NUFORC Sighting 25553

Occurred: 1994-04-15 22:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2002-10-13 16:09 Pacific
Duration: 20 minutes
No of observers: 3

Location: Brooksville (Withlacoochie Forest), FL, USA

Shape: Chevron
Characteristics: Lights on object

Three witnesses saw a very large, chevron-shaped, black or gray object with read lights around the edges.

I noticed your graphic of the 7/23/02 Los Angeles sighting on the main page and it matches precisely what I saw (with two others) on a camping trip in April, 1994. We were in what is called the Croom section of the Withlacoochie National Forest, and all three of us are university instructors. We were lying on lawn chairs around a campfire and I looked up to see what appeared to be a huge (football-field sized, perhaps) chevron-shaped formation of red lights. The other two witnesses didn't seem concerned, but did remark, as I did, that it was "odd." It was either one very large object or 7-8 small ones, but my best guess is one large, black or dark gray object moving very slowly overhead, absolutely silently. The red lights were around the periphery, from a point at the front and widening toward the back. One witness suggested helicopters, but I pointed out that I didn't think they'd be flying in formation with no lights but a single red one, at night, over the forest. The object(s) moved slowly (I don't know which direction--we were in the woods, at night) and disappeared. It took probably 15-20 minutes. The next morning, one of the witnesses (my husband) and I went out birdwatching; I left him to finish by himself (too many blackflies) and he disappeared. That is, it took numerous searchers on horseback, rangers in trucks, a helicopter, and--finally--a tracking dog to find him at about 21:00 hours that night. He said he took a nap in the woods, and was slightly disoriented and dehydrated when checked in the ambulance afterward. He still won't discuss what happened to him that day, although he appears to have suffered no obvious aftereffects. My own interest in UFOs goes back to my childhood. The third witness has since moved to a different town and we've never talked about this.

((FOLLOW-UP CORRESPONDENCE))

Dear Mrs.((deleted)),

Thank you very much for the most interesting report!! I do not know what it was you witnessed that night, but I agree with your assessment that it almost certainly could not have been a conventional aircraft.

Is there any possibility that you could reconstruct the precise date of the sighting? For example, do you have a record in a bird-watching diary, fuel receipts, or something along those lines, that would permit you to establish an unambiguous date for the event?? Is there any possibility that the sighting could have occurred in March 1994?

Thank you again for sharing the information with our Center!

Cordially,

Peter Davenport

((RESPONSE))

Hello--

I can get an exact date, but it might take a few days. We went with a large group of "horse people" (the campgrounds are primarily used for horseback groups) and one is still a friend of mine. I'll track her down and ask her, but it definitely was April. There was a short mention in the local news about "local man missing in forest," that sort of thing, and really, by missing I mean gone. What I forgot to mention in my first message was that when they found him he was 25 miles away. Oh, and it's "Croom," not
"Groom."

I'll start tracking down the date for you. Thanks for the respons--and feel free to get in touch if you need to. I can probably volunteer some time, as well, to your organization. ((name deleted))

((END CORRESPONDENCE))

((SECOND FOLLOW-UP))

Mr. Davenport,

I just wanted to let you know I've found the woman who runs the annual camping trip. I should have the exact date soon. I'll be in touch.

((FOLLOW-UP))

I'm afraid no one else will be filing any reports on this one. The woman in question doesn't know what we saw that night--she was at a different part of the camping area and has never mentioned anything "odd" about that night to me. My husband is an entirely different story. I wouldn't be surprised to find that he has a history of such experiences (we've been married 13 years and I'm 50), but he's very much in denial, both about his personal experience and the experiences of others. "Skeptic" is an understatement.
So, no--no investigators or counsellors for him. Hard to tell what he recalls of that day (and night), because, although we've made reference to "the time you got lost in the woods," that's as far as it goes; he simply won't explore it, and I don't push it. I'll just add that my ex-husband and I had a number of incidents before we divorced, and it does seem to run in my family. (Some day, if you're interested, I'll tell you my father's story. It's quite unusual.)

((END))

Posted 2002-10-15