UFO reports from before the era of flying saucers: Celestial apparitions & phenomenal lights

This is an abridged version of an article on my website at weirdaustralia.com

While Australia’s first UFO flap may have occurred in the winter of 1909, the skies above Australia have long been filled with unknown aerial objects that have left witnesses scratching their heads and clambering to adequately describe what they had seen.

Here are just a few of the many accounts ... 

Brilliant star appears in the twinkling of an eye

In Strange Phenomenon published in The Maitland Mercury & Hunter River General Advertiser on 18 May 1872, an eyewitness reported a brilliant object that suddenly appeared ahead of him while riding on horseback.

“I was riding near Belford Post Office, when I observed at a distance of about 50 yards from me … elevated at about 12 feet from the ground, a very strange phenomenon, resembling a brilliant star; but, fully three times as large as the morning star; it was exceedingly brilliant … It was not a falling meteor; as it accumulated at the place described in the twinkling of an eye; but after a little time it instantly disappeared, without leaving a vestige of fading illumination behind.

“It was not I think an optical delusion, but a reality; and it is not the first which has been seen: at our last sheep-shearing a youth, named George Moore … whilst going home one night and in quite a different direction, was terror-stricken with the instantaneous appearance of a similar phenomenon.”

These lights witnessed in 1872, reported to be three times brighter than the morning star, and which suddenly appeared, hovered and then disappeared in an instant, have a familiar ring to many contemporary reports of unidentified aerial objects apparently “blinking in” and then “blinking out”.

Then, 11 years later, on 14 April 1883, Illustrated Sydney News published a report of a yellowish coloured light seen flying over Melbourne, which at times appeared to emit brilliantly illuminated orbs.

“Suddenly an immense ball of fire, apparently of a yellow hue, appeared in the sky, which was perfectly clear at the time, the stars to the westward being remarkably brilliant. The phenomenon worked gradually from the east to the south, the pitching and tossing resembling the motion of a kite in a gale of wind. At intervals, the ball of fire appeared to detach portions of its luminous composition, the brilliancy of which caused the star lights to disappear.

“The strange visitor hovered about several points to the southward, for more than an hour. The phenomenon was witnessed at sea, as well as on land. Mr Thompson, second mate of the steamer Lindus … states that when the steamer was abreast of Cape Paterson, fully 50 miles from Port Phillip Heads, he noticed the singular appearance of a ball of fire to the eastward shortly before 3 o’clock in the morning of the same day. It dodged about with the waving motion of a kite, and frequently streaks of flame shot away from the main body of fire. On the previous morning, Mr Thompson states, he observed, some hours before sunrise, that the eastern horizon was of a bright yellow colour, the western horizon being of a greenish tint.”

It hovered for a few seconds, made a big dive, and rose again

Four witnesses observed an extraordinary aerial object from a back verandah in Linisfarne, Tasmania, in March 1918. Hobart’s Mercury reported in Phenomenon in the Heavens that:

“Mrs F. E. Honey, of Lindisfarne, informs us that on Wednesday evening, at about 8 o’clock, she, her husband, and two others saw an extraordinary aerial object. From their back verandah they saw in the eastern heavens not far above the horizon, a bright object something about the size of the moon, when its appearance is at its smallest. It rose gradually, and then, after hovering for a few seconds, made a big dive. It rose again, and then moved northerly until it disappeared.

“The impression it created upon Mr Honey’s mind was that it was like looking through an open door into a room where a bright fire was burning.”

An aerial procession of vehicles

A very intriguing, and peculiar, report of strange objects seen in the skies appeared in Victoria’s Portland Guardian on 13 February 1888.

“A correspondent at White Hills. for whose general intelligence and accuracy of observation we can vouch (says the Bendigo Independent), forwards us a most interesting description of a mirage which he saw last Friday evening.

“Our informant writes: Allow me to describe a most marvellous phenomenon (to me at least it appeared to be) as witnessed by myself and family on Friday evening from half-past 7 o’clock until about 8 o’clock. I was sitting at that time at my back door…

“Through a rift or opening in the trees planted in the street in which I live … my eye was suddenly arrested by the appearance, apparently of numberless vehicles, which were in quick succession following one another on the top of the hill (though rather above the ground), and going down towards the White Hills Cemetery.

“I thought at first that they were clouds moving along, but I soon found they were not, for I scanned the heavens in that direction for some time, and not a cloud could be seen moving. I watched the procession for 20 minutes or more, and in all that time it moved along without ceasing. It contained carriages of every description, from Pickles drag (some of them were high up against the sky) to the flour lorry, and cabs, buggies, and horsemen jostling each other.

“I could compare it to nothing I had ever seen save a funeral procession, only it was more irregular and swift in its movements. What is strange about the matter is that I examined from whence they apparently came and where they went, but I could not discover anything of it, though I searched carefully for 10 minutes or more. I know that I am not mistaken in what I am reporting to you, for surely 20 minutes or a half-hour is long enough for a man to look at an object to be satisfied that he is looking at something material, or the image of it.

“I am aware that strange things are sometimes seen, caused by the refraction of the sun’s rays, but that must be, I suppose, while the sun is above the horizon. But in this case the sun had set before I saw them at all, and they continued to pour along until darkness shut them from my sight.”

What are we to make of this bizarre report? 

Could it be that the witness was observing some mirage appearing above the horizon of actual vehicles traversing the streets of White Hills? 

The witness considers this but rules it out as the sun had already set.

Or, could it be that the witness is unwittingly describing a sighting of multiple UFOs in the only terms he can relate to; common vehicles of the era such as flour lorries, cabs and buggies?

For more reports of UFOs before the modern era of flying saucers, read the full article here. 

For more Down Under mysteries, visit weirdaustralia.com