April 11, 2026 • 7 mins
This week on In My Day caller and former lighthouse keeper Kevin shared his experience witnessing the infamous Kaikoura lights.
The Kaikoura lights refers to a series of UFO sightings in the skies above the Kaikoura mountain ranges in December 1978.
A television crew from Melbourne's Channel 0 were able to capture footage of the lights while onboard a Safe Air plane that was making a newspaper run from Wellington to Christchurch.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks at b
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to you, Kevin.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Yes, good evening, Roman. I think I've spoken to you
before over this Kakure lights incident.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, I do remember.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yeah. I was a lighthouse keeper on the Brother's Island
in the middle of cooked Straight that night, and following
our brand new TV set playing up, I went outside
to inspect our aeriel and I thought something like a
dove or something could have been taking away at it,
which was quite common. But no, there's no activity. Was
(00:52):
a good, nice clear starlet night for he Still, I
saw nothing in the sky. As you habitually in that job,
you do look up at the sky whenever you go outside.
And so I went back inside, turned the TV back on,
and the same convoluted interference was going off like crazy,
(01:14):
like an electric art worlder operating in close proximity, you know.
So anyway, the next morning, at oh five hundred hours,
I was duty keeper, I was also acting principal keeper,
and I transmitted my first weather report of the day,
which was called an aero report because they sent for
(01:35):
the aviation industry every hour and Wellington Radio ZLW. They
accepted the message and then they said stand by. We
have a message for you. And they asked me who
I was, what my role was on station, and they
(01:58):
said this is not to be written down, but you'll
listen and then you'll stand by. You're ready for further instructions.
I didn't. I rung down on our telephone system into
the keeper's quarters and I said, I got to stay here.
I'm got a message coming up. So thet of curiosity
ever to keep his Brian Cook and Steve Cashman came up,
(02:20):
and so I thought, who's going to find out anyway?
The signal came back there was a message from here
traffic control at Newland's and they wanted They described to
me the times, the trajectories, the speeds which went from
about forty knots up to beyond the speed of sound
(02:43):
as the machines or whatever they were were orbiting in
an orbiting sequence, and they well out over Cook straight
and off Kate Campbell. And then I was told to
pack McGear and be prepared to be uplifted by the
(03:04):
Lighthouse tender boat Enterprise and be taken into Wellington. The
interrogation by the Civil Aviation and the Security Intelligence Service.
And so I duly arrived in Wellington later that day
and I was up to Civil Aviation Department in Aurora
House in the Terrace and stay there for most of
(03:28):
the day being interrogated. And then they told me what
they thought it was. I still can't tell you what
they told me, and it was quite intriguing, I can
tell you that. And I went back out to the
station that night there on the vessel, and I was
(03:49):
very intrigued. And I did tell the other two men.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You told them what you can't tell me, or you
can't tell Oh, so now that you can't well, now
that it's so long ago, you can tell me, can't you.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Well they suspect it was extraterrestrial. Yeah, and they had
very strong suspicion it was extraterrestrial. And it was certainly
no reference made in a positive sense to the various
theorems that like the squodboat lights, for example, they don't
reflect of cloud and so because they're designed to shine
(04:27):
down into the water, you know. So I was very
intriguedow and to this day, despite what they told me,
I still cannot fathom as to even the reasoning behind it,
to be honest with you, and it all happened with
the memories coming back, with all the intrigues surrounding this
(04:51):
particular incident. It's rough all known around the world now,
of course, But I did see something shoot across the
sky the previous night when I went out to re
examine the aerial on the TV effort to the TV
of for a second time, I did shooting star or
could have been a satellite. But that's very common in
(05:11):
those latitudes. So but those I read a book called
Let's Hope They're Friendly. It's about the Koku lights and
they had to with the pilots of there's safe airplanes
burned Powell and all startup. I think that I think
(05:34):
it was. And yeah, no, it's quite interesting when you
bought that subject of tonight and I thought, well, I'm
tossing up whether or not to defeat what I've told
them in the past.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
No, look at no, absolutely, because we don't do this
every single week or every year. So it's well worth
telling that story again. But that's a great story. The
fact that you were in a lighthouse and cook straight incredible.
Did you ever see the footage that was filmed by
the Melbourne documentary crewis it and did that? What did
you make of it?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Well? I had trepidation because seen something about the movements
of it. It's like someone shining a torch at you
and weaving it about and leaving the light trail. But
now given I've had second thoughts about that. But after
(06:31):
what I was informed by the SI of Security Intelligence
Service and also the Civil Aviation people. And these these
were no flights squad see, these were top grasps. And
they had an Air Force guy there too. I remember
his name. He was a nearby marshall in that same
(06:52):
office on the twelfth floor of Aurora House and the Cyrus. See.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
What an experience. What an experience. Yeah, and it's interesting
that the government departments involved felt the need to have
to explain it, but that's human nature. We have to
find something to explain it away. Kevin, thank you for
sharing your story. Just quickly. Do you remember we might
have chatted at the time. Do you remember the name
Grant Hinchcliff.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yes, he was a head keeper at that time at
Castle Point.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, that's exactly right. That's that's how I knew him
as a child. My parents knew him. One of the
last manned lighthouses, Castle Point. If you haven't been there,
go there. It's at Stork Spec. It's just at nighttime
with that great big beam of light. Stunning, Kevin, what
a great story. Thank you so much for calling through.
We'll do it again sometime, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
For more from News Talks ad B. Listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to a podcast from News Talks at b
Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to you, Kevin.
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Yes, good evening, Roman. I think I've spoken to you
before over this Kakure lights incident.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yes, I do remember.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yeah. I was a lighthouse keeper on the Brother's Island
in the middle of cooked Straight that night, and following
our brand new TV set playing up, I went outside
to inspect our aeriel and I thought something like a
dove or something could have been taking away at it,
which was quite common. But no, there's no activity. Was
(00:52):
a good, nice clear starlet night for he Still, I
saw nothing in the sky. As you habitually in that job,
you do look up at the sky whenever you go outside.
And so I went back inside, turned the TV back on,
and the same convoluted interference was going off like crazy,
(01:14):
like an electric art worlder operating in close proximity, you know.
So anyway, the next morning, at oh five hundred hours,
I was duty keeper, I was also acting principal keeper,
and I transmitted my first weather report of the day,
which was called an aero report because they sent for
(01:35):
the aviation industry every hour and Wellington Radio ZLW. They
accepted the message and then they said stand by. We
have a message for you. And they asked me who
I was, what my role was on station, and they
(01:58):
said this is not to be written down, but you'll
listen and then you'll stand by. You're ready for further instructions.
I didn't. I rung down on our telephone system into
the keeper's quarters and I said, I got to stay here.
I'm got a message coming up. So thet of curiosity
ever to keep his Brian Cook and Steve Cashman came up,
(02:20):
and so I thought, who's going to find out anyway?
The signal came back there was a message from here
traffic control at Newland's and they wanted They described to
me the times, the trajectories, the speeds which went from
about forty knots up to beyond the speed of sound
(02:43):
as the machines or whatever they were were orbiting in
an orbiting sequence, and they well out over Cook straight
and off Kate Campbell. And then I was told to
pack McGear and be prepared to be uplifted by the
(03:04):
Lighthouse tender boat Enterprise and be taken into Wellington. The
interrogation by the Civil Aviation and the Security Intelligence Service.
And so I duly arrived in Wellington later that day
and I was up to Civil Aviation Department in Aurora
House in the Terrace and stay there for most of
(03:28):
the day being interrogated. And then they told me what
they thought it was. I still can't tell you what
they told me, and it was quite intriguing, I can
tell you that. And I went back out to the
station that night there on the vessel, and I was
(03:49):
very intrigued. And I did tell the other two men.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
You told them what you can't tell me, or you
can't tell Oh, so now that you can't well, now
that it's so long ago, you can tell me, can't you.
Speaker 3 (04:02):
Well they suspect it was extraterrestrial. Yeah, and they had
very strong suspicion it was extraterrestrial. And it was certainly
no reference made in a positive sense to the various
theorems that like the squodboat lights, for example, they don't
reflect of cloud and so because they're designed to shine
(04:27):
down into the water, you know. So I was very
intriguedow and to this day, despite what they told me,
I still cannot fathom as to even the reasoning behind it,
to be honest with you, and it all happened with
the memories coming back, with all the intrigues surrounding this
(04:51):
particular incident. It's rough all known around the world now,
of course, But I did see something shoot across the
sky the previous night when I went out to re
examine the aerial on the TV effort to the TV
of for a second time, I did shooting star or
could have been a satellite. But that's very common in
(05:11):
those latitudes. So but those I read a book called
Let's Hope They're Friendly. It's about the Koku lights and
they had to with the pilots of there's safe airplanes
burned Powell and all startup. I think that I think
(05:34):
it was. And yeah, no, it's quite interesting when you
bought that subject of tonight and I thought, well, I'm
tossing up whether or not to defeat what I've told
them in the past.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
No, look at no, absolutely, because we don't do this
every single week or every year. So it's well worth
telling that story again. But that's a great story. The
fact that you were in a lighthouse and cook straight incredible.
Did you ever see the footage that was filmed by
the Melbourne documentary crewis it and did that? What did
you make of it?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
Well? I had trepidation because seen something about the movements
of it. It's like someone shining a torch at you
and weaving it about and leaving the light trail. But
now given I've had second thoughts about that. But after
(06:31):
what I was informed by the SI of Security Intelligence
Service and also the Civil Aviation people. And these these
were no flights squad see, these were top grasps. And
they had an Air Force guy there too. I remember
his name. He was a nearby marshall in that same
(06:52):
office on the twelfth floor of Aurora House and the Cyrus. See.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
What an experience. What an experience. Yeah, and it's interesting
that the government departments involved felt the need to have
to explain it, but that's human nature. We have to
find something to explain it away. Kevin, thank you for
sharing your story. Just quickly. Do you remember we might
have chatted at the time. Do you remember the name
Grant Hinchcliff.
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Yes, he was a head keeper at that time at
Castle Point.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, that's exactly right. That's that's how I knew him
as a child. My parents knew him. One of the
last manned lighthouses, Castle Point. If you haven't been there,
go there. It's at Stork Spec. It's just at nighttime
with that great big beam of light. Stunning, Kevin, what
a great story. Thank you so much for calling through.
We'll do it again sometime, I'm sure.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
For more from News Talks ad B. Listen live on
air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
you go with our podcast on iHeartRadio
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