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Drew Varner

As the veil lifts back and we approach this year’s All Hallows’ Eve, one may find yourself sifting through the Suffolk News-Herald Archives on a quest for the stranger things. One can find an apprehensive number of interesting stories about the Great Dismal Swamp and the historical underpinnings surrounding the Suffolk area. But one topic is not extensively covered in the old archives in a light that is easily to find. As common as they are in today’s world, there is not a lot of stories from the past pertaining to the UFO phenomenon. However, one story in particular caught my eye because it pertains to today’s discussions on the stranger things of life. In September 1979, in VOL. LVII NO. 225, the Suffolk News-Herald ran a story about three eyewitnesses on the same Monday night, observing the same UFO craft; but they were about approximately 8 miles away from each other. The two women spotted this craft and reported to the police that “they saw the UFO over RT. 58 between the weight station and the airport”. The two eyewitnesses reported “that it was overhead of their car, and it was very low; and it seemed to be following the car and it was shooting lights out like flying insects”. The interesting part with these two women was that they had seen another sighting in that same area of Suffolk four nights prior; and didn’t report that one to the police; but yet they stopped at the weight station to ask if anyone there saw it as well. 

Now the other eyewitness, to that Monday night sighting, was 8 miles away in Portsmouth, near the crossing of Victory Blvd and Airline Blvd. He was out driving with his family when his kids said that a UFO was flying over top of the car, but he wrote it off as them being silly. 

 When digesting this, one may think that UFO sightings are becoming the new norm in today’s society; and why would this story matter today? Well, the interesting appeal that I found was that the author of this 1979 article declares that the Officer, who took the report from the two women, called the “UFO Central”; for which the author says the “the number was only available to police and the Officer told the women that someone from the agency would contact them soon”. I wonder if there was ever a follow-up? Also, if this number was only under the authority of the Officers, then the government must have had some sort of procedure or hierarchy for information pertaining to the sightings of the fourth kind to climb. If so, who was leading the operation? 

If you have a story to tell and you want to get it out about the stranger things you have seen, contact me at Dvmountain45@icloud.com.