in the middle, like a turret. The edge of the saucer-
shaped object was thick and had vanes spaced about every foot, like
buckets on a turbine wheel. Between each vane was a small opening,
like a nozzle.

The next reaction that the scoutmaster recalled was one of fury. He
wanted to harm or destroy whatever it was that he saw. All he had was
a machete, but he wanted to try to jump up and strike at whatever he
was looking at. No sooner did he get this idea than he noticed the
shadows on the turret change ever so slightly and heard a sound,
"like the opening of a well-oiled safe door." He froze where he stood
and noticed a small ball of red fire begin to drift toward him. As it
floated down it expanded into a cloud of red mist. He dropped his
fight and machete, and put his arms over his face. As the mist
enveloped him, he passed out.

The boy scouts, in the car, estimated that their scoutmaster had
been gone about five minutes when they saw him stop at the edge of
the clearing, then walk on in. They saw him stop seconds later,
hesitate a few more seconds, then shine the light up in the air. They
thought he was just looking at the trees again. The next thing they
said they saw was a big red ball of fire engulfing him. They saw him
fall, so they spilled out of the car and took off down the road
toward the farmhouse.

The farmer and his wife had a little difficulty getting the story
out of the boys, they were so excited. All they could get was
something about the boys' scoutmaster being in trouble down the road.
The farmer called the Florida State Highway Patrol, who relayed the
message to the county sheriff's office. In a few minutes a deputy
sheriff and the local constable arrived. They picked up the scouts
and drove to where their car was parked.

The scoutmaster had no idea of how long he had been unconscious. He
vaguely remembered leaning against a tree, the feeling of wet, dew-
covered grass, and suddenly regaining his consciousness. His first
reaction was to get out to the highway, so he started to run. About
halfway through the palmetto thicket he saw a car stop on the
highway. He ran toward it and found the deputy and constable with the
boys.

He was so excited he could hardly get his story told coherently.
Later the deputy said that in all his years as a law-enforcement
officer he had never seen anyone as scared as the scoutmaster was as
he came up out of the ditch beside the road and walked into the glare