by Dorah L. Williams
Have you ever looked up into the sky and wondered if we are truly alone in the universe?
I’m sure most of us do, to some degree or another. How could we not, as intelligent and curious beings? From countless reports of wondrously bright celestial lights to descriptions of actual encounters with extraterrestrials, there is no shortage of documented accounts to research on this topic.
Since those four UFOs were shot down across North America last February, especially the one over Lake Huron, the shared experiences I have received about this matter have only increased.
Let’s explore a couple those anecdotes now (both of which occurred over a year before those alarming international headlines) and reflect a bit more on this mysterious phenomenon:
A Hwy 6 Experience:
“After this experience, my perspective on the universe has shifted significantly. It has had a profound effect on me, and I hope other skeptics, one day, can also get to see with their own eyes something that might be impossible to explain but also impossible to ignore or forget.
This happened on one of our regular trips to the Island in the late summer of 2021. I assure you that the last thing on my mind that day was UFOs, but that was about to change.
As my husband drove, I fell asleep for the first part of the trip. When I awoke, I turned my head toward the side passenger window and tried to open my eyes, but a light was shining so intensely there that they instinctively remained squinted shut.
I fumbled for the sunglasses I’d placed on my lap earlier and pried open my eyes once they were on. A searing light felt like it was cutting right through the window’s glass, through my sunglasses, too, and right into me. It wasn’t painful, just so powerful, and I kept moving the sun visor, trying to block it as much as possible.
My husband glanced over at me, startled by my reaction to something he couldn’t see, and asked what was wrong. I slowly looked out the window again as my eyes adjusted to the light.
I couldn’t figure out the source of that light but quickly ruled out the sun, which was in a different direction. I couldn’t see any reason for it anywhere. The light must have been coming from above us, I realized, but it was only penetrating through the passenger side window and into my eyes. I asked my husband to pull over.
I had no idea what that light was, but my instinct loudly told me not to get out of the car to find out. So, I lowered the window and stuck my head out to get a better view of anything overhead, asking my partner to do the same thing from his side of the car. And then we saw it.
Something (and I use that word deliberately) was hovering up in the sky directly above our car.
It emanated such an intense white light that I can’t adequately describe it other than to say it was transcendental and will stay in my memory forever.
It was hard to estimate its distance from us, but it appeared at about the same altitude as a low-flying small plane or a large bird. But it was obviously not either of those or anything we had ever seen before.
Only its underside was visible from that perspective as it hovered directly above us. It was the same basic shape as a zeppelin airship and immediately brought the Hindenburg to my mind because those familiar historical images were my best frame of reference, trying to make sense of what I saw.
My husband continued the drive while I monitored this unknown “airship.” I gave him an ongoing commentary on what the object was doing every few moments, as it remained positioned high above our car as though tethered to us somehow, but the bright light had become more of a radiant glow.
I’d like to say this thing eventually landed, so we got a better look at it and can conclude with a logical explanation. But, unfortunately, I can’t. It slowly rose straight upward into the cloudless sky, still directly overhead, until it was no longer visible. It didn’t suddenly depart in a dramatic blaze of glory like a science fiction movie might depict. It just slowly ascended upwards until it was out of sight, taking its extraordinary radiance with it.
If not for that light, or the way its departure was a straight upward ascent into the stratosphere, I think I would have made the “logical” assumption it could have been a marketing tool (like the Remax hot air balloon), or a unique commercial craft of some kind. But the only deduction I could make was that neither of those possibilities existed. It seemed obvious what it wasn’t — just not what it was.
My many attempts to photograph it were futile and very frustrating. Even though I took countless shots using both of our phones, every picture was just a white blur. Our only evidence is our own memories of this experience. But for us, that is enough.
Had its illumination not been so intense as to make me look for the source, I likely would have remained oblivious that it was overhead. I’m not claiming it was a “flying saucer” from a faraway galaxy. I still have no idea what we saw that day. But, we couldn’t identify an object we saw flying above us as we drove along Hwy 6. So, no matter how it’s rationalized, that was the definition of a UFO sighting.
But it affected me in a positive way. I’m more humbled now and no longer the closed-minded skeptic I’d always been when hearing others’ claims of inexplicable experiences. Who knows what else shares our universe?”
This topic never fails to spark most people’s curiosity and imagination. The search for answers in the exploration of the unknown is what has always driven humankind. We may still need definitive answers, but the possibilities are fascinating.
So, keep gazing upwards at that infinite sky. Who knows what mystical wonders you might discover. The universe is full of mysteries, and searching for answers is an adventure worth taking!
And, since humour and sage advice are always welcomed:
A North Channel Experience:
“So, picture this: I was all alone at my family’s cabin on the North Channel a couple of summers ago, working away on a renovation job in the sunroom late into the night. It was storming outside, and I heard strange noises that made me look out the window. What I saw next would have made anyone’s heart skip a beat – multiple pairs of red eyes stared back at me from among the trees surrounding our property.
Now, to be clear, I’d never been one to believe in UFOs or anything like that, but at that moment, my immediate and only thought was that I was encountering aliens! There were glowing red eyes all around my cabin, and they looked like they belonged to some giant, otherworldly creatures, being as high off the ground as they were. It freaked me out to where I started looking around for something to arm myself with, just in case.
But then, I noticed the two glowing red lights on our vintage stereo in another part of the cabin. They were reflecting not just off a nearby mirror but also through a series of windows, at different angles, in the adjacent sunroom I was in, giving an optical illusion of many sets of red dots (eyes) in several locations surrounding the cabin in the darkness outside. In other words, the “alien invasion” was just a trick of the light! It was weird that I had never noticed those lights’ reflections before in all the years we’d been there. I sure saw them on that dark and stormy night, though!
I know it sounds ridiculous, but when I noticed them that night, after hearing noises outside (from the storm), my fear was primal, and I was preparing to defend myself against alien invaders! That my mind immediately assumed the “red eyes” were aliens when I’d been a complete nay-sayer my whole life is what I find the most thought-provoking part of this comical situation. Maybe I had always refused to consider the possibility of extraterrestrials until then, in denial of that primal fear within me.
Looking back on it now, I can’t help but laugh at myself and my ludicrous overreaction. But it was eye-opening for me personally.
And the real moral of this story, I suppose, is to always apply Occam’s razor at times such as this. Sometimes, the most logical explanation is the simplest one.”
Do you also have a mystical tale to tell? Whether you’ve experienced a haunting, a mysterious cryptid sighting, or a brush with the inexplicable, share it with Canadian author Dorah L. Williams at dorahlwilliams@gmail.com
Your story, too, could be featured in an upcoming column of Mystical Manitoulin!
