The Ariel School UFO Incident: A witness’s drawing of the alleged flying saucer UFO that landed near the school field. Pic credit: via IMPAULSIVE clips/YouTube
On September 16, 1994, 62 schoolchildren at the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, reported seeing a silver-colored flying saucer UFO descending from the sky and landing on a field within sight of their school playground.
The children claimed humanoid creatures in black emerged from the craft and approached them. According to the children, the aliens telepathically communicated messages to them.
The schoolchildren, aged between 6 and 12, reported the encounter to puzzled teachers.
Skeptics said the Ariel School UFO incident was mass hysteria
The incident attracted global attention. Scholars and researchers from Europe and the U.S. visited the school to interview the children. It became the subject of media and academic debate, with experts suggesting theories to explain it.
Many experts insisted that the Ariel School UFO incident was a case of mass hysteria. However, the witnesses, now adults, still stand by their original stories.
Alien flying saucer UFO landed near school playground
The schoolchildren were on the playground during the regular mid-morning break while their teachers were having a meeting when the incident occurred.
Some of the children reported seeing only one flying saucer landing. But others said they saw more than one.
The children reported seeing strange-looking humanoid aliens with big eyes and black costumes coming out of the UFOs. Some of the children fled when the aliens approached them. But those who stayed said they communicated with them telepathically.
The aliens told them that human technology was destroying the Earth and the world would soon end.
School authorities downplayed the incident
The teachers downplayed their pupil’s accounts, attributing it to their imaginations.
However, many of the children repeated their stories to their parents. The accounts alarmed the parents and prompted inquiries with the school authorities.
The local media also got wind of the alleged UFO sighting and published stories about it.
The BBC correspondent in Zimbabwe visited the school days after the incident and recorded interviews with the students and their teachers.
Other international news agencies also investigated, and news of the incident spread globally.
A photographer investigated
In May 2022, the Daily Mail published photos their reporters obtained from Gunter Hofer, a photographer who claimed they visited the scene of the alleged UFO landings soon after the incident occurred in 1994.
The photos purportedly show wedge-shaped impressions the UFOs left behind when they landed. The spots also had flattened grass, suggesting a heavy craft landed there.
Hoffer concluded that the children witnessed the UFOs on two separate occasions: on September 15 and September 16, 1994.
Experts from Harvard interviewed the children
John Mack, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard, visited the school and interviewed them.
Although some said they didn’t witness any unusual events, many said they did. The interviewers noted that the children who claimed they saw a UFO gave remarkably consistent accounts.
They generally agreed that at least one shiny or silver-colored, disc-shaped UFO landed among bushes and trees on a field next to their playground.
However, there were minor differences in the details of the accounts.
Not all the children thought that the humanoids were space aliens. Some identified them with paranormal creatures from Zimbabwean mythology.