47 Lights
Encounter on the High Plains

The story begins with a young couple traveling across south eastern Colorado. It was late in the day. They had gotten a late start and were heading towards the upper midwest. They had reached Walsenburg and began the long open stretch heading towards Kansas. For the first hour or so east of Walsenburg there is very little. It is broad pasture land. There is one house about half way across the area. You can drive the whole stretch and pass three cars. If you are very fortunate you may see yellow throated vultures out there. They are said to be extinct and last seen in the 1950s in that area. The couple had seen them from time to time and always watched for them. The birds are still there. The people are the one's extinct. They saw nothing interesting along that desolate part of the trip.  

They rolled through La Junta, Las Animas, Lamar, and were now back in open desolate country aiming for the Kansas border. All seemed the usual boring drive so they settled in knowing it would be dull from here out. They expected a deer or two along the way especially as the sun was setting and it was beginning to get dark. So they kept an eye out. What they didn't expect was a heard of maybe twenty deer racing across a field towards them. The deer were just ahead and as they reached the fence at the highway's edge the deer fanned out all along the fence. As the couple went by the deer just stood and watched them. They weren't panicking, or wanting to jump the fence, or running away. They were all just intently watching. It was like they ran over just to see them go by. After they passed, the deer turned around and ran back across the field from where they came. Like their whole plan was to come see. The two looked at each other and said in unison. "What exactly was that?" Everything about it felt like this was not normal, this is important.

Animals often gave them messages. Years ago Native Elders taught them to listen. When you pick up a feather you listen. If you see an animal in a way that seems out of the ordinary then there is a message. Sometimes they could hear the message if they stayed quiet. Other times not. But either way they knew this was something out of the ordinary time to be alert. As they drove on they wondered what was up. Were they simply warning the two to pay attention? Then they looked at each other and asked ... were they really deer? We don't always see things in their true form. None the less, with no clear answers, he decided to slow down and drive more attentively. It was a sign of something.  

As they drove along they glanced at the route. For some reason they decided to turn north at the one town before the Kansas border. To head along the state line then turn into more northern Kansas. This wasn't their usual route but there are many ways to hop along this vast open region. They were all small boring two lane highways. But what led them this route they wondered? The deer?
 
They turned and headed north. Soon they came upon an older man in a giant Cadilac. One of those big square ones from the early seventies. He was driving slowly like he lived in the area and was not in any hurry to get home. It wasn't long after they had passed him that they realized why the deer had messaged them. There in the distance was a very bright light in the sky. It came on slowly in a giant oval shape. It stayed bright for about four seconds then faded away. They looked at each other wondering who that was. They were used to seeing things in the sky. It is very common in the southwest. A lot of it was simply military hardware. Things they don't tell us about. But sometimes it was something else. This felt like this was the later.

At arms length it was about thumb size. He judged the distance and height as best he could. Perhaps five or ten miles away and lower than a mountain's height. So a thousand feet or two up. It was something UFO people had taught him, to try and remember details. It was clearly much larger than a plane. It was a simply a very bright light that grew into a giant oval, held it, then faded back out. They could see nothing after it was gone.

They continued watching. About a minute later they saw two lights this time. They were coming towards them, still in the distance, but they were spiraling around each other. Kind of a corkscrew spiral, like a dance. It was almost amusing. Were they trying to convey they weren't a threat? Were they just out having fun on a quiet evening? One wouldn't normally think of ships spiraling through the sky amusing themselves. But they wondered. It took the edge off the experience.

Soon another light came on. As the previous ones, it came on slow and lasted about four seconds, then faded out. Then they saw another, and yet another. Each was about a minute or so apart. They decided to stop and get a better look. As they sat there on the side of the road there was nothing. Zilch. There was no lights or anything happening all around them. So they thought oh well that was it, and started going again. Immediately there was another light. Then a short time later another. Was this two ships or many? Likely the same one, or two. But they had no way of knowing what they were seeing. Just Lights so far.

They drove and watched and noticed that the lights were getting closer each time. They again pulled off the road. As before they saw nothing after they stopped. Totally a black silent sky. They were obviously personally connected in some way. That made them both a little nervous and curious at the same time. As they sat there looking all over at nothing the old man in the giant car finally caught up with them. He passed them then slowed down and began to slide over onto the shoulder. He stopped maybe a 100 feet ahead of them. He wasn't close enough to give them the impression he wanted to talk. But yet he was not far away. Did he see the lights as well and stopped to watch? They began driving again as clearly nothing was happening. They drove by his car slowly to see what he was doing. He had both hands on the steering wheel and his chin was deep in his chest. There was a blue aura around the car that they both saw. An electric static kind of soft blue. He heard a voice that said "He is fine. Leave him alone." So a little confused they continued on their way and watching the sky.

There was immediately another light, then another. He got out a piece of paper and decided to make a count. How many was that? 12 so far? And he began writing down the time every couple minutes. In the back of his mind he kind of wanted to know if they would lose an hour of time or something. Not that they had much choice or would know what to do if they did. But he was curious and did it anyway.

As they drove and watched they realized they could sense where the next one was going to be. One of them would point and a moment later the light would turn on. Then the next was over there. Then there. They knew where they were going to show up. They wondered how that was possible. What was the connection?

Up ahead the highway took a jog into a very small town. It didn't make much sense. Hop a block over instead of simply paving the half mile straight. The town was dead silent. Most the houses seemed empty. But some had cars. They were newer model cars, but there were no lights on within the houses. The whole town was black. It just felt off. Something about this place was not right. Perhaps it was just tonight or perhaps it was always like that. But they continued on their way counting the lights and the minutes of time.

The lights continued to get closer. Each was about a minute or two apart. It was getting dark now. Then the jets showed up. They were small fighter jets. A light would come on and they could see the jets turn in that direction. When the lights faded out the jets would wander, waiting for the next. After a few more giant lights in the sky the jets turned off their marker lights. They were flying totally black. The two could see the blue of the jet engines when they were turned sideways or away from them. The jets would blast out large ribbed blue rings when they raced towards one of the lights. But otherwise they were dark, like the lights in the sky were between each slow flash. They watched this cat and mouse game as the couple jets always arrived late. The lights continued to get a little closer. The two were getting better at pointing out where the next light would be.  

They were at over 40 now. The lights, they assumed ships, were getting closer. They were now within a mile. Then they suddenly felt an urgency. He quickly pointed to the left and said right here! She was looking right and said I get over here. The light came on directly on top of them! A few feet up! The flash was huge and lit a sphere in the road surrounding them. They could clearly see the ditches and a fence on each side of the road lit up like a giant spot light. It was dark all around outside that circle. The shadow of the truck was in the road just ahead of their left fender. The Ship was directly on top of them slightly to the rear!

They were speechless as it lasted what seemed like the same four seconds. Then it faded out like the others. He was looking out the drivers window and saw a jet racing right at them. It was extremely low only a hundred feet up or less. It screamed right over the top of the truck shaking it. She was looking out her window when the light faded and saw a giant glowing pink sphere. The sphere moved away to the side, then briefly straight up. Then it made a sharp turn horizontally and sped off. A moment after the jet buzzed right over after it.  

He looked ahead on the highway and there was a driveway right there. He quickly pulled in just off the highway and stopped. There was a farm house set back a short distance up the driveway. They caught their breath and just sat. What were they to do with all of that? They had little to say as they each took in and reviewed what they just saw. It was directly on top of them! A few feet away! There was no mistaking it was about them. The Deer and all were leading to this.

As he calmed he looked and saw that the farmhouse front door was open. A silhouette of someone was standing in the doorway looking out. For a moment they thought they should go talk to the person. Maybe ask what they saw? Find out if this happens often. ... Then they felt No. And realized they are likely freaking them out being parked in their driveway. He backed up and continued slowly down the highway. The lights continued for a few more instances but they were much further away now. The moment was over. Their task complete and they were moving away. They saw few if any jets after that.

Up ahead they saw a bright red light. It would come on slowly then off. Then on again and often in a slow even rhythm. They thought it looked like one of the lights on an old radio tower or water tower. Letting planes know it was there. As they got closer they could see it was over a very small town. Just a couple houses. When they approached the light stopped. They looked as they reached the town and in the bright moon light they could see no towers. There was no structure higher than a one story couple of houses. What was the light? They turned and continued on into Kansas.

Just before the border there was a light display close to the ground in a field in front of them. It was a bright cluster of smaller lights sparkling. It reminded them of what you often see at the end of a fireworks show. The string of lights on a wire near the ground with the waterfall sparkler effect. He counted seven lights. They were in a tight formation with a tail a little to one side. They looked like the Pleiades star cluster? Only it was reversed. The tail went the wrong way. As one might see looking from the other side. Were they saying the show is over, like in the fireworks shows? He quickly pulled on the shoulder and got out of the truck to look this time. It was all gone. He looked around and way up high overhead he could see one of the fighter jets. It was very high in the sky. A moment later he watched a little white ball streak right past the jet. It missed it by a very close distance, right past the wing. Then zoom, it was long gone.

They crossed into Kansas and saw nothing else after that. All was quite and dark. The energy had shifted to calm. They could tell it was all was done, it was over. They continued on down the highway and shared what they saw. They wondered why it stopped at the state line. They wondered what all had happened. Did they even see all of it or only part. And why did the focus seem to be on them?

They came to a small town and it was good place to stop for gas and maybe find something to snack on. They felt somehow relieved that there were people around. They weren't on their own on the open highway back there. He filled up the tank and she went in to use the rest room. He found a pay phone and tried to call a researcher over in the San Luis valley. He thought maybe he would know someone in this area they could call who wanted to keep an eye out tonight. But nobody answered. So he went on in to find some food. When she came out of the rest room she looked disturbed, a little bug eyed. He went over and asked her what was up? She held up her arm and poked, pointed to her face. She was red. All of her body was red. Her legs were red. She lifted her shirt a little. She was red everywhere. Every inch of her body. It was like a mild sunburn. They could sense the few people in the place were getting nervous. To be fair they likely looked like two young kids who had just seen a zillion unearthly lights in the sky  and been buzzed by a jet a few feet up. They must have looked rattled. They paid the clerk and went on their way. The rest of the night was quiet. They eventually stopped someplace in a larger town. A night to regroup and wonder what had happened. What did they see?

The total count on the paper was 47 lights in 52 minutes. That time didn't include the 15 to 20 minutes before when the deer ran up. The piece of paper had a continued scratching of times written on it. Each was a few minutes apart with the largest gap being only 4 or 5 minutes. So it looked like all the time was there. If they did lose time it couldn't have been more than a minute or two.

The next day they arrived at their destination. At one point in the day they discovered that her debit card was dead. No machine they tested would read it. His card worked just fine. They would later find out after they arrived back home that her card was totaled. Like it never had a magnetic strip on it. They found it was impossible to reprogram. The bank was perplexed. They said that had never happened before. Over the coming week the redness all over her body faded. She said she felt better over all since the experience. But she didn't know why. Was it simply feeling excited about the whole experience? She felt overall healthier. They wondered what had happened that night. Did they heal her in some way? Change her? They had few answers.
 
On the return trip home they decided to travel the same route. They didn't really expect to see anything but they wanted to experience the area again in the light of day and just get an overall feel. They wondered if that was a smart idea, but it was the middle of the day and it felt like it would be good and safe to go see. They entered Colorado and turned at the tiny town where the red light hovered. Clearly in the light of day there was nothing tall there. There was no reason for the red light. They turned south and looked for the farm house where they pulled into the drive.

Then they saw a house ahead. They slowed and looked. Yes, they remembered it. That was the driveway they pulled into that night. It was definitely the house. They  slowly drove on looking for the two fence rows. There were no fences here. None. They recounted their memories and both remember the flash, and they pulled directly into that driveway. No delay.

He sat the trip odometer on the truck as they slowly drove south. They saw no more houses and no fences. They drove through two large washes where the highway follows the terrain and dipped down. They remembered the highway was flat like everything out here. They did not drive through these two dips. They skipped this section of highway.

A little ways further they were startled as the cat jumped into the front seat screaming. She was looking out the front window in a total panic. They stopped the truck. And this was the spot with two fence rows. The cat knew where they were. She was freaking. He glanced at the odometer and it was exactly five miles back to the house. They had jumped five miles of highway that night. He began driving again and the cat calmed glad they were moving. They wondered how did they jump five miles of highway yet there seemed to be no missing time on their paper? Their brains tried to take it all in. The idea that they were picked up and set back down still in motion rolling down the highway began to set in. Is that what happened? Did it all happen outside of time? And who could do that?  

They sped up and drove on south watching. There were no other houses on this stretch of highway and no other houses. That was the spot where it happened. Somehow within that five miles. They wished the cat could tell them what she saw. That she could somehow give them a third perspective. And what had caused the wiped debit card and more importantly the redness? Was she healed of something? She felt different and better. But they had no answers. Only more questions now.  

They came to the town south where the highways joined. They turned on west and traveled the area where the Deer had met them. They talked about why they turned north down that highway that night. Why the change of route. Did the deer put that thought in their heads? Were they really deer? They ask because there are stories within the UFO communities where people with abduction experiences often remember seeing deer. There seems to be an overlay image of deer placed on them for comfort. Big black eyes are just deer, not aliens. Was that what happened, or were they just deer led by great spirit to pass on a message?

They stopped for the night in a larger town. They were exhausted. They just needed to relax and think. The cat's bed was laid out on the foot of the bed. She laid her favorite Vogel crystal on the night stand with her other things. And they settled in for a nights sleep. When they awoke the next day she was startled. Her Vogel crystal was gone. Everything else was there. Untouched. But not the crystal. It was a cherished belonging that she guarded closely. She wore it every day, always. Always set it beside the bed every night. Always put it on first thing in the morning. It was gone. It didn't seem possible that someone came into the room while they were sleeping and grabbed it. The cat would have screamed, they would have woken up. They searched in detail over every thing they brought into the room and every inch of the room. The crystal never showed up. It was not there. They left a note at the front desk just in case a cleaning women would find it. But they knew it was pointless as it was clearly simply gone.  

When they got back home he asked around among the UFO community and was told that was a hot spot for sightings. They were ground zero in south eastern Colorado. He was told of a minister at a church in that area that was collecting stories and sightings. They were so numerous he had stepped up to help his congregation try to come to terms with what they were all experiencing. So the encounters were not rare. He wrote out their personal experience and sent a letter to the minister, but they never heard back. He wondered if it even arrived. He also asked an air force friend about the jets turning off their lights. He was told sternly No that didn't Happen! They cannot do that in civilian air space. They will be grounded for a month. It did not happen. - He insisted Yes it did. They saw it. He asked when are they allowed to do that. The reply was... well they are allowed only in combat situations to do that. Not training missions. In actual combat. They had to wonder later if what they were told was correct or just talk. They don't know such things. And it didn't really explain much anyway.  
 

Overview:
They saw 47 lights in 52 minutes which is nearly one every minute. Each appeared to come on slow, lasted about 4 seconds, then faded back out. They could sense and feel when and where they were going to appear next. All of these lights were within a couple miles of them, and the later half were within a mile or two. If they were ships they know there was at least two. All of them could have been only the one or two ships. They obviously were real and had got the attention of the military who scrambled jets. And they have no idea if there is meaning to the fighters turning off their lights. The deer up front was unique, the two lights spiraling seemed light hearted. The streamer fireworks display at the end seemed like a bonus finale. Overall they were never afraid during it. That part is also curious. It was a unique evening they would remember always. They have many questions and very few answers. Perhaps their cat knows it all.

On a later footnote.
A year or so later he was driving through that same area mid day. He was in a moving truck which of course drives fairly slowly. He drove extra carefully watching and wondering where the deer were seen. He was going to stop in the town where the highways crossed, where they turned north. He wanted to stop for just a moment to get a feel. He knew he wasn't going to talk to anyone. Just a chance to get a perspective. A moment to ponder. He set that as his destination in the next little bit. He drove slowly the whole stretch anticipating the town. Then he saw the sign entering Kansas. Where was the town? He never drove through it. It wasn't there. He didn't miss it. It was the only thing on his mind. He slowed to a stop but there was no place to turn a big truck around. No side roads. He wanted to go back and try again but it wasn't really possible. He decided perhaps he was all for a reason. Perhaps he was guided or protected in some way. He continued on down the highway, continued with his day, his life. Filled with questions that may never be answered.  

 ASeriphS@2025

Note:
Photo is a stretched image of a full moon from stock.
Not an actual image from that evening.