1976-06-01 - Mankato Area, MN - Light

Camping with Camp Fire Girls when an unnatural, possibly extraterrestrial event occurred

Camping in the woods with Camp Fire Girls, exact location unknown but in the greater Mankato area. There were probably 10 -12 young girls (I believe I was at least 8-9 years old but no older than 10 or possibly 11) and several adult female parent chaperones. We were around a campfire eating pineapple slices from a can that had been heated in the coals of the bonfire when the “weather” (I use this term loosely) suddenly changed dramatically.

The temperature dropped, the wind started howling, and there were strange, violent, colorful flashes in the sky but no noise whatsoever that I can recall, save the wind in the trees which were violently shaking. What was most concerning and memorable were the chaperones reaction; I remember them going from laughing to serious to extremely frightened, all in the matter of mere minutes, and we as a group were hustled out of the camp site and into several vehicles almost immediately. We drove away quickly and spent the night in someone’s attic or room above a garage- it was dry and comfortable but unfinished and large enough to accommodate 12-16 people in sleeping bags. I have very little memory of this, and I cannot say with any certainty whose house it was (undoubtedly one of the chaperones) and querying my parents produces no concrete memory or confirmation of this aborted camping event. We left the camp site so quickly that night that the next morning we were woken up early! and driven back to the camp site to pick up our tents and coolers and other miscellany.

I don’t know what the lights were but I know what they weren’t: to the core of my being I believe it was some sort of extraterrestrial encounter. I have lived through dozens of tornadoes, electrical storms, “regular” thunderstorms and even the tail end of a hurricane in Florida, and this was not a weather event- or if it was, it was like no other before or after. For years I actually thought perhaps I was sexually abused during this incident as the memories are so frightening and real and palpable and utterly, completely, abjectly traumatic - I no longer believe this ( sexual abuse) but I have finally accepted within my own heart that there was some kind of contact.

I know in this day and age if a camping event were interrupted and all participants whisked away to an adult’s house, parents would be notified immediately and in real time. However, this was probably 1974-78 (?) and my parents (both still living and for the most part sound of mind) have absolutely no memory of this occurring. However when I reflect on it - which is quite often, considering it happened 40 plus years ago, the fear and the internal trauma is undeniable. I have a freakishly good memory - I remember what the house I lived in at 3 years old looked like, I could tell you what you wore the day I met you, and I waitressed for years and could remember your favorite drink after serving you once- and I cannot recall one thing that happened once the lights started, the purple blue black (yes there was actually “black” lights)... I remember being yelled at to drop everything and get in the truck (or vehicle ?) amd I remember my complete physical and mental relief once we! were tucked into our sleeping bags inside of the attic, barn, etc.

I cannot for the life of me understand what this incident was, but for the fact that “it” has been with me, living in my head, for more than three quarters of my life. It was odd, strange, exhilarating, frightening, awesome, crazy and oddly unnatural, if that makes any sense. I wish I could say I saw a craft, but I didn’t. There was, however, a feeling of immense pressure from above, like how the air gets pregnant with moisture right before it pours. There was an almost unbearable feeling of pressure (which is the best way I can describe it) bearing down from above- it was like the sky was lowered...? It made your brain hurt inside your skull, the pressure. I cannot describe it, or reconcile it, and I’ve tried for years and years to understand it. I believe it was an encounter of some sort.

Additionally odd, I drove from out east where I now live back to Minnesota a couple years ago and the closer I got to Minnesota, the more vivid I recalled these unbelievable, strange, frightening memories- although it was not a frightening or unnatural feeling or experience - it felt like coming full circle back to that very night. I wish I could remember more.