Anyone who’s been to Presque Isle State Park knows it’s a picturesque setting that seems as calm as can be. Being a small strip of land off the coast of Pennsylvania is a nice little touch, since I’ve lived in that state pretty much my whole life. What a lot of people don’t know is that in 1966, a strange report from 4 teenagers rocked the sleepy area. I had no idea when reading about it online, that the 50th anniversary would be just as bizarre.

In 2016, I decided to take some time off from the hustle and bustle of city life, and took a trip to Presque Isle. Other than the Ben Franklin Institute and Valley Forge outdoor mall, it was 1 of the few things in the state that I had always wanted to see, but never got the chance to until I moved out. Anyway, as I arrived, I noticed that there were a ton of people in boats, canoes, vehicles, you name it. I asked a motorist why there was such a commotion. He said “You know what today is? July 31st. It was right here, 50 years ago that teens saw a UFO Land. We’re hoping for something similar. I’ll be famous!” I told him that I honestly doubted 1 small UFO sighing would bring him fame, since he was 1 of at least 60,000 people who would immediately say “I believe in aliens!” if they were asked, me among them. I decided that, as long as those people kept quiet, I could still enjoy my time there.

Since it was still the early afternoon, I decided to do some exploring, but things got weirder. I saw a small group of hippies playing music and singing “The aliens will come and take us away. To a place where we cannot trek.” Rather than talk to people who may be legitimately insane, I decided to instead walk past them. As I did, I caught a small glint out of the corner of my eye. I whipped my head in the direction I saw it, but saw nothing. I decided it must have been a trick of the light. As I continued walking, I saw 4 people with telescopes. When they caught me staring, a little boy dressed as the prototypical alien for Halloween (as in he was dressed like it was Halloween, not 3 months away.) told me “We don’t want to see the aliens, we wanna see the ship.” Though the majority there were strange, it was nice to see so many enthusiasts. However, that small glint was still gnawing at me. If I had known that was preemptive to a grand finale, I would’ve just rolled with it.

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