Former U.S. Air Force security policeman who reports that he and another airman encountered a large unidentified object while responding to an alarm at a Minuteman missile launch facility near Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota in November 1977. Woods describes the incident as an abduction experience involving several hours of missing time.
Mario A. Woods Jr. is a former U.S. Air Force security policeman who was assigned to protect missile facilities associated with Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. Woods has said that in November 1977 he and another Security Alert Team member were dispatched from the November 1 launch-control facility to investigate inner and outer-zone alarms at the Minuteman launch facility designated November 5, near Newell. According to his account, they saw a large, silent, red-orange spherical object hovering above the site. Woods reports that both men experienced difficulty breathing inside their vehicle and that he saw several small figures approaching before he lost consciousness. He says he regained awareness around dawn near the Newell Lake Reservoir, several miles from the launch facility, with approximately five hours unaccounted for and his partner conscious but initially unresponsive. Woods states that they were questioned after returning to their unit and that he underwent medical testing. Years later, he used hypnosis in an effort to recover memories from the missing interval and reported recollections of being taken from the vehicle, seeing beings, and undergoing an examination. He has discussed the incident in interviews and has described it as an abduction experience.