Mister Spaceman
The upcoming 4th of July holiday weekend and the fireworks extravaganzas in Crestline on July 3 and in Lake Arrowhead July 4 remind me of that eerie fireworks show back in 2001, when a UFO was seen by over 1,000 spectators, including yours truly and the missus, encircling Lake Gregory.
“Woke up this morning with light in my eyes and then realized it was still dark outside. It was a light comin’ down from the sky, I don’t know who or why. Hey mister spaceman, won’t you please take me along, I won’t do anything wrong. Hey mister spaceman, won’t you please take me along for a ride.?” (“Mister Spaceman – The Byrds – 1966)
After having seen A Quiet Place Part II at the Blue Jay Cinema, in which hundreds of UFOs came streaking across the sky and flesh-eating reptilian creatures wreak havoc on a historic Northern California gold mining town, I was convinced that this was another UFO invasion. But, no, it was just Elon Musk’s May 26 launching of 50 of his Starlink communication satellites, which were seen by many throughout the Southland, including my son and others here in Crestline.
The 2001 UFO incident in at Lake Gregory was not my first UFO sighting. There was an incident that occurred back in, I believe, around 1966, when I was returning from a summer school class at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, which was kinda’ like a high school with ash trays and ofttimes referred to as “Surf Tech.” Well, getting back to the story at hand, while driving home to the original Motley manor in North Tustin, I came to the intersection of 17th Street and Prospect Avenue, not far from my ancestral home, when I noticed a whole bunch of cars pulled over to the side of the road, including a California Highway Patrol vehicle, with dozens of people gazing up at the sky. And, the suspense is building.
Hovering in the sky above Tustin, there was a large, bright, white object that sort of resembled the moon, only it was much larger, and the actual full moon was on the opposite side of the sky. I was so excited that hopped back in my car and rushed home so I could share the event with my mom and older brother, but alas, it was no longer visible.
“Woke up this mornin’, I was feeling quite weird, had flies in my beer, my tooth paste was smeared. I opened my window, they’d written my name, said, ‘so long, we’ll see you again. Hey mister spaceman, won’t you please take me along for a ride?”
Keep it flyin’, Uncle Mott