On mid January, 1976, Mona Stafford, Louise Smith, and Elaine Thomas — went to dinner at the Redwood Restaurant located between Stanford and Lancaster, Kentucky, to celebrate Mona’s 36th birthday. At about 11:15 P.M., they headed home.
Louise who driving the car had just turned off highway 27 and onto highway 87 when they saw a “fiery red” object swoop down from the sky. At first, Mona was concerned, thinking it might have been an airplane on fire heading for a crash landing. But then the object stopped and hovered above them. At this point, they could see that it was a large metallic object, disk-shaped, a dome on the top with a row of red lights flashing around the circumference, and a yellow blinking light on the other side. However, they weren’t sure what it was, but it was enormous.
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| Image credit: Paranormal Underground Magazine Nov. 2019, Vol.12, Issue 11, Page 21 |
Closer and closer it came when suddenly Louise realized she could no longer control the car. The vehicle began moving at a dangerous speed of 85 mph. She took her foot off the gas pedal and pushed down on the brake, but to no avail. Mona grabbed the wheel attempting to help, but the car was now out of their control. The car was traveling at a steady 80 mph, even though Louise Smith had taken her foot off the gas pedal. It was clear something was taking over the car.
Now the strange object was getting closer. It began to follow them from behind and then flipped on its end flying close to the driver’s side where it hovered for awhile. Then it moved ahead of them on the highway.
Suddenly, a bluishwhite light shot into the car, lighting up the entire inside and filling the car with a sort of fog, which began to shake and float and was then pulled backwards. The car then stalled and, as it was lifted into the air, all three felt a burning sensation and then blacked out.
In what seemed like only a few seconds later, they found themselves on the outskirts of Houstonville eight miles further ahead on the road, still in their car.
Soon after finally arrived at Louise’s house, they suffered from a number of alarming symptoms, including headaches, eye irritation, first-degree burns on their necks, fatigue, weight loss, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
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| Image credit: Paranormal Underground Magazine Nove. 2019, Vol.12, Issue 11, Page 20 |
They all had red, burning eyes; a strange red burn mark three inches long and one inch wide with clearly defined edges on the back of their necks, and burns on exposed skin. As Louise went into the bathroom and began taking off her watch so she could wash her hands, she noticed the minute hand was rapidly spinning around the dial.
It was then that they glanced at the clock on the wall, which showed 1:20 A.M. Now, that was rather odd. They realized immediately that they were missing more than an hour of time and that something very strange had happened that they couldn’t remember. Thinking that the clock was malfunctioning, they went over to the house of a neighbor named Lowell Lee.
But when they got there, he confirmed the time to be correct. Confused at what to do next, they decided it would be best to notify the police. The following day they also contacted the Navy recruiting Station.
However, neither one did anything to help them. The only thing the Navy did was leak some of the details to a Lexington TV Station, which, in turn, quickly reached the press where the Kentucky advocate ran a story.
Strange things continued to occur during the next few weeks. Mona’s eyes worsened, and she was diagnosed with severe conjunctivitis. Louis’s parakeets were now terrified at the sight of her, and one bird soon died.
Her car began to develop mysterious electrical problems.There was other physical evidence: The taillights and brake lights on the car were broken and the paint on the hood was blistered and peeling. And when she touched the alarm clock, it quit working. All three women were extremely exhausted for no apparent reason.
Word about the story reached Jerry Black of MUFON and Dr. J. Allen Hynek of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS), and both men were very interested in interviewing the women. Hynek suggested that the women subject themselves to hypnotic regression.
Upon being contacted, they were very hesitant about the men’s desire to help them. They did not want their story to gain any more publicity. Therefore, they had no desire to discuss anything further and were under the impression that this would all pass in time.
But it didn’t. Finding it exceedingly more difficult to perform her functions as a secretary, Mona finally decided to try the hypnotic session.
On March 7, 1976, Dr. Ronald Leo Sprinkle, a psychologist, hypnotherapist, and former professor at the University of Wyoming, performed the first session with Jerry Black and Dr. J. Allen Hynek observing.
In July 1976, Lexington Police Detective James C. Young agreed to administer separate polygraph tests to each of the women regarding their strange experience. The results of the tests determined that all three women believed they were telling the truth to the series of questions put before them. Moreover, the women were considered reliable and in good standing within the community as Mona, age 36; Elaine, age 48; and Louise, age 44, were all active members of the Baptist Church.
Following the polygraph tests, the other two women decided to undergo the hypnotic regression as well. Mona remembered being taken from the car. She was placed on a white table and noticed a bright white light or energy shining down on her that seemed to hold her down on the table so she could not move. A large eye was observing her. Four small humanoid figures about four feet tall dressed in white uniforms that covered everything except the eyes surrounded the table as her body was being scanned and instruments were being used to apply pressure on her arms and legs. Some sort of warm liquid was applied to her face and body. She experienced great pain in her eyes, and at one point it felt like they were pulled out. Mona Stafford was told that the E.T.s were testing them to see if they could withstand the gravitational forces of interstellar travel.
Elaine recalled being taken from the vehicle. She was placed inside a small chamber with a window and watched as gray figures, four feet tall, with dark eyes walked back and forth observing her. Elaine felt that the E.T.s were particularly interested in learning about her “intellectual and emotional processes.” The most frightening part was that they had put a device around her neck. Whenever she attempted to speak or think, the device would tighten, choking her as a punishment. A bullet-shaped object was placed over her heart, which caused her extreme pain. Later she noticed a red spot in that area.
While Louise also remembered being lifted from the car. She was placed on a table and examined. Three beings, four feet tall, one with one eye, and the others with two, surrounded the table. They had no mouth and communicated by telepathy. A warm liquid was applied to her entire body. They told Louise that their own home world was dying and that they were gathering information to see if the E.T.s could survive in the Earth’s atmosphere. They also said that they had the ability to control weather patterns.
In the weeks following the abduction, she lost 28 pounds. And during late summer 1976, she had an uncontrollable desire to return to the site of the encounter.
On August 1, Louise drove there, got out of her car, and heard a voice say, “Feel your hands.” When she did so, she realized that the three rings that she always wore — a gold band, a pearl ring, and a gold band with a diamond and onyx — were missing.
On August 26, she walked out her front door to find the diamond and onyx band on the steps. As she bent over to pick it up, an overwhelming feeling came over her compelling her to walk to the nearby creek and throw it into the water.
Coincidently, there were several reports that night in neighboring towns about an unidentified flying object in the sky. Moreover, the farmer who lived near the abduction site reported seeing a low-flying object shoot down a white beam near a car at the same time as the incident.
Investigators later located other witnesses in the area who observed what appeared to be the same UFO that abducted the three ladies, making the case one of the best-verified on record.
References:
Paranormal Underground Magazine Nov. 2019, Vol.12, Issue 11: "The Stanford Incident" by Cheryl Lynn Carter
Mysteries, Legends, And Unexplained Phenomena -UFOs and Aliens-: "The Smith-Thomas-Stafford Abduction" by Prestton Dennett
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