The Night the Forest Fell in Guizhou
One night in 1994, witnesses saw glowing lights pass with a roar like a train. In the morning, a swathe of forest lay snapped and flattened.
What was reported
Late on 30 November 1994, people near Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, saw glowing balls of light in the sky and heard a loud rumbling, like a train passing. The next morning, large areas of pine forest in the Duxi forest farm were found flattened, with trees snapped off in strips.
A nearby factory was also damaged, with roofs torn and a railway wagon pushed along its track. Chinese UFO researchers investigated, and the event became one of China's best-known UFO cases.
Explanations offered
Meteorologists and other scientists concluded the damage was most likely caused by a downburst or a tornado, powerful winds from a storm cell that can flatten trees in strips. The lights may have been lightning. Some researchers say the pattern of damage was unusual.
- When
- 30 November 1994
- Where
- Duxi forest, near Guiyang, Guizhou, China
- Witnesses
- Residents and factory workers
- Status
- Mostly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.