Filer's Files #44 MUFON Skywatch Investigations >From George A. Filer: MUFON Eastern Director, Nov. 4, 1997 Majorstar@aol.com (609) 654-0020 New videos, flashes and news reports indicate strange hostilities in our skies. GEORGIA VIDEO Reportedly a Christian TV station was video taping a children's show near Marietta last May, when the cameraman noticed several black unmarked helicopters flying nearby. On seeing the choppers and knowing his Christian TV audience has a fascination and dislike of unmarked black helicopters, he turned his video camera towards the choppers and got some good shots of them. Upon returning to the TV station a technician noticed a UFO going in and out of clouds could be seen behind the helicopters. According to Chris, a retired physicist and camera buff, the UFO is no refraction, lens flare, reflection, or close by insect or bird.. He says it is clearly a real object darting in and out of clouds behind the choppers. It also is not something very small in relation to the choppers The video was magnified and enhanced, the UFO appears to be a real unknown flying structured object. Thanks to John Thompson, Georgia State Director. FLORIDA Nancy Dunning reports about her sighting on October 14, 1997, over the central Florida Gulf Coast. "I had just left work. It was about 5:10 p.m. I was facing North and stopped at a traffic light in Palmetto, FL, when I saw an egg shaped object moving northwest at a steady rate of speed. It was silvery white in color. I watched as it went into a cloud and just disappeared. It never came out the other side of the cloud. I know it wasn't an airplane because, I know a lot about airplanes. I can identify almost any plane there is." Ray Pollock also states, "I saw an object like this almost a year ago in Bradenton where I live. That object flew directly over the middle of town in broad daylight. It flew very fast, made a complete tight circle and disappeared toward the north. I don't know if anyone else saw these objects or not. I have heard nothing reported in the papers for either one." Thanks to Nancy Dunning and Ray Pollock. INDIANA VIDEO The following information comes courtesy of a cordial and highly professional staff member of the WXIX channel 19 Newsroom, who was contacted this afternoon in regards to a piece which aired on their 11:30 a.m. newscast (an alert Mr. Paul Koch of Western Hills spotted the report). The gentleman at WXIX-TV searched through the computer and retrieved the script which was used to convey the story of the UFO to the TV audience. He was helpful to re-read the script, which follows. Caption: "A mysterious UFO videotaped in Indiana?" A newsreel segment from WFLD TV in Chicago, Illinois stated, "This is something a fan of the X-files may enjoy. A young brother and sister from Indiana were startled by a mysterious light in the sky Wednesday night. Christy and Tony Venandor were in their backyard in Porter, Indiana when they recorded these images of a light streaking across the sky. You can see it right above the tree-line. They say the light lasted only a few seconds and disappeared without a trace." (Insert: interview with witnesses). "We saw a white dot being trailed by flames. We thought it was crashing, but wasn't sure." The eyewitness said it was like a rocket after take off. It wasn't a plane crash, and there are no official reports of a comet, so the light show over Porter, Indiana remains a mystery. Thanks to Kenny Young at T.A.S.K: task@fuse.net GEORGIA, MINNESOTA, OKLAHOMA, AND NEW MEXICO FLASHES IN SKY John Thompson, MUFON State Director, reports bright flashes of light were observed across the country at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Standard time on October 18, 1997. UFO Roundup obtained reports from a Georgia roofer who stated, "He thought what he saw was sometime before midnight (not sure exactly when ). The wife said she only saw two flashes before she came inside and got her husband. The flashes she said lasted about 5 seconds each and were unlike anything she had ever seen before in her life. She said there were no balls or lights just that the sky flashed blue. Her husband said the flashes--which he saw more of because he went outside thinking maybe they were nearby--were of a light blue color and finally disappeared while he was looking for them in the woods. Both husband and wife said they couldn't tell if the flashes were stationary or moving around some. In the New Mexico report below blue flashes were observed at 9:00 p.m. Now remember that New Mexico is 2 hours behind Eastern time. This is one eerie coincidence! What is the chance of two unrelated couples 1600 miles apart seeing sizeable blue flashes on the same night and apparent time? I wonder if these blue flashes could, perhaps, be seen all over the southern part of the U.S. on Oct. 18th around 11:00 p.m. EST? If so, what could make such light sources? Thanks to John Thompson and UFO Roundup, Joe Trainor editor. STRANGE BLUE FLASHES SEEN IN NEW MEXICO On Saturday, October 18, 1997, at 9 p.m. Mountain times, "a man and his fiancée were going home to" Los Alamos, NM. The couple "observed a light blue flash that 'lit up the sky behind the Jemez Mountains.' They reported that the light faded slowly, then returned to its previous level of brightness approximately five minutes later." About 45 minutes later, as the couple approached their house in Los Alamos, "the sky lit up with the same blue light, but this time it was on the opposite side of the Jemez Mountains. He reported that the light was so bright that the profile of the mountains was clearly visible in the night." Many thanks UFO Roundup and Steve Wilson for forwarding this story. Editor's Comment: A similar phenomenon took place at 8:50 p.m. on Thursday, September 4, 1997 just north of Beaver Bay, Minnesota. The light flashes were green, however, not blue. For more information, see. UFO ROUNDUP, v 2, # 35.) Joe Trainor Editor OKLAHOMA On Friday, October-31, 1997 at 8:23 p.m. CDT, a "Flash of Light" was reported N. E. of the town of Reydon, Oklahoma (appox. 120 miles N.W. of Oklahoma City). A local Sheriff's Deputy witnessed this flash. This radio report was monitored, and it was described as a 'Large Flash of Light in the Sky'. also heard- Dispatch-" was it lighting?" Deputy-" I don't see any clouds in the sky"..." "I saw one large flash to my northeast and it wasn't lightning!".Thanks to Jim Hickman and Skywatch. Editors Note: These strange blue flashes over much of the country over several weeks my have some significance. I have frequently run into aircrews who have also seen the flashes that light up the whole sky at night. I think they may be a natural light phenomenon. Something in space such as a satellite could cause the sun to flash on the dark side of Earth. UFOs penetrating our atmosphere could also be responsible, but it is more likely to be some sort of electrical phenomenon similar to the Northern Lights. Could lasers cause the blue flashes? I wonder if a large craft entering the atmosphere at night or laser would cause this type of flashing? Do you have any ideas? TEXAS NORAD also tracks UFOs and the change of direction and smoke could indicate that this unidentified object was in some sort of trouble. Regarding the recent sighting of a strange meteor like object that reportedly slammed into the Texas border near El Paso causing Army, police, and helicopter response. Reuters News reports Steven Marquez stated, "I saw a large flash like an explosion in the sky near the Organ Mountains outside Las Cruces, New Mexico. `Something fell off of it and left a huge cloud of smoke over there by the mountains '' Robert Simpson, a spokesman for the McDonald Observatory in Texas, said he saw what appeared to be a small meteor flash across the sky at 12:47 p.m. MDT and that it was about as bright as the surface of a setting sun. Las Cruces, NM Police Sgt. Joel Cano said, "The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) tracked the object as it entered Earth's atmosphere until it fell to the ground about 30 miles east of El Paso. A police command post was set up near the Organ Mountains as U.S. Army Reserve helicopters used infrared sensors to look for pieces of debris from the object. "What they are looking for is any debris that is still hot or anything that came off the object,'' Cano said. Witnesses said the streak of light left a contrail across southern New Mexico that hung in the sky for about 30 minutes. CNN claimed it then headed south according to weather radar. Ufologist and web master, Tony Craddock states that, "Sources I talked to at the NBC affiliate in El Paso feel that something was definitely shot down there October 9, 1997. A Los Angeles radio station reported on October 19th that a large number of people in El Paso, Texas heard a very loud explosion in the sky earlier in the month. A meteorogical scientist had given the explanation that a meteor had exploded 10,000 miles up, but a local Sheriff interviewed on the radio said "They can say what they want, but it is like I am standing here in a snowstorm". He described the debris as being lightweight and metallic "like sequins or the metal flake makeup that ladies sometimes wear" This broadcast was reported by a local doctor, who listened to it at the time. The meteor attracted a surprising amount of government response. An update to this report is posted on the Website at http://www.cseti.org/crashes/crash122.htm. Thanks to Tony Craddock. Editors note: Assuming these reports are correct, this kind of debris indicates an explosion of a metallic object entering the atmosphere. Can these metallic flakes be analyzed as to type, source, manufacturer? Can a laser cause this kind of damage to a metallic object? NEW FOUNDLAND On November 3, 1997, at 11:11 p.m. Don Jay Fredrico reports a sighting near the airport runway in Stephenville, Newfoundland. Don states, "I saw the strange craft hover over the ocean across from the run way it stayed their for about 2 or 3 minutes and then it left without a sound. as it was leaving it looked life a ball of red fire then it divided into two different (balls of gas) and disappeared." Thanks to ISUR & Don Jay: sleepygonzals@hotmail.com GERMANY: A US Army soldier's wife living in Germany, called her mother in the US to report a UFO. She said, that in the afternoon of October 22, 1997, numerous Army dependents saw a giant saucer UFO with lots of lights on its bottom, fly over a highway. The UFO made allot of noise, flew low and moved slow enough for people to stop their cars and get out and look at it in astonishment. This occurred outside of a unnamed American Army base in Germany. This same person also told her mother that a friend of her 's took a photo of the UFO. The daughter is married to an Army sergeant stationed at the base. We are attempting to verify this story. If anyone has further info please contact us. Thanks to John Thompson gin@wp-lag.mindspring.com (john c. thompson) BRAZIL Philippe Piet van Putten reports the possible suicide of a Brazilian Officer after he allegedly revealed the truth about UFOs. Brazilian Air Force retired colonel Uyrange Bolivar Soares Nogueira de Hollanda Lima, 56, made important revelations concerning UFOs on July 20, 1997. He was interviewed during the national television show Fantastico (Globo TV). For the first time, the Colonel confirmed his personal UFO-experiences while commanding Operacao Prato. Operation Plate was activated by the Brazilian Air Forces, 1st Regional Aerial Command in September, 1977. Colonel Uyrange and Operation Plate succeeded in filming and photographing numerous UFOs, which were causing panic in the Amazon region. He and agents of the now extinct National Information Service (SNI) had a real close encounter with an enormous UFO. Operation Plate obtained hundreds of photos of strange aerial phenomena which "seemed aware of the military presence" and moved in an intelligent fashion. There is an unconfirmed report that the Colonel may have committed suicide. Thanks to the Director, Philippe Piet van Putten, Brazilian Academy of Parasciences (ABP) UNITED KINGDOM Victor J. Kean reports on November 5th, 1997, "I am informed of UFO activity off Lowestoft, Norfolk in Southeast England, which is being videoed by various reliable observers. Apart from "lights under the sea" various UFOs have been videoed "entering and leaving the sea. Large Flying Traingles (FTs) also seen in the Lowestoft area. Witnesses have been visited by 'Military Intelligence" and additional UFO activity is centered upon Thetford Forest, Norfolk. Thanks to :VICTOR_J_KEAN@compuserve.com Editors note: I was stationed at RAF Sculthorpe in Norfolk, England and often heard reports of UFOs and even had the opportunity to chase one. London Control vectored us to the Stonehenge area to investigate. I was able to pick up the UFO on our aircraft radar at 25 miles. We were doing about 425 mph, when we spotted lights hovering in the distance. We closed quickly diving on the stationary target. We closed to one mile on the radar, when the UFO took off at a high rate of speed. It reminded me of a shuttle launch at night. We had other reports of huge mother ships launching smaller scout craft over the UK. UFO ROUNDUP Volume 2, Number 43 November 9, 1997 TWO NATO JETS PURSUE UFO OVER FRANCE Two NATO jet interceptors, described as "the F-16 type," chased a UFO over France's Eure-et- Loire department at 4 p.m. on Monday, October 27, 1997. Eyewitness Marie Franck reported, "I was at my country home in Sainville, a village 40 kilometers (24 miles) east of Chartres. I was in the garden when I heard a progressive rumbling originating from the north, behind the house. It was then that I saw, to the west of the village, at 45 degrees above the horizon and about 2,000 meters (6,600 feet or just over a mile--J.T.) away a flying tube without wings but with fire coming out of the stern, which moved in horizontal flight from the north-northeast to the south-southwest." Mme. Franck watched the UFO for "five seconds" before it disappeared "behind a neighboring rooftop." "Its speed was around 1,400 kilometers per hour," she reported. "I was astonished at not hearing a sonic boom, and I thought I might have been mistaken in my calculations." She estimated that the UFO traveled two kilometers during the five seconds. "At the same time, I got the idea that it might be a missile (perhaps nuclear?) and that it was going to explode in the distance," she added. "Sudden terror! My sole reflex was to hurl myself to the ground, all the while counting the seconds to estimate the distance from the object." "I was at 50 seconds when a new rumbling sound made its approach, but it was coming from the southeast. I then observed passing from south to north a military plane of the F-16 type, which made a very tight turn north of the village (Sainville) in order to get on the north-northeasterly trajectory of the object." A few seconds later, "a new rumbling" was heard, and a second F-16 appeared, flying in the same direction as the first. Mme. Franck gathered her children from the pavilion very quickly and brought them indoors to safety. Sainville is located on L'Autoroute A.10-E.05, the main highway between Paris and Orleans. The Armee de l'Air, France's air force, has a base at Chateaudrun, 55 kilometers (33 miles) south of Sainville. (Merci beaucoup a Marie Franck et Banque OVNI pour ces nouvelles.) IRISH UFOLOGISTS QUESTION BOYLE SAUCER CRASH EYEWITNESSES Researchers from IUFOPRA, a UFO study group in Eire, are busily interviewing witnesses to a saucer crash in the Curlieu Mountains north of Boyle, County Roscommon, that reportedly took place in May 1996. According to Irish ufologist Rory Thornton, the saucer crashlanded on a mountain just north of Boyle, slicing off a few treetops and touching down in the lake. The saucer, alleged to be from "the planet Sunas," contained several occupants who were allegedly taken into custody by a retrieval team. Dave Walsh, publisher of the online newsletter Nua Blather, wrote, "New information has recently come to light that leads us to believe that despite earlier reports the incident is a hoax, that something did happen in the Curlieu Mountains." "The site of the alleged crash has been sealed off for months now, and even the locals have been denied access." Six months after the alleged crash, a new asphalt road was constructed, leading to the site, and "two (Quonset) huts were erected," IUFOPRA reported, "and no one was prepared to give any explanation as to why they were there. One of the huts is located close to the crash site with a lot of antennae protruding from it." "One thing is clear...the Irish and foreign military are involved in some type of covert operations," IUFOPRA was quoted by Walsh. "A lot of helicopters have been observed flying around the area, and, according to one witness, he was woken by the sound of 'rescue' helicopters, which hovered very close to the windows of his house, causing them to rattle." (Many thanks to Dave Walsh for this news story.) UFOs SIGHTED IN FLORIDA On Tuesday, October 14, 1997, at 5:10 p.m., Nancy Dunning had stopped her car at a traffic light in Palmetto, Florida (population 8,637) "when I saw an egg-shaped object moving northwest at a steady rate of speed. It was silvery-white in color. I watched as it went into a cloud and just disappeared. It never came out on the other side of the cloud. I know it wasn't an airplane because I know a lot about airplanes. I can identify almost any plane there is." (See MUFON Skywatch Investigations #44. Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for forwarding this story.) On Saturday, November 1, 1997, at 1:50 a.m., Tige McMullen, age 15, was looking out the window of his home in Pensacola, Florida (population 57,619). "Then I looked up into the sky, and I saw a UFO. It was moving fast, left to right, then at one point disappeared, then coming back. It made no noise." Tige immediately phoned the Pensacola/Gulf Breeze UFO Hotline. Afterward, he "got my Mom's camera and took two pictures of it. I hope they come out." "It was like lightning in the sky. But there was no thunder, and lightning doesn't stay that long. There was mostly clear sky that night. I looked to try to find a video camera, but I could not. Then I looked out the window and it had gone. It had disappeared." (USENET report) LUMINOUS UFOs REPORTED ON ITALY'S ADRIATIC COAST Luminous UFOs were seen at four locations around the city of Ancona, on Italy's Adriatic Sea coastline last week. On Monday, November 3, 1997, at 5 p.m., "a luminous object was observed from diverse locations in the province of Ancona. In the area around Polverigi, two hunters saw a fusiform object of grey color pass by quickly and silently over their heads." "At the same hour, ten people on a promenade (boardwalk--J.T.) in Posatora observed for several seconds a luminous green ball with a yellow tail in the sky." (See the Italian newspaper Corriere Adriatico for November 4, 1997.) The same luminous green UFO was also seen in Senigallia and Porto Recanati, two seaside towns close to Ancona. The area is 224 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of Rome. (See Corriere Adriatico for November 5, 1997. Grazie a Edoardo Russo di CISU per questo rapporto.) TWO GIRLS SPOT A UFO IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA On Friday, October 17, 1997, at 8:30 p.m., Danielle F. and her cousin, Tessa P., were waiting in a car for Tessa's father in their hometown of Boswell, Pennsylvania (population 1,480). Boswell is located on Route 601 about 70 miles (112 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh. "Tessa said, 'What's that?'" Danielle reported. "I looked up and said it might be an airplane. We saw a big blurry white light. We went inside and got the binoculars to take a better look." The UFO hovered at about 45 degrees above the horizon, Danielle reported, "The center of the object was white, and on the ends were two yellow lights. On the top of the object was one red light. The object was moving very fast while it was descending toward the (nearby) mountain. Tessa and I both agree that we never saw a plane move so fast. We don't know what it was, but we wondered if it could be a UFO." (Email Interview) MYSTERIOUS LIGHT FLASH PUZZLES OKLAHOMA DEPUTY An Oklahoma sheriff's deputy had a Halloween suprise when he spotted a mysterious flash of light on the outskirts of Reydon. On October 31, 1997, at approximately 8:23 p.m., a sheriff's deputy saw a "flash of light" northeast of Reydon, 120 miles (192 kilometers) west of Oklahoma City. According to Jim Hickman of Skywatch, the deputy's radio report was monitored, and he spoke of a "large flash of light in the sky." A partial transcript follows: Dispatch: "Was it lightning?" Deputy: "I don't see any clouds in the sky." Deputy: "It was one large flash to my northeast, and it wasn't lightning." In recent months, similar "light flashes" have been reported in Los Alamos, New Mexico and Beaver Bay, Minnesota. (See MUFON Skywatch Investigations #44. Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for this report.) UFO WITH OCTAGONAL LIGHTS SEEN BY VIRGINIA COUPLE On Saturday, November 1, 1997, at 11:25 p.m., Mike S. was driving with his girlfriend in Earlysville, located eight miles (12 kilometers) north of Charlottesville, Virginia (population 40,341), "and it was a very dark night," he reported, "I took my eyes off the road and looked in the direction she was pointing. There was definitely something in the sky about 15 to 25 feet above the tree line." "I saw lights in the sky that were arranged in rings," Mike reported, "The lights were circular or almost octagonal, and they were dull and white. They were not like light bulbs or headlights. The lights outlined a disk-shaped object. I could tell that it was slowly spinning in a clockwise motion, and it repeatedly crossed over the road. It followed the road in front of me for about a mile to a mile and a half. I called my parents from my car phone and told them what I saw." After Mike got home, he and his father returned to that stretch of road outside Earlysville. But the saucer was gone. When both men returned home at 11:50 p.m., Mike's mother telephoned the local police. They learned that an officer on patrol had reportedly seen "the exact same thing." (Many thanks to Tim Hagemeister of NACOMM for this report.) MYSTERY EXPLOSION ROCKS TOWN IN QUEBEC On Friday, October 31, 1997, "a mysterious explosion, coming from either the ground or the sky, rocked the whole town" of La Mauricie, Quebec, Canada. An investigation by the provincial police produced no answers. According to Jean Casault of the Centre de Etude et d'Information sur les Phenomenes Inexplique (CEIPI), residents of La Mauricie "have seen different 'light shows' in the sky" for the past forty days. "A video has been shot which reveals a big luminous object that went up in the sky and transformed itself into a triangular-shaped object," Casault reported. "In the process of doing so, it was on a collision course with another object and made a drop very quickly, which was absolutely unusual at that speed." (Email Interview) UFO HOVERS OVER TOWN IN WESTERN NEWFOUNDLAND On Monday, November 3, 1997, at 11:11 p.m., Don Jay Frederico reported a UFO sighting "near the airport runway in Stephenville, Newfoundland," Canada (population 10,284). The town is located along Highway 460 on St. George's Bay on Newfoundland's western shore. "I saw the strange craft over the ocean across from the runway," Frederico reported. "It stayed there for about two or three minutes and then left without a sound. As it was leaving, it looked like a ball of red fire. Then it divided into two different (balls of gas) and dropped." (See MUFON Skywatch Investigations #44. Many thanks to Don Jay Frederico, ISUR and George A. Filer for this story.) LARGE UFO SIGHTED OVER THUNDER BAY, ONTARIO On October 5, 1997, a resident of Thunder Bay, Ontario (population 113,946) "was driving down (the) Fort William (section of the city--J.T.) road when I saw a large object in the sky, which appeared to be near the Ontario Tax Building. At first I thought it was a plane, but it quickly dived from the sky to a low altitude (much faster than a plane). I looked at it more carefully, although it was lower on the horizon." "It was shaped like an elliptical ball, but it was white like a cloud. I thought maybe it was a cloud, but then it moved across the sky in such an unnatural manner it couldn't have been. It was heading across Lake Superior, so I drove to the marina to see if I could see it. It must have been traveling at a very high speed." Thunder Bay is the largest city in western Ontario province, Canada, located on the north shore of Lake Superior approximately 868 miles (1,388 kilometers) northwest of Toronto. (Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr. for this report.) Filer's Files #45 MUFON Skywatch Investigations >From George A. Filer: MUFON Eastern Director, Nov. 13, 1997 Majorstar@aol.com (609) 654-0020 PENNSYLVANIA: On Friday, October 17, 1997, at 8:30 p.m., Danielle F. and her cousin, Tessa P., were waiting in a car for Tessa's father in their hometown of Boswell, Pennsylvania (population 1,480). Boswell is located on Route 601 about 70 miles (112 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh. "Tessa said, 'What's that?'" Danielle reported. "I looked up and said it might be an airplane. We saw a big blurry white light. We went inside and got the binoculars to take a better look." The UFO hovered at about 45 degrees above the horizon, Danielle reported, "The center of the object was white, and on the ends were two yellow lights. On the top of the object was one red light. The object was moving very fast while it was descending toward the (nearby) mountain. Tessa and I both agree that we never saw a plane move so fast. We don't know what it was, but we wondered if it could be a UFO." (Email Interview) Thanks to Joe Trainor, editor UFO Roundup #2-43, Masinaigan@aol.com. VIRGINIA On Saturday, November 1, 1997, at 11:25 p.m., Mike S. was driving with his girlfriend in Earlysville, located eight miles (12 kilometers) north of Charlottesville, Virginia (population 40,341), "and it was a very dark night," he reported, "I took my eyes off the road and looked in the direction she was pointing. There was definitely something in the sky about 15 to 25 feet above the tree line. I saw lights in the sky that were arranged in rings," Mike reported, "The lights were circular or almost octagonal, and they were dull and white. They were not like light bulbs or headlights. The lights outlined a disk-shaped object. I could tell that it was slowly spinning in a clockwise motion, and it repeatedly crossed over the road. It followed the road in front of me for about a mile to a mile and a half. I called my parents from my car phone and told them what I saw." After Mike got home, he and his father returnedto that stretch of road outside Earlysville. But the saucer was gone. When both men returned home at 11:50 p.m., Mike's mother telephoned the local police. They learned that an officer on patrol had reportedly seen "the exact same thing." (Many thanks to Tim Hagemeister of NACOMM and Joe Trainor, editor UFO Roundup #2-43) GEORGIA Case97/05/11: MUFON Field Investigator William Lester has finished his analysis of Jonesboro case concerning the sighting of a daylight disc. The witness is a 29 year old employed electrical lineman. He and his family were driving to church Sunday morning on May 11, 1997, when the wife noticed a glare from the left. When he turned to look to his immediate left, he saw a saucer shaped object with a highly reflective silver surface. The metal was similar to the top or bottom of an aluminum soda can. The object moved at an incredible speed from his left to right, from the northwest to the northeast at about 600 feet in altitude. No one else in the car had time to observe the fast moving object. Interestingly, both the witness's wife and her mother had recently observed a similar object in the area. The witness was sincere and has a good reputation. Checks were made with local authorities for balloons, aircraft and other possible explanations. The field investigator ruled out hoax, hallucination and other possible causes. The investigator is of the opinion that this sighting is indicative of genuine visual contact with an unknown aerial object. According to John Thompson, MUFON's State Director, the Marietta, the Georgia video taken by a Christian television station shows a white tube object in regular motion. In enhancement it shows a roundish object tumbling behind three dark Huey choppers fly from the NW to SE less than a mile from the TV cameraman. The video quality is very high and the video shot on a Sony DCR VX1000 1-10 zoom power. A Digital video (DV) format tape was used. The unknown object shown is clearly a structured object moving in the background. On Wednesday, Nov. 5th at around 6:30 p.m., 13 year-old Curtis F. heard a loud roaring noise near Augusta, Georgia. The noise grew to such an intensity that he thought a jet was about to crash. Curtis looking out his window saw a distant flying light. As he watched the unknown light broke apart. One triangle shaped portion with flashing red and white lights flew to the southeast. The other part also with lights flew off to the north. He could not ascertain its shape or the color of it's light. The larger object was observed for about a minute before it disappeared, the smaller for only five seconds. Both continued to travel horizontally at approximate jet speed. The initial UFO after splitting in two parts quit making any sound. Curtis' father while not seeing the UFO stands by what his son says. The boy bought a compass to determine the UFOs direction of flight, which suggests that besides being alert, he genuinely believes that he saw something unusual. Thanks to John Thompson, ISUR and the National UFO Reporting Center. CHILE Antonio Huneeus, MUFON's International Director reports that on November 3, 1997, the Commanding General of the Chilean Air Force created a Committee of Investigation for UFOs called the "Commite de Investigaciones de Fenomenos Anomalos del Espacio" (CIFAE). All sightings and reports concerning UFOs will be collected by the CIFAE. I've heard of many sightings recently in the Punta Arenas region of southern Chile. I believe this is the same area where the abductions were being reported . My friend Rodrigo Fuenzalida, director of the Chilean UFO group AION, told me many times that most of the UFO activity in Chile had shifted to Punta Arenas in recent years. I do have some UFO footage taken in that area in the past. I can also speculate on a couple of things. Punta Arenas is located in Tierra del Fuego and is the most southern city in the world (that is, at the tip of South America facing Antarctica). As you probably know, this is the same area where the ozone hole has been reported since the last decade. Biological mutations on sheep (the main traditional industry in this area) have been well documented and blamed on the ozone hole. This could perhaps have an effect on: 1) Enhancing natural phenomena of the Aurora Australis or southern lights (counterpart of Aurora Borealis or northern lights) or some other "earth light" type phenomena. I believe this is what the French Space Agency was interested when they filmed in that area. I, too, heard that story but I never saw the footage. Perhaps it's something we could ask J.J. Velasco of the CNES-SEPRA program in France. 2) Enhancing other types of non-terrestrial energies, i.e. real UFOs. The UFO Committee (CIFAE) will allegedly be formed by both Chilean Air Force and AION personnel. Staff officers from "Direccion de Aeronautica" will be sent to France and perhaps other countries to get training on UFO issues. Also, allegedly there will be no censorship and AION will have complete access to all the military files, reports, images and films. In addition, a new Beta Chilean satellite will be put in orbit in 1998, with a mission to monitor UFO activity over Chile. Thanks to AION and Antonio Huneeus BLUE FLASHES Australia's Clare Williams states in a E-mail to Current Encounters: I was intrigued by the reports of blue flashes mentioned in Filer's Files. I investigated a similar incident here in Australia several years ago. A bright flash was visible for several hundred square miles. It caused the streetlights to go off and there were reports of electromagnetic interference and static on the radio. I have a theory that these flashes may be natural, very high energy upper atmospheric events and that the flashes are due to Cerenkov radiation. Dr. Richard F. Haines writes, "I think that the list of potential causes of the blue flash effect is long. It stretches from electro-chemical interactions in our atmosphere due to cosmic ray interaction to SDI-type high energy pumping either from the ground or from space. I don't know, but I suspect the latter is the case. In such case someone should be carefully monitoring, recording, and plotting the locations and times of each occurrence. Sorry but these comments are just "out of the thin air" Dick H. Bill Rose from England also sent an E-mail. George, you mentioned bright flashes in the night sky. This has been a topic of major interest to serious astronomers in recent years, and is now attributed to a new form of massively powerful lightning, which was discovered by chance. It can reach up to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere at about 60-70 miles altitude. The physics are not properly understood at present, but as I recall, the phenomena is known as "Sprites" and was first observed and photographed from either an SR-71 or the Shuttle. I've spoken with several astronomers about the recent El Paso daylight meteor, the general consensus of opinion is that it was a satellite of (probable) Russian origin which made a re-entry. It's not that uncommon an occurrence and as you know and there have been a number of incidents this year, like the Texas Spaceball, which was a component of a US booster stage and the Cosmos re-entry over Scotland. Thanks to Bill Rose. ABDUCTEE LETTER A unsigned letter from a woman who is convinced she is an abductee is very informative. She writes: My attitude towards extraterrestrials has changed. Gone was the gripping fear that I had carried since reading Jacobs's lurid book. Instead I noticed that a gentle live-and-let-live attitude had settled in. And I began feeling sorry for the extraterrestrials, as I considered the monumental Star Wars weapons crash program aimed at them that I had just seen this trip. I also reflected on my own research. Cases I had interviewed found the extraterrestrials to be, after the human got over her/his initial fright, usually caring, gentle while firm, and concerned for such values as ecology, social justice, childhood education, consciousness advancement, and a spiritual/metaphysical focus. FRANCE: JETS PURSUE UFO Two NATO jet interceptors, described as "the F-16 type," chased a UFO over France's Eure-et- Loire department at 4 p.m. on Monday, October 27, 1997. Eyewitness Marie Franck reported, "I was at my country home in Sainville, a village 40 kilometers (24 miles) east of Chartres. I was in the garden when I heard a progressive rumbling originating from the north, behind the house. It was then that I saw, to the west of the village, at 45 degrees above the horizon and about 2,000 meters (6,600 feet or just over a mile--J.T.) away a flying tube without wings but with fire coming out of the stern, which moved in horizontal flight from the north-northeast to the south-southwest." Mme. Franck watched the UFO for "five seconds" before it disappeared "behind a neighboring rooftop." "Its speed was around 1,400 kilometers per hour," she reported. "I was astonished at not hearing a sonic boom, and I thought I might have been mistaken in my calculations." She estimated that the UFO traveled two kilometers during the five seconds. "At the same time, I got the idea that it might be a missile (perhaps nuclear?) and that it was going to explode in the distance," she added. "Sudden terror! My sole reflex was to hurl myself to the ground, all the while counting the seconds to estimate the distance from the object." "I was at 50 seconds when a new rumbling sound made its approach, but it was coming from the southeast. I then observed passing from south to north a military plane of the F-16 type, which made a very tight turn north of the village (Sainville) in order to get on the north-northeasterly trajectory of the object." A few seconds later, "a new rumbling" was heard, and a second F-16 appeared, flying in the same direction as the first. Mme. Franck gathered her children from the pavilion very quickly and brought them indoors to safety. Sainville is located on L'Autoroute A.10-E.05, the main highway between Paris and Orleans. The Armee de l'Air, France's Air Force, has a base at Chateaudrun, 55 kilometers south of Sainville. (Thanks to Marie Franck, OVNI, and Joe Trainor editor UFO Roundup #2-43. Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 12:01:49 +0200 From: Jakes Louw To: updates@globalserve.net Subject: [UASR]> Fw: Large triangular UFO seen over Santa Barbara Channel, Ca. FROM :Doc in Phoenix -----Original Message----- From: A.J. Craddock To: webmaster@cseti.org Date: maandag 17 november 1997 0:54 Subject: Large triangular UFO seen over Santa Barbara Channel, Ca. At approximately 10:05 pm on Friday 14th November 1997, Dr. Ted Loder and Tony Craddock were checking out new nightscopes from Tony's house overlooking the Santa Barbara Channel. Ted was using an ITT Night Mariner (Model G3) and Tony a Litton NightMate (Model Nav3) each with a light magnification of 30,000 to 50,000x. They both happened to be looking through the nightscopes at Jupiter, which was about ten degrees above the horizon and over the island of San Miguel. Simultaneously they both saw a set of lights near Jupiter in the shape of a large triangle silently flying eastward down the Santa Barbara Channel. They followed it for about six seconds until it disappeared behind some trees. Both realized that the visible lights were on the outside edges of a large craft which was not itself visible in the night scopes. A few seconds after the initial recognition, both saw the craft tilt slightly on its side so that its triangular shape could be more clearly seen. Its shape was delineated by five to eight lights along its edges clearly visible through the nightscopes. Ted Loder counted five or six lights in the shape of a triangle seen partly on its side, while Tony Craddock saw an additional one or two lights in the center towards the rear, making it appear chevron or boomerang shaped. Tony had the clearer nightscope which may explain why he was able to see the extra lights. Both had the impression that it was not lights independently flying in formation but a solid craft. The length of the craft appeared to be longer than the sword on Orion's belt and shorter than Orion's belt itself. The craft was not visible with the naked eye and was not seen by the two other people who were present without nightscopes. It was later estimated that the craft traveled through a visible arc of 75 degrees in about 6 seconds. It was estimated that the craft was at a distance of 5-10 miles, which would have meant it was traveling at approximately 4000-8000 mph. Both Ted Loder and Tony Craddock are members of CSETI (Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence), and attended CSETI's Congressional Briefing on UFO/ET in Washington DC on April 9th of this year. Dr. Loder is a Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of New Hampshire. Tony Craddock is President of an international petroleum consulting company and co-ordinates Santa Barbara's CSETI Working Group. Posted by : "Perry\"MaN in Space\"" ^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ UFO ROUNDUP Volume 2, Number 44 November 16, 1997 Editor: Joseph Trainor MYSTERIOUS BRIGHT LIGHTS SEEN IN PACIFIC NORTHWEST Thousands of people in the USA's Pacific Northwest region watched Friday night, November 14, 1997, as mysterious bright lights slowly crossed the night sky. The lights were first spotted at 9:06 p.m. Pacific time on the western horizon. One witness, David Way of Keizer, Oregon, said, "It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. It looked like something out of Star Trek." (See the Salem, Oregon Statesman-Journal for November 15, 1997) The National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle, Washington was bombarded with thousands of phone calls from eyewitnesses. NORAD and the U.S. Air Force said the "lights" were debris from a Russian SL-12 space rocket "burning up as it reentered the atmosphere." "Whatever was left of it fell safely in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington, said Milt Maas at the National Weather Service in Spokane," Wash. (See the Providence Sunday Journal for November 16, 1997, page A-3) Yet eyewitnesses from Bellingham, Washington to Sacramento, California reported seeing the "bright lights" cross the vault of sky from west to east. In Seattle, videotape of the lights was aired on all three network affiliates--KOMO, KIRO and KING-- at 11 p.m. the night of November 14. According to one viewer, Glen Boyd, "Video I saw showed a large array of lights with trails behind them, traveling across Puget Sound." The lights remained in view from 9:06 p.m. to 9:17 p.m., a total of 11 minutes. Much too slow to be conventional meteors or "space junk." According to Skywatch International, "At approx- imately 9:15 tonight, a formation of as many as twenty lights traveling from west to east was seen by thousands in the Pacific Northwest and Seattle in particular." Witnesses watched the event from Alki Beach in West Seattle, on the shore of Puget Sound. One man reported, "The objects to be looking like 'sparks coming out of a Roman candle' but traveling slowly across the horizon," adding that "the objects traveled in a line and appeared so close he thought 'they were going to crash in downtown Seattle.' He also said he could see smoke coming from the objects. Some reported seeing 'a large triangular-shaped craft.'" (USENET Item) One caller telephoned the Art Bell radio show and reported seeing "wreckage" in Ellensburg, Washington (population 12,361). Ellensburg is on Highway 97 about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Seattle. According to John Erickson of the Paranormal Times, in Portland, Oregon at 9:10 p.m. "one adult, two 13-year- olds and one 8-year-old in a car (plus many others in the state) all saw a cluster of white blinking lights moving slowly near the intersection of Interstate (Highway) 5 and Ballinger Way (NE 205th Street). The lights were blinking slowly. It looked like a mass of brighter and dimmer stars." Oregon witnesses heard no sound associated with the overflight. "There were dim trails after the objects." (See the Paranormal Times for November 15, 1997) In Klamath Falls, Oregon (population 17,737), witnesses described "three large objects" covered with "blinking lights" moving slowly from west to east. In Sacramento, California (population 369,365), witnesses reported seeing "a bright light streak" in the northern sky. Friday night's overflight was the biggest mass sighting of anomalous lights in the night sky since the March 13, 1997 event in Arizona. FRENCH UFO FLAP CONTINUES More UFOs were reported in France this week, with sightings taking place all over the nation. On Sunday, November 2, 1997, at 8:10 p.m., Anne- Marie Bousquet "was in Le Vernet, near Barantan, (department Allier--J.T.) in the company of my mother. We looked up into the sky nonchalantly at this moment and the sky was clear. That was when we saw flying very high a luminous ball of a whitish-blue color." "It appeared suddenly, and its disappearance took place after two seconds. This was not a meteorite. It was much bigger, more voluminous, an object perhaps 5 millimeters long if held at arm's length. It was moving very rapidly. The movement was from the zenith northeast to east. It appeared to extinguish itself just above Busset." That same night, November 2, 1997, at 8:15 p.m., Guillaume L. "was at Quissac, near my parents' home, when I observed a light on a nearby hill. At first, I was astonished to see a streetlight at this deserted place. The light was perfectly immobile." "All at once, the light departed very quickly in the direction of Montpellier, turning to the south-southeast, and I heard a distinct whistling sound that began with the OVNI's (French acronym for UFO--J.T.) movement." "Suddenly, while it seemed to be in flight toward Montpellier, it moved up, i.e. to say, vertically, following an instantaneous right-hand turn, at fantastic speed. It was extraordinary! It could not have been an airplane, a helicopter or a meteorite. Impossible! I am absolutely certain that it was an OVNI. Before I had no belief in them, but now I know they exist." (Merci beaucoup au Banque OVNI et Marie Franck pour ces nouvelles.) On October 10, 1997, at 11:30 p.m., Antoine D. was at his home in Grandvillier, adjusting his telescope when he noticed "a bright point flying from north to south." Grabbing his binoculars, he glimpsed "a luminous glow" that soon "had taken the form of a nearly flat disk of a vivid white color." He adjusted the binoculars from zoom to 20X and watched as the UFO "flew a perfectly rectilinear path" making "such a turn at the vertical that I could barely follow it." The UFO darted off "in a surprising acceleration and disappeared to the south." (Merci beaucoup a Thierry Garnier pour ces nouvelles.) UFO SEEN TWICE OVER SMALL TOWN IN ENGLAND On October 14, 1997, "a Livingston woman froze with terror after spotting a strange light coming from the sky in Nigel Rise, Dedridge" in England. "'I've never seen anything like it,' said the 31-year-old woman, who prefers not to be named. 'People have told me that it must have been a laser light, but you don't see laser lights like this--it lit up the whole side of the house in front of me. It absolutely wasn't lightning, and it came on and went off a couple of times,' she added, 'Strangely, two planes came over, and when the planes were there, the light went off.'" (See the Herald & Post for October 16, 1997.) "An Eilburn woman has reported seeing the strange light which was spotted over Dedridge last week." "'I was gobsmacked,' said the 27-year-old mum, who asked not to be named, 'When I read about it in last week's Post, I told my husband, 'That's what I saw.''" "She spotted the light at 4:30 p.m. (October 14) while walking across the footbridge between Ladywell and Craigshill. 'I do a lot of stargazing,' she added, 'And I know for a fact that it wasn't a satellite, although it did look a bit like one. It was very slow-moving in the sky and about the size of a football. It had a very subtle blue light and reminded me of a Trelar mint. It looked like it was straight above Dedridge." (See the Herald & Post for October 23, 1997. Many thanks to the U.K. UFO Network for sending these news stories.) SPINNING UFO, WEIRD FLASHES VIDEOTAPED IN SCOTLAND Bonnybridge, the center of Scotland's UFO flap during 1995 and 1996, was the site of a new encounter at the end of October 1997. On October 21, 1997, the Malcolm family, who lives near a hillside Roman fort overlooking Bonnybridge, saw "a spinning UFO" hovering outdoors at 7:25 p.m. Aiming his videocamera at the object, Mr. Malcolm caught it on tape. Two minutes later, the sky was filled with "hyper-jumping, laser-like bursts." On October 23, 1997, at 6:48 p.m., the same "pulsing, erratic, hyper-jumping lights" again appeared. A friend of the Malcolm family, who declined to be identified, was driving from Bonnybridge to Larbert when she saw "two large orbs of light and a smaller probe-like orb. They merged together into one large mass. She drove fast to get to the Malcolms' house to alert them, but Mrs. Malcolm had seen the event from the front of her house and was pumping the horn of a parked car to alert" her husband. At 6:51 p.m., videocamera in hand, Mr. Malcolm taped the "large mass of light." On the video, "in slow motion, it can clearly be seen to spin and can be compared to the streetlights below." At 6:53 p.m., "the object moved to the right, in relation to the streetlights, and as the object was being filmed, a big red double-decker bus drives through the frame, as the object spins in the background." At 6:54 p.m., the spinning UFO "moves away behind the hill and is lost from view." At 7:11 p.m., the mysterious flashes again lit up the sky over Bonnybridge. (Many thanks to Neil Cunningham and CSETI for this story.) DAYLIGHT UFOs SPOTTED IN CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND On Wednesday, November 12, 1997, at 7:40 a.m., a few dozen witnesses in the Port Hills section of Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand reported seeing "two eye-shaped objects traveling from south to north" over the seaport city "at approximately 80 to 100 miles per hour at an approximate altitude of 3,500 feet." The condition of the sky at the time was mostly clear with some light clouds and wind gusts of up to 80 knots. "The objects appeared to be 12-plus feet (4 meters) across in size." The UFOs "appeared to be shaped like human eyes. In the center was a silver ball, and the outer areas were black and tapered off to a point. The objects traveled above light cloud in blue sky, and there were heavy gusts of wind at the time." (Many thanks to Ross Dowe and his New Zealand National UFO Hotline. New Zealand readers wishing to report a UFO can reach Ross Dowe at PH 090 05 8367.) SPINNING UFO SEEN IN ITALY On October 16, 1997, a city official in San Nicolo Comelico, Belluno province, Italy and his family watched a hovering UFO for four hours. He described the object as "a pale luminous light at first" and "it left at 8:30 that evening, rapidly taking off, changing its form to that of a spinning top that seemed to emit a blue smoke from its underside." (See the Italian newspaper Liberta for October 31, 1997. Grazie a Stefano Cappucciati e Edoardo Russo di CISU per questo rapportto.) ANOTHER UFO SIGHTING IN CENTRAL FLORIDA On Friday, November 9, 1997, at 8:45 p.m.. Richard L. reported, "Friends and I looked up to see what we thought was a meteor approaching from the northeast. Suddenly it gouted orange/red flames. A moment (passed) and more gusts of flames. It lit up the craft--looked disk-shaped." The group was in Orlando, Florida (population 128,394), approximately 229 miles (366 kilometers) north of Miami. He added, "Then, after a few moments, it turned and headed north-northeast. It shot off a few more gouts of flame, then flew off till it became a speck of light in the distance. The craft was one light--yellowish-white. No running lights as would be seen on a plane or a helicopter." (USENET Item) TRIANGULAR-SHAPED UFO SEEN IN EASTERN GEORGIA On Wednesday, November 5, 1997, at 6:30 p.m., Curtis F. was at his home in Augusta, Georgia (population 47,532), a city on the Savannah River bordering South Carolina, approximately 151 miles (142 kilometers) east of Atlanta. All at once, he "heard a loud roaring noise." "The noise gew to such an intensity that he thought a jet was about to crash. Looking out the window, Curtis saw a distant flying light. As he watched, the unknown light broke apart. One triangular-shaped portion with flashing red and white lights flew away to the southeast--the other part, also with lights, flew off to the north." Curtis "could not ascertain its shape or color. The larger object was observed for a minute before it disappeared, the smaller for only five seconds. Both continued to travel horizontally and at approximately jet speed." (See MUFON Skywatch Investigations #45. Thanks to George A. Filer and John Thompson of MUFON for this report.) BIGFOOT TRACKS FOUND IN WESTERN WISCONSIN On Monday, November 3, 1997, Bigfoot tracks were found near the Christy Mountain Ski Area near Rice Lake, Wisconsin (population 9887), located about 295 miles (472 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee. "Brad Mortenson of the U.S. Expedition and Exploration Society said three tracks found Monday could be from the mysterious-- some say mythical--ape-like creature known as Bigfoot." "He describes the tracks as about 16 to 17.5 inches long and 8 inches wide at the widest." "Asked about the shape, he said, 'It looks like a big foot. It's very distinct.'" "One print showed five toes, and the impressions indicated a creature with a stride of about 4 1/2 feet, typical for the Bigfoot." "Mortenson, 41, of Sarona said he started receiving reports about possible Bigfoot activity after a local newspaper report two weeks ago told about his work with the society, based in Doris, Calif." "'After that we started getting the reports of people coming across the tracks in the Blue Hills,' he said." "That's the hilly wooded region around the Barron County-Rusk County Line (just east of Rice Lake--J.T.) where a preliminary search turned up the tracks this week, he said." (See the Duluth, Minnesota News-Tribune for November 6, 1997, "Bigfoot Searcher Targets Wisconsin," page B-3) ROUNDUP CORRIGENDA: Last week's UFO ROUNDUP erroneously attributed a quote by the Irish UFO and Paranormal Research Association (IUFOPRA) to Dave Walsh, publisher of the online newsletter Nua Blather. Mr. Walsh responded, "I DID NOT write this. The IUFOPRA Investigation Team did. I am not a member of IUFOPRA. I am not affiliated with any UFO-related organization." Nua Blather, he added, "is a humorous weekly of Dogma Destruction, Forteana and High Weirdness, which looks at how our belief systems and reality tunnels influence our interpretations of the 'truth' presented to us by the popular (and not so popular) media." To: updates@globalserve.net From: RSchatte@aol.com [Rebecca Schatte] Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 14:55:39 -0500 (EST) Subject: Fwd: Many Think Light in Sky Was UFO Forwarded message: Subj: Many Think Light in Sky Was UFO Date: 97-11-15 13:09:21 EST From: AOL News .c The Associated Press SEATTLE (AP) - Some callers saw many lights in the night sky across the Northwest. Others said it was one broad streak of light. A few people even called a UFO group to report the sighting. ``It was the most bizarre thing I've ever seen,'' Dave Way of Keizer, Ore., told the Statesman Journal in Salem, Ore. ``It looked like something out of `Star Trek.''' What it was, was space junk, the body of an old Russian rocket burning up as it reentered the atmosphere, state and federal officials said. And whatever was left of it fell safely in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington, said Milt Maas at the National Weather Service in Spokane. The unofficial descriptions were more colorful. ``It looked like a huge bottle rocket moving slowly across the sky,'' June Akiyama, who was in Gig Harbor, told The News Tribune of Tacoma. Dale Goudie, information director of the Seattle-based UFO Reporting and Information Service, said he received 44 calls from people who said they saw eight objects streaking across the sky from 9:09 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. ``Some people said they weren't going in a linear path - that they were actually turning, which surprised me,'' Goudie said. Callers told KXRO radio in Aberdeen that they saw one intense streak of light. Others told radio stations and newspapers in Washington and British Columbia they saw six or seven lights, or even 25 to 30. Frank Frazee of Centralia said he and his family saw the lights moving across the sky. ``It looked like a falling star,'' said Frazee's daughter, Janessa, 18. ``It was fire-colored, orange-reddish with a head that was white. It was cool.'' From: "Preferred Customer" Subject: lights over western Washington Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 21:53:09 -0800 Anyone else see the bands of lights moving west to east over Seattle area about 45 minutes ago? News says meteor shower. Seemed to be moving quite slowly. From: mat@whidbey.net (Mark Test) Newsgroups: alt.ufo.reports Subject: Re: Washington sighting Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 07:49:05 GMT On Sat, 15 Nov 1997 01:29:32 -0500, Chip Maynard wrote: >Is anyone from Washington state online? I'm on the East Coast, >listening to a national radio show on the ABC network and they are >talking about some huge sighting that took place about 45 minutes ago, >approx 12:50am EST. The KOMO tv website has a quick blurb about it on >their site. Phone lines out there are jammed with people calling about >this thing. What's going on? > >Chuck Apparently NORAD classified the "lights in the sky" as quote "space debris". Astronomers think could have been the Leonid meterors. Folks saw it from BC to eastern washington. From: "John Erickson, director E.P.R.F." Newsgroups: alt.ufo.reports Subject: UFO Sighting 14Nov97 Portland, Oregon...via EPRF.ORG Date: Fri, 14 Nov 1997 22:41:40 -0800 Portland, Oregon - November 14,1997 at 9:10 p.m. one adult, two 13 year olds, and one 8 year old in a car (plus many others on the street) all saw a cluster of white blinking lights moving slowly north near the intersection of Interstate 5 and Ballinger Way (NE 205th). The lights were blinking slowly. It looked like a mass of brighter and dimmer stars. We heard no noise. The effect was similar to what you would see if you had twinkling lights spread across two or three large shapes. There were dim trails after the shapes. It maintained an even altitude and moved slowly across the sky.(Email Report) (Directors Note: I happen to live only a few miles from where this phenomenon just took place. At the time of writing only an hour and a half has gone by. I will check the skies tonight and issue an extra edition upon further developments.) From: dan8599@aol.com (Dan 8599) Newsgroups: alt.ufo.reports Subject: leonid meteor shower?? please!! Date: 15 Nov 1997 07:46:38 GMT At 9:15 pm PST tonight a spectacular display over northwest Washington, seen by thousands of locals has been explained in the local media by experts (astronomers who did not see it, and a NORAD spokesman awwakened in Colorado) as: the Leonid meteor shower and burning remants of a Russian rocket booster (space junk). As an impartial eyewitness with clear view here is my account. Two rocket-appearing objects, side-by-side, rising in the western sky trailing orange. They moved slowly across the sky, now appearing as large bright objects with long, orange, comet-like tails, and began shedding dozens of smaller burning pieces which left long-lingering tracers of there own. The brightest of the two large objects had a very distinct flashing light on it's leading surface, at about two-second intervals. As the objects continued eastward, the smaller fragments disappeared and the two primary objects degraded into more poorly defined fireballs and extinguished before reaching the horizon. The entire event probably lasted two full minutes. Any theories? From: "John ONeal" Newsgroups: alt.ufo.reports Subject: Mysterious Lights over Washington Date: Sat, 15 Nov 1997 00:49:41 -0800 We have been watching these mysterious lights over Washington State for the past two evenings now. Strange, blinking, lingering lights just hovering in the sky. We have been watching the news and checking various websites, but all they have been saying is that they are meteorites or just space junk and debris. It seems to me that a meteorite would not hover in the sky. We have not witnessed any tails and the colorful light seems to be flashing in about 1-2 second intervals. We have noticed approximately 6 of these identical lights at one time in different directions and distances. Very strange......almost troublesome....any ideas???? From: Subject: Possible UFO over Sheffield UK Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 09:18:32 -0000 last night at around 10.45pm, i saw something strange. It was a cloudy sky, with occasional clear patches, a bright orange light was approaching from the south. Below the cloud level, i 'd consider it travelled at high speed with absolutely no sound what-so-ever and was soon out of sight. j_jackk@hotmail.com Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 14:52:00 -0600 To: UFO UpDates - Toronto From: joel henry Subject: Object over Bangor North Wales UK Just received this report from UK Joe Henry Minnesota MUFON On Sunday November 16th at 16:10 hrs GMT an object was sighted moving South to North over Bangor North Wales, UK. The object was observed from the upper floor of the University Library. When the object was first sighted it was bright white in colour, then it entered a cloud, when it emerged it was a Yellow/Gold in colour, and had a similarity to the rescue helicopterts which operate in the area. But the object showed not characteristic rotor blades or floation/undercarraige struts port and stardboard. It had no flashing warning strobes and no ensignia denoting its origin. The shape was similar to a tear drop on its side. The motion seemed to be too smooth to be a helicopter or other aircaft. It did not reappear once out of sight. The object was at approximatley 500ft with the sun to its starboard. The forward portion of the "fuselage" had a black/dark area which led me to compaire it to the Sea King helicopter in the Search and Rescue colours. There was no forward canopy visible. The craft was in sight for approximatley 8-10 seconds. I am an experienced ex-military aircraft observer and am proficient in aircraft recognition. Hope this is of some interest to you. Thanks for your time. Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 14:26:54 -0500 (EST) To: UFO UpDates - Toronto From: xalium@netwrx.net (Tom King) Subject: Arizona Hockey Puck Update Phoenix Sightings Update by Tom King A wave of sighting in Arizona has started up again and continue almost daily. November 14, 1997 a report of a Hockey Puck was taped for 15 minutes by Jeff Willis. Local MUFON investigators are looking into the footage. I haven't had time to see a copy yet. November 16, 1997. Rob King reported while hiking up Camelback Mts he saw a strange white object over Phoenix. He took three 35 mm of the high altitude object with a 1500 mm telephoto lens. November 17, 1997. Again Rob King reported at 11:30 during his lunch break in Scottsdale, AZ he saw two large silver objects traveling together near the clouds. One object suddenly stopped and hovered while the other silver object kept going. After many miles of traveling it reversed course and came back and parked next to the other object. Rob went inside and brought out two construction workers to see this. They watched these objects and saw a large comercial jet approaching. They thought the objects were about hald the size of the jet. When the jet approached the two objects with in half a mile, they both shot upwards rapidly. Rob said they "shot off like bullets". I placed a call with Sky Habor Airport and talked to someone who was in the tower. They said the object was two high to register on their 5 mile radar limit. So I called Alburque Center and they state they had no usual reports and transferred me to Military operations and I spoke with a Mr. Meyers. Mr. Meyers stated he knew heard nothing about anything usual. He added nothing would happen unless the pilot reported the sighting. I will follow up on this one and try to find the person watching the radar in this area. Also one other recent sighting was reported by Chris Williams who videotaped a pulsing object flying just under the clouds. From: Rudy Newsgroups: alt.ufo.reports,alt.alien.research,alt.paranet.ufo,alt.alien.visitors Subject: UFOs Over Northern New Jersey? Date: Tue, 18 Nov 1997 19:19:30 -0500 Thats right folks, more sightings. Scores of people saw strange streaking lights bursting across the skies over Northern New Jersey last night, Nov. 17,1997. The 6 o'clock News on WABC TV, "Eyewitness News," which serves the New York City metropolitan area, broadcast the report today. "The phones were ringing off the hook at local police stations all over the area," WABC News reported, "with numerous reports of UFOs." The reporter, of course, stated that it was a meteor shower. An "expert," in an interview, said it was the "Leonid" meteorite showers, explaining that they come from the area in the sky near the celestial constellation of Leo, the Lion. Numerous impressive "red and white arching flames," is how another surprised and puzzled eye withnesses described the light show. These must have been some really big meteorites to have caused such a stir. Has anyone heard anthing on this? As they were yesterday, the skies are clear and beautiful in Norther New Jersey tonight. People in the NY metropolitan area wanting to be thrilled and mystified, and who want to see an interesting light show should look to the southern skies. If last night's light show really was caused my meteorites, chances are they'll be more again tonight. But, who knows what we'll see? Incidentally, was it a serendipidous coincidence that WABC Radio finally started airing Art Bell's Radio talk show in New York City last night? From: "Johnbo" Newsgroups: alt.ufo.reports Subject: Bright Flash Witnessed over Northern Claifornia, 11/15/97 approx 9:40 P.M. local time Date: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 23:02:51 -0800 My wife and I both witnessed a very bright flash at the time listed above last night. We were walking the dog, and as I was looking down, I saw a momentary flash like a lightning flash illuminate the ground in the entire area. I quickly looked up and could see still see the signature of the flash in the sky, along with a trail roughly horizontal to the horizon ( it was definintely not vertical as though coming from a launched ground based object) which seemed to lead toward where the flash had appeared or exploded. The trail looked similar to a meteor trail and quickly dissipated, within 1-2 seconds. There was no noticeable sound and based upon what I saw I would guess that an object entered the upper atmosphere, left somewhat of a trail, and then exploded almost instantaneously, as I had said, similar to a lightning or camera flash at the point of explosion, without leaving any sign of trailing debris coming from the point of explosion. This was seen in the east to south-eastern sky as witnessed from the Livermore area of Northern California, and at an angle of roughly 35-40 degrees up from the horizon. The sky was very clear at the time with no visible clouds in the area. Was this witnessed by anyone else and any idea what it was caused by? I have reported this as clearly as I can describe the event. UFO ROUNDUP Volume 2, Number 45 November 23, 1997 Editor: Joseph Trainor STRANGE LIGHTS SEEN ALL OVER WASHINGTON STATE Reports continue to pour in concerning the mysterious "Seattle Lights" that were seen after 9 p.m. in Washington state on Friday, November 14, 1997. Dale Goudie of the UFO Reporting and Information Service hotline reported receiving 44 calls from witnesses that evening. In Gig Harbor, Wash. (population 2429), a small town on Puget Sound seven miles (11 kilometers) north of Tacoma, June Akiyama and her friend Leslye Stewart were driving north on Highway 16 "when they saw bright lights in the sky. They and other motorists pulled off the road to watch." "It looked like a huge bottle rocket moving slowly across the sky," Akiyama said. In Tacoma, Wash. (population 176,664), a Police Department spokesman said, "We've had reports from Roy to Brown's Point." Tom Dyer of Lakewood "said he was in his car at the intersection of Gravelly Lake Drive SW and Washington Boulevard SW a little after 9 p.m. when his son spotted multicolored lights in the sky. When Dyer looked up, he saw three or four rows of lights... 'It looked like an oceangoing cruise ship,' he said." In Centralia, Wash. (population 10,809), a city on Interstate Highway 5 approximately 81 miles (130 kilometers) south of Seattle, "Frank Frazee said he and his family saw the lights moving across the sky. 'It looked like a falling star,' said Frazee's daughter, Janessa, 18, 'It was fire-colored, orange-reddish with a head that was white. It was cool.'" In Aberdeen, Wash. (population 18,739), a port city on Grays Harbor 108 miles (173 kilometers) southwest of Seattle, a witness spotted the lights at 9:07 p.m. "I moved to an exterior landing that just happened to be facing north," he said. "and couldn't believe what I saw. A large group of mixed-size objects, red-orange in color, were traversing the sky from west to east approximately 30 degrees above the horizon. Most of the smaller objects appeared to be 'spark like' in appearance...Two red-orange objects longer than the rest appeared to lead the smaller objects." Callers to KXRO Radio in Aberdeen reported "one entire streak of light." In Wenatchee, Wash. (population 17,257), a town on the Columbia River 147 miles (235 kilometers) east of Seattle, Mary S. reported, "I thought at first I was seeing a reflection of traffic (in the window). I saw (four of them) they were not moving that fast, and there was a definite formation. I told my husband to look, and he and my son ran out in the parking lot, just in time to see them disappear over the plateau, moving east. It is pretty ridiculous to expect anyone who saw it to believe it was ANYTHING that plunged into the Pacific. I could see them passing between me and the hills. I could see that the objects were between me and the towers. They were below the mountain top, in the valley. It was no optical illusion, and I had plenty of time to watch it." (See the News-Tribune of Tacoma, Wash. for November 15, 1997. Also, CNI News volume 3, number 18, part 1. Many thanks to Mike Lindemann for letting us quote from CNI News.) "SEATTLE LIGHTS" SEEN IN IOWA THE SAME NIGHT On Friday, November 14, 1997, a witness was driving on Interstate Highway 80, just south of Brooklyn, Iowa (population 1,509), a town 64 miles (102 kilometers) east of Des Moines, when he spotted a few miles away "a horizontal row of seven or more steady white lights at about 40 degrees up from the horizon ascending at a 15-degree angle from the southeast to the northwest." The sighting took place at 7:30 p.m. Central time, four hours before the "Seattle Lights" event. "The lights would have crossed his path of travel if the 100 foot (30 meter) long object turned sharply and headed back east-southeast at a steeply-descending angle--almost in a dive. When the object tilted, showing one end lower than the other, he could see a portion of the surface illuminated by lights. At that point, the object was a quarter-mile south of I-80...He drove at 65 miles per hour to the end of the row of trees, at the end of which he expected to see the object sitting in the field. But when he reached that point, he saw that the object had simply disappeared." (Many thanks to Beverly Trout of Iowa MUFON for this report.) MYSTERIOUS BRIGHT FLASH SEEN IN CALIFORNIA A mysterious blinding flash was seen on Saturday, November 15, 1997, at 9:40 p.m., in Livermore, California (population 48,349), a city on Highway 580 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of San Francisco. John B. and his wife "both witnessed a very bright flash at the same time" as the "Seattle Lights" the previous evening. "We were walking our dog, and as I was looking down, I saw a momentary flash like a lightning flash illuminate the ground in the entire area. I quickly looked up and could still see the signature of the flash in the sky, maybe with a trail roughly horizontal to the horizon which seemed to be toward where the flash appeared or exploded. The trail looked similar to a meteor trail and quickly dissipated in one to two seconds." "My first thought was that it was some type of bizarre meteor which exploded or flashed in a single burst like a strobe light," John reported. "I am also suspicious that it could have been a laser test or a high-altitude target with the flash being generated by a laser burst" aimed at the flying target. John points out that his community is home to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which tests "extremely high-energy lasers" for "fusion experiments." (Email Interview) UFO SPOTTED BY TRIO NEAR BROOKSTON, MINNESOTA On Saturday, November 15, 1997, at 4:45 p.m., Dave Briscoe and two companions were out in the field near Brookston, Minnesota (population 450), a town on U.S. Route 2 about 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Duluth. "It does get dark real early up here," Skywatch member Dave Briscoe reported, "and Venus can be seen early, but this was the wrong place for Venus. The object was in the west-southwest (over the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation--J.T.) and extremely bright for the time of day. As I watched it, it veered to the left and right slightly, and then split in two. Both objects 'danced' in the sky, always the same distance from each other, first up, down, left and right. They then merged and were stationary (hovering) for the next five minutes." "Again splitting and remaining stationary, then recombining and moving slightly to the left, then slightly to the right." The trio watched the "pulsating light" for about twenty minutes "until clouds moved into the area, and it became undiscernable." He estimated the object's position at 72 degrees above the horizon." (Email Interview) (Editor's Comment: Chalk up another UFO sighting for the Lake Superior region. The last one was on October 5, 1997 over Thunder Bay, Ontario.) STUDENT VIDEOTAPES UFO IN SOUTHERN VERMONT Residents from Hoosick Falls, New York (population 3,490) eastward to Keene, New Hampshire (population 22,430) reported seeing "bright lights in the sky" from 10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Monday, November 17, 1997. The media explained the sightings as "Leonid meteors." The annual Leonid meteor shower reached its peak on Monday morning. But one college student in Shaftsbury, Vermont (population 700), on Route 7A 52 miles (83 kilometers) south of Rutland, obtained five minues of videotape of a UFO slowly crossing the night sky, heading for Glastonbury Mountain. The UFO was described as three dark objects with "green and blue lights." A friend who viewed the video told UFO ROUNDUP, "It took up to five minutes for the objects to completely cross the picture without his moving the location from which he was taping." (Estimated speed would be 55 miles per hour--J.T.) The three UFOs "were seen between 10 and 45 degrees above the horizon." (See the Albany, N.Y. Times-Union for November 18, 1997, "Shower in the Sky," and November 19, 1997, "One Meteor Caused Heavenly Shower." Many thanks to Jeff Cameron for this story.) (Editor's Comment: Vermont's Glastonbury Mountain has long been a UFO hotspot, with sightings dating back to 1909.) TRIANGULAR UFO SEEN BY CSETI MEN OVER THE SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL On Friday, November 14, 1997, at 10:05 p.m., a half-hour after the "Seattle Lights" event in the Pacific Northwest, Dr. Ted Lober and Tony Craddock of the Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (CSETI) were staked out at Craddock's beachfront home overlooking the Santa Barbara Channel in California. Both were using night vision equipment to sky watch. Dr. Lober was using a Model 63 ITT Night Mariner, while Craddock was using a Litton Model Nav3 Night Mate. Both devices offer light magnification of 30,000 to 50,000 power. "They both happened to be looking through their night scopes at Jupiter, which was about 10 degrees above the horizon and over the island of San Miguel." (westernmost of the Channel Islands, about 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles--J.T.) "Simultaneously they both saw a set of lights near Jupiter in the shape of a large triangle silently flying eastward over the Santa Barbara Channel. They followed it for about six seconds before it disappeared behind some trees. Both realized that the lights were the actual edge of a large craft that was not visible in their night scopes." A few seconds later, both men "saw the craft tilt slightly on its side so that its triangle shape could be clearly seen. (Dr.) Ted Lober counted five or six lights in the shape of a triangle" while Tony Craddock counted "an additional two lights in the center toward the rear, making it appear chevron or boomerang-shaped." "It was later estimated that the craft traveled through an arc of 75 degrees in about six seconds. It was estimated that this craft was at a distance of five to ten miles (offshore--J.T.) which would have meant it was traveling at 4,000 to 8,000 miles per hour." Both witnesses are members of CSETI. Dr. Lober is a professor of earth science at the University of New Hampshire. Craddock is president of a California petroleum company and coordinator of Santa Barbara's CSETI Working Group. (Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr. for this report.) DAYLIGHT DISCS AGAIN ACTIVE IN CENTRAL ARIZONA On Monday, November 17, 1997, at 11:30 a.m., while on his lunch break in Scottsdale, Arizona (population 130,069), Skywatch member Rob King "saw two large silver objects traveling together near the clouds. One object suddenly stopped and hovered while the other silver object kept going. After maybe a mile of traveling, it reversed course and came back and parked next to the other object. Rob went inside and brought out two construction workers. They watched the objects and saw a large commercial jet approaching. They think the objects were about half the size of the jet. When the jet approached to within half a mile, they (the UFOs) both shot upward rapidly." One witness said "they shot off like bullets." The previous day, Sunday, November 16, 1997, Rob King "reported that while hiking on Camelback Mountain (near Phoenix, Arizona--J.T.) he saw a strange white object over Phoenix." Grabbing his 35 millimeter camera, Rob "shot three photos of the high-altitude object with a 1,500 millimeter telephoto lens." On Friday, November 14, 1997, Skywatch member Jeff Willis shot 15 minutes of videotape of a "Hockey Puck" (daylight disc) over Phoenix. The tape is now being evaluated by a team of investigators from Arizona MUFON. (Many thanks to Arizona Skywatch director Tom King for these reports.) TWO COLLEGE STUDENTS SEE UFO OVER AMES, IOWA On Tuesday night, November 11, 1997, two college students driving back to Ames, Iowa (population 45,775), a city on Highway 69 about 28 miles (45 kilometers) north of Des Moines, spotted a strange object in the sky. The pair from Iowa State University "saw a dark orange/amber globe of light at about 40 degrees up from the horizon, to the left of the roadway. At first they thought the light was resting on a 100-foot water tower nearby, but this proved not to be the case. They proceeded west and caught sight of a full circular orb now ahead of them and moving very fast. The object finally began to sink below the horizon, and the two men watched it disappear from view." (Many thanks to Beverly Trout of Iowa MUFON for this report.) From: chris63@ix.netcom.com(chris ) Newsgroups: alt.ufo.reports Subject: Re: MAINE LIGHTS Date: 22 Nov 1997 15:49:58 GMT In <19971118225901.RAA18350@ladder01.news.aol.com> bodcaudee@aol.com (Bodcaudee) writes: I just heard a report on the radio (Paul Harvey at noon) of a sighting in Maine just last night (or the night before) of a bright light streaking across the sky. Official comment was "meteor shower or space junk".>HOW MUCH "SPACE JUNK" IS OUT THERE FALLING ON US? It's the same old reply we> hear time after time after time. Somebody needs to get a new line! I was working late on Monday night and had the radio on. About 10:00 p.m. someone called into the radio station saying he saw the same thing as a previous caller (I didn't hear that caller's report). Anyway, he said he spotted some kind of lights here in Boston. The DJ said the previous caller was calling from either Middleboro or Middleton, MA. (Middleboro is near Plymouth and Middleton is north of Boston. Anyway they are both pretty near the coast, maybe a few towns over). Tuesday night I talked to someone from New Hampshire and they had read in the newspapers of two people reporting lights being seen in Maine. One was a guy outside fixing his telescope. He said the object (lights?) made a vertical descent and his opinion was "space debris". What ever it was it seems to have gone right up the east coast.