UFO ROUNDUP Volume 2 Number 41
Volume 2
Number 41
October 26, 1997
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
MEXICAN UFO VIDEO IS NOW A QUICKTIME MOVIE
The videotape of a dark gray saucer shot in Mexico City on August 6, 1997 is now available for viewing on the Internet as a Quicktime movie.
On October 16, ufologist Fernando Camacho contacted a friend in Mexico who owned a MacIntosh AV computer. Camacho's friend translated the color 35-second video into a Quicktime movie.
According to Camacho, the video was first aired on Mexican television on September 28 on the "Tercera Milenio" (Third Millenium) show. The broadcast was repeated the following Sunday, October 5.
The Quicktime movie, Camacho said "is of good quality and lasts for about 60 seconds. Its size is 4.4 megabytes."
According to CNI News, the videotape shows "a saucer-like object between 35 and 50 feet in diameter; the object is located approximately 1,200 yards from the camera; the object is rotating in a counter-clockwise motion; and it seems to have some kind of 'cylinders' attached to the flange, the center- line of the disk, that rotate with the flange in counter- clockwise motion. These do not appear to be portholes or lights but rather something that is attached."
CNI News quoted Lee Elders as saying, "When you first see it, it appears to be 300 feet above the ground. We estimate that based upon the fact that the high- rise apartment house standing in front of the ship to the right seems to be somewhere between 400 and 450 feet in height, based on the numbers of floors."
"The ship is hovering below the apartment house," Elders reported. "Then it rises up over 100 feet behind the apartment complex and then flies--not exactly over-- it's still behind the complex maybe 100 meters. Then it dips down behind the apartment house..." (See CNI News, volume 3, part 16, page 1 for October 16, 1997. Many thanks to Mike Lindemann of CNI News for forwarding this item.)
One witness who saw the Quicktime movie had this to say: "It's definitely a 'must see.' Even though it's a low-res (low resolution) copy, the detail is really amazing. The creepiest thing is the way the flying saucer goes from a hover to forward motion without any indication of inertial lag, like it had no mass. I did like the way you can see the saucer through one of the windows in the (neighboring) high rise as it passed below."
The Quicktime movie is available at a few locations on the Web. Christopher Penrose has it at this URL: http://www.sfc.keio.ac.jp/~penrose/eth/mexicocity.html
Also see ftp://os.inf.tu-dresden.de/pub/incoming. The file is called ufomex6aug.mov.
Also at ftp://judy.sfc.keio.ac.jp/pub/
(Muchas gracias a Fernando Camacho para eso articulo.)
POLAROID PHOTOS OF UFO SHOT IN SOUTH AFRICA
About a week ago, a photographer we'll call Derek Kuiper arrived at an industrial park on the outskirts of Eshowe, northern Natal, in South Africa, not far from the Indian Ocean. After parking his car, Derek took out his Polaroid camera and proceeded to shoot color photos of the park for a client.
When the first photo emerged, Derek squinted at it in puzzlement. The scene showed "a small light on the horizon," one that had not been present when he looked through the viewfinder.
"The second photo, which was taken very soon afterward, shows a strange object in the sky," reported Craig Thompson, who investigated the case. "The object was never seen. It only showed up after the photos were developed."
The photos can be viewed at the following URLs: http://www.humanoidsoftware.com/ufo/ufo1-300.jpg and http://www.humanoidsoftware.com/ufo/ufo1-600.jpg.
Enlargements can be found at http://www.humanoidsoftware.com/ufo/ufo2-300.jpg and at http://www.humanoidsoftware.com/ufo/ufo2-600.jpg.
Eshowe is 160 kilometers (100 miles) northeast of Durban, South Africa. The town is also 352 kilometers (220 miles) northeast of Mount Ayliff, where Mamlambo, the giant river monster, was reported last May.
CHILEAN JETS PURSUE UFO OVER PUNTA ARENAS
A Punta Arenas man claims to have witnessed two jet interceptors of the Fuerzas Aereas de Chile (FACh) in pursuit of a UFO over Punta Arenas, the southernmost city in Chile.
According to a report by Dr. Carlos Munoz, an investigator for Agrupacion de Investigaciones Ovniologicas (AION), Chile's famouse UFO study group, the night of September 15, 1997, Jesus Montalvo "was on a road outside Punta Arenas when he heard this 'BOOM' like sound coming from behind his car. As he stopped to see what it was, a huge disc-shaped UFO flying very low came from behind and passed right over his car. And, for a bigger surprise, the UFO was being followed by two FACh jet fighters which had no lights on (combat mode). He watched the pursuit until the UFO made a fast acceleration, disappearing instantly from the sky, leaving behind the two jets."
According to AION president Rodrigo Fuenzalida, FACh has been "on alert" since UFO videos shot in Punta Arenas and Iquique in northern Chile were aired on Canal (Channel) 7, Television Nacional de Chile, in Santiago de Chile, the nation's capital. (Muchas gracias a Luis Sanchez Perry para ese informacion.)
NEW CHILEAN UFO FLAP IN THE VINA DEL MAR REGION
On Tuesday, October 14, 1997, at 8:30 a.m., a UFO hovered near a school located in Santiago de Chile. Several dozen students and a professor spotted the daylight disc, which was arrayed with "many bright lights" as it "hovered for about 15 minutes and then did all sorts of maneuvers over Santiago."
The UFO was also seen in the suburbs of Cerrillos and Quilpe, near Vina del Mar.
The following day, Wednesday, October 15, two men fishing in Vina del Mar at approximately 8 a.m. "saw a UFO come out of the sea and head towards Santiago." (Otra vez, muchas gracias a Luis Sanchez Perry para esa historia.)
THIRD UFO SIGHTING OVER LISMORE, AUSTRALIA
On September 29, 1997, at 4:30 p.m., a pilot for Australia's National Broadcasting ABC News was flying near Lismore, New South Wales, about 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of Sydney.
Suddenly, he "sighted a large black object flying over the Lismore area. It was flying (at) about 30,000 feet (9,090 meters), heading from east to west or (bearing) 110 degrees. This huge black object left behind the biggest (condensation) trail he had ever seen. He added that it was bigger than ten (Boeing) 747s and had a speed beyond that of something for its size." (Many thanks to Ross Dowe of Australia's National 24-Hour UFO Hotline. UFO ROUNDUP readers in the South Pacific who wish to report a UFO sighting to Ross Dowe should call this number: 61 190 224 3529.)
STARLIKE UFO SEEN FLYING OVER SHEFFIELD
On Saturday, October 18, 1997, at 9 p.m., Bert Bromley was "returning from the local store" in the south end of the industrial city of Sheffield in the UK "when I noticed a red light in the sky at roughly 45 degrees from my point of view (the horizon being 0)."
"The brightness of the light was three or four times that of a typical airplane," Bert reported. "It appeared to be traveling on a south-southwest to north-northeast course." The UFO "seemed to flicker in intensity (not the rhythymic flashing of an airplane beacon), the exact colour being a warm red/orange. It was bright enough to look 'starlike,' like the special FX filter on camera."
"I could see no shape within the flashing. I cannot comment on its size, other than 'a point of light.' After watching for about four minutes (the light passing overhead, now at about 110 degrees), I noticed a change in course, veering more directly north. By this time, the light got dimmer and appeared to be fading. For another five minutes, the light either hovered (over Sheffield--J.T.) or continued north-northwest until it disappeared. The light seemed to have a slight wobble as it moved" and remained "eerily perceptible" in a clear night sky with few stars." (Email Interview)
ANOMALOUS LIGHTS REPORTED OVER CENTRAL WALES
In recent weeks, residents of Maesiocyn, near Tywlch Llanidloes in central Wales, about 90 miles (144 kilometers) north of Cardiff, have reported sighting "lights resembling large stars" in the eastern sky, "which move to the right and left and up and down."
Eyewitness Margaret M. said, "Definitely not planes. When looked at through the binoculars, they flash red and green and orange."
"One night I saw what looked like an orange tennis ball fall in an arc towards Earth and disappear," Margaret said. "I can only reiterate that these are DEFINITELY not planes. Also, regular loud rumbling noises--like thunder or heavy guns--but nowhere near a (an artillery) range."
Residents have also reported lights above the nearby Halfren Forest. (Email Interview)
MORE UFOs SPOTTED OVER THE ISLAND OF SARDINIA
On Sunday, October 19, 1997, at 1:35 a.m., an Italian motorist driving near Porto Torres in the Sassari region of Sardinia "saw a white trail rising in a trajectory arched toward the offshore island of Asinari."
Thirty minutes later, another motorist driving just outside Sorso "observed a group of intense lights, iridescent in color but which was predominated by blue, at first stationary in the sky and then left at an amazing speed in the direction of the nearby countryside."
The motorist pursued the UFO "for several kilometers" until the UFO "took off into the interior" of Sardinia.
The sightings are being investigated by Antonio Cuccu of the Centro Italiano di Studi Ufologici (CISU). (Grazie a Edoardo Russo di CISU)
TWO WOMEN WATCH UFO NEAR UKIAH, CALIFORNIA
On Friday, October 3, 1997, at 9:45 p.m., Lucia A. and Paula D. "were driving south on Highway 101" in northern California, "south of Ukiah (population 12,035) and north of Hopland (population 900)." The area is about 120 miles (152 kilometers) north of San Francisco.
Paula, "the driver of the car, saw a flash of light above the windshield of the car. She wondered if the flash was on a mountaintop or up in the sky." Lucia didn't see the original flash.
"A minute or two later, we both simultaneously saw an explosion of light," Lucia reported. "It looked like a star exploding." Then "a smaller, starlike object fell/ dropped from it approximately 6 inches in the sky, from our perspective. The smaller object stayed in place behind the first one..."
The first UFO then "hovered over the second one for a few minutes. It hovered long enough for us to notice it and then it moved slowly to the west toward the horizon, dipped a little, and then dropped from sight."
The women pulled off the highway and parked beside a vineyard where they "saw a second small object close by off to the south of us and then a cluster of about six others a little toward the earth. They were blinking green/red and white colors." (Email Interview)
MOTHER, DAUGHTER SEE SAUCERS NEAR ATLANTA
On September 23, 1997, at 9:35 p.m., a Georgia woman and her 15-year-old daughter were traveling "on Frazier Road toward LaVista Road, near Northlake Mall in Tucker, Ga. (population 12,500)," a suburb 18 miles (28 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta.
"When looking to the southeast, they saw an 'object hovering over a large tree in the backyard of a house.' Stopping the car and looking out the car's open window, they saw a saucer-shaped UFO with four to five large red pulsating lights on the bottom just hovering. The mother and daughter estimated that the dark grey UFO was the size of 'five minivans laid side by side.'"
"They watched the UFO for approximately two to three minutes before it moved up and shot off in an arc to the northwest. While watching the UFO, the women said they saw no cars or heard the UFO make any noise. While the engine of their car was running, the UFO did not affect is operation except that, strangely, the speedometer of the car jumped up while the car was stationary and no gas was being applied."
"A few minutes later, while in front of a church on LaVista Road, they saw the UFO again. Like the first encounter, it was hovering over some trees. The outer part of the UFO appeared to be rotating while the center remained fixed. It is possible, according to the pair, that it may have been only the lights rotating around the UFO's rim."
Looking down LaVista Road, the women saw yet another saucer-shaped UFO hovering not far away. The first UFO approached the second "and appeared to be 'communicating.' This frightened the mother and the daughter and they left while the two UFOs" still hovered near each other. (See Filer's Files #42 for October 23, 1997. Many thanks to George A. Filer and John Thompson of MUFON for this news story.)
STRANGE BLUE FLASHES SEEN IN NEW MEXICO
On Saturday, October 18, 1997, at 9 p.m., "a man and his fiancee were going home to" Los Alamos, New Mexico (population 17,100), about 38 miles (61 kilometers) west of Santa Fe."
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."
"The man turned the car around and drove back about two miles to a spot where he and his fiancee could sit and watch the sky. There was no repeat of the lights, so they continued driving home."
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 to Steve Wilson Sr. 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, volume 2, number 35.)
NASA ACKNOWLEDGES NO CONTACT WITH PATHFINDER
On Friday, October 24, 1997, NASA told USA Today that "The Mars Pathfinder's radio transmitter is not communicating with Earth because its internal temperatures have fallen to an estimated 58 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit scale), NASA scientists believe. Communications were lost October 7, and scientists can't tell if the rover (Sojourner) is still roaming the planet. Controllers say they haven't given up hope of keeping the mission going." (See USA Today for October 24, 1997, page A-3)
The rover Sojourner is equipped with radioisotope heaters fueled by 0.1 ounce of plutonium-238. The nucleide generates one watt of heat, which warms the heavily-insulated interior of Sojourner's electronics box. The insulation is a lightweight, porous silicate.
Presumably Sojourner is still following its original early October upload commands and is headed for Twin Peaks.
Pathfinder, however, may be a victim of the Mars Jinx. Of the 22 Mars missions flown by the USA and Russia since 1960, nine have ended in outright failure. Indeed, no Mars exploration mission has been an unqualified success since the landing of Viking 2 on September 23, 1976.
In recent years, the two Russian Phobos spacecraft vanished enroute to Mars in the late 1980s. The U.S. Mars Observer stopped transmitting just before it entered orbit around the planet on August 22, 1996. And Russia's Mars 96 probe was destoryed when its rocket blew up on the launch pad on November 11, 1996.
ANOTHER OUT-OF-PLACE ALLIGATOR DISCOVERED IN RHODE ISLAND
On Monday, October 20, 1997, at 3 p.m., Wayne Milette, a City of Providence firefighter residing on Grandview Drive in Lincoln, R.I. received a call from a neighbor, Noel Chartier.
Chartier "first pointed out the reptile to him Monday about 3 p.m. Milette didn't believe it."
"Joined by Chartier's friend, Kate Boyle, they watched" a two-and-a-half foot caiman "swim from sunny spot to sunny spot" in Barney's Pond "for about an hour before they decided they should call the DEM (R.I. Department of Environmental Management-- J.T.) to take it away."
"Officers lassoed the reptile, gently put it into a bag and took it to Tuffy's Aquarium and Pet Center in Warwick, which receives many of the state's exotic animals." (See the Providence R.I. Journal-Bulletin for October 22, 1997, page B-2.)
from the UFO Files...
1908: SPHERICAL UFO HOVERS OVER BRIDGEWATER
One of the best-documented UFO sightings of the "Airship Era" took place in Bridgewater, Massachusetts during the early morning hours of October 31, 1908. The chief witnesses were two undertakers, John E. Flynn and Philip S. Prophett, who were driving a horse- drawn carriage shortly after 3 a.m. on Main Street from West Bridgewater to the center of Bridgewater. Here is Flynn's eyewitness account:
"We saw the light, not exactly a searchlight but an unusually strong lantern of some sort, over the Stanley (Iron) works. We stopped the team and for ten minutes watched it, and saw it was moving and coming nearer and nearer to earth. At last, with the stars' light, and occasional bits of light from the lantern, we caught a glimpse of the shape of the balloon. We shouted towards it but heard no response or sound of any sort."
"The balloon dropped down, and the light moved about, perhaps as though they were trying to get their bearings. Then it slowly rose and moved directly to the east, or slightly south of east. We followed it with our eyes for a long time."
"Even after I got home, I sat in my room and watched it from the window for half to three-quarters of an hour. I knew that from the direction it was going it would reach the sea in 25 miles or so, and I expected to see it drop down."
"It did not drop. Instead it kept steadily on, and I was surprised at how straight a line it kept. I was watching from a window and between two branches of a big tree some 50 to 60 feet away. It never deviated from the line to pass outside the branches, except once, just before I gave up the watch because the room was so chilly."
In the days following, local residents attributed the "mystery balloon" to a hot-air balloon sent up from the fairground in nearby Brockton, Mass. Irritated by this, Flynn wrote a letter to the Brockton Times and offered further testimony.
"It was not a searchlight, as was erroneously stated in the newspapers, but seemed to be about two feet and a half in diameter. I could see the outline of the large bag for it remained stationary and then moved up and down seemingly at the will of some individual."
"I claim that a hot-air balloon could not move in a circle or perpendicular, as this one did...When first seen, it hovered above the Stanley Iron Works, seemingly about 100 feet from the ground, but when we returned (to Bridgewater at 3:10 a.m.) it was going in the direction of Plymouth. Prophett called his father, and he got up to watch this lighted bird, as it soared slowly away. All were in their right minds, and several reputable citizens of the town have since told me that they also are sure it was not a hot-air balloon, William Prophett (Phil's father) included." (See the Brockton, Mass. Times for October 31, 1908, "Mysterious Balloon Over Bridgewater," page 1; the weekly Bridgewater, Mass. Independent for November 6, 1908, "A Mysterious Air Ship," page 1; and the New York Times for November 1, 1908, "Can't Find Strange Balloon," page 1. See also THE COMPLETE BOOKS OF CHARLES FORT, Dover Press, N.Y. 1974, page 507.)
That's it for this week. Join us next Sunday for more saucer news from "the paper that goes home-- UFO ROUNDUP." Here's wishing our American readers a happy and safe Halloween.
UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1997 by Masinaigan Productions, all rights reserved. Readers may post news items from UFO ROUNDUP on their websites or in newsgroups provided that they credit the newsletter and its editor by name and cite the date of issue in which the item first appeared.
