UFO ROUNDUP Volume 2 Number 46
Volume 2
Number 46
November 30, 1997
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
CIGAR-SHAPED UFO SEEN IN NORTH CAROLINA
Two UFO sightings were reported this week in western North Carolina, about 275 miles (440 kilometers) west of Raleigh.
The first sighting took place on Monday, November 24, 1997, in Lake Junaluska, North Carolina, N.C. (population 1,200). Two UFOs hovered over the Lambuth Inn, located about three miles from Highway 40 on the Junaluska Methodist Assembly property, local resident M.B. reported.
"The ships were cigar-shaped and very shiny-- silver-colored. They hovered in the sky in the area above the old hotel, and then disappear in the blink of an eye," M.B. reported. "At least three other folks have seen these UFOs. The objects merely hovered, not moving at all, and vanished as quickly as you can blink your eye."
On Wednesday night, November 27, 1997, four people in nearby Clyde, N.C. (population 1,008), four miles south of Lake Junaluska, spotted a UFO "with red, blue and green lights" hovering near the summit of Chambers Mountain. M.B. said this sighting took place at 10 p.m., adding that there are several TV transmission towers on top of the mountain, located about 25 miles south of the Tennessee state line. (Email Interview)
JETLINERS ENCOUNTER UFOs OVER NEW JERSEY
On Monday night, November 17, 1997, ham radio operator John N. Gonzalez, N2IXW, picked up a UFO report while listening to radio traffic on the air. According to a MUFON report, Gonzalez heard the conversation between the tower at Newark, N.J. airport and Flight 262 on 118.300 MHz. Two other unidentified air crews also joined in the conversation. Here is a transcript:
JET #2: "Watch out! The two (UFOs) are coming up to you."
FLIGHT 262: "Well, Captain, the two up here are coming down to meet with you."
TOWER: "Flight 262, what is your status?"
FLIGHT 262: "We have 236 souls onboard and fifty thousand (pounds) of fuel. I think these damn things are going to hit us. We are over Morristown just in case there is a collision with them. (pause) They have taken off towards the northeast. And, by the way, towards the northeast, it also looks like a meteor or space debris is coming down."
(Editor's Note: Monday night, November 17, was the tail end of the annual Leonid meteor shower.)
TOWER: "Do you wish to report a UFO sighting?"
FLIGHT 262: (Pause) No, we have nothing to report."
JET #2: "We heard you. I am making sure the passengers are all right. And, no, I have nothing to report, either."
JET#3: "You guys have seen more than your share of UFOs. I know I have."
TOWER: "Who are you? Please identify yourself."
(There was no response)
"Flight 262, go to the emergency frequency. We will meet with the both of you there."
(See MUFON Skywatch Investigations #47. Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for letting UFO ROUNDUP quote from his report.)
ANOTHER UFO SIGHTED IN NORTHERN NEW JERSEY
On Monday, November 17, 1997, around 9:45 p.m., Heidi Coombs was driving on Highway 513 on Bearfoot Mountain, near West Milford, New Jersey (population 1,606).
On a stretch of road overlooking the Monksville Reservoir, Ms. Coombs reported, "I was driving home from work, and a green light lit up my dashboard, the trees and nearly the whole reservoir...I looked up a little bit in the sky, and there was a bright green oblong 'thing' that just 'shot' up into the mountain. At first it appeared to hover, and then it was all over in a matter of seconds. Its altitude was too low to be a plane. The television news showed a meteor shower that went by, claiming that this is what caused the UFO reports. But the UFO (over the reservoir) looked nothing like those on TV." (See MUFON Skywatch Investigations #47. Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for this report.)
UFOs SIGHTED TWICE OVER BLUFF DALE, TEXAS
On Tuesday night, November 18, 1997, residents of Bluff Dale, Texas (population 200), located on Highway 377 about 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Fort Worth, spotted two unusual UFOs flying and hovering over the Paluxy River valley.
Two objects appeared over the farm owned by Billy and Marionell Frizzell and were seen by their farmhand.
"I think he saw something," Billy Frizzell told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "When we got home, he was really excited."
"Yeah, and he is not the kind that would make up a story about this kind of thing. You can bet on what he tells you," Marionell Frizzell said.
According to the Star-Telegram, the farmhand "told Billy that he looked north and two of the objects the size of round hay bales were right out at the edge of the field. Then one zipped down the fence row to a railroad bridge, followed the railroad along to the Paluxy River, (and) which looked like a dried brown bolt of lightning."
"'He said one kind of hovered, and the other went around the field and over the hill and then came back. Then they both just disappeared in a flash,' Billy said, 'He said it scared his dog so bad that he put up a howl the rest of the night. I told Ray Baber about it, and he said he saw them, too.'"
The Star-Telegram then interviewed Baber, "a retired truck driver, a lean, cowboy-looking man" who lives in a trailer near the center of Bluff Dale.
"'I was in the trailer, and I know Dateline had come on when I saw the light outside,'" Baber told the Star-Telegram. "'At first I thought it must be the 8:30 Southern Orient (express train--J.T.) that comes by any time from 7:30 to 8:30. But I didn't hear a whistle or any noise, so I thought I'd go inspect and see what it was,' he said."
"'Well, I saw the light coming again, and I thought it might be somebody headlighting (poaching--J.T.) deer in that pasture. Then it just leaped up and was gone,' Baber said, 'I wasn't going to tell anybody about it until Billy told me about what he had heard.'" (See the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for November 22, 1997, "Is UFO Tale the Biggest Bluff in Bluff Dale?" Many thanks to Mark Harman for this report.)
WOMAN SPIES HOVERING UFO IN HAMMOND, INDIANA
On Wednesday, November 12, 1997, at 11:30 p.m., Valerie V. was "laying in bed" at her home in Hammond, Indiana (population 93,714), a city on the Illinois state line 17 miles (27 kilometers) southeast of Chicago.
"Looking up through my mini-blinds," she reported, "a moon-shaped object caught my eye. It was bright like the moon, sort of oval-shaped but more round. It was ten times or more bigger than any star. It was moving slowly like a plane in the western sky. It was very bright, and I said to myself, 'What the heck is that!?'"
"When I did, it boomeranged back in the direction it had been traveling, but down just a little. It did that so fast that it left a streak of light behind it. I thought it was a plane going to crash."
"There was no crash. I had never seen anything like that before. I wrote on my calendar that night-- 'Saw UFO, 11:35 p.m.' I sort of felt like it was spying on the world until it realized that someone (me) saw it, then it zipped super-fast backwards out of my view." (See MUFON Skywatch Investigations #47. Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for this report.)
TRIANGULAR-SHAPED UFO SEEN IN SOUTHERN OREGON
On Thursday, November 13, 1997, at 1 a.m., Katie Caleb was driving on Oregon Highway 66 through Hayden Mountain Pass, heading for Klamath Falls (population 17,737) 20 miles (32 kilometers) to the east when she saw an unusual object in the sky.
"I was driving along, and I stopped for a moment to look up at the stars," Ms. Caleb reported. "I saw an object with three bright lights. The object was shaped somewhat like a boomerang. It hovered over me for a minute, and then, all of a sudden, it shot off (to the north) towards Portland and was gone." (See MUFON Skywatch Investigations #47. Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for this report.)
(Editor's Comment: This is the second UFO sighting in Klamath Falls, Oregon in less than a month. On November 14, 1997, the same night as the "Seattle Lights" incident, Klamath Falls residents reported seeing "a broad streak of light" in the night sky.)
UFOs ACTIVE IN ITALY
On Thursday night, November 13, 1997, witnesses in Abruzzo reported seeing "a flying object that emitted a strong violet light." The UFO changed direction overhead and flew out to sea. (See the newspaper Il Centro for November 16, 1997.)
Twenty hours earlier, at 1 a.m. on November 13, an alert was issued in the port city of Teramo when people heard "a sound similar to that of an airplane or a ship in difficulty." The Carabineri (Italian police--J.T.), the Captain of the Port, and the local Rescue Service were mobilized, and a diligent search was launched. But the source of the aerial disturbance was not found. (See the newspaper Il Messagero for November 15, 1997.)
On Monday, November 24, 1997, at 11 p.m., three motorists driving on a highway near Siena saw "the apparition of a strong light in the sky, emitting a blue luminous glow, before it disappeared." (See the newspaper La Nazione, Siena edition, for November November 26, 1997. Grazie a Edoardo Russo, Marco Bianchini, Panfilo Pagliaro, e Frabrizio Degni di CISU per questi rapporti.)
MYSTERY BOOM SHAKES UP IMMINGHAM, ENGLAND
On Tuesday, November 25, 1997, at 10:35 p.m., a very loud mystery boom or "skyquake" sounded east of Immingham on the river Humber in northern England.
Dozens of residents reported the same event-- a loud BANG accompanied by a vivid "flash of white, possibly bluish-white light in the east," over the North Sea.
"People in homes facing west only heard the bang," resident Paul H. reported. "While those who, like us, were in a house facing the North Sea, also saw the flash of light." He estimated that the source was "probably in an area over the North Sea itself." (Email Interview)
MYSTERIOUS SUBTERRANEAN BOOMS STARTLE RESIDENTS IN CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND
Mysterious recurring subterranean booming sounds are alarming residents of the Glen Woods section of Cranston, Rhode Island (population 76,060), a city eight miles (12 kilometers) south of the state capital, Providence.
"The noise, which residents say sounds like a thudding underground explosion, seems to be concentrated in a two-to-three block area affecting houses on Summit Drive and West Blue Ridge and Park Forest Roads."
"It occurs day and night with an eerie irregularity that they say thwarts attempts to find a pattern. It may happen only once, or more than dozen times, during a 24-hour period, they say."
"Finding out exactly what is causing the sound became a top priority for city officials after (Ed) Conway and Summit Drive resident Barbara Mendelsohn called the police early last week."
"Last Monday (Patrol Captain William) Burroughs notified city officials, as well as the U.S. Geological Survey, the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency and the Providence Water Supply Board." (See the Providence Journal-Bulletin for November 24, 1997, page B-3, "Mystifying 'booms' bedevil neighbors.")
By week's end, Rhode Island authorities said they had the answer to the subterranean booming.
"After 10 days of sleuthing, engineers say they think they have found the culprit in the eerie audio occurrence that for months has haunted residents of the (Glen Woods) hilltop neighborhood overlooking (the) Garden City (shopping center). Before the city stepped in, Glen Woods homeowners were stymied by the thudding, shuddering sound which seemed to be emanating from their basements-- or below."
"Now Public Works Director Peter Alviti says he believes the noise is coming from a 24-inch sewer line that makes some sharp twists and turns."
"More testing still has to be done, but Alviti said he thinks the boom is caused when sewage-- which is pushed uphill through the pipe from a pumping station on Sherman Avenue--hits some of the 90-degree turns in the snaking sewer line beneath the streets and backyards of Glen Woods." (See the Providence Journal-Bulletin for November 28, 1997, page A-1, "The thing that goes boom in Glen Woods may be rumbling sewer line.")
No sooner had Alviti made his statement than another sewer line in Cranston began erupting like a volcano.
"A main sewer off Route 10 (in Cranston) near Spectacle Pond became partially blocked yesterday, sending hundreds of gallons of raw sewage bubbling up through a manhole cover."
"The system overflowed into an undeveloped area for perhaps several hours before a police officer spotted it from Route 10. Most of the overflow was absorbed into a drainage ditch but an estimated 400 gallons flowed into Spectacle Pond." (See the Providence Journal-Bulletin for November 29, 1997, page A-3, "Raw sewage spews into Spectacle Pond."
(Editor's Note: A triangular-shaped UFO was seen hovering over Route 10 in Cranston, R.I. in early October.)
CHUPACABRA RETURNS TO CENTRAL PUERTO RICO
Mysterious attacks on domestic farm animals around the town of Utuado, Puerto Rico, 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of San Juan, have triggered rumors of renewed predation by the Chupacabra or legendary "goat sucker."
Forty-two large white rabbits, some chickens and a duck were found dead on a farm in Utuado on Thursday, November 20, 1997. The dead animals had twin perforations mostly in the stomach region and on their feet. Most of the perforations were triangular.
According to researcher Scott Corrales, "One rabbit had its stomach split, an incision so precise as to only have been made by a surgical instrument or by an expert surgeon. No trace of blood remained in any of the dead animals." (Many thanks to Scott Corrales for this report.)
PERUVIAN GIRL DEVELOPS SUPERMAN'S HEAT VISION
On Saturday, October 25, 1997, Fire Brigade #26 of Chiclayo, capital of the department (state) of Lambayeque, 760 kilometers (456 miles) north of Lima, Peru, was called out at 8:30 a.m. to battle a house fire in the nearby town of Pajaten.
Pajaten is 9 kilometers (5 miles) southeast of Chiclayo. By 8:45 a.m., the firefighters had "controlled and extinguished the blaze," after rescuing a three-year-old girl from her burning bedroom.
Fire officials conducted an investigation but finally ruled that the blaze was "a fire of unknown origin."
On Monday, October 27, 1997, at 3 a.m., Fire Brigade #26 was again called to Pajaten to battle a house fire. This fire took place less than 100 meters (330 feet) from the location of Saturday's fire.
According to Jorge Pereira, owner of the property, the fire began in the bedroom where Giuliana Gutierrez Peralta, age 13, was having a sleep-over with her friend.
Pereira told fire officials that he "entered the bedroom and turned on the lights. This caused the girl to wake up, with obvious irritation, and she opened her eyes, which seemed to shine in a variety of colors before turning glaring red. It was at this moment she looked at the curtains, which caught fire instantly."
Investigating police did not believe Pereira's story and required him to take "a blood-alcohol test, the results of which proved negative."
Peruvian newspapers ran feature stories on the incident. Giuliana soon became known as 'la nina del fuego" (the fire girl) and "la hija del diablo" (the Devil's daughter).
Neighbors in Pajaten reportedly harassed the family, and, as a result, "the girl and her family went to the village of Uycampa," on the eastern side of the Cordillera Central, at the edge of Peru's rain forest, "where they are now living." (Muchas gracias a Raul Rios Centeno of Lima y tambien Scott Corrales para esas noticias.)
(Editor's Comment: Cases of young teenagers developing heat vision or 'firestarter" powers are rare but not unknown. Here in North America we've had William Brough, age 12, of Turlock, California in October 1886; Jennie Bramwell, age 14, of Beaverton, Ontario in 1891; and Wanet Willey of Macomb, Illinois in August 1948. For more information on these cases, see MYSTERIOUS FIRES AND LIGHTS by Vincent H. Gaddis, Dell Books, New York, NY 1968, pages 166 through 170. Interestingly, Mama Ocllo Huallpa, wife of Manco Capac, the first Inca, is also said to have had these powers. As Garcilaso de la Vega remarked in his COMENTARIOS REALES DE LOS INCAS, "She was a witch, but she helped the poor.")
from the UFO Files...
1733: DAYLIGHT DISC FLIES OVER DORSET
On December 8, 1733, James Cracker of Fleet, a small town in Dorset, England, saw a silvery disc fly overhead in broad daylight. Here is his eyewitness account:
"Something in the sky which appeared in the north but vanished from my sight, as it was intercepted by trees, from my vision. I was standing in a valley. The weather was warm, the sun shone brightly. On a sudden it re-appeared, darting in and out of my sight with an amazing coruscation. The colour of this phenomenon was like burnished, or new-washed silver. It shot with speed like a star falling in the night. But it had a body much larger and a train longer than any shooting star I have seen."
"Next day Mr. Edgecombe informed me that he and another gentleman had seen this strange phenomenon at the same time as I had. It was about 15 miles from where I saw it, and steering a course from east to north." (See MYSTERIES OF THE UNEXPLAINED, Reader's Digest Association, February 1985, page 210.)
FUN UFO WEBSITES:
Fresh from his recent interview on Romanian TV, Manoliu Valentin of Bucharest has a new webpage devoted to UFOs. Entitled TERRA UFO TOURISM, it's available now in English and in a few weeks will be ready in French and Romanian. To check out the UFO scene in the Balkans, log in at this URL: http://cinor.starnets.ro/ufo/
And don't forget our parent site, UFOINFO, which has many features available at the click of a mouse. Drop by and visit at http://ufoinfo.com/
For back issues of UFO ROUNDUP, visit our page at http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/
Today's a day for celebration in Hannibal, Missouri and in Hartford, Connecticut. It's the birthday of Samuel Langhorne Clemens, the American author better known as Mark Twain. Old Sam was born in Florida, Missouri on November 30, 1835, right in the middle of a visitation by Halley's Comet. He died in 1910 at his mansion in Hartford when the comet made its return. One of his last short stories, "Captain Stormfield's Trip to Heaven," has eerie overtones that appeared to predict the coming of last year's Hale-Bopp Comet and the bizarre deaths of the Heaven's Gate sect in San Diego.
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 items from UFO ROUNDUP on their websites or in newsgroups provided that the newsletter and its editor are credited by name and that they list the date of issue in which the item first appeared.
