By Tim Binnall
A newly discovered letter detailing a flying saucer sighting in 1953 will soon be up for sale at an auction in England. Found among items purchased at a flea market, the decades-old account was reportedly penned by witness Barbara Graves of Durban, South Africa. Writing to her friend Muriel Armfield in England, she amusingly began the story with "I hope you don't think I've taken to the bottle" before revealing that she and her husband, Tom, had recently spotted a flying saucer.
Graves subsequently recalled how the couple had been visiting Durban's Botanical Gardens when, to her astonishment, "I spied a round object in the sky, very high and moving." Stressing that the sky was "perfectly cloudless," she recounted how "we watched it travel a good distance, and then it seemed to remain in the same spot for quite a long time - then went higher and higher until it was lost from our sight." Graves told her friend that she and her husband were certain the flying saucer was not an airplane and, like many modern-day UFO witnesses, expressed regret that their camera was unable to capture the curious object that had appeared before them.
Mark Wilkinson of Sworders Auctioneers, which is handling the forthcoming sale, marveled that the missive is significant because it constitutes "a genuine surviving first-hand UFO eyewitness account" from an era when people were reticent to share their stories for fear of being doubted or ridiculed. "Personal letters of this nature were seldom preserved, with many lost or discarded over the years," he explained, "and many witnesses choosing only to confide in trusted individuals rather than speak publicly." He also noted that Grave's account is particularly intriguing as, unbeknownst to her at the time, two South African pilots also reported a flying saucer over Durban the day of her sighting. Set to be auctioned on August 18th, the rare letter is expected to fetch between $400 and $600.