Southern Africa Unexplained

Case · UFO Afrinews No 5, January 1992

Unexplained Balls of Light: Thursday 14th February 1991, Harare (Mrs D.G.)

1991 · Harare, Mrs D.G.'s verandah, Zimbabwe

What was reported

Coming out onto her verandah at about 19:30 on 14 February 1991, Mrs D.G. noticed a bright light in the northern sky: a large, deep-orange ball about the size of a fist held up to the sky, with rays radiating from it, travelling from south to north. It was bright enough to hurt her eyes. She heard nothing from the object in flight, but as she stepped outside there was a popping sound which she felt came from it. As she watched, the ball broke up and small black pieces fell away, along with one round white piece. There was no smell. Hind files it among unexplained balls of light, calling it a fireball 'or whatever'.

What Hind made of it

Hind calls it a fireball 'or whatever' and prints it without conclusion.

Explanation offered
A fireball or bolide is implied by the disintegration and falling fragments, though Hind does not say so

In their words

  • As she watched, the ball of light disintegrated and she could see small black pieces falling from it.

    Cynthia Hind, spread 6

Connected

  • Unexplained Balls of Light: Friday 14th June 1991, Harare blue light (Margaret Barnes and Richard Lockie)Case fileSame window

    Filed together as 'Unexplained Balls of Light' in No 5, exactly four months apart (Thursday 14 February and Friday 14 June 1991, both evenings). An orange ball breaking into black fragments with a pop; a blue ball with red fire behind lighting the ground blue, seen independently from Chisipite and Alexandra Park. Both read as bright bolides; the Met Office knew nothing of either.

  • UAP Flap in ZimbabweCase fileSame behaviour

    Fireball with sparks or fragments falling away: Mrs D.G.'s 1991 orange ball and the 14 September 1994 object with its long sparking tail and trailing cluster of lights. The 1994 event's slow, level, five-minute passage across southern Africa after a 26/27 August launch is the profile of a rocket-stage re-entry, not a meteor.

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 5 (January 1992), spread 6-7

Nearby

Stories within 60 km