I had a similar sighting in 1994. I was driving westbound on US I-10. I was crossing that long stretch of elevated roadway that spans a swampy region of Alabama/Mississippi.
What I saw was an enormous, multi-colored beam of light that emanated from within the swamp, maybe two or three miles south of the road. It simply turned on in an instant, and beamed into space. It was literally the largest single thing I have ever seen. It took up at least a quarter of my field of vision.
The quality of the light was more brilliant and rich than any artificial light I've ever seen. There were individual color bands constantly moving amongst each other, all within the larger beam.
I looked out through the window and up toward the top of the beam, and it went out to infinity. I couldn't see an end to it.
The whole event lasted less than ten seconds, and then it blinked out.
My son (who is now 29) witnessed it also, and there were other cars on the road. I didn't stop, and I didn't notice if anyone else did. My car was in motion the whole time.
One of the most peculiar aspects of the sighting, is that the light appeared in the middle of an area that is totally wild and supposedly uninhabited. I've been up and down that stretch of highway many times, and there's just nothing out there.
I submitted a report about this to MUFON, and they had one of their researchers contact me. She did a lengthy interview with me, and got every detail. The report is now in their records. I asked her at the time, if they'd had any other reports of this phenomenon, and she told me that mine was the only one.
Thanks tons. Very interesting.
Not a totally unique sighting but plenty unique.
The size and reach of the light are not all that common in reports.
If you are willing to have the Mufon report posted and have the URL, please do or let me know.
At the time, the FedGov/military was attempting to annex the land we were on and several thousand other acres to the west of Ft. Hood. (to test cruise missiles) (land owners were successful in denying the seizure)
As we walked along a path near a creek, we were suddenly enveloped by a strange blue light that seemed to come from above but, we could not see the source. We both felt paralyzed (mostly due to shock) for an undetermined amount of time and then it was gone.
When we got back to the truck, we decided it must of been the military trying to intimidate the land owners and never thought too much about it for all these years.
I believe I did discuss this with Quix a while back as being a possible extraterrestrial encounter.