During December 1988, Anne de Soto and her boyfriend Cole were driving on West Beach Road near Watsonville, California, when they reported suddenly entering dense fog. An orange light illuminated a very large, rounded object in an adjoining field.
Both described feeling strange and having difficulty moving or responding. When they turned back to look, the object was gone. Their next clear recollection was reaching Cole's home, with approximately five hours they could not account for. They fell asleep and later noticed blood on the bedding and an unusual mark on Anne's hip.
Anne also reported that longstanding hip symptoms had changed afterward. About four years later, hypnotic sessions produced recollections of approaching a large craft, seeing figures at a doorway and being examined on a table with unfamiliar instruments. Those scenes were later recollections of the interval, separate from the fog and orange object the couple consciously remembered on the road.
Conscious fog/object memories are distinct from onboard and examination recollections recovered under hypnosis about four years later. Reported symptom improvement does not independently establish its cause.
