Occurred: 1974-02-14 21:00 Local
Reported: 2009-06-04 23:58 Pacific
Duration: 10 seconds
No of observers: 1

Location: Woodlawn, VA, USA

Shape: Fireball
Characteristics: Left a trail

Meteor or Otherwise? Blue Fireball Impacted SouthWestern Virginia Valentines Day 1974

14 February 1974 at approximately 21:00 I was at Woodlwan Intermediate School in Woodlawn, VA. located halfway between Hillsville and Galax Virgina in Carroll County. The event was our Valentines Day Dance. I was only 14 years old and in the 8th grade. This event was so memorable and permanently emdedded in my memory because it was so dramatic. It had a huge impact on me and has remained so ever since I witnessed what you are about to read.

I was attending the dance alone- dateless- I was only 14 years old and not yet dating at full-steam. Because of my singular attendance, I was bored and stepped out into the hallway adjacent to our cafeteria where the dance took place. At the southwest entrance door peering outward, the night was very crisp, cold and a beautiful clear Blue Ridge Mountains winter night. You could actually see the outline of the distant mountain tops of Mt. Rogers and White Top Mountain in Grayson County about 50 miles distant. I was looking in the direction of the two mountains taking a break from the dance in the cafeteria adjacent to the hallway. These two mountains are both exceeding 1 mile elevation, making them clearly visible and unobstructed from almost any position, day or night, within 60 to 70 miles radius of the area of SouthWestern Virginia and Northwest North carolina.

While standing at the doorway I peered outside through the glass in boredom from the dance. I noticed a huge blue fireball with a white contrail descending through the clearly lit sky, streaking towards earth at an incredible speed. It approached the ground at approxiamtely 25 degree angle of approach to the horizon. I remember thinking about how I could actually hear the roar of this fireball approaching above the roar of adjacent music from the dance inside in the cafeteria! After about 2 seconds of visible and audible flight time, the blue fireball raced through the winter night sky approaching from the North at an incredibe rate of speed. It impacted the ground with a huge flash of exploding blue and white light! The explosion that resulted appeared to be in the vicinity of the 2 mountains I mentioned above- Mt. Rogers and White Top Mountain.

Approximately 5 to 10 seconds (and possibly even as much as 20 seconds- seconds felt like minutes at that moment) afterwards, the resulting shockwave from the exploding blue white object shook the ground and door where I was observing. I remember thinking that it had to be a huge object to produce the resulting shockwave through the earth and thundering noise that I could hear over the roar of the music from the dance. I initially had trouble comprehending what I had just witnessed! It was a very short, extremely dramatic and even frightening! I can only specualate whether this huge object was a meteor; something man-made; or even extra-terrestial. I don't remember hearing or reading anything about this dramatic incident even days after it happened in any local or national news media. The impact must have occurred in an isolated area or unpopulated region in or near the two mountains mentioned earlier above. That may explain why it went un-reported.

I don't know why the event was not publicized? It is a true mystery to this day. Surely, there were others besides myself that witnessed this dramatic event? But I never heard anyone else ever speak of the event. I subsequently did not try to discuss the event with anyone for fear of persecution as a "nut job" Regardless of what the objct may have been, it was a huge impact that produced earth-shaking dramatic results! An observatory or other agency may have observed the event that night remotely? Alternatively, I have never heard or read of the event in any newspaper or any other publication. It may be catalogued obscurely in someone's astronomical log somewhere? Surely, I was not the only person to observe such a dramatic event that night? I was the only student in the hallway at that time. All other students were in cafeteria oblivious to what I witnessed. I can only speculate as to the origins of the object that impacted the Earth that night. But having a near-photographic memory, I remember this extreme event with more questions than I have answers. I can only tell you that what I witnessed that "Valentines Day" night in 1974 was something very extraordinary and possibly Extra-Terrestrial. It imapacted the Earth in SouthWestern Virgina with a flash and a bang that also made an everlasting explosive impact in my memory!.

Posted 2009-06-09

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