The UFO myth - or fact?

"Prior to seeing my UFO, I had always been a UFO agnostic. I knew they could exist, but without ever seeing one, I also had my doubts."

I was out in the backyard listening to my afternoon sports station on the radio. The regular host was off today, and somehow the fill-in host got on the subject of UFOs. Especially ones seen in the Twin Cities. I found it interesting to listen to the stories. A caller had seen a UFO while driving in the metro area. He said he hesitates to tell people, as it is usually is a fast road to being called a nut.

A bit of disclosure. I have written about this a couple times before. Somewhere between 8 and 10 years ago, my son-in-law and I saw a UFO by Anoka. In was Thanksgiving night right after dusk. It spooked me out - I had never seen one before. Truthfully, if I had been by myself, I would not have said a thing to anyone. But since we both saw it and had similar recollections, we reported it to MUFON. They deemed it to be a valid sighting and opened a case file.

Prior to seeing my UFO, I had always been a UFO agnostic. I knew they could exist, but without ever seeing one, I also had my doubts. That is until in the 1980's when I was on military leave, stationed in Pensacola, Florida. Myself and another man from my reserve unit were quartered in a trailer on Mustin Beach, at the nearby Naval Air Station. In a trailer next to ours was an E-6 admin sailor who was also on a two week assignment from Adelphi, MD. Also a cryptologist, she carried a high level security clearance. Being single, she decided to bring her mother down with her to see the Gulf Coast.

On evening she and her mother invited us over to their trailer for drinks and some hors d'oeuvres. It was pitch black outside. After some chit chat, I decided to crack a funny. I said, "This would be a perfect night to see a UFO because it is so dark." The sailor and her mother became suddenly very quiet. Her mother looked at me and said, "We both saw one, up close. We live out in a rural area and one night when locking up the house, we saw something over our neighbor's house. We called our neighbor to alert him. He came outside to see what it was. He ran to our house and called the sheriff. Soon there were about 20 people in our yard looking up at this unknown thing. After an hour or so, it took off very fast and was gone. It never came back."   

After my military leave was over, I thought about that conversation many times. It seemed so far fetched and yet this sailor carried one of the Navy's highest security clearances. In other words, to get a clearance such as that, your character and honesty must be very high. And her mother looked to be close to 60. Why would they lie? I have met quite a few BS artists in my day, but I detected none of that when they were telling their story.

Back to the MUFON agent my son-in-law and I talked with. His words - "What you saw was real. You did not imagine it. I talk to people all the time in Minnesota and Western Wisconsin who have tales that send chills up my spine. No, UFOs are as real and real can get."

With all that being said, and even after seeing one, I still am plagued by the question which plagues so many - are UFOs a myth? Or are they for real. Stay tuned - that question is still on my radar.