The significance is this: An active organizer in
social justice endeavors since the mid-1950s, starting with civil rights and
militant trade unionism in the Southwest where I grew up, I spent a long
period (beginning almost immediately after my marriage (to Eldri) in 1961)
and extending to the latter part of the 60s decade, in the Deep South as a
key organizer in the Southern Civil Rights Movement. During the
academic term, 1968-69, we were glad to spend a pleasant recuperative year
at Coe College, Cedar Rapids, where I taught sociology before going on to
Chicago and four years of rough-and-tough community organizing on the
South/Southwest Side. During that year at Coe, we often drove up to Waterloo
to the K-Mart--myself, Eldri, and our two thus-far children, Maria and John
III. On the way back, we would always sing Kookaburra and remembered
those times fondly--along with many other happy occasions. From Chicago, I
occasionally got over to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City to give talks and, in
1973, we moved to Iowa City where I was attached for almost four years as a
professor in the Graduate Program in Urban and Regional Planning at the
University of Iowa. I (and our family) often got to Cedar Rapids and,
sometimes, in and around Waterloo a number of times after the Coe sojourn.
We never thought poignantly of Kookaburra, though sometimes in the
years since we would sing it. Now, in the afternoon of a late March day, 20
years after the Cedar Rapids experience, the plaintive Australian lullaby
rose up--an extraordinary wave of sweet, nostalgic wine. It was simply
overwhelming. In no way could I steer into those incredibly sweet and
emotional waters: no swing down to Waterloo and beyond. We continued to
Rochester and then to LaCrosse. (If, as I'm quite certain, Kookaburra
was drawn somehow from my psyche by an external force and
magnified--intensively magnified--it was certainly a far more sensitively
pleasant means of dissuasion than, say, a conjured up vision of our pickup
colliding with a Semi on the outskirts of Waterloo. We now sing
Kookaburra regularly with our nine year old daughter, Josie).
We were at LaCrosse late that afternoon: fully awake,
vigorous, well-fed (thanks to McDonald's), myself driving--and we left on
combined highways 14 and 61, a narrow road. Our firm and clear intention was
to keep on 61 when the roads forked at the small town of Readstown: at that
point 61 proceeded to Dubuque and 14 to Madison. All of this was "new
country" to us. Neither John III nor I have many memories at all of what
happened the remainder of that late afternoon and early evening. Initially,
of course, it was still quite light and the cloudy sky had broken somewhat.
I clearly recall, as we topped out on one large hill two or three miles
beyond LaCrosse and I looked westward/southwestward to the far horizon and
the late afternoon sky, feeling an odd and intense twinge of expectant
anxiety which registered quickly and then passed.
Although in retrospect, some time later, we felt we might have remembered a
few landmarks after the large hill, a visit to the scene by me and my
daughter Josie in early June, 1989, indicated that John III and I had been
under very pervasive "mind control" characterized, among other things, by
amnesia, for the next more than 60 miles. In the June, 1989 junket, I saw
nothing beyond the large hill that I recognized--everything was "new"--even
though there were quaint towns, unique hill formations, and Indian and other
place names that would have definitely registered. (In checking with John
III, now in California, no landmarks that I indicated were remembered by
him.) Among other things, we did not recall Readstown and the much
advertised forking of the roads with highways 14 and 61 very conspicuously
parting company. Inexplicably, by conventional yardsticks, John III and I
took Highway 14--much lonelier than 61--and thus went off course, southeast
(although the two routes remain close together in that general area).
Sunset in that region on March 20 was about 6:13 p.m. It was twilight and
about 6:25 p.m. when we came to the stretch of four-lane on Highway 14.
(Turning out to be a very short stretch, this begins 68 miles or so from
"inside" the LaCrosse setting and ends two miles before Richland Center,
Wisconsin.) Here the
amnesia lifted (we would say, in retrospect, to give us a clear geographical
point for future reference) and later both John III and I vividly recalled
the wider road. (I remembered it very clearly in June, 1989.) We expressed
hope to one another that it would continue and regretted when, after two
miles, it ended. I recall saying, "I'm slowing down a little and turning on
the lights." At that point, the curtain of amnesia (but not unconsciousness)
descended on each of us. When I think about what came immediately after
that, I sometimes get waves of strange, "electrical-like"
sensations--vibrant chills--throughout my body. John III talks of "spooky
feelings."
And this was the point of interception and close encounter--very close!
Then I was aware that I was driving at a normal speed and was going down a
very steep hill by the highway. Quickly and smoothly my consciousness
expanded--an awakening awareness--to include the bright lights of the
pickup, the pitch-dark night, and the sounds of the engine and the tires.
For a moment, a very sharp and clear moment, it was a summer night in 1957
when I, 23 years old, was driving in the isolated Arizona country somewhere
around the little cow town of Mayer. My second thought was, "This was just
like that time, then." It was about 7:45 p.m. Neither John III, whose
amnesia lifted at the same time as mine, nor I had any particular sense of
interruption; the interception and resumption had been accomplished with
only a ripple of transition, if even that. (Later we realized that, at the
point we'd "come out of it," we were in the immediate area where the
physical interception had occurred.) On 14, we reached the outskirts of
Richland Center and passed through that small town. (In June, 1989, I
realized that, although I had that March night noted the outskirts of
Richland Center and a long line of buildings on the other side of it, I had
no recollection of passing through the business district. In checking with
John III, I learned that he, too, had no recollection of the "downtown"
section of the community. We both feel that double-amnesia was once again
and briefly induced in order that we, still somewhat somnambulistic, pass
through the business section without stopping and perhaps attracting
negative attention.) On the other side of Richland Center and immediately
beyond, I saw a series of signs indicating Madison, before grasping their
significance; checking our map, we realized we had been on the wrong highway
since far-away Readstown. The loss of time was utterly bewildering. From
Richland Center to Dubuque is about 85 miles, including the back-on-course
routes; we were in the Iowa town at 9:30 p.m., pushing on to Bettendorf for
the night. We slept well and breakfasted at Peoria, Illinois.
We left that city shortly after 10 a.m., March 21st, on a double highway
going east. I was driving. The day was clear and there was no wind. At 10:14
a.m., there was no traffic right around or ahead of us in either direction.
And it was then that we both saw a bright, expanding light coming directly
toward and above us; immediately we realized it was an incredibly bright
object, glowing with an extraordinary shimmering silveriness. (The closest
analogy I can make is the glowing coals of an oak fire, moving back and
forth.) It was about two-thirds the size of the full double highway and,
when about 200 yards from us, swerved slightly and rose over the pickup at
an angle. We could now make out its saucer-like form and, I think, a slight
dome. Then, with incredible speed, it was gone. At that point, John III and
I had three simultaneous thoughts: This was a deliberate appearance for us
and for us alone; this was quite friendly; and this somehow explained the
strange occurrences of the previous night. I then had another thought: I
remembered the 1961 interception of Betty and Barney Hill, an interracial
couple (he black and she white but with some Indian ancestry and both much
involved in civil rights and related activities), in New Hampshire. I had
heard of this situation in the mid-60s, when it became well
publicized.
I recalled, too, that Mrs. Hill especially had had a positive, essentially
friendly view of the UFO humanoid people. Mr. Hill died many years ago but
Betty Hill continues quite active on social justice fronts and maintains a
strong interest in UFO-related matters. I have had an excellently helpful
correspondence with this extraordinary person, beginning early in the fall,
1988. In August, 1989, Eldri and I and Josie spent an excellent week with
Mrs. Hill in New Hampshire and, among other things, observed a number of
UFOs at night with her. (On the way back to North Dakota, we visited the
Richland Center setting and the location of our encounter.)
The remainder of our trip south, while quite interesting and productive, did
not involve anything related to UFOs. (Later in the day, March 21st, John
III realized he'd lost his sunglasses, couldn't remember having them in the
motel, and we searched the pickup fruitlessly.) But the strange events of
March 20/21 were always no further than once removed in our thinking, and
were frequently to the fore. Back in Grand Forks, I finished the University
of North Dakota academic year in conventional fashion, assuming the chair of
our Indian Studies Department. (Just before the trip, I'd received the
prestigious UND Award for Student Advising; soon after the trip, the
American Indian students honored me with a very special ceremony at the
annual pow-wow.) I began doing some reading on UFO topics and I
affiliated myself with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)--one of the several
quite reputable UFO research organizations. (In September, 1988, I became
its State Director for North Dakota. Thus, I became acquainted with Kevin
Henke, a young scientist at the University of North Dakota and a MUFON
member who has become an excellent friend and whose sharply critical mind
has been of great help to me.) John III received his M.A. at UND and
accepted an important position in Northern California, directing a
grassroots Indian education program. He and his wife moved there two months
after the encounters. (In the fall of 1989, his program was designated as
the best of its kind in the state.) In mid-June, 1988, I sensed a strong,
growing stirring within me vis-a-vis the experiences of late March--and
especially the "missing time" period. I began to put together a series of
detailed little reports, outlining the development, locale, and times of the
encounters and our general thoughts, preliminary conclusions, and what we
were convinced was a mutually friendly atmosphere at all points. But, when
it came to events immediately following the four-lane stretch in
southwestern Wisconsin, I hit a block (as did John III with whom I stayed in
close touch via A.T. & T.). Then, in late June, 1988, my recall suddenly
began.
Invariably, as they've developed, my recall vignettes--images and
sequences--have come first as vivid dreams in the early morning hours, then
recede back temporarily into unconsciousness before emerging the following
late morning or afternoon as clear flashbacks laced with a sharp memory of
the earlier dream or dreams. (John III's recall began in November, 1988,
tends to come just as he's slipping off to sleep, and meshes with
mine.) In both cases,
the recall is our seeing things with our eyes--precisely as we saw them that
night in Wisconsin. Although this process is still continuing, steadily and
deliberately, enough has come thus far to establish the context, the basic
components and participants, the points of primary focus, and the ethos.
Here, with recall arranged, is the basic linear progress of our March 20th
encounter:
As the four-lane ended and total amnesia (but not unconsciousness) enveloped
us, we are gently but firmly forced off the highway onto a very narrow and
extremely rough road. In June, 1989,
we determined, on the basis of recall and contemporary observation, that
this is the Pier Spring Road, about a mile or so in length. This starts a
very short distance after the end of the four-lane. As one goes down Highway
14, it is a sharp right turn off one's right lane. We parked the pickup near
the "upper," far end of this winding, timbered road.
Then we are standing, John III and I, not far from the passenger side of the
pickup which is parked on the level stretch of the Pier Spring Road, under
some trees. It is almost dark. Completely at ease, I can see two or three
small humanoid figures climbing up on the back bumper, looking at our gear
in the back of the truck. Up closer, they are four to four and one-half feet
tall, thin bodies and thin limbs--but comparatively large heads and
conspicuously large, quasi-slanted eyes. There are several of these small
people--perhaps six or seven--and a taller humanoid figure, almost as tall
as I (six feet) and not as proportionately thin as the others. His features
are more, as we would use the term, "human"--and he may well be a
mixed-blood. Whatever clothing type they're wearing, it's tightly fitting
and, to us at this point in recall, non-descript. Our communication with
them is more than thought-impressionistic; it's telepathically specific.
John III sits down. Three of the small humanoids gather around, viewing him
with as much fascination as he does them. Everyone is very pleasant. The
tall humanoid is attached to us in a special fashion and is obviously our
key liaison. Now we are walking through the darkening woods, up a ravine and
over a small ridge, to the UFO which is in a rather secluded clearing, some
distance from the pickup. I stumble and fall backward but am immediately
cushioned by a (telekinetic?) force. Very, very gently, several of the
humanoids reach for me and pull me to my feet.
Throughout this entire, still continuing recall process of mine is the
clear, persistent definite sense of a brightly lighted room--a kind of white
light--and a deep-blue glowing panel. An implant is placed very carefully up
into my right nostril and well beyond. There is a strong sense that the last
time this happened to me was a long time ago, when I was John III's age, in
1957. There is now an injection into my neck, at the thyroid area; and then
an injection into my upper, central chest (thymus gland). John III's face is
scanned very thoroughly with a "flash-light" type instrument whose head is
so soft that it melds into the contours of his face; special attention is
given to his chin and jaw area.
Then we are out in the open again. The feeling is downright powerful that
the meeting has gone very well indeed from everyone's standpoint. Our tall
humanoid friend walks with me back through the woods to the pickup. He is
carrying some sort of light, obviously for our benefit. John III is slightly
ahead of us. I believe the smaller humanoids have remained with the UFO.
John III goes into the passenger side of the pickup, closing the door. I
feel an extremely strong, poignant sense of farewell toward the tall figure,
sensing equally strong reciprocity. (His emotional and intellectual
reactions are like ours: sharp intelligence, good-natured, smiled a great
deal, eager, very interested in things and sad--very sad--at parting.
Basically, I think all of this holds true for the smaller people.) The tall
figure and I tell each other (and John III is included) that we will see
one another again in another place, in another time. Now, John III and I
are by ourselves in the pickup. We wait. Very shortly from his window, John
III watches the UFO rise and, brightly lighted, move diagonally up into the
dark clouds and beyond. We drive a short distance to the end of the Pier
Spring Road and take Country Road ZZ, well paved and very steep, back to
highway 14 and on to Richland Center.
The still continuing results of my implant and injections (although
initially their presence was not known to me in the fully conscious sense)
began to emerge in some cases as early as May, 1988. (John III has had none
of these.) By June and July, other manifestations were present. My head
hair, fingernails, and toenails are growing two to three times their normal
rate; eyebrows have become very thick; and fine body hair has developed all
over my previously almost hairless arms, legs, stomach and chest. Cuts and
scratches clot immediately and heal very, very rapidly. (A denture placed in
1984 resulted in almost daily blood until shortly after the encounter--four
years later!--when the situation healed and remained so.) Some little age
spots have shrunk or disappeared and the few wrinkles in my face have faded
away for the most part. My skin tone is generally much clearer. Blood is
much closer to the surface all over my body--indicating even better
circulation than formerly. For the first time in my life, my beard is
very heavy, very thick, and quite dark. My immunity is
heightened; flu bugs may touch me but don't dig deeply in and the few colds
I may now get are very insignificant and short-lived. My energy level is up
and my sleep needs, never really substantial, are down. Although not in any
sense a "craving," my protein needs are very heavy and, in May, 1989, I
began taking eight amino acid supplements per day--which has returned to
normal my burgeoning meat consumption! An auto wreck in Mississippi in 1963
left some residual disfigurement on the right side of my face, but by
spring, 1989, this had faded completely into normalcy. I smoked for 40 years
and very heavily for the last 35, four packs of cigarettes a day (often
unfiltered) and then, for the last 21 years, a pound of pipe tobacco a week.
In the spring of 1989, my pipe smoking slacked off to some extent; in
mid-May, I realized I had gone almost 24 hours without smoking--and I then
stopped completely and permanently, doing so without one single physical or
psychological twinge! My psychic sensitivities are sharpened and there are
increased telekinetic episodes, especially around electrical equipment. I
have a mild aversion to sunlight and increased sensitivity to lights in
general, now preferring cloudy weather and darkish offices. My left foot and
leg coordinate and walk a little differently, initially running down my left
boot heels; there are no walking problems now since I've learned to let it
happen smoothly and naturally. Occasionally, a red welt appears on the lower
right side of my neck, in the thyroid area; and a brown, circular spot about
a half inch in diameter and with a round point-mark in its precise center
surfaces on my upper chest over my thymus gland region.
In the earlier part of 1957, although deeply involved in good causes, I was
having some difficulty in determining just what I wanted primarily to do
with my life (portions of which had already been quite interesting). Then,
at some point in the summer, my focus
sharpened into its permanently fixed commitment to social justice pursuits.
My health became notably great. (For example, an effort to kill me via a
rigged auto wreck in Jackson, Mississippi on June 18, 1963, left me
seriously injured with many broken bones in my face and some elsewhere. I
was operated on extensively that night and faced a substantial stay in the
hospital. Three days later, so much of me had healed so quickly that I was
out of the hospital and back in the arena--to the great surprise of my
physicians and the great displeasure of the white Citizens Council and the
Jackson police.) In the wake of the March, 1988 encounter, my normally good
health has been boosted very significantly and I feel strong creative urges,
constructive restlessness, and a major recharging of my social justice
commitment. John III is doing many positive things in his California Indian
educational work and is also writing genuinely excellent fiction. Two other
interesting physical things have taken place: A watch, purchased by me in
1984, has been quite satisfactory but lacked any luminosity. I often
expressed disappointment that this was so but, soon after the March, 1988
events, noticed the hands glowing. Although this lasts only a few hours at
most before requiring new exposure to light, it has persisted dependably
enough. In another situation, John III's sunglasses, lost as nearly as we
can tell at the time of the evening encounter, surfaced in mid-December,
1988, behind the pickup seat. We had been behind that seat for one reason or
another at least 100 times since spring, 1988--including every morning since
well before Thanksgiving, since that's where we keep the windshield frost
scraper/snow brush. In fact, the glasses were sitting casually on top of the
much used frost-scraper brush! The lenses were not al all dusty. During a
subsequent (February, 1989) visit to Grand Forks, John III positively
identified the glasses as his. The pickup, incidentally, is kept locked at
all times when not in use.
And a few suggestive but speculative things: In the summer of 1941, we were
living temporarily on a Kansas farm--where I saw something big and strange
over the nearby Smoky Hill River woods. It disappeared almost as soon as I
saw it but, for long afterward, even after we had moved to a nearby small
town, I viewed that stretch of river woods with considerable apprehension.
At some point around then, I developed an odd scar above my kneecap, an
unlikely place for an injury (there have been reports of small flesh samples
taken by UFO visitors from small children at about that age). In that
general time period, I drew a picture (which I still have) of an "alien
looking" person (large head, slanted eyes, no ears or hair) holding a human
being. Only a few years after that, I developed a really very sophisticated
interest in astronomy and chemistry. Strange things, difficult to delineate
with precision, took place near Flagstaff, Arizona on Woody Mountain, one
night in August, 1952, where I was a U.S. Forest Service fire lookout and
asleep in my cabin at the base of the fire tower. Early the next morning,
haunted by feelings of great "strangeness" (unusual for an 18 year old), I
noticed a rock, two feet or so in diameter, which appeared to have moved 15
feet up the slope of the mountain, quite close to the base of the
tower. It had rained briefly though heavily at some point that night and
there was no particular "sign" on the ground. Unlike my encounter of 1957
and the events of March, 1988, all of which are very definite and tangible
indeed, these
earlier situations are, as I've said, speculative.
In the last several years, a number of people who have had UFO encounter
experiences, and some UFO researchers, have painted a bleak and
oft-frightening picture of "alien motivations"--raising the possibility of
genetic experiments and the like. Other people who have had this experience,
such as myself and John III and Betty Hill, and a number of other
researchers, take a friendly and positive view of all of this. I think,
among other things, that we need to look at the socio-cultural backgrounds
of the people involved in the encounters. Urban people--especially urban
women--who live, understandably, in perennial fear of theft, rape, or other
attack, are much more likely, I should think, to view a close encounter with
UFO people as frightening and negative than are, say, rural people or
part-Indian travelers on many frontiers like John III and myself and Betty
Hill (or racially and culturally open minded people generally) who welcome
new, unusual experiences, new friends, new challenges. With no false
modesty, I certainly view my life, especially from 1957 onward, as having
been a quite positive one to date: effective social justice organizing in
many hard-core settings and much productive teaching and writing. I was
pleasantly surprised in mid-January, 1989, to receive three awards for my
social justice work (both contemporary and historic): one, presented by the
general commanding Grand Forks Air Force Base; another from the State
Superintendent of Public Instruction. The "big" one was given by the North
Dakota Martin Luther King, Jr. Commission--its 1989 award--and was presented
to me by Governor George Sinner. In late spring, 1989, I was elected
president of the UND chapter of the North Dakota Higher Education
Association (NEA) and, in the fall of 1989, I was voted chair of the UND
Honors Program Committee.
As I've said, almost to the point of redundancy, we see all of this as being
very friendly. I do have several basic, concluding thoughts: I believe the
number of direct physical encounters with the "alien" humanoids is not
nearly as great as some people are presently saying. I see these as rare but
not super-rare. I believe these encounters are specifically selective
(anything except random) and, as such, necessitate among other things a good
deal of careful planning and maneuvering by the humanoids. I do believe
that, across the Creation, there are certain universals: e.g., principles of
logic, scientific methodology, and the concerns of bureaucrats about cost
and time factors. It probably took several days and a good many
humanoid-hours to set up and implement the 1 1/2 hour meeting with John III
and myself on March 20, 1988. I believe these are extra-terrestrial persons
similar to ourselves and perhaps even related in some intriguing fashion or
at least the results of a parallel evolutionary course. They are solid and
physical and "all-around" tangible entities, sharply intelligent (as one
would assume trained astronauts and scientists and perhaps even professors
to he), and their range of emotions is comparable to ours. I categorically
do not see them as angels/devils/psychic manifestations.
Their actions (motivations and effects and related factors) are quite
positive. While I think it's possible that there may be some
"experimentation" involved, I think this is ethically and honorably
done--and to good ends. However, I believe the basic thrusts focus on
helping some of us (directly) "keep on keeping on" in the business of edging
humanity closer and closer to the Sun--figuratively speaking and sensitizing
humanity with respect to the relatively nearby presence of other forms of
intelligent life.
New as I consciously am to the UFO situation, it may seem more than a little
presumptuous for me to, (paraphrasing, I believe, Koestler's Ivanov in
Darkness at Noon), point out that there are some strange terrestrial
birds in the trees of "ufology." Without getting shrill about it and
recognizing that there can be "reasonable differences of opinion between
reasonable people" (as I was reminded occasionally a long time ago and still
am from time to time), I do believe that the "gloom and doom" people in UFO
research are often either downright paranoid, motivated by commercial
considerations, or ideologically endeavoring to resurrect a new version of
the Red Scare (but I don't think they'll be able to do that).
I do very strongly believe, and now I'm drawing on cogent impressions
existing above and below the water levels of my mind, that the people from
afar that John III and I met (and the many other humanoids who look in on
our struggling and so very often courageously valiant Earthly turf and
drama), have good motives, very good ones, and the unfolding results of all
of this--individually if our people can keep an open mind, and certainly
with respect to the long-term perspective and future of human society--are
and will be deeply beneficial through the many, many ages to come.
Note by JRS (October, 1990): Recall by summer, 1990, makes it clear that the
1952 and 1941 encounters are also definite.
Further note (September, 1991): It became clear by spring, 1991, that John
III has grown more than 1 1/2" taller since the March, 1988 encounter. He
had stopped growing several years before that when he was about 19 years
old.
END NOTES:
(1) See John R. Salter, Jr., Jackson, Mississippi: An
American Chronicle of Struggle & Schism, (Melbourne, Florida: Robert E.
Krieger Publishing Company, 1987).
(2) An odd thing occurred at a Mobil station at LaCrosse.
Just as we were climbing into the pickup after gassing up, a strange looking
little man, bundled in a coat and with a "Greek Fisherman's" cap, rushed, in
stumbling fashion, from the station office to his Volvo. His eyes blocked
briefly but intently with mine. As we left the station on a little intra-LaCrosse
freeway, he followed us; I slowed substantially but he declined to pass. He
remained behind us until we took the 14/61 turnoff. In the aftermath of the
encounters, our minds were drawn repeatedly to this seemingly insignificant
episode.
(3) The short stretch of four-lane is indicated in some
quite recent road atlases and maps (such as our contemporary Mobil Wisconsin
road map) but not in others.
(4) See the very well done book on the Hills' experience:
The Interrupted Journey by John Fuller (New York: Dial Press, 1966 and
various other editions) and also a fascinating compendium of articles
dealing with the "star map" shown Betty Hill by the cordial captain of the
UFO: "The Zeta Reticuli Incident," (edited by Terence Dickinson, (Milwaukee:
Astro-Media Corporation (publishers of Astronomy), 1976
(5) Of particular value has been Thomas E. Bullard's massive
two volume work: UFO Abductions: The Measure of a Mystery
(Washington, D.C., Fund for UFO Research, 1987) and Richard Hall's
Uninvited Guests--A Documented History OF UFO Sightings, Alien Encounters, &
Coverups (Santa Fe: Aurora Press, 1988). Both men have since provided me
with some excellent insights through correspondence.
(6) At all points in our joint March 20, 1988 experience,
John III and I were "hit" simultaneously by amnesia and "came out"
simultaneously. But, in the aftermath that night, he was groggier somewhat
longer than I and his recall took longer to commence and has proceeded at a
slower pace. It appears that he was "hit harder" than I. He is a little
shorter than I am and much lighter and, on the surface, would be perceived
as a less formidable "problem." Why, then, was he more profoundly affected
by this (in part, at least) tranquilizing process? Was it because he is
lighter and younger? A possible explanation, not known to me until August,
1989 (when he told me) is that John III was carrying a .22 automatic pistol
on his person that night. We were on our way to, among other places,
Mississippi--where memories are long. I had my unloaded .357 revolver,
holstered and in a case on the pickup seat. The cartridges were in the glove
compartment. Privately, John III had decided this was a too cumbersome
proposition; hence, his on-person and loaded automatic. Could the humanoids
have been aware he was carrying a weapon?
(7) On the March 20, 1988 trek from a few miles south of
LaCrosse to the short stretch of four-lane where the double amnesia lifted
briefly, all conscious recollection was blocked. But, almost a year later,
in early March, 1989, an odd composite blur--almost an abstraction--began to
emerge into my consciousness in a not unpleasantly sharp and forceful
fashion with an implication of significance. It is a blend of road
signs/markers and its emergence is accompanied by a strong sense that "we
should have gone on the other road but we could not help ourselves." After
our visits to the general area in early June, 1989 and mid-August, 1989, I'm
convinced of that which I instinctively felt when this first surfaced in
early March, 1989: It's a composite of road signs/markers from the critical
Readstown junction (14/61) where highways 14 and 61 part company and where
John III and I "inexplicably" took 14 and thus went to our destiny! When
this composite/blur initially surfaced, I had the strong feeling that I
should write up our encounter experience and this is what I did in my
mid-March, 1989 paper--which I distributed widely and which has been well
received. In late May, 1989, the composite/blur arose again--accompanied by
the strong feeling that I should return to the site of the experience, and
this is what Josie and I indeed did. At a number of subsequent points, the
emergence of this has obviously been a trigger/signal for intensive and
specifically delineated UFO interest/activity on my part.
(8) On May 13, 1989, I took my 1987 Ford F-150 pickup in for
its first real maintenance (16,165 miles) since its purchase two years
before and, with the exception of routine oil/lube jobs, the first
maintenance of any kind since before our March, 1988 trip to the Deep South.
The service person at Hansen Ford (Grand Forks) suggested that, in addition
to the tune-up and related matters, a full alignment job be done and I
agreed. Two very interesting things surfaced: (1) Although normally the
right front wheel is supposed to be higher and the left front wheel lower,
my pickup had things reversed. Computer measurement indicated my right wheel
was .5 and the left 1.0; (2) The left rear rim was bent. The Ford people
found this inexplicable--since we drive the pickup with great care and it's
virtually never off a paved road. We could recall no conventional situation
where this could have occurred.
(9) The 1957 encounter, which began to surface in the
context of the March, 1988 experience, took place in late May of that year
(summer in Arizona!) while I was returning to my home town of Flagstaff from
a quick trip to Phoenix. The experience is definite; the details still
remain somewhat murky. The humanoids involved are of the same basic racial
group as those in March, 1988. The business of somewhat darker eyebrows and
beard, heightened immunity, much energy, at least some aversion to sunlight
and something of a preference for cloudy and dampish weather, all came after
the May, 1957 experience and then, slowly, faded in the mid and late 1970s
into the 1980s--until after March 20, 1988, when all of this bounced back
more noticeably than ever before, plus much more. As long as I can recall,
I've had some psychic abilities which have been noticed, over the years, by
family and friends. There was some sharpening of these after May, 1957;
there was no decline in the 1970s and 1980s; and there has been an increase
since March, 1988.
(10) Almost from the moment of the March, 1988 encounter, I
have had no hesitation in talking openly about the experience, its
ramifications, and my positive perceptions of it. I have encountered little
open skepticism and, although initially there was some fear by several older
persons, this appears to have passed. Almost all younger people (under 35),
and virtually all Indians regardless of age, have been very open minded and
quite receptive--and many older non-Indians have, too. Regional newspaper
and television interviews with me have been thoughtful, nicely done, and
well received. UND Honors students have asked me to teach a three semester
hour credit course on UFOs in 1990-91 and I have agreed. Only two
colleagues, neither of whom at all doubts the reality of my UFO experiences,
have suggested that I not draw attention to the episodes in order to ensure
my continued credibility on other fronts. I answered them, reiterating my
response to a television interviewer a short time later: "If I had worried
about what other people thought, I would never have had the experiences I've
had or accomplished the things I've accomplished."
