UFO ROUNDUP Volume 3 Number 48
Volume 3
Number 48
November 30, 1998
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
ISRAEL TRAINS BRIGADE FOR OPERATION ABACUS
Although not a member of NATO, Israel has begun making military preparations for possible civil unrest on December 31, 1999 caused by the Year 2000 computer crisis.
Last week Israel became the third nation, after Canada and UK, to announce military operations related to the Y2K crisis. The code name for these Y2K preparations is Operation Abacus.
According to the New York Post, "The Israeli government has allocated $10 million to counter possible 'millenium' attacks on Jerusalem's Temple Mount by messianic Christians or Jewish extremists, it was disclosed yesterday (i.e. November 23, 1998)."
"Investigators believe some religious fanatics may try to damage or destroy the area inside Jerusalem's Old City that houses the Al-Aqsa and Dome of the Rock mosques and was the site of the destroyed second Jewish temple."
"Some apocalyptic religious sects believe the destruction of the mosques will lead to the rebuilding of the Jewish temple--followed by the second coming of Christ and the end of the world."
"The (Israeli) government is so concerned that it approved the hiring of 400 policemen and the installation of security devices such as closed- circuit cameras and sensor pads in the area, officials said."
"Interior Minister Avigdor Kahalani told Israeli radio yesterday the government had received information of a possible plot against the Temple Mount by American religious fanatics."
"An Israeli police source said officials are concerned because members of a Denver-based Christian cult had left the U.S. last month, taken residence in the center of Jerusalem and then disappeared."
"U.S. law enforcement officials are cooperating in an investigation." (See the New York Post for November 24, 1998, "Israel readies $10M to thwart 2000 violence" by Uri Dan, page 22.)
DAYLIGHT DISC STALKS JETLINER IN WEST VIRGINIA
On Wednesday, November 18, 1998, Jerry F. and his daughter were leaving their home in Cross Lanes, West Virginia (population 2,130) when he spotted a strange glimmer in the sky.
"My daughter and I were leaving our home at approximately 8 a.m.," Jerry reported, "I leave at this time every day to take her to school, and then I drive to work. As I entered the garage, I looked up into the sky to see a jet--a (Boeing) 727-- fly overhead. It was high up enough that it left a very clear contrail. Suddenly, at a very close range above the plane, a silver/grey disc appeared. It flew directly over the top of the plane and was making a side-to-side swaying motion, almost like a leaf falling. As it moved, the sun glinted off it, and it shone very brightly."
"Suddenly, from the east, a jet (delta shape) came screaming toward the UFO. At that point, it (the UFO--J.T.) had stopped, and the passenger plane had already moved away. The UFO glowed very brightly and then shot straight up and was out of sight in seconds. By the time my daughter arrived to see it, the UFO was gone."
"I have an Air Force Intelligence background," he added, "and what I saw is nothing I am familiar with."
Cross Lanes is on Highway 62 approximately 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Charleston, the state capital. (Email Interview)
TRAPEZOIDAL UFO SEEN IN LAUREL, MISSISSIPPI
On Thursday, November 19, 1998, at 7 p.m., student Derek D. "was driving home from college" on Interstate Highway I-59 in Laurel, Mississippi when he spotted a strange light in the sky.
"A light in the sky caught my attention to my right," Derek reported, "and I spotted what first appeared to be an airplane.crossing my view to the left. As I went through a slow curve, I watched the plane, hoping to catch a glimpse of what kind it was. Strangely, after a few minutes, it appeared to hover over the local Waffle House. It then began reversing course. By now I had noticed a series of bright blue lights on the underside of the craft, which partially illuminated the underside. Instantly I pulled my car off to the side to watch."
"What I saw was best described as a trapezoid shape, with a rectangle poking out of the left (front) side. It had red and white lights around the perimeter at odd intervals, and the blue lights in the center of the underside. It was enormous. I estimated the size to be comparable to a football field. I don't believe this was a blimp, but it may have been some bomber plane configuration that I am not familiar with. Whatever it was, it was visible and agile but without the 'lightspeed' blinding acceleration."
Laurel (population 18,827) is on Interstate Highway I-59 approximately 77 miles (123 kilometers) southeast of Jackson, the state capital. (Many thanks to J. Michael of Mississippi UFO Files for this report.)
UFOs ACTIVE ALL AROUND COLORADO'S BLANCA PEAK
On Saturday, November 14, 1998, at 9:15 a.m., June Walkley was returning home to Blanca, Colorado (population 140), "returning from dropping off her relatives," when she spotted something unusual over the Smith Reservoir, west of town.
"While driving south on (County) Road 106," Ms. Walkley "spotted a great big silver V 'hovering over the Smith Reservoir.' She stopped the car and watched for around a minute."
She estimated that the UFO "was at least 10 miles (16 kilometers) away to the east and estimated its size as a quarter held at arm's length. After watching for a minute, the object appeared to go straight up and out of sight."
On Tuesday, November 17, 1998, a realtive of June Walkley and her husband, Virgil, whom she described to author/investigator Christopher O'Brien as "a strong skeptic," said he "witnessed three strange objects hovering over the San Juan Mountains near Greenie Ridge. The objects appeared to be reflecting the setting sun and were 'sitting still.' The the witness 'was amazed' when the objects disappeared."
On Thursday, November 19, 1998, at 11:15 p.m., "an ex-career officer of the U.S. Air Force" telephoned O'Brien "to report 'a multi-colored light yo-yoing up and down--like on a string.' He summoned two other witnesses, who "observed the strange light. One witness reported that the light stayed there for 'almost an hour...before blinking out.'" (Many thanks to Christopher O'Brien, author of THE MYSTERIOUS VALLEY) for these reports.)
TWO UFOs SEEN IN SINGAPORE DURING LEONID METEOR STORM
On Wednesday, November 18, 1998, at 3:25 a.m., Simon T.C.M. and his sister, Joanna T.A.M., were standing in an open field on Hill View Avenue in the island city-nation of Singapore, watching the Leonid meteor shower.
"I and my sister had been watching the meteor storm since 2 a.m.," Simon reported, "and I was lucky enough only to see three very bright and fast needle- like meteor showers. Then my sister and I saw the strange meteor. It stayed in the sky for at least four seconds, and it was shining brightly and seemed to be dropping slowly downward. It was dark orange in colour and round in shape. It disappeared before I could raise my binoculars to get a clear look."
"It is very strange because all the other meteor showers were under two seconds. And the orange light glided (east) to where the meteors came from. It also did not shine brightly like the others and disappeared into the dark."
Elsewhere in Singapore, witnesses spotted a luminous gray sphere. Rennie H. reported, "My wife and son and myself were at East Coast Beach when at about 3:15 a.m. or so, we witnessed a not-too-bright dull gray object moving from the left to the right in a straight line for a long period. The position as we saw it was...first at the horizon (in the southwest) toward (Palau) Batam (island) and then the object was between the top of one's head and the horizon. This happened after two meteor showers and about five minutes before a short meteor shower began." (Email Interviews)
MOTORISTS SPOT UFOs IN DEVON, UK
On Monday, November 16, 1998, at 6:35 a.m., "Father and son Paul and Lee Holloway of Rose Cottage, Bradworthy (Devon) spotted the lights while driving toward Bideford at 6:35 a.m."
"'I saw something flashing in the sky like an aeroplane,' Lee said, 'It moved from one direction to the other. We kept on driving. Then from behind us there was a massive flash of light."
Lee "compared the flash to lightning, but said it was several times brighter, lasting five or six seconds. From just behind the car, the light went directly over them before disappearing."
"British UFO Research Association regional investigator Dave Cooper described the event as a UFO sighting and added, 'Lee is basically on the classic encounter level of eyewitnesses. It's an encounter of the second kind--an object--rather than alien beings.'"
"Pauline Smith witnessed a phenomenon while driving along the North Devon link road between South Molton and Tiverton," about 150 miles (240 kilometers) west of London.
"'I was driving up the link road about 6:15 a.m. and it blinked for about half an hour. I saw two objects in the sky about 5,000 feet (1,515 meters) up,'" Ms. Smith said.
"'They were equidistant from the moon, and I think they both had reduced flashing lights. They were both keeping up with each other. They disappeared and came back. I think I saw one of them drop vertically, but I couldn't swear ot it,'" said Ms. Smith, who lives at Sunnyside, Woolsery, Devon. (See the North Devon Journal for November 20, 1998, "UFO sightings 'extraordinary,'" page 1.)
MORE UFO SIGHTINGS ON THE M-1 NEAR SHEFFIELD
On Sunday, November 22, 1998, at 8:05 p.m., a member of UK's Phenomenon Research Association (PRA) was "motoring in a car along the M-1 (motorway)" when he spotted "a large black flying triangle hovering, nose down, about a quarter-mile off the motorway just north of the M-1/M18 intersecting junction, Junction 22."
"The witness described the FT as huge with numerous lights and appeared to be made up of a girder-like structure. He was unable to stop, but noticed that other drivers had pulled onto the 'hard shoulder' (breakdown lane in the USA-J.T.) to look at the FT craft."
"A later report from a driver coming off the M-1 and heading toward the Sheffield area (adjacent to the M-1/M18 junction) reported a roaring sound in the sky at about 2005 (8:05 p.m.--J.T.), and he also noted that he does not believe it was an aircraft noise." (Many thanks to Oscar Fowler of PRA and Steve Wilson Sr. for this report.)
UFOs SEEN IN ALICE SPRINGS AND AROUND BRISBANE
On Monday, November 8, 1998, at 2:30 a.m., Ms. M. Harvey arose from bed at her home in Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia "and went outside where she sighted a bright white light to the north."
Ms. Harvey told Australian ufologist Keith Douglass that "I saw what appeared to be a bright silver ball. I watched it for around one hour. There was no noise. It was nearly over my head at one stage. Then it went straight up and disappeared out of sight."
On Saturday, November 14, 1998, at 7:40 p.m., two witnesses at Breakfast Creek near Hamilton Road in Brisbane saw "two bright lights side by side, white in colour, the size of a five-cent piece at arm's length. One light appeared to cross over the other, and then both disappeared."
On Wednesday, November 18, 1998, at 3:35 a.m., Anthony Tinnis was driving on the Bruce Highway in Strathpine, Queensland, near Brisbane, "going to work, when I saw an object. Colour, gun-metal gray and flourescent blue, shaped like a round bowl with a rime around it."
Tinnis said, "I could see it very clearly, and it was very low, about a half-mile (2,600 feet--J.T.) off the ground. It was travelling on a straight line (west) toward Toowoomba. I saw it for 2.5 to 3 seconds. I watched a bluish gas flame two meters (6.6 feet) long" emerge from the object.
Tinnis added that he "is a Christian and does not believe in UFOs." (Many thanks to Diane Harrison of UFO Network Australasia and Robert Frola of UFO Investigation Centre, Queensland for these reports.)
UFO SIGHTED BY A COUPLE IN NIJMEGEN, NETHERLANDS
On Wednesday, November 25, 1998, at 9:45 p.m., a couple "was walking the dog" in Nijmegen, a large city in the Netherlands when they spotted a UFO.
"They were watching the sky for a short time when they saw what looked like a star getting brighter and brighter. The light was bluish-white in colour." The couple described the UFO as "somewhat eye-shaped" or elliptical in structure.
"It then moved energetically up and down for a short time before it shot off in the night once again." The object hovered over the southwest section of Nijmegen, and the condition of the sky was "cloudy but with a lot of clear spots."
Nijmegen is on the river Rhine approximately 140 kilometers (84 miles) southeast of Amsterdam. The city was the site of a ferocious World War II battle back in September 1944. (Many thanks to Andy Denne of A.U.R.A. for this report.)
UFO SQUADRON SIGHTED NEAR RAVENNA, ITALY
On Wednesday, November 18, 1998, several residents of Conselice, a town near Ravenna, an Italian city on the Adriatic Sea, climbed a local hill to watch the Leonid meteor shower.
Ravenna is 165 kilometers (103 miles) north of Rome.
Around 9:30 p.m., "three youths who were waiting to see the Leonid meteor shower observed a group of spheres that travelled from north to south. The spheres employed several minutes to traverse the vault of sky." (See the Italian newspaper Corriere di Ravenna for November 21, 1998. Grazie a Mirko Dalmonte e Edoardo Russo di Centro Italiano di Studi Ufologici, CISU, per questo rapporto.)
LUMINOUS UFO SPOTTED IN SLOVENIA
On Thursday, October 29, 1998, at 7:30 a.m., Radio Slovenija VAL 202 (98.9 FM) reported a UFO sighting at Ljubljanska Barje, a marshland not far from Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.
According to the commentator, a "strange glowing object" was seen hovering over the marshes. "The commentator said the station had dispatched a news crew to film the object. The object was reported to have been silver and shone very brightly."
On Sunday, November 1, 1998, two men in the same area "saw a bright ball of fire disappearing behind a hill. They say that they saw it for only a glimpse but it was almost twice the size of the moon."
Slovenia is a small nation in the Balkans, east of Italy and south of Austria. (Many thanks to Guiliano Marinkovic for this news story.)
WEIRD BROWN GOOP FALLS ON TWO MICHIGAN HOMES
In the second strange incident of its kind this year, weird brown goop fell from the sky and splattered two homes in Westland, Michigan (population 84,724), a suburb just west of Detroit.
The first "goop fall" took place near York, Pennsylvania early last spring.
"One minute Ernestine Stange's garage and driveway were white. The next, they were covered with thousands of textured brown droppings."
"Based on the number, the color of the droppings and the fact that they were on the rooftop, Stange assumed the droppings that fell last Tuesday (November 16, 1998) in Westland had been feces dumped from a plane."
"She made dozens of phone calls--to (Detroit Metro) airport officials, county health officials and the Michigan Department of Agriculture. On Thursday (November 18), an environmental specialist took samples."
"The verdict after tests--it's not feces, but beyond that, it remains a mystery."
"Metro Airport spokesman Leon Singer said, 'I can't tell you what it is. But I can tell you what it wasn't, and it wasn't human waste.'"
"'I'm worried about getting the mess cleaned up,' Stange said Monday (November 22), as she looked out her sliding glass door at her filthy garage. 'We've had several jokes about it. 'I've heard about it hitting the fan, but the garage?' 'You talk about sitting in a pile of it.' That kind of thing. But I'm really afraid of disease and everything else. I'm worried about my relatives and what might be in that stuff. I guess if it wasn't my house, I'd also find it funny.'"
"Stange's neighbor Mariusz Boguszewski said he doesn't think the residue is funny, either."
"'I was just going to let it go as an angry flock of birds, but my neighbor wants to investigate it. And they've got my curiosity up," he said Monday before the tests were completed."
"Stange said she doesn't think birds could make such a mess. 'They would've have to have had a convention right above my house and have everyone go at once.'"
Westland is on Ford Road about 18 miles (29 kilometers) west of Detroit. (See the newspaper Detroit Free Press for November 24, 1998, "From a bird? A plane? Mystery muck rains on roofs" by Beth Kronel. Many thanks to Gerry Lovell of Far Shores for forwarding the newspaper article.)
(Editor's Comment: Another fall of brown goop! Were he alive at this hour, no doubt Charles Fort would be turning cartwheels of sheer joy.)
from the UFO Files...
1909: LUMINOUS RED UFO SEEN BY HUNDREDS IN MASSACHUSETTS
During the next month, UFO Roundup will be offering several of the UFO sightings reported in local New England newspapers during the memorable "airship" flap of 1909.
To briefly recap, after UFOs were sighted hovering over the cities of Marlboro and Worcester, Massachusetts December 16, 1909, a local businessman, Wallace J. Tillinghast, stepped forward and claimed to have invented "a new aeroplane" in secret and flown to New York City on several occasions.
Yet the UFOs kept up their nightly flights, appearing on evenings when Tillinghast was seen at his Worcester home or while giving interviews to the Boston newspapers. Here is one such incident:
On December 22, 1909, "while the Worcester UFO was making its celebrated flight to Spencer and Marlboro and back, another 'mystery light' was active up north in the Montachusett region, putting on a show for the inhabitants of Leominster."
"A red light was spotted over Monument Square in downtown Leominster by several witnesses, including a reporter for the Leominster Enterprise. This object was stationary."
"Elsewhere in town, 'George Pratt, employed by the Upham Clothing Store, says that as he alighted from a (trolley) car at Nelson Street Wednesday night on his way to supper, he saw the 'red light' but would not say that it was a flying ship, only that it appeared 'six times as large as a star.' He said he went to George A. Allen's to tell him about it.'"
"'Mr. Allen was not at home, but Pratt says Mrs. Allen came out and she too saw the peculiar light. Pratt walked home and told his father, the latter going to the top of Nelson Street Hill where he says he was able to pick out the luminous orb from among the stars. Mr. Pratt says the light went (south) in the direction of Princeton (Mass.)." (See the Leominster, Mass. Enterprise for December 23, 1909. See also The New England Airship Invasion of 1909 by Joseph Trainor, FORTEAN STUDIES, Volume 1, John Brown Publishing Ltd., 1994, page 64.)
Today is the birthday of American novelist and humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. Clemens was born November 30, 1835, during a flyby of Halley's Comet. He passed away in Hartford, Connecticut on April 21, 1910, during the comet's return appearance. Comets held a strange fascination for Clemens. One of his last short stories, "Captain Stormfield's Trip to Heaven," deals with both comets and "blue- skinned aliens." Strangely enough, this year's anniversary of Clemens's birth sees a new comet at magnitude 8 crossing the sky.
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 1998 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.
