NUFORC Sighting 97838

Occurred: 1962-06-15 19:30 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2013-05-20 05:34 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Lawrence County (rural agriculture field), IL, USA

Shape: Disk
Characteristics: Aura or haze around object, Left a trail

My motivation is to have this report of unknown craft observed at close range included in a database

The year is 1962 and the month is June. The location is rural southern Illinois within two miles of the Indiana state line. The time is 9:30 PM, within a few minutes of accuracy. I am 16yrs. of age; having become a licensed driver a couple of months previous, and with permission had borrowed my mother’s car to visit girlfriends in a nearby town across the Indiana line. I was subject to a 10:00 PM curfew, so I departed my friend’s home at about 9:20 knowing that the journey would take approximately 20 minutes to my home. It was a mild summer evening of clear skies and slender crescent moon. As there are no towns of any size within 70 miles, the sky was studded with stars. The night was so beautiful I decided to put the top down on my mother’s convertible and take the old state road through the agriculture fields and drive leisurely rather the new divided highway which ran parallel about a mile away. I knew there was little likelihood of encountering other traffic as this stretch of road was mainly used by farm equipment during the day.

The terrain in this area is very flat, and I would be traversing through about 8 miles of crop fields of mainly corn, wheat, and melons. There are many small creeks, which meander and crisscross through these fields. When the fields were originally cleared for crops, ribbons of trees and shrubs along the creek edges, and sometimes just to divide fields in general were left intact. None of these trees would be considered “giant”, the tallest in the range of 60 feet.

After crossing the state line from Indiana and making a left turn on the farming road heading due west, I almost immediately saw a very large, bright glowing below the tree line just beyond the second creek crossing on the left. My first thought was that it must be a large piece of farm equipment such as a combine, but I immediately dismissed this as it was too late for planting, and way too early for harvest, the corn being about one to two feet in height. The light was so large and so startling that I reduced my speed to a crawl, turned off the headlights & radio. This didn’t seem dangerous as I saw no traffic in either direction, and the light was definitely over a field and not something on the road.

I continued to proceed at a snails pace until I passed the second ribbon of trees along a creekbed and was directly in view of the light. At this point I pulled over to the shoulder and parked. I exited the car in a state of utter amazement & astonishment. Hovering motionless and soundless about 25 feet in front of me and about 25 feet above the corn was an object. It was glowing over its entire surface with diffuse white light. The light was bright, but not so bright that it was painful to stare at, and clearly visible through the light was a silver metal craft that appeared to be elliptical in shape. The field it was hovering over was approximately the size of a football field and this object was covering more than half of it.

I walked to the other side of the road nearer to the object and as well a bit down the road to be sure my estimation of the shape and dimensions were accurate, and to see if I could discern any thing like windows or doors or markings, but I could not. At this point I was wishing another car would come along, as I knew that no one would believe me if I told about it. After a few minutes of captivated astonishment, I began to question myself as to whether I had the courage to walk into the field directly under it. Intense curiosity was overtaking me, but I decided that walking under it might not be a good idea. I then had the thought that I was trembling, probably in fear, which caused me to actually pay attention to my body, and realized that I was not really afraid, nor was I trembling. The actual feeling in my body was as if every atom was slightly vibrating.

After a few more minutes I decided to throw caution to the wind walk into the field. Just as I reached the corn and the edge of the craft, it began to rise slowly and smoothly and silently. When it reached and cleared the top of the trees, it accelerated and climbed rapidly in a southerly direction. Within 3 to 4 seconds it was no longer visible. As it departed it emitted a spray of multicolored sparkling particles that drifted down on top of the corn and dissipated. At this point I was grateful that I wasn’t directly under when it departed. I suspected those sparkling particles might have been dangerous/hazardous to my health and well being.

I got back in the car and sat there a few more minutes in awe at what I had witnessed, and realized that I would probably never tell my family, friends, or anyone about this experience. The entire event lasted approximately 15 minutes. Prior to this experience I had heard of UFO sightings but in typical teenage fashion of the day I thought they were mainly reported by uneducated people who lived in trailer parks and wore tin foil hats. My main concerns at the time centered about clothes, hair, make-up & boys.

It sounds like this is the end of the experience, but it isn’t. My mother’s car at the time was late model 50’s and had neither a clock nor seatbelts. I knew what time I had departed my friend’s house (9:20 PM) and despite the time spent on the event on the way home, I expected to still be on time for my curfew at 10:00 PM. When I arrived home and glanced at the kitchen clock upon entering, I received a profound shock. Something was wrong with time! I was not missing time, but apparently had gained time. I had arrived home in less than five minutes after departing my friends’ house. I immediately checked this clock against others in the house and against TV programming and it appeared accurate. I phoned my friend the following day to verify what time I had left her house. To this day I cannot reconcile these facts.

Posted 2013-06-02

© 2023 National UFO Reporting Center. All rights reserved. Use or reproduction within any application without written consent is prohibited.