Young Girl Watches UFO
Dawn Smith, 9 years old at the time of her eerie experience early last November, was awakened about 6:00 a.m., as her mother started her car to go to work.Her mother's departure meant that Dawn would be alone for a while in their home. Since the house is somewhat isolated on top of a hill, with only a vineyard nearby, it was a position that any other young girl might have fussed about. But Dawn is bright and self reliant, and as usual when her mother left, she snuggled in bed again for a little more sleep.
This, however, was not to be one of those usual days, for something very strange outside her window against the still dark sky caught her eye.
She said:
I saw a big light in the sky and a little one moving up and down beside it. The big light was like a shoe box and it had green lights down one side. The other light was white and it was swaying as it went up and down. It stopped for a while and then it went up and down again. Then the shoebox opened a door, like a garage door, and the little light went inside.
Under careful questioning Dawn explained the shoebox was smaller than half the size of a full moon and she was looking up at it at an angle of about 45°. She said that besides the green lights down one side, it had an outline of red lights. Those across the tip were particularly noticeable.
The door closed, and the shoebox went behind a rain cloud, but I could still see it because the cloud only half covered it. Then it came back out and opened the door again, and the flying saucer came out. When it went in it was just a little round light and when it came out it was like a flying saucer with lights going around it. They were red, yellow and orange. It had a little hook on top.
Note: Dawn's description of the second light apparently changing to a flying saucer, adds to the authentic sound of her account. Almost 9 years earlier nurses at Duncan, B.C., staring out a hospital window, saw the same act in reverse. In full view a hovering saucer shaped object with a dome on top became illuminated so brightly its outline was obscured and it appeared to be simply a ball of light. In Letters of this issue reader Hazel Elves adds a helpful detail to that case and, by remarkable chance, also refers to a merry go round type of object similar to that seen by Dawn. It is inconceivable the young girl could have dreamed up such good examples of matching cases.
Before going to see Dawn, and with his wife Yvonne, this case investigator listened to some of her account over the phone. But the visit itself produced more surprising information and the couple decided this was because the young witness was less nervous than at first and so more willing to recall what had happened.
For one thing, the description of a flying saucer emerging from the larger object was new to them and they were impressed by the girl's earnestness in trying to remember if the rim lights were revolving around the saucer or if the whole craft was turning.
Dawn also said that when the door of the first object opened she saw two figures like guards standing in the dim light on the interior. Because she had difficulty in describing what they were like, saying they were like a person but it was dark, The investigator asked if maybe they had been wearing dark uniforms, and Dawn seemed to agree.
After the saucer left the shoebox, Dawn overcame her fear sufficiently to leave her bed and go to the window for a better view of what was going on. But she was too late.
It was getting light and the lights were gone, said Dawn. I phoned my friend Sandy, who later said Dawn sounded very frightened. I was scared because I didn't know what that thing was. I thought it was going to come down and get me. It was halfway down to my house and I felt it was looking at me.
Helpfully for the investigators visit, who thought the girl showed courage in saying anything at all about her experience, had with him the tape of an interview recorded just a few days earlier in which another humanoid sighting was described. That witness was Stewart Sanborn, of nearby Winfield. His mature account of his own experience, which was replayed for Dawn's benefit, not only had a reassuring effect on the girl but also had the incidental benefit of persuading Mrs. Smith that her daughter was telling the truth. In particular, Mrs. Smith had wondered about the part where Dawn described a door opening and figures becoming visible inside. But that part was put in a new and more convincing light when it turned out Sanborn had seen something similar.
Sanborn said he was driving north just beyond Lake Okanagan one autumn evening in 1975 when he had his first hint of strange things to come.
I noticed something peculiar in the sky, Stewart explained. Whether the sun was shining on it or it had a light of its own, I'm not sure. But it was unusual, whatever it was, and it attracted my attention. In the next moment Stewart lost sight of the object when it disappeared behind hills that skirt the lake, and at that point a less attentive witness might have lost interest. But previous encounters had convinced Sanborn that occasionally there were strange sights in the sky worth watching. Of these the most notable occurred in 1952 when he and others saw an unexplainable saucer like craft take flight from that same lake. So now alert to what he had seen, Sanborn kept an eye out and in a few minutes was rewarded by a dramatic aerial show.
As I was approaching Kamloops, I noticed two lights, one red and one green, about 30' apart. They were moving slowly and then they nearly stopped, if they didn't stop completely. After a moment a light came on and I saw what appeared to be a cabin between the lights. A door opened and I saw what looked like a man jumping out. On his head was a horseshoe shaped gear consisting of red and green lights. He went down about 50' and then the lights went out and the machine started off again, veering to the left at quite a hasty speed. There was no sign of a parachute and the figure descended at a falling speed.
Intrigued by the sight of a figure dropping like a dead weight into the evening shadows, Stewart later inquired if there had been flying activity of any sort around there at that time. As far as he could learn, there was none.