A Night To Remember: Georgia, 1977

Summary

Podcast Summary: Sightings – "A Night To Remember: Georgia, 1977"

Introduction

In the episode titled "A Night To Remember: Georgia, 1977," hosts McLeod Andrews and Brian Sigley delve into one of the most perplexing supernatural events in military history. Set against the backdrop of Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1977, the story narrates a night when over 1,300 soldiers encountered inexplicable phenomena that would leave lasting psychological scars. This summary captures the key points, discussions, insights, and conclusions drawn from the episode.

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1. Setting the Stage: Fort Benning, 1977

The episode begins with a vivid description of Fort Benning, a military base known for its strict discipline and sprawling, identical structures. John Vasquez, a 25-year-old soldier fresh out of ROTC, provides a first-person account of his experiences. He describes the oppressive Georgia heat and the grueling regimen that characterizes army life.

"The Georgia heat was oppressive that summer. The kind of thick wetness that makes like you’re drowning just standing still."
— John Vasquez [02:22]

As Vasquez acclimates to the base's monotonous routine, a sense of foreboding hangs in the air, hinting that an ordinary evening is about to take a terrifying turn.

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2. The Mysterious Assembly and the Unseen Threat

On a seemingly normal evening in September, a mandatory assembly is called at 19:30 hours. Soldiers gather, unaware of the impending chaos. As time drags on with no clear purpose for the assembly, unease spreads among the troops.

"We formed up outside. At 1930 sharp, we marched out to the parade grounds, all 1300 of us... We took our positions and waited."
— John Vasquez [02:25]

At approximately 20:10 hours, an eerie aerial display disrupts the formation. A bright light moves unnaturally above the tree line, making impossible maneuvers that no helicopter could perform.

"No helicopter could move like that, tracing perfect circles against the stars... blinking out of existence, only to reappear in a completely different part of the sky."
— John Vasquez [03:00]

The situation escalates when a massive, glowing orb descends over Charlie Company, emanating a mesmerizing and overpowering light that paralyzes soldiers.

"The sphere had to be at least 20ft in diameter... The light it cast wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before."
— John Vasquez [08:15]

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3. The Abduction and Encounter with the Unknown

Vasquez describes feeling an irresistible compulsion to move toward the light, culminating in his abduction by enigmatic beings. Inside a pulsating, bluish-lit circular room, he and his fellow soldiers are subjected to unknown experiments by spindly, membrane-like creatures.

"They were measuring me, studying me... telling me to go to sleep. Go to sleep."
— John Vasquez [16:12]

The experience transitions to a horrifying vision of Earth's self-destruction and a confrontation with a hybrid entity possessing pure white skin and liquid mercury-like eyes.

"I found myself face to face with what at first appeared to be a human, but quickly proved to be anything but."
— John Vasquez [16:12]

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4. The Aftermath: Psychological and Physical Effects

Upon returning to the parade ground, Vasquez notices discrepancies in time and the disheveled state of uniforms among soldiers. The following night is plagued by nightmares and unexplained psychological disturbances.

"Looking around, I saw everyone else's uniforms were similarly disheveled... The barracks echoed with the sounds of men having nightmares."
— John Vasquez [16:12]

The soldiers are subjected to further disorienting experiences, including an impossible training exercise in the woods and the appearance of the glowing orbs again, leading to more chaos and abductions.

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5. Corroboration and Credibility

The hosts explore the credibility of Vasquez's account, highlighting that only two individuals—Vasquez and another officer, James Norton—came forward with corroborating stories. Norton, a command sergeant, published a book in 2000 titled "The Incident at Fort Benning," which aligns closely with Vasquez's narrative.

"There are still 1,298 or more other people who have not verified the story."
— Brian Sigley [27:30]

Norton's experiences, obtained through hypnotherapy, echo Vasquez's claims but raise questions about the reliability of repressed or recovered memories.

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6. Analysis and Theories

McLeod and Brian engage in a thorough analysis of the event, weighing various theories:

• Alien Intervention: The possibility that extraterrestrial beings conducted a mass abduction for experimentation.

  "This was more about the breaking. The place was a sprawling complex..."
  — John Vasquez [02:22]

• Government Psy-Op: Suggesting that the event might have been a sophisticated psychological operation involving memory erasure technologies, potentially linked to historical programs like MK Ultra.

  "The government actually is really good at wiping memories or implanting false memories."
  — Brian Sigley [38:20]

• False Memories or Hoax: Considering that the lack of corroborating witnesses among the vast number of soldiers involved might indicate fabricated or distorted memories, possibly influenced by external factors like hypnosis.

  "It's hard to know whether whatever it came up in hypnosis was influenced or tainted by the knowledge of what was in that book."
  — Brian Sigley [32:52]

The hosts express skepticism about the feasibility of only two individuals recalling such a massive event, suggesting potential governmental suppression or advanced memory manipulation technologies.

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7. Conclusion and Open Questions

The episode concludes with lingering doubts about the true nature of the 1977 Fort Benning event. The hosts emphasize the lack of concrete evidence and the improbability of widespread memory suppression among 1,300 soldiers. They encourage listeners to ponder the implications of such an incident and invite them to share their thoughts and theories.

"Because the implications if this were to be real are so massively far-reaching, I have a hard time with the story because there is so little to verify it."
— McLeod Andrews [40:23]

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Final Thoughts

"A Night To Remember: Georgia, 1977" presents a chilling narrative that blends military life with unexplainable supernatural phenomena. While the story captivates with its detailed first-person account and eerie atmosphere, the lack of widespread corroboration and reliance on hypnotherapy-induced memories leave room for skepticism. McLeod Andrews and Brian Sigley effectively balance fascination with critical analysis, inviting listeners to explore the boundaries between reality and the unknown.

Notable Quotes:

• "I need to know what happened. Because it wasn't just a UFO sighting. It was something more. Something worse."
  — John Vasquez [16:12]

• "It's a really cool story nonetheless."
  — McLeod Andrews [40:26]

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Additional Resources

For a comprehensive list of sources and further reading on the Fort Benning incident, listeners are directed to visit the podcast's official website at sightingspodcast.com.

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Stay Tuned

In anticipation of the next episode, the hosts tease a dive into another famous horror story set in a haunted house in New York, promising an engaging discussion that continues to blur the lines between the supernatural and the unexplained.

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Connect with Sightings

Listeners are encouraged to engage with the podcast through Instagram (@sightingspodcast) and Spotify, sharing their perspectives and theories on the haunting events at Fort Benning.

Transcript

[McLeod Andrews]

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[Brian Sigley]

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[McLeod Andrews]

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[Brian Sigley]

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[McLeod Andrews]

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[Brian Sigley]

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[Brian Sigley]

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[McLeod Andrews]

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[McLeod Andrews]

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[McLeod Andrews]

Military bases are well known places of order where chaos bends to the will of rigid discipline and strict command. But what happens when something beyond human comprehension infiltrates those carefully maintained ranks? And what unspeakable truth lies buried in the minds of a thousand soldiers who can't quite remember why they still wake up screaming? Welcome to Sightings, the series that takes you inside the world's most mysterious supernatural events. Each week, we bring you a thrilling story that puts you at the center of the action, followed by a discussion that dives into the accounts that inspired the story and our takes on them. I'm McLeod.

[Brian Sigley]

And I'm Brian. And we are heading today to Fort Benning, Georgia.

[McLeod Andrews]

In 1977, when the supernatural begins to creep into an otherwise normal Evening, more than 1,000 soldiers will experience the most terrifying night of their lives. Find out how on this episode of Sightings. My name is John vasquez, and in 1977, I was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, as part of Delta Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Infantry. I was 25 years old, fresh out of ROTC, and I thought I knew what to expect. The Army's mantra was to break you down, to build you up, after all. But Fort Benning, man, it. It was more about the breaking. The place was a sprawling complex of identical buildings and perfectly maintained grounds where. Where individuality goes to die and soldiers are born. I'd arrived there in late July, joining the endless stream of fresh recruits cycling through the base's gates. The Georgia heat was oppressive that summer. The kind of thick wetness that makes like you're drowning just standing still. But you know, we learned to live with it. Just like we learned to live with everything else the army threw at us. And those first weeks were a blur of shouted orders, endless drills, and the constant struggle to meet impossible standards. Kind of par for the course. We marched until our feet bled, cleaned our rifles until they gleamed, and memorized protocols until they became second nature. This space operated like a massive machine. And you know, by September, I'd found my place inside it. I could nap the maze like layout of the base blindfolded. And it developed the instant, unthinking responses to orders that the army demanded. And the sameness of it all made it easy to lose track of time. Just every day bled into the next until it all became one long continuous grind. But then, this one night in September, everything changed. And I mean, nothing could have prepared me for what happened that night. I mean, the lights, the ship, the chaos, the horror. And I still wake up in cold sweats thinking about it. Because I'd wager it was the most unnatural thing that's happened to anyone in history. Ever.

[Brian Sigley]

So, McLeod, I know that we scare the pants off you every single episode.

[McLeod Andrews]

Every episode. I have no pants now. Oh my gosh. Wait, is this the lead in to the Perfect Jean ad? Because I legitimately love my pair from the Perfect Jean.

[Brian Sigley]

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[McLeod Andrews]

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[Brian Sigley]

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[McLeod Andrews]

So, gentlemen, forget uncomfortable jeans and go to the perfect gene.nyc for 15% off your first order, plus free shipping, free returns and free exchanges. When you use code SIGHTINGS15 at checkout, that's 15% off for new customers at ThePerfectGene NYC with promo code code SIGHTINGS15. And after you purchase, they'll ask where you heard about them. On sightings from McLeod. That's right. So forget your khakis and get the perfect gene. But actually, I got khakis from them. Really? They're good khakis. My new khakis are perfect. Jean khakis. The day started normal enough. We'd finished dinner and were heading back to the barracks when the sergeant announced there'd be a mandatory assembly at 1930 hours. Nobody knew what it was about, but that wasn't unusual. The army operated on a need to know basis, and most times we didn't need to know. But I don't know, something about this one felt different. Maybe it was the way our sergeant's eyes slid away when he delivered the news, or just the weird timing, or the fact that not even our cos seemed to know what it was about. So we finished our evening meal in the mess hall under a cloud of speculation. Theories ranged from mundane to outlandish. Everything from surprise inspections to declarations of war. I kept my thoughts to myself, but that feeling of wrongness only grew stronger as we formed up outside. At 1930 sharp, we marched out to the parade grounds, all 1300 of us, Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta companies moving in perfect synchronization. We took our positions, row after row. And we waited. And waited. And then we kept waiting even more. Ten minutes became 20, then 30. The mosquitoes found us, of course, they always did. But we held formation, trying not to slap at them as they feasted. I mean, guys started getting restless, shifting their weight from foot to foot. Then, around 2010 hours, I noticed some soldiers started looking up instead of ahead. The one in front of me nudged his buddy and pointed at something in the the sky, and I followed their gaze until I found what they were staring at. It was a bright light moving just above the tree line. My first thought was that it must be a helo from the base. We often had night training exercises, after all. But no helicopter could move like that, tracing perfect circles against the stars, stopping and starting with impossible precision. Then it would blink out of existence, only to reappear in a completely different Part of the sky moments later. Pretty soon, confusion was rippling through the ranks. Even our drill sergeants, men who'd made careers out of maintaining iron discipline, seemed mesmerized by this aerial display. But all of a sudden, almost as quickly as it began, the light vanished completely, leaving us standing in full darkness. We all kept staring upward, waiting for it to return. And then a drill sergeant barked for us to come to attention. The captain was finally approaching the podium, but before he could reach the microphone, everything went to hell. A sudden gust of wind nearly knocked me off my feet. It came out of nowhere, powerful enough to make the formation waver. Papers and debris flew past us, and the trees at the edge of the ground bent almost double. And there, hovering just above the heads of Charlie Company, was something that defied reality. A massive, glowing orb so bright it seemed to turn night to day. The sphere had to be at least 20ft in diameter, maybe larger. It made no sound, but the air around it seemed to crackle with energy. The light it cast wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before. Not quite white, not quite blue, and irresistible somehow, like I couldn't take my eyes off it. I just stood there, paralyzed, my mind refusing to process what my eyes were seeing. But the men around me were going wild. Many were breaking ranks. Some ran for cover, and others simply stood and stared like I did. In hindsight, I should have run, too, of course. But the light held my gaze as my limbs grew heavy and my feet started tingling and I felt utterly powerless to stop it. Until all of a sudden, my buddy Alan grabbed my arm, and as he yelled something I couldn't quite make out over the howling wind, my body seemed to remember how to move, and I followed him with a group of others toward the nearest barracks. Then someone spotted the crawl space underneath, and we dove for it. And we huddled there under the building in the darkness, listening to the chaos outside. I heard whispers that this was some kind of new Russian weapon. Others thought it was an insane training exercise, but deep down, I think we all knew this was something else entirely, something beyond human experience. And as if to reinforce it all, we heard voices out in the field from the soldiers who hadn't made it to cover. They were screaming, but not in panic or pain. They were all calling out a single word over and over and over again. Mommy. The word itself was disturbing enough. Grown men, trained soldiers, crying out like lost children. But it was the way they said it that truly horrified me. It was a strange monotone, almost as if their voices were being pulled through some kind of filter that stripped away their humanity, and that was just too much to take. And if that light found us under the barracks, we'd be next. So without a word, all of us retreated from our hiding spot and made a spring for the barracks door. Because surely the building would offer better protection than an open crawl space. But as soon as we made it inside, that brilliant light flooded through the windows. One of those orbs was circling the building. And then when it froze in place, I realized it had found us. The men around me ducked for cover, but I found myself standing, transfixed again by the light. And then I heard it. A voice. Clear, as if they were standing right next to me. It was feminine, but not quite female. It was like someone's idea of what a woman should sound like without ever having heard one speak. The voice bypassed my ears entirely, appearing directly in my mind like a thought that wasn't my own. It was gentle, soothing, almost motherly, assuring me that I was safe, that everything would be alright. I turned to the others, asking if they heard it too, but they all looked at me like I'd lost my mind. But the voice continued, gentle but compelling. Come outside. Come into the light. Though my friends tried to stop me, my feet began moving of their own accord, marching me closer and closer towards the light. And I remember Allen trying to grab my arm, but I shook him off. I just, deep down, felt it. I needed to get to her. So I stepped out into the night, into that pulsing radiance. The light was so bright that I could barely see, but I kept walking towards it. And as I did, I felt a strange sensation spreading through my limbs. And I realized that my hands seemed to be disappearing, becoming transparent. And then something struck me hard from behind. And as consciousness slipped away, I heard that voice one final time, promising me that everything would be alright. And that that was the last thing I remembered clearly for a very long time. Psst.

[Brian Sigley]

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[McLeod Andrews]

I came to lying on what felt like metal, though it was neither hot nor cold against my skin. Even with my eyes closed, I sensed a bright light above me, and for a moment I thought I must be in the base hospital. But there was something wrong about the air. It felt heavy, like trying to breathe underwater and not like Georgia humidity. When I finally gathered the courage to open my eyes, I found myself in a vast circular room with walls that seemed to pulse with a faint bluish glow, and as my eyes further adjusted, I realized I wasn't alone. Row after row of similar tables stretched into the distance, each one holding a fellow soldier. The tables were arranged in perfect concentric circles, all facing the center of the room, where some kind of device hung from the ceiling. And it wasn't just the other soldiers in the room with me, because over each table stood something else stood them. I hesitate to call them creatures or aliens, though that's what they were. They stood about five and a half feet tall, with spindly bodies and large bulbous heads. Their skin had a grayish cast to it, but it wasn't really skin as we know it. It looked more like some kind of membrane that shifted and changed with their movements. Their fingers were impossibly long and tapered, moving with an unsettling precision as they examined each of the soldiers carefully. And then two of them approached my table, and I tried to move, to get up, to run. But my body wouldn't respond. And as I heard a whirring and beeping sound, I realized they were measuring me, studying me. And as they were doing it, I heard that vaguely female voice again, telling me to go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. The next thing I knew, I was floating in space, looking down at Earth. But something was wrong. The planet began to change before my eyes. Continents splitting apart, oceans boiling away, the whole thing consuming itself in flames. The destruction wasn't just physical. I could somehow sense the death of every living thing, feel the planet's agony as it tore itself apart, and I don't know, was this a vision of the future? A warning? A threat? Before I could make any sense of it, the scene changed again. I found myself face to face with what at first appeared to be a human, but quickly proved to be anything but. Its skin was pure white, like it had never seen sunlight. And it had no eyebrows, no eyelashes, no hair at all. And its eyes, they were pure silver, shifting and swirling like liquid mercury. What this thing was some kind of hybrid, an evolutionary possibility, a being from another dimension, I'll never know. All I do know is that it stared at me for what felt like hours before everything went black again. The next thing I knew, I was back on the parade ground, standing at attention as if nothing had happened. But something had happened, and everything felt wrong. I looked at my watch and saw that it had stopped at 1740 hours, but the sky suggested it was much later. So I asked the soldier next to me what time it was, and he said it was 0330. Then another chimed in that it was actually 0445. Strangely, nobody's timepiece agreed with anyone else's. The captain at the podium looked pale and shaken and dismissed us without giving whatever briefing had been planned. But as we broke formation, I saw many of the guys staggering like they were were drunk. Several keeled over and threw up in the grass, and others complained of splitting headaches. I felt it, too, a deep vertigo that made the entire world spin. And when I finally made it to the barracks and tried to change for bed, I noticed my uniform was buttoned wrong, my boots tied in strange knots that I couldn't even figure out how to undo. Looking around, I saw everyone else's uniforms were similarly disheveled, as if we'd all been dressed by a blind man. That night, the barracks echoed with the sounds of men having nightmares. Screams would erupt from different bunks, followed by confused mumbling and more screams. I Didn't sleep at all. I just lay there, listening to my fellow soldiers fighting their own private battles with whatever had happened to us. The next morning, instead of our usual routine, we were ordered into the woods for what they called a training exercise. No other companies were involved, just Delta Company heading out alone with no clear objective and no commanding officers in sight. Something was off about the whole thing, but we were soldiers and we followed orders. We'd been walking for hours when we hit what felt like an invisible wall. There was nothing there. Nothing we could see, anyway, but we couldn't move forward. It was like trying to walk through steel. We tried everything. Running at it, hitting it, even shooting at it. But nothing made a difference. The only way we made any progress was by linking arms and pushing forward as a unit, gaining inches at a time. That's when two guys from our unit said they spotted something behind us, shadows moving in the trees. They went to investigate, despite our warnings, and when they came back, they were pale as ghosts. They claimed they'd seen us, all of us standing in a circle in the woods, an exact copy of our entire company, just standing there, watching. We spent days out there playing cat and mouse with other companies over some ammunition we'd confiscated, though none of us could quite remember why we'd taken it or what we were supposed to do with it. Time seemed to move strangely. Watches would stop working, then start again, showing impossible, possible hours. Sometimes we'd walk for what felt like minutes, only to find hours had passed. Or march for hours, only to find ourselves back where we started. When we finally made it back to base, things got even stranger. One night, the lights all over Fort Benning began pulsing like a heartbeat. Then that familiar glow appeared over the trees, the same kind of craft we'd seen before. And as we watched, balls of light shot out from it, striking soldiers with some kind of energy that left them stunned and burned. Men were screaming, shooting blindly into the sky, while others stood frozen, paralyzed by the lights. In the chaos that followed, I felt something grab my arm, and when I turned, I found myself face to face with one of those beings from the ship, those same long fingers wrapping around my wrist. But instead of fear, I felt recognition. The sounds of battle seemed to fade away, replaced by that same gentle, feminine voice I'd heard before. The next thing I knew, I was standing on the parade ground with the base commander and an aide, surrounded by over a thousand armed soldiers. The beings were using me as some kind of conduit to speak with the general. I could feel words coming out of my mouth, but they weren't my words. I was just a puppet, a translator for whatever message they needed to convey. I have no memory of what was said, but I'll never forget the look on the general's face. A mixture of fear and awe that I'd never seen before or since. The next morning, a female lieutenant arrived at the base. Word spread that she was some kind of psychiatrist there to evaluate us. But the soldiers who went to see her came back different, confused, unable to remember details about the past few days. Some couldn't even remember their own names at first. When it was my turn, I felt a sharp prick as she brushed against me in the hallway. By the time I reached her office, the world was starting to blur. And I didn't remember much after that. Just fragments, feelings, and a voice telling me over and over that the only way to help myself was to let go of the memories. That I needed to forget everything that had happened. That it was better this way. And for the longest time I did just that. But I've started having dreams of those strange weeks. Visions that suggest that those days at Fort Benning never left me. And now I need to know what happened. Because it wasn't just a UFO sighting. It was something more. Something worse. And I'm determined to find out what.

[Brian Sigley]

Sightings will be back just after this this episode is brought to you by Greenlight. Get this Adults with financial literacy skills have 82% more wealth than those who don't. From swimming lessons to piano classes, us parents invest in so many things to enrich our kids lives. But are we investing in their future financial success? With Greenlight, you can teach your kids financial literacy skills like earning, saving and investing. And this investment costs less than that. After school treat start prioritizing their financial education and future today with a risk free [e-mail] Spotify greenlight.com Spotify hey skeptical geckos. Since you're fans of Sightings, I know you like juicy audio storytelling so I want to tell you about one of my favorite fiction, Ominous Thrill. Ominous Thrill is a multi award winning audio fiction anthology of horror thrillers and suspense brought to life with great actors and vivid sound design. And I mean it. The sound design is like blockbuster movie level sound design. Each monthly episode of Ominous Thrill delivers a thrilling new character driven story where obsession, love, rage and revenge clash in the murky worlds of the supernatural and paranormal. Which as you know is right up our alley. So it's basically like Black Mirror meets American Horror Story where the monster's always close to home. And I really encourage you to listen to this at night so you can get maximally creeped out. So pop on some headphones or earbuds and listen to ominous thrill wherever you get your podcasts.

[McLeod Andrews]

Welcome back, everybody. Unless every single one of us have been sucked up into a spaceship and experimented with.

[Brian Sigley]

I hope not.

[McLeod Andrews]

Which apparently, according to this story, the. The kind of group. Group trip is possible.

[Brian Sigley]

Absolutely is.

[McLeod Andrews]

Never in my life have I heard a story of such a mass alien abduction.

[Brian Sigley]

1300 13. Yeah. Well, it doesn't say whether all of them got sucked up into the ship or not, but there were 1300 soldiers amongst all the battalions, you know, standing in the FIELD when these UFOs descended on this army base.

[McLeod Andrews]

Wow.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah.

[McLeod Andrews]

Okay, so maybe not all 1300 are sucked up into this thing, but nevertheless, that's 1300 witnesses or potential witnesses. So what's the provenance of this story? Is it real at all?

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah. So two people have acknowledged that something has happened. It all started when one of the people, John Vasquez, who was the character he read, started having memories of this and then ended up ultimately writing a book about it in 2000 called the Incident at Fort Benning. And a few years later, another army officer who heard about this was like, wait a second. And he ended up coming forward as well and corroborating a lot of the elements of the story. But there's still 1,298 or more other people who have not verified the story.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah, and that's kind of a damning statistic. Although here's what I think is interesting to sort of examine with these questions of, like, wouldn't a lot more people be coming forward? Like, the notion of could there be some sort of, like, suppression? Like, whether it's memory erasure or like, you know, threats to keep quiet?

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah, absolutely. In this case, I think when you mentioned memory erasure, as we heard at the end of the story, you know, this. This woman shows up on base, she starts drugging people, and they kind of forget what happened. So I think there is a case potentially to be made that they were really good at this and that's why no one remembers except these two people. But let's step back before the memory erasure.

[McLeod Andrews]

Okay.

[Brian Sigley]

And kind of walk through what happened. Just kind of hit the. Hit the highlights of the story real quick, I guess, just to make sure we're all on the same page. So, 1977, Fort Benning, Georgia. Everyone, all the battalions are gathered in, you know, the field in the middle of the Base for a surprise meeting. They're all just standing there, waiting, waiting, wondering what in the world they've all been gathered for. And then these lights in the sky appear and approach. And as we heard in the story, people. Some people are kind of transfixed on it. Some people are terrified. People start running. It's absolute chaos. And these UFOs basically attack and start stalking people. And ultimately our main character and a bunch of other people get sucked up into one of these UFOs where they are experimented on by all of these humanoids.

[McLeod Andrews]

That sounds like kind of your typical abduction story, just on a massive scale, it seems. The thing that kind of strikes me is their methodology of, I don't know, paralyzing these guys, subduing these guys clearly wasn't 100%. I mean, here's the thing. The only way that this could have, like, happened is, like, that the aliens made some kind of deal with the government, which. Which implies that the government is aware of aliens and, in fact, is in communication with them and makes agreements with them. And, like, the aliens were like, listen, like, we need to do some tests. Like, if you could just provide us with, like, 13 human bodies. We're kind of tired of, like, you know, cruising the rural cornfields and mountain passes and stuff for the odd person.

[Brian Sigley]

I think that's a completely valid theory. I mean, I think the big cue for me, I mean, I was gonna get into this later, but I think a big thing about it is that they were asked by their superiors to gather in this field and then just told to wait there.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah.

[Brian Sigley]

Wait there for what? You know.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah. Like, the implications of this story being true are, like, massive. It's not. It's. It doesn't stop. Aliens are real. It's like Pandora's box of just, like, all the woe.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah. And if Vasquez's story is to be believed, as we heard in the end of the story that you just read, this female psychiatrist arrives, she drugs Vasquez, and then he forgets everything. So there's clearly the government is complicit in this in some shape or another.

[McLeod Andrews]

So this John Vasquez, was that like a nom de plume? Like, was it a pseudonym he wrote under? Or is that actually a guy? Like, can we look him up?

[Brian Sigley]

He was a guy. He passed away in 20. 2013. So there's not any means to further verify any of this. He was 25, though, in 1977. And he ended up remembering all of this stuff through hypnosis once again.

[McLeod Andrews]

Hypnosis.

[Brian Sigley]

Yep, exactly. And giving him actual credit for being honest, I guess. He says he doesn't know if the memories that he recovered in hypnosis were real or not.

[McLeod Andrews]

But again, I come back to this. 1300 men and only one of them starts to vaguely remember something. Well, except for our other one. Who's this other guy who comes forward?

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah, this other guy was actually higher ranking than Vasquez. He was a command sergeant at the time. His name was James Norton. And after Vasquez published his book, he's like, wait a second, I've had weird dreams. Or I remember something weird like this happening. He also underwent hypnotherapy on his own and ended up coming up with a lot of information that corroborated the story, basically.

[McLeod Andrews]

So did he go under hypnosis independently, like, or had he been talking with Vasquez about this story or read the book and that he went it.

[Brian Sigley]

That's the thing. He underwent it after hearing about the book.

[McLeod Andrews]

Okay.

[Brian Sigley]

Or reading the book. So I. It's hard to know whether whatever it came up in hypnosis was influenced or tainted by the knowledge of what was in that book.

[McLeod Andrews]

Right.

[Brian Sigley]

It's not like they went at the same time in two different rooms, came up with the exact same story and then put it together. But he, he says that he remembers the chaotic attack by the orbs. He remembers like the paralyzed soldiers who were standing there sleeping in the middle of the field. He does say, though, and this is new, that the higher ups told him night that there was going to be a joint attack weapon system test that was going to be displayed or something at that assembly and that it was actually a thing. It's called the JAWS system.

[McLeod Andrews]

JAWS system, yeah.

[Brian Sigley]

Which sounds neat.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah, but we just throw sharks at our enemies.

[Brian Sigley]

That's the thing there. There are newspaper reports validating that these kind of tests were happening around that time. Also, James Norton, maybe this was what was triggering his memory or, you know, being like, wait a second, something's weird. He had this piece of material, it was like a piece of debris basically from one of the ships and it was impossible to destroy. It had writing on it in some unknown language. It didn't sound like it was very big. It was like something you could fit in your hand.

[McLeod Andrews]

Huh. Debris. I don't remember anything in the story though, being like this ship got attacked or like broken in somehow.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah. I didn't put it in the story because it wasn't any of the accounts that I read. But I have to imagine that if you have 1300 soldiers who are all likely armed.

[McLeod Andrews]

Someone pops a shot off and like. Yeah, but if it's impossible to destroy, why does it chip off the ship?

[Brian Sigley]

That's a very good question. I think another thing that raises a giant flag for me is that no one has ever seen this artifact. Many people asked for it. He never produced it. What is interesting though, is that when James Norton went public, he was still a soldier in the army.

[McLeod Andrews]

Oh, interesting. So that's, you know, putting his career at risk.

[Brian Sigley]

Exactly. And he does say that the NSA started going after him. He started being followed. They told him to shut up. Things like that. Take this as you will, but a few months later, after he went public about this, he was found unconscious at his post on base. He died in the hospital a few days later. They say it was of cancer and hepatitis C. What?

[McLeod Andrews]

That's wacky. Of cancer and hepatitis C?

[Brian Sigley]

It's a little wacky.

[McLeod Andrews]

Why? Why stop it? I mean, I guess maybe because it's true because I'm not a doctor and maybe that's possible, but, like, why would you do two like cancer and HEPA just say he died of cancer?

[Brian Sigley]

But yeah, I don't know. So I. I don't have any records to validate any of that. So I can't say whether it's kind of conspiratorial that he happened to die after going public or what. But that is what happened. And then Vasquez passed away in 2013 circumstances I do not know anything about and couldn't find anything about.

[McLeod Andrews]

Oh, wow.

[Brian Sigley]

So let's take stock real quick. We have two guys who have acknowledged that this happened, and then 1,000, 298 or more who have never come forward about it. So I guess we have to now figure out. Let's talk through some theories and figure out what might have actually been happening here.

[McLeod Andrews]

Right. Can we start with, like, I could just spitball this till the cows come home, but are there some kind of more thoughtful official theories out there?

[Brian Sigley]

Not really. I think the theories seem to come in the category of, number one, an alien attack actually did happen.

[McLeod Andrews]

Sure.

[Brian Sigley]

Number two, this is some kind government psyop kind of situation. Okay. Number three, it's either a false memory or a straight up hoax.

[McLeod Andrews]

Right.

[Brian Sigley]

So let's play the believer, Beaver, for a minute here.

[McLeod Andrews]

Okay?

[Brian Sigley]

What story elements or evidence do we have that this actually happened?

[McLeod Andrews]

We don't have any evidence. We've just got the word of John Vasquez and the other guy with the.

[Brian Sigley]

Piece of the ship that has never been shown.

[McLeod Andrews]

But we can't consider that evidence because he just says it.

[Brian Sigley]

Exactly. But in terms of elements of the story, I think one thing that I actually found refreshing about this account, as opposed to some of the other ones, like we did Philadelphia Experiment a few weeks ago, and there were just so many elements to that story that simply didn't add up. In this case, though, I feel like a lot of the little story elements are like, okay, that makes like. It's just weird. Like, gather everyone on the field and then they're just standing there waiting. It's almost as if they knew this test or this alien approach or whatever was going to happen was going to happen. And they're just like, oh, they're running late, you know, so let's all stand here. It's just kind of a weird. And then the shady behavior that was reported happening afterwards and surrounding this weird psychiatrist who shows up, it's pretty clear to me that this simply wasn't aliens. Descended on the base, sucked some people up, dropped them back, and then flew away. And the government had no clue what was going to happen. Yeah, if there were aliens, it seems to me that like you said before, absolutely, the government was in on it 100%.

[McLeod Andrews]

But I gotta say, I've got some hard, skeptical gecko scurrying around in my body.

[Brian Sigley]

Well, give me some skeptical gecko.

[McLeod Andrews]

I can't imagine that out of 1300 people, only two people would have so little to lose that they wouldn't. There's gotta be some guys out there who would be like, oh, yeah, man, things aren't going well for me. Like, I got nothing to lose. I'll tell this story. Or like, I mean, if they remembered. But like, I'm also sort of surprised and skeptical that only two people would remember this.

[Brian Sigley]

So my counter to that, if I'm gonna play devil's advocate here, is that the government actually is really good at wiping memories or implanting false memories.

[McLeod Andrews]

Right. Has a kind of technology that we are heretofore unaware of that maybe we were given by aliens.

[Brian Sigley]

Now this is kind of interesting because in the 1950s through the 1970s, it stopped in 1973. But there was a program called MK Ultra that is a known program of the military that involved mind control, psyops, that kind of stuff. Is it possible that this was somehow an extension of that or was somehow related? They're using the technology they developed from that on this. I'm almost thinking like the Men in Black, like flash the little thing in front of their face and they forget everything that Happened the last three hours kind of thing. Is it possible? I don't know. I think the other thing that's kind of interesting, that is less aliens, but more like weird, nefarious government stuff. Could this have been done in some other form? Like, did aliens not actually descend, but they wanted to see what kinds of memories they could implant in someone, you know, and then theoretically erase. So maybe they implanted the memory of, like, this entire base was attacked by aliens.

[McLeod Andrews]

That's a cool theory.

[Brian Sigley]

To see if it worked. And then they wiped it to see if they could wipe it.

[McLeod Andrews]

That's a really cool theory.

[Brian Sigley]

So that, to me seems a little more plausible than aliens randomly decided to attack a base in cahoots with the government.

[McLeod Andrews]

Well, I mean, actually, it's like, if the government's really good at this, if they actually did this, it's possible they only tested it on like five people or two people. Because if, based on your theory, they planted the memory, then it doesn't mean there probably weren't even 1300 people. It's just the memory that they planted.

[Brian Sigley]

Yeah. What if this podcast isn't even real and we're just.

[McLeod Andrews]

Yeah. I think ultimately my thought on this is like. Like, because the implications if this were to be real are like, so massively far reaching. I have a hard time with the story because there is so little to verify it other than one guy's account.

[Brian Sigley]

Yes, yes. But it's a really cool story.

[McLeod Andrews]

It is a very cool story nonetheless.

[Brian Sigley]

I think it could be a movie. It's pretty neat. But listeners, please let us know what you think about this one. Hit us up on Instagram, itingspod or find us on Spotify. Leave a comment on there. We love reading those.

[McLeod Andrews]

So, Brian, where are we being abducted to next week?

[Brian Sigley]

We're not getting abducted at all, actually. We are going to willingly subject ourselves to what's coming. We're gonna move into a house and it's gonna be horrifying and it's gonna probably be the most famous horror story out there, I think so.

[McLeod Andrews]

You know, I don't do well in houses. All the stories that have happened, like just in someone's house with ghosts, I'm.

[Brian Sigley]

Just like, well, let's hope they have that government technology to wipe your memory after reading this one coming up.

[McLeod Andrews]

So I like my memory.

[Brian Sigley]

So we are heading to New York and I can't say anymore because I'm going to give it away. I feel like I already have. Get ready to be scared out of your wits. And it's actually going to be a really cool discussion because there's a lot to unpack with this story. So I hope you're excited.

[McLeod Andrews]

If. If it's what I think it could be, then, yeah, I know that it. Yeah. Okay. I won't say anymore.

[Brian Sigley]

All right. Well, listeners, we hope to see you next week, same time, same place, right here on Sightings.

[McLeod Andrews]

Woo.

[Brian Sigley]

Sightings is hosted by McLeod Andrews and Brian Sigley. Produced by Brian Sigley, chase Kinzer and McLeod Andrews. Written by Brian Sigley. Story music by Madison James Smith. Series by music by Mitch Bain. Mixing and mastering by Pat Kickleiter of Sundial Media. Artwork by Nuno Cernatos. For a list of this episode sources, check out our [e-mail] Sightings is presented by Reverb and Q Code. If you like the show, be sure to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you're first to hear new episodes every week. And if you know other Supernatural fans, tell them about us. We'd really appreciate it.

[McLeod Andrews]

It.