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From: Georgina Bruni <georgina@easynet.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2000 19:07:23 +0000
Fwd Date: Sat, 04 Mar 2000 14:37:38 -0500
Subject: Nick Pope's Weird World - Feb 2000


Welcome to February's column, with its usual mixture of
news and gossip on ufology, the paranormal, and anything
else that catches my eye.


The Encyclopedia Of Extraterrestrial Encounters

Ronald D. Story, editor of the classic The Encyclopedia of UFOs,
is hard at work on another project, aimed at putting together a
follow-up book entitled The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial
Encounters. It will contain a huge range of data and will
include details of classic alien contact cases, theories about
the phenomenon and profiles of leading experiencers and
investigators. Even though it's over twenty years old now,
Story's original 1980 title is still an invaluable reference
tool for researchers. It's going to be a tough act to follow,
but the aim is to produce something even more broad-ranging than
this previous book. Watch this space for more details.


UFOs On Film

Now out on DVD is Ultimate UFO! - a compilation of 250 UFO film
clips from 26 countries. Also included on the twin DVDs are a
selection of documents obtained under the US Freedom of
Information Act, together with some of the controversial MJ-12
papers. There are also links with a selection of websites, and
informed commentary from Peter Robbins, Michael Hesemann and J.
Antonio Huneeus. But it's the film clips that will be of most
interest, I suspect, and these include footage from Mexico, Gulf
Breeze and from NASA. The DVDs contain over five and a half
hours of material. Check out www.ufocity.com for order details
and further information on this product.


Alien Toys

Anyone who collects UFO/alien-related toys or who wants to give
an unusual gift should check out www.shadowboxinc.com for
details of a wide range of fun products. Model UFOs,
glow-in-the-dark alien figures, posters and even a reproduction
of the UFO crash that allegedly took place at Roswell.


Sci-Fi On TV

Talking of Roswell, Sky One are now showing Roswell High - a US
sci-fi series that takes as its start point the premise that a
UFO did crash at Roswell in 1947, but that the aliens survived
and escaped. The story follows the (human looking) children of
these survivors, whose powers bring them to the intention of
various alien hunters. The show runs on Thursday nights at 8pm.
Channel Five have scheduled the sci-fi series First Wave - about
an alien invasion conspiracy - in the same Thursday evening
slot, so sci-fi fans should take their pick, set their videos
and write angry letters to TV schedulers. At least BBC 1 have
The X-Files on Wednesday nights, repeated on Saturdays. I hope
everyone caught the eagerly-awaited episode Triangle, which ran
on 19 January, and featured time travel and a kiss between
Mulder and Scully. Well, sort of.


Sea On Europa?

The chances of finding extraterrestrial life may just have been
given a boost. Data from NASA's Galileo space probe suggests
that below the icy crust of Europa - one of Jupiter's moons -
there may be a vast, salty ocean. The discovery stems from the
detection of directional changes in Europa's magnetic field. The
cause of this is almost certainly electric currents: ice is a
poor conductor but salt water is a very good one. Most
scientists believe that water is perhaps the key factor in the
development of life, so there's a possibility that life could
have developed on Europa, especially if there are hydrothermal
vents on the ocean floor. Nobody is suggesting that this would
be intelligent life - we're probably talking about little more
than microbes - but the implications of even this would be
immense.


Universe

One of my best Christmas presents was the book Universe, which
accompanies the acclaimed series of the same name, made by
Pioneer Productions and screened on Channel 4 in the UK and The
Learning Channel in the US. Written by Heather Couper and Nigel
Henbest it's packed with informed and up to date comment on
astronomy and cosmology, and contains a truly awesome selection
of photographs - many from the Hubble Space Telescope. It's
published by Channel 4 Books. Check out www.macmillan.co.uk or
any good bookshop.


The Martians Are Coming

What are the chances of anything coming from Mars? A million to
one? Well, maybe it's a little more likely than anyone thought.
The scientific community is still debating the significance of
ALH 84001 - one of around a dozen meteorites known to have come
from Mars. Some scientists believe it shows evidence of
fossilised bacteria, while others think that what was found
could have chemical but not biological causes. But even those
who think they've found evidence of biological activity are
split as to the origin of the material. Some believe they've
found fossilised Martian bacteria, while others think that there
could have been terrestrial contamination. At a recent
conference organised by the American Astronomical Society it was
suggested that if life did once exist on Mars, life on Earth
could actually have been seeded when this life was carried here
on meteorites. If it's true, we're all Martians!


Alien Big Cats On Film

On Tuesday December 28 the Western Morning News ran a front page
story about the emergence of a piece of film footage that may be
the strongest evidence yet that mystery big cats are stalking
the British countryside. The video was taken in 1994 in a clay
mine near St Austell, by Roy Taylor, a Cornish councillor, but
emerged only during the making of a Carlton Westcountry TV
documentary, Tracking the Beast of Bodmin, also screened on
December 28. The tape shows a black feline creature which Mike
Thomas from Newquay Zoo said was similar to a leopard or a
panther. The animal was estimated to have been between four and
a half and six feet in length. Mr Taylor had previously kept the
film secret because he didn't want people to hunt down and kill
an animal which hadn't hurt anyone, and only came forward now
because he believed that the animal would no longer be in the
area, given the time that had passed. Cryptozoologist and
naturalist Trevor Beer, author of a number of books including
The Beast of Exmoor: Fact or Legend? is also against the idea of
hunting down these animals, which he believes originate from the
escape or deliberate release of animals from private
collections. But the release of the film is likely to renew
calls for official action: the Ministry of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Food investigated in 1994, and I'd been involved
while investigating UFOs for the MOD, because of the possible
connection with the animal mutilation mystery. I'll keep you
posted.


Deep Impact

Science Minister Lord Sainsbury has announced the establishment
of a task force to look into the danger posed to the Earth from
comets and asteroids. The team is to confirm the nature of the
hazard, identify current UK activities in this field of study
and advise on future action. The team (Dr Harry Atkinson,
Professor David Williams and Sir Crispin Tickell) will report to
the British National Space Centre, whose Director General will
report to the Minister by May 31 2000. The danger from so-called
Near Earth Objects may seem remote, but it's a case of low
probability, high consequence: this is how the dinosaurs were
wiped out, and it's worth bearing in mind that the small,
comet-like object that exploded in the atmosphere above
Tunguska, Siberia, in 1908, struck with the force of ten million
tons of TNT. If such an object struck London, the entire city
would be destroyed. I'll Keep you posted on this extremely
important story. For further details check out
www.ds.dial.pipex.com/spaceguard or just search on "spaceguard"
for the Spaceguard UK website.

Nick Pope's three books, Open Skies, Closed Minds, The Uninvited
and Operation Thunder Child are available from all good
bookshops. His UK publishers are Simon & Schuster. In America,
The Overlook Press publish his books in hardback while Dell
Publishing produce paperback editions.