Multiple Videos Show UFOs Over Chicago On July 4, 2013

July 5, 2013 - Several videos (below) have come to light that show UFOs moving slowly through the sky over Chicago on the night of July 4.

Chicagoans called local authorities about the mysterious bright objects that floated slowing over the Windy City. They were not fireworks.

A report today by WGN says that "Peter Davenport, the director of the National UFO Reporting Center, said the center [has been] overwhelmed with calls from across the nation with reports of seeing the same figures: a cluster of orange, red or yellow lights." WGN has a video there, but we have several more below.

Nobody is saying these were spaceships from another galaxy, and nobody really know what they are. But then, that's why they're called "unidentified flying objects."

"Triangle UFO Over Chicago 07/04/13 on Independence Day 2013"


"UFO Fleet Over Chicago 4th of July 2013"


"UFO Sighting or Fire Lanterns Chicago, IL 7-4-2013 July 4th 9:39pm Logan Square - Part 1"


"UFO Sighting or Fire Lanterns Chicago, IL 7-4-2013 July 4th 9:39pm Logan Square - Part 2"

UPDATED: Readers React to Chicago UFO Photos

A number of readers wrote to us with reactions to the photos of possible UFOs over Chicago. B Prulhiere wrote in the other day with a logical explanation that we rejected. However, we were wrong, and with sincere apologies to BP, we print this correction. It must be said that BP helped put the element of doubt in our minds, which helped lead us to go the train station from where the photos were taken (see Chicago UFO Mystery Solved) Today, BP wrote: I was very disappointed in the way you handled your response in your article towards me. I am a true researcher. The duty of any researcher or reporter is to eliminate any and all other possibilities. If I sent you a picture of me drinking a pop from inside the jaws of a live dinosaur, and then said "I don't own Photo shop, so it means it is real", would you stop there and say "well then, I know this must be real." Of course you would not. The reference at the end of my statement about the vanishing point is an art, or drafting term about how drawings or photos follow a line to the horizon. These follow a perfect line, but do not match the one in the background. I would love for these to be real, but let's at least prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are possibly real..... To which we responded: Dear BP: You are correct, and we apologize. No offense meant, really, and you are now proven to be right. See http://rogersparkbench.blogspot.com/2009/02/chicago-ufo-mystery-solved.html. I will subsequently publish both you note below and this response to it. However, another reader wrote the following compelling letter which tells of a sighting that she feels she had recently: From: [Name withheld] To: Chicago News Bench Subject: UFO's I came across your site after checking on the MUFON website for over a week. I was hoping other people saw what my husband , 21 year old daughter and I saw at about 6:30pm on Saturday January 31st. FINALLY! We were driving in Roselle. We live in the Northwest Suburbs. As I drove heading east, I noticed a set of many super bight, non-blinking lights that seemed to just hang in the sky. They appeared to make a "V" shaped pattern. I grew up in the flight paths of O'Hare airports and never saw any airplanes in such a pattern that hung motionless in the sky without blinking lights. I asked my husband and daughter if they knew what the lights were. At first, my husband thought they were lights from a baseball field or park. We got closer and could clearly tell that was not what they were. Then my husband thought they were lights from a tall building off of Route 53. We [got] close to the building, and the lights were not from there. I began to get scared. We drove in the direction of the lights for a good 10 minutes. If they were planes landing at O'Hare, after that amount of time, they would have been out of sight or changed their pattern. They stayed the same. I could not believe that other drivers were not seeing this. We became so concerned over what they were, we turned on news radio to see if other people were reporting this. I became too stressed out to continue to watch and follow them so we went home. I can tell you that from the photos on your site, if you took those objects and lit them up at night, that is what we saw. Thanks for posting those photos. RESPONSE: You're entirely welcome. CNB RSS Feed

Chicago UFO Mystery Solved

Were those UFOs over Chicago's northside? We were all excited about the possibility that a fleet of UFOs had been accidentally photographed from the Howard Street CTA train platform in Rogers Park. Readers wrote in. Some disputed it, and said that the "UFOs" in the photo were just reflections of ceiling lights in a window. One reader wrote in and emphatically said they looked just like a sighting that she, her husband and daughter saw recently. One way to solve it: Go to the scene and see it for ourselves. So we did, and here are the photos we took. (Click on images to enlarge them.) First, take a look at the original photos that were taken on Feb. 8, and posted on Flickr by "Quality": http://www.flickr.com/photos/79822180@N00/3264107213/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/79822180@N00/3264932544/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/79822180@N00/3264933262/ The photos below prove that the "UFOs" were indeed reflections in a glass window. The top shows reflections: Ceileng lamps and a trash can. The photos posted by "Quality" did not make it clear that the photos were taken from an enclosed pedestrian overpass, which goes over the tracks in the station. The second photo, however, shows where the photographer must have been standing. Here, we see the trash can reflected in the top photo. The third photo gives a fuller view of the enclosed pedestrian overpass where "Quality" took his/her photos. No doubt about it: The hanging ceiling lamps were reflected in the window. In the fourth photo, we can see the pedestrian overpass. In the fifth photo, another view of the inside of the overpass. Notice the ceiling lamps and trash can. So, no UFO sighting after all. Nevertheless, it was worth pursuing. Plus, we love to prove ourselves wrong. When we're wrong, that is. CNB RSS Feed

New Photos in Chicago UFO Mystery

Were those UFOs in the sky? Or just reflections in a window? As promised earlier today, Chicago News Bench paid a visit to the scene this afternoon where pictures that started a little UFO controversy were taken on Feb. 8. CNB captured some of our own photos, and we're examining them right now. We think we have some answers, but we don't want to rush to judgement before we finish examining our photos. We'll give you a full and final report either tonight or tomorrow morning. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, consider this: UFO videotaped over Chicago near O'Hare airport , February 10, 2009. Watch the incredible video there! CNB RSS Feed

Chicago UFOs Reflections? Maybe, Maybe Not...

Readers keep writing in about those Flickr photos taken from the Howard CTA Station's elevated train platform in Chicago. They appear to show objects in the sky. UFOs? Unidentified flying objects? Any kind of flying objects? Or just reflections? The mystery just becomes more mysterious. So, I am now en route to the scene of the mystery to view it myself and take my own photos. "Greg" writes in to cause more confusion: I was referred to your site by a posting at the MUFON site. I am a master electrician and an electrical contractor in Minneapolis, MN, and I can say with out a doubt that those objects are a reflection of high bay light fixtures that are used in warehouses. If you go to flicker and click on the enlarge button, look at the right side of the picture and you will be able to see other faint reflections of the space the photographer was in. Also, if you click to see the whole series of pictures, the 2 previous ones labled, "Lerner building hole", you can see faint reflections from a window in those too. I hope this helps. It only raises more questions. Greg is right about the reflections, but there is still some uncertainty. In the "Lerner Building Hole" photo (see it here), you can see the reflection of a white trash can in the lower left. However, it is not clear whether that can is being reflected from a window fixed to the platform, or a window on a train car. Could the photographer (who remains anonymous) have taken the photos from inside a train? An example of that can be found in a photo by "Ericka," which was taken from within a train car and shows the reflection of the interior of that car. Or, could the photo have been taken from within a structure similar to the one in a photo that "Zol87" has posted? Thanks again to Greg for writing. His thoughtful note gives us pause, and we will investigate further. There's only one way to be sure, and that's to go there myself. I will now leave my warm desk chair and venture out to take photos of the scene of the mystery myself. Stand by... RELATED: Readers React to Chicago UFO Photos Updated: UFO Fleet Over Chicago? CNB RSS Feed

UPDATED X2: UFO FLEET OVER CHICAGO? FEB 8, 2009!

UPDATE 2/13/2009: Chicago UFO Mystery Solved WERE THOSE UFO'S OVER CHICAGO? Photographs taken during broad daylight show what look like saucer shaped objects in the blue sky. At least 19 of the objects can be seen in one of three photos posted on Flickr. The pix were taken on February 8, 2009 from the elevated train platform at the Howard Street CTA Station, on the far northeast side of Chicago, on the Evanston border, looking south-southeast. I am very familiar with that train platform, and looking at the photos I am confident that the white objects in the sky cannot be reflections. The images above are cropped excerpts from one of the photos. I enhanced color and contrast on the left image (color); the right image is black and white with a red filter applied. The photographer would have been standing on an open platform, not in any enclosure, so there would have been no window between the camera and the sky. In other words, the white objects are not reflections. I first became aware of the photos today on a friend's blog. She posted the photos, but for some reason chose to use the possible UFOs as a humorous point in an unrelated story. The photos, linked to Flickr, are attributed only to "Quality," who has no profile posted. The links to the photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/79822180@N00/3264107213/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/79822180@N00/3264932544/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/79822180@N00/3264933262/ POSTSCRIPT: A reader wrote the following note, followed by my reply. Hi Tom, I guess my skepticism always comes to the fore, when it comes to UFO's :) I know the military always experiment with new types of aircraft, and undetectable secret 'things'!! There just has to be a rational explanation!!! It would be interesting to find out what 'they' are, though. More for curiosity, than a belief in aliens :) Dear Reader: I mean, you could be right that they are not what they appear to be. They might be specks of dust or something on the lense. As for a "rational explanation," what is irrational about the possibility of extraterrestrial beings? Very rational scientists agree on the possibility (probability, really); SETI spends millions of dollars every year listening for intelligent signals from other worlds. A possible rational explanation is alien craft. But then, another rational explanation could be dust specks. We don't know, and that's what the "Unidentified" part of "UFO" means. MORE REACTIONS HERE: Readers React to Chicago UFO Photos CNB RSS Feed