UFO ROUNDUP Volume 1 Number 33
Volume 1 Number 33
October 16, 1996
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
First, let your editor apologize for being late with this issue. Expo, the newsletter computer, was laid up at PC Warehouse for a few days. I was supposed to have it back on Saturday--I got it back on Tuesday. Enough of abject apologies. You people want to read the news. So let's start with Britain's big UFO flap.
RAF TRACKS TWO UFOs ON RADAR
At 3:14 a.m. on Saturday, October 5, 1996, the radar station at the Royal Air Force base, RAF Neatishead, near Wroxham, England picked up a mysterious blip hovering over The Wash, a large bay on the coast of Lincolnshire. The British coast guard station at Great Yarmouth also reported radar contact, as did the air base RAF Kinloss in Scotland. A short while later, the blip was reported by the M/V Conocoast, which was out on the North Sea.
Next came a call from the Lincolnshire (state) police in Skegness, a seaport town on the north shore of The Wash. Officers reported seeing a UFO "large, a mile up in the sky, with blue, white, red and green flashing lights."
A police spokesman said, "We had calls overnight which suggested a huge bright object over the coast."
Flight Lt. Keith Sweatman at RAF Neatishead said, "The number of independent reports we have had suggests that there was something to follow up. We will be investigating the matter thoroughly, and we are already collecting the information."
Here's a partial transcript of the radio calls that were made between 3:20 a.m. and 7:08 a.m. that Saturday.
RAF Kinloss (3:26 a.m.) - "Northwood has radar contact bearing 221 degrees at six miles. It looks to be stationary-- be stationary--and there is no way of determining its height. But it must be quite a size to be visible from Skegness."
Police at Skegness - "We can see a strange red-and-green rotating light in the sky directly southeast from Skegness. It looks strange as it is stationary, and there is no sound in the area."
RAF Kinloss (3:31 a.m.) - "Neatishead has confirmed a couple of radar contacts in the area but no height. They seem to be stationary. There are definitely no military aircraft in the area, and no notified civil flights should be there."
M/V Conocoast (4:08 a.m.) - "It is still stationary and flashing red, green, blue and white (lights). It looks very high, north of us, and there is no engine noise."
M/V Conocoast (4:45 a.m.) - "We can see two lights flashing red and green."
Coast Guard, Great Yarmouth (5:01 a.m.) - "Give us the bearings of the two lights."
M/V Conocoast - "There is one striking light at 345 degrees true and the other at 160 degrees true. The lights are both visible to the naked eye, and both exhibit the same character- istics flashing red, blue, green and white."
Police (5:17 a.m.) - "We can still see the light. It is toward the northeast and seen about 40 to 45 degrees up in the sky. It is just a bright light to us."
RAF Kinloss (5:21 a.m.) - "Neatishead is running a trace on this and cannot explain it. If they are helicopters, they are fast approaching the end of their (flight) endurance, as it is well over two hours since the first report."
M/V Conocoast (5:52 a.m.) - "We can still see the lights, and they are on their original bearing and flashing the same colors. But they seem higher and dimmer."
RAF Neatishead (7:08 a.m.) - We have a report from Northwood that a civil flight had also reported strange lights in the area. They fit exactly what we've seen from the ground... multi-coloured, flashing, stationary lights."
(Editor's Note: The original news story appeared in the Eastern Evening News for October 7, 1996. Many thanks to British ufologist Simon Harris for forwarding this report.)
UFOs BUZZ LONDON SUBURBS
On Friday, September 28, 1996, a man left his house on Howard Road in Walthamstow, in the northeast section of London, at 2:40 a.m. and saw "a mysterious craft" hovering above the neighborhood. He described the UFO as "triangular and orange in colour."
According to British ufologist Roy Lake, there have been over 40 sightings of triangular UFOs recently over Walthamstow and Chingford, another suburb 5 miles (8 kilometers) north of Walthamstow. Witnesses described the UFOs as "triangular objects with green lights." (Walthamstow Guardian, for October 3, 1996)
(Editor's Comment: UFO researchers, please note the presence of the Higham Hill Reservoirs just west of Walthamstow and Chingford.)
U.S. JETS CHASE UFOs OVER NEW JERSEY
Last issue we ran a story on the UFO seen over New York City's Triborough Bridge.on Wednesday, October 2, 1996. Since then, we've received more information on the Big Apple's midweek UFO flap.
On Wednesday, October 2, a 14-year-old boy and his friends spotted a UFO over Brooklyn. They described the object as "a blue-white bead high in the sky. It had a yellow-orange tinge. It was rising in the sky and moving in a large arc." The UFO crossed Linden Avenue and flew away in a southwesterly direction, moving towards Bensonhurst and Seagate.
On Thursday, October 3, at precisely 5 p.m., James M., a thirtyish stockbroker who works in Manhattan, boarded the ferryboat for his commute home to Staten Island. At 5:45 p.m.. James "noticed lights out the window on the New Jersey side (of the boat). Hoping to get a better look, I left my seat and made my way to the stern. There were forty to sixty people out on the rear deck, all trying to look up at these points of light."
James counted 11 UFOs heading west over Bayonne, New Jersey "as they flew very high in the sky at an incredible speed." Just then, two U.S. Air Force jet interceptors appeared and began chasing the objects. Six dark olive-drab helicopters appeared moments later, trailing the jets and the UFOs. The objects fled in a northeasterly direction, skirting Newark and heading for Kearny and Belleville, New Jersey.
James described the UFO's color as "yellow like an incandescent bulb with a slight silvery shine. Several of the foreign tourists took photographs of them." (Email Interview)
ALABAMA FARMER PHOTOGRAPHS UFO
On September 26, 1996, John C. Thompson and James Smith of the International Society for UFO Research (ISUR) shocked viewers in the South with six photos of a strange, thimble-shaped UFO. The video was aired on TV-33 in Lagrange, Georgia as part of the "Heaton and Steve" show.
Thompson and Smith received the photos from a farmer we'll call Earl Hulett, who took the color pictures at his farm in Valley, Alabama the afternoon of Monday, September 16. Valley (population 640) is on Alabama Highway 29, about 85 miles east of Montgomery, near the Georgia state line.
Here is Earl Hulett's own story: "I had left the house in my truck around 2:30 p.m. to repair some of the fence line on my westernmost pasture. I had my 35mm camera with me because I occasionally take pictures of deer and the like which often graze in the adjoining pasture. I took my 8-month-old beagle, Spot, with me. When we arrived at the fence line, I got out of my truck, and Spot got on out and began running around, sniffing the ground, etc. I began cutting out a piece of rusted fence with my bolt cutter when Spot started to whine and bark like no dog I have ever heard before. I thought he was getting stung by a hornet or been bitten by a snake, so I went to investigate. He stood about 200 feet (67 meters) from my position and faced toward the south of the fence line. I ran toward him until I got about halfway there. That's when I saw what you see in the photographs."
The UFO resembles a thimble or Japanese temple bell, a very dark gray-green in color, with a flange or metallic rim encircling the top of the "bell."
"It was a large black object that was hovering over some trees on the (southern) horizon, " Earl recalled. "I stood there for a few minutes and then remembered my camera. I ran back to the truck, got out my camera and ran to stand next to Spot. I snapped a few pictures and noticed that it was making a high-pitched whistling sound. I guess this was what was making Spot howl so. I took a few more pictures as it slowly moved and then hovered some more. At one point, it climbed about 4,000 feet (1,200 meters). It didn't make a sound, and it moved as fast as a lightning bolt. I kept taking pictures until I ran out of film, and then it seemed to crumble in on itself and vanish. Now let me tell you I was as scared as I have ever been...Until I actually saw this 'craft,' I had no belief whatsoever in UFOs or the like. Now I must admit a drastic change in that belief."
"There is one strange thing I think I should report," Earl added. "About ten minutes after the 'thing' vanished, there came these black or dark green helicopters which flew low to the ground for a few minutes and then left. None of these helicopters had any kind of markings." (Thanks to Errol Knapp for forwarding this story.) (Editor's Comment: New York City and Valley, Alabama: We seem to be learning something about the tactics of Delta Team. Jet interceptors go in first to knock down the UFO. Then the Delta boys arrive in their black BDUs and unmarked choppers and gather the aliens.)
CIGAR-SHAPED UFO LANDS IN NEW MEXICO
On Thursday, October 3, 1996 at 8 p.m., traffic halted on Interstate Highway 25 just south of Springer, New Mexico, as "a large, cigar-shaped object" landed in a nearby cow pasture. Springer (population 1,696) is located in the northeastern corner of the state, about 120 miles northeast of Santa Fe.
Five cars pulled over to the highway's shoulder, along with two tractor trailers, and the drivers and passengers emerged to watch the UFO. Described as "covered with very bright lights," the object "estimated to be at least two stories tall... was seen dropping out of the night sky and hovering over an area west of the highway." The UFO then "extinguished its lights and apparently settled on the ground."
One youthful witness "became emotionally upset" at seeing the object and "was still in shock" when cruisers of the New Mexico State Police arrived at 8:20 p.m. By then, the large UFO had vanished. (Thanks to the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle, Washington for this story.) (Editor's Note: The following night, October 4, Christine Church saw her UFO in Belen, New Mexico 300 miles (480 kilometers) southwest of Springer.)
UFOs SPOTTED JUST WEST OF MINNEAPOLIS
On Monday, September 30, 1996, at 8:45 p.m., Donald W. Jeppersen was standing in the yard of his apartment house in Mound, Minnesota when he spotted nine UFOs streaking across the clear night sky.
He described them as "nine slightly luminescent objects streaking across the sky, about 10 degrees each second, speeding from west to east. Their luminescence was similar to a medium brightness star." He said their motion reminded him of "swimming dolphins," adding, "They moved from 45 degrees (above the horizon) west to 45 degrees east, flying overhead for nine seconds. They were grouped in a roughly diamond cluster, slightly accelerating and decelerating in relationship to each other."
Don's home in Mound is close to the intersection of Minnesota Highway 10 and County Road 15, about 17 miles (27 kilometers) west of Minneapolis.
UFOs RETURN TO QUEENSLAND
At 8 p.m. on Tuesday, October 8, 1996, residents of Australia's Queensland coast were startled by the sight of a "luminous lime green object" hurtling through the sky at speeds of 4,000 kilometers (2,400 miles) per hour.
Witnesses in Brisbane saw the "lime green" UFO "travelling beneath the clouds."
At the Australian Army base at Holsworthy, near Wollongong, witnesses claimed the UFO covered 50 kilometers (30 miles) in 15 seconds.
At Coolangatta, south of Brisbane, the UFO "was an intense blue color and about the size of a hangar door."
In Roma, 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Brisbane, stockmen saw "a large, blue-white object speeding (south) towards the Victoria border and making a loud rumbling noise." The Roma sighting took place after midnight, at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 9.
In Yarra Valley at 11:45 p.m., witnesses reported seeing "three golden-yellow illuminations. The first object was gold in colour with four red lights underneath and as large as the full moon at 90 degrees (above the horizon)." The UFO travelled from the north-northeast to the southwest "over the valley under cloud cover."
In Minto, New South Wales, not far from Sydney, people spotted a UFO at 10:45 p.m. The object "resembled a boxed triangle with three bright orange or yellow illuminations." (Many thanks to Ross Dowe of Australia's National UFO Reporting Center for this story.)
UNKNOWN CREATURES SHOT DEAD IN EGYPT
On Tuesday, October 8, 1996, Egypt's Interior Ministry announced that policemen and citizen hunters had shot and killed "two unknown animals" in Armant, a city on the east bank of the Nile 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of Cairo.
According to the Reuters report, "The animals, which have some resemblance to large hyenas or wild dogs, have killed three people and injured dozens in a series of nocturnal attacks around Armant."
The fellahin (local people) call the creatures "salaawa," a colloquial name meaning "female ghouls." Folklore has it that these ghouls inhabit ancient tombs in the nearby Valley of the Kings. However, no one has been able to identify the species.
The night of October 7, Egyptian police and local citizens with rifle permits set up ambushes near the fields along the Nile and opened fire on the animals as they came out of the brush.
(Editor's Comment: Hmmmm, from the description, they sound like hyenadons, an animal that supposedly became "extinct" during the Pliocene Period three million years ago. How many more of these quadrupeds are wandering out there in the Sahara? Paging Indiana Jones...)
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