From: "Lynda Matthews" <matthews@zetnet.co.uk> Date: Mon, 8 Mar 1999 17:22:36 -0000 Fwd Date: Tue, 09 Mar 1999 09:08:05 -0500 Subject: UK Hoax - New Disturbing Facts Read this - and weep...... Dear All, It is with regret that I am able to now release new details of the Cheshire "UFO Landing" hoax perpetrated against the British UFO Studies Centre, and exposed within two days, by two desperate and initially believable characters going under the names "Caroline Sutton" and "Graham Wenham" from Sefton and Northampton respectively. This is a most unusual story and readers should try and bear with it. Of course we are happy to furnish further details where we can. UpDates readers will know that last week we posted, in good faith, information on a reported 'landing and trace case' reported by the two people mentioned above. Initially their story - that they had been lucky enough to witness the descent and landing of several "UFOs" in an area of land bordering upon the Tatton Country Park outside Knutsford, Cheshire - seemed reasonably believable in that we had no reason to doubt their sincerity at that stage. We fully recognized that a great deal of further investigation would be necessary and as a result we got a team of eight investigators to start work. Our view - and one to which we still subscribe - is that remarkable claims require remarkable evidence to back them up. Moreover, if "UFOs", or any object, had 'descended' and 'landed' on Sunday night/Monday morning 28th Feb/1st March in Knutsford then numerous other people would have seen these and either the local media, local Police or other UFO groups would have received some reports, however vague. This had not happened by the middle of last week despite the fact that "Sutton" and "Wenham" had gone straight to the local paper, the Knutsford Guardian, and a detailed and lengthy report had been published in the Wednesday edition. On Tuesday night 2nd March, during a meeting of the British UFO Studies Centre in Stockton Heath, Warrington, we received a pager message from "Wenham" claiming that the lights were back and that we should immediately come over to the area. Irene Dale and Sarah Cardwell of BUFOSC drove straight down and met the couple and did see some lights in the sky - but that was all. These may well have been aircraft lights; the area in question is on the outer limits of the Manchester International TMA. From the earliest moments of this investigation Eric Morris directed the team to get as much sample evidence from the claimed scene of the "landing" - an open area some 300 yards from the Royal George Hotel (where the two "witnesses" were staying in the same room) known as Dog Wood. We discovered a flattened area of some 60 metres, some evidence of burning and various dead creatures etc. The area in question did seem a little disturbed even if this fact provided no link whatsoever with a "UFO". What is more, it later emerged that the pair of conspirators had not been able to pinpoint the sighting. Moving into Wednesday and having read through a lengthy statement from "Sutton" which described the landing of some nine (9) objects on the night in question, BUFOSC had made serious efforts to contact other local groups, BUFORA Director of Investigations Gloria Dixon (whose office has become a clearing house for many sightings in recent years) and well-known author-researcher Jenny Randles who receives numerous Northern UFO reports. They had heard nothing. We checked again with the local papers. Nothing. Under these circumstances we re-checked with the "witnesses" and invited them around to Eric Morris' house in Greenall Rd, Northwich for a chat. Upon arrival the pair seemed very nervous, perhaps understandably, and didn't like being asked searching questions about the sighting. "Sutton" and "Wenham" seemed very furtive and also asked to have a look at Eric's computer. They also had a private conference in the back kitchen and furthermore made strong hints that they wanted BUFOSC to pay their =A340 phone bill which they claimed to have run up as a result of their sighting (!). "Wenham" seemed over-concerned about money and despite the fact that both of them claimed to have full-time jobs, "Sutton" at a company in Southport and "Wenham" at an engineering firm in Northampton, BUFOSC investigators were a little concerned about this and decided to check out other parts of their story. Remarkably enough, and totally coincidentally, we discovered that a Caroline Sutton had written two books, one entitled "Scientific Hoaxes" referred to on a Chicago Academy of Sciences web page (www.chias.org). More remarkably "Sutton's" nickname is supposedly "Chias" and her home ansaphone message claims that she is "in my box, up to some jiggery-pokery". It should also be pointed out that debunkers CSICOP are mentioned on the same page as the Caroline Sutton book but of course this can be nothing more than another strange coincidence........ We approached the hotel staff at the Royal George, Knutsford, and learned that the pair had been staying in the same =A366 a night room and had indeed run up a very large phone bill. Over the weekend we received a detailed copy of the phone bill from a source at the Hotel and learned many interesting things including; 1 - During their supposed sighting which they describe in the Knutsford Guardian as "mesmerizing" and "mysterious" they in fact made FOUR transatlantic phone calls to Appleton City, Missouri. The number began 001-573 and we spoke to a man on that number claiming to be Mike Roth. He said he'd never heard of either "Sutton" and "Wenham" although his answers seemed very guarded. 2 - They made several phone calls to the 'Daily Mirror' and 'Daily Sport' newspapers. 3 - They phoned a number in Ireland. We're not sure who - yet..... 4 - They phoned several other people in Glasgow and Manchester. 5 - They also booked further weekend breaks with Hotel owners Scottish and Newcastle Inns. What is more, hotel staff told us that the couple had asked what would happen if they left without paying! There were major problems with the sighting in that there were no aerial exercises taking place that night (we checked with the MOD and also the NOTAMS for the night). "Sutton" claimed that they had been laying in bed together smoking cigars (!) and had seen the "UFOs" through their bedroom window. A cursory examination of this claim indicated that they were not telling the truth. "Sutton" also claimed that the night had been particularly clear and bright and yet Eric Morris and a colleague had been trying to video civilian airliners in the area at the time and couldn't do so because of the low cloud base. He was less than two miles from the Royal George in Knutsford..... "Wenham" was heard by three BUFOSC members to say that Eric was a "loony". This happened when the pair invited BUFOSC to visit them in their room on Thursday night. They went to the Hotel but were not allowed into the room. One can only wonder why...... On a more disturbing note, "Wenham", in a long chat with Eric Morris, claimed to be a long-time football hooligan and extreme right-winger with links to many racist gangs at Chelsea and Millwall Football Clubs. He claimed to have been instrumental in the violence that marred the recent Manchester City vs. Millwall match during which 1500 thugs battled with each other and Police during the match. Although "Wenham", at a spindly 5' 8'', can hardly be described as an 'Aryan hero', he made several racist comments and expressed an interest in meeting well-known anti-fascist Tim Matthews, author of "UFO Revelation" and Press Officer for BUFOSC. Both "Wenham" and "Sutton" expressed their dismay that Matthews was away on business during the affair - even though he assisted as far as possible. "Wenham", who claims to come from Kingsthorpe in Northampton, an area well-know for racist activity, drives a White Sierra registration number G865 TKK. He claims to work for a small company there but nobody at the number given has ever heard of him......even though it is the company he claimed to work for....... Tim Matthews phoned Sutton and was lucky enough to find her in on Friday night. He asked her several difficult questions and she made several interesting - and evasive - comments. She claimed to have moved to Southport with her parents in 1997 having previously been known as "Caroline Bradley" before her "marriage in 1998". Oddly enough she wore no wedding ring and in any case was clearly shacking up with "Wenham"!! She also claimed to hail (no pun intended) from Northampton despite having a Northern accent!! She further claimed that they had "forgotten" to pay all the bills at the Hotel - as you do - and that this was simply a "UFO sighting" gone awry. She made various derogatory remarks about Eric Morris and claimed to have tape-recorded his earlier phone calls to her. She further claimed to have reported him to the Police - for some reason. As you may have independently concluded all is not well and although it might be easy for us to come to all kinds of conclusions ourselves we will leave that to the reader, "Wenhams'" right-wing links should certainly be called into question but there seems little doubt that these two had a hidden agenda from the start. Active UK UFO researchers, the few that there are, should dearly like to get on with investigations but recently have been hampered by a procession of lunatics attached to the fringes of this fringe subject and by numerous hoaxers. What is more, this unfortunate series of events comes against a background of proven phone tapping and mail interception campaigns waged against - for example - researchers in Kent looking into the "Burmarsh Triangle" incident of March 1997. We too have suffered similar problems. If Ufology is a subject of little or no concern to outside parties, or those with the ability to hoax, intercept and tap, then one wonders why these things continue to happen. We will make photographs of the odd couple available within the next few days.... British UFO Studies Centre, March 9th 1999. matthews@zetnet.co.uk bufosc@compuserve.com British UFO Studies Centre, 78 Greenall Rd, Northwich, Cheshire CW9 5RN.
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