Staff Member's Spooky Sightings

Linn: I've been on the staff of Third Eye Over Iowa since last October, and since that time I've had the opportunity to hear some of the most bizarre and unusual stories one could hope to come across. But these stories all have something in common: I have not witnessed the particular phenomena of which my sources speak. All the information I've collected has been from hearsay, interviews, and research.

     But that is not to say that I haven't had a few weird experiences of my own. I would like to mention two, both of which occur in Iowa City, where I live. And although my own brushes with the abnormal aren't as dramatic as most of those printed in this magazine, the stories must be told.

     The first occurred one Sunday late last October, when my one of my house mates, Mark Passavant, and I were walking home from a late breakfast at the now closed Gilbert Street Café. We were in the alley between Dodge Street and Lucas, about 100 yards from home, when we witnessed a strange object in the sky. It was a black object, cigar-shaped and about as wide as one's thumb appears to be at arm's length. It was moving rapidly from south to southeast, quickly becoming smaller and smaller. Its flight was fairly smooth, and we could hear no engines. Neither was there any sort of vapor trail. We considered that the object may have been a blimp or some other sort of airship, but it seemed to be moving too rapidly; we were only able to watch it for a few minutes before it was gone. Here was the first unidentified flying object I'd seen since I was a child. If anyone else in Iowa City or the surrounding environs saw this craft as well, please contact this magazine.

     Also, I was involved in what appears to be a kind of conjuration on June 1. I had gone with a group of friends to the Hamburg Inn for lunch. I opened my wallet and discovered that I had no cash. I then walked two blocks to the Handimart, which had the nearest ATM. I conducted my transaction, and put my wallet into my back pocket. That was when I noticed a strange lump in my wallet, a lump that most certainly had not been there before. I decided to investigate this lump. Opening my wallet, I was shocked to see a beetle, perhaps an inch and a half long, crawl out and fall to the ground. To this day I cannot imagine how the beetle could have gotten in there without my noticing earlier, and without my accidentally crushing it.

     These phenomena are not dramatic, and it may be possible to find a rational explanation. But they are further proof that the bizarre goes on around us, often in small, yet memorable ways.