Part 2: Beam Lifted Body Near Ft. Stewart, Georgia

Body lifted upward in light beam, Hinesville, Georgia, near Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Air Field (HAAF), in April 1974. Drawing by Derek Smith.

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April 1974, Ft. Stewart, Hinesville, Georgia – Body Lifted In Light Beam

DS: “I think it was April 1974.”

Howe: “So several months later.”

DS: “Yes. This was in Hinesville, Georgia after I had been reassigned to Fort Stewart. My wife and I would usually go out to a drive-in on the weekend and take our baby. I don’t even remember what the movie was, but I noticed a bright light in the sky about three or four times the size of Venus. It was a very clear night and this bright light seemed to be moving slowly downward and eventually went behind the movie screen. Then my wife said, ‘Are you looking at that light, too?’ And I said, ‘Yes.’ She said, ‘I’ve been watching it and it doesn’t seem right.’

The object that Derek Smith and his wife saw at the drive-in movie theater in Hinesville, Georgia, near Fort Stewart in April 1974. First it appeared as a bright white light high in the night sky. Then it slowly descended over trees to an altitude of approximately 300 to 400 feet. Drawings by Derek Smith for Howe.

“Then it started going through colors from white to red to orange to yellow – like going through multiple shades of each color, stepping through the color spectrum. Then it turned white again and made a clockwise square. It looked like it was drawing a square in the sky. And it made this square three or four times.

Derek Smith described this drawing: "The object then began to glow in a violet color that quickly made a color transition through all of the colors in the visible light spectrum. Then the object began a clockwise flight maneuver which looked as though the object was tracing a large square in the sky. Three of these 'squares' were 'drawn' each in the same position in the sky. Then the object stopped and remained motionless." — Derek Smith described this drawing: “The object then began to glow in a violet color that quickly made a color transition through all of the colors in the visible light spectrum. Then the object began a clockwise flight maneuver which looked as though the object was tracing a large square in the sky. Three of these ‘squares’ were ‘drawn’ each in the same position in the sky. Then the object stopped and remained motionless.”

“Then it just stopped like it was hovering above the trees. And then this blue light about the color of a police car’s blue emergency light came from underneath in a beam. The beam descended toward the ground slowly like a well-defined column of light.”

Howe: “Sort of like the way an old-fashioned telescope would extend?”

DS: “Yes, like it would telescope out as a solid beam all the way down, but you could see it moving.”

Howe: “In other words, it looked like light, but it had a solid, cylindrical shape to it that maintained structure and seemed to move out as if it were some kind of solid body that was moving?”

DS: “Right. And it looked like a spotlight in fog. You could see that beam – it had definition. The blue edge of the ‘cylinder’ didn’t diffuse out. It looked solid.”

Howe: “And did that strike you at the time, not knowing anything else about it, as being like anything you had ever seen light do before?”

DS: “No! No! That was pretty marvelous. I told my wife, ‘That is neat – shooting down a beam like that!’ The beam went down toward the ground and the bottom of the beam disappeared below the tree line. Then within a couple of seconds, the top of the beam that came out of the craft or whatever – it started descending toward the ground also. I thought that was really strange because you can’t take a flashlight and shine a beam and detach the beam from the flashlight.”

Smith wrote about this drawing: "After the disc remained motionless for approximately two to three minutes, it shot a blue 'light beam' from under its center. The blue beam slowly descended to the ground like an elevator. Then the top of the beam detached itself from the round object and also slowly descended to the ground. When the top of the blue beam apparently reached the ground, a pure white light beam shot up rapidly to the disc. Once the top of the white beam touched the disc, the bottom began to ascend upward again like an elevator." — Smith wrote about this drawing: “After the disc remained motionless for approximately two to three minutes, it shot a blue ‘light beam’ from under its center. The blue beam slowly descended to the ground like an elevator. Then the top of the beam detached itself from the round object and also slowly descended to the ground. When the top of the blue beam apparently reached the ground, a pure white light beam shot up rapidly to the disc. Once the top of the white beam touched the disc, the bottom began to ascend upward again like an elevator.”

Howe: “So it was almost as if a cone of light literally detached itself from the bright light?”

DS: “Yes. That cylindrical beam actually detached itself from the craft out there and went down toward the ground behind the trees.

“Then within a few seconds, a very bright, pure white light beam shot up from the ground to the bottom center of the craft. It had the same shape and dimensions as the blue beam and it moved the same way, only in reverse and much faster. Once the top of the white beam made contact with the bottom of the craft, it began to telescope toward the craft becoming shorter and shorter.

“While my wife and I were watching the white beam go up to the craft, we saw something inside the beam that reminded me of a person with arms and legs spread-eagled, tumbling and turning slowly inside that light. Have you ever seen a laser show?”

Howe: “Yes.”

DS: “And when the laser beam hits something, it sparkles?”

Howe: “Right.”

About this drawing, Smith said, "There was something floating upward in the beam of light. My first impression was that it was a person because I could clearly see four long appendages (like arms and legs) and one short appendage (like a head). Approximately one and a half hours later, a smaller craft (Frame 25) raced toward the larger object. We thought it was a jet interceptor. However, as it approached on a collision course with the larger object, it slowed and then merged with the larger object. A few minutes later the large object descended to almost treetop level and slowly meandered off to the northeast until it was out of our view." — About this drawing, Smith said, “There was something floating upward in the beam of light. My first impression was that it was a person because I could clearly see four long appendages (like arms and legs) and one short appendage (like a head). Approximately one and a half hours later, a smaller craft (Frame 25) raced toward the larger object. We thought it was a jet interceptor. However, as it approached on a collision course with the larger object, it slowed and then merged with the larger object. A few minutes later the large object descended to almost treetop level and slowly meandered off to the northeast until it was out of our view.”

DS: “Well, this thing that was tumbling inside that white beam was also sparkling like when a laser sparkles off something. And as this person or thing was tumbling and rotating inside the light beam, the beam which had a distinct bottom to it continued upward until it disappeared inside the craft. Then the object just stayed there hovering, motionless and silent.

“My wife and I left the theater to get a closer look. That day I had been working on an Escape and Survival Course for my soldiers and had maps and compasses in the trunk of my car. We drove to seventeen different locations where I shot direction azimuths to the object and entered the information on my map. All the lines converged at a point on the ground. So, I knew we weren’t looking at a star. It had to be something that was near the earth.”

Howe: “How far do you think it was from you at the movie theater to have seen this object tumbling upward in the light?”

DS: “Half a mile or less. …I was close enough that I could distinguish appendages on the thing that was inside the beam. I saw at least four. I’m not absolutely certain it was a person, but it reminded me of an asterisk. I could clearly see separate appendages and I could clearly see that this tumbling thing was positioned in the center of the beam.”

Howe: “And how long was the beam compared to your fingers at arm’s length distance?”

DS: “Well, the craft was above the trees, so I would say that the beam was probably somewhere around 200 feet long.”

Howe: “And in that area where the light was hovering, what kind of land is it?”

DS: “It’s a mixture of swamp, bog and pasture-type land with heavy trees in the middle where the light beam would have been. Half a mile from there, the trees would have thinned out pretty much.”Howe: Were there any people living where that beam of light seemed to be?”

DS: “On the PICTO map that I used to plot azimuths to the object, there was a farm indicated about half a mile away. I remember specifically thinking about people and wondering if that was a person in the beam.”

Howe: “Were you able, using your 17 different azimuth locations, to drive to exactly the spot where you thought this occurred?”

DS: “I couldn’t drive right to it because of the trees I told you about.”

Howe: “Did your wife say anything that night about seeing anything in the beam?”

DS: “Yes, she saw something peculiar in the beam. I had a very intense interest in the object and I wanted to keep looking at it and observing it and trying to get closer to it. However, the closer we got to the object, the more frightened my wife became. She told me that her intuition was telling her not to get any closer to the object and that it was very bad. And she wanted to go home.

“I talked her into going to one last location for a final azimuth reading at the Fort Stewart Ammunition Storage Area. Almost as soon as we arrived, a Military Police Unit pulled up, put a spotlight on us and ordered us out of our car with our hands up! When I got out, one of the MPs recognized me and asked what I was doing. I said, ‘Me and my wife and my little baby are here and we’re looking at the light up there. We’ve been watching it do strange stuff.’

“At this point, one of the MPs became afraid or concerned. He said he didn’t want to be around there because he had had an experience before with a light that interfered with his 2-way radio and made his car quit. And he said, ‘I know who you are now and I’m getting out of here.’

“And just before they left, I saw a smaller light that I thought was a NORAD interceptor go check out that craft. And as we watched, it came fast like a fighter jet and as it got closer, I said, ‘Oh, man, it’s headed right for it. Maybe it’s going to shoot at him!’ It got real close to the light and slowed down and merged with the big light. And I said, ‘Oops, look at that!’ And the MP said, ‘Yeah, we’re definitely getting out of here!’ And the four MPs got in their car and left.”

Howe: “So four MPs, you and your wife with the baby – six adults watched the smaller white light that might be a NORAD interceptor merge with the large light?”

DS: “Right.”

Howe: “And the four MPs – all they wanted to do was leave the scene?”

DS: “Right.”

Howe: “This is a military base and these are four MPs and you are in Special Operations Group – would not the normal, logical thing have been to want to identify what it was that had happened and to report to the highest authority possible?”

DS: “Well, that’s what I wanted to do. In fact, I did report it. I went to talk with someone at the Fort Stewart Headquarters Staff. I was relating the story to them and they were kind of like, ‘Yeah, well, sure, thanks, see you later.’ I also remember them saying, ‘It was probably swamp gas. It was probably a balloon.’ And I told them, ‘Look, I’m a pilot. I have over a thousand hours in combat flying. I’ve seen just about everything there is to see in the air. I can tell you that it wasn’t a balloon, it wasn’t swamp gas. I can tell you everything that it was not, but I can’t tell you what it was.’ It was clear they wanted me out of the office, so my wife and I left.

“The next thing was that I went to the NORAD site at Hunter Army Air Field.”

Howe: “What was your intent in going there?”

DS: “Two things. I wanted to report it, but I was also curious what was going on because of the way people were reacting.”

Howe: “Like it was nothing.”

DS: “Yeah!”

Howe: “This is a NORAD facility that has an underground installation and you knew its business was to track objects with special radar equipment?”

DS: “Yeah. NORAD is supposed to be a radar network that provides advance warning in the event that our air space is intruded upon by any unknown or hostile force. NORAD has very powerful radar, and if something is in the air, they see it. If they detect some unknown object, they will scramble interceptors to take a closer look and engage with weapons, if necessary.”

Howe: “And did anyone, including your wife, know that you were going to that NORAD office?”

DS: “No.”

Howe: “You just decided to do this on the spur of the moment?”

DS: “Yes.”

Howe: “You drive up and what happened?”DS: “I drove up into the parking lot and got out of the car. I’d never been there before. There were three buildings and I didn’t know where to go. Then this Air Force Colonel came out of one of the buildings, walked right over to me and introduced himself. He had come out in such a hurry that he left his hat inside. He was smiling and extended his hand for a handshake. He said, ‘What can we do for you?’ That really took me back because he was a Colonel and I was a junior officer. He was acting like he wanted to be buddy buddy. And I told him about the thing I saw in the sky near Ft. Stewart, the area it was in and the direction it moved off to.”

Howe: “Did you describe the beams and the object in it and everything?”

DS: “Yes. And the Colonel said, ‘That’s pretty interesting. Let’s go see what we’ve got.’ So he takes me inside that Top Secret facility and he doesn’t know me from Adam. I’ve never met him before and I wasn’t cleared for any of that stuff. No one asked me for my ID which was highly unusual. He just walked in with me past the special security officer to a large work area with a lot of people sitting at work stations. Then the Colonel said, ‘Hey, gang, this is Chief Smith here – he’s interested in something that he saw the other night.’

“We went from that room into a back room that was blacked out. There were large Plexiglas type screens with glowing symbols on them. Another group of people were working in this room. The Colonel again introduced me, ‘This is Chief Smith and he wants to know about the thing the other night. So, run the tape.’ They ran a tape for me. When it finished, the Colonel said, ‘See there was nothing there.’ Course, I wouldn’t have known what I was looking at anyway because that wasn’t my job and I didn’t know anything about it.

“Then he escorted me back outside and said, ‘Appreciate your coming down and glad we could be of service.’ Small talk.

“The Colonel went back inside the building and I was very puzzled about what had just transpired. Then a guy I knew from the bowling league came out. He was some kind of Sergeant. He had a lot of stripes. He said, ‘Hey, I need to tell you something but we can’t talk now. Leave and come back to this parking lot after you see fifteen cars leave. Come back. It’s important!’

“So I did what he told me to and when I came back, he came out to my car looking all around as if he thought he might be watched. He said, ‘Look, I can’t really talk out here. You need to get going before someone comes back and sees us talking. It’s not good for you to be here. I just wanted you to know because I know you’re from the league and you look like a nice guy. What you saw the other night was real. You really saw that and I wanted you to know so you wouldn’t think you’re going nuts or something. I can’t tell you anything more about it. And don’t come back here anymore.’ It wasn’t like he didn’t have the information. I realized he wasn’t allowed to tell me. I thanked him and left.”

Howe: “And no other follow up from anybody? No one else came to debrief you? No one else came to warn you?”

DS: “No. In fact I called an Air Force office in a last effort to communicate. I told them I wanted to report an unidentified flying object. The guy on the phone said, ‘I really don’t have time for this.’ I asked, ‘Don’t you guys care about this? I thought you were required to take reports.’

“Then he said, ‘OK, give me the information.’ So I told him and it was like I was really bothering him and he was doing me a big favor to listen. I don’t know what they did with it. I never had anyone else talk to me.”

Howe: “Do you personally have any doubt that we’re dealing with a non-human intelligence?”

DS: “No.”

More Information:

For further information, please see my books: An Alien Harvest; the 2-volume Glimpses of Other Realities; and my documentaries A Strange Harvest and Strange Harvests 1993 now available in DVD format in the Earthfiles Shop.

Also, see Earthfiles Archive for beam technology and other high strangeness reports such as those listed below:

02/02/2010 —Part 3: Highest Strangeness – Body Containers
01/30/2010 —Letters to Editor About High Strangeness Phenomena
01/28/2010 —Part 1: Highest Strangeness UFO Cases in Scotland
01/28/2010 —Part 2: Highest Strangeness UFO Cases in Scotland
07/12/2009 —Mysterious Aerial Lights Mimicking Stars in Texas and Oregon
06/09/2009 —Update Podcast: Aerial Lights That Mimic Stars, Helicopters and Airplanes
05/26/2009 —Part 9: High Strangeness Files about EBENs
03/27/2009 —Part 4: Unusual Animal Deaths – March 21st Walsenburg Cow
11/21/2008 —Colorado State Patrol Officer Encountered UFO and “Human” Stranger
11/17/2008 —Part 4: Morphing UFO Over Levittown, PA – Scientific Research
10/30/2008 —More Encounters with Glowing Humanoids, Green Orbs, Strange Aerial Lights and “Thunderbirds”
10/10/2008 —Part 1: Two Pennsylvania Hunters Encountered Strange Lights and Lime Green, Glowing Humanoid on Oct. 4
10/03/2008 —Mother and Son Watched Cow Rise In Golden-Orange Beam to Disc
09/29/2008 —Half Cat and Other Animal Mutilations Around the World and East of Palm Springs, California
08/26/2008 —Update: Earthfiles Viewer Comments About UFOs and 14th Century Black Death
08/22/2008 —UFOs and 14th Century Black Death
07/13/2008 —Part 6: Insights from An Experiencer with Greys and Blond Humanoids
07/12/2008 —Updated – Part 2: Roswell Rock Matches August 2, 1996, U. K. Crop Pattern
07/11/2008 —Updated – Part 1: Roswell Rock Matches August 2, 1996, U. K. Crop Pattern
07/09/2008 —Part 5: Insights from An Experiencer with Greys and Blond Humanoids
06/27/2008 —More Military Sightings of UFOs in U. K.
06/26/2008 —Part 4: Insights from An Experiencer with Greys and Blond Humanoids
06/15/2008 —Part 3: Insights from An Experiencer with Greys and Blond Humanoids
06/13/2008 —Part 2: Insights from An Experiencer with Greys and Blond Humanoids
06/06/2008 —Updated: Mysterious Crash Near Needles, California
05/22/2008 —Pregnant Cow Mutilation in Stockholm, Saskatchewan, Canada
05/20/2008 —High Strangeness in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
04/29/2008 —Part 1: Insights from An Experiencer with Greys and Blond Humanoids
04/06/2008 —Final Part 10: Real X-File, Source Unknown
04/02/2008 —Part 9 – Real X-File, Source Unknown
03/30/2008 —Part 8 – Real X-File, Source Unknown
03/28/2008 —Deer Mutilation in Longs, South Carolina, Two Helicopters and Large, White Sphere
03/20/2008 —Part 7 – Real X-File, Source Unknown
03/15/2008 —Part 6 – Real X-File, Source Unknown
03/08/2008 —Part 5: Real X-File, Source Unknown
03/04/2008 —Part 4: Real X-File, Source Unknown
03/03/2008 —Updated Part 1: Real X-File, Source Unknown
03/02/2008 —Part 2: Real X-File, Source Unknown
03/02/2008 —Part 3: Real X-File, Source Unknown
02/22/2008 —Updated: Three Eyewitnesses in Selden, Texas, Saw Two, Large Rectangles of “White Flames” in Sky
02/22/2008 —Abductee Jim Sparks Comments On Alien Symbol Technology
02/14/2008 —Update: Mysterious Symbols Projected in Night Sky by Aerial Disc Near Stephenville, Texas, Local Airport
02/08/2008 —Law Officers Describe Unidentified Shape-Shifting Aerial Craft in Stephenville, Texas, Region
01/28/2008 —Updated 01-28-08: Viewer Letters About Aerial Craft and Military Flyovers Above Dublin, Stephenville and Selden, Texas
01/18/2008 —Updated: Huge Aerial Craft Over Dublin, Texas, “Longer Than 3 Football Fields”
11/08/2007 — More Unusual Animal Deaths
10/31/2007 —Part 5: Elk Hunter Meets Non-Human
10/29/2007 — Part 4: Elk Hunter Meets Non-Human
10/25/2007 —Part 3: Elk Hunter Meets Non-Human
10/17/2007 —Updated: Half Cat Mutilations Persist in San Antonio, Texas
10/14/2007 —Part 2: Elk Hunter Meets Non-Human
10/08/2007 —Part 1: Elk Hunter Meets Non-Human
09/28/2007 — Earthfiles Mail About Cat Mutilations
09/26/2007 —Neatly Sliced Front Third of 14 Cats Found in Granbury, Texas
08/17/2007 —Two Bulls and Several Cows Dead and Mutilated in Manitoba, Canada
08/01/2007 —Part 3, Non-Human Blonds, Greys and Big-Nosed, Cat-Eyed Lizards
07/31/2007 —Part 2, Non-Human Blonds, Greys and Big-Nosed, Cat-Eyed Lizards
07/26/2007 —Part 1, Non-Human Blonds, Lizards and Big-Nosed, Cat-Eyed Greys
07/13/2007 —Iowa Minister Reports Large “Crab/Scorpion” Creature Attacked Cow
05/29/2007 —Final Part 7: Eyewitness Links Animal Mutilations to Non-Humans
05/13/2007 —Part 6: Eyewitness Links Animal Mutilations to Non-Humans
01/02/2007 —Grey Aerial Disk Reported by Chicago O’Hare United Airlines Pilots and Mechanics
11/24/2006 —Scientific Data Supports Theory That Mutilated Montana Cow Dropped from Sky and Bounced
10/19/2006 —Another Cattle Mutilation in Pondera County, Montana
10/02/2006 —Unusual Deaths of Six Female Goats in White Salmon, Washington
09/29/2006 —Manipulation of Time and Matter by Non-Humans: The Experiences of Jim Sparks
07/28/2006 —1940s USAF Flight Surgeon’s Account of E. T. Autopsy
07/17/2006 —Area 29 – A Reverse Engineering Center of E. T. Technology?
07/01/2006 —Cattle Mutilation and Glowing Discs in Saskatchewan, Canada
06/30/2006 —Celestial Secrets: The Hidden History of the Fatima Cover-Up
06/29/2006 —Another Horse Suspended in the Air
06/28/2006 —Half Cats in Destin, Florida, and Beheaded Animals in Rochester, N. Y.
06/22/2006 —Horse Suspended in Mid-Air Near Milan, Italy, Apartment
06/13/2006 —Mysterious Triangle-Shaped Welts and Bruises
04/28/2006 —Modern Warfare Applied to Extra-Terrestrial Invasion
04/03/2006 —Genetic Harvest in Cimarron, New Mexico?
02/27/2006 —Part 4: Military Voices Reply About Government Interaction with UFOs
02/17/2006 —Updated: White Sands Navy Radar Operator Saw Discs Circle V-2 Rocket Launches
01/27/2006 —Part 2: Navy Physicist and USAF Geophysicist Discuss UFOs and ETs
01/13/2006 —31st Cattle Mutilation on Red Bluff, California Ranch
10/22/2005 —A Lifting Beam Technology in Colorado Human Abduction
10/07/2005 —Part 1: Beam Technology Lifted Body Near Ft. Stewart, Georgia
10/07/2005 —Part 2: Beam Technology Lifted Body Near Ft. Stewart, Georgia
08/13/2005 —Mystery of Bloodless, Decapitated Kangaroos in Melbourne, Australia
08/11/2005 —Part 4: Two Men See Cow Mutilated in Light Beam
07/07/2005 —Part 2: Eyewitness Description of Cattle Mutilation
06/23/2005 —Updated: More Than 3,000 Unusual Animal Deaths Reported in Argentina and Chile Since 2002
12/04/2004 —Part 1: “Peculiar Phenomena,” V-2 Rockets – and UFOB Retaliation?
02/26/2003 —Part 3 – Corguinho, Brazil: Return from the Non-Human Craft on September 18, 2002
02/25/2003 —Part 2 – Corguinho, Brazil: Inside the Non-Human Craft from September 15 – 18, 2002