An Alien Encounter in Maine (1979-1981)

A report by Shirley C. Fickett

Editor’s Note: Though Shirley’s beautiful spirit recently made the transition to the Other Side on February 1st, her years of serious investigative contributions shall continue to live on in the pages of Alternate Perceptions.

February 26, 1982:

Ralph called as a result of an ad I had placed in the Bar Harbor Times (Maine) the week of the above date.

Ralph’s CE-III occurred three years ago. At the time he was sixteen years old. Back then his girlfriend lived at the Coast Guard housing development, near the golf course. She also lived a mile from Ralph’s house.

The boy’s parents were very particular that he be home at 10 p.m. and on this particular night, he stated he called them at 10 to let them know he was on his way home. He was a “cross country runner” at the time and had little problem getting home, normally in about five minutes.

The Encounter

June 6 to 9th, 1979:

Approximately halfway home, Ralph observed something on the sidewalk as he ran. Thinking it was a dog, racoon or something of the sort, the young man outskirted it, which took him to the middle of the road (usually busy during summer months, but at this point no cars were around).

All of a sudden, while in the road Ralph found himself bathed in a mysterious light coming from above. Looking up, he observed what he thought might be a “craft” but it also implied that it was too bright for him to look at because it almost burnt his eyes out!

When the light hit, Ralph described “a tingling sensation” like “pins sticking into him.” He said he moved enough so his head sort of bent down away from the light (The light above had appeared to be an oblong shape of bright yellow...he made particular note of no cars on the road, during the busy summer season). As the light shone around him on the ground, he seemed at a loss of words in describing how the buildings around him looked. It was like there was a revolving light above as you see in dance halls, displaying various colors on the buildings, red, blue, etc. There was a big house on one side and on the other a garage.

It then became very strange because something happened that caused him not to understand or comprehend what was going on around him. The next thing he knew he was up, looking down at the whole town! He seemed to be lying on a table, on his back, yet could see no surrounding vehicle. The table seemed to be up in the air, suspended. He did not know if he was within a vehicle or not. This part he said he couldn’t figure out.

As the subject lay on the table, he became aware of “shapes” around him. After some time had passed, Ralph stated that he once more found himself running towards home and turned around to look and observed three “shapes” running (or rather sort of gliding) behind him, calling for him to come back. They wouldn’t harm him. They wanted him to come with them.

Reaching his house door, he heard the last of their “message”...”WE’LL BE BACK!” Entering the house and slamming the door, Ralph saw his two sisters, aged 3 and 4, sitting on the divan. They asked, “Who just said they’d be back?” An excited Ralph ran upstairs to his parent’s bedroom, where they were asleep. He excitedly told them what had happened and by their clock, discovered he had lost some time...an hour and a half!

The Aliens

Upon looking back the young man saw three hooded figures, sort of floating above the ground. Their hoods were silver, then all there was were spaces where the eyes should have been. He saw nothing else, no other features. Ralph’s father, a believer in UFOs, encouraged his son to draw a picture of what the “aliens” had looked like. He did so for his parents. A short time later, his father bought a UFO magazine and there was an “alien” that was almost like what the son had seen.

Ralph’s father had spent four years in the Air Force.

Psychological After Effects

I asked Ralph if anything unusual happened to him physically after the encounter. He stated, “There were bright red spots, on my legs down through the groin, on one (right) hand and on my stomach.” He said these red spots come and go even now.

The eyes were another target for a problem, common in such cases. The subject stated his eyes did and have bothered him since the incident. They “watered up and still do” and when he drives a car now, the lights of an on-coming car still bother him.

About Doctors

Ralph offered the information that he had been so puzzled and frightened after the UFO incident, his parents took him to Dr. ________, psychiatrist (Blue Hill Hospital). Dr. ____ believed the story and said they should contact a UFO bureau (at the time, they did not). The doctor agreed the burns could be due to some sort of radiation.

While seeing the psychiatrist, once a week for about three months, the parents questioned the lost hour and a half. The doctor said he could use hypnosis and do regression, but thought it unnecessary.

I asked how much Ralph did recall of what happened. He was sure he had been examined by the “aliens” since there were three of them there at a time, looking down upon him. He recalled that much. The “aliens” did not identify themselves, nor did they call him by name, as near as he could recall.

At one point, the young man told me there was more his parents would recall, but he had called me without thinking too much about it. His father had seen the ad in the paper and urged him to call me. He said it was so good to be able to talk to someone about it all who believed his story.

I inquired about his regular physician and if he was seen about the physical problems with red marks and eye problems after the UFO encounter. He said his regular doctor was Dr. ______ of Ellsworth (I’ve been to him) At one point, the red blotches were “out” and shown to Dr. ____ who threw them off as “probably some type of reaction from the insulin shots.” (Ralph has been diabetic all his life but has never had a reaction until after the UFO encounter). Insulin shots since age 4. The red spots appear every two to six months now and “Broke out the night of the experience. When there, they will itch and burn.”

When Ralph told Dr._____ about the UFO experience, he quipped that probably the patient “just passed out for a minute.” Ralph was so discouraged that he never mentioned the eye problem to him.

Second Encounter with Witnesses

June or July 1981:

Without any questions concerning the subject, Ralph continued our conversation stating: “Then something else strange happened.”

The young man described a night last summer. His aunt and uncle were at the new house they had since built in _____. That night his mother and father had gone to bed because they both work.

He re-tracked to say that previous to this, for about three weeks they had been having strange things going on around the house, outside. “Seeing people, then going out and no one would be there.” The whole family had been witness to these glimpses of “people” outside. Their watch dog, a golden retriever of theirs and the aunt and uncle’s sheep dog would “go crazy” trying to get out at something, during the times things were seen by the family.

On the particular night described above, Ralph, his aunt and uncle were up late and the hour had run over to the following morning. It was about 2 a.m. when “all around the house lit up like day,” according to Ralph. The three went outside, but saw nothing but the light. No visible UFO. They walked up the road but saw nothing. However, they did hear the roar of an engine (he likened this to the sound of an outboard motor running against the surf). He stated when the sound died down, so did the light. When the motor sound picked up the light around brightened up. Also, he stated, “The trees around the house were moving as if by a wind.”

I was told the three stayed up all night, because this phenomena went on all night!

When I asked what impression the second encounter had, the subject said all he could think of was when he had been told by the “aliens” that they would be back. This part of the experience had sent him to the psychiatrist, because there was some fear he might be taken as before.

There was puzzlement in Ralph’s voice as he told me how soundly his parents had slept on both his first and second encounter. He said it was not like his mother, mentioning how she slept light when it came to the kids moving around, etc. (He kept mentioning this fact!).It seems the parents were just as puzzled that they would sleep so soundly, especially through the second encounter.

In New House, Two Years Ago

This was apparently when the family had built a new house and moved _______from________, where Ralph’s first encounter took place. He mentioned something else strange that happened (after I questioned him about phenomena and he said he did have dreams that come true).

It seems there was a family aunt that had brought up Ralph’s mother and was very close to the family. After moving into the new house the young man’s mother kept lamenting that she wished the now deceased aunt could only see their nice new house.

One night, Ralph said he awakened to observe his dead aunt standing nearby in a flowing robe. She communicated with him, but not all was recalled except she conveyed the house was lovely and glad they were happy with it. He arose the following morning at 6 a.m. and told his mother of the experience before leaving for work.

That night after work, his mother related that just after he had gone to work, his sister, now 7, had come downstairs and told her mother she experienced the same thing, of seeing the aunt. The younger girl had been more frightened than the older brother.

When asked if he felt any more “spiritual...closer to God, than before the two encounters,” in relationship to his first, Ralph said, “Well, I just kept praying to God, all the time it was happening!”

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