Sierra Mountain Times

“Have YOU ever had a totally frightening experience?” 

(asked in East Sonora)

“A friend of mine and I were watching the night sky and a light came up in the west, and the light rose in the north, over Phoenix Lake. Both of the lights went straight up; just bright white lights. The first light took off at warp speed over the summit, and then disappeared! The second light continued to go up and then took off also at warp speed, to the north; and it, also, disappeared within three seconds! It was so strange because it all happened in a 30-second interval! It just freaked us out! So there’s your UFO, and I’m a believer! This happened in the spring of ’09. But I’m not going to tell you about the werewolf I saw (he chuckles.) – Jim Simonitch, Twain Harte, (restaurant owner)

“I’ve seen two UFOs! We were in my backyard in Milwaukee, WI, and we were taking those things off of dandelions, where you blow a wish; and we were watching the seedling things fly around. All of a sudden, there were two UFOs that showed up! One took off from the other one. I was scared in a way. You know what I’m saying? But yet, I wasn’t afraid. This happened about ten years ago. I didn’t tell anyone about it because I didn’t think they’d believe me. I knew it wasn’t a plane, or birds. I know they’re (UFOs) real! And I wasn’t the only person who saw it. My grandson Wesley had also seen both of those flying saucers! And we were both just completely stunned!” – Paula Bartsch, Sonora, (retired city employee)

“Just looking at (my husband) scares me to death! (She chuckles). But a couple of years after I learned to drive, I was in an accident and wound up with a hematoma in my side the size of a football. I didn’t learn to drive until I was 50, because my husband and my family wouldn’t allow me to drive. I know why: because if I got pissed at ‘em, I probably would have run the car up their ‘you-know-what’! But it was very frightening having somebody run into me. The other driver came out of the blue! Also I’m frightened by snakes! I hate snakes!” – Dottie Jo Raymond, Mi-Wuk Village, (retired data processor)

“I was ‘skitching’ behind a car (skateboarding, holding onto the back of a car.) We were going at least 25 mph when I lost my skateboard. I sort of held on and ‘skied’ with my feet. I’ve got the scars to show you! They were slowing down a pretty good amount, luckily; like they saw what was going on. Then, I lost it on my feet! I started to drag my knees for a little bit. Then I let go and rolled out of it. I’m pretty good at falling, luckily. But that was probably one of my scariest moments! I wasn’t in much pain because I had a lot of adrenaline going! I did have road rash of the knees and elbow, I ruined a good pair of pants and I was in chronic pain for the next month!” – Austen Thibault, Crystal Falls, (college sophomore)

“When someone wakes me up, or yells at me when I’m sleeping! Scary dreams scare me, too! Sometimes you can have scary dreams. You know what? When rattlesnakes try to bite me I’m scared! I try to kill them when they do that! You know what? One time Auntie Kate sent us some paper that said ‘Michael’s the best!’ – Michael Bunnell, Columbia, (pre-school student)