1993-06-15 - Des Moines, IA - Rectangle

My diesel engine saved me?

It was summer, 1993. I was driving south on Hwy-69 from Ankeny to Des Moines [Iowa]. I'd arrived at [approximately] the crossroad of NE 66th Ave.

Myself and my passenger were listening to an 'oldies' radio station on the AM dial, when suddenly in front of us the entire sky lit up white/pink/orange. The radio went dead - static only. Upon searching, nothing could be found on either the AM nor the FM dial. The weird lights on the horizon dissipated.

Considering the times back then, I think it's understandable we immediately thought Des Moines had been nuclear bombed. My passenger and me began sobbing, she hugging me across the console. Still I continued to drive, but at a marked slower mph. We approached the area of NE 51st Ave, where on the west side of the road was situated a K-Mart and an Earl May garden center. Directly behind Earl May was I-80.

This is hard to describe, because it was so amazing ... it's difficult to get my brain around it, let alone find words to do the visual any justice.

I drove slowly as we saw *something* behind Earl May. It was approximately fourty feet high [a guess, judged by the height of the one-story garden center]. It had ... what I can only describe as 'sparks' emitting from it's 'roof.' It was, as I remember, rectangular, and silver in color. But the silver was ... shifty. Pearlescent kinda. The 'sparks' were of varying colors ... white, pink, orange, yellow ... but said colors were *vivid* and, no joke, hurt my eyes. At the time my mind thought the 'sparks' were emissions from this ... thing.

In that immediate area, just north of the I-80 interchange, and just south, there are stoplights. Also entrances and exits to and from I-80 [in a clover leaf shape].

At both stoplights cars were stopped. On the entrance to I-80 westbound too was a car, sitting there, the driver's door was open.

Surreal.

Again, what we saw behind the Earl May was enough of a mind-jumbler. Then realizing cars were stopped ... at green lights and on major entrances to Interstate roads ... I was driving *very* slow at this point, as I passed cars ... seemingly empty of drivers and passengers. But I did make note of semi-trucks passing over the I-80 bridge, as they were apparently the only other vehicles in motion, beyond my own.

I drove to my passenger/friend's house, and we woke her father, as we were quite alarmed. We phoned the radio station to which we'd been listening. They reported no 'outage' that they knew. Nor did they have any breaking news concerning any sort of ... well, anything that could or would relate to what myself and my friend witnessed.

Jump to 1992. ((NUFORC Note: Sic. How can the story "jump" backwards in time? PD)) I'd bought a new Macintosh. Once I got it set up and connected to the internet, I posted my story to a message group. Two persons responded, asking what type auto was I driving. Perplexed (and thinking maybe they were messing with me) I responded I was driving a Chevrolet Celebrity. One responded immediately asking "... was it diesel?!" Yes was my response. Same person responded, again within moments, that the reason semi-trucks were traveling over I-80 was because they were, too, diesel engines ... and went on to say that might have been the reason my vehicle was still operating.

I don't understand *why* that might be ... but I know it created quite a stir within the group to which I posted.


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