And We Thought It Was A Truck

And We Thought It Was A Truck

Date: October 15, 1936

Location: Eklutna, AK

I happened to be in Alaska because I had been working for Washington Fish & Oyster Co. at their cannery on Shuyak Island, called Port Williams.

I was a mechanic doing all manner of repair work besides making cans for the salmon with Continental Can Co. equipment.

I made the cans and then we checked constantly to insure proper sealing.

When the salmon season was over I decided to go to Anchorage and secure a job.

This was not to be and I found myself working for the Civilian Conservation Corp.

I helped establish the Camp at Eklutna, 27 miles North of Anchorage, on the now old highway.

This was the construction site of Eklutna's Power Plant buildings and all were still intact and we took it over.

The exact number of young men who arrived there was probably 10 and they were all, I believe, from the Eastern States, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts.

It was cold, 20° to 25° Fahrenheit, with about 10" of snow on the ground.

We all slept in the large bunkhouse and free time was spent around the coal burning stove playing cards, reading or just conversation.

One of the fellows was called Peterson.

Weekends were long and the biggest activity was chucking coal in the stove.

Everyone took turns to keep the fire going during the night.

On this particular Saturday night Peterson and I decided to try to hitch a ride to Anchorage and go to a movie.

The others thought we were out of our minds with the freezing cold and all.

Both of us started out, the sky was pitch black with the stars glistening like jewels and the air was still.

Walking along at a brisk pace, to keep warm, we must have covered 4 or 5 miles and no cars came.

As we entered an open area we heard this sound, turned around and saw this intense bluish light.

Oh, joy, a truck it had to be with one headlight burned out.

Wrong.

It was not on the road but up in the air.

This was startling to say the least.

The sound we heard was like the sound of a jet turbine being shut down, not a high pitched sound.

Dumbfounded, it took a few seconds for us to react.

It seemed it was moving rather slowly, maybe 35 to 40 miles per hour.

In the ensuing moments we flattened ourselves in the snow when it passed overhead.

In the few moments I looked at it, it was to all appearances cigar shaped with the bluish light on the side.

However, a few seconds later, when light faded some, I looked up and it appeared wider.

Peterson and I were now standing up looking at the object heading East.

It was headed toward a mountain or high foothills.

As we kept looking at it, we both thought it would crash into the mountain.

It seemed to lift up and went over and down the other side.

We looked at each other and exclaimed:

What the hell was that?

We decided to return to the Camp, which we did, wondering what it was we had seen.

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