While I was a young boy living in Lemmon Valley, Nevada, I had a series of experiences which to this day can not be adequately explained. At least not in any scientific, linear manner. These experiences, I believe, had an affect on me as a person, and on how I view and approach life. I am certain any influence or bearing these experiences may have made upon my self can only be seen as positive.

Below I will attempt to relate these experiences in an open, clear manner. I do not claim to be fully objective, nor dispassionate in my accounts.
-Scot

I'm about 8 years old. It's the Spring or Summer of 1977 or '78, in Lemmon Valley, Nevada. It's a small community about 10 miles north of Reno, in the high desert of Northern Nevada. I'm outside playing football with my 13-year-old brother Mark, and about a dozen other neighborhood kids. It's early dusk- still light enough to see the football.

As we're doing our thing, A light appears in the sky about a mile from where we're playing. It's not very high in the sky - just above the horizon. It's quite big, and spherical. At first, it's orange in color, but as it slowly descends, two things happen: it gets smaller as it gets closer to the ground; and the color changes, as well as the intensity of the light. Immediately after it first appeared, several kids ran off, some screaming, in a panic. The others, including Mark and myself, just stood there, saying, "Wow! Whoa!", or whatever. A few did nothing at all, like a rabbit caught in the headlights. I recall feeling no fear - only curiosity and wonder. It made no sounds, nor did it emanate heat, considering how close it was, and how bright. As it got within (I'd estimate) 25 to 30 feet of the ground, it seemed to hover momentarily, then it changed to a white-light in color and intensity, and disappeared. But, just before it disappeared, it went in an upward motion (at about the same time the intensity changed to white-light). The upward motion lasted for only a split second, then it was gone.

Those of us who stayed to watch the thing, soon headed home. My brother and I told our parents, and I recall my dad's reaction. At first, he said it was probably just a flare from something at Stead Air Base, not far away. But I had seen flares in the past; the kind the Army guys used, as well as the ones the air planes spit out. Neither of the military kind changed color, from orange and very large, through smaller sizes and changing colors, until it was about the size of a house, and blue. Then it went white, just as it "took off". To this day, I have seen nothing like it.

Notes On First Sighting

• Occurred at dusk.
• At least 10 people saw it.
• Some were afraid, others not.
• The light changed size, and color.
• From an orange-ish shade, when it was at it's largest size, to a blue-ish, at it's smallest. Then white-light, for the moment before it disappeared.

It's been about a week since the first encounter, with my brother and the other kids. I find myself walking in the desert behind our house. It's daylight out, and I'm by myself. I'm watching something. It's part way behind an outcropping of large boulders, almost at the top of the hill. It's metallic, sort of silver in color. It's about the size of a tire on a car. It's round, with a hole in the center, like a doughnut, but it more closely resembles a toilet seat in size and general shape. It's spinning very rapidly, and hovering. It moves up and down, in jerky motions, almost like a hummingbird. I watch it for several minutes as I walk directly towards it. It seems to be watching me, sort of hiding behind the pile of boulders. When I get about 20 feet from it, it zips over the hill, faster than anything I have ever seen before or after. I run to the top of the hill to see where it might have gone, but it's nowhere in sight. I stand up there for several minutes, looking...I look for someone flying some sort of kite; for someone with a remote controlled plane of some sort; I look for anything which might explain what I had just seen. There is nothing nor nobody in sight. I walk home puzzled, wondering how I came to be out here in the first place; wondering what the thing was that I was watching.

Notes on the Flying Toilet Seat

• I cannot account for the time prior to the first instant I find myself behind our house, alone.
• It was broad daylight.
• It was small. About the size of a car or bicycle tire.
• It's geometry was similar to a perfectly round toilet seat.
• The hole in the center made up only about 1/3 the entire size of the object.
• It (the object) was symmetrical in all dimensions (depth, height, diameter).
• It was sort of silver-gray in color. Metallic.
• It appeared to be absolutely smooth-skinned.
• There were no external features, i.e.. lights, doors, et cetera.
• There was no sound, scent, light, or anything physical associated with it.
• I had no sense of fear - only curiosity. I had (and have still) no idea why I was walking toward it, or why or how I noticed it in the first place.
• I watched it for several minutes, as I made my way toward it. And it appeared to be watching me.

Whatever it was, it was absolutely unique and hitherto unimaginable to me prior to this experience. To this day, I have seen nothing like it. Not in the science community; aeronautics; nor in other accounts of anomalous sightings. The only thing that comes remotely close is a type of Frisbee, which came out at least ten years after my encounter with the Unidentified Flying Metallic Toilet Bowl Seat.

The third and final encounter for me while I was living in Lemmon Valley occurred shortly after the second. It was in the evening, as it was dark outside. I was in the living room watching television with the rest of the family. I was seated on the couch with my mom and dad. The couch was situated directly across from the front window - a typical large living room window.

I looked out the window (why, I don't know), and saw a bright light, not unlike the one I saw with my brother. Instantly, I was filled with absolute terror. I jumped up onto the couch, and pointed to the window, screaming, "Oh! No!". The 'light' seemed to hesitate for a moment, then zoomed off at an incredible rate. It was only there (I should say, I only saw it...) for a couple seconds.

When I reacted, my dad (I recall his reaction specifically) said, "Scot! What? What's wrong!?" I could see by the look in his face that he saw and heard the terror in me. I've heard that parents (some) know when their child is in pain, afraid, and so on. I'm sure he knew that I was serious about whatever it was that scared me. Anyway, I said, still up on the couch, with my back all the way up against the wall, "There's something outside!" By this time, the 'light' was gone, but I was none the less still terrorized. My dad went quickly to the window, then to the front door, and looked outside. He looked around out there for several minutes, then came back in. He ended up going back outside several times. When he came back the first time, he said he saw nothing. He was obviously shaken though, probably just from my outburst. I told everyone what I saw, but could not explain why I was so panicked. I didn't know why. Dad tried to write off the light I described as headlights, or something else "perfectly explainable", but quite unconvincingly. That was the last time I saw the Color-changing, size-changing, light, or anything else anomalous in Lemmon Valley.

Notes on Third Sighting

• Felt fear for first time.
• Survival Instinct triggered subconsciously. My subconscious knew to be afraid of the light, for some reason. Why? I have theories.
• Nobody else saw it (the light).
• It seemed 'It' was tuned-in to me alone. It almost seems as though it was inside my mind, like some sort of tool.

All three of these incidents occurred within three weeks of each other. According to my mom, and my memory, I was under no unusual stress at the time. My dad never told me anything like, "You were imagining things", or anything like that. All he would say is things like, "You very well might have seen something", or, "I don't know what it was you saw, Scot". This was very important to me, to know my dad didn't think I was lying, or at least making things up. He was an intelligent person, who read voraciously, and I valued his opinion highly. I guess as far as this sort of phenomenon goes, I'd say he was a skeptic, to the extent that he required certain 'parameters' be met before he would voice an opinion one way or another on something. He was not convinced that "U.F.O's" existed as otherworldly visitors, but believed there was good evidence showing something was occurring. (More to come...)

If you have experienced anything similar, or have had an encounter you'd like to share, or if you just want to tell me I'm nuts, please email me at scotao@sonic.net

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© 1996, 1997 by Scot

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