Back in September 1964, an intriguing UFO sighting buzzed right out of the fog and into the airwaves. This wasn’t the ordinary run-of-the-mill UFO report that Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio often got—far from it. Normally, a whopping 99% of these sightings are debunked, chalked up to natural phenomenon or simply over-zealous hoaxers. But for Captain McLoy and Sergeant Barnes, getting the nod to fly out to investigate this one in Northern California was a big deal.
When the report was stamped with “UFO landing with entities reported by missile technician in Tahoe NF Sacramento,” it was hard to ignore, even within the shadowy reaches of Project Blue Book. Captain McLoy knew that when you’re ordered to jump across the whole country, it means the brass takes it seriously.
The story’s lynchpin was Donald Shrum. September 4th, 1964, was setting up to be a typical weekend for Don and his buddies, Vincent Alvarez and Tim Trublood. The trio worked for Aerojet Corporation in Sacramento, building stress-packed Polaris and Titan nuclear missiles. Bowhunting in Tahoe National Forest seemed like the perfect escape into nature. But the day turned south quick.
As the sun began to dip, Don found himself turned around, lost among the giant trees. Nearby, predators like bears and mountain lions made his predicament feel even more daunting. As night fell, staying at ground level wasn’t an option, so Don scaled a massive pine tree, using his military-style belt to harness himself securely to a high branch.
What happened next is the kind of tale that urges you to check over your shoulder. A light appeared in the sky. At first, it was easy to dismiss as a rescue helicopter sent to find him, and Don enthusiastically lit fires and hollered to catch attention. But as his cables crossed, the light kept silently, ominously approaching. He quickly doused the flames and scampered back up the tree, praying his camouflage would suffice against this unknown onlooker.
The light transformed, revealing not a small craft, but a gigantic black cylinder, eerily suspended in the air. It was the size of a 14-story building laid on its side. What should have been skyquaking noise was replaced by silence as it hovered. This angle of emptiness made the encounter creepily surreal and mind-bending.
Three figures carved paths through the clearing. Two stood out—short, humanoid, sporting sleek silver suits and goggles like something out of a science fiction comic. They curiously engaged with the environment below, ignoring most earthly protocols. And then, out from the shadows came a third entity, mechanical in its movements—a robot. It wasn’t R2D2, but it freakishly matched that 60s pulp imagination. Startling Don even more, it targeted him, releasing a cloud of noxious white vapor.
Don’s primal instinct to fight roared through him. He began shooting arrows into the night, the metal tips sparking off the robot’s metallic hide. A barrage of arrows followed, like a frenzied porcupine caught in a tree, shooting quills every which way to defend itself. With every arrow, the alien troops retreated, only to come back faster and stronger. Yet, the adrenaline didn’t stave off the unpredictable. Eventually, exhaustion and the relentless gas left Don suspended between reality and dreams.
When dawn’s first light cracked the sky, the beings vanished. Not without a trace, as Vincent’s affidavit confirmed he too caught sight of the craft in the sky, lending credence to the encounter.
What transpired was a spiral into an abyss for Don. That close-encounter haunted his job performance. PTSD loomed large, night terrors turned active, and his garage of sanity seemed checked. The Air Force’s answer to this tale? Well, they weren’t buying it. Labeling it a psychological prank or hoax, they neatly folded the report until curiosity raged again in the 80s with the airing of “Project UFO.”
The rabbit hole deepens when patience and public demands unraveled parts of the Air Force’s box of secrets through freedom of information requests. Yet, the conclusion of delusions small-caged Don’s world, leaving a shadow akin to Loch Ness denying a friendly wave.
Being slouched into a tree or not, the snapshot of fraught tension paints a vivid tapestry. Did this all happen? For Don, it was not sci-fi drama, but his life’s watershed moment, churning and twisting his reality into something otherworldly.
At the heart of this mystery lies not just the question of life beyond our blue pearl, but the impact of experiencing, living, and facing such an emotional gale. It’s more than an abduction tale, and maybe that’s where the real power lies—it’s a gripping tale of resilience, challenge, and the human spirit wrestling with the unknown.
