- UFOs SIGHTED IN RURAL NORTHERN PENNSYLVANIA
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- On Monday night, March 15, 1999, several
glowing UFOs were sighted in northern Pennsylvania, mostly around Smethport
(population 1,734) a small town on Highway 59 about 123 miles (197 kilometers)
southeast of Erie. "A woman driving home to Bradford (Pa.) from Olean,
N.Y. looked up to see a blue streak racing across the sky." "Confirmation
has come from Doris Ladlee, who was sitting at Gallico Crossing in Smethport,
Mercedes Schwartz, who lives at the top of Champlin Hill, and Sandy Bennett
of Smethport." "Doris tells us she was sitting at the crossroads
at 11:31 p.m. when, all of a sudden, 'the car lit up like broad daylight,
and I saw a great big ball of fire.' A dazzling array of sparks followed
as the object dropped. She said she was looking eastward at the time, and
the object had a head and a tail like a comet. There was no noise. It
appeared to be heading (northeast) towards Port Allegany (population 2,391)
and Eldred (population 869)." "'I thought that maybe a plane
blew up,'" she added. "Her son also saw it a couple of miles
to the south. To him, it looked like a blue streak across the sky--not
a fireball like she had seen." "'It looked kind of like a big
bright firework, only it was too high up in the sky to have been that,'
Doris reported. 'Everything runs through your mind. I though, God, I wonder
if someone shot off a missile! Or maybe two stars hit together."
"Mercedes tells us she had just gone to bed and her room was dark.
''I saw the large flash. I thought it might be helicopters but there
was no noise.'" "Sandy Bennett said she was driving into Wilcox
(population 1,000) when she saw 'a big round ball. I think it had a blue
fire thing after it, and then there were sparkles. It went up real fast,
and it wasn't lighting.'" Wilcox is on Highway 219 located about 29
miles (46 kilometers) south of Smethport. (See the Bradford, Pa. Era for
March 23, 1999. Many thanks to Scott Corrales, author of Chupacabras and
Other Mysteries, for forwarding this newspaper report.)
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- LARGE UFO HOVERS OVER PAIUTE
INDIAN RESERVATION
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- On Thursday, March 4, 1999, at night,
a motorist traveling north on Highway 95 near Las Vegas, Nevada spotted
a strange array of lights hovering over the Paiute Indian Reservation.
As the car reached a point a quarter-mile (0.5 kilometers) south of the
Ann Road overpass, the driver "spotted eight very bright lights, 'like
the lights of a stadium,' stationary above the overpass directly ahead.
As the vehicle continued heading toward the northwest, the driver realized
that the lights were much further away (than the overpass--J.T.)"
"They appeared to be hovering 200 to 250 feet above a low rise in
the valley near the Paiute Indian Reservation, about five to seven miles
north of the Ann Road overpass." "The lights were reported to
be white in color, without definition, and in a pattern of four above and
four below, and parallel to the ground. There were no navigation lights
or movement noted." "The observer made a right-hand turn onto
Centennial Parkway, then a left-hand turn onto the service road which runs
alongside Highway 95. The observer again noted the position of the lights
directly in front of him, but also noticed that the top row of lights was
beginning to become obscure. Suddenly, the top row blinked out. About
ten seconds later, the bottom row disappeared, 'like the lights had been
turned off.'" "The observer also noticed that several other motorists
had pulled off the road, gotten out and were also looking at the lights."
(Many thanks to Stig Agermose for this report.)
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- CYLINDRICAL UFO HOVERS NEAR
A MALL IN GEORGIA
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- On Monday, March 22, 1999, at 7:05 p.m.,
salesman Robert H., age 40, and his wife and daughter were driving "just
outside the city limits" of Macon (population 106,612), a large city
on Interstate Highway I-75 approximately 81 miles (129 kilometers) south
of Atlanta, when the daughter spied a strange gleam in the sky. "It
appeared in the northwest sky above a shopping center," Robert reported.
"My daughter spoke of a light in the west-northwestern sky. I first
thought she was looking at a vapor trail in the northern sky. She said
that she saw that, but what she was talking about was off to the left.
My wife saw it, too." Looking in that direction, he added, "What
I saw appeared to be a cylinder in shape positioned up/down like the letter
I. It was in the west-northwestern sky brightly lit with the setting sun
behind and below it. There did not appear to be any aircraft, stars or
birds in that area. We watched it for approximately five to eight minutes
and lost complete sight of it once we exited the interstate (highway)."
(Many thanks to Ben Field of BUFOD for forwarding this report.)
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- TWO UFOs HURTLE OVER BATESVILLE,
MISSISSIPPI
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- On Wednesday, March 3, 1999, at 8:45
p.m., a resident of Batesville, Miss. spotted two UFOs "very bright
objects about as large as an airplane," heading north. "The witness
first thought they were airplanes," reported MUFON Mississippi director
J.R. Gillis, "But as they got closer, he knew they were not planes.
No sound was heard. The unidentified objects stopped and hovered for 15
seconds and then took off really fast. Total duration of the sighting
was one minute, thirty seconds." Batesville (population 6,403) is
at the junction of Mississippi Highways 6 and 51 approxmately 58 miles
(93 kilometers) south of Memphis, Tennessee. The case is being investigated
by Wayne Morgan, MUFON assistant state director. (See Filer's Files #12
for 1999. Many thanks to J.R. Gillis and George A. Filer, Eastern director
of MUFON, for this report.)
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- GLOWING UFO SEEN ALONG NORTH
CAROLINA SHORE
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- On Tuesday, March 23, 1999, at 7:30 p.m.,
Jared R. spotted something strange hurtling across the night sky in his
hometown of Camden, North Carolina (population 95), a small town on Highway
343 approximately 165 miles (264 kilometers) east of Raleigh, the state
capital. "A bright object, traveling left to right across our field
of view, at a descending angle, appeared to be glowing from friction like
an object reentering Earth's atmosphere," Jared reported. "Had
a vapor trail and a fire trail, much like a shooting star. Object moved
much slower than a shooting star and although it seemed to be burning from
friction with the atmosphere, it never got smaller or burned out."
"The color was blue-white. The speed was comparable to a jet aircraft
that might have been making a low pass. As it got lower and to our right,
the view was blocked by trees. It gave the appearance that it would have
been about five to ten miles from our position, somewhere over Elizabeth
City (N.C.)." (Many thanks to Jim Hickman of Skywatch for sending
in this report.)
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- UFO SEEN HOVERING OVER DOWNTOWN
TORONTO
-
- The elusive "downtown Toronto"
UFO is back, and this time it was seen in the early morning hours, hovering
over Dundas Street in Canada's largest city. Graham S.D. of Mississauga,
Ontario, who spotted a UFO three weeks earlier, reported that, on Tuesday,
March 23, 1999, at 3:30 a.m., "I had just finished writing the weekly
newsletter for my company. I went out on the balcony (The upper-floor
apartment overlooks Toronto harbor--J.T.) to finish a smoke and to watch
a freight train go by. As I turned and looked back at the city (Toronto)
before I called it quits for the night, there was the same light as before--orange-white,
seeming like it was spitting out bits of light. It was, I estimate, 15
degrees above the horizon, and for the life of me it looked like it was
following Dundas Street in a westwardly direction." "It then
moved back along Dundas whilst climbing to about 50 degrees from the horizon.
It then (and this sounds loopy--Graham) started to elongate. It instantly
reminded me of something from Star Trek." "At this point, the
light dulled and seemed to stop spitting, still in its elongated shape.
It was very bright going but with no spitting, and literally went straight
up through the cloud layer, and gone." Graham reports that this round
of multiple UFO sightings "continues to be an unsettling experience"
for himself and his family. (Email Interview)
-
- MORE UFO SIGHTINGS REPORTED
IN BRAZIL
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- On Saturday, March 6, 1999, at 12:15
a.m., a brightly luminous UFO appeared over the large seaport city of Recife,
in Pernambuco state, about 1,200 kilometers (720 miles) north of Rio de
Janeiro. Witnesses described the object as "a large object made up
of an opaque blue light, so that it resembled an object of light. It made
a zigzag at a tremendous speed, first to the right, then to the left, and
then took off, diminishing in brightness as it approached the (western)
horizon." On Saturday night, March 20, 1999, another UFO overflew
Recife, this one described as "a white glowing object." Other
witnesses, however, reported seeing "two parallel white lines or streaks"
flying over the city. In Londrina, the capital of Parana state, located
250 kilometers (150 miles) west of Sao Paulo, an eyewitness claims to have
seen black helicopters in pursuit of a UFO at 10:30 p.m. on March 11, 1999,
the date of Brazil's recent big electrical blackout. As Londrina went dark,
Alexandre Novais "stayed watching the sky from the window of his apartment.
He wanted to see the extent of the blackout." He saw strange lights
among Londrina's skyscrapers, but his mother told him they were only helicopters.
Alexandre reported, "I told her that I would go to get my binoculars,
and, at this time, I saw an unusually large light swiftly cross the sky
at a stunning velocity. But instead of falling to the ground, it ascended
into the sky." The UFO, he stated, was "a strange light that
crossed the sky with a velocity as fast as a shooting star. It was very
rapid and very strange." "Other lights were seen over the city's
international airport," he added, "They were over Brea, a suburb
about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the airport." (Muito obrigado ao
Euclides da Faria e Thiago Ticchetti por esos casos.)
-
- CROP CIRCLE APPEARS IN ISRAEL
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- On Saturday, March 20, 1999, a "significant
crop formation" was discovered in Betlekhem Hagalili, a village in
the Jezreel Valley about 65 kilometers (32 miles) north of Jerusalem. According
to Israeli ufologist Barry Chamish, "The formation was dumbbell-shaped
with two circles of nine meters diameter, joined by a straight line also
nine meters long and 90 centimeters wide. Eight hundred meters away, an
11-meter diameter circle was found. The formation was made in a large
wheat field, and the circles were spun counterclockwise." "In
classic crop formation fashion, the nodes of the wheat were bent, but the
stems were not broken. Over 70 photos of the crop formation were taken
by (Israeli ufologists) Gil Bar and Shaul Burgman." Chamish reported
that three crop circles have been found in the Jezreel Valley during the
past year. The first was found in Bet Zarzir, a town "barely a mile"
from Betlekhem Hagalili, on April 12, 1998. The second was found at Tel
Adashim, located 12 kilometers (8 miles) from Bet Zarzir, on October 20,
1998. "The circles were found in approximate six-month cycles,"
Chamish stated, "The first circle was found on Passover evening last
year, and the latest was left a week before the beginning of this year's
Passover festival." (Many thanks to Barry Chamish for this report.)
(Editor's Comment: The Jezreel Valley has long been a mystical hotspot
in Israel. King Saul watched as the Witch of Endor conjured up the ghost
of Samuel there. Bet Zarzir was also the birthplace of Ahinoam, one of
King David's wives, also known as the Cindy Crawford of the Tenth Century
B.C. It's in the Bible, notably First Samuel 25:43; 27:3 and 30:5.)
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- UFOs SIGHTED IN ITALY AND
NEARBY SARDINIA
-
- Italy recorded three UFO sightings in
various regions of the country last week. On Sunday, March 14, 1999, from
6:30 to 7 p.m., witnesses in Iglesias, a city on the west coast of Sardinia,
spotted "two luminescent elongated forms that remained motionless
in the sky for nearly half and hour." The two UFOs came together once,
"forming an inverted U and disappeared on the horizon seconds later."
Iglesias is in Sardinia's Cagliari province about 140 kilometers (84 miles)
south of Sassari, the capital. (See the newspaper La Nuova Sardegna for
March 16, 1999. Grazie a Antonio Cuccu di CISU per questo rapporto.)
On Saturday, March 20, 1999, at 8:30 p.m., eyewitness Ozzano Emilia "was
driving into Castel San Pietro Termi when he saw a strange glow in the
woods. He then watched a large light rise into the sky." He described
the UFO as "a dark yellow color." On Sunday, March 21, 1999,
in the city of Milano (Milan), "a strange light was seen in the sky
by two people over the suburb of Ripamonti. The light was definitely much
larger and brighter than a star, giving off flashes of red, green and yellow
light as it rose into the sky. It stayed at one point for several minutes,
then (quickly) crossed the sky." (Grazie a Massimo Marasi e Alfredo
Lissoni di Centro Ufologici Nazionale per questi rapporti.)
-
- From the UFO Files...
-
- 1904: UNFORGETTABLE WHIPPLE
V. PHILLIPS
-
- Normally this is the kind of article
you'd see in Reader's Digest. But I doubt the Digest will ever run an
article on a notorious fellow like Whipple Van Buren Phillips. Ol' Whip
Phillips died in Providence, Rhode Island ninety-five years ago, on March
28, 1904. He's probably best known as "a prominent Mason" and
as the father of artist Sarah Susan Phillips (1857-1921) and the grandfather
of cosmic horror writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937). But if
anyone ever writes the Magickal History of New England, Whipple Van Buren
Phillips will certainly get his very own chapter. Whip was born in 1833
in Foster, R.I., a small town about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northwest
of Providence,. and attended the East Greenwich Academy. In 1852, at age
19, Whip traveled to Delavan, Illinois, a town founded by one of his uncles,
James Phillips (1794-1878). But the upper Midwest wasn't for him, and in
1853, he returned to Rhode Island, taking the scenic route. Among the
places he visited were the extensive mound complex in Cahokia, Illinois,
across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, and Mammoth Cave in southern
Kentucky. It's no coincidence that H.P. Lovecraft's very first story, which
he wrote as a nine-year-old boy, was set in Mammoth Cave. Grandpa Whip
told him all about it. In 1853, Whip bought a house in the aptly-named
Coffin's Corner section (now Greene village--J.T.) of Coventry, R.I. On
January 27, 1856, he married a local girl, Robie Alzada Place (1827-1896)
and took a number of jobs, including teaching elementary school and managing
the local general store. In 1876, he moved to Providence, purchased a house
at 276 Broadway and went into the real estate business. He made and lost
three fortunes, and whenever he had the cash, he indulged his esoteric
tastes by collecting strange old manuscripts and visiting prehistoric ruins.
L. Sprague de Camp wrote, "Whipple Phillips was a hearty, energetic,
enterprising, extroverted man who had a long and checkered, but on the
whole, successful business career...Whipple Phillips also picked up a fair
degree of culture. He twice visited Italy and acquired a taste for Italian
art." In addition to visiting several Etruscan and Saturnian sites
in Italy, Whip made a side trip to Egypt on his way home. And thereby
hangs the mystery. In the 1920s, H.P. Lovecraft agreed to write a story
entitled "Under the Pyramids" for Farnsworth Wright, the editor
of Weird Tales, the story to be printed under the byline of the famous
escape artist Harry Houdini. It's not one of Lovecraft's better tales (my
favorite is Pickman's Model--J.T.), but it does contain some startling
references to a network of tunnels beneath the Giza plateau. Most readers
dismissed the tunnel story as folklore, but then in November 1998, Dr.
Zahi Hawass discovered the vertical shafts leading to the Tomb of Osiris.
The unanswered questions: did Whipple Van Buren Phillips visit the tunnel
complex under Giza? Did he tell his grandson about it before his death
in 1904? And did Lovecraft incorporate some of this inside information
into the story? On a snowy night in February 1904, about a month before
his death, the family heard a queer hissing and thumping noise coming from
the attic of Whip's opulent home on Benefit Street in Providence. Thirteen-year-old
Howard asked, "Hey! What's that?" "Nothing! Pay it no
mind, lad, hear?" But Lovecraft was startled by the expression on
his grandfather's face--an expression of stark terror. Of course, he wasn't
half as startled as the Providence undertaker who worked on Whip's body
just after his death...a stroke, they say...on March 28, 1904. The undertaker
reported, "I found the grotesque, twisted expression on the decedent's
face to be quite disconcerting." Indeed! (See H.P. Lovecraft: A Life
by S.T. Joshi, Necronomicon Press, 1996, pages 3 to 6, and Lovecraft: A
Biography by L. Sprague de Camp, Doubleday and Co., 1975, page 11.)
-
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check out the new crop circle in Israel can see it at http://members. tripod.com/~ufoisrael.
Don't miss our parent site, UFO INFO, for the latest in UFO news, photos
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-
- That's it for this week. We'll be back
in seven days with more saucer news from around the planet, brought to
you by "the paper that goes home--UFO Roundup." See you then.
-
- UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1999 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
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