Kriti MehrotraWith Netflix’s ‘Encounters: Messengers’ exploring the early 2008 sightings of mysterious lights in the evening sky over Central Texas, we honestly get a documentary episode unlike any other. After all, it comprises first-hand accounts of not only local witnesses but also military whistleblowers to really shine a light upon the whole Unidentified Aerial/Anomalous Phenomenon (or AUP). Amongst them was actually none other than Erath County native Steve Allan.
Who is Steve Allen?
Although Steve was just a young boy growing up around Stephenville when he first developed a keen interest in engines, he never initially imagined he’d end up establishing his own trucking firm. The truth is this business and his personal life were both thriving back in the 2000s owing to his unwavering passion, yet everything changed once he sighted the UFO as his interests shifted too. In fact, in his journey to figure out “what all’s out there” or what the world still doesn’t know, this amateur pilot unfortunately lost the trust of his employees, his massive company, plus his entire family.
“In 2008, I had a great life,” Steve candidly conceded in the original production. “I had a successful business. I guess I’d been married 16, 17 years at the time. Very blessed is all I can say.” Yet then came January 8, 2008 — the first decent day following a terrible winter, which he and his close friends decided to take total advantage of by planning a campfire on top of a nearby hill. “It was myself, Mike Odom, and Lance Jones,” he revealed. “Then all of a sudden, I see some real bright, high-intensity lights off to the east. They were headed our way at a high velocity of speed.”
Steve continued, “The lights were so bright, it was unlike anything I’d ever seen. It was almost blinding to look at ’em. Though what amazed me was no wind noise, no engine noise. There was silence.” Therefore, when the object hovered near them, and he admittedly felt more peaceful than ever before, he came to believe there was an outside power with which he was at one for a fleeting moment. “[This sensation was] something I’ve never had before or since then,” he expressed in the episode. “It was unreal. Another brief second, it simply disappeared. It didn’t steak off, it disappeared.”
Then, Steve recalled, he witnessed two Air Force multirole fighter aircraft F16s rushing by within three seconds — it was as if they were pursuing the object to get some answers themselves. So despite being shaken up, he still contacted a local newspaper the following morning to share his complete story in the hopes it would help him uncover if we really are alone in this universe. Thus came dozens of other people’s testimonies, an official report stating no fighter jets were in the area on the fateful evening (just to be disproved by radar analysis, per the show), harassing messages, and his obsession, all of which resulted in his world turning.
In fact, within days, Steve and a few of his friends boarded their airplanes to actually look for the unidentified phenomenon even though his wife utterly disapproved of the entire situation. He stated, “Our first thought was, we hoped we would find where it was based out of. ‘Cause it’d appeared out of nowhere. We explored all possibilities. We combed the whole area. On about the third night… I said, ‘Do you guys ever feel like you’re looking for a needle in the haystack?” Nevertheless, his search continues because it’s the strange mixed sense of belonging, control, otherness, and purpose that now drives him rather than anything else, per the documentary.
Where is Steve Allen Now?
In Steve’s own words, his businesses suffered since he was chasing what he’d once witnessed in passing and his marriage crumbled after 17 years owing to stress from the exposure they were facing. Yet, he openly voiced in the original production, “I still consider it a blessing that I did see it. It’s forever in my mind. I’m still on my quest. Still, to this day. I will find out what happened.” Hence, from what we can tell, the 65-year-old local pilot as well as freight entrepreneur continues to reside in Stephenville at the moment, where he’s surrounded by not just his loved ones but also his many motorcycles, boats, and airplanes, as his journey for truth persists.
