Father Gill and the Beings Who Waved
The account
A missionary and dozens of others saw figures atop a glowing craft, and the figures waved back.
What investigators found
Astronomer Donald Menzel attributed the case to the planet Venus; other investigators rejected that explanation.
The story
In June 1959, Anglican priest William Gill, who ran a mission in Boianai, in what was then Australian New Guinea, reported seeing a large glowing object hovering over the bay on two nights. According to him and dozens of villagers and mission staff, human figures appeared on top of the object. When the group waved, the figures reportedly waved back.
The priest wrote everything down and collected the witnesses' signatures, which turned the case into a classic of ufology. Astronomer Donald Menzel argued that the group had seen the planet Venus, then very bright, distorted by vision problems. Investigators such as J. Allen Hynek considered that explanation inadequate, since Venus was in a different part of the sky. The debate never ended.