2005-02-18 - Collinsville, IL - Triangle

Triangular aircraft with bright white light hovered silently over houses.

I was driving home from work along the south frontage road that parallels I-70 near Troy, IL. It was approx. 0400 in the am and I was traveling east at a speed of 35-40 mph. I always drive slowly at that hour since it is prime time for certain wildlife on the roads (deer, raccoon, possums, rabbits). There were only a few cars and trucks on the interstate and my husband was following in a vehicle behind me.

As I hit the crest of a hill offering a panoramic view, my peripheral vision caught sight of a very bright white light in the north sky to the left and ahead of me. It was moving slowly toward the south and would eventually intersect the interstate and the frontage road on which I was traveling. I could not see the craft at this time, only the bright light as it moved through the dark sky. At certain times of the month, this is a flight path for Lambert airport in St. Louis, Mo (I travel this road frequently). I assumed it was a plane and drove on, returning my full attention to the road. A couple more minutes up the road the white light again attracted my interest. It now seemed somewhat larger in the sky, since we were closing distance. I could now notice both a red and a blue light beneath the level of the white one. The red light was blinking. I realized that the craft had to be too low in the sky for a plane and that it was traveling too slowly. I remember thinking that it must be a helicopter, but my brain did not seem to fully accept this idea because the relative sizes (positions) of the lights seemed to indicate that they were not lined up in a lateral fashion but instead were indicative of greater depth. (Amazing how fast a brain can assess and conclude!) But then it must be a helicopter, what else could it be? I returned my attention to the road.

I came to the place where a side road joins the two frontage roads and the interstate overpass crosses above. I am always very careful here. This is a spot where accidents tend to occur due to a very short visual field created by the interstate embankment.

Suddenly and surprisingly, I caught sight of lights above my van and to the right. There was a large craft hovering above the houses near the end of the residential lane just ahead and to the south. There was illumination from nearby street lights. Regarding its width, it seemed to stretch across at least two roofs. It was grey in color and triangular in shape. Judging by the houses and the trees it was only about 400 or 500 feet above the ground. It was not moving at this time. My windows were up, the radio was off. You can easily hear the sound of cars as they pass on the interstate, but this craft was completely silent. I was trying to lean over the steering wheel to look up and still look ahead to avoid going off the road. There was no shoulder to pull off on so my viewing of the craft at this close range was intermittent and consisted of short bursts. I remember thinking, “Is that military?” (This sighting occurred approx. fifteen miles from Scott Air Force Base.) It reminded me of the pictures I have seen on TV of stealth bombers, but my understanding is that they cannot hover. It also reminded me of harrier jets, and although they can hover I thought they emitted an enormous amount of noise. I was bewildered and trying to reach the cell phone in my purse to call my husband and ask if he was seeing this too. This juggling proved too difficult and I decided to continue on and stop at the church parking lot several hundred yards ahead. I said, “Did you see that?” To which he responded, “See what?” (My husband does not generally look at the sky and additionally was tired from a long day at work. He did not see the craft as he was preoccupied watching my taillights, assuming that I had come to a near-stop due to an animal ahead on the roadway.) I pointed to the craft still hovering but having shifted just slightly south. From this new vantage point, the craft itself was too far to be clearly seen but the red and blue lights were visible beyond a deciduous tree line (no leaves on the trees). No other lights were noted from this angle. My husband could see the lights and was in agreement on the estimation of height. Then the craft began to move southwesterly over the fields of a rural area. I got back in the van and we traveled along a south road with the intention of intersecting it again on the next west road so my husband could see the underside of it. But to our amazement the craft picked up an incredible amount of speed and while we watched, disappeared rapidly into the southwestern sky past the city lights of Collinsville toward St. Louis, covering at least 20 miles in about two minutes.

From the initial sighting of the white light to the moment the colored lights of the underside were gone from sight was approx. 10 minutes duration, although direct viewing of the craft itself from underneath lasted only about 30 seconds.