MUFON UFO JOURNALNUMBER 223 NOVEMBER 1986

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MUFON UFO JOURNAL(USPS 002-970)

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TED PHILLIPS. Landing Trace Cases

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WALTER N. WEBBAstronomy

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The MUFON UFO JOURNAL ispublished by the Mutual UFONetwork, Inc., Seguin, Texas.Membership/Subscription rates:$25.00 per year in the U.S.A.; $30.00foreign in U.S. funds. Copyright 1986by the Mutual UFO Network. Secondclass postage paid at Seguin, Texas.POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 toadvise change of address to TheMUFON UFO JOURNAL, 103Oldtowne Rd., Seguin, Texas 78155-4099.

FROM THE EDITORIf your own subscription is about to lapse, or you're wondering

what gift to get that special friend or librarian in your life, now is thetime to renew, because you won't want to miss the next issue of theMUFON; UFO Journal. In a dramatic preview of his anxiouslyawaited Communion, bestselling author Whitley Strieber revealsthat his experiences with "the visitors" are still ongoing. Hisspeculations about who, or what they might be, as well as his viewson MUFON and its members, not to mention the skeptics, is sure tobe one of the UFO highlights of the year. Remember where you readit first!

Meanwhile, the issue in hand contains two updates on therecent Brazil cases, and a pair of meaty articles by our own MichaelSwords and England's Jenny Randies. Stan Gordon looks atmystery meteors, and Jim Leming reveals new developments in theGreat Falls, Montana, UFO film. Next month, besides the intriguingStrieber article, we'll also feature other viewpoints on the abductionphenomenon in general, undoubtedly the most provocative featurein all of Ufology.

In this issueWHY IS UFOLOGY SO CONFUSING? by Michael D. Swords 3

UFO ALERT IN BRAZIL by J. Antonio Huneeus . .6

BRAZILIAN BRIEFING by Irene Granchi 7

MYSTERY METEORS by Stan Gordon 8

MONTANA MOVIE by James R. Leming : . . . 10

LAND WITHOUT FREEDOM by Jenny Randies 12

CRASH COURSE by Ann Druffel 16

NIGHT SKY (December) by Walter N. Webb 17

DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE by Walt Andrus 20COVER Courtesy NASA

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The contents of the MUFON UFO JOURNAL are determined by the editor, and donot necessarily represent the official position of MUFON. Opinions of contributorsare their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor, the staff, or MUFON.Articles may be forwarded directly to MUFON. Responses to published articles maybe in a Letter to the Editor (up to about 400 words) or in a short article (up to about2,000 words). Thereafter, the "50% rule" is applied: the article author may reply butwill be albwed half the wordage used in the response; the responder may answer theauthor but will be allowed half the wordage used in the author's reply, etc. Allsubmissions are subject to editing for style, clarity, and conciseness.Permission is hereby granted to quote from this issue provided not more than 200words are quoted from any one article, the author of the article is given credit, and thestatement "Copyright 1986 by the Mutual UFO Network, 103 Oldtowne Rd., Seguin,Texas 78155" is included.

WHY IS UFOLOGY SO CONFUSING?By Michael D. Swords

There are a lot of possible answersto the question in the title, ranging from"there's nothing to it" to "we're toostupid to reason it out." Well, maybe...both ways. But those answers arepretty unsatisfying to researchers closeto the issues, and may not be theanswers which make the most sense.There is an answer which makes atleast as much sense, as it is supportedby a trend of thinking outside Ufologyentirely — the debate over the so-calledFermi Paradox.

Named after Enrico Fermi, whoyears ago mythically scraped togethersome quick mathematics to estimatehow fast ET civilizations could spreadacross the galaxy, the Paradox says:from all our science we would intuit thatETI is common and has been commonin the galaxy for perhaps billions ofyears. But if so where are they? Whyaren't they "all over us" and all otherstars as well? Why wasn't the SolarSystem (and Earth) colonized hund-reds of millions of years ago?

The argument goes on to reasonthat "since no evidence of ETI exists inthe Solar System" (flatly rejectingUFOs), ETs must not be common oreven present in the galaxy. Actually thisconclusion is an odd leap in severalways. It could be an argument for NoETs, or for No Space-travelling ETs, orfor No ETs who Colonize, or for NoETs who Space-travel and also wish toreveal themselves, or for No ETs whoSpace-travel and want to interfere, etc.etc.

SPACE TRAVEL

Pursuing this idea may not be awaste of our time. The Fermi Paradox("lots of Ets, but none apparent"?) hasbeen reworked by negativists such asMichael Hart and Eric Jones, and byFrank Tipler. In the Hart-Jonesformulation, they extrapolate fromcurrent technology and decide (as do allother thinkers on this) that interstellar

travel should be tough, but not so toughas to be un-doable, or even particularlydaunting.

Note well folks: the theorists areoffering support here for the possibilityof interstellar ET craft (UFOs if youwish, or the bigger vessels which carrythem). Now, they (Hart and Jones)rapidly and correctly come to theconclusion that it doesn't really mattermuch how fast your "ship" goes (speedof light, 10% C, whatever, as long as it's"pretty" fast). The key of "overrunning"the galaxy is how long ETs hang aroundin one system before making the bigeffort to hop to the next. It also makes adifference how many simultaneous

. stellar voyages you send out (i.e. howmany new systems you try to hop tofrom the same home base at the sametime). Hart and Jones juggle these "staytimes" and "numbers of simultaneoustarget stars per base," and concludethat, yep, Fermi was right. ET shouldhave colonized the whole galaxy long,long ago.

An inspection of their reasoningprocess (Hart's and Jones') reveals asurprising alternative" view. What theytry to do is assume a certain processgoverning "stay times" (we'll roast themon this later) and then a certain rate ofexpansion to govern the simultaneousnumber of targets per base. Thissecond "guess" is a big deal in theresult. If one assumes that the homesystem colonizes two systems, thenfour, then 8, 16, 32, etc....this "turtle"approach "never" gets around to all 400billion stars (given any. reasonablescenario parameters), and there's noFermi "problem."

Hart and Jones feel that some paceof expansion between the "rabbit" andthe "turtle" mentioned above is morelikely: a random diffusive expansionwave of some sort, like a "factorial"function (one goes to two, they go tothree, the three colonize four more,etc.). Well, it's a guess loaded withassumptions, but let's let them have it

for the moment. You can takeexpansion waves of a factorial type andshow that you can expand to 200 to 400billion hops rather rapidly, as Fermiintuited. If you say that the expansion is"random" (i.e. now it's expanding here,now, there, now somewhere else), youhave subtlely introduced a model of thespace which you are filling up. It is asphere; a sphere with 400 billionrandomly distributed targets and youroriginal expander civilization at thecenter. And for that "galaxy," thefactorial wave fills it up far quicker thanthe age available to do so.

But we all know that our galaxy"just ain't that way." It is a highlyflattened disk with lots of structureinternally. What this means is that anyrandom wave is going to run out of starsin many directions rather rapidly (all the"up" and "down" ones, for instance). Inthese directions the "power" of thewave goes to zero, and you are leftlimping along elsewhere at a muchslower pace. The point of this is thatyou can take the argument of theprimary negativists and "play theirgame" right alongside them, and cometo the conclusion that the time for ETexpansion in the galaxy could well beabout the same as the time available forthat expansion. Translation: theargument might conclude that wewould expect "them" to be arriving any"moment" now. Once again theargument against ET can turn out to bean argument for UFOs or even ancientastronauts.

MOTIVATION

So on we go...quite delighted thatall these anti-ETers are creating such astrong pro-UFO argument for us. The"other" part of the Fermi Game is"motivation" — why are the ETIs goingto the stars, and how does thatdetermine their "stay times" before

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CONFUSING, Continued

hopping outward? Well, the safestanswer is "who knows," but let's look atthe published debate so far.

Hart and Jones decide that"overpopulation" is the answer, almostthe wierdest motive that they couldhave come up with. My guess is thatthey chose this motive because it gave'them a method for approximating-"stay-times:" i.e. how long do you needto explode your population and thenmove on? OK, nice try, but nonsense.

. Imagine a system groaning underthe weight of a trillion .people, andgetting relief of some sort by sendingout a colony of 500. And, morecogently, all our hi-tech Earth cultureshave turned their population curvesover; only the third world is stillmultiplying like crazy. There's a lot ofincentive for an educated, well-offhealthy population not to explode.Advanced civilizations will feel nopopulation pressure whatsoever.

So that kind of colonization makesno sense. What else is there? Military orcommerc ia l expans ion? Totalnonsense unless Interstellar Travel islike calling a taxi — that is, if star-to-star is a significant expense and effort,then it's a lot easier to extensivelyexploit your own system. Pragmatics,in fact, make no sense in general as amotive, unless it involves the ultimatepragmatic, survival (of which morelater). So, we need something"irrational," "idealistic," "romantic" todrive ET outward, or we need a survivalissue.

One can imagine two suchirrational drives, religion and curiosity.(Other drives are imagineable, but notcoherent with a civilization organizedenough to produce such a project; ex.paranoias, phobias, Apocalypticrevelations,...in fact, it is somewhatdifficult to picture a religious drive soemotionally powerful in a hi-techorganized society, which would requiremission "work to other stars...unless,again, such trips are very easy).

It seems that wonder, curiosity,exploration is what we're got to workwith. Frank Tipler felt this way and builthis anti-ET argument on that ground.He stated that no rational intelligenceswould send themselves to the stars, but

would instead send self-replicatingintelligent robots (Von NeumannMachines) who would relentlesslyfollow their general program of travel,exploration, self-replication, travel,exploration etc. until they filled thegalaxy. Ergo, "since we see no VonNeumann Machines around, there's noET." Once again we have been treatedto especially bizarre assumptions.

All sorts of problesm exist withTipler's idea (Carl Sagan and WilliamNewman have pointed out several), butthe worst of them is simply .why wouldany ET send machines to ramble allover the galaxy when they could neverget any benefit for any but the closestparts of their project? You can imaginethe ET Space Science Council saying tothemselves, "let's spend several trillionbucks to send these independentrobots into space even though we won'thear, from 99.9999 + % of them — heck,it'll be fun just knowing that we'velittered the galaxy with our junk. And ifwe're lucky, the, program might evenget so out of hand that a hoard of themwill come back here and destroy oursystem's viability by their insatiableresource demands." -

Great idea. But what do we get outof it other than that the negativists havescrewed up again? Well, it has focussedthe discussion on two possible motivesfor ET exploration: curiosity andsurvival. And in motivation liespotential explanation when you'retrying to study UFOs.

What have we got so far? 1.) Awhole thrust of our own Earth sciencewhich seems to indicate thatextraterrestrial intelligence should becommonplace; 2.) A variety ofviewpoints and designs which seem toindicate that interstellar travel shouldbe possible, albeit difficult (i.e. a sincereeffort); 3.) Galactic travel scenarioswhich could have a likely arrival of ETanytime in recent past or foreseeablefuture; 4.) A likely motivation for travelof scientific exploration and/or survival.

SPACE DWELLERS

Michael Papagiannis, BostonUniversity Astronomy Professor, hasmade very cogent arguments that suchET visitor-explorers would be socomfortable as a space-dwelling

civilization that they would choose toset up housekeeping in colony-researchstructures in space, rather than onplanetary surfaces. The likely choice isthe asteroid belt for all sorts of reasons:raw metals, water, carbonaceousmaterials, everything you need (exceptyour "home" gene-banks) to build acivilization. , •

If an ET exploring group werepermanently set up in the asteroid belt,or wherever, no longer can anyobjection about "too. many UFOs"crossing interstellar space be made. Allwe see are the mini-research vehicleswhich commute back-and-forth fromthe base-colony. Such explorers would"drop-in" any time their researchprograms called for it on Planet Three,and the bulk of the work would be"back in the lab."They would then sendtheir findings to home system by somemethod...maybe not radio.

In Papagiannis' own words:"Supporting the existence of spacecolonies in our solar system are themany UFO sightings continuouslyreported in the press, though none ofthem has ever been scientificallyverified to correspond to an alienspacecraft. If, however, there is anysubstance to any of these reports, itwould certainly make more sense if allthese alien spacecraft would be flyingout from space colonies within our solarsystem rather than crossing interstellardistances of many light years just to payus a short visit.

"If the galaxy has already beencolonized, this cosmic event must havehappened hundreds of millions or evenbillions of years ago and therefore allthese stellar colonies must havereached a steady state existence a verylong time ago. For such advancedsocieties, which probably have alsoreached some level of immortality,changes would be infrequent andtherefore time would pass much slowerthan it does in our own fast changingworld. To them the earth for millions ofyears must have seemed a ratheruninteresting abode of primitive life thatwas st i l l -worth preserving forevolutionary studies or as a zoo.

"In the last century, things starteds u d d e n l y t o h a p p e n . R a d i o

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CONFUSING, Continued"r

communications, airplanes, nuclearbombs, satellites, missions to otherplanets, are all activities which couldhave not gone unnoticed. If indeed theyexist in the asteroid belt they can nolonger ignore us, because with ourspacecraft crossing the asteroid belt ontheir way to Jupiter and Saturn andwith our large arsenals of megaton ,nuclear weapons we could even be adirect threat to them: It is conceivable,therefore, that faced with such asudden technological explosion theyare still holding back trying to decidewhether we represent some kind of acosmic disease that must be destroyedbefore it spreads, or some promisingyoungsters that ought to be helped tojoin an already well established galacticsociety." (Papagiannis, 1983)

Papagiannis' comments bring upthe topic of "survival." CharlesPelligrino of Adelphi University gave adisturbing presentation at the 1986AAAS meeting during a day-longsession on Interstellar Travel andCommunication. Pelligrino comparedrelativistic space-craft with SamuelColt's six-gun. As Colt's gun "made allmen equal," the relativistic rocket (a"planet-cracker" as he phrased it)makes all technical civilizations equal intheir ability to devastate the other.Established civilizations might well bevery concerned about "other guys"emerging into this sort of technology.

They might want to "seek" themout without themselves being overtlyrevealed. They might want to monitorthem very closely, especially theirmental stability, violence, xenophobia,and general psychology. They might, ifespecially lenient in their attitude, try togradually acclimate the new group tothe more advanced "unknown." If notlenient, they'd take no chances.Whereas I'm not especially comfortablewith this scenario, it doesn't seem at allimpossible...and could even explainmuch.

ET RESEARCH

Backing off the Papagiannis-plus-Pelligrino picture, now what might wesurmise?

An established extraterrestrial

civilization sends out explorer-coloniesmotivated by two primeval drives:curiosity and survival. They set up abase in the solar system, probably in theasteroid belt, and begin to explore (thiscould have been recently or well-past).Although the whole system is aresearch treasure-trove, Planet Threeis special because of its life ecology andintelligent life form. Elaborate research

^programs are set up with several goals:1.) Basic research on the entire

system; 2.) in-depth knowledge ofhuman physiology; 3.) in-depthknowledge of human psychology; 4.)maintenance of secrecy while stillallowing in-depth research (requiringdirect interactions);. 5.) possibly,acc l imat iza t ion of h u m a n i t y tothemselves.

There is an in-built tension in theplan. Work must go on. . Not onlyknowledge, but perhaps life and deathdecisions are on the line. But the workmust be secret, or at least unbelieved.No abortive too-early fixation of theterrestrial intelligences must befocussed on the existence ofthemselves and the possible position oftheir home world. They are researcherson a mission of the potentially greatestimport, the monitoring and evaluationof an extremely dangerous intelligentlife form (us).

MIND GAMES

We're not that bad, we think. Butwe really are, aren't we? We get our acttogether occasionally, and most of usseem fairly under control, and if thepicture above is correct, that- may bewhat saves iis. If our observers arerelatively benign but still seriouslyconcerned, how would you expect themto proceed? They'd play the game withas much control as possible — single, orfew, manipulated "specimens," on theirown turf, relatively cool and objective,certainly not overly affectionate,intense, serious, not totally lackingcare, but risking nothing, anddeliberately spreading the maximumconfusion to cover their trail.

But why the apparent "mind-games?" The "display," the "stagedmessing around?" The "meaninglessabsurdities?" Have you ever wonderedwhat a rat might think in a psychology

experiment? Human psychology andmental stability is a big factor in themaster equation our observers wouldbe trying to figure out. How logical is aRorschach test, after all?

When it's all said, does any of theabove make sense? It certainly doesn'tproue anything. It is a vision almostentirely a posteriori. But it has a fewpoints of attraction. It is a view whichgrows naturally from the scientistsdiscussing ETI outside/independent ofUFOIogy. It is therefore a reasonableextension of current thought.

It also explains a lot of the UFOPhenomenon, including the increase insightings at a critical time in ourtechnological development, and aconstellation of human-focussed and"absurd", confusing actions. It"predicts" that we are in for more of thesame, w i t h p e r h a p s a s lowacclimatization process (if we're lucky)or a sudden violent decision (if we'renot).

Is the idea entirely balderdash? Itcould be surely. The ETs cluttering thegalaxy could be blocked from gettinghere, or they could be totally cocky andunconcerned about us, and all the UFOphenomenon could have othersurprising explanations. Fine, let's hopewe find out. Till then let's also keepopen the possibility in no way refutedby any established fact or theorymentioned above. Speculative or not, ithas the virtue of explaining a lot of themystery in this business.

Bibliography1) Hart, Michael. "An explanation forthe absence of extraterrestrials onEarth." Quarterly Journal of the RoyalAstronomical Society 16: 128-135.1975.2) Jones, Eric, "Discrete calculations ofInterstellar Migration and Settlement."ICARUS 46: 328-336. 1981.3) Newman, William I. and Sagan, Carl."Galactic Civilizations: PopulationDynamics and Interstellar Diffusion."ICARUS 46: 293-327. 19814) Papagiannis, Michael. "Could we bethe only advanced technologicalcivilization in our galaxy?" Origin of Life(ed. H. Noda). Tokyo, 1978. pp. 583-595.

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UFO ALERT in BRAZILBy J. Antonio Huneeus

Antonio Huneeus is a NewYork-based journalist and frequentcontributor to the Journal.

Brazil's air defense system went on"automatic alert" the night of May 19,1986. Twenty-one "uncorrelatedtargets" were detected for hours on theradar screens of Air Force bases andairports that belong to CINDACTA.This is the Integrated Air Defense & AirTraffic Control Center for Brazil andthe whole episode was disclosedpublicly by the Air Force Ministerhimself. Brig. Gen. Octavio MoreiraLima stated, "we haven't the slightestintention of hiding anything from thepress." At his press conference inBrasilia, he declared that six fighter jets— three F-5E's and three Mirages —were scrambled from the Santa Cruzand Anapolis AF Bases. The "radarblips" were visually confirmed by mostof the pilots and various chases tookplace.

The first witnesses were Col.Osiris Silva, the President of Petrobras(state oil conglomerate) and pilot AlcirPereira. Around 9 pm on May 19, theywere preparing to land their Xinguexecutive jet at the airport of Sao Josedos Campos in the state of Sao Paulowhen they were informed by theControl Tower that three unidentifiedflying objects were on their route.Pereira and Silva attempted, tointercept the objects, which appearedas "strong red lights not at all like starsor planes, which changed theirpositions rapidly." The speed of theUFOs was estimated at between 150 to600 miles per hour.

INTERCEPTORS

F-5E fighter jets were immediatelyscrambled from the Santa Cruz AFB inRio as the radar system becameclogged with "unknown returns." At 10pm, more fighter jets were scrambledfrom the Anapolis AFB in Goias state

BRAZILIAN RADAR ROOMCredit J Antonio Huneeus

after visual contact was established bythe pilots of the F-5E's. The secondflight consisted of three Mirages armedwith Sidewinders and Mattra Missiles.CINDACTA'S Chief of Operations,Major Ney Siqueiros, characterized theblips as "unidentified movements... I'dnever seen anything similar." Not onlydid the pilots see the objects, they alsochased them and in some cases, werechased by the lights.

Capt. Jordao was 12 miles awayfrom a target "constantly changingcolors from white to green." His F-5Echased the object to the coast until itpassed Brazil's 200-mile sea limit. Lt.Kleber's F-5E followed another UFOwhich was estimated by both groundand aircraft radar to be about 35 milesaway. The lieutenant described it as "avery intense red light which changedcolors to white, then green and againred." When his fuel began to run out hewas forced to return to the base. Themost sensational experience occurredto Capt. Freitas as thirteen luminous

balls surrounded his Mirage III; theywere distributed in groups of six andseven objects on each side of his plane.Capt. Freitas testified that "groundcontrol warned me of ten to thirteen'contacts' which were approaching myplane; they came on until I was told thatthey were following behind me at adistance of 2 miles." His only visualcontact occurred when the lights"started to climb vertically up to 33,000feet."

PRESS CONFERENCE

The incident became Brazil's topnews story of the week. Making goodhis promise of full disclosure to thepress, Air Force Minister Lima allowedall the pilots and radar officers involvedthat night to appear at a pressconference in Brasilia. Because of itsscope and impact in terms of both airdefense and public relations, this case

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BRAZILIAN BRIEFINGBy Irene Granchi

Irene Granchi is a veteran BrazilianUFO investigator.

""Unidentified Movements" -.thisis how Ney Siqueira labeled theUnidentified Flying Objects (in thestrict sense of the word) in his TVreport given on May 21st, 1986.

Ney Siqueira is President ofCINDACTA (Centre Integrado deDefesa Aerea e de Controle de TrafegoAereo - integrated Centre of AirDefence and Air Traffic Control) anddeclared that "In Sao Jose dosCampos, Air Traffic Control had showna cramming of echoes on radar and thepilot of a plane in the air had receivedthe message and was the first to see,visually, lights which remained visiblefor 200 miles, when the pilot lost touch."

The plane, a Xingu was none otherthan that of Osires Silva, the newlyappointed President of Petrobras, whofor many years was also President ofEMBRAER (Empress Brasileira deA e r o n a u t i c a l ) . W i t h h is pi lotCommander Alcir, he was about to landwhen they were given notice by theControl Tower and lifted off once more;they watched white, green and redlights flying from 250 to 1000 km perhour.

Please note that each quote givenhere is recorded directly from liveinterviews . on TV and not fromnewspapers. But the Press, in general,has faithfully reported the facts. .

"Simultaneously," Ney Siqueirawent on to say, "We had contacts byradar from the Air Defence system andfrom the controls at the Santa Cruz AirBase, which caused aerial action to betaken and the scrambling of F.A.B.(Brazilian Air Force) planes from theAnapolis Base so as to reconnoitrethese unidentified movements."

A reporter asked, "Would the AirForce d e f i n e these as be ingUnidentified Flying Objects?"

Ney replied, "We do. not possesssufficient technical-operated means to

be able to state that they areUnidentified Flying Objects. Simplysaid, using the technical means we haveand because of the fighter planes usedfor interception by the Air Force, wefollow the principle that they areUnidentified Aerial Movements." ' .,

"Was the length and trajectory ofthese objects checked?"

"No, 'no type or shape of theseobjects was checked for this happenedat night:" This statement was made ohWednesday 21st May on the second TVNewsreel, Manchete. ..

Oh the same night, the Air Forceminister Octavio Moreira Lima, made ashort statement and on the next day he •gave a. Press in te rv iew whichcommenced with1' laughter, when heconfessed that ever since his childhoodhe had hoped to see' a Flying Saucer.But, he added that it is not a matter ofbelief and that he could only furnishtechnical 'information. "Technically,there is no explanation," the Ministersaid. "We shall obtain the CINDACTAreports.. We haveri't the slightestintention of hiding anything from thePress."

"What is your position?" he wasasked. ' :

"I do not know...it's very difficultfor us to say. An object...well, we do nothave an explanation...it could be, let'ssay, a matter of electronic warfare. Itcould be... interference on radar...butthis is a hypothesis. Electronic warfarethat I'm talking about is ' merespecu la t ion . There are manyinterferences. ' Radar detects metalobjects, solid surfaces and masse;s withheavy lights. It reflects. These are thethree speculations. Under thecircumstances when the phenomenonoccurred, the sky was entirely clear.When the lights were monitored, therewere no airships in the sky."

The newsreel (TV Globo) of the22nd M a y , i n t e r v i e w e d p i lo tCommander Oto of Brasilia, who saidhe had seen, in the early hours of the

20th May, while flying from Sao Luiz ofMaranhao to Brasilia, "an object thatlooked like a ping-pong ball. It seemednot to reflect, but to have a light of itsown. It followed my plane for about 700km and flew at 40,000 ft. , about 14 km.Over Porto Nacional it was flying to myleft, near Salvador, Bahia."

Another comment was made byMinister -Osiris Silva who, after takingoffice as Petrobras President, said, "It.didn't look anything like the FlyingSaucers seen in publications. It was acircular light and it registered onradar."

Finally the Air Force stood downthe pilots, all of them veterans, who hadbeen scrambled on the night of May19th, and they were allowed to give aPress Conference. Each of the sevenpilots present had the opportunity togive his own version of what he hadwatched between May 19 and 20. ThreeF -5 fighter jets were sent up from SaoJose dos Campos and three Mirage jetsfrom Anapolis, Goias. The lights seenwere white, green and red. Speed notedwas between 250 and 1500 km per hour.Twenty-one lights were observedaltogether. At the Press Conference,one of the pilot's said, "I watched a verybright, red light."

The other said, "I watched threelights, a green one, a red one, and awhite one - the white one prevailed."

"I watched the lights in front andon each side of my radar screen. Ispeeded up to 1500 km per hour andmanaged to close in on the light to 6miles from my radar, but from thatmoment on I was unable to approach,closer.'" •

Pi lot K lebe r declared , "Iapproached up to 12 miles which wasthe same distance that the. CentralTower was giving."

The Air Min i s t ry declaredimmediately after the pilots finishedreporting that ho more would be said on

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MYSTERY METEORSBy Stan Gordon

Observations of meteors areindeed quite common and can be madeon almost any clear night. The MUFONField Investigators Manual describes ameteor as gravitationally attractedpieces of matter burning up by frictionin our Earth's atmosphere. It goes on tosay that most sightings of meteors aredescribed as a streak of light, or a short-lived, fast-moving, star-like object witha fiery trail behind it.

Sightings of extra-ordinarily brightmeteors are known as Bolides orfireballs, and are rare in comparison tonormal meteor observations. Thesebolides can appear as a large brilliantround or elongated object, which canleave a long luminous trail in the sky fora considerable period of time. A bolidecan display brilliant colors normally red,white, green,' blue and yellow orcombinations of these colors. Thesefireballs can at times be observed over alarge, geographical area, possiblyextending over a thousand square-milearea or more. It is not uncommon tohave a sonic boom associated with thepassing of a fireball.

What is uncommon is when thesefireballs are reported year after year, ina small section of the United States.During the years from 1947 to 1949,there was a rash of sightings of greenfireballs in Northern New Mexico. Theobjects looked similar to meteors,except for their trajectory, apparentslow movement and localized sightinglocations. The Air Force, in fact, set upProject Twinkle to conduct a study ofthese observations. But throughoutUFO h i s to ry , s imi la r "mysterymeteors" have shown up in many partsof the world.

The mystery meteor phenomenamay have never stopped, but becauseof the natural appearance of theseobjects the reports have beenoverlooked. As I and other writers havepreviously published, there is indicationthat unexplainable UFO sightings insome instances have occurred at

8

almost the same time and in the samelocation where a s c i en t i f i c a l l yexplainable UFO such as the re-entry ofspace debris or a natural meteor wasreported. We could speculate here thepossibility that if UFOs are indeedintelligently controlled, then they couldbe using this "natural cover" to hidetheir operations. An even morecomplex question now.arises: Couldsome fireball meteors . actually bedisguised UFOs?

Here in Pennsylvania, our PASUunit (the Pennsylvania Association forthe Study of the Unexplained)investigates hundreds of alleged UFOsightings every year. While recentlyworking on the files and updating the

. computer listings, it became apparentthat for the last 6 years (since 1981)some rather strange fireball sightingshad been occurring and without ourhaving kept records of these incidents,the phenomenon would have not beennoticed. First I must explain that mostmeteor observations are indeed naturalin origin. We have received numerousmeteor and bolide reports over theyears, but what caught our eye is thatthe reports which we mention herewere all reported for 6 yearssequentially, all occurred in January orFebruary, and all took place in eitherEastern or Western Pennsylvania, andappeared to have been seen in aspecific geographical area. In three ofthe cases, Jan. 12, 1982, Jan. 28, 1984and Feb. 15, 1986, the sightingsoccurred in Eastern Pa., and into theNew Jersey and Delaware border.

The chronological listing of theseevents are as follows:

1.) January 1, 1981-Many reportsof a bright fireball in the sky during theafternoon over Western Pennsylvania.A loud boom apparently associatedwith the passage of the object washeard from Allegheny to WarrenCounty.

2.) January 12,1982-Shortly before7 PM, a bluish-green fireball was seen in

Eastern Pa., into Central and NorthernNew Jersey. PASU filed a Freedom ofInformation Act (FOIA) request withCoast Guard Atlantic City, N.J. whohad conducted a search for the object.According to documents released to usby the Coast Guard, "three witnessessaw a plane or object crash into theocean and go aflame off of HarrisonAvenue, Atlantic City". According toone press report, the object stayedafloat on the water and burned for 10minutes before sinking. The search ofthe area turned up no evidence.

3.) January, 1983 (occurred duringthe first week)-At about 6 AM a brightgreen and red fireball was seen North ofH a r r i s b u r g m o v i n g over t h eSusquehanna, River. We receivedinformation that the day after theincident numerous military helicopterswere seen in a search pattern over thearea of the sightings.

4.) January 28, 1984-At 6:50 PM,. many witnesses observed a bright

green and red ball of fire moving fromEastern Penn. to Northern New Jersey.The sighting was reported by police,air traffic controllers and the public.One witness reported to PASU, that asthe object passed over the hydro-electric plant near Faith Harbor, PAthat a strong sulphur smell wasapparent.

5.) February 7, 1984-At 3:30 AM,state and municipal police officers inparts of York, Dauph in , andCumberland Counties in Pennsylvania,observed the passage of a bright ball offire in the sky emitting sparks. A checkwas made for downed aircraft, but thiswas not the case. The sighting reportsappear to have been confined to thatimmediate area.

6.) January 20, 1985-At 9:15 PM, abright green fireball was seen movingthrough the sky near Jeanette, PA inWestmoreland County. Reports ofsonic booms accompanied theobservation.

7.) February 1, 1984-At 9:10 PM,

many calls were received on the PASUUFO Hotline concerning an orange andwhite fireball with a long tail moving,through Westmoreland County.

8.) February 15, 1986-The mostrecent "mystery meteor" occurredsometime after 3 AM, when manyobservers sighted a multi-colored ball offire in Eastern Pennsylvania, SouthernNew Jersey and Delaware.

PASU received a number ofinquiries concerning the object andinterviewed witnesses who claim tohave seen fragments fall from the objectas it moved across the sky. PASU filedFOIA requests with .several agencieswho were involved with this incident.The Coast Guard responded withnumerous documents verifying thereports.

According to one of the reports"The Fire Chief of Lower AllowaysCreek Fire Rescue notified base (Coast .Guard Glouchester City, N.J.) thatthey-had received a report from —--who was near .the power plant atArtificial Island, that he saw a red flare

.and heard an explosion. New CastleCounty police notified-base reportingsimilar sightings by local residents.Base contacted Chester County policedispatch and verified reports by police .officers in Chester, Montgomery andDelaware County, Pa. of unexplainedlights arching across the sky. NewCastle County, Delaware also hadreports of red lights across the sky,muffled explosions and buildingsshaking".

A Coast Guard memo indicatedthat "Dover Tower saw a bluishshooting star at the same time anddirection as the others reported." I filedan FOIA request with Dover Air ForceBase, Delaware, for any informationconcerning the sighting of the object. AMarch 26,1986 response to this requeststated "all documents, reports, logs andtapes have been reviewed forinformation concerning the incident inquestion. In addition individuals on dutyduring the time of the stated incidenthave been questioned. This office hasno information available on thereported • incident of February 15,1986". • :

In all of the instances mentionedsince 1984,1 have attempted to rule outre-entry of space debris by making

direct contact with the NORAD SpaceCommand Center in Colorado.NORAD after checking could not findany such correlation with the sightingsmentioned. PASU, which has a stronginput for UFO information across thestate, also checked to see if there mayhave been other sightings that wentunreported in areas where the passingobject should have been sequentiallysighted, but found that at least no suchreports had been furnished to any lawenforcement or news agency.

Each year there are annual meteorshowers, and multiple bright meteorsare more likely to be seen during thistime. But I am curious as to why these"mystery meteors" seem to isolatethemselves by appearing within specificgeographical borders, year after year?

BRAZILIAN, Continued

the ma t t e r u n t i l the SpecialCommission investigating the OVNIs(UFOs) reach their conclusions. TheCommission, under the Command ofAerial.Defence, declare that there is nodate marked for disclosing theseresults.

But another pilot made astatement, Francisco Hugo Freitas:"As I was nearing Sao Jose dosCampos, 1 was warned by Ground-control that there were severalcontacts ahead of me, approximately20 miles distant. An average of from tento thirteen contacts. I was also warnedthat the contacts were approaching myplane, and they came on until I was toldthat they were following behind me at adistance of 2 miles. I had to lower myplane, for the lights had descended, andfrom that moment on they started toclimb vertically. This was my visualcontact. Then on my radar I watched it12 miles ahead of me. This spot lightmoved to 33,000 ft."

Another pilot said he observedfrom his F-5 a spot of light on radar, andthen echoes of light at the tail of anotherplane with 6 or 7 echoes on each side ofthe airship.

"Does this mean that the plane waspursued?" asked the reporter.

"Yes, because for a certainamount of time, these echoesaccompanied the F-5." This pilotadded, "There were thirteen lightsaltogether, six to the'left and seven to

the right of the plane."The chase by the FAB planes

lasted three hours until the lights werelost to sight at beyond 200 miles fromthe Brazilian coast, where the planeswould have been outside Brazilianterritory.

ASSESSMENTI decided to transcribe from my

tape-recorder the verbatim reportsmade by different persons involved inthis experience with UFOs, and I wishto point out that this is the first time anAir Force Minister has spoken publiclyto report UFO events that had justhappened. Robert Galley, FrenchDefence Minister, went on TV someyears ago, but limited himself torevealing what had been going on inFrance, not UFO encounters in thelimelight of that moment. The BrazilianAir Minister also acted courageously inpresenting the pilots involved on TV, sothat sensation-seeking listeners couldbe told in simple, straightforwardlanguage what had actually happened.

But the story does not end here!There has been a plethora of UFOsightings in other regions of Brazil.Strange to say though, the programFantastico (presented on Sunday 25.May) once more .tried to debunk all theUFO sightings, with interviews by so-called scientists trying to prove that thespots on radar were caused bymeteorite showers from the cometHalley (!) or seismjcal disturbancesunder-ground. The same programshowed all the Air Force declarations Ihave presented above and heldinterviews with Prof. Flavio Pereira,Comm. Britto and myself.

CONFUSING, continued

5) Papagiannis, Michael. "Are we allalone, or could they be in the asteroidbelt?" Quarterly Journal of the RoyalAstronomical Society 19: 277-281.1978.6) Papagiannis , Michael . "TheImportance of Exploring the AsteroidBelt." Acta Astronomica 10: 709-712.1983.7) Sagan, Carl and Newman, William I."The S o l i p s i s t A p p r o a c h to

. E x t r a t e r r e s t r i a l I n t e l l i g e n c e : "Quarterly Journal of the RoyalAstronomical Society 24: 113-121.1983.

MONTANA MOVIEBy James R. Leming'

' . Since moving to Great Falls,Montana in 1982, this author and staff.artist for the MUFON UFO Journal hashad the opportunity to conduct furtherinvestigations . into the famous/infamous Nick Mariana/Great Falls,Montana motion picture film depictingtwo .round objects flying near a localbaseball park. (There is debatebetween the Condon Committee andthe Air Force Project Blue Book as to

-.whether the date in question was thefifth or the fifteenth of August 1950.

.However, there is concurrence on thelocation and presence of the objectssince they were, filmed passing behind

' an existing water tower.)The Great Falls, Montana and

Tremoriton, Utah motion picture filmswere analyzed by specialists assignedto the Air Force Project Blue Book,then submitted to the Robertson Panel(1953) as the two .best pieces ofphotographic evidence available todate. The Panel consisted of the lateH.P. Robertson, Chairman; Samuel A.Goudsmit, Luis W. Alvarez, ThorntonPage, and Lloyd V. Berkner, foundingfather of the IGY — InternationalGeophysical Year.

It was this panel's task to study andevaluate the sighting reports on theirown merit. Considering that at theformation of the panel, the study' ofUFOs had only a four and a half yearhistory, it was quite conceivable that agathering of such minds would onlyneed a week or so to complete thestudy. These photo images were alsostudied by Dr. R.M.L. Baker, Jr., at thattime of Computer Sciences, Inc., forthe "Condon Committee" at theUniversity of Colorado.

A post-filming investigation intothe personal and social life of NicholasMariana, Sr., recently disclosed somerather startling facts after 36 years ofsilence. (Editor's Note: The author ishereby sharing previously unknowninformation with the Mutual UFONetwork so that future research might10

continue elsewhere — possiblyi Portland, Oregon. MUFON cannotvouch for the veracity of the factsdisclosed, however 'we (MUF.ON) dorely upon the author as a persistent,dedicated and ethical investigator.)

It appears that the Mariana filmgained considerable weight as evidence ,after the reopening of the Blue Bookinvestigations in 1952. , (Quotationsfrom The Report on Unidentified FlyingObjects by the late Captain Edward J.Ruppelt will be included later in thisarticle.) The Mariana film createdenough interest to prompt the visit oftwo Air Force officers from nearbyMalmstrom AFB, a Strategic . AirCommand (SAC) installation in GreatFalls, to Mr.; Mariana's home inNovember of 1952. These officers cameto see Mariana with some very pointedrequests. These "responses" would notbe known today :were it not for thetestimony of a "friend-of-a-friend" and ababysitter whose father worked closelywith Mariana.

VISIT

It was a week-night in November,1952, when Mr. L.M. (name on file withMUFON) was visiting with his long-timeclose friend, Nick Mariana, at thelatter's home. They were enjoyingsomething to drink and discussing theday's events when a knock was heard atthe front door. When Mariana openedthe front door, L.M. could plainly see anAir Force colonel and a majorilluminated by the porchlight. Theyintroduced themselves and askedpermission to enter, stating that theyhad "matters to discuss" with Marianaand promised to be brief. L.M. excusedhimself and went to the kitchen torefresh their drinks. While in thekitchen (only eight feet away from those .in the living room) L.M. overheard thefollowing conversation:

.. ."In exchange for a loss of interestin your film, we (the Air Force) are

willing to assist you in accomplishingthe following:' ;

1.) All expenses.paid re-location toa city of your choice for you andsurviving members of your family!

2.) A job within the governmentstructure on full payroll with benefits.

•3.) $10,000 in cash..."

NEW JOB

As. a result .of this nocturnal visit,Nick 'seemed to indeed lose interest inhis f i lm , and . , very rarely evenacknowledged its existence. Within twomonths he had re-located to Portland,Oregon, accepted a job with the ForestService (Dept.. o f ' the Interior), ariddeposited a very large sum. of moneyinto a .local bank account. All of. theabove-mentioned points can be verifiedwith the exception of the exact dollaramount mentioned. If Mariana shookhis head, in'either the affirmative ornegative, L.M: could not determinefrom his vantage point in the kitchen.

This is the f i rs t case ofgovernment/military coercion andbribery that has been substantiated byindependent witnesses that this authoris aware of. (It is regrettable that thisconversation was not tape recorded.An unfortunate oversight but as theinterview was almost accidental innature, better preparation was notavailable. Steps to correct this problemare being pursued through additionaltestimony.)

• The Project Blue Book staffconsidered the Great Falls, Montanaand Tremonton, Utah films to be thehighest quality photographic evidenceavailable to date. The best militaryphoto labs in the country were used 'toexamine the footage: the Air ForcePhotographic Laboratory at WrightField in Ohio (Wright-Patterson AFB),and the Nava l P h o t o g r a p h i cLaboratory at Anacostia, Maryland.

(continued on page 17)

4

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1

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Figure 1GREAT FALLS-The M-Movie SIZE/TIME RELATION GRAPH

UP SYSTEM- FIRST FRAMES

O

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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 I I 12 13 14 J5TIME (SECS.)

Figure 2DISTANCE/TIME GRAPH Sun Azimuth -154

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ELECTRICALLINES

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TIME (8ECS;

11

LAND WITHOUT FREEDOMBY JENNY RANDLES

Jenny Randies is probablyEngland's most well-known UFOinvest igator, the author ofnumerous books on the subject,and a frequent contributor to theJournal.

I thought American readers mightlike to count their blessings at having a"Freedom of Information Act", andcontrast things with Great Britain —where state policy on UFOs isdominated (as are many things) bysecrecy. An anecdotal account ofgovernment interest in UFOs mightsupplement the Yorkshire UFOSociety report on the Churchill papersrecently published in the Journal.

We do not know wheninvestigations began — probably withthe Air Ministry (the forerunner of whatis now the Ministry of Defence —MoD). But we do have quite a numberof examples of first-hand reports frommilitary personnel (mostly airmen,radar operators, etc.) who wereinvolved with encounters in the first tenyears of the UFO mystery and say therewas an official investigation, personalinterrogation, etc. Yet no files exist onthese matters.

Typical is the classic radar-visualcase discovered thirty years after it hadhappened and reported by one of thealleged 12 witnesses, then a Sargeant inthe RAF and acting as a wirelessoperator on a training mission. It waslate May 1948 at about 11:40 am —broad daylight.

DISC SPOTTEDSargeant Jones was in a York

transport aircraft accompanied by sixMeteor jets that were all due to fly fromRAF Tangmere in Sussex to RAFAcklington in Northumberland, wherea firing practice exercise regularly tookplace into the North Sea. The journey isof about 350 miles. They were one-thirdof the way into the trip (near Bicester,north of Oxford) when "a small12

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JENNY RANDLESDennis Stacy

stationary silver disc was spotted in thesky above us. Everybody saw it at thesame time — we communicated byradio telephone." He was able to watchit through 6x30 Barr and Stroudbinoculars.

At the time they were flying at10,000 ft. and this thing was at 25,000 ft.— although that was a figure given laterwhen the ground radar tracking waslearned. Two of the Meteors hadoxygen equipment and scrambled for acloser look — but "they never got close— the UFO took off from literally astanding start". The radar measuredthis as 1500 MPH — needless to sayway beyond aircraft capacity at thattime. Upon landing at Acklington theywere separated and asked to completea written account, then advised to"keep your mouths shut".

Of the witnesses he says that threehad flown in the Battle of Britain, onewas a Squadron Leader and anotherwas an American, Major Robin Olds,who later became General he believes.The only reason his name was recalled

is that he married a Hollywood film star(Ella Raines) — and she came to visit hisbase at Tangmere a few times.

In terms of British investigationthis case is a dead duck. The MoD donot have a record (they say) and anyletters to base commanders simply getrouted to the MoD! Did Project BlueBook (or Sign as it then was) record it? Idoubt it — but possibly Freedom ofI n f o r m a t i o n requests wi l l revealsomething. I conveyed details toMUFON some time ago and hope youare successful.

DOG FIGHTAccording to Ruppelt's The

Report on UFOs (published in 1956 andstill one of the best UFO books everwrit ten in my view) he was giveninformation in 1952/1953 by RAFintelligence officers who visited him atBlue Book. They asked questions andindicated that the British government

currently interested in takingwas

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FREEDOM, Continued

UFOs seriously. He believed thatincidents which occurred during"Operation Mainbrace" — a NATOexercise in the North Sea duringSeptember 1952 — were primarilyr e s p o n s i b l e . Three s epa ra t eencounters are described by Ruppelt —including photographs taken by aphotographer on a U.S. vessel. Meteorjets also twice encountered objects,once over the sea and once overTopcliffe Airfield in Yorkshire. The finalsighting (a typical aerial dogfight ratherlike the George Gorman case — exceptthis was in daylight!) has beeninvestigated to some extent by me. Itcertainly is real; although Ruppelt'sstated date must be a day or so in error,as it was reported the day before healleges it happened.

Once again no MoD records onthese matters supposedly exist!

Against this sort of backgroundChurchill made his enquiries and therewere pro-UFO statements by leadingofficials — e.g. Air Marshall LordDowding (who headed the RAF duringWorld War II). (Churchill, incidentally,seems to have been the first politician toevidence a serious concern aboutUFOs — asking questions in the Houseof Commons when he was Admiral ofthe Fleet in 1913! This, of course, wasover the spate of "mystery airships"then being seen across Britain). TheMagazine FSR (F/ying Saucer Review)was f o u n d e d by a i rmen andaccumulated one or two stories from1955 on involving RAF pilots. So therewas deep concern amongst thisfraternity in the mid-fifties.

By now the MoD was formulated,and they were admittedly observingUFOs (both literally and from a datacollection point of view). Whilst nothingfrom this time officially survives, RalphNoyes — who was on the staff of the AirMinister at the time — tells us that therewas a lot of talk and communicationacross the Atlantic — especially in thewake of the July 1952 Washington D.C.sightings — although the USAFe x p l a n a t i o n as " t e m p e r a t u r einversions" was, on the surfaceaccepted.

LAKENHEATH

Then — in August 1956 — camethe now famous RAF Lakenheath/Bentwaters radar-visuals, which baffledthe Condon evaluation (even thoughBlue Book conveniently forgot to bringit to their attention and they had todiscover it by accident!). Groundsightings, airborne lock-ons by aVampire jet, sightings from abovelooking down by a USAF transportplane and several independant radartrackings all figure in this case whichNoyes remembers clearly — saying itdeeply worried the corridors ofWhitehall. Yet, according to the MoD,no records of it survive, and were in factdestroyed five years afterwards (in1961) as part of routine clean-outs!

I have grown tired of endeavouringto find official data on the many caseslike these. But there is simply nowhereone can go. The difference wasillustrated by the comedian andentertainer Michael Bentine (a deepstudent of the paranormal and anIntelligence Officer during World WarII). We were talking about hisinvolvement with foo fighters duringlate 1944 and (always the one to beserious in light-hearted annecdotalform) he told me "The differencebetween Britain and America is obviousfrom the phone books — in the USAyou can look up anything you want...the mail service, TV service and thesecret service '•— it's listed right there inthe book". Needless to say this is notpossible in Britain. Whilst it is obviousthat there must be documents aboutUFOs in the hands of intelligenceservices, nobody knows for sure wherethose places are and you certainlycannot just write to them, as you can tothe FBI or CIA.

There is a major U.S. Army base afew miles from my home. It is calledBurtonwood and is a very oldestablishment. Whilst officially just ahome for tins of food (a big store depot)and with an overgrown runway thatsees no traffic, the motorway whichruns through the middle of it dipsalarmingly at this point. "Subsidence" isthe explanation offered; although thereis no doubt that much of what goes onat Burtonwood is hidden fromview...below ground. Local residentstell some strange tales of walking theirdogs by the perimeter fence at night

and being waved angrily away by men insilver suits!

- "SPECIAL BRANCH"

A few years back one local teacherwrote to arrange a tour of the base forher children. The base usuallycooperates very happily. However, thisteacher coincidentally happened to be amember of CND (the anti-nuclearweapons campaign). She was not activeand tens of thousands of British citizensare also members. Burtonwood alsoclaims to have no weapons there. Butthis woman was visited by two men whoalleged they were doing a survey. Theirquestions quickly strayed fromeconomic issues onto ones concerningnuclear weapons and her interest inBurtonwood. Only her persistence anda remarkably honest local chief 'ofpolice eventually produced the truth.These two men worked for "SpecialBranch" — a sort of cross betweenmilitary intelligence and the civilianpolice. They do not have uniforms andoften pose as journalists or salesmen.Shades of the MIB!

I had my own brush with SpecialBranch on a small scale (as explained inThe Pennine UFO Mystery — GraftonBooks, 1983). That is the occasion Iknow about ^- of course!

In 1967 there was a major wave ofsightings in Britain. Then HomeSecretary, Labour MP Merlyn Rees,had to field questions in the House ofCommons and decided to make surethat MoD policy on UFOs was moreopen. The MoD were told to stopdestroying files at five year intervals —and this practice has meant that allcases post-1962 are still at theirWhitehall offices. The MoD also startedto issue regular statistical evaluations.This did not last long — and wasdiscontinued soon after Rees went intothe political "back benches" (asopposition in the British Parliament iscalled). These reports gave figures forhundreds of cases collated each yearand about 10 per cent of them rated asunexplained, although how thisevaluation was conducted has neverbeen made clear.

It is worth rioting that Rees (still a

(continued next page)13

FREEDOM, Continued

Labour politician) was sufficientlyimpressed by the Rendlesham Foreststories when they appeared in theBritish press in October 1983 to write tothe then Minister of Defence, MichaelHeseltine, on behalf of his constituent,Philip Mantle. Heseltine replied inperson but was typically evasive —denying everything without actuallydenying it (which is how the MbD tendto behave as a matter of course).

RALPH NOYES

Soon after this, Admiral of theFleet, Lord Hill-Norton, became chiefof staff at the MoD. The man who ranthe paperwork side of things from aUFO point of view was an under-secretary (a quite senior rank inWhitehall) called Ralph Noyes. Noyes

. was in mariy ways like Ed Ruppelt when, he ran Project Blue Book — except hewas not' a military officer and had nopower to command a i rc ra f t orinvestigations. He merely headed thedivision DS 8 (Defence Secretariat 8) .which collated all incoming data onUFOs.

The period when this two-manteam ran the show was 1971-1973 —although it seems no more liberal toanyone surveying British UFO history.The MoD continued to be as secretiveas ever. However, both these men werep u b l i c l y v o c i f e r o u s a b o u t t he.Rendlesham Forest case and both nowopenly support the reality of UFOs.Hill-Norton, within the House of LordsAll Party UFO Study Group (a ratherad hoc committee that sometimes getstogether to chat about things). Noyeshas sown a few seeds of confusion bypopping up in very mysteriouscircumstances after the News of theWorld first broke the story, even givinga lecture to BUFORA where he jokedabout being an EXMODMIB (ex MoDMan .in Black!) His 'novel' A SecretProperty (Quartet books, 1985) is adark and rather disturbing fiction whichallegedly has no relationship with UFOtruth — although those who see it openin Rendlesham Forest, astride an RAF"Bentbridge" with a mad U.S. basecommander called Colonel "Hoyt", aneccentric Lord who is obsessed by14

UFOs, an "Iron Lady" femaleconservative prime minister (who dieshilariously just as she is about to revealthe truth to a gathering of UFOinvestigators in a packed footballstadium), will, I suspect, find such asuggestion: utterly absurd. Of course ithas a relationship!

Noyes emigrated to Italy afteri finishing his book and his brief flirtationwith the UFO movement ended in asmuch confusion and suspicion as itbegan. I feel sure there is a good dealmore 'to his 'performance'1 than meetsthe eye. But, whilst he was around hewas surprisingly forthcoming to meabout his thirty years in the MoD andtheir UFO interest. He told me on therecord (at least he knew I was tapinghim!) that they had a "situation map" ina sealed room which logged allincoming cases and was strictly .offlimits. That they .monitored the UFOsituation very carefully. That despitedenials they .had good quality gun-camera film taken by persuing RAF jets.That they were utterly baffled by'theUFOs, although they knew them to bereal. And that they always had toanswer public questions in an aroundabout a fashion as they could, based onthe motto "if you can satisfy somebodybe telling then nothing — do it! If youcan't — tell them nothing!"

Around the time Noyes officiallyretired from the MoD, to become awriter or a spy (depends which way youlook at things), I became a full-timeUFO researcher. In 19781 tried to arguethe MoD with logic into being moreopen about UFOs. They told me theywere only interested because ofpotential defence implications — butthere were none. So why were they stillinterested? Because they could notassume there never would be any. Whynot be more cooperative and let seriousresearchers (i.e. me!) see their data?Sorry — they told me — if we made itavailable to you we would have to pacifyall the 'nuts' and we don't have the timeor money. So — if I could persuade ascience institute (e.g. a university) —which I thought I could — would theyhand over their records on therealization that if this was not a defencematter it was of scientific interest and ifthey had no money to handle itsomeone else might. In a word — I was

told — no: When I persisted — in twowords — I was told — go away.

. The length of time between myletters and MoD responses grew longerand longer and ultimately I just stoppedgetting replies. I had evidentlyexhausted their stock of platitudeswhich usually pacified other enquirers,and, having nothing new they could say,they followed the instruction and saidnothing.

Then — in a three day spell inFebruary 1979 — all hell broke loose.There were several classic cases, but themost important was on the night of 24February — between 02:00 and 03:00hours.

PENNINE CASES

At just after 2 am something disc-l ike and c e r t a i n l y unexpla ineddescended into a quarry in the PennineHills of north-west England. It was seenby three witnesses. Mike Sacks, a localbusinessman, had my phone numbervia the Jodrell Bank radio telescope( w h o coope ra t e w i t h us oriinvestigations). He was so concernedhe called me immediately — so I knowfor certain this time a>as 2 am. .Meanwhile he set off to drag his brotherup the hills with a camera to "film it".Here he found no UFO, but two policeofficers searching the same hillside.They had seen a UFO too!

Whilst I was involved in theinvestigation of this case I did not knowthat fifty miles west, on the Englishcoast, dozens of people had beendisturbed by a glowing orange objectthat whizzed across the sky, createdradio interference, made one coupleleap out of their car thinking the flamesof passion had set it on fire, and beingchased by a police car in one town and ataxi in another. The seaside resort ofBlackpool (rather like England's LasVegas — on a somewhat less grandstyle!) was in direct line of this thingwhich shook the pier so violently thetwo security guards were sent rushingoutside in panic.

But the most serious events tookplace at a caravan park near Southport.Here doors shook, windows rattled andthere was some damage to the trailer

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FREEDOM, Continued

homes. The local MP was furious anddemanded answers in the House. Hewas told it was a photo-reconnaisanceaircraft (which it was not) or a meteor(which do not normally come lowenough to blow trailers about, or shakepiers).

It was some time before these twoevents were seen in context. The UFOlanding in the quarry at about 2 am. Theorange ball of fire streaking low acrossthe sky (with a roar) from the same areaat 2:35 am and traversing all theobservation points until shooting outover the Irish Sea at 2:45 am, and thenreturning inland (across Blackpool)about twenty minutes later. It isperfectly reasonable to see this as somecraft going off (at full belt) after theoriginal UFO. For there is little doubtthat the noisy, low flying orange sphereLUQS a jet aircraft, with after-burnersblazing, breaking every securityregulation in the book to pursuesomefhing. It must have had very goodreason to cross airlanes and residentialareas — strictly prohibited. The mostlikely explanation is, of course, all tooobvious.

Once I figured this out Iapproached the MoD, who advised intheir brilliant way that "a specialexercise" (doing what?) was underwayusing USAF F-lll jets from UpperHeyford in Oxfordshire. They did notsay this was the "UFO", but left thatimpression /firmly dangling. UpperHeyford flatly and categorically deniedthis when approached. The basecommander himself was pret tya d a m a n t ( C o l o n e l S h r i h o f e r )("definitely • not F-llls, and that'sofficial!") So I pointed this out to theMoD, who needed two'reminders andmore than a year to answer — by whichtime the case was dead as the dodo.Ultimately they argued that they neversuggested it as the answer, and as theUSAF denied it they were evidentlywrong in this suggestion (which they

• didn't make in the first' place!) — soback to square one. Strike up anotherunknown. Of course, I have asked forrecords on this case....which they admitto knowing about so must have. I havenever even been denied them, but havealso never been offered them. As usual

— my awkward questions have justbeen ignored.

How often things like this go on, isimpossible to say. My file on this case isextensive because I put so much effortinto it. But it got me nowhere in the end.Maybe an FOIA request to UpperHeyford about the events of 24February 1979 could be more revealing.Who knows?

The rest — as they say — ishistory. S/cy Crash reveals all the funand games concerning the MoD overthat matter. Since 1985 (as thepostscript to the 1986 paperbackedition shows) I have taken to gettingMPs to ask my questions of the MoD —on the basis that they will be harder toignore. But MPs have time pressurestoo and the MoD.can be (and are) justas evasive when. replying to them.Sadly, these people are not familiar withUFOs and so have no basis to judge theadequacy of an answer from Whitehall.

Figures given in the House ofCommons during 1984 (the mostrecent tabled questions on UFOs)reveal that 1500 reports came to themin the three years to 1983. This is tentimes the number civilian UFOsocieties have! Considering .the smallsize of Britain and the lack of interestshown in UFOs, this total (collatedfrom police forces, air bases and civilairports) is staggering. Compare it withthe figures given by Ruppelt for the heyday of UFOs in the early fifties. Clearly— UFOs are still here. Clearly — theMoD are going to extreme lengths tocollect reports. Clearly — theycontinue to use Britain's lack of'freedom of information' to good effect.

There are moves to get a"Freedom of Information" Act inBritain. Whilst the present conservativegovernment is in power this stands nochance, as they are firmly wedded tothe Official Secrets Act ( the means bywhich prison sentences can follow anyrelease of even ridiculously minor data).However, if after the 1987 election adifferent party wins it is possible that anact will arrive — as .the public mooddoes favour it.

Time will tell — but whether in thelong run it will take us any nearerremains to be seen. Meantime we mustsimply do our job and keep badgeringthe authorities to make sure that their

stand on UFOs does not meet withsheep-like acceptance.

ALERT, Continued

can be compared only with the famousWashington "invasion" of 1952.President Sarney was informed thatnight at a state banquet in Brasilia forPresident Duarte of El Salvador.

Isolated sightings were alsoreported by a few witnesses in Rio deJaneiro; and a large "solid object" wassighted in Fortaleza in northern Brazilon the afternoon of May 21.Astronomer Ronaldo Mourao, thedirector of Rio's Observatory and thecountry's top . UFO skeptic, boldlysuggested the luminous dots couldhave been caused by a "meteorshower" linked to Halley's comet.Brazilian ufologists, such as IreneGranchi of Rio, Prof. Flavio Pereira ofSao Paulo, and others, analyzed the*UFO explanation in view of similarcases registered previously both inBrazil and elsewhere. Even NASAastronaut Dr. Story Musgrave becameinvolved in the melee. A space M.D.who flew on the Skylab and Shuttlemissions, he was attending a technicalconference in Sao Paulo when the storyhit the news. The Brazilian pressquoted him as saying: "UFOs are likewitches. I don't believe in them but theyexist for sure." . .

Surprisingly, Air Force MinisterLima .was more outspoken thananybody else. "I've always wanted tosee flying saucers since I was child,"said Gen. Lima, adding that "the skywas entirely clear and there were noaircraft in the sky when the lights weredetected. Technically speaking, there isno explanation." His approach is a goodexample, of Brazil's new democraticstyle: The minister also announced thata special Air Force TechnicalCommission was set up to investigateand evaluate the radar tapes, radiocommunications and visual testimoniesof this case. No time limit was given forthe completion of the Commission'sreport.

CRASH COURSEBy Ann Druffel

Pasadena-based Ann Druffel isa regular contributor to the pagesof tbe Journal.

At last! A "crash course" for thosewith' newly-developing interest inUFOs. Such persons, be they scientificor lay, immediately want to beginreading in the field. Where do theyturn? How do they choose the bookswhich will give them objective, factualinformation? How do they separatekooks from cults, or falsehood fromfacts? And even if they are fortunateenough to be guided by someknowledgeable person to the bestsources of information, how do theyfind time to read it all?

The Los Angeles UFO ResearchGroup (LAUFORG) has provided ananswer for people who have begun tosearch out FACTS about these elusiveobjects. LAUFORG has written abook, an information source unique inthe field. Entitled "INTRODUCTIONTO ISSUES OF UFO RESEARCH", itis available for all those who havebecome interested in the UFO subject,but who do not have the time to delveinto the voluminous scientific andobjective literature produced since1947.

LAUFORG is a small group ofscientists, engineers, and otherprofessional persons, who havecombined their expertise and produceda comprehensive summary on thisworldwide phenomenon. The 94-pagesoft-cover book (photocopied)combines a readable style with the bestof referenced literature on such facetsof the field as:

•The historical background ofUFOs.

•History of Government-fundedUFO research.

• Recent Government UFOinvestigations.

•Classification techniques appliedto different types of UFO sightings.

•Numerous sample cases from the16

best objective worldwide sources.•A discussion of witness profiles

and reliability.•Physical phenomena associated

with UFOs, including electrostatic,magnetostatic effects and electromag-netic effects, physical traces, andphotographic evidence.

•Physiological and psychologicaleffects of UFO close encounters onhumans and animals.

•The urgent need of "immediacy"in effective UFO research.

•The public's right to know whatour government knows about UFOs.

•Suggested techniques for moreefficient data-gathering.

•Objectives and suggested dataanalysis techniques.

•INTRODUCTION TO ISSUESOF UFO RESEARCH, therefore, is aperfect starting point for .scientific,technical, and lay persons alike who:

•Wish to know basic facts aboutwhat has transpired in objective UFOresearch during the past 40 years.

•Who are newly inspired to learnabout UFOs and wish summarizedi n f o r m a t i o n regarding the bestreferences to track down and read.

As for you, readers of the MUFONUFO JOURNAL, already knowledge-able about UFOs, at last there is ONEbook, reasonably priced, which you canplace into the hands of friends,colleagues, government officials orpotential funding sources which willgive them a comprehensive, easy-to-read survey of solid, documented UFOreports PLUS a methodology forextended research into this importantfield of study.

Who are LAUFORG's membersand the authors of this newestcontribution to UFO literature? Theyinclude, in alphabetical order, JerryBernath, M.D., whose extensiveinterest in UFOs runs the range ofphysiological effects to close-encountervictims to puzzling psychic effectsreported in UFO cases; the author of

this article, Ann Druffel, veteran UFOresearcher and author in SouthernCalifornia; William Hassel, Ph.D.,MUFON State Director for SouthernCalifornia, with a special interest intheories of UFO propulsion; RichardM. Neal, Jr. M.D. who specializes inlong-lasting physiological effects in CEHI and CE IV cases; Ron Olch, acomputer scientist whose expertiseenabled this book to be, perhaps, thefirst computer-produced UFO book inhistory; Dennis Regan, PhD., noted inthe field for his studies of tape-recordedUFO sounds; Paul Smith, a UFOresearch veteran and determinedtracker of selected historical UFOcases; and Vincent Uhlenkott, whoslogged in the,sea of California UFOdata sightings for many years whilemaintaining a special interest ininstrumented data and theories of UFOpropulsion.

There were other contributors,including notably the late BarbaraMathey, whose charm, intellect, andl i n g u i s t i c a b i l i t i e s graced he rinternational inquiries in the field formany years.

INTRODUCTION TO ISSUESOF UFO RESEARCH includes acomprehensive 9-page index andnumerous bibliographical references. Ifthe availability of this long-awaitedreport intrigues you, and you areanxious to see for yourself what ourunique research group has produced,send $9.95 to LAUFORG, P.O. Box1421, Topanga, CA 90190. Priceincludes postage and handling. Pleaseallow six to eight weeks for delivery.

MUFON103 OLDTOWNE RD.SEGUIN, TX 78155

MONTANA, Continued THE NIGHT SKY(Editor's Note: The nocturnal visit tothe home of Nick Mariana by the twoAir Force officers in November 1952,may be part ial ly supported byinformation gleaned from The Reporton Unidentified Flying Objects byEdward J. Rupelt, former head of AirForce Project Blue Book, 1956,Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y.)Quoting from the hardback edition,starting on page 219, Captain Ruppeltoffers the following:

"The Montana Movie had beentaken on August 15, 1950, by NickMariana, the manager of the Great Fallsbaseball team. It showed two. largebright lights flying across the sky. inechelon formation. There were noclouds in the movie to give an indicationof the UFOs' speed, but at one timethey passed behind a water tower. Thelights didn't show any detail; theyappeared to be large circular objects.

"Mariana had sent his movies tothe Air Force back in 1950, but in 1950there was no interest in the UFO so,after a quick viewing, Project Grudgehad written them off as 'the reflectionsfrom two F-94 jet fighters that were inthe area.' (Editor's Note: Philip Klassaccepts the 1950 decision, not the 1952analysis, since it meets with his prosaicexplanations.)

"In 1952, at the request of thePentagon, I reopened the investigationof the Montana Movie. Workingthrough an intelligence officer at theGreat Falls AFB, I had Marianareinterrogated and obtained a copy ofhis movie, which I sent to the photo lab.

"When the photo lab got themovie, they had a little something towork with because the two UFOs hadpassed behind a reference point, thewater tower. Their calculations quicklyconfirmed that the objects were notbirds, balloons or meteors. Balloonsdrift with the wind arid the wind was notblowing in the direction that the twoUFOs were traveling. No exact speedscould be measured, but the lab coulddetermine that the lights were travelingtoo fast to be birds and too slow to bemeteors.

"This left airplanes as the only

By Walter N. WebbMUFON Astronomy Consultant

December 1986

Bright Planets (Evening Sky):

The two planets in the south during early evening hours are Jupiter and Mars,both now in Aquarius. Mars, the dimmer and redder of the pair, overtakes thebright giant during the month, passing only half a degree above Jupiter on the18th, and ending up east of the big planet. Both worlds set in the west shortlybefore 11 PM in mid-December. The quarter Moon makes a triangle with thetwo planets on the 7th.

Bright Planets (Morning Sky):

Venus again reaches greatest brilliancy (magnitude -4.7), this time in themorning sky, on December 11. It rises in the east about 3:30 AM in midmonthand is well up in the SE at dawn. The brilliant planet's crescent phase can beseen in binoculars. Look for Venus not far from the real crescent Moon on the27th and 28th.

Saturn, in Ophiuchus,'becomes increasingly, visible low in the SE towardmonth's end. At that time it rises about 5:30 AM. Don't confuse the planet withthe red star Antares to the right.

Meteor Showers:

The Moon will bother observers trying to watch the two December meteor• showers.. The Geminids, which radiate from a point near the star Castor in

Gemini the Twins, peak on the morning of the 14th at a rate of about 50 perhour. However, it might be best to watch them the previous morning betweenmoonset (about 4:30 AM) and the start of twilight'an hour later. The Ursids,radiating from near the bowl of the Little Dipper, suffer a similar fate from brightmoonlight on the 22nd.

c o

Moon Phases:

New moon-December 1First quarter-December 8Full moon-December 16Last quarter-December 24New moon-December 30

(Nearest Moon of the year)

The Stars: , ,

While the faint autumn stars move into the west, the brilliant luminaries ofwinter gradually take their place in the east and SE. The Winter Circle starssurround that most spectacular of constellations, Orion the Hunter. Follow thewarrior's belt stars left to the brightest nighttime star, Sirius the Dog Star; a linethrough the belt to the right extends to Aldebaran, the right eye of the BullTaurus. "

(continued next page) (continued on page 18)17

MESSAGE, Continued

or secure help, therefore we are obligedas a UFO investigative organization toconscientiously follow these leads. The10-20% residue, that defies any earthlyexp lana t ion a f t e r a thoroughi n v e s t i g a t i o n b y c o m p e t e n tinvestigators, becomes the raw datathat we are seeking or the "real UFOs."We cannot become discouraged if thesighting is diagnosed as an IFO even .though some of these cases require asmuch or more time and effort than a

legitimate UFO to resolve. Regardlessof the outcome of the investigation, areport must be submitted to MUFONheadquarters.

MONTANA, Continued

answer. The intelligence officer atGreat Falls had dug through hugestacks of files and found that only twoairplanes, two F-94's, were near the cityduring the sighting and that they hadlanded about two minutes afterwards.

STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION

1. Title of publication: MUFON UFOJOURNAL (USPS 002970) (ISSN 0270-6822)

2. Date of filing: Oct. 22, 19863. Frequency of issue: Monthly4. Location of known office of publication:

103 Oldtowne Road, Seguin, Guadalupe, Texas78155-4099

5. Address of the headquarters: 103Oldtowne Road, Seguin, TX 78155-4099

6. Names and complete addresses ofpublisher, editor, and managing editor:

Publisher: Walter H. Andrus, Jr., 103Oldtowne Road, Seguin, TX 78155-4099

Editor: Dennis W. StacyP.O. Box 12434, San Antonio, TX 78212

Managing Editor: Walter H. Andrus, Jr.' 103 Oldtowne, Rd., Seguin, TX 78155-4099

7. Owner: MUTUAL UFO NETWORK,INC. (MUFON), 103 Oldtowne Road, Seguin,

Average No. copieseach issue during .

preceding 12 monthsA. Total No copies printed 1331B. Paid circulation

1. Sales through dealers and carriers, streetvendors and counter sales . . . 02 Mail subscriptions 1 137

C Total paid circulation 1137D. Free distributions by mail, carrier or other

means: samples, complimentary, and otherfree copies : 71

E Total distribution 1209F. Copies not distributed

1. Office use, left over, unaccounted, spoiledafter printing 1222 Returns from news agents 0

G Total . . 1331

TX 78155-4099A not-for-profit corporation incorporated

under the State Laws of Texas.The Mutual UFO Network, Inc. is exempt

from Federal Income Tax under Section501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.MUFON is a publicly supported organization ofthe type described in Section 509(a)(2).

8. Known bondholders, mortgagees, andother security holders owning or holding 1percent or more of total amount of bonds,mortgages or other securities: NONE

9. For completion by nonprofi torganizations authorized to mail at specialrates: Publication is issued by an organizationeligible for these rales in accordance withSection 423. 12 DMM.

10. Extent and nature of circulation: •

Actual No. copiesof single issue published

nearest to filing date1200

0. 1021

1021

69• 1090

no0

1200(signed) Walter H. Andrus, Jr.

Publisher

THE NIGHT SKY by Walter Webb, Continued

Betelgeuse (Orion's right shoulder) and Rigel (his left knee) provide a fineexample of color differences between stars. Betelgeuse's reddish hue indicatesthat it is a relatively cool M-type star, while blue-white Rigel is a hot B star. Ourown Sun's yellor color tells us it is of medium surface temperature.

18

Both Mariana and his secretary, whohad also seen the UFOs, had said thatthe two jets had appeared in anotherpart of the sky only a minute or twoafter the two UFOs had disappeared inthe southeast. This in itself wouldeliminate the jets as candidates for theUFOs, but we wanted to double-check.The two circular lights didn't look liketwo F-94's, but anyone who has doneany flying can tell you that an airplanecan suddenly catch the sun's rays andmake a brilliant flash.

"First we studied the flight pathsand the two F-94's. We knew thelanding pattern that was being used onthe day of the sighting, and we knewwhen the two F-94's landed. The twojets just weren't anywhere close towhere the two UFOs had been. Nextwe studied each individual light andboth appeared to be too steady to bereflections.

"We drew a blank on the MontanaMovie — it was an unknown."

There is a message in thisinvestigation: New facts cannot beobtained regarding old cases if newquestions are not asked. Go over yourmaterial carefully; somewhere thereexists a point that was overlooked,disregarded or simply ignored becauseit may have seemed to obvious. If weever expect to expose a governmentcover-up, we will have to ask the samequestions over and over again, but bycarefully changing the wording, newanswers might start showing up. Thereis a hole in the armor; we will find it...

If the Pentagon had not askedCaptain Ruppelt to reopen the NickMariana "Montana Movie" case, itwould have continued to be listed as"explained." Ruppelt asked morequestions and as a result the Marianafilm is now classified as "unknown."This says to me, that as far as the "so-called experts" are concerned, if thereis a shadow of a doubt, as good UFOresearchers and investigators, we mustcontinue our systematic examinationof the facts.

Mr. Nicholas Mariana, Sr., is livingin Portland, Oregon — and in goodhealth. If we continue to stop just shortof asking that one necessary question,will we ever be able to say as much forthe health of our investigations andresearch?

MESSAGE, Continued

your Director. Any State Director thatwants to exchange newsletters with Jimshould write to him at Mass. MUFON,Inc., Box 176, Stoneham, MA 02180.

* * *A new practice will be introduced

at the MUFON 1987 UFO Symposiumwhereby short contributed papers willbe solicited and presented. The "FirstCall for Papers" was published in theSeptember 1986 issue of the MUFONUFO JOURNAL in the column titled,"News 'N' Views" along with theconditions under which they will besubmitted, accepted and presented.This is a standard practice for scientificsociety symposia. The "Call for Papers"is again being published in theDecember 1986 issue of the Journal asa reminder.

I want to personally thank JeromeClark, Editor of the International UFOReporter for publishing my article"MUFON Calls for Papers,"prominently in the July/August 1986,Volume 11, Number 4 issue; thebimonthly publication of the J. AllenHynek Center for UFO Studies. In hiseditorial in the same issue titled "TheEmperor's Clothes," Mr. Clarkpublished a very complimentary reviewof the MUFON 1986 UFO Symposiumheld on the Michigan State UniversityCampus in East Lansing on June 27,28and 29. The International UFOReporter is a benefit publication mailedto Associates of the Center for $25.00or more. Foreign Associates add $7.00for delivery. All amounts are in U.S.funds. For details, write to 1955 John'sDrive, Glenview, Illinois 60025-1615.

Based upon the recommendationsof Jerome Clark in IUR, several peoplehave ordered copies of the MUFON1986 UFO Symposium Proceedings(186 pages) bearing the theme "UFOs:Beyond the Mainstream of Science."Copies may be obtained from MUFONfor $10.00 each in U.S. funds plus $1.50for postage and handling. Foreignorders must.be paid in U.S. funds byInternational Postal Money Order,cash, or a check made payable througha U.S. Bank.

* * *In the reorganization of MUFON

in Ohio, Richard D. Seifried, State

DALE GOUDIE (CUFON)

Director, has reassigned Richard T.Lee of Cuyahoga Falls to be the StateSection Director for Summit andPortage counties. Mr. Lee has been amember of MUFON starting in 1974and a State Section Director since1979. James R. "Jim" Melesciuc, StateDirector for Massachusetts, has madet h e f o l l o w i n g s e l e c t i o n s o rreassignments of State SectionDirectors: Joanne Bruno is nowresponsible for Essex County andStephen J. Firmani for MiddlesexCounty.

Wayne Erickson has acceptedadditional duties to that of StateSection Director for Wayne andOakland counties by being appointedAssistant State Director for Michiganby George and Shirley Coyne, Co-State Directors. They have alsopromoted Virginia M. Tilly to StateSection Director for Berrien, Cass, VanBuren and Kalamazoo counties. Bothof these fine investigators served on thehost committee for the MUFON 1986UFO Symposium.

Burt L. Monroe, Jr., Ph.D., StateDirector for Kentucky, recognized thefield investigative talent of M. AnneAlbin and promoted her to StateSect ion Di rec to r fo r Powel l ,Montgomery, Menifee, Wolfe and Estillcounties. Skip D. Schultz ofWoodburn, Oregon volunteered toserve as State Section Director forMarion County in Oregon when he wasinvited.

* * *Dale D. Goudie, manager of the

Computer UFO Network (CUFON) inSouth Seattle, Washington, hasprovided the following pertinent

information for Journal readers whoown computers and modems. CUFONnow has over 700 members withMUFON members making up thelargest segment. Dale has relayed thefollowing message: "to all MUFONusers thank you for your support andinput for CUFON. If you have signed-on CUFON previously, there is amessage waiting for you with yourpassword and information on how touse the system." The systems numberis (206) 722-5738 using 300 Baud (b.p.s.)and the systems voice line "UFOInformation Service" is (206) 721-5035.

Our belated and best wishes for anenduring marriage are extended toKenneth R. McLean, State Directorfor Wyoming, who was married toKaren A. Urbam on August 19,1986 inLaramie, Wyoming. Ken is a Ph.D.Candidate at the University ofWyoming.

* * *Bob Gribble, the manager of the

National UFO Reporting Center, P.O.Box 1807, Seattle, Washington 98111,telephone 1-206-722-3000, advised yourDirector that he will hereby forward allUFO sighting reports made to his UFOHotline to MUFON in Seguin, Texasfor investigation. During the past 6years he has assigned them to severaldifferent UFO organizations, howeveronly MUFON has produced results.Since MUFON has the largest andmost extensive field investigatorsorganization in the U.S.A., this is alogical decision. For this method to besuccessful, it is imperative that theState Director, State Section Directoror Field Investigator that is assigned thecase respond promptly to MUFON orr e t u r n the case to MUFONheadquarters 'for reassignment. TheCash-Landrum Case, as an example,was not assigned to MUFON untilFebruary 17, 1981 after anotherorganization failed to properly respond.

Each investigator must recognizethat 80 to 90% of the sightings reportedto a UFO Hotline number by the publicmay have a mundane explanation (IFO)after a thorough investigation. For theperson reporting the sighting, it is"unknown." They have paid for a longdistance telephone call to seek answers

(continued on page 18)19

DIRECTOR'S MESSAGEby

Walt Andrus

On the weekend of October 11 and12, Marvin Taylor, State Director forNorthern California, hosted theMUFON Mother Lode 1986 UFOSymposium in Sonora, California,stressing the theme "Bridging theGap." The speakers and titles of theirpapers on Saturday were Tom Page,UFO Movie and Slide Presentation;John Dunlap, UFOs, Is There AnyQuestion?; Tom Page, My EncounterWith a UFO and the Lake BerryessaCase; Ron Lakis, UFOs and theMedia; Bruce Sullivan, UFOs--A NewPerspective; Walter H. Andrus, Cash-Landrum Case; Tom Gates, PublicAttitudes About UFOs; James M.McCampbell, UFO Effects UponPeople; and Richard Haines, Ph.D.,The In f l i gh t Disappearance ofFrederick Valentich. Sunday's programopened with Tom Page presenting aUFO slide lecture composed of PaulCerny's collection; Joyce Needles,The Unlimited Mind; Marvin Taylor,Bridging the Gap; and a panel of peoplewho shared their abduction or closeencounter experiences with theaudience.

The visual aids and exhibitscomplimented the fine speakingprogram. The former IDS UFO Exhibit(Minneapol i s , Minneso ta ) waspurchased by Marvin Taylor severalyears ago and is the center of attractionat his permanent UFO Exhibit for thegeneral public in Sonora, California.The entire exhibit was transportedfrom his UFO museum to theMain Building at the Mother LodeFairgrounds for the symposium. Inaddition to a UFO photographic displayon free standing exhibit boards and lifesize replicas of UFO entities, two videodocumentaries were being shownsimultaneously. As a convenience tothe attendees, the Sonora Jayceesoperated a food concession in the mainbuilding which had seating provisionsfor 1200 people. Paul Cerny's electricpowered model of a flying saucer was

TAYLOR EXHIBIT

one of the featured exhibits.Since Marvin Taylor is so well

known in the area, the entire cityco-operated in promoting the UFOsymposium on signs and billboards,while the area press, radio and TVcrews interviewed the speakers. Mr.Taylor and his symposium committee,consisted of Paul Cerny, JoyceNeedles, Mr. and Mrs. John Dunlap,Bruce Sullivan, Marvin's wife Linda,and others too numerous to list, mustbe congratulated for their detailedplanning and implementation of theirsecond very successfu l UFOsymposium. Your Director wasamazed at the enthusiasm generated byMarvin Taylor in promoting MUFON inNor the rn Ca l i fo rn i a . (MargeChr i s t ensen , MUFON's Publ icRelations Director, would have been ata loss for expletives to describe theoutstanding public education that thesymposium engendered.)

* * *While speaking about sympos-

iums, the Fund for UFO Research willbe hosting the MUFON 1987 UFOSymposium on campus at American

University in Washington, D.C. on June26, 27, and 28, 1987, with Dr. BruceMaccabee, Chairman and FredWhiting, Symposium Coordinator.During a business trip to San Antonio.on October 20th, a symposiumcoordination meeting and dinner washeld by Fred Whiting, Tom Deuley,Dennis Stacy and Walt Andrus toprovide Fred with suggestions fors p e a k e r s , s h a r e s y m p o s i u madministration problems and solutions,and overall coordination directionbetween FUFOR and MUFON. Duringa recent telephone call to BruceMaccabee concerning symposiumplanning, your Director became one ofthe first people to congratulate Bruceand his wife upon the arrival of theirnew son. (Bruce was so excited that heentered the announcement on DaleGoudie's CUFON computer net inSeattle, Washington.)

* * *To promote the MUFON 1987

UFO Symposium, Marge Christen-sen is producing a VHS video tape tosend to MUFON state organizationsinviting everyone to start planning nowto attend the Washington, D.C.conference. It will also includesegments of newscasts which featuredreports on previous UFO conferencesor sightings. Three copies of the tapewil l be shared by the Stateorganizations with directions forforwarding.

Jim Melesciuc, State Director forMassachusetts, has ini t ia ted aNewsletter Exchange whereby heexchanges the Mass. MUFONNewsletter with the newsletters ofother states. Dan Wright, CentralStates Director, has begun a regionalnewsletter for the Central States.Peter R. Geremia, State Director forNew Hampshire, recently shared IssueNo. 4 dated October 1986 of the NewHampshire MUFON Newsletter with

(continued on page 19)