The Knowles Family Encounter
Driving across the Nullarbor before dawn, a family said a glowing light came down onto their car and lifted it off the road.
What was reported
In the early hours of 20 January 1988, Faye Knowles and her three adult sons were driving east across the Nullarbor Plain when they saw a bright light on the road ahead. They said it followed them, came down onto the roof of the car, and lifted it off the road before dropping it, bursting a tyre.
They said the car filled with a dark ash and a strange smell, and that their voices sounded distorted. A truck driver who later met them said they were clearly frightened, and the story made headlines around the world.
Explanations offered
Investigators who examined the car found nothing unusual in the dust. Sceptics suggest the family saw the lights of an oncoming truck, made strange by the flat desert and a mirage, and that a tyre blowout caused the rest. The family stood by their account.
- When
- 20 January 1988
- Where
- Eyre Highway near Mundrabilla, Western Australia
- Witnesses
- Faye Knowles and her three sons
- Status
- Disputed
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.