When people, especially children are confronted with something outside of their known reality, the effects of their experiences can last a lifetime and decades can pass before they are ready to discuss what happened to them. In some cases contact witnesses, like trauma victims are haunted for a lifetime as new memories surface years later.

So is the story of one man who reluctantly stepped forward 25 years after his childhood encounter to share his unsettling experience and its lingering effects. As an adult he worked as a deputy in law enforcement.

The witness told the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) that he was 10 years old in 1993 when something happened that changed his life forever. He was playing outside the home of a female friend (both names withheld by NUFORC), drawing on her driveway with sidewalk chalk when they noticed a shadow drift over them. With no trees nearby on what was a clear day, they looked at each other and then looked up, explaining, “What we saw sounds crazy at best.”

Just above their heads and close enough to touch had they stood up was a “large, teardrop shape craft.”  He described it as 20-25 feet long and 12-15 feet wide, hovering about 6 feet above them.

The witness described it as “liquid metal” and mirror-like silver in color, though they could not see their reflections in it. The surface of the silent object was ripple shaped, “like a stone tossed into water.” They felt no heat emitted from it.

The two children were frozen in place and did not say a thing to each other, shocked by what came over them. They then “snapped out of it and started screaming.” Their screams drew the attention of the girl’s parents who came out of their house to see what the commotion was about. 

When the kids started screaming, the craft “took off, high and fast” toward the nearby University of Kentucky but lingered higher above as the kids tried to point at it and explain to her parents what had happened. The parents could not see it at this point as the mirror surface of the craft reflected the sky around it.

Things began to get strange.

The girl’s parents scolded the boy and girl for making up a story and scaring them. They told their daughter to go inside and sent the boy home. They were never allowed to play together again because her parents thought that the boy was “putting scary thoughts in her head” and causing the girl to have nightmares. The boy ran home, screaming for his mom who tried to calm him down and said what they saw was “probably just a weather balloon.” The boy knew otherwise.

The boy’s mother took him inside and continued cooking dinner, which did not make sense to the boy, as they had just finished lunch a short time earlier. The boy's realization that he was missing time left him scared and confused.

Like his girl friend, the boy had nightmares. He also developed sleep paralysis and began to sleep walk, always trying to walk outside. His parents placed locks on the door that were out of his reach, so he tried to get outside through a window when sleepwalking.

When his mother asked why he was trying to get outside when sleepwalking, he said that “the blimp was outside.”

The nightmares intensified, some with the object he saw chasing him and seeing his neighbors "on fire.”

His mother sought medical care for his son, who was now living in a state of fear and would stay up for days at a time to avoid his nightmares. He saw a hypnotherapist which helped the boy calm down and sleep better. 

As he grew older, the witness began to recall more about his childhood encounter, which included memories of being taken by the craft which may account for the missing time he felt between that day’s lunch and dinner.  He recalls a “slender figure that opened his arms and seem to hold me. It was like he cared about me and wanted me to know that. I think I recall everything being white and smooth.”

His experience sticks with him decades later. It bothers him how he is unable to convince people around him that what happened was real. His family still jokes about it. As an adult, he spoke to his mother about it, who only changed her belief that it was a weather ballon to “probably something the local University made and was flying.”

As with many encounters, it is a personal experience intended for the witness and beyond the comprehension of other people. It is a lonely fate for many contactees.

Original witness report:

Summer of 1993 Just after Lunch; 12 Noon – 1pm 

Not sure how I feel about sharing my story but it happened and changed my life.

I was only 10 years old, I was at my friend ((female friend's name deleted)) house and we were inside playing hide and go seek. We were scolded for being to loud and were sent outside to play. Seems like all summer long we sat drawing with sidewalk chalk, as we sit in the drive way a shadow came over us. There were no large trees and it was a clear day. We looked at each other and then looked up. What we saw sounds crazy at best.

It was a large tear drop shape craft. It was about; 20-25 feet long, 12-15 feet wide, and I couldn’t tell the height but it would have been large enough for full grown adults. It was like liquid metal, we couldn’t see ourselves in the reflection but it was a mirror like silver. It also had a ripple like a stone tossed into water. It didn’t make any noise. There was no heat coming off it. It just hung there; if we would have reached up, we could have touched it. It was only 6-7 feet off the ground.

We were kind of in a state of shock, I guess, because we didn’t move or say anything. But to a kid, I guess it was confusing. But then we snapped out of it and started screaming, we were so loud that ((female friend's name deleted)) parents ran out to see what was going on. Just as we started screaming, the craft took off, high and fast, towards Nicholasville Rd, as we were on University Ave. We were pointing and trying to explain what happened, but her parents couldn’t or didn’t see it and it seemed to stop and watch as we tried to explain what was happening. We were pointing at it as it sat there for a moment; it was reflective so it matched the blue sky. You could only see it if you knew what to look for I guess.

We were scolded for scaring everyone and making up a story. ((female friend's name deleted)) had to go inside, and I was sent home. I ran back to my house on Crescent Ave. screaming for my mom. She heard me and met me outside trying to calm me down. My mom tried to calm me down and I didn’t know anything about UFO, but my mom actually said to me, “It was probably just a weather balloon.” I remember thinking this wasn’t a balloon. She got me inside, and she was cooking dinner but we had just had lunch. I don’t know the time but it wasn’t normal. I was confused and scared, for a long time. ((female friend's name deleted)) and I were never allowed to play together again. Her family thought that I was putting stories that gave her nightmares.

I started having problems sleeping as well; I was sleep walking, having horrible dreams, and having sleep paralysis. On several occasions my mom saw me trying to walk outside in my sleep, she had to put locks on the doors that I couldn’t reach. When I couldn’t get out the doors, I actually tried to go out the window. According to her she asked me why I was trying to get outside, and I said because the blimp is out there. I was having dreams of blimps chasing me and of my neighbors back yard being on fire. I couldn’t scream though I tried no sound would come out. I couldn’t move. When I was finally able to I would start screaming out of control. After I told my mom that she decided I needed to go to the doctor. My primary care said I needed a therapist and a sleep study. I started fearing everything; like shower curtains, heights, darkness, and I feared going to sleep so bad that I would stay awake for days. I was awake so long that I would start seeing things and becoming mo! re fearful.

I was taken to the Woodland Group in Lexington to see a therapist. I really liked the guy, he had a labyrinth in his back yard. The started doing hypnosis on me to see what got me so worked up. He put headphones on my ears and the music would go back and forth left to right in my ears. He also had me follow a light left to right until I got tired, not asleep just tired. The only thing I remember him telling me to touch my face when I was scared and that it would relax me. It worked and I got over my fears, sometimes I still catch myself touching my face in specific spots. I also still have sleep paralysis, but it doesn’t scare me anymore.

When I stop and think about that night, I feel at peace now. I can’t remember something about a slender figure that opened his arms and seem to hold me. It was like he cared about me and wanted me to know that. I think I recall everything being white and sooth.

Later in life I became a Deputy (law enforcement officer) and I worked with a Deputy that was stationed at Area 51 as a test piolet, in the 50s. He has passed away now, but I always wonder why he decided to tell me about a missing aircraft that occurred when he was there. I don’t know why this always occurs around me. But it worries me that no one seems to understand this was real, it happened and I don’t know how to convince people to understand me. My family jokes about it, one time I got real serious and spoke to my mom about it all as an adult. Her story changed she said it was probably something the local University made and was flying. If we had that technology then why hasn’t it come out yet, it’s not us.