2017-12-09 - Carbondale, IL - Formation

Large light formation over Jackson County, Illinois.

At approximately 8:15 PM, my husband was coming home from work and spotted a formation of lights in the sky. He called me and told me to go outside and look at the lights. The lights were directly over our property and were approximately 1/4 mile wide. There were 18-20 red lights that were flashing in a sequential order. The lights were exactly the same distance apart and looked liked they bowed near the end. There was absolutely no sound and the object was moving very slowly.

I called our neighbor and asked her to go out and look. She saw and reported the exact same thing. I also called the Jackson County Sheriff's office and they dispatched a deputy out. The deputy reported to me that he had seen the exact same formation and really didn't know what it was.

He also said they had been getting reports from towns and counties in surrounding areas.

We live a few miles from the regional airport and are very familiar with small planes and helicopters flying over. This formation was flying at about the same height. It was flying low.

I did receive a call back from the Jackson County Sheriff's dispatcher, and she said Scott Air Force base had been contacted and they claimed they had planes flying in a formation over the region. This is absolutely impossible, but not unexpected.

The object blocked out the stars, was moving much too slowly for a plane (s) or even helicopters, the formation of lights did not deviate position at all, and there was absolutely no noise.