UFO: Unidentified Flying Object
In July 1972, David and I, as newly-weds, came back to the U.S.A. from Japan. Actually, for me, it was my first trip – ever – outside of my home country.
According to David’s recollection, this “UFO encounter” happened over a year later, in late summer or early fall in 1973.
It was late enough in the day that it was dark outside. At the time, we were living in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, having recently bought our first home. From there, we – along with our then baby Jesse – were heading east for a visit to David’s parents’ house, on the outskirts of Hartford, located roughly 20 miles from our home. In stark contrast to the densely-populated Tokyo, where I grew up, this area in Wisconsin was mostly vast farm land, and sparsely populated. We were within 4-5 miles of reaching our destination when the encounter with the UFO happened along Highway 60, going east toward Hartford.
Both of us noticed a bright light in the sky, towards Hartford. It was too bright and too close to be a star. David pulled over our car – a used, blue Oldsmobile – onto the shoulder. Unlike today’s fuel-economy vehicles, it was a large, gas-guzzling vehicle; of course, at the time, few of us, if any, were thinking of the need for fuel economy. Those were the days!
In any case, David stopped the car, and we sat there for roughly five minutes. Initially, we thought it was a low-flying helicopter, but it remained there, mid-air, motionless. It was hovering over a vast farmland. Also, we heard no sound at all which, we both thought, was peculiar. According to David’s recollection, it initially remained motionless in the sky, to the south of where we were.
Suddenly, the UFO took off at an incredible speed towards the north. Then it stopped, once again, and “sat” there, midair. With such capability alone, we knew that its technology was far more advanced than anything earth bound. This is true even when compared to today’s standards in 2025. Again, this event happened over half a century ago.
David drove the Oldsmobile the rest of the way – for roughly 10 minutes – to his parents’ house. We told everyone there what we just saw.
This was our first and only experience, encountering a UFO. I’m glad that David and I saw it together.
As I’m writing this blog, it makes me wonder if those aliens, who were piloting that particular UFO, are still alive today. It would be cool if we could communicate with them, saying something like, “Remember us?”
None of us knows where these aliens are from. Or what their intensions are. Regardless, so far, as best as we can tell, they appear to want to live in harmony with the rest of us humans and all other earthly living things. Perhaps the natural resources on their star – the place of their origin – were being depleted such that they were incapable of growing food for sustenance any longer. Consequently, they had to explore other planets where they could find and/or grow food. I’m just guessing, of course.
Funny, if it were not for the 1973 encounter with the UFO, I would probably be a non-believer of the existence of aliens from another planet(s).
Then, again, who are we to think that we can be the only beings to exist in the unfathomably vast space called, “the universe?”
