The UFO shot down over the Kalahari
The account
South African fighter jets downed a disc with an experimental weapon, and the craft was supposedly flown to the United States.
What investigators found
The case stems from a leaked document considered fake, with no confirmation from any armed forces.
The story
In the early 1990s, a paper presented as a secret South African Air Force report circulated among ufologists. It said that on May 7, 1989, fighter jets intercepted an object that had violated the country's airspace and shot it down over the Kalahari Desert. The craft, along with its crew, was supposedly transported afterward to an American base.
British researcher Tony Dodd was among those who publicized the case. Experts pointed out errors in the document's format and military language, and the South African government never acknowledged the episode. For most investigators, the Kalahari story is a well-crafted hoax that keeps circulating online.