NUFORC Sighting 179761

Occurred: 2023-12-18 23:15 Local
Reported: 2023-12-18 22:40 Pacific
Duration: <5 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Waterloo, IL, USA
Location details: Viewer was driving west of waterloo on road 156, just outside city limits of waterloo.

Shape: Orb
Color: White
Estimated Size: All 3 lights together, roughly 50 feet
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: North/North-West
Angle of Elevation: 60
Closest Distance: Less than half a mile
Estimated Speed: Hard to say, 300mph?
Characteristics: Lights on object

Viewer was driving home from work. Saw "3 balls of light" that fell amazingly fast towards the ground. Sighting lasted <5 seconds.

I'm submitting this report on behalf of a friend. We'll call him M for the sake of privacy. This happened at around 11:15 p.m. on road 156 traveling west, leaving Waterloo IL and driving towards Valmeyer IL.

M was just outside the city limits of Waterloo, and his sighting was brief. He describes "looking at the moon" on the way back from work when all of a sudden 3 "balls of light" in a trianglular formation caught his eye off to his right, so that would be rougly due north/north-west based off of his direction of travel.

He reports the lights "fell" from roughly 200-250 (rough approximation) feet down to the ground with baffling speed. Faster than anything should be able to fall, or fly, for that matter. The entire sighting lasted less than 5 seconds. He was driving and did not stop to see what happened to the lights once they reached the ground, or near ground level. According to him, they did not illuminate the ground, houses, or trees that he could see.

As for personal notes, he assures me he is positive it wasn't any mistaken reflection, his eyes playing tricks on him, or a case of mistaken lights, like that of a street light, radio tower, or any known craft, including helicopters, planes, or drones. He says he feels it was "close", that he could "walk over to it" within a short amount of time if he wanted. His guess is less than half a mile away.

For his background, he works at a manufacturing facility that I won't name, and was getting off of work driving home. He is a man in his early 20s. If it matters at all, he is a deeply religious Christian, and has told me in conversations previously (much before this incident) about this topic that his belief is the same as the church father's writings. That "UFOs" people see are demons.

I did not ask him if he wanted to clarify or change his personal belief about "UFOs", as he seemed to need more time to contexualize his feelings about the matter and his sighting.

Posted 2023-12-20