Last night, I watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind. At one point, there was a scene where strange lights appeared outside a house. I paused the movie there and went upstairs to make some popcorn. When I looked out the window, I saw an eerie glow! We went outside and took some pictures:
There was nothing paranormal about it, however. We'd had storms earlier in the day; the sky was still overcast, and this was right around sunset. We were seeing light from the sunset diffused through the clouds. It definitely looked weird, though, and was very appropriate given the movie I was watching.
I'd never seen Close Encounters before. I thought it had some really good moments but was a little boring. I'm sure it was mind-blowing when it came out, though. Wendy was quick to point out that the main character was a terrible husband and father. He completely abandons his family to go chase UFOs, and he gets rewarded at the end with all the glory!
The main reason I watched the movie is because we have tickets to see Disclosure Day this weekend. Both movies are directed by Spielberg, and I thought it would be interesting to compare them. I'm both looking forward to and dreading Disclosure Day. On the one hand, it's Spielberg, so it will surely be an entertaining movie. On the other hand, it might help popularize UFO narratives that have long since been discredited. But we'll see.
Lately, I've been learning a lot about NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena). It was a fairly popular UFO organization created in the late 1950s that ran for several decades. One thing I've learned is just how little things have changed since then. The belief that "disclosure day" (the day the government announces UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft) will be "any day now" has been around for over 60 years!
I can hear my high school history teacher, Mrs. Stubblefield, even now, saying, "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."