Welcome to a whirlwind tour of the 10 truly bizarre events that have left the Bass Strait Triangle shrouded in mystery. This stretch of water, sandwiched between Victoria’s southern coast and Tasmania, has been a playground for the unexplained, from vanished aircraft to ghostly lights.
Why These 10 Truly Bizarre Cases Captivate Researchers
10 The ‘Invisible Plane’ Encounter Of Jason Manifold
On the very day that Fred Valentich vanished—October 21, 1978—Roy Manifold snapped a photograph of a puzzling object hovering over the Bass Strait (see image above). While scholars still debate whether the object is linked to Valentich’s disappearance, the picture is widely regarded as authentic because no evidence of digital manipulation has surfaced.
Roy’s son, Jason, stayed outside while his father retreated to his shed after taking the shot. Though Jason didn’t see the object himself, he reported hearing the whine of an aircraft engine overhead. Rather than fading away as a typical engine would, the sound abruptly cut off “as if someone had switched a radio off,” leaving a profound silence in its wake.
Manifold is convinced that the eerie silence he heard is tied to Valentich’s fate. Intriguingly, this exact detail resurfaces in another entry on our list, an incident that occurred almost exactly 44 years later, suggesting a haunting pattern across decades.
9 Miss Hobart
In October 1934, under flawless weather conditions, the airliner Miss Hobart disappeared without a trace while crossing the Bass Strait. Aboard were eleven souls—nine passengers and two pilots—and despite exhaustive searches by both military aircraft and naval vessels, neither the aircraft nor any wreckage was ever recovered.
Aviation historians both then and now label the loss as a genuine enigma. The de Havilland DH86, pictured above, was among the most sophisticated aircraft of its era, boasting four independent engines. The odds of all four failing simultaneously are astronomically low, and even in such a scenario, the plane’s design should have allowed for an emergency landing.
The final transmission from the Miss Hobart eerily mirrors the Manifold story: the crew reported hearing the hum of another aircraft nearby and even described an “aerial machine” approaching. Suddenly, that humming ceased, and the aircraft vanished forever, leaving only the mystery of that silent cut‑off.
8 The Loina Incident
Roughly a year after the Miss Hobart disappearance, another plane—the Loina—went missing while en route from Melbourne to Tasmania. The aircraft had just radioed the Tasmanian control tower, announcing its intention to commence the landing approach, when all communication abruptly ceased.
Five individuals were on board: three passengers and two pilots. No bodies were ever recovered, yet a modest amount of wreckage was later retrieved from the sea, including three seats, fragments of the fuel tank, and a curious piece of the aircraft’s floor. This floor fragment bore a small, intensely burned patch only a few centimeters wide, with surrounding material suggesting someone had frantically tried to smother the flames.
The origin and significance of that scorching mark remain a mystery, leaving investigators to wonder whether it holds any clue to the aircraft’s abrupt disappearance.
7 SS Amelia J.
In 1920, the cargo vessel SS Amelia J. entered the notorious Bass Strait and vanished without a trace shortly after crossing the waterway. The Australian military launched a massive search, only to lose two of its own aircraft during the operation. Witnesses reported strange, luminous phenomena hovering above the sea at the time.
This incident is often cited as the earliest Bass Strait case with a possible UFO connection. Similar disappearances occurred in the early 1900s: the SS Federal vanished in 1901 with 22 crew members, and the German cargo ship Ferdinand Fischer disappeared in 1906, both amidst reports of mysterious lights.
6 Westall UFO
Although not directly over the Bass Strait, the Westall UFO sighting unfolded just north of the triangle’s perimeter, making it impossible to ignore. On April 6, 1966, a group of Melbourne schoolchildren and teachers observed a massive disc‑shaped object gliding calmly above their cricket field before it drifted into the surrounding trees and vanished.
Eyewitnesses later reported that the primary craft was accompanied by five smaller objects, either trailing in pursuit or acting as a guiding formation, depending on which account you believe. This multi‑craft formation has cemented the Westall incident as one of Australia’s most famous UFO encounters.
5 The Bruny Island Disappearance
Fans of the TV series The Kettering Incident may recall that its plot draws heavily from real‑world mysteries along Tasmania’s coast, especially those surrounding the Bass Strait. Co‑creator Vikki Madden has spoken openly about the eerie lights she witnessed growing up near Bruny Island, where strange illuminations would flicker over treetops and the myriad islands dotting the strait.
The most baffling case from that area involves a young woman who vanished without a trace from Bruny Island. Investigators found her bedroom untouched, her purse full of cash left on the nightstand, and no sign of a struggle or any intention to leave. The absence of any personal belongings or luggage makes the disappearance all the more perplexing.
Subsequent inquiries uncovered reports of unusual lights observed on the night she disappeared, suggesting a possible link between the luminous phenomena and her sudden vanishing.
4 The 1978 Tasmania/Victoria UFO Wave
In the weeks surrounding Fred Valentich’s infamous encounter, a wave of bizarre sightings rippled across Tasmania and Victoria’s coastlines. On October 9, a married couple reported a bright light descending to the level of their car, matching its speed and traveling alongside them for a short distance.
Exactly a month later, a Hobart taxi driver slammed his brakes when a strange green glow materialized in the middle of the road, simultaneously causing his radio to fail. By the time he glanced back, the luminous object had vanished without a trace.
On November 25, a resident of Sanfrod described a “doorway of light” appearing suddenly in front of her home. Remarkably, she could see straight through this portal to her driveway on the opposite side—a phenomenon reminiscent of ancient tales describing dimensional gateways.
3 The Disappearance Of The Charleston
In December 1979, the yacht Charleston set sail with a crew of five, aiming to reach Sydney in time for New Year’s Eve celebrations. Days passed without any contact, prompting a frantic search effort involving multiple aircraft.
Despite the extensive sweep, neither the vessel nor its crew were ever located. Theories abound: some suggest a sudden gale may have damaged the mast or that a stray container from nearby traffic could have crippled the rudder, potentially sending the yacht drifting toward remote islands south of New Zealand.
Adding a paranormal twist, the families of the missing crew consulted a clairvoyant who claimed the yacht had ended up on an uncharted island far south of its last known position. To this day, the fate of the Charleston remains an unresolved mystery.
2 World War II Accounts
The Bass Strait was a hotbed of unexplained activity during World War II, even though no enemy aircraft were ever officially recorded in the region. Remarkably, seventeen military planes were lost over these waters throughout the conflict.
In 1944, a mysterious “dark shadow” materialized beside a Bristol Beaufort bomber, lingering for nearly twenty minutes before accelerating upward at astonishing speed and disappearing from sight.
Two years earlier, in 1942, an Australian fighter pilot was dispatched to investigate fishermen’s reports of strange lights. While patrolling, he encountered a massive bronze‑colored disc that hovered beside his aircraft for several moments before vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.
1 20th Century Accounts
The Bass Strait’s reputation for disappearances stretches back to the 18th century. The earliest recorded loss was the vessel Eliza in 1797, which vanished while attempting a rescue mission for the wrecked Sydney Cove. The ship simply disappeared from the face of the Earth during the operation.
In 1858, the British warship HMS Sappho met a similar fate, sinking without a trace after entering the treacherous waters. Twelve years later, the Harlech Castle vanished, taking all twenty‑three crew members with her.
These historic incidents hint at a long‑standing, perhaps natural, phenomenon that has eluded explanation for centuries. Unless researchers uncover the underlying cause behind the relentless string of vanished ships, planes, and even people, the Bass Strait Triangle will likely continue to generate new, baffling mysteries for years to come.