Schoolchildren in Ruwa describe an object and a figure during morning break

There is no footage of the reported object. What exists is filmed interview material recorded days afterwards, in which children aged roughly six to twelve describe what they say they saw and produce drawings of it. The drawings are broadly similar to one another in showing a landed object and a small figure, and they differ in detail.

Around sixty children reported seeing an object come down near the edge of the school grounds during morning break, and some described a figure near it. The teachers were indoors and did not witness the event. Cynthia Hind, a Zimbabwean researcher, interviewed the children first. John Mack, then a professor of psychiatry at Harvard, travelled to the school and conducted filmed interviews, and said afterwards that he found the children's accounts consistent and their affect sincere. He did not claim this established what they saw. Several of the witnesses, now adults, have repeated their accounts on camera and have not retracted them.

No official body investigated. There is no physical evidence, no photograph, and no instrument data. The strength of the case rests entirely on the number of witnesses, their age, and how soon they were interviewed. Critics have noted that the children were interviewed in groups and after discussing the event among themselves, which can shape recollection, and that the interviewers were sympathetic to the possibility of a genuine encounter. Supporters note the interviews began within days and that the accounts have held for thirty years.

What the children saw has not been established. No adult witnessed it. The absence of any physical trace or image means the case cannot be independently checked, and it will likely remain testimony alone. How much the group setting of the interviews influenced the accounts is not resolvable now.