Alabama Family Account
Jesse, a present day adult grandchild of his ancestral observer, tells us that his now deceased grandmother was a teenager in 1930.It was after dark, perhaps about 6:30 p.m., and my grandmother and 3 other school mates were waiting in a car before an evening play or musical type performance at her school, they were a bit early, so they waited for someone to come unlock the school’s door, Jesse said.
It’s important to understand that at that time in rural Alabama there was no such thing as street lights in remote areas where schools were located.
Shortly after pulling up by the school, the occupants of the car saw a bright light that looked like a ball of fire, my grandmother was in the back driver’s side of the car, and she said that the light was approaching the car from the rear passenger’s side, Jesse said.
They all assumed it was a flashlight or car headlight of someone to come open up the door to the school.
The light got brighter and it filled the car interior with light.
It was so bright, my grandmother said it was as bright as daylight.
Over the years the woman shared her consistent description with her children and grandchildren.
It was a bright glowing ball about the size of a basketball. It floated by our car, about 2' or 3' away, Jesse said she recounted. It moved forward on the rear passenger side about 4' above the ground. It moved at the speed of a slow walk and was completely silent.
Jesse said his grandmother and her friend were so terrified that neither of them would get out of the car.
But, as the story goes, she related that both boys in the car got out and followed the glowing ball of fire as it meandered into the woods. The boys came back after a few minutes and said it had disappeared.
The sighting perplexed all who saw it.
Later as adults, her friends recalled the sighting event many times over the years, Jesse said.
From 2001 through 2015, Lauderdale County, AL, reported a total of 28 UFO sightings. 23 of them were reported in the regional area of Florance. Waterloo is part of the Florence-Muscle Shoals metropolitan area, known as The Shoals.