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From: Joseph Trainor <Masinaigan@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 1999 18:51:23 +0100
Fwd Date: Fri, 17 Sep 1999 10:52:35 -0400
Subject: UFO ROUNDUP, Volume 4, Number 21


UFO ROUNDUP
Volume 4, Number 21
September 16, 1999
Editor: Joseph Trainor


ALIEN CAPTURED IN JORDAN?

"An unidentified creature which terrorized the people and
poultry of the northern Jordanian town of Mafraq was captured
Sunday night," July 25, 1999.

"'Townsfolk first sighted the small, cat-like animal a month ago
(June 1999) but then it started appearing on a nightly basis,
devouring dozens of hens and pigeons,' said an official from the
Mafraq governorate."

"The small-headed creature with disproportionately large eyes,
teeth and tail was hunted down after townsfolk lodged complaints
that the animal was prowling Mafraq's residential quarters by
night."

"The official speculated that the animal could have been drawn
to Mafraq, which lies on the edge of the (Hauran) desert 100
kilometres (60 miles) north of Amman," the capital of Jordan,
"bythis year's drought. The animal, nicknamed Al-Massara, has
been handed to local vets (veterinarians--J.T.) to determine its
species, but it was not known if it was the only such creature
at large in the town."  (See the National Post of Toronto for
July 27, 1999, "Police end unidentified creature's reign of
terror."  See also UFO Newsclipping Service for August 1999.
Many thanks to Lou Farish for this news story.) (Editor's
Comment:  After I received this report, I did a little
background research and came up with three interesting facts,
which may or may not have anything to do with Al-Massara.

(1) The airport just north of al-Mafraq is the headquarters of a
jet interceptor wing of the Royal Jordanian Air Force.  The wing
flies French-built Mirage 2000 fighters.

(2) Al-Mafraq contains the headquarters of the 2nd Mechanized
Division of the Jordan Arab Army, which consists of two
mechanized infantry brigades and a tank brigade.

(3) About 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of al-Mafraq, across the
Wadi az-Zatari, lie the ruins of Umm al-Jimal, a mysterious pre-
Canaanite city with buildings made of black basalt.  The ruined
city was first found by the Romans in 175 A.D.  The inhabitants
fled after a catastrophic earthquake in 747 A.D., and it became
a ghost town after that.

More importantly, where is Al-Massara? Probably in Camp
Condon...in the same Quonset hut with the Varginha Seven.)


TRIANGULAR UFO SEEN AGAIN IN ISRAEL

On Friday, August 27, 1999, Israeli ufologist David Ronen
spotted a large triangular UFO cruising over Tel Aviv.

Rushing to the telephone, Ronen called fellow ufologist Gil Bar,
16, and told him, "The craft is heading for Rishon Letzion.  Get
your camera!"

Grabbing his videocamera, Bar hurried to the rooftop of his
home, just in time to see the craft passing overhead.  Instantly
he began shooting and got two minutes of video before the
camera's battery failed.

According to Barry Chamish, the triangular UFO was "identical to
the one seen by Adrian Zvir over Rishon Letzion in October
1998."  (Many thanks to Barry Chamish for letting UFO Roundup
quote from his report.)

BRITISH TOURISTS SPOT UFO IN PORTUGAL

On Monday, August 30, 1999, at 10 p.m., Andrew M., his wife, and
two fellow tourists from UK "were returning to our villa near
Carvoeiro in the Portuguese Algarve" region "when all four adult
occupants saw a red/gold light in the sky.  I guess at around
15,000 to 20,000 feet, travelling from the west toward the
southern coast of Spain."  (Across the Golfo de Cadiz in the
general direction of Palos de la Frontera--J.T.)

"Its movements were erratic," Andrew reported, "First of all
slow, then extremely fast, certainly not in the smooth manner of
a jet.  It was hard to tell the shape, but the light was a very
regular glow, and I would guess that in daylight it would be
disc-shaped."

"Several other cars seemed to stop and stare.  But instead of
stopping, we rushed back to the villa for the videocamera, by
which time it was so far away I am certain it would not have
shown up on film."

The following day, Tuesday, August 31, 1999, Andrew and his wife
"saw a military-type plane fly past very low but in the opposite
direction," i.e. from east to west.

Carvoeiro is about 150 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of
Lisboa, Portugal's national capital. (Muito obrigado a John
Hayes por eso caso.)


UFOs SIGHTED OVER LOUGH NEAGH IN ULSTER

At 11 p.m. on Wednesday, August 15, 1999, telephones at the
Armagh Planetarium and police stations in Northern Ireland, as
residents reported UFOs and strange phenomena over nearby Lough
(Lake) Neagh.

According to Miles Johnston, the flap continued for five
straight days, ending on Monday, August 22, 1999 at 4 a.m.  Each
UFO overflight began at 11 p.m. each night and ended at 4
o'clock the following morning.

"Sightings included large rings of light, with inner rings, over
a several-hundred-square- mile area," plus "groups of flying
discs flying in formation."

Witnesses also reported seeing "a U.S. Air Force AWACS plane
accompanied by two red triangular aircraft," Johnston added,
"They flew over Northern Ireland at only 4,000 feet."

Strangest of all were the reports of "rays of black light"
streaming down from the night sky and "some illuminations
identical to the Aurora Borealis but due south" of Lough Neagh.

Armagh is 42 miles (70 kilometers) southwest of Belfast.  (Many
thanks to Miles Johnston for this report.)

(Editor's Comment: Black rays streaming down from space!?  Even
for mystical Ireland, that's weird!)


UFO SEEN BY FIVE PEOPLE NEAR BRIGHTON, IOWA

On Sunday, September 5, 1999, at 8:54 p.m., five people
"observed a strange bright light in the eastern sky" while at a
privately-owned pond 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of
Brighton, Iowa (population 684.)

According to the witnesses, the UFO "moved both horizontally and
vertically with no apparent pattern.  The light also appeared
and disappeared sporadically...The light that was observed was a
very bright white light."

The witnesses observed the UFO for 20 minutes at first.  During
this time, it "disappeared eight times in 20 minutes before
disappearing completely...It moved only a matter of 20 to 25
degrees from the horizon and about 10 to 15 degrees to the
south-southeast before it suddenly disappeared."

A few minutes later, the UFO returned, "and the light was
observed for 15 minutes before it vanished again."

Brighton is on Iowa Highway 1 approximately 167 miles (267
kilometers) southeast of Des Moines.  (Many thanks to John E.L.
Tenney for this report.)


CYLINDRICAL SILVER UFO SEEN IN TENNESSEE

On Tuesday, September 7, 1999, at 10:15 p.m., a white
37-year-old businessman was driving home through a newly-built
neighborhood just north of Gallatin, Tennessee (population
18,794) when he spotted "a silver-colored object" in the sky.

"I was driving to my new home in a new subdivision, when I
spotted an object flying slowly about a quarter-mile (0.4
kilometers) away," he reported, "I looked at it again and
noticed that it was not casting a reflection.  I was a bright
metallic silver object, unlike any aircraft that I have ever
seen.  The object was moving very slowly, almost hovering over a
wooded area" on the north side of Gallatin.

"I turned off my car and got out to see if I could hear anything
and make sure it wasn't a reflection in the window of my car.
It was there, plain to see. It was cylindrical in shape and
moving ever so slowly. The object had absolutely no sound.
Within ten seconds, the object just disappeared from my sight."

Gallatin is on Tennessee Highways 174 and 25 about 24 miles (38
kilometers) northeast of Nashville, the state capital.  (Many
thanks to Kenneth Young of Cincinnati UFO Research for this
report.)


BRIGHT UFO SPOTTED IN SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA

On Thursday, September 9, 1999, at 5:40 a.m., a man heading for
work "saw a strange bright light in the sky" over Santa Ana,
California (population 293,742), a suburb of Los Angeles.

"He didn't know if it was a satellite or what," John B.
reported, "He called me over to look. At first I didn't see it.
But then I did.  It was brighter than any star.  It was big,
too."

John said they were near the intersection of Fairview and
Segerstrom in Santa Ana when they saw the UFO.

Santa Ana is south of the Garden Grove Freeway, about 28 miles
(44 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles City Hall.  (Many
thanks to John B. for this report.)


STRANGE BRIGHT LIGHTS SEEN BY DOZENS NEAR FORT MYERS, FLORIDA

"Bright lights described by some as very colorful and by others
as very large had southwest Florida's earliest risers scratching
their heads around 4:30 a.m. Tuesday," September 7, 1999, "and
wondering whether aliens were landing."

"Betty Scofield was having her morning coffee on her front porch
in Cape Coral (population 74,991) as bright lights hovered in
the sky. Scofield said she believed the lights were two planes
coming in for a landing at Southwest Florida International
Airport but said she was a little worried because both lights
were low on the horizon."

"It wasn't until Scofield arrived at work in the communications
department of the Lee County Sheriff's Office that the
reality--or lack of it--set in." The planes, if that's what they
were, were not making any noise.  'I went, uh-oh,' Scofield
said, 'I never thought about UFOs before.'"

"People all down the Gulf (of Mexico) coast of Florida, and as
far inland as Orlando, were thinking about UFOs, too, said
George Diller, a spokesman for Kennedy Space Center in Cape
Canaveral."

"The chance that aliens were involved? 'None,' Diller said.
Instead, he said the lights were caused by space junk, from a
spent stage of a Russian rocket coming down over the Gulf of
Mexico.  The rocket was used to launch a communications
satellite."

"Diller said the light show was so bright because the objects
were illuminated by the sun's light from the other side of the
world."

"Spectacular, but also frightening, said Cathy Ingrim, who saw
the lights from the pier at Fort Myers Beach.  The Fort Myers
resident and another woman were fishing from the pier at Fort
Myers Beach when sometime between 4:30 and 5 a.m. colored bright
lights and smoke appeared very low on the horizon."

"'We were just dumbfounded the whole time,' Ingrim said.  'It
was almost like a huge mass of shooting stars, balls of fire.
It was like green, red and yellow.  There was light smoke.'"

Fort Myers (population 45,206) is on Florida Highway 41 about
152 miles (243 kilometers) west of Miami.  (See the Fort Myers,
Fla. News Press for September 7, 1999, story by Eileen Kelley.
Many thanks to Linda Jacobson for forwarding this newspaper
article.)


MORE CROP CIRCLES APPEAR IN CANADA

On Thursday, September 2, 1999, farmer Lyle Ami was combining
his field near Conquest, Saskatchewan, Canada (population 85)
when he encountered two crop circles.

According to Paul Anderson of Circles Phenomenon
Research-Canada, one crop circle was 36 feet (10.9 meters) in
diameter, while the other was 30 feet (9.09 meters) in diameter.
"Both have an identical 'cross' feature attached," Paul
reported, "Both were pointing to the southeast."

The formation was found four miles (6 kilometers) south of
Conquest.  In 1998, Conquest was the site of another highly-
publicized crop circle incident.  The 1998 circles also had a
cross attached and were aligned to the southeast.

Conquest is just north of Provincial Highway 7, about 50 miles
(80 kilometers) southwest of Saskatoon.

In eastern Canada, a farmer named Bernard Handrahan reported
finding two small crop circles on his land on Prince Edward
Island.

The circles were found in mid-August, and Handrahan described
them as "perfectly circular with extended centres." The circles
measured 18 feet (5.4 meters) and 12 feet (3.6 meters) in
diameter.

The circles were found in a blueberry field at Christopher
Cross, near Tignish, P.E.I., which is located on the island's
North Cape about 78 miles (125 kilometers) northwest of
Charlottetown.  (See the Charlottetown, P.E.I. Guardian for
August 28, 1999.  Many thanks to Paul Anderson of CPR-Canada for
this report.)

Y2K: U.S., RUSSIAN OFFICERS TO OBSERVE MISSILE LAUNCH DATA ON
NEW YEAR'S EVE

"Russia has accepted an offer to place its military officers at
a joint monitoring center in Colorado to observe U.S. missile
warning data during the 2000 transition.  Defense Secretary
William Cohen is to sign the agreement Monday," September 13,
1999, "in Moscow."

"The Pentagon said Friday that Cohen also will discuss arms
control with his Russian counterpart, Gen. Igor Sergeyev.  The
visit is designed to put U.S.-Russian military relations back on
track after Moscow severed most contacts last spring in protest
of the U.S.-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia."

"Last fall, U.S. and Russian military experts had begun
discussing the idea of a joint station for monitoring U.S.
missile warning data, but progress was halted when the war with
Yugoslavia started in March."

"A senior Pentagon official said Friday," September 10, 1999,
"that Moscow indicated in August that it would accept the offer.
The facility will be called the Y2K Center for Strategic
Stability and will be based at Peterson Air Force Base,
Colorado."

"The center is to begin operating 24 hours a day with Russian
and U.S. monitoring teams in December.  It will be terminated in
January.  The Russians will have 10 to 20 officers there."

"The center's purpose is to provide reassurance to the Russians
on potemtial accidental missile launches--either by the United
States or other countries--resulting from Y2K computer glitches.
U.S. officals have said they don't anticipate Y2K problems with
either U.S. or Russian missile systems.  It also would provide
reassurance in case a computer glitch affected Russia's radar
system."

"No one thinks 'we're teetering on the edge of a potential false
launch,' the U.S. official said. However, if there were a
problem, both sides feel it would be useful to have officers in
direct contact with each other."  (See the Minneapolis, Minn.
Star-Tribune for September 11, 1999, page A4, "Russians to join
U.S. officers at missile center for Y2K transition.")

from the UFO Files...


1948: STRANGE CRUISE OF THE HUDSON

Ninety-eight years ago, on September 16, 1901, the steamer
Hudson lost her steering engine and foundered in Lake Superior
off upper Michigan's Keweenaw peninsula.  All 24 members of the
crew drowned when this 320-foot steamship, with its distinctive
two black smokestacks aft, plunged to the bottom.

Trouble is, the Hudson won't stay in her watery grave.

On September 16, 1948, a tugboat fisherman we'll call "Gary
Olsen" was dropping his gill nets in Lake Superior northwest of
Eagle Harbor, Michigan, near the top of the Keweenaw, when he
encountered a strange, thick fog.

"Without warning it wasn't fog any more but the tall sides of a
vessel directly off the bow. Throwing the wheel hard over, the
captain barely swung the tug clear of the stranger..  The other
vessel wasn't moving but drifting dead with the swell."

Olsen and his mate were amazed to see a ship "about 300 feet
long and she had the smallest pilothouse he had ever seen on a
freighter.  The twin stacks were unusual, too. One of them was
also knocked over, and the other looked none too steady...The
steamer's decks, like her sides, were covered with a slimy brown
coating.  Great rust bubbles were everywhere."

When the silent ship refused to answer his hails, Gary rowed
over there in his gig and climbed onto the foredeck..

"Climbing the companionway, he paused for a second at the closed
pilothouse door. Opening the door, he found two men, or what
once were men, staring straight at him.  One, the farthest away,
held the wheel fast in his bony hands.  The other, evidently the
captain, judging from his short peaked cap, stood closest to
him.  To the tug man, both looked like death warmed over.  Thin
and gaunt in stature, their ragged clothes hung loose over
emaciated limbs.  Their faces were white and chalky with
leathery skin drawn tight against their skulls.  The eyes were
the worst of all. They were lifeless, black as coal and without
a single spark of animation."

Gary asked what was going on.  Why were they adrift in a busy
shipping lane "in this fog thicker than my mother's bean soup?"

"Speaking slowly and with a voice resonating deep and cold, the
steamer's captain replied, 'We are beyond help--have been for
many a year. And indeed we are a wreck.  Don't you know what
ship this is?'"

"Backing away slightly, the tug man said, 'Your name was covered
by rust.  I couldn't make it out as I circled you.'"

"In the same tired voice, the master replied, 'Why, this is the
Hudson, lost September 16, 1901, in this very spot.  Twenty-four
men went to the bottom with her.  It's cursed we are, damned by
the devil himself.  Every year we must come up, only to be
dragged down again.  Haven't you heard all the tales--of ghost
ships and spirit sailors and haunted spots on the lakes?  Well,
it's true.  We are the proof.  If you know what's good for you,
you will get off this damned ship now, this very instant. Our
time is almost done.'"

"The tug man never looked back.  He bolted out the door and ran
as fast as his legs would carry him-- flying down the
companionway to the weather deck and on to the place where he
first climbed aboard."

Rowing like a madman, Gary reached the tugboat, scrambled aboard
and fired up the Kahlenberg engine. The mate asked, "Now what
was that all about?"

"You wouldn't believe me, and I ain't going to tell you," Gary
replied, "Steady her up north- northeast.  I've got a feeling
this ain't a healthy place to be."

"What about our nets?"

"To hell with them!" Gary snapped, "Get her out of here--now!"

No sooner had the Olsen tugboat got under way than the weather
changed.  "Within minutes the lake was churned into a savage
gale.  Waves assaulted the tug from every side in a confused
melee of water.  The glass in the portside pilothouse window
blew out when a vicious wave smashed into it.  Another wave
struck the forward door, ripping out the center lock and
flooding into the well.  Hammer and nails closed the hole and
saved the tug from a watery grave. Desperately the tug struggled
on, rolling and plunging in the steep seas until she finally
slid between the rock piers at Eagle Harbor."

"It had been a very near thing, and it was a story that wouldn't
be told for a very long time."

When Olsen finally told his story to author Frederick
Stonehouse, it cemented the Hudson's reputation as one of the
most notorious ghost ships of Lake Superior.  (See the book
Haunted Lakes by Frederick Stonehouse, Lake Superior Port Cities
Inc., Duluth, Minn. 1997, pages 85 to 89.)

Well, that's it for this week.  Join us next time for more UFO
news from around the planet, brought to you by "the paper that
goes home--UFO Roundup."  See you then.

UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1999 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
newsletter and its editor by name and list the date of issue in
which the item first appeared.

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