The Mojave Incident
It’s one of the most frightening alleged alien abductions of recent times yet very few have heard of the events surrounding Steve and Dawn Hess.
When you think of alien abductees your mind immediately flashes the names Travis Walton, Betty & Barney Hill and Whitley Strieber, maybe even Samantha Mulder, sister of The X-Files’ Fox Mulder? You may also get the names Betty Andreasson or Antonio Villa-Boas if you’re particularly clued up. What you probably won’t think of are the names of Californian couple, Steve and Dawn Hess. Their experience and subsequent hypnotic regression is covered in a book, by crime author Ron Felber, called The Mojave Incident and it is a truly terrifying and, at times, mentally draining read. We spoke to Ron about the Hess’, their first meeting through a mutual friend and the hypnotic regression sessions where the truth of their experience was finally revealed. Before we get to Ron we’ll relate the incident itself that haunted the couple over the space of two years, pushing them to breaking point.
On the weekend of 20th and 21st October 1989 the young couple had scheduled a weekend trip to the Mojave foothills in Steve’s fathers truck, leaving their two small children in the care of his parents. The pair were looking forward to the trip and after a minor success on the slots at Whiskey Pete’s casino just inside the Nevada border, they were headed for the Midhills camping ground when inclement weather meant a night in the truck by the side of the road. By morning the fog and mist had cleared and they started on towards Midhills again. Situated between the New York and Providence Mountains, and 70 miles southwest of Las Vegas as the crow flies, the camping ground is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, with dusty uneven roads leading to a perfect retreat away from the bustle of city life.
The previous weekend Steve had been with his brother and father in the same area and had spotted a large buck so had brought his 12 gauge shotgun and 7mm Browning rifle with him, intent on taking the deer back to his father after the weekend. Naturally Dawn wasn’t too impressed as Steve stopped the truck every so often to get out and scout around the area on foot. By the time they arrived at Midhills Camping Ground, the place was unusually full for that time of year — “not even a bad spot available” Steve had commented, so the couple had no option but to find an alternative. Hitting upon the idea of going off-road to find a secluded spot between Tabletop and Woods Mountain, a valley from where they could look out over the desert floor, Steve drove the 2-wheel drive truck down creek beds surrounded by sagebrush, juniper trees and granite rocks, a trail more suited to a 4-wheel drive vehicle. Dawn’s apprehension though seemed to be growing, something just didn’t feel right to her. When they finally stopped it was dark and the silhouetted outline of Tabletop Mountain rose high above them a mere 500 yards away. As Steve set up camp and got a fire pit going to cook steak and beans, Dawn afforded herself to relax a little.
The first incident of note occurred as Steve was tending to the steaks. He was absent-mindedly looking at the stars when he saw a light moving above Woods Mountain that half awoke a forgotten or suppressed memory and froze him temporarily. When Dawn’s voice snapped him out of it he played it down but an uneasiness had already embedded itself in his mind. After the meal and as the couple looked at the stars drinking wine, Steve was pointing out various constellations like Leo, Aries and Pegasus and was just explaining that the Demon Star, Algol shined so bright because it was a ‘double-star’ when Dawn drew his attention to an even brighter object suggesting it was a ‘triple-star’. As it came closer they witnessed nine orbs of light shining so bright that they couldn’t possibly be stars. Steve tried to dismiss it using the old US Air Force favourite ‘weather balloon’ explanation and later as secret military manoeuvres from Nulles Air Base nearby, but as the lights got nearer and started blinking as if in communication with each other, they noticed the desert had suddenly gone eerily quiet. As the lights appeared to position themselves above Steve and Dawn’s position the flashing intensified before blinking out altogether, only to reappear somewhere to the west of the truck. Steve tried to reassure a frightened Dawn as she cried out, hundreds of small flashing lights had begun descending to the valley floor ahead of them.
AS STEVE WAS POINTING OUT VARIOUS CONSTELLATIONS DAWN DREW HIS ATTENTION TO AN EVEN BRIGHTER OBJECT.
In the hours that followed Steve and Dawn were terrorised by a number of beings. At first Steve was intent on protecting Dawn using his rifle but was warned that it wouldn’t end well by Dawn who had received some sort of telepathic message. Then what seemed like thousands of small red-eyed gremlins ran amok in the desert outside the truck, leaping on the surrounding sage bushes and all over the vehicle in an excited childlike frenzy. There were two bizarre sentient beings stationed to the rear who appeared to track the couples every movement in the truck. Each time Steve moved towards the tailgate these beings countered the move ensuring that they were effectively trapped in the back of the Ford. If that wasn’t enough nine tall, thin, translucent beings with large deep, featureless black eyes started to surround the truck, peering in through the windows.
Steve and Dawn experienced a wide range of emotions during their enforced confinement — pride, anger, fear, panic, love. Both remembered important life events, good and bad — one especially horrific experience in Dawn’s case — while at the same time having thoughts projected into their minds, including a nightmarish scene involving their son. Were these tall beings responsible for what they were experiencing or was it part of a panic-induced psychosis? The beings appearance is certainly consistent with other abduction reports over the years.
In the distance they could see a huge craft, beaming light down to the valley in which various flora and fauna was being transported towards an opening on the underside, almost like a giant slow moving vacuum cleaner. Gradually the small ‘gremlins’ disappeared back to the craft as did the taller beings after the appearance by a luminous figure who emitted a feeling of intense calm over the couple. Drained by their ordeal Steve and Dawn were both overcome by extreme fatigue and lay down, falling asleep immediately bathed in a soft white light. When they awoke it was morning and the surrounding area was totally devoid of any evidence of the previous night’s activity. No footprints, no bodily marks save a couple of small pinpricks on Dawn’s neck, nothing in the vicinity to suggest something otherwordly had occurred. As the couple looked at each other they both made the conscious decision to keep their experience to themselves and high tailed it back to their home in Los Angeles thinking it all a bad lucid dream until they saw a large disc shaped craft following them.
In the months that followed both Steve and Dawn were badly affected by their experience of that weekend and eventually told their parents in February the following year. There were also a number of bizarre incidents in the home involving their children and the feeling of being ‘watched’ by something or things in their bedroom. Dawn even was even assaulted physically on one occasion. Nearly two years to the date of the incident they met with author Ron Felber. For the complete story we recommend that you find a copy of Ron’s book The Mojave Incident.
SOYM: How did you get involved with Steve and Dawn Hess?
“I met them through a man called Paul Moran, an employee who was working as a sales rep for the company I ran. He lived in Southern California and confided in me that he had a best friend (Steve) who he’d played varsity football with while a student at the University of Redlands. Paul told me that his friend had had an alien experience in the Mojave Desert that had “changed his life forever” and though he’d promised not to tell anyone about Steve’s experience, he thought that as a writer I’d be interested in hearing about it and that telling his story to someone like me would be “cathartic”.
SOYM: What were your first impressions of their story?
“My first impression prior to meeting the Hess’ was that I wasn’t interested in writing about “alien abductions”. The subject was not one that fell into the genres of writing I’d done before and I wanted to focus on true crime stories or fiction. However, after meeting them, that all changed. I found Steve and Dawn to be exceptionally stable, upwardly mobile, well educated, and rational. They were solidly middle class with two children, a mortgage, and hopes of a successful career as a project manager for the construction of shopping malls for Steve, and ardent in her ambitions to raise a stable family for Dawn.
More than intriguing, I found their story to be absolutely mind-blowing. The detail, the emotional manner in which they told the story, and the sweeping nature of their experience told me that this was a one-of-a-kind experience, unlike anything I had ever personally heard or heard about. It was, to me, as if a curtain had been lifted and an entire realm of existence heretofore unknown to humankind suddenly exposed. The authenticity of the Hess’, themselves, told me that this was undoubtedly true and that their story needed to be shared with the world.”
SOYM: What was the response of the general public to the story?
“The book was received well by the general public in that the critical reviews were exceptional and the overall acceptance of the work as judged by reader reviews widespread. Of course, there were a few that rated it “one star” because they couldn’t imagine events like this taking place — despite unquestioned acceptance by the medical doctors that had examined them and agreed these were events “beyond the realm of normal experience”. What surprised me was the fact that so many found the book “haunting”, “nightmarish”, “impossible to get out of their heads”. One reviewer called it “the most frightening UFO book ever written”. It occurred to me then that the reason so many were terrified by the book was because it touched a nerve within them that had always existed but they never knew about.”
SOYM: Their experience brings to mind Betty and Barney Hill — were you aware of the alien abduction phenomenon previously?
“I had heard about the Hill’s abduction as a grammar school student. I never read the book, Journey Interrupted, and didn’t think too much about it. But, as a writer, I know a heart stopping true story when I hear one and this was definitely one. What the Hess’ story did do was convince me that there exists another realm of existence. Humans, albeit rarely, can sometimes catch glimpses of something that is perhaps more real than the existence we live now, or believe we are living.”
SOYM: Was there any reluctance of Steve and Dawn to be hypnotized?
“Yes, to some degree. The sessions would leave them totally vulnerable and at the mercy of the retrogressive hypnotist, Dr. William Anixter, so to this degree they were uneasy. After meeting with the doctor, getting to know him, and understanding his impeccable credentials, their anxieties were eased
SOYM: How did you feel listening to the hypnosis sessions?
Fascinated! I’d never witnessed a hypnotic session but to be in the room during this particular one where the subjects relived and expanded upon their experiences leading up to their abduction and including their time on the craft was more than intense. You could hear a pin drop!
SOYM: During her regression, Dawn Hess states pretty matter-of-factly
“I know where the Universe ends. Our Universe ends when it’s matter stops mattering to us, and starts mattering to them.”
Perhaps the most dramatic moment of the sessions! Dawn, clearly deep under, rattled these word off in a staccato fashion that I will never forget. The words shot out of her mouth as did her other responses during that time. It was as if someone or something else was being channeled through her. It was chilling! The word play was worthy of Shakespeare. The meaning intricate. My take on it was that as we move toward inevitable self-destruction They, whoever ‘They’ are will re-emerge and take charge. The strong implication, in context, was that if They are forced to take control, we will have forfeited something precious — perhaps our true destiny which is to be like them.
SOYM: Have you been in contact with the Hess’? Have they had other experiences since?
I have. They have six children now, I believe, and all are well-adjusted. Still, an experience like they went through never goes away. In fact, immediately following their desert encounter, while back at home, their youngest child talked about seeing “red-eyed monsters” in his room. At one point, Steve and Dawn ran to his room after hearing him shrieking to find him “spinning like a top” in the centre of the room.
SOYM: Have you been approached to adapt Mojave Incident for the big screen?
I’ve had a number of inquiries from producers and agencies regarding a movie adaptation, including Creative Artists, but Hollywood is, let’s say, ephemeral. Of course, it would be wonderful to have a movie done — on a number of levels — but it’s not something I’m counting on. Not yet, anyway.
SOYM: Do you think the public is drip fed information through the entertainment media?
While under hypnosis, Dawn made it clear that the general population is not ready for a massive alien encounter and so the media is being used to tell the story of the select few who have experienced these ‘Beings’ and also to desensitise the public so the moment of arrival does not come to be such a shock.
This article first appeared in Shadows Of Your Mind magazine issue 2 (Jan/Feb 2018). To catch up on latest issues, all of which are available to download for free, visit www.shadowsmagazine.co.uk
