Tag / Martians

by Kelly Mattei

All This Drone Talk…

All this drone talk reminds me of the 1970s, when we were obsessed with UFOs, or spaceships/flying saucers. Maybe everyone wasn’t obsessed with them, but it sure seemed like it when I was a little girl. I was terrified I might actually see one, and then, there was a high school bonfire.

I went to the TR Miller High School bonfire in Brewton, Alabama, with my neighbor friend, Allyson, and her family. I’m not sure what year it was, but it was probably the fall of 1974, which means I was seven years old. Allyson had an older brother who played on the football team, and I was lucky she invited me to the bonfire with her. Her mom drove us there in her two-tone, gray and black Buick (it was the first car I ever rode in that had electric windows!), and we were having a great time, when suddenly, as I remember it, things got a little crazy. I don’t know if a helicopter flew over, or if someone just pretended they saw a flying saucer, but it seemed people were screaming, “UFO! UFO!” To me, it seemed like everyone started running. My memory could be skewed. I was just seven years old, after all, and honestly, someone might have just played a trick on us. When things got crazy, Allyson and I ran to her mother’s car and dove into the back seat. It seems her brother eventually came to the car and rode shotgun, and Allyson and I talked about UFOs all the way home. I feel sure I went inside telling my family about the UFO at the bonfire and how we had heard someone say UFOs liked bonfires. I was seven. Someone did say that, and of course, I believed it, because why wouldn’t some Martians want to hang out at a high school bonfire in Brewton, Alabama? There are a lot of nice people in Brewton, and back then, there was Bracken’s Big R Restaurant, where you could get a great burger or some fried chicken. It would have been worth the trip for some Martians, for sure.

I’m not saying these drones aren’t real. I believe drones could be flying over us, and I have no idea who would be piloting them. I know that, a couple of years ago, a drone flew over my backyard while I was out there at night. It wasn’t one of these big drones they’re talking about now. It was a small drone someone probably got for Christmas. It was likely just someone from another house in the neighborhood, but it gave me the heebie geebies that someone was watching me in my own backyard. I went inside promptly.

I read today on the Next Door app that people in Charlotte are saying they are seeing the big, SUV-sized drones. Some have even posted some pretty impressive, believable videos. Maybe there are massive drones hovering overhead suburban South Charlotte? I guess anything is possible. We do, however, live in a city with a pretty busy airport, so there are lots of planes landing and taking off all the time. Just last night, I was driving down the winding Elm Lane and saw a bright light overhead. Once I got to the traffic light, I looked at my FlightAware app and saw it was just a plane coming in from Pittsburgh. In fact, I spend a lot of time outdoors on the patio at night, checking out the stars, the satellites, and yes, the airplanes, and so far, I haven’t seen a drone as big as an SUV. One night, however, I did freak out a little when there was something with blinking lights flying overhead making a whirring sound. Even our Doberman was freaked out! Finally, after standing there watching for a minute or two, I realized it was a blimp. It was difficult to identify in the dark until it was directly overhead.

Right now, I’m still waiting to see a drone as big as an SUV hovering overhead. I’m not sure I want to see one, but if one appears, I’m sure I will react much like Allyson and I did in 1974. I will run for my life!

by Kelly Mattei

My Favorite Martian

My Favorite Martian.

Yesterday, the NASA Mars rover, Perseverance, landed on the red planet. I was slightly intrigued, but not nearly as interested as I would have been if it had happened in the 1970s. In the 1970s, Americans were obsessed with Mars, Unidentified Flying Objects, Martians, aliens, and Skylab. Remember Skylab? Remember folks making a quick buck on Skylab repellent when we knew the orbiter was going to be falling back to earth, crash-landing somewhere?

Skylab was the first United States space station, launched in May of 1973. Six years later, in 1979, its orbit began to decay, and NASA could no longer communicate with the satellite. I was 12 at the time, and while we awaited the “crash,” I was truly concerned Skylab would cut my life short when it fell to earth. I felt sure I would die without ever having kissed a boy. Kids in the neighborhood were talking about it, and I was terrified. My parents tried to tell me the odds of that happening were very minute, but when you’re 12…it’s scary, especially when people are selling Skylab repellent, even as a joke. Skylab came “crashing” to earth in July 1979…ultimately disintegrating over Esperance, Australia, where residents saw bright lights and heard sonic booms before finding debris from the space station spread over their town.Once I heard it had fallen in Australia, I could relax, and I desperately wanted one of those t-shirts announcing “I survived Skylab.” I didn’t get one…I’m sure my parents thought it would be a ridiculous waste of money, but I sure wish I had one now…just as a silly souvenir.

Today, with the landing of Perseverance on Mars, people are talking about Martians again. “What if we hear whispers from Mars?” “What if we see alien beings on the red planet?” It’s enough to make a 12-yr-old kid worry, right?

I spent my entire childhood looking for UFOs in the sky. We heard about them from every angle, including The Brady Bunch. Remember when Greg tricked Bobby and Peter into thinking a UFO was flying past their house? Remember the chaos it created?

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a UFO, but when I was six or seven, the local high school had its annual bonfire. I don’t even really know what happened, but maybe a helicopter flew nearby? Who knows? It had to be 1973 or 1974, when UFO talk was at its peak. Someone at the bonfire made me think there was a UFO in the vicinity. To me, at that age, “UFO” meant alien spaceship ready to land, kidnap me, and probe my belly button to learn more about the human race. I was terrified. I ran to my friend’s mother’s car as fast as I could and jumped into the backseat. I don’t even know what happened after that. She took me home, but I truly believed there had been an alien spaceship at the bonfire…hovering over TR Miller High School, in Brewton, Alabama. Hmmm…why would an alien spaceship want a small child from Brewton, Alabama? Short answer: no alien spaceship wants a kid from Brewton. No offense to the kids from Brewton, but if I’m landing an alien spaceship somewhere, it’s more likely to be in the desert in Arizona or somewhere…not small town Alabama.

Adding to my personal belief in alien beings was the TV show called My Favorite Martian. I don’t even know how I watched it, since it premiered in 1963 (four years before I was born) and only ran for three seasons…in reruns, I guess…probably after school. My Favorite Martian starred Bill Bixby as Tim O’Hara and Ray Walston as “Uncle Martin,” or the Martian anthropologist who crash-landed on Earth and was rescued and taken in by O’Hara. I don’t remember a lot about the show itself, but now that I have it on my mind, I plan to watch a few episodes on Amazon Prime. Yep, if you’ve never seen it or if you liked it back in the day, you can watch it free with your Amazon Prime membership. I’ve actually watched the first episode and found it rather entertaining. Just be forewarned…it’s filmed in black and white. Also, the first episode has some racy references about “a man’s metabolism.” Who knew?

Of course, seeing Ray Walston in My Favorite Martian made me think about Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Yes, this is how my brain works…from Skylab to Fast Times at Ridgemont High…it’s why I’m good at Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. (Not familiar with Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon? It’s a game based on the premise that we are all separated by six degrees of separation or fewer. In the “Kevin Bacon” version, participants try to find connections between Bacon and another famous person in six steps or fewer.) Walston was awesome in Fast Times. I don’t know if his character, Mr. Hand, a history teacher at Ridgemont High, would be very interested in the Perseverance landing on Mars, but surely he would recognize it as a significant historical event.

It is an historical event, indeed, even though the people of our country don’t seem nearly as excited about it as we have seemed about other NASA missions. I guess we have all been conditioned to it by now. And while I don’t find it particularly interesting, I will be listening for news of life on the red planet…life that’s bigger than an amoeba.