1969-05-01 - Estill, SC - Cigar

shining object frightens SC family

I was born and raised on a small family farm in the lower part of South Carolina. Our farm is located in Hampton County, near a small town called Furman, about 40 miles north of Savannah, Georgia, and 90 miles west of Charleston, SC. This event took place in May of 1969 on a Thursday night, beginning around 9:00 PM (I remmber the day because we had a service every Thursday night called Training Union; it was a Southern Baptist church). My entire family witnessed the event, including my father, born 1924, and a veteran of 31 combat missions in WWII as a tail gunner on a B-24 Liberator bomber, my mother (a nurse), myself, born in 1969, and my two older sisters born 1960 and 1962.

We were planting crops (I think either soybeans or corn) in a 25 acres field that was maybe 600 yards from our main house, seperated by a strip of woods. My father was on the tractor (an old Farmall), and my mother and the rest of us kept the tractor filled with seed for the planting process.

I first noticed a very bright star which, because the area is so rural, and the fact that we often worked at night, we were familiar with the night sky. I brought this observation to my mothers attention who paid me little attention. As the light approaced (across the highway over the woods in a westerly direction) my mother finally looked up to see what I was talking about.

The object looked now to have approached closer, just above the woods. My mom ordered us kids into the truck (a white 1963 international). My dad, we later learned from him, had stopped the tractor at the opposite end of the field, and by his own admission was afraid to come back toward us. He was, i's estimate 400 or 500 yards distant at that point. I remember that my mother started crying and the rest of us did also when the truck wouldn't start.

Of course, when your six years old and you see your mon panic, you panic. I do not remember viewing the object after getting in the pickup truck. But I remember daddy returning on the tractor, saying he didn't know what it was.

As for the characteristics of the object: oblong in shape, somewhat luminous, made absolutely no soound; appeared as a small star that got larger. Do not remember a color.

THis incident was often discussed in our family, and a few years before my fathers death, three of the five witnesses drew independent sketches of what we could remember. The oblong shape matched, although we were in disagreement about a protrusion on top or the bottom of the object.

This incident has never been reported to any offical agency until the writing of this letter.


((NUFORC Note: We have spoken via telephone with the witness, and he will attempt to have his older sister submit a report, as well. He sounds like a very responsible witness to us, and we suspect that he is quite credible.

The witness indicates that the event occurred in May 1969, but he is not certain of the day of that month. However, he remembers that it occurred on a Thursday night. PD))