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

[Giddierone]

I recently learned that prior to Mack's interviews some of the children were shown a "tape" about UFOs and aliens which contains references to "UFOs kidnapping farmers."

I wonder what it was. One researcher I consulted suggested it could have been Visitors from Space: The Evidence (1992) and that the farmer reference relates to the famous Antonio Vilas-Boas case.

I wonder if there are other candidates?

 

[JMartJr]

One researcher I consulted suggested it could have been Visitors from Space: The Evidence (1992) and that the farmer reference relates to the famous Antonio Vilas-Boas case.

The Vilas-Boas tale is a bit racy to be showing to a bunch of kids!

 

[Giddierone]

The Vilas-Boas tale is a bit racy to be showing to a bunch of kids!

It's a fairly tame retelling of the story. I'd included the wrong link above but have fixed it now and it points the Vilas Boas case, timestamped [49:10]

 

[Charlie Wiser]

I recently learned that prior to Mack's interviews some of the children were shown a "tape" about UFOs and aliens which contains references to "UFOs kidnapping farmers."

About 18 months ago I was contacted by a family member of a couple of the Ariel kids after one of them passed away, which was causing the other to relive the trauma. She wanted to show him my website "to help him understand that this is more PTSD than reality".

She was angry about how the whole thing was handled, especially that the children were shown a film about aliens:

One fact that might be of interest to your readers is that the school decided to play Sci-Fi movies that portrayed aliens, after the event. This further traumatized the kids, as they became fearful they would be taken away. It's one of their most fearful memories.

I asked her why the school did that, especially since the head master seemed skeptical of the whole thing. She replied:

As for the scary movies, it's a fact that never seems to be talked about, but it is one of the most traumatic parts of the event from the first-hand accounts. And it's been a consistent detail from all accounts over the years.

What I hear is that they played the movies as follow up to the event. To help the kids deal with it. They never played such movies beforehand... From my understanding of the timeline, it would have certainly influenced the kids understanding before they spoke to John Mack.

It's hard not to wonder what the Headmaster was up to!