MY PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH THE UNKNOWN by John W. Milor

It was in the summer of 1990, during the Panamanian conflict. I was an M-60 Machine
Gunner in the Army at the time, assigned to the 7th Infantry Division.
My weary eyes gazed out into the midnight mists of a dark jungle. Breaking the silence
was an irritating buzz in my ear; I swiped at the mosquito and missed it. The buzz reminded me
of the unbearable itching on my arms, so I bathed them in another scratch-fest. The itching
quickly turned into stinging, as the blood oozing from the innumerable insect bites on my arms
mingled with my sweat.
The stinging soon grew intolerable, so I tried to think of something to do that would take
my mind off of it. Reaching over to my pack, I pulled out an MRE (Meal-Ready-to-Eat). From
the MRE, I retrieved two packets of powdered coffee, tore them open, then proceeded to dump
the powder into my mouth. (This was a guard-duty technique I used quite frequently. I ate
powdered coffee packets like most people use over-the-counter drugs to stay awake. I thought
MRE coffee served this purpose better though, because the bitter taste alone was always enough
to blast me awake for at least a solid five minutes. By the time the instant waking effect wore
off, the jolt of caffeine would kick in.)
After the coffee, I ate a book of matches, because I heard that they would make me sweat
sulfur, which most insects don’t like. (Of course, the steroid pumping, power-lifting insects of
Panama didn’t care – for the most part.) But the side effect of eating matches also made my
sweat stink with a profound unequalled intensity. In the Army though, nobody really cared.
After a few weeks in the field, noses become immune to the ever-thickening, pasty cheese that
coats a human body after X amount of days without a shower.
About the time I was finished gagging over the coffee and the matches, another mosquito
buzzed my ear, and started the cycle over again; a cycle that was nearing two hours and
approaching midnight. I gazed at my watch, seeing that I had fifteen minutes left before waking
up Corp. Stenger to take over the shift.
Sleep at last, I thought, while peering at my sleeping area behind me. I was issued a
small net to sleep under, but it didn’t do any good. In the jungle of Panama, it’s impossible to
find an area without bugs. Setting up a net in any given space does nothing but trap bugs
beneath it.
While staring at the net, I became aware of a peculiar glow that flashed in front of me
while my head was turned. The glow was like a dim flash. It disappeared when I faced forward
to see what it was.
All evening the sky had been flashing with lighting, even though there were no clouds or
rain – just a gloomy haze. This is common in Panama. I quickly dismissed the phenomenon as
lightning, because the effect of the mellow flash was very similar. The only reason this
particular flash caught my attention is because it was noticeably brighter than the lightning that
had been flashing throughout the evening. I simply attributed this to a brighter flash of lightning.
A few minutes passed, and the flash occurred again, this time while I was facing forward.
It was immediately apparent that this flash was not lighting. It flashed from behind the many
trees and brush in front of me about 300 yards away, and was much brighter this time.
I rubbed my eyes, repositioned myself, yawned, and leaned forward expecting another peculiar
flash. Sure enough, about a minute later, another flash emitted from the jungle, and again, the
intensity was increased. This was a prime indication that it was approaching my position.

I looked at Corp. Stenger and thought about waking him up. While staring at him, I
recalled that I was in a highly unique situation for revenge. For the past year and a half, Corp.
Stenger had led the pack of individuals that enjoyed making my life miserable in the Army. I
developed a bad reputation of being a complete weirdo.
I sort of asked for it, because in the Army, anything that distinguishes a person as
different from others is always a target for ridicule. All it took was for people to walk into my
room. There, they found themselves in a shrine of the paranormal. Lining my walls were books
on every paranormal subject there is. UFOs, ghosts, palmistry, astrology, Tarot cards, tea leaves,
crystals, rune casting, miraculous healing, astral projection, Ouija boards, psychic phenomenon,
hypnosis, reincarnation, possession, channeling, demons, angels, big-foot, different religions; if
it had to do with the supernatural, I was the authority on it.
Decorating my room along with the books were items such as crystal balls, Dungeons &
Dragons paraphernalia, (a game of which I was an avid player at that time), incense burners and
a host of candles seated in the most cryptic looking candle holders I could find. For this reason, I
was nick-named “Weird”, and the title never left me until I departed the Army.
So now here I was, faced with something that I had always longed to see… an unknown.
And soundly sleeping to my right was Corp. Stenger, a man who loved to ridicule me endlessly
about how stupid I was for believing in such “nonsense”. (For the sake of producing an
unpolluted work, I will refrain from the exact terminology he used.)
I stood up, waiting for another flash. Another one came, brighter, and closer. I smiled
with delight, strangely unafraid, and burning with curiosity. Two things came to my mind to
explain the phenomenon: swamp gas, and ball lightning. (Recall that I am an authority on
strange phenomenon, based on many hours of personal study.)
When I thought of ball lightning, I realized that I was probably not in a good situation. I
was wearing a 23 pound chunk of metal, (my M-60 machine gun), about 100 rounds of
ammunition draped around my neck, and a pair of night-vision goggles rested against my chest.
Furthermore, my backpack had several lithium batteries in it, along with a field radio that had a
three-foot antenna sticking out saying “Here I am, come and zap me!” Thinking that ball
lightning would be attracted to these things, I set the M-60 down, took off the rounds of
ammunition and set them next to the M-60, and distanced myself from the backpack a few feet.
Finally, I saw what was producing the flashing. It was a ball of light as bright as a
camera flash, and about the size of a soccer ball. The ball was about twenty feet up in the air,
would flash for about a half second, then disappear. While invisible, it would move about twenty
to thirty feet closer to my position, then flash again. I was utterly fascinated!
My guard post was off the side of a small dirt road. This road meandered through the
jungle behind Fort Sherman, Panama, and eventually dwindled into nothingness. There were
two other guard posts along the road, each positioned about a quarter mile apart. I wondered if
anyone at the other posts were able to see the flashing from where they were. The brightness of
this ball of light was certainly sufficient for them to see. “Witnesses” I thought to myself with
delight. I figured that if others were faced with this phenomenon, then they would be forced to
recant the burdensome reputation that they imparted me. (Unfortunately, this event actually
ended up making things worse – they mocked that I was the one responsible for it).
I finally couldn’t wait anymore. This strange ball of light was clearly visible, flashing
consistently every two to three minutes, and rapidly approaching my position.

Every time it flashed, it was twenty to thirty feet closer to us. I had to wake Corp. Stenger. My shift was over,
and it was time for him to get up anyway.
As he rubbed his dreary eyes, I excitedly explained to him that I thought there was some
sort of alien probe, or alien life form approaching the camp. This quickly got his attention, but
then he crunched his eyebrows, and mumbled a few curse words at me thinking I was making up
a strange story. But while he was cursing, the light flashed, and I interrupted him saying, “See!
Didn’t you see it! I know you saw it!”
A suspicious and confused expression donned on his face. “Well, my shift’s up, so have
fun, because I’m crashing” I stated with an unconcerned attitude, hoping he would respond. I
actually had no intention of going to sleep. I just wanted to make him squirm.
“Wait a minute. What was that?”
Before he was fully cognizant, I seized the moment to take charge. Corp. Stenger was on
my turf now, and I was going to do my best to make him remember this moment for the rest of
his life. I stepped out onto the side of the dirt road and began to talk to this ominous orb as it
approached us. “Who are you? What are you? Reveal yourself to me…” I questioned it. By
this time, it was flashing about ten feet in front of me, still close to twenty feet above the ground.
“Shut up!” Corp. Stenger quietly chastised me.
I then looked at him and with a serious expression and stated, “This … whatever it is,” I
pointed to where the ball of light flashed last, “is not of this world.” Silence permeated the
atmosphere. The ball of light then flashed almost directly above me, as if in response to what I
just said. Corp. Stenger and I both got a clear look at it this time. I also realized that this ball of
light was no longer moving. It flashed about three times, remaining stationary, as if observing
us. I pointed this out to Corp. Stenger, and he didn’t know what to say.
“Maybe it’s some sort of bug…” he mumbled.
“Don’t be an idiot!” I was now chastising him. “It’s the size of a soccer ball! You saw
it!”
Corp. Stenger scratched his head. “Maybe it’s some sort of experimental technology
they’re deploying from one of the aircraft-carriers in the gulf?” he quizzed, wondering now what
my response would be. “Maybe some sort of laser?”
I was still wearing my AN/PVS-7s, (night-vision goggles), so I turned them on, and
looked up to where I saw the ball of light flash last. I could see nothing. I lowered the goggles
and stared at Corp. Stenger. “We have nothing that could do this. A laser shoots a strait beam of
light, and needs an uninterrupted space in which to project. This thing is down in the trees,
traveling around like a small probe, and is a ball of light. This is definitely not a laser, and it
doesn’t appear to be physical either, because I can’t see it with the goggles, and it’s making
absolutely no sound whatsoever.” I then handed the goggles to Corp. Stenger and demanded that
he try to see it for himself. He looked, and could see nothing.
While he was looking, I continued to lecture him. “It’s not ball lightning either, because
ball lightning doesn’t flash like that. I read about ball lightning, which looks sort of like this, but
when ball lightning appears, it zips around wildly until it’s gone. It usually dissipates into
something that attracts lightning, such as metal objects. Here is a bunch of metal, a field radio
with an antenna that is nothing short of a lightning rod, and some batteries”, I pointed to the M-
60 and the backpack with the radio in it, “and that ball of light isn’t going for it. It’s just sitting
up there, checking us out. Ball lightning doesn’t do that! Ball lightning doesn’t move through

the jungle, then stop over the middle of a road and check people out! This thing appears to be
resembling some sort of intelligence!”
By this time, Corp. Stenger was sweating profusely, scanning nervously with the goggles,
and growing with paranoia. I was loving it!
“And it’s not swamp gas either, because swamp gas is just a glowing greenish mist, not a
ball of light as bright as a camera flash. Stenger, we are faced with an intelligent life form
probably from another world” I stated with confidence, and awe. He looked at me with fear in
his eyes, and I smiled back with delight. The light flashed again, as if responding to my
statements again.
“Here, let me see those goggles,” I asked in a calm, collected tone of voice. He handed
them to me, and I proceeded to walk out into the very center of the road. “I’m going to try to
communicate with it,” I said to Corp. Stenger.
“Are you crazy? We don’t know what that is!”
“If it wanted to harm us, I’m sure it could’ve done so by now.”
Corp. Stenger refrained from speaking any further, and took a few steps backward off the
road. He didn’t want to be a part of what I was going to attempt to do. I really didn’t know what
I was going to do, but I thought it would sound good to say such a cryptic statement. I felt like I
was in an episode of Star Trek.
While lifting the goggles to my eyes, I looked up to where the light flashed last. I then
cleared my mind, and tried to feel where it was going to flash next. Oddly enough, a strange
sensation overcame me. I actually felt that the object was moving. “I can feel it moving” I
stated to Corp. Stenger. I felt the object fly right over my head, lower to about fifteen feet off the
ground, and stop about twenty feet behind me. I followed it with the night vision goggles,
spinning myself around in the opposite direction I was facing before, keeping my goggles
pointed at where I thought I felt its presence. I then began to speak slowly. “The next time it
will flash, it’s going to be right…about…”, then WHAM! The light flashed exactly where I was
looking with the night vision goggles. I was blinded for about a full minute, because the goggles
amplify all light, and the flash was as bright as a camera flash. I was astounded!
“Wow! Did you see that Stenger!” I excitedly pronounced, blind, and amazed. “I
communicated with it! It showed me where it was going to flash next! There’s no way I
could’ve known that! This thing is intelligent. It stayed in that one spot until I wanted to
communicate with it. Then it moved way over there,” I pointed where it flashed, “and made me
feel where it was going! I actually felt its presence! And right when I was about ready to say
‘THERE’, it flashed, as if it even knows what I’m saying!” Corp. Stenger stood motionless,
staring at me. He didn’t seem to share my enthusiasm.
I continued talking to this strange ball of light, but nothing more came of it. It didn’t do
anything particularly spectacular, like turn into a humanoid or anything. It simply demonstrated
to me that without a doubt, it was in fact intelligent, and it was in fact checking us out. It
proceeded to circle our post in a complete 360 degree circle, taking about fifteen minutes to do
so. Then it slowly meandered down the road, flashing periodically as it went.
The next day I reminded Corp. Stenger of the event, and he simply looked at me and
chuckled. “Hanging around you long enough, something weird was bound to happen,” he joked.
I asked members of the other posts if they saw anything, and one member from both
posts did. They said it stopped and flashed above the road at each post, as if taking note of their
presence. I told them the whole story, and they got a kick out of it. But unfortunately, the event subsided into a vague recollection, and prompting the event in conversation did nothing for me
but ask for ridicule. As stated earlier, they mocked that I was the reason for this strange event.
In my opinion, these individuals were faced with something utterly astonishing, and their
complacent attitude towards it astounds me almost more than the ball of light itself.
This event stands clear in my memory as if it happened yesterday. I was not alone when
this happened. I was fully alert, and completely sober. My prior interest in the paranormal was
thus intensified by this event, and I can now speak from personal experience that I know that
there are things in this world that contemporary science has yet to explain. At that time, I didn’t
think the Bible had any explanation for these things either. I was wrong.