NUFORC Sighting 04424

Occurred: 1973-09-20 15:15 Local - Approximate
Reported: 1998-08-28 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 20 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Mansfield, OH, USA

Shape: Cigar
Characteristics: Lights on object

In the Fall of 1973 my sister and I came upon a large silver object hovering approximatley 20 feet above us on a clear, sunny afternoon in a heavily populated residential area. We walked around and underneath the craft for 15 or 20 minutes while it remained motionless and soundless above what should have been a busy, suburban street. Without apparent means the craft suddenly shot straight up into a small cloud and drifted away. We both completly forgot about this incident for 3 years. I think it is also relevant that both of us felt then and now that we are missing a 24 hour period of our lives.

Please forgive me in advance if this narrative seems to ramble. Frankly I am a little trepeditious of relaying the events of that afternoon 25 years ago. I am still fearful of what I saw but I am more afraid of what I cannot remember. My hope is that by relaying this bit of truth I might be able to let go of some of the isolation I feel in a forum of like-minded individuals and perhaps make contact with someone who also saw what we saw. As for autobiography I am a 41 year old Police Captain who has led a relatively normal life of ups and downs, good times and bad. I had an average childhood and an interesting adult life of travel. love affairs and advanced education. I suppose I'm just pretty damned average in every way except for this nagging experience which continues to haunt me. In either September or October of 1973 at approximately 1515 hours, my sister ((Name deleted)) (13yoa) and I (16yoa) had just been dropped off by our school bus in front of our house. We were living in a heavily populated suburban area of Mansfield Ohio in the ((Address deleted)) block of Cook Road. Cook Road itself is a busy two lane street and, although our section was mostly residential, a school and a convenience store were both within half a block from where we stood. Our house was at the base of two gradually sloping hills amidst dozens of homes on both sides of the street. I had exited the bus before my sister and stood waiting for her on the sidewalk. As she stepped from the bus and it pulled away I was startled to see a large object hovering over the street where the school bus had been. I pointed it out to my sister and we both stood captivated by it's appearance and proximity. The craft was approximatly 40 feet long and 15 or 20 feet tall. It hovered silently 35 or 40 feet overhead and had lights encircling it's cigar-shaped structure. I believe there was a larger red light on one end and a green light on the other but the rest of the smaller lights were multicolored. It was of a metal which looked like brushed aluminium and had no visible means of levitation or propulsion, no wings or propellers. I walked into the street underneath the craft and accross the street to see it from the other side. There were no numbers or letters of any kind displayed and I could not see any seams for the release of landing apparatus. At one point I picked up a rock to hear what it would sound like bounced against the exterior but my sister disuaded me from throwing it. I remember we were becomming increasingly distressed when I was not able to identify this object and by the fact we were alone. It had been at least 15 minutes since we first saw the craft and during this time, remarkably, no one had passed by. No one came out onto their front porch, no other kids walked the sidewalks and no cars drove by. In retrospect this seems absurd given the time of day and usual traffic on Cook Road. When I returned to the side of the street on which my sister stood I now saw a small black oval slightly above the row of lights. We thought it might be a window and waved but there was no response. Several minutes later the craft silently shot up and into a small cumulus cloud which drifted away. I remember my sister asking me what it was to which I replied "I don't know. do you think it could be one of those UFO's the paper's been writing about?" We were both excited and scared as we walked into our ho! use whereupon we both completely forgot about it. Although we had no apparant memory of the event I recall that we were both very upset with our mother whom we accused of leaving us for a 24 hour period. Mom insisted she had never done such a thing but we were convinced we had experienced a full 24 hours without her. This missing time was particularly perplexing to both of us and, to this day, remains a disturbing reality. I know that I am missing a day, but I cannot explain it. Three years after our encounter I had a sudden recall of the events described above while talking about the cosmos with some college friends. I called my sister and asked her if she had ever seen a flying saucer. At first she said no but when I mentioned the school bus in Ohio she also had a sudden realization and literally gasped on the phone. Her memory of the event is almost exactly like my own including the little window and the strange missing time. There's a lot more to tell about subsequent related occurances and some strange stories of little men I used to tell to my mother when I was very young but this is the heart of the matter. Life goes on but I sure wish I could understand the "what's" and the "why"s" of this event.

Posted 1999-01-28

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