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 22nd
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, 23rd August, 1972) it was noted
that a Elias Khosa, working at a trading store, was walking home on Wednesday
16th 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, 19th 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 19th
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?
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