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JULY 25, 1909, PORT-MOLYNEUX, CLUTHA, NEW ZEALAND, A CORRESPONDENT:

BRIEF SUMMARY OF EVENT AND FOLLOW-UP:

During the flap of reports of alleged observations of mysterious airships in 1909 in New-Zealand, around July, Clutha Free Press, from Balclutha, received a letter of a correspondent who said that an airship came down in Port Molyneux.

The Bruce Herald newspaper, of Milton, for August 2, 1909, referred in this article of the Clutha Free Press and indicated that some Japanese occupants came out and conversed with the letter's author.

No other detail is available on this case; which gets mentioned in the ufological literature after the end of the 60's.

BASIC INFORMATION SUMMARY:

NARRATIVES:

[Ref. tb1:] TONY BRUNT:

Tony Brunt indicates that during the "UFO" flap of 1909 in New-Zealand, about July, the Clutha Free Press, of Balclutha, received a letter from a correspondent who said that an airship had come down at Port Molyneux.

According to the newspaper the Bruce Herald, Milton, on 2 August 1909, some Japanese occupants had alighted who had conversed with him, but unfortunately no further details are available on this case.

[Ref. mb1:] MICHEL BOUGARD:

Michel Bougard indicates that on July 25, 1909 in Port-Molyneux in New Zealand, an object was said to have landed and some occupants of the Asian type were said to have conversed with the witness.

[Ref. bc1:] BILL CHALKER:

Bill Chalker indicates that among several intriguing accounts that have not been accurately dated, the "Bruce Herald" for August 2, 1909, made reference to the "Clutha Free Press" receiving a letter from a correspondent who claimed that an "airship" had landed at Port Molyneux.

The correspondent reported that some of the occupants, whom he said were Japanese, had emerged from the airship and engaged him in conversation.

Bill Chalker notes that unfortunately no copies of the "Clutha Free Press" survive to confirm any further details of the tale.

[Ref. bh1:] ROBERT E. BARTHOLOMEW AND GEORGE S. HOWARD:

The authors indicate that late in July 1909, in Port Molyneux, New Zealand, an airship landed, and the witness reportedly talked with its Japanese-looking occupants.

The authors indicate that the sources are The Bruce Herald, of Milton, New Zealand, for August 2, 1909, citing a 1909 letter sent to and published in The Free Press, of Clutha, New Zealand.

POINTS TO CONSIDER:

I used for this file the date indicated by Michel Bougard, but as one sees from the other sources, there is little chance that this date was more than a guess. It is not even certain that the alleged event occurred in July.

In the context of the "airship" flap of 1909 in New Zealand, there was no notion of spaceships or extraterrestrial visitors. This came later as a possible reinterpretation proposed by some ufologists. This interpretation is debatable, but what is essential here is that the occupants of this airship were said to be Japanese-looking, not extraterrestrial-looking, and their machine was an airship, not an alien spaceship.

One of the theories of the time, apparently the main theory, was that these mysterious airships came from a foreign country, and Japan was an ideal candidate. It is thus not unreasonable to suspect that this "reader's letter", at least the bit of information that survived, would be nothing more than a hoax by somebody wanting to look smart by adding weight to this theory.

LIST OF ISSUES:

EVALUATION:

Hoax.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

• [---] ? Letter sent to and published in the newspaper The Free Press, Balclutha, New Zealand, 1909.
• [---] ? Article in the newspaper The Bruce Herald, Milton, New Zealand, August 2, 1909.
• [tb1] * "The New Zealand 'UFO' Wave of 1909", article by Tony Brunt, the Auckland University UFO Research Group, 1967.
• [mb1] * "La Chronique des OVNI", book by Michel Bougard, SOBEPS, Delarge publisher, France, page 212, 1977.
• [bc1] * "Early Australia Historical Encounters", article by Bill Chalker, UFOIC (UFO Investigation Centre), PO Box W42, West Pennant Hills NSW 2125, Australia, 1997.
• [bh1] * "UFOs and Alien Contacts - Two Centuries of Mystery", book by Robert E. Bartholomew and George S. Howard, Prometheus Books publisher, New York, USA, page 285, 1998.

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This page was last updated on July 24, 2007