File 28487 · June 26–28, 1959
Boianai / Father Gill CE3
Boianai Mission, Goodenough Bay, Papua New Guinea
Opened 9/10/2026
Sighting photograph. Image pulled from the public post. — NICAP / Cruttwell Report
Standing
Unidentified
On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.
Signed statement by 25 witnesses including Rev. Gill describes the craft, figures waving in response, and repeated appearances over three nights.
What was claimed
Anglican priest Rev. William Booth Gill and up to 38 named Papuan witnesses (teachers, medical assistants) observed a hovering platform-like object with four human-like figures on its deck over two evenings. Witnesses waved and received responses; documented in signed statements and missionary reports.
What is on the record
This file is a working record — a report, not a verdict. Official paper, if any, is linked where we have it.
On the evening of June 26, 1959, at about 6:45 p.m., Rev. William Booth Gill stepped outside the Boianai mission house and saw a bright white light hovering in the western sky. Soon a large disc- or platform-shaped craft with a deck and four humanoid figures appeared, illuminated by a blue spotlight. The figures appeared to be working on the deck. Gill and about two dozen Papuans watched; when Gill and others waved, the figures waved back. The object moved, disappeared into clouds, and reappeared multiple times that night and on subsequent evenings (June 27 and 28), with additional smaller objects. Twenty-five witnesses, including named teachers Stephen Gill Moi, Ananias Rarata, and medical staff, signed a written statement of the events. Rev. Cruttwell compiled reports from the area. The Royal Australian Air Force later reviewed but offered no definitive explanation. The case is one of the most multi-witness occupant reports with signed contemporary accounts.
Could this have been ours?
The known sky, that night.
Satellites were already up. The station was not. Starlink was not.
Always
Aircraft, balloons, meteors
Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.
The known sky
None of the above land
Stations, trains, and planets do not set down in a field or leave a body. This file is a ground report. The known sky still has to be named. It does not answer the claim.
Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.
Sources
Related files
Same craft, same place, same years. A neighbor in the catalogue — not a conclusion.
Same craft · Nearby · Same year · June 26-27, 1959
Boianai UFO Contact
Boianai · Papua New Guinea
Unidentified
Anglican priest Father William Gill and 37 other witnesses, including teachers and medical assistants, observed a hovering disc with humanoid figures on deck for several hours over two nights. Witnesses signed statements.
Same craft · Nearby · Same year · 26–27 June 1959
Father Gill, Boianai
Boianai, Papua · Papua New Guinea
Unidentified
An Anglican missionary and dozens of mission people watched a disk with humanoid figures. The figures appeared to wave back.
Same craft · Same years · 19–20 September 1961
Betty and Barney Hill
White Mountains, New Hampshire · United States
Unidentified
A couple driving south from Canada reported a craft, missing time, and — under hypnosis — an examination. The first widely published abduction file.
Same craft · Same years · April 18, 1961
Eagle River Pancake Encounter
Eagle River, Wisconsin · United States
Unidentified
Chicken farmer Joe Simonton observed a disc-shaped craft land near his home and interacted with three human-like occupants, one of whom gave him pancakes after he provided water.
Same craft · Same years · April 18, 1961
Joe Simonton and the Pancakes
Eagle River · United States
Unidentified
Chicken farmer Joe Simonton observed a silvery disc land in his yard and three short humanoid beings inside. One appeared to be cooking; Simonton provided water and received four pancakes in return. The craft departed. The pancakes were analyzed by the U.S. Air Force and NICAP. Investigated by Project Blue Book and J. Allen Hynek; Simonton's character vouched for by local officials and neighbors.
Same craft · Same years · 18 April 1961
Joe Simonton and the pancakes
Eagle River, Wisconsin · United States
Unidentified
A chicken farmer said a silvery disc landed in his yard and three short figures handed him pancakes. The cakes were real; what they were is not settled.