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To the Editor:

This is in response to your article of July 7 concerning UFO’s and UAP’s in which you asked if some folks would contact you to share their ideas on this subject.

So here I am. When I was around 9 or 10 years old, (I’m 70 now), Mom, Dad, my brother and myself were returning home after a visit to my grandparents. It was winter, and a cold night. We were on Hwy 301 about 3 miles north of Enfield, where we lived.

On the left was a cleared field, and we saw a circle of white lights over this field. The ‘object’ appeared to be hovering maybe 50 feet above ground; it was not moving, and it made no noise. Also, we never saw any shape or solid craft, just the lights. We lowered the windows on that side of the car, but never heard any noise at all. I think it was about 100 yards from the car, but, like I say, it was a long time ago. My brother and myself wanted dad to drive over there, but mom said no, and it was very cold, so we went on home.

I do not know what we saw that night, but this is a true story. It’s the only UFO I’ve ever seen.

Even though I saw this ‘thing’, along with my whole family, I do not think it was from a another planet, and here’s why…….

First, our universe is so vast it cannot be imagined. Distances among stars cannot be measured by the normal scale we humans are used to. Astronomers use a measurement called a ‘light-year’, the distance light can travel in one earth year.

The actual number in miles would be useless to spell out, it’s simply too large to have any real meaning to us. Light is the fastest known quantity in the universe; so fast, it is in a category all it’s own. And no, we will never be able to achieve that speed. Contrary to the movies, there will be no warp speed by anything but light itself. The math has been done. Nothing else can ever approach light speed; which is approximately 186,000 miles per second.

Even at that incredible speed, it takes light 4.5 years to get to us from Proxima Centaurie, the nearest star to our sun. Most of the stars we see in the night sky are thousands of light-years from us. We cannot live long enough to reach them.

If we can’t obtain light speed, no other lifeforms in our universe can either, so they can’t get here. Doesn’t matter how advanced ‘they’ may be, the laws of physics don’t change.

Think about this for a minute; the probes we have sent to planets in our solar system are the fastest machines ever created; they reach speeds of about 5 times that of a centerfire bullet. 5 times! And it still takes 6 months to get to Mars, which is right next door when compared to other star systems.

If an alien civilization could somehow travel faster than light (not gonna happen), and come to earth, they would have no need to ‘sneak around’ and hide from us, because we would not be able to overpower their technology at any rate. They could certainly have their way.

Yes, things have appeared in our skies that we have not been able to explain, yet. But if you study our universe even a little bit, I think you will agree; they ain’t from outa town.

I really enjoyed your article.

Ralph Burgess

Ahoskie