November of 1991, the opening stages of what would become perhaps the most intense outbreaks of UFO sightings and related phenomena in southwestern and south-central Missouri were well underway. The first mysterious livestock mutilations had already occurred and stories of everything from strange lights in the sky to close encounters with what seemed to be highly exotic aerial crafts were a frequent topic of discussion across the region.At approximately 10:15 that night Scott Freeman and his cousin were eastbound on Dent County Route H about five miles west of Salem when Scott’s cousin noticed what appeared to be an aircraft at low altitude and still descending as it approached the road from the left above a field. Its path would take the craft over the roadway not far in front of them, but it was at this point that events took an abrupt turn into the unknown. Quoting from the initial email I received from Scott on Nov. 23, 2014: “Believing that it was an airplane, we accelerated to approximately 90 miles per hour so as to pass under the plane as it crossed the highway (it seemed like the cool thing to do at the time). The object reached H Highway before our car had the chance to pass under it or even get close to it and, much to our dismay, the object came to a complete stop above H Highway. As our car came to a screeching halt, it slid up under the object and stalled out.” In a later email answering a few questions I had posed to him, Scott expressed the opinion that the vehicle died As a result of the sudden stop, not from any form of electromagnetic interference from the UFO. At this point any thoughts on their part of a conventional aircraft evaporated. They could clearly discern the triangular shape of the hovering craft, and by rolling down the windows were able to confirm its absolute silence. In place of the familiar navigation lights required by the FAA, there were three bright, round white lights on the underside.
These shined spotlight-like beams directly down, illuminating the roadway as if it was high noon. Realizing they were clearly experiencing a close encounter with an unknown craft, the witnesses grew nervous. It was at that point that perhaps the most unusual element of the sighting began. The craft performed a very unusual maneuver, one that I am not aware of being duplicated exactly among the thousands of UFO reports in my files. “After sitting motionless above the highway for what I believe was approximately two or three minutes,” Scott wrote, “the craft began to slowly move diagonally from its original route and moved to a clearing in the open field that lay to the right of my car. The object moved just above the tree tops, almost brushing them as it passed over them, until it had reached an opening in the field. “The object stopped again and then, much to our dismay, starts to turn onto its side and then slowly lower itself to the ground. So close to the ground, in fact, that I could see the silhouette of the field grass as the light from the lower of the two back lights shined through them. After sitting at ground level for no longer than one minute, the object slowly left our side and made its way down the forest that rested to its immediate right. The object then leveled back out flat to the ground as it traveled and after flying about 300 yards, it ascended at a 30-degree angle. It flew up into the night sky, never to be seen again by my cousin or myself.” They look good to me, but my artistic ability ends with using a ruler to draw a straight line. Again I wish to thank Scott for sending me the experience he shared with his cousin. NOTE: The above image is a rendering.
