UFO ROUNDUP Volume 7 Number 48
Volume 7
Number 48
November 26, 2002
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
MORE CATTLE MUTILATED IN NORTHERN ARGENTINA
"A veterinarian stated that there were several mutilation cases" in Argentina's northern Misiones province. "Julio Frette is the only professional who presented a report on the event, which occurred during the month of August (2002) in Concepcion de la Sierra."
"'There were four more cases that were never made known,' he remarked. He added that they were not reported due to the ignorance of the parties who made the discoveries, and that the mystery has not been solved."
"Three weeks after the discovery of a mutilated cow in the vicinity of Concepcion de la Sierra, veterinarian Julio Frette stated that in fact four similar cases had been recorded in the province's southern reaches but which were not made known."
"The veterinarian, a resident of the aforementioned community, was the only one to present a detailed report to the National Health and Agroalimentary Quality Service (Spanish acronym: SENASA)."
"Frette explained that he did not witness the other findings, but that the events are known to local residents."
"'At the town of Apostoles, in the Las Tunas wilderness, a producer (rancher--J.T.) found a mutilated animal and set it on fire,' he remarked."
"The case which became public is the one Frette participated in and occurred on August 8, 2002. On that day, a zebu hybrid cow was found dead, and strange incisions were found on its body in Lot 245 of the Concepciones neighborhood, on a small farm only a few meters (yards) from the city limits."
"The animal, which was about to give birth, had disappeared four days earlier (August 4, 2002) and, according to the report, suffered the mutilation of its internal organs."
"'The absence of the muscles of the left side of the jaw is evident, leaving the maxillary bare of all tissue. Absence of larynx, pharynx and upper portion of the esophagus and trachea. Absence of ocular orb and left ear. Tongue was not found but the hyloides bone was present and perfectly dessicated. Absence of mammary gland; the abdominal cavity presented an opening corresponding to the region where the calf that was soon to be born could not be found. Absence of the rectum and the large intestine, genitals, with the dexterity of how said organs were extracted being a stand-out,' said the report."
"What drew the attention of those who saw the carcass--as in other cases--was that one of the incisions was perfectly cauterized. 'An incision measuring approximately 20 centimeters (8 inches) was made in the region of the brisket, showing red tissue as though it had been dead for only hours, and within approximately ten minutes, those present attested that the tissue rapidly acquired an almost shiny black coloration.'"
"Witnesses to the event, aside from the veterinarian, were the owner of Lot 245, Emilio Fernandez, cattle merchant Osvaldo Kreclevich (the animal's owner--S.C.) and (Argentinian) police officers."
"On August 19 (2002), "the carcass gave off such an intense odor that it was noticeable 70 meters (231 feet) away, says the report. No sign of a struggle or self-defense by the animal were noticed at the site. Although no new cases were recorded, these elements led Frette to believe that the mystery is still unsolved." (See Misiones On-Line for November 15, 2002. Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales, Liliana Nunez y Guillermo Gimenez para eso articulo.)
(Editor's Comment: Welcome to Target: South America Week at UFO Roundup. The aliens have been pretty active south of the equator.)
UFO AND MUTILATIONS REPORTED IN URUGUAY
On Saturday, November 2, 2002, in a rural area near Laguna del Sauce in Uruguay's Maldonado province, "a man who works in the (rain) forest claims to have seen a V-shaped object with two white lights on it. It was moving backwards."
"His mates didn't give much importance to what he said."
"But two days later (Monday, November 4, 2002), they found several mutilated calves" near that location. "It seemed as if something had extracted the flesh and the organs from the animals. There were no brains, no tongues, no flesh, and the cowhide was affected only in the place where the anus should be."
"On Friday, November 8, 2002, a similar (mutilation) case took place in the Establecimento Stella Maris, near Laguna del Sauce. For their workers, the cases are related to extraterrestrial visitation, although government authorities have established that strange mutilations are due to a kind of wasp that could attack cows. And in some other cases, they put the blame on a little red mouse that lives in the woods." (Muchas gracias a Carlos Barboza para eso informe.)
CHILE'S ARMY CORDONS OFF UNUSUAL CROP CIRCLE
"A circular imprint measuring 30 meters (100 feet) in diameter was found by military personnel from the La Concepcion Regiment based in Lonquimay, in Chile's Ninth Region," near the city of Angol.
"The troops isolated an area consisting of pasture fields and trees in a radius of 1,200 meters (3,960 feet)." The area was declared "Off-Limits" to both civilians and to the Carabineros (Chile's national police--J.T.).
"In a telephone conversation from the city of Angol, ufologist and retired Carabinero Raul Gajardo said, 'It was approximately two months ago (September 2002) that a mounted patrol from the Carabinero barracks at Liucura, a dependency of the 5th Sheriff's Office in Curacautan, established that in a location some three hours away from Angol there were a considerable number of (Chilean) military personnel belonging to the La Concepcion Regiment in Lonquimay."
"The reason for the show of force was the discovery of a large burnt patch of grass. The phenomenon extended for over a diameter of 30 meters (100 feet) with burned tree trunks and a substance similar to whitewash (calcium carbonate--J.T.) could be observed."
"'At equidistant points of the circle there were four circles measuring 15 centimeters (6 inches) which were not scorched. They are like four legs at the center of the circle. What is strange is that the snow never got to cover the circles. The exact location of the site shall be kept confidential in order to research it carefully,' Gajardo said."
"A strange fact was that the measurements made by the military showed that a Geiger counter had recorded a high level of radiation in the area."
"Another interesting fact is that the Carabineros were denied entry to the site, while a member of the (Chilean) Army's upper echelon visited the area by helicopter." (See Terra Chile for November 15, 2002, "Possible UFO landing in southern Chile." Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales y Liliana Nunez para eso articulo de diario.)
(Editor's Note: The city of Angol has been the site of an ongoing UFO flap for the past two years. For more, see UFO Roundup, volume 7, number 22 for May 28, 2002, "Abductee comes forward in Angol, Chile," page 3, and volume 7, number 44 for October 29, 2002, "UFO fires blue beams in Angol, Chile," page 4.)
CIGAR-SHAPED UFO SIGHTED IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL
A silvery cigar-shaped UFO was sighted in several cities in Brazil's state of Rio Grande do Sul, located 900 kilometers (540 miles) southwest of Rio de Janeiro.
On Friday, November 1, 2002, the silver UFO "was seen moving relatively rapidly over the cities of Gravatai, Cachoeirinha and Canoas in Rio Grande do Sul. Hundreds of people saw the bright object."
The same day, at 4:35 p.m., the silver UFO was spotted in Praia do Cassino, a town on the South Atlantic shore, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of Porto Alegre, the state capital.
Eyewitness Eduardo Enderle Oliveira reported, "I was playing ball on the beach with my son and his friend when the boys sighted something unusual in the sky. My son's friend pointed it out to me. At first it looked like a bird making a sharp curve in the air, but then I looked closer and saw that it was a metallic fuselage in the form of a cigar. There were no wings. I called the attention of several beachgoers to this object, which flew at a very high altitude overhead. There was a brilliant gleam in the sky, most likely a reflection of the sun, and, as it departed, it resembled a brilliant sphere about the size of Venus, which gradually diminished in size."
Elsewhere in Brazil, on Monday, November 18, 2002, a UFO appeared over the mid-sized city of Casimiro de Abreu, located 175 kilometers (105 miles) northeast of Rio de Janeiro. The object, seen by dozens of eyewitnesses, was videotaped by Sergio Chapelin, a local resident.
On Friday, November 22, 2002, at 8:50 p.m., "witnesses observed for a number of seconds the overflight of a ring-shaped object with alternating yellow, white and blue lights around the rim. The colored lights alternated rapidly. The object flew from the northeast to the southeast" over Santos, the port city serving the state of Sao Paulo. "The unusual object was seen by hundreds of people along the Rua Alexandre Herculano in the bairro Boqueirinho (neighborhood)" in Santos. (See the Brazilian newspaper O Globo for November 19, 2002. Muito obrigado a Eduardo Enderle Oliveira, Rodrigo Branco e Ufologia Brasileira por eso casos.)
MORE UFOs SIGHTED IN MALAYSIA
On Friday, November 15, 2002, at 10:15 p.m., Ahmad Rithaudin was in the town of Kampung Seri Kendong, Alor Gajah district, Melaka state in western Malaysia when he saw something unusual in the night sky.
"It was a clear night," Ahmad reported, "An object was spotted in the landing approach flight path normally used by aircraft approaching Kuala Lumpur International Airport. (Kuala Lumpur is eight minutes flying time from here--A.R.) That night, aircraft were using a different direction to land. The object was stationary for the first five minutes and then began to move eastward. It changed altitude and rose again to its original altitude."
"I called my wife, my brother and his wife and watched the object. Right afterward, it moved towards the south and disappeared. Altogether we witnessed it for about 15 minutes."
Ahmad described the UFO as "an orange light, ball-shaped and glowing and no sound. It was at 3,000 meters (10,000 feet), slow-moving and increased its speed before departure."
Kuala Lumpur is Malaysia's capital. The Southeast Asian country has had several UFO incidents since October 1, 2002.
"An unidentified flying object has been spotted over the skies of Kota Kinabalu," a Malaysian port city on the northeastern tip of the island of Borneo, "puzzling air traffic controllers, who said the craft was bigger than an airliner."
"The UFO was first spotted on radar screens, but later there were naked-eye sightings even in broad daylight."
On October 5, 2002, a closed-circuit TV camera at Terminal 2 of Kota Kinabalu International Airport captured the image of "a cigar-shaped object. Air traffic controllers were surprised because the craft was flying at great speed.. The controllers were tracking a Fokker airliner taking off when they noticed the large UFO."
"Air traffic controllers knew for certain that there were no commercial or private planes in the skies at that time--at least none that were scheduled."
"On (Tuesday) October 22 (2002), Sabah TV-3 cameraman Kassem Mahmun took (video) of a Boeing 737 taking off. He then noticed an object in the distance, that appeared at a higher altitude but was stationary."
"Kassem said the object suddenly disappeared just a few seconds after he noticed it."
"The (Malaysian) Department of Civil Aviation has yet to given an explanation for the incidents, except for saying that it could not identify them for sure." (See the Sabah TV-3 News broadcast for November 19, 2002. Many thanks to Ahmad Rithaudin and Jim Hickman for these reports.)
STAR-LIKE UFO SEEN OVER INDIA'S PUNJAB STATE
On Wednesday, November 21, 2002, at 6:15 a.m., eyewitness Dinesh Hukmani reported, "Early in the morning, when it was still dark, I went outside to collect the newspaper" at his home in Mohali, a town in the foothills of the Himalayas, in India's Punjab state. "The sky was clear with a full moon on the western horizon and a lot of bright shining stars."
"Suddenly I noticed a bright object, looking like a star but much brighter, moving away from the moon in an easterly direction. It moved fast and was gone in a minute or so. I called my wife, and she saw it, too."
"I also managed to videotape the object, but it is not very clear and the image is moving a lot due to camera shake due to moving (zooming--J.T.) in. Height and speed were difficult to ascertain. I did not have to look up to see it. It was right in front of us." (Email Form Report)
CIGAR-SHAPED UFO SEEN IN BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, UK
On Monday, November 18, 2002, at 8 p.m., motorist Colin Hoskins had a UFO encounter while driving in Buckinghamshire, England, UK.
Colin reported, "We were driving from Slough, Berkshire on the (motorway) A412, (also known as) Uxbridge Road, towards Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, and witnessed an extremely bright light on the right-hand side of the road in Langley Park."
"At the time, I thought this was strange, as the light was approximately 40 feet (12 meters) high and above a wooded area," i.e. a country park. "Driving out of Iver Heath towards Uxbridge, we saw the long object with three white lights equally spaced down the length and one white flashing light on the rear. The object was travelling at what I would guess to be about 150 miles per hour (250 kilometers per hour) towards the east."
"I'm under the impression that all aircraft must have a red flashing beam. Can you verify this? I am not a believer in UFOs, but I would like to have any possible explanation for this event, as it's made me look into UFO Web sites for the first time." (Email Form Report)
WOMAN SHOOTS A VIDEO OF A UFO IN ASKER, NORWAY
"Helene Solberg glanced out her window on a dark wintry afternoon earlier this week and saw something she won't soon forget. Luckily, her family's video camera was close at hand."
"Helene Solberg shot a video of what she calls a UFO on Tuesday," November 19, 2002.
"Solberg, who lives in a village of the same name in Asker, west of Oslo (the capital of Norway--J.T.), first called her husband while marvelling at the comet-like flying object that soared through the late-afternoon sky."
"It was just after 2 p.m., when dusk already starts settling over southern Norway at this time of year, when Solberg noticed the object with the long bright tail. She excitedly called her husband Stig Solberg, who reminded her that their video camera was lying on a table in the living room. Just the night before, the couple had tried to capture video of the Leonid meteor shower."
"Helene Solberg then grabbed the video camera and started shooting. The entire episode lasted about eight minutes, with three minutes of it captured on tape, before the unidentified flying object disappeared from view."
"'Can I explain what it was? Absolutely not,' Stig Solberg told (the Norwegian newspaper) Aftenposten Thursday night after showing the video."
"He said he determined that the comet-like object came out of the west and disappeared to the south. He also sent the videotape to the Astrophysics Department at the University of Oslo, where a professor thought the object may have been a plane."
"Solberg disagrees. 'It absolutely did not look like a plane,' he said, 'When we look out the window in the other direction, we sometimes see planes. But we have never seen a plane in the direction where my wife was filming.'" (See the newspaper Aftenposten for November 22, 2002. Many thanks to Jim Hickman for this newspaper article.)
ORANGE UFOs HOVER OVER SUBURBS OF MELBOURNE
On Saturday, November 16, 2002, just after 2 a.m., "Wayne A. Winter and Adin Monks took a video of three orange lights in a triangular form" that was hovering over a mountain in Chirnside Park in Lilydale, a suburb of Melbourne, the capital of Australia's Victoria state. "The object flew around for 20 minutes before disappearing completely."
Twenty-one hours later, at 11 p.m., two orange UFOs "approached from the north" and hovered over Mill Park, another Melbourne suburb. Eyewitness Sean D. reported, "The two balls originally looked like a plane from a distance. Then they started to move in a 360-degree circle and were crisscrossing each other. Then one disappeared and then reappeared and went at a slow speed with no sound. Yellow-orange, like balls of light, the two of them. Maybe 500 meters (1,650 feet) off the ground and going 50 kilometers per hour (30 miles per hour) in speed." (See the Sunday Herald-Sun of Melbourne for November 17, 2002. Many thanks to Sean D. for these reports.)
FOUR MYSTERY LIGHTS SEEN IN TIPP CITY, OHIO
Donnie Link, 21, of Tipp City, Ohio reports, "I believe I witnessed a UFO sighting last night (Sunday, November 17, 2002) from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. First I live in a tiny town called Tipp City (population 9,221), located about 15 miles (25 kilometers) north of Dayton. I stepped out on my porch to smoke a cigarette, and I saw something I've only dreamed of seeing."
"There were four disk-like objects floating around...They were making a perfect formation, almost like an oval, and they would meet in the center at the same time and then go out in their pattern and meet again in the center every two seconds or so. They were very low to the ground, almost as if they wanted me to see them. They were in the clouds. That's why I saw the lights reflecting. I didn't actually see the objects, just the lights."
"But now is the most peculiar thing--the definite reason why I know they were UFOs. As I walked towards it to get a better look, it moved away, keeping the same distance between me and it, but keeping formation at the same height from the ground as before. I even broke into a full-body sprint, and it moved steadily away without much effort. But as I walked backwards, back to my house, it came back with me. I was freezing my butt off to see them, but I feel this was a once-in-a-lifetime vision." (Email Form Report)
TWO WOMEN SPOT A UFO IN GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS
On Saturday, November 16, 2002, at 2:55 a.m., Katherine McConnell reports, "I was driving on Highway 360 North in" Grand Prairie, Texas (population 127,427). "The passenger in my car looked out the driver's-side window and said, 'Look! What is that?'"
"Being near Dallas-Fort Worth airport, I just naturally assumed it was an airplane, looking only with a quick glance. My friend then pointed out that the object was not moving at all. It was just hovering very low to the ground. This time I took a better, longer look and realized it was just hovering."
"At first it looked like a plane, but it had two really big head-lights that were sort of aiming towards the ground. As we continued driving at about 25 miles per hour (40 kilometers per hour), I noticed the vehicle (UFO) made an extremely slow turn towards the east. It didn't turn in the usual manner like a plane or a helicopter. I noticed that it did have a red and a green light. The vehicle moved extremely slow. It was nighttime, but, from what I could tell, it (the UFO) was probably a dull gray. I was unsure about the shape, but my passenger said that it looked to her like kind of a round shape. The height from the ground was approximately 60 to 80 feet (18 to 24 meters). It could have touched a treetop." (Email Form Report)
STRANGE CATTLE DEATHS REPORTED IN ETHIOPIA
"Farmers in an Ethiopian village are keeping a close eye on their cows after a local hippo herd developed a taste for meat, devouring eight cows in the past eight weeks, the (Ethiopian) government press reported Friday," November 22, 2002.
"The people of Ginbo Woreda village in the southern province of Kaffa," about 400 kilometers (250 miles) south-southwest of Addis Ababa, the national capital, "told local police that the normally herbivorous hippos had taken to devouring cows and calves, the Amharic daily (newspaper) Addis Zemen reported."
"Local animal health and wildlife protection expert Alemayehu Alemu said the hippopotami's (plural for hippopotamus--J.T.) unusual behavior may have been provoked by humans."
"Alemu said that pregnant hippos tended to react aggressively to acts of provocation around delivery time but cautioned that the 'bizarre phenomenon' required a thorough study for a 'scientific explanation.'"
World-famous cryptozoologist Loren Coleman, noting that a hippopotamus is unlikely to switch from being a herbivore to a carnivore, speculated that the cattle deaths might have been caused by a mokele-mbembe, an enigmatic creature, similar to a small brontosaurus, which has been seen occasionally in central Africa, most often along the Congo River. (See the Ethiopian newspaper Addis Zemen for November 21, 2002. Also the South African Press Association report for November 22, 2002. Many thanks to Loren Coleman for this newspaper article.)
(Editor's Comment: Ethiopia's Omo River empties into Lake Rudolf in neighboring Kenya. Perhaps a Nessie-type "lake monster" swam upstream and is feeding on stray cattle near Ginbo Woreda.)
From the UFO Files...
1902: STRANGE CRUISE OF THE BANNOCKBURN
When people of the Lake Superior region sit around and talk about ghost ships, there's one whose name inevitably comes up. She is truly the "Queen of the Ghost Fleet," the Flying Dutchman of Lake Superior, and the mere mention of her name is enough to send a shudder through the toughest sailor in the taverns of Duluth, Minnesota or Superior, Wisconsin.
She's the S.S. Bannockburn, and she disappeared on Lake Superior exactly one hundred years ago.
As author Frederick Stonehouse points out, "The classic Lake Superior ghost ship story is that of the 245-foot, 1,620-ton Canadian steel steamer Bannockburn."
The story begins in Middlesborough, Scotland, UK in 1893, when workmen put the finishing touches on a new breed of ship known as a canaller. The vessel's dimensions were specifically designed to let her pass through the Welland Canal in southern Ontario, Canada.
"Rated A-1 by Lloyd's of London insurance, she was owned by the Montreal Transportation Company of Quebec. Her captain was George Woods. His brother, John (Woods), commanded the Rosemount, Bannockburn's sister ship."
"On November 20, 1902, the Bannockburn departed Port Arthur, Ontario (now Thunder Bay, Ont.--J.T.) bound for Midland, Ontario on Lake Huron, with a cargo of 85,000 bushels of wheat."
"The following afternoon (November 21, 1902) she was sighted on Lake Superior by the upbound steamer Algonquin southeast of Passage Island and northeast of Keewenaw Point (on Michigan's Upper Peninsula--J.T.). The weather was hazy, and the Bannockburn was bucking a good headwind, but, to the crew of the Algonquin, all appeared normal."
"The Bannockburn must have been a majestic sight this fine day because" Captain James McMaugh of the Algonquin "told his mate to take a look at her. McMaugh's remark caused some confusion in the pilot-house."
"The Bannockburn was no longer there."
"McMaugh was the only one who saw her. He may have felt silly pointing at a blank horizon. The mate may have reserved some doubts about McMaugh. But no one suspected the Bannockburn of sinking. McMaugh saw no signs of distress, and a ship cannot sink in the time it takes to look through a pilot-house window. McMaugh was confused by what he saw--or what he thought he saw. He was not sure what had happened."
"One minute she was in plain view. After turning away for several minutes, he looked back again, but she was gone, vanished from sight. Did she sink while the captain turned away, or just fade into the gray mist?"
Darkness fell. "Later that night, a storm rolled across Lake Superior. It wasn't the worst of storms, but it was certainly a 'banger.'"
In the northern reaches of Lake Superior, at about 9 p.m., crewmen aboard the S.S. Huronic, a Canadian steamer of the Northern Navigation Line, spotted mysterious bright lights passing south of them.
Strange lights were also seen from the beaches at Rossport and Schreiber, Ontario, on the big lake's north shore.
When the Bannockburn "failed to reach Sault Sainte Marie (Michigan), a massive search was launched. Three tugs combed the lake, looking for any sign of the missing vessel...Stories circulated that she was sighted ashore near Michipicoten Island and other north shore locations. Investigations proved them all false."
"A single battered life jacket was found on the beach at Grand Marais, Michigan by a patrolling surfman...One especially intriguing wreckage story was the legendary 'Bannockburn oar.' The tale goes that 18 months after the loss (May 1904) a single oar, carefully wrapped in a worn tarpaulin, was found by a grizzled old trapper on the desolate Michigan shore. The word Bannockburn was scraped crudely into the wooden shaft."
"As soon as a year afterward (1903), Lake Superior sailors reported seeing this Flying Dutchman of Lake Superior steaming past Caribou Island, plowing on for the Soo to complete her unfinished voyage. Others said that she appeared 'as a ghostly apparition of ice, scudding through the gloom.' Another writer stated that 'sometimes at night when the chill north wind sweeps across the swollen bosom of Lake Superior and the stinging ice devils fill the air, the lookout on some lonely point calls loudly to his companions and points to where he imagines the Bannockburn, all white with ice and ghostly in the darkness, slipping through the black mystery of the lake.'"
For sailors who have seen the Bannockburn up close, the experience is unforgettable. "Some beery-eyed mariners even said they could see the skeletal faces of crewmen staring blankly out the pilothouse windows!"
"Regardless of the legend, the fact remains that Bannockburn and her crew of 22 went missing on Lake Superior" the night of November 21, 1902. "To this day she has never been found nor has the cause of her loss been determined. The Bannockburn has truly joined the fleet of the lost." (See the books Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes by Dwight Boyer, Dodd, Mead and Company, New York, N.Y., 1968, pages 114 through 122; The Great Lakes Triangle by Jay Gourley, Fawcett Publications, Inc., Greenwich, Conn., 1977, pages 19, 20, 100, 138 and 159; Haunted Lakes by Frederick Stonehouse, Lake Superior Port Cities, Inc., Duluth, Minn., 1997, pages 92, 93 and 103; and Haunted Lakes II by Frederick Stonehouse, Lake Superior Port Cities, Inc., Duluth, Minn., 2000, page 88.)
(Editor's Note: There was also a strange "alien encounter" in New London, Minnesota the night of November 21, 1902. For more on the Caylor family's weird sighting at the railroad depot, see UFO Roundup, volume 4, number 31 for November 25, 1999, "1902: Who's out there?" page 10.)
That's it for this week. Join us in seven days for more UFO, Fortean and paranormal news from around the planet Earth, brought to you by "the paper that goes home--UFO Roundup." And to all our readers in the USA, have a happy Thanksgiving holiday! See you next week.
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.
