From: Masinaigan <Masinaigan@aol.com> [Joseph Trainor]
Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 12:04:44 EDT
Fwd Date: Sun, 17 May 1998 12:48:59 -0400
Subject: UFO ROUNDUP, Volume 3, Number 20
UFO ROUNDUP
Volume 3, Number 20
May 17, 1998
Editor: Joseph Trainor
UFOs SEEN AT NIGHT IN
NORTHERN FRANCE
On Wednesday, April 22, 1998, at 4:30 a.m.,
G. Betrand, a night watchman from Bapaume, was
making his rounds at a store on the Rue du College
in Arras. "The night was beautiful," he reported,
"No wind, no clouds."
"During my walk around the outside of the
building, I noticed in the sky a luminous point which
moved about. I kept my eyes on it for a dozen seconds.
At first I thought it was an airplane, but there were no
bright lights along the wings, nor directional lights."
"This (object) was like a great whitish 'star,' much
quicker than an airplane, but very much slower than a
meteorite. It was bizarre. I believe that the luminous
mass was a little bigger than a millimeter at arm's
length. It seemed to me that the luminous mass was
moving from Dainville toward Ste. Catherine (i.e. from
southwest to northeast--J.T.) over the suburbs of
Arras, but this cannot be verified. All at once, it
disappeared, and I saw nothing more."
Arras is a city in the department Pas de Calais
182 kilometers (95 miles) north of Paris.
Six hours earlier, on Tuesday, April 21, 1998, at
10:02 p.m., a mysterious blackout shut off all the
electricity in the city of Aix-en-Provence.
Mme. G. Lydie, who lives in Digne-les-Bains,
said she had just begun to watch a movie on
Canal France 2 when the TV and all the lights in
the house went out.
Ironically, the movie was I Married an Alien.
"Researching information in the local press during
the days following, I found no mention of the incident,"
Mme. Lydie reported. "Finding that astonishing, I
contacted a number of French journalists. They
confirmed that nothing had happened. I then called
several of my relatives, and they told me that there
had indeed been a blackout, and it was confined only
to Aix-en-Provence."
Aix-en-Provence is near France's Mediterranean
coast, located in the department Bouches-du-Rhone
about 48 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Marseilles.
On Tuesday, March 10, 1998, at 7:35 p.m.,
G. Thierry was on his way to work in Marcq-en-Baroeul,
a city on the border with Belgium, when he spied an
unusual sight in the sky.
"As I was going down the Rue de la Briquetterie,"
he reported, "there appeared two luminous spheres of
a very yellow color, which came towards me from the
east. The phenomenon flew over me, followed by a
third ball of light identical to the other two. The three
spheres then formed a perfect equilateral triangle in
front of me."
"The phenomenon followed a perfect rectilinear
trajectory in an easterly direction and repeated the
appearance of two luminous balls followed by a third."
Thierry was adamant that "the phenomenon" was
not caused by an airplane. Marcq-en-Baroeul is in
the department Nord about 210 kilometers (125 miles)
north of Paris. (Merci beaucoup a Franck Marie et
Jocelyn Morel de Banque Ovni pour ces nouvelles.)
DAYLIGHT DISC SPOTTED
IN BELGIUM
On Saturday, May 9, 1998, Lawrence B. was at
his home in Tervuren, Belgium when he looked up
and spotted a bright gleam in the sky.
"I was outside when I saw a very small object in
the sky at 2 p.m.," he reported. "It looked like a
star--looked metallic. I estimated its height (altitude)
at a possible 40,000 feet (12,121 meters). It stayed
stationary for about ten minutes."
"When I went to get my telescope, I lost visual
confirmation. I looked for another 20 minutes but
found nothing. It couldn't have been a weather balloon
because they do not stay geo-stationary at such a
high altitude." (Email Interview)
WELSH FAMILY ENCOUNTERS
A CLOAKED UFO
On Friday, April 24, 1998, M.W. and her two sons
were delivering newspapers in their hometown of
Port Talbot, West Glamorgan, Wales when they had
an unusual encounter.
"It was approximately eight o'clock, just before dark
and the sky was clear," she reported. "We saw in the
sky, not very high, lots of separate spiral shapes moving
in a circular motion. It was as if there was a spaceship
of some sort that was invisible, and we could only see
the movement of some sort of energy underneath it.
The spirals were positioned apart in a circular movement,
and they all moved across the sky together, staying in
a circle."
When the family first saw the phenomenon, it was
hovering over an abandoned gas works. M.W. pointed
out that this is a residential area close to a British
Petroleum refinery and a British Steel Works plant.
"We watched this (UFO) move for about two minutes"
before it flew away over the seaport city.
Port Talbot is 45 miles (72 kilometers) west
of Cardiff. (Email Interview)
STRANGE CRATER FOUND
IN NORTHERN IRELAND
Ufologists in Northern Ireland are investigating
a mysterious crater found on a farm near Belleek,
in County Fermanagh last January.
The site was first investigated by the Armagh
Planetarium. The farmer had found a circular
crater six feet in diameter filled with water. "The
crater was drained, but nothing was found except
a badly-damaged milk churn."
In April, "investigators found a 1.5 millimeter
bead of glass," thought to be a remnant of a fallen
meteor.
On December 13, 1997, the night the "mystery
meteor" struck the ice cap in Greenland, people in
Northern Ireland reported seeing "a bright flash" in
County Fermanagh.
"The site is very muddy, and it is suggested
that the" object that made the crater "may have sunk
out of reach...Planetarium officials say the object
struck at about 90 degrees and might be part of the
meteor that struck Greenland. Had the Greenland
meteor hit Northern Ireland, it would have levelled the
whole town of Belleek." (See UK UFO Network
newsletter number 92, part 2. Many thanks to the
gang at UK UFO Network for this news story.)
UFO SIGHTED IN A SUBURB
OF SAN DIEGO
On Sunday, May 10, 1998, at 2:15 a.m., Andrew D.
and his wife were on their way home, driving through
Bonita, California (population 12,542) when they spied
a UFO in the night sky.
"We stopped and watched for about five seconds,"
Andrew reported, "Very cool."
He estimated that the UFO "was 45 degrees off
the horizon. It popped through the clouds from an
unknown direction, but I was facing north. It was
only the row of lights--nothing more. There was no
glow or aura."
"My wife says she heard what sounded like a
huge jet, though I remember no sounds."
Bonita is a suburb of San Diego, located on
highway S17 about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast
of Sea World. (Email Interview)
LARGE UFO HOVERS OVER
A NEW JERSEY HOME
On Thursday, May 7, 1998, a 10-year-old girl and
her 8-year-old brother spotted a large UFO hovering above
their house in Mullica Hill, New Jersey (population 270).
The children "described the craft as being larger than
their house and hovering above their home, where their
mother was sleeping. The boy claims to have observed
craft previously and is always watching for them."
"Just before he entered the house, he looked up and
was pointing at the craft. The sister had always thought
that her brother was making up stories. She looked up
and saw what he was seeing and exclaimed, 'Oh, my God!'"
The children said they saw "an alien" floating in the
air alongside the hovering UFO. "They saw both the UFO
and an alien hovering above the house. The alien stared
back at them, scaring them, and they ran into the house,
yelling for their dad. They (then) went back out and, although
the alien was no longer discernible, there was a UFO still
hovering over the house."
"The mother tried to get up but was very sleepy and
had difficulty waking, so she did not see the craft. When
she completely awakened, the mother listened to her
children's story, and then asked each to go to their own
room and draw exactly what they had observed. Both
children draw a picture of the alien and the UFO. The
drawings by the two children matched in most details."
Mullica Hill, N.J. is on Route 322 about 20 miles
(32 kilometers) south of Philadelphia. (See Filer's Files
#19 for 1998. Many thanks to George A. Filer, Eastern
Director of MUFON, for this news story.)
(Editor's Note: A similar "floating alien" was seen by a
farm couple in Rho, Lombardia province, Italy two
months ago.)
NEW UFO SIGHTING IN
GULF BREEZE, FLORIDA
On Tuesday, May 12, 1998, at 8:52 p.m., Judy
Francoeur and Pat Gerbig were at Shoreline Park
South in Gulf Breeze, Florida (population 5,530)
when they spotted a UFO low on the horizon near
the Comfort Inn.
"The object was a little bigger than the street
lights on the toll bridge," Pat reported, adding that
the UFO went "from the southeast moving to the north.
It was orangeish-red amber in color."
"First time the object popped in was between the
Holiday Inn on the Beach and and Comfort Inn.
Elevation was between 10 and 15 degrees."
"The light went out and returned three times to the
right of the Comfort Inn and then to the left of the
Comfort Inn. The object was visible for one to three
seconds during each period of visibility. Total time of
the multiple sightings was less than two minutes.
No sound was heard during the sightings."
Three other people witnessed the UFO in addition
to Pat and Judy. Gulf Breeze, a UFO hotspot for the
past ten years, is on the Gulf of Mexico about 7 miles
(11 kilometers) south of Pensacola, Florida. (See
Filer's Files #19 for 1998. Many thanks to George A.
Filer for this news story.)
MYSTERIOUS EXPLOSIONS
SPOTTED IN DEEP SPACE
Astronomers searching the sky for supernovae--
bright light burst caused by exploding stars--have
detected two recently. But the explosions took
place in regions of outer space where there are no
stars.
On April 17, 1998, astronomers W.D. Li, M. Medjaz,
R.R. Treffers and A.N. Filippenko of the University of
California at Berkeley "report the discovery of an
apparent supernova during the course of the Lick
Observatory Supernovae Search." The team used
a 0.5-meter Katzmann Automatic Imaging Telescope
to find the explosion, which was designated as
Supernova 1998bn.
The explosion was spotted near galaxy NGC4462.
"New object appeared on April 17 and brightened about
3.7 mag (magnitude) in 10 days. The Digital Sky Survey
does not show any star at the position of SN1998bn."
On May 9, 1998, astronomer Nirko Villi of Furli,
Italy spotted "an apparent supernova" in an image
obtained on his CCD telescope." The explosion,
designated Supernova1998bu, was spotted 60 minutes
west of the center of galaxy NGC3368. A previous CCD
image "taken on April 21 shows no object at this
location. Neither is anything listed in" a star atlas
"of galaxy images." (See International Astronomers
Union Circulars Number 6886 and 6894 for 1998.)
HOAGLAND PRESSES NASA
FOR MORE CYDONIA PHOTOS
"Whether carved by aliens or sculpted by nature,
the famous 'face' on Mars continues to stir up a
cosmic controversy."
"'This is ancient ruined architecture we're seeing,'
insists Richard Hoagland, author of THE MONUMENTS
OF MARS and the loudest voice for the theory that
aliens built the face."
"NASA says Surveyor's pictures provide ample
evidence that the mile-long mesa on the Martian plain
Cydonia is just a naturally occurring pile of rocks.
(The Mars Global) Surveyor's camera is 10 times more
powerful than the one aboard the Viking probe, which
in 1976 first sent back pictures of the mesa and other
strange rock formations."
"Hoagland says NASA has photographs confirming
his theory but won't release them because they could
so shock Earth that civilization might collapse."
"'They are seeing things they did not expect.
That's why they're not showing all the data,' Hoagland
says."
"NASA says it has released everything it has on
Cydonia and, for that matter, everywhere else on Mars.
Officially the agency declines to take a position on the
origin of Cydonia. But some scientists privately
accuse Hoagland of keeping the controversy alive to
push his book, videotapes, posters and speeches."
"Scientists on the Surveyor mission say there's a
simple explanation for why Cydonia's features appear
the way they do. The same natural forces that shaped
the rocks there can be found on Earth."
"'The area is geologically very interesting,' says
Arden Albee, project scientist at the California Institute
of Technology. 'It looks like there were a number of
layers of material laid down in the planet's formation
with different hardnesses. These layers then eroded,
so you get craters which are perched up in the air
sort of like on a pedestal. We've seen these elsewhere
on Mars.'"
(Editor's Comment: That buzzsaw sound you hear is
Hal Mazursky, the father of Martian geology, spinning
in his grave.)
"But that assessment is not enough to keep others
from joining the fray. Geologists, photography experts
and architects are downloading Surveyor's pictures
from the Internet and analyzing them."
"'Those of us who have studied it are unanimous
that it's artificial,' says Tom Van Flandern, an
astronomer and former head of celestial mechanics
at the U.S. Naval Observatory."
"Van Flandern, who runs a Washington, D.C.-
based group called Meta Research that investigates
celestial anomalies doesn't buy into the theory of
a government cover-up or that 'UFO pilots' built
monuments on Mars."
"But because the Martian region has so many
odd patterns and shapes, he puts the odds at a
billion to 1 that all of them occurred naturally."
"Van Flandern says he hopes NASA can be
persuaded to take more photographs of the
formation while it can."
"NASA would have to race against time. On
Sept. 11, Surveyor's orbit will be adjusted so it
won't pass over Cydonia every nine days, as it
does now. The maneuvers are necessary to lower
the spacecraft into a tight circular orbit so it can
begin its primary mission of mapping the planet
in March 1999."
"No more pictures are coming anytime soon.
Mars now is in solar conjunction, which means
that it is behind the sun as seen from Earth. That
makes it hard for controllers to exchange (radio)
transmissions with Surveyor. The cameras have
been turned off, and they won't be back on until
May 26, when the conunction period ends." (Till
Mars comes out from behind the sun--J.T.)
"At this point the (MOC) camera will take
pictures as the science warrants, says Mike
Ravine, advanced projects manager at Malin Space
Science Systems in San Diego, which built the
camera. 'We're not going to be targeting specific
things. We already took the picture of the face, and
I don't care what Hoagland says, it's a good picture.'"
"As Ravine sees it, even if Surveyor takes photos
only of Cydonia, it will not be enough to satisfy
believers. 'I don't believe these people are going to
be happy no matter what we do. The idea that I
would play some willing role to suppress information
that some alien civilization exists is just ridiculous.
There is no conspiracy.'"
"To Hoagland, the controversy will be settled
only with more data."
"'If we don't get it, all we'll have for the next 20
years to argue about are just these three images.
That would be a tragedy.'" (See USA Today for
May 11, 1998, "Mars' 'face' a pile or rocks? Many
insist it doesn't wash" by Paul Hoversten, page 4A)
A STONE PYRAMID AT
CAHOKIA, ILLINOIS?
"Archaeologists have made an astonishing discovery
at the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site: what
appears to be a large stone structure beneath the site's
biggest earthen mound."
"The stone was discovered accidentally Jan. 24
during drilling to construct a water-drainage system
within Monks Mound, the largest Indian mound north
of Mexico and the largest prehistoric earthen
construction in the New World."
"'This is astounding,' said William Woods, an
archaeologist with Southern Illinois University at
Edwardsville, who is leading the investigation of the
mystery structure. 'It's so unexpected that it would
never have entered your mind before.''"
"The stone is at least 32 feet (10 meters) long in
one of its dimensions. It is buried about 40 feet below
the surface of a terrace on the western side of Monks
Mound and well above the mound's bottom. Researchers
believe it may be made of cobbles or slabs of limestone
or sandstone."
"Even if the apparent structure turns out to be no
larger than this, it would be a dramatic find. Stone
does not occur naturally at Cahokia (which is in the
Mississippi River valley about 20 miles (32 kilometers)
southeast of St. Louis, Missouri--J.T.) so any stone
would have had to be brought by humans. Stone is
uncommon at excavations there."
"'There's no question this is a unique discovery,'
said Melvin Fowler, an archaeologist at the University
of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. 'It's totally unexpected.'"
"Fowler, reached by telephone in his office Friday,
is widely considered the godfather of Cahokia
archaeology."
"Cahokia Mounds is the largest archaeological
site in the United States and has the biggest mounds
and the greatest number of mounds anywhere. The
site is named for a sub-tribe of Illini Indians who lived
there when the French arrived in the 1600s. At its
peak around 1100 A.D., the area was covered with
a community of 20,000 people."
"The mystery was discovered about 10 o'clock
on a cold, windy Saturday morning amid snow flurries
as workers drilled into the western side of the mound."
"Andy Martignoni Jr. and Steve Fulton, both SIUE
archaeologists, were on duty at the site when the drill
operator reported hitting a rock about 140 feet into the
side of the hill. He drilled on, but the drill bit broke
after cutting through about 32 feet of rock."
"Martignoni and Fulton talked the situation over
for a few minutes."
"'We talked about a possible drain, a tomb, all
kinds of wild stuff,' Martignoni said. Comparing the
'feel' of the drill with countless other operations, the
drill operator told them the structure seemed to be
made of large stones apparently placed together.
That gave the archaeologists more reason to think
it might be something other than just a large rock."
"Martignoni called Woods, who had just gone to
bed after staying up all night writing a report."
"'You won't believe this,' Martignoni told him.
'We hit some stone at Monks Mound.'"
"Woods and his colleages plan to investigate the
finding this summer without harming the mound."
Investigative techniques to be used will include
seismic waves, drilling and testing for electromagnetic
impulses. (See the St. Louis Post-Distpatch for
March 9, 1998, "Cahokia mounds finding stuns
archeologists--A large stone under the site's biggest
mound may be a man-made structure," by William
Allen, Post-Dispatch Science Writer. Many thanks
to Lou Farrish of UFO NEWSCLIPPING SERVICE
for forwarding the news article.)
(Editor's Comment: Funny how this story didn't
make the wire services. I guess the presence of a
stone structure at Cahokia, which knocks North
American archaeology for a loop, is only considered
"local news" by the media barons.)
from the UFO Files...
1952: UFO DOGFIGHT OVER
NORTH KOREA
On May 26, 1952, a U.S. Air Force F-94C Starfire
fighter jet encountered a UFO over North Korea and
gave chase. The event was written up by both the
pilot and his radar observer (R/O) in Air Intelligence
Information Report No. 52-85 and subsequently
appeared in Project Blue Book.
Here is the first-hand report of Lt. Martin (last
name deleted by the USAF), the Starfire's pilot:
"While on CAP (combat air patrol--J.T.) sortie
from K-13, Bromide informed us of an unknown located
at (coordinates) CT 4856 and told us to investigate."
At 3:20 a.m., "after descending to 2,500 feet, we
saw in the glare of the front line searchlights, a small
plane beneath, but were unable to descend due to
terrain to determine type."
"Bromide told us to drop it and take up a
southerly heading. When we turned to this heading, we
saw a brilliant object above and in front of us and asked
Bromide if we could investigate. With his permission, we
made our first pass from north to south within 600 feet,
then a succession of passes from cardinal compass
points, ranging to within 50 feet, but, because of the
brilliancy of the light, we could discern no outline."
"On our last pass my Radar Observer looked back
and said he thought he saw an object on our tail. I then
requested Bromide to vector me for an interception
on this new unknown. At this time, the object was
still in sight."
"When I received my first vector, I was south of the
brilliant object and started a starboard (rightward) turn
to the intercept vector for the new unidentified. On a
northeasterly heading my R/O gave me a (radar)
lock-on, overtaking 50 knots, range 7,000 yards,
nearly dead ahead and slightly above."
"When I closed to 6,000 yards, the object started
to pull away, and I threw the afterburner in (airspeed
at this time was 250 knots). In a gradual climb, and
still with the object nearly centered on the scope, the
range increased at a steady rate from 6,000 yards
to 26,000 yards in 12 to 15 seconds. At that range
we broke lock. No evasive action was observed and
no exhaust patterns as might be expected." (See
ADVANCED AERIAL DEVICES REPORTED DURING
THE KOREAN WAR by Richard F. Haines, LDA Press,
Los Altos, California , 1990, pages 40-41.)
(Editor's Note: Covering 20,000 yards in 15 seconds
means the object was travelling at 1,920 miles per
hour. According to Haines, the object "was classified
as a possible balloon on the record card" by the U.S.
Air Force.)
FUN UFO WEBSITES:
Readers from the Wolverine State will definitely
want to check out the Michigan UFO Experience
website at http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/
Quad/1365/
There's a new UFO page devoted to Kansas
at http://members.tripod.com/~o_l/main.htm
For the latest on crop circles, drop in at Paul
Vigay's Independent Research Centre for Unexplained
Phenomena (IRCUP). Just go to this URL:
http://www.interalpha.net/customer/pvigay/
CCDataBase.html
Don't miss our parent site, UFOINFO, for the
latest in news and photographs from the world of
ufology. Join us at http://ufoinfo.com
Back issues of UFO ROUNDUP can be
accessed and downloaded at our webpage. Get
a "lock-on" at http://ufoinfo.com/roundup
Today is St. Madron's Day, and his church in
Cornwall, built in the Sixth Century A.D., features
its very own on-site Fortean phenomenon. A
spring seeps out of the wall, and its waters are
reputed to cure skin diseases.
That's it for this week. Join us next Sunday for
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 news item first appeared.
UFO UpDates - Toronto -
updates@globalserve.net
Operated by Errol Bruce-Knapp - ++ 416-696-0304
A Hand-Operated E-Mail Subscription Service for the Study of UFO Related
Phenomena.
To subscribe please send your first and last name to
updates@globalserve.net
Message submissions should be sent to the same address.
|
Link it to the appropriate Ufologist or UFO Topic page. |
Archived as a public service by Area 51 Research Center which is not
responsible for content.
Financial support for this web server is provided by the
Research Center Catalog.
Software by Glenn Campbell.
Technical contact:
webmaster@ufomind.com