UFO Encounter in Emporia: The Missing 4 Hours | Unexplained Time Loss Phenomenon
On a summer evening in 1986, two women experienced an unsettling incident while driving from Lake Gaston to Virginia Beach. Tina, then 32, and her friend Sandra, 34, were coworkers at the Club Campground Resort in Lake Gaston. After finishing work around 5 PM, they began their regular weekend trip to visit their mothers in Virginia Beach. The journey started normally, with both women clear-headed as they approached the main traffic light in Emporia during rush hour.
What happened next defied explanation. In what seemed like an instant, both women found themselves miles outside of Emporia on Highway 58, with no memory of how they arrived there. The clock had inexplicably jumped from 5 PM to approximately 9 PM—nearly four hours had vanished without a trace. Both women experienced the same memory gap, finding themselves suddenly in darkness on a road they should have reached hours earlier. Their shared experience led them to swear a pact of secrecy, fearing they would be considered mentally unstable if they shared their story.
Key Takeaways
Two women experienced four hours of missing time while driving, with no memory of how they traveled several miles from their last remembered location.
Both witnesses independently confirmed the same experience of time displacement, strengthening the credibility of their account.
The incident occurred during a summer when multiple UFO sightings were reported in the same region of Virginia.
Witness Backgrounds
Tina's Personal History
Tina, aged 32 in 1986, worked at the Club Campground Resort in Lake Gaston, Emporia, Virginia. She rented a small lake house during weekdays for her job responsibilities. On weekends, Tina regularly traveled to Virginia Beach to visit her mother. After the unusual experience in 1986, Tina eventually relocated to New Jersey where she secured employment at another resort. She came from a military family background, which she later wondered might have some connection to the strange incident. Despite being close friends with Sandra, Tina strangely couldn't recall Sandra's last name years later, something she found particularly odd given her typically good memory for names.
Sandra's Personal History
Sandra, 34 years old in 1986, shared the lake house with Tina and also worked at the Club Campground Resort. Like Tina, she would regularly travel to Virginia Beach on weekends to visit her mother. Prior to her employment at the resort, Sandra had worked for NASA for approximately five years. This previous employment history later became a point of interest when the women tried to make sense of their unusual experience. After the incident, Sandra and Tina lost contact with each other for reasons neither fully understood, despite having been close friends who lived and worked together.
The Unexpected Occurrence
The Evening's Beginning
In the summer of 1986, two coworkers embarked on what should have been a routine weekend trip. Tina, 32, and Sandra, 34, both worked at the Club Campground Resort in Lake Gaston near Emporia, Virginia. They shared a small lake house during the work week, and both regularly traveled to Virginia Beach on weekends to visit their mothers. On this particular evening, they departed after finishing their work shifts, with Tina behind the wheel.
"We were completely clear-headed," Tina would later recall. "No alcohol or substances involved whatsoever." They reached the main traffic light in downtown Emporia during the evening rush hour, approximately 5:00 PM, with daylight still illuminating their surroundings.
The Time Discontinuity
What happened next defied conventional explanation. Tina suddenly felt as though she had awakened from a trance. Her hands remained on the steering wheel and the car continued moving, but they were now several miles outside Emporia on Highway 58—a location approximately 15-20 minutes away from where they last remembered being.
Most alarming was the dramatic shift in conditions:
It was now completely dark outside
The radio indicated it was around 9:00 PM
They had traveled approximately 10 miles beyond Emporia
Neither woman had any recollection of the intervening hours
"I asked Sandra if she knew what I was talking about," Tina noted. Sandra appeared equally disoriented, confirming she too remembered being at the traffic light at 5:00 PM and then suddenly finding themselves on a dark highway hours later.
Confronting the Inexplicable
Thoroughly shaken, the women pulled off the road beside a dark field to gather their thoughts. Both were trembling with fear as they attempted to process what had occurred. Their minds immediately turned to the possibility of an unexplained abduction.
Several factors made this incident particularly noteworthy:
Shared experience: Both women experienced identical memory gaps
Duration: Approximately 3-4 hours of unaccounted time
Continued function: Tina had apparently driven the vehicle competently during the missing period
Background connections: Tina came from a military family while Sandra had previously worked for NASA
The women made a pact of silence that night, fearing ridicule or worse if they shared their experience. "We were convinced they would put us in a mental ward if we told anyone our story," Tina explained. They continued to Virginia Beach, arriving around midnight.
Curiously, Tina and Sandra lost contact shortly afterward, with Tina eventually leaving Lake Gaston permanently. Years later, Tina discovered there had been numerous UFO sightings reported in Emporia and nearby Suffolk that same summer, adding another layer to their already perplexing experience.
Theories About the Unexplained Experience
Possible Extraterrestrial Involvement
The events experienced by Tina and Sandra in the summer of 1986 near Emporia, Virginia have several hallmarks commonly associated with potential extraterrestrial encounters. Both women reported experiencing approximately four hours of missing time while driving to Virginia Beach. They clearly remember being at a traffic light in Emporia at 5:00 PM in daylight, then suddenly finding themselves miles outside town in complete darkness at approximately 9:00 PM. Neither woman could account for those missing hours.
Both witnesses were in normal mental states before the incident. They weren't using alcohol or drugs, and both experienced the exact same memory gap and disorientation afterward. The shock and confusion they shared upon realizing what had happened suggests a genuine unexplained experience rather than a fabrication.
Their decision to keep the event secret stemmed from fear of ridicule, a common reaction among those who experience such phenomena. The area around Emporia and Suffolk reportedly had numerous UFO sightings that same summer, adding contextual support to their experience though they never observed a craft themselves.
Professional Background Considerations
The witnesses' employment histories present an interesting angle. Tina grew up in a military family, while Sandra had previously worked for NASA for approximately five years. These connections to government and aerospace organizations raise questions about whether they might have been specifically targeted based on their backgrounds.
The women's close relationship makes their subsequent loss of contact unusual. Even more puzzling is Tina's inability to remember Sandra's last name despite their close friendship and living arrangement. This type of selective memory loss sometimes appears in accounts of similar experiences.
After the incident, their pact of secrecy and Tina's eventual departure from Lake Gaston could suggest a subconscious desire to distance herself from the traumatic event. The experience was clearly disturbing enough that Tina remembered it vividly decades later, even while specific details about her friend had faded.
The case shares similarities with other reported incidents, including a 1966 Castro Valley, California case where witnesses encountered an enormous craft and subsequently experienced missing time and disorientation. Both cases feature witnesses who were fully conscious before their experiences but unable to account for significant time periods afterward.
Aftermath Responses and Measures
Pledge of Confidentiality
After experiencing the unexplained time loss, Tina and Sandra made an immediate decision to keep the incident private. Both women, shaken by their experience, agreed they wouldn't share their story with anyone. They feared being viewed as mentally unstable if they admitted to losing approximately four hours with no recollection of that time. Their conversation when Tina dropped Sandra off at Virginia Beach confirmed this mutual agreement. During their Sunday return journey, Tina specifically asked Sandra if she had broken their confidentiality pact, to which Sandra confirmed she had maintained complete silence about the incident. This commitment to secrecy lasted many years, with Tina only beginning to discuss the experience approximately a decade later.
Communication Breakdown
Following the incident, the relationship between Tina and Sandra deteriorated in unusual ways. Despite their previous close friendship as both coworkers and housemates, they lost contact almost immediately after the event. Most strikingly, Tina found herself unable to recall Sandra's surname, which seems particularly unusual given her typically excellent memory for personal details. As Tina explained, she could remember names of acquaintances from throughout her life—from grade school through college and beyond—yet Sandra's last name remained completely inaccessible to her memory. This selective memory loss regarding a close friend appears consistent with the strange nature of their shared experience. Their immediate disconnection after such an intense mutual event raises questions about whether this communication breakdown might have been related to the incident itself.
Mysterious Incidents Beyond Explanation
Memory Blackouts
A 1986 incident in Virginia involved two women experiencing a time lapse while driving. Tina, 32, and her coworker Sandra, 34, were traveling from Lake Gaston to Virginia Beach as they regularly did on weekends. Both women were completely sober and alert when they stopped at a traffic light in Emporia around 5:00 PM in daylight. Suddenly, they found themselves miles outside town in complete darkness.
The women were shocked to discover it was approximately 9:00 PM - nearly four hours later. Neither could account for the missing time or how they had traveled approximately 10 miles from their last remembered location. Both women were disoriented and frightened by the experience.
They pulled off the road to gather their thoughts, finding themselves beside a dark field. The incident was so unsettling that they made a pact never to discuss it with anyone, fearing they would be considered mentally unstable.
Insufficient Explanatory Evidence
The women never observed any unusual craft or had direct contact with anything that might explain their experience. However, several curious elements remain unresolved. Tina later discovered there had been multiple UFO sightings reported in Emporia and Suffolk during that same summer of 1986.
Interestingly, both women had connections that some UFO researchers find significant:
Tina grew up in a military family
Sandra had previously worked for NASA for approximately five years
Another peculiar aspect is Tina's inability to recall Sandra's last name despite their close relationship as coworkers and housemates. This memory gap seems unusual given Tina's otherwise excellent recall of people from her past.
The case bears similarities to a 1966 incident in Castro Valley, California, where a man and his girlfriend observed an enormous unidentified craft before experiencing similar missing time and confusion. In both cases, the witnesses were fully alert and capable of driving afterward, ruling out conventional intoxication as an explanation for their memory gaps.
Similar UFO Encounters
JD's Experience in Castro Valley
In the summer of 1966, a significant UFO encounter occurred in Castro Valley, California. A witness identified as JD and his girlfriend (who later became his wife) were driving through the back hills around midnight when they spotted an unusual object emitting flashing red, green, and blue lights. The couple observed this mysterious craft for nearly an hour while parked near a small lake.
What made this sighting particularly remarkable was the size of the object. JD estimated that the craft was massive - comparable to an aircraft carrier. Using a nearby 10-story hospital as a reference point, he calculated the object was longer than six hospital buildings placed end to end.
A distinctive feature of the craft was a small red dot that would appear at one edge and travel across the base before disappearing and reappearing on the opposite side at irregular intervals. After watching from a distance, curiosity drove the couple to get closer. They decided to drive across the freeway for a better view, noting the eerily empty roads that should have been busy with weekend traffic.
As they approached the enormous craft, they could see it directly above them. The encounter took an alarming turn when a strange sound emanated from inside their car, despite having their windows rolled down for ventilation. This moment marked the beginning of a frightening series of events that would transform their evening dramatically.
The Effects on Personal Lives
Time-related anomalies appear common in close UFO encounters, as demonstrated in a case from 1986. Two women, Tina (32) and Sandra (34), experienced missing time while driving from Lake Gaston to Virginia Beach. Both women were completely sober and clear-headed when they left work around 5 PM in daylight.
Their experience took a bizarre turn when they suddenly found themselves:
10 miles outside Emporia on Highway 58
Approximately 3-4 hours later (around 9 PM)
In complete darkness
With no memory of the intervening hours
Both women experienced identical memory gaps and were equally shocked. They pulled over, shaking with fear, and tried to make sense of what had happened. They considered the possibility of an abduction, wondering if they had been specifically chosen - perhaps due to Sandra's previous employment at NASA or Tina's military family background.
The incident profoundly affected their relationship and memories. Though they had been close friends and coworkers, they soon lost touch. Strangely, Tina could never recall Sandra's last name despite usually having excellent memory for such details. They initially agreed never to speak of the incident, fearing ridicule or psychiatric institutionalization.
Years later, Tina discovered there had been numerous UFO sightings reported in Emporia and nearby Suffolk during that same summer of 1986, adding credibility to their experience. The psychological impact of the event lingered for decades before Tina finally felt comfortable sharing her story publicly in 2015.
Final Reflections
Possible Reasons for Missing Time
The missing time experiences described by Tina and Sandra in 1986, as well as JD and his girlfriend in 1966, share several intriguing similarities. Both incidents occurred while the witnesses were in vehicles, both involved a complete loss of awareness for extended periods, and both left the witnesses confused and frightened.
Several factors might explain these incidents:
Psychological factors: Certain mental states can cause time distortion, including highway hypnosis or dissociative episodes.
Environmental influences: Some researchers suggest that geographic locations might have properties that affect human perception and cognition.
Unexplained phenomena: The correlation with reported UFO activity in both areas raises questions about possible external influences.
Notably, in both cases, the witnesses remained functionally capable during their missing time - Tina continued driving safely, and JD navigated to a new location.
Viewpoints on Unexplained Incidents
The witnesses' backgrounds add interesting context to these events. Tina came from a military family, while her friend Sandra had previously worked at NASA. Similarly, JD had family connections to engineering. These connections to technical or governmental fields appear in numerous similar accounts.
The psychological impact of these events was significant:
Immediate fear and confusion
Long-term memory effects (Tina's inability to recall Sandra's surname)
Reluctance to discuss the experience with others
What makes these accounts compelling is the shared experience between multiple witnesses. In both cases, two people simultaneously experienced the same missing time, eliminating simple explanations like falling asleep or individual hallucination.
The physical environment changed dramatically during these episodes - from daylight to darkness in Tina's case, and from busy weekend traffic to complete emptiness in JD's account. These environmental shifts suggest something beyond mere psychological explanation occurred.
