UFO ROUNDUP Volume 4 Number 05
Volume 4
Number 5
February 1, 1999
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
TOMB OF OSIRIS DISCOVERED NEAR THE GREAT PYRAMID?
An archeological team led by Dr. Zahi Hawass has reportedly found what may be a pre-Dynastic underground tomb near the Great Pyramid, a Danish newspaper reported last week.
Dr. Hawass, Egypt's Undersecretary of State for the Giza Monuments, while on a lecture tour in the Scandinavian countries, spoke to a gathering of notables, including Queen Margarethe, at Dansk Industri's pyramid-shaped glass convention center in Copenhagen, Denmark on Sunday, January 24, 1999.
According to the Danish newspaper Elektra Bladet, Queen Margarethe "appeared at Dansk Industri's pyramid-shaped glass hall, at a lecture by Dr. Zahi Hawass, the world's leading Egyptologist and head of the Giza excavations."
"Between the Sphinx and the Khefren Pyramid, Hawass and his staff have discovered a hitherto unknown subterranean shaft, reaching a depth of 29 meters (96 feet). In the bottom of the shaft they found a stone sarcophagus surrounded by water. If Hawass's theory holds, he has found the grave of Osiris, the (Egyptian) god of death."
"The queen was listening enthusiastically from the first row. Since 1962, when she was a young crown princess and tried her hand in Egypt as an amateur archeologist, she has had an ardent interest in the pyramids of Egypt."
"The finds that he (Dr. Hawass) were describing were so great that his voice was almost tearful."
"Dr. Hawass ended his lecture by discreetly inviting the queen to visit his excavations at Giza, as Prince Henrik did last year."
The article also stated that Dr. Hawass would formally release the information through the Egyptian media "in a couple of months." (See Elektra Bladet for January 24, 1999, "The Queen attends pyramid meeting," by Freja Ludvigsen. Many thanks to Stig Agermose for forwarding the newspaper article.)
(Editor's Comment: Last year the big news was the detente reached between Dr. Hawass and his one-time critics, Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval and John Anthony West. In Atlantis Rising magazine, Number 17, page 15, Hancock and West published a joint letter, that stated in part, "We are now absolutely convinced that the precious monuments of the Giza plateau could not be in better hands than those of Dr. Hawass. We have seen him at work. We have seen his passion and genuine love for the pyramids and the Sphinx. And we have seen that above all else he is determined to ensure the preservation of the monuments for the future. There are no conspiracies. There are no hidden finds. There is no skullduggery." One question, boys--Did your friend Dr. Hawass mention even one word about this "Tomb of Osiris?")
UFO AND SKY BOOM IN PORTAGE, INDIANA
On Monday, December 14, 1998, at 7:33 p.m., a 19-year-old man heard a mysterious aerial boom in Portage, Indiana (population 29,060), a city located 22 miles (35 kilometers) southeast of Chicago.
He reported, "I deliver pizza for a local pizza shop...I was driving north on Swanson Road, approaching Stone Avenue where I could turn left or right. As I was coming to a stop at Stone, I heard a semi-loud bang. It sounded like a big firework but the tone was deeper. Then I heard something that sounded like a brief, strong wind, and it repeated seven or eight times. I remained still at the stop sign while listening to these sounds."
"A couple of seconds later, a white light rose off the ground to the northeast of me. It looked like it was about a mile away. It went straight up about 100 yards, stopped for a few seconds, then shot westward--it looked like it could have been going 100 miles in a fraction of a second."
"When I got home, I told my girlfriend what I saw. And she told me that earlier in the night she was visiting her parents at their house on Central and Willowdale and she heard a loud bang." (Many thanks to Kenneth Young of Cincinnati UFO Research for forwarding this report.)
MORE UFO SIGHTINGS REPORTED IN ITALY
UFO sightings continued in Italy last week, with three more encounters in different areas of the peninsula.
On Saturday, January 23, 1999, at 8:15 p.m., seven young people spotted a trio of UFOs in the night sky over Pescara, a port city on the Adriatic Sea about 165 kilometers (102 miles) east of Rome. Two female witnesses, Paola and Elisa, said they saw "three luminous stars of a red color high in the sky, flying toward the southwest. Two of them (UFOs) broke away from the formation and travelled in a circular pattern. Then they zaigzagged, appearing at several different points in the sky. The third unidentified object remained visible for five minutes." (See the Italian newspaper La Stampa Siciliana for January 24, 1999, "Avvistati, venerdi.")
Also on Saturday, January 23, at 3:10 p.m., a man who was saying prayers at a family graveside at the Cimiterio Comunale in the city of Piacenza, 110 kilometers (66 miles) southeast of Milano (Milan), spotted a UFO in the sky. "He saw a cylindrical object passing over the city. The object flew from the northeast to the northwest, passing in a diagonal line over Piacenza with a constant linear trajectory. The sighting lasted about one minute."
On Sunday, January 24, 1999, at the Parco Nazionale de Vesuvio, near Napoli (Naples), about 200 kilometers (125 miles) south of Rome, four people climbing Monte Somma mountain at 11 a.m. "saw a brilliant sphere of colors ranging from a metallic silver to an incandescent red. At just past the hour, this object appeared at several different points in the sky without seeming to move from point to point. The witnesses were adamant that this object was not the planet Jupiter. One witness testified that the object appeared to rotate on its own axis." (Grazie a Guiseppe Piccoli, Davide Ferrara ed Alfredo Lissoni de Centro Ufologico Nazionale per questi rapporti.)
USAF JET FIGHTER CRASHES IN NORTHERN JAPAN
On Thursday, January 21, 1999, "a U.S. Air Force fighter slammed into a wooded area in northern Japan in the second crash in as many days involving American military planes."
"The pilot suffered minor injuries after ejecting from the jet."
"The F-16, from the U.S. Air Force's Misawa air base, crashed at about 1:30 p.m. local time in a forest 85 miles south of the city of Misawa," which is located 560 kilometers (350 miles) north of Tokyo.
"The pilot, whose name was not disclosed, parachuted to the ground. He suffered a minor head injury, said a spokesman for Japan's Foreign Ministry. The pilot was being taken to Misawa air base and was listed in good condition, the Air Force said." (See the Attleboro, Mass. Sun-Chronicle for January 21, 1999, "US fighter crashes in Japan; pilot rescued," page 9.)
(Editor's Comment: Yes, readers, that's the same Misawa air base from which three Japanese Mitsubishi fighter jets went missing last autumn. A red spherical UFO was seen near the spot where the first two Japanese fighters vanished.)
LAKE TADD MYSTERY CAUSES FUROR IN MINNESOTA
Early Sunday morning, January 17, 1999, Loisa Rhode "was awakened by a sonic-boom type noise." Ms. Rhode's apartment is on the second-floor of an apartment house overlooking Lake Tadd in Atwater, Minnesota (population 1,053.
Ms. Rhode "discovered the strange hole in the ice" of Lake Tadd. Two days later, on Tuesday, January 19, she phoned the Atwater city office and reported the strange event.
"'They waited to report the event because they were afraid all their friends would think they were loony,' city clerk Goldie Smith told Reuters."
According to the West Central Tribune of nearby Willmar, Minnesota, "A flying saucer, little green men and signs of non-human life were found Saturday afternoon (January 23, 1999) in Tadd Lake in Atwater. The discoveries were made by divers in search of an object that plummeted from the sky last weekend, creating a unique star-shaped hole in the ice."
"As nearly 500 spectators and a fleet of metro media watched from behind the yellow police tape that circled the open water, the divers with wet suits and 80-cubic-foot oxygen (scuba) tanks strapped to their backs slid into the frigid lake."
"For nearly 45 minutes the Hutchinson-area divers, who had been valuably briefed by a geologist to pick up anything the size of a grapefruit, dove to the lake bottom feeling for objects."
"There was a festive mood in the air as families with snack coolers, local firefighters, police, DNR (Minnesota Department of Natural Resources--J.T.) personnel, a local deputy, geologists from Bemidji and spectators from Atwater and as far away as Minneapolis watched as the divers bobbed in the water."
"The non-human life form was a turtle--the first thing divers plucked out of the muddy bottom of Tadd Lake."
"The 'saucer' was a rusty metal bowl that, when flung like a frisbee, would probably fly into the garbage heap."
"The little green men were three plastic toy soldiers a prankster reportedly threw into the lake. Divers secured the men, which were surreptitiously hidden from the media and the public by a member of the divers' top-side crew."
"'It wasn't anything we were looking for,' said Bob Stepien, one of the divers, who was eager to get into a warm building after emerging from the four-foot-deep water. 'Looks like just some junk. A few rocks, a turtle, cold ice...I don't know that there's anything more down there.'"
"'It was cold, muddy and dark,' said Neil Brady, another diver, who admitted he really didn't expect to find anything. 'If anything could fall in at a high velocity, I'm sure it could be buried down there. The bottom is soft, and you can only dig so deep.'"
"Bob Roulet, the third diver, said he's done a lot of diving before 'but never with an audience. He and the other divers made a joint agreement that if they 'saw anything glowing, they'd let it be.'"
"Police chief Reed Schmidt said the Tadd Lake case is a mystery that demands further investigation and an answer. 'Just like The X-Files, we have to solve the story.' But their next foray into Tadd Lake will probably occur in the summer time."
"Marc Ross, assistant Atwater fire chief, said he was disappointed nothing unusual was found in the lake. 'But it sure was fun,' he said, 'At least people and media were here for something that wasn't tragic.'"
Ms. Rhode "watched from the window of her second-floor apartment overlooking the lake as the recovery took place. She said she was disappointed that nothing more than a handful of rocks were found. 'I've enjoyed this, but I am disappointed.'"
Atwater is on Highway 12 approximately 83 miles (135 kilometers) west of Minneapolis. (See the West Central Tribune of Willmar, Minn. for January 25, 1999, "No meteorite found in Tadd Lake--yet." Many thanks to Errol Bruce-Knapp and Stig Agermose for forwarding the newspaper article.)
(Editor's Comment: This is the second "meteor hits lake" story within a month. On December 24, 1998, a similar incident happened at Parsippany Lake in northern New Jersey. For more details, see UFO Roundup, volume 4, number 2 for January 11, 1999. In last week's issue, your editor asked what weird events might happen just in time for the Blue Moon. Well, wonder no further, readers. Here they are...)
MYSTERIOUS TIGERS ON THE PROWL IN NEW JERSEY
Police in Jackson Township, New Jersey (population 1,100) shot and killed a 431-pound Bengal tiger Wednesday night, January 27, 1999 following a flurry of frantic telephone calls from frightened residents.
"The five-year-old male tiger made a sudden appearance Wednesday afternoon in a neighborhood near the (wildlife) preserve. The first sightings set off a wild search by police, state troopers and authorities using helicopters and night-vision equipment."
"With families instructed to stay indoors, sharpshooters killed the roaming Siberian on Wednesday night."
"An autopsy showed the animal was desperately hungry and hadn't eaten for two days. But the animal bore no markings. Owners of Six Flags Great Adventure amusement park and safari, which is nearby, said its nine tigers are accounted for."
Police then suspected another local private preserve, the Tigers Only Preservation Society, owned by Joan Byron-Marasak, "known locally as the Tiger Lady," which "is licensed to own 23" tigers.
"Federal, state and local officials executed search warrants and reported counting only 17 tigers on the grounds of the private Tigers Only Preservation Society."
"Byron-Marasak--who has denied that the dead 431-pound cat could have strayed from her 12-acre Ocean County preserve--insists she owns 20 tigers and that three died last year of old age. She blamed poor record-keeping for the discrepancy."
"Authorities yesterday said Tigers Only has a spotless record and that their inspection yesterday (January 29, 1999)--involving a dozen officials from four agencies--found the animals well fed and cared for." (See the New York Daily News for January 30, 1999, "Escaped tiger mystery,' by Ralph R. Ortega and Owen Moritz.)
The first sighting took place early Wednesday afternoon. "A woman on Wright Debow Road just north of Route 195 in the sprawling township called police at about 1:40 p.m. so say she thought she saw a tiger in her backyard."
"Officers found large paw prints in the woman's yard--and at about 5:30 p.m., one spotted a large animal nearby."
"Police shot the tiger with tranquilizer darts but the drugs weren't enough to stop it. They were worried they'd have to shoot to kill."
"Tiger experts from nearby Great Adventure Wild Safari Animal Park were helping state police and Jackson Township cops to capture the animal."
"But Great Adventure says its nine Siberian tigers are all accounted for, and the tiger belongs to someone else." (See the New York Post for January 28, 1999, "Cops tail tiger in Jersey" by Bill Sanderson, page 12.)
"State police officers killed the animal after tranquilizer darts missed their target."
"During the height of the tiger scare Wednesday, authorities visited the Tigers Only Preservation Society but hurriedly left the grounds when they got word over their radios that the tiger had been spotted nearby."
"Another Fish, Game and Wildlife official, Rob Winkle, said that one officer saw that part of Byron-Marasak's fence 5-to-6 foot wire mesh fence was down," which led police to suspect the Society of being the tiger's place of origin.
"'Her outer-perimeter fence was not adequately maintained,' Winkle said, 'Part of her fence was down.'" (See the New York Post for January 29, 1999, "Cops eye cat-lovin' 'Tiger Lady' in Jersey scare" by Maria Malave and Gersh Kuntzmann, page 3)
Ms. Byron-Marasak has repeatedly denied that the tiger killed Wednesday came from her private preserve.
Not only is the tiger's point of origin a mystery, there appears to be a discrepancy in the paw prints. They were first identified as coming from a female Siberian tiger with a weight of 350 pounds, while the animal shot and killed was a male Bengal tiger weighing 431 pounds.
"'If it's not hers, whose is it then?' said Pat Hart, who lives down the street."
"'I don't feel safe living here, knowing there's a possibility that one can get out,' said Suzanne Fiorello, a mother of two who left Brooklyn for Jackson Township," located about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of New York City.
While police searched the woods of Jackson Township, another strange big cat incident took place on the other side of the continent, in southern Oregon.
"Several cougar sightings caused officials to post warnings throughout the town" of Shady Cove, Oregon (population 1,351), located on Highway 62 approximately 36 miles (57 kilometers) east of Grants Pass.
"Concern was piqued Monday (January 25, 1999) when authorities trapped a cougar under a deck near the Rogue River. Residents were being asked to accompany their children to and from school buses. Joggers and walkers were urged to use extra caution." (See USA Today for January 29, 1999, page 11-A.)
(Editor's Note: Similar "phantom cat" sightings occurred in Decatur, Illinois in July 1917 and June 1965. See the book WEIRD AMERICA by Jim Brandon, E.P. Dutton, New York, N.Y., 1978, page 78.)
THOUSANDS OF BIRDS FALL FROM THE SKY IN NORTHERN LOUISIANA
On Saturday, January 23, 1999, thousands of grackles, known locally as blackbirds, began falling dead from the sky near Bastrop, Louisiana (population 13,916), a city on Highways 2 and 139 approximately 323 miles (517 kilometers) north of New Orleans.
By ones, twos and dozens, the grackles "have been landing in yards and along a five miles stretch of Louisiana (Highway) 425 since Saturday." The fall of dead grackles continued for five straight days, through Thursday, January 28, 1999.
"Either encephalitis or another virus, pesticide or avian botulism may be causing the deaths of thousands of grackles...It could take days or weeks to determine the true cause." (See USA Today for January 29, 1999, page 11-A)
This was the second mysterious mass demise of birds during the past six months. On October 30, 1998, in Tacoma, Washington, "About 300 starlings dropped out of the sky. Neither poison nor disease was the cause. The birds all suffered crunched chests and blood clots in hearts and lungs. Since starlings fly in tight formations, some speculated they had smashed into the side of a large truck, or perhaps a wind gust had thrown them to earth violently." (See the Houston Chronicle for October 31, 1998, "Bird deaths still mystery." Many thanks to William R. Corliss of Science Frontiers for the item, which appeared in issue Number 121, January-February 1999, of Science Frontiers newsletter.)
ROUNDUP CORRIGENDA
Sorry about the date typo in last week's lead story. It should read 1999, not 1998.
Also, Australian ufologist Diane Harrison is affiliated with the UFO Australian Research Network Hotline. Ross Dowe informs me that Australasian UFO Hotline is a registered name and trademark of Australia's National Space Centre. Thanks, Ross, for sending in your clarification.
from the UFO Files...
1880: THE STRANGE DOOM OF LOUIS STONEHOUSE
One of the strangest incidents in the history of Lake Ontario took place on November 17, 1880 aboard the coal-carrying schooner Garibaldi.
"The Garibaldi was bound for Toronto from Fairhaven, New York with 150 tons of coal. She sailed the length of the lake under storm canvas, blown by the screaming ice-laden wind, before dropping her hook (anchor--J.T.) outside the harbor to wait for better weather before trying to enter Weller's Bay," Ontario, Canada.
"For 15 terrible hours the Garibaldi safely rode out the howling gale. After her anchor cable finally broke, the crew tried to sail the beleagured vessel into the harbor, but their efforts were in vain."
"Driven by a screeching west wind, the schooner blew hard onto an offshore sandbar. Battered by the waves, the old schooner began to break up. The ship's yawl was smashed to kindling by a massive boarding sea, preventing any effort to abandon her. Some of the crew were eventually taken off by local men using an old lifeboat, but the boat was too rickety to make another trip through the surf, leaving the rest stranded on a dying schooner."
"All of the remaining crew, except for one, climbed high into the frozen rigging and lashed themselves tight in the hopes of survivng the storm. The mate, Louis Stonehouse, doubtlessly muttering curses against the fury of the lake, went below the deck."
"For the men aboard the old schooner, the long night was filled with horror. Towering waves crashed into the hull, sending freezing spray flying over the ship. Ice formed heavy on the deck and caked thick on the rigging. Hour by hour, the ice built up higher and higher on the Garibaldi until, when the cold dawn finally broke, she was more ice than wood."
"When a rescue party eventually made it out to her, they found the men in the rigging still clinging to life, but only barely."
"Louis Stonehouse was a different story. Down below they discovered the old mate standing silently in the cabin, frozen solid in a block of translucent ice. His boney hands were raised high over his head, as if in a last desperate effort to ward off the shimmering ice demons."
No one was ever able to explain how the Garibaldi crew, exposed to freezing spray and wind chills well below zero, survived up in the rigging, while Louis Stonehouse, down below in the warmer cabin, became embedded in a coffin-sized block of ice.
The strange doom of Louis Stonehouse remains one of Lake Ontario's weirdest mysteries. (See the book HAUNTED LAKES by Frederick Stonehouse, Lake Superior Port Cities Inc., Duluth, Minnesota, 1997, pages 147 and 148.)
FUN UFO WEBSITES
Ian Darlington says the Cornwall UFO Research Group (CUFORG) has a new website up and running. Check it out at http://www.interweb-design.co.uk/cuforg/
Keep up with NASA's latest new space science projects at this site -- http://spacescience.nasa.gov
Giorgio Soulkalos announced a new website for the Archeology, Astronautics and SETI Research Association (AAS-RA). Feel free to look over their website at http://www.aas-ra.org
Don't miss the newest UFO photos from Toronto, Canada, provided by Jennifer Jarvis and her research team. They're the latest addition to the gallery at our parent site, UFOINFO. Stay awhile and peruse all of the photos, features, news stories and links UFOINFO has to offer. Drop in at http://ufoinfo.com
Back issues of UFO Roundup can be read, accessed and downloaded from our webpage. Feel free to drop in any time at this URL: http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/
Join us next week for more saucer news from around the planet, brought to you by "the paper that goes home--UFO Roundup." See you then.
UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1999 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 list the date of issue in which the item first appeared.
