Out Of The Corner Of Your Eye
by Richard Carter and Lori Carter
(Copyright © 2009 Richard Carter and Lori Carter)
Posted: 13:00 November 30, 2009
A man or woman can sometimes live their entire life somewhere, in a community of close knit people, and still never make themselves or their beliefs known. They can interact on a daily basis, in what seems like more a family than a town and still not trust those very people, enough to speak freely.
We can explain our religious and political differences, talk about those who come and go over the years, lament over the yearly loss of the quaintness of a place feeling the times, losing its timelessness, but we are so involved, as the rest of the world is, in playing the role we have assigned ourselves, that we grow insecure in the fear of damaging that image.
In coming to know many of you over a 24 year span here, Butler has become, in my heart, my home town. Though I graduated from Belton High school in 1978 I consider this home.
When I came to town I was very different man, and just looking at my manner of dress at the time and my behavior was enough to prove this point. I didn't like the worry and fear I saw in people's eyes that I caused, by my clothing and hairstyle, so I tried hard to understand my new world and be a part of it, A real part of it!
Over the years I made so many friends among you, the ones I could call by name, and those friendly faces who always recognized mine, and waved or smiled, with never an introduction between us. Whatever our lives amount to, in titles and responsibilities, it's still the value of these social interactions that means everything.
So before ever even considering the reality of what I'm about to talk about, I weighed the lose heavily in my mind. The loss? Of respect, of associations, of friendships....and credibility. We can fear embarrassment due to pride, but the loss of credibility, at least to me, is the worse wound a man or woman could receive. Credibility is what allows a physician to trust us, and properly treat us. It is the necessary basis to effect a positive outcome to police reports, doctors visits, and just about any business transaction or at least it should be.
So as I relate this to you. Remember one thing, in your conversations with me over the years, whether you like me or not, whether, you liked the point I was trying to make, or my manner of speech, remember I wasn't lying to you. My father told me in one of his moments of wisdom, that you could be a preacher, or a teacher, or even a bank robber, and as long as your word meant something there was a place for you. But he told me no one has any use for a liar. With this having been said, I leave it to your belief, your skepticism, or your personal knowledge of who I am as a man.
Lori and I have enjoyed this part of our lives, living in this town, our families all with families of their own. Our beliefs much the same. I give time to read the bible in the quietness of the morning and we have our crafts and interests, a much different schedule from any of mine the past. But we decided to take up photography because of its cheapness, a digital camera, a onetime purchase, and a card or series of them. We like the quietness of the countryside, and started taking pictures of interesting trees, bushes, any fixture or fixtures of nature, set in a attractive scheme.
Old barns, bridges, etc. Well I thought why not take pictures at night. Shoot into blind areas in the dark of breaks in a forest wall, into a hollow, across fields, and hills, hoping to catch a deer or other animal in its nightly comings and goings. But as I looked at the new pictures acquired nightly hoping to find a few good shots, out of 80 or 90 pictures I started finding abnormal settings, and activity of other things in them than animals. Odd lights and shapes. Now there was more, and here's where the rub occurs. There appeared in the center of a hundred picture shoot, over a 45 minute route, images we did not remember ever taking. You see, we would come home feeling we'd had one more peaceful, uneventful evening, just to find strange images around our vehicle, things in the sky, with lights and windows, a figure in front of the car in a ( space suit?), or something very close.
We had no idea what we were dealing with. My artist's eye, possibly seeing shapes in things that were natural, that appeared strange? Bad reflections through the windshield due to me taking pictures with the flash from inside the car? Reflections from the floor and dash area? Still nothing could explain the figure with the helmet and visor. My friend in California, who works in the film industry, was sent the ones we couldn't explain and came back with explanation it was probably my tennis shoes morphed in the image. We were fascinated but unworried and with Halloween coming up, thought, hey this was fun for us maybe other people might enjoy taking spooky pictures and we'd compare them in a contest, in fact we'd host it. At the time there was a rumor that the contest on the square might not occur and having always enjoyed them and won four of them, I figured hey, give something back to the community and we'll all have fun as well.
I thought it would have a bigger turn out, but all the same we continued occasionally taking pictures at night. Halloween night came and went and we found in our pictures another grouping we were unaware of. This time an orange light large and round in the middle of a saucer like thing that sat down next to H highway, just 40 to 50 yards from us,(I'm guessing on the distance.)
There were also something or someone in the road with a light on their helmet or hat(? ), stopping us in our lane, an encounter we can't remember. Believe me, if we saw a vehicle the shape of a huge thick, Frisbee, with a light in its nose setting down near us, well we would remember. For the first time I now knew, beyond my own walls of doubt, what it was, and that apparently the other photos had been most probably real as well, and none of us taking pictures that night were aware of this.
A member of my family also went out taking shots in a similar area and not only had an encounter clearly in their film, but had sections of it take place at their home, outside the house. The very orange lights and shadows of figures present there as well. We went out a total of 4 nights, trying to see if we could gain anything to clarify, the situation for us, and were left each evening with more strange pictures and no memory of photographing them.
We do not take recreational drugs, drink, or do anything that would encourage hallucinations. These photos are our final, statement of fact. We have no computer skills that would enable us to fabricate them nor the desire to lead anyone astray. Our concern is that others of you may have experienced something similar and as we have been, are/were hesitant to go on the record with your story of them. We are concerned that there are others who've experienced a loss of time, on one or multiple occasions, taken photos of things they can't explain, seen strange behavior among their livestock, or are having uncomfortable dreams, or fragments of memory of things they don't feel comfortable speaking of.
I am sorry this has been so long winded, but I feel this is the best way I can approach it. Study the photos. Some of their quality is horrible. Others among them are still worse. The important facts to remember though are these, none of them has been altered besides lightening for a better view. They were taken during a period WE CAN'T REMEMBER, and finally, the things, visible in each, represent solid material objects that were there,. They are images of moving objects and living beings, though difficult to see.
We took a tape player on the third night and wish we hadn't. Because of its embarrassing nature, it was destroyed. What was clear, that you could hear, was a voice saying "let me in" another, saying "bang, bang, bang". Conversation by voices other than ours.
And a voice saying "that's some butt crack" then another saying, "yea, I love re-con" embarrassing but essential for you to understand the nature of the people involved. There was silence and later a voice saying "they're ready now" and 10 - 15 (?) seconds later we started the jeep and pulled away chatting like we had before the encounter, with no mention or memory of it. It wasn't until we listened to the tape we heard what I've related.
This is the most important point to me aside from the memory loss. We were dragged, initially from the vehicle, by force. The sound of my mate being dragged and the whimpering, and then me struggling for what sounded like 5 seconds, still in my seat, there was a humming sound in two short bursts, and I was quiet a second, then I started fighting again, and after another short burst of a machines humming sound I was quiet for the duration. Why haven't we approached the police with this story? We didn't feel comfortable telling our direct family, and they, though they love us, were doubtful. |
We know, of course you will approach this with a skeptics mind, but we Hope you will each accept it as a real possibility and act accordingly, and will carry your cameras, and seek over time to prove it out to yourselves, one way or another. We drove the country roads , branching off of East Dakota, into the countryside, between East 52 highway and H highway. We took many pictures of the night sky with the flash. Be Careful! I hope the friendships I spoke of earlier on will continue.
Richard Carter/Lori Carter