Case · UFO Afrinews No 17, February 1998 (cover); masthead printed as January 1998
Lights in the Sky B (first event): orange glow over a Durban backyard
1980 · Durban, South Africa
What was reported
Pauline and her 16-year-old daughter were woken one night in 1980 at their Durban home by a strange orange glow filling the rooms. The daughter, terrified, clung to her mother and would not let her into the yard, so they watched from the back door. The whole backyard was lit as bright as day yet utterly quiet, and the family geese and white mastiff stood glowing orange, staring up at the sky. As abruptly as it had come, the light went and darkness returned. From that night until his death five years later the dog suffered fits several times a month and became so frightened of lightning he had to sleep in the kitchen. Next morning's papers reported UAPs over Spain and the Drakensberg.
What Hind made of it
Printed as reported; the witness notes the next-day newspaper reports of UAPs in Spain and the Drakensberg.
In their words
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The geese and our white mastiff dog were glowing orange in this strange light and staring at the sky.
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As suddenly as it had become bright, it turned dark again.
Cross references
- Drakensberg UAP newspaper reports, 1980
Connected
A Humming Light over a Natal houseCase fileSame behaviour
Independent witnesses (N.J. and Jill near Umbogintwini, undated; Pauline and daughter in Durban, 1980) woken in the small hours by their property flooded with light from above, no object seen, abrupt onset and abrupt end. They differ in sound (loud droning and a 'whoosh' versus utter silence) and colour (silvery versus orange). Roughly 20 km apart.
Lights in the Sky B (second event): swaying star over a Vryheid farmCase fileSame witness
17-16-1 is outside this cluster (farm near Vryheid, Natal, 1983, ~230 km north). Same Pauline, three years after the Durban glow: a swaying 'star' that shot away north; animals restless again. Pauline is a repeat reporter, which weakens the independence of the animal-reaction detail.
Source
Nearby
Stories within 60 km
- The light that hung over Durban 2004 · 18 km