“I thought it was birds at first,” said Ronnie Neary. “As they got closer, I could tell they were…well…for lack of a better word, UFOs. I figured Roy was playing a trick on me.”
It was a late summer afternoon. An ice cream truck made a rare appearance in the River District. Longing for a childhood memory, Neary’s husband, Roy, chased after the ice cream man hoping he had screwballs. That’s when the three disc-shaped crafts appeared. Neary wasn’t the only person to see the objects.
Allan Dallis returned his bike to the bike share after an hour ride on the River Walk. “I locked the bike back into place. It really irks me when people just dropped the bikes. This is something good for our city. We have to treat it with respect. Anyway, I turned around, and Blam! just above my head was the saucers. I called to my friend Travis who was a few minutes behind me. He didn’t answer, and I’m not going to lie, my first thought was, they took Travis”
Fortunately, Travis wasn’t abducted. He saw the UFOs as well. “For some reason, they looked very familiar to me.” Another witness, Barbara Land described the objects as “typical Hollywood adaptations with no creativity.” She didn’t stick around to see what the visitors wanted. “I was throwing a party that night and needed to get to Vintages for wine. Besides, it’s not the first time I’ve seen a UFO.” Land would not elaborate any further on that statement.
The effects weren’t quarantined to the River District. A witness who asked to remain anonymous said, “I WAS AT HOME LISTENING TO THE SCANNER WHEN SOMETHING ODD CAME ACROSS THE RADIO WAVES. IT WAS A CONVERSATION, BUT IN A LANGUAGE I’D NEVER HEARD BEFORE. SO, I GOT ON MY SCOOTER AND HEADED OUT HOPING TO CATCH A FEW PHOTOS FOR FACEBOOK. I SAW THE UFOS JUST OVER MAIN STREET BRIDGE. I TRIED TO TAKE SOME PHOTOS BUT THEY CAME OUT BLANK. I REALLY DIDN’T UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS HAPPENING, BUT I STILL POSTED ABOUT IT ON FACEBOOK.”
Most people who took photos during the visit had the same results. “I was right there. I had the perfect shot for Instagram. The silver in the UFOs against the blue sky would have been out of this world with my favorite filter Ludwig. But after snapping a few shots, the photos where solid black,” said Shelly Jessop. “It was a bummer. It’s once in a lifetime that you see something like that.”
That’s not true, according to photographer, Edward Pollard, who was the only person to capture photographic evidence of the visitation. “These things are too smart for our technology. Getting the most likes on social media isn’t healthy for their survival. The Grays, and I’m assuming they were Grays based on the shape of the crafts, can scramble the latest iOs or Peanut Butter and Jelly or whatever Android is calling their operating system now. You have to go old school. I captured them on my Polaroid.” Pollard is familiar with the recent visitors. “I’ve seen them a few times. It’s become more frequent lately which is troublesome. I remember a few weeks ago, overhearing a conversation. Someone said he couldn’t believe Ace Frehley played in Danville. I thought to myself, Ace isn’t the only spaceman to come to Danville.” Pollard wouldn’t elaborate on why he feels these visits are troublesome.
We may never know why the visitors decided to make themselves known last summer. Witnesses have some ideas, but nothing has been proven. “Our YMCA is pretty darn nice,” witness, Jerry Ross, said with a chuckle. “But seriously, Danville is a pretty great place. If I was an alien, I’d stop to check it out as I was passing by.”
Ronnie Neary seems to think the saucers were here to protest the proposed casino in Danville. Her husband, Roy, argued that “the casino talk hadn’t started yet” at the time of the visit. To which, Neary replied, “They are aliens. They can see into the future. Roy shrugged. He had no explanation for the crafts. He was just happy the ice cream man had screwballs.
