UFO ROUNDUP Volume 3 Number 05
Volume 3
Number 5
February 1, 1998
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
FIREBALL UFOs DOMINATE COLORADO SKIES
Colorado's UFO flap roared into its second week with multiple sightings in the central and southern portions of the state.
On Friday, January 23, 1998, Jim Roberts spotted "an orange or salmon-colored globe" hovering above his ranch in Cotopaxi (population 75), a small town on Colorado Highway 50 about 148 miles (248 kilometers) south of Denver. He reported, "The object was hovering, dimming and brightening, over the western horizon."
Four days later, on Tuesday, January 27, 1998, Marshal Steve Ford was driving in his cruiser near the intersection of Blue River Road and Colorado Highway 9 in Breckenridge (population 1,285) when he spotted "a large fiery object trailed by a plume of smoke."
Breckenridge is in central Colorado approximately 83 miles (133 kilometers) west of Denver.
"It was a fairly large object that was on fire with smoke that was spiraling off the back of it," Ford told the Denver Post. "My first thought was that it was a meteor."
"Ford said the object plummeted more than 1,000 feet. He lost sight of it at tree level."
"'It was a vertical shot toward the ground, and I'm sure it impacted the ground,' Ford said."
"Leigh Pezzicara, a spokeswoman for Breckenridge Ski Resort, and several guests reported seeing a flare in the area of Peaks 5 and 6. 'However, we really can't confirm what it was,' she said."
Rancher "John Fisher was in Breckenridge when he spotted the object. According to Fisher, it created a visible trail that covered a quarter of the sky."
Fisher spotted the object just past noontime as he was driving north on Highway 9, near the Breckenridge Building Center. "Although no one saw where the object landed, Fisher believes it hit near Good Pasture Tarn, just west of Breckenridge." (See the Denver Post for January 28, 1998, "Several Report Seeing Its Blazing Path.")
Eight hours later, "hours after a 'daytime fireball' was spotted streaking earthward near Breckenridge... several people reported seeing another blazing object south of town that night."
"Breckenridge resident John Sperber was driving south on Main Street at about 10:45 p.m. when he and a friend saw a bluish-green fireball streak east to west across the sky."
"'It looked like an egg and was so bright we could see some smoke behind it,' Sperber said."
"The object was so close, Sperber said, it must have landed up on Peak 9, near Beaver Run Resort. 'It turned out to be not as close as we thought it was,' he said."
"Mike Tukewicz was also driving south into Breckenridge on Colorado (Highway) 9 when he and his wife spotted the fireball. His description of the fiery object was similar to Sperber's, except the Tukewiczes witnessed it at 8:45 p.m." about two hours earlier.
"'It was blue and gleaming, with a hint of orange at the rear heading from east to west,' Tukewicz said. 'I must have seen it for three seconds before it either disappeared or headed west.'"
"John and Monique Derwyn also viewed the fireball around 9 p.m. from their home in Summit Cove."
"'I thought it might've been an airplane going down, but my husband said, no, it's a meteorite,' Monique Derwyn said."
"All of those who say they witnessed the fiery object were facing almost due south and saw the fireball cross the sky from east to west. Sightings of the fireball began about 8 hours after several witnesses said they saw a fiery object plummet from the sky near Breckenridge around noon Tuesday." (See the Denver Post for January 30, 1998, "Fireball Lights Mountain Skies.")
Meanwhile, in Salida, Colorado (population 4,737), 125 miles (210 kilometers) south of Denver, Laray Edwards, 17, was sitting in the family's computer room at about 9 p.m. "when she viewed a moon-sized ball of green light for a couple of seconds racing at top speed and disappearing to the southwest."
At the same time, Mrs. Kathy Ralter and her four children were driving into Salida when they saw the green UFO "down the road a half-mile to the south... No tail was observed by any of the witnesses. They were extremely excited and some were scared." (Many thanks to Tim Edwards and Christopher O'Brien, author of THE MYSTERIOUS VALLEY, for forwarding these reports.)
DAYLIGHT FIREBALL CRASHES IN SOUTHERN WYOMING
On Tuesday, January 27, 1998, shortly after noontime, local ranchers saw a "brilliant fireball" touch down on the prairie in Hanna, Wyoming, near Rawlins (population 9,830).
Rawlins is a small city on Interstate Highway 80 approximately 156 miles (249 kilometers) west of Cheyenne, the state capital. The area is also about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of Breckenridge, Colorado.
"Carbon County investigators have been unable to find any debris associated with a 'ball of fire' that reportedly crashed to the ground near Hanna."
"The ball of fire was reported after noon Tuesday by the pilot of a passing airliner."
"'He said he had seen a ball of fire, which he believed may have been a meteorite or space junk,' said Tim Patton of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). 'He reported he had gotten some (air) turbulence from the object." (See the Rocky Mountain News for January 28, 1998, "No Debris Found from 'Fire Ball.'")
TRIANGULAR UFO SEEN NEAR ZANESVILLE, OHIO
On Thursday, January 29, 1998, at 7:07 p.m., a Bellville, Ohio woman was driving east on a two-lane road east of Zanesville, Ohio (population 26,788) when she saw "a V-shaped object which had a bright light at the front and center. The rear of the object could not be seen due to the brightness of the twin lights. The witness also observed a 'reddish glow' across a portion of the rear which could have been the edge. The object hovered at a high altitude for 25 minutes."
Zanesville is located on Interstate Highway 70 approximately 55 miles (88 kilometers) east of Columbus, the state capital.
At 7:30 p.m., the woman telephoned a nearby friend, who said she "had also been watching the object 'for a period of time' using binoculars. Through the binoculars, she described smaller objects 'maneuvering' near the large object, seemingly to merge with it."
"A third witness...was also contacted and also described the object. Its size was said to be one mile (1.6 kilometers) across (wide) near the edge of the 'craft' and said to be an estimated six to seven thousand feet (altitude). The soundless object disappeared from sight as clouds moved into the area, hiding it from view."
The case is being investigated by local researcher Jim Donohue, publisher of Equinox newsletter. (Many thanks to Kenneth Young, public information director of Tri-state Advocates for Scientific Knowledge (T.A.S.K.) for this report.)
(Editor's Comment: Zanesville, Ohio was the site of a big UFO flap in March 1967.)
SPHERICAL RED UFO SEEN IN VENICE BEACH, FLORIDA
On Friday, January 23, 1998, just after 11:15 p.m., a woman living in Venice Beach, Florida, on the Gulf of Mexico approximately 65 miles (104 kilometers) south of Tampa, spotted a strange spherical red UFO just outside her house.
At first the witness thought it "might be an airplane crashing. She quickly changed her mind when, after falling straight down, the object stopped just above treetop height and hovered. As it came down out of the sky, it left a flame trail behind it. Once it started to hover, the trail disappeared, and 'it also appeared to get wider.' It changed into an elliptical shape."
"It hovered for approximately one minute and then sped off to the south-southwest," over the Gulf of Mexico.
The woman then went to bed. Two hours later, she awoke suddenly and, feeling a little anxious, went outside to check the sky. "The object appeared again and did exactly the same thing it did the first time... Sky condition at the time was very clear." The witness "heard no noise while witnessing the object." (See Filer's Files #4 for 1998. Many thanks to Nancy Dunning and George A. Filer of MUFON for this report.)
CHUPACABRA BLAMED FOR PUERTO RICO CAT MUTILATIONS
On Monday, January 26, 1998, three cats were found dead and mutilated at the home of Melvin Rosado in La Parguera, Puerto Rico. A fourth cat "vanished mysteriously."
Parguera is in the southwest corner of the island, on Highway 119, approximately 55 miles (88 kilometers) southwest of San Juan, P.R.
Police believe the killings occurred during the early morning hours of January 26. "One of the cats had its skin separated by a precise, bloodless incision. Sr. Rosado noticed that the three slain felines had identical incisions on their heads and backs. No one in the Rosado household heard any unusual sounds during the night."
"'The cats weren't attacked by dogs,' Rosado stated, 'because our house has gates, and no dog would be able to reach the cats where they were."
Many people in Puerto Rico believe the Chupacabra (Goatsucker) was responsible for the bizarre slaying. (See the newspaper El Vocero of San Juan, P.R. for January 27, 1998, "El Chupacabra Ahora Chupa Gatos." Many thanks to Scott Corrales, author of CHUPACABRAS AND OTHER MYSTERIES, and Lucy Pla of the Puerto Rican UFO Research Group for this report.)
WEIRD FLASHES LIGHT UP THE SKY OVER IRONWOOD, MICHIGAN
On Thursday, January 15, 1998, at 6:50 p.m., Brian M. was walking home from work in Ironwood, Michigan (population 6,700). "Upon reaching my driveway, I stopped and checked the mailbox. When I looked up again, it seemed that a number of stars had decided to start blinking on and off."
"The blinking appeared random, unsequenced, and each time the objects lit, they moved to a new location and seemed to wander erratically," Brian reported. "Because of the on-off sequence, and large trees near the horizon, I am unable to give an exact count, but I would estimate that there had to have been six UFOs scattered across the southern sky, below 45 degrees and as bright as any other celestial objects in the sky."
He estimated that the UFOs were "tens of miles" to the south, past neighboring Hurley, Wisconsin and the Gile Flowage (lake).
"I walked down the drive to the south side of my house, where it was darkest. The objects continued their flashing and motion. Each time one 'lit,' it was in a slightly new position. At last one worked its way towards the southwest. The rest grouped together within 15 degrees (of arc) and headed into the horizon" near where "Orion was rising in the southeast."
Brian said the flashing "lasted ten minutes," and the UFOs "were as bright as Sirius--magnitude one... as bright as a flashbulb popping. I am an expert skywatcher and this incident was unlike anything I have ever witnessed."
Ironwood is Michigan's westernmost city, located in the Upper Peninsula (U.P.) on U.S. Route 2, approximately 605 miles (968 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. (Email Interview)
PURPLE SKY FLASH CAUSES BLACKOUT IN KENTUCKY
On Tuesday, January 27, 1998, at 6:40 p.m., two young men driving in a pickup truck on Nicholasville Road in Lexington, Kentucky (population 225,336) saw a strange "purple flash" light up the sky.
For five minutes, electricity in Fayette Mall and in homes near the Jessamine County line between Highway 27 and Clay Mills Road "was flashing on and off and finally went off" completely after the mysterious flash.
A power outage was also reported at the Southpoint subdivision, located between Fayette Mall and Nicholasville.
The young men "were coming home about 6:40 p.m. when a purple flash above the clouds happened. His friend's truck lost its power, and a 'neon thing' he has on his gearshift. It didn't glow any more during the flash. After the flash went away, he tried to get power back, and the electricity came back on."
Lexington is in north central Kentucky on Highways 27 and 68 approximately 79 miles (126 kilometers) of Louisville. (Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr. for this report.)
(Editor's Comment: Those aliens had better not mess with the beer cooler or the jukebox at my favorite roadhouse, the Original Dew Drop Inn on Highway 22 in Brooksville, Kentucky. Or there's going to be hell to pay!)
BROWN GOOP FALLS ON PENNSYLVANIA HOME
On Sunday afternoon, January 18, 1998, hundreds of gallons of a weird brown wax-like substance fell on the home of the Snell family in Paradise Township, not far from York, Pennsylvania (population 42,192)
"A mysterious brown substance fell from the sky...It splattered the house, the roof, the windows, the barn, the stone driveway."
"Police can't figure out what it is. Neither can anyone else. It's the color of mud but it's not grainy. An insurance adjuster has ordered tests on the substance."
Rose Snell discovered the weird substance when she returned home at 7:30 p.m.
"'It's mystifying,' Snell kept saying as she walked around her house." She said "she noticed the brown splash on her door as she entered the house."
"Great, she thought, I bet those boys were having a mud battle."
"Her 18-year-old son, Marc, had been hanging out with several of his friends during the day. She was prepared to have a few words with him as he walked in the door."
(Editor's Comment: Isn't it strange how the teenagers get blamed every time a weird event occurs?)
"But his comment took her by surprise. 'What's going on here?' Marc asked."
"Marc said he returned home about 6 p.m. He, too, noticed the brown splashes on the door."
Marc Snell also found brown splashes on his car. "He tried to wash them off his windshield with cleaning fluid. They were hard to remove."
"He said, 'Mom, it's like paste or wax on there.'"
The Snells called the Northern York County Regional Police, who dispatched a cruiser to the scene. When the trooper switched on his heavy- duty flashlight, "that's when they realized that the brown splashes covered everything on her property."
"'It's everywhere,' Snell said."
"'It appears as though it came from the sky,' Northern Regional Police Lt. Mark Bentzel said." (See the York, Pennsylvania Daily Record for January 21, 1998, "What's My Slime?" Many thanks to Rudy Alfano and Errol Bruce-Knapp for this news story.)
(Editor's Comment: Charles Fort would have had a field day with this case.)
UFO HOVERS OFFSHORE NEAR MADEIRA ISLAND
On New Year's Eve, December 31, 1997, reporter Cristina Marto de Pimental and her husband were at a seaside party in Funchal, a port city on the south shore of Madeira island, a Portuguese territory in the Atlantic Ocean 912 kilometers (570 miles) east of Morocco.
"We were watching the New Year's festivities, all the fireworks in the sky," she reported. Then several people at the party called her attention to "a red and motionless light above Funchal."
"The OVNI (Portuguese acronym for UFO) suddenly made a very tight circle, returned to its initial position, and, a few seconds later, it accelerated at great speed in a vertical direction."
She added that a British couple at the festival videotaped the UFO as it hovered.
Sra. Marto de Pimental telephoned the Fuerzas Aereas Portugueses (FAP) headquarters in Lisboa the next day. The Portuguese air force told her that they'd had no flights, neither planes nor helicopters, over Madeira that night. (See Jornal do Madeira for January 2, 1998. Muito obrigado a Bruni Barros para eso caso.)
BLACK HELICOPTER SPIES ON DUTCH UFOLOGISTS
[Article removed at request of Geert van Haalem]
JAPANESE PORT INVADED BY WILD MONKEYS
On Sunday morning, January 28, 1998, "a pack of wild monkeys swooped down and attacked passersby" in the seaside town of Ito, Shizuoka prefecture, in Japan.
Six monkeys injured 26 people during the morning attack. "The monkeys appeared in gardens and streets, biting people in the back and legs."
"Local authorities using loudspeakers warned residents to beware of the monkeys as the town organized a hunt for them. 'The people here are scared to death,' an official said."
"The injuries were slight, and the victims received injections for rabies after the waves of attacks by six monkeys between Sunday morning and Monday evening (January 26, 1998)."
"'This is the first time this has ever happened, and we're not sure why it happened,' the official said. 'We've had a lot of snow in the mountains (just west of Ito--J.T.) the past couple of weeks, so maybe the monkeys were looking for food below.'"
Ito is located on the western shore of Sagami Bay approximately 120 kilometers (75 miles) southwest of Tokyo. (See the New York Daily News for January 28, 1998, "Wild Monkeys Go Ape in Japan," page 26.)
A strange week, eh? And not only for President William Jefferson Clinton of the USA. Our regular features, from the UFO Files and Fun UFO Websites will be back next week. I figured that you readers wanted ALL the dish on this week's uncanny sightings and events.
So join us next Sunday for more saucer news from "the paper that goes home--UFO ROUNDUP." See you then!
UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1998 by Masinaigan Productions, all rights reserved. Readers may post items from UFO ROUNDUP on their websites or in newsgroups provided that they credit the newsletter and its editor by name and list the date of issue in which the item first appeared.
