NUFORC Sighting 35947

Occurred: 1984-07-31 22:00 Local
Reported: 2004-04-01 21:07 Pacific
Duration: 15 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Middlebury, CT, USA

Shape: Other
Characteristics: Lights on object

I-84 sighting summer Sunday July 31, 1984 at the arch bridge, Middlebury CT 10 pm 15 mins

Driving on I-84 East past exit 16 (Mobil Station top of hill)...there is Oxford Airport 1 mile to the South...I see aircraft all the time here. July 31, 1984, I know date because I'd just left my parents' house in Newtown after watching CBS's "60 Minutes" with Mom & Dad, and a movie...10 pm...I passed exit 16, the sky was misty & rainy ... rounded a curve, saw a bright light coming in from my right (directly over the airport, heading east with me and descending fast)...it came over some trees, I saw it thru the windshield. My first thought: airplane about to circle around and go to the airport. It crossed my windshield as I started up a 25-degree grade toward the South St. bridge, a large Arch Bridge over 84 with a police tower adjacent to the bridge. As I was driving toward the bridge, the object "Stopped instantly on a dime" directly over the bridge, in front of me. For 1 second, my thought was "oh! a VTOL (Vertical Take-Off or Landing Aircraft....Jets used usually on ships in the Navy)then after 1 second, I instantly realized it was a UFO! I was driving right AT IT! My heart came up into my mouth, as I realized I had seconds to decide if I could turn around, but the median there wouldn't allow it, I would've gotten stuck. I then decided to "floor it" and go right under it. Then I decided this might be the only time I might ever see one, so I forced myself to pull over. I watched it for 15 mins. It was about double the size of a 2-story house. It appeared to me to be shaped like a tetrahedron, with one upper side cut out of it. Many lights, different colors, all over it, about 20 lights, looked like typical Christmas tree lights, including purple, yellow, red, blue, green, white. As I pulled over, it was perfectly still over the bridge, was VERY low, and after a few mins it moved over very slowly to the tower and hovered there. I felt like I was DEFINITELY being watched, and was totally terrified. My body was violently shaking like I was cold, it was hard to control my shaking. The ter! m "deer in headlights" crossed my mind. I saw cars and trucks going by, and I have a photograph in my head of a split second shot of two people going by me at 60 m.p.h. and looking up at the UFO. The object was so low, I had the feeling that if I had a baseball, I "just about" could have hit it. Definitely could have with a sling-shot. The object was rotating slowly, and I unrolled my window. All I heard was crickets when there were no cars. I had a 1-Million candle-light power super flashlight plugged into my cigarette lighter, next to my right knee on the passengers' side floor and it crossed my mind to fire a light on this thing, and I "just could not" get up the will to do it, I started shaking more just thinking about it. I was cursing myself for not having my camera bag, I am a photographer - hobbyist, and usually carry it with me. I could see what appeared to be a large "hole" in the darkness behind the lights, and a definite grill-work pattern with pipes and such along the bottom, and smooth sides, but it was hard to see from the brightness. I remember being amazed thinking "this was NOT made on this planet!" The object very slowly moved away from the tower, traveling directly over 84 West opposite me, then after passing me picked up speed. I didn't move at first. I looked into my rear-view mirror, saw it, then carefully opened the door, stood up and put my elbow on the car roof, and watched it disappear over the horizon toward Southbury and Newtown. I then drove down the hill to exit 17, called my parents and I remember waking my Dad. I told him what I'd seen, we discussed it for a few mins., then I went home to my Waterbury apartment. I sat down in the dark at my kitchen table, looked out the window, watched the light from Waterbury coming in the window ....and sort of daydreamed about the whole incident for a bit...then I looked at my watch and it was 3:30 am !! I do not know if I had a missing time episode or not. I did call Oxford airport, but I don't recall if it was that night or the next ! morning. My Father is now deceased, so I can't ask if he remembers what time I called him. My Mother does not remember the episode...I don't know if she woke up or not when I called. I was a disc-jockey at a Waterbury radio station at the time, and I asked the audience a few nights later if they'd seen anything...I received about a dozen phone calls, one I remember particularly about a couple who saw one on the Merritt Parkway the same night. At the time, I had no clue that there was a "Hudson Valley" UFO flap going on.

Posted 2004-04-09