Case · UFO Afrinews No 18, July 1998
The Belgian triangle wave of 1989-90 and van Utrecht's blimp (review)
1989 ยท Belgium; Brussels (balloon-maker K), Belgium
Outside the region. Hind reprinted this case from elsewhere; it has a file here but no place on the map.
What was reported
Wintle complains that chapter 15, by Wim van Utrecht, demolishes the Belgian wave of 1989-90 without an unbiased weighing of the evidence. The wave's novelty was multiple sightings of triangular objects, sometimes very large, with a bright light at each corner and a red light in the centre, usually travelling slowly, able to change course abruptly with no downdraft and only a soft hum. Van Utrecht suggests aircraft coming in to land, or a blimp fitted with spotlights, and traced a Brussels man, K, who claimed to have built one and offered it to the Belgian Air Force for a million dollars; K later denied ever flying it outdoors. Wintle adds that Huyghe's chapter mentions huge triangles over the Hudson Valley in the late 1980s.
What Hind made of it
Wintle, not Hind: the sceptical treatment is one-sided.
Explanation offered
conventional aircraft landing; a blimp with spotlights built by K of Brussels, who later denied flying it
In their words
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triangular shaped objects, sometimes very large, with a bright light at each corner and a red light in the centre
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K later denied ever having flown his balloon out of doors.
Cross references
- A World History of UAPs, chapter 15 (van Utrecht) and chapter 18 (Huyghe, Hudson Valley triangles)