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UFO Sighting Report - South Africa

June 1977/1978 : Goodwood, Cape Town, Western Cape


UFOINFO Sighting Form Report

Location: Goodwood, Cape Town, Western Cape, Republic of South Africa

Date: 06 ?? 1977 or 1978 just before 18h00 (GMT)

Approach Direction: Hovering in the sky. Appeared a very bright star - most unusual

Departure Direction: East to North East

Witness Direction: I was alone

Description: I was driving home from work and exited the highway (National Road) by taking the steepish curve to my left. At the top of the curve, I remained in the left lane in Vanguard Drive (a long, straight double carriageway) Approx 30 metres in Vanguard Drive I saw to my left a very bright, shining star in the sky. (Possibly due East). I pulled into a parking lot as I was very surprised at the brightness of the star. Less than 10 seconds later, this star darted for approx 1 metre to my left and woosh it disappeared. I was surprised, perplexed, and stunned at what I had just seen. The following morning, all the newspapers headlines were that numerous people, from numerous areas of Cape Town, had seen the very bright star (and the description of the star and its disappearance was identical to what I had seen).

Color/Shape: Very bright star in the sky

Height & Speed: Normal stars are high up in the sky but this one was much, much lower.

TV/Radio/Press: The Cape Times in the morning and The Argus in the afternoon. Unfortunately I am not sure if it was in June 1977 or June 1978. (Presently I am unable to check the newspapers' archives as I'm looking after my grand-daughter but, God willing, one day in the future when my grand-daughter goes to pre-primary, I will investigate and ascertain the correct date.)


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Project Beta: The Story of Paul Bennewitz, National Security, and the Creation of a Modern UFO Myth
- Greg Bishop

In 1978, Paul Bennewitz, an electrical physicist living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, engaged in some aggressive radio monitoring of the nearby Sandia Labs, then managed by the Department of Defense. When he became convinced that the strange lights hovering over the labs and Kirtland Air Force Base signaled the vanguard of an extraterrestrial alien invasion, he began writing TV stations, newspapers, senators -- and even President Reagan -- to alert them.

For the most part Bennewitz received form-letter replies, but Air Force investigators paid him a visit, as did Bill Moore, author of the first book on the Roswell incident. Before long Moore -- then a new force in civilian UFO research -- was tapped by a group of intelligence agents and a deal was struck: Moore was to keep tabs on Bennewitz while the Air Force ran a psychological profile and disinformation campaign on the unsuspecting physicist. In return, Air Force Intelligence would let Moore in on classified UFO material.

This is Bennewitz's harrowing tale, told by fringe-culture historian Greg Bishop. It is the troubling account of the custom-made hall of smoke and mirrors that eventually drove Bennewitz to a mental institution, as well as the story of the explosive propagation of disinformation that began in 1979 and reverberates through the UFO community and pop culture to this day.

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