UFO ROUNDUP Volume 4 Number 19
Volume 4
Number 19
August 31, 1999
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
CROP CIRCLES APPEAR IN ALBERTA
Canada's Alberta province was the site of two crop circle incidents last week.
On Monday, August 23, 1999, Dr. James Butler, professor of conservation biology at the University of Alberta, discovered an array of crop circles on the university's farm just south of Edmonton (population 616,741).
According to Gordon Kijek of the Alberta UFO Study Group, Dr. Butler found five crop circles "in mixed wheat" on the farm, including "one large 20-meter circle with four satellite circles in almost exact compass headings."
The satellite circles "were of slightly different diameters but all just under seven meters across."
Kijek reported that "the center circle is connected to the satellites by pathways approximately three meters wide, and the crop is laid down being turned toward the satellites. All five circles are laid in a clockwise direction."
Dr. Butler reported that there were "no swollen nodes," broken stems or "lifted soil at the roots." However, the professor has not ruled out the possibility of a fraud by university students.
On Friday, August 27, 1999, farmer Bill Swiderski of Ardmore, Alberta, northeast of Edmonton reported the discovery of crop circles in his hay field.
Swiderski said he had found six circles in the field, "all about the same size, about four feet (1.3 meters) in diameter. Each circle is a 'fat ring' with a standing one-foot-wide centre. Three are grouped together in a semi-circle, equal distances apart. The other three are a distance away from these."
Swiderski told Paul Anderson of Circles Phenomenon Research-Canada that he had found "the same (crop) circles in this spot for the past three years now."
Anderson said the circles were "on hilly ground with sand deposits," adding that Swiderski "has not sprayed or fertilized the field recently."
The Edmonton and Ardmore crop circles are, respectively, the fifth and the sixth formations in Canada this year. (Many thanks to Paul Anderson of Circles Phenomenon Research-Canada for these reports. Also, don't miss the great story about Paul and CPR-Canada in the August 19, 1999 issue of The Western Producer, Canada's leading agricultural magazine.)
SOLITARY UFO SPOTTED EAST OF LIMA, PERU
On Tuesday, June 29, 1999, Edgar Olmos Herrera accompanied several American and Peruvian friends on a camping trip to Peru's Marcahuasi plateau, in the foothills of the Andes.
The party made camp about 8 kilometers (5 miles) southeast of Huingo, a village on the Rio Santa Eulalia about 70 kilometers (42 miles) east of Lima, the national capital.
"It ws the coldest time in the Andes," Edgar reported. (Editor's Note: June is a winter month in Peru and the other countries of the southern hemisphere.) "But we had some red wine and a blazing bonfire to keep us warm."
After the Americans went to sleep, Edgar and the Peruvians stayed up to skywatch. "We decided to watch for UFO activity. This place is known for it. There was a full moon, and the sky was brilliant with stars. Venus shone beautifully."
"All of a sudden, this one star moved sideways to our right," he reported. "It moved very slow, but it did move. All of a sudden, it simply disappeared. One moment it was there, and the next it was gone. I'm telling you, we were watching this thing while we sat by the fire and drank. And then it just disappeared and never came back." (Muchas gracias a Edgar Olmos Herrera para esa historia.)
(Editor's Comment: Just south of Huingo, and in the same area of the Marcahuasi as their campsite, are two clusters of millenia-old adobe pyramids, known as huacas in Peru. The pyramids belong to an unknown pre-Mochica civilization. Here we have another case of UFOs linked to ancient pyramids in Peru.)
YELLOW UFO HOVERS OVER SUBURB OF BRASILIA
On Tuesday, August 10, 1999, at 8 p.m., a circular yellow OVNI (Portuguese acronym for UFO--J.T.) appeared over Setor QNJ and Setor QNH in the city of Taguatinga in Brazil.
Taguatinga is a suburb of Brasilia, the national capital, located in the Distrito Federal, just across Lago da Paranoa from Brasilia.
(Editor's Comment: And your editor ought to know. I lived for a week in Taguatinga during my 1978 trip to Brazil. A truly lovely city--the Pearl of the Planalto.)
"Residents recognized it as an OVNI overflying the city at an altitude of 20 meters," Julio Barone Neto reported. "The object also appeared to open and close. No details of its surface could be seen other than a bright yellow luminous glow."
"As it turned, the witnesses realized that it was moving very rapidly and sending golden rays of light earthwards. A photo of the OVNI was taken by a photographer using low- resolution film for an exposure of 30 seconds."
Colonel Mizael, a spokesman for CINDACTA (Brazil's NORAD--J.T.) reportedly told the media that the radar sets at Brasilia's international airport "had seen nothing out of the ordinary." (Muito obrigado ao Julio Barone Neto e Guillermo Alarcon por eso caso.)
ECLIPSE WATCHERS SEE LUMINOUS PHENOMENA IN NORMANDY
On Wednesday, August 11, 1999, sky watchers lined the beaches of Normandy, waiting to catch a glimpse of the last total eclipse of the Twentieth Century.
But the gang in Fecamp got more than they bargained for.
Fecamp is in the department Seine- Maritime about 192 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of Paris. Amateur astronomers and other skywatchers lined the limestone cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
As the eclipse approached totality, "a strange luminous phenomenon" was observed on the horizon. The observers were adamant that the mysterious floating lights "were not caused by helicopters or meteorological balloons sent aloft during the eclipse." (Merci beaucoup a Thierry Garnier et France OVNI pour ces nouvelles.)
MYSTERY ANIMALS SHOW UP IN THE USA AND UK
The USA reported yet another phantom panther case last week, this time in the Pacific Northwest.
The city of Port Angeles, Washington state, USA (population 17,710) has had repeated sightings of a large feline variously described as a cougar or puma, a black panther or an African lioness.
According to USA Today, "Olympic National Park officials issued a warning to campers with children that a cougar is prowling the Sol Duc campground. A big cat attacked a 65-pound dog and inflicted head injuries before the dog's owner could chase off the predator. It was the third cougar sighting in a week."
Port Angeles is on the Olympic Peninsula approximately 84 miles (134 kilometers) northeast of Seattle via ferry. (See USA Today for August 30, 1999, page A-7. See also the Port Angeles, Wash. News for August 29, 1999.)
In the UK, Cornish fishermen were astounded last week when they sighted a great white shark just offshore.
"A rare great white shark--made infamous by (the movie) Jaws--was sighted by a group of fishermen off the Cornish coast near Padstow in southwest England."
"The 16-foot-long shark came within six feet of the fishermen's boat and stuck its head out of the water before swimming off."
"Said fisherman Phil Britts, 'I reckon it had been following us for a couple of miles. Suddenly, this huge shape broke the surface...and cruised past us within six feet of the stern. I was absolutely gobsmacked!'"
Padstow is in Cornwall, UK about 55 miles (88 kilometers) west of Plymouth. (See the Minneapolis, Minn. Star-Tribune for August 26, 1999, "Great white shark spotted.")
(Editor's Comment: If global warming is heating up the Gulf Stream, that might explain the presence of the great white shark off Padstow. However, a warmer Gulf Stream may not be such a good thing. Imagine the havoc if a Hurricane Dennis crossed the Atlantic and went ashore in the British Isles.)
BLACK HELICOPTER SEEN IN ARCADIA, INDIANA
On Friday, August 20, 1999, an Army veteran of the Gulf War spotted a solitary black helicopter flying swiftly at treetop height over Arcadia, Indiana (population 1,468), a small town about 31 miles (49 kilometers) north of Indianapolis.
The witness told his neighbor, B.B., that he had seen "a black (AH-64) Apache with no markings flying low just above the treetops." The chopper made a beeline to the north, flying parallel to Indiana Highway 19.
B.B. said the witness "thought it was going north towards Grissom Air Force Base." (Email Interview)
A strange convoy was reported in western Ontario province, Canada, two weeks ago, according to Newswatch magazine.
In his August 24 radio broadcast, editor David J. Smith said a large European cargo ship offloaded 30 Russian T-80 tanks in Sault Sainte Marie, Ont. (population 81,476), Canada's big port at the entrance to Lake Superior.
The tanks were white in color with the black letters UN on the turret. Each tank was reportedly loaded onto a Canadian National flatcar. Smith said the train left the city in a northerly direction, heading up the Algoma Central tracks.
Sault Sainte Marie, also known as "the Soo," is located 490 miles (780 kilometers) west of Ottawa, the national capital.
According to Smith, when the train stopped in Wawa, Ont. (population 4,272), about 140 miles (224 kilometers) north of the Soo, some residents spoke to an officer of the Slovenian Army, who was dressed in camoflauge BDUs (battle-dress uniform--J.T.) and asked what the tanks were doing in Ontario.
According to Smith, the English- speaking Slovenian officer said they "were on their way to White River for urban pacification exercises."
(Editor's Comment: White River, Ont. is on Highway 17 about 200 miles, or 320 kilometers, northwest of the Soo. I've been there. The town is tiny, and it's most famous for its giant thermometer sign alongside the highway, which proclaims it "the coldest spot in Canada." In winter, the temperature has been known to fall to minus 72 degrees Fahrenheit. Certainly an odd place fpr "urban training exercises.")
Y2K: BANKERS ASK CHURCHES TO FIGHT DOOMSAYERS
"The nation's bankers are distributing a folksy sample sermon to help clergy debunk parishoners' fears of a year 2000 catastrophe."
"'We wanted to reach out to the religious community,' said John Hall, a spokesman for the American Bankers Association, referring to the four-page homily that the group is distributing to bankers to share with local ministers, priests and rabbis."
"The sermon seeks to counter predictions in some religious and survivalist literature of a New Year's Day collapse in the banking system."
"'We want to go into the new millenium with hope, eagerness and faith in this new century of progress. We don't want to be crouched in our basements with candles, matches and guns,' the sermon says."
"'There are, after all, two ways to cross the Red Sea. With Moses, who with God's help, led the children of Israel into a bright hopeful future. Or with Pharoah, who in trying to preserve the old, hurled his chariots, his officers and his army into the sea.'"
"At a news conference, the ATM network executives advised consumers to treat the last weekend of the millenium as they would any long holiday weekend, withdrawing only the normal amount of cash from automated teller machines."
"The network companies, which are members of the Electronic Funds Transfer Association, link banks and other financial institutions with hundreds of thousands of ATMs nationwide as well as point-of-sale machines used to pay for purchases in grocery stores and other retail locations."
"'There's no need to bury cash in your backyard. There's no need to stuff $20 bills under your mattress,' said Philip Valvardi, president of Money Access Service, which operates the MAC network."
"Dennis Lynch, president and chief executive officer of NYCE Corp. of New Jersey, said all the ATM network's computer systems have been fully tested and found 'ready and compatible...Consumers should have complete confidence that their services are going to work normally.'" (See the Wisconsin State Journal of Madison, Wis. for August 26, 1999, Business section, "Bankers distribute sermon to counter Y2K predictions.")
(Editor's Comment: "A bright, hopeful future!?" Are we reading the same Bible? As I recall, Exodus tells how Moses led the Israelites into forty years of starvation and hardship in the Sinai desert. And now, for extra academic credit...what is Moses's real name? Answer: Napimosis, which is Egyptian for son of the Nile god. I mean, what else would you call a baby boy plucked out of the river?)
from the UFO Files...
1899: WHERE IS DAVE MATHER?
In January 1996, an elderly Mexican named Jorge Hernandez was on his deathbed and asked to speak to his Roman Catholic priest, Father Joel de Mola, in Nacozari de Garcia, Mexico.
Jorge's deathbed confession was truly astounding. He claimed to have been present in September 1899 when American lawman Dave Mather vanished in northern Mexico. And he claimed that Mather had been abducted by aliens!
Dave Mather had been a friend of Wyatt Earp and his brothers, Bat Masterson, Doc Holliday and Kate Elder during the late 1870s in Dodge City, then the wildest cowtown in Kansas.
After the Earps moved to Arizona in 1880, Mather soon "got out of Dodge" and moved to Tucson, Arizona.
In August 1899, ranchers in the Sierrita mountains, southwest of Tucson, began complaining about missing cattle. Mather put together a posse and set out to track down the rustlers.
Included in the posse was 14-year-old Jorge Hernandez. Led by an Inde (true name of the Apache people--J.T.) tracker from the San Carlos reservation, the posse followed the trail into Mexico.
About 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Nogales, in Mexico's Sonora state, Jorge said, the posse spotted "a huge silver bowl in the sky." The UFO "flew ahead of the posse in spurts, staying about a half-mile ahead at all times."
Reaching a range of low hills, Mather suggested that they split up and "try to find that damned airship again."
Soon Jorge found himself riding down a lonely barranca. Suddenly, "a tiny man in silver-colored clothes confronted him with a hollow tube."
Instantly Jorge's horse reared and let out a whinny of terror. The boy was thrown to the sandy ground. Yelling, he drew his .45 caliber Colt Single Action Army revolver from its holster and squeezed off a shot.
Jorge kept firing as fast as he could thumb back the Colt's hammer. All six bullets went straight to their target. But "the little man flickered like a candle flame and disappeared."
Scrambling to his feet, Jorge ran full-speed out of the barranca. The other members of the posse quickly gathered, and he blurted out his story. The gringos, Mather included, showed skepticism, but the Inde tracker's eyes showed belief. And something else, as well. Fear.
Finally, Mather said he would go check out the barranca himself. He said he'd fire a shot if he ran into any trouble.
Jorge and the rest of the posse waited. About an hour later, one man shouted and pointed. The "silver bowl rose 200 feet into the air and took off over the horizon, never to be seen again."
When the posse entered the barranca, they found Mather's horse, highly agitated, but no sign of Dave. There was no evidence of any violence. Mather's Winchester was still snug in its leather boot. His canteen was half-full. There was no blood on the saddle or the bedroll.
Their Inde guide backtracked the horse's hoofprints and found something very odd. The tracks coming into the gorge were slightly deeper than the ones made recently by the horse, as if Dave had suddenly dismounted. But there was no sign of Dave's footprints or any sign that his body had hit the ground.
Without another word, the Inde tracker climbed onto his own horse and rode back to San Carlos.
"What's wrong?" Jorge asked him.
"Pueblo de cielo," the Inde muttered. (Spanish for sky people--J.T.) And he rode away without a backward glance.
Jorge and the rest of the posse searched the area for days afterward. But they never did find Dave Mather.
In an interview on Mexican television in 1996, Father de Mola said, "The old man was on his deathbed when he related it to me. He was convinced that the spaceship had been sent from heaven by God."
Flash forward to 1999...somewhere in the far reaches of space, a silvery bowl-shaped UFO cleaves the ebony void. And in the cargo hold lies Dave Mather, frozen in carbonite, endlessly dreaming of Dodge...
FUN UFO WEBSITES
For more on the recent UFO sighting in Peru, check out http://www.flinet.com/~labyrintha/marcahua.html
Check out the Fecamp eclipse sighting at http://www.multimedia.com/cufohn/franceovni/eclipse.html
SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM JOHN HAYES
UFOINFO webmaster John Hayes says, "The UFOINFO site will be moving again very soon. While the address will remain the same, it's possible that it will not work while the new server address is distributed throughout the Internet."
"If this is the case, visitors to UFOINFO should use the temporary address of ****." (Address deleted - now invalid)
Well, that's it for this week. Join us next time for more UFO 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 news groups provided that they credit the newsletter and its editor by name and list the date of issue in which the item first appeared.
