While journeying southward along Highway 2 from Edmonton to Ponoka, Alberta, an extraordinary phenomenon arrested my attention on a crisp November evening. A radiant light, vivid and unwavering, appeared to hover in the twilight sky — at first resembling an exceptionally bright star. Its curious behaviour defied reason; it maintained a fixed position ahead to my left as I drove onward.
As my vehicle neared the outskirts of Ponoka, the light shifted subtly, oscillating closer and farther, as though testing the bounds of distance. Soon, it descended nearer to the earth, glowing with intensified brilliance just outside my passenger window on the right. Enticed by this enigmatic beacon, I contemplated diverting via the Rimby exit to follow its trail but soon found it directly ahead, its luminance dimmed, hinting at greater distance.
Navigating onto the Ponoka exit eastward, I glimpsed the light behind me through the rear window, an ethereal companion on the twilight journey. Suddenly, it accelerated—a swift, deliberate motion—passing alongside my car before settling over a field near Ponoka. Pulled in by irresistible curiosity, I stopped near the stampede grounds and stepped out, the orb now hanging low and bright against the darkening sky. I attempted to capture its presence with a photograph, but duty called and I departed briefly.
Upon return, the light had vanished as abruptly as it appeared, leaving behind an insistent mystery swirling in the cold November air. Was it a cosmic visitor, a terrestrial enigma, or a trick of the mind? This encounter defies easy explanation, yet it has etched itself into my memory, a glowing testament to the unfathomable wonders that dance just beyond ordinary sight.