Illinois Family Looking for Northern Lights, Sees UFO Instead

Thanks to recent solar storms, the Northern Lights have been visible over Illinois somewhat frequently. A family was out looking for the brilliant colors of the Aurora Borealis recently, but instead saw a strange light in the sky they cannot explain. Oh, and they have video to prove it, too.

According to the National UFO Reporting Center, this encounter of the Illinois kind happened the night of January 19, 2026 near Scales Mound, Illinois. The eyewitness report shared from a family in Illinois explains what they saw overhead:

"My son and I went out to see if we could see the aurora borealis tonight as we heard it would be visible after dark. After a few moments a purple orb appeared, NE of our home and nothing else was visible in the sky. It moved very quickly around the sky, would disappear then come back and was pulsating. It was definitely not a plane or a rocket and made no sound."

They said it appeared like a purple orb and it's quick movement and pulsating was unlike any plane they are aware of. They also said the object was visible to the northeast. I checked a map of their location compared to O'Hare International Airport and Scales Mound is almost directly west. Looking to the northeast would not likely be a flying object from O'Hare, but maybe Milwaukee?

Even though the object they saw would have been toward Milwaukee in the distance, that still doesn't explain the fact that they saw a pulsating purple light. You can watch the video they captured of the object on their official NUFORC report.