Devils Den UFO Incident — June 1977: The Encounter Complete Account
Devils Den UFO Incident — June 1977: The Encounter Complete Account
[edit | edit source]Pre-Incident Atmosphere
[edit | edit source]The evening of the incident began normally. Lovelace and Toby had set up their camp on the high plateau, built a campfire, cooked a meal, and were enjoying a relaxed evening. Both noticed — and found unusual — a complete absence of wildlife sounds. The forest behind them was silent: no owls, no insects, no rustling. The meadow in front was still. Both men noticed this but initially attributed it to the campfire or their presence.
This pre-incident silence — an absence of normal nocturnal wildlife activity before the craft appeared — is a reported feature of numerous other UFO and abduction cases and is sometimes called the "Oz factor": an unusual stillness that precedes anomalous events.
The Three Lights
[edit | edit source]As they prepared to enter the tent for the night, Toby noticed three bright lights above the western horizon. His description:
- Three distinct light sources
- Arranged in a perfect, tight triangle — the geometry was too precise for natural objects or conventional aircraft navigation lights
- Stationary — not moving in any direction
- Bright — notably brighter than surrounding stars
Lovelace's summary of their reaction: "We were familiar with most kinds of aircraft and there is nothing that has lights in a perfect, tight triangle."
Both men were Air Force trained — familiar with military aircraft navigation lighting, commercial aviation lighting patterns, weather phenomena, and astronomical objects. Their assessment of the triangle as anomalous was not that of civilians unacquainted with conventional aerial phenomena.
The Craft Reveals Itself
[edit | edit source]After approximately 15 minutes of observation:
- The three lights began to rotate slowly as if on an axis
- They then ascended slightly and began moving toward the campsite
- As they grew closer and brighter, the space between and around the three lights became visible as a solid dark structure
- What had appeared to be three separate lights were the vertices of a single triangular craft
- The craft was enormous — approximately five stories tall*** — and was a black triangular prism***
- It descended toward the campsite until it hovered directly above their position, blocking out entire fields of stars in the sky around it
The Beam
[edit | edit source]From the craft, a beam of blue and white light descended. The beam bathed both men where they stood. Lovelace described the sensation of the light and the craft's proximity as overwhelming.
Then consciousness ended.
The Missing Time: Four Hours
[edit | edit source]The next memory either man had was waking at dawn the following morning. They were lying on the ground outside the tent. Four hours — approximately — had passed with no conscious experience. This period of missing time is the central temporal anomaly of the case and the dimension that, under hypnotic regression and subsequent memory recovery, revealed the examination aboard the craft.
The Physical Aftermath
[edit | edit source]Both men woke to:
| Symptom | Description |
|---|---|
| Radiation burns | Severe sunburn-like burns over exposed skin, despite having been in darkness at night; the burns were consistent in character with UV radiation exposure |
| Extreme thirst and dehydration | Both men were severely dehydrated — more so than any overnight period without water could explain |
| Nausea | Persistent nausea upon waking |
| Temporary hair loss | Hair falling out at a higher-than-normal rate in the days and weeks following |
| Physical weakness | General debilitation; both men felt physically unable to function normally |
| Psychological state | A profound sense of dread and urgency to leave the area; neither man wanted to speak |
The Return to Whiteman AFB
[edit | edit source]Without discussion, both men packed the camp and drove back to Whiteman AFB. The drive that had taken six hours southward felt different — compressed or extended, Lovelace is uncertain. They reported to the base hospital on arrival.
What happened next — the AFOSI interrogation — suggests that either the burns or some other aspect of their report triggered an immediate institutional response that went well beyond a standard medical evaluation.
