- NEW WITNESSES EMERGE IN NORTH
SEA UFO CASE
-
- At the end of April, the Daily Telegraph
and the Daily Mail of London reported that a giant UFO had been chased
over the North Sea by British and Dutch jet interceptors. Although the
RAF Press Office and the Dutch ufology group A.U.R.A. disputed the claim,
new information is emerging in this controversial case. According to the
British newspapers, the RAF radar station at Fylingdales, North Yorkshire
picked up a giant UFO "the size of a battleship" (900 feet long)
over the North Sea. An RAF jet squadron was scrambled to intercept. At
the same time, two F-16 jet interceptors of the Nederlandse Luchtmacht
(Netherlands Air Force) took off and caught sight of the giant UFO over
the North Sea. The UFO eluded the Dutch jets and streaked away at an estimated
24,000 miles per hour. No date was given for this alleged encounter. Around
May 15, 1998, however, the newspaper Tipperary Star of Tipperary, Eire
reported that a local Irish couple claimed to have seen a giant UFO of
the same description as the North Sea object on February 28. The story
was summarized in another newspaper, the Munster Express. "A couple,
described as highly respected members of the community, told the newspaper
(Tipperary Star) that they saw an object in the sky between Derrynaflan
and Killenaule on the night of February 28." "Because they did
not want to be ridiculed, and be the butt of local jokes, they decided
to remain silent about their experience. But after they heard a description
of the object seen over the North Sea, they decided to come forward because
their UFO was identical." "They said they clearly saw the UFO
hovering at what appeared to be about 400 feet above the ground. The ship
was approximately 250 feet wide and 100 feet high. It had lights, three
on one side and two on the other, and had panels with vertical lines through
them as distinct from windows...There was no sound at all from the object,
which, at first, moved very slowly but then accelerated so fast that it
disappeared in an instant." (See the Munster Express for May 22,
1998. Many thanks to Stig Agermose and Errol Bruce-Knapp for providing
this newspaper story.) In the Netherlands, hosts Ivo Westerlaken and Theo
Paijmans of the radio talk show Dossier X have made their own inquiries
into the North Sea case. According to Westerlaken, the Nederlandse Luchtmacht
"did do an internal investigation of the radar sites" but "they
claimed to have found nothing out of the ordinary, but when we asked for
a report on their internal investigation, they told us it had been destroyed."
The Dossier X team "researched the purported UFO incident over the
North Sea much more fully than A.U.R.A.," Westerlaken writes, "but
for the first time in UFO-history in the Netherlands, we were confronted
with angry spokespersons...Nobody wanted to say anything officially. Serious
research in the Netherlands has been set back for months, if not years,"
adding that "some of our contacts inside the government agencies who
were willing to go public have been scared away." (Email Correspondence
of May 14, 1998)
-
- MICHIGAN UFOLOGIST CONFIRMS
SAUCER SIGHTING IN HOWELL
-
- A second UFO sighting took place in Michigan
the night of May 19, 1998, four hours after the satellite Galaxy IV went
haywire. A UFO was seen flying high over Howell, Michigan, (population
8,184) about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Detroit, at 10:30 p.m. Jeff
Westover, a sketch artist for Michigan MUFON, reports, "I, too, had
a May 19, 1998 sighting in Marlette, Michigan (population 1,924) at 10:15
p.m. I noticed a large cluster of reddish lights approximately 15 to 20
degrees above the west-southwest horizon that, after two minutes of being
stationary, shot straight up into the night sky." "The sighting
took place at about the same time as the Howell, MI sighting," adding
that his object's position near the western horizon "would put it
over the Howell area if it were high enough in the sky." Marlette
is in the "Thumb" area of Michigan, a town on Highway 53 approximately
55 miles (88 kilometers) north of Detroit. (Many thanks to Jeff Westover
for this report.)
-
- NEW UFO SIGHTING REPORTED
NEAR PITTSBURGH
-
- On Saturday, May 23, 1998, the Miniter
family "had a ball game and a cookout" at their home "in
the Pittsburgh area." Around 6 p.m., Mrs. Miniter reported, "My
husband pointed and said sarcastically to me, 'Look at the UFO!'"
"I didn't see anything for a moment., but a shimmering shine caught
my eye. I gazed and spotted a huge shaft. And then my husband and I saw
the second one simultaneously." "Trailing behind it perhaps a
distance of a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) was another identical cigar-shaped
craft with rounded edges. My brother, his wife and children, and our children
all watched these things go very slowly across the sky at an altitude of
55,000 feet (16,667 meters). There was no vapor trail and no sound. Their
speed was slower than any airliner, but (their size) was three times larger.than
the biggest airliner." "My 15-year-old son was viewing it from
a different angle (and) said it was like two halves of a baseball. It was
shiny silver and metallic." (See Filer's Files #21 for 1998. Many
thanks to George A. Filer, Eastern director of MUFON, for this report.)
-
- GREEN FIREBALLS SIGHTED OVER THE MOJAVE
DESERT
-
- Jack Curtis does a lot of night-driving
in his occupation. The job takes him from his home in Quartzite, Arizona
to Sacramento, California and Parowan, Utah. He's seen a lot of strange
things in the desert at night. But nothing quite so strange as what he
witnessed in March 1998. "My two sightings were about a week apart
in March," he reported, "Both were really large green fireballs
looking basketball size. The first one was on a close flyby and was so
bright it was brilliant through the clouds. I was on California Highway
58 eastward around 0200 (2 a.m.) and it was streaking over the highway
eastward and was visible for five to ten seconds before disappearing.
The location was between Mojave and Kramer Junction" which is located
at the intersection of Highways 58 and 395 about 60 miles (96 kilometers)
northeast of Los Angeles. "At Kramer Junction (also known as Four
Corners, at the northeastern edge of Edwards Air Force Base--J.T.) I talked
to a semi (truck) driver who witnessed it in clear skies when he was traveling
west toward Kramer Junction from Barstow (population 21,472) and was quite
surprised by its size, brilliance and speed." "The next one (sighting)
was identical except I was westbound from Baker (population 650) toward
Barstow and watched it traveling towards the north-northeast. It was a
clear night and it actually made shadows on the ground. It was a spectacular
sight to witness." (Many thanks to Jack L. Curtis for this report.)
-
- TEENAGE GIRL SEES A UFO OVER
WASHINGTON, D.C.
-
- On Friday, May 22, 1998, at 8:30 p.m.,
Sherrie P. was at her home in Brentwood, Maryland (population 3,005), a
suburb bordering the District of Columbia near Rhode Island Avenue and
Blatonsburg Road when she spotted a UFO. Looking through her window, Sherrie
"saw the object...It appeared to be the size of a star but seemed
brighter and was flashing in a manner that made her question if it was
a star." Grabbing her cell phone, Sherrie called her friend, who lives
eight miles away in Washington, D.C. "From the position of the object
in the sky (fairly low on the horizon and at about treetop level), she
was certain her friend would be able to see it. It turned out the friend
could not see it, due to trees blocking the view." Cell phone in hand,
Sherrie went outdoors to get a better view. She reported, "It looked
like a circle with a dome on top." She was unable to make out any
particular details because "the whole object glowed a brilliant whitish
color. The light was not constant in its intensity." She described
the size of the UFO as "maybe an inch and a half (2 to 3 centimeters)
at arm's length." Sherrie observed the UFO for 45 minutes, describing
the action over the phone. She said she "got the strange feeling
that sonehow the object knew I was looking at it." The UFO flew toward
Brentwood. Sherrie instantly began walking back to her house. Then she
noticed that the object was returning to its original position. Curiosity
overcame her, and she walked back out to the front of her house. The UFO
came closer again. She then backed up as if returning to the house, and
the object seemed to back away, as well. "All the while I was describing
it to my friend over the phone." (Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr.
for this report.)
-
- STRANGE GLOW AND SKY BOOMS
RATTLE ZIMBABWE
-
- 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, 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.)
-
- UFO APPEARS OVER A MOUNTAIN
IN ITALY
-
- On May 9, 1998, at 10:30 p.m., dozens
of people at Castel Sant'Angelo on Monte Giano, a mountain in the Apennine
range, "saw the movement in the sky of a strange light over and around
the peak of Monte Giano." A few kilometers away, "customers at
a tourist restaurant also saw the light and telephoned the local police
and the Guardia Forestale." Italian authorities dismissed the mysterious
light as a possible flashlight carried by mountain climbers or Italian
Army troops on maneuvers. Monte Giano is near Rieti, which is located 110
kilometers (66 miles) northeast of Rome. (See the Italian newspaper Corriere
di Rieti for May 12, 1998. Grazie a Goffredo Pierpaoli e Edoardo Russo
per questo rapporto.)
-
- TWO CROP CIRCLES APPEAR IN
THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
-
- Two crop circles appeared Tuesday night,
May 26, 1998, in a barley field off Highway 20 in Coupeville, Washington
state (population 1,377), a town on Puget Sound's Whidbey Island about
63 miles (101 kilometers) north of Seattle. The two formations appeared
on land owned by Coupeville farmers Don and Roger Sherman. The first circle
measured 1/4 mile (0.5 kilometers) in diameter and featured "stars
and little circles all around it," with the barley flattened in a
swirled fashion. The second circle was a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) from
the first and set on a hillside. "Curious onlookers, television media,
UFO enthusiasts and crop-circle experts showed up in droves Wednesday (May
27) after a nationally syndicated radio talk show revealed the discovery
of unusual formations in barley fields just south of Coupeville."
"'Basically, I saw a lot of bent grass,' said Port Townsend resident
Mike Kenna, who took an early- morning ride to Whidbey Island after hearing
about the crop circle Tuesday on a late-night radio talk show." "Kenna
and many others...had their curiosity aroused by Coupeville resident Kelly
Sweeney who relayed his experiences investigating a field of fallen barley
alongside Highway 20 on 'Coast to Coast AM.' The program, hosted by Art
Bell, focuses on UFOs and other tales of strange phenomena." "'It's
about like somebody had drawn a line,' Sweeney said of the formation.
'Everything inside of the line is going to lie down, everything outside
is going to stand up. It blew me away.'" "'There are certainly
intriguing similarities (with other crop circles),' said crop-circle investigator
Ilyes, who goes by only one name and who rushed to Whidbey Island from
Portland (Oregon) after receiving reports about the strange formation."
"Ilyes and members of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) used steel rods
like the wire wands used for water-witching to test the barely fields
for unusual energy fields." "Meanwhile, Coupeville farmers Don
and Roger Sherman, who own the field the formation was found in, explained
the bent barley to a steady stream of curious onlookers as and MUFON members
as a combination of overfertilizing, heavy rains and high winds, not as
the work of alien beings." (See the Everett, Wash. Daily Herald for
May 28, 1998. Many thanks to Errol Bruce-Knapp for providing the newspaper
article.)
-
- BLACK HELICOPTERS SEEN IN
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
-
- On Thursday, April 23, 1998, at about
10 p.m., Adam A. was on Prince's Street in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland's
largest city, when he heard the sound of a helicopter engine. Looking up,
Adam reported, he saw "a black helicopter--an Agusta Bell 212--it
approached from the north and then turned to the east. It moved rather
slowly, perhaps about 20 knots (airspeed). I watched it for over four
minutes" before the helicopter "turned east." Adam did notice
one strange detail, however. "It did have a long trailing line that
was off the back which was very small and spaced so that you could see
holes through it." The same week, another man spotted a black helicopter
"as it hovered over the Forte Hotel in the Clydeside (section) in
Erskine. "It didn't appear to be making any noise, flying to the
west away from the (Clyde River) bridge. I don't know what kind of helicopter
it was," adding that it "was not large and looked quite sleek
and sporty." (Email Interview) (Editor's Note: Although most black
helicopters have been reported in the USA, there have been sightings of
them in the UK, Portugal, Italy, Brazil and Australia.)
-
- FROZEN LAKE FOUND ON MARS
-
- "A new orbital survey of Mars shows
what may be a vast frozen lake in a crater and an even larger mineral bed
that could be the site of an ancient sea." "'Understanding the
history of water on Mars goes well beyond the search for life,' said geophysicist
Philip Christiansen of Arizona State University. 'What is the geological
history of Mars? It giives us insight into possible changes in the environment
of Mars.'" "The startling Mars results were announced yesterday
(Wednesday, May 28, 1998) at a conference of the American Geophysical Union
at the Hynes Auditorium in Boston (Massachusetts, USA) The public is invited
to hear the findings from the Mars Global Surveyor satellite firsthand..."
"'We've seen some other features that we think are dry lake beds.
This would be the first, if it is real, that is an existing ice deposit,'
said geophysicist Michael Malin, who photographed the unnamed crater lake
in the Southern Highlands of Mars, 240 miles (400 kilometers) south of
the planet's equator." "It's extremely well-defined. It's a
big feature,' Malin said. He said the dark area he photographed is about
375 square miles in area." "It could be an old lava flow, but
it appears too dark for that, he said, and nearby seepage marks suggest
water. It could also be dried mud deposits from an evaporated lake. But
he said he believes a layer of compacted mud could be insulating a huge
ice bed." "If the ice is only a yard thick, Malin said, it would
amount to ten billion gallons of water. He suggested that volcanic activity
in the area could have melted ground water and let it seep out of the crater
walls." "Christiansen described a 60-mile-wide bed of cystalline
hematite, a form of iron mineral that is typically leached from iron-rich
rock by hydrothermal action or found in ocean deposits." "'It's
a hint at water processes that may be producing this mineral,' Christiansen
said. He said it is unclear which kind of process--hydrothermal venting
from deep within Mars or an ancient ocean-- would have produced the hematite
bed, in a flat area on Mars's equator." (See the Boston, Mass. Herald
for May 28, 1998, "Evidence of lake found on Mars," page 3.)
At the same time as the Boston conference, the Society for Planetary SETI
Research announced that it had found evidence of water erosion in the Cydonia
region of Mars. "Using the April (1998) data taken by MSG (Mars Global
Surveyor), SPSR has has been able to validate the earlier theories involving
the artificiality of the Cydonia Face. By using the geometric central
points, they were able to orthographically rectify the image to match the
positions of the earlier (1976) Viking images. In doing so, they have verified
a 92 to 99 percent symmetry." "According to James Erjavec, the
Face shows definite signs of erosion due to water-based processes."
The Face "appears to show the classic signs of being an artifical
construct with erosion from a period when water was liquid," not in
the form of ice. (Many thanks to CAUS for this Cydonia item.)
-
- HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE FINDS
A GIANT PLANET FAR BEYOND OUR SOLAR SYSTEM
-
- "In what could be the most important
finding yet, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided the first look
at a possible planet outside our solar system, astronomers said Thursday,"
May 28, 1998. "'This is unbelievably exciting,' said astrophysicist
Alan Boss of the Carnegie Institude in Washington, D.C. 'It's a major unprecedented
observation.'" "The object is in our galaxy, the Milky Way, and
is thought to be a gaseous giant two to three times the size of Jupiter.
It appears to have been ejected into space 130 billion miles from its
two parent stars about 300,000 years ago." "It is now zipping
away from these stars at 48,000 miles per hour (64,000 kilometers per hour),
unlike planets in our solar system which orbit the sun. Its existence
could mean that there are other 'rogue' planets within the Milky Way, astronomers
said." ""The object lies about 450 light-years from Earth
in a star-forming region in the constellation Taurus. A light-year is
about 6 trillion miles." "Astronomer Susan Terebey of the Extrasolar
Research Corp. in Pasadena, California made the discovery two weeks ago
from observations taken last August. She put the odds at 50-to-1 against
the object being just a background star." "Hubble astronomer
Ed Weiler said, 'You can bet every big telescope that can be pointed at
it will be.'" (See USA Today for May 29, 1998, "Astronomers hay
have bumped into a wandering planet," by Paul Hoversten, page one.)
-
- PERU PYRAMID YIELDS MOCHICA
"QUEEN TUT"
-
- This week an archeological team led by
Dr. Regulo Franco Jordan discovered an intact tomb in an ancient pyramid
at the El Brujo ruins at Magdalena de Cao in northern Peru. According to
the newspaper El Comercio, "the bones of an important female personage
of the Mochica culture were discovered by archeologists digging in the
Huaca de Cao Viejo (A huaca is a Peruvian mud-brick pyramid-- J.T.) in
the archeoligical complex of El Brujo." "There they found a great
quantity of manufactured metal objects, ceramics and the remains of a young
woman who was presumably sacrificed during the funeral ceremony of the
important personage." "Regulo Franco Jordan, director of the
project...in the district of Magdalena de Cao...said that the tomb was
found in the southwestern corner of the top platform of the pyramid temple."
"In its confines they found the remains of a woman approximately 35
to 40 years old who had received an opulent funeral, obviously a person
of wealth. In the left lateral corner of the same tomb they found the
bones of another woman 18 to 20 years old, who may have been sacrificed
as part of the funeral." The Moche civilization dominated Peru's Pacific
Ocean shore from Lima north to Tumbes. The civilization, which preceded
the Chimus and the Incas, began about 1500 B.C. and reached its peak in
300 A.D. Magdalena de Cao is just outside the small city of Ascope, 558
kilometers (335 miles) north of Lima. (See the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio
for May 28, 1998. Muito obrigado a OVNI Brasil por eso caso.) (Editor's
Note: This region has the oldest pyramids in South America, with the grandaddy
of them all located at Gran Purgatorio, northeast of Ascope. Strange, too,
that this older pyramid has more "manufactured metal" than the
tombs of 300 A.D., supposedly the "peak" of Mochica culture.
And what's with all the pyramid news lately? First Giza, then Cahokia,
now El Brujo. What's next?)
-
- from the UFO Files...
-
- 1931: TWO DAYLIGHT DISCS SEEN
IN NEW JERSEY
-
- This week we continue our look back at
the little- known UFO flap of 1931. During June of that year, at the same
time Mrs. and Mrs. Giddings witnessed strange lights on the moon from their
Riverside, California home, two boys--Howard B. Menger, age 9, and his
brother, Alton Menger, age 7, spotted two daylight discs at their home
in High Bridge, New Jersey, about 55 miles (88 kilometers) west of New
York City. Here is the story in Howard Menger's own words: "It was
in this pastoral setting, in the warm lavish extravagance of June and July
(1931) that I began to experience other feelings that I am at a loss to
explain...About this time we began to see the discs in the sky." "My
brother (Alton) and I continued seeing the bright, shining, circular objects
in the sky, and one day one of them landed in the field where we were playing."
"It was a disc-shaped object about ten feet (3 meters) in diameter.
Afraid, but fascinated and curious, we walked toward it to get a better
view. As we neared it, we noticed another bright object, a much larger
one of similar design, hovering in the sky above the smaller craft, as
if observing it and us." "Our hearts palpitated, but curiosity
overwhelmed our fright as we proceeded cautiously." "When we
were about 25 feet (7 meters) from the object, the larger airborne craft
disappeared; and while we were trying to muster enough courage to go closer,
the disc on the ground began vibrating, then took off at a terrific rate
of speed in a blinding flash of light." (See FROM OUTER SPACE TO
YOU by Howard Menger, Saucerian Books, Clarksburg, W.V., 1959, pages 20
and 21.)
-
- UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1998 by Masinaigan
Productions, all rights reserved. Readers may post news items from UFO
ROUNDUP on their websites or in newsgroups provided that they credit the
newsletter and its editor by name and list the date of issue in which the
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