BECK: OK, illegal aliens may be a serious problem on our southern border and on the northern border, but what about the aliens who may be crossing another border? Oh, yes, the border above. That`s right.

We`re talking about outer space, aliens, extraterrestrials, Latoya Jackson, you know, you know, they`re here, they`re among us. More and more people believe that space aliens may be coming.

Now listen to this story, because this is an actual news story. This isn`t like out of the "Weekly World News." Chicago O`Hare`s airport recently -- the United Airlines employees claim they observed a flying saucer-like object hovering low over the terminal for several minutes before bolting through the thick clouds with such ferocity that it actually left like a creepy hole in the cloudy skies overhead.

So what was it? A hoax? An alien attack? Were they observing us? Is this a military operation? What was it?

Joining us now is UFO historian Richard Dolan and the guy who actually broke the story. His name is John Hilkevitch. He is from Chicago and the "Chicago Tribune."

John, let me start with you. The UFO witnesses in Chicago, they`re not nuts, are they? They are like really fine, upstanding people?

JON HILKEVITCH, "CHICAGO TRIBUNE": And they`re very serious about this. They`re all United Airlines employees, ranging from pilots to supervisors, who heard chatter about this on the radio and raced out and saw it in the sky, aircraft mechanics, veterans of O`Hare who have been there for a long time, know how lights can play tricks in the sky, and they say this wasn`t that. This was a real, metallic, gray object, low in the sky, and they want answers.

BECK: OK, do you believe them? Do you believe that they believe it or -- do you believe that they really saw what they think they saw?

HILKEVITCH: I believe that what they`re reporting -- and it is real, and they were concerned about safety. They`re not necessarily saying that this is a craft from another galaxy...

BECK: Sure.

HILKEVITCH: ... but they`re saying this is an unidentified flying object, low in the sky over the world`s second-busiest airport. It could pose a collision risk, who knows, a security risk, in this era of post- 9/11. And they...

BECK: Now, let me go to Richard here. I`m sorry to interrupt. But let me go to Richard for just a second and ask you, because isn`t this the same kind of thing that, when we had the new stealth fighters out, everybody was saying, "It`s an alien spacecraft." No, it`s just a secret military aircraft that we hadn`t announced for years in advance.

Is there a possibility that you think that this is just some sort of military aircraft that we haven`t released that we have?

RICHARD DOLAN, UFO HISTORIAN: Sure, anything is possible, Glenn. But if you want to go that route, then I think what you need to do, to be honest about it, is go back through the decades and, indeed, generations of reports that we`ve collected of these types of objects that people have been seeing.

And let me just add that this is a phenomenon that not simply civilian people have been dealing with, but U.S. military personnel had been encountering what appear to be UFOs -- I don`t know what else you would call them -- objects that military pilots have frequently said are disc- shaped, that look exotic, that behave in unusual ways, and that have violated sensitive airspace time and again for many, many years.

So if this is a secret, covert project, as many people have speculated, it seems to be going on in a rather confrontational, provocative way, and that really doesn`t have any explanation.

BECK: All right. So, John, you think that this is -- there was some sort of a cover-up. At least the FAA was not real honest with you when you first asked, right?

HILKEVITCH: Well, yes. I went to the FAA, and they said they have no reports of this at all. I put in a Freedom of Information Act request, and then they got back to me several days later, saying that, in reviewing the communication tapes at O`Hare, they did come across chatter involving this object, and that a United supervisor contacted the FAA manager in the tower and asked that they, the controllers, had seen anything unusual.

Also, United Airlines told me that they had no reports of this, even though the fact is that they were interviewing up to a dozen employees who reported observing this, asking them to write reports, draw pictures.

After my story broke on Monday, United said, "Well, yes, we have been talking to these employees."

BECK: OK, so, Richard, why would United, why would the FAA -- give me an explanation why these guys would be hiding this stuff?

DOLAN: Well, I mean, one reason just might be that they`re embarrassed to come out and say that, "Oh, yes, you know, we`ve got this UFO hanging out over O`Hare and we don`t know what to do about it."

Let`s face it. If you`re running a large corporation or a bureaucracy, the last thing you want to do is stick your neck out on an issue like this. And so it doesn`t surprise me at all. And, in fact, this is, again, part of a long history.

FAA, as well, has not always been forthcoming over many, many alleged cases. I mean, witnesses have seen these very bizarre things for years and years. And it`s very tough to get a straight answer out of a lot of government agencies or other corporate bodies.

BECK: All right. And then, John, let me go back to you and ask -- I mean, jeez, I saw Saddam Hussein hung with a cell phone camera. How come there`s no pictures? Are there pictures? Is there video? Is there anything? Here it is, over Chicago and O`Hare Airport, how come we don`t see any visuals?

HILKEVITCH: Well, pictures haven`t emerged yet, but I`m told that the flight crew that was being pushed back, one of the pilots did open the wind screen, look out, did identify this object, and he had a digital camera. He may have taken some pictures.

We`re also hearing other reports that there may have been photographs from camera phones and such that United Airlines may be aware of this. And I`m working -- believe me -- to find these witnesses...

BECK: OK, if anybody has information on those witnesses, how do they get a hold of you?

HILKEVITCH: Gosh, [email]

BECK: Yes, I mean, if you`ve got pictures, man, send them in, because I`d like to see them, too. Thank you so much, guys. Appreciate it.