of the experts are consistent with the account of the photographer, who initially didn’t think much of his shot of four strange lights and kept it in a drawer for weeks before showing it to anyone. He was not sure what it was, and for a while had not given it much thought.
Although the vast majority of the reports described a triangular craft with three spotlights and one flashing light at the bottom, as was captured in the Petit-Rechain photograph, a number of witnesses reported very special shapes and characteristics. On April 22, 1990, seven reports of triangles were submitted plus a more unusual report by two workers in Basecles, southwest of Brussels. They were in their factory courtyard shortly before midnight, when suddenly two enormous bright spotlights appeared, illuminating the courtyard. A huge trapezoid platform moved very slowly and silently slightly above the chimney, at one point covering the whole courtyard (100 ? 60 meters, or 330 ? 200 feet). The two men described six lights and said the color of the object was grayish. They saw structures at the bottom of the platform that looked to them like “an aircraft carrier turned upside down.”
Another peculiar sighting, strikingly similar to the one at the Basecles factory, occurred on March 15, 1991, in Auderghem, near Brussels. An electronic engineer woke up during the night and heard a barely audible, high- frequency whistling tone. He looked out the window and saw a large rectangular craft at very low altitude with irregular structures on the bottom. Slipping on a jacket, he went upstairs to an upper-level terrace and watched the dark gray craft drift overhead very slowly without lights. The whistling tone had stopped and the craft was now silent.
A few days before, on March 12, 1991, a total of twenty-seven reports were filed from a small area southwest of Liege. On two occasions a craft was seen over the nuclear power plant of Thiange. One witness reported that it was directly above the red lights on the top of one of the enormous chimneys. It hovered there for approximately one minute, beaming one of its lights on the outside structure while another light pointed directly into one of the chimneys. After it had finished its “inspection,” the UAP started moving slowly and flew straight through the enormous white plume of the chimney before disappearing in the dark.
Occasionally, a craft appeared to respond to the presence or actions of observers, as described earlier when Col. Amond stepped out of his car and the object immediately approached. On July 26, 1990, at 10:35 p.m., Mr. and Mrs. Marcel H. were also in their car, passing through Grace-Hollogne and driving towards Seraing, when they looked out and saw an immobile object in the sky. It had the shape of an equilateral triangle that they estimated to be about twelve meters on each side. The object was dark, but a white-light belt, like a large neon tube, ran along two sides. The witnesses could see three spotlights beaming down toward the ground; they seemed to be detached from the object but connected to each other by a sort of support “bracket.” Also visible were two flashing lights, one red and one green, on the underside of the craft. The base—the side with two white spotlights—was facing toward them.
Surprised, Mr. H. said to his wife: “For the fun of it, I am going to flash my lights.” Mr. H. flashed his car lights twice—off and on, off and on. At this same moment, the two white lights at the base of the triangle rotated, tilted toward the two passengers below, and flashed off and on three times. The illumination was bright, but not blinding. Then, keeping the lights pointed at the moving car, the object proceeded toward the vehicle and, moving with the base forward, positioned itself to the right at a distance of approximately 100 meters and a height between 60 and 100 meters. (It is interesting that Col. Amond also reported a distance of 100 meters after the object approached.) It then made a banking turn and, still moving with its base forward, flew in the same direction as the car, following it as it continued its downhill course toward Seraing. Although the hill was rather steep, the UFO moved with the terrain and maintained a constant height above the sloping ground, flying at the same speed that the car was driving (60–70 km/hr). By the time they approached the bridge at Seraing, Mr. and Mrs. H. were quite frightened. Finally, the object crossed the river Meuse right next to them without making any noise, and then started to climb, rapidly departing in the direction of Grace-Hollogne.
A lengthy book could be written with nothing but witness reports and drawings collected during the two peak years. I have presented only a sample. I can conclude with confidence that the observations during what is now known as the Belgian wave were not caused by mass hysteria. The witnesses interviewed by the investigators were sincere and honest. They did not previously know each other. Most were very surprised by what they saw, and today, twenty years later, they are still prepared to confirm their unusual experience. Those close to the craft were frightened or terrified; one fell off his bike and was in shock. Several witnesses had high-ranking functions and preferred not to reveal their names to the media.
Of the approximately 2,000 reported cases registered during the Belgian wave, 650 were investigated and more than 500 of them remain unexplained. It is logical to assume that many thousands more witnessed UAP activities and did not report them. The findings were exceptional. More than 300 cases involved witnesses seeing a craft at less than 300 meters (1,000 feet), and over 200 sightings lasted longer than five minutes. Sometimes observers were right underneath the craft.
Although many questions remain unanswered, analysis shows that a number of points can be made with certainty, and some conclusions can be drawn.
• Most witnesses reported the craft had a triangular shape, but a number of reports mentioned other shapes, such as a diamond, cigar, or egg, and, in a few spectacular cases, an aircraft carrier turned upside down.
• The reported air activities were unauthorized, yet were observed by multiple witnesses while not registering on surveillance radars.
• It can be deduced that on both November 29 and December 11 at least two crafts were active at the same time. On November 29, two policemen reported two at the same time in different locations, and also different shapes were reported. On December 11, witnesses reported seeing a craft at the same time at different locations.
• On several occasions, the craft made a tilting maneuver allowing observers to see its upper side, revealing a dome at the top. Some reported windows or lights on the side of the craft; others saw lit windows in the dome.
• No electromagnetic effects, such as radio interference, were experienced.
• Not one aggressive or hostile act was noted.
• The flying objects didn’t try to hide and, in several cases, moved toward the observers on the ground. Some witnesses reported that crafts responded to their signals, such as switching one of its lights off and on when they flashed the headlights of their car.
• The crafts performed in ways not possible by known technology. They were able to remain stationary and hover, even in unusual positions such as vertical and/or banking at 45 degrees or more. They could fly at slow speeds and accelerate extremely fast, faster than any known aircraft, and they remained silent, or made only a very slight noise, even when hovering or accelerating. The objects were equipped with very large spotlights, with a diameter of more than one meter (three feet), capable of intensively illuminating the ground from an altitude of 100 meters (330 feet) or more. The integrity of these lights was variable—in some cases, witnesses reported that the lights were not illuminating the ground and were not blinding. Experts are convinced that the spotlights are of a very special nature; the size and intensity have not been seen on any aircraft before. These crafts carried a red light from underneath, at the bottom of their underside and apparently unattached to the structure, which seemed to pulsate rather than rotate. On three occasions, red light balls left the structure, and on two occasions they were seen returning to the craft.
• Some of these individual performance capabilities may be explainable in isolation, but the combination of all of them makes them highly unusual, even enigmatic. The technology used by these crafts was so advanced that
