Read Part One||Part TwoWhen I was quite a bit younger, I worked at one of the busiest grocery stores in the country. It was located on a small island about an hour away from where I lived, and it was the only store on the island.

You had to go over three bridges to get to the island, but it was beautiful. It was voted the number one best summer vacation spot by Times Magazine, making it the the busiest tourist spot in the country. And I worked there. Overnight, every year, for six years of my adult life.

I loved working on the island, because it was absoutely beautiful. There was wildlife everywhere, tons of amusement parks, and everything was within walking distance. I also made a lot of money because we were always busy.

I saw some things working the overnight shift though. Strange things.

You probably won't believe me, and that's okay... but this one of those stories.

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My shift was very chaotic during tourist season. It wasn't usual for me to work upward of 70+ hours per week, and I made bank doing so. The work was hard, but me and my co-workers also had a lot of fun. I spent more time at work than home, and when that happens, you get pretty close. We were really like a family.



One of my favorite co-workers was a man named Hussein who had recently traveled to America from Turkey. He didn't speak much English, but he was the hardest worker there. We communicated with hand signals and Google Translate. I taught him some English, and he taught me some Turkish.

Bu akşam nasılsın?

I still know a little.

Along with Hussein, I also worked with my boss, who we'll call Dave. Dave was younger than me by a few years and was in his early 20s. He had recently gotten promoted, and what do they do when you recently get promoted? Send you to work at the busiest store in the country, of course. You learn so much in a short period of time because you have to.

Finally, my then-boyfriend, Todd, was also on our crew. He started working there after getting in trouble with the law. Quite frankly, he had to be working there, by court order.

And that was it. That was the night crew. Just the four of us, in charge of the busiest store in the country. Nobody else wanted to work there, because the island was in the middle of no where. The money in gas alone was a lot to consider. Like I said, I lived close by, and I was still over an hour away. In the summertime, during peak tourist season, this meant it could take you 2 or even 3 hours just to get home.



So there we were, the four of us. We worked overnights the whole time we were there. We would come in at 11pm and work until anywhere from 9am (ideally) to 3pm (on bad days). Break time was every night at 3am sharp. Dave would open a register, and we'd buy our energy drinks and snacks, then head outside to smoke a cigarette and shoot the breeze. We'd always take our breaks together, and we always went outside.



Well, Todd was very into space and the stars. And let me tell you, you could see all the stars in the sky when you were on this island. It was in the middle of no where, so there was no light pollution. Furthermore, what lights were on the island, on top the condos for example, had to be red, not yellow. This was so, when the sea turtles hatched, they wouldn't get confused on where the moon is. They follow the moonlight to find the ocean you see, and if there are bright lights anywhere, they end up in the streets where they get run over. Sea turtles are endangered here, so it's kind of a big deal that there be as little light pollution as possible.


Photo credit NASA

The thing was, while you could always see stars in the sky, you also saw other things too. Weird things. Lights that would flash different colors and strange orbs that would dance rapidly in the sky.

I wouldn't say we saw them all the time, but we saw them often enough that we downloaded a stargazing app on our phones. You know, the ones that you point your phone at the sky, and it'll tell you which stars you're looking at? The apps also show planets, satellites, pretty much anything that's known about in space. They're really cool.

The weird flashing lights never appeared on these apps though, and we tried several.


Real photo taken in Orange Beach

One night, something strange happened. Even all these years later, I still remember it clear as day. I was inside the store, coming out of the bathroom. Todd and I were about to join Hussein and Dave outside. All of a sudden, Hussein came running in, pale as a ghost.

In broken English, he managed to convey that there was a UFO outside, and we needed to come quick.

I could tell by the sheer panic in his voice that he wasn't joking.



The three of us ran outside to find Dave standing there, mouth agape, staring up at the sky.

I saw the weird light move closer. It got lower and lower in the sky until it was maybe, I don't know, 100 feet (30 meters) above us? And it just stayed there, hovering.



I couldn't really see what the object too closely because I was blinded by a bright white light, but the above image should give you a good idea. The only way I could describe is would be "other worldly". As the object just float there, it didn't make a noise, but there was a slight static buzzing in the air. It was enough to give me goosebumps. It felt almost like the air was vibrating.

I should have made a video of the strange aircraft, but when you see an unidentified flying object, you're not exactly thinking clearly. Plus it all happened so fast...

Then, after maybe 45 seconds, the object shot back up into the air at a sharp diagonal angel that no plane, drone, or flying object I've seen could ever make.



We all just stood there. No one said anything. After all, what could we say or do? Todd insisted that we should call the cops to have them investiage. Everyone else thought this was a bad item though. Afterall, the cops had their hands full with all the drunken tourists, and it's not like we could tell anyone what just happened...

No one would ever believe us.
It happened to me, I saw it with my own eyes,
and even I have a hard time believing it.



After what seemed like an eternity in silence, Dave spoke up. "Well, guys.... uh... I guess it's time to get back to work..."

We all walked back inside the store. I noticed Dave triple lock the doors behind us, which is something he never did out of sheer inconvenience.

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The rest of our shift went by without incident. I got off work around 11am, and by noon-thirty I was getting home. I made myself some dinner, walked my dogs, and played some video games until it was time to go to bed.



As I lay in my bed, I couldn't help but think about what I saw that day. What was it? Some new high-tech drone? Could it have been an airplane? Or maybe some kind of new military flying object... after all, Pensacola is known for their large military base...

I was still thinking about the UFO as I drifted off to sleep...

Suddenly, it felt like I was falling backwards into my bed. I awoke with a jolt. Ugh, I hated dreams like that. I sat up and picked up my phone that was sitting on the nightstand. It was 9 am, Time for me to get ready for work.

I yawned and stepped out of bed. I walked to the living room and opened the front door to let my two dogs out. As we all stepped out onto the porch, the dogs started going ballistic. I've never seen anything like it before. They're normally so well-behaved, Lucky Chance is my service dog for Pete's sake. She never barks, and now here she was growling and showing her teeth as if she was going to attack someone... or something.



Suddenly, the hair on my arms stood up. I started getting goosebumps again, and I realized that the weird buzzing static feeling in the air was back.

My blood ran cold. Slowly, I looked up to the sky. What I saw was so mind-boggling that the flashlight I was holding fell out of my hands, rolling down the steps and into the grass. Keep reading..


dogs