1984-02-01 - Columbia, SC - Unknown

Large object with lights at tree top level

In winter of 1984, I had a sighting of a craft as I was travelling along US321 to visit my girlfriend who lived in Hilda, SC. I don’t recall the exact date but it was later in the evening (probably between 8 or 9pm) when I left Columbia by myself. I was driving down US321 listening to music when I noticed a bright white light in the distance shining in my direction at tree-top level to the left of the road I was on. At first, it didn’t really register and, in the back of my mind, I thought “Wow, that is a really low plane”.

As I got closer, I realized that it couldn’t be a plane since it wasn’t moving. I also saw that it was not a single light but what appeared to be two large round lights shining straight ahead like large car headlights with a smaller single red light moving back and forth between them. I would estimate that each “headlight” was probably at least 10 feet in diameter.

As I passed the object I could see that it was hovering at the edge of a f! ield about 150’ in the air with the two headlights shining straight ahead over the trees. It was very dark and I was trying to look at it as I passed but could not make out the shape or size of the craft as I passed it, only that the lights were big enough that they had to be attached to something fairly large in size.

The object did not move and I did not hear any noise at all coming from this craft but my windows were up and I was listening to music. I almost ran off the road looking at it as I drove by. As soon as I realized that I was not looking at any type of conventional aircraft, I became very alarmed and sped up. Even though it was dark, I made it a point to look around in an attempt to find a landmark to locate the spot later on my way back home. I noticed that I passed a house on my right across from the field where the craft was hovering.

Also, another vehicle passed me going in the opposite direction within a minute or so after I sped up so I am fairly certain ! someone else witnessed this object. When I got to my girlfrien! d’s hous e, she was sleeping on the couch waiting for me. I was very excited to tell her about what I saw but she dismissed it as an airplane or helicopter. When I explained the details of what happened and why this could not be either of those, she said that it was probably a fire tower and that several of those towers were located in the fields on that road. I was fairly certain that it was no fire tower and, on my trip back, I paid close attention to see if there were any fire towers in the fields. In the daylight, I did spot a fire tower but it was on the left side of the road as I was returning. It would have had to have been on the right side (same side as object I saw) as I was coming back in order to have been the object that I saw.

Further down the road, I found the house that I had noted and the field that I had spotted the object hovering over. There was no tower in that field and I did not see anything out of the ordinary at that time.


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