Ducks Hung By Their Heels
It’s interesting to me how just losing a purse can provide opportunities for new and delightful experiences. I wrote a bit about this purse ordeal in a previous post titled Taking My Girl to a Bar in Valentine, Texas. But what I didn’t tell you was that on the way to Marfa to retrace and look for the purse I noticed I was being followed by an older white pickup truck with some bicycles thrown in the back. As usual I was driving along pretty slowly and the pickup surprisingly didn’t seem to care, which is unusual in Texas where they drive like maniacs.
Upon entering the city limits I made a couple of 90 degree turns. The pickup continued following me. When I stopped at Angel’s Mexican Restaurant (where we had a bad lunch the previous day), the pickup almost rear-ended me as I was adjusting my parking space. Beverly exited the truck and went inside to inquire about her lost purse. The pickup then abruptly swung around and pulled right in front of me. An older woman got out of the passenger’s side and made her way into Angel’s.
Meanwhile a rather stocky old man with white hair and a beard sidled up beside my window. I rolled it down and said hello. The man seemed friendly enough, almost too friendly, as he happily mentioned he had told his wife several miles earlier that he would bet anything I was going to Angel’s. Every turn I made reinforced his ante. And then low and behold I went ahead and parked right in front of Angel’s Restaurant. This man had gotten the biggest kick out of knowing exactly where I had been headed even miles before us getting there. I told him we were at Angel’s because my wife had lost her purse. Matter of fact I think by now I’ve told just about everybody.
It’s not easy explaining a strange and spontaneous encounter with such a kind and personable gentleman. We really connected. I quickly learned he was a few years older than me and had been drafted into the Vietnam War. I mentioned I was in the very last draft back in 1972 and my number was 346 so I escaped having to go and come back in a body bag. But my new friend said he somehow got lucky and instead of being sent to Vietnam he was chosen to fly helicopters for the Coast Guard. Our interesting conversation expanded to such a degree that he became worried about not joining his wife inside for her special birthday lunch celebration. But he couldn’t help himself from digressing and eventually segueing into the subject of the infamous Marfa Lights.
This man claimed he knew some stuff that others did not. He grew up in Marfa and as a kid had often visited the abandoned Marfa Army Airfield which was closed after the war in 1947. He asked if I had ever seen these mysterious lights? I had not. I was curious and asked more questions. And he got even more nervous because of making his wife wait on her birthday. Finally he turned and scooted back to his truck and returned with a thin book in his hand. As he offered it to me he said all my questions would be answered. And off he went to join his wife.
Reading the book I learned the man’s name was William K. Thornsburg and as a pilot for the Coast Guard he had been involved in search and rescue missions for NASA, the Air Force, the FBI and other security agencies. In the summer of 1975 Thornsburg was sent to investigate an unreported terrible accident that had occurred in the area now known as Friendswood, Texas. A reported cigar-shaped sphere the size of two football fields was on fire. His job was to search for any human survivors in one of three designated sites that covered a three-mile radius. There weren't any. He was not allowed to fly over the primary crash site that harbored a great light the size of the Astrodome. To this day, according to Thornsburg, the crash remains top secret.
In 2016 he self-published a slim volume numbering 54 pages titled Marfa Lights and the Marfa Army Airfield. The word “Classified” was written on the cover. On the back cover the author was listed as Kim Thornsburg. It was a fascinating story, well-written, and very believable. Now I sort of wish my wife and I had taken that drive down Hwy 90 to the viewing area but we rarely go out after dark. Anyway, there’s plenty in this book to consider regardless of whether you believe in the paranormal, UFO’s, NASA’s secret projects, or even extraterrestrials. The book wasn’t listed on goodreads so being a librarian on that platform I entered Thornsburg’s book into the records. The next day the listing of the book was nowhere to be found and I was blocked from using my account on goodreads. Not sure what that was all about but it did raise more questions. I have yet to receive an explanation from goodreads or a reason why I can’t get on or into my account. Perhaps this will all be cleared up by the time you read this. But the mystery of the Marfa Lights will not.