UFO ROUNDUP Volume 2 Number 36
Volume 2
Number 36
September 21, 1997
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
MUFON IOWA INVESTIGATES SIOUX CITY SIGHTING
MUFON Iowa is currently investigating a UFO sighting that took place in a rural area near Sioux City, Iowa, 200 miles west of Des Moines, the night of August 7, 1997.
Three people were involved in the sighting-- a 50-year-old woman, her 22-year-old son, and her 11-year-old grandson.
At 9:30 p.m. on August 7, the boys were driving home when the younger one spotted a triangular UFO in the sky. "The first triangle was 500 feet away and about 200 feet (in) altitude," Beverly Trout, Iowa MUFON state director reported, "and moved parallel at about 20 miles per hour. The 60-foot triangle moved in a generally easterly direction for about two miles, as the boys drove through Stone Park, a heavily wooded area of hills, deep ravines and winding roads. Eventually it crossed the road just behind the vehicle and headed back to the west."
When they turned onto the road leading to their farmhouse, a "strange animal" bumped into the car's passenger door. "The boys described it as reminding them of a hyena."
Arriving at home, the boys told their mother/ grandmother. She responded that there were "no such things" as UFOs. "Just then," Ms. Trout added, "the 11-year-old pointed to the southwest of their house, and there was another triangle about 300 feet in size about 3/4 of a mile (1.2 kilometers) and only about 500 feet (in) altitude, moving very slowly."
The UFO hovered for 15 minutes. To the west of the house, the family noticed an "amber-colored globe of light" in the sky, "with an apparent size of a little less than a full moon, from which three globes emerged (same size as the original globe), darted around, then re-merged with the original, then faded."
Since the sighting, the younger boy has had repeated dreams featuring "large heads with no faces." Also, the boys did not arrive home until 10:45 p.m., after what should have been a 15-minute drive.
The case is being investigated by Beverly Trout, Irene Barnes, Dr. Lawrence Lacey and MUFON consultant Robert Lyon.
(Editor's Comment: The previous night, August 6, the Sioux City Police Dept. received multiple reports of a Bigfoot on 17th Street in the city's Northside section. See the Sioux City, Iowa Journal for August 9, 1997.)
UFOs SIGHTED IN AND NEAR ROSEBURG, OREGON
On Saturday, August 23, 1997, at 1:30 p.m., eight people, including an officer of the Oregon State Police, spied a daylight disc hovering over the Green district in Roseburg, Oregon (population 16,644).
Roseburg is 178 miles (285 kilometers) south of Portland, the largest city in Oregon.
"The residents stood out on the street and watched a large silver disk floating directly overhead," reported Autumn Shepperd and Bob Williams of ProjectLink. "When one of the residents looked at the object through a scope, he could see colors moving around on the bottom of the disk--yellow,red, blue, green."
"The object made small rapid movements from side to side but stayed directly overhead for approximately 30 minutes. The witnesses claimed that it looked like it was 'jumping back and forth'...When the craft left, it streaked away at a very high rate of speed and faded out of sight."
Two weeks earlier, on August 11, 1997, two hikers camping out near Red Butte, near Three-Finger Jack, in the Cascade Mountains reported a UFO sighting at 3:30 a.m. One hiker saw a "weird-looking" bright "star" on the eastern horizon. "He pointed it out to his friend. The light was greenish-red in color and eventually moved up, left, down and then dipped below the horizon. He said that the light appeared to be 50 to 75 miles away, and he calculated it to be north of the city of Bend (population 17,263), out in the desert."
On Sunday, August 31, Autumn and Bob set up their own skywatch at Cottage Grove Lake, north of Roseburg. "We chose a clearing that would offer a clear view of the night sky and the horizon and set up the tent. At exactly 8:59 p.m., a red light appeared 300 to 400 feet above the horizon to the west-southwest. Bob, my partner, looked at it through the binoculars," Autumn reported. "I turned the camcorder on it. It remained stationary and pulsed, changing colors from white to red and back again, then to blue and finally to green. Finally, it blinked out and was gone."
Autumn added that she and Bob spotted two UFOs at Cottage Grove Lake in 1995. (Many thanks to Autumn Shepperd and Bob Williams of ProjectLink for this report.)
UFOs APPEAR OVER TOWNS IN SOUTHERN COLORADO
On Friday, August 22, 1997, at 8:30 p.m., people living in Mesita, Colorado (population 900) reported "watching several lights of some craft" flying over the South Pinyon Hills, along the Rio Grande River, just north of the New Mexico state line.
Three witnesses saw two bright lights, "like huge car headlights, with one intermittently visible to the west in a 'large thunderhead' (cloud). "Then they watched a golden light that appeared low to the south, near the Colorado/New Mexico border."
On Thursday, September 4, 1997, at 8:30 p.m., two Mesita witnesses "observed two large craft, each with a row of six whitish-orange lights, slowly drifting around over the South Pinyon Hills." The UFOs moved in unison and were described as being "a little larger than a (U.S. Air Force C-131) transport plane."
"After traveling north for about ten miles, they slowly began drifting west across the San Luis Valley between Antonito (population 1,103) and Romeo (population 308). At no time did the objects travel faster than an estimated 40 miles per hour. The sighting lasted about 40 minutes."
On Friday, September 5, 1997, at 11:30 p.m., two witnesses at the Baca Grande development, about 90 miles (144 kilometers) north of the New Mexico state line, claim to have seen "a large craft hovering over the center of the San Luis Valley. They described unblinking red and green lights that seemed to be arrayed around the object."
On Saturday, September 6, 1997, at 3:30 a.m., a man resting in his car on County Road T near Crestone "was awakened by a roaring sound that sounded like an old train." At first he thought it was a jet flying over. But when the sound did not diminish, he rolled down his car windows, hoping to get a fix on the source. The noise, which he described as "clanking sounds," seemed to be coming from the southwest. But he saw nothing but open range in that direction. (Many thanks to UFO author/ researcher Christopher O'Brien and Mike Lindemann of CNI News for this item. These stories originally appeared in CNI News, volume 3, number 14, part 2 for the date September 16, 1997.)
TWO UFOs SIGHTED OVER DULUTH, MINNESOTA
On Saturday, September 6, 1997, at 9:30 p.m., Van D. was sitting at home in the Morgan Park section of Duluth, Minnesota (population 92,811), watching a wrestling match on TV. "I looked out the window," Van said, "And all of a sudden, I saw this triangle-shaped aircraft. It had bright white lights at the end of each of the corners. And in back of the aircraft, it had red lights, sort of like the engine. So I watched it fly across the sky not far from my house."
"I heard nothing, absolutely nothing, no noise or anything. So then I turned and saw this other aircraft, more like the flying saucer type. It had bright red lights encircling the craft, and a bright white light on top. So I watched it fly across, too. No sound at all."
Van ran upstairs to get a telescope. But, by the time he returned, "the spaceships seemed to have disappeared." Then, about 20 minutes later, he "saw the saucer-shaped object flying far beyond my backyard, but it was moving too fast for me to see anything with the telescope." (Email Interview)
(Editor's Comment: Van's sighting occurred 48 hours after I spotted two mysterious "green flashes" along the shore and over Lake Superior near Beaver Bay, Minnesota, 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Duluth, at 8:53 p.m. on Thursday, September 4.)
MIRAGE JETS HUNT SAUCERS OVER EASTERN FRANCE
A UFO flap is rocking eastern France, with sightings around Metz, Nancy and Pont au Mousson.
The first incident took place on Sunday, September 7, 1997 at 10 p.m. M. and Mme. Patrick Rapp were attending a late-evening banquet in Metz, a city in the department of Moselle, "when they saw a strange ball of light close by the Metz cathedral."
Immediately M. Rapp grabbed his video camcorder and began shooting. The camera was fitted with an X30 zoom. "While looking through the viewfinder, M. Rapp saw an oval shape, light yellow with some traces of green." He managed to get 10 seconds of video before the UFO zipped away.
M. Rapp called the Metz city police, who turned the matter over to the Gendarmerie. In France, the Gendarmerie takes charge of all official UFO enquiries. (See the French newspaper Le Republican Lorrain for September 10, 1997.)
On Monday, September 8, 1997, at 1:43 a.m., a Parisian man "saw a triangular shape over Boulogne, in the department Haute de Seine." The UFO "had a blue-green light on each corner."
On Thursday, September 4, 1997, at 11:17 p.m., "Three researchers on a UFO watch close to Thionville, in the department Meurthe et Moselle, saw a big triangle with three green lights when a lightning bolt illuminated the sky. The object's size was about 300 meters (990 feet) long for each side. This large construction was flying very slowly near Metz."
On Friday, September 5, 1997, at 4:30 a.m., a man saw a green lightning ball near Val et Chatillon, in the department of Meurthe et Moselle. The ball was followed by an orange line. This object was also seen in Jarville, a suburb on the northern side of the city of Nancy."
On Monday, September 8, 1997, "a green ball was seen" at 9 p.m. "above Pont au Mousson, in Meurthe et Moselle. Ten minutes later, the area was overflown by a squadron of Mirage 2000s, the Armee de l'Air's (French Air Force--J.T.) top-of-the-line jet fighters. Observers counted no fewer than 10 Mirage jets over the Metz/Nancy region, flying what appeared to be a combat air patrol. The Armee de l'Air made no comments about the maneuvers, and there was no mention of the incident in the French news media.
On Tuesday, September 9, 1997, at 10 p.m., a "bright white light" was seen at Buxy, in the department Seine et Loire, by four witnesses. "They saw the light hovering close to their house. The light appeared to belong to a large shape. Only one side of it could be seen, the one illuminated by the strange light." (Merci beaucoup a Robert Fischer pour ces nouvelles.)
TRIANGULAR UFO MAKES A FAST FLYBY IN BELGIUM
On Sunday, September 14, 1997, at 10:30 p.m., Kim M. "saw a triangular-shaped UFO" outside her home in Bruges, a city in Belgium.
"I was looking to the sky, and I saw the big triangular UFO," Kim reported. "It had one flashing white light on each corner and in the middle was a red light, on the top. It flew over our house and flew away. It was a weird sight, but this is not the first time that I've seen a UFO. Once a triangular shape came so close we thought it was going to fly in the bedroom window." (Many thanks to John Hayes for forwarding this email report.)
BRAZILIAN INSTITUTE BEGINS INVESTIGATION OF ONGOING SAO PAULO SAUCER FLAP
A recent spurt of UFO sightings in Vale de Paraiba, approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the city of Sao Paulo, has prompted a Brazilian scientific institute to study the matter.
According to the newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo, researcher Ricardo Varela Correa of the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (National Institute for Space Researches), INPE for short, in Sao Jose de Campos, S.P.
In the last three months, Varela said, "luminous forms" have been seen over Vale de Paraiba "more than ten per month."
"A resident of Sao Jose de Campos telephoned, terrified, to tell the institute that he had seen, flying inside his residence, a sphere of approximately 15 centimeters in diameter, of a silver-blue color," Varela said. "The object emitted light, quickly entered each room and then disappeared."
Months earlier, a woman told Varela that "a mysterious light had invaded her house and lit up every room. After scaring her family, the light disappeared without leaving any vestiges."
On May 21, 1997, he added, the institute itself received a UFO visitor. "A red light appeared about 9 p.m., hovered over the (INPE) administration building, and then, suddenly, it moved in various directions and overflew other buildings of the institute." (See the Brazilian newspaper O Estado de Sao Paulo for September 15, 1997. Muito obrigado a Eduardo Castor Borgonovi por eso caso.)
UFO VIDEOTAPED BY TV CREW IN THE ANDES OF BOLIVIA
On Wednesday, September 17, 1997, at 8:30 p.m., a UFO appeared and hovered over the village of Ceja de El Alto, not far from La Paz, the national capital of Bolivia. The village is high up in the Andes at an elevation of 4,080 meters (13,464 feet).
According to the newspaper Ultima Hora, the UFO consisted of an object with "four bright lights" that "hovered for several minutes and then flew away to the west 'at fantastic speed.' The UFO alarmed many people and was filmed by Canal (Channel) 4, a TV station in La Paz." The sighting lasted about seven minutes.
Channel 4 in La Paz aired its video footage the following day. (See the newspaper Ultima Hora of La Paz, Bolivia for September 18, 1997. Muchas gracias a Eduardo Castor Borgonovi para esas noticias.)
TWO YOWIE INCIDENTS REPORTED IN AUSTRALIA
Two sightings of the Yowie, a tall, hairy hominid similar to North America's Bigfoot, were reported in north central Australia during August.
According to Tim Bull of the Australian Centre for Mystery Investigations, a Mr. Evan claimed to have seen "a 9-foot-tall (2.8 meters) black creature covered with short hair on the side of the road about 15 miles (25 kilometers) southwest of Alice Springs."
Upon seeing Mr. Evan's vehicle, "the beast jumped sideways and lumbered off into the sparsely vegetated desert."
The second incident took place in Australia's Tanimi Desert, about 400 miles (640 kilometers) south of Darwin, Northern Territory (N.T.) A farmer was awakened at 3 a.m. by "a terrible screeching noise... like nothing she had ever heard before just outside her bedroom window."
When she went to check it out, "she was overwhelmed by a disgustingly foul odor that made her dry reach (nearly vomit--J.T.). At the same time, she saw a '7-foot-tall dark-coloured creature with his hair about the length of my hand, no neck and long arms crash through her back fence."
The following morning, Australian police found numerous Bigfoot-type tracks on the property and a two-inch irrigation pipe that had nearly been chewed through. Some in Australia theorize that the recent drought has forced the Yowie population of the N.T. into inhabited areas in search of water.
On September 10, Tim Bull said, "Althought it is hard to believe that such a creature could exist in the harsh conditions that prevail out there, I do, however, feel that there is overwhelming evidence to suggest that a number of Bigfoot-type creatures are roaming in the interior of Australia. (Many thanks to Errol Bruce-Knapp and Tim Bull of ACMI for this story.)
BOAT-SHAPED UFO SEEN IN CENTRAL ITALY
On Wednesday, September 10, 1997, at 10 p.m., a UFO shaped "like a huge aerial boat" was seen over the provinces of Parma, Pavia and Massa Carrara. Witnesses, who numbered in the hundreds, said they saw "a luminous glow around the object."
The case is being investigated by the Centro Italiano di Studi Ufologici (CISU), whose investigators include Renzo Cabassi, Umberto Cordier and Roberto Labanti. (See the Italian newspaper La Republica for September 11, 1997. Grazie a Edoardo Russo di CISU.)
ROUNDUP CORRIGENDA:
In UFO ROUNDUP, volume 2, number 27, we reported a UFO sighting in the Persian Gulf, off the shore of Bahrain. The item mistakenly identified our source, M.L. Adwani, as "a local ufologist." Mr. Al-Adwani writes, "I am neither a ufologist, nor am I a local. I have not interviewed anyone, and I did not see the phenomenon myself. I merely sent you a brief note on what was reported in the local newspaper." UFO ROUNDUP regrets the error.
from the UFO Files...
1954: UFO VISITS INDIA
One of the strangest UFO sightings in India occurred on September 15, 1954 at Manbhum, in Bihar state.
Ijapada Chatterjee was working in his office at the mica mine outside Manbhum that day (he was the manager) when he heard the miners shouting. Rushing outdoors, Chatterjee "watched a saucer-shaped object descend to an altitude of about 500 feet. The UFO hovered, then soared upwards at terrific speed, causing a tremendous gust of wind."
"The object was seen over a mine which has supplied berylium for the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission." (See THE UFO EVIDENCE, Barnes & Noble Books, Copyright 1964 by the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, editor-Richard H. Hall, page 124)
Today marks the birthday of that fundamentalist firebrand, Girolamo Savonarola, born in northern Italy on September 21, 1452. As a Dominican friar, Savonarola's preaching won over such a legion of followers that he was able to oust Pietro di Medici and rule Florence for three years as a religious dictator. In addition to dumping on the Medicis and other Renaissance princes, Savonarola criticized Pope Alexander VI (nee Rodrigo Borgia, uncle of Cesare and Lucrezia). It seems Rodrigo was breaking his vow of chastity three or four times a week with his 15-year-old mistress, Francesca. Arrested by the Inquisition, Savonarola was tried and convicted of heresy and sedition. He was burned at the stake on May 23, 1498. Happy birthday, Girolamo!
And we'll be back next week with more saucer news from "the paper that goes home--UFO ROUNDUP."
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 they credit the newsletter and its editor by name and list the date the item was published.
