UFO ROUNDUP Volume 8 Number 35
Volume 8
Number 35
September 17, 2003
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
TWO LUMINOUS UFOs SEEN IN NORTHERN IRAN
On Wednesday, August 20, 2003, at 1:45 p.m., Hooman Halehbi and his cousin "were driving along the" south shore of the Caspian Sea "from the small beach resort city of Chalus to Shahsavar" in Iran when he spotted something unusual in the sky.
"Between Chalus and Shahsavar, close to Nashtarud, a village on the west side of the road, south of the Caspian Sea, I saw two strong separate white lights about 300 meters (1,000 feet) up in the air," Hooman reported, "They moved very slow from left to right (and) up and down. They were 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) away from us. The lighted shapes were oval, and they were an estimated 5 to 10 meters (16 to 33 feet) long. And, for some seconds, their light beams were blue and yellow."
"I cannot compare these strange, beautiful lights with anything else," he added, "I told my cousin to stop the car, but, because of the heavy traffic, he could not stop. I kept looking at them for some 20 seconds, but, because of the tall trees by the side of the road, I could no longer see them after one minute."
Chalus is located on the Caspian Sea's south shore approximately 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Tehran, the capital of Iran. (Many thanks to Ayesha al-Khatabi for this report.)
UFO SIGHTED IN DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA
On Sunday, September 7, 2003, at 5:15 a.m., Simon Walthew was outdoors, watching the sunrise, when he spotted a strange brilliant object in the sky over Durban, South Africa.
"It was just before dawn, and a friend and myself were getting ready to go fishing," Simon reported, "I was outside, gazing up at the sky, which was beautiful. An object caught my eye, small, almost like a satellite. This object grew 20 to 30 times its (original) size and shone brighter than the sun, changing colour and shape."
"Within a millisecond, the size of the object reduced to a small orange speck and shot off at an incredible speed."
"During the time of its size increasing, the object was stationary. Its size grew to an estimated three times that of the brightest star you can usually see in the sky." (Sirius--J.T.)
"After speeding off in a southerly direction" over the Indian Ocean, "the object disappeared but not over the horizon, just lights out."
"It seemed as high as a commercial jet and left at an incredible speed, anything from 2,000 to 10,000 kilometers per hour. (1,200 to 6,000 miles per hour--J.T.)"
Durban is a port city on the Indian Ocean located about 300 kilometers (180 miles) south-southeast of Pretoria, South Africa's capital. (Email Form Report)
SILVER, CIGAR-SHAPED UFO SIGHTED IN LANCASHIRE
"Burnley cabbie Mr. Steve Haworth and a passenger watched a mysterious flying object suddenly appear, perform a series of mind-boggling manoeuvres and then simply disappear without trace early on Saturday morning," September 6, 2003.
"'I thought it was an aircraft at first,' said Mr. Haworth of Burton Street, 'Then, when I weighed up all the pros and cons, I decided it couldn't possibly be.'"
"The part-time taxi driver was taking a customer from his Hufling Lane home to work in Waterfoot. They were travelling along Bacup Road when they turned a corner and first saw the object in the sky. It was only 7:45 in the morning, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky."
"'It was beautiful and clear,' he said, 'I immediately thought the object was a plane, but it wasn't small; it wasn't high up; and it was moving slowly.'"
"The silver, cigar-shaped object with a small pulsating light in the middle stopped and hovered. Then it changed shape as it started going forwards and backwards in a perfectly straight line. It did this twice before vanishing into thin air."
"'There was no noise and no vapour trail,' added Mr. Haworth, 'If it had been an aircraft, we would have heard it from where we were. It did not take-off. It just simply disappeared.'"
"This is not the first time an unidentified flying object has been spotted in the sky above Burnley. Sightings date back to 1869 and have been reported at regular intervals through the decades since."
"Descriptions have varied from a round, glowing disc to a line of bright lights to a pulsating cigar-shaped object like Mr. Haworth described."
"He added, 'The whole experience only lasted three minutes. I remember looking at the clock in the car. It was 7:45 a.m. and, by the time the object had disappeared, it was 7:48 a.m. I'm so glad I had someone with me who saw what I did. Otherwise, I would have been doubting my sanity. I'm just curious to know what it was.'"
Burnley is in Lancashire, located about 25 miles (40 kilometers) due north of Manchester. (See The Express of Lancashire for September 5, 2003. Many thanks to Jim Hickman for forwarding this newspaper article.)
BELL-SHAPED UFO SEEN IN EASTERN AUSTRALIA
On Wednesday, September 3, 2003, at about 12 noon, "whilst stopped at a traffic light at the intersection of Marine Parade and Gold Coast Highway, Labrador," in eastern Australia, Gary Opit reported, "and looking out of my open driver's side window at the Broadwater (Pacific Ocean--J.T.) on a cloudless day, with no cars passing, my eyes were attracted to a bright light a couple of hundred metres away and about 50 metres above the water."
"It looked like the sun was reflecting off of a solid object such as a hovering aircraft, which at first I thought must be a helicopter. As I gazed at the object, which was stationary, I realised that it was identical to the (bell-shaped) 'scoutship' photographed by (ufologist) George Adamski on 13 December 1952. It was domed on top with a flanging bell-shaped base."
"I thought it was probably just an outline of the sun shining off the side of a helicopter, when it suddenly vanished."
"I expected to see the dark shape of an aircraft, such as a helicopter, hovering over the water. I watched it for a while, but nothing reappeared." (Many thanks to John Hayes and Diane Harrison of the Australian UFO Research Network for this report.)
BLUE-WHITE MYSTERY LIGHT FLIES OVER CALIFORNIA
"Bright flashes in the California sky Thursday evening," September 4, 2003, "were likely a small meteor or debris from space burning up in Earth's atmosphere, authorities said."
The mysterious display "made for a spectacular light- show, said Sheryl Tankersley, a spokeswoman for the state Office of Emergency Services."
"Bluish white lights reportedly moving from west to northeast were seen at 8:24 p.m. in Palm Springs and as far north as Napa (population 72,985)," located about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco.
The lights were also seen in Amador and Merced counties, OES reported.
"A brief North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) investigation concluded that the lights were a small asteroid or space debris. Vandenberg Air Force Base reported that it had not tested missiles or made any other launch on Thursday night."
Two nights later, on Saturday, September 6, 2003, the mysterious lights were seen again. Ufologist David Edwards reported, "Saw a fireball last night at 8:35 p.m. Direction of travel south-southeast to north-northwest. Duration of five seconds, vanishing just before reaching (the stars) Alcor and Mizar in the Dipper (constellation Ursa Major--J.T.). Bright but not as bright as the half- moon. Dull white outer shell, brilliant white inner shell. Tail width of a fist at arm's length."
(Many thanks to Jim Hickman and David Edwards for these reports.)
(Editor's Comment: This isn't the first time a luminous object has "disappeared" once reaching the "handle" of the Big Dipper. Some ufologists think there might be an alien stargate about 200,000 miles (320,000 kilometers) from Earth, in a geosynchronous orbit that causes it to appear "stationary" between Alcor and Mizar. UFOs supposedly use this stargate to enter hyperspace and travel to and from their home solar systems.)
HOVERING UFO SEEN IN MOSS BLUFF, LOUISIANA
"Late last week, some in Calcasieu Parish say they saw something else in the sky" beside the planet Mars, "out of the ordinary, and they were able to capture it on home video."
"Dwayne Wilks reported, 'My daughter called and said, 'Dad, come outside. There's something really weird in the sky.' It was sometime after 9 p.m. last Thursday night. (August 28, 2003) Never seen nothing like that before in my life.'"
"Wilks, who lives in Moss Bluff, La. (population 10,535), and other residents nearby saw something very unusual in the sky."
"On Paul Bellon Road in Moss Bluff," which is located on Highway 171 about 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Beaumont, Texas, "some residents say they saw a very strange string of bright lights. They say it happened in a field, just above a group of tall trees."
"Wilks says, 'I know there was 10 of us, and all of us saw the same thing.'"
"Wilks' father, Daniel, saw it, too. 'There were definitely lights out there. Now, craft--I couldn't say yes or no because it was dark, and I couldn't see any craft. But I did see the lights.'"
"And the Wilks family weren't the only ones to see it. The Bellons, who live just around the corner, saw it, too, and the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office says another report of it also came in that night from Iowa."
"Wilks says the people who live here say they've seen lots of aircraft pass through the area, but nothing that resembles this. 'I've been living here all my life and never seen nothing in that field, so it wasn't just some object out there. It was high enough off the ground. It was something in the air. You couldn't hear it. It was strange, totally strange.'"
"The Lake Charles Regional Airport had no reports of any strange object that night, and they say the airport radar didn't pick up anything." (See the KPLC-TV news broadcast for September 5, 2003. Many thanks to Jim Hickman for sending the transcript of the Lake Charles, La. TV station broadcast.)
SPANISH POLICE INVESTIGATE UFOLOGIST IN BIZARRE MURDER CASE
According to a report in Mundo Misterioso, "Albacete- based parapsychologist and ufologist Jose de Zor, one of the main experts in the UMMO (1967 UFO) case, has been detained by the police" in Spain "and charged with the murder of a young pilot, Manuel Esposito."
"It is worth noting that de Zor has focused exclusively on the ties between the UMMO case and 'the amputated hand' of Albacete," Mundo Misterioso reported.
"Manuel Esposito's corpse was found decapitated June 24 (2003). An investigation was started in which the term 'ritual crime' was kept in mind by (Spanish) police investigators at all times."
"All clues lead to the small town of Albacete, specifically its gay community."
Albacete is in La Mancha province, about 150 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Madrid, the capital of Spain.
"The veteran 'UMMOlogist,' leader of Albacete's gay community and an activist in the Partido Socialista de Espana (Spanish Socialist Party--J.T.), Jose de Zor, attained an extra measure of popularity last year after performing certain hypnotic regressions on Spanish television."
The date of Esposito's death, June 24, and the method of murder--decapitation-- have fueled speculation that the culprits might be linked to Masoneria (Freemasonry--J.T.). Or they might be enemies of Freemasonry trying to "frame" the Spanish lodges.
June 24 is known as St. John's Day, commemorating John the Baptist. This desert prophet and cousin of Jesus Christ was killed in 28 A.D., beheaded by the troops of King Herod at the request of the princess Salome. The date reportedly has much significance in Masonic and occult lore.
As researcher Eugenia Macer-Story pointed out, "Yes, there is a dangerous ritual sorcery cult 'out there,' as I have often attempted to convey to U.S. researchers mired in atheist, humanist programming." (See Mundo Misterioso for September 11, 2003. Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales, Guillermo Gimenez y Eugenia Macer-Story para esto articulo.)
(Editor's Note: In the USA, no place has a more magickal connotation than Bayou St. John, near the Esplanade Avenue Bridge in New Orleans. Here, from 1820 to 1840, the notorious sorceress Marie Laveau used to hold her annual hoodoo hootenanny every year on June 24, conjuring up Cthulu-knows-what with her la Couleuvre Noire sorcery. Marie lived in a cottage at 1020 St. Ann Street, in New Orleans' Vieux Carre section--a good place to stay away from on Halloween night!)
BLACK HELICOPTERS SEEN IN NEW ENGLAND STATES
Black helicopters were extremely active in southern New Hampshire and southeastern Massachusetts last week.
On Thursday, September 11, 2003, Marty Blanchard reported, he was driving "to and from Maine to Massachusetts" in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire area when he saw "triangles and disks near the old Pease Air Force Base, now Pease Tradeport, and black large helicopters in groups of three trying to follow. But the disks dropped below treetop level at an accelerated rate. I see them often. And there is new activity in the 'closed down' Weapons Storage Facility at Pease."
In Massachusetts, "groups of black helicopters" were seen on Saturday, September 6, 2003, flying over Attleboro, Mass. (population 42,068) and the neighboring town of Rehoboth, Mass. "The helicopters were very close to the ground and created a lot of noise. Residents in the Danforth Street and Perryville Road area" of Rehoboth "watched them for several minutes."
In Attleboro, black helicopters were also reported that afternoon over Oak Hill Avenue in the Dodgeville section of the city.
The black helicopters returned to the area again on Wednesday afternoon, September 10, 2003. A Rhode Island schoolteacher reported that "my (high school) students were talking about them." The teens reportedly "saw them over Read Street" in Attleboro "and Bakers Four Corners in Seekonk, and also on the state line near the Fairlawn neighborhood in Pawtucket, R.I. I spoke to one boy who said they were 'Blackhawks' (UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters-- J.T.), totally black with no markings. They flew in groups of three and occasionally stopped to hover over homes and vacant lots. He was very credible."
On Friday, September 12, 2003, at about 2 p.m., a woman living in West Dighton, Mass., just east of Rehoboth, reported seeing "three black helicopters flying very low, coming from Attleboro and heading east." A few hours later, she saw "one black helicopter coming from the Cape (Cod) and flying due west."
Elsewhere in the USA, vacationers in McGregor, Minnesota saw a mysterious air task force in the sky early Sunday morning, August 31, 2003.
"Rick Cherry was with about 10 of his relatives and friends when they spotted the baffling lights near their McGregor-area lake cabins."
"Counting blinking lights in the post-midnight darkness, they estimated 26 aircraft, including one that was huge. The planes flew over McGregor before turning east toward Duluth."
The Duluth News-Tribune contacted the Minnesota Air National Guard's 148th Fighter Wing about the overflight.
"'You are not the only one to ask that question,' replied Capt. Chris Cloutier, a spokesman for the Air National Guard group. 'It's very, very curious...We were not flying...and have no information. It's a mystery to us, as well." (See the Duluth, Minn. News-Tribune for September 13, 2003, "In the sky: What the heck?" page 1B. Many thanks to Marty Blanchard and Mary Lou Jones-Drown for the black helicopter reports.)
JAPANESE CLIMBERS SEARCH FOR YETIS IN THE HIMALAYAS
"Over the next six weeks, a group of Japanese explorers hopes to solve one of the last great mysteries of the animal world and provide proof that the legendary yeti or Abominable Snowman does indeed exist."
"The seven-member expedition, supported by the (Japanese newspaper) Asahi Shimbun, is spending 40 days to find the creature, which is supposedly hairy and ape- like."
"The team, led by alpinist Yoshiteru Takahashi, 60, is concentrating the search around Nepal's 8,172-meter (26,967-foot) Dhaulagiri (mountain), the world's seventh- highest peak. Four members are veteran climbers of the Himalayas."
"The adventurers set up their base camp on a grassy plateau about 4,300 meters (14,190 feet) above sea level, according to reports reaching Asahi Shimbun on Friday, September 5, 2003. The camp is just southeast of the 6,273-meter (20,700-foot) Myagdi Matha peak. The area is dotted with white, blue and yellow alpine plants."
"The team set up base camp with 140 guides and porters on (Sunday) August 17 (2003) and initially was scheduled to arrive on (Saturday) August 23. Progress was hampered by continuous rain and steep cliffs in the gorges, adding six days to their journey."
"There have been numerous yeti sightings in the area. Some say the creature walks on two legs, has hairy arms and dark hair, either red or gray. The team has set up 17 infrared cameras at points along (mountain) trails they believe yetis use."
"Rather than try to follow a yeti to its lair, team members will lie in wait, hoping to photograph the creature. They also plan to set up two other observation camps, which will be equipped with telescopes." (See Asahi Shimbun for September 7, 2003, "Search is on for Abominable Snowman." Many thanks to Loren Coleman for forwarding this newspaper article.)
(Editor's Note: Some researchers think the word yeti is a corruption of the Sherpa phrase meteh kangmi meaning snow creature.)
NUMEROLOGY AND MARIAH
The current issue of the tabloid newspaper Star reported a strange incident involving singer Mariah Carey.
According to Star, "Lots can be said about Mariah Carey, but being imprecise about her wants isn't one of them."
"A spy in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., where she recently performed, tells me ( Star columnist Jose Lambiet--J.T.) the locals were amused by her very specific needs. Just for the ride to and from the concert arena, I'm told Carey ordered a stretch limo in which no one had ever, repeat, ever smoked. She asked for six glasses of champagne and six high-balls; six bottles of mineral water, including three on ice and three at room temperature; six bottles of Diet Coke, three on ice and three at room temperature, and a brand-new CD player."
If nine was the "magic number" for the late John Lennon, then six appears to be Mariah's number.
There are six letters in the name Mariah.
Mariah graduated from high school on Long Island, N.Y. in 1986. In terms of numerology, that's one plus nine plus eight plus six equals 24. Adding those two digits, two plus four, gives her a six.
Mariah worked at 24 different jobs in the New York City area before her first hit CD in 1991. Again, two plus four equals six.
Mariah's birthday is March 27. That works out to three plus two plus seven, which equals 12. Or six plus six. (See Star for September 23, 2003, "Scene & Heard," page 62.)
From the UFO Files...
1894: MYSTERY AT THE GIRLS' SCHOOL
Adam Weishaupt is best known today as the founder of the Illuminati. But the woman who rescued this Eighteenth Century occultist from total obscurity is less well known.
Although a staunch Protestant, this lady's career, in which she went from Victorian schoolgirl to World War I counterspy to best-selling author, had several bumps with the paranormal, including a pre-Roswell encounter with UFOs.
Her name was Nesta H. Webster, and "her father was Mr. Robert Bevan, a rich banker of Trent Park, Hertfordshire," UK. "Nesta, the youngest of his large family, was born in 1876, when her mother, Bevan's second wife, was almost fifty."
"In her first volume of autobiography, Spacious Days, Mrs. Webster looked back on her early years as a golden age. On her father's beautiful estate she had the company of her brothers and sisters, the numerous friendly staff, pets and ponies. Every summer the family with servants would migrate to another of their houses, Fosbury Manor on the Wiltshire downs, and then to their London house overlooking Hyde Park. Life was simple and assured, and for a little girl, full of entertainment."
"But, as Nesta grew older, certain drawbacks became apparent. Her mother, the daughter of a bishop, joined the gloomy ranks of the strict Plymouth Brethren, withdrew from worldly company and took to the study of Biblical prophecies."
(Editor's Note: Other offspring of the Plymouth Brethren with ties to the paranormal include Algernon Blackwood and Aleister Crowley.)
While Mrs. Bevan immersed herself in the Book of Revelation and cast a jaundiced eye at Lord Shaftesbury (after all, one could easily see the number 666 in the curls of his bristling beard--J.T.), Nesta's father "fell ill and doctors persuaded him to move abroad, to Cannes, where Nesta was cut off from all congenial company. Frivolous games, novels, amusements and parties were forbidden by her mother, whose only friends were grim Protestant ascetics."
"The Bevan family were all clever and learned, and Nesta took every opportunity of educating herself, reading whatever books were permitted her and learning French, German and Italian. The family's annual visits to Trent Park were her greatest pleasure, but when her father died these came to an end. The rest of the family grew up and left home, and Nesta and her mother wandered about Europe in search of unsociable hotels where Mrs. Bevan could study her fanatical literature in peace."
"It was not the custom in those days for young ladies to go to school, but Nesta saw it was the only way to escape her mother; and in response to her pesterings Mrs. Bevan finally let her go back to England, to a school near Stroud in Gloucestershire, kept by an old lady of undoubted religious probity, Miss Winscombe."
(Editor's Note: Stroud is a notorious UFO hotspot in UK.)
"At this school, Brownshill Court, Nesta had her first experience of the mysteries and conspiracies which underlie the world of normal experience."
Indeed, Brownshill Court was almost a real-life counterpart of J.K. Rowling's fictional Hogwarts School, with a curriculum seemingly scripted by H.P. Lovecraft. ("sure to find something queer in the cellar."--Pickman's Model, 1926.)
"There was something odd about the school. Every night the girls heard a horse approaching and stopping outside it, and the house was full of whispers, creaks and the sound of stealthy footsteps."
"One of them saw a man crawling along the floor of her dormitory, who ran off when challenged."
"Most of the sounds came from the basement which the girls were forbidden to enter, but one night two of them opened the door leading to it and heard the sound of men's voices and hammering. Miss Winscombe evidently had some guilty secret, for when she heard the girls talking about the disturbances she swore them to secrecy on the Bible. Nesta suspected that something supernatural was afoot, and since she was terrified of ghosts she determined to leave the school as soon as possible."
"The mystery of Brownshill Court was never finally resolved. Many of the other girls were made nervous and persuaded their parents to let them leave at the end of the term, and the school closed down."
(Editor's Comment: What is the strange secret of Brownshill Court? Well, here are a few possibilities:
(A) It was a secret hideout of the Knights Templar.
(B) It was the UK headquarters of the Deros.
(C) Renfrew was hammering out a coffin for his master, Count Dracula.
(D) Miss Winscombe was a closet Reptoid.)
In September 1894, "at the age of eighteen, Nesta was allowed to spend two years at Westfield College in Hampstead reading for a degree. Her lack of formal education made it hard work, but she enjoyed the intellectual freedom of college."
In 1897, "a legacy from her father made her independent at the age of twenty-one, and soon afterwards she began an adventurous series of travels. Wherever she went, in Egypt, India, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka--J.T.), Burma (now Myanmar--J.T.), Australia, the United States and Canada, she entered as far as possible into the lives of the natives, learnt their languages and wrote comments on their various societies and customs."
"Finally, in 1904, while visiting a remote part of India, she met a district police superintendent, Arthur Webster, a quiet, middle-aged bachelor whose main interest was gardening. They quickly became engaged and returned to England for their marriage."
"Her husband, she noted, answered almost exactly to the prophetic description of him given two years earlier (in 1902) by a London fortune-teller."
For Nesta, this was her second brush with the paranormal, but it was not to be her last. (See the book Eccentric Lives, Peculiar Notions by John Michell, Black Dog and Leventhal Publishers, New York, N.Y., 1999, pages 62 through 65. Also Behind World Revolution: The Strange Career of Nesta H. Webster by Richard Gilman, Insights Books, Ann Arbor, Mich., 1982, pages 17 through 43.)
Next Week: Enter the Illuminati...and the Saucers!
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.
