole trip home. The farther west we drove, the larger this object began to appear. As we neared home, the object was nearly overhead and it seemed huge. It was triangular in shape. We were so concerned with what it was that we pulled over the car on a side street and got out to get a good look at it. We could not figure out what the hell it was! It was at least the size of a commercial airplane, but I believe it was possibly quite a bit bigger...it was hard to judge the actual size and distance away, but it was flying extremely low...I would estimate it was flying no higher than 1000-2000 feet above the ground. There were a few lights on the sides and one or two in the middle...cannot remember the color of these lights, but I believe they were white and possibly blue. The object produced absolutely NO SOUND WHATSOEVER. That was how we were certain that it was not a plane...unless it was some kind of military craft, but rarely do any military craft fly over Rockford, and even if they did, why would they do so at 1 am? This object was flying towards the south at a very slow but steady rate of speed, but then took an extremely sharp turn to the west, and we then lost track of it because trees were blocking our view from where we had gotten out of the car. This is something that has never happened to me and I felt very strange and edgy the rest of that night.



National UFO Reporting Center Sighting Report
Occurred : 12/31/99 22:00 (Entered as : 12/31/99 22:00)
Reported : 1/2/00 01:17
Posted : 1/7/00
Location : Rockford, IL
Shape : Sphere
sightings by various people in Rockford, Illinois between 22:00 and 23:00 p.m. of reddish-orange lights. Not picked up by local airport.



Occurred : 12/31/99 23:20 (Entered as : 12/31/99 23:20)
Reported : 1/11/00 11:27
Posted : 1/22/00
Location : Loves Park, IL
Shape : Circle
Orange ball-shaped object soaring fast across the sky in a NE direction. Had no sound or blinking lights

As I arrived home from work I went inside to greet my family on December 31, 1999 New Years Eve. About 10 minutes later, my husband and I went outside onto our front porch after hearing some noisy people outside. To our astonishment, we had looked up into the sky and noticed a strange round object soaring through the sky going towards the NorthEast direction. Strangely enough the object had no blinking lights like that of any type of airplane or hellicopter and no sound whatsoever. My husband and I were speechless after putting together all of the facts known to us to conclude that this was very abnormal. I was so concerned I had to phone my mother and tell her the news and ask her if there was supposed to be any aircraft at all whatsoever that night.



Reported by: Laura B. and Shelli P. - Rockford, IL - February 19, 2000 - 2:47 AM EST
Subject: UFO Sighting & Unexplained Event
Location: Rockford, IL
Date: 2-16-00 - Time: 9:30/ 10 PM
Event Zip Code: 61107 - Additional Information: Perryville Rd. - County:
Winnebago - Number of witnesses: 8
Objects Shape: Fireball - Number of objects: 6 - Object had lights - Object had an Aura or Haze around it
Object hovered - Object became transparent - There was "Electrical Interference" interference associated with the object Event Description: My friend called me around 9:30 PM and told me to go outside, because there were strange lights in the sky and she was following them around to see them better.  So, a few people that I work with ran outside with me and looked into the sky and saw nothing.  We then traveled up a hill farther to the West and spotted the strange "lights" she had told me about.

There were six bright fireball like lights shining in the sky!  I was so surprised about this that I ran inside and grabbed a few more people to come and see the phenomenon.  They too were astonished to see these strange lights in the sky.  They were sort of floating in the air in a line and then 3 of them formed a triangle.  As we watched in amazement they changed formations again and moved into a straight line.  At that time 2 of the orbs disappeared and they began to drift into a slanted line.  As we watched they began to all disappear one by one until they were all gone.

When I ran back inside to call my friend again, she told me that while she was driving around closer to them her cell phone began sounding strange.  She thought nothing of it (perhaps her battery was low), until she looked at her phone and realized her battery was charged all the way up and nothing normal could have caused her phone to sound so strangely



Occurred : 2/16/2000 21:30 (Entered as : 2/16/2000)
Reported : 2/21/2000 11:08
Posted : 2/23/2000
Location : Rockford (southern skies of), IL
Shape : Light
On Wed. Feb.16,2000 I had just come out of the logli's grocery store on State st. in Rockford, IL. I placed my groceries in the van and turned to return my cart, that is when I saw four amber orbs in the night sky. Three of the orbs formed a triangle, while one was positioned down below.The orbs were a very bright amber color, a bit larger then the north star at it's largest. The orb that formed the left point of the triangle was a floater. It floated between the top orb and the bottom orb. The moon was 3/4 full and it was a cold,clear well lite night.I called to a gentleman getting out of his vehicle and he stood for a couple of minutes and watched them with me.... he had also never seen anything like them. I was not sure of their altitude so I got in the car to drive closer. After only a short distance they began to leave, so I pulled into a quiet parking lot behind Khols on State St.and watched. They would blink briefly then zoom into the southern sky. I watched until all you could see was a pin point and then the orb would be gone. Each one left individually.

I am the wife of a pilot/airplane mechanic and I have spent much of my adult life with my eyes pointed toward the sky, but never have I seen such a sight as I saw on Feb 16,2000. As I said before it was a very clear well lit night. The stars were beautiful and the moon was approximately 3/4 full.... but nothing compared to the four amber colored orbs that floated in the night sky over Rockford,IL. When I first saw the orbs it was 9:30 pm, I had just looked at my watch upon leaving the store that I was coming out of. After placing my groceries in the van I saw the orbs glowing in the night sky. I quickly scanned the surrounding sky and discovered several aircraft flying in other parts of the sky, but none around the orbs. The orbs did not have any other colored lights on them that would indicate that they were an FAA approved aircraft. After observing them for several minutes, I also ruled out hot air balloons due to the fact that I could see stars all around the orbs. They also did not make the tell tale sound that a hot air balloon would make. I am confident that this was not one solid craft due to the fact that stars shone through the center of the triangle shape that they were forming.The orbs were very bright, but not too bright to comfortably look at with the naked eye.The orb that formed the left corner of the triangle was a floater... It first blinked a couple of times and appeared to float toward that top orb... paused...blinked... then floated to its original location. Then the whole process started again only this time it floated toward the bottom right orb. At this point I was unable to determine what altitude all of this was taking place at, so I thought to get a better look. I got in my van and started to drive closer to them. Unfortunately as I did this one by one they would blink and disappear into the southern sky. So I opted to pull over into a parking lot behind Khols on State St. and watch.As I sat there I decided that if they were the size of a jet liner I would guess them to be at an altitude of 20,000 feet. Now I do not claim that this was their size or altitude. I am only stating that it is my best guess at an approximate altitude if they were the size of an airliner. It actually looked liked the orbs were suspended in air... I watched the last orb rapidly blink and then zoom out of sight into the southern sky. I looked down and the time was 9:40pm. I sat for a few more minutes watching the sky for any other signs of the orbs, there were none... so I headed for home.



Reported By: F. F. - Rockford, IL - February 2, 2001 at 18:58:57
Subject: See explanation below - Location: Rockford, IL - Date: 1/10/01 - Time: 9:50 PM to 10:00 PM
Zip Code: 61108- County sighting took place: Winnebago - Witnesses: 600
Number of objects: 5 - Lights: Object had lights - There was interference associated with the object
Additional Information: East State St.
Event Description:
All three TV stations in Rockford reported this sighting and had video of it.  There were 5-9 orange glowing lights moving slowly in the sky.

It was partly cloudy and some would go in and out of clouds. TV stations got over 600 calls about it. WTVO said that they showed film to the Chicago Planetarium Scientists and they said that it was caused by some explosions on the sun. If you've seen the lights over Phoenix, these were just like those, only in a 'V' formation.

I've read and seen so much about these orange glowing lights I'm beginning to think that the government has got some new flying object and it's buzzing various towns throughout the U.S. No "advanced intelligence" would fly over Rockford, IL. This sounds like some stupid thing that only our government would do.



As anyone can see by this gathering of information, this phenomenon is simply mind-blowing.
If you have any more information, or have any video footage or eyewitness accounts, please contact us.

Thanks to Todd Livengood for forwarding most of the information on this page

UPDATE
We have recently found some film footage that was taken over the state of New Jersey, USA.

Click to view footage