NUFORC Sighting 61434

Occurred: 1987-12-20 01:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2008-02-05 20:10 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes?
No of observers: 4

Location: Tampa/Miami (on highway between), FL, USA

Shape: Unknown
Characteristics: Lights on object

My family were visiting disney world Christmas of 1987. Because the family was from Winnipeg Manitoba Canada, we were staying in Tampa Bay Florida for half the duration of our trip (2 weeks)to Florida. The other week was to be spent at bush gardens at a different hotel. The hotel we were staying at was called the The Sonyesta. On or around the night of 19 Dec 1987 we decided to visit a restaurant called King Henry's Feast in Miami. We left the hotel in Tampa at around 16:00 on the 19th and drove to Miami. The King Henry's Feast was a Medieval style dinner and show and the whole affair lasted many hours so by the time we left Miami to go back to our hotel in Tampa bay it was quite late, around 0:00.

At around 1:00 am we were on a deserted stretch of highway near - as far as I can remember- swampy country with scattered palm trees. Because it was somewhat dark I can only remember seeing flat ground with telltale plantlife that indicated swamp such as sparsh high grass, rushes and bumpy, in some places, reflective ground indicating stagnant water in addition to the dark outlines of palm trees. I remember that the moon was full when we left Miami but at 1:00 on the highway it became foggy.

My memory becomes hazy at this point, but I recall other cars stopped by the road and people looking at something in the sky. I recall the other passengers in the car gasp and say "oh look!". I recall seeing three other people besides the passengers in our car. The other peoples cars seemed to have headlights on.

The passengers of our car consisted of 4 people. Firstly myself age 7. I was at that age an avid camper with my parents and that is how I knew what swamp looked like. I am now 28 and a Captain in the PPCLI, a Canadian Infantry unit and I have seen action in Afghanistan. My father is a doctor who practiced at the St James Clinic and Misecordia hospital in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. My Mother was or was studying at the time, to take her bar exam. She has been called to the bar in Winnipeg and British Columbia Canada. She no longer practices law but is a stay at home Mom for my younger siblings who were not yet born at the time. The final passenger was my Dad's mother and my grandma who is now deceased but at the time worked at a clothing store for senior citizens in Winnipeg.

My Father and Mother were in the front 2 seats of the car and my Grandmother and me in the back. As we approached what I remember to be one or two cars pulled over at the side of the road with people beside them I perceived 6 light blue glowing lights rotating in the sky. Each was the size of a quarter in my memory, but only because they were some distance away. I seem to recall we got out of the car at this point to look at the lights but I have another memory of staying in the car the whole time. The lights did nothing but rotate, in my memory at an angle and down towards our car. The whole scene-like a picture- was us, bottom right ground, road bottom middle, other people and cars bottom left. Mid right was shadow of palm trees, mid center was fog but flat bumpy ground, mid right was fog, top right fog, top center fog with some traces of moonlight seeping through and top right were the six blue lights rotating at an angle facing us.

I do not recall how long we lingered watching the lights but at some point during this time I recall glancing out of curiosity at the other people near our car and to our left to see if they were as amazed as us. I recall a man with shaved head and glasses in a white shirt looking calmly back at me with an amused expression. I have conlicting memories of this man; one memory that he was in another car and I saw him through a window and another memory that he was outside the cars to my left at about 9 feet away.

At this point I draw a blank and do not recall if the lights disappeared or we just got bored and decided to leave. We got back to Tampa Bay and had no other encounters since. After returning to Canada at the end of the vacation we did not discuss at all afterwards memories of the vacation. Anytime I brought up the issue of the lights my mother scolded me, dismissed the event or made fun of me so I soon let the matter drop.

Upon remembering this event last year in September 2007, I questioned my father and mother at a restaurant and it took them by surprise. I said simpley "do you remember the 6 blue rotating lights in Florida?" My father remarked off hand (and without any prompting from me) that there were lots of people watchig the event. My mother then remarked that she had no memory of other people there. We were all 3 of us discussing the event further in the car and my mother became very agitated and angry while my father seemed very curious and trying to remember more, or so it seemed to me. My Mother did give me a detail I had not remembered-my Grandmother had decided to purchase communion which was a book about alien abduction. My Mother told me all this nonsense about UFOs was due to my Grandmother scaring me. I do not recall ever discussing the event with my Grandmother at all.

Please let me know if anyone has had a similar experience.

NUFORC Note:

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

Posted 2008-02-14