The Ariel School, Zimbabwe UFO sighting - has it ever been debunked?

[JMartJr]

I've driven through Alabama and Georgia when cotton fluff (not, I think, the seeds) lined the roadways, and I've swept huge rolls of cottonwood seeds out of my garage, the rolls getting bigger and bigger as the wind swept them side to side. Either seems possible.

Living down here, I've seen cotton all along the side of the road too, during the harvest season when it comes off the trucks carrying it away from the field, or where it came off of the harvesters as they moved from one field to the next. I've never seen it aloft, blowing around in the wind, that I recall.

Which, at the end of the day, may not matter much -- other than if it helps refine a search for whatever it was the sheriff said people might be seeing.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Possibly a similar thing re. Farmington, 1950. The local newspaper reported "Crafts Seen by Hu[n]dreds", up to 500 UFOs at a time, over a three-day period. And recorded that three people contacted the local newspaper. (My views in post #66, "Major UFO experiences are specific to the observer" thread).
We have a handful of accounts, one from a man who worked for the Farmington Times and who might have penned the newspaper story, who saw up to 500 craft. He estimated the UFOs altitude, but couldn't estimate their size or speed- so how did he estimate altitude?

Other witnesses gave significantly different estimates of speed and altitude and accounts of numbers seen.
A man who was 8 years old at the time claims he saw UFOs from "horizon to horizon", "too many to count" - in daylight, during school hours- but he was at Aztec Elementary School, Aztec, NM, 11.5 miles (18.5 km) from Farmington- where no-one else appears to have seen anything.
His account might be dramatic, but it must be unreliable: The fact that this account is repeated by UFO enthusiasts might be evidence that there aren't many reliable accounts from the supposed hundreds of witnesses who were actually in/ near Farmington.

And despite sometimes hundreds of UFOs, putting on a display over three days, not a single photo. No evidence that there was any attempt to contact state or federal authorities, not even on the second or third day. No arrivals of out-of-town reporters or camera crews.
No evidence whatsoever that anything other than normal life continued.
I think I've read that the local Sherriff thought some people were seeing windborne cotton seeds, but can't find a source for this.

I've already speculated that floating spider silk (from ballooning/migrating spiders) is a better fit than cottonwood fluff in this case.

Here: https://www.metabunk.org/threads/ma...ific-to-the-observer.13027/page-4#post-293579

A collection of spiderweb videos - both floating and static.:
https://www.metabunk.org/threads/a-...a-objects-would-be-helpful.14353/#post-349042

 

[John J.]

Possibly it was cottonwood tree seeds? In my experience, cotton seeds don't fly much.

Thank you for that, I wouldn't know one from the other! (I've got a vague mental image of cotton being harvested but that's about it).

Found a NICAP article that says a State Patrolman (not the local sheriff as I said earlier) claimed that what the witness saw "...could have been small pieces of cotton fuzz floating in the atmosphere",
I've posted about it here (post #205) in the "Major UFO experiences are specific to the observer" thread which already has some discussion of Farmington 1950.

 

[Ann K]

I've already speculated that floating spider silk (from ballooning/migrating spiders) is a better fit than cottonwood fluff in this case.

The word for that stuff is "gossamer", from the term "Goose summer". But gossamer, like cotton or cottonwood tree fluff, is a phenomenon of late summer, yet the Farmington sightings were in March. I understand, the seasons in New Mexico may not line up with the seasons in the east, but that seems to give a problem in identifying the sightings with something blowing in the wind.

 

[xavierf100]

One of the other notable things is the accounts of an alien sitting on the side or on the UFO. Apparently there was another running on the top. This doesn't make much sense to me, why an alien would just be hanging out on the side or sitting on a UFO, much less running on one. It would make way more sense if it was a tanker, truck, or rock and an actual human happened to be sitting or walking on it.

 

[Giddierone]

One of the other notable things is the accounts of an alien sitting on the side or on the UFO. Apparently there was another running on the top. This doesn't make much sense to me, why an alien would just be hanging out on the side or sitting on a UFO, much less running on one. It would make way more sense if it was a tanker, truck, or rock and an actual human happened to be sitting or walking on it.

This was observation was of something more than 100m away. There's at least one mundane but unusual thing — humanoid puppets— that move in that way and have a reason to be "on top of" something.
(edited for clarity)

 

[xavierf100]

View attachment 88715

This was observation was of something more than 100m away. There's at least one mundane but unusual thing — humanoid puppets— that move in that way and have a reason to be "on top of" something.
(edited for clarity)

I think this and other explanations for the actual sightings of "aliens" works. The only additional thing to explain is how they saw it land and take off.

A few reasons this does not matter:

1. Students claim seeing it rise 1 meter and disappear in air. There are very few other accounts of it taking off and most are just that the object left suddenly
2. There is barely any information of seeing the object land. Most of the accounts just describe seeing people and an object with lights.
3. A few even said they didn't see a spaceship, one says it was a rock, and another just drew a very bright sparkling light.
4. Out of around 200 kids outside the vast majority didn't report seeing or hearing anything take off or land

With all of this in mind, it eliminates the narrative that "60 kids saw a UFO land, aliens get out, and then take off".

All you are left with is testimony about one or two people walking or acting weird outside. Easily explained by things like puppets, costumes, or bright reflections making an otherwise normal person appear to look weird.

Again, @Charlie Wiser had information that was extremely valuable in organizing the testimony that gives a much better picture than what was reported. Once you read the testimonies the sensational story about the incident really goes away.

 

[Mendel]

2. There is barely any information of seeing the object land. Most of the accounts just describe seeing people and an object with lights.

That seems plausible, as most wouldn't have been paying attention to it then.
Not seeing it take off is more significant.

 

[Giddierone]

I think this and other explanations for the actual sightings of "aliens" works. The only additional thing to explain is how they saw it land and take off.

A few reasons this does not matter:

1. Students claim seeing it rise 1 meter and disappear in air. There are very few other accounts of it taking off and most are just that the object left suddenly
2. There is barely any information of seeing the object land. Most of the accounts just describe seeing people and an object with lights.
3. A few even said they didn't see a spaceship, one says it was a rock, and another just drew a very bright sparkling light.
4. Out of around 200 kids outside the vast majority didn't report seeing or hearing anything take off or land

With all of this in mind, it eliminates the narrative that "60 kids saw a UFO land, aliens get out, and then take off".

All you are left with is testimony about one or two people walking or acting weird outside. Easily explained by things like puppets, costumes, or bright reflections making an otherwise normal person appear to look weird.

Again, @Charlie Wiser had information that was extremely valuable in organizing the testimony that gives a much better picture than what was reported. Once you read the testimonies the sensational story about the incident really goes away.

Yes, the testimony about seeing an object land or take off is very thin. It's only years later that we hear reports from witnesses who say they saw something flying in the sky above them (see Luke Nel video clip below from Ariel Phenomenon 2022). Other testimony seems consistent with seeing a reflective object change its angle of observation to the children and "disappear" — like a flaring satellite. So a reflective surface like a vehicle might be responsible.

Other things to consider: one witness told me there was a track around the perimeter of the cross country field that was navigable by a vehicle - if a child wandered off the school grounds they would use this track to look for them.
Also, the loud sound of the object is what scared the children, ending the encounter. A witness told me it was like the sound of a modern day drone.

 

[John J.]

Hi @xavierf100,
Perhaps like you, I think it's very, very unlikely that events at Ariel school had anything to do with alien spacecraft.

The only additional thing to explain is how they saw it land and take off.

A few reasons this does not matter:

1. Students claim seeing it rise 1 meter and disappear in air. There are very few other accounts of it taking off and most are just that the object left suddenly
2. There is barely any information of seeing the object land. Most of the accounts just describe seeing people and an object with lights.
3. A few even said they didn't see a spaceship, one says it was a rock, and another just drew a very bright sparkling light.

It might matter, though.
People who take a sceptical view about UFO reports etc. are sometimes accused of "explaining away" claimed sightings or dismissing them without due consideration.

I feel we might be making that mistake if we were to say something like
"there were only a few accounts of seeing a flying object land, so we don't need to attempt to explain them."

(And a sizeable physical object reportedly rising into the air and disappearing is anomalous! The fact that some of us think it is highly unlikely doesn't explain or invalidate the claim, whatever our personal views on the accuracy of that claim).

Looking back through the thread, and the linked-to sources, it's clear a number of children claimed to see a flying object (or objects) land.
A much larger number claimed to have seen something unusual, descriptions given to Cynthia Hind include "...like a saucer", "...a kind of ship", "spaceship". Some of the children's drawings are clearly meant to represent structured artefacts of some kind.

The majority of children using the same recreation area saw nothing unusual, which I think is highly relevant (though others have suggested there was a relatively small area from which the "aliens" could be seen). The descriptions of the "UFOs" vary a lot, which might also be relevant, perhaps indicating that there wasn't an actual object present that was mistaken for a UFO (or UFOs, up to three or four depending on the account). The dramatic differences in the descriptions/ drawings of "aliens" supposedly seen has been discussed earlier in the thread.

Probably the majority of posters here are confident that the claimed sightings at Ariel Primary School were not caused by ETI/UFOs.
But it's interesting to try and understand what took place and why; what might have caused the claimed sightings.
Deciding that something doesn't matter because only a minority reported it doesn't help explain why that minority reported what they did
(though again, the fact that the sightings were made by a minority, and various aspects of the event were reported by smaller subsets of that minority, sometimes conflicting with other accounts, might be important).

 

[John J.]

It's only years later that we hear reports from witnesses who say they saw something flying in the sky above them

That might not be entirely accurate,

...Fifi (10) later told her that they had seen a small whitish object land...

Tertia N. said the light was a golden, shiny object with a little light switching on and off. When she first saw it, it was like a pencil in the sky with a shiny light at the back.

Barry D. told me he had seen the craft come into the school grounds along the electricity lines. ...Barry D. said he had seen three objects flying over, with flashing red lights... ...Then they came and landed near some gum trees...

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No. 11, February 1995, PDF attached to post #201.
This was published 5 months after the event (and before the involvement of John Mack and new "interviews" of the children).
IIRC Hind spoke to some of the children not many days after the claimed sightings, and determined the number of witnesses.

 

[Giddierone]

That might not be entirely accurate,

...Fifi (10) later told her that they had seen a small whitish object land...

Tertia N. said the light was a golden, shiny object with a little light switching on and off. When she first saw it, it was like a pencil in the sky with a shiny light at the back.

Barry D. told me he had seen the craft come into the school grounds along the electricity lines. ...Barry D. said he had seen three objects flying over, with flashing red lights... ...Then they came and landed near some gum trees...

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No. 11, February 1995, PDF attached to post #201.
This was published 5 months after the event (and before the involvement of John Mack and new "interviews" of the children).
IIRC Hind spoke to some of the children not many days after the claimed sightings, and determined the number of witnesses.

You're right, but the quotes from Cynthia Hind need to be taken with a large pinch of salt because she frequently embellished testimony to make it fit UFO lore. What I was trying to say is that kids at the time reported only a glinting light in the distance, not above their heads, not moving, not "landing" or "taking off". This changes in later interviews were people start to recall much more detail like seeing an object land. E.g. Emma, as an adult, says she saw a huge flying saucer and several smaller ones landed in an area of the school grounds—something that no one else saw (see the Netflix show Encounters).
There is Guy Gibbon's testimony to Tim Leach, before Hind arrived at the school, that he thought he saw a "disc" that "just went" away down the valley. There's no real follow-up from Leach, but it seems this too could have been a reflective object that just changed it's angle to the observer, rather than "flying away" from the observer.

EDIT: Luke's remarks to Hind are here at [5:10] He says "I didn't see the spaceship"... whereas as an adult he says he saw a "UFO...in the sky." (see #329 above).


Source: https://youtu.be/eBqKJHSrYZg?si=IXjARObf4qTcuHm5&t=310