UFO ROUNDUP Volume 5 Number 26
Volume 5
Number 26
June 29, 2000
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
SURFACE WATER FOUND ON MARS
"Not only is there water on Mars, but it springs from rock layers surprisingly close to the surface, NASA scientists say."
"'Just pound a pipe into one of these layers and stand back,' says Kenneth Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego (California), one of the authors of a Mars study unveiled by NASA Thursday," June 22, 2000.
"Water=channel images captured by the space agency's Mars Global Surveyor were disclosed a week early in response to intense public interest and sometimes inaccurate speculation."
"The discovery shocked scientists who believed that liquid water had disappeared from Mars at least three billion years ago and that the planet's thin, frigid atmosphere would quickly absorb any liquid."
"Photos of various Martian 'gullies' and other small features were shown at the NASA briefing. Since July (1999), researchers have discovered about 200 such channels, mostly in moderate latitudes of the southern hemisphere, carved in the walls of craters, valleys and pits."
"These dry channels differ from terrain shaped by landslides or lava. They possess curvy shapes and deep, narrow channels that resemble streams on Earth."
"Apparently water occasionally bursts from rock strata about 500 feet below ground. The strata exposed on slope walls were thought to be two to three miles deeper."
Still, "the discovery of water channels on Mars that appear to have been carved out in recent times present some puzzling problems for scientists."
"'I was dragged kicking and screaming into seeing these features,' says Kenneth Edgett of Malin Space Sciences Systems in San Diego."
"Edgett did the first interpretation of the images of about 200 'gullies,' culled from 65,000 photographs taken by the orbiting Mars Global Surveyor in the last year."
"Scientists had believed that water could stay liquid only in warmer Martian rock, miles below the surface and safe from the planet's thin, frigid air."
"'I'm having trouble reconciling these compelling images with what we know about conditions on Mars,' says geologist Michael Carr of the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California." (See USA Today for June 23, 2000, "Water springs forth on Mars," page 1A and "Discovery confuses knowledge of Mars," page 2A.) (Editor's Comment: Clearly Mars is a lot more geologically active than we previously thought. There must be many geothermal features close to the surface. Good news for future Mars pioneers hoping to heat and power their homes. This may also explain the mysterious lights seen in previous centuries by Earth astronomers. They must have been vast glowing lava flows visible on Mars's night side.)
"WOLFMAN" TERRORIZES TOWN IN NORTHERN ARGENTINA
"Seventeen persons gathered at a family reunion" at Concepcion del Bermejo, a small town in northern Argentina, "claim to have seen and beaten a lobizon (Spanish for werewolf--J.T.) between midnight and 12"30 a.m. yesterday morning," Thursday, June 22, 2000.
"The event, recounted by members of the Ovejero and Gomex families, who reside in the community, took place early yesterday morning..."
Concepcion del Bermejo is located on Ruta Nacional (National Route) 16 west of the city of Saenz Pena.
"Eva Castillo, one of the family members, told" the Argentinian newspaper Norte "that the first one to detect the presence of the strange being was her nephew, Marcelo, 11, who noticed that 'it was attacking his little dog, and opened the window to see what was going on...'"
"Marcelo saw 'there was a strange creature standing next to the deck we have for the chickens and the ducks to drink water.'"
Another family member said, "We went outside to see what was going on because the dogs started 'bullfighting' with it."
"'Look, I don't believe in the Lobizon or the Almamula (another legendary Argentinian "manimal"--J.T.) either. I always thought they were lies people told, but after what happened to us...let me tell you, we all saw that thing and gave it a holy beating. As if nothing had happened, it got up and went away,' stated Jesus Alcides Gomez, who along with other members of the family rained blows on an unknown animal" using sticks, garden hoes and bricks.
Sra. Castillo said, "We went with Alcides because the lobizon chased Marcelito, forcing him to climb into a zorra (flatbed truck--J.T.) to avoid being injured."
Witnesses said "the creature appeared in the yard and resembled a dog with large hanging ears and legs resembling those of a child."
"The witnesses stated that they were 'attacked by the beast' and defended themselves with a variety of objects until they managed to corner it in a room, and 'there it was beaten with sticks, hoes and bricks...The creature didn't even squeal,' they indicated, 'and we took it outside again, since it looked dead, and tied it to a tree. But as you can see, it took off running and crossed the highway as if we'd inflicted no injury to it.'"
Old-timers in Concepcion del Bermejo "insisted that appearances of the Lobizon were quite common in the past."
In Argentina, people believe that the seventh son of a seventh son turns into the Lobizon at midnight on the night of the full moon, particularly if this occurs on a Friday. Col. Juan Domingo Peron, who was president of Argentina from 1943 to 1955, ordered that all "seventh sons" be baptized in public ceremonies as a means of stamping out this superstition.
When the creature fled, the families telephoned the police. The crime scene was investigated by Deputy Sheriff de la Cruz who "collected samples of blood, yellow and brown hair found on one of the hoe, along with 'some kind of peppers it expelled through its anus.'"
The samples will be sent elsewhere "for biochemical analysis," Deputy de la Cruz said.
Another witnes also claims to have seen the Lobizon that night.
"Odilio Pontes, is the attendant of a gas station located along Ruta 16 precisely towards where the Lobizon vanished. 'Around 1:30 in the morning, I saw a strange dog that appeared to be hiding behind the diesel pump, and I felt a sensation of fear and looked through the glass without opening the door. I managed to see that it was all bloody on parts of its tail,' he stated."
Pontes added that the mysterious canine "headed for town" and 'had long hair, somewhat dark brown in color, long ears and its eyes darted everywhere. Seriously, I don't believe in any of this, but I felt a sensation of fear. I don't know why, but seeing that the tail was half cut-off and all the blood it left on the ground, made me feel scared.'" (See the newspaper Norte for June 23, 2000, "Concepcion del Bermejo convulsed by Wolfman apparition," and June 24, 2000, "Numerous residents of Concepcion del Bermejo claim having seen Wolfman." Mcuhas gracias a Scott Corrales, autor de los libros Chupacabras and Other Mysteries y Forbidden Mexico y tambien Gloria Coluchi para sas historias de diario.) (Editor's Comment: So there have been other Lobizon appearances in that town, eh? Could be that Concepcion del Bermejo is an interdimensional nexus point. It would be interesting to see if the other Lobizon sightings coincided with peaks in solar activity like the Year 2000 cycle.)
UNUSUAL WINTER STORMS RESTRICT TRAVEL IN CHILE AND ARGENTINA
The hunt for Chupacabras was hampered last week by unusually severe winter storms in Chile. Also, the nation's border with neighboring Argentina has been closed.
"Chile declared a state of emergency in several cities after two days of heavy rain flooded large areas of the country. Authorities provided shelter for thousands of people, and schools and government offices were closed."
"Many streets turned into rivers, and public transportation was severely disrupted. Santiago (de Chile, the national capital) and the port city of Valparaiso were declared catastrophic areas, which let the government allocate emergency resources and use public buildings as shelters." (See USA Today for June 15, 2000, "Chile declares emergency to combat floods.")
"Argentina's Ministry of Transportation announced Wednesday (June 21, 2000) that heavy snowstorms have blocked access to the mountain pass between Chile and the (Argentinian) province of Mendoza."
"'The pass is closed. Vehicles can no longer reach the vicinity of Uspallata,' said a spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation.
Uspallata is located in the lower Andes mountains about 700 kilometers (420 miles) west of Beunos Aires, the capital of Argentina.
"Following a week of strong snowstorms with winds up to 80 kilometers per hour )50 miles per hour) closed the Paso del Cristo Redentor (the pass near the giant Christ of the Andes statue--J.T.)."
"The Ministry of Transportation recommends that vehicles travel no higher up the mountain than Uspallata, which is 80 kilometers (48 miles) from the cross. The Cristo Redentor (statue) is located along a mountain crest road at an altitude of 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) above sea level." (See La Nacion of Buenois Aires for June 22, 2000. Muchas gracias a Gloria Coluchi para eso.) (Editor's Comment: Now that's interesting. Thanks to the inclement weather, the Chupacabra-haunted region around Antofagasta, Calama and Chuquicamata in Chile is now isolated from the rest of South America.)
BIGFOOT ON THE PROWL IN WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA
On Friday, June 9, 2000, at approximately 7 a.m., the female witness was driving to work on Route 30 between Jeannette, Pa. (population 11,300) and Greensburg, Pa. (population 16,400) four miles (6 kilometers) to the southeast, when she spotted a Bigfoot.
"The lady had left her home earlier that morning and was enroute to her job. She had slowed down to look at a car that was for sale and was looking towards the right side."
"Seconds later, her attention was drawn to a large dark manlike creature which was standing on a back road surrounded by woods."
"While the observation lasted only 15 to 20 seconds, the witness saw the creature cross the road and enter into a nearby wooded area. The woman estimated that the creature stood about 6 to 7 feet (2 meters) tall and weighed approximately 300 to 400 pounds. The witness states that she slammed on her brakes as soon as she saw the creature, but it could no longer be seen."
When the witness (first) noticed the creature, it was approximately 300 feet away. It was standing sideways in a 'hunched' position on the back road. As the witness watched, the creature turned its head and looked towards the highway, then took two or three long strides into the thick woods where it was lost from sight. The woman stated that the creature was covered with long back hair. While no facial features could be determined, the head seemed somewhat oval in shape, and their was very little neck apparent."
Greensburg is located 30 miles (48 kilometers) southest of Pittsburgh. (Many thanks to Stan Gordon and Eric Altman, director of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society for this report.)
MULTIPLE UFO SIGHTINGS REPORTED IN FRANCE
On Saturday, June 18, 2000, at 1 a.m., "two large triangular objects" were seen moving slowly over the cities of Charlesville-Mezieres and Villers-Semeuse in eastern France.
"The two triangular objects descended to a very low altitude with a loud, strange engine noise. Their speed was not constant. At times it seemed as if the OVNIs (French acronym for UFO--J.T.) were actually skimming over some places. There was a metallic bar observed beneath the engines. There were bright white lights at the extremities of the bar."
Charleville-Mezieres is located about 224 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of Paris.
A half-hour earlier, at 12:30 a.m., French ufologist Thierry Garnier was skywatching on a hillside on the outskirts of Gasny, in the department of Eure about 110 kilometers (66 miles) west of Paris, when he spotted a strange object in the night sky.
"Personally I had made a strange observation that night," he reported, "It was 12:30 a.m. when I saw a strong white luminous flash approaching from the east and heading west. I will not be categorical as to the nature of what I have seen. I don't know what I saw. The thing had only this permanent white luminous flash, no navigation lights, a constant speed but accelerating as it reached an altitude of 5,000 meters (16,500 feet) in a clear night sky."
According to the French newspaper La Provence, on Sunday, June 18, 2000 at about noontime, a holiday parade in the city of Aix-en-Provence was disrupted when onlookers spotted "a sphere of fire in the sky."
The midday fireball was also seen in Marseilles, in the departments of Var, Haute-Loire and Alpes- Maritimes, and on the island of Corsica in the Mediterranean Sea. (Merci beaucoup a Thierry Garnier du Cercle Normand pour la Recherche Ufologique.)
ELLIPTICAL BLACK UFO SEEN IN NEW JERSEY
On Saturday, June 18, 2000, at approximately 7 p.m., Max Gebhardt was in Montclair, New Jersey (population 37,800) when he sighted a strange dark object high in the sky.
The UFO "approached from the northwest and departed to the west," Max reported. "It was a very small black object, possibly a U-2 or a low-orbit satellite, very near the air traffic corridors."
Montclair, N.J. is only 13 miles (24 kilometers) west of New York City.
"I lost sight of it after 15 minutes due to its size. It was tiny, black, elliptical, possibly very far away, maybe 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 kilometers) Flying at 30,000 feet (9,595 meters) at about 500 to 600 miles per hour (800 to 960 kilometers per hour." (Email Form Report)
TRIANGULAR UFO SPOTTED OVER NORTH CAROLINA
On Monday night, June 13, 2000, Jeff Harrison spotted a triangular UFO over High Point, North Carolina (population 69,500).
"I was looking at the moon and noticed the silhouette of a triangular craft going silently next to the moon. It was a silhouette. No way to tell the color. The object appeared to be the same size as the moon.."
Jeff was unable to calculate the exact altitude, "but it seemed to be moving pretty fast for the probable height."
High Point, N.C. is located about 15 miles (25 kilometers) southeast of Winston-Salem. (Email Form Report)
TWO RED UFOs SIGHTED OVER DEXTER, MICHIGAN
On Friday, June 23, 2000, at 11:30 p.m., Walter S., his mother and his brother were at a church in Dexter, Michigan (population 1,500) when they saw something strange in the sky.
"My brother, my mother and I were at the Webster First Church of Christ, walking around, and when we noticed to the west two bright red lights out in the field. It was two red lights gliding slowly over treetops in a field. No noise was made. The lights were just above the treeline in that direction and moving away ever so slowly to the south--perhaps at three miles per hour 5 kilometers per hour) The objects seemed red and did not blink. We thought perhaps they were planes, but there was no sound. We continued to watch them until they were obscured by some trees."
Dexter is on Highway D-19 approximately 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of Detroit. (Many thanks to Michigan ufologist Todd Lemire for this report.)
CROP CIRCLES APPEAR IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA
"The overnight appearance of crop circles in a field in southern Russia has puzzled farmers, with witnesses saying aliens made them."
Russian government television reported "that a farmer from the village of Yuzhnoye," in the vicinity of Stavropol, "called in local officials 'to record an act of vandalism,' after finding that his field of ripe barley had seemingly been ruined."
Stavropol is a city located about 900 kilometers (540 miles) south of Moscow and 200 kilometers (120 miles) northeast of the Black Sea.
Examination of the barley field turned up "four distinct circles--one 20 meters (66 feet) in diameter and three others between 5 to 7 meters (17 to 25 feet) each."
"The barley had been smoothed down 'as if by hand' in a clockwise direction."
Agents of the Stavropol Security Council "quickly arrived at the scene and suppressed all reports" relating to the incident.
"They found no trace of radiation or chemicals, and human intervention was ruled out."
"Officials found eyewitnesses in a neighboring village who said they had seen a UFO landing in the field" early Saturday morning, June 24, 2000.
"Vasily Belchenko, security council deputy secretary, was inclined to believe them. 'There is no doubt that it was not man-made, that somebody is playing a practical joke,' he said."
"Eyewitnesses say that the landing was very quick and the take-off was immediate, he added, 'It all happened in a few seconds.'"
"A 20-centimeter-deep cylindrical hole with polished walls was found right in the middle of the large circle." Russian TV "suggested that the UFO had landed in the field to take a sample of the soil." (See WorldNet Daily for January 25, 2000, "UFO takes soil sample in Russia." Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr. for pointing out the article.)
EVOLUTIONARY FLIP-FLOP: BIRDS BEFORE DINOSAURS!?
"Archaeologists say a birdlike creature they have discovered is so old that they believe it cripples the theory that birds evolved from dinosaurs."
"Longisquama insignis a feathered, four-legged, ten-inch-long primitive reptile, was capable of gliding, probably from tree to tree, 220 million years ago, the scientists say."
"The unusual 'archosaur' is 70 million years older than the most ancient known bird, Archaeopteryx, and it predates dinosaurs with birdlike features by 100 million years. The researchers say that makes it nearly impossible to conclude that birds descended from the dinosaurs."
"'Just as you can't be your own grandmother, birds can't have come from dinosaurs because the fossil record shows the timeline is all wrong,' says head researcher Alan Feducca, professor and chairman of biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill."
"The fossil was unearthed in Central Asia back in 1970 and has been the focus of intense research by a team of Russian and American scientists.
"They discovered that:"
"Longisquama had six to eight pears of hollow, shafted feathers almost identical to modern bird feathers."
"The feathers evolved from reptilian scales, were used for flight rather than for warmth, as the so-called dino-feathers were. Their musculature, however, didn't allow their wings to flap for sustained flight."
"The reptiles had a wishbone similar to modern birds' and likely used aerodynamic forelimbs for steering in flight."
"Longisquama was not a bird, and it can't be proven that it evolved into one, so its place on the evolutionary chain is still largely unknown, researchers say."
"Nevertheless, the findings 'should have people seriously questioning the dogma that birds evolved from dinosaurs,' sauys Terry Jones, a paleontologist at Oregon State University and one of the study's co-authors." (See USA Today for June 23, 2000, "Feathered find splits scientists," page 3A.)
from the UFO Files...
1840: MYSTERIOUS BOOMS IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
For 12 years, from 1834 until 1846, mysterious explosions rocked the small town of Deerfield, New Hampshire, located on Route 43 about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southeast of Concord, the state capital.
The continuing phenomenon, which was never repeated, was even written up in the Scientific American of the day.
"During the last twelve years, certain curious, not to say alarming phenomena in the town of Deerfield, N.H. have excited the fears of the inhabitants, and we think should, ere this, have attracted the attention of the scientific (community--J.T.) These are reports or explosions in the ground, apparently of a volcanic or a gaseous nature."
"When first heard they were attributed to the blasting of rocks in Manchester, a new town some ten miles distant (to the southwest. Today Manchester is the largest city in New Hampshire--J.T.); but from the frequency of the reports at all hours in the night as well as the day, from the consideration that they were so loud, and were heard in all seasons, winter as well as summer, it was soon concluded that they had some other origin."
"The explosions, if they may be so called, commenced on a ridge of land running southeast and northwest, and principally on that portion called the South Road. They have, however, extended, and are now heard in a northerly direction, and during the last fall (1845) and the present spring and summer (March to July 1846) as many as twenty have been heard in one night."
"Many of them jar the houses and the ground perceptibly, so much so, that a child whose balance is not steady, will roll from one side to the other. They are as loud as a heavy cannon fired near the house, with no reverberation, and little roll."
"Last fall some of the (Deerfield) inhabitants were riding in a wagon when an explosion was heard, and they saw the stone wall, which was apparently quite compact, fall over on one side of the way, and a second after, upon the other. The stone wall of an unfinished cellar also fell in. This can be attested by many witnesses."
"There is no regularity in these reports, as they are heard at intervals of a day, a week, and sometimes of months; but for the last year they have become very common, and are heard almost every week, more or less."
It is unknown why this small unassuming town in New Hampshire should be the focus of so many "mystery boom" reports.
Deerfield was settled in 1756 by John Robinson, Jacob Smith, Isaac Shepherd and Benjamin Batchelder. There were plenty of deer in the woods, and, while negotiations for a town charter were pending, two men killed a deer and presented it to the royal governor, Benning Wentworth. Gov. Wentworth subsequently granted the charter and, to show his appreciation for the gift, named the new town Deerfield.
While poking about in the town's history, your editor noticed something of interest. Two men--veterans of the Battle of Bunker Hill during the War of the American Revolution (1775-1783)--settled in Deerfield after the conflict.
One was John Simpson, who fired the first shot of the battle. "The Americans defending the hill (actually, it was Breed's Hill in Charlestown, Mass.--J.T.) were short of ammunition, and their leaders gave orders to the men to hold their fire until they could see the whites of their enemies' eyes." But Simpson, "one of the soldiers under Captain Dearborn, suddenly fired at a British officer... After an inquiry the next day, John Simpson was arrested and court-martialed, but his punishment was light, as none of his superiors felt like censuring him. When the war ended, Simpson returned to Deerfield with the rank of major and resumed his farm life."
The other was Zephaniah Butler. He was born in Connecticut in 1728 and served as a soldier under Gen James Wolfe at Quebec in 1759. Enlisting in the Continental Army, he fought on the American side at Bunker Hill.
Interestingly, Zephaniah's grandson was Benjamin Franklin Butler, a.k.a. "the Beast," a general on the Union side who was the military governor of New Orleans in 1862. "Beast" Butler was born in Deerfield but left for good at age nine, when his widowed mother sent him to a boarding school in Lowell, Mass.
Both John Simpson and Zephaniah Butler were still alive when the "mystery boom" phenomena began in 1834. However, what they thought of the enigmatic explosions was not recorded.
But I sometimes wonder...was somebody building a base under that ridge in New Hampshire? (See the Handbook of Unusual Natural Phenomena by William A. Corliss, the Sourcebook Project, Glen Arm, Maryland, 1977, page 385: See also New Hampshire: A Guide to the Granite State, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass., 1938,. page 487. Also Lincoln's Scapegoat General by Richard S. West Jr., Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass., 1965, pages 8 and 9.)
Well, that's it for this week. Join us next time for more UFO and paranormal news from around the planet Earth, brought to you by "the paper that goes home--UFO Roundup." See you then.
UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 2000 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.
