-
- Black helicopters were sighted last week
in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. On Saturday,
July 18, 1998, "an all-black helicopter with no markings" was
seen by motorists just north of Madison (population 191,262), the state
capital of Wisconsin. Also on Saturday, July 18, at 12:30 a.m., "three
helicopters flew west to east over XPI's headquarters. 'The helicopters
flew so low they knocked the power off the VCRs,' said Scott Leeper, who
was inside the building" in Rockwell, North Carolina (population 1,598),
a small town on Highway 52 about 130 miles (208 kilometers) southwest of
Raleigh. XPI is a ufological investigation group closely affiliated with
American UFO Newsletter. AUFON editor Stefan Duncan was not in the building
at the time of the overflight. On Sunday, July 19, 1998, the solo black
helicopter was seen again, this time south of Madison, Wis. Eyewitnesses
said the pilot "flew a grid pattern over the area." The helicopter
"remained in sighr for approximately ten minutes." On Monday,
July 20, 1998, at 5:39 p.m., a single black AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter
was spotted flying west above Interstate Highway 76 about two miles south
of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania (population 18406), a suburb of Philadelphia.
Also on Monday, July 20, at about 2 p.m., a motorist on Interstate Highway
94, just west of Ann Arbor, Michigan, reported sighting "a black helicopter
with no markings at all, just a few numbers on the tail (boom)." At
least one Michigan helicopter was identified as belonging to the Michigan
Air National Guard. While flying over the Thornapple River near Hastings,
Michigan (population 6,549), the crew was searching for hidden marijuana
fields when they spotted a man on the ground "shaking his fist"
at them and "acting in a suspicious manner." When the man climbed
into a truck and drove away, the ANG helicopter notified authorities and
gave them a description of the vehicle. Police arrested the man, Mark
Koernke, 41, also known as "Mark from Michigan," a militia spokesman
and co-host of the radio talk show Intelligence Report. Koernke had been
wanted by Michigan authorities for weeks on charges of assault and failure
to appear in court. According to radio co-host John Stadtmiller, Koernke
and another woman, Annie Dawson, were being held at the Washtenaw County
Jail near Ann Arbor pending an upcoming court appearance. Hastings is on
Michigan Highway 37 about 38 miles (61 kilometers) southwest of Lansing,
the state capital. On Tuesday, July 21, 1998, a private pilot waiting to
take off from Midway Airport, at the intersection of 55th Street and Cicero
Road in Chicago, Illinois saw "three black helicopters parked out
at the far end of the runway." On Thursday, July 23, 1998, AUFON editor
Stefan Duncan reported seeing "a small black unmarked helicopter fly
fast and low over the trees about 100 yards" from the XPI building
in Rockwell, North Carolina. (See American UFO Newsletter #13 for 1998,
the Grand Rapids, Michigan Free Press and the Battle Creek, Michigan Enquirer
for July 22, 1998. Many thanks to all the readers who contributed reports
to this story.) (Editor's Note: Mark Koernke's videotapes America In Peril
1 and 2 were among the items confiscated from the Heaven's Gate group's
cache in Encino, California in late March 1997. See UFO Roundup, Volume
2, Number 13.)
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