Undated # 14

Undated # 14

??-??-1965 (Five year period prior to January 1970)

"Water-happenings” in Indonesia

Gordon Creighton

I am indebted to Mr. W. L. Tobing of Bandung, Indonesia, for this report of what looks like another underwater UFO "base". The account first appeared in the Indonesian-language journal Intisari, No. 78, of January 1970 (a well known popular science monthly published in Djakarta), the author being Mr. S. Kamah.

Is it possible that Lake Poso in North SULAWESI¹ is a UFO base? The largest lake on the Island of North Sulawesi, it is about 800 square kilometers in area and is three times as deep as the Java Sea². The pleasant town of Tentana lies beside the lake.

Not long ago, accompanied by Mr. J. Gintu, Chief of the District, Mr. S. Walenta, Member of the Poso Council, Mr. Togobu, Head of the Art and Culture Service, and Mr. Pobonde, Chairman of the Adat, Mr. Kamah made an investigation of the lake and its surroundings, for it is the belief of the local populace that something very mysterious is going on in the lake.

According to the account given to Mr. Kamah by the four above-named local officials, there has been some mysterious creature or phenomenon in the lake for the past five years. Until now they still have no idea as to whether this is some gigantic unknown beast or a ghost. What does seem certain is that, five years ago, a certain fisherman was fishing on the lake at midnight when he observed a vividly bright light in the centre of the Lake. At first the man thought it must be a petromax lamp used by some other fisherman. But then he observed that the light was moving from one bank of the lake to the other and back again, at times extremely rapidly. Then, at one moment, it came to a distance of only about 100 metres from him. This terrified him so much that he went off home at once.

When he first told the neighbours and villagers what he had seen, they all jeered and made fun of him. Until, about a week later, the light was also seen by other fishermen. Since then he light has been seen so often that it has come to be regarded as quite customary. Opinions among the populace vary greatly however as to what the explanation of the light could be.

The local District Chief, Mr. Gintu. said: "Until 1966 I did not believe this story that the people were telling about the light in the lake. I thought it was just their superstitious talk. But, one night, at 9.00 p.m., as I myself was going home by boat, the sailors pointed out to me this vivid light in the middle of the lake. So I saw it for myself, and I saw that it moved with extraordinary speed from one shore of the lake to the other. An hour later, it approached our boat and came to a distance of only 20 metres from us. I stood watching it very attentively. The water seemed to be bubbling. It seemed to be a body surrounded by light. Although I was able to observe it at leisure, I was never able to make out its precise shape.

On another occasion Mr. Gintu and his wife both saw it, quite close to them. Mr. Togobu also said that at first be had not believed the reports about the light, and thought it must be the flash of meteors falling into Lake Poso. But at last he saw the light for himself, and then he was forced to conclude that there must be some mysterious entity or creature in the lake.

Councillor Walenta said that he too had seen it. Mr. Pobonde said he had no idea what it could possibly be, but that in his opinion it was no ghost and no animal.Mr. Kamah ascertained that in the course of these five years the behaviour of the mystery light has changed. For example, whereas to begin with it was always seen in or on the lake itself, it has now begun to be seen flying around over the fields and hills around the lake and then plunging back into the lake. Moreover, there is now no longer only one light. Sometimes there are three of them.

Note 1: The large Island formerly known to Europeans as Celebes.

Note 2: While most of the Java Sea is quite shallow, certainly not more than a few hundred feet deep, there are trenches just off the whole coast of the Celebes that are thousands of feet deep.

UFOCAT PRN – 60592 [DOS: ??-??-1965]

UFOCAT PRN – 60593 [DOS: ??-??-1966]

UFOCAT PRN – 90185 [DOS: 05-04-1968]

UFOCAT URN – 90185 APRO Bulletin, July 1968, p.8

Indonesia

North Sulawesi (Celebes) Latitude 2-00 S, Longitude 121-00 E ( D-M ) [Island of]

Lake Poso Latitude 1-52 S, Longitude 120-35 E

Tentana Latitude 1-47 S, Longitude 120-39 E

Reference: Indonesia Gazetteer, Published by the Defense Mapping Agency, Washington, D.C., September 1982