Southern West Virginia 1930's Red Glowing Fireballs

Date: Spring of 1932 or 1933
Time: Evening

Hi Brian, my grandmother lived in rural southern West Virginia near a small town nestled in the Appalachian foothills. There were very few cars in those days so most people walked to and from town or church often for miles along hilly paths or long stretches of isolated dirt roadways night or day.

It was in the spring of around 1932 or 1933 that grandma, who was in her 40's, had been returning to her home from town which was just a couple miles away. It was near dusk when she found herself on a particularly isolated stretch of road near a hill the locals had dubbed "Water Tank Hill". At the time , she was the only one on the road and as far as she knew the only one who witnessed this event.

"Water Tank Hill" was known apparently then for its "ghost lights". Evidently, at some point in time, these ghostly lights were seen by various people as "red, glowing fireballs" which would zig zag or bob along this hill and adjacent ridges. As mysteriously as they would appear, they would disappear-- then reappear again in cycles.

Grandma had just started down the gentle slope in the road when suddenly something shot out just in front and above her in the sky from a ridge near the "infamous" Water Tank Hill. She said it had so startled her that she actually "froze" in midstep. The next thought in her mind was that she was looking at one of the "ghost lights". Her description of it therefore fit what the others had apparently been seeing during the nights---"red, glowing" or "fireball".

The next second she realized it had to be something other than a "ghost light" and that frightened her even more because she had no explanation at all for what she was seeing. The red object hovered (as I recall , it made no sound ) and she saw "protrusions" from the object. When I asked her just what she meant by that, her reply was 'well, like antennas or legs sticking out from it". It therefore in her mind was "machine", not "ghost" and this defied any concept of any machine she knew about. I asked her if it somehow could've been an airplane, but she shook her head emphatically 'no'.

She went on to say that once she saw these strange protrusions , she ran like "a scared rabbit" the rest of the way home. She didn't know if the object followed her for she was too afraid to look up. Once she got inside the house and bolted the door (a rare thing for one to do in those days, as people often left their doors unlocked all hours), she wouldn't look out. My grandma was not the person who was easily frightened . But what she saw that spring night unnerved her for sometime.

It's just possible she was the only one who got a good look at the "ghost lights " that made their appearances around this hill.

From her description, I rather think that these lights were more UFO related than will o' wisps or ghost-related. Thank you.

If you have seen anything like this in the same area please be kind enough to contact Brian Vike at: sighting@telus.net with the details of your sighting. All personal information is kept confidential.

Credit: The Vike Archives & Sightings.com