UFO ROUNDUP Volume 5 Number 25
Volume 5
Number 25
June 22, 2000
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
CATTLE MUTILATED IN COLORADO UFO FLAP
Four cattle were found dead and mutilated during the, last two weeks as UFOs were sighted in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado.
The first incident took place on Wednesday, May 24, 2000, at 10:45 p.m. in Maxiville, just outside of Monte Vista, Colorado (population 4,400).
Monte Vista is on Highways 168 and 285 about 16 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Alamosa. The small city of Alamosa is 160 miles (256 kilometers) south of Denver.
"Two waitresses watched a brilliant low-flying light zigzagging between La Garita Park and the old Del Norte airport," reported Christopher O'Brien, author of The Mysterious Valley and Enter the Valley.
"Witnesses were sure the strange light array was not a conventional craft. The following day, (Thursday, May 25, 2000) a dead calf was discovered in the area with an unusual hide scrape and a small cut along the backbone."
The same day, Thursday, May 25, two campers found two fatally-mutilated cows just west of Chama, New mexico (population 1,100). Chama, located on New Mexico Highway 64, is approximately 39 miles (63 kilometers) southwest of Alamosa.
"One (cow) with no head; the other with the tongue missing," O'Brien reported, "Nearby were four elk legs and haunches with no head, neck or torso. That night, a strange bipedal thumping was heard by the campers outside their tents."
On Sunday, June 11, 2000, at 2:40 p.m., a male witness was hiking in the Great Sand Dunes National Monument, located 20 miles (32 kilometers) northeast of Alamosa, when they saw a UFO.
"We were hiking the sand dunes Sunday afternoon, and we saw several planes leaving short contrails. We heard a loud jet flying over, so I looked up. It was flying low, no contrail, not military. What caught my eye at this point was another object higher above the plane in the sky, moving to the west-southwest, round in shape and leaving no contrail...It seemed to be moving about as fast as a jet at that altitude. But even through binoculars there was no fuselage and no wings, dull metallic color, and if you looked right at it, you would not have seen it against the blue sky."
On Monday, June 12, 2000, "two witnesses reported finding a mutilated cow" at the intersection of Colorado Highway 60 and County Road AA in Moffatt, Colo. (population 400), a town 37 miles (59 kilometers) north of Alamosa.
On Thursday, June 15, 2000, at 5:15 a.m., several witnesses "spotted a large, low-flying military chopper" which "crisscrossed the area for 10 to 15 minutes. No apparent missing hiker or climber reports at that time." (Many thanks to Christopher O'Brien for these reports.)
FLEET OF UFOs SIGHTED IN WASHINGTON STATE
On Wednesday, May 24, 2000, four people spotted a fleet of 12 luminous UFOs performing aerial maneuvers over a ranch near Trout Lake, Washington (population 450), a small town on Highway 141 about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Portland, Oregon.
The witnesses were Michael Miley, Carolyn Grey, Marian Abbott and ranch owner James Gilliland.
Miley reported, "The objects appeared to be small luminous spheres flying to and fro across the sky in the upper atmosphere, apparently two or three times brighter than the brightest stars."
"They flew at varying speeds, flashing and dimming and they sometimes changed directions and made no sound at all.."
"One anomalous light among the UFOs was a brief intense flash, roughly four or five times brighter than the brightest stars."
Miley added, "UFOs appear on a regular basis in the skies over Trout Lake and have been seen by many visitors to the ranch, according to Gilliland."
The ranch is home to a self-sustained ecological community known as the Self Assessment Earth Institute and Sativa Sanctuary.
"Gilliland has videotaped some of the UFOs using a Sony CCD TN517 Night Shot 200X camcorder, set on Infinity focus," Miley said.
"Wednesday, May 24, was the biggest night for my sighting as the sky was exceptionally clear. I counted 12 luminous high-flying UFOs."
"I also saw two additional UFOs on Thursday, May 25, 2000 between 10:30 and 11:45 p.m. They looked just like the other 12. I saw, too, the same two satellites I'd seen the night before and a third bright meteorite like the previous (night's) two."
"Three of the craft also 'disappeared' into a section of the eastern sky," which he and Gilliland defined "by a triangular configuration of thde stars. Does this mean they went through a hyperspace 'portal' or did they descend on some invisible mother ship? It's intriguing to speculate about the possibilities." (Many thanks to Michael Miley for this report.)
NEW UFO BOOK LOOKS INTO 1977 FORT BENNING CASE
Did a UFO appear before a formation of four U.S. Army companies at Fort Benning, Georgia in September 1977?
That's the question John Vasquez and Bruce Stephen Holms seek to answer in their new book from Timeless Voyager Press entitled Incident at Fort Benning.
It's a very urgent question for Vasquez. He was one of the soldiers who saw the UFO.
Vasquez originally joined the Army National Guard in San Diego, California in February 1977. During his training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, he opted to transfer into the Regular Army. September 1977 found him in D (Delta) Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment undergoing advanced infantry training.
On September 1, 1977, at 7:30 p.m., "we were ordered out of our barracks to a mandatory formation. Captain K, Delta Company, was going to make a welcoming speech, as were all the other captains. I stood in formation, for what seemd like 40 minutes, with about 1,300 men including Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta Companies."
"I said, 'What are you guys all looking at?'"
""The soldier in front of me turned around, saying, 'Look to the right. You'll see a star there.'"
"I began watching what appeared to be a star."
That was the beginning. For the next few weeks Vasquez and his fellow soldiers endured a nightmare of UFO sightings, teleportations, inexplicable madness, mysterious voices and mass abductions by aliens.
Vasquez even witnessed an air battle between a UFO and an Army helicopter.
"The chopper dropped a number of flares to light up the surrounding area and then fired a small missile while banking left. We saw the missile go into the light but there was no explosion. Instead there was a loud thumping sound. I thought it was the missile falling to the ground. Apparently, whatever the missile hit did not result in an explosion."
There have been rumors about this incident for years. Now, for the first time, an eyewitness comes forward with the inside story. You'll find it all in Incident at Fort Benning by John Vasquez and Bruce Stephen Holms, Timeless Voyager Press, Santa Barbara, California, copyright 2000.
To information on how to order the book, send an email to bsh@timelessvoyager.com or set your Web browser for http://www.timelessvoyager.com.
CHILEANS SAY ALIEN EGGS WERE FOUND NEAR CALAMA
Witnesses in Chile continued to come forward lst week with more about the reputed clash between Chilean Army troops and three Chupacabras on or about May 9, 2000.
Two witnesses claimed that the Chilean troops returned with large eggs, which they reportedly obtained from a "nest" in the Atacama Desert not far from the Radomiro Tomic mine.
According to the newspaper La Cuarta, "Three specimens of Chupacabra, mythical creatures of apelike characteristics who drink animal blood, were captured in northern Chile by an expedition spearheaded by NASA and were taken back to the United States, according to researchers of the subject."
"The president of the Ovalvision Chile research group, Cristian Riffo, told La Cuarta that the creatures were the result of genetic research by NASA using terrestrial creatures and space entities. Several of the hybrid creatures excaped from a secret base and propagated themselves in the southern United States, Mexico and Puerto Rico where they were given the name Chupacabras."
"Riffo maintains that in the Chilean case, the Chupacabras fled from the Atacama Desert where where the U.S. agency is trying to replicate the conditions of a voyage to the planet Mars."
"He added that all the (eyewitness) descriptions coincide in that the specimen measures 1.2 meters (3 feet, 9 inches) in height, has large staring eyes, very swift legs, has humanoid features, a mandrill-like body, and a way of walking that causes it to zigzag."
Chupacabra news is coming fast and furious from Chile. The latest items include the following.
(1) Between June 12 and June 15, 2000, residents of Maria Elena, a farm community 140 kilometers (84 miles) west of Calama, found mysterious clawed footprints in the fields. "Identical to the footprints found at the (Radomiro Tomic) mine" at the time of the reported capture, said radio talk show host Pablo Aguilera, with the prints "highlighting their large shape and the sharpness of the claws.".
(2) The newspaper Diario La Estrella reported, "Guards of a security company in the sector claim to have witnessed a strange entity on the prowl, and while they were unable to see it entirely, stated that it moved at considerable speed."
(3) An area resident, Miguel O., claimed that his nephew, who is in the Chilean Army, was on guard duty at the Radomiro Tomic mine and saw one of the creatures.
"Between May 9 and May 11," Miguel O. said, his nephew "while standing guard with his regiment, he had a chance to see a specimen of the so-called Chupacabras and immediately called his superior. The strange creature took prodigious leaps and bounds and, at one point, gave the impression of floating on the air. He described it as 1.2 meters tall, half-hairy and hunched over."
After gearing up, an army patrol went out into the desert, Miguel said, "The most surprising thing is that the patrol returned with several 'eggs' found at the location where the creatures were taken by surprise. He added that the patrol managed to kill two and capture one, that the creatures were subsequently removed by NASA personnel from the area."
Commenting on Miguel O.'s statement, Pablo Aguilera, host of Radio Pudahuel's morning show, said, pointed out that the area around Calama and Chuquicamata was known as El Gallinero (Spanish for the henhouse--J.T.) because the area was once the rookery for the xandu (South American ostrich--J.T.) and other flightless birds.
Aguilera said, "The hole discovered in the area could well be a 'nest' the creature was making to deposit its young." (See La Cuarta of Santiago de Chile for June 12, 2000 and Diario La Estrella for June 14, 2000. Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales, autor de los libros Chupacabras and Other Mysteries y Forbidden Mexico, Gloria Coluchi, Lucy Guzman y Patricia Borlone Rojas para esas historias.)
COUPLE SPOTS NINE UFOs SOUTH OF LOS ANGELES
On Sunday, June 11, 2000, at 7:30 p.m., a couple was in the yard of their suburban home in Huntingon Beach, California (population 182,000), just off Highway 2, the Pacific Coast Highway, when they spotted several unusual lights in the sky.
"My husband and I were gazing at the half moon which was just coming into great view as the sun was setting over the coast of southern California," the wife reported. "We spotted nine objects just west of the moon. As he watched, I went into the house to grab the telescope, and the objects started to move to the north of the moon's location."
"One, the elongated shape, seemed to find a spot and stay there, although not stationary. The bright elongated UFO "was moving in a circle with the axis seeming to stay in the same spot. The others would race towards it and then pass by, while still others would close in upon each other and then speed out."
After 15 minutes of these aerial maneuvers, "they all seemed to rise higher until they were no longer visible to the naked eye." (Many thanks to Cliff Capers of Skywatch International for this report.)
EIGHT ORANGE SPHERE UFOs SEEN IN NEW SOUTH WALES
On Saturday, June 10, 2000, at 5:25 p.m., the witness, Anthony, a middle-aged man, was outdoors at his home in Forbes, New South Wales, Australia when he spotted something very unusual in the sky.
Forbes, N.S.W. is located 352 kilometers (220 miles) west of Sydney.
"I have never seen anything like it, and this is the first time I have ever thought of calling a UFO hotline," Tony stated. "I have a background as a pilot, so I am familiar with the constellations and aircraft. What I saw was like nothing I have ever seen before."
"I saw eight orange balls of light in formation like a string of pearls. These objects lit up somewhat like a firework. The objects went slowly down behind Mount Jemalong. I could see the mountain light up as it slowly went behind it."
(Editor's Comment: That's a little too low to be a fragmenting meteor.)
Still amazed by what he had just seen, Tony entered the house. Just then, the telephone rang. He picked it up and heard his son's voice. "Hello, Dad. You're not going to believe what I just saw."
A few minutes earlier, Gary had been driving his truck from Merriwa to Dunedoo, N.S.W. when he saw the line of orange spheres cross the sky. Merriwa is about 300 kiolometers (180 miles) from Forbes.
The two men discussed the sighting over the telephone. Gary told his father, "Dad, it must have been larger to you as you were closer to it than me." (Many thanks to Diane Harrison of the Australian UFO Research Network for this report.)
HUGE LIGHTED CRAFT SEEN IN CENTRAL SWITZERLAND
On Friday, June 16, 2000, at 10:15 p.m., Zachary M. was at his home in Luzern, Switzerland, a large city 64 kilometers (40 miles) east of Bern, the national capital, when he looked into the night sky and saw three unusual lights in the southeast.
"I saw three luminous UFOs or perhaps the lights on a large craft hovering over the Vierwaldstattersee (Lake Lucerne--J.T.)," he reported, "They seemed to be connected somehow. They maintained their relative distance to each other and moved slowly upwards. Three bright flashing lights in the night sky. Two of the lights were very close to each other while the third was a short distance away. No other visual details are available. There was no sound." (Email Form Report)
CHEMTRAILS REPORTED IN PORT CITY IN CROATIA
Chemtrails have been reported in the southern European nation of Croatia.
According to Rolando Izakovic, "heavy aerial spraying of the Croatian port city of Rijeka commenced" on Saturday, May 27, 2000. The spraying was reportedly carried out by NATO aircraft, Izakovic stated.
"Being the first time ever, the foreign pilots had the worst luck in guessing the direction of the local, constantly-changing winds, which they partially compensated for in a typically Western way by working hard all day long."
Rijeka is a large port city on the Adriatic Sea about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of Zagreb, the national capital.
"The NATO planes returned again on Tuesday afternoon, May 30, 2000. They started spraying just one hour after the skies cleared from the day- long rain."
"The third spraying, on Thursday morning, June 1, 2000, Izakovic stated, "was a shambles. It had all gone wrong from the start, starting with X marking the center of the chemtrail-spraying effort." which "suddenly found itself downwind.. Even the transfer of spraying to the opposite side of town, which was upwind, did not help because the wind suddenly changed direction again."
The fourth spraying began on Saturday night, June 3, 2000, and "they had to increase their efforts dramatically."
On Sunday morning, June 4, 2000, he added, "the town of Rijeka woke up with a low, thick chemtrail cover. Operations continued all day Sunday, June 4, with an incredible chemtrail fog covering everything, from sea level up to the heavens. It was really spectacular because, in these parts, anything remotely resembling fog occurs only during the winter."
Izakovic also pointed out that the spraying began the day after the government of Croatia signed a Partnership for Peace agreement with NATO. (Many thanks to Rolando Izakovic for this report.)
(Editor's Note: Rijeka has long been a UFO hotspot in what used to be Yugoslavia. In October 1971, ground radar stations tracked, and a Yugoslav Air Force pilot in his MiG-19 fighter jet pursued, a daylight disc UFO over the city. See Unexplained Mysteries of the Twentieth Century by Janet and Colin Bord, Contemporary Books, 1989, page 396.)
OUT-OF-PLACE PIRANHA BAFFLES RUSSIANS
"Authorities banned swimming in the lakes around the village of Polyana Surskovo, in Russia's Volga region, after a piranha bit a local fisherman."
"Experts are baffled as to how the flesh-eating South American fish (found in Brazil and Peru--J.T.) managed to end up in the village waters, let alone survive a Russian winter."
"The fish had grown to 2 feet (0.6 meters) in length. Piranhas are attracted to the scent of blood and can reduce even a large animaol to a skeleton." (See USA Today for June 19, 2000, "Piranha attacks Russian fisherman," page 18A.)
from the UFO Files...
1875: THE STRANGEST DAY REVISITED
In UFO Roundup, volume 3, number 25, your editor mentioned the paranormal events that took place on June 25, 1875. Since then, I've found a few more unusual happenings that day. And here they are:
USA - While tending his horses in a corral at Fort Lapwai Indian Reservation, Washington Territory (now a state--J.T.), Hinmahtooyahlaktekt, known to people of European ancestry as Chief Joseph, has a strange vision.
Instead of a sunlit corral, Hinmahtooyahlaktekt (Namipu for Thunder Traveling to Loftier Mountain Heights--J.T.) found himself on a windy, snow- covered prairie, listening to the moaning of the Namipu (also known as Nez Perce Indian) women and children. He sees his friend, Chief Allamiyah Takantin (Namipu for Looking Glass) coming towards him. All at once, a gunshot rings out, and his friend falls into the snow, fatally shot in the head. At once Joseph is back in the corral, feeling the warmth of the summer sun.
Troubled by the vision, he went to visit the medicine chief (nowadays they're called spiritual advisors--J.T.) This was Toohoolhoolzote, who had had many prophetic dreams and vision quests. As a boy, he had been taught by the famous Salishan medicine chief Smohalla. Seeing Chief Joseph, the old man said, "You have had a dream. Come, let us burn some sage."
After he described the dream, Chief Joseph asked, "Have I seen the future?"
"You have, and it is not so far away," said Toohoolhoolzote, reaching for his calumet pipe. "Hard times are coming for the Namipu."
"You have seen this vision, too." Chief Joseph leaned forward eagerly. "What else will happen?"
"You will witness my death," the medicine chief replied, and he would say nothing more.
(Editor's Note: On October 2, 1877, during a firefight with the U.S. Army, Chief Joseph saw Toohoolhoolzote killed, just as the old prophet had predicted. Also killed in the same fight was Joseph's brother, Chief Ollokot. (See The Nez Perce Indians and the Opening of the Northwest by Alvin M. Josephy, Bison Books, University of Nebraska Press, 1979, pages 403, 425, 426, 432, 433 and 600.)
USA - It had been a long trail for Elizabeth Bacon Custer, nickname Libby. From her childhood home in Monroe, Michigan to the Young Ladies Institute in Auburn, New York to Boyd's Seminary, where she graduated as class valedictorian in 1862. And now here she was, an Army wife, married to the commander of the 7th Cavalry Regiment--Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer.
On June 25, 1875, while at her home at Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dakota Territory (modern Bismarck, North Dakota--J.T.), Libby had a strange vision. She found herself on a prairie hilltop in the coulee country of eastern Montana. She heard deafening gunfire and saw blue-clad soldiers huddled behind their slain horses, firing at unseen enemies. And in the middle of it all, her husband--her beloved "Autie"--barking orders with smoking pistols in both hands. Suddenly, two shots rang out. Custer's head snapped back, and a red geyser erupted on the front of his buckskin jacket. He toppled over backward.
Libby let out an anguished scream. "Autie!"
One year later, after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, "A Dr. Porter was the physician attending the wounded. It was his sad duty to break the news to the military at Fort Lincoln. The officers' wives were brought to the commandant's office. When Mrs. Custer entered the room, however, she held up her hand to stop Dr. Porter before he even began. 'You don't need to tell me. I know,' she said."
"Libby Custer eerily predicted her own widowhood. She died in 1933, two days before her ninety-second birthday." (See Historic Haunted America by Michael Norman and Beth Scott, Tor Books, New York, N.Y., 1995, page 385.)
USA - Thomas Jefferson Cayce had visitors at his small tobacco farm in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. A small group of Spiritualists from the East wanted to know if what they'd heard about the "Christian County Wonder" was true. Old Tom was reluctant. He didn't like to show off his "gift." But the Easterners wouldn't leave.
Cayce invited them to sit. They were one chair short. A visitor offered to fetch one from the parlor.
"No need," Tom said, inclining his head slightly. Instantly a straight-back chair slid across the floor, into the kitchen. The visitors looked on in open- mouthed amazement. Lifting his right hand, Tom gestured at the broom in the corner. Suddenly the broom sprang to attention. It walked jerkily into the center of the room, then performed a waltz. Tom turned his hand. The broom rotated in a half-circle, and the broomstick thumped the plank floor like a pogo stick.
"Good heavens!" the group's leader exclaimed. "Cayce, had you lived two centuries ago, you would have been burned at the stake!"
"Mister," Tom said, lighting his corncob pipe. "Everything comes from God. Some men are more intelligent than others. Some can sing divinely, some can write poetry, I can make things grow. The Lord said there is set before each of us good and evil, for us to choose. So if I spend all my time making brooms dance and doing tricks for people's entertainment, that would be choosing evil. If you want my advice, don't fool with it." He showed a wry smile. "If you think this is something, just wait till you meet my grandson." (See There Is A River=The Story of Edgar Cayce by Thomas Sugrue, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, N.Y., 1945, pages 31, 32, 59, 60 and 61.)
OTTOMAN EMPIRE - June 25, 1875 found French archaeologist Charles Clermont-Ganneau hard at work, digging up the ancient Canaanite city of Shechem, just outside Nablus. Assisting him were two British officers of the Royal Engineers, Lt. Claude Conder and Lt. Horatio Herbert Kitchener. But archaeology wasn't their only mission. Whitehall wanted updated military maps of Falasteen (now the West Bank--J.T.)
The Arabs were suspicious of outsiders, anyway, and the hills around Nablus were home to many ardent Muslims. Many of the local men had been conscript soldiers in the Ottoman Turkish army, and they knew officers when they saw them. Soon the rumors were flying around the Nablus bazaar.
"Those are spies, not archaeologists."
"They want to impose Christianity on us."
"Their prime minister is a Jew, they say.."
"That explains everything! The British are going to attack Nablus and give it to the Jews!"
One mullah took all of this market gossip to heart, went to the site and confronted Lt. Conder. Following a heated argument, the Arab began picking up stones and hurling them at Conder and his manswervant.
(Editor's Comment: Does this sound familiar?)
Conder placed the mullah under arrest and sent word to the Turkish commander in Nablus. But word reached the mosque first, and a mob of 300 Arabs rushed to the Shechem ruins. And the inevitable riot broke out.
Afterward Conder wrote, "I must have inevitably been murdered but for the cool and prompt assitance of Lieutenant Kitchener, who managed to get to me and engaged one of the club-men (An Arab wielding a cudgel, not a member of White's--J.T.) A blow descended on top of his head, he parried it with a cane, which was broken by the force of the blow."
"Having retired a few paces from the thick of the fray, I saw the Arabs were gradually surrounding us, stealing behind trees and through vineyards...I gave the order to leave the tents and fly round the hill. Lieutenant Kitchener was the last to obey this order, being engaged in front. He retreated to his tent, and whilst running he was fired at, and heard the bullet whistle by his head..."
The group made their stand on the hillside and were rescued fifteen minutes later by the timely arrival of the Turkish troops. By then, Kitchener had been shot at point-blank range several times. None of the bullets had struck him. As Conder wrote, "His escape is unaccountable."
June 25, 1875--a strange day, indeed, all over the world. (See also Kitchener by Philip Magnus, E.P. Dutton and Co., New York, N>Y> 1958, pages 14 and 15.)
June 21 is the birthday of "Moe," one of our longtime readers. Many happy returns!
And 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 news- letter and its editor by name and list the date of issue in which the item first appeared..
