Jimmy Carter, still alive and going strong at 98 years of age, is known for many things. Being the 39th president of the US, having a background as a peanut farmer from rural Georgia, and so on.

But did you know Carter also reported a UFO sighting 3 years prior to running for president?

To quote the History.com article linked with this post:

He described waiting outside for a Lion’s Club Meeting in Leary, Georgia, to begin, at about 7:30 p.m., when he spotted what he called “the darndest thing I’ve ever seen” in the sky. Carter, as well as 10 to 12 other people who witnessed the same event, described the object as “very bright [with] changing colors and about the size of the moon.” Carter reported that “the object hovered about 30 degrees above the horizon and moved in toward the earth and away before disappearing into the distance.” He later told a reporter that, after the experience, he vowed never again to ridicule anyone who claimed to have seen a UFO.

The call Carter made was to the International UFO Bureau (yes, this exists)

On the campaign train, Carter went as far as to promise that should he be elected, he would release all classified government documents pertaining to UFOs. This, understandably, never transpired due to Carter later stating that there would be “defense implications” preventing him from doing so.

Carter remains adamant about his experience. In 2005, when asked, he had this to say:

All of a sudden, one of the men looked up and said, ‘Look, over in the west!’ And there was a bright light in the sky. We all saw it. And then the light, it got closer and closer to us. And then it stopped, I don’t know how far away, but it stopped beyond the pine trees. And all of a sudden it changed color to blue, and then it changed to red, then back to white. And we were trying to figure out what in the world it could be, and then it receded into the distance.

What it was that Jimmy Carter saw exactly, we may never know. Best wishes to Mr. Carter and his family as he remains in hospice care.