UFO Newsclipping Service 1998 10 no 351

20 Pages·1998·17.8 MB·English

tiEWSCLIPPitiG
SERVICE
October 1998
Number 351
#2 CANEY VALLEY DRIVE • PLUMERVILLE, ARKANSAS 72127 USA EDITOR/PUBLISHER: LUCIUS FARISH
RECORD, Stockton, CA - Aug. 7, 1998 UINTAH BASIN STANDARD, Roosevelt, UT - Aug. 18, 1998
object was spotted whVzing over Paranormal effort takes a public turn
the bay before reportedly break
ing into two or three pieces and
disappearing from sight." Nevadan seeks Basin•s input on UFOs
MICHAEL ~ the same time, an UDJUmed
Tracy caller reported a UFO crash
fiTZGERALD to an Idaho UFO Web site; the the world for eventual ET contact.
Webmaster reported it to UFO By Zack Van Eyck ·'We know so little in terms of That revelation, if confirmed sud
network; from where it beamed at Deseret News staff writer what the overall scope of these phe denly and dramatically, Bigelow
Web speed to other international nomena [are] all about that it's just believes, could have a devastating
ly trafficked Web sites. Two years ago, Terry and Gwen embarrassing to try to make conclu psychosocial impact on global civili
A 5keptic would ~y the Tracy Sherman were trying to unload a sions at this point," Bigelow said. zation.
Tracy UFO caller heard the KCBS broadcast 480-aue Uintah County cattle ranch And it's still too early, he said, to Bigelow's interest in the
and, finding things boring in they Jjl)d was rife with UFO activi determine whether the curious ac paranormal stems from his youth.
Tracy, perpetrated a hoax. ty and other bizarre occl}rr!llft§_ tivity poses any threat to Uinta At the time, Las Vegas was, by
rumor hits But maybe not Mter all, three The National Institute for Dis Basin residents. comparison, a sleepy little hamlet.
private planes have been downed
in liacy recently; area freeways covery Science seeks answers about Bigelow said the National Insti There wasn't much for locals to
Web speed do form a "Tracy Triangle." unuMsiulalilo aneariirael pphhielnanotmheronpai.s t Rob htuetlep foofr UDiisnctoavhe Brya Ssicnie rnacnec nheeerdss a tnhde dthoe i snt rtheeet 1fo9r5 0asn eixcec-ecprte damriv ceo ndeo wafn
As Gavid slept ert T. Bigelow came to the rescue, residents. He asks anyone who dis ter dinner.
A dispatcher with the Tracy buying the ranch and moving in a covers an unusual animal death or Off on one of those evening cruis
A UFO crashed outside Tracy Police Department said no UFO team of researchers and surveil spots an unidentified object in the es, Bigelow's grandparents had a
on Thesday, acconling to a si~tings were reported Thesday. lance equipment. sky to call NIDS at 1-888-433-6500. close encounter that not only had a
kerbillion people on the Ditto the San Joaquin County Bigelow, 54, a Las Vegas native When an animal mutilation is re profoundimpacton them, but, when
Wodd Wide Web. Sheriff's Office, which has received who amassed a fortune in real es ported, NIDS veterinarians can re he was told the story two years
No - really. The biggest UFO calls from inquiring minds at tate development, had for years spond to perform a necropsy. later, strongly affected their 10-
Web sites are buzzing with the such big media as KRON-1V and funded private research projects on "It will cost him [the rancher] year-old grandson.
1hlcy UFO crash. Media from San the San Jose Mercury News. the far fringe of mainstream sci nothing to try to find out what hap "This ball oflight that appeared
FraRcisco to Thrlock are calling 1-·asked Jeff Garberson, ence. pened to his animal," Bigelow said. to be in flames was coming right at
the·' !heriff here to get the ~ spokesman for the Lawrence The Sherman ranch was exactly The recent interview in Las Ve them," Bigelow recalled. "They
'lT,-,ndul\M.n!ihelQe.t_~alA 8'gcU D!htelydahn la tes ietJhUscse hoht ,ey F hereeri niOrete seU'eoWs w F tattcaaas hOlerl ntm iealh osl ys icoesngnh trms trlr.ealaoite ewan ssan cnhselsltei) oy t roa(vyo ti"nfpa an a tdeilhL lonumrn oo lsecoytisoo at o?snltwWl"otf " act t toWhsh e'e coitnh"Inh.Srefa.atJe•- t"tdewUwAwsa Tr ehrFrnonsv erm hWOryaaei kstooocrd i ,atrytnWo ihtre d" ehsnde egU" ealLob rw-neFl etw aos syhOybsdstunppoi,,o eb"t ei werb ilja ahsnoGea dat,atc to Usae"estttr rah .h Fybna otseeO,Ohreot f gur i c Tnsffudrumhe aor eissaayvUneescic.tednt Fi yerestg rOioh tnsUo Uar ahtaot.FitF e sm OdOtss.s · thlwenke~lol6doaeaahcflcweltAayta eape'te& t.s i vh vqoh celaauenleon dcr? ucwwt le silotwtlida h nftwai sihdetbt ghnl\ i aooMtaSee ihouhrtsoe hketrsinf tGsi eew~ hntd~orroig~h :sf'r DaIe f tytnIotxhhiI orosUttee:Icnhrf aao pmep~p ovrsyhuuoeere errdftrcnceiiylidtlhopun aamSNodat screertaeetioydd , -gBv~sdtptoieaaeroiwagost{nmBere emw ca lkis~ogphgpa twee eseot~lir rn;faons sladwnoog tal wnc iol sno}aso paoast nrrwirunm fdigoiggh.d fo ewghuiiev lleeieen~pens s trartgc o na erob hdvmnatnae.aenddee siro hnnup at· rahekatrcm ts~dteceii uo cpynaaarnu lget e nh la pt ahferirhrodetcisiees r , cdttmwpsaohwuatrea e ecudte"ndkrht's.irIetteeeetevy d t, amte hnw. bh,d9dea euwaa 0r tytstaon-. Eh d emptdttehMhenip atw gelo ioctnyrnuase~ge( ic sgrnm eitf h teht otw oop guvtrdfo a tarfarti.hokchnrv yteoe.t.ie.h ~. cs-oyI aet ttoI iewhni cm~nodreabePnqs m imr-t.ak ie -e- diec isaant t .ordbc i'ji im l,noguhm- uehesb.id~ -ttttf
~Wmeis.sma n was responding to mudt knows that sometimes they and disappearing cattle, UFOs the own research into the UFO field thing to think about for weeks,
reports such as the one posted wjJ1 enter our atmosphere looking size offootball fields, circular door primarily to protect his sources. But months and years after." Ditto for
on UFOnetworlc liU a meteor. At times they will ways that appeared in midair, and now, with NIDS sponsoring an in their grandson.
"'UFFnetworlc received a phone thla be seen to stop in midair floating balls oflight that allegedly ternational essay contest to pique Bigelow retained his curiosity
caB at 1:45AM Eastern on 8-5-98 aJNI 50metimes divide into two or incinerated the family dogs. the mainstream science communi about that event and other Vegas
of in alleged downed UFO in the three units that then move three Bigelow and his staffa lso dodged ty's interest in the search for extra area UFO sightings for three de
area-of 'fracy, CA, USA. .Aa:onling different directions .. .'' media inquiries, saying public terrestrial intelligence, the time is cades while building his real estate
T9cttbbfLQeto:euarr4m n"Temwat5dT tnnh rlicc eehonePiasyn f eulMhnco tc etro aTeeg hsuct lvPy.el tro leehd a ."inrl.naUd oT. afiitftwsinF\sh ihrue chOemngirom,as s" ulc p ob wecfatoUpryr rla erotea lF hs 'emnSfwLO erte sta r enamchdebaaer.aos atpaW nwWtroy t•'et•od n a al•hir ors"cyalsa ocwb'fvO nlrneeUo , Lm wnbaa0imt~mh8s8 oosIeO aliRom1'ulLf Ins0tbI:elSeAeWtndesRer daS p yr•Di--"Rbt•o a7fAe •yietEn1tsc n h e tW. daof -sralleaOsTnyye twh nn np thiiagwsdd denoithhsei ici-r nt csonattti easheif toieo ixt edestxdeOtndpst- hdperk s.aenia re a nsrnrW snra i Aao dimgcrbmdtwor erheltieutau eo ahnalsBCwni tdeshtwt etl nhhan ehylual'lki d'tdaksrtsg n?eev e eiro t ese?Iwo et"f n n wccilBkraoneaiodnniodngngsnoduBeg. cewwt lnitlhuduEnohilt tt esnbwuyavh dtuene,e hte gw dspdhnfseeau,ir at ltcaeastaBlthoetb bml nri-e dholgat oaaiaaosuenstntyv-ulth ugfdoi ,etraem rewhir cetds ooweeaa c asccui liuocnrcocr nsi bdoudhnedsyobr enfan iesrirsnattoepraine tgmfwtderhr i i acs vcaensioci tamrd f lkntheitha icie ie vaatottn etiei.hhvnhp n treaeyes , · -ggrSsshNiapeorehe~iaovv AewdhPipteetsr ses hn rhm M"ot n p f oiitposmaefoaN alr xnh re sesbIit·t eDtssc ne har houodt eSatf ofmhoa fan gua eaknhehc olssed dhaacnav na ssn o'eCtmn. ' vo rtnoayine orbnoll r mriloe vtonesre weew igatvpmsendooi utrhtdovirbi,egi er.lelBs sianairet cirptcn dige ehrnme d"to o lhtth elothheoioanwnee ttt gfahwdNeaoemnlaeeIr at oD b TApeoaa~teiS lhhfnhrgob ,eea. y caanoe.rto enneI t sonhn a stalifaew srn1n hbdc a9 eiitli es8lnhirorat s8 tieutiohent,oa s ewneut lntte rdsnhihe,rept iis eeehv,hns s epwmqe t'fre9unsasooor:5eoefnrs rts t?mmodhetet"onyi erea o a it ntosnnolibuaf ov :qbo r "neuvudatAs eihrintvlronsideye t,f
eye-witness that a 'round, green show \\Uinesday night. Bell asked Deseret News in the first interview group, Bigelow said, but instead Shermans' plight brought Bigelow
cirsahs-h~.u Ae sU iFt Ow' adsi dfa lglion gd, oaw n'w ahnitdis h twua sb eoaorn ftarocmted a oline-na iarb dbuyc stoorms.e bHoed y ghieo nhaals p ugrrsaunitte odf ateor idails pcuhsesn ohmise nrea . sehrnomuledn ats, kp tohleimticsiealnvse,s rwehliyg itohues g oinv dtor etdhse oUf UinFtaOh sBigahstiinn,g ws hhaevree hbeuenn
piece broke off the top .. .' " who identified himself as an alien "We wouldn't be there just for stitutions, educators, scientists and cataloged by former Roosevelt
OK, stop the music! What who had possessed the body of "a the weather," he said. the media are not taking UFOs and schoolteacher Joseph "Junior"
appears to have happened is this: ~n man named David." When the impressive team of the possible existence of extrater Hicks, beginning in the early '50s.
The Associated Press reported D3vid, the alien explained, was scientists Bigelow has assembled restrials more seriously. NIDS isn't likely to leave the
~ that "more than a ~ of this, having fallen can say something definitive about Bigelow, in fact, said one reason area anytime soon, either --as long
dozen people" saw a "bluish-white ;deep while watching the 1V news. what is going on in the skies around he spends more than a million dol as research can be conducted with
t&KigCwhRBt e"So'p n.orue rTetceheadiekv s etdohdave yea Arbe PovS:eua ntn" iR n1Fga5rd. a icnoac lislsstc aaoti to n MEP-hamolla:n 1ePl::O m5. i4Bc6oh-xa8 e92l07f@00,. rSeFtcoaxock:r dto5nn4e,7 t9-.c85o210m816 .. wyFpouowntr wdt i,.tD a tchuocecneyh s estwhsnneivl e.lc,N, oBRImDiag/Snnei dldoWlswe.te tbp raosnmidte is beaedt lwopatrhrhesaep atra yhriineensa gftrei otAeunlmst Ni eotIhrnDiescS ags rhoaeovnsueedlra dntr hmcbehee inrdseto t soaitn n dogdof: oiKttruyeat lt mlioenrhat,e yewrr fa,o etrrNtrreyIan DctchteS a.u' Btn dtidoegeopes lumoitrwyau b caalhned dp ma uCtibtnoeliilncsm
9:45 p.m. moments after the tion.
TELEGRAPH, Alton, IL - Aug. 12, 1998
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Scientific examination of UFOs needed
The recent recommendation by the &ef'ious investigation is long overdue. UFO studies as a waste of taxpayers' money.
Rockefeller-funded scientific review panel Since the Condon Committee's whitewash While no stud;y of UFOs is likeJ;y to get
that UFOs are worthy of serious scientific of the UFO problem and the closing of the anyone rc-• · lected, it is also true that no
inve~gation is welcome news. Air Force's "Project Blue Book" in 1969, scientific i1,q..1iry is likely to pay bigger
As it stands now, the subject remains there has been no official investigation into unforeseen dividends. That alone is reason
cloaked in government secrecy while being the phenomena. This, of course, hasn't enough for an open, sober, scientific investi
summarily dismissed by many academics made UFOs go away; it's only insured that gation of UFOs to begin.
without so much as a cursory glance at t"'e government investigations are performed in JEFF TARBELL
evidence. The rest of us - kept out of the secret, away from prying public eyes. But Alton
loop - are forced to glean what information each of us has the right to know the facts,
we can through sensationalized media-fed wherever those facts lead us.
tidbits presented as third-segment kicker Because there is no UFO constituency,
items on the nightly news. The time for politicians have felt free to characterize
Spoo S l e u t h
cz:
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Brian Campbell is a detective hot on the trail of UFOs
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R1S photos by Brad Garrison
Brian Campbell of Redding and his dog, Astro, relax in his home surrounded by objects that address his greatest interest: space ali~ns
• Brian Campbell investigates stories The Redding area is no exception.
During the years he's been going out on
of alien abductions, encounters with
calls, Campbell said he's seen some
extra-terrestrials and other other strange things.
worldly phenomenon. There were cattle mutilations in the
Igo-Ono and Red Bluff areas done with
By Stasia Scarborough surgical precision and the animal was
R-S staff reporter totally drained of blood - something
that isn't possible with current technology, he
I n Brian Campbell's Redding home there suggested. "It's pretty curious," he said of those
is a poster with a flying saucer and the cases.
caption "I believe." Campbell thinks you He's also gone on reports of spacecraft
should, too. landings or crashes, and in some cases he's
The truth is out there and he's made it his found "soil that won't hold water anymore."
business to find it As a self-employed UFO Lab reports can't say why, he said.
investigator, he has taken on cases of spaceship "We get some eerie feelings," Campbell said
sightings, alien abductions and other extra-ter of his cases. And yes, he said he's been afraid.
restrial phenomenon in the north state. "I always go (on a case) with someone."
And while he's not getting rich off his busi From left, William Davis, Emil Johansen and Brian
Campbell has been in the UFO business for
ness, there are plenty of people who need his Campbell scan the night sky for signs of the possi
about five years. His advertisement in several
help, he said. ble UFO Davis and Johansen said they had seen the
"There's a lot of things flying out there," he north state telephone books claims he investi previous evening.
gates "sigbtiru!S. encounters, abductions."
said, estimating he averages between 200 and Yet he's found people are sometimes reluc
300 cases each year. tant to come forward with what they've experi Locally, Campbell said the Redding
"We're visited (from outer space) all the enced. Police Department turns to him to
time," he said. investigate UFO reports - but a spokes
"They want to talk privately," he said. "Tlw
Campbell, 38, said he's always been inter man with the police department dis
government programs you to think you're crazy
ested in the topic but his interest solidified agreed.
if you see one.''
when he saw a flying saucer eight years ago. Capt Chuck Byard said UFO reports
Campbell and some friends were having a bar In fact, Campbell said he believes the govern are "probably fairly unusual."
becue west of Redding when they thought they ment is actively dissuading people from believ "I certainly don't think we get more
saw a helicopter, Campbell said. ing in UFOs. That's part of a larger conspiracy. than a couple a year," Byard said.
But as it approached, "it was no helicopter." Campbell said he believes the government He denied they use Campbell's detective
he said. has a secret alliance with the alien races. In ex skills on those cases.
They tried to report to different agencies change for allowing the abductions, the govern Campbell also said he refers people to a Red
what they had seen. Finally, Campbell said he ment receives technology for military use. If the ding hypnotist, Roger Gray, so they can regain
was told he saw a satellite burning as it entered public learns of alien sightings, the government their abduction memories.
the atmosphere-a story he doesn't be- denies what happened. Gray said he doesn't recall any referrals, but
lieve. In the meantime, he believes the gov that over the 10 years of his practice he has had
up to 20 people want to regain that abduction
And a UFO investigator was born. ernment is investigating extra-terrestrial
memory.
So whafs happening out there? events.
"Out of all of those, I considered one of those
Campbell said he knows of alien abduc "They do, but they say they don't," authenti.::," Gray said.
tions, where seemingly at random citi Campbell said.
Reporter Stasia Scarborough can be
zens are taken for the purpose of Well-known military investigations. reached at 225-8226 or at sscarbro@rec
medical/scientific experiments. Camp such as Project Blue Book, were nothing search.com by e-mail.
bell said. more than ··a disinformation campaign."
"I think we're one big experiment" If that's the case, what happens to the
he said. information he obtains? Official agen 2
And there are plenty of sightings. cies aren't interested, but there is a net
"You'd be surprised how many have work of believers out there gathering in
seen UFOs." Campbell said. formation, he said.
POST-GAZETTE, Pittsburgh, PA - Sept. 9, 1998 CR: S. Gordon
•
Mt. Pleasant
Post-Gazette
the back of a military flatbed truck
Still others say they saw it being
hauled to Wright-Patterson Air
Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.
Swirling with eerie music, sub
plots, mysteries and theories, the
video builds to a well-orchestrated
climax of two men claiming evi
dence that it was an extraterrestri
al spacecraft. One even claims to
have seen what appeared to be a de
ceased, lizard-skinned creature par
tially covered by a sheet inside a
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
hangar.
Gordon comes to no conclusions,
except that something definitely
landed in Kecksburg at 4:45 p.m. on
that day. While entertaining the pos
sibility that the craft was Amencan
or Soviet, Gordon provides reasons
Matt Freed/Post-Gazette photos why those explanations are lacking.
"It's been almost 33 years and we still don't have an answer," says Stan Gordon, who has studied the Kecksburg crash since the day it He leaves the viewer with the defi
happened. He's sitting in his ··command center" in his Greensburg home. nite sense that his research points
squarely at something more pro
found.
"It's an intriguing story," he said
in a recent interview. "It's been al
most 33 years and we still don't have
an answer. A lot of key witnesses
have passed away, are up in age, or
not in the best of health. This was
the best way to have them tell their
story themselves about what they
experienced."
His video provides detailed histo
ry of the Kecksburg incident along
with a long string of witnesses who
provide theories, surprises and in
trigue, yet leave the viewer yearn
inS for some conclusion. With that in
rrund, Gordon asks viewers to peti
tion members of Congress to sched
UFO researcher's video explores
ule hearings to collect testimony
and help solve the lingering mys
several theories about 1965 crash tery.
For years, debate has been esca
in Westmoreland County lating.
A 1991 article in The Pittsburgh
Press described generally what
happened, based on various wit
By David Templeton nesses' accounts that are included
Post-Gazette Staff Writer in greater detail in Gordon's video.
S Dec. 9, 1965, was a dreary day in
ince the uncertain events of Dec. 9, 1965, debate has
Westmoreland County-that is, un
trhageoedri,e fsr iheanvdes hairpisse hna avne ds oInutreerdn,e rtu smtoo~nse sh ahvaev ew apxroel~if, til what was described as a roundish
fireball appeared. It reportedly
erated over what crash-landed that day in the rural
seared the gray sky at low altitude
villTahgee mof iKliteacrkys ibnusrigst,e Wd iets wtmaos rae lmanedt eCoon~tet yth. at was with a jet trail, then made S-turns
and what appeared to be a con
never recovered.
trolled landing through the treetops
UFO skeptics have held that, if not an ou~right hoax, it was into Kecksburg's woods.
surely something as explainable as the SoVIet Venus probe,
The fireball was seen across the
Kosmos 96, or an experimental A_merican spacecraft that
northeastern United States and was
went flip-flop into Kecksburg's tmdsectwn only to be recov
the subject of numerous newscasts
ered by a quick and secretive military.
that day.
But UFO researchers, who say the Kecksburg incident is
Local residents headed toward
asencdo pnodt eonntliya lto, htahvee o snueg agte Rstoesdw welilth, N a.sM m., uinc hte _Imrmasg ~mf adt~wanm aas the landing site. James Romansky
fact that it was alien visitors who chose Kecksburg as therr and others trailed the object into the
Sea of Tranquility. woods by observing the arc-wield
All of which has transformed the event that happened 33 ing flames and bluish sparklers evi
years ago into one of America's most intriguing UFO myster- dent through the trees after the
landing.
oWf L"T Uhen sKolevcekds bMurygs tienrcieids"e natn hda "sS ~igerhvtm~dg as"s tfeoldedV~Irs.ifoonr berpoi·sa od d e s SKkeectkcshb ubryg C ohna Drleesc .H 9a, n1n9a6 5re, pthreosuegnhtts boyb sjeocmt eth atot lbaen dae UdF iOn . to 7T fheee to ibnj edcita mweaste r1,2 afnedet s lhoanpge adn ldik e6
casts. The mock-up spacecraft built for the "Unsolved Mys an acorn. It had a ring around the
teries" broadcast now sits atop the Kecksburg fire hall as the but also new accounts that what landed was extraterrestrial. base, just like an acorn, that bore
only lasting sign of the village's controversial claim to fame. Written and narrated by Gordon, 48, the video provides nu what Romansky described as back
Now, Greensburg UFO rese~rcher Stan t;:Jordon, who has merous eyewitness testimonials from people who saw the wSoamrde l ehtatevres ,d leiksec raib beadc ktwhea rlde tJt eorri nKg
studied the Kecksburg crash smce the day It happened, has fireball cruise at rather low speeds and altitudes across the
as resembling Egyptian hieroglyph
produced a 92-minute documentary titled, "Kecksburg: T_he southwestern Pennsylvania sky, maneuver, complete some
ics - lines, stars, circles and
Untold Story," that provides eyewitness accounts and claims turns and finally put down in Kecksburg's woods, about 7
shapes. The craft had no doors or
that surely will bolster debate. miles southeast of Greensburg. windows. The metal was seamless,
As the cover says, "New Mexico has Roswell, but in Penn Others who went rummaging through the woods that ear
with a dent, but bearing no rivets or
sylvania, it was Kecksburg," ly evening say they saw an aco~n-sha_ped spacecraft half welds.
The most persistent Kecksburg researcher, Gordon has buried in a gully. Many others, mcluding news reporte~. saw The local men soon were chased
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spacecraft could have been the So-
VIet Venus probe known as Kosmos
(continued on psge 4)
(continued from page 3 - POST-GAZETTE, Pittsburgh, PA - Sept. 9, 1998)
96. The U.S. Space Command re than 12 hours earlier than the to acknowledge.
ported that Kosmos 96 crash-landed Kecksburg crash. But Oberg That's similar to the response
m Canada shortly after 3 a.m. - checked the data further. The re that Gordon got from the Russian
more than 12 hours before the leased tracking data, he said, could government when he posed the
Kecksburg crash at 4:45 p.m. n't be positively identified with spe same question.
To this day, Kosmos 96 cannot be cific pieces of the failed probe. In May, during an interview of
discounted as a possibility. "It could have been jettisoned Russian Cosmonaut Vlktor P. Sav
Kosmos 96 was shaped like an rocket stage of a large piece of inykh, who was visiting Waynesburg
acorn and may have had the ability space junk," he wrote. "The probe College and now serves as rector of
to maneuver to land on Venus. As a itself could have headed off toward Moscow State University of Geo
Venus probe, it also was equipJ>E:d Kecksburg." desy and Cartography, I took the op
with state-of-the-art heat shield Oberg proceeds to explain why portunity through an interpreter to
technology that could have allowed the U.S. military would lie, or at ask him whether he could help solve
the craft to survive the long, heated least decide not to divulge every the Kecksburg mystery. He, too,
ride through Earth's atmosphere thing it knew about the Kecksburg suggested rather emphatically, and
before landing in Kecksbur~. crash. with some laughter, that whatever
But there are discrepancies. Eye "In the 1960s, U.S. military intelli plunged into Kecksburg surely was
witnesses, including Romansky, in gence agencies interested in enemy some faulty American technology.
sist the writing on the girth was not technology were eagerly collecting But extraterrestrial claims can
Russian. Others claim that while all the Soviet missile and space de not be entertained until the Kosmos
the right shape, it was not the right bris they could find. International 96 theory is put to rest.
size, and did not bear the seams and law required that debris be re In 1962, the United States and So
rivets that characterized Soviet and turned to the country of origin. But viet Union forged a gentleman's
U.S. spacecraft of that era. hardware from Kosmos 96, with its agreement that any spacecraft that
In 1991, I obtained the ordinants special missile-warhead shielding, landed within the other's borders
from the Goddard Space Center for would have been too valuable to would be returned. However, the This sketch by Charles Hanna is of what some believe to be a UFO that
the flight of Kosmos 96. I had James give back" United States had fast-acting mili landed in Kecksburg. Here, the object is supposedly in a hangar at
Oberg, an expert on Soviet space After all, he concluded, what bet tary units that traveled the globe at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. UFO researcher Stan
craft who also is a UFO skeptic, re ter camouflage than to let people moment's notice to recover Ameri Gordon has produced a video, below, about the 1965 incident.
view the ordinants to see if1t could think the fallen object was not a So can and Soviet space hardware
have been Kosmos 96. Oberg con viet probe, but a flying saucer? wherever it fell.
cluded that, based on the ordinants "The Russians would never sus The Kecksburg crash occurred in
provided by the Goddard Space pect, and the Air Force laboratories the middle of the Cold War and the
Center, it could not be Kosmos 96 - could examine the specimen at space race, and America was espe
a point that, to Oberg's dismay, leisure. And if suspicion lingered, cially interested in heat-shield tech·
buoyed UFO advocates and has UFO buffs would be counted on to nology. So, if Kosmos 96 had landed
continued to be a hot topic on the In maintain the phony cover story, pro in Kecksbur~, there's no doubt that
ternet. tecting the real truth." the U.S. military would have been
But Oberg amended his theories For that reason, Oberg conclud interested in finding it.
in an article published in September ed, the Kecksburg scenario pro Gordon's video provides plenty of
1993 on the OMNI service on Amer duced "delicious irony." evidence that the military would not
ica Online. There, he suggested that ''A famous UFO case may actual have responded so quickly, and de
the Kosmos 96 theory could account ly involve a real U.S. government clared what could only be described
for U.S. Space Command's conclu cover-up, but UFO buffs are on the as martial law in Kecksburg, if it
sions that it landed in Canada and wrong side. Instead of exposing the was responding only to a meteorite.
also in Kecksburg. truth, they may be unwitting pawns Whether you adhere to theories
Oberg says the failed Soviet in deception." of a hoax, Kosmos 96 or extraterres
probe "whose booster had blown up The other unexplored avenue to trial spacecraft, Gordon's video pro
m parking orbit, would have been a solve the Kecksburg mystery was to vides a thorough account of the
wonderful UFO." approach Soviet - now Russian - crash-landing, and the many expla
Oberg acknowledges that the or authorities to provide infonnation nations of what happened.
dinants, which have been reviewed on what truly happened to Kosn;ws
by a leading amateur satellite 96. But in 1991, the Soviet Embassy Th obtain a copy of "Kecksburg:
watcher who didn't want his name would only speculate that anything The Untold Story" call 888-UFO
revealed, seemed to confirm the of that crash-landed in American turf VIEW (888-836-8439). The video
ficial Air Force account that Kos was probably American technology costs $29.95 plus $5.95 far shipping
mos 96 crashed in Canada more that the U.S. was too embarrassed and handling and state sales tax.
AESORTER ("'SEASONS"). Houghton Lake, Ml - Fall 1998 CR: C Grusinski
By Glenn Schicker dish-orahg~()bJect the.~! of. a.-,:/
summer fades into beach ball UWI.:\8 bear th~ gro1md,
. ahuotunmern,, w .~iyths mbeocroe mhoe urs athpepne alirfetded t ou p~ a nbdo ulnefcti nthge a al(r,enag ,
avai}a))•e for one of humanity's at a high rate of speed." Ro8com·
oldeSt pastimes-gazing into the of the Roscommon County Kind mon County Civil Defense ~
heaven& The vast array of celes tor Ray Angstman collected sam
Resorter has chronicled several guiding them," Larkin wrote.
tial bodies we see there is mind ples of a white powder found on
instances of unexplained "Well, I know it sounds fantastic,
boggling, to say the least. But graSS at the scene.
extraterrestrial activity: · but if old Bagdad bad its flying
With unag~s from movies like December~ 19'14
':fhe ~~Files and Armageddon in July, 1947 carpets, why can't America have . A Bncowmobiler attempting to
George E. Larkin writes in the its flying saucepans, washtubs
our:;D'linds, it, can also be a bit restart her stalled machine on
Editor's Notebook, "Finally, after and pancakes?" Co. Rd. 104near Lorna Lane in
~.· c,.a1e Cy~llD. .remember my dad telling vi~ting practically every hamlet The next week, Larkin wrote Ge~ ToWilShlP sees "alal"ge
of,a J.ligbt in the early part of and city in the 48 states, the 'fly that no one in the Houghton round· objeet with red, white,
ing saucepan' invaders from Lake area had "claimed to have
this century when he was dri Mars have looked over the land-· seen the mysterious 'flying yellow~ blue and green lights rise
ving a team of mules near the out of the woods straight into
ing facilities of Roscommon saucers."' His explanation? ''This
Cut River. A bright light, accom the air. She said it shot off
County-but have yet placed no would lead one to believe that
panied by a loud noise, appeared toward US-27, making no noise.
bids for potential fields. This the folks of this community don't
in the sky, frightening the mules writer was beginning to believe imbibe as freely as those of A companion reportedly ~on­
to the extent that they "reared firmed her story. A check of the
up on their hind legs," as Dad that this county's possibilities other area5--()r perhaps our local area showed no evidence of the
were being ignored, but evident tavern keepers water their stock
put it. object. However, a
ly not, for this week's Roscom to a greater degree."
In those days, hardly anyone neighbor. .. said her two dogs
mon Herald-News reports that July, 1961
other than Jules Verne had envi started acting strangely for no
one of Roscommon's residents, A Markey Township resident
sioned that people-or any other apparent reason at about the
Colin Geister, saw a whole flock reports two sightings near her
living beings-could travel in same time."
of 'em whizzing over that village home on School Road. On July 8,
space. But by the middle of this July, 1977
century, science fiction was a one night this week." Unlike she told State Police "there was Roscommon Village Marshal
popular genre, and it was easy some reports from elsewhere in a reddish glow in the sky, slight Leroy Baker and Crawford
to imagine that unexplained the country, "Colin didn't claim ly above the tree top level." The County Sheriff's deputies inves
to have seen the little men sit UFO flew from east to west. Ten tigate after four people report
sights in the sky could be the
ting in front of the contraptions, days later, the woman said a red-
result of intelligent activity. The
seeing a UFO in the Chase Crawford County deputies an unsuitable site for an Larkin's other theory,
Bridge Road area, north7 who came to the scene also invasion? Perhaps they merely the result of too
east of Roscommon. Baker s·aw the objects, according found out all they needed much to drink or some
and his deputy accompa to Baker. They reported to know in their previous other fonn of hall ucina
nied the subjects to the there were no National visits, biding their time tion?
location, where all of them Guard helicopters in the until the right moment to
saw an object with four col area at the time." descend where they would
ored lights. "It remained Such encounters seem to be least expected, far from
stationary, except for occa have diminished in fre urban areas and with plen
sional slight movement, quency here in the last cou ty of undeveloped land on
[Baker] said. Later, several ple of decades. Have aliens, which to set up a base
other similar objects as Larkin surmised, deter camp. Or were the UFO
appeared nearby, he added. mined ·Roscommon County sightings, according to
MOTOR CITY NEWS, Warren, Ml - Aug. 17, 1998 CR: C. Grusinski
By Gerald Scott Heights. He previously ever since that night in 1958, nessed something extraordi pecting something like that.
Staff Writer worked at the Ford Wixom but over the last seven years, nary. Then, while we were looking
assembly plant, Ford it has become his main out "We're out at sea, it was at it, it turned a red-orange
Most people join the Navy Dearborn stamping plant and side hobby. dark - 8 or 9 o'clock at color and took off ... in the
to see the world. Chrysler Mound Round en The study at his residence night," he recalled. "We'd meantime, they were scream
Chet Grusinski joined the gine plant. in Clinton Township is some seen this little light following ing for the officer of the deck
U.S. Navy in 1957 and saw "I get teasing at work about thing of a UFO library, with our ship. on the intercom to get up
something out of this world. it, but I don't mind it," said all manner of books, pho "Then it came right at us. there on the double.
Grusinski, born in Grusinski, who has be tographs, letters, documents It came in close enough that "It could've been a few min
Hamtramck and raised in come one of the Detroit and related research spread . I could see figures in there utes, or it might've been
Detroit, was a 19-year-old area's foremost self- about. (inside the spacecraft). quite awhile - I've got no
fireman's apprentice serving taught UFO experts. But all it takes to under "By watching those figures, idea (how much time
aboard the aircraft carrier "They write stuff on my stand Grusinski's passion for elapsed). But I could feel the
USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in locker, but that's all the subject is to listen to the heat on my face when it came
*
1958 when he says he saw a right. They put on my detailed account of his UFO up," he said. "It was cigar
UFO. The object hovered locker 'Roswell Lives sighting, which took place shaped. It came up close to
over the ship and gave him Here,' 'X-Files,' 'The aboard the USS Roosevelt in the island superstructure (on
and two dozen crew mates Truth is Out There,' the Caribbean, out of the U.S. the carrier). Then it took off,
on deck an up-close and per 'Close Encounters' and Navy base at Guantanamo and I went down below
sonal look at it, he says. then when I missed Bay, Cuba. decks.
He's been in search of the day, they drew a c Grusinski became one of "The next day, I was drink
truth about that unusual ing alien face t crewmen aboard the ing a lot of water. I felt like
Jiight ever since. says 'Chet, we after it was overhauled I was dehydrated," he said.
Grusinski, now 58, works as you.'" the New York Navy Grusinski's subsequent re
an automatic screw machine Grusinski has been Shipyard. search into that night reveals
operator at H&L Tool Co. on researching UFOs, It sailed from New some fascinating details, in
Dequindre Road in flying saucers and York to Cuba and CHET GRUSINSKI cluding the fact that the USS
Madison related phe out of Guantana- Roosevelt was one of only
nom- mo Bay in July the impression I got is that three aircraft carriers in the
1958, when the those were not human beings Navy's fleet that was
young looking at us. I could see equipped to carry nuclear
sailor them that good. It was lit up weapons at that time.
from inside of those windows, "I found out there's other
Detroit backlit, so I could see the sil- military installations that
wit- houettes. The impression I store and have nuclear
got? They were not human,"- weapons that also ( experi
Grusinski said. ence) a lot of (UFO) sight
"I was kind of ings. I found out later that we
shocked because I also lost power on the ship
wasn't ex- the night It happened, as
well," Grusinski said.
"They called them special
weapons while I was
the ship.
They had
5
(continued on psge 6)
(continued from page 5 - MOTOR CITY NEWS,
LABOR NEWS, Rockford, IL - Aug. 21, 1998
War':_en, Ml - Aug. 17, 1998)
tain compartments down the aircraft carrier Franklin NBC INTERVIEWING: Jet aircraft mechanic who later
below where they had a Roosevelt during Operation worked for United Airlines, says
Marine guard by the. hatch Mainbrace (in the North UFO Investigator reports of unidentified lights and
way and they'd check your Atlantic in 1952)," the docu flying objects are on the increase
10," he said. "When they had ment reads. with the most active area in Cali
any kind of maneuvers, any "The object was flying ex Says Sightings fornia at the moment. He won't
thing to do with the special tremely fast behind the venture to guess what people are
weapons, they canvassed it NATO fleet and witnesses ob seeing, but says they are most
off with a heavy tarp where viously were numerous and On The Increase definitely lf&Wt mmethine
you couldn't see what they competent in identifying
"We have different objects
were doing. Years later I them ... the same day, a num
which show up in different
found out that they were nu ber of sightings were made
Strange lights and flying grow daily. areas. In Illinois, the most
scaleida.r weapons," Grusinski elsOefw hhiesr eo iwn nE uUrFoOp ei."n cident, objects in the sky. "We have five websites, and a common sighting is described as
While Grusinski's Freedom Grusinski estimates that 25 of It's happening everywhere and newly released book titled UFO's a three-cornered gray object.
of Information Act requests the 3,000 crewmen on the Bill Heft is the man with the in And Lost Gold," says Heft, who "In California, it's green fire
to the Central Intelligence ship were on the flight deck formation. Dixon director of has just made an appearance on balls and red orbs which move
Agency and the National at the time. So, much of his Aerial Phenomena Research Or a television network in Toronto, very erratically, sometimes seen
Security Agency turned up research has been spent con ganization (APRO) since 1952, Canada and recently has been together and sometimes sepa
negative, the Roosevelt's tacting his old crew mates in Bill says over 4,000 people contacted by NBC 's Unsolved rately."
worldwide are now members and Mysteries. Heft says he has the report of
the organization continues to Heft, formerly a U.S. Air Force five college students who saw the
lights nightly for over a week,
and these are "not just pin p()ints
or star size, they're grapefruit to
NORTHWEST HERALD, Crystal Lake, IL - Sept. 16, 1998 moon size in appearance."
Do films or photos exist? Says
Heft, "I have a person in south
ern Illinois who was in the back
yard at night during a family
barbecue. He happened to have
his camcorder pointed upward
and photographed a bright green
Notes from the world of weird
light which became so brilliant it
lit up the ground."
New book chronicles close A well-known, longtime resi
dent of Broadway in Rockford
filed a police report describing a
encounters of stupid kind basketball shaped, green and
glowing object near the Sports
Core marina in Machesney Park
Ev en extraterrestrials was later returned to Earth wear over 25 years ago.
make mistakes. ing a pair of tight-fitting women's Winnebago County deputies
CRHooEsTe vGelRt,U uSnINcSoKveI,r efdo lalo wUi.Sn.g· ghoivs erUnFmOe nsti gdhoticnugm oenn t,t hien clUuSdS ForcSeo c soalyosn reelt Eirded Air sphaonrttise.s ( Ninosttee:a Ad cocfo hrids ionwg nto b oxer hRuanovceekx fpsoolradmi onevetiedmr telhsie gr hyepetsao rrstie.n d sneoeritnhg
ing three photos, of a 1952 UFO incident on the same ship. Benjamin in a new book Kenneth Starr's report, President
about close Ointon once used a similar story In the APRO archives, actual
encounters to explain to Hillary how a pair of footage from a German Nazi
deck logs from that night search of fellow eyewit of the stupid women's underwear got into the party collection shows a saucer
have been · mostly blacked nesses. shaped craft believed made by
out by military sensors. Plus, He even had one of his cur kind. Oval Office). the Germans. Secret weapons
he ran across a separate U.S. rent co-workers, an artist, For In another case, idiot aliens developed for stealth warfare
government document with draw a detailed rendering of example, a supposedly returned two Arkansas has long been offered as one pos
thfs interesting notation the 1958 UFO sighting. fighter pilot abductees to the wrong cars. sible explanation for unidentified
about a 1952 UFO incident, Grusinski is simultaneously who was Fortunately, the two men saw sighting&.
also involving the Roosevelt: working on a movie screen reportedly each other on the road, pulled Currently capturing attention
"Three photographs of a play based on his experience. taken aboard Rov over and switched back to the cor of APRO investigators in Cali
flying disc were taken from It's called "Out of the Sky." aUFQand rect vehicles. fornia is the movement of ground
RIVENBURG
stripped for a troops from or near Norton Air
medical OFF KILTER Force Base which is supposed to
examination be closed, according to Heft.
A very creepy and often well
documented mystery is the muti
lation of cattle which Heft says is
also on the rise mostly in Ari
zona and Colorado. According to
~ U~blc 111Cou8ter him, "These are surgically pre
:Police cise removals of eyes and inter
nal organs from the cow, and all
the blood is drained."
substance. "But you could crum marks and death thn:a;;s by
l Officer The man point~ to an ex ple it up in your hands like tin government agents. Mysterious crop circles, long
panse of open pasture and said, foil and it would spring back into Wilson's own investigr.t.ton un reported in various parts of
"Over there." it's original shape,' said the covered records that the Ger the W(lrld (sometimes admitted
skeptical but mystified police hoaxes) are also increasing. "We
With a shrug and a laugh, mans were working on a flying
Up officer. have outbreaks of crop circles
~Digs MacKenzie says that after all it disc craft just prior to the end of
had been many years and there According to a recent article by World War II, which would en overseas and some in Washing
really was nothing but shrubs science and technology editor able them to take off without ton and Oregon," says the direc
and rocks to see. He drove back Jim Wilson of Populur Mechan runways needed for traditional tor.
~Roswell to the highway and stopped at a ics, ideas of what h.lppent>d in aircraft, their own landing strips There will always be hoaxes
0 small, local cafe. Roswell range from a WP3ther having been destroyed. and false claims, acknowledges
Ct Mystery It was there that he found a balloon a :_:ii!:> to the "downright The U.S. Air Force acknow Heft, while adding that 75% of
C?J;) wfeiwll ionlgd etor ltoaclakl tcoi thizimen sa bwohuot wwehraet fsoilr layn-r i:n.:t:enrhga wlaacsti cb ienivnags ioscno."u' ted lpeedrgimese nthtses. eI nGteerrmesatinn gclrya,f t Bexil l Asthingadht t il4ne,ga0sv0 e0as r ep2 e5eo%xp plewla hianiccarhbo lseas.r eBtnhu'ett.
w they had experienced during the Wilson states, "ThP. latest offi Heft, Dixon president of the globe-German physicists, Swiss
Z Rockford Police Officer Royal mystery-shrouded event. They cial government explanation world wide Aerial Phenomenon psychologists, Russian statisti
et MacKenzie won't soon forget said that something definitely ~there have been three I'O far) is Research Organization based in cians, reputable citizens of
0 "that something" he saw but crashed that July night, and that tha~ tile recovered cebri:o; came Dixon, Illinois, has come across Greece, Yugoslavia and typical
~ could not explain. government officials were com from a Proicct Mo~Z"ul balloon the same or similar information. teenagers and adults in Dixon
...J Probably the most widely pletely secretive. According to that wa!'l cm.:;-ying ins:·ntments to A possibility suggested by and Rockford-who describe sim
known incident in the accumu their stories, many in the area detect Soviet nuclear tests." Wilson is that Japanese engin ilar objects in the skies.
alt"ahctteWr eaR fdshoih rislls wecot o rewoevln lee, oer vukNfap coUe"awf Ftw Ji OuohMnl iyc ebt,hxou 1i fchv9foais4s p 7idipt.su er rentihlenadeg wsaetbderoW ortueonh t g aMiwllpeyahp coraKownt aeetahcn erheznlieydeed e,hd rtab lhydyen sc oaweogteiu efnpetn.lo tte su trtaananlelkdkd lrnmiaigifiIgesincenh adctn e 1htt 9ah ot7vahf8etfa icncstore haarm es hweM etqehaduaij.nEo tAhgr- se rtmJmri eoobysnra s ielnel wot seioAagln s. rcbeoeoeoncurd oslidav e a eshn rsdaediedvm s epac iirbtlli oaetbhtrees end a b ctbirhrryoaec us wrdhgaie hfstanttid tete osp". sa rweolisjeo eanrcks"t ibdsaarariLwnv rik ioknswue gt th oeotaw hnwt eeait rnhndwdei igByonh mygtdr eoenannsleo c.a nrwTrig bhht heaeod ey f wareamiaesvc irelhea r
tives, Officer MacKenzie decided to her husband and said," Don't Marcel, present at the crash site, Fifty years after the crash, bright cloud which enveloped
to visit the Roswell crash site you think it's about time for (who was recorded as identifying Roswell's mystery still arouses their car. Later, the travelers ar
after seeing highway billboards someone to see it?" the object as a "flying disc", questions for which there seem rived at their destination, and
proclaiming the tourist attrac Evidently he agreed because according to Wison) revealed a to be no absolute answers. Inves only then realized they were a
tion where a 150,000 tourists are she left and returned with an startling, undisclosed fact about tigators and curiosity seekers whole hour later than they
expected this year. He said he extraordinary find at the time of the wisp-thin material recovered will continue to speculate. should have been under normal
drove a dirt road through a flat the crash. MacKenzie described from the debris field. When Officer Royal MacKenzie still circumstances.
plain until he reached a farm it as a piece of metal or metallic placed near a match, the ma laughs at his fifteen-dollar visit
house. A man approached say terial would not burn! to a sheep pasture a couple of
ing, "Fifteen dollara." years ago. But he won't forget
This statement roused curious
MacKenzie asked, "For what?" reporters who descended on Ros the marvelous fragment of un
He was told, "You wanna see the well and began coaxing a new known metal which he touched
crash sight don't you?" generation of witnesses into a with his own two hands.
He forked over the cash. The variety of tales, including ! He can't explain it.
farmer walked to the next car in beams with hieroglyphic-like Apparently, no one can. 6
a long string of vehicles to collect
money. Puzzled, MacKenzie hol
lered, "Wait a minute, where's
the crash site?"
NEWS, Taos, NM - Sept. 3, 1998
admit that the very idea of
T UFOs is often ridiculed by a
Those who see
suspicious mainstream, nation
--------------- al media.
UFOs or talk
"Those who see UFOs or talk
about them are considered to be
on the idiot fringe of our soci about them are
ety," he said. "Yet, the interest
in UFOs goes way beyond considered to be
southern Colorado and North
ern New Mexico." on the idiot
Putting the final spin in for
his introduction, Bareiss fringe of our
informed the audience that
presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy society.'
Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill
Clinton have all publicly com
- Philip Boreiss
mented on UFOS, with Carter
and Reagan both individually
claiming to have seen a UFO. absolutely certain, but of this
Before introducing what he one I was absolutely sure. I was
called a "remarkable panel of completely sober at the time."
experts,'' Bareiss heartily intoned Parsons, who refreshed the
''Welcome to the idiot fringe." audience's m~mory with the
The panel of experts, each of particulars of the Roswell sight
whom, with the exception of ing, also expressed his hope
Bryant, claim to have had an that the general public will
actual or peripheral experience become better educated on the
with UFO sightings, included subject of UFOs. "One of my
"avid student of abduction" Seth main concerns for a long time is
Brown, Pilar-based sculptor and that so few people believe in
author of the in-progress book UFOs - but I think that's
"Aliens Like Me," Duane Fried changing," Parsons said. As he
Rick Romancito man, The Taos News compositor relayed the finer points of the
This image of an unidentified flying object over Taos was fabricated and writer Phaedra..Greenwood, Roswell, incident Parsons added
to illustrate the kinds of sightingi frequently seen in the area. who has written numerous sto "what happened out there was
ries on cattle mutilations and absolutely true. There really is
Lunatic fringe or true UFO sightings and who is cur evidence of the Roswell crash,
rently working on a book on cat and it's good evidence."
tle mutilations. Also on deck Greenwood recounted a
were Taos art dealer James sighting she had in Micfligan at
believers: UFOs debated
Parsons, "a student cf the the age of 17, in which "a
Roswell incident" and the afore round, red disk floated silently
mentioned Bryant, who acted as down behind some trees and
Review by Mary Alden in southern Colorado," Bareiss said. "UFO sight the proverbial straight man for then went out." Apparently with
for The Taos News ings are commonplace here. 1b give our audience the evening. other spectators at the time,
an idea of how people are involved in UFO phe Each of the "pro-UFO" pan Greenwood recalled, "We had no
"UFOs: Science or Fiction?" was the subject of nomenon, I recall the screening of 'High Strange elists regaled the audience with idea what it was but we knew
Talk Back's most recent torum. A panel of five New Mexico' at the Taos Talking Picture Festival interesting tales of their own we had seen something unusu
"experts" on unidentified flying object sightings, last spring. There was an audience of over 100 intimate experiences with al. Once you see something like
including a token scientific voice of dissent in the people to see the film. Before showing the film the UFOs. Accounts of experiences that which can't be explained, it
form of neuroscientist Dr. Richard Bryant, were film-makers took an impromptu call of the audi varied widely. Brown described opens a lot of other questions in
on hand for a lively discussion Friday (Aug. 28) at ence. When asked 'How many people have seen a with certainty "a streak of yel your mind."
the Taos Institute of Arts, 108 Civic Plaza Drive. UFO?' approximately 80 people raised their hand. low light coming down over Neuroscientist Bryant, "the
The discussion was broadcast live from TIA on When they asked 'How many of you have experi Taos Mountain," which then panel skeptic" according to
KRZA-FM 88.7 Alamosa-Taos Public Radio. enced an abduction by aliens?' more than a dozen "reduced its speed from one Bareiss, was the next to speak.
Officiating over a fully-packed room of humans raised their hands." lOth of its original speed "Except for all the Martians, he
and two "wall Martians," whom he described as Bareiss then took a dramatic pause before about the speed of a shooting has never seen an alien or
looking "cunningly like blown-up balloons," was adding "By the way, I did not raise my hand on star - and then it started fly observed a UFO," Bareiss added
local gallery owner and art dealer Philip Bareiss, either question." ing horizontally." Of other sight by way of introduction.
who served as an often tongue-in-cheek modera Bareiss went on to quote from a prominent ings he allowed "I couldn't be Bryant admitted that he was
tor for the discussion. article published in the supermarket tabloid The "on this panel by default be
For instance, to make the point that UFOs are Weekly World News, in which a centerfold head cause there were very few scien
a topic of great interest in the local area, Bareiss Ime blared "Space Alien Baby UFO Crash Sur tists around who were willing to
opened the discussion by recalling his experience ¥Nor Is Alive and Well and Living At a Secret do it," adding, "The scientific
at the Taos Talking Picture Festival this past NiBw Mexico Military Base." Bareiss conceded community is not there to say
spring." 'UFOs: Science or Fiction?' is a topic par that such news stories are "not unusual for this that there is no such thing as a
ticularly relevant to Taos and the San Luis Valley natiDnally published magazine," and went on to UFO, but rather that there real
ly is no scientific evidence which
supports that."
In the first rebuttal-ofthe
evening, Bryant called panelist
Brown into check for drawing
on the late night Art Bell Show
as a credible, if not definitive,
source for UFO information.
INDEX-TRIBUNE, Sonoma, CA - Sept. 4, 1998 "I'm sorry, but in the scientific
UFO buzzes Agua Caliente community, the best work does
not come out on late night talk
shows. One of the reasons good
scientists haven't dealt with
By Neal Ross said they hadn't heard anything about the this in perhaps the way we
INDEX-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER matter. WAYNE CO. PRESS, should is that there is this
Whatever Judy Serres saw early last Ron Oriti, planetarium director at Santa Fairfield, IL - Sept. 3, 1998 lunatic fringe that gives UFOs a
Thursday morning, she wasn't alone. Rosa Junior College, said callers lit up the bad name," Byrant said.
The Agua Caliente resident had awak lines at Santa Rosa radio station KSRO. Braden Reports In perhaps the most animat
ened at 5 a.m to comfort her daughter Oriti spoke on the air with two of the wit ed series accounts of the
Strange Light evening, Friedman described
"because she was scared," Serres said. nesses, but said he hadn't gotten enough
encounters of "the first, second
Twenty-five minutes later, as Serres lay in clear reports to draw any firm conclusions.
and third kind," which he
bed looking out the east window of her sec "People described what sounded like a Fairfield Police Officer Braden
claimed to have experienced
ond-story bedroom on Highway 12 near meteor, but your conclusions are only so Willis, currently on leave after
Cbeaavne-dsahlaep eRdo"a do,b jsehcet ,s aawbo ua t gtrheee ns,i z"ej eollfy a Ostrriotni gs aaisd ,t haed deivnigd etnhcaet tmo esteuoprpioterst twheitmh ,a" bcWreaeinsdhgn, e isnrdveaopylo vnretideg dhi tn t soae easineugrtih osoutrrsia tnicegaser orbiroeatndhco ei.n hH Nee eh twoald Md woexift ithcho es e aevneedrri aeinl e Cxpoel
"water-truck tank," traveli.ng slowly toward high magnesium content could appear lights--possibly a UFO--in the friends while fishing on Abiquiu
the north. green as they burn up in Earth's atmos Mt. Erie sky. Lake. Freidman described the
"It looked like it had a round light on the phere. Willis was with a group of UFO he saw as looking "like a
front, and then a round light on the side, And although some UFO sightings turn friends in the Pond Creek area pie tin. It came down in front of
somewhat like a porthole," Serres said, out to be missile or satellite launchings, who spotted the lights in the di my truck and while it was hov
adding that the thing was completely silent. Oriti added that "usually when there's a rection of Mt. Erie. They ering, I said 'it's not a hubcap to
"It didn't shine out, but was lit up ... I launching, things go from down to up ... watched the lights for about an a jetliner, it's not a giant frisbee,
ractXl to the window and saw it quickly this seemed like it went from side to side." hour. it's a UFO.' We watched this
descend and go out of sight ... I wonder Air Force officials only confirmed the The police sergeant reported thing land behind this hill,"
how it avoided hitting the power lines out mystery, say.ing no launches of any sort the sighting to the dispatcher at Friedman added. In a humorous
here." took place that day. · the Fairfield Police station. stab at government officials'
The Wayne County Sheriffs response to the sighting in
Serres' dogs started barking right after "I can only speak for Vandenberg, and we
Dept. dispatched a squad car to Roswell, Friedman added "it
the three-second sighting, "but they bark didn't have any," said Capt. Paula Hansen
check out Willis' report. They re wasn't a weather balloon, I
all the time about stuff, so God only at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc. partel eeeinc no lia&ts. don't think."
knows," she said. Serres called the Sonoma "According to our people, we have nor This edition ofTalk Back was
Police Department and county sheriff's mal operations within that timeframe," said also recorded for broadcast on
substation an hour later to see if anyone Staff Sgt. Eric Grill at Travis Air Force Taos Local Television, Channel 7
else had reported it, but she left no mes Base in Fairfield. "If you find out what it 2. Check listings in this week's
sage, and spokesmen from both agencies is, let us know,"' he added with a chuckle. issue of Tempo for dates and
times.
"and in fact, they did come together of hollow spot in the middle with
ISLANDER, Pensacola Beach, FL - June 3, 1998 in the sky, then just disappeared. points of light shining out from them
There's no way satellites would do like a child's drawing of what a star
S~YWA l~ .,ARY that." The object on the left Pat de might be."
scribes as being bigger, and the ob Just a quick note concerning an
ject on the right was brighter than upcoming event at Area 51 in Ne
the one on the left. vada. My thanks to British researcher
FOUR BLINKING UGHTS Matthew Williams for letting me
By now, Pat says it was dark and know about this event which will
they had been watching the sky for take place on June 6, 1998, 'The
describes the size of this object as Bonita were by this time very ex about forty-five minutes. Suddenly, People'sRally atArea5l". It will take
being about half the size of an aspi cited, and sure that they were seeing in the same place that the other bright place at the restricted boundary line
rin held at arm's length. some anomalous activity. They con white oval light had appeared, an on Groom Lake Road in Lincoln
Pat and Bonita continued to watch tinued to scan the sky, keeping the other, smaller bright light blinked on. County, Nevada. This will be the first
this object from their position on the original object in site at the same It was followed by three others form such assembly of citizens at the base
Memorial Day weekend has come Beach when to the southeast of it a time. Looking straight up, Pat no ing a horizontal row. All four just that "doesn't exist" officially, and
and gone for another year. Shoreline huge oval light came on. Pat states, ticed something moving in the sky. blinked on. They did not fall or will be a legal public assembly tak
Park was crowded as usual with "It just came on out of nowhere, By this time, there were some stars change elevation in relationship with ing place on public land.
boaters, skidoers and people enjoy blinked on, and it was yellowish out and the sky was darkening. She each other at all. Pat says "they all For more information on this
ing the sun and water, not peaceful white and a tad smaller than a full thought this was possibly a satellite, stayed there for a few seconds, then check out http://eagle-net.org/
skywatching, but.... moon would appear to be at arm's moving directly overhead, until she the one on the right, the first one that groomwatch/maps.htm.
I received a call from Nancy length. There was no reflection from noticed another similar point of light came on, suddenly zipped off to the I can be contacted at
Lawson in Birmingham, Alabama it on the water, and it stayed on for approaching it from the opposite di right and blinked out. The other three [email protected]. or P.O.
recently asking about sightings in the about forty~five seconds and then rection. "They looked like they were then went out in the same order they Box 17152, Pensacola, 1-L 32522-
Panama City area. Although this is just snapped off again." Pat and going to hit each other," Pat told me, had come on in, blinking off one at 7152.
some distance from Pensacola and a time. They all had a definite shape, Keep Looking Up!
were not real bright, and had a kind
Gulf Breeze, she felt that I may have
heard about some activity over there
recently. It seems that May 12th - DAILY NEWS, Ft. Walton Beach, FL - Sept. 13, 1998 CR: R. Reid
15th was an active period for both
UFO sightings and military exercises
along the Gulf Coast. The perennial
"is it a flare/is it a UFO" argument
will run rife, however, I feel that
what this witness is describing, and
what the witnesses at Shoreline Park
on May 12th described, was not flare
activity. I reported the May 12th
sighting in last week's Skywatch ~er
Diary, as the witnesses described it.
I am giving the information here ex
actly as the witnesses described it,
of a sighting that occurred at
Seagrove on May 14th. I have no
doubt that situations could occur People who report
where there is UFO and military ac
tivity on the same night. Maybe the seeing UFOs say
military tries to cover up ufo activ
ity this way, or maybe it's a who's they are changed
watching who situation, I have no
idea. Draw your own conclusions. forever by the
SEAGROVE SIGHTING
experience.
This sighting occurred on the
evening of May 14, 1998 at the
Beach, on the Gulf of Mexico at
By ANGIE TOOLE
Seagrove, which is approximately
Daily News Staff Writer
half way between Fort Walton Beach
and Panama City. Pat Trott, from he term "unidentified
Birmingham, Alabama and her flying object" or UFO
friend Bonita had come to Seagrove has tak~n on a depth of
for a vacation and were walking meaning far beyond a
along the Beach around sunset. Pat craft or object that can't be iden
is a trainee Field Investigator for tified.
MUFON. She says that the first part
of the event occurred at approxi For witnesses of these
strange phenomena, UFOs are a
mately 7:35 p.m. The sun had set,
signal that the Earth is not the
but the sky was still light, no stars
sole site of intelligent life in the
had appeared yet. universe.
WHAT'S IN THE SKY? A sighting can either be a
Pat told me they were walking on life-altering event or just an odd
the Beach, west, then turned around incident that most people are
and started back the way they had afraid to talk about because of
the ridicule they might endure.
come, when Bonita punched her in
Donald Ware of Fort Walton
the arm and asked her, "What is that
Beach, a retired Air Force pilot
in the sky?" Pat said at first they and mechanical and nuclear
thought it might have been a plane, engineer, is a UFO investigator
but the way it was moving was defi and on lhe board of the
nitely not like a plane. They thought International UFO Congress.
perhaps it was one coming head-on Ware says he has observed
toward them for a minute or two, but alien vehicles nine times, start
ing with a famous sighting over
it never got any closer, and in fact
Washington, D.C., on .July 26,
maintained its position for over
1952.
forty-five minutes in all. "Neither "I was out walking after 11
one of us had ever seen a plane or p.m. in Arlington, Va., and I saw
helicopter behave like this. It was seven red-light type vessels
moving to the left then to the right, wandering over Washington. I
and then up and then back down. It had read about sightings in the
was oval shaped, and the only thing newspaper, and I saw them
occur again," Ware said.
we could see in the whole sky. It was
At first, he didn't take the
still too light for the stars to be out.
sightings seriously.
It randomly showed red, white and "It took me two years to fig
green colors. A plane came by after ure out those vehicles were con
we had watched the object for a few trolled by a more advanced
minutes, and we could clearly iden intelligence," Ware said. "But
tify the plane, you could see the later, the two sets of appear
lights. the shape and hear the engine ances in a row made it clear to
me that the appearance was Daily News/CRAIG TERRY
as it travelled a straight line. The
deliberate, so the media could
other thing that was strange about the
not ignore and the media could He has been involved in many national organizalion recently the alien presence.
object, was that there were tiny pin not cover up the sightings. It organizations dealing with the because the group varied so "They are only studying the 8
points of white light that were going was a small step in making me UFO phf:'nomenon over lhe greally from his philosophy by
to it and away the whole time." Pat aware of the alien presence.'' years. but brukf:' with one inter- not including reincarnation in (continued on page 9)
(continued from page 8 - plenty of years looking at the sky shot straight up, darted from left the craft as well, and contributed 1,000 fathoms, or 6,000 feet. So,
DAILY NEWS, Ft. Walton during the day and night. to right, and disappeared.from her own drawing. anything could go on below us.
"I was also an avid waterfowl sight. We all stood there more None of the women ever for all we know."
Beach, FL - Sept. 13, 1998)
hunter, and I spent countless than a little shocked, wondering reported the sighting. Evelyn Drowne of Destin saw
physical aspects of the universe," hours outdoors. I never saw any exactly what we had just seen. It Roberts knows the craft was a a film of a UFO that she still
Ware said. "So, they arP missing thing like it again," he said. definitely was a UFO. true UFO because "it came so wonders about.
half of the picture.·· He sighted the three lights in "None of us watching from the fast, but without any noise." "In the early 1960s, a retired
In his study of comparative the night sky over the Atlantic in dock, including a Kentucky state Although Roberts still scans master sergeant, whose first
religions, Ware felt he had found 1965 when he and a date were trooper, ever reported the sight the sky from time to time, she name was Harry, had a movie
answers in linking UFO phenom· looking at the water at 1 a.m. ing. Probably this was more out has never seen another UFO. camera and was constantly
ena, offering "a glimpse of a larg Neither he nor his companion of fear of ridicule or being "I look all the time. I know I've recording pictures of parties,"
er reality. UFOs can answer all had been drinking, and were just embarrassed by the so-called heard Gulf Breeze is a big area she said.
the persistent mysteries of enjoying the view when they experts on UFOs.' " for that, but I've never gone over "On one of these occasions, I
mankind. spotted this unexplained phe "Whatever I saw was unlike there to look for myself," Roberts attended <a party> and was view
"UFOs represent, in part, the nomenon. anything I had ever seen before said. ing the party <film). Near the end
angelic force associated with the "I am not a UFO fanatic, but or since. We definitely are not Roberts does remember of the film, Harry leaned over
second coming operation," Ware this was spooky, and it certainly alone." another aspect of the sighting. and said •Be sure to watch this
wrote in a brief of his philosophy. wasn't a weather balloon," Pat Roberts of Fort Walton Although the episode was excit carefully.•"
"As we approach the end of the Obenauer said. "That's why I'm Beach reported sighting a UFO ing, at the time she had a linger According to Drowne, when
millennium, the pace of human open to the possibility, though, when she was a teen-ager. ing fear. Harry finished by filming the
activity is increasing rapidly. This that there might be UFOs, "When I wa:. in about seventh "I wouldn't sleep upstairs for a sunset on the beach where the
also seems to be true. for the non· because we both actually wit or eighth grade, we lived in long time," Roberts said. "I slept Holiday Inn is now located, "late
human activity in this part of the nessed it." Palms River, New Jersey, and for on the couch." in the afternoon, he just turned
galaxy, whether we cal them Obenauer still scans the sky, a science class, we had to go out Paul Donner of Navarre, a completely around."
aliens, visitors, watchers, angels even on nights when he and his side at night and we were sup retired pilot and flight engineer, When Harry got the film back,
or archangels. We are in the wife are listening to an outdoor posed to be able to see barium was on the bridge of an oil explo he spotted something he hadn't
process of joining a galactic soci concert at Seaside. He looks up rockets, to see the glow in sky," ration and research ship on its seen while he was filming: two
ety, both individually and collec at the beauty of cloud formations Roberts said. way from Singapore to Dutch flying saucers appearing from
tively." backlit by the moon, and won Being a typical teen-ager, she Harbor, Alaska, some 22 years behind a cloud.
As a UFO investigator, Ware ders .... was talking on the phone with a ago when he spotted a UFO. "He had no explanation, and
has been involved in reports of Eudora Courtney of Niceville girlfriend, when the other girl "We were going to evaluate all he said was he saw nothing
alien abductions, device implan wrote about a UFO she wit reminded her about the assign the substructure of the Bering when filming the film. This was
tation and cross-species breed nessed: ment. Sea at time. I just happened to go all new to me. I had no idea what
ing. "It was between 1979-1981, we Roberts ran outside and along to fix the satellite system," it was, if it had been faked or
"People are not ready" for did not document the date of the "looked and looked, I was just Donner said. what it was," Drowne said. "The
explanations of the alien pres sighting. staring up at the sky. This thing "Another ship was 12 miles off film was certainly real, and it
ence, Ware said, citing govern "We were spending a weekend came so fast, and absolutely our left side," Donner explained. was just on a regular screen."
ment cover-ups and media skep with friends on our houseboat on silently and hovered over a tree "Unexpectedly <we saw) a light Jakie Miller, of Fort Walton
ticism. Cumberland Lake near in our yard." from the other ship. I thought it Beach, spotted a UFO on Dec. 17
Phil Obenauer of Santa Rosa Monticello, Kentucky. Having ijn Roberts described it as a was a flare or emergency beacon, or 18, 1997.
Beach spotted a trio of lights in ished dinner, we were sitting out "series of lights, and it stayed for so I put on my field glasses. I saw Miller looked into the sky over
the sky in 1965, but what really side, enjoying that evening, when a few minutes, then it swished off a well-defined flying object, and I his front yard and saw a black,
convinced him that they might be someone asked what was that to north." had the object in my field for six round object hanging motionless
UFOs was the "incredibly dumb, object in the sky just above the Roberts ran into the house to seconds. It was the classic idea ly.
common answer" he got from the tree line. It appeared to be a her mother, who had seen the of flying saucer, including. projec "This was the only thing I've
Navy: weather balloons. large, oval-shaped craft hovering UFO from the kitchen window. tions at the bottom of the thing. I ever seen, although I've read a
No weather balloons would be silently. There was a row of "Call the Air Force, call the estimated it was five miles away, bunch of stuff," Miller said.·
equipped with orange lights that lights: red, white, green and police," Roberts recalled shout traveling at 300 knots, 2,000 feet He didn't think it could be a
bright, or would move in a pre barely visible windows. ing at her mother, but her moth.er about surface of the sea. balloon, because the object
cise zigzag pattern while staying "We don't know how long the calmed her down, took the teen "The strange but important changed colors from black to sil
precisely in formation, Obenauer craft had been hovering in our inside the house and "she had part of this whole thing: I never ver, and then when he looked
said. area before we finally noticed it. me draw what I saw." really told anyone. about this, but away for a second and looked
Another convincing aspect of "Other boaters came out on Her mother went into another the object didn't emanate from back it had disappeared.
the sighting is that in the 30-odd the dock with cameras and binoc room to draw her own version, the sky or return there. It simply Miller doesn't automatically
years since it happened, and ulars and there were at least 20 and then they compared sketch came from the sea and returned assume that it was an alien craft,
prior to the sighting, he has people watching the object •. es. there, in a well-determined arc," though.
never seen any kind of UFO. which continued to hover as if it "We both saw the same thing," Donner said. "I know there's a lot of weird
Obenauer, a retired environ was observing us. Finally, after Roberts said. "For anyone who's interested, stuff on Eglin," Miller said.
mental control officer, has spent several long minutes, the object A neighbor admitted to seeing the water depth there is about
S~YWAl ft\ .,ARY
ISLANDER, Pensacola Beach, Fl - June 17, 1998
by Carole Baker
UFO at Duke Field. He took at least three miles east of the field. The air there, when he spotted something
forty exposures of the object, but in man said film was taken from a ci about "five to six times larger than
not one was the tight evidenced in vilian photographer who was not the brightest star visible at the time,
the negatives. Using a Nikon 35mm authorized to take pictures in the and a lot brighter." He said to the
camera, Airman Gie, an experienced area. That film also failed to show naked eye, it appeared to be a bright
Also visiting were a·family from.
photographer. has no self-doubts evidence of a UFO. Military spokes white light with a red light on one
North Carolina, Rick and Marsha,
about the lens setting and shutter men said the object was first reported side and green light on the other.
and their daughter. Rick, a long time
speeds he used. In fact, some of his by a sergeant. Another sergeant, However, he said, when viewed
UFO enthusiast was also very
pictures revealed utility poles and David Taylor, said he was on duty at through binoculars it appeared the
We had some visitors at Shore pleased to be skywatching at Shore
wires - but no UFOs. For the Jour the range operations control center, white light obscured the others. He
line Park this past week. Nick, from line Park.
nal he used a felt tipped pen to draw "controlling air space," Saturday said it was visible from about 4:00
a small village near Peterborough, No sighting reports this week, so
in the general size, shape and posi morning when he received a call a.m. until daylight began dawning,
England was very excited to find I will delve into our archi·ve here and
himself actually at Shoreline Park. share a sighting from the Gulf Breeze tion of the light as it should have ap~ from the Armament Development and also could be seen by his dis
peared on the picture. But it's not aad Test Center command post in patcher, Robert Tartar, who was in
In the States on business, Nick, who area that has occurred in the past.
there . . structing him to ask mission control Pensacola at the time. Hopkins said,
is an avid ufo enthusiast, came right This report comes from The Pen
"Look, you're a photographer," to check their radar about the Duke however, he was inclined to believe
up and introduced himself to us. Of sacola Journal (the former name of
course, Nick, my husband and I had the Pensacola News Journal) he ask~ a newsman, "why would Field report. Radar, he said, showed it was a star. Bevins said the light
bright light of any kind not show up nothing. Taylor said he was told the seemed to move back and forth hori
more to talk about than UFOs, since Okaloosa/West Florida Edition of
in the picture when other objects UFO was an oblong object which zontally, would seem to hover, move
Nick hails from an area very close Thursday, February 5, 1976, the
did?" He's a very puzzled young gave off a blue and green light, and a little and then stop. 'There were
to where we lived in the U.K. I love morning edition.
man. The airman said what he saw was about the size of a C 130 aircraft. no extreme movements," he said.
it when visitors from the U.K. come "UFO No Pies in Sky-Just Cam
at Duke Field, not too high off the He said he was told it was about Eglin's radar was trained on the light,
to Shoreline Park, because I can get era Shy" by Weldon Grimsley, Ft.
ground, was a "big bright object-a 3,000 feet off the ground. but returned no signals."
the latest news from the "old coun Walton Beach Bureau Chief, EGLIN
round tight object. It would cirCle, Sgt. Samuel Hopkins, of base If anyone reading this has re
try". Nick also shared some interes~­ AIR FORCE BASE-What gives off move drastically to the right." He security, said Eglin was advised by ceived or read an article about Gulf
ing USO stories from over there. a brilliant white light when viewed
said to the naked eye there was one Florida Highway Patrol Trooper S.R. Breeze by Greg Wright in which my
As always, it is great to hear what by the naked eye. but will not make object, one brightly lighted object - Bevins early Wednesday morning of husband, Ken Baker, is extensively
is going on in ufology in another an impression on sensitive photo
though not so bright it hurt the eyes. a possible UFO off Santa Rosa Is misquoted, I would like to offer you
country and a shame that we have to graphic filiJ!? Th~~tion has_A ir Gie added that as he looked through land. Be\·ins said he wouldn't rule the opportunity of reading my
rely on word of mouth, rather than man Renard Gie puzzled. "I don't
the camera to focus on the UFO, he out the possibility what he saw was husband's response and will forward
being able to get this information really believe in UFOs (unidentified
saw two objects, "but there was just Venus, and Hopkins agreed. The a copy upon request.
from newspapers, etc. Nick spent flying objects)," the airman said
one thing out there." The article con trooper, from Gulf Breeze, said about I can be contacted by ·email at:
two nights skywatching with us, but Wednesday, "but there definitely was
tinues -'The object, when seen by 4:00 a.m. he was in the Navarre bakerswd@qellsaU/h,Mt or.r.o. Box
unfortunately did not have a sight something out there, and it wasn't a
Gie, was over Duke Field. Other Beach area on Santa Rosa Island, to 17152, Pensacola, FL 32522-7152.
ing. He is very interested in the fly reflection!" sources reportedly also saw it about ward the Air Force installations
ing triangles, and we were able to tell Airman Gie, 22, a native of Ba
him about Omar Fowler's OVNI ton Rouge, LA, was called out of a 9
from England and the Hudson Val sound sleep last Saturday morning
ley sightings here in the U.S. to try and photograph a reported
CHRONICLE, Houston, TX - Oct. 4, 1998 CR: W. Theriot
UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS
'You'd think that in the nation's space
center there'd be no shortage of interest.
... But as soon as I mentioned my
questions concerned a UFO sighting,
scientists didn't want to talk to me.'
Right: Longtime Houston Aerospace engineer and "UFdlogist"
John Schuessler settles into the office of his new home in Colo
rado. Above: A mock alien fetus in a jar of mock formaldehyde
is among the holdings of the Mutual UFO Network museum in
Seguin. Below: The museum also has a small assortment of UFO
literature, including Schuessler's book on the Cash-Landrum UFO
. incident in Liberty County.
Kevin Higley I Special to the Chronicle
'UFOlogists' hope report spurs research funding
rences, the longtime Clear Lake nomena since 1970, a panel of sci The 50-page report, funded by
By TODD ACKERMAN
aerospace engineer would have to entists concluded that some sight millionaire Laurance Rockefeller,
Houston Chronicle Science Writer
turn to experts in other cities. ings are accompanied-by physical stopped short of finding convinc
WHEN John Schuessler sp"aYcoeu c'de nthteinrk t htheraet 'din bteh en on asthioonr'ts secviiednetnifciec sstou dsytr. ong they deserve itnelgl iegveindceen coer oefv eexnt arantye rvrieosltartiioaln ino f
csHcooHiueunenst'ttd oio snntgs, e.ho twren e leaapi sltowtt lhrieatni snyv hgseie .nsk lt pniag enawfrtdoi hn maeg r coUloouuFcnlOaddl aadrwcagsiehdd reoInno 'om etr tfdehe w itnianisat rt nieUeostdruFn e teOmosad tn m,t "sdam ielg skyrmha . ty qtoio"snuv B geemSu,sd cttes ih .cota"uoin se es nsC scstooilosolenotnrs , tthhloohaei Tedvac deshui lnleaimltn oneseindlnltsg ioa tg htarebeeryn eo it enlusmu ninmna ad,at ahd taisteecfhs t eefssfr rturiu nnoiafcaglnflite ,dit oo,-e Ufpnls i F.aatl abiOgTkbleoees aeetmnonnpay Cttptiwiusiffettiriiaeiccatnrr nlcgiic noelo uacsugmrwass isroem .e oessBpusbi, tue njytretahi.a ct tiaydett st diaf ,nio lrnsdyr ct i darlciuaen tletn daetdegchc dketeth i b oloesifungk ssr hiccneotiisss f
Needing answers about, say, the Schuessler hopes that is about Heaven's Gate, better illuminated over certain locales, aberrations
physiological effects of radiation to change. This summer, in the by The X-Files than serious scien
or the physics of unusual occur- first scientific review of UFO phe- tists.
in the workings of automobiles, and came aficud to report SighUTigs. r1es." says the UFOs probably have an un with loss of pigmentation; excessive
radiation and other damage found in There were (and still are) easy ex Nickell says he has no problem derwater Earth base and calls on the hair loss; loss of appetite, energy and
vegetation, it called on scientists to planations for most sightings: Jupi with open-minded scientific investi U.S. government to "quit lying and weight; fingernail shedding; in
overcome their fear of ridicule asso ter, Mars and Venus, comets, mete gations into UFO sightings. But he tell the truth about UFOs." creased susceptibility to disease; and
ciated with the topic and get funding ors, even the moon in its red-hued questions the wisdom of putting "Theology is a matter of belieL not cancer.
to research such occurrences. gibbous phase, space debris, experi money into research that will inevita UFOs," says Andrus. "The fact of the
a rFeupnodritn bgy i sr ethspee rcutbe,d.o sfc cioeunrtisset.s E ivsnen't wmoernktsa,l raeisrecarracfth, bmaolldoeoln sp,l akniteess,. Ofirthe bbleyc yaiueslde tchaesrees stihmapt layr ew uenreidne'tn etinfoiaubglhe omvaetrtwehr eilsm, itnhge. eWvied'reen rceec efiovri nUgF vOissi tais wrTithteen ina cbidoeonkt o-n iSt c-huies ssolneer ohfa as
likely to make historically skeptical ers require more expertise: ball light witnesses or the kind of evidence to tions from someplace. These UFOs number of sightings that Schuessler
government agencies and founda ning, swamp gas, mirages, distant resolve the matter. didn't originate here." says have made Texas a UFO center.
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erty County. "And, symbolically, it ena. This summer's report says nal. legitimate research and the "lunatic left the witnesses with the experi
means a lot to the 'UFOlogy' commu those cases merit more serious MUFON is also the home, in fringe." ence of "shock."
nity and to those people around the study. Seguin, of a UFO museum - an ec Schuessler says he and others pre
world whose experiences have been The only investigation currently be centric hodgepodge of alien toys and senting UFO testimony to the re So what will the report accom
trivialized by science." ing done is typically by UFOlogists UFO books; of gift-shop knickknacks port's authors initially picked up that plish? Nickell says it'll be a blip on
But if UFOlogists want practical re like Schuessler, volunteers who've and scholarly displays of UFO sight same vibe, an "arm's-length" attitude the radar screen. And even its au
sults, they probably still have their made a hobby of researching the sub ings; of mugs, caps and T-shirts and that bespoke a kind of fear of being thor, Stanford physicist Peter Stur
work cut out for them. Alan Holt, a ject. They often are scientists, al laminated newspaper pages; of contaminated. But Schuessler says rock, says he doesn't think scientists
NASA manager at the Johnson though the fact that their work isn't movie posters and debris from an au that went away, and a mood of true are going to jump into the field. But
Space Center who is sympathetic to funded by grants actually taints them thentic NASA rocket. scientific discussion emerged as "the Schuessler is more hopeful.
their concerns, says the scientific in the eyes of some colleagues. Skel} It is the biggest UFO museum east panel realized we weren't kooks." "Scientists will happily do UFO re
community would need 10 times tics, nicknamed debunkers by the of Roswell, N.M. search, just as they now do fruit fly
more data than the report presents UFOlogists, call them "mystery mon MUFON's roughly 3,500 members Schuessler's testimony focused on research, if the money's there to pay
before they would get interested. gers." include a wide range of experts and the physiological effect on witnesses, for it," says Schuessler. "UFOiogy
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bunked then-prevalent UFO reports. them you'll fmd something remark sessing likely explanations. Others, women and one's 7-year-old grand
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