An incident from North Carolina in March 1979 would leave the witness, Pat Eudy with several hours of missing time after witnessing a strange, bright light while driving home. What’s more, as well as the blank of three hours in his mind, he would suffer several days of painful discomfort on his body and eyes.

Eudy would ultimately recover the missing memories following an intense session with a psychologist. However, it would take him two years before finally seeking out the help of UFO investigator, Henry Morton, who Eudy was put in touch with through an Ohio UFO research organization.

During this two-year wait, Eudy would have partial flashes of memory, but for the most part, three hours were essentially wiped from his mind. He would state that he “couldn’t get it off his mind” and that he “wanted to make sure” of exactly what happened that night as he drove along the lonely roads of Monroe, North Carolina. The account that would be revealed was fascinating and bizarre in equal measure.

While the Internet has undoubtedly brought the account (as it has for countless others) back into the collective conscious of the UFO community, the incident did receive, albeit limited, press coverage in the immediate years following the encounter. The Monroe Enquirer-Journal would run a report on the case in the 27th September 1981 edition, while the MUFON UFO Journal would mention the case in the May 1982 edition.

An Eight Mile Journey That Took Three Hours!

Although the exact date is uncertain, in the early hours of a March morning in 1979, at around 3 am, 46-year-old Pat Eudy was driving home toward Monroe from the town of Locust where he had spent the evening with a friend. He had enjoyed two beers but was certainly not above the limit to drive.

He was heading toward the Rocky River bridge and to the house he shared with his mother. As he always did, he “looked at the stars” as he approached the bridge. Only this time, a “bright light in the sky” filled his vision. After that, his mind would skip forward to around 6:20 am, still on his route home, and approaching one of the local stores.

The journey was a mere eight miles and should not have taken three hours. And what’s more, he had no memory whatsoever of it. Of even more concern:

My eyes were just burning like anything. (And) my skin had a sensation of stinging and itching!

This discomfort would last for several days following the strange encounter. His memory of it, though, would not return.

Through the previously mentioned Henry Morton, Eudy would contact and speak with psychologist, Richard Pinneau. The information that would follow is as disturbing as it is remarkable.

Suddenly “On Board A UFO!”

Without the aids of memory recovery employed by Pinneau, Eudy’s recollection of the bizarre events of that March morning stopped following the sudden, bright light coming at him from the sky above.

He would suddenly realize that following the approach of the bright light he was “on board a UFO”. What’s more, there was an “astronaut in a suit” in the room with him. A dark visor covered the entity’s face, who stood approximately five feet tall. On its frame was a metallic-type suit and as it moved and went about its business it “never spoke a word”.

When he looked around the room, he could see that it was brightly lit and with a similar look to the “cockpit of a plane”. As this memory came back to him, he also recalled asking his strange host a string of questions regarding the room and how things in it worked. He didn’t receive a response – at least one he could remember.

After several more minutes, the figure would lead him into a second room. This one was much darker than the first room. So much so that a sudden feeling fear swept through him. By the time he was “put in a chair like a doctor’s chair and strapped down” that fear increased dramatically.

He wasn’t sure what exactly the creature was doing but he seemed to recall that some kind of tests or examinations were taking place. He would further recall that pain in his fingers following the procedure made him think that several blood samples were taken.

No Memory Of Entering The Craft

Despite the memories of the first room, as well as the much darker second room and the medical-type tests that took place, Eudy had no memory of entering the craft. He would speculate that the craft had picked up his car, possibly using “some form of magnetism”, which he also suggested may have served as a propulsion mechanism for the craft.

Furthermore, he doesn’t recall, following the sessions to recall his memory of even crossing the bridge where he first witnessed the bright light. This would make him think that the craft, using the magnetic technology he suggested, simply set down his vehicle several miles down the road from it following the examination procedures.

As we will examine shortly, this is a potentially important detail. The idea that the vehicle was seemingly hovering off the ground but not on board the craft. And furthermore, and perhaps more importantly, the seemingly seamless transition from one destination (the vehicle) to the other (the craft).

Although he still doesn’t have any specific answers concerning the encounter, the sessions with Pinneau allowed him to dismiss the notion that the events were imagined only. Something which “eased his mind”.

Other Early 1979 Accounts With Connections To The Monroe Incident?

Whether there are connections to be made is a matter of opinion and for debate, but several other sightings around the same time are perhaps worth examining.

For example, at around 7 pm on the evening of the 6th March in Oconee County in nearby South Carolina, multiple witnesses saw a “luminous dome or domed disc” shining an extremely bright light as it descended out of the night sky. The entire area was illuminated in the glow of the intense light.

While there are no reports of suspected alien abduction, the sudden emergence of a strange craft with a bright light in the same (rough) location and around the same time is interesting at the very least.

Another report, although it occurred at least several days before the incident in Munroe on the evening of 26th February, this time from the Santa Fe province in Argentina is also interesting. Farm worker, Ernaldo Camusoni was clearing the entrance to the farm’s fields when “darkness turned into day” as something illuminated the entire area from above.

As he scanned his immediate surroundings in an effort to locate the source of the light, he would make out a strange object approaching. However, the light was so intense he couldn’t make out any further details of the apparent craft other than it was similar to a “truncated cone”.

Camusoni would continue to watch. Amazingly, a “strange luminous figure” would appear from inside the craft. What’s more, he was wearing a “very shiny outfit” and appeared “robot-like” as it moved. Its entire face was covered with a “trunk-like object”. The strange creature would approach Camusoni. It would stop in front of him for a moment before quickly head back into the craft, which then rose and disappeared back into the night sky.

The Remarkable Similarities Of The Lee Parrish Incident

While there are indeed plenty of differences between the accounts, an incident from Prospect, Kentucky a little over two years previously just after midnight on the 27th January 1977 also have several very distinct similar details. That evening, while returning home, 19-year-old Lee Parrish would witness a similar craft and also experience just under an hour of missing time.

Incidentally, different reports of this particular case differ on the spelling of the surname of the witness. The initial APRO Bulletin account spells it Parrish, while other accounts have used the spelling, Parish. We have used the former as that appears to be the first time the account entered the wider public domain.

At around 1 am on the night in question, after watching a television show with his girlfriend, Kathy Johnson, Parrish set out in his Jeepster for the seven-minute journey home. He would negotiate his vehicle on to Highway 329, noting how clear the roads were despite the piles of snowfall here and there on the roadside.

It was only moments after setting off from Kathy’s home when he noticed a strange object hovering at an extremely low altitude of around 150 feet from the ground. From his position, the object appeared a rectangle shape, approximately 40 feet long and 10 feet tall. Furthermore, it appeared to be a “setting sun” color. However, the brightness of the object was such that Parrish had trouble keeping his focus on it. Despite this, he couldn’t fight a compulsion to return his gaze to the object only moments after having to avert his eyes due to the intense glare.

Then, things would take an even stranger turn.

More Missing Time And Discreetly Matching Details

He would suddenly realize that he was not driving the car. Even though it was still making its way down the road. After several seconds, the strange craft was hovering steadily directly over the top of his stricken vehicle. He would later describe his jeep as being “caught” by the craft.

This, as we will come back to shortly, is potentially an important and matching detail to the Monroe abduction, at least in terms of the technology utilized to transplant these unwilling and unsuspecting victims from their vehicles to these seemingly otherworldly crafts.

The next thing he knew, though, the craft was speeding away. After gathering his thoughts, he would start the vehicle once more and continue on his way home. All the way back he would marvel at how the bizarre and futuristic craft had not made a sound. Despite the electrifying speed with which it moved.

When he arrived home, however, not only was his mother concerned with the extreme bloodshot look in his eyes, but the clock declared it was 1:45 am. As far as he was concerned, he had left Kathy less than ten minutes before. But according to each clock in the house, that journey had taken 45 minutes.

By the following morning, with his distress at not being able to recall clearly the better part of a journey that had taken almost an hour longer than it should have, his mother would contact APRO investigators. After an initial evaluation of the details of the case, as well as Parrish’s own mental state, investigators would suggest hypnotic regression as a means of unlocking the elusive minutes of that bizarre journey home.

An Intense Light And Strange Sentient Beings

He would notice the strange object almost immediately after leaving Kathy’s house. At first, he thought it was something crashing and on fire. However, it was soon obvious it was hovering purposely. He was unable to keep his eyes on the craft for longer than a few seconds. When he did, they would hurt due to the intensity of the light.

Then, the object came directly toward him. From his perspective, and similar to that of Pat Eudy, Parrish could simply see an intense light heading toward him. Then, everything went black but at the same time, he could “feel something in his eyes”. Although he couldn’t recall being moved or moving, the next thing he knew he was no longer inside his vehicle. Instead, he was in a bright, circular room.

In front of him were three “beings”, who were robotic but still, Parrish sensed were “sentient”. He would recall them as the “red one”, the “white one”, and the “black one”. It was the black one who first approached Parrish. Upon it touching him, he would feel both pain and terror run through him. In fact, during his regression sessions, he would yell out on several occasions, “No, not the black one!”

He would later describe the sensation of the black one’s touch as being “cold and burning” simultaneously. He would also recall how it appeared to induce a “vibrating” feeling inside him.

Further Strange Examination Procedures

Following the unnerving encounter with the black robot-like entity, the “red one” would approach him. However, unlike before, Parrish had the feeling that this being was “reluctant” to approach or engage him. When it did make contact, although it stung like an injection, he didn’t feel the disturbing emotions he had before. He did, however, feel extremely cold during this particular encounter. Furthermore, whether inside his head or not, the entire room felt like “a boat on the water”.

The “white one”, however, would not move from the middle of the room. Again, not understanding how he knew, the white one was clearly controlling the other two beings. The red and black objects would back away from him suddenly and “line up” behind the white one. A strange sound also rang out like a “rhythmic scraping”.

The room continued to move and rock, causing him to feel heavier, as well as confused. Before he knew it, the red and white objects had left the room, leaving him alone with the black one. Then, rather bizarrely, the black object disappeared also. Parrish couldn’t tell if it left the room or dematerialized.

Regardless of how it happened, though, he was now alone in the strange room.

The next thing he knew, again with no sense of transition between the two, he was no longer in the strange room. But was back in his Jeep. During hypnosis he would suddenly exclaim, “Look, there’s the pond!”

The method of transportation, or more specifically, lack thereof, is perhaps what appears to connect this case with the Pat Eudy encounter two years later. A detail that is shared between the two encounters. And perhaps a detail too specific and unique to be coincidental.

There Are Others Who Have Seen Things!

Unlike Parrish, it would take Pat Eudy the best part of two years’ worth of deliberation with himself as to whether or not he should report the incident. As well as whether he should connect his name to that report should it go public.

Perhaps also of interest, and a small, trivial detail that suggests credibility on Eudy’s part, is his full and transparent “admission” that he was very much a “believer” of UFOs and alien life existing elsewhere in the universe long before his strange encounter of March 1979.

While it is pure speculation on our part, one would imagine a person looking to pull the wool over the collective eyes of the UFO community and the wider public would perhaps declare themselves to have had no interest in the subject at all before their “encounter”.

It is also interesting to note Eudy’s comments regarding his reasons or coming forward to the Enquirer-Journal newspaper in the first place. He would state:

There are other people who’ve seen things. And maybe now they’ll step forward and tell it like it is!

Indeed, the comments are accurate in their entirety. And still very much so today. While the subject of UFOs, and more specifically what they might be slowly fights its way to a credible topic discussion today in the twenty-first century, it remains a subject seen as fringe and pseudo-esque. Clearing this one hurdle alone will advance the research opportunities. And the seriousness of debate of the UFO and alien question most likely more than anything else.

Check out the video below. It looks at the topic of UFOs in general.