UFO ROUNDUP Volume 2 Number 43
Volume 2
Number 43
November 9, 1997
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
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 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.)
NASA ENDS PATHFINDER'S MISSION TO MARS
NASA officially halted daily communication with the spacecraft Pathfinder and its robot rover, Sojourner, on Tuesday, November 4, 1997.
"The end of the $266 million mission comes four months after Pathfinder bounced to a thrilling Independence Day landing in the rocky Ares Vallis region and rolled out Sojourner, the first robot ever to set wheels on another planet."
"But both spacecraft have been silent since Oct. 7, when controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. last locked onto a beacon from the lander's backup transmitter. It has been longer than that, since Sept. 27, that any data has been sent home from the Martian surface through Pathfinder's main transmitter."
"Managers now have no choice but to conclude that the lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, has succumbed to the onset of the Martian winter. During this time, temperatures plunge to minus 50 degrees and more dust storms shroud the planet."
"'We've been talking about having a wake,' mission manager Richard Cook says, 'But in one sense we really ought to celebrate, not mourn. Pathfinder has been much more of a success than we ever envisioned.'"
Pathfinder's data "'will help provide a scientific basis for future Mars missions...for years to come,' says Wesley Huntress, NASA space science chief." (See USA Today for November 4, 1997, page A-3)
(Editor's Comment: Would it be rude to point out that UFO ROUNDUP reported Pathfinder's first "difficulty" with uplink communications back on August 16? Or that the temperature reading of -58 degrees Fahrenheit was recorded on October 7, over a month ago? Be that as it may, it is now official--there has not been a successful mission to Mars since Viking II back in September 1976.)
TWO MAJOR SOLAR FLARES ERUPT DURING THE SAME WEEK
A major solar flare erupted on Sol (our sun--J.T.) on Tuesday, November 4, 1997, sending a hot stream of X-rays hurtling into space. The disturbance took place in the sun's southwest quadrant, which fortunately was not facing Earth at the time.
A second solar flare erupted on Thursday, November 6, 1997 at 7:55 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). According to Ernie Hildner, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Space Environment Center in Boulder, Colorado, "The eruption produced five times more X-rays than" Tuesday's event, adding, "We're no longer looking down the barrel of the cannon, so I expect the ejection to miss the Earth, going off sideways."
The second flare also occurred in Sol's southwestern quadrant, in a direction well away from Earth. The solar flares are expected to cause an increase in the Aurora Borealis and Aurora Australis at our planet's poles, as the high-energy streams affect Earth's magnetosphere.
(Editor's Comment: If Earth ever wanders into the path of one of those solar X-ray blasts, we'll be changing the planet's name to Toast.)
from the UFO Files...
1972: UFO HOVERS OVER A RANCH IN UTAH
"At first Lennis Gines didn't think much of the blue and yellow lights in the field behind her rural Summit County (Utah) home."
"It was a little too early--about 4:30 a.m.-- for teenage visitors. And the silent, rotating lights weren't anywhere near the narrow country lane that meandered past the family's two story home and on to the Provo River."
"At that instant, on a pitch-black moonless morn in the fall of 1972, Lennis Gines knew what it was like to see a UFO."
"'If it hadn't gone up without a sound, I may have convinced myself in my mind that it was just kids driving around. But I know what I saw.'"
"Gines was soon joined by her teenage son Sam, who was ready to round up the cows for milking. Together they waited and watched in the dark for 45 minutes as the blue and yellow lights, some 150 yards to the east, cascaded across the river bottoms."
"Eventually Gines's 16-year-old decided he'd waited long enough...Sam got no help from the family's otherwise loyal cattle dog, who whimpered and ran inside to hide."
"'My boy gets in the truck and goes over, and he said he could see a doorway, windows and shadows going in and out,' Gines recalled this week, nearly 25 years after the event. 'It was like someone was going in and out on the ground.'"
"'The cows were bunched together, he said, and he had a hard time getting them out (of the field) without the dog, but they did come down the road and into the corral. The cows were nervous and didn't give the milk they usually gave.'"
"Gines, still frightened, helped her younger son, Will, get dressed, then hustled to the barn to bring Sam back to the house. But when she emerged from the barn--the lights were gone--all except the distant glimmer of daylight." (See the Desert News of Salt Lake City, Utah for July 6, 1997, "Close Encounters in Utah" by Zack Van Eyck. Many thanks to Lou Farrish of UFO Newsclipping Service for forwarding this story.)
FUN UFO WEBSITES: The Alberta UFO Study Group has a new website. AUFOSG began back in 1990 and was mentioned in Timothy Good's ALIEN UPDATE and Juergen Koenig's SPURREN IM KORN. Right now they're compiling UFO reports taken by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Drop in at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Lair/3465
UFOs Online was updated last week by Anthony Chippendale. See what new features Tony's added by checking in at this URL: http://www.chipp.clara.net
Here's a new site devoted to that mysterious face on Mars. Check it out at http://www.adam.com/cydonia/
Or fly into Tianca's UFO Spaceport. You'll find this great site at http://spaceport.ufo.net
Gerard Poley remarks, "The alien's aren't coming-- they've arrived!" See for yourself at his website, at http://www.PortlandWebSmith.com/spiritist/
Don't forget our parent site, UFOINFO, with tons of great news items, features, photos and downloads. Check it out at http://ufoinfo.com/
If it's back issues of UFO ROUNDUP you're looking for, we have plenty at our site. Go to http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/
That's it for this week. The USA's Veterans Day is Tuesday, November 11, and UFO ROUNDUP wishes to send its greetings--and thanks--to the millions of American men and women who have worn the uniform in the defense of their nation. Thank you for a job well done, people.
We'll be back next weekend with more saucer news from "the paper that goes home--UFO ROUNDUP." See you then!
UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1997 by Masinaigan Productions, all rights reserved. Readers may post any news item 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 news item first appeared.
