SIGHTING: CAPE TOWN, WESTERN CAPE (SOUTH AFRICA)

Witness Testimony

"Some years ago - around 1984 - I was woken at about 01h00 by my hound who wanted to go outside. It was a magnificent night, no haze, no wind, no noise. I sat on the front porch idling listening to the hound sniffing around in a flower bed some 20 feet away. Her sniffs carried quite clearly on the still air. I was looking at the stars, entranced by their brightness because of the lack of haze. I was facing south-east when directly above me two objects moved in close formation travelling from north-east to south-west. Their formation was exactly the same as the leader and the wingman would be in a tight two-ship fighter aircraft formation. They were shaped like five-sided "triangles" as below. ^ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ ------------------------------------- Their outline was identified by a pale-blue neon-like light and the rest looked black. They blocked out the stars as they moved. There was no blocking out of the stars beyond the blue outline which seemed to indicate that the blue was inded the outer shape of the objects. Without the blue outline I doubt if I would have seen anything at all. I have been an aviation "nut" all my life and am a keen birdwatcher and I am confident that these objects were neither aircraft, as I know them, nor birds. Many hours trying to identify birds and high flying aircraft have trained me to observe all aspects of what I am looking at. Any ornithologist would know what I mean. The air was exceptionally still and these objects made no noise whatsoever nor did they exhibit any movement other than forward as, say, a Dassault Mirage III would make in normal straight flight. I know what a 747 moves and sounds like at 1,000 feet and at 30,000 feet. I also am totally familiar with a Mirage III at around 1,000 to 2,000 feet.Because I had absolutely no indication of the size of the objects - they looked Mirage III size at 1000 feet moving at say 250-350 knots - yet they could equally have been the size of a city block at 40,000 feet and moving at 10,000 knots (assuming that they did not burn up at that altitude and speed!) - I do not have a clue. I can clearly remember the number of stars they blocked out as they moved but this still did not assist my judgement of their speed and size. I could not guage any height of the objects from their back elevation as they disappeared to the south-west which may indicate that they were big and flat and high. Obviously "ufo's" crossed my mind but I was intrigued by the fact that these objects did not look like the "traditional 'flying saucers'" I had, or have, read about. I never bothered to tell anyone about them for years knowing that people are usually either completely gullible or totally skeptical about any such occurrence. I entually dicussed this with a friend who is a member of the Skeptics society (and a great admirer of James Randi - I may add). We covered all sorts of possibilities but came to no rational conclusion. Perhaps I was dreaming, perhaps it was an illusion but what I can reiterate is that these objects were not birds and they were not aircraft known to me (and no - they were NOT the planform of the now familiar stealth fighter or bomber). During the time they passed overhead I continued to hear the hound sniffing - indicating to me that the objects were not emitting any sound that reached my ears. (I have recently tested my hearing and it is perfect.)I am sensitive to feelings, particularly "hostile" or "negative" ones but felt entirely peaceful during the experience, no excitement, no apprehension, just a feeling of "calm awe". I leave you to make up your own mind what could have taken place that night - I simply do not know."