FAQ’s Answered #17: My UFO Experiences

Today in a series of replies to FAQ (frequently asked questions) sent to me by fans (and sometimes not so much), I answer the question:  “Have you had any UFO experiences?“

My answer is a tentative yes – tentative because some people seem to expect science-fiction writers to have a little more insight about sci-fi matters than everyone else – and, like it or not, UFO’s are a feature of sci-fi!

As a matter of fact I’ve been asked by more than one of my readers whether I’ve ever seen a UFO or even met up with any little green men (or “grays” – or worse, “reptilians”)! Not to disappoint, I believe I’ve seen at least one unexplained thing in the sky – and try as I might, I wasn’t able to easily dismiss it as explainable by weather phenomena, aircraft – or the authorities casual favorite: weather balloons. As for meeting “reptilians”, I can’t claim to know I have met any – however, I’ve certainly run into a lot of scaly characters in my time.

As for what I saw (or thought I saw), it happened in 1987, when I was 14 years old. My mother and I attended an evening church event (yes, I used to go to those stupid culty places once upon a time, before I knew better) at a local sports stadium in Port Elizabeth, being the old “Boet Erasmus” rugby stadium, which has since already been demolished and all but forgotten. The conditions were night-time, so it was reasonably dark – around 8pm, with some lighting from the street lights and surrounding city around the edges of the horizon. If memory serves, it was around mid-winter, and it was windy and chilly.

What I remember was an object coming from the front, towards the stadium from the direction of the beachfront about a kilometer distant. Now before I continue, let me start by analyzing reasons to dismiss the sighting as just an ordinary aircraft: The stadium itself is less than a kilometer from the Port Elizabeth airport, which is visited by medium-sized air traffic, including Boeing 737’s on virtually an hourly basis. As I pointed out, it was night-time, dark, and windy. It was generally unpleasant out as a matter of fact, and the handful of people in attendance were distracted by the event itself, which was being conducted on the stadium and not on the field below it. People were singing and generally not looking up at the sky as I did, when I did. Secondly, People from the area tend not to find aircraft passing overhead to be very interesting since it happens so frequently.

What did I see and hear? I saw the object approaching, perhaps at a height of around 200 feet – it was a dark shape lit from various sides by lights that appeared to be part of the object. The shape itself didn’t resemble an aircraft, but to me looked like a large dark rectangle traveling towards us with the long edge across. I remember staring at it as it passed directly overhead – and although the sky was clear of clouds and gave me an unobstructed view of the object from underneath, I couldn’t make out any wings, engine pods or fuselage. I could make out peculiar sharp edges, and flat slanted sides – in retrospect – in a way that reminds me of a stealth aircraft. This was in 1987, remember, and we didn’t start seeing any news of those before 1990 or 91. Even so, those were far smaller than the object I saw.

The sound? Well, I don’t recall hearing any roar of jet engines, just the rushing sound of the wind, which was quite unpleasant at the time – and it is near the beach, so wind does that often. Anyway, the fifty or so people around me were singing rather annoyingly, to be blunt. Afterwards, we went home, and when we were alone, I asked my mom if she’d seen what I’d seen. She said she hadn’t. In fact she didn’t recall seeing any aircraft or object of any kind passing overhead while we were there! That was very strange, I thought – how could anyone miss a huge low-flying object like that – with lights on it – passing directly overhead?

Whether it was definitely a visiting alien spacecraft or not, I cannot say; but what I can say is that it was definitely weird – it looked out of place, I couldn’t identify it, and it was definitely flying… hence in a technical sense at least, it was a UFO!

It’s unlikely this recollection will earn me a spot on “Ancient Aliens” – but I certainly enjoy watching the show, especially for the dude with the hair!

Where can you get my books? All over the place – on Amazon, PayHip, and a stack of others around the world!

For South African readers, Kobo lists all available titles in South African currency!

I hope this answers this question to your satisfaction!

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All material copyright © Christina Engela, 2019.