On this particular evening in May or June 1967, Mr and Mrs M had just arrived at their home in Alberton (SA) and were preparing themselves for an early night. Mr M had been cleaning a movie camera loaned to him by his brother and during a commercial break on television decided to get some fresh air. Immediately his attention was drawn to an object in the sky to the east. The object was lower than the full moon, and due to its brilliant arrangement of rings of light, Mrs M decided to snap a photograph of it. Mr M, thinking the object was an unusual astronomical phenomena, decided to shoot a few frames on the 8mm camera he was holding. He shot 2.5 seconds of film with the camera, the object during this time remaining stationary and completely silent and was enveloped in a vivid panorama of blue light and gave the impression to Mrs M of having a concentric ring around its circumference. Mr M estimated the object to be slightly larger than the moon and that it was no more than one mile away, and about 15-20 degrees above the horizon. Believing the object to be mundane in nature, both Mr M and his wife retired indoors to watch TV. Half an hour later they returned outside for a glance, but the object was gone.

The film of this object was not developed until 8 months later, on January 8 1968. Mr and Mrs M had completely forgotten about the sighting, and after receiving the processed film back they nearly missed seeing it on the first screening of the film. The sequence occupies 2.5 seconds of viewing time, and is centred between scenes of bees pollinating flowers and children at play.

Mr M decided to report it to a local UFO Research organisation in South Australia, hoping they could clarify the image for him. This organisation undertook a frame by frame inspection of the sequence in question. The segment was also passed onto Captain Bruce Cathie, former pilot and author of many books on the UFO phenomenon. A further ten frames were dispatched overseas to a UFO research analytical network in the USA for scrutiny with modern enhancement techniques. This proved costly however, as the film segment suffered irrepairable damage through incompetent handling by the persons to whom it was entrusted.

A series of claims and denials regarding the films whereabouts caused months of delay. A court case ensued in October 1969 and it was revealed that the film had been damaged accidentally during processing, and the film strip was eventually returned in totally worthless condition, having sustained damage along its entire length. Later it was revealed that the analyst was a NASA employee, and that his house and property were under government protection.

More intrigue was to come. On December 19 1969 the completed analysis, presumably performed before the film was destroyed, and not yet disclosed to either of the UFO investigative bodies, was delivered to a large US magazines upon request by the editor. Requests for the original manuscript, on January 16 and 17, 1970, were met with denials of the manuscripts existence, and that there was no written evidence of its receipt by the magazine in the first place. However, on January 18, written evidence was produced, promising delivery from the analyst, and on January 22, five days later, the entire document was found mysteriously on the editors desk, the magazine claiming it had been misplaced!

Microscopic enlargement of the object, according to the analysis, revealed a circular craft free from protrusions. The craft is facing the camera with an illuminated compartment window emanating a bluish light. There was no movement from the object during the 10 frame sequence. The rear section of the craft displayed a series of portholes running around the entire circumference. Frame 8 reveals a light beam that is easily seen coming from behind the front compartment window and is directed downwards in this frame, but in frame 9 the beam is seen changing its position to the left. This beam appears to be intelligently controlled and looks like some form of searchlight scanning the night sky and its surroundings. Frame 10 reveals a great deal of difference in the position of this beam, and it appears that it has gained in intensity and moved rapidly. No light beam is visible in frames 1-7.

As this data was being accumulated, researchers noticed something that would place this particular piece of film far above all others. Close examination of the lighted front compartment window reveals a vague shadow, in human form, apparently standing and looking out. 1000 times magnification of this window clearly reveals a back-lighted silhouette, and it was found that the entire film sequence had this feature. This was made visible by the changes in density of the figure throughout the sequence.

So there you have it. An incidental Australian movie maker has produced what is probably one of the most genuine photographic UFO sequences on record. The film is definitely considered to be one of the strongest cases in UFO history and has, for the first time, given us the most bona-fide view of the one of the occupants of these craft.

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