Millstadt UFO

The object was longer then a football field and two stories high. It slowly glided over a small Illinois town and was reported early on the morning of January 5 by several witnesses. First sited by several civilians, police officers were quickly placed on alert of a strange object floating in the sky heading in a northern direction. Officer Craig Stevens, of the Millstadt Police Department, waited in the parking lot of Liederkranz Park at 4:30 AM until the object passed overhead.

The object, described as a silent arrowhead-like craft with glowing reddish windows, moved slowly north as it kept a steady height of between 500 to 1,000 feet. Stevens, who happened to have a Polaroid camera, took a snapshot of the craft only to have the picture developed into a black image with several strange lights.

Although several witnesses have come forward, including several respected police officers, air tower contact was not made. The local towers, located at Scott Air Force Base and the Mid American Airport, were both closed at the time of the sighting. Due to the lack of serious traffic, standard operating times are roughly between 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM. Conflicting reports exist of the sighting by airport personal- some claim air traffic controllers saw the strange lights yet others say they did not. Due to the landscape of Scott Air Force Base, the UFO sighting would have been impossible unless the individuals were located in the tower.

What the object is has yet to be identified. There are several theories that researchers are investigating.

The most popular theory is that of a secret military creation which utilizes the technology of a stealth blimp. The blimp would account for several characteristics of the sighting, including the near silent and slow gliding of the craft. Military technology, including the stealth fighter, is known to be tested in the Midwest area. Scott Air Force Base was originally designed to house military blimps before World War II but it was quickly converted to piston and jet aircraft storage as technology quickly evolved.

The other most popular theory involves extraterrestrials. Much like the much-debated Arizona UFO sighting, some believe other worldly creatures have visited the city. Reports of arrowhead shaped UFOs have become common, with a majority of current sightings sharing the same characteristics. During several tense moments in 1989, for example, a similar object was seen on the border of West and East Germany by both American and German forces.

It seems that with the current wave of UFO reports the United States may be entering another wave of activity that hasn't been seen in nearly fifty years.