Southern Africa Unexplained

Case No 95 · UFO Afrinews No 11, Feb. 1995

Jo Hensman and the torch on the Kariba shore

1994 · Lake Kariba shore, beside the family sailing boat, Kariba, Zimbabwe

What was reported

Jo Hensman, a friend of Hind's, had been at a beach barbecue beside the family sailing boat on Lake Kariba when she borrowed her husband's powerful torch, which had a complicated on-off switch, to go aboard. Walking towards the boat she saw a light in the sky like a small plane, coming directly at her. Panic rose as she realised the torch was on and she could not switch it off quickly; she was convinced the object was drawn to the brilliant light in her hand. She hid the torch behind her back and watched with relief as the object turned away, followed the tree-line along the lake shore, and lifted over some hills. By then she could see it was enormous, several times the size of a Boeing 747.

What Hind made of it

Hind reports it without comment beyond noting the many tree-top-level accounts, which she concedes might be an optical illusion.

In their words

  • she was sure that whatever it was, was attracted by the brilliant light in her hand

    Cynthia Hind, spread 06

Cross references

  • 11-05-1 umbrella entry for Case No 95
  • 11-06-2 other Kariba reports

Connected

  • Lake Kariba reports: fishermen, warden, video and the Cutty SarkCase fileSame window

    Both are filed under the same umbrella entry, 11-05-1 for Case No 95, and cross-reference each other. 11-06-3 carries no date of its own; its placement in the September 1994 window rests entirely on that filing, not on anything Jo Hensman is quoted as saying.

  • Zimbabwean Flap of September 1994: Lake Kariba houseboatCase fileSame behaviour

    An enormous, low, silent object sized against a Boeing 747 that ends by lifting or rising over the Kariba hills. Independent witnesses, same closing manoeuvre.

  • More Strange Lights in the Sky: b) Lake KaribaCase fileNamed person

    The investigator is inside her own sample. Jo Hensman is described as 'a friend of Hind's', and Cynthia Hind appears in 16-12-1's own list of named people. Two of the six cases reach the record through Hind's personal presence or acquaintance rather than through an independent report channel.

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 11 (Feb. 1995), spread 06-07

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