Personal sighting report from Marie van Staden, 1975, Johannesburg area, South Africa
Marie & husband Kallie van Staden saw something in 1975 that they could not understand & will never forget. The exact date has been lost in the mists of time, but it was near the end of the year, around October or November. Here follows their story in Marie's words as translated from Afrikaans by CRiSTo LouW:
What we saw, must have been seen by others as it was very very big. Nobody can tell us that one would miss it at a glance. I just don't accept that. We travelled a distance of 10-12 kms & could see it all the way.
It was half past eight in the evening & we were on our way back home, coming from my mother in Boksburg travelling towards Kempton Park in the East Rand. It happenend about 2kms just after where Pick n Pay in Boksnurg is today, where I started noticing all the approaching air traffic from the then Jan Smuts airport (today called the Johannesburg International). While i was watching the airplanes moving from left to right, i noticed this red light that was also on the left & thought that it might be a copter, although there was no usual flickering.
I was still watching this red light when Kallie mentioned that he was observing the same red light for some time & that it stayed just where it was & i agreed that it was strange. As we approached Kempton, the light grew in size, but when we arrived in Kempton, we were surprised to see that it was 2 lights! I was stunned to see the big size of them when we were at the trainstation. I told him to stop the car & because we were in the main road, we made a turn down a side street & got out.
Well, i have never seen such huge lights & all this while the airplanes were flying over them, but they just hung there, did not move or change color or shape.
They were equal in size & exactly the same shape, oval & very very close to each other. They could not have been very high, because the airplanes were coming in to land as the runway's start was very close & it was a busy night for the air traffic. We could not hear any sound when there was an airplane. There was no beam of light or any other smaller lights or something like that & no body could be discerned. Maybe the whole thing was the body that we were looking at or maybe navigation lights that usually warn air traffic, although these kind of navigation lights are usually placed strategically.
How big were they? Well, without exaggeration, bigger than any airplane that was flying above or next to them & that my friend, was the strange thing! Okay, they were a bit lower than the airplanes, but still damn huge for something that could be considered as normal. What could it have been then? If it was some kind of pleasure thing, surely it would have been well lit? Even a hot-air balloon is clear at night & for something that low, any idiot would have known if it was a balloon. There was no reflection around it & why so long in one spot?
We were standing there next to the car for 50 minutes while looking up & then we went to the flat down the same road, 4 blocks down. On arrival, i went to the roof. It was a big building in those days, called Kempton City & 4 stories.
From the roof it appeared slightly flatter that clearly meant they were not very high. I could still not make out any body or other associated lights. It was a dark night with no moon, which also made it difficult.
The colour of the red was the same as a traffic light, but a bit brighter, no emenating light of any kind. The whole oval was red.
I saw them until 12 o'clock that night. They must have disappeared just after 12, becuase i could also see them through the lounge's windows when i was moving to & fro from the roof. We lived on the 4th floor.
If it was a hot-air balloon, i surely would have noticed it from the roof which was definately the better vantage point, when i stopped seeing it thru the lounge window.
I discussed this with someone at my work who thought that it might have been a single object with 2 lights. But, oh my, i will probably never know what it was. I could have kicked myself that i was not watching when it moved or however it disappeared. kick-kick! I was furious at myself.
This is still haunting me after all the years. I so badly want to know if someone else also saw it.
As long as someone does not try to say that it was an airplane. 37 years i stayed in Boksburg & Kempton. They flew right over our house in Boksburg. The runway was so close to the house, when they came over the house, you see every detail & we always waved! It was so low, i am certain that if i were to climb to the house's rooftop, i could have touched the wheels. Remember, i was in that house until my 32nd year. Helicopter!? No way. I flew often before i got married, even in helicopters! Fighter plane? Again, no warning lights! And +- 12 hours in the same position? Never! No way.
Last visited & updated on Saturday, 16 August 2003, 01:01 GMT+2=SAST.
Keywords: SAUFOR XPLoReS personal UFO sighting report from Marie van Staden in 1975, Johannesburg, South Africa, Kempton Park, Jan Smuts Airport, Johannesburg International, two red oval lights, stationary over long period
