File 054 · 5 January 2000
Highland police triangle
Highland, Illinois, United States
Opened 9/4/2026
Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. Midwest town lights on a winter night. — Night Ledger illustration of the file
Standing
Unidentified
On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.
What was claimed
Five police officers in separate towns tracked a huge, silent triangle across southwestern Illinois for more than an hour.
What is on the record
This file is a working record — a report, not a verdict. Official paper, if any, is linked where we have it.
Just after 4 a.m., Officer Ed Barton in Highland watched a massive, unlit triangular object with three dim lights and a larger center light pass over. He radioed. Officers in Dupo, Lebanon, Shiloh, and Millstadt picked it up in turn. They described a craft the size of a football field, walking-pace slow, then sudden acceleration, no sound, at a few hundred feet.
The object passed in front of a water tower for one officer, giving a size estimate. Scott Air Force Base said they had nothing airborne that matched. The case was investigated by the Illinois State Police and by civilian researchers who interviewed each officer separately.
Five trained observers, a radio log, a winter sky: a clean American police triangle, two years after Phoenix, with no flares to hide behind.
Could this have been ours?
The known sky, that night.
The station was flying. Starlink was not. A string of orbs in this year is usually not a train.
Always
Aircraft, balloons, meteors
Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.
Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.
Sources
Related files
Same craft, same place, same years. A neighbor in the catalogue — not a conclusion.
Same craft · Same country · 4 September 2026, evening
Three triangles and jets, Caribou County
Bench, Caribou County, Idaho · United States
Unidentified
Two witnesses near Bench described three triangular objects making U-turns as military jets were heard in the same sky.
Same craft · Same country · 13 August 2026
Black triangle over La Conner
La Conner, Washington · United States
Unidentified
Two people walking near the water described a silent black triangle with red lights at each corner, held for about ten minutes.
Same craft · Same country · 13 March 1997
Phoenix Lights
Phoenix, Arizona · United States
Unidentified
Thousands watched a mile-wide V of lights drift over Arizona, then a second set of flares over the Estrella Mountains. The governor later said he saw it too.
Same craft · Same country · 1983–1986
Hudson Valley boomerang
Hudson Valley, New York · United States
Unidentified
Thousands along the Hudson reported a silent, V-shaped “flying city” of lights, low enough to hide the stars behind it. Some nights it was a prank of ultralights. Some nights it was not so easy.
Same craft · September 4, 2026, evening
Multi-colored triangular UAPs performing impossible maneuvers with military jets
Bench, Idaho (Caribou County) · USA
Unidentified
Two witnesses, one a former soldier, observed three triangular multi-colored UAPs making multiple U-turns and physically impossible maneuvers. Military jets were heard chasing or responding to the objects. First-person NUFORC report.
Same craft · August 23, 2026, ~10:01 PM BST
Triangular Formation of Three Lights over Wolverhampton, UK
Wolverhampton, West Midlands · UK
Unidentified
Two witnesses (mother and son) observed three points of light in a triangular formation moving slowly and smoothly across the western sky while maintaining relative positions. The mother began recording video shortly after noticing them.