UFO ROUNDUP Volume 8 Number 12
Volume 8
Number 12
March 19, 2003
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
XENDRA APPEARS AGAIN, THIS TIME IN BRAZIL
The Xendra (pronounced Shenn-drah--J.T.), a luminous blue arch reputed to be an extraterrestrial interdimensional gateway, has appeared again, this time in northern Brazil.
According to Brazilian ufologist Eustaquio Andrea Patounas, the weird glowing arch appeared on eight consecutive evenings over the grounds of the Maceio Mar Hotel in Maceio, the seaport capital of the state of Alagoas. The Xendra appeared just hours after a UFO was seen flying over the city. (See UFO Roundup, volume 8, number 11 for March 12, 2003, "UFO flap sweeps Brazil," page 5.)
"For the last eight days (Sunday, March 2, 2003 to Monday, March 10, 2003) a strange blue portal has appeared," Patounas reported, "It was also seen by fishermen just offshore, who radioed questions about the phenomenon to the maritime authorities. It was an interdimensional portal that energized and appeared to move and hover over the sea just offshore. This is the first time such a thing has been seen in Alagoas (state)."
Another witness living in the bairro Ponte Verde in Maceio's east end reported that he first noticed "a strange bright glow" over the lengthy beach to the west of his neighborhood and then "saw the blue arch."
The Xendra was seen for the first time nearly a year ago in Los Cipreses National Park, near Rancagua in Chile. A Chilean UFO group, holding a weekend seminar in the park, saw the luminous blue arch materialize over their campsite. Twenty-four of the participants claimed to have entered the portal where they encountered bald-headed aliens wearing long robes. (See UFO Roundup, Volume 7, Number 16 for April 16, 2002, "The Xendra mystery," page 1.)
So far the Xendra phenomenon has only been reported in South America.
Maceio is on Brazil's South Atlantic shore, located about 1,050 kilometers (630 miles) northeast of Rio de Janeiro. (Muito obrigado a Eustaquio Andrea Patounas e otros por eso caso.)
PHANTOM PANTHERS RUN WILD IN UNITED KINGDOM
"There is new evidence to suggest that panther-like creatures could be roaming the West Lancashire (UK) countryside."
"Last week's report in the Advertiser about the sighting of a 5-foot (1.5-meter) long beast off Coe Lane in Tarleton," W. Lancs., UK "prompted reader Gordon Singleton to come forward with a similar close encounter in Burscough."
"It happened about seven weeks ago (late January 2003) when he was returning home from work at around 4:30 a.m., and he had an unforgettable experience."
"Mr. Singleton, an HGV driver, explained, 'As I turned up Martin Lane, it just leapt out of the field, darted straight in front of me and looked right at the (car) lights.'"
"'It was just black and had a long tail. Its body was a similar size to a labrador's (Labrador retriever dog--J.T.) but thinner--it looked just like the picture in the Advertiser.'"
"There were more than 1,000 alien big cat (or ABC; phantom panthers in the USA--J.T.) sightings in Britain last year, and the British Big Cat Society describes the Preston and Bolton areas as being particular hotspots."
"Continued sightings of 'the Beast of Bodmin' and other big cats in the Westcountry (Cornwall and Devon-- J.T.) are 'perplexing,' government minister Elliott Morley has admitted. But the continuing sightings are still not supported by hard evidence such as corpses, photographs or actual captured animals, said the minister."
"He said that as far as he's concerned there are no confirmed cases despite hundreds of reported sightings over more than two decades. Mr. Morley said it may be the people are 'grievously and frequently mistaken with their identification.'"
"However, big cat expert Mike Thomas, managing director of the Newquay Zoo, said although he has yet to see one himself he firmly believes there are unexplained animals living in the Westcountry."
"He said there are many reasons why definitive evidence, such as corpses and photographs, have not been found."
"'Some of the evidence definitely indicates the presence of a cat species that is definitely not indigenous,' he said." (See the Ormskirk Advertiser for March 6, 2003, "Big cat on the prowl?" and This Is Cornwall for March 6, 2003, "Perplexing sightings of 'Beast.'" Merci beaucoup a Robert Fischer pour ces articles de journal.)
ZAMBIA'S INVISIBLE MAN
"Claims that the Zambian police removed their underpants in order to search more effectively for a fugitive is the latest bizarre revelation in a row about the role of witchcraft in the capture of Zambia's most wanted man."
(Editor's Note: Zambia is a large nation in south central Africa, just north of Zimbabwe.)
"Katele Kalumba, former foreign minister, vanished three months ago (December 2002) after his arrest was ordered on charges of plundering the nation's resources. Despite the best efforts of a large team of police and reported sightings from as far (away) as Belgium, he was living undisturbed in a tent on his farm in northwestern Zambia."
"Police say witchcraft lay at the heart of his elusiveness, and they displayed an assortment of 'magical objects' found in his tent when they finally caught up with him."
"Black arts, and the fear of them, bubble just below the surface of life in Zambia. Police have been accused of resorting to the services of a witchdoctor to find their man."
"Mr. Kalumba, 50, disappeared when Zambia's national task force investigating corruption demanded he answer questions relating to the disappearance of $12.5 million for military equipment, as well as other sums."
"Police say he used two witchdoctors to" cast a spell creating "his invisibility and eavesdropped on them with the aid of a wooden fetish doll. They said he used the screen of his solar-powered laptop computer."
(Editor's Comment: That's a new one. Using a laptop's screen as a crystal ball or a "magickal mirror." Sorcery comes to the Twenty-First Century.)
"'He confirmed he was able to see what was going on through the traditional (laptop) computer,' said a police spokesman."
"As it happened, Mr. Kalumba voluntarily showed himself to the (police) team that came searching for him after a tip-off from a local man. He emerged from behind a shrub too small to hide a man, said the police, adding that he wore charms around his neck and waist."
"Now behind bars in Lusaka," Zambia's capital, "and awaiting trial, Kalumba has denied the use of witchcraft, saying the objects were planted on him."
"Police said the case was plagued with strange troubles. Police vehicles would unexpectedly run out of fuel or develop mechanical failure. Heavy rain would fall from the sky at key moments."
"Even after his capture, they said, Kalumba was able to make himself invisible when the convoy passed through roadblocks on its return to Lusaka. Kalumba and his wife, Lumba, claimed the police resorted to a witchfinder to track him down."
"Accusations that police removed their underpants to make the search more effective would be interpreted in Zambia as a sure sign of witchery. Black magic is best practised naked."
"But, police said, apart from the lack of underpants and their urination on traditional herbs found at Kalumba's hideaway, it was a conventional operation."
"In the latest twist, a journalist has been cautioned by police after claiming in an article that (Zambia's) president, Levy Mwanawasa, sanctioned the police's use of witchcraft as a last resort in the search for Kalumba." (See the Daily Telegraph of UK for March 8, 2003, "Police accused of using witchcraft to catch fugitive." Merci beaucoup a Robert Fischer pour cette article de journal.)
(Editor's Comment: First it was vampires. Then it was the Were-Hyena of Malawi. And now...the Invisible Man! Did Universal Studios take over Africa!?)
SMALL ALIEN SIGHTED NEAR SCHOOL IN CALAMA, CHILE
A small alien was sighted near a Roman Catholic high school in the barrio Caspana (neighborhood) of Calama, a small city in Chile north of Antofagasta.
According to Chilean ufologist Jaime Ferrer, "In late February, a group of Catholic high school students, most of them 15 years of age, reported seeing a strange being near their campus. They heard strange noises on the rooftops of other houses in the neighborhood. They saw a strange figure standing 1.2 meters (3 feet, 9 inches) tall. The being appeared to move around not by walking but by making small leaps."
On Wednesday, March 5, 2003, "several people reported seeing another UFO over the local airport in Calama. This object appeared in broad daylight. Yet it was bright enough to be quite noticeable by a great number of people in different parts of the city."
"The first report came from people standing at a bus stop next to the Ekono Supermarket, in the northeastern section of Calama. Each eyewitness noticed that the object appeared to be white and was about the same size as Venus but several times brighter. According to eyewitnesses, the bright object appeared, and then it would disappear in a synchronized manner every 5 to 10 seconds, apparently without moving in any direction. The UFO sighting lasted about three minutes."
"A taxi driver named Carlos reported seeing the same object from the opposite side of the city, in barrio Caspana," on the southwest side of Calama. These sightings have been happening so often and, for the most part, in the same area, which has caused many people to jokingly call the area Ovnipuerto. (Spanish for UFO Port-- J.T.)." (Muchas gracias a Jaime Ferrer y Mario Andrade del Centro UFO de Calama, y tambien a Dr. Virgilio Sanchez Ocejo de Miami UFO Center para esos informes.)
LUMINOUS DISC SIGHTED IN EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA
On Saturday, March 15, 2003, at 1:45 a.m., the eyewitness, Camasse, was outdoors in her hometown of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (population 43,123) when she "saw a white glowing disk flying around by the full moon. It flew at a downward angle and stopped. Went upward and stopped. Then it went from left to right. It also went in and out of the clouds. I watched it for five minutes."
Wilkes-Barre, Pa. is on Interstate Highway I-81 approximately 112 miles (179 kilometers) north of Philadelphia. (Email Form Report)
LUMINOUS UFOs SEEN AGAIN IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
On Monday, March 3, 2003, at 7:55 p.m., two men from Houston, British Columbia, Canada (population 3,934) "were travelling by truck along Provincial Highway 16 just east of Houston. Just before they got to Perow, B.C., there was a huge farmer's field which runs for a long way, with a buffer of trees (shelterbelt in the USA--J.T.) between the field and the highway. The passenger 'first noticed a large object parallelling them along the highway.' The driver looked at the speedometer and said he was doing 50 kilometers per hour (30 miles per hour). The distance between the witnesses and the object would have been approximately 300 to 400 feet (90 to 120 meters)."
Both the driver and his passenger "described the object as looking like an Airstream trailer and the size was close to a Greyhound bus. The object stayed straight across from the truck as they drove along. It paced the vehicle. The passenger rolled down the window to see if he was able to hear any sound coming from the object. But none was heard."
"After approximately 750 meters, the craft turned slowly from the highway, wobbled slightly, sped up, wobbled once again and then shot off out of sight very quickly."
On Friday, March 7, 2003, at 7:30 p.m., the female witness reported, "Me and my daughter were ready to leave in the truck when we both looked up and saw this bright white light shoot over towards Mount Hays," near Prince Rupert, B.C. (population 16,714). "Travelling southeast for two to three seconds, it just blinked out when it was over Mount Hays. It was the biggest light that we have ever seen."
"My daughter told me that she had seen the same thing two weeks ago while with her friend Patricia at 4:30 a.m., but that object wasn't as bright as this one was." (Many thanks to Canadian ufologist Brian Vike for these reports.)
PREHISTORIC TUNNEL FOUND IN CUZCO, PERU
An ancient tunnel 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) long, which may have been built by people from the lost continent of Atlantis, has been discovered in Cuzco, a city in southern Peru that was once the capital of the Incas.
"A tunnel running 2 kilometers in length, linking the Coricancha temple (today the Church of Santo Domingo-- J.T.) with the fortress of Sacsahuaman, located on the outskirts of the city of Cuzco, was discovered by Spanish archaeologist Anselm Pi Rambla in the ancient Incan capital."
"The tunnel may form part of a series of galleries, chambers, foundations and ancient mausoleums that are probably under the city of Cuzco, according to measurements made by Dr. Pi Rambla as part of the Viracocha Project, begun in August 2000."
The tunnel runs north from the Church of Santo Domingo (the Coricancha was once part of a large temple complex called Inti-Huasi, Quechua for House of the Sun-- J.T.) to the Plaza de Armas and up the steep Avenida Suecia to the mysterious pre-Incan fortress of Sacsahuaman.
Dr. Pi Rambla "told the Peruvian Congress's Cultural Commission that he had discovered the subterranean passageway, which, in his opinion, 'may change perceptions on Peruvian history.'"
"According to radar images obtained by Pi Rambla, the tunnel links directly the Temple of the Sun at Coricancha, with the Cathedral and temple of Inca Viracocha (on the corner where the Calle Almirante Cordova enters the Plaza de Armas--J.T.), with the temple of Huascar, with the temple of Manco Capac (the first Inca--J.T.) in Colcampata and with the Huaman Marca."
"All of the buildings are in perfect astrological alignment, which confirms that the ancient Peruvians also guided their construction by the location of the sun, the moon and the constellations."
"Access to a tunnel at the Sacsahuaman fortress was already known, but it was condemned in 1923 to avoid the disappearance of curiosity seekers who entered it." That tunnel was never completely explored, so its course is unknown.
One of the most persistent legends in Cuzco is that of las socabones, strange prehistoric tunnels that run under the city and throughout the Andes. The tunnels existed when Manco Capac and his sister-wife, the sorceress Mama Ocllo Huallpa, settled in the then- uninhabited Cuzco valley in 975 A.D. The tunnels were a closely-guarded secret kept by the hierophants of the Incan religion and the adepts of an even older South American magickal order.
In July 1973, UFO Roundup editor Joseph Trainor and his traveling companions, Paul Gilmore, Mary Beth Keohan and Karen Keohan, went looking for the entrance to las socabones. "We tramped all over Sacsahuaman, looking for that tunnel opening," he recalled, "We started in the Plaza de Armas and, by some strange coincidence, followed roughly the same route discovered by Dr. Pi Rambla's radar survey--up the Avenida Suecia to the Church of San Cristobal, then north of Colcampata to the baths at Tambomachay and on to Sacsahuaman. I personally checked out every single cave between Colcampata and Tambomachay but no luck. There was a big UFO flap going on in Peru back then, and the hot rumor in Cuzco had it that one of the tunnels led to an underground alien base."
Dr. Pi Rambla "also explained that this would involve a pre-Inca citadel belonging to a culture that has yet to be discovered."
"'We calculated that it could be more than 100 meters (330 feet) under Cuzco. The great question is ascertaining what age it belonged to."
In his 1932 book, The Children of Mu, Colonel James Churchward claimed that the tunnels under Cuzco were constructed by settlers from the lost continent of Atlantis.
"The socabon system is supposed to connect with a tunnel that runs down to the coast and under the Pacific Ocean all the way to Easter Island. This is the so-called Lemurian Tunnel," Trainor explained. "From there, a tunnel goes under the ocean to Ponape in the Caroline Islands, then to Luzon in the Philppines and then to Cambodia. Now you're in the mainland Asia tunnel system, and you can go all the way to Shambhala," reputedly located in Afghanistan.
"In May 2003, Pi Rambla will specialize the excavation work aimed at confirming the location of the underground galleries that confirm the stories of chroniclers like Garcilaso de la Vega and Cieza de Leon regarding an underground citadel in Cuzco." (See Spain's EFE News Agency report for March 12, 2003, "Peru: Tunnel discovered in secret Inca city." Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales y Gloria Coluchi para eso informe.)
ASTRONOMER LEADS FIGHT AGAINST MOON HOAX CONSPIRACY THEORISTS
"Phil Plait, 38-year-old astronomer and skeptic, was on the California State University, Northridge campus Friday," March 14, 2003, "punching holes in the tenacious myth that American astronauts never landed on the moon."
"Given the crowd, Plait didn't have much persuading to do. His talk was sponsored by the university's Department of Physics and Astronomy, and the room was full of people who know one end of a telescope from another. But many Americans cling to the view that the landings were staged--6 percent of those surveyed in a 1999 Gallup poll had their doubts, uncertainty fed by a steady stream of television shows, books and videotapes that claim that NASA was part of a vast government conspiracy."
"But when Plait asked his 75 listeners if any believed the moon landings were a hoax, only one young man raised his hand."
"Wearing sneakers and a blue NASA cap, the astronomer ticked off the arguments presented in a 2001 FOX TV show, Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon? seen by more than 6 million viewers. He systematically refuted each claim."
"On the staff at Sonoma State University in northern California, Plait is part of a program that develops educational activities based on NASA science and technology. He debunks on his own time, as part of an informal community of scientists who thinks it's important to counter the pseudoscientific notions that seem to flourish in the United States."
(Editor's Comment: You mean, like the belief that a long- dead Galilean carpenter can be somebody's personal savior?)
"Sometimes, he confessed, taking on the conspiracy theorists seems like a lot of effort that could be better spent, say, doing astronomy. Plait paraphrases the famous observation: 'Never wrestle with a pig. You'll just get dirty, and the pig enjoys it.' But, he said, he believes it's important to give people 'the tools they need to think critically about these arguments and realize they are wrong.'"
"Look at the American flag supposedly being planted on the moon, the moon hoaxers say. If the astronauts were really on the moon, which has no atmosphere, why is the flag waving?"
"Plait explains that the astronauts caused the flag to move as they drilled the flagpole into the surface of the moon; inertia creates the apparent waving motion."
(Editor's Comment: Which leaves the intriguing question of why the wave motion stopped after several minutes, especially when no counter-force was applied by the astronauts to halt the inertia of the original motion.)
"Twenty-year-old student Joseph Farar was the one person who confessed to believing that the moon landing was a hoax. Afterward, he explained that he had a friend who knew somebody who claimed to work for the movie company that was hired by NASA to fake the landing. The conspiracy theorists point to the lack of stars in the photos as evidence that an event was staged. The studio employee in Farar's friend's story said the moviemaker forgot to put in the stars."
"Farar said Plait hadn't changed his mind, but he said he was going to look deeper into the evidence. And he said he thought there were others in the audience who believed it was a hoax but didn't want to admit it." (See the Duluth, Minn. News-Tribune for March 16, 2003, "Astronomer debunks moon landing conspiracy theory," page 14A.)
READER FEEDBACK:
SCOTTISH MALL SIGHTING A HOAX
Noel Wallace of Scotland's East Kilbride UFO Club writes, "This is just to let you know that the East Kilbride UFO Club has investigated the alleged sighting at the Kingsgate Retail Park and have come to the conclusion that it was a hoax." (See UFO Roundup, volume 8, number 9 for February 26, 2003, "Large silver UFO hovers over Scottish mall," page 5.)
"We have been unable to contact any further witnesses, nor have we been able to contact the owners of the cars in the alleged traffic accident. The police don't have records of one, either."
"The supposed witness never even got in touch with us. Not even through his friend who originally reported the sighting and spoke to us. Therefore, we can only assume that she was the victim of a prank by him."
NAMING THE WERE-HYENA
First entry in the Name the Were-Hyena contest (See UFO Roundup, volume 8, number 11 for March 12, 2003, "Were-Hyena causes mass panic in Malawi," page 3) goes to Mr. Maven, who writes, "How about LARRY TALBOT HYENA. Sounds like a winner, huh?"
From the UFO Files...
2003: THE ALIENS AND THE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA
By Der Voron
"The crash of the space shuttle Columbia occurred on February 1, 2003. Soon, many versions were offered to explain it. Here we would like to propose an explanation for this crash. Let us analyze all the facts."
"(1) The breakup occurred at a very great height, over 40 miles. This excludes any possibility for the supposed Earth-based attackers to shoot it with existing land-to-air missiles (like the Patriot or S-200/S-300/S- 400--D.V.), as none of these would be able to reach the height of even close to 40 miles. Others may entertain the possibility of an attack, with the use of special missiles or laser guns, launched by a Russian satellite, or other space device, or Russian high-altitude strategic bomber (Tupolev TU-95 or TU-160--D.V.) that somehow could approach or cross the U.S. border. Those who believe that this is the truth may use, as a kind of 'supportive information,' the following fact: just about 20 minutes after the crash, RosAviaKosmos, the Russian space agency, believed that it might have been caused by a technical defect."
"(2) Some sources, including RosAviaKosmos, claim that a little fragment of a shuttle's protective surface layer that had fallen off the shuttle at the start on January 16, 2003, caused the formation of further splits, which then resulted in an explosion. Other sources, however, claim that during the time Columbia was in orbit, NASA specialists analyzed the problem and came to the conclusion that it couldn't influence the flight. This sounds a bit odd, since unprotected areas can very easily catch on fire because of air friction."
"So, actually, there may be two explanations for Columbia's crash."
"(I) Hot air friction sparked a fire in the damaged (unprotected--D.V.) area while Columbia was descending at a speed of about 3.8 miles per second. The fire burnt through the unprotected area and then reached the internal areas of the shuttle, its engines and fuel tanks."
"The problem with this scenario is that it could easily have occurred during the shuttle's takeoff, when its speed and air friction were approximately the same as when landing, and when the shuttle had much more fuel than during landing."
"(II) It was shot down by extraterrestrials. Maybe they didn't use any weapons to crash it, but simply approached in their craft, causing Columbia's electronics and engines to fail because of the effect of the alien starcraft's electromagnetic field. It also may be that an alien craft had approached the Columbia without any malicious intent, but that its electromagnetic field effects on Columbia's electronics and engines was unforeseen by the aliens."
"This, however, doesn't explain why the shuttle exploded in the air, instead of merely plummeting to Earth. Thus, the more likely scenario is that the Columbia was show down by the alien craft."
"If so, the question arises--what did the aliens wish to show mankind by their actions? Possibly that chemical- based engines (which are used even by such advanced craft as space shuttles--D.V.) have about reached their peak effectiveness and reliability--and it is time to develop and actively use more reliable engines."
"Today's weapons and missiles, which are much less effective than ray and/or laser weapons, have approximately the same condition."
(Editor's Note: Der Voron is the author of the book Unidentified Flying Objects: Starcraft, PublishAmerica Books, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, copyright 2002. For readers wishing to order this book at a local bookstore, the ISBN number is 1-59129-738-9.)
Well, that's it for this week. Join us next time for more UFO, Fortean and paranormal news from around the planet Earth, brought to you by "the paper that goes home- -UFO Roundup." See you in seven days!
UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 2003 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.
