Vermont
August 7, 1969
What is it about the Northeastern U.S.? We have the "Allagash Abductions" in Maine, Betty and Barney Hill in New Hampshire, the "Buff Ledge Abductions" in Vermont, then Whitley Strieber and others in New York.
Whatever the reason, on August 7, 1969, one of these events took place at Buff Ledge summer camp for girls on the shores of Lake Champlain north of Burlington in Vermont. The case was investigated by Walter N. Webb, who spent 32 years at the Charles Hayden Planetarium in Boston as senior lecturer, assistant director, and manager of operations. Mr. Webb, who has had a lifelong interest in UFOs and who worked with J. Allen Hynek, wrote a book about his investigation called "Encounter at Buff Ledge: A UFO Case History."
Two teenage camp employees, a sixteen year old boy called "Michael", and a nineteen year old girl called "Janet", were sitting on a boat dock late in the afternoon. The camp was mostly deserted because most everyone was gone into Burlington for a swim meet. As the sun dropped and the sky darkened, a bright light suddenly appeared. Michael said that he at first thought it was Venus.(It couldn't have been Venus. Venus was a morning star on that date, not visible in the afternoon. - Loy)
As they watched, the light seemed to grow brighter and to come closer. Then, to their surprise, three smaller lights separated from the light and began to perform maneuvers in the darkening sky over Lake Champlain. After a moment, two of the lights receded, but one of them flew straight up and then dove down into the lake itself.
A few minutes later the object surfaced and began coming towards the two teenagers. Michael later said that he could see two small beings inside. The craft came on, until it was directly over the. Suddenly, a beam of light show from the craft. Michael screamed "We don't want to go!", and put his arms around Janet. Michael later remembered a floating sensation and then nothing for an indeterminate amount of time. Then, hearing the sounds of the others returning from the swim meet, they seemed to come to themselves. They found themselves sitting on the dock watching the now distant light, which flashed an occasional beam until it vanished completely. The UFO may have been seen as it left by three of the people returning from the swim meet.
Michael and Janet didn't discuss their experience that summer. Later, Michael would find that Janet didn't remember anything except seeing strange lights in the sky.
Ten years later, plagued by bad dreams, and having read of similar experiences by others, Michael contacted CUFOs (Center for UFO studies). Walter Webb investigated the case and suggested regression hypnosis. Under hypnosis, Michael recounted a detailed story of abduction, a medical examination, and being taken on board a "mother ship." After Michael's story of what had occurred came out during hypnosis, Janet was located and hypnotized as well. Although she consciously recalled only seeing some lights in the sky, under hypnosis she recounted a similar story of abduction to that Michael had told, although she had never heard his story.