In June 1959, Anglican missionary Father William Gill and about 38 witnesses at Boianai, Papua New Guinea reported a large craft with humanoid figures on top. The case became one of the most discussed close encounters on record — and it rests entirely on written testimony.
Father Gill matters because it is a rare multi-witness close-encounter account with a named clergyman and careful written documentation — yet it has no photographic record and the figures remain unverified.
Father William Gill was an Anglican missionary at Boianai. On the evening of 26 June 1959, he and about 38 witnesses reported a large craft hovering in the sky.
Documented
Father Gill’s written accounts and the ~38-witness reports are documented.
The object was described as a large disc-shaped or cylindrical craft, with what appeared to be humanoid figures moving on top. The observation reportedly recurred over multiple evenings.
Documented
The written descriptions of a craft and figures are documented.
The reported humanoid figures are the most striking element of the account — and the least supported. No photograph or independent physical evidence establishes them. They remain a central point of debate.
Debated
Whether the figures were real or a misperception is contested.
J. Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallée later recorded the case, giving it lasting standing in UAP literature. It remains a written-testimony case.
Unverified
The humanoid figures as established beings, and any extraterrestrial origin, are unverified.
These sources do different jobs: Gill’s correspondence is the primary account, and Hynek and Vallée provide the research record. None establishes the figures as real.
The canonical research account.
The case in the folklore-adjacent research tradition.
The missionary’s own documentation.