I wish I had pictures. Or a recording. Or something more credible than described memories of my encounter in the desert. But as with many mysterious and occult occurrences, it happened so fast there was no time for witness or capture.
My daughter, Livvy, and I had visited spectacular Joshua Tree National Park during the day on March 17, 2022. We drove and hiked around the park and looked for a camping spot with no luck.
We knew there was Bureau of Land Management (BLM) territory outside the town of Joshua Tree, and that was our fallback. About an hour before sunset, we exited the national park and drove to the BLM land. We took a right off the paved road and drove in about a half mile on dirt road surrounded by open, flat, sage-brushed desert terrain, and found a spot to pitch our tents for the night.
As we got out and stretched, perusing our surroundings, Livvy said, “What the heck is that?”
Across the desert expanse, maybe five miles to the east, hovering over the distant mountains, was a black, vaguely roundish object. Not sitting still in place, but not flying either. Rather it was moving slightly side to side. Hovering. It was far away and difficult to see. It remained there for at least an hour as we set about pitching our tents and preparing dinner.
A weather balloon, I offered? Livvy didn’t think so. She could see the strange object better than I.
Flying Train
Darkness fell. We went about our business, having dinner, softening our tent interiors for slumber. We shelved thoughts of the mysterious object for the moment.
A full moon shone, and around 9:30 p.m. Livvy and I retired to our respective tents. I laid down and pulled up a Netflix movie. Around 9:45 a sound unlike anything I’ve heard before entered my auditory field and gradually grew louder. I lifted my head to listen better.
The only way I can think of to describe it is like a train flying over us. It sounded like a flying craft, slightly and quickly undulating but not like wings. The sound didn’t resemble jet propulsion either. Like a loud train growing closer and closer.
As it became quite loud, something close overhead, I began to push up so I could see outside my tent. The moment I began pushing up, the loud train sound whooshed and was gone in a split second. I looked all around the desert and in the sky. Nothing.
“What in the heck was that?” Livvy said from her tent. “What in the hell…” I said simultaneously. We were both glad each other heard it, too.
The entire occurrence lasted about five seconds.
Unexplained Freaky Occurrence
I lay awake after the noise for at least two hours before I was able to drift off. Wondering.
Livvy and I talked about it, mulling what it could have been. A drone? Definitely not a personal drone, and not like any drone I’ve ever seen. Military drone? Quite unlikely that a military drone operator would risk the danger of buzzing a couple of desert campers. Perhaps an experimental, high-tech flying craft, or some sort of surveillance operation? Possibly.
I’ve since heard about high-tech companies with labs in the desert experimenting on future air and space craft. By some accounts, the Mojave has become what Area 51 used to be: a hotbed of experimental flying technology that inspire stories like mine from visitors to the area.
Perhaps the flying object, whatever it was, came from one of those experimenting companies. Or…? Something not of this world?
A Mystified Cynic
To explain emphatically, I am not nor have I ever been someone to believe in things beyond what can be proved. Nearly all occurrences in my life can be explained. On the other hand, I am also open to possibilities in the universe beyond what our science can yet encapsulate. Sometimes I’ve been witness to very strange coincidences that speak to an energy that our human imagining has not yet identified.
But our encounter with…whatever it was in the Mojave Desert was a rare one in which I still have no explanation.
When we arose to the sunrise in the morning, the black object we’d seen the night before, hanging over the distant mountains, was gone.
One other thing, maybe not so strange: my watch was 10 minutes slow the next morning. It is a cheap, traveling watch, and it has since been dragging slightly, likely a dying battery. Still, it hasn’t once lost an entire 10 minutes in one night.
Cocktail Party Fodder
What was it that buzzed us out there in the desert? Was the noise related to the black object in the sky? Is it worth spending time in contemplation?
I’ve since related the incident to many people and have yet to hear anyone offer any slight knowledge of what it might have been.
Livvy and I remain mystified. But what the hell, it makes for a good story.
If anyone has knowledge or guesses as to what might have swooped near us in the desert, please comment below.