Sea Light

What was reported

On a foul, windy night in April 1993 around 23:00, Sandra was walking her dogs at Muizenberg beach with Mark, an ex-Air Force family friend, near where the vlei meets the sea. A white light toward the Hangklip mountains stayed still so long they thought it an aerial beacon, then shot upward, stopped, dropped, and darted left and right. A narrow translucent beam came from its centre onto the water. She judged it only about 50 metres away, hovering very low at the base of the mountains. It suddenly rushed straight at them, blindingly bright; Sandra ran while Mark stood his ground, and it receded to the mountains and sped low toward the airport. Walking back she found a man standing thigh-deep in fast-moving water, expressionless, without equipment or shoes, facing the light; he walked out and vanished.

What Hind made of it

Puxley established the weather was foul and that Sandra had seen the light several times; Mark, ex-Air Force, ruled out a helicopter as too fast and erratic. Mark is overseas but will back the story on return.

Explanation offered
Aerial beacon or search helicopter considered and rejected; the man possibly a would-be suicide disturbed by the witnesses

In their words

• Suddenly, it went upwards, very fast; stayed still, then dropped again and rushed off to the left, then to the right.

• the light just came at us with an almost devastating rage!

• He didn't have a fishing rod; he had no equipment at all.

Connected

• Odd Sequel to Sandra's Story: the silent man and the stopped clocksCase fileHind follow-up

  Sequel: three clocks and a wristwatch stop at Sandra's workplace. Hind herself doubts any link to the beach light.

• Miniature Red LightsCase fileSame window

  Muizenberg April 1993 and Karen's bedroom April/May 1993; both Puxley; both later acquire a stopped clock/watch motif (10-11-1, 09-17-1).

• 'Bus' in the SkyCase fileSame window

  April and 20 June 1993, both on the False Bay side looking toward the mountains/Cape Point; both Puxley interviews for Afrinews 9 (Avril interviewed 10 July 1993).

• The Vanishing Cylinder at HangklipCase fileSame place

  Both objects placed toward Hangklip across False Bay (42-43 km from either witness), 1990 daylight and 1993 night. Sandra's '50 m away at the base of the mountains' is incompatible with a Hangklip bearing, and 'sped toward the airport' is a different direction again (north, 19 km).

• More Strange Lights in the Sky: a) Cape TownCase fileSame behaviour

  Beam of light directed down onto water or ground: Sandra 1993, Wintle 1996. Both witnesses first considered a helicopter.

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 9 (February 1994), spread 15-17

In the archive

This case became a story on this site.

1993 · South Africa

The sea light at Muizenberg and the man in the vlei

A white light over False Bay put a thin beam on the water, then rushed the beach. Walking back, Sandra found a barefoot man thigh-deep in the vlei, facing it.

ACCAccelerationLIFTLift

Single witness

Nearby

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