- MYSTERIOUS SKY BOOMS HEARD
IN MARYLAND AND RHODE ISLAND
-
- On Thursday afternoon, July 30, 1998,
two very loud "skyquakes" rocked the beaches of Ocean City, Maryland
(population 5,146), startling hundreds of people. The sounds were described
as "two loud earthshaking booms offshore," just east of this
resort community on Assateague Island. "There was no apparent cause--no
planes were in sight, no sonic disturbances. The booms seemed to originate
several miles offshore." Ocean City is located 139 miles (222 kilometers)
southeast of Baltimore. (Many thanks to Steve Stankiewicz for this news
story.) On Saturday, August 1, 1998, at 9:30 p.m., a mysterious boom reverberated
through Rhode Island's Narragansett Bay, jolting the town of East Greenwich
and the Conimicut Point section of Warwick, R.I. "The mysterious boom
heard about 9:30 p.m. Saturday night in East Greenwich and parts of Warwick
flooded police switchboards with curious calls and had residents eyeing
the heavens and putting an ear to the ground." "Its source has
stymied officials." "'We called everyone we could think of,'
said East Greenwich Police Chief Lawrence Campion Jr., who reported that
the sound shook his station house (on Peirce Street--J.T.) and prompted
officers to run upstairs to see if something heavy had fallen over. 'It's
a mystery. And it's not the first time it's happened, either." (Editor's
Comment: True enough! A "sky boom" was heard over East Greenwich
on the afternoon of December 27, 1909, during L'affaire Tillinghast, also
known as the New England Airship Invasion of 1909.) "A similar boom--described
as a short rumbling sound, like a muffled explosion--was reported about
six weeks ago in East Greenwich." "Many residents theorized that
the culprit was the Concorde--the intercontinental supersonic jet-- breaking
the sound barrier on the way to JFK Airport in New York City." "'Not
likely,' said Patricia Goldstein, public affairs director for T.F. Greene
Airport (in the Hillsgrove section of Warwick, R.I.--JT) 'That has happened
in the past but hasn't occurred lately, so far as we know.'" "Bonnie
Zech, a resident of Reynolds Avenue in East Greenwich (population 10,211)
never suspected the sky." "'It led me to think it was something
seismic,' said Zech. 'It definitely wasn't the Concorde.'" "Warwick
police also received numerous calls on the noise, mainly from residents
in the (shoreside) Conimicut and Potowomut neighborhoods--residents who
are accustomed to attributing all things loud and bothersome to the airport."
(See the Providence, R.I. Journal for August 4, 1998, "Nighttime
'boom': Theories resound, source a mystery," by John Doherty, pages
C-1 and C-2.)
-
- UFO, BLACK HELICOPTER SEEN
NEAR PENSACOLA
-
- Pensacola, Florida (population 58,165)
had two unusual sightings last week. On Thursday, July 30, 1998, Andrew
G. of Andalusia, Alabama "was driving south on Highway 85 towards
Crestview, Florida. While driving through the small town of Baker, Florida,
I suddenly spotted a low-flying, jet-black helicopter flying west to east
and eventually heading towards the north. I did not see any numbers or
lettering and could not be sure if it was an undercover military helicopter
or not." Baker is on Florida Highway 4 about 50 miles (80 kilometers)
northeast of Pensacola. (Email Interview) On Saturday, August 1, 1998,
at 12:15 a.m., ufologists Andrew Casaveno and Lisa Pilcher were driving
over the Pensacola Bay Bridge . "To the right they saw an object
that at arm's length was at least the size of a quarter. The UFO was shaped
like a sombrero. The object was completely surrounded by extremely bright
yellow, gold and amber lights and seemed to be 'shimmering.' We observed
the vividly lit object for two minutes until we passed over the bridge."
Beverly and Matthew Pilcher, following in a second car, "also watched
a yellow light" above the trees where the UFO had last been seen.
(See Filer's Files #31 for 1998. Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON
for this news story.)
-
- LONGMONT, COLORADO SEES ANOTHER
TRIANGULAR UFO
-
- On Saturday, July 18, 1998, at 10:02
p.m., L.B. and his family "drove west away from the Wal-Mart in Longmont,
Colorado (population 51,555) and spotted a craft flying to the southwest
of our area and moving westward across our field of view." "It
seemed to have a great many red pulsating lights with some white lights
in the central area," L.B. reported. "It descended towards Longmont
airport but it did not follow the usual flight pattern, and was actually
going down towards the farm fields south of the airport. We lost sight
of it behind the trees as I drove." "Five minutes later, we were
driving north towards the west end of the airport when we spotted a craft
that looked like the first one. The craft looked like a very large plane
rising from the west end of the airport. It was moving shakily. The lights
appeared to be 50 or 60 feet high." The UFO "slowly flew over
the road about 50 feet above the ground. I commented that it was lit funny
because it appeared to be box-shaped in that the rear showed two red lights,
one above the other, and the front of the craft had two more red lights
in a vertical column. The craft ascended slowly to the westward to about
120 feet above the ground. Then it stopped and appeared to hover."
"Because the lights did not change orientation, we assumed that the
craft was still going west even though the craft was now growing larger.
Suddenly, we realized it was heading back towards us." "It passed
over the road about 170 to 200 feet above the ground. As it seemed to
rise, three people in the car saw that the craft was shaped like a triangle
with three equal sides. Along each of the side angles, there were long
tube-like lights, like neon tubes and these were a yellowish-white. The
tubes curved upward near the west end of the craft and came to sharp points."
"Near the apex of the triangle, the eastern tip, was a large red recessed
hole in which was a light blue light. While the red lights had been pulsating
earlier, as the craft was flying west, now all the lights were continually
bright, not blinking or pulsating. The light provided enough illumination
to allow viewers to see that the craft had a large triangular hull. We
quickly tried to pull over onto another side road so we could get a better
look...Then the craft changed course and headed north until it was hidden
by the trees." Longmont is on Colorado Highway 287 about 27 miles
(43 kilometers) north of Denver. A similar dark triangle-shaped UFO was
seen there back in April. (Many thanks to Bill Bunch of Supernews for this
story.)
-
- UFOs SIGHTED IN MONTAGUE,
NEW JERSEY
-
- Two UFO sightings were reported last
week in and near Montague, a town on the Delaware River in the northwestern
corner of New Jersey, about 120 miles (192 kilometers) west of New York
City. On Sunday, August 2, 1998, at 10:30 p.m., Rita S. went out to her
barn to give her horses a late night snack. "when I spotted what I
thought was a bright white light from a small aircraft moving longitudinally
towards the north. It was flying under 1,000 feet and should have had
a strobe light or pulsating smaller red, green or blue lights. The object
seemed to be round and bright, which led me to believe it was flying too
low not to have had any sound." Rita turned her head to the right
momentarily, but when she looked back, the object was gone. Three days
earlier, on Thursday, July 30, 1998, a family driving in High Point State
Park, ten miles east of Montague, "spotted an object in the sky with
a sort of spotlight, very bright, moving northeast, and there was no sound.
It was estimated to be about 1,500 feet in the air. It was there one
moment moving slowly. In a blink, it was gone, not just moved to another
spot, totally gone from the area." (Many thanks to Louise A. Lowry,
editor of The Strange, for these news stories.)
-
- FRENCH UFOLOGISTS PROBE NEW
TRIANGULAR UFO CASE
-
- SOS OVNI, the French UFO research group,
is investigating another sighting of a very large triangular UFO over the
department of Provence in late June. On June 24, 1998, Scottish photographer
Stuart Conway and a friend spotted a giant triangular UFO over Lac de Saint
Croix, northeast of Marseilles, on France's Mediterranean coast. According
to French ufologist Alain Delplanque, independent witnesses in Rognac,
a town near Aix en Provence, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) southwest
of Lac de Saint Croix, saw a similar triangular UFO the same night. "Another
witness, living in Rognac, saw a flying boomerang-shaped object coming
from the northeast" at 11:30 p.m. the night of June 24, 1998. The
UFO "was coming from the direction of Lac de Saint Croix" about
30 minutes after Conway's sighting, Delplanque reported. "Our organisation
is investigating this case and has interviewed Air Traffic Control in Salon
de Provence." (Merci beaucoup aux Alain Delplanque et SOS OVNI pour
ces nouvelles.)
-
- CROP CIRCLE APPEARS ON A FARM
IN HUNGARY
-
- On Wednesday, July 29, 1998, Hungarian
national TV in Budapest reported the discovery of a crop circle on a farm
in Hered. According to the report, the farmer had gone out to the field
to begin harvesting wheat when he "discovered the strange circle.
The farmer doubted that it was pranksters because there was no trampled
wheat leading to the circle. And in the nearest village there are only
old people who wouldn't play this kind of trick." According to the
TV report, investigators at the site said the wheat was "perfectly
flattened in one direction in a circular form that you could make if you
tramped around. But there were no footsteps of any kind. A chemical analysis
showed that some of the (wheat) stems showed some kind of spontaneous aging
or other transformation." This was Hered's second crop circle. Another
one appeared in the town in July 1996. (Many thanks to Zsolt Tari and
AGETI for this report.)
-
- SEVEN ORANGE UFOs SEEN IN
NORTHERN QUEENSLAND
-
- Luminous orange UFOs appeared on two
nights last week in Townsville, Queensland state, Australia, and were seen
by dozens of people. "The sudden appearance of seven unidentified
flying objects over Townsville last night (July 28, 1998) and Monday night
(July 27, 1998) have left officials baffled." "Several officials
were spooked when seven orange- reddish lights were reported gliding over
Annandale, Garbutt and Kirwan." "Senior air traffic controller
Squadron Leader Trevor Beams (Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF) said police,
Army and RAAF were unable to explain it. 'I have no idea what it was,'
he said." "Three air traffic tower duty-officers saw three lights
at 6:45 p.m. and four lights at 7:45 p.m. on Monday. Squadron Leader Beams
said the lights were moving slowly the sky at 800 to 1,000 meters (altitude)
due east." "Bicycle store owner Sam Bratton said he saw four
large orange lights move northwest over Kirwan at 7:45 (p.m.) on Monday.
'I saw them and called out to the people in the pizza shop (next door)
to come and have a look,' he said. 'This was weird. I have never seen
anything like this before in my life, and I am 75 years old. It was quite
scary. I was not drinking, and I have seen some strange things in my life,
but this would have to be the strangest.'" "Cranbrook resident
Peter Fox reported seeing five or six orange lights at 8:50 to 9 p.m. last
night (July 28) before they disappeared in the direction of Mount Stuart.
'I thought at first they might be helicopters, but there was no sound and
they weren't blinking,' Mr. Fox said." "The Queensland Fire and
Rescue Authority was called at 8:53 p.m.by an off-duty officer, also in
Cranbrook." Townsville is in tropical northern Queensland about 600
kilometers (360 miles) north of Brisbane. (See the Townsville, Qlnd. Bulletin
for July 29, 1998, "UFOs seen over city" by Ainsley Pavey, page
3. Many thanks to Terry W. Colvin for forwarding the newspaper article.)
-
- BLUE TRIANGULAR UFO SPOTTED
NEAR MELBOURNE
-
- UFOs were active in southern Australia
last week, as well. On Sunday, August 2, 1998, at 7:30 p.m., a very large
triangular UFO, described as "about the size of a large house block
(apartment complex--J.T.), one-half of an acre," was seen over Altona,
near Melbourne, the capital of Victoria state. According to Australian
ufologist Ross Dowe, the object was a "dull blue triangle with three
large lights at about 300 meters in height (altitude)." The object
left the area at 7:45 p.m. (Many thanks to Ross Dowe and the Australia/New
Zealand 24-Hour UFO Hotline for this report.)
-
- GIANT FIREBALL APPEARS OVER
AUSTRALIA'S EASTERN SEABOARD
-
- On Monday night, August 3, 1998, "hundreds
of Sydneysiders," including Australian police, saw a giant fireball,
"what is believed to be a meteorite plummeting to earth." The
mysterious fireball was seen from Woolongong and Sydney in New South Wales
along the east coast as far north as Brisbane in southeastern Queensland.
Police "Substations were flooded by calls describing 'a bright light
with a black head and fiery tail' streaking through the sky." "Residents
of the Hawkesbury area confirmed the sighting" as "what they
thought was a large aircraft crashing in the area and inundated police
with emergency calls." "Pol Air, firefighters...and police ground
units were dispatched to the Ku-Ring-Gai National Park to investigate."
"Sergeant Bill Connors of Hornsby police said a number of police and
emergency rescue crews" reached the site "although their efforts
were hampered by heavily wooded terrain. However, Sergeant Connors said
the Civil Aviation Safety Authority had no reports of a missing plane."
(See Australia's Daily Telegraph for August 4, 1998, "Ball of Fire."
Many thanks to Ross Dowe of Australia/New Zealand 24-Hour UFO Hotline
for forwarding the newspaper article.)
-
- SAUCER SPOTTED IN SASKATCHEWAN
-
- On Thursday, July 30, 1998, at 11:30
p.m., Robert S. was driving west on Highway 1, the Trans-Canadian Highway.
He had just passed Morse and was approaching Enfold, Saskatchewan, Canada
when he spotted something odd in the sky. "I spotted a disk-shaped
object with a gray bottom and a silver top at approximately one kilometer
(0.6 miles) east of my position. The object was heading in a southerly
direction. The object crossed my windshield at a very high rate of speed
and was out of sight within ten seconds. My (car) window was open, and
no sound could be heard." Enfold, Sask. is located 175 kilometers
(105 miles) west of Regina, the provincial capital. (Many thanks to Tim
Hagemeister of NACOMM for this report.)
-
- ORANGE UFOs SIGHTED OFF KEY
WEST, FLORIDA
-
- On Tuesday, July 28, 1998, at 8:30 p.m.,
Terry Biesiadecki of Grosse Ile, Michigan was running his sailboat in the
Atlantic Ocean, near Maryland Shoals just off Key West, Florida. Suddenly,
he and his crew "spotted ten orange circles in geometric positions."
"They stayed for five minutes, disappeared and returned in five minutes,"
Terry reported. "Later, nine orange discs lit up the sky. Next,
three orange rings in a triangle dimension (triangular formation) appeared
and then disappeared. Words do not explain the whole situation, their
size and how the sky was lighted." The island of Key West is the southernmost
point in Florida, approximately 164 miles (262 kilometers) south of Miami.
(See Filer's Files #31 for 1998. Again, many thanks to George A. Filer
for this report.)
-
- TWO BLACK HELICOPTERS SPOTTED
IN SACRAMENTO
-
- On Sunday, August 2, 1998, at 2:35 p.m.,
C.T. was "driving north of Interstate 5 just west of downtown Sacramento
(just north of Richards Boulevard--J.T.) when I saw two dark helicopters
to the east of me and some distance--probably a few miles--away. One was
heading east. The other was in the process of turning from north to east
and following the first. The one that was turning had a large rotor with
four blades. They were both large and dark. They appeared to be larger
than any of the police/ traffic helicopters I've seen frequently flying
over Sacramento. I turned east on Interstate 80 about five minutes later,
but they were already out of sight to the northeast." Sacramento (population
369,365) is the state capital of California and is located 91 miles (145
kilometers) east of San Francisco. (Email Interview)
-
- DERELICT SOHO RESPONDS TO
NASA RADIO SIGNALS
-
- Following six weeks of silence, the derelict
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) sent a faint radio message to
Earth on Monday, August 3, 1998. According to the NASA news release for
August 4, "Contact has been re-established with the Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory," which is floating one million miles from Earth at the
L-1 Lagrangian point. "Signals sent yesterday through the NASA Deep
Space Network station at Canberra, Australia were received by SOHO at 6:51
p.m. in the form of bursts of (radio) signals lasting two to ten seconds."
"These (SOHO) signals were received by both the NASA DSN station and
the ESA (European Space Agency) station at Perth, (Western Australia)."
"Although the signals are intermittent and do not contain any data
information, they show that the spacecraft is still capable of receiving
and responding" to signals from Earth. "'This is an excellent
sign,' said Joe Gorman, NASA SOHO Project scientist at the Goddard Spaceflight
Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. 'It means the spacecraft still has a heartbeat
and gives us additional options that we may be able to restore SOHO to
scientific operation.'" The $1 billion solar satellite has been observing
the sun from its L-1 point, a region of space where the gravitational fields
of Earth and its neighbors cancel each other out, since December 1995.
(Editor's Comment: Nice to see SOHO back online. Enough sunlight must
be reaching its solar panels to give the onboard battery a "trickle
charge." Still no word, though, on how SOHO flipped out of its orbital
position back in June.)
-
- from the UFO Files...
-
- 1926: DAYLIGHT DISC SPOTTED
IN NORTHERN CHINA
-
- Here's a classic case from the pre-Roswell
era. Seventy-two years ago, on August 5, 1926, Russian artist and explorer
Nicholas Roerich spotted a daylight disc in northern China. Here in Roerich's
own words is the story of his sighting. "On August 5th--something
remarkable! We were in our camp in the Kukunor district, not far from
the Humboldt (mountain) Chain. In the morning, about half-past nine, some
of our caravaneers noticed a remarkably big black eagle flying above us.
Seven of us began to watch this unusual bird." "At the same
moment, one of our caravaneers said, 'There is something far above the
bird.' And he shouted his astonishment." "We all saw, in a direction
from north to south, something big and shiny reflecting sun, like a huge
oval moving at great speed. Crossing our camp, this thing changed in its
direction from south to southwest. And we saw how it disappeared in the
intense blue sky. We even had time to take our field glasses and saw quite
distinctly the oval form with the shiny surface, one side of which was
brilliant from the sun." (See the book ALTAI- HIMALAYA by Nicholas
Roerich, Frederick A. Stokes Co., New York, N.Y., 1929, pages 361 and 362.)
-
- FUN UFO WEBSITES: Pyramids in Australia?
That's the topic of Tristan Rankine's new website. Read it for yourself
at this URL...http://www.awarenessquest.com For updates on SOHO, check
out the official website at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/ Be sure to
visit our parent site, UFO INFO, which is chock-full of photos, features
and links. Drop in any time at http://ufoinfo.com Don't forget, back issues
of UFO Roundup can be accessed and downloaded at the archive webpage at
http://ufoinfo.com/roundup
-
- To our readers in Zimbabwe, enjoy the
holiday on August 11. We'll be back next weekend with more saucer news
from "the paper that goes home--UFO Roundup." See you then.
-
- UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1998 by Masinaigan
Productions, all rights reserved. Readers may post 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 item first
appeared.
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