SIGHTING: PEORIA, ILLINOIS (UNITED STATES)

Witness Testimony

"Roughly late summer/ early fall of '14 on pottstown rd west of peoria, il at 2-3 am. myself and two friends were on a late night burn cruise on the entire length of pottstown road. i have attached a rough map route showing where we were. the object was viewed along the north/west side of the route. the red marker is the location of the airport/air base. i waitnessed roughly 4-6 lights in a rectangular/linear formation hovering about 15-20 feet off the grounds less than 100 yards away. my first thought was "it is a helicopter with a spotlight truss structure underneath gliding across the fields" (i was in engineering school at the time and trusses were in my mind.) i watched them without too much concern as there is a national guard air base nearby and i figured they were out running some sort of operation. i pointed out the lights to my friends and we all watched them as we drove. i rolled down the car window to get a better look and was struck by silence. this was the moment i realized something wasn't right, i got goosebumps and was struck by a feeling of uneasiness. my mind went racing thinking of how something could be flying so close without making any noise. it moved as a helicopter would, gliding roughly 50 mph above the farm fields. it looked like there may be a structure above the lights but it did not reflect the lights below it and behind the pitch black sky i couldn't make out any describable shape. the lights followed the road roughly parallel, gliding behind trees where i could see them twinkling behind the branches. we followed them for a few minuets, dead silent inside the car all watching the lights. eventually they passed behind a modest rolling hill and dissipated entirely. the road eventually passed roughly about where the lights dissipated, and on the road was a herd of 1-2 dozen white tail deer packed 1 ft apart from each other on and around the road. this struck me as extremely odd as i have grown up around white tail deer and have never seen so many at once or so closely packed together. we had to slow down and make them disperse to pass across the road. they seemed alert and awake all standing and looking at us, but not in tail-up threat mode. i have hesitated to share my story because i wasn't sober at the time and the story still gives me goosebumps. one of my friends and i have shared our story years later and our stories match, the other refuses to speak of it. i have decided to share my story with those who may seem interested and would be willing to elaborate or ask my friend any further questions. feedback on what i may have seen would be appreciated. "