1973: Family observes glowing UFO with light beam

THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date: June 25, 1973

Sighting Time: between 6.30 and 7.00 p.m

Day/Night:

Location: Dundurrabin, Australia

Urban or Rural: –

Entity Type:

Entity Description:

Hynek Classification: CE1 CE-I (Close Encounter I) Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness (i.e. within 500’)

Duration: 15 minutes

No. of Object(s): 

Size of Object(s):

Distance to Object(s):

Shape of Object(s): Disc

Color of Object(s):

Number of Witnesses: Multiple

Source: Bill Chalker (1996)         

Summary/Description: On about 25 June, members of the Dorrington family observed a large, disc-shaped UFO for about 15 minutes between 6.30 and 7.00 p.m. The whole of the object was surrounded by a green glow. There appeared to be a rotating, brilliant red light around the middle of the object. A V-shaped green ‘solid’ beam seemed to oscillate up and down. This sighting occurred during a flap in the area of two small timber towns, Tyringham and Dundurrabin.

Full Report

An impression of an object seen by a group of people from Dundurrabin in the direction of Boney Mountain about June 25. The drawing was made on the site by Bill Chalker under direction from a witness. (credit: Chalker)

Press article with drawing in The Daily Examiner (Grafton, Australia), Sept. 8 1973. (credit: Bill Chalker)

One of the more frustrating aspects of researching the UFO phenomenon is its unpredictability. One of the mainstays of the scientific method is the repeatable experiment and observation. In the case of an unpredictable and elusive phenomenon this is rather hard to organise. But occasionally UFO phenomena do occur in specific localities for an extended period. These are referred to as localised ‘flaps’.

In the middle of 1973 a remote locality between Armidale and Grafton, around two small timber towns called Tyringham and Dundurrabin, provided me with an opportunity for repeat-able observations. It started with locals observing unusual light phenomena and other strange occurrences. Details about the situation came to my notice shortly after they began. I was fortunate that the strange activity persisted for months and knowledge of it remained largely limited to locals and researchers like myself.

(…)

On about 25 June, members of the Dorrington family, at Dundurrabin, observed a large, disc-shaped UFO for about 15 minutes between 6.30 and 7.00 p.m. It hovered over Boney Mountain. The whole of the object was surrounded by a green glow. There appeared to be a rotating, brilliant red light around the middle of the object. A V-shaped green ‘solid’ beam seemed to oscillate up and down, more than a dozen times, before retracting into the main object. It disappeared from view, after 15 minutes, by moving straight down behind the mountain. The size estimates pointed out to me on site suggested a very large object.