Saturday, March 12, 2011

The Reagan Light

One February night in 1977, near Reagan, North Dakota, Mrs. Barney Strand, Jr. and her daughter, Sindy, were driving back to their ranch when they spotted a brilliant orb of light nearing their truck.  It soon took up a position slightly above and behind their vehicle, dogging the duo for miles.

Unnerved, Sindy accelerated faster, but the odd glowing ball kept pace effortlessly.  Hoping the light would vanish once they made the turn onto the road leading toward their home, the women were startled to discover the noctilucent phenomenon maintained its pursuit.

The pair leaped from the truck, raced to the house, and bolted inside where Mrs. Strand snatched up a pair of binoculars and watched their pursuer from a crack in the curtains.  The orb hovered noiselessly near a stand of trees on the west side of the house.  She watched in terrified amazement as the light pulsed and shimmered with a yellow-orange glow.

The orb hung about for a few minutes before slowly vanishing in the distance.  To Strand it seemed to twirl as it moved, spinning like a top.  

The mother and daughter weren't the first to spot the "Reagan Light."  Over the preceding 24 months, others had reported similar encounters, often as they drove the lonesome back roads.  The light would run parallel to the windows of cars, frightening occupants.

Some blamed it all on a practical joker who had been shining a spotlight at motorists. To those who saw the three dimensional orb with its color-shifts and aggressive pursuits, the object could be no mere projected beam of light. 

Others blamed UFOs, which is interesting, given the number of Cattle Mutilations being reported on remote ranches throughout the west during this time. I wonder if any turned up in North Dakota in those 24 months...

1 comment:

Sharon Day said...

I love the way you think. I swear you and I have very similar thought processes the way we find interesting correlations. These sorts of things could be earth lights up close, like you see in Marfa and Brown Mountain and these people are actually engaging close-up with them. I'm intrigued by the short-lived periods these events occur as if there's a burst in earth conditions there and then they move on. I've heard of things like this happening before huge quakes. I am curious if Japan recently had anything unusual as a precursor.