The Belgian UFO wave was a time when many people in Belgium reported seeing triangular UFOs. This event happened from November 29, 1989, to April 1990.
The sightings
The Belgian UFO wave started in November 1989. Many people reported seeing strange objects in the sky, but most reports were made weeks after the events. Many of these reports described a large object flying close to the ground. Some people also said the object had a flat, triangular shape with lights below it.
The wave reached its highest point on the night of March 30, 1990. On that night, a mysterious object was tracked on radar, and two F-16 fighter jets from the Belgian Air Force were sent to investigate. Neither pilot saw the object. No public reports were received on that night, but over the next two weeks, 143 people claimed to have seen the object, all after the event. In the months that followed, more people reported seeing similar events. After the incident, the Belgian Air Force released a report explaining what happened that night.
At around 11:00 p.m. on March 30, 1990, the supervisor at the Control Reporting Center (CRC) in Glons received reports of three unusual lights moving toward Thorembais-Gembloux, a location southeast of Brussels. The CRC requested the Wavre gendarmerie to send a patrol to check the sighting.
Later reports said that about 10 minutes later, a second set of lights was seen moving toward the first triangle. The Traffic Center Control at Semmerzake tracked one object on radar and ordered two F-16 fighters from Beauvechain Air Base to investigate. After the event, witnesses described seeing the object from the ground and said the lights stayed in the same positions while slowly moving across the sky.
Over the next hour, the two F-16s tried to intercept the object nine times. On three occasions, the pilots briefly locked onto the object using radar, but these locks were later found to be on each other. The pilots did not see the object, did not observe the reported movements, and only locked onto the other F-16. Other radar contacts were explained as a known atmospheric interference called Bragg scattering.
After 12:30 a.m., radar contact became less frequent, and the last confirmed radar lock happened at 12:40 a.m. After several unconfirmed contacts, the F-16s returned to base shortly after 1:00 a.m.
Members of the Wavre gendarmerie, who had been sent to investigate the original report, described seeing four lights arranged in a square formation. The lights made short, jerky movements before gradually fading and disappearing in four directions around 1:30 a.m. They also reported hearing a low engine noise and seeing what looked like a stick with a turbine on one end, leading some to believe the object was a helicopter.
Patrick Maréchal hoax photograph
In April 1990, a photograph of a black triangular object with three lights at its corners was shared by an unnamed person. This image, called the "Petit-Rechain photo," was widely published in newspapers and other media during a time when many UFO sightings were reported. Experts from NASA, the French National Centre for Scientific Research, and the Belgian Royal Military Academy studied the photo, but none could confirm what the object was or prove it was fake. Some people questioned its authenticity because the photographer remained unknown, but others argued that this did not necessarily mean the photo was not real. For 20 years, the UFO research group Société belge d'étude des phénomènes spatiaux (SOBEPS) claimed the image was genuine, while other groups were uncertain.
On July 26, 2011, Patrick Maréchal, in an interview with the Belgian TV channel RTL, admitted that he created the photo as a joke to trick his coworkers. He explained that he made the object by cutting a piece of styrofoam into a triangle, painting it black, placing a flashlight in each corner, and hanging it from a string.
In a September 27, 2016, episode of the Skeptoid podcast titled "The Belgian UFO Wave," author Brian Dunning discussed the photo and noted that it represents the overall quality of evidence collected during the Belgian UFO wave.
Explanations
In 1992, about three years after the first sighting on November 29, 1989, in Eupen, Marc Hallet wrote an essay titled The Belgian UFO Wave or the Triumph of Misinformation. In this essay, Hallet criticized the work of the SOBEPS, an UFO-related organization, claiming it spread misleading information in the media. Hallet argued that the Belgian UFO wave was mostly a shared belief among people, fueled by SOBEPS's efforts. He suggested this belief followed a pattern described by Philip J. Klass: when media coverage makes people think UFOs might be nearby, natural or man-made objects seen at night can appear unusual to observers. These sightings increase public excitement, leading more people to look for UFOs. This cycle continues until media interest declines, causing the wave of sightings to fade.
In 1993, Pierre Magain and Marc Remy published an article in Physicalia Magazine, stating their findings did not match those of the SOBEPS. They argued that the Belgian UFO wave should be studied more by experts in human sciences, such as psychologists, rather than by physicists.
In The Belgian UFO Wave of 1989–1992 – A Neglected Hypothesis, Renaud Leclet and others discussed how some sightings might be explained by helicopters. Many witnesses reported the objects were silent. The article suggested the lack of noise could be due to engine noise from the witnesses' cars or strong wind blowing away from them.
In The Beginning of the Belgian UFO Wave, Jean-Michel Abrassart argued that the start of the wave did not contradict the idea that the sightings were influenced by psychological and social factors, contrary to what the SOBEPS claimed. In a 2011 article titled The Belgian Wave and the Photos of Stuff, Auguste Meessen responded to criticisms by Roger Paquay and Jean-Michel Abrassart. Meessen claimed the Belgian UFO wave remains unexplained. Paquay and Abrassart both wrote responses to Meessen's article.
In the Skeptoid podcast episode "The Belgian UFO Wave," Brian Dunning discussed the F-16 chase and reported on the lack of photographic evidence. He concluded that the wave of sightings, despite many eyewitness accounts, had no clear proof.
General Wilfried De Brouwer, who was Chief of Operations of the Air Staff at the time, first believed the sightings might be caused by experimental American aircraft. American authorities confirmed that "no USAF stealth aircraft were operating in the … area during the periods in question."