Happy National Paranormal Day! May 3 is a great way to celebrate all things spooky, scary, or just out of this world! For folks in the area interested in the Paranormal, Kyle Lovern, a local journalist, is something of an expert. Kyle has had a lifelong interest in UFOs, and has published two books on the topic.
Unexplained Encounters and Objects in the Sky
“I grew up at Nolan, and that is where I had my first UFO sighting,” He says. “I was about 9 years old and it was in the summer. My parents, sister and I were on our porch...we all saw three circular, bright objects coming from the Pike County, Kentucky side of the Tug River. They were glowing and hovered just above the mountaintop for a couple of minutes. Then they were just gone…” Years later, Kyle saw a similar report for Project Blue Book, a series documenting UFO sightings, about the same date.
That wasn’t Kyle’s only interaction with the unknown. “I had another sighting as a teenager. This was during the big 1973 UFO wave where hundreds of people were reporting sightings up and down the east coast.” He and some friends were spending time in their backyards, hoping to see something, and caught sight of an object flying overhead with multicolored lights.
Later, in 2012, Kyle would have yet another UFO sighting, when he got a call from a woman in Williamson. “She said ‘I know you are interested in UFOs- we’re watching one right now.’ I asked her what direction it was in the sky,” Kyle says. He followed her instructions and went across the street, and “sure enough,” he says. “There was an oblong, fluorescent object in the sky.” This was seen by folks throughout Virgie, Pikeville, and Belfry, Kentucky, and Williamson and Gilbert, West Virginia, and the event would make local and national news.
More than Meets the Eye
Kyle’s interest in the unknown paid off. Both of Kyle’s books on the paranormal are based on Appalachian UFO sightings, mostly in Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia. In them, he collects the accounts of real-life people who have seen UFOs.“You would be surprised about how many people have told me stories...There are more than you think,” He says. He also interviewed the late Stanton Friedman, one of the most famous UFO investigators and authors, for one of his books.
As for what Kyle believes, he is a believer that maybe there’s more than meets the eye to these encounters. “I think this is an interesting subject, and that there is some truth to all of these sightings.”
Regardless of whether or not you believe in UFOs and other paranormal things, it is definitely a hot topic-- both of Kyle’s books on the topic were regional bestsellers. Do you have any experiences with the paranormal?
Kyle’s books are available locally at the Tug Valley Chamber of Commerce either in office or through the online shop. His books are also available on Amazon.com.
Photos provided by Kyle Lovern.