The Following is the first installment in a series of articles about a truly strange piece of paranormal phenomena that has been recorded throughout the south african region of the Kalahari. This phenomenon has stayed out of the public spotlight because it truly transcends the paranormal niches. Ufologists, Ghost hunters, and cryptozoologists have been kept away not only by the vast remoteness of the region, but the complexity of the issue. As we’ll see quickly, the ‘Ghost’ of the Kalahari can't not be so easily categorized as its name suggests. A phenomenon that, not since the Mothman, has transcended the walls of ufology, poltergeist phenomenon and cryptozoology to live above them firmly in the camp of High Strangeness. This is Part one of a twenty + part Series:
The Ghost
The first, and essentially one of the only, English language accounts of the Ghost of the Kalahari comes from several issues of UFO Afrinews, A publication based out of Zimbabwe and headed by Cynthia Hinds. It is in the February 1996 edition, when the phenomenon receives its name. This issue features three accounts from Namibia, of a few dozen witnesses describing the same phenomenon occurring in the most remote expanses of the desert. A strange glowing light, that seems to move intentionally and purposefully above the sands.
These reports came from the journal's Namibian Correspondent, Roland Roeis. While I was able to track down quite a few people who worked with Hinds and the journal, Roland was unfortunately not one of them. So we are simply left with the handful of reports that were published in the original journals. It does appear he continued writing for some time at The Namibian Government Gazette, a bizarre government produced weekly newsletter. I also found his name listed on a document with the title 'Chief of Water quality selection,’ apparently a government position, possibly acquired through his time working for their paper. It appears that none of his later work seems to be relevant to his earlier UFO pursuits.
The earliest cases collected seemed to have started in the early 80s. On April 20th,(Blaze it) 1982, a rural farmer was out tending to her crops, when she witnessed a bizarre scene in the sky. It was about a quarter till 2 in the afternoon, when she began to notice about 20 glowing balls moving at an angle, heading in an east. She was quite perplexed by this sighting, but there was not much one could do about the strange objects in rural Africa, so she continued on with her work, until the balls had finally floated away about an hour after they had appeared.
In 1985, another farmstead seemed to be visited by one of these orbs. This time it was witnessed by the farmer, his wife, his workers, and his daughter; a 12 year old girl named Hannetjie. Several years later she was interviewed about her strange encounter, this is what she told Roland:
“It was about midnight. I was feeling very feverish. I and my mother got up and I had to drink some medicine. It was then that we saw the strange phenomenon. It was a round ball, bigger than the headlight of a motor-bike. It appeared as if the ball had several little stars that seemed to blink… The next day at about 14:00 hours, one of my fathers farmhands who was guarding the sheep, arrived at the homestead and said that a red ball had ‘drunk’ [the water from] the lower dam [or reservoir].
My mom described the ball as blinking, but it appeared [to me] like little stars that grow light and then darken. The ball I saw arrived from the south and then went north. It seemed to me like a ball with a thousand little stars in it.
The weather was definitely dry, and the wind still; there were no clouds. It was very quite happening, there was no sound. It was one of those nights when are dogs were at their most quiet. But the man guarding the cattle said that the sheep refused to come close to the camp where he had seen the red light ball.”
The Father, who was identified as Mr.V, stated that he had seen these ‘Spooky Lights’ ever since he bought the property in 1932. He also stated that this was the second time in 5 months that one of these objects had drained the water from his reservoir. This theft of H2O seems to be one of the more common details to occur in these cases.
Around the same time as this sighting, another occurred in the Epukiro area, right in the middle of the Kalahari desert. The witness in this case was a 28-year old chemist, who also happens to be devoutly religious. Roland refers to her as Miss I.M. I.M was visiting her fiancé in the area, and they had attended a barbecue that Saturday evening on a neighboring farm. Late during the night, the couple piled into their small truck and began to navigate the silent rural roads back to their property.
I.M was dozing off in the passenger seat, when she was suddenly jolted awake by her fiancé, who had slammed on the brakes with great force. She pulled herself off the dashboard and was about to berate the man, when she noticed the look on his face. He sat there in quiet shock, and slowly pointed his finger ahead, through the windshield. There was a ball of light, about 300 yards ahead of them. The ball was a glowing blue-white color, and it was hovering above the ground at a height of around 7 feet. It was moving slowly over the land, following the contours perfectly, rising over hills and dunes, never losing its height or speed.
The fiancé told I.M that this was the second time he had seen the object, but that it was well known to the farmers of the region. He said that they called it ‘die spook van die Kalahari,’ which translates from Afrikanns to ‘Ghost of the Kalahari.’
Over the years Roland claims to have heard dozens of similar examples in this region in and around the Kalahari. A Mrs. G.S claimed to have seen one of these objects in broad daylight, hovering at 5 meters, floating around her farm in Gamsberg. A Mr. N.L reported sighting the ‘ghost’ frequently on his farm both during the day and at night. A Mr. A.A reported that he watched several of the balls float together in a straight line across his property, again hovering at 5 meters above the ground.
But it is not just locals who have witnessed this apparition. On June 28th 1994, A professor and a companion, Mr. C.L, led three british exchange students on a camping trip into the Namib desert. They were climbing a hill near their campsite at 8:00 PM, to get a view of the quickly fading sunset, and when they reached the top of this hill, they looked back towards their camp.
This is when Mr. C.L witnessed something strange in the distance, and pointed it out to the group. It was a whitish-yellow light, about the size of a car headlight. It was moving up and down in an undulating fashion, and like the other reports, was moving across the desert at 3-5 meters height. This area of land is filled with obstacles and foliage that would make it impossible for it to be a vehicle, this combined with its bizarre up-down movement and height convinced the group of its paranormal nature. The ball also seemed to move with intelligence, moving towards the group as if to investigate them, before flying off.
While most of these lights are seen in the remote desert regions, at least one has been spotted from Namibia’s capital Windhoek. In 1995 A red ball was seen off in the distance by a group of people in a backyard, as well as others in the area. At first they believed it to be a planet, but it fell to the earth rapidly before stopping, and taking off in a straight line in an eastward direction. One witness saw it through a telescope, and described it as a bright white light that was emitting red flashes.
On another instance in the Capital, a family witnessed a small yellow ball, about the size of a ping pong ball, dance around their back yard for a few moments before it disappeared. They didn't think much of this initial incident. Then the next night, at around 11pm, a bright light flashed through the house, and the family dog began yelping. They rushed outside to help the dog, whose injuries appeared to be caused by a rusty fence. Some force had sent him flying towards it with enough force to injure the poor pet. While the family tended to the bloodied dog, the matriarch of the house looked on as a larger, blue-white ball of light entered the house.
It was moving along the walls of the house, stopping every so often. It appeared that it was stopping and hovering over each electronic device in the home, as if ‘to inspect it.’ The object paid no mind to metal objects, and continued to float from room to room. When the light reached the refrigerator, it seemed to ‘pop’ and disappear. The strangest part of this incident was that only the Wife and the injured dog seemed able to see the object. The husband saw his wife staring and reprimanded her for not helping with the dog as she watched the object. The dog also reacted when the ball was in its line of sight, seeming to be terrified by it.
These are the handful of sightings that have fallen under the label of Ghost of the Kalahari, most taking place in Namibia. But the phenomenon seems to expand across several countries that share the Kalahari desert. We will examine these further as we continue to unravel the variety of stories that seem to be related to the ghost.