THINK ABOUTIT UFO SIGHTING REPORT

1996 North Croydon, Victoria UFO Sighting:

Father and Sons Witness Close-Range Craft

Driving home on a clear October night in 1996, a Victorian father spotted two enormous, bright lights hovering low over a hill near his home in North Croydon — and instead of it passing on, it stayed. Over the next several minutes, he and his two teenage sons watched the object from just 80 metres away, close enough to make out rows of portholes, tiny red and blue lights, and at one point what looked like an interior light shining out like a car’s dashboard glow through a windscreen. When it disappeared, they grabbed binoculars and chased it to higher ground to watch it depart toward Warrandyte.

Date: October 8, 1996

Sighting Time: 11:00 p.m.

Day/Night: Night

Location: North Croydon and Wonga Park, Victoria, Australia

Urban or Rural: Suburban/semi-rural

No. of Entity(‘s): None documented

Entity Type: None documented

Entity Description: None documented

Hynek Classification: CE-I (Close Encounter I) — corrected from the source material’s original NL. At approximately 80 metres’ distance with clearly resolved structural detail (portholes, multiple light arrangements, an apparent interior light), this goes well beyond a simple nocturnal point light and fits close-range structural observation

Duration: 5 to 9 minutes for the initial close observation, with a second, separate viewing after the family relocated to Wonga Park

No. of Object(s): 1

Description of the Object(s): A large bright light at either end, with 4 or possibly 5 smaller lights in between; small, not easily visible red and blue lights positioned behind the large end lights, resembling portholes; at one point the large light on the leading end went dark, revealing a dimmer light from within, compared by the witness to a car’s interior light shining through a windscreen; later observed through binoculars to have a row of 5 or 6 small green lights along its underside; completely silent throughout; the same side of the object appeared to face the witnesses regardless of its direction of travel

Shape of Object(s): Disc/cigar

Size of Object(s): Not documented numerically

Color of Object(s): Large bright white lights at either end; small red and blue lights behind them; a row of small green lights visible underneath on later observation

Distance to Object(s): Approximately 80 metres at closest observation

Height & Speed: Approximately 40 to 50 metres (roughly 130–165 feet) above the ground, estimated by the witnesses’ position relative to a streetlight and nearby trees; moved slowly throughout

Number of Witnesses: 3 direct witnesses — the reporting father and his two sons, aged 18 and 17

Special Features/Characteristics: The object made no sound at any point; a distant jet engine sound was heard just before the object disappeared from view, which the witness explicitly noted did not come from the object itself, given its close proximity and duration of silent observation up to that point; unable to find a camera or binoculars initially, the witness’s wife later located the binoculars, allowing the family to pursue and re-observe the object from a higher vantage point in Wonga Park; all three witnesses independently produced drawings of the object afterward

Case Status: Unexplained — a detailed, close-range, multi-witness family sighting reported directly to VUFORS, supported by three independently drawn sketches

Source: Victorian UFO Research Society (VUFORS), Australia

Summary/Description: A father and his two teenage sons in North Croydon, Victoria watched a large, silent, disc/cigar-shaped object with multiple lights and apparent portholes hover and slowly travel at close range (approximately 80 metres) for 5 to 9 minutes on the night of October 8, 1996. After losing sight of it, the family relocated to higher ground in Wonga Park and observed it again as it continued toward Warrandyte.

Related Cases: None documented

Detailed Report

Drawing by the 17-year-old son.

Father’s drawing of the object.

Drawing by the 18-year-old son.

Driving home along Humber Road in North Croydon, Victoria after a meeting on the night of October 8, 1996, the witness noticed two very large, bright lights to his right, resembling car headlights. He slowed until reaching a clear vantage point free of trees and houses, finding the object extremely low, just above a nearby hill, heading slowly westward toward him.

He continued home, losing sight of the object behind trees near his house. Unable to locate a camera or binoculars, he went back outside with his two eldest sons, aged 18 and 17. The object was again visible, now approximately 80 metres away and 40 to 50 metres above the ground — estimates based on the witnesses’ position relative to a streetlight and the surrounding trees. It made no sound at any point; only just before it disappeared from view did the family hear a distant jet engine, which the witness was careful to note could not have come from the object itself, given how close it had remained and for how long. The full sighting lasted between 5 and 9 minutes.

At its closest point, the object displayed a large bright light at each end, with four or possibly five smaller lights arranged between them. Behind the large end lights, faint red and blue lights were visible, resembling portholes. At one stage, the large light at the leading end went dark, revealing a dimmer light from within — an effect the witness compared to a car’s interior light glowing out through its windscreen. The family then lost sight of the object.

The witness’s wife subsequently located the family’s binoculars, prompting the father and his two sons to drive to higher ground in Wonga Park for a better view. They spotted the object again ahead of their vehicle traveling north on Yarra Road before it turned west. Parking to watch, they observed it continuing west toward Warrandyte, at which point the witness noted through binoculars a row of five or six small green lights along its underside. Regardless of the direction the object traveled, the same side consistently faced the observers.

Researcher’s Notes

The North Croydon/Wonga Park Sighting — 1996 and Three Independent Sketches

• This is a CE-I case, not NL. Eighty metres is well within close-encounter range, and the level of structural detail described — porthole-like lights, an interior glow, a defined underside light row — goes far beyond what NL is meant to capture.
• Three independently produced drawings are a genuinely valuable form of corroboration. Having the father and both sons each sketch the object separately, rather than working from a single collaborative description, allows direct comparison of their individual recollections — a stronger evidentiary structure than a single combined account.
• The witness’s explicit distinction between the object’s silence and the later jet engine sound is a careful, credibility-strengthening detail. Rather than letting an ambiguous noise get folded into the object’s description, he specifically flagged that the jet sound was unrelated — the kind of precise, self-correcting observation that strengthens rather than muddies an account.
• The object consistently presenting the same face to the witnesses regardless of its direction of travel is a distinctive, hard-to-explain detail. This page notes it as reported without speculating on a mechanism, since the source material offers no further explanation.
• The family’s decision to actively pursue the object for a second viewing reflects a genuinely engaged, rather than merely startled, response. Relocating to higher ground specifically to get a better look, rather than simply going back inside, adds to the sense that this was a sustained, deliberate observation rather than a fleeting glance.

The North Croydon/Wonga Park sighting stands out for its combination of close range, sustained duration, and — rare in this archive — three separate family members each producing their own independent sketch of what they saw.

“No matter what direction the object was travelling in, the same side appeared to face us.”

— witness account, North Croydon, Victoria, October 1996