In one of the most remarkable UFO encounters on record, Rev. William Booth Gill and 37 people of Boianai, Papua, New Guinea experienced UFOs on consecutive nights in 1959. On the second night, the witnesses reported four occupants appeared on the closest object and evidently communicated with the people below. Years later, Dr. J. Allen Hynek would list the episode among his favorite cases and most significant reports on record.
Here is the episode, investigated and reported by members of the Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society and the UFO Investigation Centre of New South Wales. The interview was published in the inaugural issue of the Australian Flying Saucer Review, edited by Peter E. Norris and Andrew P. Tomas.
AN ANGLICAN PRIEST CONTACTS PILOTS OF AN UNKNOWN CRAFT OVER NEW GUINEA
“Ananias, the teacher, waved both hands overhead and the two outside figures waved back with two arms over heads. Then Ananias and I both waved arms and all four figures seemed to wave back.”
by Peter E. Norris, editor, and Andrew P. Tomas, editor
Australian Flying Saucer Review, January 1960
The extraordinary experience of the Rev. Father William Booth Gill is unique in the history of unidentified flying objects research. Father Gill is an ordained priest of the Church of England, and a graduate of Brisbane University. His ecclesiastical and academic background puts the stamp of reliability on this report.
The Victorian Flying Saucer Research Society and the UFO Investigation Centre of N.S.W. have interviewed Father Gill. A resume of these tape-recorded interviews is presented below.
Q. Father Gill, will you be kind enough to let us know the nature of your activities in recent years in Papua?
A. I have been on the staff of the Anglican Mission in Papua for thirteen years - my main interest up there has been educational work, and I have been working mainly on the north-east coast of Papua, in Goodenough Bay area, about ninety miles from Samarai, Milne Bay.
Q. Father Gill, we understand you, or your mission folk, had a series of interesting experiences during the month of June - when, and on what dates did these occur? Also what did you think about unidentified flying objects before your experiences?
A. Until my sighting I thought UFOs were a figment of imagination or some electrical phenomenon. Well, the first sighting occured over Waimera about twenty-five miles from us. It was observed by Dr. Ken Houston at a place called Waimera, near Tagora, and that was late November of last year. At Boianai itself, where I'm working, the first recorded incident was on the night of Sunday, 21st June. My own observations began on 26th June and extended over a number of days.
Q. Taking them, then, in date order, when did the first sighting that you saw occur?
A. That was on 26th June, at 6.45 p.m., and it continued until 11.04 p.m.
Q. Over which district was the object seen?
A. Milne Bay district, over Boianai.
Q. Did the object - appear solid? metallic? gaseous? transparent?
A. Well, it appeared solid, certainly not transparent nor gaseous; we just assume it was metallic from our own experience of things that travel and carry men.
Q. Was any sound perceptible?
A. No.
Q. Did the object change colour?
A. Yes, it changed from a brilliant white light when it was far off, to a dull yellow, or perhaps pale orange, when it was close.
Q. Did the object hover, or remain motionless at any time?
A. It both hovered and remained stationary.
Q. What was its speed in flight?
A. Much faster than a passenger plane.
Q. The height you mention was a couple of thousand feet. Which of the following objects held at arm's length would you have described as apparent size? – a grapefruit?
A. Yes.
Q. Describe the weather:
A. Well, the weather varied over the four hour period. I have it recorded here. At the beginning, at 6.45 p.m., there were patches of low cloud over Tagora and Menapi, that is west and east of us, and clear overhead. At 7.10 it was recorded that a cloud ceiling overhead was at about 2000 feet .... I may mention that at this time the object was under the cloud ceiling; then at 8.28 there was a clear sky overhead, but there was heavy cloud over the west at Tagora. At 8.50 cloud was forming again overhead, and for the next hour or so there were patches of cloud over the sky, then at 10.50 we recorded that it was very overcast, and by that time the unidentified flying object had gone and we had heavy rain at 11.04 - that's when we finished the recording.
Q. What were you doing at the time you saw the object, and how did you happen to notice it?
A. I came out of the dining room after dinner and casually glanced at the sky with the purpose, I suppose, of seeing Venus. Well, I saw Venus but I also saw this sparkling object which was to me peculiar because it sparkled, and because it was very, very bright, and it was above Venus and so that caused me to watch it for a while, then I saw it descend towards us.
Q. Were there any witnesses to this?
A. Yes, there were thirty-eight of us.
Q. What further remarks would you make regarding this first sighting of yours?
A. Well, of course, the whole thing was most extraordinary; the fact that we saw what appeared to be human beings on it, I think, is the important thing. It is certainly the important and exciting thing to us. They were not noticeable at first - they came down, the object came down at about, I should say, 400 feet, maybe 450 feet, perhaps less, maybe 300 feet. It is very difficult to judge at that time of night and not having experience in measuring elevation, it's purely guesswork, but as we watched it, men came out from this object, and appeared on the top of it on what seemed to be a deck on top of the huge disk. There were four men in all, occasionally two, then one, then three, then four - we noted the various times that men appeared, and when one, two and three appeared and one and two, and then numbers one, three, four and two and so on. And then later all those witnesses who are quite sure that our records were right, they agreed with them, and saw these men at the same time as I did - they were able to sign their names as witnesses of what we assume was human activity or beings of some sort on the object itself. Another peculiar thing about it was this shaft of blue light which emanated from what appeared to be the centre of the deck. Now from time to time men, these men, seemed to be working at something on the deck; they'd bend forward and appear to manipulate something on the deck, and then straighten themselves up occasionally, would turn around in our direction, but on the whole they were interested in something on the deck. Then from time to time - this blue light - rather like a thin spotlight emanated skywards to stay on for a second or two, and then switch off. I recorded the times that we saw that blue light come on and off - for the rest of the night. After all that activity it ascended and remained very high.
Q. What did the craft look like?
Like a disk with smaller round superstructure, then again on top of that another kind of superstructure - round rather like the bridge on a boat. Underneath it had four legs in pairs pointing diagonally downwards - these appeared to be fixed, not retractable, and looked the same on the two nights - rather like tripods. On second night the pencil beam came on again for a few seconds, twice in succession.
Q. Do you have any clues as to the dimensions of the object?
A. I'm a very poor mathematician but I, at the time, dared to say that it was about thirty-five to forty feet at the base and perhaps twenty feet at the top.
Q. Did you try to establish contact with the pilots of the craft?
A. We did. As one of the men seemed to lean over as though over a rail and look down on us, I waved one hand overhead and the figure did the same as though a skipper on a boat waving to someone on a wharf. Couldn't see the rail but he seemed to lean over something with arms over it .... could see him from just below waist up. Ananias, the teacher, waved both hands overhead and the two outside figures waved back with two arms over heads. Then Ananias and I both waved arms and all four figures seemed to wave back - no doubt that movement made by arms was answered by the figures.
Q. What was the reaction of the natives at signals?
A. Surprised and delighted. Small mission boys called out - everyone beckoned to invite the beings down but no audible responses .... no expressions discernible on the faces of the men – rather like players on a football field at night.
Q. Did the machine cause any noise?
A. No engine noise heard at any time by anyone during the whole series of sightings.
Q. We understand you tried to signal the beings with a torchlight?
A. Yes, we flashed the light and the object swung like a pendulum, presumably in recognition. When we flashed the torchlight towards it, it hovered, and came quite close towards the ground .... and we actually thought it was going to land, but it didn't. We were all very disappointed about that.
Hear Rev. William Booth Gill’s describe the experience in a presentation to a group years later, audio from which is available through the YouTube clip below. Rev. Gill also, most patiently, answered questions from his audience afterwards.
Rev. William Booth Gill died in 2007. Australian ufologist William Chalker wrote an excellent remembrance here.
The image at the top of the page is based on a drawing made by Rev. Gill immediately after the encounter. In addition to keeping contemporaneous notes, Rev. Gill sought input from all the adults and older children present, 31 of whom signed statements attesting to what they had experienced. Many also drew what they saw, several examples of which are also included in the graphic embedded within the interview above.
In the YouTube presentation, Rev. Gill provided additional details, including the brief appearances by a “pencil beam” (there were few if any laser beams outside the lab in 1959) emitted from the center of UFO and aimed toward the sky above, and other personal observations. Rev. Gill also described the methodologies he used to estimate distance to the object and the object’s dimensions.
We today are most fortunate for Rev. Gill’s dedication to truth. His lessons should be practiced and his example followed by all who care about our world, its future and our place in it and the cosmos.