Southern Africa Unexplained

Case · UFO Afrinews No 5, January 1992

UFO Flashbacks: Woman takes photo of Flying Saucer (Elizabeth Klarer, Rosetta)

1956 · Farm Whytelease at Rosetta, Natal, foothills of the Drakensberg, South Africa

What was reported

The third flashback is the original press account of Elizabeth Klarer's photographs. On her brother-in-law's farm Whytelease at Rosetta in the Natal Drakensberg foothills, she climbed a kopje to photograph the homestead and saw a vivid flash over the wattle plantation about a hundred yards away, then another, which became an object in the sky. It was hard to focus on, but it slowed, hovered and made weaving detours overhead, giving her several exposures, of which the last two, taken when it was nearest, came out clearly. It then streaked upwards and was lost. There was no engine noise and no smell, but a shimmering heat haze surrounded it; dull metallic grey, it shone silver when the sun caught it. Hind notes this modest report later grew into Beyond the Light Barrier.

What Hind made of it

Hind identifies it as the original, unembellished report of the sighting that later became Klarer's best-selling contactee saga.

In their words

  • It was difficult, but fortunately it slowed down and hovered, then made some weaving detours overhead.

    Elizabeth Klarer, spread 16

  • But it was surrounded by a sort of shimmering heat haze.

    Elizabeth Klarer, spread 16

Cross references

  • Flying Saucer Review, Vol 2 No 5, Sept/Oct 1956
  • Beyond the Light Barrier (Klarer)

Connected

  • Elizabeth Klarer, International EnigmaCase fileNamed person

    Elizabeth Klarer is named in both. So is her own family circle (David Klarer in 10-12-1, the Whytelease farm of her brother-in-law in 05-16-3). These are not two witnesses agreeing; they are one witness's material entering the archive twice, 1956 and 1957, 4.9 km apart.

  • Elizabeth Klarer, International EnigmaCase fileSame place

    Farm Whytelease at Rosetta (05-16-3) and 'her sister's Mooi River farm' (10-12-1) are 4.9 km apart in the same stretch of the Mooi valley, and in Klarer's telling the same hill. The repeat visit is internal to her account, not an independent second report from the same spot.

  • Elizabeth Klarer, International EnigmaCase fileSame window

    1956 and 1957 are adjacent years, not weeks. Within 10-12-1 the genuine short window is the 1957 low pass followed 'months later' by the boarding. Both windows are Klarer's own chronology, recalled decades on, so they date the story rather than the events.

  • Elizabeth Klarer, International EnigmaCase fileHind follow-up

    The clearest link in the cluster. Hind tags 05-16-3 as 'the original, unembellished report' of what became Beyond the Light Barrier, met Klarer in 1967/68 (Illustrated Life Rhodesia), stayed in touch until Klarer died in February 1994, and wrote 10-12-1 as her closing appraisal. 10-12-1 exists because Hind followed 05-16-3 for roughly 27 years.

  • Elizabeth Klarer, International EnigmaCase fileSame behaviour

    Photography is listed in both ('photographed' / 'photographs'), and both describe a metallic craft manoeuvring at close range. Flagged for completeness only: a behaviour repeated by the same witness across two tellings of her own story carries no corroborative weight, and Hind herself notes the photographs may be faked.

  • Flying Saucer HillStorySame witness

    The story slug is the popular form of the press case: same woman, same year (1956), same Rosetta/Mooi River farm, 10.7 km apart. The two entries should be read as one report, not two points on the map.

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 5 (January 1992), spread 16

Nearby

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