New Mexico UFO

I probably should have done this thread long ago. My family has had quite a lot of UFO activity connected with it, but this is one specific incident that happened to us in the 1960s.

I was born in 1961, so I was still quite young when this event happened. I'm not sure if it happened in the summer of 1964 or on July 9th, 1965. These were some things my family just never really talked about and this event was one of them. My family, both sides, are from Carmi, a tiny town of about 6000 population in Southeastern Illinois. Mom's side of the family moved to Roswell (!), New Mexico in the early 1940s, (the best I can figure from picture dates), but a lot of them eventually moved back to Maunie, an even smaller town near Carmi. But mom's aunt and uncle stayed in New Mexico - Las Cruces - to be exact. My family, (father, mother, sister and I), went to visit them in the summer of 1964. I've often wondered if this visit wasn't to check the area out because we ended up moving to Arizona, not far from mom's aunt and uncle, in July 1965. Any how, being as I was only 3 or 4 years old depending upon the year, I don't remember if we saw the UFOs in 1964 or 1965. I've always suspected it was on July 9th, 1965 because that's when we were moving to Mesa, Arizona from Carmi, Illinois. It also happened at night and at one of those all-night roadside gas stations. That's what makes me think it was in 1965, because we travelled at night and my sister and I got to sleep in the back seat of dad's 1956 Buick. And now what I remember of the incident.

We were stopped at this gas station late at night, presumably to fill up the tank, and there were these "lights" flying around in the sky. They flew around a while, then all of them went into this bigger "light" in the sky. Dad always said there was a sheriff or some law enforcement official there at the gas station that saw it as well. That's about all I remember about the incident. There was another story that happened in New Mexico to us, but I don't know if it was around this time or during the other year we went through there, depending on whether it 1964 or 1965. But travelling at night on Route 66 back in those days through the Southwest meant you'd be driving along a lot of long stretches of highway where it was dark and not much in the way of towns or people. Dad said a "light" was following us, our car, and he had mom get out his pistol from the glovebox. It would have been quite spooky out in the middle of nowhere like that on a dark night. He said it followed us for quite some time. So, I'm not sure if it was connected to the first incident or not - it might have been a part of it. Like I said, my family didn't really talk about these things, so I'm not sure if they're connected or different incidents. Do I have any proof? No. But my memory is impeccable.

There was also another UFO incident that my best friend in high school and I experienced around 1979. We saw this thing flying low in the sky, it was afternoon, and my friend and I went off chasing it in one of our cars, his or mine, we hung out together a lot. He's passed away now, but he always said there was much more to the story than I could remember. I always told him that all I could remember was starting out after the object in the car and that was where my memory of it ends. Nothing else about it remains in my memory. It was a vivid experience from his point of view, so I don't know why I don't remember anything else about it. Maybe a mental block like what happened to my father later on.

My dad also had an issue happen to him in the mid-2000s where a buried memory from August 1956 came back to him. Perhaps that should be talked about as well some time in the future. I will say this - that incident involved a Jekyll Island Air Force landing strip, President Eisenhower and an aircraft carrier (the U.S.S. Forrestal?) off in the Atlantic Ocean.

You might recognize my user icon as "Quisp," the cartoon logo for my favorite breakfast cereal. He's also an alien.... Please stay well everybody.


TCB

Cool, man, get your story out, I fear the clock is ticking here.

Interesting stories, I can imagine living outside a bigger city, how much more you see of the sky, and what you may notice.
Living in a bigger city, with plenty of air traffic, and light pollution, the best you may notice is a meteor.

I can't say I have ever seen anything weird in the sky..other than the Nothern Lights..that was mindblowing. I do believe there has to be something out there, we can't be it.

Keep your eyes to the skies

a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

You end the first story saying your memory is impeccable.
In your second story you dont remember what happens after seeing the object.
Puzzling.

originally posted by: gillyp17
a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

You end the first story saying your memory is impeccable.
In your second story you dont remember what happens after seeing the object.
Puzzling.

Abduction.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

originally posted by: gillyp17
a reply to: TrulyColorBlind

You end the first story saying your memory is impeccable.
In your second story you dont remember what happens after seeing the object.
Puzzling.

Abduction.

That's exactly what I'm implying. I don't know what happened, but if that did happen, I don't want to remember it.

Did you ever see the movie "Fire In The Sky?" The whole thing messed that guy's life up.

originally posted by: TrulyColorBlind
I don't want to remember it.

I’ve been trying to forget for decades....and then KEV mentioned the freakin rivets..and the memories came back. The emotions came back with the memories as well. It was hard finishing my 9th year of life. My parents didn’t understand, and pretty much died at ripe old ages, still not understanding what happened to me. I’m stopping here...I don’t want to remember.

No fault to you KEV.... maybe mentioning rivets in your experience was meant for me to remember.....at this stage of my life.... perhaps the trigger for a re-awakening...

Did your friend never expand on what he remembered about the story that you didnt?
Did you ask him what he thought had happened?
I know that I would want to find out what he knew that I couldnt remember.

originally posted by: TrulyColorBlind
My dad also had an issue happen to him in the mid-2000s where a buried memory from August 1956 came back to him. Perhaps that should be talked about as well some time in the future. I will say this - that incident involved a Jekyll Island Air Force landing strip, President Eisenhower and an aircraft carrier (the U.S.S. Forrestal?) off in the Atlantic Ocean.

This got me curious because I'm always interested in looking at new places, but I cant find any reference to an air force landing strip on Jekyll Island, or any military presence. It's just a state park and resort. Looking at the history, the tiny little airfield it has wasnt even paved until after 1965 and it's like half the size needed for any military jet. Are there other Jekyll Islands than the one in Georgia?

originally posted by: merka

originally posted by: TrulyColorBlind
My dad also had an issue happen to him in the mid-2000s where a buried memory from August 1956 came back to him. Perhaps that should be talked about as well some time in the future. I will say this - that incident involved a Jekyll Island Air Force landing strip, President Eisenhower and an aircraft carrier (the U.S.S. Forrestal?) off in the Atlantic Ocean.

This got me curious because I'm always interested in looking at new places, but I cant find any reference to an air force landing strip on Jekyll Island, or any military presence. It's just a state park and resort. Looking at the history, the tiny little airfield it has wasnt even paved until after 1965 and it's like half the size needed for any military jet. Are there other Jekyll Islands than the one in Georgia?

I'm not certain if it was a true Air Force landing strip, all I know is that my Dad was in the U.S. Navy in 1956 when this event happened, was stationed at a naval base in Georgia, and he was one of the men flown here to be a guard around this strip. Apparently, people were flown in to Jekyll Island and them flown out for some kind of meeting on the aircraft carrier off in the Atlantic. My Dad was just a guard. But, one of his best friends from his hometown was also a guard for that event, but he was a guard on the aircraft carrier itself. The meeting took place on the top of the aircraft carrier, the flight deck (?) and he told Dad that there were all kinds of partitions set up to keep the meeting participants from being seen by the regular enlisted men. And I don't mean President Eisenhower, who was one of the participants, were who they were trying to shield from being seen.