Winona, Minnesota UFO Sightings in 1996

Full Report Text:

The lights followed alongside the car My mom just introduced me to this web site yesterday and I wanted to post my experience because it was so strange. It was near the end of July in 1996, Myself (20yrs old) and 3 friends (ages 17-19)were driving from Minneapolis to Winona in the middle of the night. We wanted to be in Winona at the scenic overlook by sunrise.

I had made this trip one other time before. I was driving an old 2 door Ford Escort, and my friend (who is now my husband) was in the passenger seat, and another couple were in the back seat. It was sometime between 1 am and 3 am, (not sure of exact time) it was a clear night, not very cloudy at all, we were the only car on the road and we hadn't seen another car for about 30 minutes, the other couple with us had fallen asleep in the car.

All of a sudden without any warning there were 9 large, bright, flashing lights out my driverside window, now my friend on the passenger side only saw one of the lights out the windshield (in the top corner on the driverside). The lights were in three rows of three, and the rows were staggered (will email drawing)The best way to describe the lights is like a set of stadium lights, like at a baseball field, when they turn on you can here the flash as the electricity runs to the bulbs. Thats how all 9 lights looked, and they all flashed at the same time, but not in a pattern just random.

The lights lit up the other lane on the highway and the ditch. There was nothing but open field in this area, and the lights were very bright I was yelling at my friend "What is that, Do you see that" and he just staired out the windshield and was absolutely quite through this, and the two people sleeping in the back seat didn't wake up as I was yelling at my friend to answer me. Now, i'm not saying there was something wrong with him he was just shocked at what we were seeing and didn't know how to respond to me.

I was driving about 60 mph when these lights appeared, and they kept pace with the car for at least 30-40 seconds, they remained out my driverside window, flashing, they didn't change color but I would say they had some color. I don't know if the lights had color or if it was my eyes messing with me, it was like stairing at the sun, you get some spects of color in your view when you look away. They were very bright white just like stadium lights.

I would say the bottom row of lights were 10 feet or so above the ground, just on the other side of the ditch. I had to look up out of the window to see the top row. I asked my friend if I should stop the car, I got no response, I kept yelling what the ---- is that, I was really freaked out.

I deceided to keep driving, still a speed of about 60-65 mph, and then the lights drifted just behind my window, and I looked back and they were just out the little side window in the rear for about 2-3 seconds, and then they disapeared just like that. No sound, no trails of light, nothing. It was like someone just flipped off the light switch.

Then my friend looked at me and said "that was crazy" and then my other two friends woke up and we told them what happened and they didn't believe us of course. I don't know what it was that I saw, all I know is the lights were not there before, I didn't see the road lit up or anything and then WAM there they are, and the fact that they stayed with the car while I was driving! Stationary lights that are on a pole or something don't keep up with a car going 60, and they lit up the road so much I would have seen it on approach. Then to just disapear, it was crazy.

The other weird thing was that my two friends in the back could sleep through me yelling. I just don't get it. We told everyone we knew about it when we got back and only a few believed us.

Now, we were all older teens at the time but credible people, we weren't drinking or anything the night this happened. I tried for a long time to find a reasonable explination, but I can't. I could say that the lights themselves could have been some kind of stadium lights because they looked just like that, but I can't explain why they would have been in the middle of no where and how they would have turned on all of a sudden and then traveled alongside the car.

And then GONE just like that. If someone has a suggestion of what it might have been please share it with me, I am open to hear anything that might explain it. ((NUFORC Note: Date is approximate.

PD)).