My Two Possible UFO Sightings

[Derik]

I was listening to the past Sunday's paracast podcast and both Gene and Chris stated that they hadn't seen the Nevada/Phoenix/Arizona (whatever you want to call them) lights back in the mid 90's (I forget the year). I was stationed at MCAS Yuma AZ when that event took place. Me and my Marine bros were taking it easy and drinking a few brews on the ladderwell attached to our barracks (north end). It was just sunset when we saw the lights appear. It was a while back so the memory is a bit hazy, but I seem to remember them appearing a couple or maybe one at a time (maybe a few at a time). I don't think they appeared all at once. They moved extremely slowly across the sky. I mean, I remember watching them for at least an hour. Again my memory is hazy, so forgive me if my mind is tossing in details. It started in the northwestern sky, and they couldn't have been more than a low cloud height. Maybe a few thousand feet, I am not sure, they were pretty far away. If they were about 10 to 15 miles away (arizona is pretty dang flat between the foothill areas), then the thing had to have been a half mile to a mile wide. I am not good at judging distances in the sky, we were only really taught to visually estimate ground target distances.

It was pretty exciting, but no one really went too nuts over the ordeal because that whole area is a training ground for all types of craft (the area between camp pendleton CA and phoenix, AZ). So that was my second sighting of a UFO. I have heard folks on your program try to explain what the definition of UFO is and how it actually ties to flying saucers or some such nonsense. I am using the literal definition of "unidentified flying object". It was in the air, and I couldn't identify it, nor could anyone else. I seem to remember some politician (maybe the AZ gov at the time?) stating that they would get to the bottom of this. But then I never heard about it again.

My very first possible sighting was over Palmyra Missouri when I was a teen (late 80's). We were playing basketball out behind our house at around 9 PM when these clouds moved in and we saw what looked like riverboat lights shooting up into the clouds. The spots were moving in a circular pattern and it was east, so we thought it was just coming from the Mississippi river. Then they moved over the house and farther west. No way it could be a boat. The lights were large circles against the clouds, as if someone was shining a light into the clouds, but there was no beam coming from the ground that we could see (can't really tell anyway without fog). They were fuzzy edged, so either they were coming from within/above the cloud, or from below, reflecting on the cloud. They were turning in a perfect circular pattern, and evenly spaced. That's it. That's my experience with possible UFO sightings.

 

[Muadib]

Thanks for taking the time to write that up and welcome to the forum. It's always interesting to read about the personal experiences of new members, or even some that have been here for awhile. I also have a problem with tying the word UFO to flying saucers as it seems a bit prejudicial, but to each their own. Anyway, welcome, and I hope you enjoy your time here.

 

[ProphetofOccam]

I noticed that, for your Phoenix lights story, you were careful to express that you are aware that your memory of the events might be a little hazy -- that you could be adding information in retrospect. Comparatively, your second story, from your teens, seemed much more matter-of-fact and self sure. is this a misinterpretation on my end?

If not, I think it's interesting. Did the event from your teens become an issue of family/friend lore for a while following the event?

I've seen this a lot in the personal experiences section. Adulthood stories, especially those that happened within the last 15 or so years, are treated with much greater reservation and skepticism than stories being told, by the same people, from childhood or adolescence. I always wonder if it's because the experiences from youth are initially processed with much less skepticism to begin with and are then sensationalized through friend/family recounting of the tale as the years go on, until the event is an established part of family/friend lore.

I've seen this happen with mundane stories in the non-cyberspace world, as well. It's an interesting thing to witness.

Do you feel like there is a difference between the way you told your Phoenix lights story and the way you told the story from your teens? Do you feel differently about the two stories? If you agree with my assessment that you seemed much more sure and stable regarding your telling of the much older story, why do you think you might remember that story more clearly than the one from much more recently? If you don't, then, i guess, forget that question.

 

[Derik]

[Edit] Sorry I replied thinking you were referring to the ghost story that I submitted. You were referring to the lights I saw nearly above my house. Yeah I am not sure why I remember this one so clearly. Maybe because beer wasn't involved? Lol. Sorry about that. I am getting my forum posts confused. lol. I deleted my original reply because it was about a different story.

 

[ProphetofOccam]

Keeping track of similar threads can get momentarily confusing, at times. I appreciate the response, all the same.

 

[Derik]

I seriously think that my "I don't care" attitude at the time when I was in my early 20's factored into not really remembering a lot of details about the Arizona lights. Also I was probably a good bit buzzed at the time, as we were drinking beer. When I saw lights near my house, I don't really remember the details about that other than I was outside playing basketball at night (we had the deck light on), and I saw the lights initially thinking they were riverboat lights. They moved more inland so I knew it couldn't be a boat, but they still could have been coming from the ground I suppose. The clouds seemed pretty low. It seems that when I remember things, I don't remember them in exact crystal clear chronological order. It's more like highlights. Maybe certain highlights stick in ones head better than others. I am not sure. I assume others remember things like this as well. As time passes our brains tend to stick fillers in between the highlights. At least that's my experience. Anything beyond a year or so for me is sketchy at best I think, unless it was a traumatizing incident.

 

[Randall]

I have heard folks on your program try to explain what the definition of UFO is and how it actually ties to flying saucers or some such nonsense. I am using the literal definition of "unidentified flying object". It was in the air, and I couldn't identify it, nor could anyone else.

If you don't mean UFO when you use of the words unidentified flying object, then the phrase "unidentified aerial phenomena" works well. It doesn't imply that what you saw wasn't natural or manmade and would save you the time of having to explain you don't mean a UFO ( alien craft ... flying saucer ... etc ). Interesting story. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Stagger Lee]

Sadly, the Az gov dismissed the sighting- going so far as to mock it- when he himself admits now to watching a strange craft fly over him while in a park. If I'm not mistaken, I think he was at the park looking for those "lights" when his sighting occured.
He had an opportunity, being gov, to make an issue of these events- even if it meant political suicide. I suppose he only "came out" when it was safe to do so.