Newport Beach California, 1993

[StringTheory]

So, I think it's finally time to share my experience.

Before I do I want to say that I've never shared it on an online forum before. I've also only shared it with a handful of people face to face. Mostly because this experience involved myself and one of my best friends. We'll call him "J."
J and I have recounted this experience to a few people together. I think when you have an experience like this it can seem so unbelievable that I think we both feel the need to have the other around when we recount the story. Please don't misunderstand me. In the end I truly understand that to not have been there, or have seen it for yourself, it is impossible to know if we are being truthful, or if we saw something and mistook it for something else, or even if after all this time (13 years) we've created our own memories which are a blend of truth and fiction. It's that last part that I fear the most. I feel that every time we recount it, things may change slightly and replace the true memories that we have. Does that make sense to any one out there?

When I was 18 years old I took some time off before starting university. I was an avid surfer at the time (yes, we surf in NJ, the whole East side of our state is on the ocean) and had made plans to meet my friend J in southern California and to stay for a few months so we could surf on the West coast. J had some family out there, and we were going to spend a few weeks with them as we found our own place to rent.

After about a week we found a hovel in a place known as "the surfers ghetto" in Newport Beach California. It was right on the Pacific Coast Highway, and right across the street from the beach. We were also on the boarder of Huntington Beach and a short walk from Huntington pier, which is an excellent surf spot. So we were thrilled.

We spent our days surfing and our nights in Huntington beach in town. There was a pretty big scene there, mostly of counter culture type folks. Every one from surfers and skaters to punk rockers and ravers and artists and hippies. After a few weeks we blended our way in and met folks, made friends and connections.

We'd probably been there about month when our experience happened. It was about 2:30 am. We had spent the night in Huntington partying with some people we met who lived in town. Admittedly we were a bit drunk and stoned as well. I think I'd be untruthful if I didn't admit we were under the influence when we saw what we saw. I know this may effect your ability to believe what we saw was real. I just think it unfair to not tell the whole truth.

J and I were sitting on the beach, just talking about life and watching the clouds in the night sky. There was enough moon light to see the clouds move across the sky. The beaches are really dark in Newport at night, even with the bright moon light. You can not see another person sitting 30 yards from you. The reason I tell you this is because we'd sit there feeling rather secure that were were not able to be seen by any one else, and more importantly by the small police boats that we'd often see tracing the coast line. I'm not sure if it was legal to be on the beach at night in Newport. I know where I live in NJ it is not. Either way, we did not want to be spotted by the police boats, we were teenagers and drunk and not from California. We felt it best to avoid them if possible.

As we were talking I noticed a white light on the horizon (horizon being the pacific ocean) to the left of us. Left being south. This didn't seem too strange to me. As I said, we'd often see small police boats patrolling. They have a spot light mounted on the front. I assumed that's what this was. I pointed it out to J, just to make him aware that I thought the police were out there. The light moved steadily northward (left to right on the horizon), we continued talking, not really paying too much attention.

When the light passed by our position and got to what I would say is 45 degrees to the north of us I noticed it stopped and began moving toward the beach. J had noticed this as well. Again, at this point we assumed it was a police boat. We didn't feel the need to move yet as it was still far away and we felt secure that it was impossible to see us in the darkness even if they turned their spot light in our direction.

As it got closer we got a bit more panicked. I'd never seen a police boat beach itself, but the idea crossed my mind. The light was getting bigger, and I was having a hard time understanding what this boat could be doing. J and I nervously chatted about whether we should get off the beach or stay planted.

The light approached the beach. It was pretty bright, and large. At first it seemed as if it may be the spot light on a boat, but it was coming all the way up to the sand. We just sat there frozen. I realized it was too big to be a spot light and strangely we could look at it. It wasn't as bright as it should have been. We could see this light about 100 yards from where we sat at the edge of the beach where water met sand. It was not blinding us as a spot light should. It was white and it was on the break line. When the tide would pull out I could see the reflection of the light on the wet sand beneath it. It was above the sand. There was no boat. This light was at least as tall as a human. I remember saying something to the effect of,

"Are you seeing this too? It's not a boat, lets get out of here."

J confirmed he saw it too. We were watching it for perhaps 30 agonizing seconds. I'll never forget the look on his face as he said,

"Yeah, let's get out of here now."

I remember having one thought as I looked over my shoulder at it as we started our brisk run off that beach, "is this damn thing going to fly over our heads and cut us off?!?"

I saw with my last glance that it was on the beach now further away from the water. We ran past the houses that are right on the beach onto the edge of the Pacific Coast highway and stopped. We looked at each other, had a short exchange, something like "What the F was that....was it just a boat....did you see the reflection on the sand, yes! It was coming up the beach etc etc..."

After about a minute of nervous chatter, we decided to make our way back past the houses to see if it was still there. Mind you this is only about a minute after we got to the road from the beach. We made our way back a few hundred feet and looked onto the beach. Nothing was there. Not a light in sight. Not heading back out to water as a boat may be doing, not up in the sky over us. Just gone. Nothing. At this point we were freaked out and went back across the street to our little hovel and packed it in for the night.

To this day we still don't know what it was. I'm sure some would say police boat, or other small boat. Or perhaps you'll judge that we were a little messed up and made something out of nothing. That's OK, I wouldn't blame you. I know what I saw and had seen enough boats with spot lights at night to know this was no spot light. The best I can say is that it was a large orb of some sort. I make no claims of extraterrestrials or alien craft, I didn't see any. In fact I saw no craft of any type. Just a rather large light that started on the horizon and got pretty darn close.

So that's it folks. I'd spent two and a half years on A-U with out retelling that experience. Sadly on a UFO oriented forum, I'd never felt comfortable enough to speak of it. But I do here, because I truly feel I'm amongst friends. I hope you found it interesting and perhaps if you've been holding back, you may at some point want to share as well.

Cheers, ~String

[Nathanial]

Fascinating String... you say it over the water? As you asked me, was the light "solid" or did it "pulsate"?

[StringTheory]

Solid light. When it made it to the break line where the sand was wet, we could see the reflection in the sand beneath it. The light was above the sand. Not mounted on a boat.

The weird thing is the light was bright yet not totally blinding us. You could look right at it much easier than you could a spot light.

I know it sounds pretty F'd up.

[Nathanial]

Hey, doesn't sound f'ed-uped to me... I saw a solid light travel then break into to halves over a 30-40 minute period...

[StringTheory]

Heh, look at us two skeptics talking about starge lights we've seen. Hehe

Although I'm an open minded skeptic.

And I'm not skeptical of the events, just of the conclusions if you know what I mean.

[Nathanial]

I'm a bastard skeptic in one way... because I love the studies of UFOs themselves... Not the stuff that comes with it mind you, but the sightings of Unidentified Flying Objects...

[Mary]

Wow String. Thank you very much for sharing. Again I am struck by the fact that you saw something that was completely uncharacteristic of things usually observed in that place at that time. That's when the warning bells go off, when people who have some experience and expertise, if you will, as observers in a particular place, and they see something that stands way out and makes no sense.

I guess that if it were "from here", lol, whatever that means, it could have been a remotely operated drone. But to go ahead with that type of explanation, it would mean buying into the "hidden technological arc" idea of UFOlogy. And black op tech devise or paranormal (UFO) event, it's as if whoever was flying it was "messing" with you two. That's a very upsetting thought.

Another quick beach story, from the early 90s:

I know a young professor in Ventura (immigrated from Moscow, married to a dear old friend of mine from Ventura) who lived for a time with some surfers at Oxnard Beach in California. One evening, one of them saw an absolute lighted saucer right on the beach, a big thing, about 60 feet in diameter. He ran up to the houses and street and he sped on foot for home, shaken with "shock of the unbelievable". As he scooted away, police cars seemed to be silently pulling up and parking and officers were running out over the dune berm to the exact spot on the beach he had just fled, hands on their nightsticks, talking on radios as they ran.

They talked to neighbors, searched press and radio the next day. No mention. Yes, the guy could have lied, but he was of a character that was known to them and he was shaken in a way that made them believe him.

Mary

[StringTheory]

Interesting point you touch on Mary. In order to consider possibilities we some times have to make giant leaps of faith. Your example of "buy into the hidden technological arcs" is a good one. It's one of my major gripes in Ufology.

I don't know what to say I saw other than a large orb type light.

I guess some folks would make the jump right to Aliens. I can't do that. There were no aliens. There was no "craft."

Perhaps it was a natural phenomena. I just don't know and probably never will.

BTW, Interesting story concerning your friend. You have to wonder just how many stories like that go untold....

[kelly]

Weird.
I keep trying to come up with an alternate explaination but I can't.
Was it definitely too big to have been a light on a jetski?

[StringTheory]

Yes, and although the beach in Newport is not exactly quiet (the Pacific Coast Highway is only a few hundred yards away) I do not remember hearing the tell tale buzz saw sound of a jet ski engine.

Believe me I've spent 13 years trying to rationalize this one. Conversations J and I have about it together usually end with some thing like,

"I dunno, I dunno what that thing was but I'm glad we ran..."

The most striking memory I have of it is when I saw the tide pull out and the reflection that was cast on the wet sand beneath it. But again, the memory can be fooled.

I'm going to try to get J to chime in on this thread. He no longer lives in Jersey. He's down in Virginia, but we speak at least once per week. I think it would be interesting to see his recollection compared to mine. Ideally he won't read my post first, just type his version up.

I'm a strong believer in the human mind distorting memories, so I'm sure I have over time, as would he. I'd like to see just how different he tells the story.

[minx]

i just wanted to say, a big up to you stringtheory for being brave enough to tell that story now. it says a lot about this forum (and the people within) that you can take that step and know you're not going to be ridiculed.

it sounds an amazing experience, if a frightening one. despite you being under the influence, it is more meaningful that you were not the only one to see it. i dont suppose you asked around in the days following if the locals had seen anything that night, or ever before in that area?

[Fen Star]

That is a good recolection String as for believing you that goes without saying of course i believe what you say.....

And in my opinion if it were a boat you would have noticed it or heard an engine....also coming in over the Surf if the light was attatched to anything it would have moved about in all directions.....

good account mate can't wait to hear what your friend say's......

[StringTheory]

Thanks guys

I'm hoping I can get J to chime in. He's not much for internet forums. But we keep in touch and I can probably get him to tell the story. I'm sure he'll bitch and moan about having to take the time to register and such...lol

[Daniella]

String -oh I wish you could have got your friend J in here -because I'd really love to read his account.
We can speculate what it was -but what is mind blowing...is how it just completely dissapeared on you guys....wow.

[Greywolf]

I believe your story without question string, stoned or not, it is not hard to see if a light is mounted on a boat or not. If you say it was floating over the sand, i am sure it was. It is really interesting that it made a bee line to you and J from way out on the horizon. I wonder if it was coincidence or not?
Great story.
GW

[Mary]

Yes, String, this is the type of sighting that keeps me redaing about sightings and knowing there are things going on.

[Skeptical...]

Weird story, String. Do you remember specifically that the light was steady and did not bob or weave? If it was steady, that would seem to indicate that the light and anything attached to it was not floating on the water.

The light was white, right? No color variations noted?

As far as you could tell, it never came up onto the beach. It stopped right about where the incoming waves stopped?

You mentioned passing clouds - any electrical storms in the area? Any fog? Moon visible? Did you keep the light in sight the entire way from horizon to beach? No docks or piers up the beach in the direction you were looking?

S

[StringTheory]

Thanks for the interest folks. I'll try to answer as many questions as I can, but unfortunately I'm going back to when I was 18 years old in 1993, so we're talking 14 years at this point. I will try to do my best.

To that point, Daniella I am working on getting "J" to make a post soon. He has checked out the site due to my myspace spamming and said he'd like to register, just hasn't had a chance. I asked if he read this post and he has not, which is good because I'd like to see his recollection unadulterated by mine. I'm a strong believer in false memories, so it should be interesting to compare the tow accounts and see what is different.

GW, I don't know for sure if it made a bee line for us per say. When it got close it was a few hundred yards away at I'd say 45 degrees to our right, or in this case North. Hard to say though as I didn't stick around to see if it was going to come any closer.

Mary, funny, my own sighting keeps me going as well. Lol...no matter how many hucksters I encounter, I know what I saw (whatever it was,) and that's enough for me. Again, as I stated in my post I make no extraterrestrial claims what so ever. Nor do I say it was a craft. I don't know what it was other than a large orb. So again, very hard to say...

Skeptical, I'll do my best to answer you questions as truthfully as I can remember.

My memory says the light was steady, but I'm not 100% sure. It was defiantly white without any other color variations. As far as I can tell it did not come further than the break line, though I distinctly remember the water pulling out and seeing the light reflect in the wet sand. The moon was out, but I don't remember the phase, but I do remember it being fairly bright so at least half full. Weather was semi cloudy but not stormy. The clouds were moving fairly fast and at times giving very clear views of the moon and stars. I defiantly was aware of the light as it was going South to North on the "horizon." I can't say I watched it the whole time, but being aware of police boats sometimes in the area I kept a watch on it, especially as it was coming in toward the shore. Also I can say on this particular stretch of beach there is nothing out in the water in the direction we were looking. No docks or platforms. Just the Pacific.

Hope that helps folks. Again, thanks for the interest.

[Liselle]

How big was this orb ST?

[StringTheory]

Hard to say liselle, but by my estimate the size of a man.