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49 The experience was so unlike the previous encounters she had remembered that Beth insisted it was just a dream, but the idea and the threat of a “terminator,” whatever it might be, haunted her. So did the identity of the men. Another situation arose during this time that caused her a great deal of concern, even though it seemed to have nothing to do with UFOs or aliens. Several different mornings, when Beth woke up and went into the kitchen for coffee, she found the water jug, normally kept in the refrigerator, and four glasses containing water sitting out on the counter. The first time this occurred, Beth was annoyed by the inconsiderate act, and she questioned her son and daughter about it. Both of them denied leaving out the water jug or even being in the kitchen after bedtime. The next time she found the dirty glasses and the jug, Beth became angry and found it hard to believe her children’s protestations of innocence in the matter. What were they doing, she wondered, getting up in the middle of the night and inviting in people, visiting with them in secret? Why was it done in secret? Why were they denying doing it? The questions bothered her greatly, yet the children were adamant that they had nothing to do with the intermittent discoveries of the jug and glasses left on the counter by undiscovered persons during the night. Finally Beth came to believe them, but that made her even more afraid, for it pointed to a scenario of four strangers with free access to her home and family. Yet no one in the family saw any strangers there, and none of the household goods had been stolen. But the scenario of strangers breaking in merely for a sip of water just didn’t make any sense. And Beth couldn’t believe the visitors were aliens, not if all they seemed to do was pour themselves a drink, leave a mess on the kitchen counter, and then disappear. Beth worried about this mysterious situation for a long time, even after the visits stopped. And she never caught anyone in the act of entertaining guests or getting out the water jug, which would have explained the whole affair. Much later, however, Beth did have a flashback memory concerning this situation. In a very upsetting scenario, she saw herself opening the door and letting a group of people into the house. She even saw herself pouring the water. Beth didn’t recognize any of the people, and the flashback memory didn’t show her why she let them in or what they did there after she poured their drinks. She didn’t know if the flashback reflected a real event or if it came from her imagination. It certainly felt real, but it seemed so unlikely that Beth just couldn’t accept it. In September 1987, however, an indisputably real event occurred. Another UFO appeared and was witnessed by three members of the family. “Mommy, there’s a UFO up there!” Beth heard her daughter shout on night around 11 p.m. She got up and looked out to see a “huge, beautiful UFO” about half a mile from the house. Her son also saw it briefly. This sighting seemed no different than previous ones, but it was followed the next day by the onset of activity that would continue for years: overflights of unidentified helicopters. On that first day, an AW AC also flew over, in addition to the black copters, and the craft operated at such low altitudes that sometimes the windows and the entire house were shaken by their force. They returned a week later, and this time Beth even witnessed a craft that looked like a helicopter but flew noiselessly. She continued to have frightening nocturnal experiences, usually involving fragmented scenarios and time loss. Once after midnight, for example, Beth went through an event of