November 22, 2025 • 7 mins
by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear
In the January 12, 1982, New South Wales, Australia Pix-People, there is an article (page 11 of the pdf) by “Australia’s leading authority on UFOs and psychic phenomena,” John Pinkney, headlined “UFO terror grips a NSW township.” Pinkney’s weekly column for the publication is “The Pinkney Report–Investigating the Incredible.” It seems there was a flap in the town of Nowra, and one case in particular is reported to have been investigated by the Scientific Bureau of Investigation. SBI had its own publication at the time, and a report on the case was published in the Vol. 3, No. 6 SBI Report. SBI was based in Staten Island, NY, and one member readers might recognize was Peter Robbins, who is listed as art director for the magazine.According to Pinkney, “dozens of people” were “caught up in bizarre events” in Nowra, which is 150 km south of Sydney: railway men reported they saw lights hovering over abandoned mineshafts; a foal was found with its leg cut off “neatly from its shoulder; a “huge, brightly lit object” paced a bus with 40 passengers “for seven minutes, before vanishing up a shaft of light in the clouds;” a newspaper man saw a mass of what looked like meteorites fly up from the ground into the air in 1978; a 12-meter-diameter ring was found burned into a field after a farmer told police that “a weird thing had crashed on his property, starting a bushfire;” and two hunters shot at a two-meter-tall, human-like entity that vanished and left an overpowering odor that made one of the hunters sick for several hours. Pinkney’s main focus, however, is on a case involving not only some unusual trace evidence, but physical effects on the witness as well.According to Pinkney, Frank Burke, a pastrycook, was driving through the Kangaroo Valley heading home from work at around 10:30 p.m. when a “blazing light” engulfed the car. Burke said it lit up the area in a radius of around 25 feet and “was so intense I could have read the fine print of a newspaper or counted the ants at the roadside.” He was listening to music coming from a cassette player/recorder sitting on the seat next to him, and it stopped playing as soon as the light came down. Read more →
In the January 12, 1982, New South Wales, Australia Pix-People, there is an article (page 11 of the pdf) by “Australia’s leading authority on UFOs and psychic phenomena,” John Pinkney, headlined “UFO terror grips a NSW township.” Pinkney’s weekly column for the publication is “The Pinkney Report–Investigating the Incredible.” It seems there was a flap in the town of Nowra, and one case in particular is reported to have been investigated by the Scientific Bureau of Investigation. SBI had its own publication at the time, and a report on the case was published in the Vol. 3, No. 6 SBI Report. SBI was based in Staten Island, NY, and one member readers might recognize was Peter Robbins, who is listed as art director for the magazine.According to Pinkney, “dozens of people” were “caught up in bizarre events” in Nowra, which is 150 km south of Sydney: railway men reported they saw lights hovering over abandoned mineshafts; a foal was found with its leg cut off “neatly from its shoulder; a “huge, brightly lit object” paced a bus with 40 passengers “for seven minutes, before vanishing up a shaft of light in the clouds;” a newspaper man saw a mass of what looked like meteorites fly up from the ground into the air in 1978; a 12-meter-diameter ring was found burned into a field after a farmer told police that “a weird thing had crashed on his property, starting a bushfire;” and two hunters shot at a two-meter-tall, human-like entity that vanished and left an overpowering odor that made one of the hunters sick for several hours. Pinkney’s main focus, however, is on a case involving not only some unusual trace evidence, but physical effects on the witness as well.According to Pinkney, Frank Burke, a pastrycook, was driving through the Kangaroo Valley heading home from work at around 10:30 p.m. when a “blazing light” engulfed the car. Burke said it lit up the area in a radius of around 25 feet and “was so intense I could have read the fine print of a newspaper or counted the ants at the roadside.” He was listening to music coming from a cassette player/recorder sitting on the seat next to him, and it stopped playing as soon as the light came down. Read more →
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
A nineteen eighty one close encounter report from Australia by
Charles Lear. In the January twelfth, nineteen eighty two New
South Wales Australia Picks People. There is an article by
Australia's leading authority on UFOs and psychic phenomena, John Pinckney,
headlined UFO Terror Gripps, NSW Township. Pinckney's weekly column for
(00:35):
the publication is the Pinkney Report, Investigating the Incredible. It
seems there was a flat in the town of Nawra,
and one case in particular is reported to have been
investigated by the Scientific Bureau of Investigation. SBI had its
own publication at the time, and a report on the
case was published in the volume three, number six SBI Report.
(00:59):
SBI was based in Staten Island, New York, and one
member readers might recognize was Peter Robbins, who has listed
as art director for the magazine. According to Pinckney, dozens
of people were caught up in bizarre events in Nawa,
which is one hundred and fifty kilometers south of Sydney.
Railwaymen reported they saw lights hovering over abandoned mine shafts.
(01:23):
A foe was found with its leg cut off neatly
from its shoulder. A huge, brightly lit object paced a
bus with forty passengers for seven minutes before vanishing up
a shaft of light in the clouds. A newspaperman saw
a mass of what looked like meteorites fly up from
the ground into the air. In nineteen seventy eight, a
twelve meter ring was found burned into a field after
(01:44):
a farmer told police that a weird thing had crashed
on his property, starting a bush fire, and two hunters
shot at a two meter tall human like entity that
vanished and left an overpowering odor that made one of
the hunters sick for several Pinkney's main focus, however, is
on a case involving not only some unusual trace evidence,
(02:06):
but physical effects on the witness as well. According to Pinckney,
Frank Burke, a pastry cook, was driving through the Kangaroo
Valley heading home from work at around ten thirty p m.
When a blazing light engulfed the car. Burke said it
lit up the area in a radius of around twenty
five feet and was so intense I could have read
(02:28):
the fine print of a newspaper or counted the ants
at the roadside. He was listening to music coming from
a cassette player recorder sitting on the seat next to him,
and it stopped playing as soon as the light came down.
Burke said frankly, I was terrified, mainly because a dead
silence settled over everything. Even though the car was still moving,
(02:50):
he couldn't hear the engine. He then saw flames around
the wheels, but wasn't game to get out. According to him,
the light followed him up a mountain and then disappeared
when another car came into view. According to Pinckney, Burke
got up early the next day so he could report
the incident to police. As he took a shower, he
noticed his leg was sore and then saw it was blistered.
(03:13):
He had double vision, and his finger nails were flaking
and falling off, he told Pinckney. But the biggest shock
came when I got into the car. My recorder's cassette
carriage had been melted and buckled. He gave the machine
to Thomas Vanandel of SPI, and that's when they got involved.
Fernando's report is on page thirty six of the magazine.
(03:36):
He described Burke as fifty one, married and known as
a reliable guy by the local police. Unlike Pinckney, Vanandal
provides the date of the incident April seventeenth, nineteen eighty one.
There are more details in this account, along with some discrepancies.
According to Vanandel, Burke was driving a Morse eleven hundred
(03:57):
through the Mystery Mountain area when he saw what he
thought were very bright head lights or high beams being
reflected in his rear view mirror. As he came to
a curve in the road just before it started to ascend,
the lights quickly came closer. They then rose above the
car and stayed over him for the next two miles.
As the road became steep and winding and surrounded by
(04:20):
trees and vegetation on both sides, the same light coming
down and surrounding him as described, but in this account,
Burke is said to have felt as if he was
floating in or on the light. He went over the mountain,
and as he was close to the bottom, he saw
an oncoming car approaching from the south, and the light
and presumably the object producing it, disappeared. Burke had realized
(04:43):
that the music had stopped playing during the encounter, but
didn't paint any mind until afterwards. It is here that
this account differs from Pinkney's. According to Van Andel, Burke
looked down and noticed that the tape recorder was melted.
He felt an intense heat and had a ringing in
his ears during the encounter, and after pulling over and stopping,
(05:04):
he saw that his left leg was burned near the calf.
He called the police and they came to the scene,
and they attest to the fact that he was not intoxicated,
what was agitated and nervous. This report is said to
have been corroborated by Narrow Police Sergeant Wally Krock. Burke
is described as a veteran of the Korean War, having
(05:25):
served on the HMS Sydney, not given to exaggerations or complaining,
and in good shape. After the encounter, he reportedly suffered
a long list of symptoms, constant ringing in his ears,
an inner ear problem, a rash on his left leg,
sensitivity to light and occasional double vision, frequent nosebleeds, sinus irritation,
(05:48):
chills and flushes, respiratory problems, high blood pressure, discolored finger nails,
some of which would fall off, flaking skin, and nervousness,
his urine changed color, and he lost fourteen pounds in
twelve weeks. A report by three independent medical physicians is
promised once it has been received. According to Van Andel,
(06:11):
Burke was not a reader of UFO literature, didn't belong
to any UFO group, and had never seen a UFO
before this. He says they can deduce a UFO encounter transpired,
as Burke reported no noise from the object and a
sensation of floating typical of many UFO encounters. The object
(06:31):
was able to ascend, hover pace the car and then disappear.
Electromagnetic effects stopped the tape recorder, not the melting. Intense
heat was felt and Burke suffered physiological effects. Finandal reports
that Burke's statements were subjected to voice stress analyzation and
that SBI I believed he was telling the truth as
(06:54):
he knew it. He says that the tape machine was
still being analyzed, but thus far SBI had been unable
to duplicate conditions where only the top part would be melted. Unfortunately,
a search through subsequent issues of SBI report yielded no
follow up. Charles Lear is the author of The Flying
(07:15):
Saucer Investigators, available in its second edition at Amazon dot com.
A nineteen eighty one close encounter report from Australia by
Charles Lear. In the January twelfth, nineteen eighty two New
South Wales Australia Picks People. There is an article by
Australia's leading authority on UFOs and psychic phenomena, John Pinckney,
headlined UFO Terror Gripps, NSW Township. Pinckney's weekly column for
(00:35):
the publication is the Pinkney Report, Investigating the Incredible. It
seems there was a flat in the town of Nawra,
and one case in particular is reported to have been
investigated by the Scientific Bureau of Investigation. SBI had its
own publication at the time, and a report on the
case was published in the volume three, number six SBI Report.
(00:59):
SBI was based in Staten Island, New York, and one
member readers might recognize was Peter Robbins, who has listed
as art director for the magazine. According to Pinckney, dozens
of people were caught up in bizarre events in Nawa,
which is one hundred and fifty kilometers south of Sydney.
Railwaymen reported they saw lights hovering over abandoned mine shafts.
(01:23):
A foe was found with its leg cut off neatly
from its shoulder. A huge, brightly lit object paced a
bus with forty passengers for seven minutes before vanishing up
a shaft of light in the clouds. A newspaperman saw
a mass of what looked like meteorites fly up from
the ground into the air. In nineteen seventy eight, a
twelve meter ring was found burned into a field after
(01:44):
a farmer told police that a weird thing had crashed
on his property, starting a bush fire, and two hunters
shot at a two meter tall human like entity that
vanished and left an overpowering odor that made one of
the hunters sick for several Pinkney's main focus, however, is
on a case involving not only some unusual trace evidence,
(02:06):
but physical effects on the witness as well. According to Pinckney,
Frank Burke, a pastry cook, was driving through the Kangaroo
Valley heading home from work at around ten thirty p m.
When a blazing light engulfed the car. Burke said it
lit up the area in a radius of around twenty
five feet and was so intense I could have read
(02:28):
the fine print of a newspaper or counted the ants
at the roadside. He was listening to music coming from
a cassette player recorder sitting on the seat next to him,
and it stopped playing as soon as the light came down.
Burke said frankly, I was terrified, mainly because a dead
silence settled over everything. Even though the car was still moving,
(02:50):
he couldn't hear the engine. He then saw flames around
the wheels, but wasn't game to get out. According to him,
the light followed him up a mountain and then disappeared
when another car came into view. According to Pinckney, Burke
got up early the next day so he could report
the incident to police. As he took a shower, he
noticed his leg was sore and then saw it was blistered.
(03:13):
He had double vision, and his finger nails were flaking
and falling off, he told Pinckney. But the biggest shock
came when I got into the car. My recorder's cassette
carriage had been melted and buckled. He gave the machine
to Thomas Vanandel of SPI, and that's when they got involved.
Fernando's report is on page thirty six of the magazine.
(03:36):
He described Burke as fifty one, married and known as
a reliable guy by the local police. Unlike Pinckney, Vanandal
provides the date of the incident April seventeenth, nineteen eighty one.
There are more details in this account, along with some discrepancies.
According to Vanandel, Burke was driving a Morse eleven hundred
(03:57):
through the Mystery Mountain area when he saw what he
thought were very bright head lights or high beams being
reflected in his rear view mirror. As he came to
a curve in the road just before it started to ascend,
the lights quickly came closer. They then rose above the
car and stayed over him for the next two miles.
As the road became steep and winding and surrounded by
(04:20):
trees and vegetation on both sides, the same light coming
down and surrounding him as described, but in this account,
Burke is said to have felt as if he was
floating in or on the light. He went over the mountain,
and as he was close to the bottom, he saw
an oncoming car approaching from the south, and the light
and presumably the object producing it, disappeared. Burke had realized
(04:43):
that the music had stopped playing during the encounter, but
didn't paint any mind until afterwards. It is here that
this account differs from Pinkney's. According to Van Andel, Burke
looked down and noticed that the tape recorder was melted.
He felt an intense heat and had a ringing in
his ears during the encounter, and after pulling over and stopping,
(05:04):
he saw that his left leg was burned near the calf.
He called the police and they came to the scene,
and they attest to the fact that he was not intoxicated,
what was agitated and nervous. This report is said to
have been corroborated by Narrow Police Sergeant Wally Krock. Burke
is described as a veteran of the Korean War, having
(05:25):
served on the HMS Sydney, not given to exaggerations or complaining,
and in good shape. After the encounter, he reportedly suffered
a long list of symptoms, constant ringing in his ears,
an inner ear problem, a rash on his left leg,
sensitivity to light and occasional double vision, frequent nosebleeds, sinus irritation,
(05:48):
chills and flushes, respiratory problems, high blood pressure, discolored finger nails,
some of which would fall off, flaking skin, and nervousness,
his urine changed color, and he lost fourteen pounds in
twelve weeks. A report by three independent medical physicians is
promised once it has been received. According to Van Andel,
(06:11):
Burke was not a reader of UFO literature, didn't belong
to any UFO group, and had never seen a UFO
before this. He says they can deduce a UFO encounter transpired,
as Burke reported no noise from the object and a
sensation of floating typical of many UFO encounters. The object
(06:31):
was able to ascend, hover pace the car and then disappear.
Electromagnetic effects stopped the tape recorder, not the melting. Intense
heat was felt and Burke suffered physiological effects. Finandal reports
that Burke's statements were subjected to voice stress analyzation and
that SBI I believed he was telling the truth as
(06:54):
he knew it. He says that the tape machine was
still being analyzed, but thus far SBI had been unable
to duplicate conditions where only the top part would be melted. Unfortunately,
a search through subsequent issues of SBI report yielded no
follow up. Charles Lear is the author of The Flying
(07:15):
Saucer Investigators, available in its second edition at Amazon dot com.
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