UFO ROUNDUP Volume 6 Number 01
Volume 6
Number 1
January 4, 2001
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
COMET-LIKE UFOs CROSS THE NIGHT SKY OVER CANBERRA
"Unexplained reports of sonic booms, flying silver objects and flares seen falling from the sky were made to emergency services throughout the A.C.T. (Australian Capital Territory--J.T.) and South Coast last night," i.e. Tuesday, December 26, 2000.
"'Space junk' sighted over Calwell was believed to have sparked a grass fire beside the Monaro Highway, an A.C.T. Fire Brigade spokesman said."
"The fire, near the intersection with Isabella Drive, was quickly contained by six fire-brigade units, but speculation about the cause was rife throughout A.C.T. emergency services."
"An eyewitness at the Calwell shops said she saw a piece of something silver crashing into the ground, an ambulance spokesman said."
"A.C.T. police confirmed that a flare had been seen falling from the sky over the Monaro Highway and said they had received similar reports of floating space junk from the South Coast" of Australia.
In Batemans Bay, New South Wales, southeast of Canberra, the national capital, "police were also fielding calls last Night (December 26) about sonic booms, flares and 'big comets in the sky' but no damage was reported and no objects were found, a spokesman said."
Another newspaper report stated, "A small meteorite's fall to Earth was the most likely cause of a sonic boom and streaks of light over southeastern Australia which sparked dozens of calls to police."
"'It is most likely to be a meteorite,' said Ian Warren, operations supervisor at the Deep Communications complex in the national capital, Canberra."
""'The size of the meteor would probably be coffee cup size,' he said, 'That would cause a sonic boom and would also cause some good flares around it.'"
"Callers in Batemans Bay, N.S.W., 155 miles (248 kilometers) south of Sydney, compared the mysterious lights in the sky Tuesday night to flares, police inspector Peter Volf said. The callers said the lights were accompanied by an explosion strong enough to shake buildings."
"Fire authorities in Canberra, about 62 miles (105 kilometers) west of Batemans Bay, said they were investigating whether debris from the meteorite was the cause of three grass fires which began overnight Tuesday." (See the Canberra Times for December 27, 2000, "Speculation 'space junk' caused fire." Many thanks to Gerry Lovell for forwarding the newspaper articles."
WEIRD PHENOMENON REPORTED AT ADELAIDE HILLS, A.C.T.
A strange phenomenon, which may be related to the UFO flyover, occurred in Adelaide Hills, A.C.T., a suburb of Canberra, on Wednesday afternoon, December 27, 2000.
First, M.B., an eyewitness to the UFO overflight, reported, "Ten flaming tails, moving horizontally, very high speed. Strange flying objects were seen by dozens of people across the continent last night (December 26). It was as if they were flying straight into an invisible wall, and beyond the wall they were no longer in the third dimension."
Twenty hours later, Richard H. of Adelaide Hills, A.C.T. reported, "What happened to me on (Wednesday) December 27, 2000, at 4:16 p.m., . I went outside to attend to my trailer and to fold up the tarp (tarpaulin--J.T.) As I pulled up one corner of the tarp to fold it, I could see it had leaves stuck to it. I was shocked to see that the leaves were another colour. I saw that the leaves were brilliant, brilliant orange I looked at my hands and they too were the same colour."
"I had a feeling the colour was coming from above in the sky, and I looked up, but I couldn't see any objects. There was no cloud movement in the sky, and the clouds were a really strange colour. Nothing was moving. Not a sound. Not even the sound of rustling leaves. No birds singing. Nothing."
"I got scared and went towards the house to get my wife to come out and take a look at the leaves and the sky. But when she came out, the sky was back to normal and the leaves were green and all sound had returned. I thought for a moment I was on the set of an X-Files movie." (Many thanks to Diane Harrison of Australian UFO Research Network for this report.)
(Editor's Comment: Obviously something interfered with Richard's brain or optic nerve, preventing him from seeing the color green. But what?)
LUMINOUS UFOs SIGHTED IN SOUTHERN COLORADO
Strange luminous UFOs were sighted in the San Luis Valley of southern Colorado during November and December of 2000.
On November 2, 2000, at 9:35 a.m., Betty P. was at her ranch in rural Saguache County and "looked out (the window) at the (San Luis) valley and observed 'a large iridescent green ball' that appeared to be 'low in the sky to the west.'
Betty estimated that the green UFO was over Center, Colorado (population 3,000), located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the Baca Grande development.
"Initially, (the UFO) looked to be about 25 degrees above the horizon but seemed to slowly sink. She described the object as being 'a lot bigger than the full moon' and remarked that it appeared iridescent green at first but slowly drifted down toward the horizon it became more yellow in color. She estimates that the sighting lasted three to four minutes."
(Editor's Note: That green UFO is still in the USA. See the following story.)
On Wednesday, December 13, 2000, at San Antonio Mountain near the Colorado/New Mexico state line, "a witness south of Antonito, Colorado called to say he was watching 'a huge bright light' which he described as being located 'three-quarters up San Antonio Mountain.'"
San Antonio Mountain is located approximately 10 miles )16 kilometers) south of Antonito.
On Sunday, December 17, 2000, at 10:35 a.m., at the Baca Grande Development, a female Buddhist nun "while out walking in the Baca Grande Development heard a 'sonic boom.' She looked up to locate the source of the sound and observed a hovering 'pencil-shaped object' between her vantage point and the nearby Sangre de Cristo mountain range. The object was a ruddy reddish color, and she described it as being about 15 to 20 feet (5.6 to 6 meters) long and about 3 to 4 feet (one meter) wide."
Author/researcher Christopher O'Brien noted, "I heard the initial boom sound while watching TV but thought it was an Air Force pilot breaking the sound barrier."
On Monday, December 18, 2000, at 7:10 p.m., "a woman and her two daughters were driving west from Moffatt, Colorado (population 12,000)" heading into rural Saguache County "when they caught sight of 'a big yellowish-white light,' traveling slowly south over Moffatt. They watched the light for two or three minutes and then called" the grandmother in Moffatt to see if she could confirm the sighting. The grandmother, however, was unable to see the object. "The initial witness reported that the light was flying too slowly to be a low-flying plane and did not exhibit the usual FAA (navigation) lights." (Many thanks to Christopher O'Brien, author of The Mysterious Valley and Enter the Valley for these reports.)
NEON-GREEN UFO SEEN OVER NORTHWESTERN VERMONT
An unusual neon-green UFO flew over northwestern Vermont the evening of Wednesday, December 27, 2000 and was seen by many people in Burlington, Essex, Essex Junction and Chittenden.
"A bright object raced across the Vermont sky that was seen by scores of people was probably a meteor, officials say."
"'It was very green--neon green--streaking across the sky,' said Donna Day of Essex, Vermont (population 1,000.) 'It had an orange tail. It disappeared behind the horizon and there was a flash of light.'"
"The object was bright enough to be seen clearly even under the city lights" of Burlington (population 11,000). Burlington, a port on Lake Champlain, is the largest city in Vermont and is located on Interstate Highway I-89 approximately 74 miles (118 kilometers) northwest of Montpelier, the state capital. (See the Rutland, Vt. Herald for December 28, 2000, "Apparent meteor flashes in the sky.")
UFO MYSTERY AT LYNCH MOUNTAIN IN KENTUCKY
Since the beginning of December 2000, residents of Appalachia, Virginia (population 2,100) have seen unusual phenomena in the night sky over Lynch Mountain.
The wooded mountain, located just over the state line in Kentucky, is approximately 14 miles *23 kilometers) west of Appalachia, Va.
According to local resident Christ Light, "We have seen UFOs going from east to west and hovering over Lynch Mountain. Strange and bright white lights. They all appear to be egg-shaped objects."
"Lynch Mountain has a government complex located on the peak," he added, "Also, it is a no-fly zone. I have been told by some of the older men who worked on it (a Department of Defense facility--J.T.) in the Fifties (1950s) that it is 15 stories underground."
"You see white jeeps (Humvees) around the area all the time."
Appalachia is on Virginia Highways 88 and 73, located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Pikeville, Kentucky. (Many thanks to Christ Light for this report.)
CYLINDER-SHAPED UFO PHOTOGRAPHED IN MICHIGAN
On Christmas Day, Monday, December 25, 2000, J.L. went outdoors before 9 a.m. to set up his telescope at his home in Troy, Michigan (population 14,500.) He wanted to capture the partial eclipse of the sun, which was about to sweep across the USA's Upper Midwest.
He got more than he bargained for.
"I was trying to get pictures with my videocamera but ran out of film (tape)," he reported, "So I took four Polaroids. On one of the shots, I have an unbelievably huge cylinder-shaped object. It looked like it had ten indentations like a big door on the left. Amazingly, the object appeared to be behind the sun. I have a house roof as a reference (point) in two of the shots." (Email Form Report)
CASSINI REACHES JUPITER
"NASA's $3.4 billion" robot spacecraft Cassini "passed Jupiter at the closest point of its trip Saturday," December 30, 2000, "using gravity from the solar system's largest planet to swing it toward Saturn."
Cassini is scheduled to arrive at Saturn, its final destination, in July 2004.
"While passing Jupiter over the next few months, Cassini will team up with the Galileo spacecraft to make dual observations of the planet and its surroundings."
"Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory" in Pasadena, California, USA "steered Cassini to within 5 million miles of Jupiter early Saturday to give the spacecraft a gravity boost as it heads for a rendezvous with Saturn in July 2004."
"Galileo, which was launched in 1989 and began orbiting Jupiter in 1996, also will test Cassini's instruments for Saturn."
"The Cassini spacecraft was launched in 1997 on an 11-year mission. While near Jupiter, it will help with studies of the planet's atmosphere, moons, faint rings and magnetosphere surrounding" the gas giant.
"The Galileo spacecraft, which has been hampered by a high-gain antenna that never fully deployed, already is deep within the Jovian magnetosphere, while Cassini just entered it early Thursday," December 28, 2000. (See the Duluth, Minn. News-Tribune for December 31, 2000, "Cassini makes close flyby of Jupiter," page 2.)
THE ELECTRIC KID--A REAL-LIFE "SUPER-HERO"
"A toddler whose body sets off store alarms gas security guards and scientists scratching their heads."
"Harry Fairweather, age 2, has been nicknamed 'Sparky' at a shopping centre in Winsford, England, UK because he keeps triggering door sensors designed to detect special tags attached to goods. He's set off the alarms and flashing lights at two other nearby shopping centres, as well."
"'This first started about five months ago,' says Harry's mother, Paula. 'Harry was in his (baby) carriage when the alarms went off, it was quite embarrassing, but they knew we hadn't stolen anything. Then it began happening every time we came in and out (of the store).'"
"'When Harry could walk, he was running backward and forward through the doors and the security system was going crazy. Even wearing only his underwear, he set it off. Everyone was baffled.'"
"''We have been told by a top doctor that Harry has a rare condition that means he has an electric force held around him. At first I was really worried but have been told that is a gift and nothing to worry about.'"
Like the Marvel Comics character Electro (real name: Maxwell Dillon--J.T.) Harry's body generates its own intense electromagnetic field. Such fields occurring in nature register 0.5 milligauss. Harry's field fluctuates between 0.71 and 0.73 milligauss, nearly a 50 percent increase over nature. The metabolic cause of this intense electromagnetic field is not known.
Harry's "wild talent" also "includes psychic powers, according to Paula, who recalls a time when her alarming little boy announced that a woman 'had a baby in her tummy.' Paula says, 'She pulled me aside and said she had just found out the previous day she was expecting a baby.'"
"Darren Crofts, customer services manager at the centre where the Fairweathers shop every week confirms Paula's story, saying their searches of Mom and son have revealed nothing illegal."
"'This is absolutely baffling and we just cannot explain it,' says Crofts. 'We even called the head office to check the alarm system but it was fine.'"
""Says Professor Anthony Barker of the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield, 'Theoretically, the child's body shape could be exactly the same length as the wavelengths emitted by the sensors, which could trigger the alarm.. But I have never heard of the problem, and there is no obvious answer.'" (See the National Examiner for January 2, 2001, "Electric toddler sets off security alarms," page 18.)
(Editor's Comment: First it was that little girl in Peru who developed heat vision, now Harry. Welcome to the Twenty- first Century--the dawn of the "New Mutants?")
PROOF OF ANCIENT MACHINERY ON EASTER ISLAND?
Since its discovery by the Netherlands admiral Jacob Roggeveen in April 1722, mysterious Easter Island and its equally enigmatic giant stone statues has fascinated researchers.
Located 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometers) west of Chile, this remote island in the South Pacific (called Rapanui by the Polynesians--J.T.) has long been thought to have been part of a much larger landmass. In his 1932 book. Colonel James Churchward theorized that Easter Island was once part of the "lost continent of Mu."
During the summer of the year 2000, a USA archaeological team uncovered evidence to suggest the presence of heavy construction machinery on the island centuries ago.
"During the summer of 2000, geologist Charles M. Love and a crew of 17 students excavated sections of the three main roads that carried (giant) statue traffic. Parts of these roads were actually carved into the island's bedrock-- lava flows mainly (of a type known to geologists as pahoehoe--J.T.)
"Strangely, the roads were not flat but V- and U-shaped in cross section. They averaged 3.5 meters (11.5 feet) wide and were not a trivial undertaking. In some sections, the roads were flanked by lines of rocks. Sometimes these earth-stones were accompanied by pits gouged out of the solid rock. Usually the pits occurred where the roads sloped uphill."
"Love speculates that the pits were dug to accommodate some 'mechanism' invented to help move the multi-ton (stone) heads up the inclines--a primitive cog railway of sorts."
"The pits and V-shaped profiles suggest that we still have much to learn about the Easter Island roads and exactly how the ponderous heads were moved." (See Science Frontiers #133 for January/February 20001, page 1. Also Discovering Archaeology, volume 2, number 12 for December 2000, "The Easter Island Mystery" by Charles M. Love.)
From the UFO Files...
2000: HAPPY NEW YEAR, COUNT SAINT-GERMAIN
"Him?" The bartender shrugs, absentmindedly wiping a champagne glass. "Oh, that's What's-his-name. Comes in here once a year. Always on New Year's Eve. He ain't one of ours. European, I think. Businessman, maybe. Or maybe he's with one of them consulates in San Francisco. " He puts down the now-sparkling glass. "Never mind who he is, Janalee. Get over there and take his order."
She us just a girl, maybe nineteen or twenty. Tall and tanned with an uplifted ponytail of honey- gold hair. Impatience mars her pretty face. She keeps glancing at the grandfather clock.
The impatience finds its way into her voice, as well. "What are you having?"
"Jack Daniel's, straight up," I reply.
Without another word, she turns on her heel and strides back to the bar. Poor Janalee, I muse. It's New Year's Eve, the party night of the year. All of her sorority sisters are happily getting wasted, and she has to work. What a tragedy.
I decide I'm not going too let one spoiled girl's attitude ruin my evening. This is a rather special night for me. It's the only night I have off all year long. And I like to spend it at a nice bar enjoying a drink.
At my advanced age, it's very important to maintain the semblance of a normal life.
I rather like the Brookdale Lodge. It's well worth the drive down from San Francisco. I've been coming here since 1990, ever since the Gilberts reopened the old place. I like the Victorian oval columns, the red v velvet drapery, the oak beams and, of course, the ambience. There's quite a colony of ghosts here. Occasionally they come to my table to say hello. They, at least, seem glad to see me.
I know I'll have to move on some day. Find another bay in which to celebrate New Year's Eve. Time is the enemy of us all, even an Adept like myself. Oh, I go on, year after year, century after century, carrying out my assignments for the Hidden Masters. But not even I can keep coming back to the same place forever.
People notice, you know. A waitress young Janalee's age served me at this very booth back in 1990. And what did she see? A European gentleman in his dark Saville Row suit and black topcoat. A man in his early sixties with a high forehead, bushy eyebrows, a long nose tilting downward at the tip, a blunt chin and full lips.
But now it's New Year's Eve, 2010, and in comes that waitress, close to forty now, accompanied by her husband. She glances my way, and her eyes gleam in sudden recognition. But it can't be him, she thinks. He'd be... what? Eighty-five now!
I see her puzzled frown, and I finish my glass of Jack Daniel's, and I'm on my way. It won't be safe for me to come back to the Brookdale for another seven or eight decades. It has happened before.
Janalee brings my drink and bustles away, and I take a sip and listen to the music. Ahhhhh--Charlie Daniels. That has been my one true companion through the centuries--the music. There's no call for the clavichord any more, but I was quite handy with the violin.
Remember New Year's Eve in 1879? That little tavern in western Siberia. Snow three meters deep and the wind howling off the taiga. I played a competitive duet with the Romani violinist, while the muzhiknyi drank and cheered. Off in the corner sat little Grigori Efrimovich, age eight, with his arms lopped around his knees, utterly entranced by the wild gypsy music.
I match him note for note, tune for tune. The Romani fiddler suddenly halts. He senses something. He lowers his violin, makes the fica with his free hand, and walks away, muttering, "He is the Devil, that one."
Ahhhhhh, monsieur, you were not the first to have made that observation.
Janalee brings me another drink. My memory drifts back one hundred years, to New Year's Eve 1900, The opulent drawing room in London. Annie Wood Besant gushes like the British schoolgirl she once was. "It's here! The New Dawn! I can feel it!"
I tried very hard not to laugh, for U heard the same thing, word for word, a century earlier. Only Adam Weishaupt said it in German.
A snatch of country song catches my ear.
"When you need me the most
So does the coast"
I frown. Twelve years now, and I still cannot fathom the meaning of those lyrics. There are other things I don't understand, either. Such as the American obsession with entertainment.
I remember New Year's Eve in 1864. Sitting in that roadside tavern in Chittenden, Vermont. A roaring fire in the brick fireplace and a jug of hard cider on the oak tabletop between me and Zephaniah Eddy.
"You know, Zephaniah," I said, a trifle sternly, "Your children were not given those...abilities... so that you could go into show business."
"Are you kidding!?" He knocked back the glass of cider as if it were Pepsi. "You can make a lot of money in show biz. You can meet all the stars."
"Like John Wilkes Booth?" I reply.
"There you go!"
Booth is the anomaly in American history--the only one who was a star before he became an assassin.
Zephaniah was not interested in the betterment of humanity, only in his own. The children are his ticket out of that stony farm in Vermont. No more will he will he follow the mule's rump around the back forty.
"Can I get you anything else, sir?"
I look up. I have a new waitress. She's seven or eight years older than Janalee, a few inches shorter, with short chestnut brown hair and an engaging smile She probably wishes she could lose the ten pounds and keep it off. The name tag says Chris.
"A refill would be nice. Jack Daniel's, straight up." I hand her the empty glass. "What happened to Janalee?"
Chris tilts her head toward the clock. "Her shift ends at eleven. She's outta here!"
"You don't mind working on New Year's Eve?"
She grins. "Not at all. I could use the extra money. I've still got Christmas bills to pay, and the day care doesn't come cheap."
"How many children do you have?"
"Two." Her smile widens. "Danielle is four. Austin is two."
"What does your husband do?"
"I wouldn't know, mister." Her smile lost a bit of its luster. "I haven't seen him in just over a year." Putting the glass on her tray, she forced a grin. "Sit tight. I'll be right back with your J.D."
I glance at the wide-screen TV. The news is on. I can barely make out the sound over Alan Jackson's Long-Necked Bottle. Hmmmm...how about that. A scientist has successfully grafted computer chips to human nerve endings.
Where will this accomplishment lead in the new century? Will we see bionic hands, as deft and as nimble as Mark Hamill's in The Empire Strikes back? Able to snap its fingers and set a dime spinning upright on a tabletop.
Or will we see legions of cyborg soldiers? Born in test tubes, weaned on steroids, raised in boot camps totally devoid of any human feeling or emotion, they exist only to enforce the political will of the Secretary-General. And if one of these unfortunate cyborg soldiers is killed or shredded beyond medical repair...why, just pop it down the incinerator chute, access the Net on your PDA and order a replacement from Cyborgs-R-Us.
They make such progress...and never in the right direction.
The TV shows clips from a football game. Sports-- another American obsession. Remember the Army/Navy game in 1935? Now, where did I see that Fox Movietone newsreel? Ahhhh, yes, the Lyric Theatre at 802 Gay Street in Knoxville, Tennessee. Highlights of West Point quarterback Butch Blanchard's throwing game, accompanied by Lew Lehr's stentorian voiceover.
Poor Butch. You should have won the Heisman Trophy. But fate had other plans for you, putting you in command of the base at Roswell twelve years later so that you could issue that all-important press release. The one that opened everyone's mind to...new possibilities.
"...three, two, one...Happy New Year!"
I glance at the clock. Midnight, already. It'll be sunrise in six hours, and I'll be back to work. A new year. A new century. New people to meet. Most of them haven't even been born yet.
On my way to the cashier's stand, I see Chris standing nearby, having a moment's well-earned rest. Her empty tray sits on the counter. I reach for my wallet.
What I'm about to do ensures that I won't be able to return next year. I'll have made myself far too memorable for that. But rarely can I do some immediate good in the world.
I'll find another bar.
As I pay the cashier, Chris turns to me and says, "Leaving so soon, sir?"
"I'm afraid so. Tomorrow is a work day for me." I smile at a private joke. "A new dawn."
"Tell me about it."
Removing five bills from the wallet, i fold them and tuck them beneath the empty glass on her tray.
"Thank you, Chris. You serve well."
"You're welcome, sir. Have a nice drive back to San Francisco."
As I head for the door, Chris glances at my tip, thinking, Why didn't he just leave me a five? And then she sees the 100 printed in the corner and Benjamin Franklin's enigmatic smile.
"I must look up young Austin sometime in the next century. I'll take him out for a drink. Tell him what a fine waitress his mother was.
Chris's mouth drops open. She stares in disbelief, but the five bills are quite genuine.
"Whoa! Mister, wait! Hey, mister!"
She is perhaps 45 seconds behind me as I leave the Brookdale. She pushed open the double doors and rushes into the cool, damp California night.
There is no one in the parking lot.
Flash forward a century, to an item in the San Francisco Chronicle for January 2, 2101, page 18.
CENTENARIAN VANISHES FROM CARE FACILITY
Police in Santa Cruz are investigating the strange disappearance of a frail, elderly man from a high-rise nursing home on New Year's Eve.
Austin Mackenzie, 102, vanished shortly after 8 p.m. from his room on the seventeenth floor. Mackenzie, a lifelong resident of Santa Cruz, has been living at the care facility for the past 15 years.
"I don't understand it," Nurse Paloma Chang said, "Mr. Mackenzie was right there in his wheelchair when I checked on him at eight o'clock. There's no way he could have left the room. He hasn't been ambulatory since the stroke back in 2092. This is just crazy."
Police questioned the staff, but no one remember seeing Mackenzie after 8 p.m. The investigation is continuing.
And two days earlier, at the Cantina Hiamanga on the Calle Pichincha in Andahuayllas, Peru.
Absentmindedly drying a glass, the bartender hears the rustle of the bead curtain. He looks up, and his dark brown eyes gleam in sudden recognition.
"Buenas noches, senor. The usual, eh? Jack Daniel's, straight up. You see? I remembered this year. Ah, you brought your father with you."
(See Man, Myth and Magic, Marshall Cavendish Ltd., London, 1982 pages 2460 and 2461. Also Haunted America by Mochae; Norman and Beth Scott, Tor Publications, New York, N.Y., pages 42 through 64.
And off we go into the new century. Be here next week for more UFO and paranormal news from around the planet Earth, brought to you by ""the paper that goes home-- UFO Roundup." See you next week.
