THINK ABOUTIT UFO SIGHTING REPORT

Bill Chalker’s 1972 Personal UFO Sighting: The Armidale Egg-Shaped Object

On a September evening in 1972, Australian UFO researcher Bill Chalker was crossing his college campus, thinking about dinner after a long day, when he noticed two students staring silently at the sky. One of them said, “Do you see that?” The other answered, “Yes, but I don’t want to.” What Chalker then saw — a silent, well-defined, metallic egg-shaped object crossing the twilight sky — became one of the few personal sightings recorded by a researcher who spent his career investigating other people’s.

Date: September 15, 1972

Sighting Time: 5:50 p.m.

Day/Night: Twilight/dusk — corrected from the source material’s blank field, based on Chalker’s own account of a twilight sighting

Location: Earle Page College, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia (recorded in the source material only as “Australia”; corrected here based on Chalker’s own account)

Urban or Rural: Urban (university campus)

No. of Entity(‘s): None documented

Entity Type: None documented

Entity Description: None documented

Hynek Classification: DD (Daylight Disc) — retained per the source material; a twilight sighting of a metallic, well-defined object, consistent with this classification despite its egg rather than disc shape, which DD covers broadly under Hynek’s original usage

Duration: Approximately 15 seconds of direct observation, until obscured by college buildings

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): A metallic, egg-shaped object with a well-defined outline and no noticeable surface protrusions; moved in a horizontal trajectory from north to south at a speed comparable to a low-flying light plane, and appeared completely silent, in contrast to the noisy aircraft that regularly passed over the university

Shape of Object(s): Egg-shaped

Size of Object(s): Described as sizable; subtended an angular size of roughly one inch at arm’s length, giving Chalker the subjective impression of a substantial object at several hundred feet altitude, though he noted no way to confirm that impression with certainty

Color of Object(s): Metallic

Distance to Object(s): Not documented in absolute terms; estimated altitude of several hundred feet

Height & Speed: Estimated at several hundred feet altitude, moving at a speed roughly comparable to a low-flying light aircraft

Number of Witnesses: 3 — Bill Chalker and two unnamed students, whose brief exchange (“Do you see that?” / “Yes, but I don’t want to.”) drew Chalker’s attention to the object before he saw it himself

Special Features/Characteristics: Chalker actively attempted to identify the object as an aircraft or balloon by running through the college buildings to regain a clear view, but found nothing in the sky at all, despite this vantage point offering a considerable panoramic view; the sighting occurred during a week of heavy tabloid coverage of a separate, contemporaneous “mystery light” reported at Taree, NSW, which Chalker independently confirmed to be a misidentification of Venus; on the same day, Chalker had also been told of a separate, unrelated apparition reported that morning near Armidale, later associated with what he refers to as the Mount Butler affair

Case Status: Unexplained — reported directly by a credentialed UFO researcher who actively and unsuccessfully attempted to identify the object using conventional explanations, corroborated by two independent student witnesses who noticed the object before he did

Source: Bill Chalker (personal account)

Summary/Description: Australian UFO researcher Bill Chalker witnessed a metallic, egg-shaped object cross the twilight sky above his college campus at the University of New England, Armidale, in September 1972, after noticing two students already watching it. He was unable to identify the object despite an active attempt to do so, and it vanished from view before he could regain sight of it from another vantage point.

Related Cases: None documented — Chalker notes the same week saw unrelated, heavily publicized tabloid coverage of a mystery light at Taree, NSW, which he separately identified as Venus, and references a distinct same-day apparition report near Armidale (the “Mount Butler affair”) not covered on this page

Detailed Report

At about 5:50 p.m. on September 15, 1972, Bill Chalker was crossing the grounds of Earle Page College, his residence at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales, returning from a chemistry practical class with dinner on his mind. His attention was drawn to two students he did not know, both intently watching something in the sky. As he approached, he overheard one ask, “Do you see that?” and the other reply, “Yes, but I don’t want to.” Curious, Chalker turned to follow their gaze and saw a metallic, egg-shaped object crossing the twilight sky on a horizontal path from north to south, moving at a speed comparable to a low-flying light aircraft.

The object remained in view for approximately 15 seconds before being obscured by college buildings. Chalker immediately ran through the buildings to a vantage point offering a considerable panoramic view, but found the object was no longer visible anywhere in the sky. He noted that any conventional explanation — an aircraft, a balloon, or similar prosaic possibility — should still have been observable from that position, given the clear sightlines available.

The object subtended an angular size of roughly one inch at arm’s length, giving Chalker the subjective impression of a sizable object flying at several hundred feet, though he was careful to note there was no way to confirm that impression with certainty. It appeared completely silent, a marked contrast to the frequent, noisy aircraft traffic over the university, and its outline appeared well-defined with no visible surface protrusions.

Chalker noted that the same week had seen extensive Sydney tabloid coverage — particularly in the Daily Mirror, with front-page photos and prominent headlines — of a separate “mystery light” reported on several consecutive mornings at Taree, on the New South Wales mid-north coast. He was able to quickly confirm his own suspicion that the Taree apparition was simply Venus, a conclusion that received considerably less prominent coverage once confirmed than the original story had. Separately, he had been told earlier that same day of a bizarre apparition — described as resembling “a monk in a shroud” — reported around 3 a.m. on a property west of Armidale, an incident he later associated with what became known as the Mount Butler affair, a site he describes as subsequently associated with reported UFO activity as well.

Researcher’s Notes

Bill Chalker’s Personal Sighting — 1972 and the Value of a Skeptical Witness

The witness count was undercounted in the original record. The source material lists a single witness, but Chalker’s own narrative is explicit that two other students noticed the object before he did, and their brief, uneasy exchange is what drew his attention in the first place. This is a three-witness case, not a single-witness one.
Chalker’s own skeptical methodology, applied here to his own experience, adds real weight. This is the same researcher who, within the same account, independently and correctly identified a separate, heavily hyped contemporary UFO story as Venus. Seeing him apply that same rigor to his own sighting — actively searching for a conventional explanation immediately after the fact, rather than assuming a non-mundane cause — is a useful model of how a careful witness should behave, and it strengthens rather than undermines the credibility of his account.
The location correction matters for anyone trying to research this case further. “Australia” as a location field is essentially useless for follow-up; Earle Page College at the University of New England, Armidale, is a specific, real, and findable location, and using it makes this case far more useful as a reference point.
The Mount Butler reference is background, not part of this case. Chalker mentions a separate, same-day apparition report near Armidale purely as contextual color about the broader “UFO problem” he was investigating at the time. This page treats it as background only, since no further detail on that separate incident is provided here.

Bill Chalker’s personal sighting stands out less for any single striking detail and more for being a case where the witness’s own investigative habits — actively hunting for a mundane explanation, cross-checking a separate contemporary story, and reporting the sighting with careful hedging about what he could and couldn’t be certain of — are on full display within the account itself.