by Charles Lear, author of “The Flying Saucer Investigators.”
UFOs are often reported to have left behind evidence of their visits in the form of physical traces, but there are also reports of them taking something away and often it is water from tanks, pools, rivers, lakes, and oceans. There are enough of these sorts of reports that Linda Zimmermann and Michael Worden were able to devote an entire episode (“From the Vault: Everybody in the Pool”) of UFO Headquarters to the subject. Zimmermann began the episode with stories told to her by witnesses in the Hudson Valley of instances where water was missing from pools after UFO sightings in the area and estimated that there were at least five such occurrences in the region from 1975 into the early 1980s. Far from being isolated to the Hudson Valley, such reports come from all over the world and Zimmermann and Worden present several. In this week’s blog, we’ll look at some we’ve come across in our research.
In the April 1976 APRO Bulletin, there is an article (page 1 of the pdf) headlined, “Water-Pumping UFOs.” It details four reports, three of which came from Mr. Jun’ Ichi Takanashi, APRO’s man in Japan. Most of the focus is on a case from Hokkaido. Takanashi reported that an incident took place there in July 1974 that was witnessed by a sophomore at “a university in the Kanto District.” The witness is identified by the pseudonym “Masaki Kudou” and is said to have been working a summer job as a night watchman at a Hokkaido lumber yard.
According to the article, while he was sitting in his car on a break having a cigarette, Kudou spotted a light that came down to within 20 meters above the water of the nearby bay and “what appeared to be a glass-like transparent tube” came out of the bottom of it and touched the water’s surface. It glowed at the contact point and seemed to be sucking up water. As it did so, it is said to have made a sound that Kudou described as sounding like a cicada.
Kudou reported that the light came towards him and that it was changed in color from orange to white and lit up the area like daylight. He could make out that it was an object and reported that he saw windows and figures in them that were “too small and deformed to be called the shadows of men.” He said he noticed four or five other objects that were white and round. The original object then sucked the other objects into it and moved off to the north at great speed. Kudou reported feeling numbness in his whole body, “just as after we sit for a long time for a yogi practice,” and having a headache. He said there were “meaningless sounds” coming from the radio.”
According to the article, Takanashi cited two similar instances: one from the May-June, 1969 Canadian UFO Report (presumably from Canada); and one from the July-August 1972, Flying Saucer Review that was reported from Germany. Also mentioned is an incident from Oregon reported in a letter sent to APRO. All three are said to have involved a UFO sucking up water through a tube.
Worten mentions an incident that reportedly occurred in Australia that got some attention at the time, and the case has apparently continued to intrigue people, as there is an April 24, 2023, posting on YouTube by Ben Hurle, who provides a video tour of the area where the incident is said to have occurred. The case was investigated by the Victorian U.F.O. Research Society, and there is an account (page 6 of the pdf) written by Pat Gildea headlined, “The White Acres Encounter,” (also known as “The Rosedale Water Tank Incident”) published in the June 1981 issue of that organization’s publication, The Australian Annual Flying Saucer Review.
The location of the reported incident is given as “White Acres,” a cattle-grazing area 9 miles west of Sale, Victoria, on the Princes Highway. The date is given as October 15, 1980, and the time as between 1:00 and 1:50 a.m. The witness is identified as property stationhand, George Blackwell.
According to the account, Blackwell woke up around 1:00 a.m. to the sounds of a panicked horse running around in its paddock, bellowing cattle, and “an unusual whistling sound.” He went outside to investigate and saw an object 550 feet away flying in low from the southwest. He estimated it was 6 feet off the ground. It’s described as having emitted a low whistling sound and orange and blue lights.
Blackwell thought it was an airplane crashing but as it got closer he saw that it was dome shaped and not like any plane he’d ever seen. He estimated its size as 10 feet high and 26 feet long. He is said to have watched it as it landed a quarter mile from the house 50 feet away from a concrete water tank.
According to the account, Blackwell went back into the house to change clothes and then got on a motorcycle to ride out and see the object up close. He stopped to open a gate while keeping an eye on the object. It was still making the whistling noise, and there were slowly revolving orange and blue lights. It was stationary on the ground and, in the moon light, he could see it was bell shaped with a white dome on top.
After about 10 minutes, the object lifted up, and Blackwell got back on his motorcycle and rode towards it. The whistling noise is described as increasing in pitch and to an “ear-piercing” intensity, “like a jet engine in reverse,” and the object is said to have given off “a blast of heat” as it slowly rose up.
Blackwell is described as having been on a slope which put the headlight of the motorcycle in a position to light up the bottom of the object. He is said to have seen what looked like the rim of a hovercraft which “receded in width” as the object rose up. Then there is this description: “Suddenly the suction reduced in the lift-off as did the high-pitched noise and stones and cow pads fell from below the craft.” The object is reported to have flown off to the southeast.
In the section subheaded “The Results of the Investigation,” Blackwell is said to have developed a headache the next day which is described as “not a normal thing for the witness.” According to the account, the investigators saw physical evidence in the form of “a circular brown ring, 14 inches wide around the circumference with a diameter of approximately 30 ft … (with) six evenly spaced half spokes pointing inwards towards the center.” It is said that the cattle would not go near it. It is also reported that there was a “distinct line of rocks and cow pads lying on the ground in an easterly line from the circle.” And, in keeping with the theme of this blog, there is this: “The 10,000 gallon water tank nearby was nearly empty to the amazement of the witness and the owner. No explanation could be found for this.”
An article right after this, headlined “U.F.O.s Visited a Third Farm?,” describes a similar case from two months before where the owner of a property in Bundalaguah “discovered several perfect circles of burnt-off grass within a 200 metre radius of his huge natural billabong.” He reported that he noticed that the water level of the billabong (a stagnant pool branching off of a river and fed during floods) was unusually low. It is said that as there were no cattle in the paddock at the time, their reaction to the circles could not be gauged.
Another case (page 16 of the pdf) from Australia turns up in the February 1995 issue of UFO AFRINEWS, edited by the principal investigator of the Ariel School Incident in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, Cynthia Hind. Notably, this is the issue where that case is described.
Under the headline “Water: Its significance to UFOs” there is this description of an incident said to have occurred on June 29, 1979, sent to Hind by Paul Norman of VUFORS:
Ron and Heather Moses checked their 13,000 gallon (52,000 litre) tank late on Saturday. It was full to within two inches of the top. The next day, it was bone dry. The plug was still in place. There was no sign of leakage and no tracks to suggest anyone had been near the tank.
Two days later, reports of flashing lights brought scores of reporters and UFO spotters to the area.
According to the account, Heather said there were reports of blue flashing lights going over their paddock. Speculating on what happened to the water, Heather said, “The only explanation I can think of, is that a UFO took it.”