One of the good things about Ufology in the 1970s-1980s was that most communication was by letter and whether it was Werner Walter in Germany, Rudy De Groote in Belgium etc we got to know of any pecial interests in the subject. Rudy, like Werner, knew that I wa interested in any and all reports of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Alien Entities.
In a covering letter with the Studiegroup Progressieve Wetenschappen's UFO Info publication for June 1979, Rudy said the Scoonaarde report ought to interest me and that omeone had volunteered to translate it from the Dutch (that in Belgium having some differences from the Dutch spoken in the Nederlands) for me. Sadly, nothing came of that and my smattering of Dutch is definitely no good to carry out translation work!
There is a brief summary in English at the rear of the publication -thi tended to be a standard with a lot of non English Ufological publication back then.
I have searched the internet but have not even found the report mentioned (it will be after this post has been copied!). The following are the detail given:
"Schoonaarde On January 1t 1979, between 8 and 9 o'clock (0800-0900 hrs or 2000-2100 hrs?-TH)Johan Van Boven (10) sees two large beings (Michelin type) walking in mid air. They wear a metallic, shining suit and helmet. From the oppoite direction a flying saucer with two domes (as per Aveyron, France, 1967 -TH) approaches. Both figures climb a mall ladder on the ide of the craft, then the UFO flie off in the direction of Wetteren.
"The credibility of this case has not yet been established. A second boy, Dimitri Clinck (13), who also witnessed the sighting, gives a contradictory account. Moreover Johan Van Boven refuse to meet the researchers. All details collected have been given by his mother."
The UFO Info item covers pp. 5-16 and I believe this is looking at activity at the time since what is summarised could not posibly take up that much space. Maybe one day someone can translate the full article.
We are not told what the contradictions in account are and a 10 year old may use different term to a 13 year old. One might expect a made up account to be of a single domed flying saucer yet Van Boven describes a double domed object of which there are a few but even asking a Ufologist to name the cases might not yield the answers. So double domed is interesting.
Then we have that "Michelin type" decription. The events at Warneton wa 6 years before in 1974 so would a 10 year old know about the case or the outfits decribed?
Add to thi the fact that this is not the most sensationalist of reports and I am sure a 10 year old could have come up with a better story. As for his not meeting researchers well, he was a 10 year old boy and the sighting (if genuine) would have been scary enough so to meet adults he did not know would have been scary.
Johan would be in his 40s now as would Dimitri and it would be interesting to see whether they stuck by their accounts or could give more details.
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