Case no. 004 · open
Rockford, Illinois (2001-01-11)
A dozen independent reports of slow orange lights in formation over one city in one evening.
12
people described this on a single night. None of them were talking to each other.
What they kept saying: moving in formationan orange orbhovering
In their own words
Loves Park, IL, 2001-01-11 · NUFORC archive“possible explaination of mass sightings in rockford illinois on january 11th 2001…”
Rockford, IL, 2001-01-11 · NUFORC archive“Formation of 10 yellowish glowing targets (night sighting) drifted SW to NE at 5-10 MPH, 1500' AGL then extinguished one at at time.…”
Rockford, IL, 2001-01-11 · NUFORC archive“First thought to be an airplane, but its color, shapes, and hovering motion was unexplainable.…”
Rockford, IL, 2001-01-11 · NUFORC archive“24 total golden colored, orbed lights in configurations similar to the big dipper moving slowly from NW to East…”
Rockford, IL, 2001-01-11 · NUFORC archive“13 orange lights moved steadily and at times flew closely and eventually faded away.…”
What the evidence shows
Points toward something real
- 12 reports, 2 adjacent places, one evening
- Consistent: multiple orange lights, slow drift, fading one at a time
Points the other way
Nothing yet that argues against the pattern. If you have something, send it.
Ordinary explanations people have offered
- Sky lanterns or flares (never confirmed)
Still unanswered
- No confirmed explanation on record
The numbers behind this case
E-2001-01-11-42-89 · 2001-01-11 · 12 reports across 2 places · wording independence 0.765 · coherence 4.266
Wording independence near 1.0 means people described it in their own words. A low number means some accounts may be echoing each other, and we show it either way.
Were you there?
Or have you seen something like it somewhere else entirely? Either one helps, including the accounts that do not fit.
Tell us what you saw