Nelson, NV - Something REALLY Strange

I hesitate to post this, as I don't want to think I'm crazy, but it is as I remember it...

Nelson Nevada, specifically Nelson's Landing is a wonderful area to explore the strange desert.  There is so much "normal" strange stuff around this area that it will take many posts to tell it all.  Nelson, is located on the Colorado River.  This is a tale of one of the strangest things to ever happen to me in my life.

Slot canyons in the area, circa 1997.

It was a Saturday night in August at about 12 AM - 1997 and I was with 2 of my friends.  There wasn't any drinking or drugs involved, so don't bother going down that road.  We were out watching the stars after a long day of hiking down the river and through the amazing slot canyons in the area.  There was no moon out so it was completely black save the starlight...


As we were sitting on the cliffs overlooking the shoreline of the river, I noticed the reflection of the moon in the water.  Except, as I stated before, there wasn't a moon out that night.  Maybe I had been mistaken and the moon was hidden behind a mountain... but we all searched and there was none.  So what was it?  Well on further inspection, the reflection we realized, was actually a glow coming from under the water!

Google Earth view of the Area

As we were trying to figure out what in the world this could be, we notice that it appeared to be getting bigger... and bigger.  It was actually rising to the surface and ended up breaking the surface after about what seemed to be 15 minutes of slow rising.  The color of this glowing ball was somewhere between a greenish ghostly glow and a whitish moon like glow.  The size was about the size of a mid-size sedan.  Yea, that big.

This glowing ball continued to rise out of the water.  It then proceeded to launch itself into the air and shot out into the sky and away from us as fast as I have seen anything fly.  It was completely silent.  Well, I can't begin to explain this at all.  I have no idea what it was.  The people I was with were scared out of their minds and wanted to leave, so we did.  As we were going to the car, we noticed search lights scanning the mountains on the other side of the river.  I don't know if it was connected to the event or not but it added to the freaky nature of the whole experience.

Now years later it turns out, my wife and I went back to that very same spot and had a similar experience.  We saw the glowing light under the water...  It was moving around the river slowly back and forth but never broke the surface...  What's out there?  What could it be?  Swamp gas?  UFO?  Ghosts?  I really don't know!

It would be worth mentioning a bit of history of Nelson's Landing.  Prior to 1974 the Landing was a popular stop along the river until this happened:

Southern Nevada

September 14, 1974

Flash Flood

On Saturday, September 14, 1974 - at Nelson's Landing, a popular weekend fishing resort about 50 miles southeast of Las Vegas, 12 feet of water caused by torrential rains sweeps through Eldorado canyon, sweeping everything in its path into Lake Mohave, including the resort, restaurant, several cars and 20 residences. According to eyewitnesses, there was maybe five seconds of warning. Nine people are known killed by this disaster.

I look forward to your comments...  Thanks Jeff Byrne for the info!