April 7

UFO Over Pretoria

Artist's conception of a black triangle ufo similar
to the one seen over Pretoria, via Wikipedia

On this date in 1991 at 11:15 pm Mrs. Annatjie Visagie, 36, was about ready for bed at her home in Baviaanspoort, a suburb of Pretoria. She went to check on her son, who was ill with a fever. She saw a bright light shining into the room and when she pulled back the curtains to see what it was she could only see a "terrible glare" on a hill near the house. She went outside with her other son, to try and get a better view. What they saw was a triangular UFO with lights at each corner and a red light in the center. "We got off the porch for a better look", she said. She described the object as "large" and being at an altitude of about 300 feet. It made   "a strange hissing noise." After hovering over the house it moved quickly away. Mrs. Visagie stated that she was so shocked and appalled that she never even thought of taking a photograph. Ryno Swanepoel of the physics department of the Rand Afrikaans University said he could give no scientific explanation of the object. Some had suggested ball lightning as a solution, but Professor Swanepoel said he doubted that was what she saw, since it appears only for a few moments and is not very large.

For the next few nights the same or a similar object was seen over Eersterust, west of Baviaanspoort. One witness, Lucas Marobie, described the objects lights as "Sharper than a star's light." He first saw it from the gate of his home when his sister left for church. It moved faster than a plane can fly, hovering for a time over the Magaliesburg. One evening his family and neighbors observed it for about seven hours after which it became fainter and disappeared to the north.