- BRITISH JETLINER SIGHTS GIANT UFO OVER
YORKSHIRE
-
- On Monday, December 8, 1997, a Boeing
737, owned by British Midland Airways, took off from London's Heathrow
Airport for a flight to Belfast, Northern Ireland. At 2:15 p.m., the jetliner
was flying over Liverpool on a northwesterly heading. Then one of the
passengers spotted a very large UFO off the right wingtip at an estimated
distance of 150 miles (240 kilometers). According to Miles Johnston of
the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA), "It was a very big,
black, thin vehicle, with a very bright white tip. It moved at all times
very slowly but was of considerable size. Relative width-to-length ratio
of 20:1." The UFO was described as "a cigar-shaped object"
2,000 feet (667 meters) long. The UFO "was seen almost on the horizon
(at) approximately the same height as the Boeing 737, 33,000 feet...This
would position the UFO approximately over Yorkshire," Johnston reported,
"The UFO was observed by a passenger on the plane for 15 minutes."
Below the UFO was "heavy thick cloud" cover that made it impossible
for the object to be seen from the ground. "After 15 minutes, the
object flew slowly flew into very high clouds over the region." Prior
to that, "the object was visible at all times in bright, clear sunlight."
(See Filer's Files #51 for December 24, 1997. Many thanks to George A.
Filer of MUFON for this report.) (Editor's Note: A UFO was seen over Rotherham,
S. Yorks three weeks ago.)
-
- UFO HOVERS OVER FRENCH NUCLEAR WASTE
FACILITY
-
- On Tuesday, December 9, 1997, security
guard Michel Collot d'Ouvrard was making his rounds at the CARB nuclear
waste storage facility in Penthe- les-Brienne, with his K-9 guard dog on
a leash. The plant is located near Brienne-le-Chateau, L'Aube department,
in eastern France, about 180 kilometers (108 miles) east of Paris. At 4:15
p.m., Michel reported, "My dog and I were at the center of the perimeter,
when he suddenly began barking at an unusual presence some distance in
front of us. I had difficulty seeing it because of the powerful searchlights
on the nearby pylons. Then I noticed a yellow light apparently moving
toward our position. It came from the southwest, from the general direction
of the Foret d'Orient, between Piney and Vandeuvre. It had the appearance
of a car's headlight beacon at a distance of 1.5 to 2 kilometers. But
in reality it was much closer to us, perhaps at a distance of 300 to 400
meters (990 to 1,320 feet)." "The luminous object seemed to halt
for a fraction of a second, shot out a series of light beams, and then
it followed the same flight path back to the southwest," he added.
"Up in the sky, the luminous object was not moving but seemed to
be larger. I had it in view for about 20 seconds." On Saturday, December
13, 1997, at 6:30 p.m., two women working at the CARB plant "discovered
in the sky the presence of two luminous objects at great height (a high
altitude--J.T.)." They estimated the size of the UFOs as "four
centimeters if at arm's length." The women said the UFOs "had
a dome on the top and four lights on the underside. The two objects left
behind a luminous rectilinear trail, cut short, that looked like a giant
neon tube." "The first object suddenly departed to the southeast,
towards 'La CARB,' while the other object remained in the area, flying
around at heights varying from 30 meters to 300 meters." Both sightings
are being investigated by French ufologist Picot Sylvain. (Merci beaucoup
aux Franck Marie et Banque OVNI pour ces nouvelles.)
-
- UFO FLIES OVER A DAM IN CENTRAL WALES
-
- On Friday, December 19, 1997, at 6:30
a.m., a UFO was seen flying over the hydroelectric dam in the Black Mountains
by two rangers of the Welsh Forestry Commission. The men were five miles
apart at the time, but were in radio contact with each other. The incident
took place in the mountains overlooking Llandoverry, approximately 66 miles
(106 kilometers) northwest of Cardiff. "The UFO was going in a north-northeasterly
direction," one ranger reported. "It was a very bright ball
of light with four sparkly tails and about two miles or so high, about
three times the size of a large star. It was over the dam for about 35
seconds, climbing in an upward direction." The sightings reports were
received by the Welsh Forestry Commission office at Tirabads. (Many thanks
to Todd Andrews and the Riskers for this report.) (Editor's Note: Earlier
this year, a large dark triangular UFO was sighted above Highway A40 near
Trecastle.)
-
- FRANCE REPORTS TWO MORE UFO INCIDENTS
-
- On Wednesday, December 3, 1997, at 9
p.m., Philippe Dancoisne was in downtown Rennes when he "noticed the
presence of two shining 'stars' at 40 degrees above the western horizon.
The two stars 'gleamed' with red and green firebursts, as if they were
two luminous objects some distance from each other--one red, the other
green." "The objects remained stationary," he added, "with
the same relative space between them. I watched until 9:45 p.m."
when the lights vanished. "In the days following, the same phenomenon
appeared again, at the very same time" and the UFOs behaved "in
an identical manner, which really astonished me, for I had never observed
stars (acting) in this fashion." Rennes is a city in the department
Ile-et-Vilaine, about 280 kilometers (175 miles) west of Paris. On Sunday,
December 7, 1997, at 11:10 a.m., two hospital workers were driving on the
highway between Troyes and Lusigny near the village of Montreuil-sur-Barce.
Suddenly, "their attention was caught by a very bright white flash
of light, what seemed to be a reflection of the sun. They took note of
this development in the sky, believing at first that it was an aircraft
in difficulty." The men observed the mysterious light moving around
inside the overcast cloud cover. "It duplicated its own motions,
moving in a curved flight in an east- west trajectory but drifting towards
the southeast. Its altitude was less than 1,000 meters (3,300 feet). It
seemed to be engaging in 'low-level flying.'" They estimated the UFO
"to be 10 to 15 kilometers (6 to 9 miles) away, towards the Foret
d'Orient. The (UFO's) appearance was circular, elliptical and presented
itself in profile." (See the French newspaper L'Est Republicain for
December 8, 1997. Merci aux Franck Marie et Picot Sylvain pour ces nouvelles.)
-
- UFO, MYSTERY HELICOPTERS SPOTTED IN PORTUGAL
-
- On Saturday, December 20, 1997, at 2
a.m., Roberto Cardoso "was driving home with a friend" about
10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Leiria, Portugal when his companion spotted
something very strange in the sky. On "a straight and downhill section
of the road, where we could perfectly see the sky in front of us... Suddenly,
a white-blue round object appeared from behind a cloud and made a perfect
vertical descent" of 500 meters from the rainy overcast sky. "The
light made the descent in no more than a second," Roberto reported,
adding that it touched down about 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of the Atlantic
Ocean shoreline. "The object itself could have had a diameter between
one and five meters. The light was strong and it brightly illuminated the
clouds around it as soon as it became visible. The light appeared at (the)
11 o'clock (position) just about in front of us. We were heading west
towards the Portuguese coast." "'Hey! Did you see that?' my
friend said." "'Yes. But it's too far away for us to find it,
damn!'" Roberto told his other friends about the sighting. A few days
later, one of them, Manuel Oliveira, reported an equally strange incident
near Martinha Grande, southwest of Leiria. Oliveira "told of seeing
some strange helicopters of a type he had never seen before. He told me
that they were NOT black and had some nation's insignia on them. He only
knows the Portuguese and USA insignias and it was not one of theirs,"
Roberto wrote, adding that they might be "of the Westland type."
Both encounters, he added, took place about 15 kilometers from the Fuerza
Aerea Portuguesa (FAP) air base at Monte Real. (Email Interview) Leiria
is 184 kilometers (115 miles) north of Lisboa (Lisbon), the nation's capital.
(Editor's Note: The Westland Lynx Mk3 and Mk4 are used by both the UK and
France. For more black helicopter news, see the Pennsylvania story in
this issue.)
-
- LUMINOUS UFO FLIES OVER A CITY IN CENTRAL
ITALY
-
- On Sunday, December 14, 1997, at 6:15
p.m., pedestrians in Terni, a city in the Monti Sabini mountain range approximately
100 kilometers north of Rome, spotted a strange luminous object flying
across the evening sky. The UFO was described as "a luminous white
object in the form of a pointed arch." Witnesses said the UFO "made
a swift passage" through the sky over Terni "along a horizontal
trajectory." The case is being investigated by ufologist Massimo Valloscuro
of the Centro Italiano di Studi Ufologici (CISU). (Grazie a Edoardo Russo
di CISU per questo rapporto.)
-
- MAN AND SON SPOT UFO OVER NORTH CAROLINA
-
- On Saturday, December 20, 1997, at 5:40
p.m., Chuck Olmstead and his son "were in the front yard of our home
in Greenville, North Carolina (N.C.) (population 44,972), looking into
the sky. We had just launched a helium balloon with a return tag as an
experiment and were watching it travel to the north." "The sky
was dark blue, a few of the early evening stars were visible" and
they also saw two aircraft, one at 45 degrees or so from the horizon with
red and white lights visible and one in the northeast, also at 45 degrees
from the horizon." "Looking up at zenith, I watched a group of
about 6 or 7 stars of varying intensity suddenly line up in a straight
line," Olmstead reported. "My son saw it also and yelled out,
'Daddy!'" "I told him, 'Run inside and get your mommy.'"
He estimated the formation's size as "the height of my index finger
(held) at arm's length. Some of the stars were large and bright--larger
than Venus--and others were dim. I then noticed that the entire line was
moving slowly to the west in sync." "At the same time, I then
noticed another star to the west that seemed to be the 'leading' star,
also moving in sync with the rest of the stars. What I visualized was
an equilateral triangle with only one leg of the three visible... Suddenly,
all of the stars seemed to converge at the center of the triangle, and
all faded out just prior to meeting in the center. The entire event was
probably only eight to ten seconds long. This is the strangest thing I
have ever seen in the sky..." (Email Interview)
-
- UFOs SEEN RECENTLY OVER WAYNESBORO, VIRGINIA
-
- On Sunday, December 21, 1997, at 5:15
a.m., Ellen Mycroft spied a UFO from her home in Harrisonburg, in Virginia's
Shenandoah Valley. "I saw what appeared to be 3 to 5 bright lights
in a row in the eastern sky. After a while, they just gradually faded
away," Ms. Mycroft reported, adding that she had them in view for
"a period of five to twenty seconds. I don't know how long they had
been up there before that, but I watched for a while, maybe 30 seconds
to a minute." She estimated that the UFO was flying over nearby Waynesboro,
Va. (population 18,549), on Highway 340 approximately 96 miles (154 kilometers)
northwest of Richmond. She also contacted another eyewitness in Crimora,
Va., 25 miles from Harrisonburg. "We both thought we saw a series
of five lights nearly as bright as Venus around 5:15 or 5:20 p.m. on Sunday,
December 21. He thought the lights were 20 to 25 degrees above the horizon,
and the lights appeared to be over the Waynesboro/ Fishersville area which
is consistent with my observation." She added that Waynesboro was
the site of the 1964 UFO encounter reported by Horace Burns. (Email Interview)
-
- COUPLE SEES A UFO OVER HOOKSETT, NEW
HAMPSHIRE
-
- On December 3, 1997, a couple spotted
a "very bright light" in the evening sky south of Hooksett, New
Hampshire (population 2,573). One of the witnesses said, "You could
bundle five airplanes together and it wouldn't even come close to this
much light." The UFO approached from the south. When one witness
called attention to it, "the light halted and suddenly took off."
Mysterious bright lights along Route 3 south of Hooksett were also reported
by two other witnesses. Hooksett is 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Concord,
the state capital. (See the Manchester, N.H. Union-Leader for December
5, 1997. Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for this report.)
-
- BLACK HELICOPTERS ACTIVE IN PENNSYLVANIA
AND NORTHERN FLORIDA
-
- The night of December 16, 1997, Brett
B. was at his family's home on Hawk Mountain near Tamaqua, Pennsylvania
(population 7,843), a small city at the intersection of Highways 209 and
309, approximately 98 miles (158 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.
All at once, Brett heard the sound of a helicopter. "It sounded as
if it was really close," he reported. "I'm guessing that it was
at about mountain level. It sounded as if it was right outside the house.
When I went outside, I didn't see anything" because of the low overcast.
"I went back in the house because I didn't have my shoes on or a
coat, and it was getting cold." Listening to the helicopter noise,
Brett wondered if there might have been a breakout at a state prison nearby.
But, he added, "my aunt works at the prison, and she usually calls
us" if a breakout occurs. After a while, the mysterious helicopter
flew away. (Email Interview) On Saturday, December 20, 1997, Corey S.
saw two black UH-1D helicopters fly over his farm near Jasper, Florida
(population 2,099). The choppers were "flying close to the ground,
heading east." According to Corey, some neighbors called a local radio
talk show and reported seeing "six to eight black helicopters, most
of them Hueys (UH-1D) but one was a Hughes 500 with airborne radar"
on the ground at a nearby rural airstrip." Jasper is on Florida Highway
41, approximately 85 miles (136 kilometers) east of Tallahassee, the state
capital.
-
-
-
- 1909: AIRSHIP HOVERS OVER WILLIMANTIC
-
- In addition to Massachusetts and Rhode
Island, UFOs were seen over Connecticut during the "airship flap"
of December 1909. Here's the actual newspaper account of the most famous
Connecticut sighting of the period.
-
- "There was a bright light in the
east last night and the wise ones sized it up for Tillinghast's mysterious
airship. It was about 7:30 o'clock that the light was first noticed and
it was then in the southeast, appearing to be above the thread plant as
viewed from the foot of Railroad street but a long ways off--from twenty
to thirty miles in the opinion of some of the people who saw it."
"Policemen and other matter-of-fact persons winked the other eye when
the airship was mentioned but there were plenty of people who were quite
willing to declare, and did so declare, that what they had seen in the
eastern sky answered in all particulars the descriptions sent out of the
mysterious aerial craft that has been creating such a sensation in Worcester
and other Massachusetts cities and villages." "There were several
hundred in Willimantic who saw what they believed to have been an airship,
and others said it was Hailey's (sic) comet. Whatever it was, it caused
considerable excitement for a while and the curious ones spent several
hours with their eyes riveted on the heavens." "The light in
the southeast looked like a powerful searchlight. Because of its size
and the aura it threw, it attracted wide attention. It remained stationary
for a few minutes, and then it seemed to shoot upwards, and then ambled
around as if the person manipulating it was trying to get his bearings."
"As usual, Mayor (John F.) Dunn's store was crowded about that time,
and Benjamin Murphy, timekeeper on the New Haven (rail)road, was...calling
the men out to see the airship. Mayor Dunn was among them, and he stated
last night (i.e. on December 23, 1909--J.T.) when seen by a Chronicle reporter
that he would not swear it was an airship but it certainly did look like
one. Others who saw it were of the same opinion." "The light
was miles away apparently and quite high in the air. It played in the
east for about fifteen minutes and then vanished. Later there appeared
a brilliant star in the firmament and those who had not seen the first
light and saw this star were of the opinion that both lights were one and
the same, but those who saw the first light said it was no star."
"People who had come down street to do their Christmas shopping forgot
what they had come for and stood on the sidewalk and even in the middle
of the street, looking in the east, hoping to see the return of the airship.
Some of the skeptics who, just because they did not hear the hissing of
the engine or got an introduction to the man running the ship, laughed
at those who claimed it was an airship they saw. The skeptics could not
account, though, for the strange light and its peculiar actions."
"It was too bad that the airship, if it was one, did not come nearer
the city so that the people could inspect the machine. The scoffers would
have then had no grounds for scoffing." (See the Willimantic, Conn.
Daily Chronicle for December 24, 1909, "'Come, Ride In My Airship'
Invitation Awaited by Many!" page 1.)
-
- LAST REFLECTIONS ON THE YEAR: This wraps
up Volume 2 of UFO ROUNDUP. Your editor would like to extend his heartfelt
thanks to all who submitted UFO news during 1997. Your contributed items
are what makes it all possible. To our new readers in Bermuda, Japan, Norway,
Colombia and the Netherlands, thanks for being with us. We're repeating
last year's ROUNDUP Pledge--to bring full coverage of the global UFO situation
to readers everywhere via the Internet. UFO ROUNDUP will continue to publish
attribution wherever possible for every item that appears in the newsletter.
At the same time, UFO ROUNDUP will diligently protect the confidentiality
of eyewitnesses. Hopefully, the day is coming when UFO witnesses can talk
about their sightings and encounters without being harassed by government
agents. To those who criticize the stories published in this newsletter...tell
me, friends, when was the last time you saw attribution footnotes in the
New York Times and the Washington Post? If 1997--with Heavens Gate, the
mass sightings in Phoenix and Seattle, and the UFO crash in Nova Brasilandia--is
any indication, we could be in for a rough saucer ride during 1998. But
UFO ROUNDUP will be there, bringing you complete coverage of the continuing
drama of the unidentified flying object. Here's wishing all our readers
a "Happy New Year!" from "the paper that goes home--UFO
ROUNDUP."
-
- UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1997 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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