NUFORC UFO Sighting 181984

Occurred: 2023-08-22 21:10 Local - Approximate
Reported: 2024-06-21 20:13 Pacific
Duration: About 3 minutes
No of observers: 1 - Pilot - Military

Location: Downe, NJ, USA
Location details: Facing 215° SW while in my backyard

Shape: Light
Color: Orange
Estimated Size: Unknown
Viewed From: Land
Direction from Viewer: 245° inital light beam, which was coming from 181° from my position
Angle of Elevation: 45
Closest Distance: 30-40 ft
Estimated Speed: Instantaneous
Characteristics: Lights on object, Aura or haze around object, Emitted beams, Landed, Possible abduction

Saw what a first looked like a flashlight. When I approached, flash of light on the horizon. Unable to recall even for 8 months.

My name is and Im a 53 yr old, union lineman, which I've done since 2002. Prior to line work, I was a SSG in the U.S. Army 1989-98, initially in communications (31CV9) 528th USAG, Special Weapons, where I held a TS/SCI clearance. Later, I as part of the Initial and Key Personel for Unmanned Ariel Vehicle Systems, where I qualified as an Operator(96U) specializing in Mission Payloads, later, as an Instructor/ Course writer and Mission Commander.
I live on just under 3 acres, along the northwestern portion of Delaware Bay, in south Jersey. *photo #1

My place has state wildlife management and protected tidal watershed areas on 3 sides and a view of the bay, which is just over the glades, in the back of the property. *photo #2 This is where, in late August of 2023, the incident that I will be describing happened.

It had just gotten dark. Just after 9pm. I had been mowing the property for the better part of the day. There were only a few more passes left before I would be finished.

As I turned to mow another pass, I saw a yellowish light iluminating the leaves and branches, near the tops of the trees directly behind and to the right side of the fence. *photo#3 There appeared to be a flashlight pointing up into the trees from a point near the ground that was on the left side and behind the 6 ft wood privacy fence in the back yard. This fence separates the backyard from the salt Marsh. *photo #4 The directed light source seemed to be pointing up at an angle of between 60-70° and was about 30-40 ft behind the fence. I immediately let go of the mower and moved toward the back fence to get a better idea of the source of the light.

Now I need to say that if you went any further than 10-15 ft past the back fence, it becomes difficult to navigate even during the day, let alone at night. It's a salt marsh, reeds, marsh mud that you sink to your knees in and very, very dark at night.

Right before I got to the 6 ft privacy fence, I remember thinking that the light didn't quite look right for a flashlight. It was too orange or something. Just then, I saw a flash of light on the horizon that looked very much like a sunset, except the sun doesn’t set there. It sets about 45° to the right and had set already an hour earlier. Its light was too orange as well. I could even see that there were clouds on the horizon but there was a clear gap between the vegetation and the underside of the clouds over the bay. The orange light faded away over the next few seconds.

This is where things get really strange for me.

I suddenly had the thought in my head of, "I don't have to deal with this right now". I heard my own voice in my head saying this. I remember it very clearly. I then immediately turned and walked in the house, sat on the couch and I believe that I fell asleep on my living room couch. The last part is a little hazy. I clearly remember having the thought that I didn't have to deal with this, then turning around to go in the house, then it's hazy.

This is not how I would have dealt with a situation where there might be a person or persons on my property, which was my initial impression. I just don't know where that thought came from. I would have investigated anything happening on my property. I wasn't afraid, I was curious and concerned as to what the initial light was. Maybe a lost hiker or stranded boater, along those lines. I don't remember actually having any thoughts as to the flash on the horizon, besides what I just stated. That is bizarre as well. I had just witnessed an inexplicable orange flash on the horizon that looked like the sunset and I just turned around, went back in the house and fell asleep?

As unusual as the last 60 seconds or so had been, here is the thing that blows my mind.

I completely forgot about the incident until The end of April. I didn’t think about it again for 8 months. Not one thought about it. I worked in the back yard on different projects through out the fall and winter. I flew drones off of my back deck, fixed the fence, set up work areas for repair projects while working on my house. Ect and that whole time the lawn mower sat in the same position that I had left it with 3 rows still needing to be cut. I even had taken the mower to the front yard and started mowing without any thought of that nite until late April. It's like the memory didn’t exsist. Its like it never happened. I had walked past and moved stuff around the lawn mower for 8 months without a thought about why it was still there with 3 rows of grass still needing to be cut
The event came back to me though. Not in drips and draps either.

I was on the phone with a friend and in the middle of my sentence, it just was just there again. We weren't talking about a related topic, just chit chatting. All of the sudden, there it was. I said to my friend," I think there is something that I should tell you that happened last summer".

There isn't any missing time that I'm aware of. I remember what I saw, in detail. I haven't identified the light source. I don't even know for sure that the initial light and the horizon flash are related. I suspect that they are, but I don’t know. I haven't had anything unusual happen since that night that I am aware of. I'm not sure how to even categorize my experience. I don't know if it's UAP related, but I do believe it has a degree of High Strangeness.

There are a few reasons why I've decided to share my experience. The first reason is that maybe someone saw something around my area at that time from a different perspective, which might help me gain insight into the whole affair. Its sparsely populated near me, but maybe. Or perhaps there are professionals that might know something about a light phenomena or oceanic event or some other phenomenon that I haven't thought of which could help me understand what all of that was and why do I remember it all again. Or maybe there might be a small detail from my experience that will help someone else explain something that happened to them.

Thank you for letting me get this off of my chest.

Posted 2024-06-27