Date:
January 19, 1966
Location: Near Tully, Australia
The
Tully "saucer nest" has a very special place
in UFO lore. The famous Tully "UFO nest" affair
of 1966 is one of the best known accounts of an apparent
UFO landing report. It is the focus of a very important
nexus in the pivotal question of UFO reality. 1966 was
a major year for UFO activity in Australia.
Source:
UFO Research Queensland
[go
to original source]
At
about 9.00 a.m., on the clear sunny morning of Wednesday
January 19, 1966, George Pedly, a banana farmer at Euramo,
near Tully (north Queensland) was driving a tractor with
conventional electrical ignition, across the property
of a neighbouring cane farmer. The farm track along which
he drove wound its way towards and thence alongside what
is locally known as Horseshoe Lagoon. This contained an
area of water about 6 feet deep and one hundred feet across
at its widest point, a total area of a little more than
an acre. The greater part of the water was covered with
a thick growth of water reeds, the stems of these about
half an inch in thickness that protruded above the water
to an average height of two feet.
As
George approached the lagoon, he thought he detected an
occasional misfire in the tractor motor. He leaned forward
in his seat to listen, and almost immediately heard a
distinct hissing noise which he thought momentarily was
a tire leaking air. Then, to his astonishment, a large
saucer-shaped object rose from the lagoon, ascended slowly
to the level of the tree tops, tilted a little to one
side, and then, in a fantastic burst of speed, vanished
in a south-westerly direction. Mr. Pedley thought the
object was about 25 feet in diameter, about 9 foot thick
at the centre, silver-grey in colour and made no sound
apart from the original hissing noise. The total duration
of the sighting was about 4 seconds.
Mr.
Pedley jumped from the tractor and ran across to the lagoon.
As he pushed his way through the 6 or 7 foot tall sword
grass along the waters edge, he immediately saw a large
circular area of slowly rotating water that was completely
devoid of reeds. He further saw near the edge of the still
slowly swirling water, a patch of giant water couch grass,
about a square yard of which had been clipped short, and
the clippings removed. After a few minutes, he returned
to his tractor, started the motor, and went on his way.
When questioned later, Mr. Pedley was certain about restarting
the motor, but could not remember whether he switched
it off, it stalled or simply cut out when he left it,
both of which were considered highly unlikely. Later that
morning, he came back past the lagoon and on further inspection,
saw for the first time the floating mass of reeds that
had obviously come to the surface since his absence. The
reeds were radially distributed in a noticably anticlockwise
manner, and he was emphatic that at that time, the reeds
in the nest, as it came to be called, were quite green,
as were all the other reeds in the lagoon.
At
about mid-afternoon, he returned to the lagoon with Mr.
Albert Pennisi, the owner of the lagoon and surrounding
property. Mr. Pennisi waded out to the floating mass of
reeds, and found that it was possible to swim beneath
the mass, the water being quite clear and free from obstruction.
But its most incredible feature, and one easily seen in
photographs taken during the next 48 hours, was the amazingly
clear impression of the UFO left on the surface of the
nest. The outer perimeter was sharply down-thrusting,
as if by a huge inverted saucer, with a perfectly circular
central protruberance about 6 or 8 feet in diameter and
possibly 18 inches deep.
An
inspection of the surrounding area disclosed in the loose
ploughed surface of an adjoining field some rather strange
imprints. They led from the direction of the nest and
extended a short distance into the ploughed field. They
were described as being shaped like a tear drop, about
3 or 4 inches long and about 2 inches across at the widest
point. They were spaced at 12 inch intervals in a direct
line, one immediately behind the other. No plaster casts
were taken, and no claim was made that these prints were
somehow associated with the nest. Mr. Pennisi made it
quite clear that the prints were obliterated a few days
later by the scores of people who tramped across the area
on their way to view the nest. Mr. Pennisi and his family
were ridiculed however, due to what had happened on his
farm. He was adamant that if such a thing ever happened
again on his property, no one would ever hear about it.
This is the reason why the media were never informed of
subsequent happenings.
On
Saturday February 8, 1969, at 5.30 a.m., a UFO monitoring
device in the Pennisi home was triggered. The youngest
son turned the instrument off, and then forgot about the
incident. His father had left the house in the early hours
of the morning, and upon returning, noticed that the detector
was off. When he was told why, he immediately drove to
the lagoon and found, about 20 feet from the bank on the
southern end, a new nest. This one measured 29 feet 6
inches and was perfectly circular. The reeds had been
extracted complete with roots from the floor of the lagoon,
and they were floating in a very noticable clockwise distribution.
Another nest was found at the extreme northern end of
the lagoon, closer to the bank and much smaller, but with
all the characteristics of the larger one. Inspection
of the area directly below the nests revealed it to be
absolutely free of rubble or reed roots, almost as if
it had been vacuumed. There were no signs of insect or
algae life, and the water was remarkably clear and clean,
with no particles in suspension. The floor of the lagoon
was not muddy but appeared to be composed of a thick compressed
mat of vegetation that was quite firm, if a little spongy,
to walk on. About 25 feet away from the smaller nest was
the protruding branch of a tree, which had an area of
leaves about 6 feet long by 2 feet deep that were scorched
or showed signs of browning. Other leaves on the same
branch were quite green and healthy. The area below the
leaves was thick with green healthy weeds and grass. In
conclusion, and in the estimation of a botanist, there
seems little likelihood of there being a natural/botanical
explanation for the development of the nests in the Tully
swamp.
Source:
http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case65.htm