Appearance / Description of Object(s)

They looked like very bright stars,. the planet Venus, etc.

Size of Object(s)

I really couldn't tell.

Distance to Object(s) & Altitude

Again, I couldn't tell. Definitely not a short distance away (e.g., a hundred yards).

Description of Area / Surroundings

Sunnyside, N.Y. is a neighborhood in Queens, not far from Manhatten.

Full Description & Details

My main sighting happened at the end of June in 1978. I've had a handful of sightings since then but this was the "biggie", so to speak. I'm 46 now, but at the time I had just turned 19. I knew a women named Patty (about 30ish) who was a belliever (disciple?) of Alistair Crowley, the infamous English black sorcerer. How I came to be involved with her would take too long delineate, but at the time, I was convinced that the world was on a quick downward spiral towards Armageddon. I was convinced at the time that UFO's (i.e., extraterrestrials) were inextricably tied to our history, present and future ( too much Von Daniken and N.Y.C. living I guess). I was also a devout atheist.

At the time, I was a bit of a hippie - I played guitar in a band ( I still play guitar, teach guitar at a music store in Buffalo, N.Y. and currently play in a progressive rock band). I did smoke reefer regularly and drank often; I had done acid once or twice with no out-of-this-world effects. I think it was the last night of June of 1978, at any rate it was a Sunday evening, when I got a call from Patty in the early evening. She told me that the lights in the sky were going to appear that night. I had already hypothesized that extraterrestials were real but had never actually seen a U.F.O. I was excited about the chance of seeing something, so I went over to her apartment in Sunnyside . How she knew in advance that they would appear did not really enter into my thoughts at the time.

Patty was divorced and admittedly a bit odd. She had 3 children, 2 daughters aged about 10 and 13 and a son named John who was about 14. They were all attractive, bright kids. According to Patty, they were all used to seeing strange phenomena, e.g., lights in the sky (during the day and night) and objects moving by themselves in her apartment. Also, she had a camera that would seem to capture auras of people (weird electrical looking colored lights around whomever she'd photograph). I saw many of these photographs and they were pretty bizzare. All of the family members also saw a dark, ghost-like entity periodically in the apartment.

I went over to Patty's apartment in the early evening. I hung out with her and her kids and basically talked and listened to music. I did not ingest any substances that evening. I was half hanging out of a window of her apartment looking out towards the sky (she lived in a 4rth floor apartment on 46th street) and, cliche-like, right at midnight (technically Monday morning), I saw a bright, star-like orb suddenly appear in the sky and hover. I excitedly told Patty that I saw something - she went to the window and confirmed my sighting. I was beside myself but she seemed very calm - like, oh yeah, here they are again.

Patty, her son John and I proceeded to the roof of her apartment building to get a better look. For about an hour, we saw these orbs appear in various parts of the sky; some would hover, some would move about, some would disappear suddenly and others would appear in their place in some other part of the sky. I can't remember how many appeared but it was probably not more than a half dozen. They moved slowly and silently. We saw airplanes flying by so I assumed that they were not conventional planes. After about a half an hour, John complained that he was cold and went back downstars to the apartment ( it was a chilly early summer evening). I couldn't believe that he did that, I mean, this was the most monumental thing I had ever witnessed and he was wussing out because it was chilly. But as I mentioned above, this family was used to seeing these things on a regular basis.

Patty and I watched these orbs for about an hour. At one point, one of these these things was hovering above the Manhatten skyline and another was moving away from it. Then, the one moving away from it started moving towards the one that was hovering, merged with it and sank below the Manhatten skyline. After about an hour, they all disappeared and none reappeared. I was in shock at that point. I told Patty something to the effect that I couldn't believe what had just happened and I guessed that I wasn't crazy, that there was alien life out there. As I said this, a bright white light seemed to engulf us for a second or two. I asked Patty if she had seen this and she said that she did, still calm as a cucumber.

I don't know if there were U.F.O reports in the papers the following day because, to be honest, I just didn't think of checking. I guess it would be interesting to check it out at this point if possible - maybe I will after I write this thing. Anyway, what may be of interest to some is, Patty never referred to these lights in the sky as U.F.O.'s - she referred to them as "the powers that be." Without writing a book here, I can tell you that this experience was accompanied by: a ouija board reading that really friggin' worked, an astral projection experience, and strange knockings on my bedroom wall at various, seemingly synchronistic intervals (i.e., poltergiest-type experiences). I had never experienced any of these things prior to my sighting (except for the ouija board experience which was only 1 month prior to my initial sighting). These phenomena continued into the Fall of 1978 and almost drove me mad. If it weren't for the fact that other people were witnessing these things I would have surely committed myself. Again, without writing a book, the immediate outcome of these events was, I was convinced after a summer and Fall of reading the bible (for the first time in my life) that demons were out to posess me and, after a horrifying, nightmarish and ultimately epiphany-like experience, became a born-again Christian (me, a nice Jewish boy)!!!!

Presently, I cannot say for sure what the hell happened to me all of those years ago. I am no longer an atheist, but I do not believe in a benevolent god. This no doubt has to do with my being a child welfare worker here in Erie County for the past 11 years, basically dealing with child abuse and neglect on a daily basis (as well as 9/11, the recent Tsunami, the Black Plague, Nazi Germany, etc.). Currently, I am one jaded mother- fucker. I can certainly see how a typical born-again type would interpret my experiences as being demonic, but honestly, I just don't know. I haven't experienced anything really weird in quite awhile, except for about a year ago when a lady friend and I saw some strange lights in the night sky here in Orchard Park (a suburb of Buffalo where I currently reside).

Why am I writing this stuff down now? I have never written it down before in a public forum. I guess I was inspired by a day of U.F.O. programming on the History Channel as well as a bit of rum. Truthfully, I am one depressed mo' fo' and don't know how much time I can continue to endure this insane asylum called Earth. I guess I'm writing now for the sake of truth, and possibly, to get some feedback from people who have gone through experiences similar to my own. I do not consider my experiences to be typical U.F.O. fare. Rather, my experiences were a mixture of strange sightings and poltergeist-like experiences. I know what the new age, born-again and psychological interepretations of my experiences are but nothing seems conclusive. One thing is for sure: if there are extraterrestials out there who are checking us out, they had better intercede on the planet's behalf soon before we do ourselves in by our own stupidity.

Can sighting be explained as any conventional man-made or natural object?

Absolutely not, unless any of the above mentioned objects can appear out of nowhere, disappear in an instant or merge with one another.

Witness Background

Cited above

Views on UFOs, before and after sighting

Before my sighting I had read "Chariots of the Gods?" by Von Daniken and 1 or 2 other books on the subject. When I was a teenager U.F.O.'s were the closest I could come to an idea of God. Upon becoming a born-again Christian shortly after my initital experiences, I thought that they were demons (in the biblical sense - as Paul said, "Our enemies are not flesh and blood, but the spiritual powers that reside in the heavens."). Now, I don't know what the heck to believe.

Reported Sighting? 

Reported To: 

Name: 

Your Location: 

Age: