NUFORC Sighting 55814

Occurred: 1958-10-30 01:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2007-03-19 20:35 Pacific
Duration: 10 minutes (?)
No of observers: 3

Location: Riverside, IL, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Landed, Electrical or magnetic effects

Chicago suburbs, strange lights and figures; close contact with figures.

This event occurred when I was approximately 5 years old; as such it is an old memory that may be partially "contaminated" by the intervening years, but it remains, nevertheless, a very vivid memory for me.

My parents were driving home after visiting relatives. It was late (after midnight) and I was trying to sleep in the back seat of the car. The weather was getting cold that time of year, so all the car windows were rolled-up. We were traveling through an area that was only partially developed at the time--a heavily forested road, or forest preserve land, near Riverside IL--when my father abruptly stopped the car.

I sat up, thinking that we had almost crashed, and looked out the front window. Indistinct shapes moved around a bright light at what seemed like some sort of accident, but I could not see any other crashed cars. My mother kept saying something like, "What is that? What are they doing there?" The light extended completely across the narrow road and was a brilliant amber-yellow color with other spectral shades in it . . . like the rainbow hues glimpsed along the edge of a beveled mirror. My mother was talking very fast and nervously and I could tell she was becomming upset. She kept insisting that my father back-up the car and get "hell out of here." My dad shouted back, "I'm trying!" but the car wouldn't move. My mom became hysterical when some of the figures turned toward us and started approaching the car.

As I watched I became aware of a presence alongside the car near me on the passenger side. The glare from the light, which now seemed all around us like an enveloping fog, partially obscured him. This figure seemed to indicate to me that he wanted me to open the car door. When I reached up and raised the door "button", my mother began to scream uncontrollably: "Don't let them in, DON'T LET THEM IN!" I was unable to see any distinct features of the figures because of the glare around the car but, nevertheless, I could not understand her fear. One figure in particular seemed to want to play with me. He seemed older than me, but behaved just like a funny, playful older sibling. He projected this tremendous sense of warmth and affection toward me that I grasped immediately on a gut emotional level. No fear at all.

The last thing I remember was a monotonous buzzing sound as if the entire rear car window had been covered with insects. (I actually have what may be a screen memory of a thick blanket of buzzing flies entirely obscuring the view from the car's back window.) The car door opened and someone lifted me out. At first I thought this was my father, but it was not; the figure who lifted me was featureless, like a living shadow, without any discernable face. My body went limp, like someone who was asleep, only I was still conscious . . . but it was as if I were outside of my own body, watching all this happening from a safe distance.

I woke up the next morning at home in my bed surprised and confused about how I got there. When I asked my mother about the incident she simply said nothing had happened. To this day she either flatly refuses to discuss the incident or claims she has absolutely no recollection of it.

I am a university lecturer. My father is deceased. My elderly mother lives with a 24-hour caregiver.

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates that the date of the sighting is approximate. PD

Posted 2007-04-27