On June 19th, 1995, a group of five students claimed to have seen a UFO hovering above the Stellenbosch Botanical Gardens in South Africa. The group, who had entered the gardens after hours to smoke marijuana, reported seeing an oval-shaped, metallic craft that emitted a low humming sound while hovering in one place.
According to one anonymous student who spotted the object, the group was startled by the strange sight and watched in amazement as the UFO shot off into the distance. Despite being convinced they had witnessed something extraordinary, the students fled the area to avoid being caught by a security guard who had heard their commotion.
News of the incident was kept quiet to avoid spreading panic, but it has since gained interest from UFO enthusiasts and researchers. Some speculate that the object could have been a result of military testing, while others believe it may have been an extraterrestrial visitation. However, sceptics suggest that the students’ drug use could have contributed to their perception of the event.
Despite the controversy surrounding the sighting, the students involved have maintained their accounts of the incident. Some have even called for further investigation into the mysterious occurrence, which they claim has had a lasting impact on their lives.
Image recreated from eyewitness description.
Interview between the JL and one of the students:
JL: Can you tell us about the UFO sighting you witnessed at the Stellenbosch Botanical Gardens?
Student: Yeah, it was crazy. We were just hanging out by the pond, smoking some weed, when we noticed this humming sound in the sky. At first, we thought it was just a helicopter or something, but then we realized it was hovering in one place and making this weird humming noise. It wasn’t loud like a helicopter and we didn’t see any blades.
JL: What did you think when you first saw it?
Student: Honestly, I was freaking out. I’ve never seen anything like it before. We were all just staring at it in disbelief, wondering what the hell was going on.
JL: Did you get a good look at the object?
Student: Yeah, it was this oval-shaped, metallic thing. It was kind of hard to make out the details because it was dark, but it definitely wasn’t anything I’d ever seen before.
JL: How did you feel when the object suddenly shot off into the distance?
Student: I was both relieved and disappointed at the same time. Part of me wanted to keep watching it and see what would happen next, but another part of me was scared and just wanted to get the hell out of there.
JL: Do you believe the object was of extraterrestrial origin?
Student: I’m not sure. Part of me wants to believe that it was, but another part of me thinks it could have been some kind of military experiment or something. I guess we’ll never know for sure.
JL: Has the sighting had any lasting impact on you?
Student: Yeah, definitely. It’s made me more open-minded about the possibility of extraterrestrial life and other strange phenomena. It’s also made me more cautious about what I do and where I go at night, though. I don’t want to run into anything like that again.
Disclaimer: The story of the UFO sighting at Stellenbosch University is a work of fiction. While the area of Stellenbosch is a real location, the events and characters depicted in this story are entirely fictional.