By Nick Redfern
Back in 1996, I toyed with the idea of writing a book on the somewhat enigmatic ‘”Flying Triangle” aspect of Ufology; but, I got so tied up with my books A Covert Agenda (published in 1997) and The FBI Files (which surfaced in the following year) that I never actually got around to doing anything about it. But, had I done so, I would most certainly have included the following – which I prepared for the ‘”Triangle Book” in late ’96.
The case at issue is that of a good friend of mine named Tracie Austin-Peters, formerly of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England (and the host of Let’s Talk Paranormal) and now, like me, a resident of the United States. And with that said, here’s the strange tale of Tracie’s very own 1996 encounter. She began thus when I interviewed her:
“It was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon on May 14, 1996, and it was quite a clear and sunny day. I’d got about an hour and a half free before I had to be back at work and decided that, because it was so nice, I would drive up to a wood nearby with a book and read for a while.
“Well, I headed for the local shop and pulled up on the car park, as I was going to get a few items to take with me. But as I got out of the car I got an immediate urge to look up. It was just like something had told me to look up – although I didn’t hear a voice. It was more like an impulse. And I knew directly where to look, too. And as I looked up, I saw a really unusual shaped object that was shaped like a boomerang or a v-shape. It was silent, it was black; and as I stood watching it, I thought to myself: I need to get a grip on this! What am I looking at?”
Tracie continues: “I’m quite a logical person, and I wondered at first if it was a large bird of some kind, but it wasn’t. The wings were just stretched out and it wasn’t moving like a bird. It was sort of turning anti-clockwise. And it certainly wasn’t an aircraft or a hang-glider. I knew I had to grab someone to see if they could see it, too.
“There was a woman near me getting her child out of her car and I said to her: ‘Excuse me, I hope you don’t think I’m being silly, but can you see what I can see in the sky?’ She replied: ‘You mean that black thing?’ I said, ‘Yes! and we both stood and watched it. But I got a very strong feeling, like it was giving off a thought, saying: ‘Have a good look at me because what you are seeing is real.’”
At that point, something truly strange occurred: “I watched it and then it did the most bizarre thing. It shrunk itself into a black sphere but continued to move anti-clockwise. But the strange thing was that the lady who was with me didn’t see it change shape.
“I thought this was ridiculous and ran across the car park to grab someone else. He saw it, too, but didn’t know what it was. But as I watched, the object then transformed from a square back to its original shape and then an appendage came out of the middle, which made it look like an arrowhead.
“It then headed off in what I thought was the direction of the woods. So, I jumped in the car, headed off there, too. I scanned the sky but didn’t see it again unfortunately. Well, I was due to start work again about 4.30 p.m., so I went home and telephoned Irene Bott of the Staffordshire UFO Group and told her what had happened. Irene told me to write it all down and draw a picture of the object – which I did. I also phoned a local UFO group in my area, too, and they said they would look into it.
“Suddenly, at that point, I got this feeling again to look up in the sky and was amazed to see this same object flying directly over my house! It was so strange; I wasn’t frightened – just surprised and excited. And the whole thing took on such a magical atmosphere. And again, I got the feeling that the object wanted to be seen. I’m not too brilliant at heights, but it was much lower than your average aircraft. Again, it was moving in an anti-clockwise way and I watched it until it vanished.”
The story was not quite over, however, as Tracie demonstrates: ”Three days later, the UFO group phoned me back to say that they had had a call from a guy who didn’t want to leave his name but who lived about four miles from me. They told me that he said he’d seen three black boomerang-shaped objects flying over his house, and I just couldn’t believe it.”
To this day, Tracie says, the extraordinary events of 14 May 1996 remain firmly fixed in her mind and she is adamant that something truly out of this world took place.
