1980-12-20 - Decatur, IL - Unknown

During a raging snowstorm, I saw a dark object flying at about 5 MPH in the middle of the road between the trees, using a bright searchlight to nagigate. There was no noise. It was heading north & was probably heading towards the Clinton Nuclear Power Station, that had just been built. It was flying very low, just over the cars (which were many). It could NOT have been a helicopter or other conventional aircraft for several reasons. ONe fact was that the snowstorm was raging. The wind was blowing very, very hard, & each flake of snow would hit out windshield about the size of a 1/2 a dollar. No conventional aircraft could have been flying in that weather. Two, it had no wings or helecopter blades because they would have hit the trees that overhung the 4 lane street. It was using a very large, very bright searchlight. It had to be some kind of Carbon-arc light because of the brightness of the spot it prodiced on the pavement. It seemed to be using the light to nevigate. It was moving about 5 MPH at an altitude of approximately 15 feet above the pavement.

I was sitting at a red light. When the light changed to green, I continued driving (south) again & it flew right over out heads. & because I was in the center lane, I was unable to turn around right away to follow it. I finally was able to maneuver to the left lane & turn around 2 blocks later. By then it was gone. Illinois Power had just finished building a Nuclear Power station in Clinton. I figured that was where it was going, but there was no evidence to substantiate that. Because of the raging snowstorm, I gave up the chase.

Dates are approximate. I was working at ((deleted)) TV as a ((employee)) at the time. For fear of retaliation, I was reluctant to come forward openly, but I did share this with many of out friends. My wife (fience at the time) was with me at the time & was as suprised as I was at this event.

((NUFORC Note: Date is approximate, but could be corroborated from weather reports at that time. PD))