Under the Radar - UFO's in the Bay

/// WORDS: ANDY TAYLOR - PHOTOGRAPHY: ART VANDELAY & IMAGES SUPPLIED

Is there a corridor of UFO activity that runs through the Bay of Plenty, have we already made contact with alien life, and why do we have to meet in a garden centre to get a coffee at Easter. UFOCUS NZ President Suzanne Hansen talks to Andy Taylor about all this and more.

Suzanne Hansen is probably one of the most internationally acclaimed Kiwis you’ve never heard of. In the past year alone she has addressed both her peers and public meetings in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Australia, the United States, and Canada, and Finland is next on the horizon. The research organization she leads, UFO Focus New Zealand (UFOCUS NZ), has staff in New Zealand and Australia and ties to associated organizations aroundthe globe, in particular with CEFAA (a Chilean military, aviation and government UFO investigation group). And after a TV appearance in 2010, TV3 enjoyed the highest number of website hits it had ever seen.

The reason you’ve probably never heard of her is that her field of research is one that most Kiwis still have difficulty discussing. When it comes to chitchat round the BBQ, New Zealanders are about as likely to kick around the possibility of alien life as we are to get into a deep and meaningful conversation about politics or religion. UFOs are still a no-go area in mainstream New Zealand, and that is odd, because they are not exactly strangers to us.

One of the earliest, well-documented UFO episodes in New Zealand came in 1909, when what would become a spate of sightings began on the West Coast. On 31 July an engine driver and fireman aboard a train out of Hokitika noticed a powerful light out to sea that appeared to be rising and falling in the sky. When the train stopped at Nelson Creek Station, excited passengers crowded the platform to watch.

Suzanne Hansen of UFOCUS NZ

Reports soon came in that two dredge hands in Gore had seen what they called ‘an airship’ with figures on board descend and then shoot upwards in a yellow glare, and in August a woman in Kelso had her house buzzed by a flying object that made the tin roof vibrate. Then, from Napier, Feilding, Wellington, Blenheim, Kaikoura and Nelson fresh reports flooded in, with many of the witnesses being well-respected members of their communities. Reports described a bright light enveloped in an opaque body that moved in a wavelike fashion at a height of between 300-900 metres, which often shot vertically out of sight at speed. Early explanations that it was a German airship on a spy mission were discounted by the speed and range of the sightings, and the theory that the booze was to blame seems unlikely; much of the country was under strict prohibition so widespread drunkenness would have been difficult – and expensive – to organise (let alone cover up). In early September the sightings ceased just as suddenly as they had begun.

Reports of UFOs continued sporadically, but the next major episode that piqued national attention came on September 4, 1969, when Hauraki farmer Bert O’Neill happened upon a bleached and crushed patch of manuka on his Ngatea farm. Investigators would surmise it had taken 20 tonnes of down force to leave the impression in the hardy manuka – so this was no playful crop circle as found in an English cornfield – but there was no explanation for the deep furrows also found at the scene, nor for the traces of radiation found in the dead manuka. Bert’s farm was soon overrun with sightseers and three similar circles and severely spooked horses appeared shortly after on a Rotorua farm. There were similar occurrences in Auckland and Te Kuiti, and then – just as in the case of the 1909 sighting – things went quiet.

In the early hours of December 21, 1978, came the most important episode in all of New Zealand’s UFO history. In what is considered to be one of the most important – and inexplicable – sightings not just in New Zealand but anywhere in the world, mysterious objects began appearing on the radar screens at Wellington Airport. The objects were over Kaikoura, and an Argosy turboprop freighter was in the vicinity, so Wellington asked its pilot, Vern Powell, to take a look. What followed was a truly remarkable train of events.

Powell and first officer Ian Pirie made radar and visual contact with the objects almost immediately and remained in contact for several hours, reporting fast moving lights that changed colour and direction before their eyes and which were once clocked at covering 24 kilometres in just five seconds. At one point up to five unidentified objects were seen on radar and other aircraft and ground observers also saw the show. Suddenly Kaikoura was front page news, and if it had ended there the episode would have been remarkable as it was. But it didn’t end there.

GROUP OF THOSE WHO SAW THE KELSO AIRSHIP IN DAYLIGHT: Back: R. Russell, Mrs Russell, Agnes Falconer, T. McDonald. Front: T. Jenkins, Cyril Falconer, A. Russell, G. McDuff.

On the evening December 31, 1979, Australian television reporter Quentin Fogarty (who was on holiday in New Zealand at the time) was asked by his network to take a camera crew up on another scheduled Argosy flight and reconstruct Powell and Pirie’s flight for the camera. He hired local cameraman David Crockett, and Crockett’s wife Ngaire went along as sound recordist. What they didn’t know was that they were all going to get a lot more than any of them had bargained for.

Just after midnight pilot Bill Startup and co-pilot Robert Guard noticed unfamiliar lights towards Kaikoura and within minutes as many as ten objects were lighting up the sky around them as well as the radar back in Wellington. For an hour the aircraft was followed and overtaken by the bright, fast moving lights, in a breathtaking aerial display. There was no need for a reconstruction, this was the real thing.

When the Argosy touched down in Christchurch Crockett and Fogarty immediately prepared for the return journey. Due to the speed of the objects Crockett had been unable to get good clear images, and he was eager for another shot at it. His wife Ngaire was somewhat less eager. Just two months earlier an Australian pilot had disappeared in what sounded suspiciously like a similar UFO encounter, and she’d had more than enough for one night; she got off and stayed put in Christchurch.

Back in the air Crockett didn’t have to wait long to redeem himself. As the Argosy broke cloud a bright light appeared directly ahead and closed to within 15 kilometres – a virtual stone’s throw given the Argosy’s speed. For 12 minutes Crockett filmed it while Startup and Guard attempted – with remarkable bravery or folly – to maneuver closer. Then suddenly the object seemed to stall and the Argosy flashed over it and set a course for Wellington where it landed at 3:15 am.

The incident was reported around the world, and the government took it equally seriously, with an RNZAF Skyhawk being put on standby to intercept any further sightings. Crockett’s footage, after making prime time news here and across the Tasman, was sent for analysis in the US, where hoaxing, light anomalies and everything from illegally operating helicopters to meteors were ruled out. To this day it remains one of the most discussed and mystifying UFO records of its kind.

All of this is old news to Suzanne Hansen. For 43 years she has made the investigation of UFOs and UAPs (that’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon to you) her life’s work. In 2000 she founded the UFOCUS NZ Research Network, and between that and her public speaking she also finds time to be an author, archivist and public relations spokesperson. Over the phone Suzanne sounds about as far from the Hollywood stereotype of the X-Files UFO conspiracy theorist as you can get, and our meeting only confirms this: thanks to New Zealand’s holiday trading laws, the only place we can find open over Easter is a café attached to a garden centre in Bethlehem. It’s a most unlikely setting, but while the good people of the Western Bay buy potted colour and winter vege we take coffee and talk UFOs.

Having dedicated her life to the topic, it’s not surprising that there was a light bulb moment for Hansen. “In 1975,” she says, “I was travelling with a flatmate on a country road out the back of Hastings, and we saw a light coming towards us. We were pondering on what it was, whether it could be an agricultural aircraft or helicopter, when it just blinked out and reappeared instantaneously over the adjacent hills near us. It changed position in the same way a couple of times, until we suddenly realized it was flying up behind us and it came right over the car. It was incredibly bright, wider than the road and made a very distinctive noise – and it inspired me to start researching UFO/UAP sightings and finding other people who had seen something similar.”

Finding and interviewing those people has shown her that Kiwis from all walks of life, young and old, and from all across the country see UFOs and there is no real pattern to the sightings. “Some people like to think that sightings are more common in summer, when we are outside more, but that’s not the case,” she says, “although there are areas that seem to have more sightings than others.”

Researcher Harvey Cooke (right) inspecting the ground markings within the Ngatea circle.

“Kaikoura obviously, the Dome Valley north of Auckland, the Kaipara Harbour area . . . but the Bay of Plenty and Taupō/Central Plateau areas have a long history of sightings. From the work we’ve done and also from data shared by other countries, including CEFAA in Chile, and also Iceland, it seems there is a connection between seismic and volcanic activity and UFO sightings. There is substantial documentation internationally about sightings of objects with clear configurations of lights that are not the legally required aviation lights, prior to, during and following major volcanic activity. This is not to be confused with the reported shimmering sheets of lights that have been described as some sort of aurora in the sky just before volcanic activity.”

Ngatea ground markings found near centre of circle

“In the Bay of Plenty specifically, there have been a lot of sightings at particular periods of time between Mayor Island and Motiti Island. In 1995, a sighting was made in Tauranga Harbour by fishermen who described a silver spherical object that passed over them and headed towards the Kaimais. That was reported to us, and we also interviewed a Hamilton air traffic controller, the late Graeme Opie, who sighted the same object from the control tower on the other side of the Kaimais just two minutes after the fishermen. Graeme was hooked, and became my colleague in UFOCUS NZ for the next 20 years, while still a practicing senior ATC. Because we are a small country we can often get corroborative evidence from different sources and from overseas as well, and for us that is a significant aspect of our research.”

“But certainly for decades NZ airline pilots have reported seeing unusual aerial objects, even things going into the sea in that area of the Bay of Plenty, and former pilot the late Bruce Cathie believed there is a ‘corridor’ running through the Bay and out to the sea that shows very high activity.” Cathie, like Hansen, made UFO research his life’s work after a sighting, and also like Hansen is probably more known internationally than in his native New Zealand. His ‘Harmonic’ series of publications introduced a whole generation to his theories in the 70s and 80s, and continue to be widely discussed online today.

Living in the internet age is certainly a plus for an organization that gathers information from across the country, but Hansen also points out that it can be a burden. “There is just so much hoax material out there and it’s so very easy to spread that from the safety of your keyboard!”

“And of course,” she adds with a somewhat weary smile, “Chinese lanterns are the bane of our lives! I shudder to think how many hours I’ve spent on the phone talking to people who are sure they’ve seen something amazing but which we are pretty sure – from their description of the movements, the appearance etc – are just Chinese lanterns. And some people thank you for clearing it up – and others abuse you! Because they really want to believe they’ve seen something and don’t want to accept an alternative explanation.”

“Many New Zealanders do have a fascination for the subject - perhaps it’s because we have a small population yet a long history of sightings. Our population was even smaller in the 50s and 60s when there were some major sightings, so everyone probably knew someone who had seen something back then.”

“The subject is opening up now. Probably more so overseas than here, but we’re getting there. There are a lot more people coming into the field too. With the recent ‘revelations’ from people who have worked at the Pentagon, scientists, former military personnel and aviation people as well, it is becoming more mainstream and people are less worried about being looked sideways at. Everywhere I go to speak, anywhere in the world, there are always people who are happy to ask questions openly, and then there are those that come up to talk to me privately in the car park afterwards!”

So does she find herself lingering in carparks, waiting for the shy stragglers who weren’t quite ready to tell their story in front of a crowd?

“Yes,” Hansen laughs, “I’m afraid to say I do! Because they really want to share. So many people call and want us to tell them what it is they have seen. Well, we can’t always do that. We can tell them logically what it’s not likely to be from the description and details and we can collate that with international sighting research data. People are also coming forward with sightings they had many, many years ago. These are often very upstanding, almost conservative people in the older age groups and their families are often quite shocked – because they never spoke of it before and are only now willing to come forward.”

Still images of Quentin Fogerty’s ‘re-enactment’ flight when all aboard got a brush with the real thing, and - far right - the real thing.

With the coffee gone we are about to head out, so instead of waiting for the car park moment I ask Suzanne the $64,000 question: does she think we’ll ever have contact?

“All the research,” she says without hesitation, “is pointing to the fact that there are plenty of objects out there that are ‘ours’ and that are mistaken for UFOs, but also that some of the objects we are seeing are clearly not ‘ours’. Increasing numbers of scientists, aviation industry people, and military people are coming forward because they are looking for answers themselves. I recently spoke at the International UFO Congress in the USA and was also asked to facilitate sessions for those who claim to have had contact and encounters with occupants of landed craft. Those attending the sessions included professionals, aviation and military personnel who are now going public on these matters. And then there are people right across the board, in all professions and walks of life, who claim to have already had contact. Some of them talk openly about it, others only in private because they worry they might lose their jobs, but when you have that amount of increasingly credible evidence it seems safe to assume that contact has been made and is being made.”

Perhaps it’s a good thing it’s Easter and everything is closed, because it’s not yet noon and I’m thinking it might be nice to have something stronger than coffee to help mull all that over. But while my mind boggles, it’s another day in the office for Suzanne Hansen, and UFOCUS NZ will just continue on its way.

“We investigate and collate information about UFO sightings in New Zealand, document and archive it, and share our information and research internationally,” she says. “And we’re not here to convince people, we’re here to record. We’re about to add the archive material of the Dickeson family, who were veteran UFO sighting researchers in New Zealand, and who published the UFO magazines Xenalog and SATCU. Once that is up we will have one of the biggest online UFO sighting archives in the world on our website, ufocusnz.org.nz. That’s not bad for a small country.”

Not bad. Not bad at all.

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