Air Force Veterans Abducted By Aliens Reunite After 50 Years [EMOTIONAL]

American Alchemy with Jesse Michels

Two Air Force security policemen, Mario Woods and Michael Johnson, reunite after 50 years following a mysterious encounter with a UFO at Ell

Key takeaways

• The 1977 Ellsworth AFB incident involved two Air Force personnel encountering a massive UFO near nuclear missile sites, resulting in lost time and psychological trauma.
• Despite decades of searching by Mario Woods, the pair remained separated until a fan-led online search connected them through social media.

Main topics

• UFO encounter at Ellsworth AFB
• Military cover-up and separation of witnesses

Notable quotes

"Do not fear. Michael, Michael! You're taken aboard a craft..."

Conclusion

The reunion of Mario Woods and Michael Johnson offers profound emotional closure and

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:19) Imagine you're 23 years old, tasked with guarding a nuclear missile site in the heart of the Cold War. It's midnight, and while on duty, you and your partner witness a giant glowing sphere hovering over a live thermonuclear weapon. Four strange-looking beings glide towards the window of your truck. Speaker 6 (0:45) Do Speaker 3 (0:45) not Speaker 6 (0:46) fear. Michael, Michael! You're Speaker 3 (0:48) taken aboard a craft, examined with sharp instruments while receiving telepathic messages. And all the while, you hear the shouts of your partner somewhere close by. Speaker 3 (1:02) When you finally come to, five hours have passed. Your partner is frozen to the steering wheel, completely unresponsive. And you're parked beside a reservoir dam more than eight miles away from the missile site. Bewildered, you're taken back to the base and separately interrogated. Then the Air Force transfers your partner, and you don't see him again for 50 years. Speaker 3 (1:30) Now you can stop imagining, because this is the true story of Air Force security policeman Mario Woods. My name is Mario Woods. Speaker 1 (1:40) I served in the Air Force from 1975 to 1983. Speaker 3 (1:44) Mario has told this story countless times. Mario's been on the History Channel, Discovery Plus, News Nation, this show, over 40 appearances. And each time he asked the audience to find one person, Speaker 1 (1:57) Michael Johnson. Michael Johnson. Michael Johnson. Michael Johnson. Michael Johnson. Money has been spent trying to locate Michael Johnson. We've looked in hospitals. We've looked in... Speaker 3 (2:07) Can't find him anywhere? No, sir. The one person who could validate his experience and corroborate his story. Gone, seemingly forever. Here's the thing about hunting for a man named Michael Johnson. It's one of the most common names in America. Good luck finding Michael Johnson in a sea of Michael Johnsons. Many start to wonder whether this long-lost partner of Mario's was a figment of his imagination. Speaker 3 (2:35) Mario hired private investigators. He consulted the FBI. Online amateur sleuthers went nuts. He says Arrow, the Pentagon's official UFO office, has promised him that they would look, but they all came up dry. If anything, my guess is that a lot of these people and organizations probably saw Mario as a liability, and Mario and Michael as people to keep compartmentalized, someone to corroborate a story they'd rather remain stigmatized. kept in limbo. Because all it took for our fledgling operation at American Alchemy to beat a multi-agency manhunt was some online searching and basic outreach. That's right. A fan of the show, shout out Jason Miller, hit us up with a Facebook page. A page just sitting there. And lo and behold, it was for a 70-something-year-old Michael Johnson living in South Carolina, fitting Mario's description perfectly. Michael had even posted these words, my boys in South Dakota on Ellsworth, 75 to 77. So we tasked a very talented recruiter to find him. And he did in about a week. Speaker 3 (3:50) I couldn't even sleep, man. I've only slept maybe an hour. You are about to witness history. 50 years of these two Air Force veterans being apart, and now they get to relive one of the most extraordinary nights of their lives. You Speaker 2 (4:05) know, you're bringing two pieces of a story that have never met for 49 years, and now they're, like, getting to share notes. And we're not just going to interview Michael Johnson. Speaker 3 (4:14) He courageously agreed to go through a full hypnotic regression. on camera. This Speaker 7 (4:20) is a very safe time to remember. Speaker 3 (4:28) Without further ado, maybe the most inspirational episode to date with two of the best men I know, this week's courageous American alchemists, Mario Woods and Michael Johnson. Speaker 6 (5:16) Hey, Speaker 3 (5:17) is this Michael? Yeah. June 26th, 2026. 6-26-26. I call a man I've never met at his job in the middle of his workday, and I explain only part of my motivation for reaching out. Nothing about November 5, nothing about a UFO. Michael doesn't even know my name, let alone the fact that I have a podcast covering any of this stuff. Speaker 3 (5:43) You're talking to Jesse. My friend was stationed with you at Ellsworth in 75, and he really wanted to reconnect. And so I wanted to know if I might be able to patch him in. I think you'll be excited to hear from him. Speaker 6 (5:57) What's his name? Speaker 3 (5:58) His name's Mario. Speaker 6 (6:03) Mario, Mario. He was stationed at Ellsworth with me? Speaker 3 (6:07) Yeah, I think he was like, I think he worked with you there. Speaker 6 (6:13) Yeah, yeah. That name sounds familiar. You know, that's Speaker 5 (6:17) kind of strange because I've been trying to get hold of some of the guys back there in my time. Mario, Mario. That's his first name? Speaker 3 (6:25) Yeah, Mario's his first name. His name's Mario Woods. Speaker 6 (6:28) Woods, Woods, Woods. Speaker 3 (6:31) Would you be down for me to patch him in? I think he'd be so excited to speak to you. Yeah, yeah, Speaker 6 (6:36) yeah. Yeah, yeah, check him out. Speaker 3 (6:39) Hey, Michael, Mario, you both there? Speaker 6 (6:42) Yeah, I'm here. Michael? Yeah, yeah. Man? You remember me. You remember me. When we were in the same squadron, after the missile fight, when we were in the same squadron, I walked, man. I'm trying to remember. That name, it keeps hitting the back of my head. Speaker 6 (7:04) We were on November 5, November the 18th, 1977. Uh-huh. You were working vacation relief. You did not know anything about the 68th area. I think you were in the 66th, 67th area. Uh-huh. Were you? Is that where you were? That was me. That was me. That was me. Yes, it was. Do you remember what we encountered at 1 o'clock in the morning on November 5? On the, on the, on the demo side? Or the UFO? Or the UFO? Speaker 6 (7:44) Do you remember? Yeah, I remember that. Do you remember? Do you remember how large it was? It was big, though. I remember we saw it. It was white. Do you remember what happened? What did I do, man? I just looked at it like I'm crazy and shit. Like I'm sitting in some substance and what? Damn, Speaker 5 (8:05) that was a long time ago, man. Speaker 6 (8:07) Yeah, 48 and a half years since I've been looking for you, man. I want to make sure you've got my phone number. Okay. I have put your name out all over the world. Michael, Speaker 3 (8:18) you're famous. Speaker 6 (8:20) Yeah, you are. Speaker 6 (8:34) Michael, Speaker 3 (8:36) do you remember having seen the UFO? Like when you talk to friends and family, do you say, oh yeah, that time? Speaker 5 (8:56) Under 50 feet, maybe a little higher than that. It was a little higher than that. But it was close as hell, I remember that. It was close because it was bright. Speaker 3 (9:05) Michael, would you be open to reconnecting with Mario? We could fly you guys both out to Austin so you could meet in person and hang out and maybe we could film kind of the reunion. Speaker 6 (9:19) Well, yeah, that's possible. That's very possible. I just want to make sure. I know my brain was scrambled, so I'm just trying to make sure that I'm the Michael Johnson. I mean, he said he see my picture on Facebook because I'm on Facebook. I'm black now. I know. Speaker 4 (9:43) I've Speaker 6 (9:43) been hunting this black Michael Johnson for all my life, it seems like. 49 years, but I'm at home for you. I'm serious, man. Look at that $10,000 stamp trying to look at you. Yeah, well, that was interesting. It sounded like you saw me, too, you know, because I had a lot of issues up there in South Dakota. I had a lot of issues up there, too. Speaker 6 (10:07) I was just over there at 21. I went through all the old areas. I went through everything. It changed so much. It changed. I was up there. I was up there. I was driving trucks and stuff. And I practiced in the city. And I couldn't find nothing. I'm glad you brought that up, man, because my mind was scrambled for a while. Because I was like, damn, I just let it go. Nobody believed me anyway. No, I think it was intentional. When I took my wife to see Close Encounters of the Third Kind, when they did that scene with the mailboxes, Speaker 5 (10:43) I Speaker 6 (10:44) just fucking washed my teeth and I just had to get out of that theater. Speaker 5 (10:49) Nobody believes us, man. No Speaker 6 (10:51) sign. Yeah. Speaker 6 (10:56) You survived it all. It took so long dude. Oh man I didn't know that. Everywhere I've gone I've always looked for you every damn place. But I got a computer. You're the first person I searched for. Oh man. That's your hard home boy. Damn. Damn. Speaker 3 (11:33) Mario, how are you, man? Speaker 6 (11:35) Oh, Speaker 3 (11:36) good to see you. Speaker 6 (11:38) You run me through hell. How are you Speaker 3 (11:43) doing? How are you feeling about seeing Michael Speaker 1 (11:47) Johnson? Speaker 3 (11:47) What's going through your body right now? Speaker 1 (11:50) I couldn't even sleep, man. I've only slept maybe an hour. Speaker 7 (11:53) I Speaker 1 (11:54) had restless leg syndrome. I couldn't have to walk around that damn plane. Just thinking about it man. Just just seeing him again. You know he was Speaker 3 (12:03) saying Like they scrambled my brain. What do you think he meant Speaker 1 (12:07) by that? I don't think he's got I think he's pushed so much back his self instead of instead of allowing it to come forward and and and Feeling it and then living with it because that's what it comes down to you can push shit back in your brain forever But something will trigger it. Sooner or later, something's going to trigger whatever that memory is about a person, a woman, an incident, or anything like that. Speaker 3 (12:38) Michael, what's happening, man? How you doing? What's up? Speaker 1 (12:43) What's Speaker 3 (12:43) going on? How you doing? Good, how you doing? Doing great now, man. Man, you're in crazy shape. Both you and Mario. Speaker 3 (12:53) You're about to see Mario who you've been separated from for 50 years. What are you feeling right now? Speaker 5 (13:01) Well, he never he never never turns back on me. He never left me That's one thing I could say about the brother. He he's an honor man. He he never forgotten me Speaker 2 (13:17) Give me a hug. It's been a while. I know, Speaker 3 (13:22) dude. Are you excited to meet Michael? Oh my Speaker 2 (13:24) God. Michael Johnson, man. The guy that was Speaker 3 (13:27) just Speaker 2 (13:27) like, he was like there for everything, but we never like, he was this mythical creature. And even like in Mario's last interview, which you just probably recorded like a month or two ago, he's still like, I could feel how much he wants to see this man before he dies. And Jesse just calls me what? Three four days ago and goes we found Michael Get to Austin. And it's so wild Speaker 3 (13:52) too how there's like truth and fiction. If you watch Disclosure Day, it's like you have two people, Daniel and Margaret, and they're like two like walking hard drives with like latent information that needs to be reactivated and they're brought together and then like you have the whole puzzle. The two puzzle pieces are like brought together and that's kind of what's happening now. It's so wild. Speaker 2 (14:23) It's finally happening man. Like the amount of podcasts where you talk about Michael Jackson and wanting to connect with him and wanting to find him. It's unbelievable. So you Speaker 3 (14:31) were thinking about... Going back to South Dakota. Going back to South Dakota. Yeah, we talked since I retired. And then we got in touch with you. Yeah. Coincidentally. Just Speaker 5 (14:40) like that. That's crazy. I'm gonna get your door. Speaker 3 (14:43) Hold on. Speaker 5 (14:43) Okay. This is nice man. How are you Speaker 3 (14:46) feeling? You're feeling good? Speaker 5 (14:47) I'm... You know, I'm... I will not lie to you. This is too much, it feels good. It feels good, it's a high. Speaker 3 (14:56) I Speaker 5 (14:56) haven't had one Speaker 3 (14:57) of those in a long time. Well, let's go. Yeah. Go see Mario. Speaker 6 (15:18) Look at, look at, Speaker 5 (15:19) my Speaker 6 (15:20) man. My man. My man. All this time, you never forgot me. You never forgot me. You never forgot me. You never forgot me. You never forgot me. Speaker 6 (15:38) How you feeling bro? I'm okay now. How long has it been? Let me see you. You're the only one up there that believes. You're the only one that has my back up there. Speaker 6 (16:01) Yep, dude. Oh, Speaker 7 (16:03) thank you. Speaker 6 (16:04) Oh, look at you. You're so pretty. You're pretty too. It's the same. Same smile, same pretty boy hair, every day, my two man. Oh, man. Speaker 5 (16:19) This guy this guy was real cool with me. He was real cool We didn't hang out too tight all the time because our jobs is everything but he will always speaks to me He will always speak to me all the time. What's up? You know everything I'll see him in my Speaker 6 (16:32) 64 68 Cutlass Supreme, you know going up and down, you know Ellsworth in my TRC. Yeah Speaker 5 (16:46) I heard you've been looking for me, man. Speaker 1 (16:48) Looking for you? Yeah. Man, I've had the FBI searching for your happy ass, all of them. Every one of them. You know there's Speaker 5 (16:57) so many Michael Johnsons out there. Speaker 1 (16:59) Yeah, and I Speaker 5 (16:59) didn't know your middle Speaker 3 (17:00) initial either. Yeah, you put that C in there. Describe how you guys are feeling right now. Speaker 5 (17:11) I want to cry. I mean, I could get emotional, you know what I'm saying, and everything. Seeing my brother here, my homeboy, you know, here, and he never forgotten me. It's the best thing, you know. He kept looking and looking. You know, he didn't give up on me. He felt I was still alive, you know what I'm saying, with that. Okay? So when I found out and you talked to me about it, you know, everything. And remember I said, you sure you got the right Michael Johnson? I'm black. You sure? You know what I'm saying? Speaker 3 (17:45) You know, when I knew that he did find the right Michael Johnson is when he said, do you remember what happened to us? 1977 at November 5. And then you said, oh, the UFO. He said 1977 Ellsworth Air Force Base, November 5. And he said, oh, that UFO. Speaker 3 (18:06) He hadn't said anything else, no other details. And you immediately said the UFO. Speaker 5 (18:11) Yeah. That Speaker 3 (18:12) gave me the chills. Yeah. Michael, what do you remember from this, you know, fateful night that Mario's obviously been describing this for years now on end in podcasts? For him, in some ways, it's easier to remember because he's keeping the memory alive by retelling it constantly. Speaker 4 (18:31) For Speaker 3 (18:31) you, it's just this thing that happened to you 50 years ago, and it's probably a thing due to the way you were treated by the Air Force that in some ways you've tried to kind of put behind you and forget. Speaker 5 (18:41) So Speaker 3 (18:42) what details do you remember? I do remember Speaker 5 (18:44) the simple fact that there's a big, bright light in front of us. I do remember that. it come close, it go back out and everything. All right. I do remember that because I was frozen on the steering wheel, frozen on the steering wheel and everything. And believe it or not, I heard him talking, but I couldn't say nothing. I couldn't say, it was like, don't say nothing. You know, it's like I was just in a trance right there and everything. He was, he was going off. He was, you know, he was upset and everything. He wanted me to say, did you see that, Michael? Michael, look. you know, everything, but I couldn't do it. And so next thing I know was my eyes were burning. It was like I was staring straight ahead, but I couldn't blink, couldn't blink a nothing. So I just kind of like, I fade out. I did. I pass out on the steering wheel, I assume. Speaker 5 (19:40) just passed out. And I couldn't think of anything else to do after that, at that point right there. I was looking around. When I did come to, I looked around, seeing blares going around, around the truck, you know, around the truck and everything. And I just kind of just did dizzy, just fizzled out again. I couldn't do much, but I do know he was there. He got Speaker 3 (20:04) out of the truck and everything. Describe the kind of moving around the car very quickly, do you remember anything about it? It Speaker 5 (20:13) was a human form. It was like in a human form. Human form? Like in a human form. Pointy head, like point decks type, you know? Interesting. Speaker 3 (20:21) And do you remember anything else? Any other details? Don't fear. Don't, Speaker 5 (20:27) don't, something like don't fear. Don't, don't, don't worry. Don't, you know, something to that point. Don't worry. Don't worry. Everything. But I couldn't concentrate because it was blurring around me. Going around me and everything. Speaker 3 (20:44) Mario Woods, you've been telling the story of what happened to you in November of 1977 at Ellsworth Air Force Base since 1996. That's correct. And you have one of the most detailed accounts I've ever heard. The only hole missing in it is your partner, who is now sitting alongside you. So for the first time, we'd love to hear your story of what happened to you with Michael Johnson sitting next to you. Speaker 1 (21:13) That's awesome. I'll be happy to tell it. But let's just go back to the day. Our day started going to the SATAF building, which is a security police main office facility, which is a reconditioned hangar. You know, all the shifts are there together. We line up in position. You know, we get our briefing, what's going on in the field. American Indian movement at the time. They were doing some stuff. Real crazy. They kept us abreast of all that. There were threats on Mount Rushmore, and they wanted to detonate a site, or they wanted to do something. But we met that day at Gar-Mount because my team member, Steve Welchel, that's his name, young guy, he went home to North Carolina to get married. So when we went back to the field, he was on vacation, and they sent Michael to work his days off on our shift. His Commander Option Day. We got to meet, shake hands, talk a little bit. I didn't know him prior to that time. I'd seen him around because he was a car enthusiast. He saw my TR6 Triumph convertible. He liked that. We talked about it. I have a Speaker 5 (22:16) cut list. Yeah. Speaker 6 (22:17) So Speaker 1 (22:18) we were good to go. And we came out to the site and we talked. I stayed up. I can't remember if you went and laid down for a while. We worked from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. I Speaker 5 (22:27) was looking at TV. Yeah. I was looking at Barnaby Jones. Yeah. The Rockford Files or something. Speaker 6 (22:33) Yeah. Man, Speaker 4 (22:56) you got to see this. Speaker 6 (22:59) I Speaker 5 (22:59) didn't want to be out there. Mario, he was this gung-ho, man. Speaker 6 (23:02) Right, Speaker 5 (23:03) right, look at this, look at this. Yeah, man, yeah, you know what I'm saying? Because out there, there's nothing out there but peridots, rattlesnakes. Yeah. I don't want to see all that. Speaker 4 (23:11) We're Speaker 6 (23:18) right in van. You do Speaker 4 (23:19) ones of the call. 30 is mine. The dead. Speaker 6 (23:23) In there from Kels. Speaker 1 (23:25) Everything was going really normal. Nothing out of hand, nothing strange. Speaker 1 (23:31) At about 9.15, I just took a notion to go outside and smoke a cigarette. And I'm just looking around. It's a super clear night, super cold. And nothing was out of place. And I just happened to look to the east, really directly east. And I see this big old light in the sky, different color, a different gradient of a light. You Speaker 4 (23:55) mind if I flip my lights at this thing? Speaker 1 (23:57) In no successive form or no phonetic alphabet or anything, I just flipped the thing off and on, off and on, off and on three times. And I just walked outside kind of quick, not even knowing if I'd get a response or I didn't expect one. About 30 seconds passed and all of a sudden it went off, came on, went off, Speaker 3 (24:19) came on. Thinking he just shared a friendly, unconventional exchange, he goes back to his business. That is, until just after midnight. Speaker 1 (24:34) All of a sudden, I hear the alert phone in the flight security controller's office go off. Yes, sir. I hear SIT-4, November 5. Speaker 3 (24:45) An inner and outer zone alarm all at once, above ground and below ground. Something is directly in the vicinity of the most destructive weapon on the planet. We Speaker 1 (25:00) go to the end of the road, which is a dirt or clay road. No other traffic, just us. We're the only thing out there. Speaker 1 (25:12) I just happened to look over about the 4 o'clock position. In the far distance, in the direction of November 5, I see this glow coming up off the ground, just pulsating. And he goes, what did you say? Speaker 5 (25:29) Whatever, man. That's exactly Speaker 6 (25:33) what he said. Whatever. Speaker 1 (25:39) As we dropped off onto the dirt road and just barely started to crank left, there sat this object. Speaker 1 (25:52) And I said, look at that. Speaker 1 (25:58) I don't even know what Michael said at that point. I said, look at that. What are we supposed to do with that? I said, I ain't Speaker 5 (26:05) going Speaker 1 (26:05) to Speaker 5 (26:05) tell you what I said. What Speaker 1 (26:06) did you say, Michael? Speaker 5 (26:08) I said, I ain't going to tell you what I said. I Speaker 6 (26:10) don't think I can say it. You can swear. Speaker 5 (26:13) You can Speaker 6 (26:13) say it. Fucking Speaker 5 (26:14) shit, what is that? That's what I said. That's exactly what I said. Fuck, what is this shit? What is that? Just like that. Speaker 1 (26:23) That's the natural reaction? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It honestly was. Speaker 1 (26:31) We pull up at a 45 degree angle. Speaker 5 (26:34) I did turn at 45. With Speaker 1 (26:36) great question in both of our minds. And as soon as we stop the vehicle. Speaker 1 (26:42) and just tried to take in the magnitude of what was above us, this damn thing, man, this light just went, or the glow or whatever it was just... Speaker 5 (26:53) Sunshine, right? Blew Speaker 1 (26:55) down on us like... Speaker 5 (26:57) It came down like that. Speaker 1 (26:58) It was just like a shield of light, just encompassed everything and everything about us. It lit up stuff that has probably never had light on it, I don't think. That's just how... how permeating it is. I felt as if, you know, there was light shining through parts of my body or something. Speaker 5 (27:19) It took up the whole missile site, man. It took up the whole everything. It Speaker 1 (27:23) covered everything. The diameter of that thing was so big that it actually exceeded the perimeters of the fence line. I Speaker 5 (27:29) mean, it was blowing my mind, too. I was still conscious. And he was on Speaker 1 (27:32) the steering wheel just like that. You were grabbing on that steering wheel. I want to take Speaker 5 (27:36) that 45 angle and go elsewhere, you know. I want to take off. You know what I'm saying? I want to take off. you know, rusty wall is tight. Turn that thing and go. Speaker 1 (27:45) I couldn't do it. As soon as that light hit us, it was as if there was a pressure placed upon us right on the front of your body. Speaker 1 (27:55) like something pushing on my chest and I was having trouble breathing and I never had any issues whatsoever. And him too, we couldn't breathe. It was as if the air was being sucked away from us, Speaker 5 (28:07) vacuumed Speaker 1 (28:08) out. But yet there was a pressure exerting some kind of energy or force. And I felt like I was, even with a parka and flight pants and bunny boots and everything we had on, I still felt as if I was being lifted up. toward end of the back window. I felt like everything was rising and this light is so permeating that in that seated position, I looked and I looked right down the center vent of that dashboard. Remember there's two vents and there's one on this side, one on that side, and you can get the heater vents on the floor, black rubber mats. And I looked at that vent just for a flash and I could see way down in there. And then I pick up these particles that I thought was glitter, which didn't make any sense at all with what's going on. I mean, and I just watched them just move by. So I just looked at them. I just looked. I don't even know if I said anything at that time, but I know we couldn't breathe. And I knew I had to do something. So without saying a word. I said, hold on a second. I just rolled the window down. I took my glove off with this hand. My trigger guard was open on my weapon so I could use it with my left hand and my forefinger. That's what they were designed to do. And I got my black 3D cell flashlight as I pulled myself up on that window. and I reached out my left hand in front of me like this, and I put it up and grabbed the light bar, the bubble above me, and held on to that, and I took my flashlight, and I just flashed my flashlight at it three, four times like that, just like I did at the side. I couldn't even see if it was working. I just kept flashing my light at it. I was just asking for relief. Okay, it's us. I'm just asking for relief. Speaker 1 (29:59) And when I did that and I felt as if I succeeded, I just slid back down in the seat and I rolled that window up, not knowing anything else. I don't know where my flashlight went, but I grabbed my weapon and I put it between me and I said, Michael, I leaned over and I said, we can breathe now. It's going to be okay. Speaker 5 (30:16) Yeah. Yeah. Speaker 1 (30:18) He's just like this. Speaker 5 (30:20) I'm on that steering wheel. Speaker 1 (30:21) He's just like that on that steering wheel. I don't know if he's looking up or down or anything. And in a flash of a second, no sooner than I said that. This black ball just comes out of nowhere. And honestly, it was between four and six feet in diameter, like a big beach ball with vents on it. And of a black color that I, not like these microphone booms, but a different black than anything, any color or any blackness you've ever seen. Speaker 5 (30:51) It was scary black. It was just so dark. But damn, it was damn, it was just. Speaker 5 (30:57) I couldn't see myself in it. You don't Speaker 1 (30:59) have words for it. You can't explain it. You normally look at it and think, what is that? How is that? How can it be that color? Maybe Speaker 3 (31:07) almost like a tear in the fabric of reality itself. Possibly. Or, yeah, Speaker 1 (31:12) a hole opening up in that blackness or something. I don't know. I don't know. But I know it was a ball. Speaker 1 (31:19) four to six feet in diameter with his strange lines on it like vents. And it just sat down in front of that hood about that high above that dark blue hood on that Ford. It sat there for about three seconds and then it just went right over here beside me, over there beside him, in the back, back to this side, in front of him again, back to this side, in front of him again. It sat right there and it just went. And it was gone. I didn't even know that it left. It just left my visual radius at that time. And I just went, what the hell? was that he's not saying anything Speaker 5 (32:01) i'm scared shitless and Speaker 1 (32:03) then this smell just with the windows up this smell just gets inside that vehicle and i went what is that and i didn't have i don't know it's like sulfur and ammonia like bad shrimp in a cooler and i've smelled that before and it so it just threw my mind right into that time frame i'm trying to say something to him But he's not hearing me, or I'm talking just, I'm just talking out loud, I guess. I was just trying to make some sense of everything. Speaker 5 (32:35) I was out. I mean, I couldn't do nothing at that time. I couldn't do nothing. My eyes were hurting, my head. But I heard him talking, but I couldn't respond. I was stuck. Speaker 1 (32:54) And I got a really strange feeling on the right side of the vehicle, and I thought that was the safe place. You know, the craft is here. Whatever it is you call it, whatever it is, it's to the left. It's closer to him than it is me. But I got a feeling on this side of me. Speaker 1 (33:13) And without looking first, the first thing I hear is from low to high, do not fear, do not fear. At that particular moment in time, I just turned to my right like this, just looking, and I just see these shadows from about 20 feet away. And I'm trying to focus on what I'm looking at. And as they approached me, There was three small ones and one tall one in the back, and he was about a foot and a half behind the three in the front. Speaker 1 (33:51) And the small one on the right, they were in uniforms, and they had on his little waistband, or a little waist, some kind of thing in his waist, and it was a little rod about that long, 8, 10 inches long. It reminded me of one Speaker 6 (34:04) of Speaker 1 (34:05) those 5-cent pencil erasers we used to get in elementary school. It cost us 5 cents. It had a big eraser on one end of it, a yellow pencil. His face or his head was shaped differently than the three in the front. And I felt fear when I saw that one. I didn't fear, I didn't feel fear with the smaller ones, but I did with him. And it was at that moment in my time, in my head, it wasn't what I was seeing. that did what it did to me. It was the nanosecond of time it took for me to register what I'm seeing. What was the head shaped like on the big one? A more pronounced jaw, a smaller lip line, eyes at a little different angle, and they all had large black almond-shaped eyes. The small ones did too, they just weren't as large as the taller one behind them. But his facial construction was different than the three small ones in front of him. And as I said, they weren't walking. They were gliding in some way. And they weren't fast. They weren't slow. They were just moving steadily. And, of course, that fear. Speaker 1 (35:47) When Speaker 3 (35:55) Mario comes to, the missile site is gone. The truck is parked behind the wall of a reservoir dam near a town called Newell, more than eight miles from their post. Speaker 3 (36:09) His boots sink into mud in a field that should be frozen solid. Something very hot had clearly just been on the ground next to the truck. His watch says it's around 6 a.m. At least five hours of their lives, gone, never to be recovered. And still in the driver's seat is Michael, breathing heavy, eyes open, hands gripping the wheel tightly, but totally unresponsive, as if he's catatonic. Where's November 5? Speaker 1 (36:41) As I'm contemplating what I just stepped in, all of a sudden that radio, that Motorola radio with that little microphone hanging on a dash popped at life and said, Speaker 6 (36:49) Wind troll to November 1. November 1, what's your location? Speaker 1 (36:52) And he said, November 1, do you need medical help? And I said, I don't, but I'm not certain if my partner needs it or not. And the whole radio network just went silent for a minute because all these other sites and wing security control and all these other flight security controllers, all these other security policemen are hearing everything that we're talking about. Everybody. So I was instructed to do one minute security checks as they were going to triangulate our position. Speaker 4 (37:29) Yes, sir. Speaker 3 (37:30) The rescue team comes to their location, sheriff's deputies out of a local town called Sturgis. A state trooper Speaker 1 (37:37) comes as well. I didn't know this until 2021, was that two deputy sheriffs had been dispatched from Sturgis, South Dakota, by request of the Wing Security Control on base, 55 miles away, compared to where Sturgis is. Sturgis is 29 miles south of Newell. And a state trooper who that was his area, and he heard his father say, not knowing anything about anything, well, why do you want me to go look for them? They're better equipped than I am for something like that, whatever that was. Speaker 3 (38:13) Why do civilian deputies matter? Because the Air Force controls Air Force paper. It does not control the Meade County Sheriff's Dispatch Log. If those records survive, this story has a Speaker 1 (38:24) document with a date on it. Speaker 1 (38:28) When Sergeant Garza pulled up, said, what's going on? He said, Mario, I can't talk to you about this. He said, I'm just here to escort you back to November Control. Followed them back to the launch control facility. I pulled in right in front of the flight security controller's office, and they just descended upon the vehicle. Speaker 6 (38:45) I don't know what's wrong with Michael. I said, Speaker 1 (38:47) I don't know what's wrong with Michael. I said, I can't get him to speak. Speaker 1 (38:52) They took me into the day room. They started banging me with questions. Everything was just at one time coming from every space in my mind, and I just went and sat on the toilet. All of a sudden, I get this ringing in my ears. When it happened, everything turned like lime green to me. I closed my eyes, and when I did, I had this feeling I was leaving my body. Speaker 1 (39:19) And when I opened my eyes that last time, I saw four fuzzy feet walking by, paws walking by the bottom of that door. That was a dog handler and his drug dog. Speaker 4 (39:29) I'll be out in just a minute. Yeah, no worries, man. You're all good. Just came in to check on you. I Speaker 1 (39:33) opened up the stall door, and I just went to the sink, and I just turned that faucet on. It was ice-cold water, and I just drowned myself in water. I was just soaking wet. What'd you do, take a bath? And off we went to Ellsworth. Speaker 3 (39:49) Michael and Mario are taken separately back to the base and interrogated apart. Sounds as if Speaker 1 (39:55) you've Speaker 3 (39:55) had an interesting evening. Michael goes to medical first. Michael. When was the first moment, if you recall, where you were kind of yourself again, where you had come to after you were in this sort of kind of catatonic state, you were kind of stuck to the steering wheel. At what point are you like, you know, shake it off. I'm back to my normal self. And then at that moment. What do you think just happened to you? Are you thinking about, like, you know, do you have theories as to what happened to you? Speaker 5 (40:29) Well, after they took me out, took me out of the truck and everything, and I remember the LT on one side, and I forgot who's on the other side. Is it Speaker 1 (40:41) facility manager, tech, or master sergeant? Speaker 5 (40:43) Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. They were driving me back to the base. I Speaker 1 (40:47) wonder, did they take you to Colonel Spraker's office, or did they take you to medical? Speaker 5 (40:51) No, first I went to medical. Speaker 1 (40:54) Okay. Because that means you were there before I was there. Well, I was being interviewed because I left just a few minutes before you did. Yeah. Speaker 5 (41:01) That's why I was coming together, getting myself together then. Yeah. Speaker 1 (41:04) You Speaker 5 (41:04) know, after that right there. But I was still out of it. But, you know, I was able to get around, move around and everything and be puzzled. What the hell, man? You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Speaker 2 (41:14) What the hell? Speaker 5 (41:15) I Speaker 2 (41:15) assume also you probably. Upon preliminary assessment, you probably needed the medical attention sooner because you were in proper shock. So it makes sense that you would be taken. Do you remember what the medical procedure was like? Speaker 5 (41:28) I just remember they shot something in me, something in my vein and stuff. Speaker 5 (41:36) like a little small physical, like they would give me a physical, you know, everything. I remember that very well because it hurt me and sting me, you know, oh, you know, like that. I do know that for a fact. I do know that, check my eyes out because my eyes, they say, your eyes, can you see? Are you having problems? Yeah, I said, well, maybe I did have some problems with my eyes because my eyes were hurting me bad. They didn't give me anything for my head. My head was burning. Like my brain inside, it was hot, you know, like I had a migraine or something. Speaker 3 (42:04) Did they ever say anything about sodium pentothal? Speaker 5 (42:06) Yeah. They Speaker 3 (42:07) did. They did Speaker 5 (42:08) mention that, yeah. Because Speaker 3 (42:09) sodium pentothal is truth serum. Speaker 3 (42:14) One of the main reasons I'm able to go multiple hours on these podcasts while staying mentally sharp is because of this little drink. It's a product I started using years ago, and it's called Ketone IQ. I know the founders, Jeff and Michael, personally, and I was thrilled when they agreed to sponsor the show because it's one of the few products I trust to give me clean, sustainable energy. I've been taking a little shot