Kaikoura Lights

The only UFO sighting in New Zealand that got the government investigating.

Name	Kaikoura Lights
Occurred On	December 1978
Seen by	Multiple witnesses in New Zealand
Investigated by	Royal New Zealand Air Force

The photo above might seem like just a regular blob of light, but it caused an uproar in New Zealand.

Nestled in the country’s South Island are the Kaikoura mountain ranges, the location for one of the most documented UFO sightings in history. Strange lights appeared above the mountain ranges in December 1978, sparking intense public interest and media coverage and drawing the attention of Prime Minister Robert Muldoon and the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

The Kiwis aren’t new to UFO phenomena, given that New Zealand has long been exposed to it. The country’s military, Civil Aviation Authority, and Defence Ministry have compiled numerous detailed claims of UFO sightings and moving lights, as well as alien encounters, dating from 1954 to 2009. 

However, nothing had come close to the compelling nature of the Kaikoura Lights. It was the only event that the government investigated.

What Is the Kaikoura Lights Incident About?

The Kaikoura Lights is the name given to the series of UFO sightings that occurred in December 1978. Among the multiple events, two of the most significant ones unfolded on December 21 and 31.

Everything began in the early hours of December 21, when two Safe-Air flights bound for Christchurch departed from Woodbourne.

The Events on December 21, 1978

Below is the published timeline of the Kaikoura UFO sightings on December 21, 1978:

• The two planes were preparing to travel from Woodbourne to Christchurch.
• Just before 2 AM, one of the planes sighted lights by the Clarence River while in flight.
• When the first plane was flying back, the Wellington radar informed them about the picked-up returns from the transmissions.
• At 4 AM, the plane’s crew also reported seeing lights that made rectangular patterns.
• The second aircraft departed Woodbourne at 3 AM when Wellington’s radar indicated that something was following the plane. At one point, the crew claimed to see a bright, pear-shaped orb.

In an audio captured during the flight, the pilots could be heard talking with air traffic control, claiming to see red, glowing lights following them, positioned at their 10 o’clock.

These lights were witnessed by experienced professionals trained to identify atmospheric phenomena and were visible not only from their perspective but also from the plane’s and the Wellington Airport’s radar. This solidified it as a legitimate event and not a freak coincidence.

The Events on December 31, 1978

After hearing about the December 21 sightings, a television crew from the Australian network Channel 0 (now Network 10) came forward to repeat the previous planes’ run.

The investigation was conducted to document whether the same situation would happen. This would also help settle the public debate about whether the event on December 21 was a UFO phenomenon or an atmospheric accident.

This flight was piloted by Bill Startup, with reporter Quentin Fogarty, sound recordist Ngaire Crockett, and cameraman David Crockett on board.

The following events were observed:

• For the majority of the flight, the crew reported seeing a cluster of five lights around the Kaikoura Peninsula.
• The Wellington radar reported that something was following them. Subsequently, the crew saw a “pulsing” white light at Christchurch after 2 AM.
• Quentin Fogarty stated that there was a whole formation of unidentified flying objects, with brightly lit bottoms and transparent spheres on top, tailing their aircraft.

Investigations About the Incident

The compelling footage from the television crew generated significant publicity for the event.

While believers easily recognized it as a UFO sighting, the buzz surrounding the Kaikoura Lights incident still fueled the public’s demand for an explanation. This caught the Prime Minister’s attention and prompted the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) to conduct an investigation.

The Air Force’s Reconnaissance Mission

The standard was that the Air Force didn’t have the resources to investigate UFO-related affairs. However, the Kaikoura Lights and its alleged evidence prompted a serious examination.

On January 2, 1979, an Air Force Orion was sent on a reconnaissance mission to gather as much information as possible. A summary of the investigation was released, concluding that the Kaikoura Lights, although unusual, were natural atmospheric phenomena. The Air Force speculated that the objects were reflections of the lights from 50 squid boats off the Peninsula or a refraction of the light from Venus.

To disprove the report, David Crockett focused his camera on Venus and showed how it could hardly be seen. The planet appeared as a tiny dot on the lens, nowhere near the size of what they captured that night.

Dr. Bruce Maccabee’s Examination

Dr. Bruce Maccabee was an American optical data expert and a ufologist with an MS & PhD in Physics. He examined the Kaikoura Lights footage and concluded that the movements were genuine and likely from a UFO.

In one of his optical analyses, Dr. Maccabee stated that the New Zealand sighting was the most “instrumented” sighting in civilian ufology. This was because this wasn’t a “radar-only” event, where the occurrence was only reflected in the equipment without coincidental visual observations. Instead, the Kaikoura Lights incident was a “radar-visual” case, where multiple witnesses and tape recordings saw it happen.

Other Witnesses’ Accounts of the Kaikoura Lights

Beyond the film footage, the investigations, and the crew’s adamant claims, what makes the Kaikoura Lights incident significant are the statements of other witnesses.

Following the entire conundrum, other civilians came forward, sharing accounts of unusual activities they witnessed around the same time as the documented Kaikoura Lights event.

One of the accounts was given by witnesses who claimed to have seen lights in the sky in the Cape Campbell area on December 21, 1978. They detailed that the lights moved in the same manner as an aircraft conducting a search and rescue mission, like high-powered lights coming from helicopters.

Another remarkable claim was from a woman, Suzanne Hansen, who claimed that aliens abducted her and her husband on December 23, 1978. She shared the details about the event as follows:

• On the 23rd, she and her husband were in Gisborne, stocking up for the week ahead.
• Afterward, they had dinner with friends and hit the road at 10:30 PM.
• They reached an isolated area between Tologa Bay and Tokomaru Bay around 11:30 PM. This was also when the claimed alien abduction happened.

The couple saw the valley being bathed in a bright light, which she described to be “brighter than the brightest sunlight.” The day after, Suzanne claimed she felt exhausted with no memory of what happened after their trip home. Her ears were extremely sensitive, and she experienced several nosebleeds.

The Kaikoura Lights’ Significance in Ufology

The Kaikoura Lights generated considerable noise worldwide.

It came to a point where the CIA cited it as unique among civilian UFO sightings because of the ample evidence it gathered, which included recollections of witnesses, tape recordings, and detection of airplane radar targets.

What makes the event significant in UFO research is its multi-sensor confirmation. It couldn’t be easily debunked as something misidentified, hearsay, or even a hallucination.

The Kaikoura Lights incident was captured not only by the Wellington radar but also by the television crew’s camera and the crew onboard. Further, other related events were also shared by other witnesses. This strong verification positions the event as one of the most thoroughly documented encounters in history.