UFO ROUNDUP Volume 8 Number 42
Volume 8
Number 42
November 5, 2003
Editor: Joseph Trainor
E-mail: Masinaigan@aol.com
DERO SEEN NEAR CANAL IN BUENOS AIRES
"Residents in the barrio Casilda (neighborhood)" of Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, "claim having seen 'a black dwarf.' They claim that it appears by night at the Candelaria Canal, that it is black and that its body is covered with hair."
(Editor's Comment: Sounds like a Dero, a strange little subterranean creature, similar to the Tommyknockers of Cornwall, UK, that were first described by UFO contactee Richard Shaver in 1945.)
"The information was piled up with a certain degree of humor by the local media and gave rise to remarks of all sorts. However, residents from the barrio Nueva Roma, living in zinc-roofed shanty towns, located on the edge of 'the big ditch,' as Casildans call the Candelaria Canal, claim having seen 'a little, hairy black dwarf' a few nights ago. The diminutive creature did its best to frighten them or at least mystify them."
"The police continue to investigate as long as there are doubts about the matter. To many, it's 'little more than foolishness,' although there are those who believe in the phenomenon, believing in old local legends regardings imps."
"'Since I heard my dog barking, I went outside with a flashlight (torch in UK--J.T.) to see what was going on. At first I didn't see anything, but then I pointed to another section, and I saw a small, hairy and black thing scurrying to climb over the edge of the canal. I couldn't make it out very well because it was nighttime and very dark,' says a woman who allegedly witnessed the strange apparition."
"The young woman further claimed to have heard it making a sound 'similar to a baby's burping,' and said she was very frightened."
"'We're afraid because, according to some legends, there are imps who appear to steal babies, and there are many young ones in this neighborhood.'"
"A man allegedly saw the nocturnal visitor 'inside the canal and standing on some rocks.' He described it as 'having a body entirely covered in hair.'"
"According to locals, the alleged black dwarf was first seen last Friday night (October 10, 2003), although they say that it appeared elsewhere and the police were called in to survey the site, but found nothing."
"'There were wells that weren't there before. But we don't know if it (the Dero or dwarf--J.T.) made them or if animals were to blame. The fact is, this thing is very strange,' observed another woman. 'It had the size of a 3 or 4-year-old child and was all hairy. Here in this neighborhood (Nueva Roma--J.T.), four of us have seen him, but when he learns that people are looking for him and making noise, he doesn't appear.'" (See the Argentinian newspaper La Capital for October 15, 2003, "Black dwarf returns to Casilda." Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales y Christian Quintero para esto articulo de diario.)
MORE UFOs SIGHTED IN CARACAS, VENEZUELA
Luminous UFOs were seen again last week near Cerro El Avila, a mountain on the outskirts of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
On Tuesday, October 21, 2003, "Sra. Ligia Peralta reported the sighting of a strong luminous object of extremely large dimensions. The object flew over the barrio Ola Juliano (neighborhood) and then darted away and disappeared behind the peak of Cerro El Avila."
"Sra. de Peralta saw the object at precisely 7:30 p.m. At one point, the object descended to within eight meters (26 feet) of a house located on the hillside. She described the object as 'generating a very resplendent white light,' which spread across the residential zone for several minutes before the UFO retreated behind the mountain."
On Saturday, October 25, 2003, "at 2 p.m., five witnesses watched the aerial maneuvers of a circular black object, which moved dizzily over the highly-populated area at the foot of Cerro El Avila. In their reports, the witnesses stated that this object appeared repeatedly and for a short time took on a linear form as it flew over the barrio La Pastoran, also part of greater Caracas, before shooting off toward the horizon."
"Another witness, Srta. Raquel Rivero, spotted another UFO later the same day over the Urbanizacion Mario Porezo. The young lady spotted the UFO at 6 p.m. Raquel was waiting outside the Chacaito subway station when she noticed the presence of an intense bluish-white light that was stationary in the sky. She observed this object for a little less than 10 minutes, as its luminosity gradually diminished and it finally disappeared from view over Cerro El Avila." (Muchas gracias a Arturo Escalante para estos informes.)
PHANTOM PANTHERS SEEN IN THE CENTRAL USA
Following last week's shooting of the mountain lion in Omaha, Nebraska, new phantom panther (alien big cats in UK--J.T.) incidents were reported in Iowa, Mississippi and Kansas.
"An Ireton, Iowa farm family shot a mountain lion (puma in UK--J.T.) Saturday," October 25, 2003, "after they saw the big cat prowling through their farm field while they were harvesting."
"It was the first big cat shot in Iowa since 1867."
"'Russ was in the field when he saw the animal running through the (corn) rows,' said Brian Gradert, 'He goes, 'I think it was a mountain lion.' That's when him and his wife saw it run through again and saw what it was.'"
"Gradert called the (Iowa) Department of Natural Resources from a cell phone to see what he should do. 'I called the DNR and they said the animal was not a protected species and we had every right to shoot it,' said Gradert."
"With nightfall closing in, Gradert and two family members made a final decision. In their minds, there was only one solution. 'We decided that for the safety of the public and all of the kids close by, it would be best to put the animal down,' said Gradert."
"The carcass of the mountain lion is now at a lab in Sioux Center, Iowa. Officials are trying to figure out how the cat got to Ireton and how to deal with the cats if more are spotted."
Ireton (population 585) is just south of Iowa Highway 10 about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of Sioux City.
Elsewhere, "farmers in Lamar County, Mississippi want to know what kind of animal is killing their livestock."
"Ashton Barefoot of the Oloh community said two of his cattle have been killed in the last month."
"The first attack was on a 1,000-pound cow, he said."
"'When I went to check on the animals in the morning, I saw that something had caught it by the neck around the throat area and had eaten about 8 to 12 inches out of the
neck, and flesh was eaten off the side of the head.'"
"Barefoot, who breeds beef cattle, said a second incident occurred ten days later."
"Lamar County extension agent Clayton Rouse suspects the deaths could be the work of a pack of stray dogs. 'We've pretty much evaluated what's going on out there and strongly suspect that it's stray dogs,' he said."
"'Over the years, I have seen many cases where a pack of dogs took down a full-grown cow or horse,' he said, 'Dogs are naturally predatory. They may be domesticated but they still have that instinct in them.'"
"Barefoot said he is skeptical of the stray dog theory."
"'A dog will normally catch an animal by the nose, but it won't tear the throat out,' he said."
"He also doubted the predator is a cougar or panther."
"'Big cats will tear out the throat, but normally they eat about 15 to 20 pounds of flesh, and whatever this was only ate about three pounds. So, it doesn't quite jive as a large cat, and it doesn't quite jive as a large dog,' he said."
Oloh is on Highway 98 approximately 13 miles (20 kilometers) west of Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Gary Cofer, UFO Roundup's Kansas correspondent, reported, "In the last two weeks, an assistant professor" at the University of Kansas, "set out a motion-detector camera on the west side of the campus and got a photo of what some say is a mountain lion. It was on the front page of the Lawrence, Kan. Journal-World. Then a few days later, a university employee that I know saw the lion at around 7 p.m. in the same area. The man is a no-nonsense kind of guy and would not say anything if he did not think it true."
Lawrence, Kansas (population 80,100) is on Highways 40 and 59 approximately 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Topeka, the state capital. (See the Sioux City, Iowa Journal for October 26, 2003, "Iowa farm family shoots mountain lion;" the Hattiesburg, Miss. American for October 23, 2003, "Livestock deaths unexplained," and the Lawrence, Kan. Journal-World for October 21, 2003. Many thanks to Gary Cofer and to UFO Roundup's phantom panther expert, Robert Fischer, for these newspaper stories.)
(Editor's Comment: For yet another week, the phantom panthers are eluding capture on all fronts.)
PHANTOM PANTHER STALKS ESSEX WOMAN IN UK
"An Essex woman has described what she claims is a sighting of the mysterious 'Beast of Ongar.'"
"Kay Hayden, the clerk of the local parish council, told BBC Essex she was shocked when a large black cat appeared in a field in Stanford Rivers, near Ongar, off the (motorway) A113."
"Ms. Hayden said: 'All I can say is it was a great big leopard size. It was a muscular, completely black, strong-looking animal, much, much larger than a dog.'"
"She said she was quite convinced that the animal was the same 'beast' spotted years ago by others in the area."
"The secretive animal seen near Ongar was identified as probably being a shy European lynx by experts on BBC- 1's wildife series, X-Creatures, in 1998."
"A police officer of the Ongar station said there have not been any reports of wild animals of that type in the local area for years."
"Big cat experts have estimated that there may be more than 100 wild cats--mainly leopards and pumas-- roaming the British countryside, a claim that has been disputed by the (UK) government." (See BBC News for October 25, 2003. Many thanks to Robert Fischer for this report.)
MORE PHANTOM PANTHER SIGHTINGS IN NEW ZEALAND
"Ministry of Agriculture (MAF) investigators and a big cat expert from Oranda Wildlife Park arrived in Mid- Canterbury," a region of New Zealand's South Island, on Saturday, November 1, 2003, "in search of a panther-like creature spotted roaming farmland last week."
"'It really is hard to see how a great cat could have got into the Ashburton wild, but MAF needed to take it seriously,' MAF exotic animal response co-ordinator Amelia Pascoe said."
"The original sighting of the alleged big cat happened last Friday when truck driver Chad Stewart spotted what he was certain was a 'black panther' at the Mayfield property of Blair and Sarah Gallagher." (For more on Stewart's sighting, see UFO Roundup, volume 8, number 39 for October 15, 2003, "Phantom panther turns up in New Zealand," page 1.)
"Ms. Pascoe said that the team arrived at the Gallaghers this morning. Investigators will be looking for any visual signs of a cat in the area, including cat scats (feces--J.T.) with bits of bone, fur or wool in it, scratchings on trees, remains of prey and paw prints."
"'They are certainly not expecting to see it (the panther--J.T.) today,' she said."
"Ms. Pascoe said this was the third type of investigation MAF had carried out in the past couple of years. The last, in the Kaiapoi area, turned out to be nothing but a black Labrador dog."
"A similar search had also been carried out in Mid- Canterbury in 2001 after Marcus Ewart and his friend, David Tuttum, spotted what they thought was a black cat on the Winterslow property, but no evidence was found."
"Adelaide Zoo keeper Peter Whitehead said leopards were adaptable creatures and could live in the wild up to 15 to 16 years, but he doubted the sightings based on the lack of stock maulings in the area."
"'Stories like this come up all the time and it's never actually come to anything, but that's not to say it's impossible,' Mr. Whitehead told the Ashburton Guardian."
"Since Friday's initial sighting came forward, there has also been an unsubstantiated report the big cat had been sighted again."
"Separate black cat sightings were also reported across the country."
"The MAF Emergency Pest Hotline confirmed it had received a number of 'panther' calls since 6:30 p.m. yesterday (Friday, October 31, 2003)."
"One was a prank call, but the other five were from people convinced they had seen a panther. They were from as far north as Auckland and south to Roxburgh."
"Methven and Ashburton police said there had been no further panther sightings overnight and there had been no reports of mauled stock." (See the Ashburton Guardian of November 1, 2003, "Going panther hunting." Again, many thanks to Robert Fischer for this newspaper article.)
MAUI PANTHER ELUDES NEW TRACKER, 20 TRAPS
"The large, four-pronged claw marks carved into guava trees did it for Stan Cunningham."
"'I can't think of anything else in the world that could have done that,' the big-game trapper said yesterday," Tuesday, October 28, 2003.
"Cunningham, a research biologist who has trapped more than 200 animals, was brought to Maui," one of the eight Pacific Ocean islands that make up the USA's state of Hawaii, "to identify trapping areas and to train local wildlife officials how to set up leg-hold snare traps."
"The visit, which ends today, comes two months after Bill Van Pelt, Cunningham's Arizona Game and Fish Department colleague, traveled to Maui and concluded that a jaguar, leopard or mountain lion is roaming in and around gulches that run through the Upcountry community" of Olinda.
"During Cunningham's stay, 19 more traps were deployed in a 20-square-mile region and were checked once a day. Some were baited with dead chickens, others with the urine of a serval (South African cat--J.T.) Others had no bait."
"The only thing they caught was a pregnant, mixed- breed dog that gave birth while in a snare. Mom and nine puppies were returned to their owner unharmed. No other traps were disturbed."
"In Olinda, the rugged, heavily-wooded terrain offers lots of cover and plenty of food in the form of rats, chickens and the like, he said. There are also unpopulated areas" on the island "where the creature can wander."
"During his Maui visit, Cunningham responded to two possible big-cat sightings; one when a resident heard cat- like noises in the night and another after dogs were barking and deer were seen running about. Each time, Cunningham found nothing."
"Even so, with the claw marks and other signs, he declared, 'I saw enough to reduce any skepticism I might have had. There's a big cat living out there. Like it or not.'"
"Maui wildlife biologist Fern Duvall said there's still the possibility that the animal, thought to be a leopard or a jaguar that was smuggled in as a kitten, returns every night to its unknown owner, who has cost the state (of Hawaii) $15,000 in work hours and other expenses so far." (See the Honolulu Advertiser for October 29, 2003, "Second expert says Maui big cat is 'out there.'" And the Maui Weekly News for October 29, 2003, "Olinda cat still eluding traps." Once again, many thanks to Robert Fischer for these newspaper articles.)
TWO MYSTERIOUS GLOWING CLOUDS SEEN IN ALBERTA
"Two glowing clouds that seemed to follow a Bearspaw," Alberta province, Canada "family around their property Saturday night," October 18, 2003, "has the makings of a fictional tale, but Omkar Channan knows what he saw."
"'It does sound silly, but it is also something that I've never seen before--and no one I've talked to has an explanation,' he said."
"Around 10 p.m. Saturday, Channan's son was walking the family dog on the property northwest of the city (Calgary--J.T.)."
"'All of a sudden, the dog started barking and we saw two small clouds over the house--they seemed to be chasing each other around and then merging together,' said the elder Channan, who is a published author and recently retired from his role as the city's chief controller of prosecutions (district attorney in the USA--J.T.)."
"As the family gathered outside, the strangest part of their experience began."
"'We were walking around the property, and whatever it was seemed to be following us,' said Channan, explaining that the object was about 900 to 1,200 meters (3,000 to 4,000 feet) above ground."
"In an effort to get witnesses to the strange event, the Channans called the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police--J.T.), both the Calgary International and Springbank airports and neighbours."
"'It was the strangest thing I've ever seen,' said Carol Geramia, one of the Channans' neighbours who also called others as she ventured outside."
"'The clouds--or whatever they were--were perfectly round and illuminated--it kind of gave me the creeps,' she said."
"The Cochrane (Alberta) RCMP member who stopped by attributed the illumination to an event possibly going on in Olympic Plaza" in Calgary "while the airport didn't see anything unusual in the night sky."
"But Channan and his neighbours are still intrigued."
"'The (possibility) of it being a UFO came to mind, but I've never experienced anything like that before, and it's just really bizarre that it seemed to be following us,' Channan said."
"Don Hladiuk has been an astronomer for more than 30 years, and the Channans' experience is unusual, he said."
"'Over the past 20 to 30 years, I've heard a lot of stories, and a lot can be explained, but this one comes out of the abnormal,' he said." (See the Calgary Sun for October 20, 2003, "Enlightening sighting for local family." Many thanks to Jim Hickman for forwarding this newspaper article.)
BOOMERANG-SHAPED UFO SIGHTED IN COLORADO
"Tim Butler sketched the drawing of an unidentified aircraft he claims he saw flying above Durango, Colorado (population 13,922) on" Sunday, September 28, 2003.
"From his perch on Smelter Mountain about 6 p.m. on Sept. 28, Butler, a Durango sound engineer, saw a silent, silver boomerang 40 to 60 feet (12 to 18 meters) long-- sweep over Fort Lewis College, around Smelter Mountain, and across the Animas River toward the airport, he said. The object was flying a little lower than 1,000 feet (300 meters). 'It was flying so low I thought it was illegal.'"
"Then, as Butler fumbled unsuccessfully with his binoculars, he watched the object bank west behind Paradise Ridge and disappear, two or three minutes from the time he'd first seen it. Butler was with a friend who saw the craft, too. But he said his friend declined to be interviewed, citing fears that he may 'end up on some future 'Men in Black' list."
"The Durango-La Plata County Airport reported no unusual activity on this date. Financial director Don Brockus said an American West Express plane departed about that time. If it had gone north, it might have flown along the path that Butler described."
"'Doesn't sound like anything we have coming or going. But anything other than airliners doesn't have to check in with us. UFOs never let us know,' Brockus said."
"The National Weather Service at Grand Junction said: 'There isn't any annotation about anybody seeing anything in the sky. And one of the guys working this shift has his own telescope and he would have noticed.'"
"The (U.S.) Department of Defense Strategic Command in Nebraska would only be concerned with the sighting if it had been space debris. 'Strategic Command did not track any object predicted for entry at this time and location,' a spokesman said."
"'I'm a scientist at heart, so I'm a pretty skeptical person,' he said, 'I've been going to air shows in Oshkosh (Wisconsin) since I was a kid. It wasn't like any military technology I've seen.'"
"Butler said the public only knows years after the fact about what technology the military has. 'There's about a 20-year time span between reported objects and the time we find out about them,' he said."
"'It didn't make a sound.'"
"The boomerang, Butler said, was notable for what it didn't have: it lacked markings, a cockpit, portholes, a tail and dorsal fins, stabilizing equipment, propellers, engines and rivets."
"'It wasn't thermalling, and it didn't make a sound,' he said, 'There was no heat distortion behind the (back) end. I thought it had to be a military drone at one point because there was no control, no propulsion.'"
"'It was a clear, beautiful afternoon. My friend thought he saw a bird. It looked to me like a little glider from the Animas Valley. I have friends who launch gliders from there.'"
"'Then I started seeing reflections from it. The reflections made it look really white, like a long tube of quicksilver. But when it turned, it looked like a cylinder with wings swept back into a delta.'" (See the Durango, Colo. Herald for October 25, 2003, "Durangoan reports he saw UFO." Many thanks to Jim Hickman and Steve Wilson Sr. for forwarding this newspaper article.)
MORE UFO ACTIVITY SEEN IN WISCONSIN
On Thursday, October 23, 2003, Mary C. was at her home in Wisconsin Rapids (population 18,435), 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, when she spotted two UFOs.
"Together there were only two, but we have seen as many as six," Mary reported, "They look like strobe lights that move in any direction from standing still to what seem like incredible speeds, up and down, and change direction in a split-second. I would like to know if anyone else has observed them. There is no way they could be planes as we know them."
On Sunday, October 26, 2003, "about 7:30 p.m., I was nightfishing at Halfmoon Lake in Marathon County," located 145 miles (232 kilometers) north of Madison, the male witness reported, "and I had a similar sighting. I believe I was facing east over the water. Conditions were very calm, quiet, dark with partial cloud cover. I did not see these lights come in from anywhere. They were just there when I looked down the treeline. Red and blue strobe lights moving in random directions and speeds."
"They appeared to be one to two miles (away) from me. At one point, an object changed to an orange-white sphere going in one direction, with strobing red and blue ones going very close to the treeline, moving erratically. They went down below the treeline. This was not a plane that I know of, nor a helicopter--no sound, either. I could still see fading lights through the trees where they went down for a couple of minutes. Total sighting time was 5 to 6 minutes."
On Saturday, October 18, 2003, in Mukwanago, Wis. (population 6,162), a town on Highway 83 about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Milwaukee, the witness reported, "My fiance, my neighbor and I were outside having a campfire, when out of the corner of my eye, I saw something in the sky. It looked like a fireball. Everyone looked but no one knew what it was. It came from the northwest and was going to the southeast in a perfect (straight) line, perfectly parallel to the ground. It was the same exact color of fire."
"There was no sound, no shadow and no trail behind it. At first I thought it was a hot-air balloon, but it was too low, and it was so close to us we would have seen more than just the fire. My fiance thought it was an asteroid or a meteor, but there was no trail behind it and it was not falling from the sky, as asteroids and meteors do. When it got behind our trees, I went and grabbed a camcorder and a tripod. My fiance stayed and watched it. He said it just stopped and hovered for a while, and then turned towards the south. He set the camcorder on the tripod, and we walked back to the fire. When we watched what it had recorded, it (the object) flickered quite a bit. We actually have a film (video) where it goes out completely and reappears in the same spot it vanished from." (Many thanks to John and Jenny Hoppe of UFO Wisconsin for these reports.)
LUMINOUS UFO HOVERS OVER CINCINNATI, OHIO
On Wednesday, October 29, 2003, administrative assistant Amy and her husband, Jason, were "driving the (family) car west on Harrison Avenue" in Cincinnati, Ohio (population 331,285) "around 5:30 p.m. when they spotted the brilliant stationary object in the west."
"The couple was approaching Boudinot Avenue when they noticed the suspected UFO. They agreed the object was brilliant, even describing it as 'vibrant as the sun.' They described the object as bluish-white and estimated that it held a fixed position over specific areas of Westwood and Western Hills."
"'It was circular,' Amy said, 'and we determined that it was definitely not a plane because the intensity of the light as 30 to 50 times the size of any normal airplane (landing) light.'"
"She said the stationary object to the west of their position was too far off to hear any sound. For several minutes, they lost sight of the object while driving further down the road as buildings blocked their view. But finally, Amy said, they caught sight of the object again, at which point the light 'sucked into itself' and disappeared." (Many thanks to Ohio ufologist Kenny Young for this report.)
From the UFO Files...
1908: A UFO ENCOUNTER IN WARE, MASS.
In addition to the "mystery balloon" or UFO seen near Pittsfield, Massachusetts in October 1908, there was a UFO sighting in Ware, a small town on Route 9 approximately 78 miles (124 kilometers) to the east.
Here is an actual newspaper report from the period:
"The town of Ware was disturbed Saturday night (October 24, 1908) about 11:30 (p.m.) by a mysterious happening that has not yet been explained. W.E. Foster, engineer at the power house of the Ware and Brookfield Street Railway Co., heard a voice calling, and he finally located its source in the air above his head."
"The voice asked, 'What place is this?' and Foster called back, 'Ware.'"
"Mr. Foster said that about 150 or 200 feet in the air he could see a light like a flashlight and that the light was traveling from the northwest to the southeast. Up to midnight last night nothing had been heard of the mysterious visitor."
"So far as is known, there is no balloon in this part of the country that cannot be accounted for. The Boston is in New York for repairs and the Pittsfield, The Heart of the Berkshires and the North Adams No. 1 are both at their proper resting places."
Like the Pittsfield UFO, the sighting at Ware set the stage for the most dramatic encounter of 1908, which took place the following week--the Prophett and Flynn case in Bridgewater, Mass. (See the Berkshire Evening Eagle of Pittsfield, Mass. for October 26, 1908, page 2. Also the Manchester, N.H. Union for October 31, 1908, "Mystery of the Air." Also The Complete Books of Charles Fort, Dover Publications, Inc., New York, N.Y., 1974, page 507.)
Well, 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." See you next time.
