NUFORC Sighting 62216

Occurred: 1980-06-30 00:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2008-03-16 14:20 Pacific
Duration: 30 40 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Clinton, MO, USA

Shape: Rectangle
Characteristics: Lights on object, Emitted beams

Repeated Encounter in about 1980

I have an incident that seems unique in the fact that the object repeatedly engaged me and two other friends over 30 to 40 minutes. I know that many years have passed, so this event may not be of interest. I just haven't heard of a story quite like this one.

At the time we lived in a small town, so we all agreed not to tell anyone about it, feeling we would be ridiculed. Now, after all these years, we've only just began to contact each other and recall exactly what happened that night.

We were all about 20 years old or so. I'm not sure what year it was, but me and 2 friends were riding around in my car in Clinton, MO. It was a boring night riding in circles around the Clinton Square, which is where all the kids hung out. We decided to go see a friend in Windsor, MO, which was about 25 miles away. As we were on the way, heading east on highway 52, I happened to see a flashing, blinking object on the horizon to my left, and mentioned it to my friends. It seemd to be blinking different colored lights that were unusual. They took notice, but resumed talking about whatever. I kept watching it as they talked and noticed it was coming closer to us from my left. (I was driving so I could see it better than them.)

As the object now came within a half mile or so, I interrupted my friends and said that they should take a look at this thing since it seemed like it was going to fly over us. I shut off the stereo and as it approached it was obviously very large. It had various stationary and blinking lights in a configuration that I can't quite describe, but as it flew over us, we only knew it was very large. It slowly flew over us - I mean only 10 or 20 miles an hour at maybe 150 or 200 feet. Right over us, but we couldn't figure out a shape. Just BIG... and NO SOUND. We hung our heads out the windows and looked up as it slowly flew over us. It didn't make sense.

We coasted along the highway and began talking about what it could have been as it headed toward our right-hand horizon. As we talked and watched the object fade off in the distance, we eventually speeded back up and continued down the highway. We soon realized the object was coming back toward us. (but from several miles away) It seemed to be on an intercept course with our progress down the highway. As it approached within about a quarter mile or so, I noticed that there was a circular light below the object. As if there was a beam of light shining toward the ground, but you couldn't see the beam, but only a patch of light on the ground below the object. There were strip pits in the surrounding area, so it was very strange seeing the patch of light floating up and down the hills below the object as it approached us. I yelled at my friends when I saw it and we all became very uneasy about it. Now it was upon us and just to the side, about the height of 3 or 4 telephone poles up. It turned to parallel us and matched our speed, which was now only 10 or 20 miles an hour. Weird blinking lights, maybe strobing or rotating, but very hard to describe, even just after the incident. NO SOUND. Not a whisper. We still couldn't make out a specific shape, even though it was right over us. Only the lights that seemed to defy any aircraft-type shape. Kind of like a big box, but nothing we could actually describe within reason. We all had our heads hanging out the windows, looking up at it: RIGHT OVER US and it banked and flew toward the horizon to our forward, left.

We looked at each other in disbelief again until one of my friends yelled: "Chase it!" I speeded up, but didn't realize that we were now within the city limits (and speed zone) of Windsor. Now there were familiar flashing lights in my rear view mirror and we were pulled over. I told my friends NOT to say we were chasing a friggin UFO and they agreed. The Windsor cop walked up to my door and put his hands on the ledge of my door... I kid you not, he had "L.O.V.E" tatooed on his left hand fingers and "H.A.T.E" tattooed on his right. This night was getting wierder as it went on. After he asked for my driver's license, I realized that I had left it on my dresser at home. He asked my name and I told him it was ((name deleted)). He went back to his car for a while as we chattered about what had happened with the object. The cop was the furthest thing from our mind. He soon returned and told me he didn't have any record of a "((name deleted))" from Clinton, MO. I corrected him on the name and he went to his car again. We were now laughing about Barney Fife, but still trying to figure out what that thing could have been. The cop returned again, now with a dumbfounded look since he had messed my name up again. He said we should follow him "downtown" to the police station. I gladly agreed and followed him there. We went inside and he introduced me to the "Chief" who quickly pulled me up on his computer, showing me as Barry Wilder. No Problem and thank you for your time. We were quickly released.

As we walked toward the door, one of us said: "Wouldn't it be weird if that thing was still out there?" We stepped out the door and looked to our right... There it was, about a mile or two down the road and seemingly hovering. We jumped into the car and gave chase again. As we headed toward it, it began about a mile-wide cirlcle. We saw an dirt path that lead up to a small hilltop. There were no trees or anything around it, only this "bald hill" as we called it later. We stopped the car and got out as we watched the object circling toward us. It was as if we knew it would fly to us. It did. It came directly over us at a speed of maybe 20 miles an hour. We stood there in disbelievment as it flew directly over us. Again, NO SOUND. Nothing. The sound of the mild wind blowing past our ears was louder. It slowly flew over us and headed away for the last time. We looked at each other in disbelief, but when we turned to look at it again, it seemed as if it was much farther away that it should have been at the speed it flew over us. Soon it was over the horizon and gone.

If I seem vague about dates and times it is only because after the event my friends and I decided it would be best not to tell anyone about it since it sounded so rediculous. We lived in a small town and people would not understand what had happened. Because of this, it kind of faded into my past. I moved away soon after the incident so we didn't have much of a chance to talk about it until years later. I just spoke with one of my friends and asked him about his recollection of the events. As we spoke, he said that we actually turned around to follow it after the first pass. I don't remember doing that, but we probably did. I think if we all got together, we could work out the exact sequence of events. It wasn't like a "sighting"... It was more like an ongoing encounter that we couldn't quite grasp, so I think we all just tried to forget it.

The date and time could be verified by the Windsor Police Department, unless Barney Fife is in charge of records. They could also verify that we weren't drunk, on drugs or just crazy. We were straight as a board and completely sane. In the years since, two of us have become upstanding citizens and business owners. The other one has been gone and not much in contact.

I know this sounds a little unbelievable, but I'd like to get together with my other two friends and refresh each other's memories as to the exact, cronological sequence of events. I would then like to take lie detector tests to prove that this really happened.

Posted 2008-03-31