Case · UFO Afrinews No 14, July 1996
Featherstone farm gate: heated ground and sheep that would not cross
1996 ยท Featherstone, Zimbabwe
What was reported
A farmer near Featherstone telephoned Hind about a thing resembling a stretched American car that drove up to his farm gate, halted, then backed away and left. Suspicious, he took his gun and four workmen down to the gate, where they were met by fierce heat rising from the ground on which the object had stood; every man was sweating heavily. Uneasy about the visitor, he sent two men to fetch his sheep in from the bush, but the flock would not step onto the hot patch and instead filed one by one along the extreme edge of the gateway. Hind had only just managed to re-contact the farmer, had not yet visited, and promised a fuller account in the next issue.
What Hind made of it
Unverified until she visits the farm; she flags the parallel with the Loxton sheep of 1972 and says the animal-avoidance syndrome has parallels worldwide.
In their words
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What surprised him was the tremendous heat which arose from the ground where the object had been.
Cross references
- UFO AFRINEWS No 15 (promised follow-up)
- Danie van Graan, Loxton 1972 (14-03-2)
Connected
UAP or 'Phantom' Car at Featherstone?Case fileHind follow-up
The Featherstone farmer's telephoned report (heat at the gate, sheep refusing the spot) in No 14 becomes the full four-investigator visit to 'Johnny Petersen' in No 15. Note the geocoding: these two sit at -18.689, 30.904 while the sub-entries 15-06-1, 15-07-1 and 15-07-2 sit 31 km away at -18.417, 30.85, all for one farm.
Letter from Mrs Flanagan: formation over Enkeldoorn, 1954Case fileSame behaviour
Approach, then reverse away without turning: the 1954 Enkeldoorn formation 'like a car reversing' (three times) and the 1996 Featherstone 'car' that drove up to the gate, halted and backed away. Forty-two years and 40 km apart; a behavioural echo, no more.