Post by Chuck McCue on Dec 15, 2013 19:30:05 GMT -5
A true story by Michael Strickland Sr.
As many of you know I am a novelist but I like the term storyteller much better. I stated this because of what I'm about to post is not fiction it actually happened to me in the village of Mayport when I was four years old, before I had ever seen a television or a motion picture. The year this occurred was 1947. The short story itself is self explanatory. My question now is how many people out there saw something in the village that night that you'll never forget? For that matter anybody in northeast Florida and Georgia.
THE STORY
The reason I remember it was summertime is because all the windows were up in my bedroom and it was still hot even with the small fan circulating the warm air. I was very young at the time perhaps four or five years old but old enough to remember what I saw and experienced that summer night for the rest of my life. I don’t know where my mother and older brother were at the time but I knew daddy was down the street working at our family restaurant. I had just said my nightly prayers and crawled into my bed. There were two windows in my room with one facing the front porch and the other facing north towards the river. The sun had set maybe an hour before and I could see stars shining through the screen window. It had been another wonderful long day for me in the village playing with my best friend Billy, up on the sand-hill climbing the big oak tree and chasing horn-toads across the sand. I settled into my bed gazing at the stars over the river when suddenly a bright ball of light appeared in the sky and slowly made its way towards Ft. George across the river. I jumped from my bed towards the window as the bright ball of light slowly disappeared seemingly into the river or the trees on Ft. George. I watched a while longer and the light never reappeared with only the twinkling of distant stars dotting the night sky.
I started to go tell my older brother BJ or Mama what I had just seen but knew neither one would believe me. Truth is even at my young age I found it difficult to believe what I just saw. However, my self-doubt on this matter was about to abruptly change later that night and would live with me until I take my last breath of earthly air.
It took several minutes for the excitement of what I had seen before my worn young body gave into the serenity of much needed sleep. I have no idea how long I was asleep before my mind sensed another presence in my room. I rolled over on my back and forced my tired eyes open to the most unbelievable sight I could have ever imagined. Standing next to my bed were six of the strangest looking creatures I had ever seen. For some reason I didn’t feel scared as I studied the six figures (three on each side of the bed) whose bodies gave off an eerie green glow. They appeared to be rather small in stature and their faces were like nothing I’d ever seen. What appeared to be their eyes was nothing more than two dark slivers marking their heart shaped head. I couldn’t see the markings of a nose but where their mouths should have been was another dark sliver a little larger than their eyes. Their heads were bald and I saw no evidence of any ears. After studying them for a short time it finally dawned on me that these beings were doing something to my body. I could see their arms moving but was unable to lift my head for what reason I’ll never understand as they worked over me. I felt nothing nor heard any noise the whole time they were in my room and have no idea how long they were there. The next thing I knew they were gone as they had come, silently and mysteriously.
I suppose one of the strangest parts of this entire bizarre ordeal why was it a child of my young age didn’t jump out of bed and go tell my parents what just happened to me. I didn’t tell them or anyone else for that matter until recently nearly seventy years after it happened. Perhaps this is the strangest part of this story of all.
I was attending a relative’s funeral in the Mayport Cemetery nearly a year ago when I took notice of an attractive lady about my age standing next to me. Finally I whispered, “Aren’t you Claudia?”
The lady turns and looks at me and said, “Yes, who are you?”
I smiled and said, “I’m Michael, the boy who used to run barefooted with you in Mayport.”
“Michael, we were inseparable when we were children in Mayport. I can’t believe we haven’t run into each other before now. It’s been sixty years or so since we’ve seen one another and here we meet in the Mayport Cemetery,” Claudia said in disbelief. Claudia’s sister was with her and I chatted with the two of them for a short time after the service and gave Claudia one of my novels to read. After our graveside chat we hugged each other and left going our separate ways. I really thought I would never see her again after that, but I was wrong.
Another Mayport person passed away a few weeks later and would you believe it, Claudia and I meet in the Mayport Cemetery once again. After the service we exchanged telephone numbers and promised one another to stay in touch. My wife of forty seven years passed away three years ago and Claudia is happily married after fifty years of marriage. A little time passed and we exchanged a couple telephone calls and we decided to meet at Singletons in Mayport to have lunch and talk about the times of our childhood we spent together in the village over a half century ago. We met at the restaurant and we both carried pictures of ourselves when we were children in the village. We sorted through them sharing our memories of childhood and spilling our inner thoughts about growing-up in Mayport.
I don’t know why I said it and as I stated earlier I don’t believe I’ve ever said a word about the great ball of light and the little green creatures I saw that night in Mayport even to my wife or children. I don’t know why I never told anyone and that alone has me wondering of late after I heard Claudia’s reply to my story. Claudia sat across from me at the table as I told her about what I had seen and experienced. “Well,” I know you think I’m crazy?” I said looking at the strange look on her face.
I know a good two minutes passed before Claudia finally said, “I can’t believe what you just told me!”
I laughed and replied, “I told you that you will think I’m crazy.”
“No Michael, I don’t think you are crazy at all. I saw it too.”
“You saw it Claudia? My heavens all of these years I thought I might be crazy. You swear you saw it,” I said still unbelieving.
“Yes, Michael I saw it and ran screaming to my parents about the object in the sky. They went and looked for themselves and sure enough it was gone. My parents passed it off as a childhood imagination and that was the end of it. But like you I’ve never forgotten that object I saw in the sky.”
Claudia and I hashed and rehashed what we saw several more minutes before we parted ways once again. I accepted the fact that the story of the mysterious object and the six little green creatures was finally put to rest.
I was in for one last surprise about what Claudia and I had seen that evening in Mayport when Claudia called and said she would like to have lunch again with me in Mayport, she had something she would like to show me. Today I met Claudia for lunch in Mayport and as we settled in our seats I said, “Ok what is it you would like to show me?”
She smiled and handed me this old newspaper clipping. “Read it Michael and you won’t believe it.”
Needless to say I sat there mesmerized at what I was reading. The article was written by a local paper in 1999 telling about the object in the sky that frightened the people of Jacksonville all the way up into Georgia for two nights in the year 1947. The article went on to say sightings of a similar object were observed during this same time frame all the way up into New England. “My Lord Claudia, I knew what happened to me was true and now this proves it. I was four or five years old when this happened. Thank the Lord for putting my mind at rest,” I said near tears as I handed the paper back to Claudia.
We sat there in silence for a few moments when the thought hit me. “Claudia, what was the year they saw those sightings in Roswell New Mexico where supposedly the government has one of their spacecraft’s and perhaps the bodies of the aliens’ manning the ship?”
“I don’t know Michael but I will in a minute,” Claudia said picking up her I phone.
“Well,” I said as Claudia lifted her eyes from her I phone and stared at me with open mouth.
“Michael,” she said in trembling voice, “it happened in the year 1947. The same year they were here in Mayport.”
I know some of you out there will think the ball of light and little green creatures is just another one of my works of fiction. I can’t change the way people think about something but I can assure you this, the story I have just told you is exactly what I saw and experienced that night in Mayport, just as those untold numbers of people who saw the strange lights in the sky from Florida to New England to the desert of New Mexico during that same time frame.
In closing on this story I feel stronger than ever this little village of Mayport wasn’t only visited by the French explorer Jean Ribault and Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon but also alien explorers’, origin unknown?
Written By: Michael Strickland, Jr. Find his books online.
As many of you know I am a novelist but I like the term storyteller much better. I stated this because of what I'm about to post is not fiction it actually happened to me in the village of Mayport when I was four years old, before I had ever seen a television or a motion picture. The year this occurred was 1947. The short story itself is self explanatory. My question now is how many people out there saw something in the village that night that you'll never forget? For that matter anybody in northeast Florida and Georgia.
THE STORY
The reason I remember it was summertime is because all the windows were up in my bedroom and it was still hot even with the small fan circulating the warm air. I was very young at the time perhaps four or five years old but old enough to remember what I saw and experienced that summer night for the rest of my life. I don’t know where my mother and older brother were at the time but I knew daddy was down the street working at our family restaurant. I had just said my nightly prayers and crawled into my bed. There were two windows in my room with one facing the front porch and the other facing north towards the river. The sun had set maybe an hour before and I could see stars shining through the screen window. It had been another wonderful long day for me in the village playing with my best friend Billy, up on the sand-hill climbing the big oak tree and chasing horn-toads across the sand. I settled into my bed gazing at the stars over the river when suddenly a bright ball of light appeared in the sky and slowly made its way towards Ft. George across the river. I jumped from my bed towards the window as the bright ball of light slowly disappeared seemingly into the river or the trees on Ft. George. I watched a while longer and the light never reappeared with only the twinkling of distant stars dotting the night sky.
I started to go tell my older brother BJ or Mama what I had just seen but knew neither one would believe me. Truth is even at my young age I found it difficult to believe what I just saw. However, my self-doubt on this matter was about to abruptly change later that night and would live with me until I take my last breath of earthly air.
It took several minutes for the excitement of what I had seen before my worn young body gave into the serenity of much needed sleep. I have no idea how long I was asleep before my mind sensed another presence in my room. I rolled over on my back and forced my tired eyes open to the most unbelievable sight I could have ever imagined. Standing next to my bed were six of the strangest looking creatures I had ever seen. For some reason I didn’t feel scared as I studied the six figures (three on each side of the bed) whose bodies gave off an eerie green glow. They appeared to be rather small in stature and their faces were like nothing I’d ever seen. What appeared to be their eyes was nothing more than two dark slivers marking their heart shaped head. I couldn’t see the markings of a nose but where their mouths should have been was another dark sliver a little larger than their eyes. Their heads were bald and I saw no evidence of any ears. After studying them for a short time it finally dawned on me that these beings were doing something to my body. I could see their arms moving but was unable to lift my head for what reason I’ll never understand as they worked over me. I felt nothing nor heard any noise the whole time they were in my room and have no idea how long they were there. The next thing I knew they were gone as they had come, silently and mysteriously.
I suppose one of the strangest parts of this entire bizarre ordeal why was it a child of my young age didn’t jump out of bed and go tell my parents what just happened to me. I didn’t tell them or anyone else for that matter until recently nearly seventy years after it happened. Perhaps this is the strangest part of this story of all.
I was attending a relative’s funeral in the Mayport Cemetery nearly a year ago when I took notice of an attractive lady about my age standing next to me. Finally I whispered, “Aren’t you Claudia?”
The lady turns and looks at me and said, “Yes, who are you?”
I smiled and said, “I’m Michael, the boy who used to run barefooted with you in Mayport.”
“Michael, we were inseparable when we were children in Mayport. I can’t believe we haven’t run into each other before now. It’s been sixty years or so since we’ve seen one another and here we meet in the Mayport Cemetery,” Claudia said in disbelief. Claudia’s sister was with her and I chatted with the two of them for a short time after the service and gave Claudia one of my novels to read. After our graveside chat we hugged each other and left going our separate ways. I really thought I would never see her again after that, but I was wrong.
Another Mayport person passed away a few weeks later and would you believe it, Claudia and I meet in the Mayport Cemetery once again. After the service we exchanged telephone numbers and promised one another to stay in touch. My wife of forty seven years passed away three years ago and Claudia is happily married after fifty years of marriage. A little time passed and we exchanged a couple telephone calls and we decided to meet at Singletons in Mayport to have lunch and talk about the times of our childhood we spent together in the village over a half century ago. We met at the restaurant and we both carried pictures of ourselves when we were children in the village. We sorted through them sharing our memories of childhood and spilling our inner thoughts about growing-up in Mayport.
I don’t know why I said it and as I stated earlier I don’t believe I’ve ever said a word about the great ball of light and the little green creatures I saw that night in Mayport even to my wife or children. I don’t know why I never told anyone and that alone has me wondering of late after I heard Claudia’s reply to my story. Claudia sat across from me at the table as I told her about what I had seen and experienced. “Well,” I know you think I’m crazy?” I said looking at the strange look on her face.
I know a good two minutes passed before Claudia finally said, “I can’t believe what you just told me!”
I laughed and replied, “I told you that you will think I’m crazy.”
“No Michael, I don’t think you are crazy at all. I saw it too.”
“You saw it Claudia? My heavens all of these years I thought I might be crazy. You swear you saw it,” I said still unbelieving.
“Yes, Michael I saw it and ran screaming to my parents about the object in the sky. They went and looked for themselves and sure enough it was gone. My parents passed it off as a childhood imagination and that was the end of it. But like you I’ve never forgotten that object I saw in the sky.”
Claudia and I hashed and rehashed what we saw several more minutes before we parted ways once again. I accepted the fact that the story of the mysterious object and the six little green creatures was finally put to rest.
I was in for one last surprise about what Claudia and I had seen that evening in Mayport when Claudia called and said she would like to have lunch again with me in Mayport, she had something she would like to show me. Today I met Claudia for lunch in Mayport and as we settled in our seats I said, “Ok what is it you would like to show me?”
She smiled and handed me this old newspaper clipping. “Read it Michael and you won’t believe it.”
Needless to say I sat there mesmerized at what I was reading. The article was written by a local paper in 1999 telling about the object in the sky that frightened the people of Jacksonville all the way up into Georgia for two nights in the year 1947. The article went on to say sightings of a similar object were observed during this same time frame all the way up into New England. “My Lord Claudia, I knew what happened to me was true and now this proves it. I was four or five years old when this happened. Thank the Lord for putting my mind at rest,” I said near tears as I handed the paper back to Claudia.
We sat there in silence for a few moments when the thought hit me. “Claudia, what was the year they saw those sightings in Roswell New Mexico where supposedly the government has one of their spacecraft’s and perhaps the bodies of the aliens’ manning the ship?”
“I don’t know Michael but I will in a minute,” Claudia said picking up her I phone.
“Well,” I said as Claudia lifted her eyes from her I phone and stared at me with open mouth.
“Michael,” she said in trembling voice, “it happened in the year 1947. The same year they were here in Mayport.”
I know some of you out there will think the ball of light and little green creatures is just another one of my works of fiction. I can’t change the way people think about something but I can assure you this, the story I have just told you is exactly what I saw and experienced that night in Mayport, just as those untold numbers of people who saw the strange lights in the sky from Florida to New England to the desert of New Mexico during that same time frame.
In closing on this story I feel stronger than ever this little village of Mayport wasn’t only visited by the French explorer Jean Ribault and Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon but also alien explorers’, origin unknown?
Written By: Michael Strickland, Jr. Find his books online.