The Great UFO Wave:
October, 1973

Personal UFO Sighting Report
1973 - Birmingham, Alabama

• Author: Unknown

This UFO sighting report is more lengthy than your other personal sightings, but because of the closeness of the craft and the impact it had on our family, I believe I need to include more detail.

On October 12, 1973, my husband and I and our sons who were 14, 13 and 9, and our daughter, 7, lived just outside Birmingham, Alabama. My 2 older sons planned to attend the Vestavia Highschool Homecoming football game that night. Since my husband was out of state on business, I loaded all four kids in the station wagon to drive the boys the 2 miles to the football field. It was between 7:00 and 7:30 PM and quite dark.

Our duplex was on a one-block-long cul de sac, located on a steep hill. I drove out of our driveway and had just started up the hill, when a huge, green glowing craft lifted up out of the trees across the intersection and seemed to silently float toward us. It couldn't have been more than a hundred feet in the air. Because the car was pointed upward on the hill, the UFO seemed to fill up the whole windshield. It appeared to be a solid hamburger shaped thing with lights around the middle. A glowing green mist surrounded it.

My 7 year old daughter, who was in the front seat with me, became hysterical. The rest of us weren't far behind! I had always been a "flying saucer" believer, but I remember instantly thinking "They really DO exist!" In panic, I turned left into a driveway, turned around, and headed back home, all the while screaming to the boys in the back seats, "Is it following us?! Is it following us?!" Within seconds we were in our driveway. Since the craft was slowing floating to the southeast and not threatening us, we got out of the car. I ran next door and pounded on my neighbor's door. By the time she came outside the UFO was gone. All that remained was the strange green glowing mist. It dissipated into the air in a few minutes.

I immediately called the Vestavia Hills police department, not knowing what other authority to call. The somewhat amused gentleman to whom I spoke informed me that what we had seen was probably an "atmospheric gas bomb set off at Eglund Air Force Base in Florida." Ha! I cannot imagine that atmospheric gas bombs, if indeed they exist, have solid metallic hulls with blinking lights. He did not indicate that anyone else had reported strange craft that night.

I asked each of my children to draw what they had seen. I wish I had saved those pictures. They were remarkably similar. After we calmed down a bit, I did drive the boys to the game. I don't know how I did it.

Now, nearly 23 years later, we five UFO sighters have varying reactions to the phenomenon. My 2 oldest sons and I have maintained a keen interest in the subject and don't hesitate to share details of the experience with anybody who will listen - even skeptics. My youngest son seems fearful and won't talk about it - even to the family. My daughter was affected the most dramatically. She has some conscious memories of abductions and some dreams that are quite disturbing. She thinks her children are also possibly being abducted. I've had some weird dreams, but I don't believe they signify actual events. None of us has had regression therapy or any other kind of counseling as a result of this experience. We really haven't known where to get help or whom to trust. Just writing this down is pretty good therapy.

I hope someone else saw what we saw that night. Maybe one of your Birmingham readers has some info to share. We moved to another state a few weeks after the sighting. I wish I had explored that wooded area from which the UFO lifted. It appeared to have been on the ground. Incidently, our sighting occured about 6 days before 2 fishermen were abducted at Pascagoula, Mississippi. Also, I believe a pilot in Ohio saw a "green glowing" craft that same week. "They" were in our neighborhood in 1973. "They" are still in the earth's neighborhood. It's time to face reality, folks.