The Blue Light Special − 1 May, 1987

Upon graduating from college, a couple of friends and I piled up into my Honda Civic and made a cross-country trip from North Carolina to California. Along the way, we stopped at parks, tourist attractions, you name it. One such stop involved a loooong hike to the Village of Supai, which is a remote Native American settlement in the southwestern portion of the Grand Canyon.

Words cannot describe the beauty of the waterfalls there. Never fear, Kodak here! Not satisfied with capturing an image from the base, we decided to take a side trail which we thought would lead us to the top of the falls. After hiking a short distance, I began noticing small colorful bundles of string and other materials fashioned in the shape of little figurines. It wasn't long before we realized that we had stumbled into a burial ground and made a hasty exit the way we came. All went well with the rest of the hike, with the exception of overestimating our abilities and returning to the car completely exhausted. That's when the fun began...

Since the parking area was scheduled to be locked after dark and being long past sunset already, I drove a few miles down the road to a little turnoff. "This looks like a good place to catch some shuteye", we thought as we settled in for a quick nap (at least as much as could be accomplished while wedged into a Honda). David was the first to notice it. "Did you see a light back there?” he asked. Figuring that we had invoked the ire of a BLM patrol with our choice of parking sites, I expected to see a spotlight mounted on a car. Nothing. Nada. "Go back to sleep, Dave."

It was about 45 minutes later when Eugene, who had been firmly ensconced in the front passenger's seat, began screaming, "It's after us! It's after us! Get outta here!!!!” It took me a moment to get my bearings, but not before I saw a blue globe of light arc over the hood of my car and disappear. I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure I managed to raise the driver's seat from a reclining position, start the car and shift into drive all in one fluid motion.

You hear people describe the sensation of being "frozen with fear". Well, my foot was frozen to the gas pedal.....for sixty miles. Eugene was shaking, David was reciting every prayer he'd ever learned (and probably composing new ones), while I was prepared to outrun the car, if necessary. Finally, we reached a little KOA campground and settled in amongst a cluster of campers and tents. "No need to be on the lone prairie tonight, boys! Them thar ghosts are just a might bit thick for my likin’".

A few days later, we found ourselves facing lights of a different sort; the neon of Las Vegas. It was here that I called home to check in with the folks. Before I had a chance to mention the events of the past few days, my mom asked me if we saw anything strange in the Grand Canyon. "There was some report of blue UFOs or something on the news tonight", she explained. Suddenly, even the crowded streets of Sin City were not crowded enough for our tastes.