- RAAF JETS HUNT UFO NEAR GRAFTON,
NEW SOUTH WALES
-
- Fighter jets of the Royal Australian
Air Force (RAAF) were seen crisscrossing the night sky following a UFO
sighting near Grafton, New South Wales. The flap began April 19, 1998 when
"Mrs. W., her daughter and a neighbour watched as two or three round
illuminated white objects were quietly maneuvering at low altitude in the
western sky" at 7:30 p.m. The UFOs were "heading into the Grafton
area." As they watched, "the objects appeared to be heading in
one direction, then suddenly appeared to be going in the opposite direction,
as if they were circling. The three witnesses watched the objects for about
15 minutes." On April 29, 1998, at 6:30 p.m., another family near
Grafton "reported an unusual object going quickly across the sky.
It was large, spherical and orange-coloured. When viewing through binoculars,
they could not make out any other details or surface features. After going
directly overhead, it slowed down to a lower speed, then it veered off
toward the west." "At this moment, the family saw two military-type
planes (jets) in the northern sky, probably from the (RAAF) Williamtown
air base, quickly traveling southward--towards the object. The UFO shot
off to the south and disappeared over the horizon." "Soon afterward,
at least two helicopters, probably from the (RAAF) Singleton air base,
were seen heading from the north to a more southerly direction. Later that
evening, the family members noticed a bluish-white light light in the western
sky, zigzagging from north to south." Grafton is a city in Australia's
state of New South Wales about 300 kilometers (180 miles) north of Sydney.
At around 7:30 p.m. that same evening, two families in Singleton, N.S.W.
"reported seeing a strange orange- yellow light object traveling quickly
across the sky in a southeasterly direction. The light was quite large,
made no noise and was traveling at quite a low altitude. One of the Singleton
witnesses is an amateur astronomer." At 11:30 p.m., residents of Tumbi
Umbi, a small town in the Central Coast region near Grafton, "heard
a weird rumbling noise pass overhead." (See Australian UFO Reports
and Experiences #3 for June 1998. Many thanks to editor Robert Frola and
Australian ufologists Michael Farrell, Peter Turner and Moira McGhee for
these reports.)
-
- LARGE LUMINOUS UFO SIGHTED
BY EIGHT TEENS IN AUSTRIA
-
- On Monday, June 1, 1998, at 9:30 p.m.,
Christian K., his friends Daniel and Lisa, and five other youths were hanging
out at a beach on the Traunsee (lake) in Gmunden, Austria they "observed
a bright red-orange object across the lake near Grinberg (mountain)."
Gmunden is just off the B-1, the main Wels-Salzburg highway, in the Oberosterreich
region of Austria, approximately 264 kilometers (185 miles) west of Vienna.
"My friends Daniel and Lisa saw it first," Christian reported.
"Strangely, nobody saw it before (previously) and noticed how it got
there. We were looking north- northeast from the small port of Gmunden
to the top of the Grinberg." That it was "a reflection of the
sun is questionable, as it was a half-hour after sundown, and the mountain
was not illuminated by the sun." "We first thought it was a helicopter.
This seems impossible due to its climb rate," which he estimated to
be "six meters (20 feet) per second, and you can hear a helicopter
at that distance, especially if the (engine) noise is reflected by a mountain
in the background." "Then, when it started climbing faster and
faster, and was higher than the mountain, you could see that it was not
just one big light. It was about one meter wide" at arm's length,
and "was almost round, just flattened a bit at the top and the bottom,
so that to us it was an oval just a little bit wider than taller."
The teens talked about it for another ten minutes, and then Christian went
home. He lives about two kilometers (1.2 miles) to the north, at the foot
of Grinberg mountain. "When I reached home (at 10 p.m.), my little
brother was watching TV, and it was blank," with no signal "for
about four seconds. When I asked since when (how long the TV had been malfunctioning--J.T.),
he told me, 'Since about twenty minutes ago,' or a few minutes after the
phenomenon." The afternoon of Tuesday, June 2, 1998, Christian and
his brother were out in the yard when they saw "three PC-4 planes
fly over the Grinberg. My neighbor said the reconnaissance planes must
have come from the (Austrian air) base at Hirsching." The trio kept
the aircraft in view for five minutes. (Email Interview)
-
- DAYLIGHT DISC FLIES OVER BOATERS
IN PARAGUAY
-
- South America's latest UFO encounter
took place Saturday afternoon, May 24, 1998, in the small nation of Paraguay,
just north of the capital city, Asuncion. Miguel Bustamente Saavedra was
spending his day off boating with several friends on the wide Rio Paraguay.
Suddenly, they saw a metallic gleam in the sky to the north, over the town
of Aceval. "I noticed something brilliant in the sky," Miguel
reported. "It was like a big mirror seen in the air. I thought it
was an airplane, but it wasn't because" the next moment "I saw
a metal-colored object in the air like an egg." "The object was
going gently up and down and from right to left. When it suddenly made
a move to the left and took speed more (accelerated), I couldn't see it
any more." (Many thanks to Tim Hagemeister of NACOMM for this report.)
-
- UFO STARTLES CROWD IN NORTHERN
ITALY
-
- On Saturday, May 30, 1998, at night,
"a luminous white ball" crossed the sky over Alessandria, a city
in northern Italy 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Genoa. "According
to diverse testimony taken independently from the eyewitnesses, there were
several observations of a luminous white ball in the sky...The light, bigger
than the full moon and followed by a short trail of the same white color,
seemed to enter vertically" into the crowd's field of view "before
disappearing in one or two bright and dazzling flashes." "One
of the witnesses also reported hearing a deafening boom at the same time."
(Grazie a Paolo Toselli e Edoardo Russo di Centro Italiano di Studi Ufologici
per questo rapporto.)
-
- FLASHING ORANGE UFO SEEN OVER
WEST TEXAS PRAIRIE
-
- On Sunday, May 31, 1998, at 11:30 p.m.,
Texan ufologist Mike Harman and his brother-in-law were on a skywatch near
Andrews, Texas (population 10,678) when they spotted a strange flash in
the sky. Andrews is on Highway 385 approximately 350 miles (560 kilometers)
west of Dallas. "The cloud cover had finally lifted, and we were able
to view the heavens once again," Mike reported. "After about
15 minutes of skywatching, I noticed what I perceived as a flash in the
western sky. And then, there it was again. I grabbed my binoculars and
started searching the sky for what had caused this." "I couldn't
seem to get the binoculars up to my eyes fast enough...so I watched and
again I saw another flash. The object was moving at about the speed of
a normal satellite would have, except this one was low on the horizon,
probably no more than 35 or 40 degrees, and moving from south to north."
"Once I spotted the object, I noticed through my binoculars that the
object was glowing orange in color. It would gradually brighten until it
was as bright as the brightest stars in the sky, then return to its orange
glow. When it peaked at its brightest, it seemed almost to flash."
Mike estimated that the average time cycle between normal glow and "brightest
flash" was two seconds. The entire sighting "lasted about four
minutes." (Many thanks to Mike Hartman for this report.)
-
- FLASHING UFO SPOTTED IN ELK
CITY, OKLAHOMA
-
- Another flashing UFO was spotted at 9:45
p.m. on Monday, June 1, 1998, in Elk City, Oklahoma. Ufologist Debbie Hickman
reports, "While I was letting the cats out, I stepped outside to skywatch.
I observed three airplanes overhead, and I could identify them as aircraft
as they had red and white strobing lights." "I watched a very
dim light over the Big Dipper, and, as I watched it, the light grew in
brightness until it was brighter than the other stars nearby. The light
moved in a southerly direction" and was "about two inches (four
centimeters long) at arm's length. Then it suddenly winked out. The light
was one-quarter inch (0.5 centimeters) diameter arm's length. I searched
the sky for another few minutes, but the light did not reappear. The sighting
lasted about 10 to 15 seconds." Elk City is on Interstate Highway
40 approximately 112 miles (179 kilometers) west of Oklahoma City. (Many
thanks to Jim and Debbie Hickman for this report.) (Editor's Note: The
stars of Ursa Major, also known as the Big Dipper, range in magnitude from
Alkaid at 1.8 to Megrez at 3.3.)
-
- UFOs SEEN OVER MEMPHIS AND
CHATTANOOGA
-
- On Saturday, May 30, 1998, at 9:10 p.m.,
Pete Rogers stepped outside of a large medical facility on Poplar Avenue
in Memphis (population 610,337), the largest city in Tennessee. He was
on his break and decided to have a cigarette. Five minutes later, "I
caught a flash of light out of the corner of my eye. I immediately turned
to see what had made the flash. I saw an intense bluish- violet disc-shaped
glow that lasted about one second, fading to an after-image like you have
when you look into the sun or a real bright light." He estimated that
"the light was about one to 1.25 inches (2 to 2.5 centimeters) in
diameter at about arm's length. It was in the sky to the northeast about
60 to 70 degrees above the horizon." (Many thanks to Jim Hickman of
Skywatch for this report.) On Monday, June 1, 1998, at 9:30 p.m., Darryl
P. and his eight-year-old stepson "were skywatching... within the
city limits of Chattanooga" when they spied a UFO. Chattanooga (population
152,466) is a large city on Interstate Highways 24 and 75 approximately
128 miles (205 kilometers) south of the state capital, Nashville. "We
had seen six airliners cross over," Darryl reported, "then suddenly
at a very high altitude we saw what appeared to be a large 'star-like'
object rising from the south to the east at a very high rate of speed.
At first we thought it might be a satellite, but the object was quite large
and the way it moved so quickly across the sky (not like a falling star),
this object seemed to have a destination or a path of movement. We followed
it until it disappeared behind the treeline, and we were astonished."
(Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr. for this report.) (Editor's Note: Chattanooga
was the site of one of the most notorious UFO incidents of the "airship
era." On three succeeding nights in January 1910, a white oval UFO
repeatedly flew over the city and hovered over nearby Lookout Mountain.
See the New York Tribune for January 15, 1910.)
-
- UFO SEEN ON LONG ISLAND
-
- At 9:30 p.m. on Monday, June 1, 1998,
Robert Hanley spotted a UFO over suburbs of Long Island, N.Y., just east
of New York City. Hanley, a U.S. Navy veteran with aviation service, described
the UFO as "a 'star-like' object moving very fast...This must have
been a very large object at an extremely high altitude, as it was moving
at a very high speed." "I first picked it up toward the east
from my backyard on Long Island and viewed it moving south and climbing
until I lost it behind the treeline. The color of it was white light (probably
reflected sunlight), and it was way too high, way too large and way, way
too fast to be" a conventional aircraft. "Most impressive!"
(See Filer's Files #22 for 1998. Many thanks to George A. Filer, Eastern
director of MUFON, for this report.)
-
-
- SCIENTISTS DEBATE STRANGE
FEATURES FOUND ON MARS
-
- On Wednesday, May 27, 1998, geophysicist
Gerald Keating of George Washington University unveiled yet another Martian
mystery at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union. Speaking at the
Hynes Auditorium in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, Dr. Keating "said
Mars Global Surveyor mapped an odd anomaly in the upper atmosphere--dramatic
fluctuations in air density 75 miles (120 kilometers) above the Martian
highlands that are unknown in Earth's atmosphere." "If not mapped
and studied, the greater density of the atmosphere at higher altitudes
than expected could pose a threat to rapidly descending spacecraft that
haven't braked sufficiently. It would be like hitting a wall." "'It's
very exciting and it's critical to know this if you're going to do aero-braking.
Every vessel is going to have to go through it,' Keating said." (See
the Boston, Mass. Herald for May 28, 1998., page 3.) Meanwhile, the debate
continues over just what the many Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor photos
actually show. The July 1998 issue of Sky and Telescope devoted a whole
article to analyses of the photos from the doomed Pathfinder, which landed
nearly a year ago. "Geologists offer conflicting ideas about the origins
of the rocks around the(Pathfinder) landing site. Many believe that most
or all of the rocks are volcanic, based on their shapes and textures. Some
rocks appear redder and more rounded than others; these may be the oldest.
Others are darker and more angular; these may have been tossed onto the
landing site in more recent ages from an impact crater 2.2 kilometers (1.5
miles) to the southeast." "Some rocks, however, show faint evidence
of layering or bedding, suggesting a sedimentary origin. This view is supported
by the small, rounded pebbles and cobbles seen inside a few other rocks,
which some scientists interpret as evidence of running water creating conglomerates--mixtures
of pebbles and fine-grained sediments. Still other scientists believe that
some of the surface features may originate from exotic weathering processes
or even underwater volcanism or weathering." "A 'super-resolution'
close-up of South Peak (at the Pathfinder site) This image was constructed
from 42 red frames with single blue or green frames added for color rendition.
Note the apparent layering of the hillside, possibly suggesting water-carved
terraces." "The fine, highly-rusted Martian dust may have formed
in a much wetter (and perhaps warmer) environment than prevails today."
(See Sky and Telescope for July 1998, "Mars Pathfinder: Better Science?"
by Jim Bell, pages 36 through 43.)
-
- From the UFO Files...
-
- 1931: BIPLANE ENCOUNTERSA
UFO OVER THE TASMAN SEA
-
- On June 10, 1931, the same week the Menger
boys saw their daylight disc in New Jersey, pioneering British pilot Francis
Chichester took off from Lord Howe Island, east of Brisbane, Australia,
in a deHavilland D.H.60 Gipsy Moth, a six-year-old biplane with a 100 horsepower
Cirrus engine. Chichester, dressed like the Red Baron in his goggles, leather
flying cap and jacket and white silk scarf, was intent on making a long-distance
flight across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. While avoiding a thunderstorm,
Chichester flew a bit off course. As he headed east again, he found that
he wasn't exactly alone in the sky. "Suddenly, ahead and thirty degrees
to the left, there were bright flashes in several places, like the dazzle
of a heliograph. I saw a dull grey-white airship coming toward me. It seemed
impossible, but I could have sworn that it was an airship, nosing toward
me like an oblong pearl. Except for a cloud or two, there was nothing else
in the sky. I looked around, sometimes catching a flash or a glint, and
turning again to look at the airship I found that it had disappeared."
"I screwed up my eyes, unable to believe them, and twisted the seaplane
this way and that, thinking that the airship must be hidden by a blind
spot. Dazzling flashes continued in four or five places, but I still could
not pick out any planes." "Then, out of some clouds to my right
front, I saw another, or the same, airship advancing. I watched it intently,
determined not to look away for a fraction of a second: I'd see what happened
to this one, if I had to chase it." "It drew steadily closer,
until perhaps a mile away, when suddenly it vanished. Then in reappeared
close to where it had vanished. I watched with angry intentness. It drew
closer, and I could see the dull gleam of light on its nose and back. It
came on, but instead of increasing in size, it suddenly became its own
ghost--one second I could see through it, the next it had vanished."
"All this was many years before anyone spoke of flying saucers. Whatever
it was I saw, it seems to have been very much like what people have since
claimed to be flying saucers." (See THE LONELY SEA AND THE SKY by
Sir Francis Chichester, Coward-McCann, New York, N.Y., 1964, page 165)
-
- ________________________
-
- 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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