New Zealand UFO/UAP Sightings 1960 – 1969
All sightings, photographs, drawings, and articles are © Ufocus NZ.
UFOCUS NZ has an extensive archive of New Zealand UFO/UAP sightings dating from 1869 to the present day. Due to the volume of sightings, only a small sample of the sightings will be displayed on the website in each decade. Anyone wishing to check out a particular historic sighting or date can contact us, and we can search the archive for you.
The extent of our investigation and analysis of sighting reports is dependent upon the data received and the length of time elapsed between the sighting event and the receipt of a report. If applicable, additional comments are made at the bottom of a report.
Date: Wednesday, 20 January 1960
Time: late afternoon
Location: Kerikeri, Northland, North Island
Features/characteristics: cigar-shaped object
Description:
The witness, Mrs A. saw unusual “trails” in the sky on the 20th. She observed a large cigar-shaped object rise into the air from a lower altitude a minute or so previous to the trail taking shape. Mrs. A. saw the object as it made the trail and described it as being a dull milky colour.
Several other residents of Kerikeri also saw the object at 3.30 p.m. with five trails moving to the west in parallel lines before the object disappeared at great speed.
Date: March, 1960
Time: 11.30 pm
Location: Wairau Valley, Marlborough, South Island
Features/characteristics: large circular disc
Description:
The witness lived some 20 miles down the Wairau Valley.
Mrs. N. was lying in bed, which was close to an uncovered window in the front of their house. The time was about 11.30 p.m. when she noticed a green glow of light shining from a point behind the house.
The glow increased until the whole of the inside of the bedroom was lit up, and an object appeared above the house and to one side, travelling slowly. i.e. 30 mph approx. This object was a large circular-shaped disc, some 35ft in diameter. The center of the disc (approx. 10ft diameter area) appeared as a sort of glowing canopy from which a strong blue-green light was shining (no figures were noticed). The remainder of the disc was reflecting in this light, and it seemed to be composed of aluminium (or metal of some sort). The air, for some 50 feet behind the object, glowed in a red haze (ionized particles?), and the glow remained for a while after the disc had passed.
The disc was revolving slowly as it moved (travelling on edge), and as the witness said, it reminded her of a huge coin rolling on edge (revolving the same direction as travel). Conditions were good for hearing any noise made, but none was heard and the disc came to within about 50 feet of the witness who was watching behind closed windows, at an altitude of about 30ft.
The object was moving on a level with the tops of some young pines at the side of the garden.
She watched for some minutes, but by the time her husband arrived from another room in answer to her call the object had gone over a nearby hill and the glow had finally receded.
There were no scorch marks; none of the animals were affected, and there were no other peculiarities mentioned.
Date: Saturday, 2 July 1960
Time: 7.33 pm
Location: Christchurch, South Island
Features/characteristics: spherical coloured light; multiple witnesses
Description:
Sighting by six witnesses, travelling between Ashburton and Christchurch on the main highway, in two cars. The sky was clear and the evening dark.
When approaching Christchurch, they all saw a “soccer ball-shaped” object for 4-5 seconds, which travelled horizontally, south-west to north-east over Christchurch. The “brilliant” object had a yellowish core within a green and blue halo (a “ring outside”). It had a green and blue tail, which tapered to the colour of a frosted electric light bulb. Its altitude could have been anything from a few hundred feet to several miles above the ground. No sound was heard, and it appeared to be travelling in parallel to them, along the same route as the Ashburton–Christchurch highway.
Date: Monday, 19 September 1960
Time: 11.30 pm
Location: Woodlands, Invercargill, South Island
Features/characteristics: saucer-shaped object
Description:
Two women and a man watched for about one hour a large saucer-shaped object giving off a very bright light. It was first seen at a distance in the west, where it appeared as three lights. As it came closer, the three lights became one very bright light. Estimated altitude about 1500 ft. [460 metres], but the observers were unable to judge exactly. One woman said – “It was like a saucer – but it seemed to have a bowl underneath. There were no aircraft in the sky.
(Reported in Wanganui Herald).
Date: Friday, 18 November 1960
Time: 9.30 pm
Location: Kaikohe, Northland, North Island
Features/characteristics: cone-shaped object
Description:
A large, cone-shaped object was observed for approx. one hour and a half, by two families on a farming block near Kaikohe. The object was moving rather slowly, and at one time a second object was seen to cross the path of the first. Witnesses described the UFO as “making a large woolshed look like a peanut, in comparison.”
Date: March, 1961
Time: 1.30 am
Location: Mount Albert, Auckland, North Island
Features/characteristics: saucer-shaped object
Description:
At around 1.30 a.m., whilst three witnesses were driving through Mt. Albert, they saw some red lights outlined against Mt. Eden. There was no street lighting at that hour, which made them most noticeable. The lights were at a position of what appeared to be close to rooftop level, and were apparently part of a disc or saucer-shaped object, that was in a stationary position, yet revolving constantly and flashing red and then orange with each revolution. The witnesses watched the object for around ten minutes, and then it took off suddenly, horizontally, at tremendous speed to the witnesses’ left, and was gone in a flash.
Witness Drawing
Date: April, 1961
Time: unknown
Location: Shannon, Wellington, 1961
Features/characteristics: Object projecting a beam of light
Description:
One early morning, April 1961, two men riding in a truck while out possum-shooting, suddenly saw lights hovering above a tree, as they came around a corner of the road into Shannon. The appearance was of a bright beam shining down from the underside of an object, with four individual lights above, and one bright light higher up still. Because of the bright beam, the men were not able to distinguish any definite shape of the object. Being rather frightened by what they saw, they jumped into the truck and drove away. The object also moved away very rapidly. They returned to the spot the next day to look at the tree, and found that the leaves and branches on the top were withered, and appeared as though a match had been held close to them and they had curled up and gone brown.
Date: Thursday, 29 March 1962
Time: 11.32 am
Location: Whangamata Bay, Lake Taupo, North Island
Features/characteristics: inverted to-shape with two appendages; multiple witnesses
Description:
Mainly clear sky, light wind, bright sunlight.
The strange object was first seen approaching from the north-east by one of a group of six fishermen. By the time the others sighted the object, it had stopped and was stationary in the sky. They estimated its altitude as approximately 15,000-18,000 ft. (4570- 5480 metres) above the observers. They watched the noiseless object for almost two minutes as it descended and hovered over Lake Taupo marina. The object was described as looking like an inverted top made up of three bands and being some 30 feet across, with two appendages on the top.
The colour was like an unlighted pearl household electric light bulb, held in front of another similar bulb which was alight. There was no movement while it hovered – no apparent jets or exhaust. It reflected silver light and was shaped like a parachute or top, and seen at an angle of 15 degrees from the observers on the launch Ponui. The object began revolving anti-clockwise, but made a half-turn upon its axis before rapidly accelerating in less than one second, to faster than jet aircraft, slightly east of south, on a shallow curving course. It took five seconds to disappear with the naked eye, ten seconds with binoculars. Total time of observation: approximately two minutes
Drawing by the reporting witness
Date: Saturday, 19 May 1962
Time: 4.30 pm
Location: Christchurch, Canterbury, South Island
Features/characteristics: brilliant spherical object
Description:
A Mr. Egglestone was standing in his kitchen making a cup of tea when he saw, midway in the sky (about north-east), what he described as a brilliant “ball bearing” travelling slowly from West to East. The sky was clear with no clouds or obstructions, and as he was watching, it stopped and just “hung” there for about five minutes, then just disappeared “like a light being turned off”.
Date: Saturday, 7 July 1962
Time: 11.10 pm
Location: Cape Hallet Station, NZ Ross Dependency, Antarctica
Features/characteristics:
Description:
‘A “very strange object” was seen over Cape Hallett, the NZ Scientific Leader of Hallett Station (Mr. C.B. Taylor told the Christchurch Press on 10 July, when speaking over the radio telephone).
The object had three yellowish-white lights, the centre light being midway between the other two and much brighter than the others. The object travelled from south-west to north-east with its highest point in the north-west, about 35 degrees from the zenith. When the object was in the northern sky, it emitted a brilliant flash of white light. As it neared the horizon, the smaller lights disappeared in the auroral glow. “It took about three or four minutes to cross the sky from about 11.10 p.m. to 11.13 p.m.,” said Mr. Taylor. “We have no idea what it could be; it was too slow for a meteorite, but too fast for a satellite.” Seven of the station’s crew of 18 saw the object, and it was photographed by the all-sky auroral camera.
1962 July 07 (Saturday, 2310hrs)
The Department’s Chief Scientific Officer, Mr. C.B. Taylor, both saw and photographed the mysterious object. In a telephone conversation with The Dominion (a Wellington newspaper), Mr. Taylor remarked that “It was seen in New Zealand a few hours earlier, so it must have travelled the whole way round the world.” The photographs made of the object showed just a continuous trail of light from one horizon to the other. This was because a time exposure was used with the all-sky auroral camera. According to Mr. Taylor, it was travelling too slow to be a meteorite and too fast to be a satellite. It was unlikely to be anything from the Russian base at Mirny, since the direction of travel was wrong. He said the object had three yellowish-white lights, the centre light being midway between the other two and much brighter than the others. The object travelled from south-west to north-east, with its highest point in the north-west about 35 degrees from the zenith. As it neared the horizon, the smaller lights disappeared in the auroral glow.
Cape Hallett Station, Antartica
Artists impression
Date: 3 November, 1962
Time: 9.30 pm GMT
Location: South Pacific Ocean, en route to New Zealand
Features/characteristics: Large boomerang-shaped object with lights on the leading edge
Description:
The duration of the sighting was approximately five minutes. There were several witnesses. It was a clear starry night. The reporting witness was on board the MV Ngatoro in the South Pacific Ocean, about four days out from the Panama Canal, en route to Wellington, New Zealand. They were about two days sailing past the Galapagos Islands on a south-westerly course, and steaming at about ten to twelve knots.
An object was sighted traveling from northwest to southeast, roughly in a line from Hawaii through to Peru – “In other words…over a lot of empty ocean!” The witnesses could not ascertain the distance, but they had “a wonderful clear display of whatever it was.”
The witness states, “When the sighting occurred, I was on lookout above the wheelhouse with the Second Officer and another crew member. One of the Officers looked at it through binoculars, but did not comment whether there was a definite shape or if it was a single craft. There was no sound. It is difficult to say whether it was a single vehicle or a group in the night sky. It had all the hallmarks of being One Massive Object, as the power source came from the outer extremities of what could be described as a boomerang configuration, and there was a fixed light at the leading edge. The power source at these extremities left almost indelible bright ‘streams’ or ‘contrails’ of light across the sky from horizon to horizon, and took some five to ten minutes to dissipate.”
“If it had been a conventional aircraft, then in relation to size, the spread of the power sources (engines) would have meant that it would have needed to be flying at mast height, and therefore deafening us with the noise from the engines.
If not a conventional aircraft…and if it were all one craft (a single object), then it was COLLOSSAL! It took a full five minutes to go from first starboard sighting to our port side horizon. There was silence… and the light emitted from directly behind the power source appeared effervescent before forming into a straight beam of light, which stretched across the entire sky. It was awe-inspiring!”
“The sighting was never placed in the ship’s log as we thought that no one would ever believe us, and we did not want to be the subjects of ridicule. We knew that there was a ship about 100 nautical miles to our starboard and which we contacted by radio, but they did not report anything unusual. I find it inconceivable that they didn’t see it–unless the lookout and officer were doing a crossword or something! There was a feeling of euphoria after this sighting. Personally, I could not sleep after I had finished my watch at 4.00 am. I immediately made a sketch of what I had seen, which I still have”.
“There was, I think, a nuclear test taking place at Wake Island at around that time, and I often wondered if what we saw was some unknown Russian spy craft, but my knowledge of known spy craft, having been in the British Forces recent to the event, ruled this out.”
Witness drawing
Date: April 1963
Time: 9 pm (still quite light)
Location: Hakataramea Valley, Kirkliston Range, Canterbury, South Island
Features/characteristics: Landed craft; physical effects
Description:
This sighting occurred at the Hakataramea sheep station. The witness thought the sighting lasted around 5 minutes, but also stated that it felt as if “time had stood still”.
The farmer stated that that he had the sudden urge to go outside, as if someone had told him to. He left the table where he had been sitting, and walked out the door. He immediately noticed the sheep and cattle in the home paddocks were not moving and were “standing like statues”. The birds had stopped screeching as they came in to roost for the night around the farm buildings. Suddenly he found that he also, could not move.
He saw that a portion of the nearby mountain range was covered in smoke and looked as though it was on fire, but there was no smell. Suddenly, out of the smoke came a cigar-shaped craft, and he watched it land slowly and silently on a small plateau to the north of him. He described it as roughly the size of a Mirage jet fighter, but without wings and tail. It was approximately 0.5-1 mile away from the witness.
The craft sat still for some 5 minutes, before lifting off and travelling the length of the ranges and disappeared from view.
It was only then that the witness and his animals were “released” and could move again. The farmer stated he went back inside the house, with mixed emotions and tears streaming down his face, but he didn’t know why.
Date: Saturday, 16 November 1963
Time: 10.45 pm
Location: Featherston, North Island
Features/characteristics: light/object moving erratically
Description:
On this evening, Mr. W was walking home from the Featherston movie theatre. The night was stormy, and the sky overcast with low-hanging clouds. He looked up at the stormy sky, and then he saw what he described as “this fast thing coming down through the low clouds.” His first thought was that he was observing a shooting star until, to his amazement, the object started to bounce and change its flight path over the cloud base. When first noticing it, it descended from the south-east at a tremendous rate, suddenly made a right-angle turn, shot off to the north-east, performed another right-angle turn, and ascended to the south-east on a path parallel to its earlier descent. The object looked like a small orange ball, made no noise, and disappeared almost as fast as it had arrived on the scene. After it had gone, he remained on the spot for a while but never saw it again.
Date: Thursday, 12 March 1964
Time: 8.40 pm
Location: Waipukurau, Hawke’s Bay, North Island
Features/characteristics: Flying object changing colour
Description:
Dark and Clear sky. Two Waipukurau men saw and kept under observation an unidentified flying object for a period of about six minutes. The men were out near the Tukituki River when one saw an object moving due east in the sky. The object stopped dead in the sky, reversed, then came back in a southerly direction.
The man called his companion’s attention to the object and marked its line of flight with a long stick on a fence post. The two men then watched the object do several circuits to the right, move into a figure of eight pattern, then do circuits to the left. Colour changes varied from blues to white, as the speed appeared to alter. It had a luminous haze around it and lit up a large area of the sky. The object moved around an area of about 60 degrees right and left of a fixed position for about six minutes, then went out of sight to the north-west.
Date: Saturday, 2 January 1965
Time: Early morning
Location: New Plymouth, North Island
Features/characteristics: Object descends into the sea
Description:
Several fishermen reported sighting an object, “bigger than a top-dressing plane”, plunging into the sea and not reappearing. Ships and an aircraft combed a wide area off New Plymouth early in the morning of 2nd January, however, later in the morning the search was called off as nothing was found. Police made inquiries throughout the country to find out if an aircraft was missing, but inquiries failed to produce any result. The event was reported in the Auckland Star.
Date: Circa 1965
Time: NA
Location: Waotu, near Tokoroa, North Island
Features/characteristics: Possible UFO landing site burn
Description:
The photo was taken on a farm in the Waotu area, near Tokoroa, around 1965. It shows a large burnt area that the farmer said appeared overnight. It is on the path that the cattle took to go to the milking shed. The farmer reported that the animals would not pass through the burnt patch of grass and would navigate around it and then carry on up the path. He also said that there were pad marks in the centre of the patch, possible landing leg points of a craft.
The two men to the left in the photo are both policemen. One is in uniform, the other is off-duty. They were sent out to investigate the matter. What dates the photo is the 1965 Morris Oxford car at the right. It belonged to the person who took the photo. He owned the vehicle for two years, so the photo had to have been taken between 1965 and 1967.
UFO landing site Approx 1965
Date: Thursday, 7 January 1965
Time: 11.30 pm
Location: Harewood, Christchurch, Canterbury, South Island
Features/characteristics: circular coloured object
Description:
Two Christchurch people reported a recent sighting of a UFO. Two witnesses, one of them a serviceman with the US Navy, saw a large, low-flying circular object with a blue centre and a gold-coloured ring around the centre. They saw the object travel through the sky at a low altitude, from over the Russley golf course.
The witnesses stated: “We were sitting in a car at Harewood Airport, when we heard a humming noise and looked in the direction of the noise. We saw the object travelling at a low altitude from the direction of the Russley Golf Course. It gave off a loud humming noise like that from a spinning top. We got out of the car to look, as we at first thought it was a helicopter, until the noise grew louder. It travelled approximately a quarter of a mile, climbing to an altitude of approximately 200 feet directly above us, zig-zagging across the sky. It then began to pick up speed and climbed up higher at great speed in a north-easterly direction until it blended in with the stars and eventually went completely out of sight.
It was clearly outlined. When it was low, it had a blue center; then you could see what appeared to be the blue sky around the edge and around that a gold-coloured spinning ring; the ring did not appear to be attached to the blue body of the object.”
The witnesses did not think it came from this earth. They watched it for twenty minutes and not two minutes, as reported in the newspaper.
Date: 12 January, 1965
Time: Between 11 and 12 am
Location: Southern estuary of the Kaipara Harbour, Northland, North Island
Features/characteristics: “Submarine craft” on harbour floor sighted by airline pilot
Description:
Airline Captain, pilot Bruce Leonard Cathie related the facts of an extremely interesting experience.
He had his first UFO sighting in 1952 (over Manakau Harbour), and that since that time, he had taken every opportunity, while flying, to observe the surrounding air, land, and water space, always in the hope that he might spot more of these mysterious craft. Through his study of the subject, he had become aware that some of these craft were able to travel underwater as well as in the air. However, because of the ridicule he met with while conversing on the subject, and also fully aware of the attitude generally taken by the Air Force, he decided to store the facts for future reference.
On 12 January 1965, he was scheduled to carry out a “positioning” flight (no passengers) from Whenuapai (Auckland’s Airport) to Kaitaia (north of Auckland). Time of departure 11 a.m., time of arrival 12.10 p.m. The plane was a DC3, and the crew comprised Captain Bruce Cathie, First Officer, and Operations Officer. As on this type of trip, no passengers were involved, Captain Cathie decided to fly visually to Kaitaia along the coast, at low altitude, in order to carry out a search of shallow water areas.
On leaving Whenuapai, he climbed to 1200ft to clear the area, and when approaching the southern end of Kaipara Harbour, just north of Helensville, he dropped to 500ft to have a closer look at anything on his flight path. The tide in the harbour was well out, and the water over the mudflats and estuaries was quite shallow. When about one-third of the way across the harbour, he spotted in an estuary, what at first glance, he took to be a stranded grey-white whale. He veered the aircraft slightly to port (to the left, or seaward) in order to fly more directly over the object and on approaching closer, he saw that the object he had mistaken for a whale was a metallic structure of some sort. He had a good look at it and observed the following details:
- It was perfectly streamlined and symmetrical in shape
- It had no external control surfaces or protrusions
- It appeared metallic and there was a suggestion of a hatch on top, streamlined in shape, not quite halfway along the body as measured from the nose
- It was resting on the bottom of the estuary and headed towards the south, as suggested by the streamlined shape
- The shape was not that of a normal submarine
- Captain Cathie estimated its length at 100ft. [30 metres] with a diameter of 15ft [4.5 metres] at the widest part
- The object rested in no more than 30ft. [9 metres] of water as the bottom of the harbour was visible and the craft very clearly defined
Captain Cathie, having been ridiculed over the years for his interest in UFOs, did not alert the other two crew members and was able to keep the sighting to himself because the vision of the others was restricted by the width of the flight deck. His positioning manoeuver passed unnoticed by the others and the remainder of the flight was carried out in the normal manner.
Enquiries made from the Navy confirmed that it would not have been possible for a normal submarine to be in that place due to the configuration of harbour and coastline.
The spot indicated by Captain Cathie is well-nigh inaccessible because of the surrounding mudflats and mangrove swamps. The only possibility of getting anywhere near the spot would be by way of a jet boat.
Date: Wednesday, 13 January 1965
Time: 6.45 pm (Australian time?)
Location: Tasman Sea, west of New Zealand
Features/characteristics: Formation of 7 objects sighted by the pilot and crew
Description:
Christchurch Press (probably 16 January 1965, Saturday)
Urgent, top-secret investigations were carried out by the RAAF and RNZAF to try and establish the identity of a formation of seven objects sighted by Captain D. Shannon and the crew of a Qantas Electra aircraft flying from Christchurch to Sydney on Wednesday night.
The crew sighted what appeared to be condensation vapour trails from high flying aircraft. The sightings were made about 6.45 p.m. when the aircraft was about 250 miles off the New Zealand coast. The contrail appeared to be about 35,000ft, going west-to-east, towards New Zealand.
The Qantas Electra was flying at an altitude of 20,000ft. While Captain Shannon and the flight crew were watching, the contrails split up into seven separate trails. This indicated a flight formation.
An RAAF officer said, “The RNZAF contacted us to find out if the unidentified objects were Australian aircraft. They were not RAAF aircraft, and we do not know the country of origin. The mystery objects were out of our area, and it is the RNZAF who are handling the investigations as the objects were plotted on radar flying at about 45,000ft in an easterly direction.”
Top air force officers stated the objects were flying in formation and at the time, were believed to be possibly service aircraft capable of high speeds and long range performance.
Preliminary investigations led the RAAF to believe a flock of birds was responsible (Eds – What, at 45,000ft? Not likely!). However, Captain Shannon’s adamant opinion forced the air force to inquire further. The RAAF, after an investigation, said it was satisfied the objects were birds, but those who actually saw them were not convinced.
The incident was reported across major NZ newspapers:
“Wellington, January 14: The RNZAF and RAAF are investigating the radar sighting by a Qantas pilot last night of seven unidentified flying objects over the Tasman Sea. “Our enquiries are not complete,” the RNZAF Deputy Director of Operations, Wing Commander A.F. Tucker, said in Wellington today.
“The sighting was reported by an experienced aircrew and made sincerely. We must take it seriously,” he said. The objects were seen by the Electra crew about 8.50 pm (NZ time), while the plane was 300 miles out from Auckland bound for Sydney. The objects were flying in a V formation in an easterly direction at about 45,000 feet. The sighting was confirmed by the Civil Aviation Department, which plotted the objects on radar.”
Most NZ newspapers carried the report of a sighting that took place over the Tasman Sea on January 13. The reports were rather garbled and appeared to lack sufficient detail. However, here is the sighting as assessed from the various dailies:
It was a QANTAS flight on a regular crossing from Christchurch to Sydney. The plane, an Electra, had left Christchurch in the early evening of January 13th. At 8.50 p.m., after it had crossed the South Island and was approximately 300 miles [480km] from the NZ coast (due west of the top of the South Island), seven unidentified flying objects were picked up on the plane’s radar. The objects were flying in an easterly direction – in a V-formation – at about 45,000ft. According to the plane’s captain, Dave Shannon, an Australian, they were heading for New Zealand, and condensation trails were visible.
The sighting by the Electra’s crew was confirmed by the Civil Aviation Department, which plotted the objects on radar. In view of the fact that it was a radar – as well as a visual, sighting – which also had been confirmed by a Government Department, the “authorities” were unable to “silence” the incident. The CAD stated that they had recorded them as UFOs, but a spokesman for the Department added that there was a possibility that the objects were cloud formations caused by high winds at a considerable altitude. In view of the latter statement, we had no doubt that the Air Force was busy thinking up a suitable explanation. And, sure enough, two days later, (January 15), the Deputy-Chief of the NZ Air Staff, Air Commodore T.F. Gill, stated that the most likely explanation was – “ice crystals in high cirrus cloud, caught by sunlight”.
However, enter the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which had been asked by the RNZAF to help investigate. An official in Canberra said they believed the objects to “have been birds”. Birds at 45,000ft! After having thought it over for two days, the RAAF decided to let the “birds” fall by the wayside and plump for a more “down-to-earth” explanation. They now believed the objects must have been aircraft, possibly service aircraft, capable of high-speed and long-range performance.
The only plane that would fill the bill is the US Air Force’s YF-12A interceptor, which has a ceiling of 20 miles and a top speed of beyond 2400 mph. But is it likely that seven of these costly planes would be on a reconnaissance flight across the Tasman Sea? The RAAF spokesman could therefore only say that they weren’t RAAF aircraft, and that the country of origin was unknown.
Despite all this “explaining” by her sister, Air Force, the RNZAF stuck to the “ice crystals”.
After a week of highly controversial statements by both Air Forces, the RNZAF announced that the incident was regarded as closed, unless any new evidence came to light.
Date: Thursday, 21 January 1965
Time: 11.45 pm
Location: Dunedin, Otago, South Island
Features/characteristics: V-shaped formation of objects
Description:
A Dunedin Magistrates’ Court officer observed about 12 bright orange-coloured objects flying in perfect V-formation over the city. The officer said he was leaving the Justice Department buildings in Lower Stuart Street when he saw the objects emerge from the heavy mist over the city at that time. They were proceeding in V-formation, about 6 separate objects in each wing of the V, and travelling as fast, or faster, than a jet plane. There was no noise. The objects were not high as they flashed north, and he says he saw them very clearly for about four seconds. They were not a definite circular shape, and all the same size.
A check with the RNZAF office and the control tower at Dunedin airport showed that no known night flights were made over the city last night.
Reported in the Auckland Star, 22 January 1965.
Date: Thursday, 15 July 1965
Time: 1.25 am
Location: Tasman Sea
Features/characteristics: Cigar-shaped object over frigate HMNZ Otago
The witness, Mr. G.A. Marris, a 22-year-old mechanical engineer on board the frigate HMNZS Otago
At 1.25 a.m., in the early morning hours of July 15, Mr. Marris decided to go on deck for a “breather”. HMNZS Otago had just completed a run off the Hauraki Gulf (naval exercises) and was now 50 miles in the Tasman Sea heading on a south-east course (i.e., along the west coast of the North Island). The sky was extremely clear and cloudless. All of a sudden, he spotted a luminous cigar-shaped object that was heading in a NNW direction. The colour of the object was a luminous green with both ends a bright red. Estimating it to be at an altitude of 6000ft when it flew over the ship, he guessed it to be about 500ft in length [150 metres]. As to its speed, he was not so sure, but he gave an approximate figure of 800 mph [1300 kph]. Mr. Marris watched the object for about one minute before it disappeared from sight. He was the only person on deck.
Artists impression
HMNZS Otago
Date: 1966
Time: Evening
Location: Bay of Plenty, North Island
Features/characteristics: Egg-shaped object
Description:
A pig hunter, Mr. Brill of Tauranga, recounted how he was “buzzed” by an unidentified flying object while standing on the airstrip of “Tombstone Station” one night. [Tombstone Station was 24km south-west of Tauranga, some 8km from Lower Kaimai].
Mr Brill and Mr Ewart were in a gully beside the airstrip trying to shoot a pig which the dogs had bailed. The witness, “M”, was getting a knife out of a vehicle parked on the airstrip when he looked up to see the “UFO” begin its sweep over the airstrip. The egg-shaped object looked to be about the size of a car. As it passed overhead at about 50 feet, it hummed. He watched the object for at least half a minute, Maurice said. The party later climbed back up to the airstrip to check whether the object had touched down, but they could find no evidence of any landing.
Date: Saturday, 6 August 1966
Time: 4 am
Location: Makikihi, Timaru, South Canterbury, South Island
Features/characteristics: Disc-shaped craft
Description:
Two Makikihi children were up early on Saturday for an early morning ride on their ponies. They noticed the moon setting over the Hunter Hills in the west, and it was then that they noticed a fast-moving yellow light coming from that direction – the Hunter Hills are about ten miles from the coast.
The yellow light travelled to the north of where they were standing, following a creek towards the small Makikihi township. The craft circled the township, which is about ¼ of a mile in from the eastern seacoast of the South Island. The object then came back towards the children’s home, stopped and hovered some 400 to 500 feet above a cattle stop and slightly south-east of where the children were standing. They both watched it for some 5 minutes.
The object was glowing yellow; around the rim, it had a row of coloured lights, and around the bottom of the dome, it had more yellow lights. One row of lights would be on and the other off, and they would alternate in this fashion. Underneath the craft were two larger yellow lights on each side. The craft rocked gently up and down and was rotating. It made the sound of a jet taking off, only much softer. The children considered the size to be about 90 feet square [probably 30 yards in diameter]; “like a car tyre with a hubcap on top.”
Witness drawing
After watching it for about five minutes, they became frightened and began returning to the house. Upon reaching the house, they looked back and saw it was still there. They woke up their older brother, who got up and dressed, but when they reached outside again, they found the craft had vanished.
About the same time at night, a Mrs. M who lived a few miles from the children’s farm was travelling east towards the township of Makikihi and noticed an object like an aircraft fuselage with lights along the body. This craft lit up the road as she travelled, and she thought it was another car behind her, but on looking around could see no one following her. A few seconds later, the craft crossed the road in front of her, travelling towards a creek and then up over a small cliff-like formation and disappeared to the north. She was thoroughly shaken as she imagined it to be an aircraft in trouble, but it had no wings.
Date: Late September 1966
Time: 7.30 pm
Location: Te Rapa, Hamilton, Waikato, North Island
Features/characteristics: Aircraftsman sights shining disc
Description:
For two minutes, Leading Aircraftsman D. Heta, a Levin 23-year-old stationed at Te Rapa Air Force camp [north-west of Hamilton], watched a disc-shaped object in the evening sky. No aircraft were scheduled in the area at the time.
He stated: “I was outside the barracks about 7.30 at night. I looked up at the sky and saw this thing coming out of the north-west. It was round and shining bright, like a star, only much bigger.
I suppose I watched it for 30 seconds, heading southwest in a straight line, just like a plane. And then it started to zig-zag … and stopped! I was fascinated. I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It zig-zagged, climbed, and then headed back the way it had come.”
(Reported in the Waikato Times of Sat 01 Oct 1966)
Date: Friday, 21 October 1966
Time: 8.45 am
Location: Christchurch, Canterbury, South Island
Features/characteristics: Object releasing smaller objects
Description:
A woman and two children witnessed an unusual-shaped object in the sky for 20 minutes, seen from their home and at their school. The woman stated (abridged): “At a quarter to nine this morning, I was waving goodbye to my 5-year-old son, and after he had gone, I was looking out the window at the sky when a blue-black cloud caught my attention. There was a line or bank of dark clouds above, with the Southern Alps below. Between the cloud bank and the mountain range, the sky appeared as a white screen with this big, fat dome-shaped cloud all by itself.
I called my 12-year-old’s attention to it and he observed that it looked as if it is getting smaller. My son then went away inside to get his coat and I was still looking at this unusual cloud, when suddenly, before my most unbelieving eyes, it changed shape and appeared as a pencil-shape.
Immediately I called out to my son to come back quickly and see it, and then we saw five or six small, roundish objects come out of this pencil-shaped object, and as they came down and around all one after the other, quite fast, the whole thing re-formed, back to its original [domed] shape.
My son had to head to school, but I kept watching It, and then it just gradually faded completely away. It was so fantastic that I went into slight shock afterwards.”
The son later stated: “I felt frightened when I ran up the road and kept looking in the direction of the object, but I didn’t see it change anymore. It seemed to be keeping in front of me and moved along. When I arrived at school, I saw it from our classroom steps. I told all the boys there about it and they crowded onto the steps. They all saw it and wondered how it could change shape. They saw it change to become smaller and longways.
(The perceived change of shape could be accounted for by the object tilting and leveling.)
Witness drawing
Date: Monday, 26 June 1967
Time: NA
Location: Auckland, North Island
Features/characteristics: UFO Activity On Increase: Visit to NZ by US Professor
Description:
(Source: Otago Daily Times, Mon, 26 June 1967)
UFO Activity On The Increase:
Unidentified flying objects are increasing their activities over urban areas, whereas previously they had confined themselves to rural districts, Dr. J.E. McDonald, a professor at the University of Arizona, said in Auckland on Saturday.
Dr. McDonald, one of America’s foremost UFO investigators, said there had been a substantial increase in the number of close-range, low-altitude sightings over urban areas in the past few years.
“Previously, sightings of UFOs were almost solely confined to rural areas,” he said.
Dr. McDonald is senior physicist in the Institute of atmospheric Physics and professor in the department of meteorology at the University of Arizona, Tucson.
He flew to Auckland on Saturday morning for talks with New Zealand UFO researchers and a briefing on New Zealand’s best UFO reports. He left for Australia in the evening for similar discussions there.
He holds to the view that UFOs are a type of surveillance probe of extra-terrestrial origin.
“There is no doubt,” he said, “that they are real objects. Too many prominent people, with no reason to fabricate, have observed these objects.”
He said his own studies had led him to reject categorically the view that they are merely misidentified natural atmospheric or astronomical phenomena.
Date: Tuesday, 23 January 1968
Time: 10.55 pm
Location: Halcombe (near Fielding), North Island
Features/characteristics: circular disc
Description:
A Halcombe boy, Paul Rod, aged 11, claims he had a close-up view of a UFO. It was circular, coloured bright silver, with three portholes in the side facing him.
He stated: “After I fed the hens, I went slowly down to the path. When I reached the path, I heard a flock of birds fly over, so I pretended to shoot them. Then this UFO appeared. I was surprised and frightened as I watched. I couldn’t see the top of it. It was visible for five seconds. The trees are about fifty feet high. The UFO was gaining speed and height as though leaving the ground. When it reached the clouds, it straightened out. The object was about five or six feet in diameter. Something shaped like an ice-cream cone was jutting downwards underneath,” he said.
He watched it for about five seconds, as it disappeared in a westerly direction towards Wanganui. There was no smoke or sparks, just a swishing or hissing sound. He smelled something burning afterwards. The cat with him bolted and hid.
Witness drawing
Date: Thursday, 25 January 1968
Time: 8-8.30 pm
Location: Lower Hutt, Wellington, North Island
Features/characteristics: bright circular object
Description:
(refs Wellington Evening Post of Fri 26 Jan 68)
BRIGHT MYSTERY OBJECT OVER LOWER HUTT AND WELLINGTON
A Lower Hutt woman last night twice saw an extremely bright circular object travelling up the valley at a height slightly above the hills, to her south-west. On the second occasion while outside, she heard a distinctive whining sound as it passed. So far, there has been no explanation for the sighting. Mrs. C. said she was watching TV when the brightness of the object outside the window attracted her.
She said it came up from Wellington Harbour, reached perhaps level with Mt. Kaukau [local highest point, then turned back towards Cook Strait. About five minutes later, it reappeared.
“It appeared from virtually due south, travelled right up the valley, and disappeared from my vision about Haywards Hill. There was a whining sound as it went past.”
About 10 p.m. [2200hrs] a Vogeltown couple, and Wellington Airport officials sighted a large yellow disc of light moving over Wellington. Again, there was no explanation.
A woman who phoned said it seemed to move in a consistent and steady flight pattern from Kelburn towards Island Bay. “It was like the face of a big clock,” she said.
Date: Saturday, 27 January 1968
Time: 1-2 pm
Location: Orewa, Auckland, North Island
Features/characteristics: white cylindrical object
Description:
An oblong white object flying very high and fast over Orewa was seen for about a minute by several people sunbathing on Red Beach. A company manager, Mr. T, said he and his friends saw the object between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday.
“I saw a report in the papers of unidentified flying objects being sighted a few days ago over Sydney, and it seemed to tie in,” he said.
Several people saw this thing quite plainly. It was moving roughly south to north, at an estimated altitude of about 25,000 feet, and it must have been doing at least 1000 miles an hour to cover the distance it did in such a short time.
Mr. T. said the object moved very fast until it appeared to be over Kawau Island in the Hauraki Gulf. It stopped suddenly and then shot back until it seemed to be over the sea near Orewa. Equally suddenly, it climbed until it disappeared from view.
Date: Wednesday, 24 April 1968
Time: 5.15 am
Location: Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty, North Island
Features/characteristics: two bright lights at low altitude
Description:
1968 April 24 (Wednesday, 0515hrs)
refs Bay of Plenty Times of Fri 26 Apr 68)
A Mount Maunganui woman and her family of three children saw what they described as an “unforgettable” incident in the early hours of Wednesday morning when they sighted two “unidentified flying objects” from their home in Oceanview Road.
The woman said she first saw the object[s] from her kitchen window at about 5.15 am while she was making a cup of coffee.
“It was above the Blowhole [end of Moturiki Island, about 2km distant], just below cloud level, and it looked bigger than a star and shone much brighter,” she said.
She roused her daughter, who verified the sighting, and while they were watching it, trying to identify it, another one similar in shape and size passed along the same level, moving slowly towards Papamoa [south-eastwards]
When the second UFO moved out of sight from their large window, which commands a fair-sized view of the ocean, the first one became obscured by storm clouds. When the clouds cleared, it had disappeared.
The UFO, which moved along towards Papamoa, then appeared again directly over Motiti Island, before moving slowly upwards.
“They both looked like a cross,” said the woman, “It is something I will never forget.”
The next-door neighbor, who was also up at that time, saw the objects.
“They were so bright, I’m sure someone else must have seen them too,” she said, “especially Papamoa residents.”
While moving across the sky, the UFOs made a faint droning sound, but nothing like that resembling an aircraft’s motor. It was not until 7 a.m. that the objects finally disappeared from view, through the gap in the clouds.
Date: End of April, 1968
Time: 10.45 pm
Location: Kaingaroa, central volcanic plateau, North Island
Features/characteristics: Hovering, half-moon-shaped object
Description:
Mr. and Mrs. M, at the time residents of Kaingaroa, were returning home from Rotorua, and had just turned onto the Kaingaroa Road. It was a clear, frosty night, with a full moon.
A light through the high Douglas fir plantations bordering the road, caused Mr. M to reduce speed for fear of a logging truck, as they don’t stop for anybody when loaded. The light, when moving, appeared to be at about half tree-top height (40-50 feet), and this struck them as being odd at the time, but taking no chances, they proceeded slowly and cautiously.
They approached the turn-off, down which the light was approaching. The road was some fifteen or so feet wide, with cleared firebreaks some fifteen feet or more along each side. Also bordering the road were low banks. As they came up level with the turn-off, they saw close to the edge of the trees, a half-moon-shaped object, and from below it, hung three leg-like appendages. The object was hovering about three feet above the ground, and a trail of raised dust could be seen back up the road down which the UFO had travelled. In the light from the craft and illumination from the vehicle’s headlamps, its colour was orangy-goldy-yellow, and there was a pink haze to the right of it.
Suddenly, it took off vertically at high speed, raising dense clouds of dust. The couple didn’t wait around any longer to see if anything else would have happened. Mrs. M, estimated that the object was about the size of an average car, about ten or twelve feet across. The object was between twenty to twenty-five yards from the car, when seen at the turn-off. No sound could be heard above the noise from the engine of their Austin van.
Witness drawing
Date: Thursday, 6 June 1968
Time: Unknown
Location: Tauranga Airport, Bay of Plenty, North Island
Features/characteristics: White, cigar-shaped object
Description
An unidentified flying object “buzzed” the night sky just wide of the Tauranga Airport on Thursday evening. Two Tauranga Aero Club members saw the object, which one described as a long white cigar-shaped object on the south-east side of the airport. At first, it was thought that it was a large aeroplane about to fly over the airport, but the object abruptly changed direction and disappeared towards the Te Maunga railway lights.
The UFO was apparently seen by Department of Civil Aviation radar operators at Auckland Whenuapai Radar as a “blip” on radar screens monitoring the sky over the Bay of Plenty. They first observed it in the Waihi area, and logged its course as south-east toward Tauranga, moving at about between 80 and 100 knots. The operators called DCA personnel at Rotorua Airport to check whether any aircraft being controlled by Rotorua were in the area of the “blip”, and Rotorua checked with Tauranga ATC at 5.25 p.m. Both replies to Auckland were negative.
A spokesman for the Auckland radar station stated the “blip” was not identified. He said there was lots of “cloud clutter” being recorded on the radar screens at the time.
Date: July, 1968
Time: NA
Location: West Coast of the North Island
Features/characteristics: UFOs on radar; pilot sighting
Description:
(refs Auckland Star of Mon 29 July 1968)
PILOT REPORTS UFOs IN NZ SKIES:
Unidentified flying objects continue to be sighted in New Zealand skies, according to Captain B.C. Cathie of Auckland, a National Airways Corporation pilot.
In recent weeks an object had been picked up on the radar at Auckland International Airport, said Capt. Cathie. An RNZAF Orion working from the airport was notified and used its radar to track the object, which slowed to a speed of only 45 miles an hour. Capt. Cathie and his co-pilot recently spotted a UFO on the west coast of the North Island and there was another report, he said, of three such objects seen flying together.
Capt. Cathie has plotted a number of sightings in New Zealand and, using mathematical calculations, has propounded the theory that the objects travel along a world-wide grid.
He believes the grid they use for navigation and power has existed for centuries but that it fell into disrepair and is now being rebuilt.
“It is possible,” he says, “that there is quite literally at our feet a fantastic source of power that could benefit mankind.”
Date: Tuesday, 10 September 1968
Time: 9.45 pm
Location: Taradale, Hawke’s Bay, North Island
Features/characteristics: An alleged lighted object follows a car
Description:
(refs Wellington Sunday Times of 15 Sept 68)
STRANGE LIGHTS TERRIFY, TARADALE SAUCER SCARE:
Two Taradale youths who leapt from their car seconds before it ploughed into a fruit shop window say they had to “bail out” because they were being chased by a diving flying saucer. Their story has been accepted by Napier police, who have since been patrolling areas where saucers have been spotted.
And at least two constables have confirmed seeing strange lights in the sky. Many Taradale residents are jittery about reports of flashing lights in the sky and ominous rumblings around the hills. And they are frightened of travelling alone at night. The youths claim they had to abandon their car in Gloucester Street after being chased by a bright light. The car smashed into a fruiterer’s shop.
A resident who rushed outdoors when he heard the crash said the youths hobbled from the scene “trembling with fear. Apparently, they had been hunting the flying saucers for the last few days,” he said. “On the previous Friday night, they heard an explosion near the Taradale dump and saw a massive flashing object rise from the ground. They said they saw some of these things flying in formation and told the cops, who laughed at them.”
On Monday night, the youths set out again and reported another sighting to the police. The following night, they had seen a flying saucer and had followed it driving round the town.
“They reckoned it dived on them, and one of the youths called out, ‘Bail out, it’s got us’.” The car is supposed to have been travelling at between 30 to 40 mph when they jumped.
The boys didn’t want to talk about the incident.
MANY SIGHTINGS: But their fear has become infectious. At least a score of people say they’ve seen saucers. Said one resident: “I wouldn’t go to the saucer area for a million years. There’s evidently something in it because the whole town knows about it.” It is also understood that the insurance company handling the crash damage has accepted the saucer story, but it refused to comment.
The 19-year-old Taradale youth, who alleged his car had been chased by a diving “flying saucer”, resulting in the car crashing into a Gloucester Street fruit shop after he and his companion abandoned it, had a charge of dangerous driving dismissed by Mr. W.K.L. Dougall SM, in the Napier Magistrates’ Court yesterday. The youth, an apprentice joiner, pleaded not guilty. Mr. Dougall dismissed the case on the grounds that Dow’s state of mind at the time had made him lose control of the car. Further evidence by the defence was not heard. The passenger who had seen the flying saucer later said to him: “You can lock me up – you may not believe me if I tell you I was chased by a flying saucer.”
Dismissing the case, the magistrate said that it was evident the driver had got himself into such a state of mind, that he had acted involuntarily when something had distracted him.
“Most of these lights people see have a natural cause, and the ‘flying saucer in hot pursuit’ might have been the lights of a car coming around the corner. The sooner he talks to a sensible adult about the matter, the better,” Mr. McDougall said.
Date: Friday, 29 November 1968
Time: 4 am
Location: Flying southwest of Mangamahu, Wanganui, North Island
Features/characteristics: Triangular formation of red lights
Description:
(refs Wellington Evening Star of Sat 30 Nov 68)
FLIERS SEE THREE UFOs IN NORTH ISLAND: Three unidentified objects were sighted by two Wanganui men flying south-west of Mangamahu [S39º49’, E175º22’] in the early hours of yesterday morning.
The objects which appeared as separate red lights were sighted by the pilot and passenger, both employees of the Wanganui Aero Works. Mr. P, a loader-operator, said last night that Mr. H was piloting an aircraft from Wanganui to Fordell at 4.10 a.m. when they sighted the objects below the sky level. “At first, we thought they were the navigational lights of an aircraft coming towards us,” Mr. P said.
Mr. H called up the Ohakea Air Force Base and inquired whether or not the Air Force had any aircraft out on a low-flying night exercise. The base said they hadn’t, and it confirmed that there were no other aircraft in the area but the one we were in.
“I wanted the pilot to fly towards the objects, but we didn’t,” he said. To start off, Mr. P said, the objects were in a triangular formation, and then they split up. One disappeared behind a ridge, another seemed to land or hover very close to land, and the other stayed directly above it, sort of on watch, he added. Then they re-grouped and disappeared. They were relatively big lights, and their shape was not easily defined. They just looked like three red lights,” he said.
In all, Mr. P said, he and Mr. H observed the objects for two to three minutes. “There were no reflections from the instrument panel. It was dark on the hills, but it was beginning to get light. It could not have been sun rays (the sunrise did not officially occur until 4.46 a.m.) because we were too early for that,” Mr. Peddie said. “We tried to find a logical explanation, but could not. I was not a believer in unidentified objects before, but I am now,” Mr. P said.
Date: January, 1969
Time: Unknown
Location: Palmerston North, Wairarapa, North Island
Features/characteristics: Hovering UFO
Description:
Two Palmerston North men recently watched a noiseless, cigar-shaped object with bright white lights at each end hover over a paddock near the city. The men, who did not wish to be identified but who are trained observers, said that the UFO hovered no more than 100 yards off the ground for up to 10 seconds before moving away toward the Tararua Ranges. One man said that he first saw an extremely bright light coming down from the sky over Old West Road, near Massey University, early in the morning.
“I said jokingly to my friend that there was a UFO over there,” he said.
“About 1½ miles along the road, I suddenly saw an object skimming along about what I would think to be 100 yards above the paddocks.”
The front light was as bright as a searchlight, and the rear light was slightly dimmer. It was about 30 feet long, and the witness was satisfied it was not an aeroplane. The object was last seen heading north over the ranges. About 20 minutes late,r the men saw another intensely bright light “flitting from the top to the bottom of the Ranges.” They watched it for about 5 minutes when it suddenly disappeared.
Date: Tuesday, 7 January 1969
Time: 12.30 am
Location: Bishopdale, Christchurch, Canterbury, South Island
Features/characteristics: Bright yellow, cylindrical object
Description:
Witness Mrs. D said that about 12.30 am, when she had returned home from visiting friends and went out to put out the milk bottles, she saw a large cylindrical object, bright yellow in colour and emitting flashes of light, pass over the Bishopdale area. It headed east towards Brighton Beach, passing over the centre of Christchurch. She called her husband, but the speed of the object was such that it had vanished before he could come out and confirm the sighting.
Evidently the object was quite large and it appeared to be somewhere in the cloud base or just above it. There was about complete coverage of the sky with cloud at the time and at a ceiling of about 2000 feet. Mrs. D was absolutely certain it was not a conventional aircraft as the whole shape was a glowing mass.
Date: Monday, 24 March 1969
Time: 11.30 pm
Location: Woodlands, Opotiki, Bay of Plenty, North Island
Features/characteristics: A large rectangular object near a farmhouse
Description:
An apparently solid, shining rectangular object was reportedly seen by a Woodlands farmer and his wife only a short distance away from their bedroom window, shortly after 11.30 p.m. on March 24th. The young farmer said the object was about 15ft high by 8ft to 12ft wide and was hovering just over the top of a 10ft high cypress hedge. The hedge was only about 25 yards from the homestead and was the border to a neighbouring unoccupied house and property.
The witness could see the soft reddish glow of the object reflected from the TV aerial on the roof of the house. From the window, the object was as long as his thumb held at arm’s length. After watching it for about five minutes, he said it drifted off, apparently drifting under telephone lines, to a paddock on the opposite side of the road where it appeared to slowly extinguish. The hedge over which the object hovered was found to be unaffected.
Apparently, the object caused some apprehension in the farmer, for when he was asked why he had not gone outside, he replied: “Not bloody likely.” The sighting was mentioned in the Opotiki News.
Date: Thursday, 27 March 1969
Time: 11.30–1.30 am
Location: Otara, Opotiki, Bay of Plenty, North Island
Features/characteristics: Object changes shape
Description:
Opotiki UFO Changes Shape During Two-Hour Sighting
Mrs. J, of Otara, reported watching a stationary, glowing, red sphere which lit up the surrounding sky between 11.30 pm on 27 March 1969 and 1.30 am The light was apparently north-west of Opotiki, over the Bay of Plenty, and a compass bearing taken by Mrs. J showed the next day that it was directly in line with volcanic White Island [Whakaari]. Mrs. J said that the object was spherical and once changed into an inverted cone. During this time, she could see “black, wavy, vertical lines” on it. Heat waves also seemed to emanate from the object, which eventually changed back to its original circular shape and faded out. This sighting was not reported to the Opotiki News, but the paper did run an account of another woman who evidently saw the same object. Most details tally
Date: Saturday, 26 April 1969
Time: 11 pm
Location: Manaia, Coromandel, North Island
Features/characteristics: Bright red light creating a large glow; truck stalls
Description
A truck driver and his passenger, travelling from Thames to Coromandel on Saturday night, reported seeing a strange bright object/light in the sky. The driver stated that he was at the summit of Manaia Hill approaching Coromandel at about 11 pm on Saturday when his passenger drew his attention to a bright red glow in the sky.
Within seconds of the object being sighted, the truck engine stalled and could not be restarted, so both men climbed out of the truck to look at the strange phenomenon. The object appeared to be stationary, and the passenger decided to try and photograph it. As he loaded his camera, the object began to move, increased speed and diminished rapidly. When stationary, the object appeared to be spherical in shape, and what looked like antennae were seen from time to time.
The driver of the truck could find no apparent fault with the truck’s engine. Each time he tried to start it nothing happened, but when the object had disappeared from the sky the engine fired normally.
The truck lights remained on throughout the incident, but neither the driver nor his passenger are certain of the reason for the engine failure. Both men were positive that what they saw was not a meteorite.
(Thames Star of Tues 29 Apr 69)
Date: Monday, 12 May 1969
Time: 2.40 pm
Location: Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty, North Island
Features/characteristics: Cylindrical-shaped object
Description:
Mrs. B, aged 43, of the Mount, who runs a restaurant business with her husband, saw a stationary cylindrical-shaped object in the sky at about 2.40 pm on 12 May 1969 while driving [northwestwards] towards the Mount on the Te Puke-Mt. Maunganui highway. In the car was a friend and three children. The bright, silvery object hung motionless for about 2-3 minutes. In the west-north-west sky, visible just to the left of the Mount [252 metres], but higher. The witness estimated the object as being nine miles distant. The car was slowed and all watched the object until it suddenly climbed vertically at a great speed and vanished.
A further sighting occurred in the area on May 12, around 9.45 pm:
Greerton, a suburb of Tauranga: An unidentified flying object “just like a car headlamp on its side,” flew straight at a witness’s house on Monday night. They reported seeing an object shaped like an inverted bowl with a rounded top turret. The UFO came fast towards the witnesses at a height of 350-500 feet and then hovered for several seconds about 70 yards away before moving off quickly in a westerly direction. The UFO came in showing its upper part mostly, as though it was on its side, and went away apparently right-side up [presumably turret-side up].
When it came towards the witnesses it appeared to have a glowing white band around the turret, but at hover, this band resolved itself into three portholes emanating a bluish-white light of brilliant intensity.
The turret appeared to have been spinning during movement. The saucer ‘skirt’ below the turret was not visible at hover, although protrusions could be seen underneath. However, when the object moved off, the skirt glowed softly. The windows also blurred into a glowing band again. No sound was heard at any time. The object was estimated to be 40ft to 50 ft in diameter.
“It was uncanny,” she stated. “It was so big, so bright, and so close. It was unsettling, to say the least.”
She was adamant that the phenomenon did not have a natural explanation because the way the object changed course as it flew indicated otherwise. The object moved at great speed, leaving a blue-coloured trail of flame. She said she had watched the object with her husband as it flew [travelling northwards] toward their home down the Oropi valley. Mr. A shifted his vantage point to watch it after it changed course towards the Kaimais and disappeared.
Date: Thursday, 22 May 1969
Time: 4.30 am
Location: Otaio, South Canterbury, South Island
Features/characteristics: A bright circular light, with bright shafts of light
Description:
An Otaio woman reported seeing an extremely bright light in the northern sky at 4.30 am. The woman said it was accompanied by many smaller “stars”, like large sparks, as it travelled swiftly north.
Mr. and Mrs. C were in bed when they were both suddenly and strangely awoken by bright light coming into their room. Through the window, they saw a large object, the colour of the flames of a fire (yellow-orange). The object was like an undefined circle, with very bright shafts of light coming from it, so bright that it hurt their eyes to look at it.
When they first saw it at about 4.30 am, it was to the north-east of their position and appeared to be in a haze, but as the mist cleared, it appeared to get brighter. The rays coming from the object were scintillating, dazzling, changing shafts of light. They could not actually see it moving, but it did travel in an estimated arc of about 60 degrees in a northerly direction, getting smaller as it went. Mrs. C watched it for about half an hour, and Mr. C for another quarter of an hour after that, when it finally disappeared. It looked as if it was going up the coast towards Timaru, some 15 miles away, north of Otaio.
Witness drawing
The sketch shows the view seen from their bed position, looking through the window. Their house was on a slight rise looking over a flat piece of ground for about 300 yards, and then rises some 200 feet in a ridge which runs from east to west. Looking out of their window, you can see this ridge with a few trees on the top. It was to the right of these trees that the object was sighted, it arched up as shown in the flight line. Although through the window you can see only a small piece of the area, it is drawn as if the walls were transparent to give a better idea of the terrain outside.
Date: August, 1969
Time: around 2 pm
Location: Matawai, Poverty Bay, North Island
Features/characteristics: A low flying disc, over farmer
Description:
In August 1969, Constable Steele of the Te Karaka Police station received a report from a local farmer that a “flying saucer” had been seen and had caused considerable damage to a fence line. The farmer, Mr. Whitehead, vividly recalls the incident over 20 years later and described what occurred that day:
“It was about 2 pm, and I was on a ridge in one of my back paddocks. My dogs were mustering the sheep. I noticed my dogs bolting and then heard a swirling sound like steam brakes being applied. I looked behind me and saw 100 feet above me, a flying saucer. It looked like a saucer with another one on top of it. The bottom one appeared to be rotating. I dived to the ground (an instinct from my war service).”
“Somehow, I lost consciousness for about an hour. I woke up when I felt my face being licked by my dog. The fence line I had been next to had been demolished. The barbed wire had been melted over several yards. The fence posts and rimu battens were spread all over the paddock and had been splintered like matches. There was a strong smell of burning. My sheep were scattered all over the place.”
“I went home and rang Constable Steele. He came and looked at the area and rang the Gisborne Police. Two days later, Chief Inspector Haar from Te Karaka and an Air Force Officer came to the farm. The Air Force Officer took samples of everything. He said he could not explain what happened and had just come from Taup,o where a lot of sightings of flying saucers had been reported.
He said the Air Force would deny all knowledge of their involvement.”
“I went back to the scene three weeks later and picked up some of the splintered battens and posts. The ground under all the bits of wood still showed burn marks on the grass.”
In 1990, the author of the book containing this sighting, John Robinson (Policing the Tairawhiti – The Gisborne Police District 1769-1995, reported here with permission) wrote: “In 1990, I visited the scene with Michael Whitehead (a detective senior sergeant stationed at Hamilton), who as a 14-year-old youth had also seen the damaged fence line. We found parts of the burnt wire still attached to the old fence. On the end of the wire were little globules showing the melting effect on the wire. This incident was never reported to the media and is still an unexplained mystery.”
Photo clipping from the news article.
Melted barbed wire
Date: Thursday, 4 September 1969
Time: 7.30 pm
Location: Makara Beach, Wellington, North Island
Features/characteristics: Pilots report a strange blue light
Description:
MAJOR SIGHTING
PILOTS REPORT STRANGE BLUE LIGHT AS RADAR TRACKS UFO
To read more about this sighting, click the link below
1969 – Bristol Freighter Aircraft / Visual / Radar Case
Cullum flight paths
Date: Landing site found by farmer on Thursday, 4 September 1969, but the landing event most likely occurred in early August
Time: Craft heard by locals in the early hours of the morning
Location: Ngatea, Hauraki Plains, North Island
Features/characteristics: UFO landing site
Description:
MAJOR SIGHTING
THE NGATEA LANDING SITE
To read more about this sighting, click the link below
The Ngatea Mystery Circle – Terrestrial or Extraterrestrial?
Photo from news article.
Date: Tuesday, 7 October 1969
Time: NA
Location: Kaharoa, Rotorua, North Island
Features/characteristics: Burnt circular patches of grass
Description:
Two mysterious circular burnt patches of grass have been found on the hillside of an open expanse of a farm. Mr. C.T. Johnson, of Te Waerenga Rd., said he had been riding his horse when he spotted the brown-coloured circles. When he attempted to get closer, his horse became “spooky and silly,” and Mr. Johnson said the horse would not go near the circles. The horse reared up, and Mr. Johnson was forced to dismount to investigate. He said he had been riding for about an hour.
A geologist from the DSIR in Rotorua visited the farm to examine the circles.
The circles were on the side of a steep hill, with the upper slope more burnt than the lower area. One circle was very distinct and measured about 53 feet in diameter, but a smaller circle measuring about 30 feet in diameter had almost faded away. The grass had grown a darker green on the smaller circle. Higher up the hill, a number of small burnt-out patches were found. Mr. Rishworth said he could offer no explanation. He dug a sod of earth and burnt grass to send to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in Wellington to be analysed.
Mr. Johnson said he had been farming at Kaharoa for 18 years and had never seen anything like it.
“At first, I thought grass grubs had been at work, but when I got closer, I saw a large circle of burnt patches. I haven’t the faintest idea what caused the circles and can only say it is mighty mysterious.” Nearby farmers are also mystified. A third mystery circle was later found by the farmer, burnt in the grass, and lying across a fence line, which was undamaged.
Date: Wednesday, 8 October 1969
Time: NA
Location: Puketutu, King Country, North Island
Features/characteristics: Blackened circle of weeds on a farm
Description:
MAJOR EVENT
THE PUKETUTU CIRCLES
To read more about this event, click the link below
Puketutu, swirled circles of weeds, dubbed “nests”
Date: October 30, 1969
Time: 3.10 am (a starry night; no wind)
Location: Waipukurau Aerodrome, Hawkes Bay, North Island
Features/characteristics: Security Officer in close proximity to disc-shaped craft
Description:
MAJOR SIGHTING
AERODROME SECURITY OFFICER IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO CRAFT
To read more about this event, click the link below
1969 – Airport Security Officer Sights UFO at Close Quarters
Witness drawing
Date: December 1969/January 1970
Time: 1 am
Location: Mount Maunganui, Bay of Plenty, North Island
Features/characteristics: Rectangular object over aerodrome
Description:
SEVEN POLICE AND A SGT OF POLICE SEE UFO:
During the Christmas holidays, a Police Sergeant and seven other policemen were returning to Tauranga about 1 am on duty, when they saw a strange light over the aerodrome and at first thought it was an aircraft. They soon realized that it was something else, as it moved towards the Mount [Mount Maunganui] and looked like a bus moving along. The UFO moved around and below the mountain (761 feet or 232 metres high) and hovered over the harbor entrance. Then [it] slowly moved out to sea for a distance estimated at about two miles, and then suddenly up and away at an angle.