The Pair of Cats
a.k.a Philip Deane
...taken from the UFO Research Queensland (Australia) Casefiles.
The Knowles Family Nullabor Plain Experience
January 20 1988 was the day that the Knowles family and their two dogs had an unexplainable experience whilst
travelling across the Nullarbor Plain in the early hours of the morning.
At about 4.00am, Faye Knowles and her sons Patrick, 24, Sean, 21, and Wayne 18 were between Madura and Mundrabilla
with Sean driving and Patrick next to him in the front seat when a bright light was seen ahead of them. Sean
thought the light strange and asked his brother if he thought it was a spaceship. This idea was rejected by his
brother, but Sean’s interest was piqued and he sped the car up in order to catch up to the object and get a closer
look. At about 20 metres from the object the family say they were confronted with a white blinding light that moved
along in front of their moving vehicle. It was about 1 metre wide and described as a slightly angular egg in an
egg-cup shape with a yellow centre. The object, which at first appeared to be either on the ground or immediately
above it then began to move back and forth. Sean swerved the car to the opposite side of the road to avoid a
collision with the object, but then nearly collided with a station wagon towing a caravan coming in the other
direction. (The occupants of this second car have never come forward) The object then circled around to the right
side of their car and appeared to give chase to the second vehicle towing the caravan. The Knowles made at 2 u-
turns at this point, the first to give chase to the object, and the second to abandon this idea as they had grown
frightened. They had at this point gained the idea that the object was after them.
At some point the family felt that the UFO had returned and had landed on their vehicle. They heard a clunking
sound and felt that the car was being pushed down by a weight that rested on top of it.
By now the family was understandably frightened, and the following events are difficult to unravel in retrospect.
The family believed that the car was lifted above the road, though none of them were able to estimate for how long
or how high. Mrs Knowles wound down a rear window and reached for the roof. She felt something soft and rubbery
that was hot but did not burn her hand, and when she brought her hand back into the car she found it covered in a
blackish dust. This event caused a panic in the rest of the family. Patrick wound down his window, only to be
covered in the fine dust, which was accompanied by a foul smell that was likened to dead bodies. A high-pitched
sound was then heard, which sent the dogs into a frenzy. The family became disoriented and felt that their voices
had become slower, and lower in pitch. They believed at this point that they were going to die. Patrick said that
he felt that his ‘brain was being sucked out’, and Mrs Knowles likened it to having something ‘going into our
heads’.
A while later, the family felt the car forced back down onto the road, bursting the rear right tyre. Sean brought
the car to a sudden stop and then blacked out. The family left the car hurriedly and hid in some bushes by the side
of the road. They remained there for 15 minutes before changing the tyre and continuing on to the nearest town.
Unknown to the Knowles’, a truck driver, Mr Graham Henley also saw, at the same time and in the same area, a
strange light in his rear view mirror. He described as being like a strong spotlight and like a ‘big fried egg hung
upside down”. He kept the object in view for 5 minutes and did not see any car headlights beneath it. Shortly after
Henley pulled into Mundrabilla, he saw the Knowles’ car arrive, and was confronted by the frightened family all
trying to describe their experience. He looked over their car and confirmed the presence of black ash in various
areas, both inside and on the exterior of the vehicle, and likened it to fine silicon sand with a burnt odour to
it. He also noted four indents in the roof of the car and the damaged tyre. Henley and two of his friends also
surveyed the scene of the incident, finding skid marks, footprints and tread tracks that they felt confirmed the
Knowles account of their incident.
The family had by this time arrived at Ceduna and been interviewed by the police there, who confirmed that the
family were visibly shaken. They also reconfirmed the presence of the four dents and the fine dust. UFO Research
South Australia was contacted and arrangements were made for the Knowles’ to continue to Adelaide for further
investigation. Keith Basterfield was at this stage brought into the investigation, and he stated that it “appeared
to be an extraordinary example of a close encounter that had left physical traces.” However, owing to the story
reaching the media, serious investigation became obstructed by chequebook journalism, with investigators needing to
mediate with a television station to be able to talk to the Knowles’. The TV station did, however, commission a
laboratory investigation of the vehicle, which concluded that ‘no significant dust was observed on the vehicle as
presented for inspection’. UFO researchers did manage to obtain samples themselves, which they forwarded to Dr
Richard Haines, a NASA scientist at the time, who concluded that the dust taken from the interior of the car was
different to the dust sampled from the exterior. Further tests by different analysts have provided no evidence of
it being alien or unusual.
Unfortunately none of this is conclusive. There were other UFO reports in the same area at the same time, which
tends to imply that something unusual occurred. The only conclusion we can safely come to though, is that something
happened, and that the family witnessed an unusual light and were extremely frightened by its effects. All we have
is an interesting story, and still no clear idea of exactly what happened.R][/LEFT][/INDENT]
The Knowles Family Nullabor Plain Experience
January 20 1988 was the day that the Knowles family and their two dogs had an unexplainable experience whilst
travelling across the Nullarbor Plain in the early hours of the morning.
At about 4.00am, Faye Knowles and her sons Patrick, 24, Sean, 21, and Wayne 18 were between Madura and Mundrabilla
with Sean driving and Patrick next to him in the front seat when a bright light was seen ahead of them. Sean
thought the light strange and asked his brother if he thought it was a spaceship. This idea was rejected by his
brother, but Sean’s interest was piqued and he sped the car up in order to catch up to the object and get a closer
look. At about 20 metres from the object the family say they were confronted with a white blinding light that moved
along in front of their moving vehicle. It was about 1 metre wide and described as a slightly angular egg in an
egg-cup shape with a yellow centre. The object, which at first appeared to be either on the ground or immediately
above it then began to move back and forth. Sean swerved the car to the opposite side of the road to avoid a
collision with the object, but then nearly collided with a station wagon towing a caravan coming in the other
direction. (The occupants of this second car have never come forward) The object then circled around to the right
side of their car and appeared to give chase to the second vehicle towing the caravan. The Knowles made at 2 u-
turns at this point, the first to give chase to the object, and the second to abandon this idea as they had grown
frightened. They had at this point gained the idea that the object was after them.
At some point the family felt that the UFO had returned and had landed on their vehicle. They heard a clunking
sound and felt that the car was being pushed down by a weight that rested on top of it.
By now the family was understandably frightened, and the following events are difficult to unravel in retrospect.
The family believed that the car was lifted above the road, though none of them were able to estimate for how long
or how high. Mrs Knowles wound down a rear window and reached for the roof. She felt something soft and rubbery
that was hot but did not burn her hand, and when she brought her hand back into the car she found it covered in a
blackish dust. This event caused a panic in the rest of the family. Patrick wound down his window, only to be
covered in the fine dust, which was accompanied by a foul smell that was likened to dead bodies. A high-pitched
sound was then heard, which sent the dogs into a frenzy. The family became disoriented and felt that their voices
had become slower, and lower in pitch. They believed at this point that they were going to die. Patrick said that
he felt that his ‘brain was being sucked out’, and Mrs Knowles likened it to having something ‘going into our
heads’.
A while later, the family felt the car forced back down onto the road, bursting the rear right tyre. Sean brought
the car to a sudden stop and then blacked out. The family left the car hurriedly and hid in some bushes by the side
of the road. They remained there for 15 minutes before changing the tyre and continuing on to the nearest town.
Unknown to the Knowles’, a truck driver, Mr Graham Henley also saw, at the same time and in the same area, a
strange light in his rear view mirror. He described as being like a strong spotlight and like a ‘big fried egg hung
upside down”. He kept the object in view for 5 minutes and did not see any car headlights beneath it. Shortly after
Henley pulled into Mundrabilla, he saw the Knowles’ car arrive, and was confronted by the frightened family all
trying to describe their experience. He looked over their car and confirmed the presence of black ash in various
areas, both inside and on the exterior of the vehicle, and likened it to fine silicon sand with a burnt odour to
it. He also noted four indents in the roof of the car and the damaged tyre. Henley and two of his friends also
surveyed the scene of the incident, finding skid marks, footprints and tread tracks that they felt confirmed the
Knowles account of their incident.
The family had by this time arrived at Ceduna and been interviewed by the police there, who confirmed that the
family were visibly shaken. They also reconfirmed the presence of the four dents and the fine dust. UFO Research
South Australia was contacted and arrangements were made for the Knowles’ to continue to Adelaide for further
investigation. Keith Basterfield was at this stage brought into the investigation, and he stated that it “appeared
to be an extraordinary example of a close encounter that had left physical traces.” However, owing to the story
reaching the media, serious investigation became obstructed by chequebook journalism, with investigators needing to
mediate with a television station to be able to talk to the Knowles’. The TV station did, however, commission a
laboratory investigation of the vehicle, which concluded that ‘no significant dust was observed on the vehicle as
presented for inspection’. UFO researchers did manage to obtain samples themselves, which they forwarded to Dr
Richard Haines, a NASA scientist at the time, who concluded that the dust taken from the interior of the car was
different to the dust sampled from the exterior. Further tests by different analysts have provided no evidence of
it being alien or unusual.
Unfortunately none of this is conclusive. There were other UFO reports in the same area at the same time, which
tends to imply that something unusual occurred. The only conclusion we can safely come to though, is that something
happened, and that the family witnessed an unusual light and were extremely frightened by its effects. All we have
is an interesting story, and still no clear idea of exactly what happened.R][/LEFT][/INDENT]
