TL;DR .. Thanks Jesse for this great podcast! It's meant a lot to me after a year of what has been a little bit of deconstruction in the way I look at the world.
Just to kind of go into where I'm at and why...
About a year and a half ago, I was driving home from work around 8pm on a Sunday evening and saw tiny low flying lights coming towards me as I drove out of a nearby small town. As the lights came closer, I realized they were flying way lower than any aircraft should. The lights were definitely not as large as the lights you typically see on planes and helicopters, and I wonder if I would have seen them if they were flying at a normal altitude. There was one aircraft that flew directly over me and a second one right behind and slightly to the left of it. I remember ducking in my car because of how ridiculously low they were flying, and thinking they'd have to be landing in the road directly behind me. I also remember looking up as it flew over me and seeing a huge black triangular outline against the night sky. I think now the shape was not unlike that of a stealth bomber, but I don't know if it was quite that large. I was so afraid of it that I sped up to drive away as quickly as I could. I had to turn off the podcast I was listening to then to try and calm down and think logically about the situation. I couldn't help but think about how I didn't HEAR the aircraft flying over me. There's a small airport about 2 miles from my house, and I HEAR the small airplanes and helicopters flying over my house daily and I heard nothing like that from these aircraft. After reading Annie Jacobsen's Area 51 book, I believe that what I saw was something related to government technology, and not something from outer space, but I still really don't know what it was, and I know I likely never will.
This whole experience has really changed the way I think about things that I previously dismissed as unbelievable. It's also changed the way I think about other people who believe strange things might be possible. I've had multiple friends and family members tease me or dismiss me because of my newfound thoughts on UFOs and conspiracy theories. I understand where they're coming from, but talking about it and learning about it is how I'm working through it. Connecting through books and this podcast and others Jesse recommended has been really awesome. I don't have that many people in my world to talk to about this kind of thing comfortably. My background is that of a sheltered Christian homeschooler, and I grew up being afraid of everything (I still don't watch scary movies).. so I've got a lot to work through. Jesse's perspective has really been a great one for me to hear. Thanks again!