Springfield, Illinois: Police chief and state troopers watch object eject glowing pieces

At 3:15 a.m., Waverly police chief Robert Shoemaker, truck driver Pat Cray and Jacksonville newspaper worker Ralph Noe were near the Illinois State Police District 9 headquarters south of Springfield when they noticed an object moving slowly across the sky, with "a white light in the middle and green and red flashing lights on each side." District 9 officers had spotted it first, and Auburn police, called in, also confirmed the lights. About four times the object appeared to shoot out things resembling "meteorites" that fell toward the ground and burned out. Shoemaker watched the blinking lights for about an hour and 45 minutes. State police observed them through binoculars and suggested an airplane or helicopter, but FAA officials at Capital Airport said their tower was not in contact with any aircraft in the area. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.