UFO ROUNDUP Volume 4 Number 26
Volume 4
Number 26
October 21, 1999
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
UFOs ARE BACK IN DANDRIDGE, TENNESSEE
Following a five-day hiatus, UFOs returned to the small town of Dandridge, Tennessee (population 1,540), offering two nighttime viewing experiences.
According to eyewitness Patricia G., the UFOs returned at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, October 20, 1999. She reported, "The UFO was in the northwest sky. He was a little lower than usual and, as I noticed the pulsating and flashing of the brilliant colors, he sank lower, and the trees blocked my view. This was no airplane. It was the same light in the sky we have been watching all year."
Several UFOs turned up in Dandridge again at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 16, 1999, Patricia added, "Tonight from 8:30 to 9 p.m., there were five UFOs that I could see. They were in their usual position in the northwest sky. Four of them were scattered, and the one to the north-northeast was very, very bright. There was one in the southwest sky of the same intensity. I can't understand for the life of me why others are not reporting these things."
Dandridge is located 23 miles (36 kilometers) east of Knoxville, Tennessee. (Email Interview)
SMALL SWIFT UFO PUZZLES RANCHERS IN UTAH
A small, fast-moving silver UFO "several feet long and a few inches in diameter" has been seen by ranchers in rural Rich County, near Woodruff, Utah (population 50) during the past month.
According to eyewitness Mark L., the speedy UFO was last seen on Friday, October 15, 1999 at 5:15 p.m. The object flew from west to east, just above the ankle-high sagebrush on the arid prairie.
"Over the month, my wife, sister and brother-in-law have independently seen some sort of thing in our rural area," Mark reported. "A silver tube several feet in length and a few inches in diameter zips across the road in front of them and disappears. They all insist that the object is hardly glimpsed before it is gone. My sister described small 'fins' or something on the side."
Woodruff is on Utah Highway 39 about 130 miles (208 kilometers) northeast of Salt Lake City. (Email Form Report)
MASS DEATH OF BIRDS REPORTED IN ILLINOIS
About 2,000 dead birds fell from the sky in Mascoutah, Illinois last Friday, October 15, 1999.
Dead birds included starlings, grackles and red-winged blackbirds. The cause of the deaths is not known, and the case is being investigated by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR).
This was the third mass death of small birds in the USA this year. The first such puzzling occurrence took place in Bastrop, Louisiana back in January 1999.
According to USA Today, "State officials suspect a chemical, not strong winds, might have killed thousands of birds in a southern Illinois farm field."
"State Department of Natural Resources biologists are running tests on some of the birds and should have the results today, said DNR spokesman Joe Khayyat."
Mascoutah (population 5,511) is on Illinois Highway 177 about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of St. Louis, Missouri. (See USA Today for October 19, 1999, "Illinois," page A7."
UFO AIMS SPOTLIGHT AT LIVERPOOL
A bright UFO appeared over Liverpool Tuesday night, October 12, 1999, and was also seen in Liscard and across the bay in Wallesay.
According to eyewitness Lorraine W., the UFO "first looked like a faint star" when it appeared over the large UK city. "At first it looked like a star, but it was quite fast. A beam of light came out of the bottom right-hand-side of the object."
The beam "looked like a cone--narrow at the top but getting wider as it got longer. The light was a smoky white or grey in colour. The light lasted for a second or two and went out. The object itself hung around for a few minutes and vanished." (Email Form Report)
MORE UFOs SEEN IN MELBOURNE SUBURBS
The UFO flap in Australia's Victoria state entered its second week with multiple sightings in three suburbs just west of Melbourne.
On Saturday, October 16, 1999, at 9:15 p.m., "six bright orange illuminations" were seen by 20 to 30 witnesses over Melton, Deer Park and Rockbank, three suburbs on the western edge of Melbourne, Victoria's largest city.
The UFOs were "heading east" and "were seen by 20 to 30 people for 20 minutes on the Western Highway between Melton and Deer Park, Vic., western outer suburbs of Melbourne."
"The illuminations at times were in an S formation up to periods of some two minutes before flying or running off easterly. They all remained at one height (altitude) and size. In fact, twice the size of the background stars." (Many thanks to Australian ufologist Ross Dowe for this report.)
NEW SET OF CROP CIRCLES APPEARS IN MIDALE
On Friday, October 8, 1999, researchers found a new formation of crop circles two miles south of Midale, Saskatchewan, Canada.
This was the sixth formation of crop circles found in Midale this year. Midale was also the site of heavy crop circle activity in 1998.
The formation was found in a durum wheat field two miles south of Midale by pilot John Erickson and researcher Nancy Talbott.
The formation consisted of three circles close together in a straight line about 20 feet (6 meters) apart. The largest circle (on the east side of the cluster--J.T.) is approximately 60 feet (18 meters) in diametre, the second about 40 feet (12 meters) and the third about 20 feet (6 meters)."
"Description of the floor lay inside the smallest circle is of a swirled lay which ends in a straight 'radial' type lay out to the edge of the circle. The other circles have the usual swirled lay pattern."
Midale (population 497) is on Provincial Highway 39 about 98 miles (157 kilometers) southeast of Regina, Sask. (Many thanks to Paul Anderson of Circles Phenomenon Research- Canada for this report.)
TOKAIMURA PLANT IS STILL RADIOACTIVE
On Friday, October 15, 1999, the Japanese government raised the number of people exposed to radiation during the nuclear mishap at Tokaimura two weeks ago from 49 to 69. Three of the victims remain hospitalized at Tokyo University Hospital.
The nuclear accident occurred on September 30, 1999 when workers at the JCO Company plant in Tokaimura, Ibaraki prefecture, Japan mistakenly poured too much uranium oxide into a stainless steel container, thereby setting off a nuclear chain reaction.
"A report on the accident submitted Friday by the (Japanese) Nuclear Safety Commission said the new exposures were revealed when investigators belatedly checked badges the workers to monitor radiation levels."
"Previously, the government had given the number of those exposed to radiation as 49, including seven people working near the site and three firefighters who rescued the three most seriously injured workers."
"Other workers were exposed to radiation levels 50 to 100 times (about 500 to 1,000 REM, meaning Radiation Equivalent Man--J.T.) higher than what is considered safe to receive over the course of a year, Friday's report found."
"Also on Friday, JCO Co., which runs the plant, said that a small amount of radiation still was leaking, but that it doesn't pose a health risk to nearby residents."
(Editor's Comment: According to Japan's Sankei news service, there are 330,000 people living within a radius of 10 kilometers (6 miles) of the nuclear plant.)
"Last week, JCO said a ventilator was still spewing radioactive iodine 131 at about twice the safety limit."
"The company sealed the opening and turned off an exhaust fan, but the leak was continuing Friday, said Science and Technology Agency spokesman Ken Maruoka. Workers are to install a filter today to stop the leak, he said." (See the Minneapolis, Minn. Star-Tribune for October 16, 1999, "Those exposed to radiation leak in Japan increased to 69," page A5.)
(Editor's Comment: Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi is going to have to bite the bullet and bury that factory under a mountain of concrete--just like in Chernobyl.)
Y2K: FBI SAYS BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIANS A "THREAT"
"With some extremists attaching apocalyptic significance to the new millenium, the FBI is quietly warning local police about possible threats posed by anti-government militias and hate organizations."
"The campaign includes the national distribution of a report titled Project Megiddo in which federal authorities assess threats posed by hate groups and explain the significance of biblical references the groups use to discuss Y2K."
"The project, which is named for an ancient battleground in Israel associated with Armageddon, will be the centerpiece of an FBI seminar this month before the International Association of Chiefs of Police in Charlotte, N.C." (North Carolina--J.T.)
"Unlike the rest of the meeting, the seminar will be closed to the public, a sign of how sensitive the subject of militias has become."
"One workshop is titled 'Millenium, militias and mayhem: what to expect in the coming year.'"
"A senior government official said the 10-page report was meant to heighten awareness among local police departments to the possibility that militias might use the new millenium as an opportunity to initiate acts of violence or general disruption."
"The FBI has urged police to be alert to changes in behavior of known militias and cult groups and to the possible stockpiling of weapons."
"According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the militia movement reached its peak in 1996, when there were 858 such organizations across the country. By last year, there were 435."
"What concerns officials now, however, is the possibility that extreme members might undertake missions of their own."
"They cite as an example Buford Furrow, who belonged to a white supremacist group (Aryan Nations of northern Idaho--J.T.) and is accused of killing a mail carrier and shooting six people at a Jewish community center in Los Angeles this summer." (See USA Today for October 20, 1999, "FBI: Militias a threat at milleniumm" page A1.)
(Editor's Comment:: Yes, there are a lot of militia or "patriot" groups in the USA. Some are Aryan Nations, some neo-Nazi, some constitutionalist and others Bible-believing Christians. Just what does the FBI consider a cult? Stockpiling food? All 10 million of the USA's Latter-Day Saints do that. Musings about the seals of the Bible? There's the Seventh-Day Adventists. Literal belief in the Book of Revelation? That's all of our country's evangelical Christians, which the last time I checked, consisted of about 20 percent of the entire USA population
If the Bureau has admissible evidence that certain extremists are planning millenial mayhem, then why don't they take it to the grand jury? Instead of stirring up the nation's police departments against people who might believe that Y2K could be linked to events prophesied in the Book of Revelation.
If the prospect of Y2K civil unrest and Operation Abacus were not serious enough, we now have this to worry about. Like our country's second president, John Adams, I can only assess the future by looking at the past. Back in February and March of 1942, the FBI rounded up the Japanese-Americans under circumstances far less threatening than Y2K.)
from the UFO Files...
1954: UFO SQUADRON SEEN IN ALGERIA
Of all the continents, Africa has the fewest reported UFO sightings, and most of these have taken place south of the Zambezi River. But North Africa has had a few celebrated UFO incidents of their own.
On October 26, 1954, amateur astronomer Yves Vernet set up his prismatic telescope in his vineyard near Bou Hanifia in Algeria.
"With my prismatic telescope set at 20 magnification, I watched the sky at high altitude. I was stupefied to see a brilliant object fly high above the cloud layer at great speed. Five minutes later, I saw another object pass."
"Since October 26, when the first sighting occurred, every day between 1 and 2 p.m., I have not ceased to see flying saucers passing by every five to ten minutes. More are visible at midday than at morning or evening. Their frequency in a (viewing) field so reduced is of great importance. Their performance is far above that of our best terrestrial aircraft, and their number seems greater than the greatest aerial concentration we could effect."
Bou Hanifia is on the river el-Hamma (Arabic for the bath), about 88 kilometers (55 miles) southeast of Oran. The valley is one of the oldest archaeological sites in North Africa, with signs of human habitation dating back to 6,000 B.C. (See Flying Saucers Uncensored by Harold T. Wilkins, The Citadel Press, New York, N.Y. 1955, page 247.)
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 newsgroups provided that they credit the newsletter and its editor by name and list the date of issue in which the item first appeared.
