Encounter: Cloaked Shadow People on the Highway

Luci and her husband were moving from Oregon to Ohio in 2003 when they encountered something they never expected to see, and now never expect to be without.

“We were severely sleep deprived and on the evening of day two I began to notice something very odd,” Lucy said. At first, she thought she may be hallucinating, but later realized she was not. “I was seeing amorphous, floating, black, cloaked and hooded figures skimming about six inches to a foot off the ground.”

Some of the beings were standing still, but most seemed to be “heading somewhere definite,” Luci said. Some of the shadow people were traveling as fast as the truck her husband drove.

“I saw them here and there every few minutes and I couldn't help but feel disturbed,” she said. “Though I was quite tired, I felt wide awake and everything else I saw looked completely normal.”

As they drove east, the sightings continued, almost like Luci was catching a glimpse of another highway in another realm.

“I was amazed every time I saw another shadow figure,” she said. “Several passed over the highway crossing our path as we drove. For the few hours when this happened, I saw them through dusk, dark, and into the next morning.”

Luci and her husband stopped for a rest that morning after an encounter that was too close to be comfortable.

“Towards dawn one shadow figure passed right through the cab of our moving truck,” Luci said. “I clearly saw the drape of the folds of the encompassing cloak, though the face and head were hidden deep in a cowl. I couldn't help but gasp and pull away, too stunned to worry about how crazy my actions might seem to my husband.”

But he noticed her jump, and Luci was surprised that he knew why.

“He turned and looked at me and said, ‘You saw it too?’” she said. “I was astonished. But at last we were able to compare notes and it seemed we were seeing the same thing. What's more, we were seeing the exact same figures at the exact same time.”

They began pointing out the cloaked, hooded shadow people as they drove, slightly relieved they weren’t going crazy.

“Neither of us had been ingesting any substances or drinking anything but coffee, so these mutual ‘hallucinations’ were perplexing,” Luci said.

“All we could guess was that the lull of the truck engine over hundreds of miles and both of us being sleep deprived made it easier to see beings that were perhaps of the astral plane.”

It was then they began to get nervous.

“When two people start seeing figures of death seemingly everywhere, they might worry for their longevity all of a sudden,” she said. “We pulled off to stop at a motel shortly after we admitted to one another that we were seeing these things.”

The couple arrived in Ohio safely and has lived there since – but their drive through the astral plane seemed to open a door that has remained open for them.

“Since then, my husband and I have both seen these beings a couple of times a year usually just ‘passing through’ our yard or house,” Luci said. “They ignore us for the most part, though once I chased one down and put my hands right through it.”

When Luci’s hands sank into the chest of the shadow person, she felt an “odd, chilled, deep vibration” ripple through her.

“The shadow person stopped when I did this and I got the distinct impression that his kind are not used to being seen, let alone chased down and poked,” Luci said. “But, apparently, they can see us well enough, and ‘feel’ us, too.”

Copyright 2007 by Jason Offutt

Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it at jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Include your name, address and telephone number. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason Offutt is a syndicated columnist, author and fan of all things strange. His book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri,” is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com and from-the-shadows.blogspot.com.

Strange Lights over England

Sparse dark clouds dotted the sky over Chawton, Hampshire, England, on the evening of June 22, 2002 when Ashley Martin stepped outside with his camcorder. In the distance he could see the construction of his sister’s house, but was surprised when something dropped out of the clouds.

The time was 9:35 p.m.

“I noticed a very bright white light approaching from the east,” he said. “I decided to take a closer look at it and I zoomed in.”

The strange, hovering light he captured on video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgVWJ1vWen8) seemed to throb as it flew closer. Ashley’s video moves from lack of a tripod, but the object seemed to creep closer during the seven-minute recording.

“I soon realized that this was not a normal object,” he said. “It was pure white, pulsating … After a few seconds of travelling in a level direction it suddenly, and without warning, dropped down.”

At one point, the object almost disappeared into a cloud before dropping below it.

“When it emerged from out underneath the cloud it had gotten bigger but was still … traveling at an angle, then stopped stationery and flashed out several times,” Ashley said. “It then moved off again.”

The light hovered a few more minutes until it disappeared.

“During the course of me filming it, it gave off an orangey-red glow a few times, then completely disappeared,” Ashley said.

The object almost immediately dematerialized, then the video ends.

But this wasn’t the last unidentified flying object Ashley saw. Eleven days later, one appeared again.

“On July 1, I saw another alien spacecraft,” he said. “This was in the same place as the first object and was similar but not the same. I filmed this object for 20 minutes.”

Although already a firm believer in UFOs, the sightings gave Ashley something he’d never had – proof. But, they also brought more questions.

Ashley, considering the light might be something manmade, contacted people who might be able to explain the light in his videos. An American company expressed interest and asked to see the video.

“I had all the footage from my first video put onto a second video and sent it all the way across the Atlantic to America,” Ashley said.

He sent his video to a company in Lampasas, Texas, with the understanding the footage might make it onto a television program. He never heard from the company again.

“Disappointingly and annoyingly they never bothered to respond on what they thought of the footage,” he said.

Ashley’s sightings may be more common than not. Worldwide, eyewitnesses report about 70,000 UFOs yearly, according to the Mutual UFO Network, a UFO research organization. The reports range from lights to physical craft to alien contact, and there’s no way to gauge how many sightings aren’t reported.

Although Ashley is sure he saw something not of this world, he also realizes there could be a terrestrial explanation. Either way, he’s happy he saw the lights in the sky.

“I have always believed in UFOS and their existence,” Ashley said. “But never in my wildest dreams did I believe that I would actually see them myself. I count myself extremely fortunate and privileged to see them.”

Copyright 2007 by Jason Offutt

Got a scary story? Ever played with a Ouija board, heard voices, seen a ghost, UFO or a creature you couldn’t identify? Let Jason know about it: Jason Offutt c/o The Examiner, 410 S. Liberty, Independence, Mo. 64050, or jasonoffutt@hotmail.com. Include your name, address and telephone number. Your story might make an upcoming installment of “From the Shadows.”

Jason’s book of ghost stories, “Haunted Missouri: A Ghostly Guide to Missouri’s Most Spirited Spots,” is here. Order online at: tsup.truman.edu, www.amazon.com, or visit Jason’s Web site at www.jasonoffutt.com.