Reader Submission: Knocked Out!

I received the following email a few weeks ago. I was eventually given permission by telephone to publish. I believe this is a very sincere anecdote that gives anyone who reads it something to ponder:

A while ago I came across your site and read about David Eckhart and his family as well as other unexplained things you write about. I decided to send you my description of something that happened to me when I was 14 years old.

Every August my family, aunt, uncle and cousins would spend a week camping at Cabwaylingo State Forest. It was a tradition because my grandparents used to do the same thing when they were raising my dad and aunt, except we were using campers. Back then we could take our bikes along and go all over the place.

In the summer of 1991, my cousins (2 boys - we were all within 3 years of age of each other) decided to go to an area we had never been before. I remember seeing a trail sign that had 'Sleepy Hollow' on it so I suppose that was the name of the area. Most of the trail was along a small creek and it was a very thick forest. It was around noon time and it had been overcast all day. We were raised in a rural area so our parents didn't worry too much about us exploring the park.

There was a group of large rocks near the trail so we decided to stop and take a look. We were just jabbering when we noticed a loud humming sound coming from above us. We looked up into the trees and were hit in the face with what I describe as a blast of energy.

All I can remember is my cousins yelling at me because I had been knocked out. I asked them what happened and they said they were knocked out as well. We started to get scared because everything around us seemed different than before, so we headed back to the campsite.

When we got back my mom asked me why we didn't come back for dinner. I looked at my watch, it was gone. I hadn't even noticed. She told me it was just after 7 pm. No wonder everything seemed strange out on the trail! We must have been knocked out for about 6 hours.

My cousins and I were very tired - so much so that we headed to our bunks right after eating. I was exhausted but I couldn't fall asleep. In the morning I was feeling very sluggish. My cousins slept until 11 am. Later in the day we decided to tell our parents what happened out on the trail.

To be honest, our parents thought we were playing a stunt on them by concocting this wild story about being knocked out for 6 hours by a blast of energy. I was very upset with them, especially my dad because he never let me forget about it. To this day he still thinks it was a made up story.

My cousins and I still talk about what happened that day. We all feel that we were possibly abducted because of some of the weird dreams each of us has had since. In 2005, I was diagnosed with leukemia though I'm now in remission. One of my cousins was recently diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma while my other cousin has suffered kidney disease for over 10 years. We had been 100% healthy before the incident on the trail. Though we have never seen any scars or marks on our bodies we truly feel that we were physically and mentally violated by something.

Thanks for reading.

Sam - Monroe County, WV