Around midnight on a quiet summer night about 15 kilometers north of Vernon, British Columbia, I stepped outside for a smoke and witnessed something utterly surreal—a vast beam of white light hovering silently overhead. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. The beam bore no source or visible end, stretching across the sky like an enormous spotlight suspended in the darkness.
At first, I tried to rationalize it. Could it be an oddly shaped cloud illuminated by the moon? But there was no moon that night, and the shape was precise—like a smooth, rounded tube with crisp, defined edges and glowing with an intense, steady luminance reminiscent of a full moon. It didn’t flicker or change color, nor did it move. It just hung there, low on the horizon yet impossibly vast.
I considered the possibility of northern lights, but there was no wavy motion or ethereal color typical of auroras. Its unchanging, solid glow was hypnotic, strange, and completely out of place. For about 45 minutes, this inexplicable beam held its silent vigil over the land, casting an almost eerie light and leaving me shaken and captivated.
Despite entertaining fleeting thoughts of it being some kind of UFO, the beam’s lack of tangible substance left me puzzled and unsettled. It was not a solid craft or a conventional flying object but something far more mysterious. Even now, I can’t stop wondering about the nature of that light — a silent sentinel cutting through the night sky over Vernon, BC.
This experience defies easy explanation and invites us to peer deeper into the shadows where the unexplained lingers. I’m grateful to share this story with fellow enthusiasts who seek to unravel the whispers in the night. Keep watching the skies; who knows what might appear next?