Called one of the most interesting cases he has ever worked on by one of the investigators, the story of the “Virginia Giant” is actually a nickname for a pair of sightings, one of them involving an occupant, which occurred in late May 1971 outside a small rural Virginia community located near Fredericksburg. According to investigators John Carlson and Bruce Maccabee, who until recently were still gathering data about the alleged sightings, the case was hampered by the very attitude that made this “occupant” case such an interesting one — the family’s strong desire to avoid publicity — a characteristic not always present in cases involving an “occupant.” It was a dark, cloudy night that three boys and a German Shepherd had picked to camp out in a nearby field. Two of the youths had decided to investigate the sound of a car horn heard in the distance while the third youth and his dog “Lucky” decided to stay behind. Walking through the large, open field, the third boy noted that he had a strange feeling that something was behind him. He turned but saw nothing. Moments later he turned again and observed a glowing “thing” over a pond located in the open field. The object moved slowly from its position over the pond and moved towards the youth, finally stopping near the youth, and slowly settled to the ground. Before completing its descent, the object, according to the youth, extended “legs” from its underside. After the craft landed, a door opened straight down toward him and a “man” walked out. According to the witness’s description, the creature was “powerfully huge,” had long arms and was shiny in appearance. In one hand it carried a “glowing box.” The creature looked around, then started moving in the youth’s direction, who by this time was crouching in the tall grass. The witness’s dog allegedly snarled at the “occupant” and began to approach it. The creature turned around in a “stiff, bouncing fashion” and returned to his craft. The door of the craft closed and about ten minutes later the craft “just lifted off.”
The witness was found a few minutes later still crouched in the grass and apparently in shock by his two fellow campers. The witness told his companions of his encounter and all three quickly returned to their homes. Two nights later another sighting occurred in the same vicinity. While the second sighting did not involve an occupant, it did add credence to the first sighting, according to the investigators, because of the large number of witnesses and the similarities in description of the UFO. Two sisters of the youth who reported the “occupant” were returning home from a night class along the family’s long, winding driveway when they became aware of a humming sound and red lights apparently coming from above their car. Almost immediately, according to NICAP’s file on the case, the car’s engine stalled, the headlights went out, and the car radio went off. From inside the car the girls said they could see a disc-shaped, glowing white object hovering approximately 50 feet above their tree-lined driveway. After about five minutes the girls were able to start the car and race the remaining few yards towards home — as they did, the craft continued to follow them. Attracted outside by the sounds of a car racing up the driveway, two brothers rushed outside to investigate and observed a “gigantic saucer-shaped thing” following their sister’s car up the driveway. The object followed the car up to the house and continued to hover above it for a few minutes before finally drifting off and out of sight over the horizon. – NICAP (1971) NOTE: The above image is a rendering.
