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- SAUCER PHOTOGRAPHED IN AUSTRALIA
-
- On Friday, September 11, 1998, at 10:30
a.m., Oswald Raeder, 58, a New Zealand tourist, was in Surfers Paradise,
Queensland, Australia when he decided to take a photograph of the Dolphin
Arcade Building. Looking down Cavill Avenue, Rader snapped two color photos
on his camera, aiming at the Dolphin Building framed by a clear blue sky.
But when the photographs were developed, they shouwed something else in
the picture, as well. The first image showed two puffs of smoke in the
sky. The second, snapped seconds later, showed a black saucer leaving
the area. "Mr. Raeder, 58, accidentally captured the images on a $10
(disposable) camera as he photographed the Dolphin Arcade Building from
the Search Rescue Service Club in central Surfers Paradise." "'My
idea was just to take a picture of the building, as I do a lot wherever
I go, because I love to look at architecture,' he said, 'It's fascinating,
but I'm not a UFO fanatic. In fact, I'm frightened that people will think
I'm made because I cannot explain this." "Roger Brown, operator
of Surfers Paradise Photo Express, said, 'It's just a matter of an unassuming
guy, not a professional photographer, who took his picture and then found
the object. It could not be faked, expecially with a disposable camera.
I'm certain they are legitimate.'" "Wing Commander John Steinbeck
(no relation to the USA author--J.T.), spokesman for RAAF (Royal Australian
Air Force base) Amberley, confirmed that there were no military aircraft
near the area at that time." "A Civil Aviation Authority spokesman
said there was no reported aircraft activity in the central Surfers Paradise
area early on Sept. 11th." Surfers Paradise is on the Queensland coast
about 480 kilometers (300 miles) north of Sydney. (See the newspapers The
Sunday Territorian and the Sunday Mail for September 27, 1998. Many thanks
to Diane Hamilton for forwarding the news stories.) (Editor's Note: For
more on last week's big UFO flap in Australia, see the other stories in
this issue.)
-
- BLACK HELICOPTERS CHASE UFO
IN NORTHUMBERLAND
-
- On Friday, September 18, 1998, at 8:15
p.m., the witness, A.Z.P., "noticed a large white light in the sky.
It shone like a very bright star, but I knew it could not be." Outdoors
at his home in Sunderland, a port city in Northumberland, UK, A.Z.P.saw
that "it was a cloudy night, and all the other stars were blocked
out by the cloud layer. While I watched it (the UFO), there was another
smaller light directly underneath it, and, as I got closer, I realized
it was a helicopter. The helicopter suddenly turned and flew in a northerly
direction." "Around two minutes after the first, another helicopter
went past in the same direction., and, five minutes after that, another
one did the same. This is unusual. I have only ever seen one helicopter
in the Sunderland area at one time, and they could not have been police
helicopters because they did not have searchlights scouring the ground."
Thirty minutes later, he added, "the light continued to move upwards
out of the atmosphere, but it was going extremely slowly, around a degree
every ten minutes. A plane flew toward it around 9 p.m., but it was not
like any plane I have ever seen. It flew directly underneath the light,
which was still moving. It went past and did not circle the light."
"I continued to watch it until 10 p.m. and then saw a smaller light
detach itself from the large light. It hovered for a few seconds, before
shooting off into space." A.P.Z. saw the UFO again the next night,
Saturday, September 19, 1998, but did not observe it for any length of
time. Sunderland is located on the UK's North Sea coast about 200 miles
(320 kilometers) north of London. (Email Interview)
-
- UFOs SIGHTED IN VICTORIA AND
TASMANIA
-
- On Friday, September 25, 1998, residents
of Berwick, Victoria, Australia "spotted a large orange fireball crossing
the sky from east to west" at around midnight. "It was only
sighted for about ten seconds." Between Thursday, September 24, and
Monday, September 28, 1998, a glowing UFO was seen repeatedly over Currie,
a town on King Island, just north of Australia's island state of Tasmania.
The UFO was visible from 7 to 8 p.m. on each of the four nights. On Saturday,
September 25, the UFO was witnessed by Jill Munro and Christine Parker,
both residents of Currie. "'It freaked me out,' Ms. Munro, a former
radio journalist, said, 'I have been through the Bankstown massacre and
other events but never in my life have I seen anything like this. It takes
a lot to throw me, but someone must come and see this thing and tell me
what it is.'" "Ms. Munro said the object was definitely not a
burning can suspended from a garbage bag parachute, as suggested by the
National Space and Meteor Hotline, nor was it reflected light." "Ms.
Parker, who is a local councillor and librarian, said the light formed
a steady line rather than a ball. It was below the cloud level and clearly
visible." "She said the sighting was a hot topic of conversation
on the island, particularly among older people who remembered Valentich's
disappearance on October 21, 1978 as if it were yesterday." (See the
Daily Mail for September 29, 1998. Many thanks to Diane Hamilton and to
Ross Dowe of Australia/New Zealand 24-Hour UFO Hotline for these reports.)
(Editor's Note: Pilot Frederick M. Valentich took off from Melbourne on
October 21, 1978 on a night flight across the Bass Strait to Tasmania.
While passing King Island, he radioed Melbourne and said his single-engine
aircraft had been buzzed by a large green UFO. After several minutes,
in which Valentich described the horrifying aerial encounter, radio contact
was lost. Neither Valentich nor his plane were ever found.)
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- FRENCH UFO FLAP SWEEPS NORMANDY,
FINISTERRE
-
- Dozens of UFO reports flooded French
research groups last month following publicity surrounding two incidents
that took place on August 14, 1998. On August 14, 1998, witnesses in the
Mezidon- Canon arrondisement in Caen, a large city in the department of
Calvados, west of Paris, reported seeing "a white stationary luminous
phenomenon hovering over the city for several minutes." The same night,
at 11:50 p.m.witnesses in the port city of Audierne, in the department
of Finisterre, saw a UFO "in the form of a triangle, with red lights
at each corner, and to the center possibly a greenish-white strobe light.
A slide to the straight, a slide to the left, very slow. Low altitude,
about 45 degrees above the horizon." The Audierne case is being investigated
by ufologists Thierry Larquet of Brest and Thierry Garnier of Cercle Ufologique
de Haute-Normandie. On August 21, 1998, Garnier was interviewed by a journalist
for Paris-Normandie concerning the Audierne case. As a result of the interview,
he received 31 UFO reports. Of these, 20 appeared to be genuine UFO sightings.
The reports are summarized below: On August 30, a couple driving on Chaussee
(Highway) A29 spotted "two red spheres and a massive rectangle"
in Yervilles "going from north to south at an average speed."
On August 28, at 11:15 p.m., witnesses in Vernon, a city in the department
of Eure west of Paris, "noted the sudden appearance of a yellowish
sphere. It separated into two equal pieces, then reassembled itself."
On August 27, at 10:15 p.m., also in Vernon, a "stationary yellowish
sphere" appeared in the southeastern sky, then disappeared. On August
21, UFOs were seen in three French communities. In Orgeval, at 11:15 p.m.,
witnesses watched "a stationary white sphere rotating in the northwestern
sky" for five minutes. In La Londe, at 11:45 p.m., "four white
luminous circles flew to the north and were seen intermittently for five
minutes." In St. Ouen de Tilleul, three white UFOs came together in
the sky, forming a triangle. A multi-community flap also took place on
the night of August 19. In Pavilly, a city in the department Seine-Maritime
northwest of Paris, "two white spheres" crossed the sky at 1
a.m., accompanied by a "hissing noise." In La Neuville Champs
d'Oissez, "a white sphere was seen in the west, the size of the rising
sun, which oscillated in a stationary position." In Maromme, at 11
p.m., "a large white sphere" flew away and then returned very
slowly, only to fly away again minutes later. And, in Vernon, "a luminous
yellow sphere was seen in the southeast sky. At first it was stationary.
Then it flew away to the west." Earlier in August, white spherical
UFOs were seen in St. Valery en Caux, La Haie Malherbe, Grand Quevilly,
Cantelen, Sotteville, Bouville and St. Aubin les Elbeuf. (Merci beaucoup
au Thierry Garnier de Cercle Ufologique de Haute-Normandie pour ces nouvelles.)
-
- GLOWING SPHERICAL UFO SEEN
NEAR ALICE SPRINGS
-
- On August 30, 1998, at 10 p.m., members
of the Baptist Church youth group were camped out in the bush just north
of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia. "The group split
up into three groups of eight children, so to settle for a night of camp.
Each group camped about 100 meters (110 yards) apart." "Then
one group noticed a bright silver ball of white light flickering and moving
up and down. It was bigger than the stars around, so it stood out. Then
they saw another white light coming in the same direction." "The
children all grouped together to watch the dancing lights. They watched
them for around two minutes, then the lights grouped and raced away at
fast speed." (Many thanks to Australian ufologist Keith Douglass
and Errol Bruce-Knapp for this report.)
-
- ELLIPTICAL UFO SPOTTED OVER
ROLLA, MISSOURI
-
- On Friday, September 2, 1998, at 7:45
p.m., while at a church youth group meeting in Rolla, Missouri (population
14,090), William B. and his friends took a break and went out into the
parking lot to listen to some CD music. "Then I looked up and saw
an elliptical object," Bill reported. "It was very bright and
shiny." Calling his compnions' attention to the UFO, he "told
my friends to look at it, and it split into two equal parts. Many times
in the time we looked at it, it appeared to move away, only to come right
back in a minute or so. It must have been going very fast because it was
still going fast even at a distance. Jets don't move like that."
(Email Interview) Rolla is on Missouri Highway 63 about 85 miles (114 kilometers)
southwest of St. Louis.
-
- GIANT BIGFOOT TRACKS FOUND
IN SASKATCHEWAN
-
- Giant hominid tracks were found on a
Native American reserve near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan (population 34,181)
in late July 1998. "The discovery of a footprint a third of a metre
in length has members of a Saskatchewan reserve looking for signs of an
elusive creature steeped in aboriginal (Native American) legend."
"Curiosity seekers point out that the tracks coincide with the disappearance
of a dog and a bull on the Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation in northern
Saskatchewan." "The prints were spotted July 26 by Janet Gamble,
who was jogging near her home." "'When I noticed the footprint,
I looked around to see it again, and stepped all over another print,' Gamble
said. 'Realizing what I'd seen, I just panicked.'" "Gamble and
her husband Dennis followed the tracks which cut through the brush along
the side of the road." "Her husband and his brother videotaped
the tracks after realizing how easily they could be washed away."
"In an effort to determine the actual nature of the footprints, the
Gambles contacted the RCMP, the University of Saskatchewan and rserve (tribal)
elders." "'The RCMP told us they couldn't do much else (unless)
something serious happened like a mutilation,' said Dennis Gamble."
"'The anthropology department of the university didn't seem very interested,'
he added." "Archie Baptiste of the Red Pheasant reserve told
them it was caused by Mistysen." "Baptiste said Mistysen, which
translates to big man or big person, are legendary creatures that do not
go near people and always hide." "Eugene Gandypie, a friend of
the Gambles who helped with the tracking, doesn't understand why the RCMP
aren't involved." "'Early in the spring, a nearby farm had a
bull go missing. It was later found dead with several bites taken out
of it,' said Gardypie. 'Just this past week (i.e. August 1, 1998--J.T.),
another bull has gone missing, and so has a Rottweiler from another farm.'"
"Gardypie said there were several droppings in the area that he said
were not animal or human." "'I don't know what it is, but with
a 14-inch-by- 7-inch-wide print and a stride of 6 feet,' he said, 'It is
definitely strange.'" Prince Albert is on Provincial Highway 2 about
87 miles (119 kilometers) north of Saskatoon. (See the Citizen of Prince
Albert, Sask. for August 1, 1998. Many thanks to Graham Conway of UFO*BC
and Lou Farrish of UFO Newsclipping Service for this newspaper article.)
-
- CROP CIRCLES APPEAR ON PRINCE
EDWARD ISLAND
-
- Three crop circles were found last week
on Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada. The "triplet" formation
was found near Tryon on Monday, September 28, 1998, although the field's
owner, John Visser, said he thinks the circular formation originally appeared
in mid-August. "The attraction lies in John Visser's winter rye grain
field which runs along the Trans-Canada Highway. There, visible from the
highway, are three large crop circles, all of which are connected by paths.
Two of the circles measure just over 40 feet (64 meters) across while
the third measures over 50 feet (80 meters). Within the circles everything
has been completely flattened, while nothing outside the circles or paths
that connect them has been touched, save by the feet of the curious, hundreds
of whom turned up after word of the phenomenon spread through Tryon and
neighbouring communities." "Harry Craig, of Craig's Convenience
Store in Crapaud, says the circles have been the subject of conversation
and no small amount of speculation." "'Little green men?' says
Craig with a grin, 'I don't think so. But it's strange. I can't think
of any piece of machinery I know of that makes cuts so perfect. The two
smaller circles are exactly the same size, and the paths that connect them
are all the same width.'" "Potato producer John Visser says the
circles look to have been made in the middle of August. They were first
brought to his attention by a man in Bedeque who spotted them while flying
overhead in his private plane." "'I haven't the foggiest idea
where they came from. And I didn't see any tracks that would lead me to
believe that somebody brought equipment in there. I don't believe in little
green men from outer space,' Visser said, 'And I'm not going to speculate,
either. As close as I come to speculation is being in the potato business.'"
(See The Guardian of Prince Edward Island for September 29, 1998, "Who,
or What, left Tryon's crop circles?" Many thanks to Mike Mella and
Paul Anderson of Circles Phenomenon Research-Canada for this newspaper
story.)
-
- MYSTERIOUS SKY BOOMS IN WESTERN
PENNSYLVANIA
-
- On Sunday, September 27, 1998, at 8:30
p.m., a loud "sky boom" was reported in Brownsville, Pennsylvania
(population 3,164), a town on Highway 40 about 40 miles (64 kilometers)
south of Pittsburgh. According to ufologist Stan Gordon, the boom was heard
"over a 15-mile area" in both Fayette and Washington counties.
"One source told me that a family in California Boro said their glass
curio cabinet 'was rocked, with glassware falling and breaking.' Another
person in West Brownsville said the blast jolted him out of bed."
"According to researcher Jim Brown, 'Reports were received by Brownsville
Police around 8:30 p.m. Sept. 27 regarding a loud boom. The boom was heard
as far away as Smock, Pa. (population 950) and also in Washington County."
Brown interviewed two Brownsville police officers. One told him that "he
heard what he describes as a fizz just before the boom. He compared it
to a 'launching.' He agrees it was a concussive sound." A search
of the area by the Brownsville Police and Fire Departments failed to turn
up any evidence of an explosion. On Friday, September 25, 1998, at 2 p.m.,
a "sky boom" occurred over Saltsburg, Pa. (population 990), a
town on Highway 286 about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh.
According to Gordon, "A resident told me he heard what sounded like
a large explosion. It started with a very low-pitched explosion followed
by a long rumble at a higher pitch. The rumble continued for 15 to 30
seconds after the blast and descreased steadily in intensity. This person
talked to others who heard it 15 miles away." (Many thanks to Stan
Gordon for these reports.) (Editor's Note: Saltsburg is just west of Connellsville,
Pa., the site of a two-month UFO flap back in April and May of 1996.)
-
- EARTH BUFFETED BY A MAGNETAR
EXPLOSION
-
- On August 27, 1998, at 5:22 a.m., Earth
was bombarded by an explosive wave of gamma rays and X-rays from deep space.
A "tremendous burst" of radiation "tore into Earth's upper
atmosphere last month, paralyzing spacecraft and distorting radio transmissions,
astronomers said Tuesday," September 29, 1998. The blast wave lasted
over five minutes and registered most strongly over the Pacific Ocean north
of Hawaii. "It was the most powerful pulse known to have struck Earth
from a source outside the solar system. And it marked the first time that
a significant change in Earth's environment could be traced to a distant
star." "'In this five-minute flash, we saw as much energy as
we'd see coming out of the Sun for the next 300 years, or roughly a billion-billion
times the energy of the world's nuclear arsenal,' said Kevin Hurley, a
physicist at the University of California-Berkeley." The blast "was
strong enough to temporarily shut down two Earth-orbiting spacecraft and
push the sensitive detectors on five other satellites to their maximum
scales." "The pulse also briefly cut the range of high-powered
radio stations. The radio signals, which usually reach much farther at
night because of lower electrical levels in the atmosphere, were reduced
to their lower daytime range." The source of the blast was a collapsed
neutron star known as SGR1900+14, which is 20,000 light-years from Earth,
in the constellation Aquila (Latin for eagle--J.T.). SGR1900+14 is a magnetar,
a neutron star that rotates very rapidly, creating a very intense magnetic
field. Billions of years ago, the star exploded in a supernova. Then
it collapsed into a neutron star about 12 miles in diameter. As science
writer Paul Hovenstern explained in USA Today, the star's "outer crust
is black iron, and its fluid (liquid) interior of atomic nuclei is so dense
that a spoonful of the stuff weighs as much as an aircraft carrier. The
star is just 12 miles across but weighs one-and-a-half times as much as
the sun." "The star spins rapidly, and the hotter elements in
its core rise to surface. This creates an intense magnetic field."
Twenty thousand years ago, the magnetar threw off its blast wave of gamma
and X-rays, which went racing across the galaxy like the first ripple from
a rock dropped in a pond "The discovery is 'a major breakthrough in
astrophysics,' said Chryssa Kouvelioutou of the Universities Space Research
Association." (See USA Today for September 30, 1998, "Star explosion's
rays zap Earth's sky traffic," by Paul Hovenstern.) (Editor's Comment:
When I saw the movie Star Trek--Generations, with its "Nexus wave"
traveling across the cosmos, I never, ever thought we'd see a similar phenomenon
in real life. But here we are--once again, life imitates art. The magnetar's
blast wave is also a not-so-subtle reminder that the universe can be a
dangerous place.)
-
- GALILEO PERFORMS CLOSE FLYBY
OF EUROPA
-
- On Friday, September 25, 1998, the spacecraft
Galileo began a close flyby of Europa, an ice- covered moon in orbit around
Jupiter. At 11:56 p.m., NASA's robot explorer craft reached its closest
approach point, passing 2,226 miles (3,561 kilometers) above the Europa's
frozen ocean. The flyby did not pass without incident, however. "A
fault projection program shut down the gyroscopes Thursday" September
24, "after they either began acting abnormally or the spacecraft thought
they had a problem, said project manager Jim Erickson." "'They
aren't needed for the encounter,' he said." Galileo's star scanner
was the primary navigational tool during the flyby. "The chief impact
of the gyro problem would be in the quality of observation by an instrument
called a Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS). The gyros increase
the stability of the scan platform, Erickson said." Launched back
in 1989, Galileo arrived at Jupiter on December 7, 1995. Having completed
its primary mission of exploration in Jovian space, the spacecraft is now
surveying Io and Europa. Ice-covered Europa orbits Jupiter at a distance
of 416,877 miles (670,900 kilometers). The moon is 1,942 miles (3,126
kilometers) in diameter and takes 3.55 Earth days to complete a rotation.
It was named for Europa, the princess of Phoenicia who was kidnapped by
the Greek god Zeus and taken to Crete. (Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr.
for forwarding the NASA news release.)
-
- from the UFO Files...
-
- 1978: SITUATION RED IN HONDURAS
-
- Twenty years ago, a UFO flap broke out
in the Central American nation of Honduras. Here's one of the most high-profile
cases of that flap. "On October 14 (1978), at 6:10 p.m., a nationwide
blackout left communities helpless for twenty minutes as reports of strange
objects in the twilit skies flooded radio stations and the newsrooms of
Honduran dailies." "The advertising manager of one newspaper,
Rogelio Bercian, happened to be among the witnesses to the unusual phenomena.
At precisely 6:06 p.m., he declared in an article for Tegucigalpa's La
Tribuna that he was working on his car on the vantage point of El Picacho
hill when he became aware of a strange object moving from south to north
at considerable speed." "It headed for a populated area at high
velocity. Fearing it was a conventional airplane, he paid close attention
to its maneuvers. The object suddenly executed a suicidal figure-eight
maneuver. Bercian then realized he was looking at a colossal, boomerang-shaped
object with a brilliant light at its center. As it flew over Tocontin
Airport (on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras--J.T.) electrical
current died over the city. Bercian saw the streetlights grow dim before
blacking out altogether. Other witnesses directly under the flight path
of the triangular UFO were able to confirm Bercian's statement."
(See the book CHUPACABRAS AND OTHER MYSTERIES by Scott Corrales, Greenleaf
Publications, Murfreesboro, Tenn., 1997, page 201)
-
- 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
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