I May Have Evidence That They Exist

[aliengabes]

Hey, I am new to this forum, and this is my very first post, but I hope I can bring something interesting to the table. I have an image of two UFOs which was taken about a month ago in Illinois. I was born there, but live in California now. I visited my hometown in April to catch up with some old friends and family. During my stay, I became aware of several rumours about so-called “buzz-jets,” something I had never heard of before. I asked around, and learned that this was the name given to a particular phenomenon apparently unique to the area. As I stated earlier, I grew up there, and I hadn’t heard of this at all in my entire life. Granted, it had been almost a decade since I had last visited, but this still seemed quite odd to me. One night, at around 9:45 PM, I was trying to catch up on some work in my childhood room, and I began to feel a rumbling sensation which was definitely coming from outside. I decided to go check it out, and I brought a flashlight with me as I stepped out into the backyard. As it turns out, there was no need for a flashlight since the entire sky was lit up in a weird yellow hue. If that’s not strange enough, the rumbling feeling strengthened and I could hear a high-pitched buzz. I took a seat on my back porch and observed the anomaly. The following events occurred in this order:

10:00 PM - I could feel a strange electrical stimulation, almost like some sort of static energy.
10:02 PM - The high-pitched buzz got much louder, painfully so, and I went back into the house to call my father’s phone (who had gone out for the night). The line went dead, and I tried my younger step-brother (who had also gone out with some friends), but his number wasn’t working either. It was apparent that this phenomenon had somehow screwed up the phone.
10:10 PM - I stepped back outside. The noise and the rumbling had dulled, and the yellow hue in the sky had dimmed.
10:15 PM - The odd occurrences completely stopped. The sky appeared as normal as ever. I decided to go back to work in my room and ask my father about it in the morning. No strange noises for the rest of the night.
7:50 AM - I woke up to another rumbling noise. Assuming it was another anomaly, I stepped outside, this time with my phone. When I looked up into the sky, however, I could see the cause of the rumbling: it was just an airplane. I was obviously quite disappointed and I started to head back inside, when I noticed some unfamiliar movements in the sky. Behind the plane, I could make out two black shapes which were constantly darting about. I watched them for some time, and realized that they moved in an almost perfect pattern. The shapes would hold a position near the tail end of the plane, and then dart back and forth from the front to the rear. They were visibly much faster than the plane, but they seemed to prefer staying behind it. Luckily, I managed to snap a few pictures with my phone. Whenever I tried taking a video, though, the quality wasn’t quite as good, and you couldn’t really see the shapes.

Attached is my best photo, where you can clearly see two black shapes behind the aircraft. I will happily answer any questions you have regarding this incident. Thanks for your time!

 

[EnolaGaia]

Where in Illinois did this sighting occur?

Did the two rumbling sensations / vibrations / sounds seem identical, or were they different? If they were different - can you describe the difference?

Was there no "buzz" associated with the sighting the next day?

Did anyone you spoke with mention why the phenomenon was called "buzz jet" (or any other additional info about it)?

 

[aliengabes]

Where in Illinois did this sighting occur?

Did the two rumbling sensations / vibrations / sounds seem identical, or were they different? If they were different - can you describe the difference?

Was there no "buzz" associated with the sighting the next day?

Did anyone you spoke with mention why the phenomenon was called "buzz jet" (or any other additional info about it)?

This happened in Oakford, IL.

The rumbling sound in the morning felt the same to me, although I was very tired since I had just woke up so my senses were a bit off.

No, there was no buzz the next day. Oddly enough, I only heard the buzz the night before.

No one I spoke with gave a lot of detailed information about the so-called "buzz jets." Then again, I only spoke about the phenomenon with people from my inner circle (friends, family, etc). I have done some research online, but I found nothing that linked the name with my experience.

 

[Vardoger]

Dirt on the camera lens?

 

[aliengabes]

Dirt on the camera lens?

The picture was taken on an iPhone camera. The lens on those things is very small. If the shapes on the picture are indeed specks of dirt, they would have to be almost microscopic to fit the scale of the lens, and they would also have to be very carefully placed. If you are implying that the story is fabricated and that the photo is a hoax, I assure you that I don't have the time to set up microscopic dirt specks on a lens with almost surgical precision, time it perfectly with the passing of an airplane, and then write a 600 word story which matches the evidence in the picture. The photo doesn't have anything on the lens. I am open to theories which involve scientific explanations regarding objects in the sky, but my evidence isn't counterfeit.

 

[Carl Grove]

The picture was taken on an iPhone camera. The lens on those things is very small. If the shapes on the picture are indeed specks of dirt, they would have to be almost microscopic to fit the scale of the lens, and they would also have to be very carefully placed. If you are implying that the story is fabricated and that the photo is a hoax, I assure you that I don't have the time to set up microscopic dirt specks on a lens with almost surgical precision, time it perfectly with the passing of an airplane, and then write a 600 word story which matches the evidence in the picture. The photo doesn't have anything on the lens. I am open to theories which involve scientific explanations regarding objects in the sky, but my evidence isn't counterfeit.

I agree that dust specks don't really explain the picture. Can you say how many megpixels your phone camera has ? The image here is not of great quality and it seems you've resized it (maybe to facilitate getting it attached). I'm not sure how big an image Forteana will accept -- if it won't accept large files maybe you could upload it to Dropbox or some other cloud service and provide a link. This seems potentially a very important sighting.

 

[Mythopoeika]

I agree that dust specks don't really explain the picture. Can you say how many megpixels your phone camera has ? The image here is not of great quality and it seems you've resized it (maybe to facilitate getting it attached). I'm not sure how big an image Forteana will accept -- if it won't accept large files maybe you could upload it to Dropbox or some other cloud service and provide a link. This seems potentially a very important sighting.

Cropping the pic and posting it at a larger size would be useful.

 

[aliengabes]

I agree that dust specks don't really explain the picture. Can you say how many megpixels your phone camera has ? The image here is not of great quality and it seems you've resized it (maybe to facilitate getting it attached). I'm not sure how big an image Forteana will accept -- if it won't accept large files maybe you could upload it to Dropbox or some other cloud service and provide a link. This seems potentially a very important sighting.

I know it's not the best quality. The airplane was pretty high in the sky so I had to zoom quite a bit to see the shapes. I did resize the photo in order to make the transfer easier from my phone to my laptop. It's from an iPhone 7 camera which has a resolution of 1,334 x 750 pixels (I think that translates to about 1 megapixel?) I am now downloading the picture to my laptop at its original size, and I will post it here as soon as it's done.

 

[aliengabes]

Here is the image with its original size.

 

[brownmane]

Birds? Birds can fly in formstion.

 

[aliengabes]

Birds? Birds can fly in formstion.

Yes, at first they do seem to somewhat resemble large birds. However, I watched them dart around the plane at tremendous speeds. On several occasions, they got ahead of the plane. I am not familiar with bird species capable of achieving these speeds, but perhaps it is possible. Also, I didn't see any wings or flapping motion from where I was standing. The shapes appeared to just float without any visible form of propulsion. I know I don't have any video evidence to back this up, but as I said in my original post, you couldn't make out the shapes in the phone's video recording mode as the quality wasn't as good. There is also the mystery of what occurred the night before. In the confusion, I forgot that I could've recorded the buzzing sound on my phone as well (which I very much regret). I may take another trip to Oakford, this time with actual cameras and recording equipment.

 

[Carl Grove]

Yes, at first they do seem to somewhat resemble large birds. However, I watched them dart around the plane at tremendous speeds. On several occasions, they got ahead of the plane. I am not familiar with bird species capable of achieving these speeds, but perhaps it is possible. Also, I didn't see any wings or flapping motion from where I was standing. The shapes appeared to just float without any visible form of propulsion. I know I don't have any video evidence to back this up, but as I said in my original post, you couldn't make out the shapes in the phone's video recording mode as the quality wasn't as good. There is also the mystery of what occurred the night before. In the confusion, I forgot that I could've recorded the buzzing sound on my phone as well (which I very much regret). I may take another trip to Oakford, this time with actual cameras and recording equipment.

I think it would be a very odd bird that could match the speed of what looks like a miltary(?) jet, let alone maneouvre around it. Are there any military bases or facilities around that area? One wonders if some kind of black project might be creating these odd happenings, which appear to be unique to that location.

 

[brownmane]

During my stay, I became aware of several rumours about so-called “buzz-jets,” something I had never heard of before. I asked around, and learned that this was the name given to a particular phenomenon apparently !

I feel as if some information is missing or not clear to me. What are the rumours and/or phenomenon? Why do you think that what you heard and saw were the same phenomenon?

 

[aliengabes]

I think it would be a very odd bird that could match the speed of what looks like a miltary(?) jet, let alone maneouvre around it. Are there any military bases or facilities around that area? One wonders if some kind of black project might be creating these odd happenings, which appear to be unique to that location.

Agreed. I haven't heard of any military bases or facilities around Oakford, but I do know that there is an airbase in Springfield. I, personally haven't been there. I will research this topic more extensively, though, and get back to you.

 

[aliengabes]

I feel as if some information is missing or not clear to me. What are the rumours and/or phenomenon? Why do you think that what you heard and saw were the same phenomenon?

I happened to overhear a few people discussing the "buzz jets." I found this particularly unusual, so I included it in my post because I had never heard of those things before. I don't necessarily think that the "buzz jets" were what I experienced, I just thought it was important to include in case there's a connection. When I spoke with my father following the incident, he just dismissed it as "another one of them buzz jets." When I inquired, he told me the "jets" appeared in the sky every once in a while but that they were harmless. Oakford is a small town, and once a rumor is started, everyone sorta jumps on board. Is it possible that someone had seen what I had and dubbed them "buzz jets?" Yes, I believe so.

 

[Swifty]

Hey, I am new to this forum, and this is my very first post, but I hope I can bring something interesting to the table. I have an image of two UFOs which was taken about a month ago in Illinois. I was born there, but live in California now. I visited my hometown in April to catch up with some old friends and family. During my stay, I became aware of several rumours about so-called “buzz-jets,” something I had never heard of before. I asked around, and learned that this was the name given to a particular phenomenon apparently unique to the area. As I stated earlier, I grew up there, and I hadn’t heard of this at all in my entire life. Granted, it had been almost a decade since I had last visited, but this still seemed quite odd to me. One night, at around 9:45 PM, I was trying to catch up on some work in my childhood room, and I began to feel a rumbling sensation which was definitely coming from outside. I decided to go check it out, and I brought a flashlight with me as I stepped out into the backyard. As it turns out, there was no need for a flashlight since the entire sky was lit up in a weird yellow hue. If that’s not strange enough, the rumbling feeling strengthened and I could hear a high-pitched buzz. I took a seat on my back porch and observed the anomaly. The following events occurred in this order:

10:00 PM - I could feel a strange electrical stimulation, almost like some sort of static energy.
10:02 PM - The high-pitched buzz got much louder, painfully so, and I went back into the house to call my father’s phone (who had gone out for the night). The line went dead, and I tried my younger step-brother (who had also gone out with some friends), but his number wasn’t working either. It was apparent that this phenomenon had somehow screwed up the phone.
10:10 PM - I stepped back outside. The noise and the rumbling had dulled, and the yellow hue in the sky had dimmed.
10:15 PM - The odd occurrences completely stopped. The sky appeared as normal as ever. I decided to go back to work in my room and ask my father about it in the morning. No strange noises for the rest of the night.
7:50 AM - I woke up to another rumbling noise. Assuming it was another anomaly, I stepped outside, this time with my phone. When I looked up into the sky, however, I could see the cause of the rumbling: it was just an airplane. I was obviously quite disappointed and I started to head back inside, when I noticed some unfamiliar movements in the sky. Behind the plane, I could make out two black shapes which were constantly darting about. I watched them for some time, and realized that they moved in an almost perfect pattern. The shapes would hold a position near the tail end of the plane, and then dart back and forth from the front to the rear. They were visibly much faster than the plane, but they seemed to prefer staying behind it. Luckily, I managed to snap a few pictures with my phone. Whenever I tried taking a video, though, the quality wasn’t quite as good, and you couldn’t really see the shapes.

Attached is my best photo, where you can clearly see two black shapes behind the aircraft. I will happily answer any questions you have regarding this incident. Thanks for your time!

Buzz jets and their behaviour as you've described it is reminiscent of the Foo Fighter phenomena of WW2 (and hello btw )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_fighter

Further discussion on foo fighter phenomenon has been moved to the Foo Fighters thread:

https://forums.forteana.org/index.php?threads/foo-fighters.515/

 

[EnolaGaia]

Agreed. I haven't heard of any military bases or facilities around Oakford, but I do know that there is an airbase in Springfield. I, personally haven't been there. I will research this topic more extensively, though, and get back to you.

There's an Air National Guard base in Peoria (circa 40 miles away) operating C-130's.

The Springfield airfield (circa 30 - 40 miles distant) is also an Air National Guard base. Its previous (F-16) fighter wing ops were discontinued years ago.

Oakford is circa 100 miles north of Scott AFB, which has a lot of heavy lifter (transports; tankers) traffic.

 

[EnolaGaia]

... 10:15 PM - The odd occurrences completely stopped. The sky appeared as normal as ever. I decided to go back to work in my room and ask my father about it in the morning. ...

Did you follow up with your father (or any other locals) about the nighttime rumbling and glow?

 

[James_H]

Yes, at first they do seem to somewhat resemble large birds. However, I watched them dart around the plane at tremendous speeds. On several occasions, they got ahead of the plane. I am not familiar with bird species capable of achieving these speeds, but perhaps it is possible.

It might be possible if they [whatever objects they were] were actually closer to the camera than the plane, and only appeared to be at the same distance as the plane.

 

[Newt]

Nice pic!

You say it was the best. Are the objects visible on any of the others?
If so, can we see them, please? Even if they are not as clear as that one.

 

[aliengabes]

Did you follow up with your father (or any other locals) about the nighttime rumbling and glow?

I did ask my father, but as I said in an earlier reply, he simply dismissed the incident as another "buzz jet" phenomenon. I left for California (where I currently live) shortly after. I am now planning another trip to Oakford, this time with cameras and stuff to see if I can record any more strange occurrences.

 

[aliengabes]

Nice pic!

You say it was the best. Are the objects visible on any of the others?
If so, can we see them, please? Even if they are not as clear as that one.

By best, I meant visible. Unfortunately, the other pictures are either too blurry or the shapes can't even be seen.

 

[aliengabes]

It might be possible if they [whatever objects they were] were actually closer to the camera than the plane, and only appeared to be at the same distance as the plane.

The objects were higher than the plane. I know this because when they darted about, they would cross above the plane, where they were no longer visible to me at my position (on the ground).

 

[James_H]

The objects were higher than the plane. I know this because when they darted about, they would cross above the plane, where they were no longer visible to me at my position (on the ground).

So they went behind it from your point of view?

 

[Zeke Newbold]

I am going to be the only one gracious enough to say that you did a good job to get the picture that you did. I know how hard it is to get a shot of something at short notice - particularly with a phone camera. (I have posted on here somewhere about my failed attempts to get a shot of a high altitude surveillance drone over Moscow). I am not at all as surprised, as some people pretend to be, that there are not many good UFO pictures out there.

But the `buzz jets` part of your story really does bother me. It sems to me that, in this day and age, if there were going to be local rumours about unknown airborne stuff then this would default onto UFOs - not onto some known technology - unless people had a sound reason to believe otherwise.

Then, from your description, everyone seems so offhand and opaque about it. If someone had said to me: `Oh, it must have been one of those buzz jets` then my next question would be: `So what are these `buzz jets` exactly?` - and I'd want chapter and verse.

Then again I've never lived in an American small town - or indeed in any small town - so maybe people do things differently there.

But if you go back, as you seem to be promising, to, to that town - find out something about the `buzz jets`, for god sake!

None of this is a criticism of your excellent post.

 

[blessmycottonsocks]

During test flights, new aircraft sometimes trail tethered objects resembling large shuttlecocks behind them, in order to measure performance and monitor air flow. Could this be a possible explanation?

https://www.aeronewstv.com/mobile/1218-this-strange-shuttlecock-hanging-off-the-tail.html

 

[IbisNibs]

I was going to suggest drones flying at lower altitude than the plane, until you wrote, aliengabes, that sometimes the objects were obscured by the plane. Experimental devices from an AFB make the most sense to me. In the 80s (I think--it was a really long time ago!) an acquaintance described missile like objects flying parallel to the ground in some remote desert area near a highway late at night. When there was a bump in the terrain, the missiles went up, and when the terrain went down, the missiles did too. It sounded super freaky and impossible at the time. That was before the first Gulf War when missiles made 90 degree turns to go down chimneys.

As for the offhand and opaque descriptions, that's consistent with my experience of much American conversation (I'm American, remember). I'm often shocked at how inarticulate people here often are. It has nothing to do with their intelligence. Smart as well as stupid people have difficulty describing anything in detail detail and articulating their opinions. I think they're just not very engaged with their own language, have never cultivated much of a vocabulary, and are unaccustomed to having to explain things to people who don't share many similar experiences with them. I get bored eavesdropping!

 

[EnolaGaia]

... In the 80s (I think--it was a really long time ago!) an acquaintance described missile like objects flying parallel to the ground in some remote desert area near a highway late at night. When there was a bump in the terrain, the missiles went up, and when the terrain went down, the missiles did too. It sounded super freaky and impossible at the time. That was before the first Gulf War when missiles made 90 degree turns to go down chimneys. ...

This is entirely consistent with testing the earliest operational cruise missiles (i.e., the Tomahawks employed in the 1991 Gulf War). For most of their inbound flight these missiles relied on terrain contour matching - i.e., "strictly following the script" of a digital linear elevation specification representing the terrain beneath the intended route (all pre-recorded based on GPS and high-resolution radar mapping data).

... Experimental devices from an AFB make the most sense to me. ...

Basic flight testing of an experimental or prototype air platform would not be conducted over rural Illinois. However, tests or exercises involving novel tech, equipment, or procedures (on or with operational air platforms) would be fair game over inhabited areas east of the Mississippi.

 

[EnolaGaia]

During test flights, new aircraft sometimes trail tethered objects resembling large shuttlecocks behind them, in order to measure performance and monitor air flow. Could this be a possible explanation? ...

Three other categories of such tethered / towed equipment come to mind:

- Trailing drogues used on aerial refueling tankers
- Towed sensor pods (analogous to towed sonar units in the marine context)
- Towed platforms used as electronically-detectable targets for exercise / training purposes

Tethered / towed outboard objects might account for the appearance of smaller objects trailing the larger aircraft, but they wouldn't reasonably explain the darting motions and scope of travel (e.g., out in front of the larger aircraft).

 

[Carl Grove]

I am going to be the only one gracious enough to say that you did a good job to get the picture that you did. I know how hard it is to get a shot of something at short notice - particularly with a phone camera. (I have posted on here somewhere about my failed attempts to get a shot of a high altitude surveillance drone over Moscow). I am not at all as surprised, as some people pretend to be, that there are not many good UFO pictures out there.

But the `buzz jets` part of your story really does bother me. It sems to me that, in this day and age, if there were going to be local rumours about unknown airborne stuff then this would default onto UFOs - not onto some known technology - unless people had a sound reason to believe otherwise.

Then, from your description, everyone seems so offhand and opaque about it. If someone had said to me: `Oh, it must have been one of those buzz jets` then my next question would be: `So what are these `buzz jets` exactly?` - and I'd want chapter and verse.

Then again I've never lived in an American small town - or indeed in any small town - so maybe people do things differently there.

But if you go back, as you seem to be promising, to, to that town - find out something about the `buzz jets`, for god sake!

None of this is a criticism of your excellent post.

I agree with all of that! And especially about the difficulties of getting photos with camera phones -- I struggle to see the image on the viewing screen anyway, but as they always have ultra wide angle lenses getting a sharp image (in my case, trying to get a shot of the strange clover leaf device at the rear of a plane that had been laying chem trails in my area) is all but impossible. And the local attitude about buzz jets is a bit strange. I don't think that people would (as is often claimed) immediately jump to the UFO conclusion, but it might be possible that some locals have a job at a base or facility that is involved in some project, or know someone who has, and that some info has got out. Well worth following up.
And the strange atmospheric phenomena that the witness saw and heard the day before the plane and small objects appeared have been somewhat forgotten now, but they could also be highly significant.