Unidentified

Here's one of the biggies.

Anyone who knows me well enough to stop by this site probably already knows this story. Or if you don't, you DO know that I'm a natural-born skeptic, the kind of person who is generally inclined to disbelieve tales of supernatural stuff.

On May 10, 2003, Kelli and I were vacationing in Florida, in the Destin area. Beaches, seafood, naps, more beaches... it was our first vacation since THEBOY was born in 2000, and it was exactly what we needed.

That windy night we hit the beach at about 9pm. I smoked a cheap cigar and lay there with Kelli. We were flat on our backs, just staring through the light haze at the stars.

At about 9:30pm we saw this faint red light shoot across the sky. What follows is a transcription of the notes we wrote in the hotel room after we left the beach that night:

(My handwriting)
Half moon
Lying on our backs. Big Dipper almost directly overhead. Moon SW of it.

1st: Saw it go east to west rapidly. Thought it was a shooting star. Very faint red hue. No contrail, etc. Considered possibility it was satellite.

2nd: (Approximately) 10 min later I saw it go west-east briefly, then u-turned quickly & went back west. Much faster than a plane; we'd just seen one & could compare. Plane left visible vapor trail. (The red light) disappeared, going west.

3rd: (Approximately) 10-15 minutes later. Appeared below Big Dipper. Zig-zagged north, turned around, did s-curves & quickly went west out of sight.

4th: 10-15 min--went all over: Below Big Dipper. All over the place. Turns, stops, zig-zags, went north, stopped, came back south, stopped then went straight east.

5th: 15-20 min later. Big Dipper area again. A little slower--went east to west in a gentle arc, straightened & went west.

(We then went back to the hotel room, a few hundred yards behind where we'd been lying. What follows is in Kelli's handwriting.)

6th: 11:30 (pm)-- appeared again above us, while we were out on balcony. Watched it go E to W, then stop, and go back and forth, making a few turns.

Brian and I both saw shape a little bit clearer & it definitely has wings, but they don't move nor do they go in same direction as flight. Did move around for a minute or two, then disappeared above us, like it went straight up back into space.

***

The bit about "back into space" was opinion from Kelli. It just looked like it disappeared to me.

On the advice of Kelli's brother, we contacted the Mutual UFO Network, and they took our report. They were quite straightforward, and clearly acted in accordance with their policy of not assuming a thing.

***

We watched this thing together over the course of about two hours.

So that leaves the question, then, of just what the hell that was. I now know that I cannot completely disregard the testimony of some mumu-wearing freak on TV who says he saw a UFO in the sky, because I did too! A UFO, an unidentified flying object.

The area where we stayed is just crawling with military bases. They're all over the place, so this would potentially be a place where military technology is tested. If this is some sort of aircraft or propulsion system that was being tested, let me tell you that it is far more advanced than anything you or I have ever seen before. I don't see how an object could make those maneuvers at that speed without disintegrating, let alone possibly carrying a human. Blinding speed to a dead stop, whiplash turns...

Stunning stuff.

I don't know what the logic in testing something over a well-populated area would be, but then again, visibility was mediocre, and basically you had to be staring up into the darkness like we were to have a chance of seeing this thing.

No one else came down the beach while we were watching it, by the way, or we would have rounded up some witnesses.

And I also cannot completely rule out something extraterrestrial, as much as it pains me to say it. My gut feeling is that it was man-made, but since I don't know that, I also can't assume it's even from this planet.

Okay, so if it was little green ETs, what possible reason could there be for such crazy maneuvering? Is that the intergalactic version of doing donuts?

Were these teenagers, out borrowing Mama Squid's flying disc just to go nuts in the skies and freak out whatever humans happened to look up?

The radical maneuvers fall more logically in line with testing I'd say.

But I just don't know for sure.

***

In the time since then I've found myself looking for it again on clear nights (hell, on hazy nights too). No dice though. It's caused me to re-examine a few things. No, I don't think I'll go to Stonehenge to light incense and listen to Yanni. But it has made me realize that behind some of the fantastic stories we hear are probably more kernels of truth than I'd previously been willing to admit. And that in and of itself is pretty stunning to me.