THINK ABOUTIT UFO SIGHTING REPORT

1977 Flora MS UFO Sighting:

Deputy Kenneth Creel’s Close Encounter

The Flora sighting of February 10, 1977, stands as one of the most significant law enforcement UFO encounters in Mississippi history. During a routine patrol, Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy Kenneth Creel and Constable James Ray Luke observed a perfectly round, metallic-blue craft, estimated at 30 to 40 feet in diameter, hovering just 20 to 30 feet above their vehicle. Classified as a Close Encounter of the First Kind (CE-I), the event was witnessed by nearly two dozen police officers and several local residents, making it a highly corroborated regional event.

Date: February 10, 1977

Sighting Time: 9:00 p.m.

Day/Night: Night

Location: Flora, Mississippi

Urban or Rural: Rural

Hynek Classification: CE-I (Close Encounter I) Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness (i.e. within 500’)

Duration: couple of minutes(Hovered over car for more than a minute)

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): Perfectly round disc with “little windows” or portholes emitting light.

Shape of Object(s): Round / Disc

Size of Object(s):  30 to 40 feet in diameter

Distance to Object(s): 20 to 30 feet (directly above the patrol car)

Shape of Object(s): Round, disc

Color of Object(s):  Metallic-blue; lights changed from soft blue to red to green.

Height & Speed: Hovered stationary; took off at high speed toward the northwest.

Number of Witnesses: Multiple

Special Features/Characteristics: Emitted a whirring noise “like a blender straining on ice.”

Source: Madison Co. Herald (Canton, MS), Feb. 17, 1977

Summary: Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy Kenneth Creel and Constable James Luke were on a routine patrol drive when they witnessed a 30 to 40 foot UFO which approached them at close range. “The thing came right over the car,” said Creel. “…The thing just hovered over us, about 20 or 30 feet up, for more than a minute.”

Report

Illustration of the encounter (credit: Madison Co. Herald).

“UFO Spotting Focuses On Deputy Creel”

When Madison County Sheriff’s Deputy Kenneth Creel left on a routine patrol drive last Thursday evening, he didn’t expect to find his attention completely focused on an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO).

Since he reported the incident to the Mississippi Highway Patrol that evening last week however, Creel has now found even more national attention focused on himself.

“I know I’m not crazy .. I’ve always said I didn’t believe in this stuff,” said Creel. “I don’t know what I saw, but I know I saw something . . It’s just hard to describe what happened.”

Deputy Creel first saw the object while driving down the Smith School Road four miles west of Flora, near the county line. He was with Constable James Luke at the time.

“It looked like an evening star or something,” said Creel, “but it kept getting brighter and bigger.”

Then, when the shape of the object began to form, Creel said he contacted the Mississippi Highway Patrol with his car radio equipment.

“I kind of thought it was an airplane flying low, or like it could have been.”

But when the strange object came within “about 200 yards” of his car—”out across the field”—then, Creel said, “I stopped and cut my engine and my lights to listen.”

What he heard was a whirring noise—”like a blender . . Like it was straining, when you first put ice in it”—and then the UFO started coming closer.

“The thing came right over the car,” said Creel. “It came right to us, like it was being piloted.”

How “the thing” got there is another question, because Creel says he could not tell if anything or anyone was inside.

“The thing just hovered over us, about 20 or 30 feet up, for more than a minute,” said Creel, who at this time was looking straight up, from his patrol car window.

“I didn’t get out, I wouldn’t.”

According to Deputy Creel, there was little way to tell much about the craft. “There was light coming out from little windows,” he said. And the light apparently changed colors several times, from soft blue to red to green and other colors.

The UFO was reportedly about 30 to 40 feet in diameter, and perfectly round. “It didn’t spin or anything. It just hoovered around there.”

After about a minute, Creel began backing up his patrol car “about 100 yards, to a place where I could turn around.”

By this time, however, Highway Patrolman Louis Younger drove up in his patrol car within a short distance of the UFO, and reported seeing the same object—with the same description Creel had given.

“Then the thing just picked up and took off, north west, toward Satartia.”

An unidentified object of the same general description was reported the same evening by other Flora residents, and Deputy Charles Bowering and Highway Patrolman Joe Chandler and others said they saw lights from an unidentified craft “from a distance.”

Since the sighting last week, Creel has tried to play down the incident.

There have been no more reports, but dozens of inquiries have come to Creel and the Sheriff’s Department for further investigation.

Some are “real cranks,” according to one department official.

Others, apparently are more serious investigators.

But as far as Creel is concerned, he would rather not have the attention. “If I had known how much trouble it was going to cause, I wouldn’t have reported the thing in the first place,” he said from the Sheriff’s Office last Friday.

And moments later the telephone rang. It was another radio station wanting to talk to Deputy Kenneth Creel.

Researcher’s Notes: High-Strangeness in Flora

Auditory Evidence and Mechanical Stress: Witnesses reported a unique acoustic signature compared to other sightings of the era—a high-pitched, whirring tone described as sounding like a “food blender” or “straining ice.” This sound suggests a high-energy mechanical or electromagnetic process occurring within the craft.

Visual Proximity and Corroboration: The credibility of this case is bolstered by the arrival of Highway Patrolman Louis Younger, who drove up and witnessed the same object from a short distance. Additionally, Deputy Charles Bowering and Patrolman Joe Chandler reported seeing the craft’s lights from a distance, confirming a wide-scale visual event.

Landing Trace Evidence: Modern investigations by researcher Pat Frascogna identified two circular “landing patches” roughly 15 feet in diameter deep in the local woods. Decades later, reports indicate that plant life still does not grow in these specific spots, suggesting a long-term alteration of the soil’s composition.

Official Inaction: Despite the high-profile nature of the witnesses (all active law enforcement), no aircraft were logged in the area by the Jackson Municipal Airport or the Memphis Air Route Traffic Control Center during the time of the sighting, ruling out conventional military or civilian flights.

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The encounter began at approximately 9:00 p.m. on Smith School Road when Deputy Kenneth Creel and Constable James Luke noticed a light they initially mistook for an “evening star” that rapidly grew in size. Creel stopped his car and cut the engine to listen, at which point the metallic-blue object moved directly over the patrol car, hovering at an altitude of only 20 to 30 feet. The witnesses observed soft blue, red, and green lights emanating from small windows on the craft, which remained completely stationary for over a minute.

Terrified by the proximity, Creel began backing up his patrol car until another officer, Louis Younger, arrived on the scene and confirmed the sighting. The object then accelerated rapidly and vanished toward the northwest. The 1977 Flora event remains a cornerstone of Mississippi ufology, characterized by the absolute certainty of the law enforcement officers involved, who—despite their initial skepticism—could find no terrestrial explanation for the craft

“I know I’m not crazy… I don’t know what I saw, but I know I saw something.”

Deputy Kenneth Creel