He went about his business, and when he was sure that the course was OK, he headed back to his truck to go home.
The light that he had seen earlier was now even brighter and bigger than ever. He began to watch the object, and soon, it appeared to moving toward his location.
As the unknown object came closer, Knoll could see red lights beaming to the ground. He estimated the size of the object to be as tall as a two-story building, and as long as a football field! He could even see windows, and the inside of the object, which was lit up. The object moved very slowly toward the southwest, making not a sound as it made its way through the cold night.
Knoll raced to the Highland Police Department to report what he had seen, and to possibly get a second witness to this sighting. He told the dispatcher what he had seen, and she radioed ahead to the next location southwest of Highland, which was St. Clair County. After receiving the report, St. Clair in turn reported the event to the Lebanon Police Department.
At 4:10 AM, a Lebanon policeman saw a bright object which seemed to be sitting still in midair. He could see two distinct lights.
He turned on his car's flashing lights, and headed southeast, hoping to get a closer look at the UFO. He watched the object as he drove, and soon he noted that the two lights had merged into one.
The policeman reported his sighting to St. Clair County Emergency Dispatch, giving the object's direction, and requested that an alert be sent to Millstadt, and Dupo. The city of Millstadt would be the location of the next report, from Officer Craig A. Stevens. Stevens filed the following official report:
"On January 5, 2000 at approximately 4:28 AM, I , Officer Craig A. Stevens was on Patrol in the Village of Millstadt. I was monitoring radio traffic when I heard a report via CENCOM, that the Highland Police Department had a report of a large object flying in the air. CENCOM dispatched Lebanon P.D. to respond. I heard Lebanon state, 'Is the guy 10-55?' (drunk)
Later I heard Lebanon state that he observed the object, and that it headed in the direction of Shiloh, and to have Shiloh P.D. be on the lookout for it. I then heard that Shiloh had spotted the object.
I drove to the east end of town to see if I could observe the object. Then I drove to the north end of town, in the Liederkranz Park parking lot. While I was sitting there, I observed a very large flying object coming from a southward direction. The object was flying very low from 500 to 1000 ft., and was flying very slowly. The object was making no noise. I could only hear a very low decibel buzzing sound.
Then the object began banking to a northeast direction, and continued to cruise away from me toward the area of Dupo. I contacted dispatch, and advised them that I had spotted the object. I exited the patrol car, and took the Polaroid camera from the trunk, and attempted to take a picture.
The camera was very cold. The temperature was only approximately 18 to 20 degrees outside, and the picture did not seem to exit the camera properly.
I heard Dupo P.D. advise CENCOM that they quite possibly observed the object, but it was at a very high altitude."
The sightings over Illinois would soon become headline news, not only locally, but across the entire world. The object/objects were seen in Lebanon, Shiloh, Dupo, and Millstadt, with the later receiving as many as 20 reports per day for several days.
Chief Ed Wilkerson posted his officers' report on the department's web site, along with drawings and photo. The media attention was so overwhelming that Wilkerson curtailed all press requests, stating the operations of the Police Department were being interfered with.
"It's going to affect policing if we don't put a stop to it," he said. "I never thought anything like this would draw this much attention. Well, at least it puts Millstadt on the map."
The objects seen over Illinois in 2000 have never been explained adequately. The sightings have been the subject of many television shows, and investigations by various UFO groups.