Two Florida witnesses driving northeast along County Road 229 near Raiford, Union County, Fla., about 6 p.m. on Jan. 1, 2013, reported a close encounter with a silent, oval-shaped object just above a nearby tree line, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) witness reporting database.
The male driver and his fiancé passenger were using a navigation program that suggested a route they had never taken before. They hesitated only momentarily as the sun was almost down and the navigation was sending them on a country road. The roadway was tree lined and dark, but shortly an odd series of flashing light in the sky caught their attention.
"We watched it a couple minutes thinking it was odd that since the weather was unseasonably cold there would be heat flashes, which is what we first thought it was," the woman stated. "But after a few minutes went by we realized it was too consistently timed. So our thought went to some kind of spot light aimed at the sky."
They continued to watch the light and were trying to come up with a reasonable explanation for it. And then they encountered an object in the sky.
"Just above the tree line maybe 100 feet or so, hard to tell because I only had a second to see the surroundings until the light was gone again. As we got closer I started thinking about the Raiford sign I'd seen earlier and thought it could be some kind of light on a structure maybe marking an entrance or something for the prison - since we could see it was shaped like an oval and very close to the ground. But as we drew closer and closer I kept looking for a structure to be attached at the bottom - but nothing. "
The driver could not find any structure holding up the object and began to speed up the vehicle in an attempt to get away.
But instead of moving away from the object, they realized they had gotten closer.
"We drove right into this thing like it was sitting above the road, but over the tree, like next to the road. We basically drove under it and there was no structure. But the closer we got the hair on the back of my neck stood. The light wasn't flashing - it was pulsating. And the oval or saucer shape had a row of light in the center like a ring around the widest part made up of windows where the constant, very dim light, could be seen coming from the inside when the sky was black."
The woman realized that the pulsating light did not cast any shadows.
"The taller trees weren't shadowing the shorter trees. The light lit the entire surroundings the second it was lit. Also the size of this thing in the sky - it couldn't have been held up with a pole-like structure as I thought. It was huge. I have no idea how big it was to relate to something other than the tree line it was above. Several of those large trees were under it. And it was definitely, significantly larger than our car especially considering the relative nature of its distance. My fiancé couldn't see it as we got right to it because of its position and he being the driver. It was above the view of the windshield and only I could see the fine details of the windows and the inside light as I watched it through the moon roof and then the back window. It was only after we were passed it and it was almost out of sight on the road that my mind could wrap itself around the truth."
The woman begged the driver to turn around so that she could capture the object on video, but he refused.
The report was filed with MUFON February 17, 2013, and investigators determined the case an Unknown -- ruling out known natural or man-made phenomena. Witness quotes were edited for clarity.
"I am not crazy because someone with me saw it too which is my rational thought making sure my mind knows and accepts what my eyes saw that night. This is by far one of the craziest experiences I've had and has since opened my mind to many new thought processes and theories of life...earth...how we got here and why."
Case 45739 is one of eight UFO reports now closed as an Unknown by MUFON where the event occurred during January 2013 and where the object was under 500 feet. Check back for more of these final investigation encounters -- or visit the National UFO Examiner homepage for more UFO stories.