High Strangeness: The Natal 'Flying Spectre'

At times it can be frustrating in the extreme when looking at old reports where someone did go and talk to witnesses but all that we are left with is a story but lacking the details we need –or want. Is 1972 just too far back to hope that some of the witnesses might still be alive and investigators could track them down?

   When it comes to this case I cannot find anything online about it. I even checked in all of my old books and even my article from 1978 on African CE3K reports does not list it. To be fair, however, if I do not know about it why do I think someone else should?  An account was published in Flying Saucer Review (Philipp J. Human, “The ‘Flying Spectre’ of Natal”, vol.18, no. 6, 1972).

   The events took place in August 1972 and details were published in The Natal Mercury on 22^nd August, 1972.

   Mrs. Doris Muthwa was accompanied by her 12 year old daughter as she went to draw water from a river near to her Roosboom (NW of Colenso) home. The time was around 04:30 hrs.  As Doris was going about here chore:

      “I looked up and there seemed to be a man in a white suit. I thought he

      was smoking a cigarette but then the smoke became like a big fire. There was

      a bright light shining from his chest which went pink and blue.”

   According to Mrs. N. E. Harding, Doris’ employer:

      “Doris said he was about 3.5 metres tall. She indicated his height to me

      against a tree. He must have been emitting some kind of electricity because

      she said it was just like when she touches the iron and her body goes all jerky.

      The giant man then shot into the sky and disappeared.  The two were so

      frightened that the mother cried out, while the daughter began to cry and bit

      her mother’s hand in her  terror.  They ran away, falling over and spilling their

      water as they went. Doris is a bright, intelligent woman. I know she is telling the

      truth.”

   According to Philipp Human the height of the ‘man’ based on the tree would be around 11 ft. 3 ins. To 11 ft. 6 ins.  The daughter had bitten her mother’s hand when the ‘man’ “began to give off white lights” and as for Doris; she refused to go back to the stream.

   The electrical effect that Doris felt is worthy of note and I hope she replaced her clothes iron if she was getting the same from it. A mother and daughter –a joke being played on them (if we ignore the electrical effect)? Could be, however, that convenient explanation can be dismissed because others saw the “flying spectre”.

   In a follow-up report (The Natal Mercury, 23^rd August, 1972) it was noted that a Elias Khosa, working at a trading store, was walking home on Wednesday 16^th August when he encountered the entity.  According to Elias, the entity “faced him, but he could not see its head, although he noticed small flames burning around its feet.” Elias stated that he invited the “visitor” home for a drink but it simply turned and sped off through the veldt at “high speed” and emitted flames and smoke as it did so. One wonders what might have happened had the entity responded “Okay” to Elias’ invitation?

   One the night of Saturday, 19^th August, 1972, the entity was seen on wasteland behind the Molver Road home of Mrs. Thelma Hansen and it was the sight of its head that most disturbed Mrs. Hansen; “There was fire coming out of its eyes, and the head was square like a machine.”

   It was Miss Jane Chassen who was with Mrs. Hansen’s 8 year old daughter, Ingrid, who had seen it first; “It was staring at us by the fence. It was horrible. It was not a real person.” When Dr. Carl van Vlierden spoke to Mrs. Hansen after the fuss had died down he found that she was still disturbed by the encounter having had headaches, pains in the legs etc. and revealed that she had felt “some sort of hypnotic effect” –as if being drawn toward the entity. Dr. van Vlierden spoke to three other witnesses who all claimed these side effects.

   It was the “eyes” that seemed to have the greatest effect on those who encountered the entity and van Vlierden learnt that the entity was at least 7 feet above the ground.  When it departed, the entity “went straight up, then sideways, and disappeared.”

   The 19^th of August saw the entity sighted three times and he gave each of the witnesses “pencil and paper, and asked them to draw what they saw. The drawings were all very similar.”

 

   At the time of these encounters there was a “mini UFO flap” going on in South Africa and although no object was seen in conjunction with this ‘flying spectre’ how else can it be explained?  Was it, perhaps, a practical joker? Well, if it was there appears to have been no “I did it! I fooled you all!” afterwards and people who do this type of thing like to get the attention from their confession –even if decades later or someone they know will spill the beans but after a very long period of searching I can find nothing.

   In 2020 we could say that it was a hoax with some practical joker using a drone and, yes, it is possible as I think I’ve worked out how the visual side of things could be achieved.  However, this was 1972 and there was a definite lack of technology available for someone to achieve all of this.  We then have to explain away the electrical effect felt by Doris or the physiological/psychological symptoms reported by the unconnected witnesses.

   We have these very basic details from FSR but have no idea if they saw copies of the drawings or just how detailed the report was because the one thing missing are the detailed witness statements. There is no narrative such as “It was staring at us from the fence and I called Mrs. Hansen and we watch as it stared before flying off” –basic but taking us from “A” to “B” and the same applies with Elias’ account because he obviously did not feel threatened but what was he thinking or feeling? We just do not know.

   There is no type of map showing encounter locations, the geography involved or guide to how far apart the sightings were –at least none were published.  The “flames” could have been lights emanating what looked like flames but speculation based on what we have here is pointless.

   Despite wanting to give the outward appearance of a respectable journal, Flying Saucer Review loved the more sensationalist reports because those were what brought in the readers.  Did van Vlierden write up a proper report and does anyone have a copy –the FSR archive at the AFU in Sweden is crammed with papers so searching could take months.

   Perhaps, in South Africa, some Ufologist has the van Vlierden report?