What happened
On September 16, 1994, at about 10:15 a.m., during recess at Ariel School, a private primary school in Ruwa, about 20 kilometers from Harare, a group of about 62 students aged 5 to 12 saw several silvery objects in the sky. One of them reportedly landed in the brush next to the playground. The children told of a short figure in a black, tight-fitting outfit, with large eyes, that watched them, and some claimed to have received a message from the beings about a threat to the environment. The teachers were in a meeting at the time and saw nothing. The case was investigated by researcher Cynthia Hind, BBC reporter Tim Leach, and later Harvard psychiatrist John Mack, who spoke with the children. Two days earlier, bright lights had been seen in the sky over southern Africa.
Witnesses
About 62 students of Ariel School; the adult school staff did not see the objects.
Explanations and hypotheses
Skeptics attribute the event to collective suggestion and the influence of earlier reports of lights in the sky – on September 14, a bright fireball or reentering rocket debris was seen over the region. They also note that some details may have become fixed during conversations with adult researchers. Many of the witnesses, now adults, maintain in interviews, however, that they saw something real. It is one of the most famous sightings involving children.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.
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