UFO Sighting From Howe Caverns In 1967 Surfaces

From the decade of peace and love comes a moment of fear from Howe Caverns in 1967. What was that moment of fear? A possible UFO sighting. 

The following report was filed with Mufon:

My best friend and I were returning to Long Island from Expo 67 in Montreal Canada. It was late and we knew we would never make it so we decided to stop along the way. We saw a billboard advertising Howe Caverns and we decided to go there for the night and then visit the caves in the morning. It was Labor Day weekend and it was Saturday night. We followed the signs into the parking lot of the caverns. It was about 11-11:15 at night. We were young foolish kids and didn't have much money so we decided to sleep in the car. It was a white 1961 Chevy Impala. We were the only car in the lot and I remember saying, "let's park in a corner so if we oversleep I don't want people looking in the windows"

I parked the car , in such a way , that I backed against a hill declining away from the car. The trunk overhung the start of the decline. You basically couldn't stand behind the car. I parked with the passenger doors also at the edge of the lot. I remember saying, "at least the car is protected from passerbyes on 2 sides...the rear and passenger side. I was in the front seat and my friend Bill was in the rear seat, ready to go to sleep. We locked the doors. I laid down with my head where the passenger would sit and Bill was the same way in the rear. Since it was pitch black, I had my eyes closed. Bill, then calmly said "look at the lights in the trees". I said, "s**t, it's probably the sheriff, he saw our car lights come up here and we are going to be caught". That was the last rational comment made for several hours.

Now, first you must know the dynamics between Bill and I. Best friends from 7th grade, we were now juniors in college. He went to N Y Maritime College, and I went to Hofstra University. He was always better than me in every sport we tried, from skiing to tennis. He could run faster, swim better and do more pushups than me. I always felt "safe" around him. I knew I could count on a stronger, more rational guy to protect me. Well, he suddenly started screaming, almost berserk like, at me to "get away, drive away". He kept shouting, "THEY'RE BEHIND US, THEY'RE OVER THE CAR". For a few seconds I didn't respond in a scared manner. I remember thinking that its just the cops. In seconds I slowly started to react.

An intense light was shining in my eyes. Even though they were still closed, I could see the reds and harsh whites of light....and at the same time, Bill was sitting up and pounding on the seat and me to get up and go. I never saw him like this, and I was now reacting to his fear. I opened my eyes and he was climbing into the front seat..I told him calm down, I'll drive away. The car's interior was lit up like day, yet it was pitch black outside. I realized the light was coming in from the rearview window. I thought that strange, since nothing could be behind us. I saw the keys on the dashboard, I put them in the ignition, he was next to me, and I calmly drove away. When we reached the main road, there were no signs of any cops. I stopped, and remember saying, "let's get a motel". I turned left and drove not more than a mile and we came across an old motel. I pulled into the lot and saw that it was almost 3:30 and said "it's crazy to pay for a room for a few hours, let's sleep in the car. Bill calmly said 'OK', and I remember saying, "let's put up something to block the windows so the lights don't get us" We calmly went to sleep, not discussing what just happened or even realizing 3 hours went by.

We awoke around 8, and took the maps out of the windows, that we used to block the "lights" and went up to the caverns. I went back to that parking spot and we looked around and couldn't understand anything that happened. We shrugged it off, toured the caverns, and around noon headed to Long Island. Nothing about last night was discussed..it was like we couldn't rationalize it. It was a blur. An aside about me...I am the hysterical one, I react to things, I can get out of control in a flash...and yet that night I was the calm one and Bill was the screamer. Anyway, I dropped him home and then went to my house. We both still lived with our parents. When I walked in the house, my father was watching T V and on the coffee table was Newsday, Long Islands newspaper. The headlines screamed at me..."U F O'S sighted over upstate New York....I rushed to the phone to call Bill...He answered, and I said "did you see the paper?" He was shaken and said ,"yes"...I said, "what happened, what did we see?" He refused to talk about it..He wouldn't answer me.

For 35 years we lost contact. When we finally did reconnect, he was married and living in Oceanside, California. I was living in the Hudson Valley. I asked him about that night in 1967, and his voiced changed and wouldn't even acknowledge what I was asking. He died in 2005. I am still left with untold answers of what happened that night."

I don't know about you, but that defiantly sent chills through my body. Pretty crazy right?