STRANGE GLOW AND SKY BOOMS RATTLE ZIMBABWE

So went the headlines - what did we really experience?
The report read:

"On Thursday, May 21, 1998, at 10:20 p.m., a brilliant white glow lit up the eastern horizon in Zimbabwe, a nation in southern Africa. The strange glow was seen from Harare, the capital, to Glendale, a distance of 75 kilometers (45 miles).

In Glendale, the mysterious glow persisted for 20 minutes, and "the light was strongest" there.

Immediately following the light's appearance, a serious of explosive sky booms was heard in Harare and towns to the east, including Rusape, Murewa amd Macheke.

The glow was also seen in Goromonzi, near Ruta (RUWA), approximately 40 kilometers (24 miles) from Harare. In 1996, a UFO reportedly landed on the playground of an elementary school in Goromonzi, and about a dozen aliens spoke for 15 minutes with the 60 children playing there.

The case is being investigated by Cynthia Hind, Zimbabwe's foremost ufologist. (Many thanks to Jeroen Wierda of Picard UFO Research International and Odette for this report.)"

What we experienced has never been fully explained. My husband and I woke to a rumbling which appeared to come from below the earth and following a path below our property. The light flash was seen through closed curtains and lasted for some minutes. The sound was like that of an atomic explosion and seemed to run along the ground. Quite amazing.

We have had reports from Messina in South Africa and Mutare on the Mocambique border that they also experienced this strange phenomenon.

What ever it was there appears to have been no 'remains', no local sightings, no damage done. There were no reports of earthquake activity and surely this would not have been accompanied by a flash of light that lasted for some time in the sky.

What was it?