1978-11-27 - Ukiah, CA - Sphere

UFO over Ukiah, sphere with beams coming out from it...then I forgot the entire sighting until I saw a report in the paper

I was driving home after dark listening to the radio. It was either the night of Nov. 18, 1978 or Nov. 27, 1978...the 18th was the day of the Jim Jones People's Temple killings and the 27th the day of the Mayor Moscone/Harvey Milk killings in SF. I had been listing to news of Jim Jones on the radio all week, then of the Moscone/Milk murders, so I am a little mixed up as to which night it was, but am pretty sure it was the 27th, because it was the 2nd huge event in a week. (The sighting was reported in the Ukiah Daily Journal on the front page the next day, after being reported by others). I was driving south on Hwy. 101 just south of town...1/2 mile, after dark listening to the radio. Then I noticed that the top of my windshield was lit up a little. I looked up and there was a cloud which seemed to glow. I pulled over to get a better look at it and noticed a hitchhiker up the road from me about 300'. He was looking up too. I got out of the car and this huge cloud looked as if the moon was behind it, but the moon was behind the mountains to the south east and hadn't risen over them yet. As I watched, a sphere began to show inside the cloud. There was no sound at all. Then beams of light came out from it like a Star of David over Bethlehem. At first it seemed more like a religious experience. I felt this overwhelming feeling of awe. Then I looked into my car at my camera on the seat thinking that I should take pictures. But, amazingly i didn't. I have no idea why i didn't and after I thought to get the camera, I have no recollection of thinking about the camera again. The cloud seemed to clear and I could see this ball of light. Then the beams went back inside the sphere and the clouds went around it again and it moved west and back around the mountains. I was so amazed and jumped in the car to go home. I was thinking, "Wait till I tell ((name deleted)) (my sister) about this. I also thought I would pick up the hitch hiker and ask him about what he saw. I don't remember driving past him or seeing him, or don't remember anything about the 5 minute drive home until I pulled up to my mailbox. I went into the house with NO memory of the saucer!!! I never called my sister about it. I didn't think of it or remember anything about it. I just turned on TV and that was that! But, the next day when I got the paper, here was the story. Other people had seen the same thing. Then, when I saw that story I though, "What? I saw something too, why didn't I remember that?" I was dumbfounded! It took about an hour for me to get the details to come back to me. At first I just knew I saw the cloud with some shape and it took the hour for it all to come back. Then I couldn't believe I had forgot it and didn't pick up the hitchhikier, didn't take a photo and didn't call my sister and didn't even remember this...one of th emost amazing experiences of my life! So, they must have done something to block my memory. I have no idea if I lost any time either. I also saw a UFO when I was a little boy north of Buffalo in Niagara County, at night. Then my sister and neighbor saw it again over the woods the next day. But, the article may still be on file on microfilm at the Ukiah library or at the daily journal. I have seen photos of the same thing from Mexico City and Montreal.