Size of Object(s)

2 meter diameter circle

Distance to Object(s) & Altitude

20 meters and possibly a couple hundered meters

Shape of Object(s)

circle of light

Color of Object(s):

deep red

Full Description & Details

I was driving with a good friend and another guy I'd just met that night down a country highway, Route 24 westbound about 8km west of Morristown, NJ (no other traffic) around midnight during winter of 1979 (or maybe 1980), probably near New Years. Weather was cold with clear air and scattered cumulus type clouds.

Something caught my eye and I looked over my left shoulder and saw the clouds backlit by red lightning. I turned my head back to the road and was just starting to tell the other guys about it when the whole countryside lit up with a deep red flash (reddish maroon), like a quick flashbulb going off - and by the shadows of the leafless trees lining the road on the snow, estimated the light source to come from the same direction as the lightning and fairly high up (about 30 degree angle). The heater and radio were on with the windows up so we didn't hear anything, but all jumped at the flash and decided it must've been a power transformer blowing up on a telephone pole but could not explain the red lightning behind the clouds (although I was the only one to have seen that). A very small road (later learned to be Picatinny Road) intersected at a T to Route 24 about where we thought the transformer must be so we turned around to go back and investigate for a possible fire.

There is a streetlight (though not on) at the intersection and I turned off the heater/radio and put the windows down. Just when the car got underneath the streetlight it went on quickly (unusual for these types that need to warmup?). We all jumped until realizing it was white light and from the streetlight. I turned right to head up the small road and me and my friend were leaning towards the dash to look forward, while the new acquaintance in the back seat was looking out the back of my station wagon at the streetlight. About 50 meters from the corner, the new guy in back said the streetlight was now flickering - me and the other guy looked out front even more closely, but it was very dark, even with the headlights.

Then, an estimated 10 meters above the road and only about 20 meters in front of the car (just above bare trees lining the road) a bright red flash (slightly faster than a flashbulb?) and about 2 meters in diameter (looked like a large searchlight, as I could, I think, make out a central filament or something) hit my friend and I right in the face, temporarily blinding us. Although I had always convinced myself that if confronted by a UFO my curiosity would win out, I instead instinctively hit the gas and skidded down the icy road determined to hit the object with my large car and get physical proof of some sort (along with maybe a simple fight/flight response too). My friend felt the car move forward and yelled "What the fuck are you doing?!", but by then we'd passed where it should have been, I slowed and stopped, and I got out of the car, but was still blinded. We had heard not a sound.

I don't recall if my friend got out of the car, or the other guy - although the guy in the back had not been been blinded since he was looking backward toward the streetlight on Route 24 when it flashed. He was very quiet as we talked about it awaiting our vision to return, which took a couple minutes or more. There was no time loss, no sound, nothing - just the light, once direct and close, and another more distant and indirect - along with the weird red lightning.

The next day I told my father what had happened and then later in the day, he showed me a paper with headlines saying basically "13 unexplained atmospheric explosions in the New England region with numerous UFO sightings around them". I don't think it was a tabloid paper, but a reputable one (and would now like to search archives for some proof of this event).

My friend and I got together a year later and we remembered the event in similar detail very well. He said whenever he tried to talk to the 3rd guy about it, he didn't want to and was "freaked out" about it all.

I've never reported this to official channels (although a couple years ago did pass on a report similar to this to a UFO organization on the web, but only got an auto-confirmation of receipt).

Witness Background

I am currently a science teacher (biology degree), but had been in the Air Force just prior to the incident as a clerk, but fascinated with flight and understood tech capabilities at the time. I'd read a fair bit on UFOs, but remained objective. I was very surprised at my "instinctual" reaction to "attack" instead of passively investigate - but many things went on in my mind at the time, not just simple survival. I had a big car, thought being aggressive would be a surprise defensive move, wanted to hit something to get a piece for physical proof, etc... Being a public teacher, although I tell this story to students with much premising, I'd rather not go public with my name at this time.

Other Comments

Since you are located in Seattle, I would very much like your help in trying to track down any information/reports on this incident. It should be recorded in New York area newspaper archives.

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