UFOs over Boiani - in Father Gill's Own Words

     Whenever "classic" UFO cases are catalogued, eventually one finds the name of the late Rev. William Booth Gill, the head of the Anglican mission at Boiani, on Goodenough Bay, Papua (10º 1½' S, 149º 53' E). Over three nights in June 1959, he and his entire congregation were witnesses to a remarkable close encounter of the third kind lasting several hours on each occasion. If you have read about it, it will have been on a page or so of some omnibus UFO book, itself copied from an earlier omnibus book.
    However, in the late 1970s I was lucky enough to acquire a copy of the original report in Fr. Gill's own words. It is included in a 45-page document entitled:
    Flying Saucers Over Papua
    A Report on Papuan Unidentified Flying Objects
    by the Rev. Norman E. G. Cruttwell, M.A. Oxon., of the Anglican Mission, Menapi, Papua, New Guinea.
    (dated) March, 1960.
     He got involved in collecting the reports after a sighting of his own the previous December, when he wrote to Flying Saucer Review, and was asked to be their local investigator. I presume, therefore, that at least part of this story was originally published in that journal. In any case, this is the full account. 
    The document had been updated slightly. There is a reference to a 1965 magazine article, along with a short 1976 addendum by the Vice President of the Queensland UFO Research Bureau, which presumably "published" the report. In fact, it is simply a mimeographed typescript, with the addition of a few drawings obviously traced from the originals. In other words, it is inaccessible to the vast majority of people. You would have better luck getting a close encounter of your own! For this reason, I wish to share it with you.

       The Rev. Cruttwell points out that the Boiani sightings were only three out of 79. Father Gill's report is in chapter V (pp 12-19). However, in chapter III he describes earlier sightings at Goodenough Bay, one of which is the following sighting by Father Gill.

3. “Tilley Lamp” 'on' the Mountain?

The scene now shifts to Boiani, later to become famous for the most amazing sighting of all. Boiani is a village on a small tongue of land made by the Mase River where it flows out of a deep gorge of the Owen Stanleys. It is on the south side of Goodenough Bay, some 20 miles across from Menapi. About 4 miles behind it the mountains rise sheer to culminate in two peaks which overhang the gorge on either side, Mount Nuanua and Mount Pudi. They are about 4,000 feet high. Behind them rise ridge upon ridge up to Mount Simpson, nearly 10,000 feet, which caps the range.
Right on the beach is the Mission Station of All Saints, Boiani, with a coral cement church and various Mission buildings. It faces northwards, the beach running north-west to south-east. It looks across to the low hills of Giwa and Menapi on the Cape Vogel Peninsula.
The missionary in charge, the Rev. William Booth Gill, is an old friend of mine. He came out to Papua with me in 1946, and I know him very well. On the 9th. of April, he was on his little 16 ft. launch about a mile off shore, coming home from visiting an outstation. It was 6.50 p.m., and just about dark. The weather was clear overhead, but there were clouds and rain squalls about. The mountains were a dark silhouette against the still glowing sky.
He suddenly noticed a bright white light 'like a Tilley Lamp' [a pressure kerosene lamp, which is very bright], apparently high up on the flank of Mt. Pudi, not far from the summit. He estimates that the light was about 500 feet from the top. It was quite stationary, and he immediately thought: “Oh, there must be someone up there with a Tilley Lamp”. The Papuans with him all noticed the light. He was puzzled about the light, but not unduly so, and looked away, continuing to read his book. Five minutes later he looked up again, but the mountain was in darkness. The light had disappeared. This again seemed odd, but he took no notice, and went on reading. After another five minutes he was aware of the light again, shining out from the mountain side, but to his surprise it was shining from a completely new position on the opposite side of the mountain. It had moved quite a mile to the east, quite impossible, if a man had been carrying it.
However, Fr. Gill still did not realise the significance of what he had seen, and looked away again. Next time he looked back, the light had gone, and did not reappear. The next morning he examined the mountain by daylight, and realised that there was no house or village or even any track up there, but only the precipitous mountain-side. It was only when he got a letter from me about the later sighting from Giwa that it occurred to him that it might have been a U.F.O.
As it was quite impossible for it to have been actual Tilley Lamp for the reasons given above, in addition to the fact that very few people, apart from the Mission staff, possess Tilley Lamps anyway, it seems likely that it was another appearance of the objects 'like Tilley Lamps' which were being seen all over the place. If so, the object could not have been actually 'on' the mountain, but was probably hovering between the mountain and Fr. Gill's launch, a distance of three or four miles. As it 'appeared' at a height of 3,500 ft., when seen against the mountain, its actual height could not have exceeded that altitude, but may have been considerably less. The object therefore, could not have been astronomical, but appears to be some kind of craft hovering at aircraft height.
This sighting was therefore of great importance to us at the time, suggesting that some mysterious, apparently controlled, craft were flying about over Papua at night. This was amply confirmed by subsequent sightings.

From here we move forward 2½ months to the famous sightings.

V.              THE VISITATION AT BOIANI

1.       Father Gill's Letter

When I returned from the mountains I heard the fascinating rumours. It was said that many flying saucers had been visiting Boiani, and that human beings had been seen on them, and waved to Father Gill. I could not believe they were true, and dismissed them as the sort of wild tales which often get around by 'bush telegraph', and in which there is often little or no substance of truth. However, the next call of the Mission launch brought me a fat envelope of typescript with a covering letter from Father Gill himself. His letter read as follows:-

Anglican Mission, Boiani,

15/7/59.                    

Father Cruttwell,
Anglican Mission, Menapi.

Dear Norman,
     Here is a lot of material – the kind you have been waiting for, no doubt; but I am in some ways sorry that it has to be me who supplies it. Attitudes at Dogura in respect to my sanity vary greatly, and like all mad men, I myself think my grey cells are O.K. I am sorry you were not here with your telescope – the naked eye can be a hindrance when detail is essential.
     This is the original data. Please take whatever copies or photographs you like, but please send it back to me by return 'Maclaren King' [presumably the Mission launch] if possible, as I regard it with a sense of value which no copies could have.
     There has been no activity recently over here, but one report has come from Vidia (and others from Dogura, as you will see).
     Hope you had a pleasant walkabout,

Regards,        (signed)      BILL.

P.S. Have a spare typed copy which I am sending you – you can keep it. (It contains most but not all the originals). W.G.

2.      Stephen Moi's Saucer

After some preliminary discussion of the evidence and describing the method by which he compiled his report, he describes the sighting of the first of the visiting craft by his Papuan Teacher Evangelist, Stephen Gill Moi. This craft was not seen by Fr. Gill himself, though it is obviously similar to the craft which he saw later. Stephen Moi's report is as follows :-

'On coming out of the house at one o'clock on Sunday morning, 21st. June, I saw a bright white light silently coming our of the sky from a point about a quarter of a mile out to sea, slightly west of Boiani Mission Station. It descended from what seemed to be a great height, and I thought at first that it was a 'falling star' (meteor). I watched it for the space of about three minutes, moving and descending eastwards and parallel to the coast. It stopped at a point a little to the east of the station, and at a height of perhaps three hundred feet. There it remained stationary for perhaps half a minute, and gradually decreased in brilliance until the shape of an inverted saucer could be discerned, which was tilted backwards with part of the base visible. The object then moved upwards and disappeared from view into the clouds.
When first sighted (presumably after the falling star stage, when he realised how slow it was moving) 'I thought it was a light similar to those dropped by plane during the war'.
P.S. Underneath the saucer I saw about four round black spots.

(signed) STEPHEN GILL MOI



To this Fr. Gill added the following comment:-

“All this information was volunteered without any knowledge of previous sightings of U.F.O.'s by Stephen, and when questioned afterwards, Stephen Moi claimed never to have heard of 'Flying Saucers'. I asked him if he was quite sure the shape of the object was like a saucer, and was not, for instance, the shape of a plate, or like a 'sixpence' or 'like a ball'. He was quite certain in his mind that it was more like a saucer than anything else.

I too, have questioned Stephen about this and other sightings, and he confirmed this appearance and the four dots, though he is not quite sure whether they were actually on the upper or under surface of the machine. This, it will readily be seen, is a matter or perspective. Either the object must have been considerably smaller than those seen a week later, or his estimate of height must have been too small. There seems little doubt that this was the same type of machine which returned later, and was probably doing a preliminary reconnaissance.

The following diagram was added to the report: -

3.       The First Sighting of 'Men'

Five days later, on Friday 26th., the visitors returned in force. The astounding events of that night caused Fr. Gill to write the following letter to the Rev. David Durie, Principle of St. Aidan's College, Fr. Gill's confidant and friend, who had helped him to study for his Diploma of Education.

Anglican Mission, Boiani,
27/6/59

To the Rev. D. Durie,
Acting Principal,
St. Aidan's College,
DOGURA

'Dear David,

        Life is strange, isn't it? Yesterday I wrote you a letter (which I still intend sending you) expressing opinion of U.F.O.'s. Not less than 24 hours later I have changed my views somewhat. Last night we at Boiani experienced about four hours of U.F.O. activity, and there is no doubt whatever that they are handled by beings of some kind. Please pass it round, but great care must be taken, as I have no other, and this, like the one I made out re Stephen, will be sent to Nor. I would appreciate it if you could send the lot back as soon as poss.
                                                                  Cheers,
                                                                           Convinced,
                                                                                       (signed)      BILL.

P.S. Do you think P. Moresby should know about this? (N. Cruttwell is at present in the Daga country, and will not be returning home until July 16th. at the earliest). If people think it worthwhile, I will stand cost of radio conversation if you care to make out a comprehensive report from the material on my behalf! It's interesting Territory news if nothing else.
                                                                    W.G.B.'

Then follows the report of the events of June 26th. exactly as jotted down at the time in pencil. I reproduce the notes verbatim:-

26/6/59                                        U.F.O.                                        BOIANI
</> </> </> </></></> </></></> </></></> </> </></></> </></></> </> </> </> </> </> </> </> </> </>

Sky	Time p.m.	Data (1)
Patches of low cloud	6.45	Sighted bright white light from front door. Direction N.W.
Clear over Dogura and Menapi	6.50	Call Stephen and Eric Langford
	6.52	Stephen arrives. Confirms not star – like the other night. Coming closer, not so bright. Coming down. (500' ?) Orange? Deep yellow?
	6.55	Send Eric to call people. One object on top, move – man? Now 3 men – moving, glowing, doing something on deck. Gone.
	7.00	Men 1 and 2 again.
	7.04	Gone again.
Cloud ceiling covered sky c. 2000 ft.	7.10	Men 1, 3, 4, 2 (appeared in that order) Thin electric blue spotlight. Men gone. Spotlight still there.
	7.12	Men 1 and 2 appeared – blue light.
	7.20	U.F.O. goes through cloud.
Clear sky here heavy cloud over Dogura	8.28	U.F.O. seen by me overhead. Call station people. Appeared to descend, get bigger Not so big, but seemed nearer than before.
	8.29	Second U.F.O. seen over sea, hovering at times.
Cloud forming again.	8.35	Another one over Wadobuna village.
	?	Another to the east
Clouds patchy	8.50	Big one stationary and larger – the original? Others coming and going through the clouds. As they descend through clouds, light reflected like large halo on the ground – no more than 2000', probably less. All U.F.O.'s very clear – satellites? “Mother ship” still large, clear, stationary.
	9.05	Nos. 2, 3, 4 gone.
	9.10	Mother ship gone – giving red light. No. 1 gone (overhead) into cloud.
	9.20	“Mother” back.
	9.30	“Mother” gone across sea to Giwa – white, red, blue, gone.
	9.46	Overhead U.F.O. reappears, is hovering.
	10.00 10.10	Still there, stationary. Hovering, gone behind cloud.

10.30

Very high, hovering in clear patch of sky between clouds. </></></>

10.50

11.04

Very overcast, no sign of U.F.O.

Heavy rain. IQA!!! (Wedau language! Finished.) </></></></>  

Data sheet of observation of U.F.O.'s,

6.45 to 11.04 p.m. 26.6.59

(signed) WILLIAM B. GILL

He appended to this another sheet with a sketch of the object and further notes, also a sketch map of the area showing the approximate positions of the U.F.O.'s. He added also this note about the weather:

    “Variable sky – scattered clouds to clear at first, becoming overcast at 10.10 p.m. Approximate height of clouds 2000 ft.

Note: This determined by relationship of clouds to highest point visible of mountains. As U.F.O.'s were often below (under) clouds and their glow gave off a wide halo of light reflected on the clouds, it follows that U.F.O.'s descended to below 2000 ft.”

Below the drawing are the signatures of the witnesses to each of the four appearances of the men. Their names are:-

                                       The Rev. William B. Gill

                                       Stephen Gill Moi, Teacher

                                       Ananias Rarata, Teacher

                                       Mrs. (Nessie) Moi.

Altogether there were 38 witnesses of whom 25 signed the report. Apart from Fr. Gill himself, they included five Papuan teachers and three medical assistants. The report speaks for itself, but after questioning Fr. Gill and several of the Papuan witnesses, I have been able to fill in a certain amount of detail.

Fr. Gill had just had his dinner and came out of the front door of the Mission House. There was a patch of lawn, a few trees, including coconut palms and then a drop of perhaps fifty feet to the shingle beach below.

He casually glanced at the sky and looked for Venus, which was conspicuous at the time. In his own words "I saw Venus, but I also saw this sparkling object which to me was peculiar because it sparkled, and because it was very, very bright, and it was above Venus and so that caused me to watch it for a while, then I saw it descend towards us".

Stephen Gill Moi, who joined Fr. Gill a few minutes later, described it as "shining with a bright light, like a Tilley Lamp". Ananias used exactly the same expression. Stephen remarks that it appeared to wax and wane in brightness, as though it were approaching and receding. Eventually it came quite close, and hovered at a height which Fr. Gill estimates at between 300 and 400 ft., though he admits that it was very hard to judge the altitude at night, not knowing the size of the object. He estimates its apparent diameter as about 5 inches at arms length. Stephen said that if he put his hand out closed it would cover about half of it.

Fr. Gill states that it changed from a brilliant white light, when it was far off, to a dull yellow, or perhaps pale orange, when it was close. When asked whether he thought it was metallic, he answered, "Well, it appeared solid, certainly not transparent or gaseous; we just assume that it was metallic from our own experience of things that travel and carry men".

All witnesses agree that it was circular, that it had a wide base and a narrow upper deck, that it had a type of legs beneath it, that it produced a shaft of blue light which shone upwards into the sky at an angle of about 45 degrees (see sketch) and that the four human figures appeared on top.

Two of the witnesses state that they saw about four portholes or windows in the side, which they have indicated in their drawings. These are not indicated in Fr. Gill's drawing. Commenting on this, he said "I saw what appeared to be panels in the side of the object, which glowed somewhat brighter than the rest, but I did not interpret them as portholes. I did not indicate them in my rough drawing". They were, however, indicated in a reconstructed drawing by the artist of the Australasian Post under direct verbal instructions from Fr. Gill, proving that he had seen and remarked them.

There was a certain discrepancy in the witnesses' estimate of the number of legs, though all agreed that they were in two groups. Fr. Gill is emphatic that there were four legs, tapering, two at each end, somewhat divergent. He admits that his drawing is not very skillful, and refers again to the drawing in the Australasian Post.

I have reproduced Fr. Gill's drawing and the drawing of three of the witnesses for comparison, together with my own composite drawing which appears to embody the true appearance of the object from the description of the witnesses.

[Note: this section was obviously an amendment to the original report.  On 18 March 1965, the Australasian Post published an article on the sighting, basically quoting extensively from Fr. Cruttwell's report. They said that they interviewed Fr. Cruttwell the previous week (but not Fr. Gill). The drawing above is taken from the front of the report, and is probably Fr. Cruttwell's composite drawing. The one published by the Post is identical, except that the outlines were filled in.]

Here are Fr. Gill's comments on the 'men':-

"As we watched it (the object) men came out from this object, and appeared on the top of it, on what appeared to be a deck on top of the huge disc. There are four men in all, occasionally two, then one, then three, then four; we noted the various times the men appeared. And then later on all those witnesses who were quite sure that our records were right, and that they agreed with them, and saw the men at the same time as I did - were able to sign their names as witnesses of what we assume to be human activity or beings of some sort on the object itself".

Another peculiar thing was this shaft of blue light, which emanated from what appeared to be the centre of the deck. The men apeared to be illuminated not only by this light, but also by a sort of glow which completely surrounded them as well as the craft. The glow did not touch them, but there appeared to be a little space between their outline and the light. I have tried to indicate this in the drawing. They seemed to be illuminated in two ways: (a) by reflected light, as men seen working high up on a building at night caught by the glare of an oxy-acetylene torch, and (b) by this curious halo which outlined them, following every contour of their figures and yet did not touch them. In fact, they seemed to be illuminated themselves in the same way as the machine was. This is indicated in Fr. Gill's diagram.

When asked whether he thought they were wearing space suits, he replied

"I couldn't say. It may be so, that would seem to be a possible explanation of the double outline, but I could not see any such suits."

I asked him whether he could see any details, such as the colour of their skins. He replied that they were too far away to see such details, but that he would say they were probably pale. As for the details of their bodies, all he could be sure of was they they had the outline of normal human beings from the waist up. Their legs were hidden by the sides of the craft. If wearing clothes they were very tight fitting.

Describing the movements of the objects, especially the smaller discs, he said that they were most erratic. They moved sometimes fast, sometimes slowly, approaching and receding, changing direction, even swinging to and fro like a pendulum. One of the objects, apparently No. 1 of the data (and B. on the Map) appeared much larger than the others, and appeared to have five illuminated panels, or windows, on the visible side. When the first object (A. on the Map) moved away, it appeared to descend in the direction of the Wadobuna village, and everyone thought it was going to land. The Papuans ran down on to the beach, intending to catch it up, but it swooped up and away over the mountains, turning red as it disappeared (W.G.B. and Ananias). It finally returned, but hovered more to the west of the station. When it finally departed at 9.30, Fr. Gill says it made a slight wavering movement, and then suddenly shot off at immense speed, changing colour to red and blue-green, and disappeared across the bay in the direction of Giwa in a fraction of a second. It just diminished to a pin point and vanished. In spite of the fantastic speed of thousands of miles and hour, there was no sound. Fr. Gill is emphatic about the absence of sound throughout the whole activity.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

ADDENDUM:    (1976)

1. Our Past President, Mr. Stan Seers, said that in his discussion with Rev. Gill the blue beam of light was described as a pencil thin beam of light (i.e. a parallel beam). The diagram which shows a craft with a diverging beam of light was a sketch by a newspaper artist. In 1959 the laser beam was a new invention. The diffraction grating kits which are now made by Dr. Herbison-Evans could be used to identify laser beams.
2. It was about 1968 when Rev. (now Canon) Cruttwell reported that a strange underwater craft was seen by fishermen. It was about 80 ft. (24 metres) long with no conning tower and it surfaced beside a fishing boat. The fishing boat took evasive action but was followed closely for some distance.

Noel Barron (Vice President) [of Queensland UFO Research Bureau]

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  *
4.     The Night They Waved.

Boiani had not seen the last of its strange visitors. The next evening they returned ever earlier. At six o'clock, the sun would have only just gone behind the mountains, and the sky would have still have been bright until half past six. [This was close to both the Equator, and the winter solstice.] It would not have been really dark until at least 6.45 p.m. This rules out any possibility of the object having been a planet, such as Venus, which would not have been at all bright at such an early hour. Here is Fr. Gill's report of the happenings of Saturday, 27th. June:

"A large U.F.O. was first sighted by Annie Laurie Borewa, a Papuan medical assistant, in apparently the same position as last night's object. The time was about six o'clock."

She called Fr. Gill, who came out at about 6.02 p.m., and saw the object for himself. It had the same appearance as last night's object, but seemed a little smaller, probably due to increased distance.

"I called Ananias and several others, and we stood in the open to watch. Although the sun had set, it was quite light for the following fifteen minutes. We watched figures appear on top - four of them - there is no doubt that they were human. This is possibly the same object that I took to be the "Mother Ship" last night. Two smaller U.F.O.'s were seen at the same time, stationary, one above the hills, west, and another overhead."

"On the large one two of the figures seemed to be doing something near the centre of the deck - they were occasionally bending over and raising their arm as though adjusting or 'setting up' something (not visible). One figure seemed to be standing, looking down at us (a group of about a dozen)".

Fr. Gill, describing this to me afterwards said that the 'man' was standing with his hands on the 'rail' looking over, just as one will look over the rails of a ship. His report continues -

"I stretched my arm above my head and waved. To our surprise the figure did the same. Ananias waved both arms above his head, then the two outside figures did the same. Ananias and self began waving our arms and all four seemed to wave back. There seemed to be no doubt that our movements were answered. All the Mission boys made audible gasps (of either joy or surprise perhaps both).

"As dark was beginning to close in, I sent Eric Kodawa for a torch, and directed a series of long dashes towards the U.F.O. After a minute or two of this, the U.F.O. apparently acknowledged by making several wavering motions back and forth (in a sideways direction, like a pendulum).

"Waving by us was repeated, and this was followed by more flashes of the torch, then U.F.O. began to slowly become bigger, apparently coming in our direction. It ceased after perhaps half a minute and came on no further.

"After a further two or three minutes the figures apparently lost interest in us, for they disappeared below deck.

"At 6.25 p.m.. two figures reappeared to carry on with whatever they were doing before the interruption (?). The blue spotlight came on for a few seconds, twice in succession".

Subsequently I asked Fr. Gill whether he had tried to communicate with the men by voice. He said he had indeed shouted, as had they all, and made beckoning motions to the men to descend: but there was absolutely no response, apart from the waving already described. Neither the men nor their machine made any sound whatsoever. The report continues:

"The two other U.F.O.'s remained stationary and high up - higher than last night (?), or smaller than last night (?).

          At 6.30 p.m.  I went to dinner.

               7.00 p.m.  Number one U.F.O. still present, but appeared somewhat smaller. Observers go to

                                      Church for Evensong.

               7.45 p.m.  Evensong over, and the sky covered with cloud. Visibility very poor. No U.F.O.'s in

                                      sight.

             10.40 p.m.  A terrific explosion just outside the Mission House. Nothing seen. It could have

                                      been an atmospheric explosion, as the whole sky was overcast.

             11.05 p.m.  A few drops of rain.

He says that the explosion made him jump out of bed, and gave him a tremendous shock. Remembering the U.F.O.'s he wondered whether one had landed, and rushed out to see what had happened. He saw nothing unusual, but found that the explosion had woken up everyone on the station. Papuans are not usually woken by the loudest thunder. They are very heavy sleepers. He described it as

    "as penetrating earsplitting explosion, not an ordinary thunderclap. It appeared to be just outside the window".

However, he admits that it may not have had anything to do with the U.F.O's. It must, however, be recorded as one of the unusual phenomena of that amazing night.

The facts of this sighting and the waving by the men and the response to the torch signals are fully corroborated by Ananias Rarata, Eric, Mrs (Nessie) Moi, Ilma Violet and Dulcie Freda (Teachers), and many of the other witnesses in personal interviews with myself. They have also told the story independently to other Papuans, who have passed it on to me. They are all most emphatic about having seen and exchanged signals with the men. Stephen Moi was not present on this occasion, as he had gone to Dogura during the day.

There were may curious features about the machine and the men, which are quite inexplicable by the principles of any known earthly aircraft. They might, however, be explicable if we knew the laws which govern the propulsion and operation of these extraordinary craft. Who were the 'men', and where did they come from? If only we knew, we should have solved the mystery of the Flying Saucers.

It would be very interesting to know the actual size of the 'men' and their machine. Unfortunately, as they did not land, this is very hard to estimate. Fr. Gill estimates that, assuming the men to have been of normal size (about 6 ft.) the machine would have had a diameter of roughly 35 ft. at the base and 20 ft. on the upper 'deck'. However, if this is correct, the machine must have been further away than he thought, as a width of 5 inches at arm's length would give a diameter of nearly 60 ft. (incidentally the estimated size of Mr Evennett's object). [See next post.] If the men were smaller, the machine must have been considerably less than 35 ft. However, all these estimates are mere guesswork, and of little scientific value, except as approximations.

Fr. Gill and his 38 witnesses in Boiani, not to mention others who may have seen the objects independently, were not the only people to see strange things in the sky that night. There were sightings at Giwa, Baniara and Sideia, which amply confirm that mysterious intelligently controlled flying machines were visiting Papua on June 26-28th. 1959.

5.         The Third Night.



But before passing on to these, we shall complete the Boiani reports. For the mysterious craft returned on the Sunday night, 28th. June, the third in succession. This time they did not come so low, nor did the men appear. But the objects were more numerous than ever. Here is Fr. Gill's laconic report -

                     Boiani Sightings (cont'd)

6.00 p.m. 6.45 p.m. 7.30 p.m. 9.00 p.m. 11.00 p.m. 11.20 p.m. 11.30 p.m.

Sunday, 28/6/59. No sign of U.F.O. Only 1 U.F.O. practically overhead. Slightly north. Very high, but clearly distinguishable, due to hovering. (Fr. Gill uses the word 'hover' in the sense of wavering movement in a small area). Same U.F.O. - moved to southern position, but still more or less overhead. 3 U.F.O.'s in almost straight line – all high, sky clear. 8 U.F.O.'s. This is the greatest number seen at one time, one fairly low, but except for occasional 'hover', no activity seen on board. A sharp metallic and loud bang on Mission roof, as though a piece of metal had dropped from a great height. No roll of 'object' down roof slope afterwards. Outside, 4 UFO's in a circle round station. All high. To bed, and UFOs still there. Monday 29/6/59 Roof examined. No apparent sign or mark or dent, which one might expect from last night's noise.

This appears to have been the end of the activity at Boiani. Fr. Gill says that nothing more was seen at Boiani, apart from what is contained in the reports.

 Dr J. Allen Hynek once interviewed Fr. Gill, and described him as a very well educated and sophisticated man.

There is a film clip - which can be found on a number of sites if you use a search engine - in which he describes the events, and he was revealed as a surprisingly youthful looking man with long, basin-cut hair.
In any case, on the very same nights that these activities were taking place over Boiani, a lot of less dramatic UFO appearances were occurring over the nearby villages and towns. These were described in the Chapter VI of Fr. Cruttwell's report, and will be the subject of my next post. So stay tuned.