UFO ROUNDUP Volume 4 Number 15
Volume 4
Number 15
April 12, 1999
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
UFO BLAMED FOR ROOF COLLAPSE IN CANADA
A diamond-shaped UFO is being blamed for the unexplained collapse of a theatre roof in Kimberley, British Columbia, Canada (population 6,531).
The incident took place around midnight on Friday, March 5, 1999.
According to the East Kootenay Weekly, "A diamond- shaped UFO covered with flashing lights may have been responsible for the collapse of the McKim Theatre roof in Kimberley two weeks ago."
"That's the rumor setting the ski town a-buzz after about five witnesses reported seeing strange lights drifting slowly above the Bavarian City around midnight March 5."
"Fuelling speculation were reports of an unusual 'light show' spotted directly over the theatre roof just a few hours before its as-yet-unexplained collapse."
The UFO was first sighted at 10 p.m. when "Home care worker Gail Shay had just returned from work to her apartment at the Pioneer Lodge on Church Street. As she prepared to retire, she watched unusually bright lights hovering above the roof of the theatre."
"A second glance sent shivers up her spine."
"'It was like nothing I've ever seen before,' says Shay."
"'At first, it seemed that there was a crisscrossing spotlight going up into the sky from the roof of the school. (Editor's Note: The abandoned McKim Theatre is now an annex of Kimberley Middle School.) It was glimmering, like the northern lights. There were all these colours. Then the light spread out like a mushroom cloud, exactly on the same spot where the roof is (now) gone.'"
"'I was seeking through a list of possible explanations,' Shay said. She decided she must be hallucinating and crawled quickly into bed. 'I just kept thinking, Well, it's some unexplained natural phenomena... I can accept lots, but this was too much,' she said."
"Approximately one hour later, 68-year-old Ted Zawaski was shaken out of a deep sleep by a phone call."
"At the other end of the line was a friend in Chapman Camp, incoherently insisting that Zawaski take a look at the sky."
"After a few minutes, Zawaski said he was able to make sense of his friend's words--a diamond-shaped UFO covered with flashing lights was drifting slowly over the trees west of him."
"'The minute I saw it, I almost panicked, but because it was like nothing ever seen on Earth,' said Zawaski, who lives in Townsite."
"Excitedly swapping details with the friend in Chapman Camp, Zawaski watched the object from 12:15 to 12:40 a.m. when it drifted out of sight behind the trees."
"Zawaski admitted to being a bit of a UFO aficionado himself, and has spotted four UFOs in the past 30 years-- in Austria, Norway, near Calgary and Kimberley. However, the other three witnesses claimed they had never seen one (before) and weren't looking."
"Kimberley RCMP (Royal Candian Mounted Police--J.T.) received several telephone calls that night about the phenomenon, although they were unable to verify the sighting."
"'We're not about to speculate on the cause of the collapse, but we've heard all kinds of tales, including UFO sightings on Friday night,' said George Watson," director of School District No. 6.
Located in the Purcell Mountains, Kimberley is on Provincial Highway 95A about 520 miles (832 kilometers) east of Vancouver, B.C. (See the East Kootenay Weekly for March 23, 1999, "Did a UFO cause the new Kimberley School roof to collapse?" by Christine Boyd.
POLICEMEN IN CHILE OBSERVE A HOVERING UFO
On Friday, April 2, 1999, two Carabineros (officers of Chile's national police) observed a UFO hovering above a nearby mountaintop in Puerto Natales, a city located just north of the Strait of Magellan.
According to the Chilean newspaper La Tercera, "Two Carabineros stationed at the 3rd Commissariat of Puerto Natales in the extreme south of Chile claimed that they had seen an unidentified flying object while beginning a patrol in the city."
"According to the witnesses, the UFO was seen on the morning of Holy Friday (April 2). In their report, the officers, Sergeant Humberto Punitanco and Corporal Sergio Said said they had seen red, green and yellow lights on the object, which performed several side-to-side displacements, as it hovered in the sky near the summit of Mount Balmacoda."
"The object was visible from the highland section in the center of Puerto Natales." (See the newspaper La Tercera for April 4, 1999. Muchas gracias a Diego Zuniga y Guillermo Alarcon para esa historia.)
On Tuesday morning, April 6, 1999, "a UFO with multicolored lights was seen in Santiago de Chile," the national capital, "just after 1 a.m., with reports of 'an extraordinary presence' in the sky over the Estacion Central."
"In the barrio of Renca, a group of friends took a video of the OVNI (Spanish acronym for UFO--J.T.) which spent the better part of an hour circling Santiago. A close-up zoom image of the object shows a strange form in the shape of a T." (See La Tercera for April 7, 1999, "OVNI fue visto ayer en Santiago." Muchas gracias a Diego Zuniga para eso historia.)
HEAVY UFO ACTIVITY REPORTED IN PERU'S CUZCO REGION
On Monday, March 8, 1999, residents of Chinchero, a village in the Andes of Peru about 26 kilometers (16 miles) north of Cuzco, reported seeing a glowing UFO land in a field on the edge of town.
When the Quechua people of the village visited the field the following morning, "they found a large circular depression" in the ground.
More reports came from Lago de Huaypo, an alpine lake located 15 kilometers (9 miles) west of Chinchero. Area residents claimed to have seen "light ships entering and leaving" the remote lake. (Editor's Note: Lago de Huaypo is a notorious UFO hot spot, with many sightings there during 1967 and 1980.)
Researcher Kathy Doore stated that Chinchero "is the site of an impressive Incan ceremonial complex located along the ceques (ley lines) which radiate outward from the Curicancha (the Incas' Temple of the Sun--J.T.) in Cuzco. Local legends tell of strange beings interacting with the Quechua Indians of the area, and of 'light ships' emerging and descending to and from the watery depths of the lake." (Muchas gracia a Kathy Doore para esas historias.)
SILVER SPHERE UFO HOVERS ABOVE SAO PAULO
On Sunday, April 4, 1999, at 8:10 a.m., Sra. Milton entered her yard in the Jardim Saude section of Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city. Suddenly, she noticed a strange silvery gleam in the sky.
"I saw an ovoid (round) metallic object in the sky near Congonhas Airport," she reported, "It was reflecting the sunlight. The object first stopped, then made an abrupt move and stopped again. Then it returned to its first position."
While the silvery sphere hovered silently overhead, Sra. Milton ran in the house to fetch her husband. "But when they emerged from the house, the object was gone." (Muito obrigado a Thiago Ticchetti por eso caso.)
TRIANGULAR UFO SPOTTED IN MASSACHUSETTS
On Wednesday, April 7, 1999, at 10:58 p.m., Stacy S. "was looking through the second-story window of my home," near John Parker Road in East Falmouth, Massachusetts (population 5,577) when "I watched through the sheers strange double white lights resembling car headlights, across the sky through the maple trees."
"The craft came from the west, approximately at a 35 degree angle. Unfortunately, I had it in view only four or five seconds."
"As it approached my house, I could see that this aircraft was not making a sound. It was only slightly above the maple trees in my front yard, moving with absolutely no noise. It had a triangular shape with a large spotlight thing on each end of it with pulsating red lights underneath it."
"My mind was thinking that it's just an airplane, but its silence and fluid motion told me this was not so. As it rose above the treeline, it shifted slightly to the right and flew over our house until I could see it no longer."
"I am now convinced there are UFOs in the sky," Stacy added, "This was like nothing I have ever seen."
East Falmouth is on Cape Cod, just off Route 28 about 75 miles (120 kilometers) southeast of Boston. (Email Interview)
UFOs SIGHTED IN UNIONVILLE AND FAIRGROVE, MICHIGAN
Two small towns in "the Thumb" of Michigan were the focus of UFO activity Tuesday night, March 16, 1999.
"Adiel DeBoever said he was the first to call Tuscola County Central Dispatch around 8:30 p.m. March 16 just after he spotted the lights in the sky hovering over his home."
"DeBoever said this is the first time he's seen lights like this. He said they were bright orange in color and looked to be shining from the inside of an object."
"'The lights weren't like a spotlight shining down from the sky, but they were very noticeable,' he said."
The sightings took place in Unionville, Michigan (population 590), a town on Highway 138 about 113 miles (181 kilometers) north of Detroit.
"The sighting by DeBoever was just one of five reports that night by area residents who say they saw an unidentified flying object."
"DeBoever, who lives on Cottage Drive near Unionville, said the lights all blinked out of sight and then came back on."
"DeBoever thinks as far as distance, the lights probably were over half a mile away to the east, just above a Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wetland when he saw them."
"'They spread out the entire length of a football field. There were two sets of lights which were bright orange. The large one could be seen further away,' he said. 'When my nephew came out of the house. I said, 'Eddie, there's a UFO in the sky.' just joking and then the lights blinked out, but came on again later.'"
"Officials at Tuscola County Central Dispatch say they have no explanation for what the lights were that night...Shortly after DeBoever's call, Central Dispatch received a call at 8:57 p.m. from a Juanita township resident who reported seeing orange lights in the sky."
"Just two minutes later, a Novesta township man called with another sighting. Callers from Fremont township and the Fairgrove area" (population 592), another town on Highway 138 approximately 13 miles (21 kilometers) southwest of Unionville, "followed. The callers described seeing orange lights in the shape of a football field, while the Fairgrove residents reported seeing a Z-shaped formation in the sky."
"Officials from the Selfridge (Michigan) Air National Guard base said they couldn't offer any explanation about the lights in the sky and no sightings were reported to the base."
However, Michigan ufologist Jeffrey S. Westover interviewed news reporter Jay Brandow of WNEM-TV, Channel 5, a CBS affiliate in Saginaw, Michigan. Westover wrote, "Brandow told me that Selfridge had sent two F-16s into the area" the night of the UFO sightings. (See the newspapers Marlette, Mich. Leader and the Huron Daily Tribune of Bad Axe, Mich. for March 31, 1999, "Unusual sightings in the sky peak interest in The Thumb." Many thanks to Jeffrey S. Westover for forwarding the newspaper article.)
Y2K: MARINES, NAVY HOLD MARTIAL LAW EXERCISE IN FLORIDA MIDDLE SCHOOL
On Thursday morning, March 25, 1999, platoons of U.S. Marines, Navy and Coast Guard personnel occupied the Hobbs Middle School in Pensacola, Florida (population 58, 165)
According to the Pensacola, Fla. News-Journal, "The sleepy atmosphere that pervades the grounds was broken at Hobbs Middle School on Thursday morning by the sound of Marines, Navy and Coast Guard pilots marching through the school's halls."
"While sixth graders in Lynnette Whitfield's geography class were watching CNN reports of a NATO airstrike against Yugoslavia, they heard a voice bark over the intercom, 'Military personnel, take your classrooms.'"
"The mock takeover of Hobbs Middle School by pilots and flight students from Whiting Field was a way to illustrate what martial law is all about, said Lt. Troy Beshears, a Coast Guard pilot assigned to Whiting Field Naval Air Station" in Pensacola.
"But once the sailors and Marines were in the classroom, their mission was to teach for a day subjects such as math, science, history and geography and give teachers a break."
"'We're going for the shock value initially,' said Navy Lt. Dan Deutermann, 29, but in the classroom, we're showing the students practical applications for what they're learning.'"
"Several students brought up questions about the Kosovo situation."
"Seventh grader Corey Keenlan selected Yugoslavia when a Navy ensign teaching geography asked students to name their favorite European country."
"One of Whitfield's students, Julie McCool, said the presence of the military personnel in her school made the news she'd been watching from Yugoslavia seem a little more real."
"'I just don't want it to get much worse,' said Julie, (age) 12."
"The visit is part of Whiting Field's Adopt-A-School program controlled by Breshears." All personnel participating in the "visit" were reportedly volunteers. (See the Pensacola, Fla. News-Journal for March 26, 1999, story by Jenny LaCoste.)
(Editor's Comment: Were I a property-owning taxpayer in Pensacola, I would be burning up the telephone lines to City Hall, inquiring why my taxes are paying a teacher $25 per hour to sit around twiddling their thumbs while military personnel do the teaching for them. But worse than that is using those children as "Serbian stand-ins" for a martial law training exercise. Adopt-A-School Program, indeed. Sounds like something Madeleine K. Albright dreamed up.)
"SANTA ROSA WOMAN" MAY BE THE OLDEST AMERICAN
"Bones of a woman found on California's Channel Islands might be among the oldest human remains found so far in North America, and they could support theories that the first Americans came by sea rather than over a land bridge, scientists say."
"The bones of the so-called Arlington Springs woman are probably 13,000 years old, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday," April 11, 1999.
"That would make her slightly older than the oldest known skeletons in North America, which were found in Montana, Idaho and Texas." (Editor's Note: And about 2,000 years older than New Mexico's "Folsom Man.")
"'Bottom line is, she may be the earliest inhabitant of North America we have discovered. It's a find of national significance,' said John Johnson, curator of anthropology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, which is part of a team researching the woman's bones."
"The work was described in a paper presented March 30 at the Fifth California Islands Symposium at the museum."
"The remains--two thigh bones--were discovered at Arlington Springs on Santa Rosa Island 40 years ago and kept at the Santa Barbara museum."
"Recently researchers at the museum and Channel Islands National Park conducted DNA and radiocarbon tests that were unavailable when the bones were first found."
"One test produced an estimate that the bones are 11,000 years old (about the same as Folsom Man--J.T.), and a second gives an age of about 13,000 years, the Times said." (See USA Today for April 12, 1999, "Recovered human bones may be oldest in North America," page 19A.)
BANDLEADER DISAPPEARANCE SOLVED AFTER FIFTY YEARS
For years the famous bandleader Glenn Miller, whose plane disappeared on December 15, 1944, has been part and parcel of UFO lore.
Miller, whose hit tunes of the 1940s included In The Mood and Chattanooga Choo-Choo, was the subject of many unusual theories, including
(A) His plane was shot down by a "foo fighter" (mid-1940s name for UFOs--J.T.) over the English Channel.
(B) His plane was halted by a tractor beam and hauled aboard a gigantic flying saucer.
(C) He was abducted by small aliens from his hotel in the Montmartre section of Paris.
(D) His distinctive eyeglasses, with the monogram GM, were among the debris found in the desert near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947.
The truth, however, is much more mundane than that. Miller's plane crashed as a result of a horrifying military mishap over the Channel.
The night of December 15, 1944, Miller boarded a single-propellor-engine Norseman D-64, which was to fly him to Paris for a band concert.
Meanwhile, a four-engine Royal Air Force Lancaster bomber--one of the hundreds sent to Germany that night by RAF Bomber Command--developed engine trouble over France and was granted permission to return to their base in East Anglia, UK.
Aboard "M Mother" was airman/navigator Fred Shaw. Once the Lancaster was over the Channel, the pilot told the bombardier to jettison their load of 4,000-pound Grand Slam bombs. The bombardier hit the toggle, adding, "Bombs gone!"
Shaw watched as the "stick" of Grand Slam bombs began their 22,000-foot drop into the sea. Then he spotted the Norseman approaching from the northwest.
"I watched the plane flying south," Shaw wrote, "Around it, the sea bubbled and blustered with the exploding bombs. As each bomb burst, I could see the blast wave from it radiating outward. It was obvious the airplane was in trouble, so I watched intently."
"Just before it went out of sight, I saw it flip over in what looked like a spin. Eventually I saw it disappear into the Channel."
(Editor's Comment: Sounds like the blast vibration shattered the Norseman's ailerons.)
"'Dad was an aviation buff, and he knew what Miller's plane looked like,' Shaw's daughter Cheryl Fillmore tells Globe. 'He told me he saw the Norseman at exactly the same time Miller went missing.'"
"The (M Mother's RAF) logbook, along with letters and photos of Shaw and his bomber crew are being auctioned this month by Sotheby's." (See the Globe for April 5, 1999, "Solved! Mystery of Glenn Miller's Death," by John Bell.)
from the UFO Files...
1953: TWO USAF RECON PLANES CHASE A UFO OVER SOUTH KOREA
On Sunday, April 19, 1953, at about 1 p.m., a reconnaissance plane of the U.S. Air Force's Far Eastern Air Force (FEAF) was on a routine patrol over Seoul, the capital of South Korea.
The three-man crew included the pilot, Lt. Julius Morgan, plus observers, Lt. James O. Rymus and Lt. John E, Myers. During these last days of the Korean War, they were hunting for hostile MiGs from North Korea or China. But instead they encountered something else entirely.
"A white shiny round object was seen over Seoul at approximately 1 p.m. today. Aerial observers in two separate planes flying routine reconnaissance missions observed a white, rounded, delta-shaped object. It was estimated to be five to seven feet in diameter. The observers had no idea of its depth or thickness."
"It was traveling between 60 to 80 mph (miles per hour) in a vibrating motion. The course of flight was north-northeast to south-southwest over enemy (North Korean) territory."
"The object had no visible means of propulsion and sometimes flew only 100 feet (30 meters) above the ground."
"The fliers, four Americans on reconnaissance flight, said it appeared to be round, only 10 feet (3 meters) in diameter, and about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Panmunjom."
Interestingly, one of the observers made the offhand remark that "other luminous objects traveling at supersonic speeds of 800 miles per hour had been observed in the Baldy/Pork Chop area and tracked on radar."
The peaks of Old Baldy and Pork Chop Hill were the scenes of heavy fighting the month before this UFO sighting. (See APRO Bulletin, volume 1, number 6 for May 15, 1953. Quoted in Advanced Aerial Devices Reported During the Korean War by Richard F. Haines, LDA Press, Los Altos, California, 1990, pages 60 and 61.)
FUN UFO WEBSITES
Want to learn more about the mysterious Tomb of Osiris, discovered in November 1998 by Dr. Zahi Hawass? Check out this site--http://www.owdo.ndirect.co.uk/london8.htm
There's a great paper by veteran ufologist George D. Fawcett now online. It's entitled "UFO Repititions: A Challenge to Scientific Investigation," and you can read it at this URL: http://www.chucara.com/dossiers/other/gdfawcett_ang.htm
Don't miss our parent site, UFOINFO, with its wide array of news stories, photos, features and links. Drop in any time at this URL: http://ufoinfo.com
Back issues of UFO Roundup can be accessed and downloaded at our webpage. Come, stay awhile and browse at our webpage at http://ufoinfo.com/roundup
ROUNDUP CORRIGENDA
The date in last issue's story from LaVerne, California should read March 29, not August 29.
Also, J.R. Gillis is a member of Independent Researchers Association for Anomalous Phenomena (IRAAP), not MUFON. Our newsletter regrets the error.
Join us next time for more saucer news from "the paper that goes home--UFO Roundup." See you soon.
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.
