Octogenarian Seeks Fellow Believers

by Leslie Slape
After years of silence, an Idaho woman is determined to spread the word about UFOs.

Joy French is fully aware that it sounds a little far-fetched to say that she might have been abducted by an alien near Mount St. Helens more than two decades ago. But since she began hosting UFO meetings in April 2007, she has seen and heard so much evidence of extraterrestrial encounters that she wishes she had spoken up earlier. Now the energetic octogenarian devotes her life to opening closed minds.

“We are the only country trying not to tell the truth about UFOs,” she said. “The government is not being honest with people.”

French, 84, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, will host a meeting for believers in UFO sightings, and those who want to believe, at 7 p.m. Friday in the Cowlitz County PUD meeting room in Longview, Washington.

French lived in Longview from 1965 to ‘67. In the early 1980s she was staying in a small trailer on Lake Merwin. A friend camping in the area, Don McMann, called her on the CB radio and invited her to watch a video with him.

Most of that night is a blank. She remembers starting to drive downhill to his trailer, and the next thing she remembers is being a passenger in her car, with him driving. “I’m an independent person,” she said, so being a passenger made no sense to her. “I usually drive my own car.”

She doesn’t recall watching the movie. She said neither of them drank.

This took place around 10 or 11 p.m., in the thick darkness of a mountain forest. Suddenly the sky lit up as bright as daylight, and her 1966 Cadillac stopped dead.

McMann, a mechanic, hopped out and lifted the hood. He checked the engine and shrugged. “There’s nothing wrong with your car,” he said. He slammed the hood, and the car started.

“That’s the last thing I remember until the next day,” French said.

In the morning, she called McMann on the CB and arranged to meet at the community kitchen. “I told him, ‘What happened last night, that’s what happens when a UFO’s around,’ ” she said. “He said, ‘I thought of that, too.’ ”

They never spoke of it again, nor did they mention it to the other campers at Merwin because they were afraid of ridicule. “Now I wonder if the others saw and didn’t tell,” she said.

She believes the light came from a spaceship, and that she and McMann were taken into the craft and examined. Their memories of the incident were erased before they were returned to her car, she believes.

McMann died in 1998. A couple of years ago, French, now living in Idaho, discussed the incident with a childhood friend, and discovered the friend once saw a UFO when she was picking huckleberries. “The government told her never to speak of it,” French said.

She has read numerous books about extraterrestrials, met investigators and scientists and heard many people share their experiences, including Gloria Hawker, author of Morning Glory, an account of being impregnated by an alien.

“Some of this stuff blows my mind,” French said. “It’s kind of hard to swallow.”

She’s positive she didn’t have the same experience as Hawker. “If they took me and checked me out, they probably threw me back because I had a complete hysterectomy and I’m no good to them,” she said.

French believes extraterrestrials have been visiting Earth for centuries, citing the Egyptian pyramids as one example of their work. She also believes aliens can be credited with the world’s rapid advancements in technology during her own lifetime.

“I can’t believe the government is still covering up,” she said.

She thinks extraterrestrials want to save our world. “I don’t think they want to hurt us. I think they want to save us from destroying our planet,” she said. “Or pick us up after we destroy it.”

She understands that many people are afraid to come forward and admit they believe in UFOs. She offers her meetings as a safe place to learn more.

“People with closed minds never learn a thing.”

Check It Out:

What: UFO meeting; open to anyone who has had an experience with extraterrestrials or who wishes to meet those who have
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Cowlitz County PUD meeting room, Longview, Washington
Cost: Donation
Information: Joy French, (208) 755-8942

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