Encounters of the Unknown—Alternate Perceptions Magazine, April 2020
Lightning Strikes Otter Cliffs
by: Raymond Fowler
In 1923, at the age of 22, I was a radioman in charge of a U.S. Naval Radio Compass Station atop Otter Cliffs on the beautiful island of Mount Desert, in Maine. My watch was from 4:00 P.M. to 4 A.M. – 12 hours.
One late autumn day, a violent electrical storm was in progress when I reached the station to relieve the day man. He left for the main transatlantic station a quarter of a mile away wishing me luck. I would need it, for static was terrific, the storm winds near hurricane strength had spread out over the North Atlantic shipping lanes and the ships were constantly calling in for bearings. At times, I had six or seven ships lined up waiting to test, while outside the station (which I was handling alone) the storm raged with increasing intensity. About 7:00 P.M. I managed to eat a couple of sandwiches with one hand while I operated the equipment with the other.
By 10:00 P.M., the fire in the pot-bellied stove had gone out, but I was too busy giving bearings to build it up again. At 11:00 P.M. the SS George Washington (KDCL) started testing for bearings. A violent lightning bolt hit the cable outside the building, and in seeking a ground, went through the transmitter key, jumped through the air space and landed right inside my abdomen! It lodged behind my solar plexus where it remained and revolved like a fiery sun of light inside of me! Amazed, I sat in the operator’s chair transfixed. I could only watch it wonderingly, as it whirled inside of me. I could not understand why it had not jumped out again into the nearby ground cable for this ground cable led from the copper mesh screening which protected the radio compass receivers from any stray electric current that might lurk in the nearby air. My amazement was further enhanced by the size of this electronic fire inside of me – for it was eight inches in diameter and was in no way, that I could discern, harming me.
By this time I should be dead, I thought, as I watched it revolving inside of me lighting up my whole insides. Fascinatingly, I watched my heart beat and my lungs rise and fall as I continued to breathe in and out normally. I must have watched for a minute or so when I noticed that in its revolutions inside of me, it was pulsating resonantly with my heartbeat in a slow and steady rhythm. This did not make sense! I had no control over this ball of fire. Some other intelligence seemed to be in command, but how could this be when I was alone in the station? And no one else would be there until 4:00 A.M. the next morning!
When I looked up, I was more amazed than ever for there was a soft light that went through the compass station roof, through the storm and darkness of the night, up to what appeared to be a radiant star afar in the heavens. I tried to move – to get out of the chair – but found that I could not move even an eyelid. However, I was conscious of a pulsating in the rays that was turning that ball of electronic fire within me – turning it in perfect time with my heartbeat. But why? Who was doing it?
I looked down into the rays of light and saw that they went through the floor of the compass station, down deep into the rocks that formed Otter Cliffs as if it were anchoring the rays there. My mind was clear. I sat calmly thinking about this strange phenomenon and sensed that I was being held, as in an eternity of eternities of silence, the peace of which was beyond description. It seemed that in these rays of light that neither time nor space as such existed. I was conscious only of what was taking place as a living part of these rays of life within and about me.
Suddenly, the rays expanded in a radiation that formed a complete field of light about me which extended about seven feet in all directions from me. Then three distinct flashes of light unfolded into three majestic-looking men, standing in shining robes of lights before me, smiling. Each bowed to me and remained standing about four feet in front of me while I “looked them over” as it were. They did not seem to mind in the least. Although they did not speak, my thoughts and theirs were in perfect attunement making verbal speech unnecessary. In spite of this, my thoughts formed many questions concerning them, the light rays, the electronic fire inside of me, what manner of star it was that projected such rays, but the thought questions went unanswered.
It seemed that they knew me well and were renewing old acquaintances for my benefit. When I had satisfied myself with observations of them, I got the impression that they would, in due time, remove the ball of fire from within my being – or so their thoughts seemed to tell me.
These three Beings were fine-featured, majestic in appearance, and had light cream-textured complexions. Their eyes were so bright it was difficult to see the color, but I thought they were blue, but it didn’t matter. The brilliant aura surrounding them made it impossible for me to determine the color of their hair for they wore strange velvety-looking “hats” which were like three tiers of rolls upon their heads. Like their robes, the head-dresses were of rich blue coloring with all manner of designs of light radiating in them. On their feet they wore soft doe-skin in form fitting boots in appearance.
After I had looked them over thoroughly, and as if deciding that I had seen enough to know them next time I met them, they took up positions. One stood directly in the center in front of me, one to the left and one to the right of me, each being a distance of about five feet from me and from each other. Next began the strangest ball game anyone has ever witnessed on this planet!
The Being on my left pointed his finger at the ball of fire still revolving within me. In a flash of light, it leaped into his open hand. He held it for an instant, absorbing its fire during which time, the ball reduced from eight to six inches in diameter. Then he tossed it to the open hand of the one in front of me. He held it for an instant and the fire diminished from six to four inches or thereabouts, whereupon he threw it to the one on my right who held it and absorbed the fire further reducing the size of the ball of fire to two inches. He then threw it to the one on my left who, in catching it, almost playfully tossed it from him into the copper mesh screening of the station. There the ball of fire went up in a shower of sparks before disappearing. Then the one to my left and the one at my right joined the one who had remained standing in front of me and in so doing, all three smiled as if in comradeship with me, bowed, and disappeared in three flashes of light, in the same manner in which they had appeared in three rays of light.
Editor’s Note: This account was written by the father of well-known UFO author Raymond E. Fowler (both shared the first name Raymond). The son became a well-known investigator, probably best known for his investigations of the Betty Andreasson Luca UFO contact case and the Allagash alien abduction. His father’s story described word-for-word in the above feature is also recounted in, along with other experiences that his father had described, as well as many of his own unexplained experiences, in a book written by the son entitled SynchroFile: Amazing Personal Encounters With Synchronicity And Other Strange Phenomena (2004).
The article above was provided to me by Maine researcher and author Shirley Fickett, who had corresponded with the elder Fowler about this and other matters.
