SIGHTING: KIRKSVILLE (NEAR), MO

Witness Testimony

"Historical sighting (1903 - 1913) Northern MissouriMy grandfather and his brother related this story to family members long before reports of UFOs became widely publicized. The date is a 'best guess', as my grandfather (born in 1893) was a teenager at the time. It could have taken place anytime between 1903 and 1913.Grandpa and his brother were hunting "out in the woods", as they described it, somewhere in, or near, Adair County, MO. They spotted a light ahead of them which appeared to be swinging back and forth in an arc. At first, they believed it to be someone swinging a lantern, then decided that it was too high and the arc was too big for that to be the cause. They ran ahead to investigate. When they reached a clearing in the woods, they saw a large, metallic, disc or saucer shaped object hovering above the ground in the clearing. I can't remember if my grandfather said that the disc itself appeared to be swinging back and forth in an arc pattern, or if the light(s) on the disc were moving in such a way as to cause this illusion. I believe he also said it seemed to be emitting a humming noise.Shortly after they came into the clearing, the disc/saucer rose very rapidly, straight up above the trees with a "whooshing noise" and took off horizontally, at a great speed, disappearing from their view. They walked to the spot, above which the craft had been hovering, and discovered four large, circular burn marks on the ground.I remember my parents and other family members talking about this incident when I was a small child. Then, sometime in the late 1960s (perhaps as late as 1970 or 1971), my mother had purchased a copy of a National Inquirer with a photo of a UFO on the cover. One day when my grandfather was visiting us, he picked up the Inquirer and said, "This looks just like what I saw when I was young." He then proceeded to relate the story to my brother and me.My grandfather was a man of high integrity, and everyone in the family who heard of his experience did not doubt for an instant that he was telling the truth. The craft's shape, speed and flight behavior proove that it was clearly not a zeppelin, nor a balloon, nor any type of airplane which would have been in existence at the time. I submit this in my grandfather's memory because he was so interested in finding out exactly what the object was. It is also my sincere hope that relating his experience might help in the serious research of UFOs, if only to establish that a sighting had occurred in the very early 1900s.((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the incident is approximate. PD))"