NUFORC Sighting 172016

Occurred: 1973-07-19 22:00 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2022-09-24 17:35 Pacific
Duration: Maybe 5 minutes
No of observers: 2

Location: Roosevelt, NJ, USA
Location details: Quiet Lake outside of town in woods. Just trees, no houses nearby

Shape: Unknown

Craft appeared out of nowhere, was totally silent, no noise. Hovered at treetops maybe 75 yards away from us.

This was likely in the warmer months of either 1973 or 1974. A friend and I went to the lake outside town one night. We took our bicycles, so I know it was before I was driving which is at 17 in NJ. We were out at night, not all bundled up, so that would make it warm enough for us to be outside for a while. Don't recall the exact month.

It happened at the lake outside of the town of Roosevelt. Roosevelt is not far from Ft. Dix, McGuire AFB, Lakehurst Naval Station, so throughout my life, we always saw numerous planes and helicopters, and all type of aircraft. They were a regular sight. So could this have been something from one of the bases? Always a possibility, who knows.

Anyway, this particular night we took our bikes up to the lake outside town. It had an embankment which surrounded parts of the lake and we would lie down on it and watch the lake and stars. It was something the teenagers did.

On this night, all of a sudden there was an object hovering at treetop level maybe 75 yards from us. At first, I thought it might be a helicopter (it was about that size), however it made no noise. Absolutely 100% silent. Further, helicopters you can see and hear approaching from a long way off. We didn't see or hear it approaching. To the best of my recollection, the object was just there at treetop level when we looked. Just hovering, no noise. Again, don't recall seeing it coming or how it got there.

As we watched the object, the situation became odder and odder. Realizing it wasn't a plane or helicopter, I was wondering how did it just get there and why was it just hovering, silently at treetop level? And not just for a second or two, it was hovering for a period of time. And as more time went by, the more I didn't understand what this was settling in. The more frightened I became. It was there for a while, not sure of time, but definitely more than just seconds, it was minutes.

I remember eventually being so scared and trying to scrunch down as close to the ground and as low as possible. I also remember thinking as this went on, how much I just wanted to crawl under the ground and disappear, be hidden/invisible. I was really afraid. The person I was with and I did not speak at all. We were laying maybe 1-2 feet apart, watching this thing, but we didn't say a word. We were silent. We got as close into the ground as we could and tried to be invisible. This lasted a few minutes, maybe 1-2, certainly guessing less than 5, but hard to tell exactly.

Looking at the object, I don't recall seeing lights, or even an exact shape. As I said, it seemed at first that maybe it was about the size of a helicopter, and we could see it, but I don't recall an actual shape or lights. And it just silently hovered there.
It appeared suddenly, don't recall seeing it coming, it was just there. How it got there, don't know. Hovered there silently for a few minutes, and then it was just gone. Again, it wasn't like I saw it leave, or it went a route off I followed, it just wasn't there anymore and I'm not sure how that happened. I was staring at it like laser beams. I was panicked and scared out of my mind. But even with that, I have no recollection of it leaving. It was as though all of a sudden, I sort of woke up or regained awareness, and it was gone. I don't feel like there was missing time, or if there was but a very short amount. Just always couldn't remember how I was staring at it so intently, and then it was just gone without me seeing it leave.
However, once it was gone, all the fright basically left me. It was kind of like I was normal again. Just thinking what was that? My friend and I looked at each other and agreed we should get on our bikes and leave which we did.

Odd thing also is that my friend and I never once spoke about this. We never asked each other "what did you see? What was that?" We never said a word to each other about it, and we both lived in town, saw each other. That also always struck me as very odd. I've often thought over the years of contacting her and seeing what if anything she saw and remembers. Just has never happened. I told this story to another friend recently and she was like you have to tell this story, you have to get it out there.

Anyway, I was about 15 or 16 when this occurred. No idea what I saw, but it's remained a story of mine for my entire life. I don't think there was any abduction, pretty sure of that, and I don't recall any other UFO incidents in my life. This was the only one as far as I know. Also, I don't think there was any missing time, though how the UFO was just gone with me not seeing it leave, yet watching it so intently, has always struck me as a bit odd as well.

Posted 2022-10-08