Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, myths, ancient artifacts, religion, strange facts, odd sightings or just the plain unexplainable.
There’s ghosts, there’s UFOs, and then sometimes the two groups get together and have a real freaky lookin’ baby. They say the act itself is usually preluded with some smooth R&B after a night at the theatre and a nice dinner that costs more than $20 for the both of ’em.
The end result is something called Phantom Planes – airbuses that both look and sound real, but then disappear into nothing. Some low-flying encounters with them have been so lifelike that pedestrians have jumped for cover.
As we already said – Phantom Planes are a phenomenon wherein the ghostly structure of a plane materializes, flies for a bit and then disappears. We haven’t heard if any long-dead crew have been seen piloting the ghost-ships, but there have been some reported very close encounters – like this one from the BBC:
“The most dramatic incident which came to the attention of ufologist Margaret Fry was reported by mothers in Llangernyw, Denbighshire, as they were picking up their children from school. Several claimed they were sent running for cover as the plane – which they described as rusty, with no paint work – roared over their heads.
“In the distance it followed the landscape and dipped down in the valley at such speed that the parents felt the plane was sure to crash, but they continued to watch as it pulled up and, with “great effort”, it managed to make it over some distant hills. Margaret said there was a shocked silence after the incident before locals began calling officials to try and find out what had happened to the plane.”They were told that no such aeroplane would even be allowed to fly in that condition,” said Margaret. “
Sounds unique, right? It’s not. Here’s another account – this one first hand. It’s from a man named Tony Ingle, who was out walking his dog:
“It was very eerie…I could see the propellers going round but there was no sound..It was getting lower and lower and I thought, this thing’s going to crash…..It was bizarre…I could see it was banking as if trying to turn, and then it seemed to go down just over a hedge. I ran up the lane to see if I could see anything. I expected a plane to be in the field but there was nothing…just lambs and sheep. Everything was silent, you could hear a pin drop…”
There was no sound with that particular sighting – it’s not always the case though. In this next one – taken from a 1976 edition of the Cincinnati Post (and found on Unexplained-Mysteries.com, there were a bunch of different types of witnesses – the last of which even heard people screaming as the phantom plane was about to crash:
“Butler County, Ohio, deputies discontinued a search yesterday afternoon for a plane which reportedly had crashed in Reily Township near Imhoff and Indian Creek Roads late Wednesday night. Deputies said an amateur radio operator heard what he thought was a distress call from a plane believed to be flying from Oxford to Cincinnati about 11 p.m. About 1:45 a.m. yesterday, George Mosley, 1203 Azel Avenue, Hamilton, his son and two other boys became separated in the same area while coon hunting. During the separation the boys said they saw a white flash in the sky at treetop level, then heard screaming and a crash. Airports in Hamilton and Butler County had no record of any small craft filing a flight plan during those hours. Deputies used a plane and walked the area in search of a downed plane Wednesday night until fog set in on the Reily area. The search was continued yesterday morning and discontinued after nothing was found.”
That’s a pretty creepy account – not only did the three boys see the thing individually, but a radio operator heard a distress call completely separate from the other account.
Phantom Plane sightings don’t seem to happen too often – they’re rare enough to be pretty free from devoted debunkers, as far as our quick internet search can tell. Should any of these debunkers arise we’ve little doubt their chief arguments would have to do with tricks of light or the moon through the trees. It doesn’t answer much, but when you have to publicly expose something you can’t actually study there’s not a lot of wiggle room.
All we know is if we saw a ghost plane accompanied by terrified screams, a light emitting explosion and distressed radio calls, we’d probably think at least twice about our brand of cough syrup.
Ad we’d rub our eyes.
Eugene says
My only critique — In an era when high quality digital cameras and video cameras are common, and mid-quality cameras are ubiquitous in cell phones, where are the pictures/videos? (Same applies for bigfoot, flying saucers, close encounters of the third kind, etc.)
philip says
if one was to experience a plane flying at him, what would be the first thing u would do ? i bet run, not caring about any pictures or videos, because u get into shock / life and death situation.