2005-06-06 - Saraland, AL - Triangle

Didn't think much of this until now...

This was in approximately early summer of 2005, so it was almost 17 1/2 years ago, but I remember it fairly clearly. I believe it was early summer because I remember a friend and I were in my above-ground pool late at night. No one else was home, as the rest of the family had taken a cruise that week. I stayed behind because I was working two jobs and couldn't take off. The neighborhood was very dark, very still and very quiet - so much so that we were nearly whispering when we talked because talking in a normal voice seemed like we were yelling. We were just relaxing and enjoying the evening (it was a clear evening - no clouds), when suddenly I became aware of some type of aircraft that was (very) slowly approaching us. I remember being stunned because 1. It was flying extremely low - barely above treetop level (75 ft. pine trees). 2. It was SILENT. Zero noise. That's what freaked me out more than anything else. 3. It seemed like a very dark gray and had some lights underneath on the edges, but none of the lights were on. My friend and I just froze and I remember feeling like I was trying very hard to hold my breath. I remember feeling frightened because I didn't know what was capable of doing that or if it it saw us. I felt that it did. As it came closer, we both (without discussing it with each other first) sunk down lower into the water and closed our eyes as it passed. When I opened my eyes, it had passed directly over us (was still on the same flight path) and we watched in silence as it passed over three or more houses. We looked at each other for a moment - trying to wordlessly verify that we'd both seen the same thing - and when we glanced back, it was gone. I remember that we were suddenly freezing in the water (when it had seemed warm before. I'm not saying this was a result of the object but perhaps because the experience gave us chills. We got out of the pool and were both shaking almost uncontrollably for an hour after that.) 2005 was really before drones were mainstream (at least, as far as I knew... and certainly before I knew what they were) but at the time I thought surely it was something military related. I remember specifically thinking that it was flying below airspace radar detection levels - something I had either read about or seen on the news in the wake of 9/11 (which is the only way I would have even known that there was such thing). I remember it being large but it certainly wasn't house sized or football field sized. It really freaked us out for a few days - I just had an overall uneasy feeling. It may actually be the first time that I experienced anxiety now that I think about it. My friend and I never talked about it again. I have thought about it fleetingly over the years randomly - thinking wow, that was so strange, but again, never thought much of it. However, I recently watched the latest Unsolved Mysteries episode about UFOs/UAPs and it made me rethink that experience. I googled in an attempt to find other reports of sightings around that time to hopefully verify my recollection. I found this site. I didn't find any in my area, but to my shock, I found many, many, many similar reports. After reading all of the reports on this site, in articles, watching shows, and reading the 2021 pentagon report (with a new report to be released sometime this week), all spanning multiple decades, I'm now a believer. I feel it is important to mention that, while I do enjoy watching Harry Potter and other fantastical shows and movies with my children, I do not believe in real life magic, ghosts, luck, etc. and I am an atheist. And, even after seeing what I saw all those years ago, I did not once think ET beings/vehicles existed until now. There are too many similarities in stories from people who never met each other and are not obviously mentally ill to call it coincidences or delusions. Especially considering that there is no way technology existed in the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s or possibly even 90s that would account for the things people have seen. Also, I've seen several mentions about these types of crafts being near interstates. The pool was approximately 421 feet from an interstate. I'm including a google maps screenshot with an annotation I added to show the pool (the yellow highlighted dot) and the direction of flight. I'm also including some photos/renderings I found on this site, the history channel site, and google images. The object seemed almost like a combination of those images to the best of my recollection.

It may be that the event is completely explainable. But, since I've seen so many similar accounts, I thought it was worth reporting.