What happened
On the morning of January 19, 1966, banana grower George Pedley was driving his tractor past Horseshoe Lagoon near Tully when he heard a hissing sound and saw a gray, saucer-shaped object rise from the swamp to a height of about ten meters, spin, and fly away. At the spot where it had taken off, he found a nearly circular area about 9–10 meters in diameter where the reeds had been flattened in a clockwise direction right down to the water surface, with some of them torn out of the mud. The case was investigated by a local police officer, the Royal Australian Air Force, and scientists from the University of Queensland. Over the following weeks more “nests” were found in the area, and the story spread through the press. It was this case that later inspired Doug Bower and Dave Chorley to make crop circles in England.
Witnesses
Banana grower George Pedley, the only eyewitness; the mark in the reeds was examined by a police officer, military personnel, and scientists.
Explanations and hypotheses
The police, the RAAF, and the University of Queensland concluded that the mark most likely had a natural origin – a whirlwind, waterspout, or dust devil that tore up and twisted the reeds. In 1973 a representative of the Australian Department of Defence wrote that the “saucer” had probably been a mass of debris lifted by the vortex. Proponents of the UFO explanation point to the witness’s credibility and the unusual nature of the mark.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.
More: Wikipedia (en)