Multiple UFOs sightings in southern Illinois near St Louis MO

📍 Location

📝 Description

The St. Clair Triangle/UFO Over Illinois incident (often called the Highland incident) occurred in the pre-dawn hours of January 5, 2000, in southwestern Illinois near the St. Louis metro area. Melvern Noll, a Highland miniature-golf course owner, reported seeing a large, bright object described as a 'flying house with windows' in the sky. Five on-duty police officers from nearby towns (Lebanon, Shiloh, Millstadt, Dupo, and possibly others) plus additional civilian witnesses observed a massive, silent triangular craft with multiple lights moving at treetop altitude, performing slow, then sudden, high-speed maneuvers. The object reportedly accelerated away toward Shiloh, and the sightings persisted for more than an hour. Media coverage and multiple documentaries followed, and the event has remained unidentified. A 2022 in-depth re-examination in The Debrief analyzed original transcripts and interviews, highlighting credible witness accounts but noting ongoing questions about radar data and plausible conventional explanations; there has been no official confirmation or debunking of the craft as a real object.

🔍 Circumstances

Date/time: around 4:00 a.m. on January 5, 2000. Locations: Highland, IL, and surrounding towns in St. Clair County (Dupo, Lebanon, Shiloh, Millstadt, O'Fallon). Observers: Melvern Noll (private citizen) and multiple police officers (Lebanon, Shiloh, Millstadt, Dupo) plus other civilians. Observations: a large, silent triangular/arrowhead-shaped craft with multiple lights; altitude reported roughly 500–1,500 feet by some witnesses; movements described as near-hover, then rapid acceleration and sharp turns; a perceived low-frequency buzz by at least one officer; radar data from Scott Air Force Base reportedly unavailable or inconclusive. Duration: eyewitness accounts indicate sightings persisted for over one hour. Official response: base radar status and communications reported inconsistently in media and later analyses. Coverage: ABC’s Seeing is Believing; Discovery Channel’s UFOs Over Illinois; multiple documentaries and subsequent analyses.

👤 Physical Description

Massive triangular/arrowhead-shaped craft; dark or metallic exterior; multiple lights (three prominent lights at the corners reported by some, plus additional lights along one edge and a possible red light beneath); Melvern Noll described it as a two-story house with windows; some witnesses noted a concave rear or building-block-like understructure; reported silent flight; occasional low-frequency hum reported by at least one observer.

ℹ️ Additional Details

Case popularized by media and documentaries; transcripts and radio traffic have been examined in depth in later analyses (e.g., The Debrief, 2022). Radar data from Scott Air Force Base has conflicting or inconclusive records; alternative mundane explanations (e.g., blimps) have been proposed by skeptics, but many witnesses maintain credible, consistent descriptions. The incident remains one of the best-documented mass UFO sightings from the U.S. late 20th century, with ongoing discussion about its nature and origins.

🔗 Sources (8)

👥 Community Contributions

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