Blog: UFOs in Kensington? Wink. Wink.

Rumor has it that Kensington is a prime target for UFO activity. Could this be true? Kensington?

Maybe strange alien creatures feel they blend in nicely here. Who knows, they might be among us already. Thinking of some of the Kensingtonians I know, I wouldn't be surprised... 

Curious, and being the incredible investigative reporter that I am, I sat down at the computer and googled "Kensington Maryland UFO". 

Surprisingly, or maybe not, there have been at least 6 reported sightings of UFOs over Kensington, 5 listed on the National UFO Reporting Center website. 

In 1979, a woman known only as "N.P.", gave the following account: "My husband and I were on the Beltway ...when I saw a whirling disk that I at first took to be a revolving restaurant. As we got further around the beltway we got closer to it and eventually it was almost on top of us near the Mormon temple. It was a luminescent white with a red light in the middle and a dome shape on top. It had windows all around...and some were lit and some weren't so that at first from a distance it looked like blinking lights around the rim. It was very large and was only about 50 feet in the air above us. Quite beautiful actually. It then tilted on its axis and then sped away and was out of sight in about 3 seconds...". 

Another sighting over the Mormon Temple was reported in 1996: "We were coming up on the Mormon Temple ...when right above us there were these fast flashing lights that flashed red, blue, green, yellow, purple, just poof poof poof poof poof... whatever it was it was huge! ...It was so incredibly strange." 

Between 2000 and 2002, there were 4 more reported sightings. A Kensington couple described a v-formation of lights lasting about 1 minute, and the same year another Kensingtonite out for an evening stroll reported another strange lighted object moving east to west in a "herky-jerky" manner, then alter direction and split into two lights before disappearing. Another report from a couple sitting out on their back deck described a large, submarine shaped very bright white light object, about 150 feet above them. 

And in 2001 this sighting: "...Traveling down Connecticut Ave, heading from Wheaton to the Kensington area...it was 6:35 pm...traffic was heavy, the sky was dark but very very clear. Ahead in the sky to the right of me above I noticed what at first looked like a helicopter...then it changed shape, lit up red and white lights, tilted and was in the shape of a cross straightened out, and sped off..it almost looked like a hovering minivan in the sky..." 

Revolving restaurants, submarines, and minivans hovering in the Kensington skies! All these sightings made me wonder...why Kensington? 

Well, I'm not the only one who sensed an extraterrestrial link to our quiet little community. In the late 1970's, one of the most prestigious and credible UFO organizations, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), moved their headquarters from Washington DC to University Blvd, right here in Kensington. Yes, they say the rent was lower, but that's what they want us to believe... 

So, I began to see Kensington in a different light... 

Has anyone noticed those early morning "commuters" standing by the tracks, staring vacantly into nowhere? Has anyone every heard them speak, or looked directly into their eyes? 

And the “flower pots” in the middle of Connecticut Avenue? Attractive landscaping or an extraterrestrial navigation aid? I’ll let you decide. 

And has anyone noticed how many strange little dogs there are walking our streets, not to mention their walkers? I find myself now looking directly into the eyes of every little dog I see, and then the other day, I swear, one of them turned around and winked at me. I'm not kidding. 

Running into a prominent Kensington resident at the Tea Room, I asked him if he thought there might be aliens among us. "Nope" he replied, "all Kensingtonians look human to me” Then his eyes glazed over and he added “Also, as humans, we may have some outer space genetic material since we are made of the "stuff that stars are made of" - or, since comets & other stuff have hit this planet lots of times in its billion some year old history, it is possible that our genetic heritage includes non-Earth stuff...." Ooookay....I looked directly into his eyes and slowly backed away. 

So, with all these questions and more filling my head, I walked down Armory Avenue near Reinquist Park, the sun in my eyes, and there I saw it, a dark circular object hovering above the trees. I stood there and stared, squinting in the sun. It came closer and closer, frightening me, yet I was strangely excited. Closer and closer and then Bamm! it hit me right between the eyes. When I came to there was David Taylor standing above me holding his purple frisbee. 

And so my search continues.