Occurred: 1997-10-27 21:42 Local
Reported: 2002-04-20 06:45 Pacific
Duration: 15 seconds
No of observers: 200

Location: Funafuti (Tuvalu), , Tuvalu

Shape: Unknown




Dawn arrives ahead of schedule [from the West] over a remote Pacific Island.

27 October 1997, 9:42pm A black night, low cloud, light drizzle. From the west, below the horizon a light lifts steadily and quickly, like dawn, but much faster. Lights up the entire sky but no object discernable because of the cloud. Lagoon waters turn blue, like day. Birds fly startled from the trees. Roosters crow. The light passes overhead then up and away (rather than bending over the opposite horizon}. At least 200 witnesses, including the Director of ((deleted)) ever read of, never mind seen, anything similar. Like dawn breaking at high speed in the middle of the night. Some say they saw a blue light. A group of football players, resting after a practise match, say they felt a strong rush of wind as it flew past. One guy saw it while out in the ocean fishing and jumped for cover under his boat. Seasoned merchant navy sailors, home on vacation, had never witnessed or heard of anything like it before. To this day no one has a clue as to what it could have been. Footage on tv of metorites entering the atmosphere, while spectacular, were nothing at all like this. Here the entire sky lit up, not just a portion of it. As the source of the light passed overhead there was a reddening low on the Western horizon, like explosions, things dropping into the ocean, burning, then blackness. Funafuti is a coral atoll, extremely flat, making visibility of all horizons very clear. The event took maybe 15 seconds it total. There was no noise. Tuvalu is 700 km north of Fiji, remote, and on no airline flightpath. Nothing like this had been seen [in Tuvalu] before, or since, at least not in living memory. If photographed, which it wasn't, it would probably look something like an artists impression of the 'second coming', Watchtower style, but without the figures and trumpets.



((FOLLOW-UP COMMUNICATION WITH WITNESS))

Dear Peter,

Thanks for your quick response. Yes it was something very strange and very spectacular. It has been a few years since the event and no doubt some witnesses have moved on. Good guess, but no I am not the Director ((deleted)), although ((that person)) was sitting not twenty feet from where I was and witnessed everything I did. I will try get ((that person's)) email address and pass it onto you.
Tuvalu is a really small place and in 1997 there were no newspapers, so no written reports to the best of my knowledge. As you can imagine it was the talk of the town for a few days then back to normal routine. If you are really interested I will put you in touch with a few people whom I know personally witnessed it and you can take it from there. A couple of days
after the event I spoke to a few people who lived on one of the outer islands [Niutao] - about 100 miles North of Funafuti - and they said they had seen strange lights in the direction of Funafuti - so I gather from this that the event was local to Funafuti - even though it appeared [from Funafuti] to cover the entire sky. Some have suggested a Nuclear explosion in French Polynesia - but that is 2000 miles away - and none were reported.
Another theory is re-entry of the spaceshuttle but I doubt that would brighten the lagoon and startle birds. A very large meteorite skipping off the upper atmosphere perhaps, but how could bend over the western horizon and brighten the sky as it did. Its a pity about the cloud cover, but in some ways it added to the spectacle, - the source of light silhouetted the banded cloud (herringbone?) - and as it rose it looked like a curtain rising. As people were watching the light I cast my eyes back to the West and that's when I saw what looked like a uniform explosion low on the rim of the western horizon. In the days following the event a friend (another witness) tried to get in contact with the international press to tell the story but in those days Tuvalu had not yet been hooked up to the internet. His name is ((deleted)) and currently lives in ((deleted)). I am sure he will not mind recounting his story to you. His address is ((deleted)), but he is not the fastest correspondent in the world. Meantime I shall try get you some other addresses.

regards

((name deleted))

((SECOND FOLLOW-UP MESSAGE))

Dear Peter,

I have no problem in you featuring the article - that would be great - provided anonymity is
assured. Once you have finalized the story I will alert some people in Tuvalu and point them to your webpage. That may encourage and jog the memory of others. I would like, in particular, for you to get the "((name deleted))" story as he was on the open sea further to the East when it happened. His name is ((name deleted)) - I will find you his email. The ((deleted)) team story is also interesting as they were all resting, backs flat to an old ((deleted)), facing the sky. ((name deleted)) and I (and the ((name deleted--public employee) were sitting at Tuvalu's one and only hotel (the Vaiaku Lagi Hotel - which literally means the Lovely Sky Hotel) facing the lagoon and the western horizon.

Regards

((END))

NUFORC Note:

Although the witness has directed us to a number of other witnesses to this alleged event, we feel compelled to report that not one of them has submitted a supplemental report. We would very much like to receive reports from other witnesses, if indeed they witnessed the event described below. There must be hundreds, or thousands, of other witnesses to this seemingly dramatic event; we find it unusual that we have received only one report. PD


Posted 2002-05-14

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