1994 — Ariel School UFO Encounter — Ruwa, Zimbabwe
Children’s drawings depicting the beings witnessed during the 1994 Ariel School UFO encounter in Ruwa, Zimbabwe
On the morning of September 16, 1994, during a mid-morning break, 62 students aged between six and twelve at the Ariel School in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, reported seeing one or more silver disc-shaped objects descend from the sky and land in a field near their school. Some of the children claimed that beings dressed in black approached them and communicated telepathically, conveying messages with environmental themes.
The incident garnered significant attention, with local investigator Cynthia Hind documenting the children’s accounts and collecting drawings of what they had seen. BBC correspondent Tim Leach also visited the school to interview witnesses.
In November 1994, Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Mack traveled to Zimbabwe to interview the children. He concluded that the children were sincere and not subject to mass hysteria, noting the consistency in their accounts.
The Ariel School incident remains one of the most compelling mass UFO sightings, with many witnesses standing by their accounts decades later.