Illinois Man Reports Seeing Black Triangle With 6 Lights

Illinois has one of the busiest airspaces as numerous planes cross the state daily, but one resident who's familiar with what normal craft look like saw something bizarre recently. He said it was a black triangle that had 6 lights underneath it and he's never seen anything like it before.

According to his eyewitness report shared to the National UFO Reporting Center site, this close encounter happened late at night on July 9. 2026 at approximately 11:43pm near Normal, Illinois. Here are his exact words of what he witnessed:

"Stargazing out of my window when i saw a triangle airplane thing. never seen anything like it before. had six big lights on the bottom...Still confused on if I'm crazy or if what i saw was real. i stargaze a bunch and I've never seen something like that before I've seen planes and military stuff fly over my town here and there but never that. it was slightly below airplane elevation. could see it almost clearly."

There might be an explanation of what this man near Normal, Illinois witnessed. There is documentation of a secret military project involving a craft known as the TR-3B Black Manta. Aerospace Global News said it's "A black triangular-shaped object with bright lights has been reported to hover at low altitudes and vanish like a state change". I have to wonder if this aircraft might be connected to Scott Air Force Base in Illinois? There's no way to know, but with Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and Scott Air Force Base in Illinois, it would not be shocking if military tests on a secret aircraft might happen over Illinois. As it stands right now, there's no confirmation from the military so this report remains an unidentified aerial phenomena.