ADULT TESTIMONIES |
Cynthia Hind, MUFON's coordinator for Africa, wrote three reports in the months after the Ariel school sighting. Below are transcripts. Refer to these reports when reading my Analysis (under "Distorting the myth") of how her reports differ from what the children actually said.
Note: These reports are not only based on Hind's interviews with the children immediately after the incident. They include some details from later TV interviews in the weeks following as well as a later undated visit to the school (as reported in her 1996 book, UFOs Over Africa, p. 232).
Original documents:
Note: These reports are not only based on Hind's interviews with the children immediately after the incident. They include some details from later TV interviews in the weeks following as well as a later undated visit to the school (as reported in her 1996 book, UFOs Over Africa, p. 232).
Original documents:
MUFON UFO Journal #320, Dec 1994, pp.6-7
REPORT ON SPACE ACTIVITY IN ZIMBABWE
African UFO reports are intermingled among those of meteorites and incoming satellite debris
By Cynthia Hind
UFO AT RUWA
On Friday, 16 September, at approximately 10:15, sixty-two children from Ariel School, a private primary school in Ruwa (about 20 km from Harare) were in their playing field for the midmorning break. Suddenly, they saw three silver balls in the sky over the school. These disappeared with a flash of light and then reappeared elsewhere. This happened three times and then they started to move down towards the school with one of them landing (or hovering) over a section of rough ground made up of trees, thorn bushes, and some brown-grey cut grass with bamboo shoots sticking up out of the ground. The children are not allowed in this area, although it is adjacent to their playing field and is not fenced off, because of snakes, spiders and perhaps other harmful creatures. One can soon disappear from view while walking here, and there is only one very rough track used by tractors in an attempt to clear this area.
There is a line of electricity pylons and according to one boy, the object followed along this line prior to landing. There is also some controversy as to whether the object landed on the ground or simply hovered above it. On Tuesday, 20 September, I went out to the school with a BBC reporter and their television equipment, as well as my son and Gunter Hofer, a young man who builds his own electrical equipment, viz. a Geiger counter, a metal detector and a magnetometer, to try and see if the object left any traces behind. The headmaster of the school is Mr. Mackie, who was most cooperative, and although he had never been involved with UFOs or a believer in them, said that he believed that the children had seen what they said they saw.
I was able to interview about 10 or 12 of the older children and this was recorded for BBC television. The reports were similar although some children were more observant than others. The consensus of opinion was that an object came down in the area they indicated, about 100 metres from where they were at the edge of the school playing-field. Then a small man (approx. 1 metre in height) appeared on top of the object. He walked a little way across the rough ground, became aware of the children and disappeared. He, or someone very like him, then reappeared back at the object. The object took off very rapidly and disappeared. The little man was dressed in a tight-fitting black suit which was "shiny" according to one observant girl, age 11. He had a long, scrawny neck and huge eyes like rugby balls. He had a pale face with long black hair coming below his shoulders.
I had suggested to Mr. Mackie prior to visiting the school and before the children had been interviewed, that he let the children draw what they had seen and he now has about 30-40 drawings, some of which are very explicit and clear, while others are rather vague. The children's ages vary from five and six to 12 years. I have 22 photocopies of the clearer drawings as Mr. Mackie kindly allowed me to page through the pictures and choose those I wanted. Most of the descriptions are similar, but some of the craft are very obviously "flying saucers" and I could only wonder how many of these children have had access to the media. Others are crude but more or less in this same saucer shape.
The children vary in cultures: there are black, white, coloured and Asian children. One little girl said to me, "I swear by every hair on my head and the whole Bible that I am telling the truth." I could see the pleasure on her face when I told her that I believed her.
The smaller children from five to seven years old were very frightened at the time and ran shouting, "Help me, help me." When the older children asked why they were saying this, the reply was, "He is coming to eat us." I should think this applied more to the black African children who have legends of tokoloshies eating children.
The teachers were in a meeting and did not come out. When I queried the headmaster about this, he said that the children always shouted and yelled during their playtime and no one thought there was anything unusual going on. The only other adult available at the time was one of the mothers who was running the tuckshop. When the children came to call her, she did not believe them and would not come out: she was not prepared to leave the shop with all the food and money.
Gunter and the men thoroughly examined the ground around where the children had seen the object, but could get no reaction on the Geiger counter or on any other equipment. If the object was hovering perhaps nothing would show. I walked, on my own, along the electricity pylons for quite a way, caught up in thorn bushes, tramping blithely over snake holes and discarding all caution. I found no place where some object could have landed and pressed down the foliage. In fact, I should think the bamboo stumps would have been a deterrent. The day was hot, around 33°C, and I had a long walk through waist-high brush. When I reached home again at about 12:50, I had a headache, my feet ached and I felt disorientated. If you don't hear from me soon, you will know that I did cross the landing site and am probably suffering from a mild dose of radiation!
Ms. Hind is MUFON's Continental Coordinator for Africa. She can be contacted at Box MP 49, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe, Africa.
African UFO reports are intermingled among those of meteorites and incoming satellite debris
By Cynthia Hind
UFO AT RUWA
On Friday, 16 September, at approximately 10:15, sixty-two children from Ariel School, a private primary school in Ruwa (about 20 km from Harare) were in their playing field for the midmorning break. Suddenly, they saw three silver balls in the sky over the school. These disappeared with a flash of light and then reappeared elsewhere. This happened three times and then they started to move down towards the school with one of them landing (or hovering) over a section of rough ground made up of trees, thorn bushes, and some brown-grey cut grass with bamboo shoots sticking up out of the ground. The children are not allowed in this area, although it is adjacent to their playing field and is not fenced off, because of snakes, spiders and perhaps other harmful creatures. One can soon disappear from view while walking here, and there is only one very rough track used by tractors in an attempt to clear this area.
There is a line of electricity pylons and according to one boy, the object followed along this line prior to landing. There is also some controversy as to whether the object landed on the ground or simply hovered above it. On Tuesday, 20 September, I went out to the school with a BBC reporter and their television equipment, as well as my son and Gunter Hofer, a young man who builds his own electrical equipment, viz. a Geiger counter, a metal detector and a magnetometer, to try and see if the object left any traces behind. The headmaster of the school is Mr. Mackie, who was most cooperative, and although he had never been involved with UFOs or a believer in them, said that he believed that the children had seen what they said they saw.
I was able to interview about 10 or 12 of the older children and this was recorded for BBC television. The reports were similar although some children were more observant than others. The consensus of opinion was that an object came down in the area they indicated, about 100 metres from where they were at the edge of the school playing-field. Then a small man (approx. 1 metre in height) appeared on top of the object. He walked a little way across the rough ground, became aware of the children and disappeared. He, or someone very like him, then reappeared back at the object. The object took off very rapidly and disappeared. The little man was dressed in a tight-fitting black suit which was "shiny" according to one observant girl, age 11. He had a long, scrawny neck and huge eyes like rugby balls. He had a pale face with long black hair coming below his shoulders.
I had suggested to Mr. Mackie prior to visiting the school and before the children had been interviewed, that he let the children draw what they had seen and he now has about 30-40 drawings, some of which are very explicit and clear, while others are rather vague. The children's ages vary from five and six to 12 years. I have 22 photocopies of the clearer drawings as Mr. Mackie kindly allowed me to page through the pictures and choose those I wanted. Most of the descriptions are similar, but some of the craft are very obviously "flying saucers" and I could only wonder how many of these children have had access to the media. Others are crude but more or less in this same saucer shape.
The children vary in cultures: there are black, white, coloured and Asian children. One little girl said to me, "I swear by every hair on my head and the whole Bible that I am telling the truth." I could see the pleasure on her face when I told her that I believed her.
The smaller children from five to seven years old were very frightened at the time and ran shouting, "Help me, help me." When the older children asked why they were saying this, the reply was, "He is coming to eat us." I should think this applied more to the black African children who have legends of tokoloshies eating children.
The teachers were in a meeting and did not come out. When I queried the headmaster about this, he said that the children always shouted and yelled during their playtime and no one thought there was anything unusual going on. The only other adult available at the time was one of the mothers who was running the tuckshop. When the children came to call her, she did not believe them and would not come out: she was not prepared to leave the shop with all the food and money.
Gunter and the men thoroughly examined the ground around where the children had seen the object, but could get no reaction on the Geiger counter or on any other equipment. If the object was hovering perhaps nothing would show. I walked, on my own, along the electricity pylons for quite a way, caught up in thorn bushes, tramping blithely over snake holes and discarding all caution. I found no place where some object could have landed and pressed down the foliage. In fact, I should think the bamboo stumps would have been a deterrent. The day was hot, around 33°C, and I had a long walk through waist-high brush. When I reached home again at about 12:50, I had a headache, my feet ached and I felt disorientated. If you don't hear from me soon, you will know that I did cross the landing site and am probably suffering from a mild dose of radiation!
Ms. Hind is MUFON's Continental Coordinator for Africa. She can be contacted at Box MP 49, Mount Pleasant, Harare, Zimbabwe, Africa.
UFO AFRINEWS #11, Feb 1995, pp. 1, 19-22
[Page 1 excerpts]
It all started with an alleged 'meteor shower' which is discussed at length elsewhere in this magazine. And then came the other reports', like the children at Ariel School; the young boy and his mother who had a daylight sighting; the truck driver at night seeing 'people' approaching him; all within a few days of each other. It was great and all of those of us involved were on a decided high! We had no need for alcoholic drinks, or drugs, nor any kind of stimulation, for right here on our doorstep was one of the most exciting UFO stories of the year; UFOs had landed in Zimbabwe!
The BBC (from Britain) were interested enough to want a documentary on the story; South African Television chartered a plane to come and film what was going on, and it was viewed by thousands on the programme AGENDA on Tuesday, 22nd November, 1994. Zimbabwe Television, a little slow off the mark, were there with their cameraman, Producer, and Presenter Jill Darke…
And to add the cherry to the creamy top, Dr John Mack of Cambridge Hospital, the Medical School attached to Harvard University, USA arrived in Harare on 28th November to investigate even further.
[Pages 19-22]
THE CHILDREN OF ARIEL SCHOOL Case N° 96
Ruwa, Zimbabwe
Friday, September 16th, 1994, was a beautiful day. Clear and warm, with the sun bright in an intensely blue sky. By 10:00 a.m. it was becoming quite hot and when the children at Ariel Primary School were let out for their mid-morning break, they ran out shouting and calling to one another in the sheer joy of being free for at least half an hour.
The teachers were all in the staff-room for the weekly teachers meeting and the only other adult on the school premises was Mrs Alyson Kirkman, a physiotherapist, who was voluntarily running the Tuckshop. Shortly after 10:00, a few of the children noticed something strange. Beyond their playground, which was dotted with several clumps of trees, the rest being mostly cleared ground, there was a bush area. The ground there belonged to the school and although attempts had been made to clear and level it, it really was still rough land: long grass with thorn and other indigenous bushes, trees growing in higgledy-piggledy fashion, and undergrowth thick and heavy enough to hide a child should he venture there.
Besides which, no-one knew what dangerous small animals, such as snakes, jackals, unidentified spiders, scorpions, etc. might be lurking in the grass.
Mrs Kirkman told me that when the children came running into the Tuckshop, talking excitedly about ‘a small man running around with a band around his head and a one-piece suit’, she was totally sceptical. Perhaps, she said, they were trying to get her out of the Tuckshop where there were sweets, cakes and of course the Tuckshop money. She refused to leave the shop. Her child, Fifi (10), later told her that they had seen a small whitish object land about 100 metres from where she was. It glowed. It then came closer and had a sort of golden colour. Some of the children were hysterical.
ln the meantime, out of the 250 children at the school, more than 60 were now witnesses to an extraordinary event. As they watched, they saw about three or four objects coming into the rough bush area. The light from the objects was so bright, it was difficult to discern a shape, although several of the children saw disc-like objects coming in along the power lines and finally landing in the rough, among the trees. There was one large object and two or three smaller ones. They could also hear a whirring noise and see a bright white, silverish light coming from the objects. The children were all a little bit afraid, although they were also curious.
Guy G.(11), one of the more articulate reporters, said, ‘I was excited at first but then I saw one of the smaller boys crying and when I asked him why, he said he was afraid. Then I also became afraid.’
Tertia N. said the light was a golden, shiny object with a little light switching on and off. When she first saw it, it was like a pencil in the sky with a shiny light at the back. There were many descriptions, but Colin Mackie, the Headmaster, had the presence of mind to get all the children back into their classrooms, asking them to draw what they had seen. A fascinating array of drawings appeared and there were many differences in the craft. Most of the older (12-year-old) boys saw legs like tines dug into the ground; but in some cases they were more unusual. In one picture the legs were like spiders' legs, something which I had heard of several times in previous cases (See Megan Quezet Case, Mindalore, South Africa, in UFO AFRICAN ENCOUNTERS).
Where the drawings were most consistent were in the descriptions of the small entity the children had seen emerge from the craft.
He was approximately one metre tall, dressed in a shiny one-piece black suit similar to a wet suit. He had long black hair and a large head. One girl interviewed by the SATV, said he had arms and legs like a human being, but his head was larger than a normal head.
Also, he had these big, black, slanting eyes.
One older girl (12) said she could not see very well, but the nose was small, and the mouth was a small, straight line. However, the eyes were very big and slanting (this was indicated with her hands forming an elongated O).
Guy G., illustrating the eyes, showed them low down on the cheeks, and slanting upwards, very large and dark. Guy, who was self-assured and the most articulate [of those interviewed], said he had just come out to the playground when he saw the children all swarming around at the bottom of the playground, so he ran down to see what was going on. He saw a craft in among the trees. He said it was striped black and green and pointed to his drawing of it. He then saw a small man (about one metre tall) get out and walk across the terrain parallel to the playground. He could see the little man was dressed in a black, shiny suit (like a skin diving suit); that he had long black hair and big eyes, which seemed lower on the cheek than our eyes, were large and elongated. The mouth was just a slit and the ears were hardly discernible.
The tragedy of Guy’s story is that when he went home, neither of his parents, though admitting that he did not normally tell lies, would believe his story.
On one of the numerous videos made of the children and their descriptions of the event, Guy said, ‘Well, if they don’t believe me, there's nothing I can do about that, but I will keep it all inside of me.’
What a frightening indictment of our socìety that when we are confronted by something we don’t understand, we don't even attempt to open our minds to the event. We merely discard it, totally, because it is not within our immediate awareness.
Barry D. told me he had seen the craft come into the school grounds along the electricity lines. For sometime now, researchers have been aware that these unidentified objects need to use our electricity and our water. I did ask if there was a dam near the school and was told there was one, but it was almost dry (Zimbabwe has been beset with drought problems for the past few years and Ariel School, like many others, is in need of a better water supply).
Tertia N. said she and some friends had watched the object land and then it just vanished.
Barry D. said he had seen three objects flying over, with flashing red lights. They disappeared, and reappeared almost immediately, out somewhere else. This happened about three tìmes. Then they came and landed near some gum trees; Barry said the main one was about the size of his thumb nail held at arm's length.
Some of the children saw a little man dressed in black appear on top of the large ‘craft’. He was thin and skinny with a scrawny neck and eyes that were large and slanting. Barry said they were like rugby balls.
When all this happened, a very strong wind passed over them.
There is obviously a lot more to this incident than has been uncovered now and we will report further in UFO AFRINEWS N° 12.
This is an extremely interesting case as there are so many witnesses, and there is no doubt in my mínd that what the children are saying is what they saw,
Even embellishments cannot alter the basis of what was seen that day in September 1994.
Remember, there's lots more to discuss and we would appreciate your questions, comments and contributions.
It all started with an alleged 'meteor shower' which is discussed at length elsewhere in this magazine. And then came the other reports', like the children at Ariel School; the young boy and his mother who had a daylight sighting; the truck driver at night seeing 'people' approaching him; all within a few days of each other. It was great and all of those of us involved were on a decided high! We had no need for alcoholic drinks, or drugs, nor any kind of stimulation, for right here on our doorstep was one of the most exciting UFO stories of the year; UFOs had landed in Zimbabwe!
The BBC (from Britain) were interested enough to want a documentary on the story; South African Television chartered a plane to come and film what was going on, and it was viewed by thousands on the programme AGENDA on Tuesday, 22nd November, 1994. Zimbabwe Television, a little slow off the mark, were there with their cameraman, Producer, and Presenter Jill Darke…
And to add the cherry to the creamy top, Dr John Mack of Cambridge Hospital, the Medical School attached to Harvard University, USA arrived in Harare on 28th November to investigate even further.
[Pages 19-22]
THE CHILDREN OF ARIEL SCHOOL Case N° 96
Ruwa, Zimbabwe
Friday, September 16th, 1994, was a beautiful day. Clear and warm, with the sun bright in an intensely blue sky. By 10:00 a.m. it was becoming quite hot and when the children at Ariel Primary School were let out for their mid-morning break, they ran out shouting and calling to one another in the sheer joy of being free for at least half an hour.
The teachers were all in the staff-room for the weekly teachers meeting and the only other adult on the school premises was Mrs Alyson Kirkman, a physiotherapist, who was voluntarily running the Tuckshop. Shortly after 10:00, a few of the children noticed something strange. Beyond their playground, which was dotted with several clumps of trees, the rest being mostly cleared ground, there was a bush area. The ground there belonged to the school and although attempts had been made to clear and level it, it really was still rough land: long grass with thorn and other indigenous bushes, trees growing in higgledy-piggledy fashion, and undergrowth thick and heavy enough to hide a child should he venture there.
Besides which, no-one knew what dangerous small animals, such as snakes, jackals, unidentified spiders, scorpions, etc. might be lurking in the grass.
Mrs Kirkman told me that when the children came running into the Tuckshop, talking excitedly about ‘a small man running around with a band around his head and a one-piece suit’, she was totally sceptical. Perhaps, she said, they were trying to get her out of the Tuckshop where there were sweets, cakes and of course the Tuckshop money. She refused to leave the shop. Her child, Fifi (10), later told her that they had seen a small whitish object land about 100 metres from where she was. It glowed. It then came closer and had a sort of golden colour. Some of the children were hysterical.
ln the meantime, out of the 250 children at the school, more than 60 were now witnesses to an extraordinary event. As they watched, they saw about three or four objects coming into the rough bush area. The light from the objects was so bright, it was difficult to discern a shape, although several of the children saw disc-like objects coming in along the power lines and finally landing in the rough, among the trees. There was one large object and two or three smaller ones. They could also hear a whirring noise and see a bright white, silverish light coming from the objects. The children were all a little bit afraid, although they were also curious.
Guy G.(11), one of the more articulate reporters, said, ‘I was excited at first but then I saw one of the smaller boys crying and when I asked him why, he said he was afraid. Then I also became afraid.’
Tertia N. said the light was a golden, shiny object with a little light switching on and off. When she first saw it, it was like a pencil in the sky with a shiny light at the back. There were many descriptions, but Colin Mackie, the Headmaster, had the presence of mind to get all the children back into their classrooms, asking them to draw what they had seen. A fascinating array of drawings appeared and there were many differences in the craft. Most of the older (12-year-old) boys saw legs like tines dug into the ground; but in some cases they were more unusual. In one picture the legs were like spiders' legs, something which I had heard of several times in previous cases (See Megan Quezet Case, Mindalore, South Africa, in UFO AFRICAN ENCOUNTERS).
Where the drawings were most consistent were in the descriptions of the small entity the children had seen emerge from the craft.
He was approximately one metre tall, dressed in a shiny one-piece black suit similar to a wet suit. He had long black hair and a large head. One girl interviewed by the SATV, said he had arms and legs like a human being, but his head was larger than a normal head.
Also, he had these big, black, slanting eyes.
One older girl (12) said she could not see very well, but the nose was small, and the mouth was a small, straight line. However, the eyes were very big and slanting (this was indicated with her hands forming an elongated O).
Guy G., illustrating the eyes, showed them low down on the cheeks, and slanting upwards, very large and dark. Guy, who was self-assured and the most articulate [of those interviewed], said he had just come out to the playground when he saw the children all swarming around at the bottom of the playground, so he ran down to see what was going on. He saw a craft in among the trees. He said it was striped black and green and pointed to his drawing of it. He then saw a small man (about one metre tall) get out and walk across the terrain parallel to the playground. He could see the little man was dressed in a black, shiny suit (like a skin diving suit); that he had long black hair and big eyes, which seemed lower on the cheek than our eyes, were large and elongated. The mouth was just a slit and the ears were hardly discernible.
The tragedy of Guy’s story is that when he went home, neither of his parents, though admitting that he did not normally tell lies, would believe his story.
On one of the numerous videos made of the children and their descriptions of the event, Guy said, ‘Well, if they don’t believe me, there's nothing I can do about that, but I will keep it all inside of me.’
What a frightening indictment of our socìety that when we are confronted by something we don’t understand, we don't even attempt to open our minds to the event. We merely discard it, totally, because it is not within our immediate awareness.
Barry D. told me he had seen the craft come into the school grounds along the electricity lines. For sometime now, researchers have been aware that these unidentified objects need to use our electricity and our water. I did ask if there was a dam near the school and was told there was one, but it was almost dry (Zimbabwe has been beset with drought problems for the past few years and Ariel School, like many others, is in need of a better water supply).
Tertia N. said she and some friends had watched the object land and then it just vanished.
Barry D. said he had seen three objects flying over, with flashing red lights. They disappeared, and reappeared almost immediately, out somewhere else. This happened about three tìmes. Then they came and landed near some gum trees; Barry said the main one was about the size of his thumb nail held at arm's length.
Some of the children saw a little man dressed in black appear on top of the large ‘craft’. He was thin and skinny with a scrawny neck and eyes that were large and slanting. Barry said they were like rugby balls.
When all this happened, a very strong wind passed over them.
There is obviously a lot more to this incident than has been uncovered now and we will report further in UFO AFRINEWS N° 12.
This is an extremely interesting case as there are so many witnesses, and there is no doubt in my mínd that what the children are saying is what they saw,
Even embellishments cannot alter the basis of what was seen that day in September 1994.
Remember, there's lots more to discuss and we would appreciate your questions, comments and contributions.
UFO AFRINEWS #12, July 1995, pp. 7-14
ARIEL SCHOOL REPORT (CONT.) Case N°96
The Ariel School case developed much further when an interview with the children was made by Dr John Mack. He spent two days speaking to them and was able to elicit a great deal more information. I am sure he will report this himself at a later date.
I have also found out that some of the children actually saw a ‘cigar-like’ object on the Thursday, September 15th 1994, the day before the general sighting. One young boy said that as he was driving from school with his mother - in broad daylight - on the 15th September, they saw an object ahead of them.
This sighting was verified by three little girls who were sitting in the playground on the Thursday and observed the mysterious object, ‘like a cigarette in the sky’ very briefly, when it then disappeared. Had it been after the Friday event, I would have been wary of the report, as they could easily have been influenced by the big event. This report is being investigated and will be reported on in a later issue.
Fiona, aged 9, said that on the Friday she could see this strange object, very bright, over in the bush and something dark on the object. But she could not identify it as a ‘little man’; she says: ‘It could have been a branch or something like that.’
I was impressed by the honesty of the children. When they weren't sure, they were hesitant; when they were sure, they spoke out quickly and confidently.
It was a cross-section of Zimbabweans: black African children from several tribes, coloured children (a cross-breeding of black and white), Asian children (with parents born in Zimbabwe but whose grandparents had come from India) and white children, mostly Zimbabwean-born, but whose parents were either from South Africa or Britain.
Ariel School is a privately-owned Primary School with classes from the smallest 5-6 year olds, to Grade 7 class with children of 11 and 12 years.
The school is expensive and the standard of children is of a reasonably high intellectual level. Most of the parents live in the area but several come from Harare and do the long drive — approx 20 Km — every day.
Obviously there are cultural differences. When Guy G. asked two little boys why they were crying, they both said the little man in black was ‘coming to eat’ them. They were obviously black children, as Western parents no longer (certainly for several decades) threaten their children with demons who come and eat you. But this is still part of the African culture where “the Tokolosh could very well gobble children up if they were naughty.”
On the other hand, the white children were mostly - although not all - aware of UFOs. So where they drew pictures, it was often identified as ‘a UFO’ and the little men in black were labelled 'aliens'.
In drawings from other ethnic groups the labelling was different: the little men were called 'unidentified persons' and the craft - or whatever - was called 'the machine', or 'the object'.
Farai M., aged about 11, agreed with Guy's description of the object being striped with green, black and silver.
One of the boys told me that he thought at first that the little man in black might have been Mrs Stevens' gardener, but then he saw the figure had long, straight black hair, ‘not really like African hair’, so he realised he had made a mistake!
Shortly after the event (certainly within 7 days), Gunter Hofer drove out to Ariel School and, using a map of the area - see drawing - took samples of the soil from several different areas. These were subsequently analysed by the Chemistry & Soil Research Institute, Department of Research and Specialist Services, free of charge, and the readings simplified for us by Dr Keith Viewing, now retired from the University of Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, although there were some anomalies, none were of particular significance and Dr Viewing suggested that a better and perhaps more relevant reading would be obtained from the Institute of Mining Research at the University. So, this is our next step.
An important issue to consider is that the children pointed out two landing areas, the first where the craft touched down - at the third electricity pole from their viewpoint - and the second landing point, where the little men emerged.
I have always maintained that one or two visits to any important UFO case are not enough; it is an on-going exercise and although 10 months have passed since the sighting, the event is still firmly etched in the minds of the children. I am hoping to make this - because of accessibility - an on-going exercise. I realise only too well that even months or years after the event, factors of extreme significance can come to light. And surely any evidence to solve this fascinating mystery is worth its weight in gold?
During the interviews with the children, several significant, direct statements were made. These are quoted here.
One young girl said that when she first looked, she saw three figures: one in red, one in white and one in black. The one in black was sitting on the 'spaceship'. This was the first time the word 'spaceship' had been used. She admitted that she had presumed that what she saw was a UFO.
Guy G: said that the objects were disc-shaped and were glinting among the trees before landing. He pointed out the landing place as at the third pole from the school grounds and the objects had come in along the electricity wires towards this area.
Of the little man, Guy said: ‘He was quite lightish in colour, not black. His clothes were black. But there was no noise. And they disappeared into the valley down there’ (Below the landing site).
Oriana: ‘I saw this black stick, a very thin, long thing on top of the silver thing.’
Colin Mackie, Headmaster: ‘I feel sure the children saw something. I don't believe or disbelieve, but they definitely saw SOMETHING. I agree that it could be something natural with which we are not familiar, but it was certainly seen by the children.’
Nathaniel said he saw ‘a ship’ land on the ground. It had an elongated hull with a platform around the side, and a small man in black was running around. He was about one-metre-plus tall.
Luke N.: ‘I saw the little man. He had long black hair and was all in black. He looked like a shadow of something.’
Trevor: ‘I was walking towards the school as the bell had rung, and I saw flashes of light from the corner of my eye.’
Daniel M.: ‘I saw this silver thing among the trees, with one thing sitting on the side and another on top. Then they were running back and forth. It looked like a real person but it was quite plump. (Footnote: Only mention of the little figure being ‘plump’.) At first I thought it was someone from the compound (labourers' quarters) playing around, but his hair was not like the usual African hair - very curly and close to the head - it was almost like a hippy's hair, long and black.’
Emily B.: ‘I saw the little men with longish black hair and big black eyes. They turned round and stared at me and went back into a kind of ship. There was only one ship and some little ones scattered around it. I could see their big eyes and long hair. I definitely saw them!
Charity S.: ‘I saw this silver thing and a person in black alongside it. It looked like a saucer.’
When asked by Tim Leach of the BBC if she had heard of UFOs, Charity replied: ‘I’ve not heard of UFOs before.’
Emma C: ‘I saw the objects disappear. They went up about a metre and then they disappeared. The little men were wearing clothes which were very, very shiny black. Like a diving suit and tight-fitting. I saw a glimpse of his face; his eyes were big. I thought they were aliens from another planet.’
Lisa P.: ‘I saw this silver thing lying on its side. A man dressed in black came out. He had big eyes. I thought it was an alien and then I thought it was the gardener.’
Earlier that day, Mrs Stevens, whose farm is close to the school, said that she had got up to go to the bathroom, in the early hours, when she saw a huge orange glow from her window, over her chicken house. It was like a big round ball. She had never seen anything like it before and rushed to call her husband, but when he came, it had gone!
How does one assess a sighting like this? Were the children highly imaginative or were they dreaming? Is the whole UFO experience a mental aberration with which we are not familiar? Were the children - as has been suggested by one friend - in a state of hysteria, as has happened recently in some girls' schools in Zimbabwe? But in checking out the latter, the hysterical girls were at the age of puberty (14/15/16 year olds) and were only girls. Here, as many - if not more - boys were involved and the ages of the witnesses ranged from 7 to 12 years.
None of this proves anything, one way or another, but one cannot help feeling that a statement is being made. What it is, well, as John Mack says, that's the question!
The Ariel School case developed much further when an interview with the children was made by Dr John Mack. He spent two days speaking to them and was able to elicit a great deal more information. I am sure he will report this himself at a later date.
I have also found out that some of the children actually saw a ‘cigar-like’ object on the Thursday, September 15th 1994, the day before the general sighting. One young boy said that as he was driving from school with his mother - in broad daylight - on the 15th September, they saw an object ahead of them.
This sighting was verified by three little girls who were sitting in the playground on the Thursday and observed the mysterious object, ‘like a cigarette in the sky’ very briefly, when it then disappeared. Had it been after the Friday event, I would have been wary of the report, as they could easily have been influenced by the big event. This report is being investigated and will be reported on in a later issue.
Fiona, aged 9, said that on the Friday she could see this strange object, very bright, over in the bush and something dark on the object. But she could not identify it as a ‘little man’; she says: ‘It could have been a branch or something like that.’
I was impressed by the honesty of the children. When they weren't sure, they were hesitant; when they were sure, they spoke out quickly and confidently.
It was a cross-section of Zimbabweans: black African children from several tribes, coloured children (a cross-breeding of black and white), Asian children (with parents born in Zimbabwe but whose grandparents had come from India) and white children, mostly Zimbabwean-born, but whose parents were either from South Africa or Britain.
Ariel School is a privately-owned Primary School with classes from the smallest 5-6 year olds, to Grade 7 class with children of 11 and 12 years.
The school is expensive and the standard of children is of a reasonably high intellectual level. Most of the parents live in the area but several come from Harare and do the long drive — approx 20 Km — every day.
Obviously there are cultural differences. When Guy G. asked two little boys why they were crying, they both said the little man in black was ‘coming to eat’ them. They were obviously black children, as Western parents no longer (certainly for several decades) threaten their children with demons who come and eat you. But this is still part of the African culture where “the Tokolosh could very well gobble children up if they were naughty.”
On the other hand, the white children were mostly - although not all - aware of UFOs. So where they drew pictures, it was often identified as ‘a UFO’ and the little men in black were labelled 'aliens'.
In drawings from other ethnic groups the labelling was different: the little men were called 'unidentified persons' and the craft - or whatever - was called 'the machine', or 'the object'.
Farai M., aged about 11, agreed with Guy's description of the object being striped with green, black and silver.
One of the boys told me that he thought at first that the little man in black might have been Mrs Stevens' gardener, but then he saw the figure had long, straight black hair, ‘not really like African hair’, so he realised he had made a mistake!
Shortly after the event (certainly within 7 days), Gunter Hofer drove out to Ariel School and, using a map of the area - see drawing - took samples of the soil from several different areas. These were subsequently analysed by the Chemistry & Soil Research Institute, Department of Research and Specialist Services, free of charge, and the readings simplified for us by Dr Keith Viewing, now retired from the University of Zimbabwe. Unfortunately, although there were some anomalies, none were of particular significance and Dr Viewing suggested that a better and perhaps more relevant reading would be obtained from the Institute of Mining Research at the University. So, this is our next step.
An important issue to consider is that the children pointed out two landing areas, the first where the craft touched down - at the third electricity pole from their viewpoint - and the second landing point, where the little men emerged.
I have always maintained that one or two visits to any important UFO case are not enough; it is an on-going exercise and although 10 months have passed since the sighting, the event is still firmly etched in the minds of the children. I am hoping to make this - because of accessibility - an on-going exercise. I realise only too well that even months or years after the event, factors of extreme significance can come to light. And surely any evidence to solve this fascinating mystery is worth its weight in gold?
During the interviews with the children, several significant, direct statements were made. These are quoted here.
One young girl said that when she first looked, she saw three figures: one in red, one in white and one in black. The one in black was sitting on the 'spaceship'. This was the first time the word 'spaceship' had been used. She admitted that she had presumed that what she saw was a UFO.
Guy G: said that the objects were disc-shaped and were glinting among the trees before landing. He pointed out the landing place as at the third pole from the school grounds and the objects had come in along the electricity wires towards this area.
Of the little man, Guy said: ‘He was quite lightish in colour, not black. His clothes were black. But there was no noise. And they disappeared into the valley down there’ (Below the landing site).
Oriana: ‘I saw this black stick, a very thin, long thing on top of the silver thing.’
Colin Mackie, Headmaster: ‘I feel sure the children saw something. I don't believe or disbelieve, but they definitely saw SOMETHING. I agree that it could be something natural with which we are not familiar, but it was certainly seen by the children.’
Nathaniel said he saw ‘a ship’ land on the ground. It had an elongated hull with a platform around the side, and a small man in black was running around. He was about one-metre-plus tall.
Luke N.: ‘I saw the little man. He had long black hair and was all in black. He looked like a shadow of something.’
Trevor: ‘I was walking towards the school as the bell had rung, and I saw flashes of light from the corner of my eye.’
Daniel M.: ‘I saw this silver thing among the trees, with one thing sitting on the side and another on top. Then they were running back and forth. It looked like a real person but it was quite plump. (Footnote: Only mention of the little figure being ‘plump’.) At first I thought it was someone from the compound (labourers' quarters) playing around, but his hair was not like the usual African hair - very curly and close to the head - it was almost like a hippy's hair, long and black.’
Emily B.: ‘I saw the little men with longish black hair and big black eyes. They turned round and stared at me and went back into a kind of ship. There was only one ship and some little ones scattered around it. I could see their big eyes and long hair. I definitely saw them!
Charity S.: ‘I saw this silver thing and a person in black alongside it. It looked like a saucer.’
When asked by Tim Leach of the BBC if she had heard of UFOs, Charity replied: ‘I’ve not heard of UFOs before.’
Emma C: ‘I saw the objects disappear. They went up about a metre and then they disappeared. The little men were wearing clothes which were very, very shiny black. Like a diving suit and tight-fitting. I saw a glimpse of his face; his eyes were big. I thought they were aliens from another planet.’
Lisa P.: ‘I saw this silver thing lying on its side. A man dressed in black came out. He had big eyes. I thought it was an alien and then I thought it was the gardener.’
Earlier that day, Mrs Stevens, whose farm is close to the school, said that she had got up to go to the bathroom, in the early hours, when she saw a huge orange glow from her window, over her chicken house. It was like a big round ball. She had never seen anything like it before and rushed to call her husband, but when he came, it had gone!
How does one assess a sighting like this? Were the children highly imaginative or were they dreaming? Is the whole UFO experience a mental aberration with which we are not familiar? Were the children - as has been suggested by one friend - in a state of hysteria, as has happened recently in some girls' schools in Zimbabwe? But in checking out the latter, the hysterical girls were at the age of puberty (14/15/16 year olds) and were only girls. Here, as many - if not more - boys were involved and the ages of the witnesses ranged from 7 to 12 years.
None of this proves anything, one way or another, but one cannot help feeling that a statement is being made. What it is, well, as John Mack says, that's the question!
(c) Charlie Wiser 2022