-- by Lynn Taylor

Several times in the summer of 1998, John Tosti had traveled with his friend, “Jimmy," to a spot near Gosport, Indiana to fish. Their route took them down a remote gravel lane called simply, “The Old River Road”, which follows the banks of the White River. One evening, the pair decided to try their luck night catfishing at this location. All evening, with considerable success, they fished from a large sand bar formed by a bend in the river. It was the perfect “fishin’ hole”.. quiet, secluded, and dark.

Sometime after midnight, they began to notice three strangely lit aircraft clustered together overhead, but apparently, at different altitudes. Jimmy remarked, “I’ve never seen airplanes lit up that way.” John described them as having two bright lights in the rear, and one bright light in front, forming a triangle.

Next, they watched as a round object with round lights all around the edge, moved over the river and lit up the trees and water below. As the river reflected the glowing white light, four strobe lights around the object flashed rapidly. “It was the most beautiful thing I ever saw!” John commented.

As the object passed overhead, John flashed his flashlight up at it. By now, John and Jimmy had given up fishing for the evening, and headed back the car. They only drove about a quarter of a mile, when one of them spotted a reddish-orange object hovering just above the corn in a field next to the road. Again, John flashed his light at the object. Immediately, the object dimmed and disappeared, only to reappear further back in the field and away from the road. Another flash from John’s light, and the disappearing act repeated. John and Jimmy drove another mile down the road, when the red-orange light once more appeared over some distant trees. It hung motionless as the men stopped and got out of the car to observe. When John hit the object with his light, it began to move slowly away.

John’s conclusion: “Something’s going on over ‘Old River Road’.”

I can’t help but think back to 1997's sightings of strange lights over the White River, down stream from Gosport, near Spencer, Indiana. According to reports, the Owen County Sheriff’s Department was informing some of the county’s citizens that the lights they were seeing in the night sky was what they referred to as “NOIDS”. The department went on to explain that “NOIDS” were drug interdiction satellites. One lady wrote me to ask, “Can satellites come down and fly around like that?” I assured her that, they certainly cannot.