Navy Confirms UFOs: Could The Tinley Park Lights Be Real?

TINLEY PARK, IL — The U.S. Navy confirmed this week that the strange objects pilots captured on video and publicly reported in 2017 are, indeed, unidentified flying objects. That acknowledgement from the government begs the question: Could the curious lights Tinley Park residents reported seeing over the years really be UFOs?

Here's the backstory. The Navy acknowledged these objects last week to The Black Vault, a blog that publishes declassified government documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests.

“The Navy designates the objects contained in these videos as unidentified aerial phenomena," Joseph Gradisher, official spokesperson for the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare, told The Black Vault.

Officials don't like the term UFO — you know, little green men in saucers and all — so they use "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," or UAP.

Gradisher explained they use the phrase "because it provides the basic descriptor for the sightings/observations of unauthorized/unidentified aircraft/objects that have been observed entering/operating in the airspace of various military-controlled training ranges." So they aren't saying what these thing are, but are saying that they exist.

The images The Black Vault and the Navy are referring to were published two years ago by The New York Times and by To The Stars Academy of Arts and Science. The latter was founded by former Blink-182 guitarist Tom DeLonge. They show three videos referred to as “FLIR1,” “Gimbal” and “GoFast.” FLIR1 shows footage captured by a US navy F/A-18 Super Hornet in what is known as the 2004 Nimitz incident near San Diego. The other two were shot in 2015. In the New York Times story, U.S. governmental officials acknowledged they have been studying UFOs for years.

That brings us back to Tinley Park. The village has been home to at least 168 sightings between 2001 and 2015. There have been so many that Tinley Park is famous for it.

In 2004, people living in the village and the surrounding communities of Orland Park, Frankfort, Oak Forest, Mokena and Evergreen Park reported several sightings of three lights in a triangular pattern. Those sightings became so famous they were dubbed "Tinley Park Lights." The History Channel even featured Tinley's lights on an episode of UFO Hunters in 2008. A 2015 map purported to show that the south suburbs was a hot bed for sightings.

Over the years, as the lights reappeared in different formations, people have searched for explanations for them — or tried to debunk sightings. Ozzfest had just ended after one 2004 sighting, so people suggested the lights might be associated with that. In 2013, some people attributed the lights to sky lanterns, but the state banned those fireworks earlier that year. Former Patch writer Joe Vince offered a tongue-in-cheek explanation: "maybe it has to do with the Tinley Park Village Board approving a measure last month that allows Santa Claus to land in the village Christmas Eve." [Note: The links in that article no longer work. You can send your videos to tinleypark@patch.com.]

Whatever the case, even today, Tinley residents say they can clearly remember seeing the triangle of lights, and some can even remember exactly what they were doing when they saw them.

"Me, my husband and the kids stood in the driveway and watched them. That was about 15 years ago," Tinley resident Maria Pascale Allen told Patch in a message on Facebook. "I called the police and she told me she was getting a lot of calls about this. Pretty awesome!!!"

Doug Veres recalled that he was out enjoying the night "at a block party on 169th and Olcott when they flew over," he said.

You can read scores of other memories on our Facebook page.

So what were these things and what does the Navy's statement mean for the Tinley sightings?

We reached out to Sam Maranto, director of the Illinois Mutual UFO Network to find out.

"Yes, it isn't a secret that the video presented was apparently authentic," he wrote in an email to Patch. "Even though not a full version of the incidents nor the best quality it validated the accounts of those Navy personnel who witnessed these events."

"What most folks are forgetful of is the fact that the mass sighting in Tinley Park on Oct. 31, 2004 was just days before the Nimitz encounters," he added.

Maranto couldn't speak fully to Patch Friday. But he did agree to an interview Monday and promised photos. Stay tuned for what he has to say.

In the meantime, feel free to email memories, photos and videos to tinleypark@patch.com.

Maybe these sightings will give new meaning to "Life Amplified."