URECAT -> Home

Cette page en français

URECAT - UFO Related Entities Catalog

MARCH 20, 1955, KARACHI, KARACHI, PAKISTAN, FRANK J. PARKER:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

One Frank J. Parker told apparently only in 1999 via a UFO magazine that he was going in official visit to Karachi, Pakistan, during his service in the RAF, om March 23, 1955 in the afternoon, when he and others on the British aircraft approaching the city at 1000 meters altitude saw an object like a sphere of bronze color hovering above the city.

After the landing, the men moved towards Karachi in a bus of a convoy of vehicles, and still spotted the same object or a similar object, this time under the aspect of a disc which hovered apparently right above the city.

It is said that the military personnel on the convoy estimated that the object hovered approximately 100 or 150 meters above the ground.

When the convoy turned a corner, they encountered thousands of people massed ahead of them, many kneeling down with their hands joined like praying, but looking in towards the disc. The several thousands of people, up to 30.000, prevented the convoy from continuing, therefore Parker and the others went down and joined the crowd, staring at the object.

There was no panic among the crowd. Advancing carefully above and around the people, who were on their knees or crouched, Parker and some of the other men eventually stopped within approximately 60 meters of the bottom of the disc, which they estimated to be at least 50 meters broad and two or three floors high, and now hovering approximately 40 meters above the ground.

They are said to have seen what they could only describe as bolts perfectly lined on the object; which seemed to be made of a metal of bronze color, to have footbridges, scales, port-holes and antennas, and a large black hole below. They also saw what to resembled fans, and Parker counted eight rotors.

Above the saucer, they could see a translucent dome, which was lighted from the inside and released a pinkish-red light. There were red, green and blue lights twinkling from the dome.

The craft seemed oddly and strongly dirty, as if it had collected much dirt and dust in its travels.

Every few seconds, there were a "whooshing" noise accompanied by sparks and "effects like lasers", and each time the machine oscillated. This occurred several times, leading Parker to think that the craft had engine troubles. From time to time, it ejected smoke downwards, which released a strong oil odor, but curiously, the smoke never reached the ground and seemed to evaporate.

The craft is said to have produced a constant noise similar to that of a jet plane engine, but not nearly that loud.

Parker says that he had the impression that he could see of people, or the silhouettes of people, behind the windows of the craft, but he was not sure about that.

After having observed the machine during a while, Parker and his friends just left the place and went for a drink, and did not see the object leaving.

Basic information table:

Narratives:

[Ref. ms1:] "MAGONIA SUPPLEMENT":

The editor writes that there are no multiple-witnesses sightings that are unexplained in ufology, because either they are multiple-witness sightings that are explained by commonplace explanations, or they are not really multiple-witness sightings because only one witness reported that there were other witnesses.

He writes that a good example of such an alleged multi-witness UFO experience has recently come to light as an account by one Frank J. Parker who claims to have seen a UFO while on an official visit to Karachi during his National Service in the RAF, when on 23 March 1955 he and others in the aircraft approaching Karachi saw an object like an orange-colored ball hovering over the city.

As he and his companions were taken into Karachi by bus from the airfield, they could still see the object, and near the centre of the city, the bus was brought to a stop by crowds of people and they had to get out and walk.

The witness is quoted:

"We turned the corner and there were thousands and thousands of people massed ahead of us. It was incredible, I shall never forget it. Thousands of people . . . there must have been at least thirty thousand in all, just knelt on the ground with their hands clasped, as if praying, only they were looking straight up at the disc."

The quote is indicated to come from Birdsall, Graham W. "Incident at Karachi", UFO Magazine (England), May/June 1999.

The author writes that Parker described the object in detail as it hovered only about 125 feet above the ground, and said that he watched it for at least an hour.

The author says that there is no reason to doubt that Parker was in Karachi on the day in question, but there is every reason to doubt that he really saw what he says he saw there, because in this instance there are thousands of alleged witnesses, but it is a safe bet that no independent witnesses will be found to corroborate the story and that no records of the incident will be found in the archives of Karachi newspapers.

[Ref. ar1:] ALBERT ROSALES:

Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Karachi, Pakistan, on March 20, 1955, in the afternoon, several witnesses onboard a British aircraft approaching the city at 3,000 feet spotted a strange orangey-bronze colored sphere hovering over the area. Among the witnesses was John Parker a British air force man. After the craft landed the men headed towards Karachi on a convoy of vehicles and again spotted the same or similar object hovering low over the city. This time the object resembled a disc, and apparently was hovering directly over the city. The military personnel on the convoy estimated the object to be hovering at about 300-400 ft above the ground. As the convoy turned a corner they encountered thousands of people massed ahead of them, most had knelt to the ground with their hands clasped, as if praying, only they were looking straight up at the disc. The crowd impeded the convoy of buses to continue so the men, including Parker disembarked and joined the crowd in staring at the object. There was no panic among the crowd. Carefully stepping over and around people, who were either knelt or crouched, Frank and some of the other men eventually came to a stop some 60 yards from the underside of the disc. They estimated the disc to have been at least 150ft across and two to three stories high. The craft was now hovering about 125ft off the ground, and the men saw what they could only describe as perfectly aligned rivets on the object. It appeared to be made out of a bronze colored metal, complete with catwalks, ladders, portholes and aerials. At the underside they saw a large black hole. They also saw what looked like fans and Parker counted eight rotors, and every few seconds there would be a "whooshing" sound and that created sparks and an array of laser-like effects. Whenever this occurred, the entire craft would swing to the left and right and then come back again. This happened several times leading Parker to believe that the craft was experiencing engine problems. Every now and then the craft ejected smoke towards the ground and this gave off a strong smell of oil, but curiously, this never reached the ground, it just seemed to evaporate. The craft made a constant noise not dissimilar to jet engine propulsion, but nothing as loud. Parker got the impression that he could see people, or the shapes of people on the other side of the windows, but he couldn't be sure. At the top of the saucer they could see a translucent dome, which was lit from the inside and gave off a pinkish red light. There were red, green and blue flashing lights outside the dome. Another curious observation was that the craft looked heavily stained, as if it had traveled some distance in order to collect all this muck and dust. Incredibly after observing the craft for some time, Parker and his friends left the square and went for a drink, they did not see the object depart.

Albert Rosales indicates that the source is Graham W. Birdsall, UFO Magazine, May/June 1999.

Albert Rosales comments that there are other reports on record of apparently metallic "nuts and bolt" craft, which appeared "stained" or "ancient" in appearance. The large number of witnesses could be a "record" in CE3 events.

Points to consider:

In addition to the not very credible looks of this UFO with fans, scales, footbridges and bolts, in addition to the incontrovertible fact that that an event with thousands of witnesses would have been almost inevitably corroborated by others or mentioned in the local and world press as other UFO events were, in addition to the quite late testimony, in addition to the likelihood that this was probably just some letter to a UFO magazine without any further investigation, I must recall that Pakistan is a primarily Muslim country, and that the Islamic prayer is never with joined hands, but with the hands on the knees.

This is why there is indeed reason to doubt that there ever was a Parker officer in Karachi that day at all.

List of issues:

Evaluation:

Probable invention.

Sources references:

* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.

• [---] ? "Incident at Karachi", article by Graham W. Birdsall, in UFO Magazine, U-K., May/June 1999
• [ms1] * Article in the skeptical ufology bulletin MAGONIA Monthly Supplement, #15, May 1999, at www.users.waitrose.com/~magonia/ms15.htm
• [ar1] * "1955 Humanoid Reports", compiled by Albert Rosales, circa 2001, at www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1955.shtml

Document history:

Authoring

Changes history

Feedback  |  Top  |  Back  |  Forward  |  Map  |  List |  Home

This page was last updated on February 9, 2008