Red Ball

I'll tell you about the pulsating red ball the best that I can. It happened in the 60's. Background first. When we bought and moved into a two story Cape Cod style home in North Jersey, the upper floor had been made into an apartment and a very nice young couple with two or three (I forget) children lived there with their own private stairway, bathroom, kitchen sink, bedroom and living room. In the basement we both had our own washing machines and it worked out very well for a couple of years. They moved into a larger place after another child was born and we rented the apartment twice more to two more young couples, each with a child. We did just fine living in the downstairs area with a front room, a large room that held four beds, a small bedroom for us and a nice kitchen.

After our family grew from four children to six, and the apartment lease ran out, we decided to move the older children upstairs. In the upper front room was a double window and a TV that sat in front of it was enjoyed by them; we had our own TV in the large room downstairs which had been turned into a living room. I believe the year was 1968.

One summer night around dusk, there was screeching from upstairs. The children had seen something. This is how they described it: A BIG RED GLOWING BALL was in the sky just outside the window. Then it wasn't there anymore at all.  By the time we went up they were babbling about what they saw and very frightened. We saw nothing out there. In trying to calm them I got the idea to have them draw what they saw. I got some good sized paper and sent each to a separate corner of the room with a few crayons. Both of the younger children drew almost the same thing and both chose red crayons without prompting I might add. The older children didn't care to draw and continued to look out the window in case it returned. It didn't. The results of the drawing were shocking - to me at least! In further questioning all agreed that there was NO sound coming from the big red bright ball.

To me this was an authentic phenomenal and undocumented, unidentified event. It was abrupt and extraordinary, especially after the drawings were handed to me. I saved them for many years and eventually passed them on to the children who saw and created the images. They still remember the event but don't remember where their images are. Oh well, I shall draw replicas and try to show you my memory of the artwork. Pretend they are crayon drawings by 8 and 10 year old children. Remember they were glowing! Ever wonder if we are alone in this universe? I do.

The Mister did something soon after that they will always remember. We had a backyard pool. After all had quieted down, he got the long handled net skimmer tool and reached it up to the second floor window and waved it in front. Well, you can guess that we had scared kids again!