Five more witnesses say they saw 'mystery light' over Conecuh County

Bright light like this one seen over Evergreen.

Five more witnesses have come forward this week to say that they’ve also seen something strange in the night sky over Conecuh County, including a pair of women who said that members of their family have been seeing these unusual light for over a year.


All five of these witnesses contacted The Courant during the past week in response to a story in last week’s edition that reported that five witnesses saw an unusual, blinking light in the sky north-northwest of Evergreen on Nov. 20 between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. Those witnesses said that the object moved slowly north and appeared to have three, colored lights that changed from red, blue, green, yellow and bright white. The object moved in a different direction than the stars, and witnesses watched it for about 30 minutes until it passed out of view behind a stand of trees.

Paul residents Sherry Thomas and her grandson’s wife, Amy McClain, told The Courant last Thursday that they’ve seen this unusual light numerous times and remember first seeing it over a year ago. In all, about 10 members of their family have seen the strange light during that time, they said.

“Once you know what to look for, it’s easy to find,” Thomas said. “It often comes from the south towards the north, then it’ll drift to the east and will change colors the whole time. You can tell that it’s not a star, and sometimes it looks closer than at other times.”

Thomas described the light as circular, bright and slow moving. She also noted that there also seems to be no pattern to the sequence of colors that are displayed by the object. The last time Thomas saw the light was about two months ago, she said.

“It’s just weird,” McClain, who lives off Bull Slough Road, said, describing the light. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s just strange.”

McClain said that when she first saw it, she thought it was an airplane.

“But that’s not what it is,” she said. “It doesn’t move across the sky like a plane. And it’s brighter than a star. Stars are just white and sparkle. They don’t change colors like this. Whatever it is, it’s bigger and brighter than a star and it’s never still. It’s constantly moving and sometimes it looks like it’s spinning.”

McClain has observed the object through a telescope, but the light moves so erratically that it’s hard to see it clearly, she said. Even through binoculars, the light seems to be “constantly swaying,” which makes it hard to observe, she said.

“It almost looks like a ping pong ball in the sky that’s just constantly flashing these different colors,” she said.

McClain said she last saw the object on Wed., Nov. 28, and she’s never seen it early in the night. She almost always sees it between 9:30 p.m. and 10 p.m., she said.

“You won’t see it every night,” she said. “And sometimes you may not see it for weeks at a time, but when you see it, you’ll know that you’ve seen it.”

McClain has also seen the light on a night with a full moon, and the bright light from the full moon doesn’t seem to affect a person’s ability to see the unexplained light, she said.

On Monday, Joe and Gail Springer told The Courant that they’ve seen the strange light three or four times northeast and northwest of their house in the Brantley Switch community.

“We’ve watched it through binoculars, and it moves very erratically,” Gail Springer said.

The Springers also went so far as to call a TV news station in Mobile to tell them about what they saw, but they never got a response from the reporters there, they said.

“We’ve seen it three or four times in all,” Gail Springer said. “Whatever it is, it’s very strange.”

Also on Monday, Asia Grace also told The Courant in a phone interview that she saw the object around 4 p.m. on Mon., Nov. 26. At that time, she was sitting in a car that was parked in the yard of a friend’s house near the Conecuh County Board of Education’s bus shop in downtown Evergreen. She and her friend watched the unusual light for about 10 to 15 minutes, she said.

“My friend saw it too,” she said. “We’ve never seen anything like it. I thought it was a plane at first, but it was moving too slow, not like a plane would move. It was just this bright light that changed colors.”

Grace said that the light appeared to move in the direction of the interstate highway before it disappeared behind some nearby trees.

“The sun was still out, and I could still see it,” she said. “It was weird looking.”

Since the first newspaper story about the strange light, more than a few people have offered theories to explain the cause of the phenomenon. Some have said that it’s just a weather balloon while others say that it’s a bright star, a planet, a helicopter, an airplane, a military satellite or an experimental aircraft based out of Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

Some have also been left to wonder if the recent reports of this strange light have anything to do with the most famous UFO case in Conecuh County history, which recently marked its 39th anniversary. That incident, which occurred on Oct. 16, 1973, involved two Evergreen police officers and a dispatcher who said they saw a UFO in the night sky over Cemetery Street in Evergreen. They also described what they saw as a “big, real unusual light” that was “a lot lower than the stars.” They watched the unusual light for about 15 to 20 minutes, they said. Their story attracted national attention after it was reported by television stations in Montgomery.

Individuals who have seen these strange lights or who can explain the unusual light are asked to contact Lee Peacock at The Courant at courantsports@earthlink.net or 578-1492.