This experience was my true introduction to the world of mysterious phenomena and hidden entities. Even after more than twenty years, I still remember it vividly.
At the time, I was serving in the Iraqi Air Force and Air Defense in the city of Hillah, Babylon province, during the previous regime under Saddam Hussein. Given the circumstances Iraq was facing, we were ordered to hide certain weapons, planes, and missiles in protected areas or at archaeological and heritage sites.
We were involved in concealing surface-to-air missiles within the ruins of Babylon. Because of my military service, I was no stranger to aircraft and military equipment—I’d seen plenty. A few months before this incident, I’d been on a secret mission in the Anbar desert, in Wadi Hauran, where I saw an American plane and soldiers nearby. There was a brief clash before they withdrew, so I was fairly familiar with the types of equipment and aircraft found in the field.
On the night it happened, I was asleep when a soldier woke me for my guard shift. Around 2 a.m., I headed out toward the site among the ruins of Babylon. The night was pitch-black, cold, and gloomy. As I walked, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned and saw a small white puppy following me. I kept walking, but because of the darkness, I lost my way to the guard post.
That’s when I saw the lights. In front of me appeared glowing objects, disc-shaped or oval, some white, some yellow, and in various sizes. Some looked as big as a car, others as small as a sparrow. They moved horizontally and vertically at incredible speeds, but their movement was smooth, each object going in a different direction. Some of them stopped above me, about 30 or 40 meters away. They weren’t silent—there was a buzzing sound, like a beehive. Their lights were so bright in the darkness that I had to put on my military sunglasses to protect my eyes. I froze in place. My first thought was that this was an American attack, so I shouted, “The Americans! It’s an airdrop... an airdrop attack!”
But now, after all I’ve seen in my military service, I can say those objects didn’t resemble anything I’d ever encountered. I remember looking for the white puppy, and then suddenly I felt something like an electric shock.
I didn’t see any flash before it happened. From that moment, my memory went blank. When I came to, I was still in the same area, but my helmet was lying far away, my rifle—which had been slung over my back—was several meters from me, and my radio was broken and wouldn’t work.
I’d gone out for my shift around 2 a.m., but when I regained consciousness, it was sunrise. My comrades had started searching for me after I failed to show up at the guard post.
I never officially reported what happened. My father advised me to keep quiet, since the regime in Iraq wouldn’t have taken kindly to a story like this. No one would have believed me, and I could have faced questioning or even arrest.
Later, I returned to the site with someone else. After the incident, I suffered from headaches and nightmares. I also heard people say the ruins were haunted, and my father once told me about a flying object seen in Kuwait, but I don’t base my explanation for what happened on those stories.
I’m certain about what I saw that night, but I have no idea what those objects were. To me, they weren’t any kind of known military equipment—they were something unknown.
I told some of my comrades everything I’d seen, but they didn’t believe me.
Told by Al-Amer (45 years old) – Iraq
Experience Analysis – Kamal Ghazal
After speaking directly with the witness and asking detailed questions, we now have much more information than in the initial account. Some of it points toward possible conventional explanations, while other aspects of the incident remain unexplained.
It’s important to emphasize that what we have is a personal testimony recalled after more than twenty years, so estimates of distance, size, and time shouldn’t be treated as precise measurements, no matter how confident the witness is in his memory. Still, the account contains details that can be analyzed.
The Drone Hypothesis
The idea that these might have been drones or other military aerial devices has gained traction in light of new information. The witness described several features that are reminiscent of unmanned aerial vehicles: horizontal and vertical movement, the ability to hover in place, each object moving independently, and most notably, a buzzing sound similar to a swarm of bees. That last detail is particularly significant.
The rotors and electric motors of drones—especially multi-rotor models—produce a distinctive buzzing or humming noise, often compared to a swarm of insects. If the witness’s estimate of the distance is accurate and the objects were only tens of meters above, hearing such a sound would make sense.
Even the 'disc' shape should be considered carefully. The witness was in near-total darkness, looking toward extremely bright lights that hurt his eyes. In these conditions, the outline of the object carrying the light can disappear, leaving only a glowing halo that might appear disc-shaped or oval.
However, the drone theory runs into a historical issue. The unmanned American aircraft known to be in use in Iraq at that time were mostly fixed-wing and don’t match the description of several small vehicles hovering and moving vertically, like the multi-rotor drones we’re familiar with today.
So, while it’s possible that the witness encountered an unfamiliar military or experimental system, this would require independent historical evidence before it could be accepted as an explanation.
Could they have been flares or illumination bombs?
This is another possibility that shouldn’t be dismissed, especially in a military setting. Flares and illumination bombs can produce intense lights in the sky, and their size and distance can be hard to judge at night.
But this explanation also has problems when compared to the witness’s account. He didn’t describe lights slowly descending, but rather objects that moved both horizontally and vertically, each one independently, and then hovered overhead. The buzzing sound he mentioned also doesn’t fit with typical flares.
If his memory is accurate on these points, the flare hypothesis becomes less convincing than the idea of actual aerial devices.
An electric shock doesn’t necessarily mean a weapon was involved.
The main temptation in this story is to connect the dots: unidentified objects + an electric shock + loss of consciousness + radio failure = electromagnetic weapon.
But there isn’t enough evidence to justify that leap. The witness describes a sensation similar to an electric shock, but there’s no measurement or documented injury to confirm actual exposure to electricity or electromagnetic radiation.
Similarly, the radio malfunction doesn’t prove exposure to an electromagnetic pulse. The device could have failed due to a dead battery, a fall, technical issues, or other reasons. For now, the most cautious approach is to treat these as two simultaneous events without assuming a direct connection.
What happened between 2 a.m. and sunrise?
This remains the most intriguing part of the story. The witness says he went outside around 2 a.m., then his memory goes blank after feeling the shock, and he only regains it at sunrise. If his recollection of the timeline is accurate, there are several hours he can’t account for.
It’s important to distinguish between a gap in memory and a gap in time.
He may have been unconscious the entire time, or perhaps he moved around in a confused state and simply didn’t retain any memories. His sense of time after decades could also be inaccurate. There could be neurological or physical reasons for the memory loss that have nothing to do with the objects he saw.
The fact that his helmet and rifle were found a few meters away is worth noting, but it doesn’t prove he was moved or subjected to an unknown force. His equipment could have scattered when he fell, or he might have removed it during the period he can’t remember.
What about the abduction theory?
Some elements of the account superficially resemble the literature on alien abduction: unidentified objects, close encounters, loss of consciousness, missing time, and nightmares after the incident. But these are just similarities in story elements, not proof that an abduction occurred.
The man doesn’t recall seeing any beings, entering a craft, undergoing experiments, or even being moved to another location. He’s clear that he regained consciousness in the same area.
He has expressed willingness to undergo hypnosis to explore what happened during those "missing hours," but this should be approached with extreme caution. Human memory isn’t a perfect recording that hypnosis can simply play back, and leading questions can create false memories that later feel real. So if such a session is conducted, anything that emerges shouldn’t be treated as independent evidence.
Numerous other sightings in Babylon
What adds another dimension to the case is that this isn’t the only report of strange lights near the ruins of Babylon.
In an investigation published by Iraqi researcher Ahmed Basheer In 2010, local residents reported seeing intense lights and unfamiliar objects over the ancient sites of Babylon. Some described bright lights appearing at night, while others mentioned a source so dazzling it was impossible to make out its shape. Read more about Unidentified Flying Objects Over Ancient Babylon.
At the time, explanations ranged from military activity and surveillance aircraft to reflections, optical phenomena, and even the possibility of objects with a non-terrestrial origin.
These accounts don't confirm the soldier's experience, nor should separate testimonies be combined into a single incident. However, they do suggest that collecting further statements from Babylon residents and military personnel stationed there at the time is a worthwhile pursuit.
What is the most likely explanation for what happened?
Based on the information currently available, the most cautious scenario is that the witness observed real aerial activity he couldn't identify , possibly military or involving unfamiliar aircraft. The darkness and intense lights made it extremely difficult to determine the shape, size, or distance of the objects.
As for the loss of consciousness, it could have been a separate event caused by a physical or neurological issue, a fall, or extreme exhaustion. So far, there's no evidence linking it directly to the objects themselves.
This explanation doesn't account for everything especially the period leading up to sunrise but it requires fewer assumptions than theories involving secret electromagnetic weapons or alien abduction.
At the same time, the case can't be considered solved. If the witness's core memories are accurate, two separate mysteries remain:
What were the luminous objects moving and hovering over the ruins of Babylon?
And what happened to the soldier between the moment he felt the shock and when he regained consciousness at sunrise?
