by Wendy Powers Nugent
Have you ever encountered alien beings from another world or ever seen what you believe was a spaceship?
I have several times and would venture to say that you have or you know someone who believes they have seen a ship or some type of unexplained flying object or UFO.
Back in 1987, my husband had to attend a convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. We decided to make it a family getaway, even though it was in Vegas. We stayed in the Excalibur hotel on the strip, which was themed “mid-evil” with knights, and even had a jousting show, which was perfect for a kid’s vacation. Outside of the hotel experience, my husband (Steve) asked me what the kids and I might want to do while we were out and about in Nevada. Well, thank goodness he did not freak out when I said I wanted to go to Area 51 and see what all the fuss was about. I had not told him, up to that point, that my daughter (she was 16 at the time) and I saw a UFO while we were on a girl’s vacation up North in Tawas, Michigan.
Well, we looked up how many miles it was to Area 51 from Las Vegas (we did not have cell phones or Google Maps at that time). Turns out it was over 155 miles from Vegas! So, we decided that my husband would join us instead of just myself and the kids going (I think he wanted to protect us from the aliens-LOL). We had to wait until his convention had ended and extended our stay in Vegas a few more days. The kids were excited; well, at least my daughter was now seventeen. However, our only three-year-old son would have been excited if he understood where we were going! We packed some snacks and lots of water and started on our long drive to see the famous place where they housed secrets about aliens and their ships since 1941 from the public. It was a long-standing belief of our government that we all are just too fragile to handle the real truth about alien life and UFOs.
The trip took over three hours, which gave me plenty of time to share with my husband the eerie sighting my daughter and I had the summer before. It still makes me wonder if we were not abducted as well.
Last summer, my husband thought it would be a nice break for me to take my daughter, Thresa (from my first marriage), up north and have a girl trip. She was a very big help in caring for her brother while I was recovering in the hospital back in 1986 (I was 33 years old). I had been hospitalized for several months and even was clinically dead for more than 30 minutes from a pulmonary embolism (I had an amazing NDE), so my husband thought my daughter and I should go on our own to have fun. That was such a wonderful suggestion, and we jumped at it. We would go shopping, eat fish at the local restaurants, and just enjoy the beach.
One of the rituals at the cabins we stayed at was having a nighttime bonfire and roast marshmallows every night. As any Michigander knows and cherishes, this is the best part of the day up north. Our cabin was part of a resort with at least 25 cabins clustered on the property, with several firepits lining the beach overlooking Tawas Bay. We could finally spend time at the firepit on our second night, as on our first night, it was raining. Several people were around our firepit and a dozen or so at the two other firepits that were part of our cabin resort. (I say resort because that is what they call themselves. They were all small, very rustic log cabins, but we had a small bathroom and kitchenette.
As we sat around the firepit that night, we started to share where we all were from as we drank wine and roasted marshmallows. It is important to point out that Tawas Bay is on the West side of Tawas, off Lake Huron. (one of the Great Lakes of Michigan) Suddenly, we noticed what seemed to be the sun rising up in the West! At first, we did not comprehend the very large, round, sun-like sphere that was starting to rise up from the waters beyond the bay; what I can only speculate was rising up from the depths of Lake Huron. It rose from the water like a sunrise (remember we were facing the West) until the whole sphere rose up, and it hung low in the sky for what felt like an eternity. We were all on our feet now, looking at the event; funny, no one was talking or, for that matter, making any sounds at all. We were all just staring at this phenomenon as it hung in the night sky. It was very bright, but the sky was still dark around this object. The next thing I remember, my daughter and I, and all the others, were standing around a bit in a daze like we just woke up. We then all walked to our firepits, which were almost completely burned down. To us, it seemed like the fires raged high just minutes ago, burning and cracking as the wood was piled high in each pit; now, they were completely burned down. My daughter and I were very tired and went right to bed. As I learned the next day, everyone else did as well.
The next morning, it seemed that only one person—me—who had experienced this event remembered that it had even happened. I remembered the rising of the glowing sphere. However, time was lost that most at the resort could not account for…
This is part one of a three-part series. Look for Part II of this adventure to Area 51 in the BMSG July Issue.
