A UFO OVER PORTLAND?

It was August 1972 and it was one of those hot sultry nights when you wish for even the slightest breeze. My first husband and I were living in the southeast area of Portland, Oregon, in one of those family type neighborhoods where everyone was friendly and said, "hi" when they seen you. I was 19 years old and pregnant with my first son.

Because it was such a hot sultry night a lot of my neighbors had taken their TV's outside to watch that evening, or they were going for a walk. Children were running and playing; you could hear the squeals of laughter. There was not even the slightest breeze, just an eerie stillness

I went out side to do one of my favorite nighttime activities. I like to sit quietly, star gazing. My mind has no limits while gazing at the night sky. My thoughts flow freely.

This particular hot August night in Portland, Oregon, as I stepped out side onto my porch I looked up into the night sky. It was beautiful, stars everywhere doing their twinkle dance, and a UFO.

I looked away from the sky for a moment, thinking to my self, did I actually see what I thought I saw? I looked back up at the night sky. Yes, the stars were beautiful, and still doing their twinkle dance, and there was still a UFO.

It seemed to be just hovering over our neighborhood. I glanced around at my neighbors to see if anyone else had seen the same thing I did. A lot of them where pointing up at the night sky where the UFO was hovering. As more neighbors noticed others looking up they too looked up.

There this thing was, in the sky hovering over our part of Portland, over our little neighborhood. It was round in shape and silver metallic in color There was a ring of lights on the bottom of this object that flashed around in a circle. This object in the sky had windows all the way around and the light were on inside. Windows, so someone or something could look out and see what? Us?

Then, I saw something that made my breath catch in disbelief. There was the form of something standing in the window looking out. There was no mistaking this to be a human form. The proportions of the body were wrong and the head was too large. The body movement of this thing was not normal movement for a man, especially the neck movement.

In the blink of an eye this object was gone and now hovering across the Willamette River and over the southwest hills of Portland. I had never seen anything that could match that speed then suddenly stop and hover.

It was just moments later when the object in the sky shot across Portland to the northeast section. The trip for this object took a second. Then again it was hovering over our little neighborhood, in the southeast section of Portland.

I remember someone had turned a radio on to KISN a popular radio station in Portland at that time. The announcer who would have normally been telling us the name of the latest, and greatest song he was about to play, was asking everyone one to please stop calling the radio stations, the airport and the police department. All the phone lines to these places had been jammed with calls concerning a UFO. He promised to break the news to us as soon as he received any further information regarding this UFO.

Young and crazy, my husband and I decided to try and get a closer look at this thing. We drove up on top of one of the hills in Portland where we had a clear view over the city. We got out of the car and into the night to watch this thing in the sky.

At that moment the UFO moved again from a spot where it had been hovering. It shot across the night sky and a second later it stopped. There it was and we had a clear view. It stopped next to the hill my husband and I were standing on. The form with the large head I had seen in the window was looking down in our direction. We could see it clearly now and this was no man or some one wearing a space helmet.

We watched as this thing looked out of the UFO window, its neck bending strangely moving the head as if searching for something. A strange sensation of fear came over me and my mind was screaming, "do not let the eyes connect." I remember it appeared that the thing in the window seen us standing there and was now looking us over. I could see its eyes looking towards my eyes the moment I looked away. A childhood memory came flooding back to me at that moment. I turned my back to this thing but there was this feeling of being looked at.

Those eyes. I had seen those eyes before. It was the first night mare I remember having and could never forget. I was not more than 3 years old and was sleeping in a small bedroom with a nightlight on. I could hear my parents in another part of the house and they had the TV on quietly. It was one of those old black and white ones you could buy in 1955.

I woke up to the sound of something coming through my bedroom door. I thought it would be one of my parents coming to check on me. What came through my door had to duck through. My dad was tall and he did not have to duck through my door. Its head was too big and had huge black shiny eyes. I was terrified and started screaming for all I was worth. This thing just inside my bedroom door looked at me for a moment heard my parents and was gone.

I had always thought of that incident as just a childhood nightmare until I saw this thing's eyes and they were the same.

I wanted to get out off that hill now and got back in the car. My husband was also quite ready to go. He got back in the car and we were out of there. I looked out the back window of our car to see this thing in the night sky disappear in southerly direction.

My husband turned on the car radio just in time to hear the announcer tell use that he was just informed that the alleged UFO was a "Weather Balloon." My husband and I just looked at each other and started laughing. We both knew that what we had seen was not a weather balloon.

When we arrived back home a few neighbors came over to talk about the so called Weather Balloon. We all had a good laugh at how stupid we are suppose to be and believe that is what we saw.

But, we were all thinking it really was not that funny.

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