What did Jimmy Carter see in the skies over Leary, Ga. in October 1969?

I heard something unusual on the History Channel the other day that I’d never heard about before. According to them, Tuesday of last week was the 39th anniversary of an incident involving future President Jimmy Carter and UFOs.

On Sept. 18, 1973, Carter, who was then serving as Georgia’s governor, filed a formal report with the International UFO Bureau in Oklahoma City, saying that he’d seen a UFO almost four years before. According to his report, in October 1969, while Carter was running for governor, he and about a dozen other people were standing outside of a Lion’s Club meeting in Leary, Ga. Between 7:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., they saw what Carter described as “the darndest thing I’ve ever seen” in the sky.

Carter, an amateur astronomer and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, said the object was about 30 degrees above the horizon, west of where he was standing. The object was bright white and about as bright as the moon, he said. While watching the object, it appeared to change colors, going from white to blue to red and then back to white. Eventually, it disappeared into the distance.

The object appeared to come closer to the group before stopping just beyond a stand of pines. Carter would say later that he felt that the object wasn’t solid in nature. It was visible for about 10 minutes before it disappeared.

After the experience, Carter told a reporter that he’d vowed to himself never to ridicule anyone who claimed to have seen a UFO. Later, during his 1976 presidential campaign, he was very upfront about his belief that he’d seen a UFO. He also promised that, if elected, he would encourage the government to release “every piece of information” about UFOs.

Once elected though, Carter backed away from his promise, saying that the information’s release might have “defense implications” and pose a threat to national security. Carter would serve as U.S. President from 1977 to 1981.

I thought that all of this was interesting because Carter’s report was filed less than a month before one of the strangest incidents ever recorded in Evergreen. Just after midnight on Oct. 16, 1973, two Evergreen police officers and a police dispatcher witnessed a bizarre sight over downtown Evergreen. The two officers had just walked out of Evergreen City Hall when they spotted a big, unusual light in the sky behind city hall in the direction of Cemetery Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

They watched the object for 15 to 20 minutes, and the incident was reported in the following week’s edition of The Courant. The next day reporters descended on Evergreen to interview the three witnesses, including TV reporters from WSFA in Montgomery. The story would go on to be reported nationwide with one reader of The Courant saying that he’d seen it on the news while living in West Texas.

One of the likely reasons that the sighting in Evergreen was reported nationally was the fact that it came just five days after one of the most famous alien abduction news stories of all time. On Oct. 11, 1973, two Mississippi men made headlines around the world when they claimed that they were abducted from the banks of the Pascagoula River by space aliens.

In the end, I’d like to hear from anyone out there in the reading audience with more information about the Oct. 16, 1973 incident in Evergreen. I plan to do a full story on the 39th anniversary of the incident in a few weeks and would like to add any additional information about the incident. You can reach me by phone at 578-1492, by mail at The Evergreen Courant, P.O. Box 440, Evergreen, AL 36401 or by e-mail at courantsports@earthlink.net.