The Eumemmering Creek Incident

The experience of Victorian woman Kelly Cahill is a distinctive case with two independent witnesses and physical trace evidence. Kelly’s experience began when driving home with her husband through the foothills of the Dandenongs east of Melbourne, during the early hours of 8 August 1993.

Narre Warren is a suburb in Melbourne’s east, right on the fringe of the city. It sits at the foot of the Dandenongs, the scenic mountain range that is a popular weekend getaway for inner city residents.

Running between Narre Warren and the mountains is the Belgrave-Hallam Road; a two lane arterial route that winds past market gardens, farmland and stands of state forest.

27 year old Kelly was travelling to the Dandenongs with her husband to visit with some friends. They stayed for a barbecue, and took the Belgrave-Hallam Road when they headed for home.

It was late, near midnight, and the road was deserted. Driving along the dark road, they suddenly witnessed a massive UFO land in the paddock opposite them. Kelly swore to her husband that she could see beings inside the craft.

The object was near the roadside, and large, dark, coloured and circular craft, with ring of orange lights around the circumference, hovering just off the ground.

As they watched the UFO, Kelly noticed another car with a man and a woman inside also watching the strange craft. When these witnesses were later tracked down, they were not only able to corroborate Kelly’s story, but they revealed yet another car was on the road that night also and that the male driver was “gazing fixedly toward the encounter site”.

Kelly remembers a bright flash of light, and seemingly a moment later, the couple woke up in the car, they had apparently gone to sleep, now careening at high speed towards a bend in the road. They screeched to a halt in a squall of brakes and tyre squealing.

While they tried to get their bearings, the realised it was suddenly an hour later this time was unaccounted for.

When she got home, Kelly Cahill realised that she had a triangular mark on her navel, that had not been there previously.

Over the next few weeks, other memories from her mysterious drive home began to surface.

Eventually she was able to recall stopping the car when she saw the craft, and getting out with her husband to investigate. The occupants of the two other cars on the road did the same. The group of onlookers then saw something incredible; a number of tall, skinny aliens, with glowing red eyes appeared in the front of the craft.

‘I felt this blow to my stomach and went flying in the air and I heard my husband say, let go of me and this male voice that said, 'I mean you no harm'. I thought I was going to die.’

Kelly described the force that knocked her over as ‘like an electrical charge’. It left her feeling nauseous, and also temporarily blind.

The last thing she remembers is one of the beings grabbing her shoulder, and fighting to get out of its grasp. The next thing she remembered was that she was back in her car.

John Auchettl, an investigator with Paranormal Research Australia, interviewed Kelly many times, voted the site and examined the scene with Kelly, where unusual radiation and magnetic readings were detected. He and the PRA placed an ad in local newspapers in an effort to find the occupants of the second car.

Remarkably, they got a response and Mr Auchettl said the stories from the second car were identical to the Cahill's, but provided addition information about their experiences inside the craft where they were strapped to a table and examined by the beings. The other witnesses have never been publicly named, choosing anonymity due to the stigma associated with UFO cases and abduction reporting.

In 1997, Kelly wrote a book about her experience - Encounter - where she recounted the events of the night she saw the craft in more detail. Chronic headaches, strange visions, and mysterious appearances of a black helicopter following her and hovering over her house.

Encounter was released in a limited print run; 20,000 copies in Australia, and 20,000 more overseas. It has never been reissued.