My family and UFOs

[smokingboot]

I remembered it after the Silver Man talk at our story-telling day. The thing about growing up in Devizes is that it was weird stuff central; some might call it a thin place. Another time for that post! It was a place of lights in the sky and circles in the crops. I've seen a few of the former, dozens of the latter. Again, another time, suffice it to say I've seen nothing I could absoutely categorise as a UFO.But a couple of family members have.

Mum was one of them. She was little, between 6 and 9 I think, when she was sent to live on her aunt's farm for a while, and she had one job; she was to gather flowers for a fresh bouquet for the dinner table each day. The world was raging at war beyond the peninsula, and Spain was exhausted from its own horrible conflict, but for a little girl these were innocent times; there were no bandits in the hills, no terrors in the woods. As she picked, she saw, rising from beyond 'a reservoir' a great craft, silent and swooping towards her. She had never seen anything like it, and ran away in terror. She always said her strongest memory was of throwing her flowers to the ground in panic.

I often wondered if this sighting was born out of nascent psychosis, but I don't recall her being ill at the time she told me. What I do note is how many people seem to have mental health issues after they sight something like this. But is the sighting itself a cause or a symptom?

Sighting 2 had stronger testimony, and happened much later, in the 80s/90s.

The family had a summer house in a Granada suburb close to the hills, a district called Monteluz, which means, perhaps too aptly, 'Mountain of Light.'

One night my aunt was woken by what she called 'silent lightning' flickering fast from outside. From her descriptions I would say it sounded like some kind of massive strobe effect. In any case, she was terrified and hid under her bed covers. The one who went to look at what was going on outside was my uncle, a policeman in the local force, and it was his description I record now or as much of it as I can remember.

He saw a craft, directly above the house, so much so that he was staring at the underside directly. He estimated it was about 30 foot across, and yes,from underneath, it did seemed to be a plate shape. The silent lightning was spilling from the topside, which he couldn't quite make out. What he did see, sunk into its underneath, were three globes arranged in a kind of snooker/pool triangle shape, all of them revolving. He just stared at it, not knowing what to think, when the craft accelerated at vast but silent speed right up into the night sky and disappeared.

He never told anyone outside the family about it because it wouldn't do his reputation any good; it's safe to say that flights of fancy are seldom lauded among Spanish policemen. Mum was sleeping in the house when it happened, and was furious with the rest of the family for not waking her up to see it. Aunt never regretted just hiding and refusing to look.

So what then?

Sighting 1)

Assuming that Mum wasn't crackers when she told me about the sighting, I can imagine that Franco's government might have been building up new forms of military power, perhaps looking into new kinds of aircraft. Honestly, I think this is the explanation for a lot of similar phenomena. Spoke to Nick Pope back in the 90s when he was a flummoxed civil servant wondering why no-one with any authority seemed to care about random craft floating in and out of British air space. My take on it was that they didn't care because the craft were indeed our own or the result of joint ventures with allies.

Sighting 2)

Could be the same, but why have a totally silent form of travel and yet have lights blasting all over the place? What would be the point? It makes no sense whether you're from Zeta Reticulon or the local military base. Can't fathom it.

My uncle is retired now, his career untouched by any whiff of whimsy, indeed, he remains one of the most lucid staunchly practical men I ever met. But I have not spoken to him about it for many years, and I strongly get the vibe that silence on this matter is his preference. I think, like Aunt, he wanted to forget about it.