The Sheriff's Car
Deputy Sheriff Val Johnson was on patrol in his car at about 1:40 AM, on August, 27, 1979, when he saw a glowing light in or near a group of trees, a short distance from his location. He later explained that he initially thought he was seeing a small craft that had crashed. In a moment, the light source began to move directly toward him. Within seconds, the object was above his vehicle.
"I heard glass breaking and saw the inside of the car light up real bright with white light... after the light hit my vehicle, I don't remember a thing," he later stated.
He lost consciousness. Upon waking, his head rested on the steering wheel, and he was shocked to see that his car had skidded, and now faced the opposite direction. At 2:19 AM, he radioed for help. Soon, help arrived in the person of deputy Greg Winskowski, who noticed a red bump on Johnson's forehead. He concluded that Johnson had hit his head on the steering wheel. He called for an ambulance, which took Johnson to the hospital.
Doctors discovered that Johnson's eyes were very sensitive to light. He compared the condition to "mild welder's burns," and treated him accordingly. The next day, Johnson's car was taken by Sheriff Dennis Brekke to a mechanic to be checked out. The vehicle had been damaged in some odd ways. A 1/2 inch diameter, circular dent was seen on the hood. The windshield was cracked from top to bottom, and the crack showed several impact points. The vehicle's clock had lost 14 minutes of time, as had Johnson's watch.
Eventually, his eyesight cleared up, but there was no adequate explanation for the damage to his car. This case has been debunked by the best in the business, but still, I have never heard any "earthly" cause that made any sense for the damage done to the sheriff's patrol car. Can you think of what may have caused the strange damages to the car?
Comments
Ball lightning perhaps?
They say the old ones are the best one`s. What purpose would a Law inforcement officer have of concocting such a story which could lead to ridicule and persicution. Mayby the skeptics will try to tell us it was Chinese lantern that damaged his car !!!
If your comment was directed against me John Cobb…then it is entirely misplaced. I am not doubting for a single minute what that law enforcement officer said. He definltey saw what he saw…and he experienced what he experienced. He had no reason to lie…and I am not cvallign him a liar. The simple question that was being posed by Billy was what could have caused that experience? I suggested ball lightning. Nothing more. Nothing less. Ball lightning…a very , very strange phenomenon…has caused damage to buildings and people. I am not suuesting that it was ball lightning that the officer encountered that night. I am merely suggesting, however, that it coould have been.
I was thinking ball lighning when I read the story and so I agree with Mike.
Many wierd stories involving ball lightning, many end with an explosion of the ball. It’s possible it was an earthlight of some sort also. Although I haven’t heard of earth lights being so explosive. Here’s a link attached to some good ball lightning stories. I think people may like to read them.
since the ball lightning link(s) aren’t showing up I’ll try to put it in the post.
http://amasci.com/weird/unusual/bl.html
http://www.amasci.com/tesla/ballgtn.html
http://www.astronomycafe.net/weird/weird.html
It was the hand of Jesus, slapping him upside the head.
How would ball lightning explain the dent in the hood? A burn spot, maybe, but not a dent. It would take an explosive “electronic charge” right over the hood to make a dent, and I don’t think ball lightning would do that. Yes, ball lightning is rare, and not much info on it, but I just can’t see that causing a dent. Interesting thought, though, and maybe possible since I’m not a lightning expert.
The accounts of ball lightning are quite unsual and vary greatly. about.com is such a pain these days, hard to figure out the website and can’t post a link. I’ll try again to see if I can post the link to the ball lightning accounts. Ball lighting can probably cause a dent in the hood although it doesn’t always cause any damage. I think it’s possible that’s what this guy experience, but no one knows for sure. Just speculating on what it could be.
…….http://amasci.com/weird/unusual/bl.html
seemed to work, here’s a couple more links related to ball lightning
get rid of the dots in front of the link
……..http://www.astronomycafe.net/weird/weird.html
……..http://www.amasci.com/tesla/ballgtn.html
We should always be mindful of the technology available to an advanced life form. The object which made contact with the officers’ vehicle was most likely the equivalent of a pilotless drone which is employed by our own military. A larger command craft was probably near by.
FWIW, damage to the police cruiser included a damaged/ bent radio antenna (about a 60 degree bend approximately 1/3 down from its tip) on top of the car, as well as a broken lens in one of the flashers on the roof rack emergency flasher bar. Interestingly, bugs impacted by the antenna were still attached at the antenna bend after impact. The windshield is heavily shattered on the driver’s side and gives indication that it was somehow pushed or pulled outward toward its original shape after impact. The sheriff found the case so interesting that the car was impounded and has since been preserved all these years and can still be examined.
In response to Marvin’s comment about damage by a militaray drone, please keep in mind this happened in 1979 at around 1:00 AM. I can tell you that we had nothing in our inventory at that time capable of such activity.
I don’t know anything about ball lightening, but I have seen several hundred UFO’s.I have never had one attack me, but I have been close enough to hit a few of them with a rock. I didn’t believe in UFO’s until I saw the first one. Anything is possible.I believe the man is telling the truth.
Frank, Marvin didn’t say it was one of the military’s drones, he said it was the equivalent of one. Meaning that it could have been extraterrestrial and a mothership was using a drone.
As far as the story, it is quite intriguing. I just wish that Johnson would undergo hypnosis and find out about those missing 39 minutes. Especially the 14 that corresponds to the watch/clock differences. I have to say his refusal does bother me.
Officers typically synchronize their car clocks and wrist watches with dispatch so there are no discrepancies on their reports. 14 minutes missing.
Good recollections, Frank. The attached bugs were an interesting note, since anyone using force to bend the trunk’s antenna (at the top three inches where the bend was) would likely dislodge any bugs.
What’s also peculiar is he estimated the light at one point was about a mile and a half away from his vehicle, but in an instant was above his car and he was hearing the glass breakage and so on. It was said his car was moving about 48 MPH at the time of the impact.
The people interviewed about his character thought he was a straight shooter and wouldn’t go to such lengths to perpetrate a hoax. It seems like one would be risking their career to damage your squad car, inflict personal injury, and lie to your fellow officers. It would be guaranteed to end your law enforcement employment if you were discovered to be making this up.
Perhaps he refused a lie detector test because they can be fooled and aren’t real proof of lying or honesty. If he did, it would satisfy a few people but there are always those who would need more proof of a non-earthly origin. Maybe he knew it happened to him and that was good enough in his mind. Seeing is believing.
I saw the same type of UFO the very same night in Cass County, MN, approximately 15-20 minutes earlier than the Deputy reporting his encounter. My sighting was in Cass County near Pine River. I was with my boyfriend at the time, he saw it too. We still talk from time to time about it.
By the way, what I saw wasn’t ball lightning. It “hovered” above the treeline for at least a minute before “taking off” upward into the western sky- towards the direction of the Marshall County.