I've heard a few UFO stories in my time and they make good campfire chat. Being someone who is open to these things, I had always wanted to visit Wycliffe Well, the 'UFO Centre' of Australia. Last year the morning TV show 'Sunrise' were there and interviewed 2 old blokes about their experiences and they were so serious and adamant that they had seen them. I thought they were nutty as did the presenters. Well as were setting up camp a worker who had been there a long time was over for a chat and when we asked him about all this talk of UFO's he told us a few stories, one which happened only a week or so ago. We has sitting down the back of the park with his missus enjoying a twilight beer when they saw what they thought was a shooting star. When it 'hit' the ground however, it came back up again and headed towards the park. The speed it travelled was incredible and when it got to the park it flew over a line of trees, downing branches as it flew over them. The sound was like a mix of washing machine at high speed and a vacuum. A semi-trailer was driving past on the highway and it flew and hovered above that. Another truckie behind this one radioed to him about this weird light above his truck and actually filmed it (on what I don't know). The light then dropped back and hovered over the second truck for a while before shooting off. The tape was handed into the police and they still hadn't heard anything back from them.
Admittedly I was close to laughing at this stage and another camper who wandered over for a listen was looking at me with raised eyebrows and I think both our thoughts was that this bloke was pulling our leg and any minute he would blurt out that us tourists would believe anything. But he didn't. He kept a straight face through the whole story and told us other weird things that have happened. Even the Army were there years ago to investigate a weird light that re-appeared every night for 28 straight. We had a bit to do with this guy during our 2 nights there and when anything about UFO's came up he maintained his straight approach and told the stories like he didn't care what we thought because he knew what he had seen. I'm fast forwarding a bit here but days later we were in Alice Springs and the owner of the park was on local radio as it was up for sale after 23 years of ownership. Naturally the interviewer asked about the UFO's and the owner told the same story as the one above and spoke about the whole topic as if there was no question about their existence because he (and lots of others) had seen so many over the years it was just a given that they're out there. For the record we looked but didn't see anything other than some flashing lights that looked like planes lights but then stopped – for 2 nights in a row!
Back to the park itself it was really well done. There were 'aliens' everywhere, a mix of statues (Elvis, The Phantom, The Hulk and others), nearly every wall and fence had great murals painted on them (mostly space stuff), they had their own train that was free to ride on, and the usual park stuff like a pool. The reception had heaps of cut-outs from newspapers and magazine on UFO's and a visitor's book detailing their own experiences (we didn't get to read that). A fascinating place to stop if you're up this way, so keep your eyes skywards and a camera handy. Don't worry about being abducted, it appears they only like to look and not touch…
Another interesting tie-in to this story. At the near-by Devils Marbles (Karlu Karlu) there is information about the park and how it relates to the local Aboriginal people. One story is a warning from an elder who tells of the people who live in caves under the rocks. These people take you away and you never come back. They look like real people but when they talk to you, you can't escape and you somehow do what they tell you to (like you're hypnotised). One spoke to this elder when he was a boy walking to the creek for some water but his mum saved him. His cousin though went for a walk and they never found him again. Because of these people under the rocks and this story, the Aboriginal people never ever camped near the Devils Marbles. Interesting how most of the Aboriginal stories we have read in National Parks have come from the Dream Time but this story came from someone who is probably still living. Aliens? Who knows...Spooky.
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