1978-11-01 - Biloxi, MS - Sphere

Unidentified Sphere observed by group of teens west of Keesler AFB, Biloxi, MS.

I have never reported this story and have only shared it with my closest family and friends. Those who know me well enough to know I do not lie nor do I embellish stories.

Between August, 1976 and May, 1979, I attended Fernwood Junior High School, Pass Road, Biloxi, Mississippi 39531 for my 7th, 8th and 9th grade years. So It has been nearly 40 years since my UFO experience. That being said, though I am a little vague on the exact date or time the circumstances are still as clear in my mind as if they had happened yesterday.

One evening I was among a group of kids who had just finished band practice. There were probably 7-9 of us waiting for our parents to pick us up. If I remember correctly it was for concert band and it had to have been at least 8:00pm or 8:30pm, maybe a little later than that. After practice was finished we were all huddled at the back of the school where it looked over the football field. On the other side of the field was an area of woods and past that lie the beaches. It was completely dark outside and I don’t remember being cold so I believe it was in the late summer or early fall sometime between September and December. The sky was completely clear and illuminated by only the stars and the moon, with a faint glow from some street lights on the front side of the school (north of our position) and from the businesses which lined Beach Blvd, approximately a mile away on the other side of the woods, to the south. Biloxi was east of or location and Gulfport was to our wes! t. Also lying east of our location was Keesler Air Force Base. My father was stationed there.

We were all gathered and just talking. When someone in the group noticed a bright light that appeared at the top of the trees. Since it was on the other side of the field I estimate it was approximately 200 feet +/- away from or location and based on the its position above the field I estimate that it had an approximately diameter of 40-60 feet. It was a bright white sphere that was completely silent and slowly glided just above the tree line towards the direction of Gulfport until it was out of our line of sight. It only took about 30 seconds for it to disappear past the tree tops.

After a moment of silent disbelief, a buzz of talking occurred, with questions about the source of the light but what happened next really sent the conversation into a frenzy. As I said, the sphere was completely silent but approximately 20 seconds after it disappeared a group of helicopters came into view at the top of the trees to our east. They were not in a straight line but in some kind of formation spread out from the tree line towards the beach. We heard them loud and clear before we even saw them (which squashed the point that the Sphere was too far away for us to hear) and they followed the same exact path across the top of the trees, east to west, hurriedly scanning below with search lights, along their path, as they passed the school. About that time we heard our parents blow their car horns and we went running up to the front of the school. We loaded into the car (I was riding with a friend) and excitedly began to describe our experience. We were headed East on Pa! ss Road towards home. I lived in Thrower Park, which was base housing. No sooner had we started driving down Pass Road when 4-5 police cars, with lights and sirens blaring, sped past us in the direction of Gulfport. This only fueled our speculations. The next day I looked in the newspapers for any word of the events of the previous evening, but there was nothing. Of course we spoke of it at school and I kept watch in the papers for several weeks, but eventually gave up on finding out what happened that night.

Over the years I have thought of our experience often and wondered about the truth but in my mind I have no doubt about what we saw. During my father’s 20 year career in the Air Force he worked on mission specific equipment for aircraft and I was in and around aircraft frequently when I would visit the hangers where he worked. Some of the mission equipment he worked on was for the Hurricane Hunters and I was very aware of what a weather balloon was and what it looked like. So much so that as a child I wanted to grow up to be a weather person. I was captivated by weather and the Hurricane Hunters. We had also lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and been to the hot air balloon festivals on several occasions, during my childhood.

I wish I could say I remember the date and the names of the other kids who were present that night, but other than my recollection of the experience and a few nicknames I am at a loss. How I wish we had the internet then. I may not have been able to find any information back then but I have never forgotten and would love to know if there is anyone else out there, who went to Fernwood Junior High during that period, and who has not forgotten either.


((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the event is approximate. PD))