- BLAZING BLUE FIREBALL STREAKS
OVER DETROIT
-
- On Friday, August 21, 1998, at 12:30
a.m., Mary B. was at her home on the east side of Detroit (population 1,016,400),
Michigan's largest city, when she spotted a UFO. "I was looking straight
up at the sky," Mary reported, "Trying to catch some spiders
for my fish--two big Oscars-- when I saw a large burning ball of light
streak across the sky. It was light blue on the outside turning to a small
bright orange color in the center and had a number of sparks tumbling from
it. At first I thought it was a firework of some kind, but it was very
high and exhibited no sound. It lasted about four seconds. I couldn't
believe that I had been looking straight up when it appeared." (Many
thanks to Steve Wilson Sr. for this report.)
-
- DAYLIGHT DISC SPOTTED IN PERTH
AMBOY, NEW JERSEY
-
- On Sunday, August 30, 1998, Jeff B.,
51, and his lady friend, Gabrielle, were driving through Perth Amboy, New
Jersey (population 41,967) on their way to New York City's Staten Island
borough when they spotted something gleaming in the daylight sky. "I
was in New Jersey approaching Staten Island on Highway 278," Jeff
reported, "I was about ten minutes from the toll booths for the Outer
Bridge (which connects Staten Island to Perth Amboy--J.T.) I looked out
at about 30 degrees to the horizon to the west and the object appeared
to me to be a flattened oval. It was about the size of a child's aspirin
held on edge at arm's length and was silver. It appeared to be completely
motionless. There was blue sky and a few cumulous clouds at great distance
beyond it." "I said to my lady friend, Gabrielle, who sat in
the passenger seat, 'What is that?'" Jeff then commented that the
object "did not look like any aircraft known to me--no wings, no tail,
nothing in the way of a distinguishing profile." "It diminished
in size very rapidly. It appeared to be moving at a high rate of speed
straight away from us at an angle of ascent of about 10 degrees above my
original line of sight. Its color changed to gray once it began to move.
It was gone in three seconds." "Gabrielle's eyesight is much
better than mine. She felt that its shape, which was roughly that of a
flattened oval, was actually trapezoidal--she could discern edges and to
her the object appeared to be five-sided." "Approximately ten
minutes later, we were just approaching the Outer Bridge. Gabrielle was
looking out the passenger window to the south when she saw another object
of the same relative size...She thought, 'What a big bird,' when the object
moved straight down very smoothly and with great uniformity of motion."
The second UFO then disappeared. "I'm an atheist, and my mental bent
is very skeptical," Jeff added. "I've always approved of Carl
Sagan's statement that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
I've never seen a UFO until last Sunday." (Many thanks to Paul Williams
of WBAI in New York City for this report.)
-
- COLLEGE COUPLE SEES UFO IN
NORTH CAROLINA
-
- Two college students, a girl and her
boyfriend, went camping last week in Pinnacle, North Carolina, in the state
park between Mount Airy and Pilot Mountain, about 125 miles (200 kilometers)
northwest of Raleigh, and had a UFO encounter. "We were at a campground
off Route 52 North, exit 129, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Winston-Salem,"
she reported. Around 11 p.m., "the dogs began barking. As he (her
boyfriend) opened the opened the tent to get a better look around, he saw
an object quickly fly away. Too quick to be an airplane. He woke me up,
but it was too late. It had flown away." "Then, at 1 a.m., it
was back. A ball of light, getting bigger, then smaller as it moved back
and forth. We were a bit shaken." "After 30 seconds, we thought,
'let's shine a light on it to see what it does.' It became agitated and
moved around more vigorously. It seemed as if it mimicked the patterns
in which we were shining the light. Now we were really scared." Shortly
thereafter, the couple walked to another campsite and pointed out the weird
light to the other campers. One man "also saw it moving. He said
in fact he had seen something similar a few nights before, and there are
no air/military bases nearby." "At 1 a.m., we noticed a second
smaller craft at 8 o'clock (position). The last thing we both remember
before succumbing to sleep was two red flashes of light spreading across
the sky. I woke up suddenly and startled around 3 a.m. I woke my boyfriend
up. He also was shaken. This time the first craft (light) was at 4 o'clock
(position). We decided to leave, so we threw the dogs in the car and headed
back to the campus." She added, "The size of the object at its
brightest was about three stars put together, twice as bright as the North
Star (Polaris)." (Many thanks to Rev. Billy Dee and UFOSSI for this
report.) (Editor's Comment: According to author Manly Wade Wellman, those
mountains are the haunt of a strange "critter" called "the
Behinder." See the Wellman story, The Desrick on Yandro.)
-
- UNUSUAL UFO SPOTTED NEAR WEST
SALEM, OHIO
-
- On Saturday, August 29, 1998, at 9:30
p.m., a woman motorist driving on Ohio Route 42 between Ashland (population
47,507) and West Salem (population 1,534) spotted "a peculiar cluster
of four lights the color of a 'caution traffic light,' i.e. yellow or amber.
The woman "observed a bright flash of 'yellow' light. Her attention
was immediately drawn to four yellow circular lights that appeared to her
to be 'two trees high' (above the ground)." "According to the
witness, the object 'flashed' several times, perhaps as many as five flashes.
After each flash, a long 'tail' of fire--'like a jet's exhaust'--was seen
to shoot out the 'back' of the object. She said that the 'exhaust' seemed
to be physically separated from the object." "After she had witnessed
several light flashes, she stopped her car and stepped outside to get a
better look at whatever was causing the light. While she was standing
on the edge of the roadway, the object flashed several more times, after
which she witnessed the 'exhaust' again." "She detected no sound
during the entire incident. The oddity was last sighted as it moved to
the west of her position." She then called the National UFO Reporting
Center in Seattle, Washington to report the incident. The case was further
investigated by Tri-States Advocates for Scientific Knowledge. T.A.S.K.
public relations director Kenneth Young spoke to a female employee at the
Hidden Acres Campground near Ashland to see if anyone else had reported
a UFO. "'It was certainly strange,' said the campground employee.
'It looked like a red light with flames coming out the back. It almost
looked like a flame coming from it, but it's hard to say after I think
about it.'" "'We were doing safety checks at 11:15 or 11:20.
just making sure that the campgrounds are quiet and that everything was
fine. And, while driving around the grounds in a golf cart, we spotted
the red..an unusual red light. It looked like it had a tail of fire.
I commented about it to my husband, and we later assumed that it must have
been the new cell-tower (cellular telephone relay tower--J.T.)." "The
weird thing about this is that three teenagers all came screaming about
it, and they wanted to report a UFO," she added. "We just thought
they must have seen the cell-tower, too." Meanwhile, the original
witness spoke to neighbors in West Salem, and a nine-year-old girl told
her about "a fire that was in the sky last night." A four-year-old
boy said he saw something "that was like a ball and had a tail."
Young telephoned both the Wayne County Sheriff's Department and the Ashland
County Sheriff's Department, but police dispatchers said there were no
UFO reports received that night. West Salem is located 46 miles (73 kilometers)
southwest of Cleveland. (Many thanks to Kenneth Young of T.A.S.K. and
Peter B. Davenport of the National UFO Reporting Center for this news story.)
(Editor's Comment: For more lowdown on a UFO with an 'exhaust,' see the
following story.)
-
- CARTOONIST SEES UNUSUAL UFO
IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL
-
- On Sunday, August 23, 1998, at about
4 a.m., Mauricio de Souza, the famous Brazilian cartoonist, was driving
from Rio de Janeiro to Sao Paulo on the old coast highway. Crossing the
border into Sao Paulo state, he was midway between the small cities of
Poa and Ferraz de Vasconcelos "when he saw what appeared to be a strange
star in the cloudless sky." "The point of light moved at first
very slowly, but, after a moment, both its speed and its glow increased
dramatically." Souza "stopped the car and was about to grab his
Nikon...but worried that he would not have enough time" to properly
focus the camera, "he preferred to keep observing the object."
Souza described the UFO as "an intense orange color that was flying
at an estimated altitude of 10,000 meters (33,000 feet). The speed at
this moment was typical of a commercial airliner, and the object had a
bluish jet flame that did not touch its body, like the flame of a solder
(acetylene torch--J.T.)." "Another witness that was passing by
confirmed this sighting, and both of them 'seemed not to have the faintest
idea what it was, but it was definitely not an airplane.'" (Muito
obrigado a Sergio Graciotti por eso caso.)
-
- MORE CROP CIRCLES FOUND IN
WESTERN CANADA
-
- More crop circles have appeared in the
western Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and British Columbia. On Monday,
August 17, 1998, a single crop circle measuring 15 feet in diameter was
found in Midale, Sask. (population 497), a town on Provincial Highway 38
about 93 miles (144 kilometers) southeast of Regina. The following week,
on Monday, August 24, 1998, three crop circles were discovered in a neighboring
field in Midale, just west of the first site. On Tuesday, August 25, 1998,
a strange formation was found in a wheat field in Cando, Sask., about 40
miles (64 kilometers) south of Saskatoon. The formation consisted of circles
and the numbers 4:20. According to Paul Anderson of Circles Phenomenon
Research-Canada, the circle was about 15 to 20 meters in diameter. "Top
circle is anti-clockwise; the bottom circle is clockwise...Neighbor also
reported seeing a 'large shiny object' near the spot the previous day."
During the last days of August, three more crop circles were found in Midale.
Each circle measured 22 feet in diameter. On Tuesday, September 1, 1998,
an airplane crew spotted 11 crop circles in an oat field outside of Vanderhoof,
British Columbia (population 4,028), a town on Provincial Highway 16 about
58 miles (93 kilometers) west of Prince George, B.C. According to Graham
Conway of UFO*BC, "All circles have very nice spiral lay patterns,
with the crop pressed hard to the ground." The formation "covers
an area approximately 500 by 200 feet," with the crop circles "ranging
in size between 10 feet to 100 feet in diameter. Most circles are very
close together, almost touching. The circles are beautifully spiralled
with no broken plants, no footprints or other tracks seen, and no disturbance
to the soil beneath the flattened plants." On Wednesday, September
2, 1998, two more crop circles appeared in the field at Cando, Sask. about
100 to 150 feet away from the 4:20 formation. The circles were found by
a farmer combining the field. (Many thanks to Paul Anderson of Circles
Phenomenon Research-Canada and Michael J. Strainic, Bill Oliver and Graham
Conway of UFO*BC for these reports.)
-
- WEIRD CREATURE REPORTED IN
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
-
- A strange quadruped animal, described
as being "like a black panther" was reported to be responsible
for the death of a sheep on a station (ranch in the USA--J.T.) at Jarrahdale,
Western Australia (W.A.) "The mysterious predator believed responsible
for unexplained livestock killings in Jarrahdale has struck again."
"The hunt for the animal, thought to be a cougar-like cat, is to be
stepped up after the discovery of another savaged lamb." "Veterinary
technician Harry Findlay said he was waiting for a second opinion on what
animal was capable of biting the lamb cleanly in half...The cruel kill
happened within 500 metres of the site where a pet lamb was mauled in May."
(See the Perth, W.A. Sunday Times for August 16, 1998, "Killer 'cat'
strikes again." Many thanks to Diane Hamilton for forwarding the
newspaper article.) (Editor's Comment: For more on Australia's weird critter,
see this week's from the UFO Files...feature story.)
-
- CRUISE SHIP PASSENGERS SEE
A UFO WEST OF MEXICO
-
- Cruise ship passengers reported seeing
a UFO at sea last week, just off Mexico's west coast. The motor vessel
had left Puerto Vallarta, in Jalisco state 774 kilometers (484 miles) west
of Mexico City, and was bound for Cabo San Lucas in Baja California Sur
when the sighting occurred. "The group of six passengers," including
one woman from Los Angeles, California, "spotted a very big ball of
light in the distance. At arm's length, it was larger than a quarter,
but she estimated that it was over five miles (8 kilometers) away."
At first, the UFO "was stationary, but it was not stationary very
long. It moved slowly, like a hummingbird, making dips toward the (Pacific)
ocean, then sideways, then downward. The movements were erratic. Then
it zoomed off across the sky and disappeared." (Many thanks to Jim
Hickman for this report.)
-
- PYRAMIDAL UFO SPOTTED IN TELFORD,
UK
-
- On Tuesday, September 1, 1998, Adam W.
"was just closing my window to got to bed" at his home in Telford,
UK "when I saw something flying in my direction. I was struck by
the silence, so I opened my window again" to get a better look at
the UFO. "The shape was like a squashed pyramid, more like the top
half of a diamond. At arm's length, it was about 1 1/2 inches wide by
about 1/2 inch high. There was a red light on the left of the object and
a green light on the right. Between them was a white strobe light. As
the white light strobed, it looked as if it was going (across the pyramid's
base) from the red light to the green light." "I went to bed,
and about five minutes later, I heard a helicopter in the area, so I watched
the sky for a while and spotted the 'copter at a fair distance away with
just the usual red flashing light." (Email Interview)
-
- INQUIRY BOARDS DISCUSS VORTEX
AND SOHO
-
- "A momentary loss of electrical
power led to an explosion that destroyed a Titan 4A rocket and the top
secret spy satellite (Vortex) it was carrying, the Air Force said."
"Investigators for the Air Force and Lockheed Martin, which built
the rocket, are trying to determine what caused the outage." "The
Titan 4A, the most powerful unmanned U.S. rocket, blew up 42 seconds after
liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Aug. 12 in one of the most expensive space
disasters in history." (See USA Today for September 3, 1998, "Titan
Probe.") "Faulty commands sent by NASA controllers caused the
June 24 failure of a U.S.-European science satellite orbiting the sun,
" the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, a.k.a. SOHO. "An investigative
board said controllers at the Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt,
Maryland failed to fully monitor the $1 billion" SOHO satellite "and
inadvertently disabled some systems. Engineers regained radio contact
with SOHO last month. They hope to put it back into a useful orbit within
two months." (See USA Today for September 4, 1998, "SOHO Woes"
by Paul Hoversten.)
-
- From the UFO Files...
-
- 1978 - PANTHER-LIKE CREATURE
SEEN IN AUSTRALIA
-
- Mysterious black-panther type creatures
have been seen all over the island continent of Australia. The majority
of the sightings have taken place in the states of Victoria, South Australia
and Western Australia. Ancient Aboriginal legends tell of a "black
furry monster" that terrorized the tribes during the long-ago "Dreamtime."
Indeed, cave paintings of these "devil dogs of the Dreamtime"
have been found west of Alice Springs. Here's a typical encounter: In August
1978, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Waites reported, "We were driving across the
Nullarbor Plain on the Eyre Highway towards Ooldea around 8 p.m. one night
in mid-August. There were no other cars on the road. Suddenly, we were
surprised by a massive black monster caught in the glare of the headlights,
walking across the highway some distance ahead of us." "As I
brought the car to a quick halt about 20 feet from the animal, it snarled
directly at us, then dashed off the road into the darkness across open
ground." "The animal looked like a giant panther--big head, large
body and long tail--and at least seven feet from head to tail, and about
three feet in height on all fours. Its legs were powerful-looking and it
had big paws." According to author Rex Gilroy, "In October 1972,
at Latham, north of Perth and west of Lake Moore, the settlers of the outlying
areas were concerned about a number of cattle mutilations and sightings
of one or more enormous catlike or panther-like beasts." Gilroy postulates
that the "panther" may be an unknown marsupial predator, distantly
related to the opossum and the kangaroo, fulfilling the same role in Australia's
ecosystem as the cougar in North America or the jaguar in South America.
"And some eyewitnesses claimed to have seen 'panthers' carrying pouched
young. If so, it is obvious, as I've already claimed, that we are dealing
with some hitherto unknown species of giant marsupial cat, perhaps related
to the marsupial lion, Thylacoleo carnifex, which roamed Australia during
the last ice age at least 12,000 years ago." (See MYSTERIOUS AUSTRALIA
by Rex Gilroy, Nexus Publishing, Mapleton, Qlnd., 1995, pages 87 through
93.)
-
- ________________
-
- Thirty-two years ago, on September 8,
1966, the original Star Trek series premiered on NBC. If I remember correctly,
the first episode had Doctor McCoy encountering his old girlfriend, Nancy
Crater, on a distant planet. But it turns out that "Nancy" is
not what she seems. I won't ruin it for the newcomers. See it for yourself
on the Sci-Fi Channel. They're running all 79 episodes of the original
series, newly restored and digitally recolored, between now and January.
-
- 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
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