What’s on my mind? A couple of days ago, the story below appeared in The New York Times. Scroll past its many annoying ads: The final sentence starts with “Incidents tapered off...”
Many of you will have variations of stories not unlike my own true experience. Until I spoke to my children and to Himself earlier today, I’ve never told anyone what I saw. I don’t know why. I just never have.
On a clear summer’s day in the late 1960s, my former husband and I saw an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO). Alan Strickland and I were driving along a quiet road in central British Columbia, Canada, when we encountered the classic flat-bottomed dome in space movies of the day. Alan has since died or he’d verify my words.
We immediately pulled to the shoulder of the road to watch it hang, motionless, in the sky. We didn’t leave the car. We were too astonished to move.
With no reference points such as buildings or trees, it was impossible to tell how near or far the UFO was. I can’t estimate its size, but it was close enough that I can say with certainty we saw no openings one might consider windows or doors. It appeared to be metal … I can’t remember if it was shiny or dull, but its surface was clean and undimpled.
Math isn’t my strong suit: I’m confident I could still draw the angle it was at, but have no idea how to state the number of degrees that angle was. The craft was soundless. We felt no fear.
My best guess is that the UFO hung there seven-to-10 seconds after we spotted it. It suddenly took off faster than anything I’ve ever seen - without a sound and on an angle, rather than vertically. It disappeared in (I’m guessing) two seconds. There was no slow start, as with a car. It instantly moved from zero to zip. I’ve seen US Airforce jets; This was faster. My memory of most of this is clear and distinct.
In 1967, Alan saw another UFO in the sky above the prairie in Manitoba, Canada. If he described it at the time, I don’t remember what he said. I, too, saw a second UFO, also in the late 1960s. Oddly, especially for something so unusual and presumably memorable, I have no idea where, when, or with whom I saw it, or what it looked like. Zero. All I know is that I saw a second UFO, and wasn’t dreaming. Once again, I felt no fear.
I’m a rational, science-based person. I have no idea what UFOs are, or from where they originate, but I firmly believe in their existence. For reasons unknown to me, I’ve never told anyone - not even (while they were alive) my parents, or (until today) my children, or my close friends.
Nor did Alan ever say one word about what he’d seen. He and I didn’t even discuss it between ourselves, other than his report to me that he’d seen a UFO in rural Manitoba.
I haven’t thought about what we saw for more than 50 years. My son directed me to the NYT story only after I thought to tell my children about this experience earlier today.
Two days ago, I had a minor medical procedure in a Canadian hospital. I always marvel that a patient can be compos mentis one minute, unconscious the next, and - unaware of pain and the passage of time - then fully awake, with no memory of a procedure that may have taken several hours. Question: Could something similar be at work with UFO sightings?
My son suspects the question has shifted from “Are they there?” to “Who and what are they?” Rationalism aside, I suspect he’s right.
© Nicole Parton, 2019
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