Yesterday evening, we had a weather event in our area. Tornadoes touched down near our home, almost directly across us. It was entirely too close for comfort! Thankfully, we had no damage to our property or us. My little family is safe, including my outdoor pets and all their structures, so I am incredibly thankful. Not all of my neighbors were so lucky.
Before the storms arrived, something strange occurred. First, before telling about it, I would like to mention something else that happened two days ago while I was uploading things to my blog. One of the pictures that I wanted to share was of the sky and jet trails therein. After uploading it to my site, I viewed the post for quality purposes and noticed a small fleck in one of the photos. I had not noticed it before. It is a small dot in the picture — just a blurry, black smudge. When I noticed, I thought maybe something had been on the glass door that I was taking the picture through, so I did not think much else of it and left the picture up on the site. It was not until later in the evening last night, after the weather event, that I thought it could be something else.
While standing in the same spot at my front door and watching the clouds roll in, a light of some sort caught my eye. At first, I thought it was a glare from my glasses. I stepped to the side and moved my head, however, the light phenomena did not go away! I’ll do my best to describe it.
It was round, spherical, not solid but seemed to consist of nearly see-through, vibrating “strings” that were made of light. It changed size, larger to small then back again, a few times. I stared at it for what felt like a few minutes, trying to process what I was seeing. Then from my left, another one appeared right beside it. It was not as formed or as vivid as the first one. I had to give my attention to my daughter and husband thanks to the approaching storm, so I left the door and did not mention this to my husband until much later, not wanting to talk too much about it in front of my daughter, who was already a bit scared of the storms.
After the weather event was over, the power was out due to all the damage in our area, and around 1:00 am, I woke up and went into the living room to bottle feed a stray kitten that we were fostering. Afterward, I still could not get to sleep.
I kept thinking about certain odd events: one that happened in 2017, one that happened around 2023 with a painting that fell over during an outdoor photo session, and then the light from the door earlier in the evening in the same spot that I thought the black smudge had appeared in my picture. The next thing I knew, I checked the time, and it was 3:30 am! Had I really been staring at the ceiling ruminating for 2 hours?
Regardless, I feel pulled to share the other stories. In 2017, while driving home from work around 9:30 pm, my car started acting weird. I was pregnant, alone in the dark on a country backroad in southern Appalachia, and had spotty-at-best cell reception. The car seemed to be “shorting out” somehow (I’m no mechanic, by any means!) The engine and RPMs would rev, then it would shut off, causing me to restart the engine, when it would run for a few more seconds then repeat. It felt as though I were riding a horse and buggy with square wheels as it jerked and bounced around.
My car was not old. It was hardly even “used”. It was about a year old (a 2016 Ford Fusion) with low mileage and it was the nicest car I had ever owned, so I was extremely caught off guard. I managed to make a turn onto a smaller county road and make a u-turn, pulling back to a stopping position at the stop sign.
My calls were not going through to my husband. I was not sure what to do, because walking up a mountain in the dark while pregnant and alone was a big “hell no” from me, so I kept trying to get the call to go through. I’m not sure how long I sat at the stop sign before someone pulled up beside me.
It was a pickup truck, and the driver was alone. He rolled down the window, and I told him that I was fine, that I was having car trouble and trying to contact my husband. After assuring him that I was fine, he left me there alone. Finally, the call went through to my husband, and he was there in a few minutes.
I drove his truck home with the hazards flashing while he drove ahead of me in my car, my car doing the same song and dance for him all the way up the mountain and to our home. After having the car towed, I was told there had been a recall on some kind of sensor in the car (something to do with condensation?) and we had not gotten the memo. They replaced it, and I got my car back, but I never felt the same about driving alone at night — even in a brand new car.
Maybe having recently read Communion by Whitley Strieber has caused these strange memories to surface, as I also have a strange memory with an owl from when I was around four or five years old that has surfaced. Maybe seeing similarities in others’ experiences has given me courage to talk about my own.
The other event with the painting could very well be a chance thing that happened with a very strong gust of wind, but either way, I am very glad to have it on camera. The day was bright and birds sang in the background. I had set up a canvas on an office chair in the shallow end of the pond, wanting to take pictures of it. Suddenly, a gust of wind caused the price tag to flip around, then back again, then the whole canvas fell flat onto the chair without falling into the water. (It all sounds very dramatic, but if you check out my art, it actually seems pretty fitting…)
So, why were these things all on my mind last night? Are they indeed all connected, or was it just some late night recalling of strange events after the excitement of the passing storms. I felt protected then, and I feel protected now. By whom or what, I still do not know.
** On the day of this entry, I later made another entry, as follows:
Around 6:30 pm, I recorded what I thought was a plane in the sky. It was flashing in the sunlight and looked odd, but since it was leaving a trail in the sky, I thought it was a plane. After watching the video, I am not sure if it is a plane or not.
Stranger Than Fiction 