Fox Flashback: Suburban Chicago couple spots mysterious object over I-80 in 1997
Fox Flashback: Suburban Chicago couple spots mysterious object over I-80 in 1997
A Tinley Park couple’s report of a slow-moving, fiery object over I-80 in 1997 sparked emergency calls, an official search, and lingering questions about what they really saw in the sky.
NEW LENOX, Ill. - This story was originally reported by Fox 32's Dane Placko on April, 12, 1997.
What we know:
Tim Janecyk and his girlfriend were driving west on I-80 near New Lenox on Sunday evening when they saw it.
"It lasted for about 20 seconds," Janecyk said. "It had broken through the clouds there."
"A fireball, I would say. A circular round object, very large, the size of a full moon," his girlfriend said.
Janecyk showed Fox 32 the sketches he made in his journal just hours after it happened.
"This red ball of fire. And this tremendous smoke column coming out of it. And it was moving down from the clouds. Maybe 15 seconds later, it appeared to be like this," he said.
The object disappeared behind the tree line about three miles away. The couple, who own and manage a coffee shop in nearby Tinley Park, got off the interstate and called 911 to report a possible plane crash.
The Will County Sheriff's Department received several calls from people that saw something similar in this area, thinking that it might be a downed plane. They sent out both a ground search team and a plane over the area and found absolutely nothing.
The Federal Aviation Administration told the couple they'd probably witnessed a large meteor streaking through the atmosphere.
"I don't think it was a meteor because it was going so slow," Janecyk's girlfriend said.
So Janecyk called a national hotline number for UFO sightings, and within hours, news of the mystery had spread across the country.
"Not making speculation that you know this was ET, this was a craft from another planet. We saw a phenomenon that I have never seen anything like that before," Janecyk said.
"I'll never forget it. It was just, it was really amazing," his girlfriend said.
The Source: This archival story was first reported by Dane Placko on April, 12, 1997, after conducting interviews with witnesses and the Will County Sheriff's Department.