MUFON UFO JOURNALNUMBER 232 AUGUST 1987

Founded 1967.OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF AM4POIV/ MUTUAL UFO NETWORK, INC..

$2.50

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ONUNIDENTIFIED AERIAL PHENOMENA:

1947-1987

Washington, D.C. June 26, 27&2S

MUFON UFO JOURNAL(USPS 002-970)

(ISSN 0270-6822)103 Oldtowne Rd.

Seguin, Texas 78155-4099 U.S.A.-

DENNIS W. STACYEditor

WALTER H. ANDRUS, JR.International Director and

Associate EditorTHOMAS P. DEULEY

Art Director

MILDRED BIESELEContributing Editor

ANN DRUFFELContributing Editor

PAUL CERNYPromotion/Publicity

MARGE CHRISTENSENPublic Relations

REV. BARRY DOWNINGReligion and UFOs

LUCIUS PARISHBooks/Periodicals/History

ROSETTA HOLMESPromotion/PublicityT. SCOTT GRAIN

GREG LONGMICHAEL D. SWORDS

Staff Writers

TED PHILLIPSLanding Trace Cases

JOHN F. SCHUESSLERMedical Cases

LEONARD STRINGFIELDUFO Crash/Retrieval

WALTER N. WEBBAstronomy

NORMA E. SHORTDWIGHT CONNELLY

DENNIS HAUCKRICHARD H. HALLROBERT V. PRATT

Editor/Publishers Emeritus(Formerly SKYLOOK)

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 1987by 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," you were unable to attend the 18th annual MUFON

Symposium in Washington this past June, my lead article on thesubject should bring you up to date. Since so much was going on andit was impossible to be in two places simultaneously, I've no doubtleft out some names and events, for which I apologize. Everyone inthe hosting Fund for UFO Research deserves a round of applausefor their tireless hours put in, along with the visiting Larry Koss, whopitched in to plug leaks wherever they popped up. Mr. Jun-Ichi Yaoi,managing director of the Foundation for Earth Environment, Tokyo,should also be mentioned for filling us in on Japanese ufology.MUFON thanks one and all for a successful symposium.

In this issue18TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM by Dennis Stacy! 3THEORETICAL UFO PHYSICS by Daniel H. Harris. 10NIGHT SIEGE by Philip Imbrogno -X 12LETTER FROM BRAZIL by Bob Pratt 14LOOKING BACK by Bob Gribble . .' 19IN OTHERS' WORDS by Lucius Parish : . . . . - . 21MUFON NET REPORT 21LETTERS. : . . . . . . . - . :-..:.. : . . . . 22SEPTEMBER NIGHT SKY by Walter N. Webb . . : . '.....,.''.". -. 23DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE by Walt Andrus . . . . . . : : 24PROCEEDINGS COVER by Donald R. Schmitt

The Mutual UFO Network, Inc. is exempt from Federal Income Tax underSection 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. MUFON is a-.publiclysupported organization of the type described in Section 509(a)(2). Donorsmay deduct contributions from their Federal income tax. In addition,bequests, legacies, devises, transfers, or .gifts are deductible for Federalestate and gift tax purposes if they meet the applicable provisions ofSections 2055, 2106, and 2522 of the code.

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 allowed 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 1987 by the Mutual UFO Network, 103 Oldtowne Rd., Seguin,Texas 78155" is included.

18TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUMArticle & Pictures by Dennis Stacy

Dennis Stacy is the editor ofthe Journal.

Hosted by the Fund for UFOResearch, the 18th annual MUFONSymposium was held on the campus ofAmerican University in the northwestquadrant of Washington, DC, theweekend of June 26-28, 1987. Theofficial theme was "InternationalSymposium on Unidentified AerialPhenomena: 1947 - 1987," acommemoration of four decades ofworldwide UFO reports, dating back toKenneth Arnold's landmark sighting inthe summer of 1947. But the unofficialimpetus, emblazoned in black letters onyellow souvenir buttons, was "FortyYears Is Long Enough!"

Expectations were high that thiswould not be just another insular get-together of civilians interested in UFOs,but an occasion to reach out and touchthe surrounding power structure,comprised of both influential media andgovernment personnel. At this earlydate not all of the fallout can bemeasured, but the geiger counter wasdefinitely ticking. Press passes wereissued to reporters from Tass, thePeoples' Republic of China, theWarsaw, Poland, daily newspaper, anABC-TV documentary program filmcrew from Los Angeles, a senior editorat OMNI, New York's Newsday, andwriters working for the Boston Globeand Neu; York Times Sundaymagazines, among others. At least oneSenator, Clayborn Pell, from RhodeIsland, was in attendance; and BruceMaccabee, Stanton Friedman, WaltAndrus and others, were able toaddress a meeting of Congressionalaides. Two major press conferenceswere held. Moreover, speakers frommost of the seven continents were onhand to report on UFO activity fromtheir respective areas. Whatever theUFO phenomenon represents, and mostlikely it's a plethora of probabilities, it is

not a solely American abberation. For aworld public weaned on Spielbergspectaculars that may yet come as asurprise.

Friday night saw a reception heldat the Mary Graydon Center oncampus, diagonally across the Quadfrom the Ward Circle Building whereexhibits were set up and the mainspeeches presented! While a summerthunderstorm raged outside, earlyarrivals mingled in comfort inside,enjoying snacks, drinks and renewed orfreshly made acquaintances. When youcan barely hear yourself speak in a bighall, you know the conversation is bothenthusiastic and energetic.

Some of that enthusiasm dimmedslightly Saturday morning when WardCircle was unavailable and thesymposium had to start in the collegegym instead, an unairconditioned barnwhose wooden floors bounced soundsoff ceilings and walls like they wereaudible basketballs. Opening remarksby both MUFON's InternationalDirector and the Fund's chairman,Bruce Maccabee, could be made out,but just barely. The first paper of theday was presented by TempleUniversity historian Dr. David Jacobs,who was followed by Italy's Dr. RobertoPinotti, general secretary of the CentreUFOlogico Nazional of Florence. Bythen, sweltering heat and a failingsound system had driven half theaudience of 400 to 450 outside. At thispoint the proceedings were halted untilthe original auditorium becameavailable and things began to flow moresmoothly. Dr. Pinotti deserves ourapologies and congratulations forcarrying on courageously in the face ofconditions that were hardly conduciveof attentive listening to say the least.

ARNOLD TO HYNEK

Jacobs, author of The UFOControversy in America, said "thehistory of UFOs in the United States

can be divided into two distinct phases:the first was the attempt to prove theexistence of the phenomenon asanomalous and to have it achievescientific and public legitimacy. Thesecond phase is the investigation of theinternal motives of the intelligencebehind the phenomenon.

"The first phase," he added,"began with Kenneth Arnold's sightingin the summer of 1947. It ended in 1986,with the death of J. Allen Hynek, a yearbefore the publication of BuddHopkins' Intruders: The IncredibleVisitations at Copley Woods." Jacobscalled Intruders a "monumentallyimportant book...which for the firsttime publicly reveals the extent of theUFO phenomenon's intrusion into thepersonal lives of humans." Itspublication marks the beginning of thesecond phase, the realization of theimpor tance of the abduct ionphenomenon.

As for where we are now, Dr.Jacobs noted that "we have at leastadvanced beyond the sighting report.The material developed from theabduction accounts'has unequivocablyplaced us in the study of extraterrestriallife, motivations, intentions andactivities. We may be on the threshholdof momentous discoveries. Goingthrough that threshhold couldintellectually lead us to anotheruniverse."

ITALIAN UFOS

Dr. Roberto Pinotti next reviewedforty years of UFO activity andresearch initiating from the underbellyof Europe. After a false start or two, thevarious Italian UFO groups met inSeptember of 1965 to form a NationalCenter for UFO Studies (Centre UnicoNazionale, or CUN) based largely onAmerica's NICAP, or NationalInvestigation Committee on AerialPhenomena. Since then, CUN, like mostcivilian UFO organizations around the

world, has celebrated its successes andsuffered its failures, which at one pointincluded the publication by an offshootgroup, in English, of UFO Phenomena,"an international annual review,devoted to the scientific study of UFOphenomena." CUN's greatest lastingcontribution was probably simplylending ufology respectability in theeyes of the Italian public.

For much of the Seventies^ Italianufology was mostly paralyzed until alanding case and close encounter wavestruck the peninsula in 1978. Even thenthe aftereffects were the adoption, bymany groups, of the nouvelle vogue, or"new wave," of UFO interpretationwhich first surfaced in France and soonspread to other European countries.This new wave, said Pinotti, wascharacterized by "socio-psychological"explanations of the UFO phenomenonwhich sought to deny or downplay itsphysical aspects altogether. The newgeneration had their greatest impact(and some say most embarrassingfiasco) with the publication of LaGrande Peur Martienne, "The GreatMartian Scare," by Gerard Barthel andJacques Brucker (1979), followers of"converted" French ufologist MichelMonniere. Essentially, The GreatMartian Scare was a revisionistdemolition of the famous French Waveof 1954, publicized by Jacques Valleeand others, which for the first timemarked the widespread appearance ofUFO humanoid and landing cases.

Following the 1978 wave, whichincluded police and carab/enenphotographs, military pilot sightings,and numerous reports of submergedobjects from the so-called "AdriaticTriangle," the Italian government, saidPinotti, "officially charged the Air Forceto keep the whole UFO question undercontrol." Today, he added, "CUNstands prepared to share its 20 years ofUFO investigative experience withfellow American ufologists."

FRENCH UFOLOGY

As matters stand today, the onlygovernment-funded UFO organizationin the world is France's GEPAN, anacronym for Unidentified AerospacePhenomena Study Group, a division ofthe French National Space Agency,4

DR. ROBERTO PINOTTI

which was first founded in 1977. Asimilar idea proposed to PresidentJimmy Carter in this country, and to befunded by NASA, eventually came tonought.

The summary of GEPAN's originalaims and subsequent findings wasprovided in the first of the Saturdayafternoon sessions by Mr. JeanJacques Velasco, the group's presentdirector. In its initial incarnation,GEPAN, under the guidance ofstatistician Claude Poher, had to decidebetween two very different approachesto the UFO phenomenon. "Would itattempt to answer the questions putforth by the general public," askedVelasco, "questions that often relatedunidentified phenomena to discussionsof extraterrestrial intelligence? Orwould it ignore such considerations andconcentrate on rejecting the 'evidence'by p o i n t i n g to hoaxes andmisunderstandings, i.e., building on the

psychological and psychosociologicalapproach?" Ultimately, the GEPANhierachy chose a course of action "thatallowed scientists and technicians totake into account all the importantelements, including the significantsociocultural dimension." Would thatour own space officials were soenlightened!

"A scientific advisory body,"continued Velasco, "comprisingastronomers, physicists, legal expertsand other eminent personalities was setup to monitor and give direction toGEPAN activities. The first tasksundertaken included setting up a datacollection system operated inconjunction with the Air Force, civilaviation authorities, weather services,the national police and the localGendarmerie. Previously reportedcases were investigated and statisticalanalyses conducted of eyewitnessreports."

These initial efforts, according toMr. Velasco, uncovered threecharacteristic facts: "One, theappearance of certain unidentifiedphenomena cannot be accommodatedby conventional physical, psychologicalor psycho-social models; Two, aphysical component in the phenomenareported is extremely likely, and three,the spatial and temporal dimensions ofthe events are of a very low order."

GEPAN developed two types ofapproaches, said Velasco. "Mini-investigations, where the aim was tostudy significant cases from, say, aphysical or psychosociological point ofview, allowing a particular category ofphenomena to be isolated. And fullinvestigations, concerning unexplainedcases and checking on all theobservable elements, in particular thegathering and examination of physicaland biological evidence."

Since GEPAN's inception in 1979,Velasco noted that 19 such mini- andfull investigations had been carriedthrough. The most potential lyproductive of these, the Trans EnProvence case (see the MUFON UFOJournal, March 1984, number 193)revealed evidence of a physical tracelanding, "including a 30 to 50%reduction in the chlorophyll pigments ofwild alfalfa (medicago minima) in thevicinity of the reported landing,correlated to distance from the centerof the phenomenon.

"Data show that a considerableamount of gamma radiation (10 rads)must be applied to produce adisturbance equivalent to thatobserved at the site. Should weconsider the presence of ionizing(nuclear) radiation? Almost certainlynot, since no measurable residualradioactivity was present in the plants.However, could the trauma be causedby an electromagnetic field? Probably."

In conclusion, Velasco said "thework of GEPAN has developed steadilyand produced interesting results, buthas also pointed to a set of fundamentallimitations that arise from a certaininadequacy of the available data, fromthe analytical methods used, and fromlack of knowledge.

"A major and essential step stillremains to be taken, namelydiscovering the origin of — and

i n t e r p r e t i n g — the d i f f e r e n tphenomena. This whole field ofinvestigation and the associated bodyof hypotheses that need to beformulated fall beyond the scope ofGEPAN. These questions are for thes c i e n t i f i c , social and c u l t u r a lcommunity to tackle: such is the priceof a more complete understanding (oneday, we hope) of Unidentified FlyingObjects."

OCCUPANT CORRELATION

Mr. Velasco was followed by Ret.Navy Captain Daniel Alberto Perisse,of Argentina. Now active in civilianSouth American ufological circles,Capt. Perisse first became interested inUFOs in 1965, while he wasCommander of the Decepcion IslandNavy Post in the South ShetlandArchipelago, Anarctica. In the summerof that year, several research outpostson the island, including those ofArgentina, Chile and England, were"buzzed" by UFOs on seven separateoccasions. Experienced military andscientific personnel at all three baseswere involved. In fact, both theArgentine Navy and Chilean Air Forces u b s e q u e n t l y i ssued o f f i c i a lcommuniques on the sightings. Asmany as 14 individual observers wereinvolved in one case in which the UFOwas visible for an hour. Attempts tophotograph the object were hamperedby the slow speed (20 DIN) of theavailable film and fifty mile-an-hourwinds (July is midwinter at the SouthPole, when the bases are completelycut off from the outside world.)

Still, the incidents were enough toconvince Capt. Perisse that there wasmore to reports of UFOs than generallymet public perception. In his own case,the sightings resulted in a lifelonginvolvement. "But if the UFOphenomenon is truly strange," Perissesaid in Washington, "the existence ofthe occupant phenomenon is evenmore so." Like many of us, Perissewondered if there might not be a way ofvalidating the correlation betweenUFOs and reported occupants, giventhat our data is spotty and the subjectreluctant to sit still for examination.Unlike some of us, he hit on a cleverapproach to the problem.

What Perisse did was to take 12cases from the files of UNICAT, thecomputerized UFO listing begun by thelate Dr. Hynek and now maintained byDr. Willy Smith. The criterion forselection was the inclusion of sizeestimates, both for the UFO and itsreported occupants, and the number ofthe latter. Using that data, Perisse wasable to obtain a coefficient rating of the"contained" (the UFO occupants) withthe "container" (the UFO). Perisseadmitted that such a statistical analysiswas plagued by potential unknownfactors, but that in general his findingsfell within the expected parameters ofhumanlike technologies. "This finding,bearing in mind that the UFOphenomenon is apparently intelligent,allows us to infer, finally, that theintelligence behind these appearanceshas conceived UFOs with the truecapabilities of being occupied by theentities that have appeared inside themor nea rby . " A l t e r n a t i v e l y , adiscrepancy in the correlation betweenUFOs and occupant volumes mighthave suggested that such reports hadtheir origin in human fantasy, such asdreams and hallucinations. But beforefinal conclusions can be drawn, Perisseadvised, the number of such casesunder study needs to be greatlyenlarged.

BRITISH UFOLOGY

Bernard Shaw once describedBritons and Americans "as two peoplesseparated by a common language."Such is not quite the case today inregard to UFO research, though therehave been dissimilarities, to be sure, inour respective experience. The mostsignificant difference, according toveteran UFO writer Hilary Evans, afounder of the London-based ASSAP(the Association for the Scientific Studyof Anomalous Phenomena), is Britain'slack of a Freedom of Information Act(FOIA), which has resulted in theretrieval of thousands of UFO-relatedgovernment documents in this country.The Ministry of Defense (MoD) inEngland has remained tight-lipped andclose-fisted about UFOs under "IronLady" Margaret Thatcher and a priorsuccession of post-WW II primeministers.

"The earliest, official involvementwith the UFO phenomenon in Britain,"said Evans, "seems to have started in1943, when a Lt. Gen. Massey iscredited with heading an inquiry intothe then current wave of 'foo-fighter'reports." The commission allegedlydisbanded the following year. In theintervening forty-plus years,- thegovernment has failed to mountanother official investigation (at leastpublicly!). This means, of course, thatUFO, research has fallen almostexclusively into the hands'of individualcitizens, with the accompanyingvariations in quality that might beexpected. The same is also true of presscoverage of the subject, which rangesfrom the totally irresponsible andsensational reporting of most of themajor daily . ' • newspapers to morecautious and, resonable journalism onthe grass-roots level. Well-knownastronomer Patrick Moore (recentlyimplicated in the Allingham hoax),Evans noted, is frequently trotted but todebunk the subject on TV and radiotalk shows. "But for more than fortyyears we have been fortunate enoughto haye Flying Saucer Review, which inits heyday deserved its reputation asthe world's leading UFO journal."However, many British researcherspresently feel FSR is resting on itslaurels, bounteous as they are.

Various small UFO organizationsdot the Isles, characterized both byserious investigation and (occasional)bickering. But in a rainstorm, theyusually congregate under the umbrellaof BUFORA, the British UFO ResearchAssociation, founded in 1959, andwhich now hosts a biennial UFOCongress, drawing speakers andinvestigators from America and thecontinent. "The overall situation inBritain right now,"Evansexplained, "asno doubt elsewhere, is that fewer casesare being reported, but those few are ofhigher quality." He attributed thatcircumstance to a more educatedpublic and a disenchantment with theauthorities, government, military andscientific.

( A p o t e n t i a l l y s i g n f i c a n tdiscrepancy between UFO activityreported in the United States andEngland needs to be mentioned.According to Evans, "though a few6

K : • i^&X?S&

HILARY EVANS

such incidents have been reportedhere, American seems to have a near-monopoly of abduction cases."(BUFORA's director of investigations,Jenny Randies, presented a shortSymposium paper on the same subjectwhich we hope to reprint at a futuredate.)

Current British research, saidEvans, appears concentrated in threeareas: an historical investigation of1912-13 "phantom-airship" reports; awitness evaluation study employing apsychological questionnaire; and datacollection and analysis centering on"ball of light" (BOL) phenomena, mostprobably natural in origin. The otherpresent thrust of British ufology istowards increased international co-operation.

ANCIENT UFOS

Though Kenneth Arnold initiatedthe modern era of UFO reports in 1947,other countries and cultures can tracetheir UFO lineage back centuries, or inthe case of India, even millenia, if itsreligious scriptures contain credibleaccounts of "flying cars," or uimanas,as some believe. Reviewing ancient

Sanskrit literature at the AmericanUniversity symposium this year wasMUFON's representative for India, Mr.Kanishk Nathan of New Delhi. Tales ofpowerful flying machines flown by thepantheon of Hindu deities pepper thepoetry found in Indian classics like theRigVedas. the Ramayana, and theMahabharata, epic works for the mostpart only partially translated intoEnglish. In the case of the Rig-Vedas,the background oral tradition may dateback as far as 10,000 B.C.

Unfortunately, a few dubious UFOtracts have excerpted passagesdescribing these ancient flying devicesdud attached their own sensationalinterpretations to same. Such claimsmay, or more likely, may not representh u m a n i t y ' s f i r s t con tac t w i t hextraterrestrial intelligence, suggestedMr. Nathan. However, there is onecurious text worthy of seriousconsideration, the l/ymaam'Jca-Shaastra. or "Science of Aeronautics."Unlike the other religous epics, theVymaanika Shaastra recounts neitherheroic nor allegorical deeds, butfocuses almost exclusively on theuimanas, their technology and thepsychological requirements, or

development, of their pilots. There is,said Nathan, a sort of matter-of-factness about the whole treatise that atleast raises more questions than itanswers. Unfortunately, Mr. Nathanwas unable to attend to deliver hispaper in person, due to a leg injury.

CHILEAN OVNIS

Unlike India, which is relativelybereft of modern UFO reports, Chile,according to journalist J. AntonioHuneeus, has logged virtually everycategory of sighting known to modernufology, from radar-visual and landingcases, to scrambled jets, stalledmotors, CE-3's and abductions. In fact,Huneeus' native Chile even enjoyed, ifthat's the word, a flying saucer flap inmid-1947, just as the U.S. wasundergoing a similar "scare." Andlikewise, sightings have continueddown to the present day. The attitudesof officialdom have fairly closelyparalleled America's, too, governmentand military officials occasionallyissuing non-committal statements inthe face of public pressure. Publicufology is mainly practiced in the press(and as here, the newspapers varytremendously in quality and approach),through various civilian organizations,and via popular radio talk shows. Withhelp from his extensive slide collectionpertaining to Chilean and SouthAmerican UFOs, Mr. Huneeuspresented a thoroughly entertainingprogram. Space prohibits even asummary of the amount of material hecovered, but his complete paper, alongwith those of the other invitedinternational speakers, is printed in theMUFON Proceedings (InternationalSymposium on Unidentified AerialPhenomena: 1947-1987, Illus., 222pp.,$15, plus $1.50 p&h, from MUFON, 103Oldtowne Road, Seguin, TX, 78155.)

MAJESTIC 12

William L. Moore, co-author withCharles Berlitz of The Roswell Incident,entertained a full banquet hall with anentrancing update of informationconcerning the apparent crash of aflying disc near Roswell, NM, and thesubsequent recovery of four alienbodies. The most startling news camein the form of an anonymously supplied

WILLIAM L. MOORE

document Moore received dating fromthe late Forties which seeminglyconfirms the existence of a supersecretMJ, or Majestic, 12 group established tostudy UFOs and lAC's, or IdentifiedAlien Craft. Moore, joined in hisresearch by Stanton Friedman and LATV producer Jamie Shandera,admitted the authenticity of thedocument in question has yet to beproven, but that persistent research inpresidential and government files hasnot yet disproved it, either. Themajority of those documents werepublished in the last issue of theJournal; a complete packet can be hadfor a nominal fee from the Fund ForUFO Research. Among the moresurprising MJ-12 revelations was thesuggestion that the late Harvardastronomer, Dr. Donald H. Menzel,was a member of the elite organization.As many know, Menzel was probablythe most ardent anti-UFO scientist andauthor on record. If it should turn outhe was indeed a member of MJ-12, thehistory of early ufology in this countrytakes a sudden if not whollyunexpected turn, especially in terms ofgovernmental disinformation.

ABDUCTION PANELS

Following Moore's banquetspeech in the basement of the MaryGraydon Center, we marched backacross the quad en masse to the WardCircle Building for dessert, which wasserved up in the form of two paneldiscuss ions on the abduc t ionphenomenon, one was composed ofabductees, chaired by Dr. DavidJacobs, the other of investigators,chaired by Dr. Michael Swords. Amongthe abductees were Whitely Strieberand "Kathy Davis," who featuredprominent ly in Budd Hopkins'Intruders. Space prohibits only thebarest of impressions. For the mostp a r t , t h e abduc t ee s seemedsurprisingly eloquent, given that theyhailed from varied walks of life and wereliterally snatched off the street by thebaffling nature of their experience. Onecould not but be impressed by theirinsistence that something strange hadhappened to them, though theythemselves did not completely agree asto what it was. The women especially(the panel was equally divided betweenthe sexes) expressed fear for theirchildren, that they, too, might beabducted.

AFRICAN FOLKLORE

WHITLEY STRIEBER

Sunday morning, Cynthia Hind ofHara re , Z imbabwe, MUFON'scontinental coordinator for Africa, whodoes yeoman's work investigatingUFOs in her native country, saidabductions seem to have passed SouthAfrica by, though she did mention onecase of reported "missing time."Humanoids have been reported, oftenin association with landed objects, buthere, as well as in "standard" UFOreports, the native interpretation ofevents is invariably colored by localfolklore. One member of the Mashonatribe, who saw three beings in silversuits, told Cynthia "They were thespirits of my ancestors." She repliedthat his ancestors probably woreanimal hides and alligator teeth. "Well,"8

he answered logically, "times change!"On the 29th of January, 1987, what

was in all probability a balloon releasedby NASA crossed over the tip of thecontinent. At the same time, severalworkers at a saw mill reported an objectcontaining two men, one dressed inblue and one in white. They remainedconvinced that the figures were Malawingangas (witch doctors) bound forSouth Africa for fresh muti, "medicine."

AUSTRALIA

Similar native legends may informthe early history of UFOs in Australia,said Bill Chalker, MUFON staterepresentative for New South Wales,though it is impossible to say with

certainty at this late. remove. TheAborigines of western Australiarevered "a supreme being" calledDjamar. According to tradition, saidChalker, "he manifested in a mannerhighly suggestive of 'something' landingand leaving behind a physical record.The young initiates of the tribe were ledto the stony bed of a creek and wereshown the holes where Djamar hadplanted his 'bullroarer.'"

The earliest modern Australianreport on record of a UFO occurred thenight of July 25-26, 1868, and is highlysuggestive of the "phantom airships"reported in America almost 30 yearslater. A Fred. Wm. Birmingham said hesaw a flying "ark" land in ParramattaPark, near Sydney. A "spirit" - "theshape of a man in his usual frock dress"- ostensibly the "ark" operator, tookBirmingham aboard the "machine" andsubsequently showed him "papers"which included formulae. "The parallelswith modern contact/abductioncases," said Chalker, "are startling."

Shortly after the turn of thecentury, in 1909, nearby New Zealandexperienced a wave of phantom airshipreports which trickled down intoAustralia to a lesser degree. Scatteredreports occurred during the interveningyears, but the modern UFO era downunder began in 1950, with summersightings from Geelong and Avoca,Victoria. Another "invasion" centeredon the same state in 1954, followed byanother flap in the fall of 1957. Thefamous Father Gill case of Papua NewGuinea took place two years later.Another wave occurred in 1983. Themost famous of all Australian UFOcases, of course, was undoubtedly thedisappearance of young FrederichValentich aboard a small Cessna overBass Strait, the evening of October 21,1978. Two months and ten days later,New Zealand was back in the pictureagain with the videotaped KaikouraLights. "Clearly," Chalker concluded,"even from this limited historicalsurvey, it is apparent that Australia hasa rich UFO tradition and a potentattendant controversy about itsimportance."

UFO - SWEDEN

From "Down Under" to the

Scandanavian countries is a longterrestrial hop.but apparently notwhere UFOs are concerned. The last40 years, in Sweden, at least, have beencharacterized by the sorts of reportsand the civilian and military response tothem seen in other western countries,according to Bertil Kuhlemann, anengineer born in Gothenburg. In otherwords, Swedish ufology has had its upsand downs, in direct relation to thephenomenon and public interest.Recent Swedish activities have resultedin a co-investigation with UFO-Norway,employing sophisticated scientific andphotographic equipment, of thepersistent Hessdalen Lights, SSE ofTrondheim. Other energetic effortshave been in the direction of theestablishment of Project URD (UFOReporting and Data System), acomputerized data collection andanalysis program, and the promotion ofICUR, the International Committee forUFO Research, of which Kuhlemann isa co-founder (1979) and presentchairman.

URUGUAY AND BRAZIL

Dr. Willy Smith, who maintains hisown UFO computer database,UNICAT, covered developments inboth Uruguay and Brazil. Chauvinistic-ally, one might expect a "backward" orsensationalistic approach to UFOs inUruguay, but this has not been thecase, largely because of two factors,noted Smith. The first was theformation (in 1958) of the well regardedand scientifically incjined civilian UFOorganization, CIOVI. Last year, CIOVIwas appointed official adviser in UFOmatters to the Division of Science andTechnology of the Ministry ofEducation and Culture. Secondly, in1979, the Uruguayan Air Force createdits own commission for the study ofUFO reports, CRIDOVNI.

"The history of the UFOphenomenon in Brazil," said Smith, "isperhaps best divided into two periods:the classic, extending to the late 60'sor early 70's, in which reports of UFOactivity seem to indicate a systematicexploratory effort; and the modernperiod, typified by a predominance ofCE3 and abduction reports, for themost part poorly investigated, and even

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more poorly documented."Which is not to say that all

Brazilian reports should be thrown outwith the bath water. Among those thathave received wide publicity are theBarra da Tijuca photographs (1952),the Antonio Villas Boas abduction andsexual encounter (1957), the TrindadeIsland sequential photos (1958), and theItaipu Fort incident on November 4,1957. More recently, in May of 1986, theBrazilian Air Force engaged a group ofnocturnal lights for three hours thatseems to stand up as a solid case. Othermodern repor ts , however, arefrequently characterized by a profusionof abductions culminating in sexualencounters. "The inference," Smithnoted, "is that Brazil has produced notonly a myriad of sensational cases, alas,without scientific value, but also ahandful of solid incidents which must betaken into account in any seriousufological research."

CONCLUSIONS

Much more could be said aboutwhat took place at the WashingtonSymposium, but even a summary ofthe other events would stretch available

space. The barest bones will have tosuffice. Of the more than twentycontributed papers presented inparallel sessions, we hope to publish themajority in future issues of the Journal.The media, print and electronic,needless to say, was out in full force. Ifthere was an unfortunate aspect to thesymposium, it was the fact that so manyof "us" attended that the general publichad to be turned away; there simplywasn't room to seat them. In terms offinances, Washington '87 may go downin history as the most successful UFOsymposium yet, due to generousdonations to alleviate travel expensesof the speakers. And since most of themoney will go to replenish the coffers ofthe Fund for UFO Research, it couldn'thave happened at a more opportunetime to a more deserving group, sincethe same money will eventually bedispersed back into ufology via variousresearch and investigative projects.Hopefully, the theme of the AmericanUniversity Symposium — "40 Years IsLong Enough!" — will filter throughsociety at large in the same fashion. It'sabout time, too.

THEORETICAL UFO PHYSICS

By Daniel H. Harris, PH.D.

Over the years, as studies of UFOphenomena have moved from datacollection towards analysis andsynthesis, scientists and other seriousresearchers have done increasinglysophisticated work with UFO data.Simultaneously, UFO investigatingorganizations have improved their datacollection technology and investigativetechniques.

Both researchers and investi-gators have contributed to a markedimprovement in the quality of UFO dataand the credibility of UFO phenomena.But even with abundant high qualitydata, UFO research still lacks atheoretical structure, one that caninterconnect patterns in the data andprovide an understanding of underlyingprocesses. A theoretical structure isessential if UFO research is to becomea true scientific discipline. Thisdiscussion will introduce a first ordertheory of UFO physics, perhaps thefirst step towards a full theoreticalstructure for UFO science. .

PATTERN SEARCH

To find those phenomena whichare credible, and thus useful in thephysics analysis, it was necessary tolook for patterns in thousands of UFOcase reports. Most of the reports werefound in case catalogs, in the morecredible UFO books and in then e w s l e t t e r s o f i n v e s t i g a t i n gorganizations. (Thank you MUFON forproviding quality case material for thepattern search.) Greater weight wasgiven to physical trace cases,instrumented recordings, photo casesinvolving multiple witnesses, and otherhigh quality data.

The pattern search emphasizedphysical phenomena such as magneticf ie ld ef fec ts , UFO propulsioncapabilities, UFO light beams, UFOappearance changes, occupantcapabilities, time rate effects like the10

Rip van Winkle and inverse Rip vanWinkle effects, weight changes nearUFOs, etc. The nature of thesephenomena is • such that they areprobably not the product of intentionali l l u s i o n s p r o d u c e d b y U F Ointelligences. Therefore, I have studiedthe UFO case material assuming that allcredible physical patterns are realphenomena.

Case data patterns were acceptedas credible only if several independentreports described similar phenomena,(Those cases involving hoaxes andwitness errors were recognized bycareful analysis and by comparison withthe credible case data patterns.) Theresulting set of credible patternsdisplays a striking uniformity, the samephenomena occurring repeatedly inreports from sources scattered widelyin time and space. The coherent natureof these phenomena shows that we aregenerally dealing with competentwitnesses and careful reporting.

NEW PHYSICS

The credible UFO phenomenainclude numerous examples ofphenomena which suggest theexistence of a new physics. Forexample, UFOs often move with veryhigh accelerations, on the order of 300g's. At other times they hover or levitatewithout substantial reaction thrust.They can fade to invisibility or they canchange their apparent shape. Suchphysical effects invite investigation.

As a starting point for thisinvestigation I made the assumption (inDecember, 1972) that UFO physics isnot too far beyond our currentunderstanding. That is, the equationsand principles of physics, whenreconceptualized or extended, wouldgive a first order understanding of UFOphenomena. (Otherwise effective UFOresearch would be beyond my ability

and there would be no need for me tostudy the subject.)

I also assumed that UFOphenomena are a single coherent set ofphenomena describable by one trulycomprehensive physics theory, not avariety of separate overlappingphenomena with diverse theoriesexplaining each of them. After a yearand a half of full time study I felt I had avery promising theory. Analysis hassince shown that my success at thattime was only because I had made areasonable starting assumption. Myinitial assumption, slightly revised, hasbeen the basis of all work done since:

"UFO physics may be understoodif the presently recognized equationsand principles of physics (Laws ofPhysics) are unchanged in peculiarregions, while certain physicalconstants act like field variables."

Each physics model is specified bya set of equations describingre la t ionsh ips between newlyrecognized variables, variables which inconventional physics are consideredinvariant physical constants. Toformulate a physics model one seeks aset of relationships among these newvariables which satisfies the principlesand equations of physics and which alsoprovides an understanding of UFOphenomenona. (Some of these newlyrecognized variables are: the speed oflight, the time rate, certain atomicconstants, and the particle and fieldenergies.)

Preserving the standard equationsof physics in a peculiar region whilepermitting some constants to vary hasthe important consequence that onlythose physics models which satisfyEinstein's principle of relativity haveself-consistent variations of the newvariables. Therefore, I assume thatEinstein's principle of relativity is validin regions with peculiar conditions. I callthis assumption the Principle ofRelativity II. This means that an

observer inside a peculiar region whendoing observations restricted to thatregion would not be able to findanything peculiar about the localphysics.

LIGHT SPEED

Early in this work I tested a varietyof UFO physics models. All the earlymodels, including my own, failed byvarying degrees when they were testedfor physical plausibil i ty, self-consistency and agreement with the fullset of credible UFO phenomena. Themost promising models were RelativityII models. However, even the RelativityII models gave an understanding of onlya subset of UFO phenomena. Still, theearly studies did produce results whichare simple enough to be independent ofthe model chosen.

Primary among these is the evidentvariation of the speed of light nearUFOs. The bending of light beams nearUFOs, the apparent UFO shape andsize changes, their ability to merge orfission, their frequently diffuse edges,and other effects argue for real lightspeed variations near UFOs. Lightspeed variations make these exoticphenomena understandable asconsequences of light bending. Thelight speed variation concept was one ofthe keys to formulating the physicsmodels. Since 1980, the speed of lighthas been treated as the root variable inall the Relativity II physics models. Thatis, each of the physics models hasspecified relations between the speed oflight and the other new variables.

Because UFO phenomena are soexotic and diverse, testing physicsmodels takes considerable effort,particularly since interpretation is quiteuncertain even when using the bestdata. After many attempts at finding acomprehensive physics model, itbecame clear th..i if emphasis remainedprimarily on analysis of UFO case data,then no physics model would beestablished as uniquely superior.Inconsistencies and other flaws in thephysics tended to remain unnoticedwhen the focus was on explaining thecase data.

Additional input data was needed,such as a simplifying principle fromphysics or some critical observation

from another area of science. Searchesfor critical test phenomena in balllightning physics and in observations ofpeculiar astronomical objects did not atthat time yield useful results.

In the fall of 1984, my researchshifted toward finding elegance,simplicity and self-consistency in thephysics models. At that time the fullutility of the principle of Relativity IIbecame apparent, as well as the criticalimportance of the principle of energyconservation. (In Relativity II theprinciple of energy conservation tells usthat an observer inside a peculiar regionupon measuring and comparing variouskinds of energy finds all forms of energyas expected from normal physics, whilean outside observer measuring thesesame inside energy values finds allforms of energy scaled by a factorrelated to the peculiar region's speed oflight. This is analogous to the shrinkingof objects and the slowing of clocks inEinstein's relativity.)

In late 1986, by using the principleof Relativity II and the principle ofenergy conservation, I discovered a setof physics models which are bothelegant and self-consistent. Thesemodels are simpler in concept thanearlier models and they describe moreUFO phenomena than previouslyunderstood. Furthermore, thesemodels give a better understanding ofobservations of ball lightning and exoticastronomical objects like quasars. Eachof these models postulates that in apeculiar region all forms of energy varytogether and are proportional to apower of the speed of light, e.g., onemodel says that all forms of energy varywith the speed of light squared.

PHYSICAL CHANGES

Between October, 1986, andJanuary, 1987, I tested these modelsagainst patterns in the UFO case data.It seems that only one of these modelsfits the widest range of patterns in theUFO data. Furthermore, this samephysics model requires the leastmodification to conventional physics.Therefore, I believe that this particularphysics model is the key tounderstanding UFO physics.

Results presently available showthat this model gives an understanding

of UFO invisibility and appearancechanges, extreme UFO maneuvers andlevitation, UFO invisibi l i ty andlevitation, UFO associated time lossand t ime a d v a n c e m e n t , UFOgenerated high strength magneticfields, UFO light beams and light beambending near UFOs, UFO light beamweapons, access to parallel spacetimes, faster than light travel, and manyother phenomena. It is very pleasing tofind that one comprehensive theorydoes indeed explain the UFOphenomena.

Although this theory provides au s e f u l tool fo r u n d e r s t a n d i n grelationships among the new variables,it does not as yet provide anunderstanding of the process whichgenerates or triggers the peculiarphysics effects. This source process isthe process which connects unusualconditions in the peculiar region withchanges in the speed of light and otherphysical constants.

Since peculiar physics effectsseem to occur spontaneously andnaturally in ball lightning, quasars, andother exotic astronomical objects, Ibelieve that with the aid of the presenttheory and greater knowledge of theconditions in these peculiar objects wemay be able to pin down the sourceprocess. We should then be able tobuild devices to replicate these peculiareffects. We may even build UFO-likevehicles and then follow UFOs to findout their point of origin and purposehere.

If you would like to get involved inthis research by collecting relevantUFO data, by critiquing the physics, orby learning more about this research,then please contact the author at theInstitute for Fundamental ScientificInvestigations, P.O. Box 530233,Austin, TX, 78753.

MUFON103 Oldtowne Rd.

Scguin, Texas78155

11

NIGHT SIEGEBy Philip Imbrogno

Something truly extraordinaryhappened in the Hudson River Valley,just a few miles north of New YorkCity. Hundreds, and probablythousands, of astonished peoplelooked up in the sky and sawsomething they'd never seen before. .

It was huge, awesome andspectacular.

It was seen not once but manytimes over a period of more than threeyears.

No one knew what it was. No oneyet knows. . .

These are the opening words of theprologue of Night Siege: The HudsonValley UFO Sightings, to be publishedby Ballantine Books in October. This isa book about what was probably themost spectacular, prolonged series ofsightings anywhere in the world.

The sightings began, as far as wecan learn, as midnight approached onNew Year's Eve 1982 and havecontinued until as recently as the latterpart of May 1987, with 1983 and 1984being the periods of the most frequentsightings by large numbers of people.

Thousands of people saw whatmost described as a huge, boomerang-shaped object, usually very brightly litand moving low and very slowly in thenight sky. Often, it simply hoveredsilently or emitted only a faint hummingsound.

FLYING CITY

One man called it a "flying city."Another said it was a big as an

aircraft carrier.Nearly all said it was as large as a

football field, and some said threefootball fields.

Although the sightings began onNew Year's Eve 1982, it was severalmonths before we first became aware ofthem, and life has not been the samesince. Virtually all of our spare timesince then has been spent investigating12

PHILIP IMBROGNO

in an area of more than 1,400 squaremiles.

Although sightings were reported asfar north as Albany, New York, and wellinto Massachusetts, we restricted ourinvestigation to Westchester, Putnamand Dutchess counties in New York,and Fairfield, Litchfield and New Havencounties in Connecticut.

We estimate at least 5,000 peoplesaw the UFO, and we have severalthousand hours of taped interviewswith hundreds of witnesses, many ofthem good, solid people w i t hprofessional backgrounds. Even then,we had to ignore literally hundreds ofreports, simply because we didn't havethe time or manpower — or money —to run down every one.

At first I had no thought of writing abook about the sightings. My firstconcern was to investigate the reportsand document them as fully as possible.

BEGINNINGS

In March 1983, The New YorkTimes wanted to run a story on the

sightings and a reporter phoned AllenHynek at his home in Arizona. Whenthe reporter said hundreds of peoplehad seen a UFO the size of a footballfield over a major highway, Allen wasastounded. He hadn't heard about thesightings.

Allen phoned me and asked what,was going on. We had just gottenstarted on our investigation and I hadn'thad time to notify anyone else. I filledhim in on what we had learned so far,and shortly afterwards he flew toConnecticut to work with ourinvestigation team.

From the first moment I learnedabout the sightings, I knew it was goingto be more than one man could handle,and we soon formed a team thatincluded Sheila Sabo, George Lesnick,Fred Dennis and Chris Clark. Allenjoined me in supervising theinvestigation.

In all, Allen came to Connecticutsix times to work with us, and it wasaround the end of 1983 that he asked if Ihad thought about putting together abook on the sightings. I told him no. Hethought this was such a good case that

. a book should be written, and said thatif I decided I wanted to, to contact himbecause he'd like to write it with me.

Allen was impressed by thenumbers and backgrounds of peoplewho reported seeing the UFO (as werethe rest of our investigation team).Allan was convinced that this case hadno logical explanation.

The investigation continued wellinto 1985 with no end to the sightings.By then we had hundreds of hours oftaped interviews and six notebooksfilled with data.

It was at that time that I put muchof the information into a computer andwe came up with the estimate that atleast 5,000 had seen the UFO since thebeginning of 1983. This was based notonly on all the reports we had receivedbut also on those made to police

stations, airports, newspapers, radioand TV stations and to a UFO hotlinephone that investigator Peter Gerstenhad set up in Westchester County.

What was particularly impressivewas the type of. people who were willingto go on record as having seen thisthing: scientists, engineers, doctors,lawyers, pilots, corporate executives,professors, police officers and peoplefrom all walks of life.

Allen and I tried to put amanuscript together at that time, but itwas almost impossible. Hundreds oftaped interviews still had to betranscribed, and this was a gigantic taskthat Sheila Sabo took on. For months,Sheila typed and produced hundreds ofpages of transcripts that became theraw material we would work with.

Allen and I worked up an outlineand began selecting material for thevarious chapters. However, Allen'shealth was poor by then and I was toobusy with the investigations. We weredealing with a vast amount of materialand realized we needed a professionalwriter.

BOB PRATT

We made an agreement with onewriter to do the book, but he laterbacked out, saying he had anotherproject he wanted to finish. It was thenthat our agent, John White, suggestedwe ask one of his clients, Bob Pratt, towrite the book.

Bob had become interested in theUFO phenomenon as a tabloid reporterin 1975 and since 1981 had been anindependent investigator working onhis own, mostly in Brazil. He hadinterviewed 1,300 to 1,400 people inNorth and South America and the FarEast about their sightings andencounters , and had w r i t t e nextensively about UFOs.

Allen had known Bob since 1975and respected him, both as a reporterand investigator. I didn't know Bob atthe time, but Allen thought he'd be agood choice and that was good enoughfor me. John phoned Bob, who hadgiven up hope of ever taking a firsthandlook at the Hudson Valley case, and heimmediately accepted.

That was early in 1986.1 sent Bobthe outline plus material for the first twochapters. In less than two weeks, he

Taconlc State Parkway

(W7-W11-W15-W21 & 26)

sent back a polished book proposal andthe first two chapters, and we were inDusiness.

Several months later Ballantinebought rights to the book andthroughout 1986 Bob and I workedtogether closely. He made two trips tothe Hudson Valley to take a personallook at the sighting areas, but for themost part we worked through the mailsand by phone.

Sadly, Allen died in April 1986, justseveral weeks before Ballantine agreedto publish our book. Shortly after, hiswife, Mimi, accepted our invitation towork with us, critiquing the manuscriptas it was written. She offered manyexcellent suggestions and was veryhelpful in shaping the final book.

We believe Allen would have likedthe book. It's a serious, nuts and boltstype of book without any mystical ormetaphysical aspects to it. For the mostpart, it simply relates many of the morevivid sightings, but does touch on the

possibility that a few witnesses mayhave had more than just an ordinaryencounter.

We make no claims as to what theUFO was, what it was doing or where itcame from. We simply present a strongcase for the existence of something thathas not yet been explained, and weappeal to the world's scientificcommunity to stop ignoring theevidence. As we said at the end:

We do not know what it is. We canonly speculate.

We would like to know what it is,and we believe everyone who saw itwould like to know.

We invite the scientists of theworld to take an openminded, objectivelook at this phenomenon and help solvethe mystery.(Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFOSightings, by Dr. J. Allen Hynek andPhilip J. Imbrogno with Bob Pratt, is tobe published in soft cover by BallantineBooks in October 1987.)

13

LETTER FROM BRAZILBy Bob Pratt

® 1987 by Bob Pratt

I spent most of the month ofSeptember 1986 in Brazil. It was asuccessful trip in that I got to do most ofthe things I wanted to do, but it wastiring and frustrating in many ways. Thepeople I worked with, however, wereabsolutely magnificent, very generousof their time and hospitality and evenmoney. Jean Alencar, a lawyer inFortaleza; even took a whole week offfrom his practice to take me to variousplaces in his home state, Ceara, andshared many of his cases with me.

Although I went to only a relativelyfew areas in Brazil, it was enough toshow me that virtually all the things thatwere going on back in 1977 and 1978(which took me to that country on thefirst of half a dozen visits) are still goingon, and.have been virtually non-stopthrough the years.

People in the interior are still beingterrified by UFOs. They're still beingpanicked by the sudden appearance ofa brilliantly lighted object just over theirheads as they walk in country areas atnight. And, as they run in fright, theyare still being "chased," if that is theproper word. Maybe they're simplybeing "followed" out of curiosity or forsome other reason, although in at leastone case there was a prolonged,deliberate attempt to get at a witness-victim in his hiding place.

Some people are still being injured(usually the mild-burn type of thing).Some are definitely being persecuted inthe sense that a UFO will persist over aperiod of time in trying to do something(what?) to them. And I believe severalmore deaths can be attributed to theUFOs, although the deaths may havebeen an unfortunate "byproduct" of theencounters.

Perhaps most fascinating of all isthat virtually the same things thathappened in the 1977 "Crab Islandcase" near Sao Luis (in which one man14

. J V"1" "*•p"*'»,t-*""-''~-i"-*r '::>--'-*- *•-x^£~ xj*-**" ," ^- - r*-rT" --'i.-- - - : • • " ; '•j ; ^>-*; _v-^^ ;v.

,-s+ •&#•*•' -. .-• ^Wv-ii.-^1 ;Artist Dudley Guy's interpretation of a UFO.

died and two were badly burned) haveoccurred again, in the same place andunder almost identical circumstancesnine years and one week later. Thistime one man died and a second wasinjured somehow and two othersbecame ill and fell unconscious for atleast 15 hours. Again, there is noexplanation. It is possible that neitherCrab Island case is a genuine UFOcase, because the link to UFOs in thefirst case was tenuous at best and in thesecond there appears to be nothingwhatsoever tying it to a UFO. But inboth cases something truly inexplicablehappened and if a UFO wasn'tresponsible, then some equally bafflingphenomenon is at work. (More on thislater.)

CASES CONTINUE

Briefly this is what I learned fromthe trip:

1.) In Rio, Irene Granchi broughtme up to date on 27 sightings that hadoccurred in different parts of Brazilbetween March 19 and June 15. Theseincluded the Brazilian Air Force (FAB)jet chase on the night of May 19.

Also included was a sighting at 3:30A.M. May 18 in the Jardim Botanicodistrict of Rio by a woman psychologistcurrently living in New York. She toldIrene she had watched a group of sevento ten small objects and one large objectmoving from north to south and take upfive different formations over a 15-minute period.

Irene also told me about a case thatoccurred on the night of May 23-24 inRondonopolis involving a man namedEdivaldo who was driving in a truckwhen he saw a lighted object off to oneside of the road. He then saw a flash oflight and was unconscious for 72 hours.He has no recollection of whathappened to him. Irene hopes to have apsychologist in Sao Paulo hypnotize the

man.Irene had another case involving

five persons who had close encounterson two consecutive nights (while fishingat a beach south of Rio) with an objectthe size of a two-story house comingdown and hovering within 30 meters ofthem. On the second night, they saw aplane apparently chasing the UFO andone of the witnesses, an Air Forceveteran, said it was an FAB jet.

2.) In Rio I also talked with CynthiaLuce, one of three MUFONrepresentatives for Brazil. I had achance to see interviews with thewitnesses because Mauro Costa, aphilosophy professor from Rio, hadgone with her to re-interview thewitnesses and he videotaped theinterviews. I found the use of a videocamera quite interesting, and I can seegreat possibilities for it (plus a numberof disadvantages).

3.) Since May, UFO sightings andencounters have been occurring in andaround a small village namedConceicao do Mato Dentro in MinasGerais. This is in the Valley of the Riverof the Old Women, which is four or fivehours' drive north of Belo Horizonteand is where Hulvio Aleixo (in myestimation one of the world's best, mostthorough researchers) has beeninvestigating cases for the past 35 yearsor so. I was in Belo HorizonteSeptember 9, 10 and 11, and the mostrecent sighting in the Valley had beenon September 2. This information camefrom Albert Eduardo, a young manabout 30 who is a member of AMPEU inBelo Horizonte and is one of theeditors of Jornal UFO-LOGICO.Hulvio has also investigated some of thesame sightings and he gave me anumber of details. Just a few daysbefore I met with Albert Eduardo, hehad gone to Conceico do Mato Dentrowith another young man and theyvideotaped their interviews. I saw thetape, with Alberto Do Carmo (a physicsteacher and veteran investigator)interpreting for me. Among the cases:

(a) A shy 18-year-old was returningto his home on the night of September 2when a big reddish light suddenlyturned on above his head. It frightenedhim and he ran and hid under a tree,injuring his arm as he scrambled for ahiding place.

(b) A middle-aged man returning tohis home was riding a donkey andleading another that was loaded withgoods of some kind. An enormous lightappeared as he neared his mother'shouse and "chased" him. The light thenturned off and he didn't see it any more.He was temporarily blinded. His cargomule ran off and the other refused towalk. The man described the object as a"flying refrigerator" with four red andyellow spots on it and said it made abuzzing sound.

(c) On the same night, a youngman who used to mock people who saidthey saw flying saucers was himselfchased by a UFO and had his "clothestorn off." He said the UFO "abused"him, but I don't know the details of thiscase. Now the young man will not walkat night alone any more.

(d) A woman and two small boyswalking in the dark saw a UFO comeover the top of a hill and they hid undera tree. The UFO approached the treeand they ran on to a grove of bambootrees, crawling in on their hands andknees to hide. A woman living nearbysaw all this happen from her house (shecould see the people running becausethey were illuminated by an electriclight in the street). She said the UFOflew very low, was silent and looked likea "fire torch." This woman said:"Everybody runs away from the light.Everybody's afraid of it." She also said apeasant claimed to have seen a UFOland on a field behind his house; he feltheat, got scared and locked the door.She also said the UFO was being seenalmost every night.

(e) On the night of May 15,1986, a70-year-old farm worker namedJoaquim watched as a UFO hoveredabout 50 paces away from his house,maybe 10 to 15 meters above theground, for a half hour. He said it wasflashing a beam of light all around thehills and occasionally shined it on him.He was standing in a doorway, with thelower half of the door closed, looking atit. He shielded his face with his left arm,holding it up to cover his eyes. But onone occasion his right eye was exposed,and he lost about 80 percent of thevision in that eye and his left arm wasburned (like a sunburn). He said heheard voices, but couldn't understandthe language. When the UFO finally

lifted off and went away, it hit someelectricity lines, breaking one of them.Repairmen for the power companycame out some days later to fix the wireand one of the repairmen reportedlysaw an unusual light in the distance.

Many people began carrying gunsand one such man, 22, said he saw aUFO shaped like a "refrigerator" landone night about 20 meters away fromhim. He said an occupant descended ona stairway. The witness was carrying a.38 revolver and he fired twice.Apparently he didn't hit the object nordid he hear any ricocheting sound. Hebecame frightened and ran home.

MANEUVERS

In Belo Horizonte, Alberto doCarmo told me that Albert Eduardohad talked to policewoman and a pilotwho were among a number of peoplewho saw about a dozen objects flyingfigure eights and in triangular andsquare patterns near the airport atMonte Claros in north-central MinasGerais in May. The objects appeared tobe in an intelligent formation andone looked bigger than the others.Some of the smaller ones were seenentering bigger ones. All this lasted forabout two hours. I did not get a chanceto talk to Albert Eduardo about this. (Asimilar sighting was described to me bytwo night watchmen in a suburb ofMendoza, Argentina, in 1978; they saidthat before dawn one day in July of thatyear, a large number of small objects —one witness said 25 to 30, the other saidhundreds — were flying figure-eights inand out among the light pylons ofMendoza's new soccer stadium.)

I went on to Fortaleza, and JeanAlencar took me to Paraipaba, a smallcity near the coast west of Fortaleza,where we stayed overnight in apeasant's house on a farm (quite anexperience: Manuel and Adelaide, ourhosts, were poor but kind and generouswith what they had. Manuel, Jean,another guy and I walked to the beach,four miles away, almost all of it overhuge sand dunes. It was like trekking inthe desert, but before reaching thedunes we had to walk 60 to 70 yardsthrough an ankle-deep swampy area.Fortunately for me, someone loanedme a pair of rubber-soled sandals).

15

In Paraipaba and the area ofAdelaide's farm, we talked to nearly adozen, people who had had UFOsightings or encounters as long ago asten. years before and as recently as 7o'clock the night before, the latter just afew miles from where we were staying.In one incident, a man and his grownson had a close encounter that left themboth feeling burned and suffering fromheadaches.

On the third day, Jean and I thenwent to another small coastal villagecalled Pecem, where there were severalserious cases:

One involved a farm worker, now52, who had gone fishing one night in1983 at a place on the beach where hehad fished for 30 years. At 2 A.M. abright light suddenly appeared over hishead and he ran and hid under thenearest tree. For the next four hours,he said, the UFO stayed above him andand every few minutes shined a beam oflight down on him and his hiding place.He was terrified and every time the lightwent off he felt frigid cold. When dawnbroke, the UFO disappeared and theman ran home. He hid under a bed atfirst and was sick and nauseated forweeks. Ever since then he has refusedto go out at night and will not stay homeby himself. He no longer fishes and hisfamily says he now has "mentalproblems."

We then talked to two women, one34 and the other 28. Four years ago,they and a third woman (a sister of the28-year-old) and two children had beengathering wood in the sand dunes nearthe beach a short distance east ofPecem. This was at dusk, and suddenlya big orange light appeared above theirheads and they ran. The wood theywere carrying slowed them down sothey threw it away. They ran 500 metersbefore reaching some trees where theycould hide, and the UFO chased themor followed them all the way and thenpassed on out of sight.

All of them were sick andnauseated and had headaches for morethan a week, and nine days after theincident, the 34-year-old woman, whowas then seven months pregnant, gavepremature birth. I saw her baby, Kelvia,who is now 4 years old and is a sweet,good-natured child. She smiles a lot andchatters a bit, but she doesn't walk and16

• she has heart problems. The thirdwoman, who was two monthspregnant, aborted and lost, her baby.You could argue that any pregnantwoman who runs 500 meters riskslosing her baby regardless of thecircumstances, but if the UFO had notappeared, these women would neverhave run. So, in that sense, the death,and perhaps the premature birth of achild who may never walk, can beblamed on a UFO.

LIGHT BEAM

On my fourth day in Fortaleza,Jean, another investigator namedReginaldo Athayde, who owns apharmacy, and I went to Quixada (atwo-hour drive south of Fortaleza),where we first interviewed AntonioMoreira Megalhes, a physician who, 10years earlier, had treated LuisFernandes Barros, then 52, a well-to-doQuixada businessman and ranchowner, after Barros had a UFOencounter. At about 7 A.M. on themorning of April 23, 1976, a vaquerofound Barros dazed and sitting in a.two-wheel carriage .behind a donkey,several kilometers from his ranch (16kms from Quixada).

When Barros became coherent,he said that about two hours beforedaybreak a big lighted object camedown and hovered just above him andthe donkey. A door of some kindopened on the bottom and a beam oflight was projected down on him andthe donkey. He didn't know whath a p p e n e d a f t e r t h a t . Barroscomplained of being very sick, sufferingfrom nausea, diarrhea, headaches andvomiting. (The donkey appeared to bein a sort of stupor for about a week, butthen recovered.)

Barros' wife, Teresina, took him toQuixada to see Dr. Megalhes, who wasthen 40 and had known Barros nearlyall his life. The doctor listened toBarros' story and gave him medicine toalleviate his sick feeling. However, themedicine didn't help, and the doctorsent Barros to Fortaleza to see apsychiatrist. Teresina (most of thesedetails came from her and the rest fromDr. Megalhes) told us she had herhusband in Fortaleza for two monthsand he was seen by 12 psychiatrists and

psychologists, and the only conclusionthey came to was that he had a brainlesion. He was sent home.

In the meantime, Barros hadstopped telling his story about the UFObecause almost no one believed him,other than his wife and Dr. Megalhes(who was ridiculed by his fellowphysicians for believing the story).Further, Barros' speech began todeteriorate and three months after theincident his hair turned white. By theend of six months, he had lost all of hismental faculties and had regressed tothe age of a one or two-year-old child.And ever since, the only words he saysare "Mamae," "Medo" and "Da,"(which I think mean Mama, danger andgive). He recognizes only his wife andneeds a fulltime nurse to take care ofhim. He reacts to no stimuli, except thatwhen someone takes a picture of himwith a strobe light, he screams when hesees the flash.

We went to see Barros, who livesin a large, well furnished and expensivehome in Quixada and he simply sitsstaring, occasionally moving his eyesbut apparently seeing nothing. Dr.Megalhes, who seems to be a verysensible, intelligent man, showed usthat Barros has control of his arms andlegs and did.not suffer a stroke.

This is one of Reginaldo's cases.Apparently there have been many UFOhappenings in the Quixada area, andsome residents refer to the city as the"UFO capital of the northeast." We hadlunch and after leaving the restaurantwe ran into a radio announcer friend ofReginaldo's who said he had seen aUFO on the airfield at Quixada in 1985.We had intended to see him in theafternoon to get the details but we ranout of time and didn't get back to seehim.

In the afternoon, we attempted tocheck out a report published in the Rionewspaper O Dia several years ago thatthe village of Jaburu, near Quixada,was being terrorized by UFOs. Wedrove off in search of Jaburu but nevergot there. Some distance east ofQuixada, we turned off the pavedhighway onto a one-lane dirt road andfollowed that for at least 17 kms beforegiving up because the road becameimpassable. We stopped from time totime to get directions (Jaburu was

always just "three or four kilometers"farther down the road) and usuallyheard some reference to strange lightsbeing seen in the area. Near the end ofour search, we stopped at a peasant'ssmall mud-and-thatch house fordirections, and we heard two separatereports of sightings. The father hadseen something flying by one night, andon another night two of his teenagesons said they had been "chased"across a field by a bright light.

UFO DEATHS?

The following day, Jean and ayoung friend of his, "Junho," and Idrove 400 miles to Teresina, where wecontacted four young members of aUFO organization. They knewabsolutely no th ing about theParnarama case in which four huntersallegedly were killed by UFOs inOctober 1981. Parnarama is only 80kms south south of Teresina. (Thesedeaths were reported in severalBrazilian magazines and the NationalEnquirer, in the latter part of 1981, andthe case was one of the principalreasons why I went to Brazil, to checkout these reports. Reports of deaths inUFO cases always bother me — it is theultimate in UFO experiences, I wouldsay — and I cannot understand whysomeone doesn't do whatever isnecessary to determine how true theyare. In theEnquirer's case, they reliedon a stringer in Rio who relied on areporter from Sao Luis who may or maynot have gone to Parnarama toinvestigate.)

However, the young men, fromTeresina agreed to take a day off fromtheir jobs and go with us to Parnaramathe next day. Originally, Jean, Junhoand I had planned to spend at least twodays in the Parnarama area, but shortlyafter we arrived in Teresina, Jeanphoned home and learned he had toreturn almost immediately because of acourt case, so we were able to spendonly several hours in Parnarama thenext day.

The next morning, we drove toParnarama, a really dirty, dusty drivethat ended with a five-minute ferryboatride across the Parnaiba, a shallow,muddy river several hundred yardswide at that spot. We went straight to

City Hall, since the police chief andmayor had been quoted in the stories.Naturally, by then there was a new chiefand a new mayor, and at first no oneknew anything about the four hunters.But suddenly we began to get swampedwith people who had seen orencountered UFOs, and one of themdid confirm that at least one of the fourhunters had died. This man said thehunter and a companion saw a UFOone night in October 1981 and thecompanion ran and hid, and when hereturned he found the other man dead.No one we talked to knew anythingabout any other hunters dying as theresult of UFO encounters, but theareas mentioned in the news storieswere some distance from Parnarama.

What we did learn is that UFOsightings are fairly common in theParnarama area (before we were able toleave, we made a courtesy call on themayor, a capable, confident lookingman in his mid-thirties who told us therewere "at least 100 UFO cases" in theParnarama area) and there had beensightings as recently as 10 and 20 daysbefore we went there (September 18).In one case, a landowner said he tried toshoot at a UFO one night and receivedwhat felt like an electric shock. Inanother case, a city councilwoman whowas fishing in a lake with a companionone night said a UFO came down andhovered over one end of the lake. Shesaid the light was so bright she couldsee the fish swimming around in thelake.

Some day I want to go back andspend a week or more in that area. As itis, the brief visit was an eye-opener tothe young men who had gone downthere with us from Teresina (when wefirst talked to them, they had only onepossible UFO case 20 or 30 kms northof Teresina to work on), and I am surethey will be returning there. There havebeen enough sightings in theParnarama area alone to keep thembusy for at least a year. We were able toconfirm at least one of the deathsreported in the Enquirer, butinformation on the other three will haveto wait until the young men fromTeresina can spend much more time inthe area.

CRAB ISLAND

Jean and Junho drove back toFortaleza and I went to Sao Luis — bybus. I had a 21-day air pass on VASP,one of the four major domestic airlines,but V ASP's flight attendants went onstrike several days after I arrived inFortaleza, overloading the otherairlines and making it impossible to geta flight. In Sao Luis, my friends, MonicaCarneiro and Ana Teresa Britto(Monica teaches English in both auniversity and a private school and Anateaches in the private school), helpedme track down the story of the latestCrab Island mystery (they were myprincipal interpreters on the originalCrab Island case in 1978; now they helpme because we're good friends).

As you may remember, in 1977 onthe night of April 25-26, four men (whohad sailed a 40-foot wooden boat toCrab Island to get wood) intended toawaken about midnight (when the tidecame in), load the wood (which hadbeen cut and stacked on the river banknext to the boat) and sail back to SaoLuis on the outgoing tide. Three of themen had done this a hundred timesbefore, relying on their own innerclocks and the rising tide's rocking theboat to awaken them. However, on thisnight, they didn't wake up until about 6the next morning. By then, one man, a22-year-old, was dead in his hammockand his older brother, Firmino, wasbadly burned and his cousin, Auleriano,was also burned but less severely. (Ispent a month in Sao Luis on this case;police said there was no evidence of afire on the boat — a fact that Iconfirmed with a personal visit aferwading barefoot 75 yards through knee-deep swamp — or on the banks of theriver on Crab Island.) Only Apolinario,another brother, was apparentlyunharmed, and he had to sail the boatback to Sao Luis by himself.

Firmino was left crippled by hisburns and he is no longer able to work.The men could not remember whathappened, not even when they wereput under hypnosis by Dr. Silvio Lago, aNiteroi physician and former medicalprofessor who had used hypnosis in hispractice for 45 years. The police werenot able to determine what happened,although they were convinced the threesurvivors were telling the truth.

This occurred during a period of17

extremely heavy UFO activity in thegeneral area stretching from Sao Luison the east to Pinheiro, a two-hourferryboat ride and 70-km drive to thewest. (The mayor of Pinheiro told me in1978 and again in 1981 that a UFOappeared over Pinheiro — sometimeshovering and then shooting right outinto the atmosphere, and sometimescorning right back down to 1,000meters above the town — almost everynight for four months in 1977 and thatprobably 50,000 people in his regionalone had seen it.) Crab Island is in SaoMarcos Bay between Sao Luis andPinheiro. All this, plus the fact that adoctor who was skeptical of all UFOreports said he heard Firmino (at thetime in a hospital in a semi-coma)mumble something about seeing a lightor fire ("o fogo," a common term at thattime for a UFO), are the only reasonsfor suspecting a UFO might have beeninvolved.

Now then, earlier last year, fourmen in a similar boat also went to CrabIsland for the same purpose. Theysailed three on April 28, spent two dayscutting more than 300 pieces of wood(actually, poles three to four meterslong) and had stacked them on the riverbank next to their boat. On April 30,they quit working about 6 P.M. (atdusk) and at aobut 8 one of the men,Juvencio, 22, began to cook theirsupper. However, he complained aboutfeeling dizzy and he fell to the deckunconscious. Another man, Anselmo,and a third, Lazaro, 44, also began tofeel dizzy and they too fainted. None ofthese three know what happened to thefourth man, Verissimo, 21, but whenLazaro (the first to awaken) regainedconsciousness at noon the next day,Verissimo was dead,, with no marks onhim, although some blood was tricklingfrom his mouth. The other two revivedshortly after, but all three were sick andnauseated. Juvencio also had a headinjury of some kind, with the right sideof his head being swollen.

The two uninjured men tried toload the wood onto the boat, but quitafter getting less than 30 pieces onboard and, with difficulty, sailed theboat back to Sao Luis.

The port authorities investigatedand cannot determine what happened.Monica, Ana and I were able to locate18

only Juvencio, because Lazaro wassomewhere near Alcantara, across SaoMarcos Bay, and Anselmo had goneinto the interior and no one knewexactly where he was.

From what Juvencio and the portauthorities told us, none of thesurvivors know what happened tothem. They are certain that foodpoisoning was not to blame, and theauthorities do not believe any kind ofpoisonous gas could have been thecause. No autopsy was performed onVerissimo; by the time the boat reachedSao Luis, his body was badlydecomposed (just as in the first CrabIsland case; the doctor in that caselisted "emotional shock" as the cause ofdeath). . Verissimo's death certificate(which the port authorities let us see)simply says the cause of death was"undetermined."

The only thing unusual thathappened that night is that, sometimebetween 6 and 8 P.M., the men heard aloud crashing sound somewherenearby in the darkness, as if a large treehad fallen over. However, they havenever known of a tree falling over onCrab Island.

Juvencio and Lazaro refuse to goaboard a boat any more, we were told,and the port authorities (who have arole similar to our Coast Guard) haveforbidden anyone to go to Crab Islandto gather wood any more. Thissupposedly had been prohibited allalong, but never was enforced, andafter this second incident theauthorities notified all boat owners inthe port that the law would be strictlyenforced henceforth.

One other weird coincidence:Both Juvencio and the young man whodied, Verissimo (Juvencio's brother-in-law), were related by blood or marriageto all four of the men who were involvedin the first Crab Island incident.

There is no obvious UFOconnection in this case, only theunexplained crashing sound. Aneighbor of Juvencio's, one of manypeople who gathered around as weinterviewed Juvencio, told us that onenight in 1983 he had been on a boat in astream between Alcantara and Itauna,which are across Sao Marcos Bay fromSao Luis and not too far from CrabIsland, and a big bright light came down,

hovered over them and shined a beamof light on the boat. He and hiscompanions dived overboard and hid inbushes along the bank. He said peoplein several other boats in the area hadsimilar experiences that year.

So, this is a summary of most of thecases I looked into or heard about inBrazil. I actually did little realinvestigation on this trip since I didn'thave much time. Mostly I talked towitnesses, often in the presence ofneighbors who listened to theinterviews without any negativeremarks.

Taken in the context of all the othercases I have investigated or looked intoto some extent in Brazil over the pasteight years, I found most of the storiesquite believable. A common threadseems to run through most of them,and often the experience is a rathertraumatic one for the witness. I find itdifficult to understand how such thingscan go on year after, year without theauthorities learning about them or, ifthey do, ever trying to do somethingabout them. What does it take to getthem or the scientists interested in thisphenomenon?

Lawrence Fawcett and Barry J.Greenwood

INTENT

THE GOVERNMENT COVERUPOF THE UFO EXPERIENCE

about UFOs and why won t it tell us?

With a foreword by Dr. J. Allen Hynek

MUFON103 OLDTOWNE RD.

SEGUIN, TX 78155

LOOKING BACKBy Bob Cribble

FORTY YEARS AGO--August 1947:On the fourth, the pilot and co-pilot of aDC-3, flying near Bethel, Alaska,observed a flying disc larger than theiraircraft. The disc crossed their path at.about 1000 feet and they turned to givechase. The aircraft was flying at 170mph, but the disc flew out of sight infour minutes.

* * *THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO -August 1952: Scripps-Howard StaffWriter, Doyle Kline, observed a flight often luminous discs pass overAlbuquerque, New Mexico, at 9:50p.m. on the second. Their flight wassoundless. They were clusteredtogether, then they shifted to a perfectV-formation. Within seconds theyformed two rows with the discs spacedby exact intervals. The shift was donewith precision, incredibly swift, andfantastically violent. At 4:30 a.m. thefollowing day, a Hamilton Air ForceBase (California) pilot observed eightflying discs over the Farallon Islands,west of San Francisco. Base officialsconfirmed that at the same time coastradar installations tracked UFOs inthe same area "intermittently," and thatthree intercept missions with F-86 jetswere dispatched to investigate butsighted nothing.

Li. B.A. Swinley, the, pilot whoobserved the discs, said' they wereround, silver, "were definitely physicalobjects," and flew in an irregulardiamond-shaped formation and thenshifted to string out one behind theother. He estimated their speed at 400mph. On the morning of the 20th, theradar crew at the Air DefenseCommand Post near Congaree AirForce Base, near Columbia, SouthCarolina, observed an unidentifiedobject move across their scope at aspeed in excess of 4000 mph. On thefollowing day, a Jet pilot from O'HareField, Chicago, made four passes at aUFO over Elgin, Illinois. Groundobservers who directed the pursuit, in

which another jet pilot took part,described the object as "five times asbright as a star" until it vanished.

* * *THIRTY YEARS AGO - August1957: In a new statement on UFOs,Radio Moscow declared that flyingdiscs have never been sighted overRussian territory. The broadcast wasmade on the 13th. On the same dayJosephs. Mans, Democratic candidatefor the 13th Congressional District inNew Jersey called for a completeCongressional investigation of flyingdiscs. Mans said he was convinced thata threat of interplanetary invasionexists. In addition he urged "completecooperation with other nations toprevent international panic, if and whenthe agressors from outer space arrive."

* * *TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO -August 1962: During late August,Marilyn Chenarides and her mother,Mrs. Mildred Anderson, had a closeencounter while on vacation at LakeMovil in the Minnesota wilds. "We werelooking out our cabin window when wesaw this really bright red objecthovering over our dock about 50 feetaway. It appeared from nowhere,looked to be about eight feet tall andtwo car-lengths long, and was ovalshaped with a smaller oval on top whichhad three triangular windows," Mrs.Chenarides said. "Yellow light wasshining from the windows and we couldsee the silhouettes of three human-likepeople. They were about the size ofordinary men and appeared to bestaring at us. We watched for severalminutes. Then my mother turned outthe cabin lights. As soon as she did, thelights in the object went out, too.Mother suddenly rushed out anddashed toward the object. But whenshe was about halfway to it, the objectslowly started to rise and veered awayat a tangent."

TWENTY YEARS AGO - August1967: Stanley Moxon was driving northon Highway 15 near Joyceville,Ontario, Canada at 4 a.m. on the 23rd,when he saw a huge, glowing object "asbig as a house" come out of thedarkened skies and land in a field besidethe highway, where several occupantsgot out and walked around. The 21-year-old bachelor and unshakeableskeptic when it came to UFOs said:"The light was so bright it was likedaylight. Never seen anything like it."

M o x o n sa id t h e o b j e c tdisappeared around a bend in the roadand when he drove around the bend"the ship was sitting in the field, 500 to1000 feet away." Moxon sat in his carwith the lights off watching three beingsabout three-feet tall walking around."They seemed to be walking aroundpicking up specimens of earth andplants. They looked white, with bubblesover their heads." When Moxon turnedon his lights at high beam to get a betterlook at the beings, they got back in theirship and vanished into the air withinseconds. "The ship looked like anupside-down bowl. It was on three legs.It didn't make a sound. Just zoom, andit was gone. You tell yourself, 'this can'tbe happening.'"

Moxon reported the incident topolice at Smith Falls and learnedhundreds of other people in the areareported seeing lights that morning.Police found burn marks in the groundand three impressions which indicated100,000 pounds of pressure. Within 12hours Moxon was visited by two U.S.Air Force investigators. The lengthy"interrogation" ended with theinvestigators saying they would reporttheir findings to him and advising him tokeep his mouth shut about the sighting.He never saw them again.

About 5 p.m. the following day, aman in his early twenties (namewithheld), who raced motorcycles as ahobby, was riding to Melbourne,Australia at about 70 mph when he wassuddenly surrounded by a bluish-whitelight which came from a blinding sourceabove him. When he stopped his bikehe took off his sunglasses and rubbedhis eyes. And off the road 100 feet to theleft, hovering about four feet above theground was a disc-shaped object. It waslike one table saucer placed rim-to-rim

19

on another, about 25 or 30 feet wide,silver in color on top and black or darkbrown underneath, with a dome andlittle bubble on top. There was aninsignia, which he could not readbecause it was partly obscured by thecurve of the object. A car passed by himon the road, and he made an attempt toflag it down without success.

When he turned back to theobject, two figures were standing infront of it although there was noopening in the object. They had humanshapes, were between 5 and 5l/2 feet tall,of medium build, and covered fromneck to toe in a close-fitting, apparentlyseamless silver suit. On their neckswere tight-fitting opaque helmets, likeinverted goldfish bowls. "We looked atone another for about a minute, then Itook a pace towards them. They did thesame," said the witness. "We stoodlooking for maybe another minute, thenone of them raised his hand andbeckoned to me. I was suddenlygripped by an unreasonable fear which Ihad never experienced before. Ipanicked, jumped on my bike and rodeoff.

"I was doing more than 100 mph —my bike is capable of 130 — when Iheard a humming sound. It must havebeen very loud to have reached methrough my crash helmet and above thesound of my bike and the wind. I lookedback and the object was following me —remaining at a constant distance ofabout 20 feet away on my left and about100 feet off the ground. It wassurrounded by a pinkish color. Irealized I couldn't get away from it, so Istopped, hoping to find somewhere to .hide. The object glowed and stopped,hanging in the air. The hum subsided,but didn't altogether disappear. It satthere for about 30 seconds, then thecolor began to change from pink todeep red that was quite hard to look at.It tilted to about a 45-degree angle, andleft at a fantastic speed. There was noquestion of acceleration. It went fromnaught to 2000 or 3000 miles per hour inan instant."

* * *FIFTEEN YEARS AGO - August1972: Police Sergeant Paul Carter of theColby, Kansas Police Department,speaking on his feelings and personaltheories about UFOs said, "I was a firm20

non-believer until seven minutes aftertwo this morning, and I found I couldchange my mind pretty .fast."Describing his encounter on the 19th,Carter said he watched a huge object,estimated to be 30-35 feet long and 18-20 feet in height, hover only about aquarter-mile away from his patrol car.Twice he was able to make out ageneral shape of the object describing itas resembling a cereal bowl turnedupside down, and hovering about 10-15feet off the ground. Suddenly, Cartersaid, the object "turned into a verybright white light," becoming so intensehe could not bear to look at it. Thesudden flood of light revealedjackrabbits sitting in the field as if it weredaylight. As the light intensity firstbegan to build up, Carter said, "Itseemed like it was dripping a little of thiswhite stuff off, but I could not see ittouch ground; I only saw that for a fewseconds." Then, with no furtherwarning, the hovering object "made awhooshing noise similar to a vacuumcleaner" and sped straight up into the

sky, the intense white light going out asit lifted off. "From the time it took offuntil it was completely out of sight couldnot have been more than threeseconds. A second officer, DennisBrown, approaching Carter's positionfrom the northeast, said, "I could seethe glow coming up from behind a hill."He then spotted the hurtling object as itrocketed into the sky.

* * *TEN YEARS AGO - August 1977: Asilver vehicle with two white lightsbeaming from the bottom was spottedover Casco township, Michigan, on thellth, about 4 a.m. by three policeofficers. The vehicle appeared to belarge and round, but as it passed overand slightly south of the witnesses oneof its spotlights shined down on themmaking night vision impossible for a fewseconds. It was 200 to 300 feet abovethe ground and traveling an estimated20 to 30 mph. The two spotlights were10 to 15 feet apart and cast a directionalbeam which was conically-shaped andpointed down, and was soundless.

COORDINATOR NAMEDTo enchance MUFON's primary

function, the Board of Directorse s t a b l i s h e d the p o s i t i o n o fInvestigations Coordinator at its June28 meeting in conjunction with the18th Annual UFO Symposium. DanWright, Central States RegionalDirector, has accepted the positionwhich covers all investigated UFOactivity in the U.S. and Canada.

MUFON members shouldcarefully review the following submittaland assessment system adopted by theBoard. The expanded proceduresassure prompt evaluation of cases andup-to-date records for all state andprovincial directors:

1.) The case record of originalmaterials is to be sent to the state orprovincial director for review andduplication.

2.) The original packet should beforwarded to the internat ionalheadquarters and a copy sent to theinvestigations coordinator. Materials

unable to be duplicated are includedwith the coordinator's copy.

3.) The coordinator will screen theentire report for completeness,consistency of factual statements, andoverall clarity of the report. A lognumber is then assigned.

4.) Utilizing a standardized format,the coordinator will note any additionalinformation needed for an incompletereport. A case record verified ascomplete will be rated as to type,strangeness and credibility.

5.) Copies of the evaluation will besent to the investigator, state/provincial director and internationaldirector.

6.) Supplemental materials torender a case record complete shouldbe distributed as in Steps 1 and 2,including the assigned log number.

Note: More detailed instructionshave been mailed to all state andprovincial directors for immediateimplementation.

IN OTHERS WORDSBy Lucius Farish

Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle of theUniversity of Wyoming, who has beeninvolved in the investigations of manyUFO abduction cases, is apparently anabductee himself. At least, that is thesubject of an article in the June 23 issueof NATIONAL ENQUIRER. Dr.Sprinkle, under hypnotic regression,recalled a childhood experience inwhich he was taken aboard a UFO andgiven a message by a very tall manwhose face he remembered fromprevious "nightmares."

The July issue of FATE has a veryinteresting article by Paul T. Collins,detailing the events of the "Battle of LosAngeles" in 1942, when anti-aircraft

batteries fired on various aerial objectswhich were thought to be invadingJapanese aircraft. From Collins'descriptions of the objects he andothers saw, it seems clear that UFOswere involved, rather than any type ofearthly aircraft.

The Eduard "Bi|ly" Meier case andGary Kinder's book, LIGHT YEARS,are the subject of the "Anti-Matter/UFO Update" column in theJuly issue of OMNI. Needless to say,nothing is settled.

The latest two booklets in LorenGross' continuing UFOs: A HISTORYseries are now available at $6.00 each.These are: 1952: January-May; 1952:June-July 20th. All the booklets in theseries are the same approximate length(around 100 pages, plus index). Thevolume of material to be covered forflap years such as 1952 requires severalbooklets, whereas "quieter" years suchas 1951 can be summarized in onebooklet. Gross' research is continuing,

so news of later publications will begiven in future columns. The entireseries is highly recommended. Bookletsmay be ordered directly from Gross at:690 Gable Drive - Fremont, CA 94538.

R i c h a r d Hoagland 's THEMONUMENTS OF MARS is finallyout from North Atlantic Books (2320Blake St. - Berkeley, CA 94704). Theprice is $25.00 for the hardcoveredition; $14.95 for the softcover. Add$1.00 per book for postage. We hope topresent a full review in a future column.

Timothy Good's ABOVE TOPSECRET has now been released inEngland and negotiations arecontinuing with various publishers for aU.S. edition. Later news in futurecolumns.

MUFON103 Oldtowne Rd.

Seguin, Texas78155

MUFON NET REPORT

JANUARY to JUNE 1987

The following stations have checked into the MUFON Net on 7237 KHZ. Saturday morning at 8 AM eastern time.

CALL AREA

1 2 3 4 & 5 6,7,8,9 10

N1JS WB20GS WA3QLW N4LLD K8NQN WAOOBN

W1OPZ KB2RG K3HWH N4HBO N8DDJ NOGVJ

KA1BZE W2QHH N3BBI K4HXC W8ZDX KAODIG

NG1E WA2VLA WB3AMR WA4RPU N8FKH WOTID

WB3DYE WD4DSX KN8O

W5UAA N90VJ

WA5CTJ

N5BRE

N5CPV

The total number of stations checking in reached a high of eighteen during one net. A total of thirty-two stations fromeight different call areas have checked into the net.

The H.F. radio conditions ranged from poor to excellent.

Net control duties are handled by K8NQN and WA3QLW. These staions, with help as necessary from the other netstations, cover the eastern half of the United States.

21

LETTERS

Dear Editor,At the close of his banquet speech,

(MUFON Sympoisum — AmericanUniversity), Bill Moore cryptically andevocatively suggested that aliens mighthave orchestrated the UFO cover-up.Extrapolating, from approximately 140abductions cases he has investigated,Budd Hopkins suggests that perhaps100,000 or more have occurred world-wide. Hopkins believes one alien motiveinvolves genetic experiments, includingi n t e r b r e e d i n g w i t h h u m a n s .Interbreeding strongly implies(perhaps mandates) that the species berelated.

Hypothesis: Aliens' agendar e q u i r e s a b d u c t i o n s / g e n e t i cexperiments. Aliens advise governmentleaders of this necessary agenda andtheir desire to be as minimallydisruptive of the psychological,social, religious and political lives oftheir Earthly cousins, as "humanly?"possible. Leaders agree they have alarge stake in the maintenance of thestatus quo and, by creating a curtain ofr i d i c u l e r e g a r d i n g the UFOphenomena, few would dare report anabduction experience and fewer wouldbelieve it or be impacted by theprofound implications.

Robert H. BletchmanManchester, CT

Dear Editor,I propose that Captain Nash's

large, narrow, dimly illuminated,cloudlike crescent (No. 230, June 1987)was in fact a close nightflying formationof birds reflecting ground lights.

I witnessed a very similarphenomenon 18 years ago from myyard in Waltham, MA. (A copy of myN I C A P s i g h t i n g r epor t w i t haccompanying sketch is enclosed.)What I saw was a whitish, diffuse,boomerang-shaped "object" movingsilently northward against the night sky,altering its shape slightly to a crescent22

as it proceeded! The MassachusettsAudubon Society confirmed that notonly did the description of migratinggeese at night reflecting light match mysighting, but also MAS had received asimilar report about the same time fromWeston. That town lies adjacent toWaltham.

I bel ieve n i g h t - f l y i n g birdformations explain some of thecrescent- and boomerang-shapedUFOs reported over the past years.Warning signals should be the wispy orfuzzy outline and very faint contrast ofthe crescent against the night sky,indicating the reflection of lights off thebirds' bellies and wings.

Flocks of birds, however, cannotaccount for many of the Hudson Valleyboomerangs, which : have beendescribed in many cases as carryingmultic.olored light sources, andsometimes emitting a humming soundand hovering.

Walter N. WebbMUFON Astronomy Consultant

Dear Editor,Concerning the series of papers

, pertaining to the Communion book,and found in the May, 1987 issue ofMUFON, this is to commend MichaelSwords for his two-part topology, andfor his progress in developing one of thetwo branches in an attempt tocomprehend the Strieber experience.Items B thru D are cognitivelychallenging, and items C and D haveexc i t ing impl ica t ions . But inconsideration of previous work done byHopkins and others, the Strieberexperience, with its varied unfoldment,does not appear to be significantlydifferent from various other abductionreports.

The rope of sand is Swords initialparagraph. While conceivably correctin his conclusion, he has chosen theinternally activated motivation astaking precedence over the externally

activated because, as he says, of "theextreme poverty of external impact."Swords choice of dichotomy-branchesleaves one open to the hazard ofestablishing the wrong dichotomy-branch because, at the moment, there ,,is a paucity of obvious external •causation. Since Strieber had not ,apparently been initially knowledgeable v>of the UFO phenomenon, thecorrespondence of his materials withother "known" abductees should causeone to at least be skeptical of thedichotomy-branch chosen by Mr.Swords. Should Strieber not wish tohypnotically dig more deeply into hisexperience, we may never be able tomake a clear decision. But similaritiesto other abduction reports shouldcause us to be most cautious inconcurring with the Swords approach.Hopefully, Strieber's expectations ofUFO investigator views will turn out tobe overly anxious. Should he becorrect, this will surely be a seriouscommentary on field investigator mindset.

Finally, it appears that AnneDruffel is disturbed by what she sensesthe book should be but isn't, and thereis concern expressed for Strieber'sviews and for the manner in which thepublic will interpret .them. Strieberprovides various possible explanationsin an attempt to comprehend what hastaken place in his life. He does not havethe answers and frankly admits to such.Does Anne Druffel have the answers?Perhaps the UFO phenomenon willturn out to be even stranger than any ofus ever imagined.

Virgil StaffBerkeley, CA

YEARS

IS LONG

ENOUGH

Fund J,, C|F5> Katnrdi_

MESSAGE, Continuedthe Mutual UFO Network as aspecialist in UFO computerizedreporting and data file known as ProjectUNICAT. We look forward to workingand cooperating with Dr. Smith byproviding worldwide UFO sightingreports of high credibility to hisimportant endeavor.

1987 has been and continues to bea big year for UFO symposiums,congresses, and meetings. John W.White has announced that OmegaCommunications is presenting "TheUFO Experience" -- a weekend withresearchers and contactees onNovember 7-8,1987 at the Ramada Inn,North Haven, Connecticut. Speakersscheduled are Betty AndreassonLuca, Ellen Crystal, John W.Donoghue, M . D . , LawrenceFawcett, Betty Hill, Budd Hopkins,Philip Imbrogno, David Menke,Ph.D., Patricia Sable, MarianneShenefield, John Timmerman andJohn White. Registration fee for theprogram is $100 per ticket untilOctober 7th arid $120 thereafter.(Meals and lodging are not included inthis fee.) Make check or money orderpayable to Omega Communications,P.O. Box 2051, Cheshire, CT 06410.

Dr. Michael L. Broyles is in theplanning stage for a five day symposiumon UFOs the week of September 28 toOctober 2, 1987 at Collin CountyCommunity College in McKinney,Texas (about 30 miles north of Dallason U.S. 75). He will be assisted byMUFON Metroplex (Dallas). Thesymposium will be open to the public atno charge.

The location for the MUFON 1988UFO Symposium has not beendetermined, however after meetingwith CUFOS personnel, Chicago hasbeen eliminated as a potential site.

The MUFON 1987 InternationalUFO Symposium Proceedings areavailable from MUFON for $15 plus$1.50 for postage and handling. Itcontains all of the papers delivered bythe featured speakers that were.received by publication by June 1,1987when the proceedings went to press.We expect to publish the missingpapers by Stanton T. Friedman andVincente-Juan Ballester Olmost infuture issues of the Journal.

THE NIGHT SKYBy Walter N. Webb

MUFON Astronomy Consultant

SEPTEMBER 1987

Bright Planets (Evening Sky):

Jupiter, retrograding in Pisces, now rises in the east soon after 8 PM daylighttime in midmonth and only three-quarters of an hour after sunset by month'send. The huge planet gleams at magnitude -2.9 as it brightens toward anOctober opposition. The gibbous Moon is nearby on the 10th.

Saturn, in Ophiuchus, stands in the SW at dusk, setting in the WSW about10:30 PM in mid-Sept ember.. Its magnitude is +0.5. The Moon lies nearby on the1st and 28th.

Bright Planets (Morning Sky):

Mars begins to rise in the east toward month.'s end but doing so less than anhour before sunrise. Use binoculars.

Jupiter is high in the SW at dawn in midmonth.

Moon Phases:

Full moon-September 7Last quarter-September 14New moon-September 22First quarter-September 30

o€

The Stars:

With the approach of the fall season, the Great Square of Pegasus ascends highin the SE. Capricornus the Sea Goat, shaped more like a diaper, straddles thecelestial meridian in the south during midevening hours. The rest of theconstellations of "The Sea"-Piscis Austrinus the Southern Fish, Aquarius theWater Bearer, Pisces the Fish, and Cetus the Whale-follow close behindCapricornus. The Summer Triangle remains a prominent sight high in thesouth. •.

In the north the Big Dipper slides ever closer to the horizon. Curving westwardfrom Polaris the North Star is the much fainter Little Dipper. Between the LittleDipper and the crooked "W" of Cassiopeia the Queen lies something shapedlike an upsidedown house with a peaked roof-Cepheus the King.

Look for a small right triangle of stars at the upper right corner of the king's"house." The lower star in the triangle is Delta Cephei, the prototype of theCepheid variable stars. The supergiant star expands and contracts in a regularperiod of 5.4 days, doubling its brightness to the naked eye from magnitude 4.4to 3.5 and back again during that interval. Through a unique luminosity/period-of-variation relationship, Cepheid variables are important distance indicators,allowing astronomers to measure the distances to far-off galaxies that containthese stars.

23

DIRECTOR'S MESSAGEby

Walt Andrus

The August 1987 issue of theMUFON UFO JOURNAL commem-orates the Eighteenth Annual MUFONUFO Symposium held on June 26, 27,and 28 in Washington, D.C., hosted bythe Fund for UFO Research. Thissymposium will undoubtedly berecognized in UFO history as the mostsignificant event of its kind in the pastforty years and inaugurate a positiveradical change in the future of Ufology.As the theme stated "InternationalSymposium on Unidentified AerialPhenomena: 1947 - 1987," or subtitled"Forty Years is Long Enough,"speakers from every continent of theWorld appeared.

The international importance ofthe MUFON UFO symposium wasbolstered by "The 4th InternationalUFO Congress" held July 10,11, and 12at the London Business School inEngland and the meetings by theInternational Committee for UFOResearch (ICUR) on July 9th and theMUFON European meeting on July13th.

Individual articles about each ofthese events will appear in future issuesof the Journal. Decisions made by theMUFON Board of Directors on majorissues will also be reported, as will thoseby the P.I.P.E: Committee after theirmeetings in Washington, D.C. Briefly,the most important actions concernedthe establishment of the position ofInvestigative Coordinator filled by DanWright (Central Regional Director);the Field Investigator's Examinationadministered by the State/ProvincialDirectors and graded by Mrs. ShirleyCoyne; and the proposed MUFONMedia Policy Guidelines.

* * *The International Committee for

UFO1 Research (ICUR) was revitalizedwith the election of new officers for thenext two years: Robert S. Digby,Chairman; Walter H. Andrus, Jr.,Vice Chairman; Stephen J. Gamble,

iDr. Willy Smith

Secretary; and John L. Spencer,Treasurer. A vote of confidence andgratitude was extended to the retiringchairman Bertil Kuhlemann ofSweden for his work as one of thefounding members and his leadershipcontinuity.

* * *In addition to the four new books

published in the U.S.A. in 1987, withmore in the offing, the following newbooks have recently been released inGreat Britain: The UFO Conspiracy byJenny Randies (Blandford Press);Aboue Top Secret by Timothy Good(Sidgwick and Jackson); and UFOs1947-1987 edited by Hilary Evans withJohn Spencer (Fortean Tomes) forThe B r i t i s h UFO R e s e a r c hAssociation. One source for thesethree books is Lionel Beer, 15Freshwater Court, Crawford Street,London, W1H 1HS England.

Vincente- Juan Ballester Olmosand Juan A. Fernandez Peris haveauthored a new book in Spanish titledEnciclopedia de los EncuentrosCercanos con O VMS (Plaza & Janes)Spain. As an aid to Field Investigators,Dan Wright has published a pamphlettitled Interviewing the UFO Witness, a23 page, 8000-word booklet covering all

aspects of the interview process. It isavailable for $3.50 including mailingcosts from Mr. Wright by writing andenclosing a check or money order to228 South Fairview, Lansing, MI 48912.

Ronald D. Story is presentlyproducing a second, revised, updated,and expanded edition of TheEncyclopedia of UFOs. For people whowould like to revise their previouscontribution to his book, Mr. Story maybe contacted at 7744 Bristol Court, St.Petersburg, Florida 33709 or bytelephone (813) 541-6391.

Franklin A. Youri still has anabundant supply of MUFON lapel pinsfor $4.00 including postage andhandling. You may order pins by writingto him at 1300 Sherwood Drive,Turlock, CA 95380 or MUFON inSeguin, Texas.

* * *Membership growth is also

reflected in the appointment of newState Section Directors. The followinggentlemen have recently volunteered toserve for the counties indicated:Myron W. Carlson, Weld inColorado; Michael C. Fidler,Minidoka, Jerome, Lincoln and Cassiaas well as Assistant State Director forIdaho; Richard S. Powell, Jeffersonand Grant in Arkansas; Barry J.Williams, Kenton, Boone andCampbell in Kentucky; L. DeLynnHansen, D.C., Utah and Wasatch inUtah; J.J. Wheatley, Solano inCalifornia; Dr. Virgilio Sanchez-Ocejo, Dade in Florida; JeffGoodpaster, Ph.D., Consultant inPsychology and State Section Directorfor Racine, Kenosha and Walworth inWisconsin; John J. Engel, M.D. as aConsultant in Pediatrics; and Mark D.Hunziker for Palm Beach andBroward Counties in Florida.

We are pleased to announce thatDr. Willy Smith has joined the Staff of

(confinued on page 23)