On a clear spring day just before sunset, the three witnesses were driving west along Hwy 20 from Hwy 49, below Camptonville, California. As we rounded a sharp curve just past the old stone quarry near Bullard's bar, we came upon three silver discs landed in a field to the right of the road.

I pulled onto the right shoulder just as the large discs suddenly shot upward in powerful ascent. my friend Ergio Vallejo and I felt compelled to jump out of the car and race to the center of the highway, where we stood staring excitedly up at the Flying saucers I did not feel any fear I felt elated and awe-struck. I estimate the size of each disc to have been between 50 and 75 feet in diameter. Above us, the discs blocked out most of the sky. they appeared quite solid and metallic, with very definite mechanical features - including a central opening from which a powerful conical beam projected straight down from each disc. the beam color was brilliant bluish-white, and we were washed with the light, yet could still see the features beneath the discs. I don't recall any sound, but there might have been a wind - those details have grown very fuzzy over the 35 years since the encounter. I do recall that the three discs were locked into a tight triangular formation, with one disc forming an apex above the other two.

When the discs reached above a hundred feet overhead, they briefly hovered. then all together, they tilted about 45 degrees and shot off toward the south, which took them straight across the highway and over above the feather river canyon, which we overlooked out to our left. as the craft traveled over the canyon, the conical beams appeared to light up a big portion of the valley - the beams would have to have been extremely powerful to do so, especially considering that it wasn't quite dark yet. when the objects reached an angle of what might have been 60 degrees in the sky over to our left, they abruptly vanished, leaving three glowing purple clouds where each disc had disappeared. Those clouds remained visible and softly glowing for the entire half-hour that it took us to complete our drive home to Forbestown, where we were temporarily staying at the time. It should be noted that I am aware of a considerable amount of amnesia both during and after the encounter. I seem to recall a previous UFO encounter which might have occurred about a half-hour before to the remembered encounter I even have a general sense of approximately where that first UFO encounter might have occurred along Hwy 49 above Camptonville, California. I always felt that we were abducted - but I can't consciously remember it.

Also, the third witness (my mother) remained in the car during the main event. She was paralyzed with fear, and couldn't or wouldn't look above the ground level, so she only saw the preliminary scene when the objects were just beginning to take off. she can't recall seeing the discs themselves, but she did see what she thought might be something like nozzles or cylindrical objects - possibly some details on the bottoms of the discs. I lost contact with Sergio Vallejo after the UFO sighting, and I have no knowledge of his whereabouts after 35 years. Mom is now 85 years old and slipping into dementia, so she is no longer available for a witness testimony. I now have no proof, apart from a rough sketch that I drew, and conversation remembered by family members, to whom I related the experience over the years. I was profoundly affected by the encounter, with a long-term improvement in my health and a complete change in my interests and beliefs.

I became quite obsessed with UFOs and ETs after the encounter, and I've been researching ever since. I've made many trips back to the encounter site, as I tried to retrace the whole event once I even took my whole family there during a reunion. I've had other, possibly related experiences going back to age three or before - I've written many of them down.

mufon cms 111944 Brownsville California 5/15/85