Our Encounter with a UFO- 1961, Lake Ponchartrain
In August, 1961, times were tense. I was not quite 6 years old, getting ready for first grade, and the world seemed to be a very scary place.
Khrushchev, the Russian president had declared that the border around East Berlin would be closed, first by a barbed wire fence, and then by a more serious structure of concrete blocks. People were escaping as fast as they could-- at first walking over the border, then sliding under the barbed wire fence, then, jumping out of buildings at night... Some of them shot.
We had planned a vacation, just Daddy, Mama, and me, and we were going to New Orleans. Daddy had a week off from his job at Gipe Automotive, where he was a auto parts jobber, and we were all excited about going down to New Orleans and seeing everything there!
We loaded the car with the thought of all this world turmoil going on, afraid that Daddy would be called up with the National Guard at any minute-- so we'd better go on vacation QUICKLY. At the time the police were out in force-- constantly running their sirens, moving on the highways in groups of three or four cars, their sirens wailing. We left town with a feeling of unease. Army convoys were driving along the highway, too.
As we left Kentucky, a big black police car, with it's red light turned on it's siren... It sounded like this:
The policeman gave Daddy a ticket for speeding, but, finally, we were on our way! During the week that we were gone, Mama called to talk with my grandparents, and learned that Daddy had, indeed, been called up for the National Guard, and needed to be joining up with his unit in less than a week. Then, he would be shipped to Ft. Smith, Arkansas, for training, to be ready for whatever might happen.
We left New Orleans late one night, trying to get back to our hometown. It seemed to take forever to cross Lake Pontchartrain over the two-lane highway/bridge, and then, we drove for miles and miles in the swamps. The swamps at night were sinister-- the Spanish moss gently waved in the wind, and the water hid many a scary alligator and snake.
Mama said, "I'll be so glad when we get off this road. Those swamps look dark and scary-- sinister."
Daddy said, "I hope we don't have a flat tire, here. I'd hate to stop on this road and have to fix a flat."
"This sure is a deserted stretch of highway, isn't it?" Mama asked.
The swamp came up right to the edge of the road, it seemed, and as we sped along, it seemed that we were the only car in the whole wide world... Peering into the swamp from the back seat, I could see the eyes of things, flashing as we went by...
Suddenly, behind us, we saw a BRIGHT blue flashing light! We had the car windows up and the radio on, and hadn't heard a sound from behind, but the blue light was blinding. Then, just as suddenly as the light appeared, a horrible, weird noise came from behind:
Mama, put her hands on her cheeks, and said, "Dear God, Bud, what is it?"
"I don't know, Norma, I just DON'T KNOW!"
My heart started pounding... I looked behind us and all I could see was a bright blue light and that awful noise, "Daddy, what IS it?"
My father was shaken, he kept looking in the rear view mirror, "I don't know what it is-- Jesus save us! I don't know what it is! Jesus, God, save us!" He gripped the steering wheel tightly, trying to keep the car from going over the side of the road.
Just then, white lights blinked behind the car, and Daddy slowed down, easing over to the side a little-- there wasn't much side to ease to...
The lights FLASHED by, my parents straining to see, their mouths open...
Daddy said, "Damn! It's a police car! I thought it was a hotdamned UFO!"
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We may have just been hicks from the sticks-- but NO ONE in Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri, anywhere nearby, had sirens like that and blue lights.
Our trip to New Orleans was QUITE an education!
Thanks for coming by!
I guess one could say that I'm changing the subject after a horrible week for all of us!
Hi, Dowser. I don't believe in U's, F's or O's. I'm sure they don't believe in me, either. So, we're even, I guess.
LOL! The lights were so bright, that was all we could see!!! Oh, to be innocent again...
LOL! He had the right idea! We were driving the 1961 T-bird... Funny!
We were just innocent, I guess. Although we had traveled a lot by then, we had never seen, or heard, anything like THAT!
We were terrified! But, what the hey, I guess most UFOs have mundane explanations that are just outside our experience!
Oh WOW, that is some car !!! BEAUTIFUL!!!
I got the year wrong, our was a 1960 T-bird-- they changed the body style in 1961... Here is what ours looked like:
Ford has totally ruined the poor old T Bird, haven't they?
KIND of taken it back to what it was in the 1950s, but its front is too round... Those old cars were wonderful-- I loved ours!
The original 'T' (54-5-6, maybe 7) was an American masterpiece...a mean-ass muscle car built to burn up the asphault (also the Stude 'Golden Hawk', later re-bodied as the Avanti). Detoilet has gone downhill damn near ever since. Alas, gone, all gone, the golden days of youth...
Another great story Ms Dowser. It may have been a skeery incident but I still think it's better than being stuck behind a Rendering Truck.
It was '62, I believe, when we made a family exit from a first strike zone for a little vacation. Luckily we avoided both cops and Rendering Trucks on the journey. We did hit a couple of chain gangs. Paw always kept a few cartoons of Lucky Strikes in the car. Whenever we'd hit a gang he'd stop and get out for a parlay with the head bull moose looney on horseback. Then he'd give a cartoon to the gangers. That stopped in the early '70s when it was discovered that many of the packs folks were handing out contained joints.
Oh my gosh! LOL!
I remember seeing chain gangs back then... I don't think they do that any more do they?
and ANYTHING is better than being stuck behind a Rendering Truck, or a Honey Dew Truck...
Around here they have work gangs but no chains. It mostly seems to be those who were caught with pot or nicked a pack of cigs at the Zippy Mart. Not like it used to be.
The chain gang might be more pleasurable than the Rendering Truck.
Anything is better than that!!!
How Pleasant.
The guys we saw, way back when, were in chains... Here in KY, we have prisoners that go out with a work crew and pick up trash on the highway-- but they are free from each other, and run a stretch of road...
UGH. For some reason, it reminds me of that Burt Reynold's move about football between prison teams... Having a senior moment, can't remember the name!
I think that ours get paid-- not much, but enough to get cigarettes and other minor stuff.
I figured that the un-chained ones were more of a volunteer basis-- as a chance to get out in the sunshine...
And UGH, female chain gangs. That would be hard.
That is the truth.
I miss those beautiful cars! Remember those cars that used to drive off the road, down a boat ramp, and then, it was a boat? Someone in town has one, and every now and then, you can see it!
That was my mother's favorite car. Personally, I think it was one of thenicestcar ever made. Her baby had the winged tips on the back end. I forget the year but the car had a heartbreaking death. She had it painted special and everyone knew her car. She went to work, parked the car where no one could bump or hit it. Some semi forgot to put on his parking breaks and the semi coasted back and smashed her baby against the building. We never got over that and mom took it so hard. Her second TB looked like the one above. It was a few years newer than her smashed TB. It had health issues and she was forced to sell it because it was always in the shop. I think theoriginalowners did not care of the baby. What an amazing car for its time.
Enjoyed your story. I lived out in the country and I have seen some of the strangest things in the sky. It is a really big universe and we are so small. It would really be ashamed if we were all alone and the only life. Nope, we can't be all alone.
I'm so sorry to hear about your mom's T-bird! They were WONDERFUL cars! Such luxury! Probably got about 8 miles to the gallon-- but they were great!
I think the same way you do-- but we surely weren't ready for a UFO sighting that night!
LOL Dowser,
Just another day in NYC, LOL!
But today... the skies were really being streaked up by UFO's. On our news 3 in one day!
New Orleans is still a place I have never been. On my bucket list.
If you ever get to go to New Orleans, be sure to visit Pat O'Brien's, and have a hurricane! Wooooo-OOOO! That'll put tail feathers on you!
Oh my gosh-- 3 UFOs in one day? That's a lot!
I've been wondering if that round "thing" of basalt rocks they found isn't one of those War of the Worlds cairns... or something...
I owned a 65 (with the 'slide-away' steering column) where everyting was vacuum operaterd, door locks, vents, speedometer, I mean everything-also had a factory AM-FM Radio-a luxury item back then! The 2nd one I had was a 69-had to get rid of it-was killing me on gas!
There was one on the lake my parents are on in the Adirondacks. We were playing on the beach, this car came through the tunnel under the road, tooled right towards us, then pulled up on the beach and parked and went to hang out with a friend.
What is the rate of recividivism in Phoenix?
Or even better, Cool Hand Like! Classic Chain Gang Movie.
LOL!!!
Those are so good-- you can't even taste the liquor! But then, try to stand up...
Now, THAT's a car! Neat looking! Thanks for the pictures!!!
"What we have here, is a failure to communicate."
LOL!!!