UFO ROUNDUP Volume 7 Number 25
Volume 7
Number 25
June 18, 2002
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
PANIC ON THE PAMPAS: CATTLE MUTILATIONS TOP 30 IN ARGENTINA
Argentina's current wave of cattle mutilations entered its second month with a spectacular outbreak of cases throughout La Pampa province. The total of dead cows found mutilated now exceeds thirty.
"Five cows were found dead this past weekend (June 8 and 9, 2002) in the Cuchillo Co region. The animals' lifeless bodies were missing organs, and their mysterious deaths were added to more than ten cases that still perplex police officers and veterinarians alike in investigating these events."
"The Aberdeen Angus cows were found at the estancia "La Sierra" (ranch), owned by Gregoria Echevez, located some 150 kilometers (90 miles) west of General Acha."
"Police sources informed (the Argentinian newspaper) La Arena on Sunday (June 9, 2002) that Maria Alejandra Veralli had filed a complaint after receiving a telephone call from her sister (Sra. Echevez--J.T.) discussing the fact that the deaths of the five cows had been ascertained, and some of them were missing vital organs."
"The police undertook the pertinent action and reported the event to the Second Duty Court. Subsequently, for reasons of jurisdiction, the police report was forwarded to the Cuchillo Co Sheriff's Office, given that the field (crime scene) is located at the intersection of Provincial Highways 28 and 13."
"The weekend's finds were added to the rest of the area's cases, which have kept police and veterianrians on edge. This includes mutilated cows found in Salliquelo" in Buenos Aires province "and in fields at Macachan, Bernasconi, Jacinto Arauz, Villa Iris and General Acha" in La Pampa province.
"In all of these cases, the animals had been rendered bloodless and presented incisions made by high-precision instruments which are unknown to the police conducting the investigation. The shroud of mystery is further thickened by the fact that in the hours prior to one of these discoveries, strange lights were seen in the vicinity."
And near the city of Santa Rosa, "it is a strange event close to home: the dead cows lacking organs and blood," cases "which have flourished throughout the (La Pampa) province and astounded many without any explanations having been found for such a singular phenomenon."
"Four animals near Santa Rosa had their turn now, and not only did the Provincial Police become involved but professionals from the Universidad Nacional de La Pampa, who offered to perform (post-mortem) analyses."
"Yesterday (Wednesday, June 12, 2002), it was learned that there was another case in addition to the one reported by La Arena on Tuesday (June 11) and with more spectacular details: in a field belonging to the Stock Capella family, located at Kilometer 126 on Provincial Highway 14, scant kilometers from Toay, a heifer was found with a large portion of its head burned off 'as if by fire' and the animal's sexual organs removed 'as if by surgery.'"
(Editor's Note: Unlike other nations in Latin America, Argentina had significant numbers of immigrants from UK and Italy. It's common to see family surnames of English or Italian origin.)
"'The boss said he didn't want to see it because it gave him the chills. I brought people to see it, since I couldn't believe it. I wanted others to see that this isn't normal,' said Jose Ibarra, still showing signs of the amazement he felt at finding a dead steer on Saturday (June 1, 2002)," at the estancia "Las Tranqueras" (ranch) "on Highway 14 in the vicinity of La Arana, owned by Luis Stock Capella."
"On that Saturday, doing his morning tour of inspection, he found a 400-kilogram steer dead, missing several organs but astonishingly intact, without a trace of blood or any tracks whatsoever."
"'When I found it, there was a circle of yellow grass measuring some 20 meters (66 feet in diameter). What drew my attention the most was the color of that grass. I surveyed the field to see if there were any signs of people or cars, and I found nothing. Here you have to drive in along (close to) the house, and there are no tracks...or you have to come in by air,'" Ibarra said.
"But it isn't just the animal flesh and muscles, neighbors and other witnesses in the case claim having seen 'the strangest lights in the sky, which look like UFOs--unidentified flying objects--and burnt holes around the (dead) heifer.'"
Santa Rosa's first case "was in the San Jorge field in the Campo Lagos region some 18 kilometers (11 miles) to the northwest and according to police sources both cases occurred the same day."
"Owner Claudio Ferrerro found a nine-month-old cow dead 11 days ago (i.e. on June 1, 2002--J.T.). This Monday (June 10, 2002), he found that its face and neck were missing flesh and its sexual organs had been removed."
""The site was visited yesterday (Wednesday, June 12, 2002) by police officers from Regional Unit 1, along with a team from the Criminology Division. Heading the group was Sheriff Hector Garcia, and the officer in charge of the criminology team, Nestor Garcia (no relation--J.T.)."
"They found that the animal's face was missing its muscles, along with the musculature of all the neck. Furthermore, a hole was discovered in the animal's hindquarters through which the genitalia had been extracted."
The cow's face "looked as though it had been burned, and, according to Ferrerro, two strange incisions were noted, one on one ear and the other on the neck."
"It became known on Wednesday (June 12, 2002) that several cows had been founded dead on mysterious circumstances in fields of the Rivera and Macachan regions. The cows showed incisions and the removal of organs."
"One of the new cases in the hitherto-unexplained wave of cattle deaths was recorded last weekend (June 8 and 9, 2002) on the property owned by the Diez family in Arano, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Rivera. On Wednesday, the landowner's son showed La Arena a videotape and related his experiences."
"'My father found the dead animal last Saturday (June 8, 2002) and discussed it in the afternoon upon his return. He immediately went back out with a friend and saw that it had several strange incisions whose edges showed signs of intense heat which (had) cauterized the wounds.'"
"According to the young man, and to what appears on the videotape, the cow presents a perfectly round arch around its ocular cavity, from which the eyeball was completely missing. It also had incisions upon the upper and lower maxilla. The tongue had been cut out 'with signs of high temperature.'"
"Another incision began in the abdominal area and progressed toward the tail, where it was perfectly skinned back, revealing the absence of mammary glands, reproductive organs, anus and intestines."
A veterinarian "informed the Diez family that the animal's left ear had been cleanly cut away with signs of heat manipulation."
"Another strange case was recorded on the property of cattleman Pedro Miller, located 15 kilometers (9 miles) southeast of Macachan."
"The animal--a red heifer--was found in a strange position: spread out on its four legs. It also displayed the customary incisions in the mouth area and the ears."
"Finally, a new case emerged last week in a field belonging to the Kuderschmidt family, some 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Rivera, where the strange events affected three steers."
The following day, Thursday, June 13, 2002, "ten dead animals were found in a field near Rio Colorado, missing the tongues, eyes and udders and showing no signs of having bled. There were no tracks whatsoever in sight. Officials have not offered an explanation."
"In Guatrache, the dead animal found Thursday afternoon (June 13, 2002) was an Aberdeen Angus steer, missing its left eye, the front half of its tongue, its left ear, anus and rectum, and featured a circular cut in its abdomen and another on the left flank."
"Within the wave of mutilated cattle found with their organs missing was a 20-month-old steer found on the property of Luis Cano, located 7 kilometers (4 miles) east of Guatrache on Provincial Highway 24."
"Yesterday morning (Thursday, June 13, 2002) personnel from the Guatrache Sheriff's Office reported to the site where the animal was found dead, accompanied by veterinarian Alberto Blanco."
"'The circles were perfect,' mentioned an official of the Sheriff's Office, reporting on the case. 'The incisions were made with a peculiar instrument which cauterized as it cut, avoiding bleeding,' he added."
"'The animal had blood inside it, but not a drop on the ground. On one of its flanks, the animal had a circle measuring 7 centimeters (3 inches) without hair, as though it had been shaved, but its skin was neither burned nor cut.'"
Argentina's UFO community has also entered the hunt for the cattle mutilators.
"Ufologists are holding a skywatch in the countryside near Ataliva Roca. According to ufologist Oscar Alfredo Mario, 'Strange lights have been seen at the locations where the cattle mutilations have occurred.'"
"'We have eyewitness accounts from local cattlemen who have seen strange lights at night. One farmer claims having seen a vehicle in the rural area of Ataliva Roca only a few days ago,' Mario reported, 'In areas in which animals have been found dead, we have reports of strange lights seen at night.'"
Nor is this the first time the region has played host to UFOs. Mario added, "'At (the town of) Remuco in 1999, one cattleman claimed to have seen two objects over the wilderness 43 nights in a row.'" (We have a lot of sources for this report, so here they are: La Arena for June 11, 2002, "Five cows found dead under mysterious circumstances at Cuchillo Co;" for June 13, 2002, "Two more cases in Santa Rosa and Toay;" and for June 14, 2002, "Mystery in La Pampa over mutilated cattle." Also the newspaper La Nueva Provincia of Bahia Blanca for June 15, 2002, "A new case in La Adela." Also the newspaper El Diario de La Pampa for June 15, 2002, "Cow mutilated in bizarre fashion at La Arana" and "Strange lights occur at mutilation sites." Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales, Gloria Coluchi y Proyecto Catent para todos esos articulos de diario.)
(Editor's Comment: So here we have a major Fortean news event. As usual, it is reported only in Argentina and nowhere else in the world. And they say we don't have a controlled global media. Right!)
TUVPO CHALLENGES RECENT UFO SIGHTINGS IN TURKEY
TUVPO, the Turkish research organization that investigates anomalous phenomena, has challenged the UFO sightings reported in Istanbul and Antalya last week.
On May 26, 2002, Saffet Sap, 42, and his sister, Serpil Sap, videotaped a UFO over the Anadolu Hisari section of Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey. But Erol Erkmen, director of TUVPO, insists that the videotape is a fraud.
"Even though it was a new camera, the shot was published in black and white," Erkmen stated on Thursday, June 13, 2002, adding that TUVPO "determined that the shot was inverted and that it does not show the colour and density of the sky at that time (Istanbul at 6:30 p.m.--J.T.). And also it was determined that the image of the flying object was extremely enlarged during the editing of the film" and "is a deformed silhouette, so anyone can suggest their own imaginary guesses by watching the video."
"It is clearly observed that after the invertation process (negative-positive--E.E.) the vision had transformed into the colour and density of the sky at 6:30 p.m., and the object (UFO) is Venus," he added in a written statement. "The special markings on the tape are signs of the falsification in the original footage from many tries, and the published view (result--J.T.) is not the original footage."
Erkmen stated that he also doubted the validity of last week's report of a UFO landing in Antalya, a seaport city in southern Turkey.
At Antalya, 45 people reported seeing a UFO pass over the city. Three children--Murat Esici, Zeynep Cipinar and Malan Donmez--reported that the saucer had landed in the backyard of the Fatima Pirilti Primary School and that they saw "an alien being getting out of the unusual craft."
The alien was described as 1.8 meters (6 feet) tall, humanoid in appearance, "with a large head and red eyes." (See UFO Roundup, Volume 7, Number 24 for June 11, 2002, "Aliens land at a school in southern Turkey," page 1.)
The Antalya landing, Erkmen stated, "was an event which was sent to the media by a group named UFO Avcisi (Turkish for UFO Hunters--J.T.), who published by TVs (appeared on Turkish television--J.T.) The children told different stories on TV, and they were laughing at the same time."
"The National Observatory is located in Antalya," he added, "There are also foreign scientists residing at the observatory, which has a 150-centimeter telescope. No evidence was found in the area which the UFO report claimed, nor in the observations executed by local police and scientists. The National Observatory explained scientifically that it could be a meteor." (Many thanks to Erol Erkmen of TUVPO for this news story.)
DISC-SHAPED UFO SIGHTED NIGHTLY OVER SRI LANKA
On Sunday, June 9, 2002, "a disc-shaped UFO passed overhead at 10:30 p.m., There was only one witness. Its colour was white." The incident took place in Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean. The UFO passed over the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, in north central Sri Lanka, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Colombo, the national capital.
The sighting was reported on the morning newscast on Monday, June 10, 2002, by Television Rupavahini in Colombo, reported Nalaka, UFO Roundup's correspondent in Sri Lanka.
According to the Times of India, "Sri Lanka is dizzy over aliens after some villagers and a journalist spotted an unidentified flying object (UFO) in the north central town of Polonnaruwa, but visionary space scientist Sir Arthur Clarke has played down the local X-Files episode."
"The unusually glimmering flying object was first spotted by a farmer in Polonnaruwa, but its presence was also confirmed by several others in the area, including a television journalist. The object had been seen over Sri Lankan skies for nearly a week and eventually prompted the Sri Lankan Air Force to investigate the matter, the reports added."
"Polonnaruwa is the ancient Sri Lankan capital and a popular tourist attraction because it houses many rare historical ruins dating back to the First Century A.D. A team of astrophysicists--led by Dr. Chandana Jayaratne of the University of Colombo--has also started studying the Sri Lankan sky to determine what the object is."
"But for the internationally-reknowned author of several books on the subject, Sir Arthur Clarke, all the hype appears to be largely uninvited."
"'I wish I will one day be able to meet a visiting alien, but I don't for a moment agree that aliens are visiting the Earth in UFOs, making secret appearances and contacting a handful of human beings,' Clarke said in a statement, 'We need to discern enthralling science fiction from science fact.'" (See the Times of India for June 17, 2002, "UFO in Lanka? Clarke says no way." Many thanks to Nalaka, Raaj and John Hayes for this report.)
UFO WITH FLASHING LIGHTS SEEN NEAR STROOD, KENT
On Monday, June 10, 2002, "at around 11:30 p.m.," a family staying aboard their boat at the Hoo Marina on the river Medway, near Rochester and Strood, Kent, UK saw "travelling from east to west, either on purpose or coincidentally following the river," a brightly-lit UFO.
"We are moored in Hoo Marina, and it went right over the top of us," the witnesses reported.
"Estimated by my mother, who was the one who saw it at close range, it was around one-and-a-half times the size of our vessel, which itself is almost 50 feet (15 meters) in length."
"Loud helicopter noises were preceding it. To my ear, it sounded like several craft. The object of interest had no discernable sound. Certainly not a jet. Flying at treetop level, it should have been extremely loud." But the UFO made no sound.
The object "took two minutes to go into the near-distance, at which point it hovered for approximately one minute, and then carried on. Very bright white lights on each corner. Each was flashing in synchronisation, at half-second intervals. Especially at leading part and centre (we estimated same magnitudes) with both rear corners (of the triangular UFO--J.T.) being in turn far brighter than the many small white lights which made up the outline. Strangely, none of these lights seemed to illuminate either the ground or cast any reflection on its own surface."
"Object was either black or dark, though, if the latter, certainly not light enough to be seen as grey in colour. Main lights were flashing, although no beam effects were noticed at all."
"Our Dobermann (pinscher) dog was agitated and on edge during the time of the helicopters appearing, although he is usually fairly anxious about such sounds. My radio and computer were unaffected before and after the event." (Many thanks to Eric Adams and Chris Rolfe of UFO Monitors-East Kent for this report.)
GROUPS OF YELLOW-ORANGE UFOs SPOTTED OVER VIENNA
On Saturday, June 15, 2002, at midnight, eyewitness Michael N. and his friend Steve were sitting in a third-floor flat in the Hietzing section of Vienna, the capital of Austria, when they noticed a strange glow beyond the window.
"We saw maybe 20 of these gleaming objects from the window of our room on the third floor," Michael reported, "It was approximately midnight when we saw them. They went in groups from the ground into the sky. First they moved quite fast, then they stood still in the sky, and then they moved again. And we also heard several loud booms!"
Michael described the UFOs as "yellow-orange round glowing objects, very fast-moving" as they "went up into the sky." (Email Form Report)
(Editor's Comment: This is the second UFO report the Roundup has gotten from that section of Vienna. Is there some kind of UFO parking garage under the ground in Hietzing?)
UFOs SKIM OVER THE SUBURBS OF TORONTO
On Friday, May 24, 2002, at 4 p.m., Tony Dickson "was sitting on the back deck" of his home in Brampton, Ontario, Canada (population 268,251), a suburb six miles (10 kilometers) west of Toronto, "just west of Highway 10, just slightly north of the Williams Parkway," when he saw a UFO approach from the north.
"While sitting on my back deck, looking northeast, I spotted a jet way up, about 30,000 feet (9,000 meters), and directly below it at several thousand feet (approximately 10,000 feet (3,000 meters) at a guess--T.D.) a silver, reflective, cone-shaped object" that "traveled from north to south at an extremely fast speed, faster than normal jet speeds," he reported, "It was reflecting bright silver to dull. It was very clear, although the bright sunlight was behind me. I wonder if anyone else has seen this other than my wife and I." (Email Form Report)
On Monday, June 10, 2002, at 11:30 p.m., Sean Johnston was walking home from the movies in Oshawa, Ontario (population 134,364) when "a UFO came in front of me, then turned and went to the left. I was walking home from a movie when I saw this UFO."
Oshawa, Ont. is located about 15 miles (25 kilometers) east of Toronto, which is Canada's largest city. (Email Form Report)
STRANGE SPHERE WASHES ASHORE IN SOUTH CAROLINA
"Authorities are investigating a mysterious silver orb that washed up on the South Carolina coast."
"They haven't been able to identify the object and say its only features are a series of numbers painted on it."
"The 3-foot (0.9-meter) diameter orb is being examined by a number of maritime experts who think it may belong to a ship."
"NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) haven't been able to help identify it."
"Experts think it could be a flotation device used by a dredging ship but say it doesn't look like one."
"Marie Segnera, whose family found the object near their Isle of Palms beach house, said, 'They thought it was a giant beach ball--they were going to bring it in. They swam out and said it was a very heavy ball--it was metal, had numbers on it--and there was no way they were bringing it in.'"
"Isle of Palms, S.C. Fire Chief Ann Graham said, 'We're calling it a UFO--unidentified floating object.'"
Isle of Palms (population 4,581) is located 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of historic Charleston, South Carolina. (See Ananova for June 17, 2002, "Mystery orb has been dubbed 'unidentified floating object.' Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr. for this report.)
(Editor's Note: Charleston was the home port of the CSS Hunley, the first submarine to sink an enemy warship. The Hunley herself went down on her way home from her successful sinking of the USS Housatonic in February 1864.) (Editor's Comment: Maybe the silver orb belonged to the Nautilus, the fabled Nineteenth Century submarine built by Captain Nemo and made famous by French science fiction author Jules Verne. I just thought of something...what if the Hunley was deliberately sunk by Captain Nemo!?)
HOLLYWOOD STARS RELATE UFO EXPERIENCES
"Men In Black star Will Smith plays an alien hunter in the movies, but he claims to have had a close encounter in real life!"
"He's convinced he saw a pair of UFOs flying above a California desert 10 years ago. 'They were not man-made,' insists Smith, whose MIB sequel premieres July 3 (2002). 'They dashed across the horizon at unbelievable speeds.'"
"Smith, who played boxing legend Muhammad Ali in the film Ali, isn't the only celeb convinced that UFOs are real. In fact, the champ himself is a believer."
"'If you look into the sky in the early morning hours,' says Ali, "you can see them playing tag between the stars.'"
"Beam William Shatner up--Star Trek's Captain Kirk says aliens saved his life after his motorbike broke down, leaving him lost and stranded in the Mojave Desert (of southern California--J.T.). 'A shimmering figure led me to a road so I could get help,' Shatner says, 'Then he disappeared and a shining, orb-style object zoomed off at high speed.'"
"Movie Ghostbuster Dan Aykroyd swears he saw something strange in his neighborhood a few years back. 'I was in Massachusetts and saw two objects tracking at about 10,000 feet (3,000 meters), doing amazing maneuvers,' he reveals, 'I am convinced they were UFOs.'"
"The truth is out there for X-Files supernatural sleuth David Duchovny--he claims he saw a triangular UFO while jogging along a New Jersey beach in 1993. 'I don't know what it was,' he admits, 'I don't think I ever will.'"
"Grease star Olivia Newton-John once spotted a multicolored globe in her native Australia. She adds, 'It could change direction like no plane I'd ever seen.'"
"And (rock star) David Bowie saw many UFOs while growing up in Kent, England. 'They came over so regularly,' he recalls, 'we could time them.'" (See the tabloid Globe for June 18, 2002, "Spaced-out stars believe in UFOs," page 59.)
From the UFO Files...
1881: MYSTERIOUS BOOMS HEARD IN TUNISIA
One of the strangest cases of "mysterious sky booms" on record took place in North Africa on June 17, 1881.
That day, Ishaq al-Taabi was seated in the courtyard of the Mosque of Sidi Driss in Gabes, a seaport city in what is now Tunisia. With his fellow students, Ishaq was listening to the imam Mohammed al-Aziz al-Ghassani discuss verses from al-Quran (the Koran). It was a typical sunny June morning at the habou (Islamic school similar to a madrassa in Pakistan--J.T.). Suddenly, an earsplitting explosion drowned out the imam's words.
"What was that!?" a student shouted.
Before anyone could reply, a series of multiple booms, "sounds like cannonading," followed, and even the imam jumped to his feet.
"They're shelling the city!" Hassan Bin Ahmad shouted.
Oblivious to the imam's warnings to be careful, Ishaq, Hassan and the other teenaged boys scrambled out of the courtyard and rushed through the souk (marketplace--J.T.) They found shocked, puzzled and frightened adults milling around. Weaving their way through the crowd, the boys headed southeast to the Oued Gabes River, intent on getting a look at the "foreign fleet" they thought was bombarding their city.
Suddenly, the boys were knocked off their feet by an earth tremor. The cry went up from the souk. "Earthquake!" But Ishaq and his friends pressed on, racing through the narrow crooked streets.
"That quaking of the earth was felt, at intervals of 32 seconds, lasting about six minutes," reported a French scientist living in Gabes at the time.
By the time the final tremor subsided, Ishaq and his schoolmates were at the river, looking east towards the Mediterranean Sea. But there were no gun flashes, no clouds of coal-fired smoke, no European battleships offshore, just a few lateen-rigged boats belonging to Tunisian fishermen.
The mystery of the 1881 "sky booms" was never solved. (See the book New Lands by Charles Fort, Boni and Livewright Inc., New York, N.Y., 1923, page 126. Also the French periodical La Nature, 17-126 for 1881.)
That's it for this week. Join us next time for more UFO, Fortean and paranormal news from all around the planet Earth, brought to you by "the paper that goes home--UFO Roundup." See you then!
UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 2002 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.
