MUFON UFO JOURNALNUMBER 216 APRIL 1986

Founded 1967.OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OP

$2.50MUTUAL UFO NETWORK, INC..

COMET HALLEY FROM McDONALDOBSERVATORY

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/Publicity

f. SCOTT CHAINGREG LONGStaff Writer

JAMES LEMINGSIMONE MENDEZ

Staff Artists

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

FROM THE EDITORAs promised last time, this issue leads off with researcher/

author Budd Hopkins' reflections on abduction cases. We also havea survey of the orthodox scientific periodical literature regarding thesubject of UFOs, and how it is treated, by James McCampbell. Inaddition, there are two in-depth reports of landed UFO sightings andtwo recent UFO movie reviews, along with most of our regulardepartments. We hope you enjoy the timely Halley's Comet coverand accompanying article by Walter Webb.

Finally, we look forward to bringing you the next issue of theJournal and hope you look forward as much to reading it!

In this issueABDUCTION REFLECTIONS by Budd Hopkins .". 3UFOS: A PERIODICAL REVIEW by James McCampbell 5CANADIAN LANDING CASE by Graham Comvay .7TOUCH-DOWN IN NORTH CAROLINA? by George Fawcett 10COMET HALLEY by Walter Webb 13UFOS IN REEL LIFE by Joe Kirk Thomas & Dennis Stacy 14NEWS 'N' VIEWS - 16THE NIGHT SKY by Walter Webb 18DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE by Walt Andrus 20COVER by Michael Bonecutter

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 1986 by the Mutual UFO Network, 103 Oldtowne Rd., Seguin,Texas 78155" is included.

ABDUCTION REFLECTIONSBy Budd Hopkins .-. •

The UFO sighting I made onesunny afternoon on Cape Codoccurred twenty-two years ago. Nottoo many months later I discovered,and joined, NICAP. I.suscribed to theirnewsletter as well as to their skepticalposition with • regard to humanoidreports and abduction accounts. DavidJacobs made the witty observation thatin those days no one believed that aUFO had an inside — (let alone, Godforbid, passengers).

Despite NICAP's solid investiga-tions of- many early sightings, and itsvery real effect on the public's

.awareness of the UFO phenomenon, itis safe to say that we have come a long

. way since those early NICAP days. Realprogress has been made. Layers ofmystery have been stripped away. Thisshort paper deals with a fewcharacteristics of the UFO abductionphenomenon which I have onlyrecognized in the past few years.

COMMON?

First of all, UFO abudctions mustbe vastly more common than we haveever, imagined. This is not the place todetail the complex statistical evidencefor such as assertion, but my nextobservation may offer some support tothis disturbing idea. The deeper I havedelved into the recollections of anysingle abductee — the more thoroughthe investigation — the more separateabduction or contact experiences thatindividual seems to have undergone.

As an example, I received a phonecall recently from a rather distraughlman who wished to tell me about a verydisturbing experience he had had onDec. 26, 1985.' It so happens that thisman is a writer of reputation whom Ihad heard interviewed a few monthsago on National Public Radio; I knew oihis work.

The writer told me about hisconscious recollections, which wererather extensive: small figures in his

bedroom, physical paralysis* anexamination, an apparent implant, andso forth. The next morning there wasicorroborating physical evidence,including a small, fresh incision, an areaof numbness near his ear and aninternal rectal injury. We met and Ilistened to his account. At several timeshe was unable to restrain his tearsbecause the experience had been soterrifying.

EXPLOSION

I asked if any other odd,"unresolved" memories came to mindsimilar.to this one and he said that therewas something else that had happenedearlier that fall (October 5, as we laterdetermined). A bluish light had filled thehouse, there was the sound of a muffledexplosion, he vaguely rememberedbeing outside in his pajamas, and soforth. This experience, however,involved his wife and young son as wellas two houseguests. . I have sinceinterviewed each of them separately.Each saw the blue light filling the house,each heard the explosion, and onehouseguest recalled that she heardquick, light skittering sounds after theboom. Each remembered falling asleepimmediately afterwards, and inretrospect each regards his or herbehavior as highly unnatural. Theseven-year-old boy reported that thatnight he dreamed he was being lifted upfrom his bed and floated out the door,through the living room and out ontothe front porch. There, .he said, hefloated up into the sky. "Severalpeople" told him not to worry, thateverything was all right.

WHITE FIGURE

The writer had called me initiallyabout one incident only — hisfrightening recollections of Dec. 26 —and my questions had led to theOctober event. When I asked about

any odd memories from his earlychildhood, he suddenly recalled what Irecognized as a classic missing timeexperience from his eighth year. Ourinterview turned into a kind ofuncorking of masses of previouslyrepressed memories.. The anomoloiisevents included the sighting, uponseveral occasions, of a small whitefigure in the writer's New York Cityapartment. The witnesses include thewriter himself, his son and a college-agebaby sitter. During this same timeframe his wife was awakened one nightby a jab in her stomach, though sheapparently did not open her eyes. Laterthat night her son was similarly jabbed,and he awoke to see the little figurestanding alongside his bed.

When I asked about the writer'sparents and siblings I learned about hisyounger brother's UFO'Sighting duringa hunting trip, an'experience which alsoincluded a period of missing time. Weare just at the very beginning of thisinvestigation, but the number ofsupporting witnesses as well as theobvious integrity of the central figuremake it an impressive case. It will bepublished in due time as theinvestigation unfolds.

But my point is that this case is notat all unusual. One abduction reportusually reveals many others. TheDecember 26 even can already be seenas the proverbial tip of yet anothercomplex iceberg. Who knows what willemerge as this case is systematicallyexplored through hypnosis and otherstandard techniques of investigation?What kinds of experiences have his wifeand young son undergone?

MULTIPLE ABDUCTIONS

Over the years, my exposure tothe subject has led me to the tentativeconclusion that very few abducteeshave had only one such experience and

(confini/ed next page)

REFLECTIONS, Continued

that some individuals seerri to have' been dealt with very frequently. When

one considers the high percentage ofcases in which members of the samefamily are abducted in differentlocations, at different times, and atdifferent stages of their lives, one is ledto the assumption that each reportedabduction may indicate dozens of as yetunremembered experiences for -thatindividual, as well as for other membersof his family. I believe that we UFOinvestigators are aware of only, aminiscule percentage of the thousandsof . abduction/contact incidents thathave occurred over the years- withapparently total ease of execution.

A popular version of UFO historyputs forth the idea that the modernwave of UFO activity begins in 1947.The classic Hill abduction occurred,in1961, and has since come to be thoughtof as the "first" abduction case.Certainly it was the first such incidentto be widely publicized, but I have sinceinvestigated many abduction cases thatoccurred in the 'forties and 'fifties. Ihave partially investigated two potentialabduction cases which occurred in thelate nineteen twenties. (In one instancethe subject reported seeing a UFO anda group of humanoids, while in ' theother the witness suffered a very deepcut of mysterious origin; both reportsinclude periods of missing time.) Inaddition, I have partially investigatedfour probable abductions whichoccurred in the 'thirties, and one whichhappened sometime during World WarII. Two of these abduction cases whichdate from 1938 have been ratherthoroughly investigated, and hypnosishas yielded similar details. Both of theseindividuals, abducted as children, wereborn in 1933. One is a practicingpsychotherapist and the other amechanic. I have perhaps ten otherpossible abduction cases in my fileswhich date from the pre-1947 periodand which remain, for reasons of timeand distance, uninvestigated.

"CRIME"

I have said elsewhere that duringthe early years of UFO investigations,when we concentrated on sightings and

craf t descriptions and ignoredhumanoid and missing time reports, wewere simply trying to get. the license'plate number on the getaway carwithout understanding what the crimewas. The "crime" seems to have beenthe abduction and examination ofhuman beings, an activity thatapparently has been going oh for alonger time and more extensively thanany of us have dared imagine. It ispossible .that we may have to turnthings around and begin to considerUFO sighting reports as an aspect ofthe abduction phenomenon, ratherthan vice versa. David Jacobs said tome recently that the number of UFOabductions that have apparently taken

, place is almost as remarkable a fact asthe existence of the abductionphenomenon itself.

Much of my current-research dealswith the dovetailing evidence thatgenetic experimentation is at least onecentral purpose of UFO abductions. Asone delves deeper into the physicalprocedures UFO abductees haveremembered, what seem to be spermand .ova sampling operations arefrequently described. Techniques thatsuggest artificial insemination and thelater removal of embryos have beenrecalled, as well as other relatedprocedures. (I intend to go into thismaterial at length in my book on theKitley Woods affair.)

My consultant in the field ofgynecology and obstetrics recentlylistened to several tape recordings offemale abductees describing underhypnosis their experiences in this area.He assured me that everything theydescribed is not only physicallyp laus ib le , but the pa r t i cu l a rdescriptions of sensations are exactlywhat one should expect. He told methat, in his opinion, hone of therecollections suggested fantasy;instead, they sounded like accurate anddramatically recalled real experiences.

GENE SHIFT

Th'is t h e o r y of g e n e t i cexperimentation as a central purpose ofUFO abductions would account for thelarge number of apparent abductionswhich occur across the generations ofparticular families. It would also explain

why the phenomenon has beenoccurring, apparently, for so manydecades. There are, I am sure, otherreasons .behind the abduction andexaminat ion of what must bethousands upon .tho.usands .ofindividuals. We have only begun to peelthe onion, .and there are layers uponlayers of mystery yet to be unfurled. ButI truly believe we're making progress.

SUMMARY

To s u m m a r i z e : 1.) UFOabductions have apparently beenoccurring -for at least fifty years. 2.)Thousands of individuals haveapparently been abducted, and the vastmajority of these seem to have hadmultiple experiences. 3.) Geneticexperimentation of some sort is oneapparent motive for the abduction .phenomenon. 4.) In many cases entirefamilies seem to be the objects of studyacross ' several generations, so theselection of candidates for abduction isnot simply random. 5.) Though thereseems to. be very little we can do toprevent these abductions fromoccurring, the phenomenon isnevertheless yielding its secrets, slowlyand inexorably, to patient investigation.

Budd Hopkins is a New York-based artist who joined MUFON in1975. He specializes in abductioncases and is the author of "MissingTime."

THE BEST ^THhJfi ABOUT6EJN6 AHALIEN IS THATWE DON'T HAVETO WORRY ABOUT

APR/I- IStti, ,

UFOS: A PERIODICAL REVIEWBy James M. McCampbell

James M. M c C a m p b e l l ,MUFON's Director for Research, isthe author of ."UFOLOGY"(Celestial Arts, Milbrae, CA, 1973,1976) and a contributor ofnumerous Journal articles.

Consider the s tereotypedscientist, Dr. I. Glasses Labcote. Hebelongs to five professional societiesand devours each issue of theirjournals. Also, two general sciencepublications covering dozens oftechnical specialities are scanned eachmonth for any articles of particularinterest. During such study of scientificmaterial, would Dr. Labcote havelearned much about UFOs during thepast six or seven years?

A handy reference to scientificperiodicals is the General ScienceIndex (Joyce M. Howard, Editor, H.W.Wilson Co.). It encompasses 113scientific periodicals of great variety.Naturally, UFO articles would not beexpected in most of them because eachis dedicated to a relatively narrow topicfar removed from UFOs. Examples aregeology, oceanography, dentistry,computers, etc. On the other hand,many journals should include materialon UFOs where the subjects overlapsuch as Contemporary Physics,Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, Skyand Telescope, and AmericanScientist. Certain periodicals coveringnews items in innumerable fields couldbe faulted for omitting articles onUFOs. Most prominent among themwould be Scientific American, Science,New Scientist, and Science Digest. Asurvey of the General Science Indexfrom June 1978 through November1985 revealed only twenty articles onUFOs appeared in that seven yearperiod.

What perception of UFOs wouldDr. Labcote develop through exposureto a fraction of that material? Theanswer must lie in the content of the

individual articles (for the readers'convenience, specific references aregiven in an Appendix). As expected,many of the articles (7) appeared inScience Digest. It is the "Newsweek" ofthe scientific community including briefannouncements of general interest upto multi-page reviews of major scientificbreakthroughs. Original papers are notpresented but reviews are thorough,intelligible, and richly illustrated incolor.

'PRO' ARTICLES

Of special interest is the issue ofOctober 1985 that is devoted to "TheGreatest Unanswered Questions of the20th Century." One of the articlesaddressed extraterrestrial intelligencebut UFOs are not mentioned. Some ofthe articles inScienceDigesf attempt toexplain UFOs in mundane terms. Forexample, M. Maddocks argues thatpeople see what they want to see, beingunaware that most UFO witnesses aresurprised, even shocked, by theirunexpected observations.

Yet Science Digest also publishedtwo "pro-UFO" articles. P. Huyghepresented a lengthly discussion ofscientists who have seen UFOs. Healso mentions the 60,000 reports from140 countries on record at the CenterFor UFO Studies, 2,000 physical tracesat landing sites, 1500 observations ofoccupants, 400 car engine failures, andmore.

The list of scientists is impressive.R. Jastrow, professor of.astronomy atColumbia, argues from statistics thatthere must be extremely intelligent life-forms in space. Based upon electro-magnetic signals radiated from earth,he concludes that he should receive amessage or a visit from them before theend of the century. The mass of UFOdata is completely ignored. ScienceDigest also published an appeal forscientific study of UFOs by the eminentUFOIogist, Dr. J. Allen Hynek.

BRITISH VIEW

Seven articles were found in NewScientist, a British publication ofmodest circulation. Most were ofnegative tone. Along with otherperiodicals, arguments favored balllightning, earth-quake lights, insectswarms, and spy satellites. It should benoted that UFO sightings are a localphenomenon so that observations ofstrange lights over several countries orstates should never be confused withUFOs. The subject was ridiculed in twoarticles with the cute titles of "CloseEncounters of the! Fabricated Kind"and "Nocturnal Emmissions."

The journal, Science, of theprestigious Association for theAdvancement of Science that should betaking a leading role in educating thescientific community carried not asingle article on UFOs. It did, however,carry an announcement of theformation of an elitist Society ofExploratory Research by 35 collegeprofessors under the leadership ofPeter Sturrock of Stanford. Thenegative bias of the editor leakedthrough with the comment that UFOsand Bigfoot "leave such pitiful shreds ofevidence that study seems futile." Thenew society has held several meetingsbut, after 3Y2 years, its first journal is stillbeing drafted. The prospects of Dr.Labcote becoming modera te lyacquainted with UFOs in the scientificliterature appears to be dismal if notimpossible.

But Dr. Labcote is an intelligentand inquisitive fellow'who reads widelyin general-interest, non-scientificperiodicals. Perhaps his education inUFOlogy would be enchanced fromthose sources? .Again, it becomesnecessary to inquire into specificarticles on UFOs that have beenpublished during the past several years.While formerly a tedious task, those

(continued next page)

REVIEW, Continued

articles can now be identified quicklyand easily. Many public libraries haveinstalled an index to periodicalliterature in the form of a microfilmreader. These devices resemble amedium-sized, television set with ascreen for viewing the data. A reel ofmicrofilm in the machine containsreferences in alphabetical order bysubjects. A horizontal line across thescreen points to letters of the alphabeton the frame as the film is transportedat high speed. Upon stopping at theselected letter, a fine-adjust displays thedesired information.

The system used by the author isMagazine Index. It includes articlespublished in 460 periodicals fromJanuary 1981 to October 1985. (Aservice of In fo rma t ion AccessCompany, A Division of Ziff-DavisPublishing Company, 11 Davis Drive,Belmont, CA 94002, 800-227-8431.This index is accessible by personalc o m p u t e r t o s u b s c i b e r s o fKNOWLEDGE INDEX, DIALOGInformation Services, Inc. , 3460Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304.)

Under the heading of "UFOs" onefind about 50 entries on book reviews,symposia proceedings, documents,etc. The main heading, however, is"Unidentified Flying Objects." Data isdisplayed in 3 columns per page withabout 25 entries per column. A total of12 columns, displayed by stepping thefilm, covers about 300 articles. They areorganized under 59 subheadings, suchas, countries, states, case histories,politics, photographs, evidence,physiology, etc. The index purports toinclude all articles in English butsignificantly absent are Flying SaucerReview, International UFO Reporter,and the APRO Bulletin.

I m m e d i a t e l y obvious uponscanning the screen is that the greatmajority of articles are to be found inthe MUFON UFO Journal A samplecount indicated an estimate of 85 percent. Clearly, the Mutual UFONetwork is a major factor in recordingUFO data of our times. It also publishessincere efforts of talented people tounderstand the phenomenon.

But very few scientists belong toMUFON or have ever heard about the

MUFON UFO Journal. Libraries don'tcarry it.* The Mutual UFO Networkitself is hard to find. Unless meeting amember of MUFON or responding to

' some public announcement, a diligentinquirer would have to appeal to theEncyclopedia of Associations to find anaddress. While the vast majority ofarticles have been published byMUFON, the impact upon the publichas been disappointingly small. Only1300 copies are published each month.Assuming that 30 per cent of them areread by two people leads to anestimated readership of roughly 2000.In six years, a copy of the MUFONUFO Journal would have been seen byabout 6(12)(2000) = 144,000 people.That exposure, however, would becounter-balanced or overwhelmed by asingle, negative article in Omni(817,000), Science Digest (530,000), orReader's Digest (17,900,00). In terms oftransmitting UFO information to thepublic, the commendable achieve-ments of the MUFON UFO Journal arebut a spoonful of sand at Copacabana.

Alas, a sad footnote; InformationAccess Company has ceased indexingthe MUFON UFO Journal. Atelephone call to the company wasreferred to Mr. Herb Perry. He advisedthat indexing of the MUFON UFOJournal was suspended in February1984. At that time, an executivecommittee reviewing their list ofjournals deleted a half dozen or so onthe basis of low circulation or subjectmatter. He was receptive to the idea ofre-instating the Journal as a publicservice and adding other reputablepublications in UFOlogy.

Something important will have tobe done if Dr. Labcote is ever to learnthat UFOs are advanced-technologyvehicles of unknown origin.

*Editor's note: A survey of the number oflibraries that subscribe to the MUFON UFOJournal lists 36. Obviously, this number is notsignificant. The potential could be severalthousand. Marge Christensen has plans to reachthis audience.

APPENDIX1. "Study challenges sky mirages as asighting source," D. Berlinger, il SciDig84:30-2 Ag 78.2. "Selectivity of the human eye invisual izing the improbable," M.

Maddocks, il Sci Dig 83:52-3 Je 78.3. "Radar beams in on Kiwi UFOs," NSci 81:158 Ja 18 78.4. "Nocturnal emissions," il TheSciences 19:4-5 F 79.5. "Insect swarms; are they UFOs," NSci 80:340 N 2 78.6. "Flashy moths could be UFOs," NSci 80:340 N 2 78.7. "Close encounters; all in the mind?"J. Greenberg il Sci N 115:106-7 F 17 79.8. "Failure of the science of ufology," J.Oberg il NSci 84:102-5 0 11 79.9. "Case for UFOs," R. Jastrow il SciDig 88:82-5 N/D 80.10. "Spy satellite or UFO?," J.E. Obergil Sci Dig 89-108 Jl 81.11. "Scientists who have seen UFO's,"P. Huyghe Sci Dig 89:86-8+ N 81.12. "Parallel universes; a tale of twoSETIs," D.W. Swift, ilAsfronomy 9:24+081.13. "Close encounters of a fabricatedkind," J. Oberg, il map NSci 92:896-8 D24/31 81.14. "Case for studying UFOs," J.A.Hynek, Sci Dig 89:90 N 81.15. "Bathetic case of ball lighting," R.Herbert il N Sci 90:544 My 28 81.16. "Society formed to studyanomalies," C. Holden, Science216:1390 Je 25 82.17. "Neglected science of UFOs," J.Randies and P. Warrington, il N Sci97:380 Feb 30 83.18. "Those normal folk who sightUFOs," G. Moore, Psycho/ Today17:78 S 83.19."Bringing UFOs down to earth;many reports of UFO sightings comefrom areas close to geological faults," P.Devereus and others, il maps N Sci99:627-30 S 1 83.20. "The great Hudson Valley UFOmystery," G. Garelic il Discouer 5:19-20+ N 84.

© 1986 James McCampbell

CANADIAN LANDING CASEBy Graham Con way

INTRODUCTION

Mr. Graham Conway, Delta,British Columbia, was intrigued withthe similarity between the Delphos,Kansas Case reported in the MUFONUFO JOURNAL, Issue No. ,209,September 1985, and a landing casethat he investigated at Port Coquitlam,B.C., Canada on August. 16, 1974.Since the Journal will be publishing.aseries of articles by WaltAndrus, titled"Delphos Revisited," we asked Mr.Conway if he would share his reportwith Journal readers as . it waspublished in Candadian UFO Report,Volume 3, No. 4 whole no. 20, 1975.John F.. Magor, former Editor andPublisher and now MUFON ProvincialDirector for. British. Columbia,prepared the article for publicationfrom three submitted cassette, tapes.We are indebted to Mr. .Magor forpermitting the MUFON UFOJOURNAL to publish this exceptionalclose encounter of the first and secondkinds.

On August 16, 1974, at about 8p.m., three small boys were returning totheir homes on the outskirts of PortCoquitlam, a community about 20 mileseast of Vancouver lying on the shore ofthe Port Coquitlam river. They wereDavid Bates, 8, and Steven and HenryStillie, aged 10 and 7, whose twofamilies live almost opposite each otherin a trailer court.

Following their fairly commonpractice, the boys took a short cutthrough a small wooded area borderingthe river. This route brought them to asmall sandpit, no longer in commercialuse. Passing it by, they joined up withthe road leading to the street oh whichthey lived. Halfway along the road theybecame aware of a high-pitched whinethat resulted in a number of thingshappening in short sequence.

David Bates, who was carrying apet cat in his arms, found he could notcontrol the animal as it arched its back

GRAHAM CONWAY

and attempted to escape frantically.Releasing it, he watched it run severalyards and then drop in its tracks, as if it"fell asleep," he said. The Stillie boysdescribed.it as "playing dead."

LIGHTED OBJECT

The boys then turned towards thesource of the noise and saw an objectapproach over the trees, travelingsouth to north over the railway bridgespanning the river. The object had a redlight on top and green and white lightsat either end of its length. These lightsflashed on and off. Traveling slowly, theobject reversed its course and with anundulating motion headed for the smallcleared area amongst the trees wherethe sandpit was situated. The intensityof the noise disturbed David so muchthat his friends said he placed his handsover his ears and called for it to stop.However, David does not recall doingthis.

The UFO began to settle down fora landing and the noise became a buzz,

the children claimed. All this took placewithin a few brief minutes. At that pointthe terrified cat recovered and returnedto its owner, clawing David when hepicked it up. The long scratch in his armwas still visible when I interviewed himin September.

In a state of petrified amazement,the boys remained at their point ofobservation about 150 feet from thetouchdown site. As the object settleddown to land it gave off a blast of hot airthat disturbed the ground so violentlythe boys were covered in a film of dust.Immediately prior to making contact,the object extended short legs, thensome action on the part of the machinecaused sand and stones to be suckedupwards towards it in a violent swirlingmanner. A few seconds later, the boyssaid, "blue sparks came up from theground as the machine made contact."

I gather at this point, althoughconfusion and contradiction exist, theStillie boys had seen enough, andestablished an Olympic record for the100 meters required to find the safety ofhome.

David Bates, e i ther morecourageous or foolhardy, remainedJong enough to establish that it lookedlike, "two plates joined together, andhad an outline in the side like a door."This fact was confirmed by the Stillieboys when interviewed. All agree that ithad . apparently no windows, "wasbigger than my Dad's car," was squareon the top, and had "something like achain" in the center of the machine.

David told me that his curiosityonly kept him long enough to see ifanyone came out of the door, butcourage failed him and he too fled,down the di r t road a f t e r hiscompanions.

FRIGHTENED

Mr. and Mrs. Bates confirmed

(continued next page)

Graham Conway (left) and Tom Bennett (right) with Simon Fraser Universitynews reporter study "print outs " on landing site material from x-ray spectometryanalysis.

LANDING, Continued

their son was "hysterical and bugeyed," when he arrived home, whitefaced, and it took him some time tocalm down. They brushed off his story.Steven and Henry Stillies' parents wereout, but they have a teen-age sister whowas in the trailer washing up. Thewindows from the sink faces the sandpit

, and although few trees serve as screenbetween them and the sandpit, shedidn't notice anything unusual.Describing the boys' entrance, sherelated that their first actions were tolock all the doors and windows, thendraw the drapes. Very frightenedherself, she had trouble calming themdown, and extracting an accuratepicture from them of what took place.She drew a sketch from the descriptionthey provided, but tended at that pointnot to totally believe the story.

. On this particular evening, nothingfurther transpired. No one wasinformed, nobody investigated thescene.

Possibly due to pa ren ta lindifference and-or disbelief, the boysrelated the story the following morningto a close neighbor, Mrs. Lola Rogers,who lived on the same street. Beinginterested in this sort of thing, sheaccompanied the boys to the sandpitand found not only indentations in thealleged landing area, but also circular8

patches where the "aircraft" had leftcarbonized deposits either on take-offor landing. Bending down to pick upthis material and rub it between herfingers she felt her hand go numb, and itremained so for over a week beforegradually wearing off. The depressionsformed a triangle and seemed toindicate that some heavy object with atripod landing gear had indeed restedon the ground.

Returning home she phoned theRoyal Canadian Mounted Police whograciously hung up on her, after hearingthe account. The local.newspaper was .not so skeptical, at least preferring .towithhold any comment until havingseen the witnesses and visited thescene. The reporter from the PortCoquitlam Herald was sufficientlyimpressed with what he found tosuggest that a call to the militaryauthorities at Chilliwack, asking themto do a geiger-count survey of the area,might be productive. The call was madeand a voice at the other end stated that"they" would arrive the next day andconduct such an investigation. Theynever did. Although The Herald gavethe story front-page coverage in itsonce-weekly publication, and twoweeks later again provided the same,treatment to an independent study,none of Vancouver's papers attemptedto pick the story up.

At the beginning of September,

Brian Fewster, Mark Bauer and I beganan investigation that continued forseveral months as we pursued different:'paths, securing assistance from avariety of surprisingly helpful people.'

: Our source of information was thenewspaper article. From this weobtained our leads and knew what toask the witnesses. By this time it wasapparent that outside and TV influencewas intruding into the childrens'accounts: However, it was equally clearthat the story possessed grains ofunusualness that youngsters of that agewould not dream of including in afabricated story.

PHYSICAL TRACES

, . Despite the fact that severalshowers had occurred since thelanding , the depressions andcarbonized material were still clearlyevident when we arrived at the site. Amore ideal landing spot for seclusioncould hardly be found. Surrounded onthree sides by a 15-foot bank and with alarge number of trees on the fourthside,' it could conceal any reasonablylarge vehicle from outside eyes for along period of time. Only by walking ordriving into the sandpit area would anobject be detectable and even thenpossibly only at the last minute or so,particularly if its lights were off. Soperfect were the conditions, soaccessible to the major highwaynearby, we. allowed ourselves to

"speculate that maybe the UFO wasn'tattracted to the boys by .curiosity, butoriginally. intended to land to picksomeone up or drop him off.

By placing a center stake withinthe triangle, then measuring with anextended string to only two feet beyondthe tripod indentations, we discoveredthat the object's diameter was 20 feet.From the boys' on-the-spot description,we found it must have stood 10 feet highwhen resting on the ground.. ' The dust was chalk-like andsmooth to the touch when rubbedbetween the fingers. Two universitiescompleted analysis of the material. Dr. •Posnar reported that it showed noevidence of residual material to indicate'what, if anything, had been burnt on

(continued next page)

UFO at Port Coquitlam, B.C. was described as bigger than a cor and square on top. Its lights changed from red to green to white and it had an outline inone side "like a door". With tripod landing gear four feet tall, it was about twenty feet in diameter and stood ten feet high by estimate. Drawing by LesleyFootner based on witness'sketch. .

Bennett described as an abnormallyhigh amount of zinc present in thedeposits.

LANDING, Continued

that particular spot. Evidence ofradiation was also absent. The site didnot appear to create magneticdistortions. Surrounding trees andleaves on the site perimeter did notindicate burning or damage, althoughchecked over a period of several weeks.

Tom Bennett, who conducted amore thorough examination of thecarbonized substance stated that a highdegree of heat would be required toproduce such results, but evensimulated conditions would not extendso far into the sandy soil. He madeeducated guesses as to how thesubstance could be duplicated by usinga variety of commonly availablematerials. But the big snag was that notall the elements would be left that werepresent in the site samples. Oncompletion of an x-ray spectrometrytest, the print-outs showed what

SIMILARITIES

These findings were surprisinglysimilar to those of .the Dejphos, Kansaslanding incident on Nov. 2, 1971. In thatcase deposits with a high zinc contentwere also left by the object involved,and tests showed the presence ofhydrocarbon of a type that might be aninsecticide solvent or might show up ina diesel fuel. This, too,'was found in thePort Coquitlam tests. Stranger yet,Mrs. Erma Johnson, housewife on thefarm where the object landed, felt anumbness in her fingers (as did herhusband to a lesser degree) aftertouching the residue just as in the caseof Mrs. Rogers. The numbness lasted"about two weeks" while Mrs. Rogers'lasted "over a week."

On August 16 it was a clear warmnight. No one we spoke to had TV.interference during the time of thelanding. But it is possibly worthy ofmention that Mrs. Bate's electric clockran one hour, fast that evening,something it has never done before.

We feel this event is not a hoax.The boys told the truth as they recalledit.

Mr. Conway still retains soilsamples taken from the landing siteindentations as well as a control sampletaken from outside the investigatedarea. Recognizing that -the soilsamples are now 12 years old, they areavailable for analysis if any of ourmembers have access to a laboratoryequipped for such soil analysis. Pleasecontact Walt Andrus if you areinterested.

Graham Conway resides at 11102River Road, Delta, British Columbia,V4C 2S4 Canada.

t&&&W'fy'&xfr'7$'**i<. ^-''-^fc^'1----- -~ ; ^-^^^^^^y^-'^-^^-^^i*-- •• *i' > :v^~:. i 3-svs

Staff writer Mariene Benson of Dauie County Enterprise-Record newspaper squatsinside "mystery circle" near Mocksville. (Photograph by Jim Barringer of theSalisbury Evening Post)

TOUCH-DOWN IN NORTH CAROLINA?By George Fawcett

George D. F a w c e t t isMUFON's Assistant State Directorfor North Carolina and a FieldInves t igator wi th numerouspublished articles to his credit.

"Did a UFO land near Mocksville,North Carolina?"

That's the question being asked bymany local residents and by a numberof investigators concerning a ringmarking found on the ground onWallace Cope's Davie County farm onSeptember 11, 1982.

10

To date, farmer Cope and all theothers who have visited the site havereturned home puzzled about themystery.

Two state environmental workershave alternately suggested that thestrange pattern could have beencaused by a burrowing rodent, an arc oflightning or a prankster with herbicideor gasoline.

These suggestions were dismissedby Cope's one word, "Baloney!" Copehas his own theories. "You hear ofUFOs," Cope said. "Now I've never

seen one, and I've never met anyonewho has, but after seeing something likethis, you can't help but wonder."1

George D. Fawcett, a MUFONfield investigator from Lincolnton,N.C., went to the site, located 7 milesoff 64 East beyond Mocksville, just offthe Cedar Grove Church Road toinspect the marking.2

While there he interviewed RonPhelps, Cope's son-in-law, who is awoodcarver by trade. Phelps lives

(continued on page 12)

Q•R

Dr. Donald W. Eaddy, DirectorAgronomic Division

north Carolina Deportment of floriculture James A. Graham • CommissionerWilliam G. Parham, Jr. • Deputy Commissioner

Augus t 13, 1985

Mr. George D. FawcettMUFON Field Invest -602 Battleground RoadLincolnton, North Carolina 28092

Dear Mr. Fawcett:

I am familiar with the soil samples taken from Mr. CharlesCope's farm but in all honesty I have no explanation for thering formation in the field or the differences in the potassiumindex. I suppose I'm saying we are still in a quandry over thisstrange phenomenon.

I wish I had the insight in this matter to offer a reasonableexplanation but unfortunately that insight is lacking. All kindsof speculations could be proposed none of which may offer anyvalidity, hence I will not make any statement to that effect.

I wish you success and if you find additional evidence, Iwould be interested in knowing about it.

Sincerely Yours

M. Ray Tucker, AgronomistAgronomic Division, NCDA

MRTrps

Blue Ridge Road CenterDept. AG P.O. Box 27647. Raleigh. N.C. 27611 (919) 733-2655

An Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer

11

TOUCH-DOWN, Continued

about 450 yards from the mystery site,which is the closest home in the area.

CIRCULAR RING

Phelps said that when he first wentto see it with Charlie Cope that the ringhad a grayish cast to it, but left noresidue that could be wiped off. It wasalmost like a chemical had been rubbedin the perfect ring. No odors of any sortwere noticed by Phelps or Cope.

The circular ring was still visible 3years after it was discovered with theplant life growing normally outside thering and inside the ring, but not in thering itself. The ring itself showed nogrowth at all, but had faded much sinceits discovery. The first photographstaken of the site, also bore this out.They were taken on September 21,1982.3

The circle when measured byFawcett was closer to 30 feet indiameter, rather than 24 feet, as firstrepor ted . A p rev ious secondmeasurement by Mr. Cope confirmedthe 30 foot in diameter size also. Thering on the edge of the circle is 18 inchesacross and an almost perfect circle.

The circle was 45 to 48 feet from ariver branch and located in the upperpart1 of an open field. If a UFO hadlanded there, it would have had to landat an angle, but there were no overheadobstruct ions . t h a t would haveprevented such an occurrence.

Above the "ring" marking and inthe same field off to the side were a largenumber of red oak, maple, poplar,walnut, spruce and pine trees, but noneappeared damaged. The tallest treeswere about 60 to 70 feet high.

UFO LANDING?

Mr. Phelps felt as did Mr. Copethat a UFO landing was the most likelycause for the marking and bothdiscounted a "lightning strike," becauseof the almost perfect 18 inch "ring:"

Cope first discovered the circlewhen he was clearing the .pasture ofknee-high grass and weeds. Theuniform 18-inch swath was found on aslope shaded by trees. No one lived onthe property when the ground marking12

was first discovered and no UFO wasreported by anyone in the area, as bestas can be determined at this.late date,so all theories are pure speculation.atthis point in the investigations. '

There were no power lines locatedin the area of the ground markings. Iinterviewed farmer Cope several timesover the telephone, but was unable tospeak to him the day I made a fieldinvestigation of the site, since Cope hadto work late that afternoon and was notavailable.

Soil samples taken from the site by'farmer Cope were forwarded to M. RayTucker, the head of the state soil testinglaboratory for the North CarolinaDepartment of-Agriculture at the BlueRidge Road Center. .

The potassium index for the insideof the circle was 36, while the potassiumindex for the outside of the circle was24. The ring itself had a potassium indexof 60.

In a letter to me, agronomistTucker mentioned his familiarity withthe soil samples taken from Cope'sfarm, but in all honesty said he had noexplanation for the ring formation in thefield or the differences in the potassiumindex. Tucker admitted they were stillin a quandry over this strangephenomenon.4

I checked the circle andsurrounding areas with a metaldetector, but no fragments were foundat the site. No checks for possible"radioactivity" were conducted by anyof the investigators and at this late dateare not advised.

NOTES1. "Davie Co. Farmer Suspects UFO inMystery" (written by Staff WriterMarlene Benson), Davie CountyEnterprise Record (Mocksville, N.C.)September 23, 1982 issue.2. Field investigation conducted at thesite by George D. Fawcett (Lincolnton,N.C.) October 16, '1985.3. Photographs taken at site by JimBarringer of Salisbury Evening Post.(Salisbury, N.C.) received in mail byFawcett on August 3, 1985.4. Correspondence received from M.Ray Tucker by Fawcett in response toprevious phone call. Tucker'scommunication arrived and was datedAugust 13, 1985. Tucker is an

agronomist of the Agronomic Division,North Carolina Department ofAgriculture, Blue. Ridge Road Center(Raleigh, N.C.)

LETTERSOPEN LETTER

Dear Willy Smith,Your open letter to Jenny Randies

in the December MUFON Journal is-good advice. She is in a quagmire overthe Rendlesham Forest case, and themore she wriggles the deeper in it shegets. ' :

However, in a letter dated 11January 1985 Jenny told me: "I am notsure why you seem to think we wouldbe willing to continue our friendlyovertures and honest objectivityconcerning yourself." So you can seewhat I am up against!

Also in the December issue, RayBoeche mentions that Col. Haltattempted to sell his story to anewspaper, without naming it. As youknow, the story originally appeared inthe News of the World in the UK. Thereporter who wroter that story wasKeith Beabey. At a meeting of theBritish UFO Research Association inLondon on 10 December 1983, which Iattended, Keith Beabey publiclyrevealed that Col. Halt had offered tosell the News of the World furtherinformation about the case. But theycould hot come to an agreement.

C l e a r l y , t h e r e are twoexplanations for Col. Halt's actions.Either he is.prepared to sell militarysecrets, in which case he should be indeep trouble with the Pentagon. Orthere is no military significance in theRendlesham case.

May I remind you that JennyRandies has completely changed heropinion of the case. In S/cy Crash shetermed it "the world's first officiallyobserved, and officially confirmed,UFO landing and contact." But nowshe admits that' it is not even a trueUFO case at all.

, . .. Fraternally,Ian Ridpath

(continued on page 17)

COMET HALLEYBy Walter Webb

Since a knowledge of astronomy isso essential to the study of unidentifiedflying objects, a once-in-a-lifetimeexperience for most people has beentaking place during 1985-86 with thereturn of Halley's Comet. MichaelBonecutter, a field investigator traineeliving in Corpus Christi, Texas and amember of the prestigious InternationalAstronomical Artists Association hassubmitted an artist's rendition ofHalley's Comet as it would appear inthe southeast sky, before daybreak onMarch 20, 1986. It has been posedastronomically in the sky in the properrelationships with the constellations.The foreground consists of a portion ofthe McDonald Observatory in theDavis Mountains in west Texas near Ft.Davis. This will be the site for the new300 inch diameter optical telescope, thelargest in the World, being built by theUniversity of Texas.

Journal readers, possessing a copyof the MUFON Field Investigator'sManual, may refer to Star Map No. 8Figure 24 on page 87 (corrected for thetime of observation) to help indentifythe constellations that the artist hasfaithfully depicted. Sagittarius appearson the right of the comet and touchesthe lower portion of the tail.Capricornus may be viewed in theupper left corner (triangle-shaped) infront and above Halley's Comet. Theconstellation Scorpius is easily locatednear the center of the drawing to the leftof the smaller observatory and abovethe watertank. Our own Galaxy, theMilky Way, forms the backdrop,angling from between the twoobservatories upwards to the left.Slightly below the end of the comet's tailis the direction to the center of ourGalaxy, the Milky Way, approximately30,000 light years distance.

Even though Halley's Comet willbe putting on its poorest performancein over 2,000 years, being only about2nd magnitude in brightness at its beston or about April llth, the artist has

taken the prerogative of displaying it asif it was much closer to the Earth andtherefore visibly brighter to the eye.May we take this opportunity to thankthe multi-talented Michael Boneeutterfor his contribution of artwork to theMUFON UFO Journal.

-Walt Andrus

COMET HALLEY

' Though there have been brighter,more spectacular comets in history,Comet Halley is the most reliable short-period naked-eye comet, reappearingon the average every 76 years — oncein a lifetime. Down through the ages,this icy visitor from the outskirts of thesolar system has linked generations ofhumans who have wondered at thesight for at least 2,200 years.

Edmond Halley (rhymes with"alley") was a 17th-century Englishastronomer who discovered theperiodic nature of comets. Afterdetermining that the orbits of threecomets were actually those of oneobject, he forecast its next return.When the comet reappeared onschedule, it was named in Halley'shonor.

SNOWBALLS

Comets are giant "dirty snowballs"— frozen masses of water and othergases a few miles across, imbeddedwith dust, which move in very longorbits about the sun. As they near thesun, the masses warm up, releasingsome of the gas and dust. Sunlightpressure and the wind (chargedparticles from the sun) force out twotails — the more visible curved dust tailand a fainter straight ion or gas tail.Both tails always point away from thesun no matter whether the comet ismoving toward or away from our star.

After the object passes around the sunand heads back into deep space, thedouble tail shrinks and disappears.

People often confuse comets withmeteors. Unlike the rapid speed andalmost instantaneous departure of ameteor, a comet appears in the samepart of the sky for many days, onlyslowly shifting its position from night tonight.

VIEWING

The cover of the Journal showsHalley in the morning sky near the"teapot" of Sagittarius on March 20, agood time for U.S. observers to view it.Having reached its nearest point to thesun in February, the comet is nowapproaching earth again. It is brighterwith, a better developed tail andentering its best observation period.Peak viewing is as follows:

1. March 7-21. Moonless sky. Looknear start of morning twilight low inSE (iy2 hrs. before sunrise at.'lat.40°N; 1 hr. 20 mins. before at30°N). Tail grows from perhaps 10°'to 25°. The farther south you are,

' ' the higher Halley will be.2. April 2-16. Little or no moonlight.

From 2nd to 5th, look near start ofmorning twilight low in south.From 6th to 16th, look when Halleyis due south (highest); on 6th this isat 4 AM local time and then half anhour earlier each night until 11 PMon 16th. On 10th comet passesnearest earth (39 millions miles).Tail shrinks from perhaps 30° toless than 10° during the two-weekperiod. Again, the farther southone is, the higher the comet.Although Comet Halley moves still

higher in the southern evening skyduring the next moonless time,frame(Apr. 25-May 12), it is also fading andrapidly losing its tail. By mid-May, we •may get our last chance to see thisfamous celestial visitor with the nakedeye — that is, until 2061 rolls around!

13

UFOS IN REEL LIFEBy Joe Kirk Thomas & Dennis Stacy

Joe Kirk Thomas is a MUFONResearch Specialist and formerState Section Director for LosAngeles County.

UFORIA

I have to admit that in the past Ihave had little use for UFO movies,having found Speilberg's movies, forexample, chocked full of dubiousmaterial and silly to boot! But along hascome a film that I believe to have trulyredeeming value. The movie isUFORIA, a Universal picture'producedby Melvin Simon and starring CindyWilliams (of "Laverne and Shirley"fame), Harry Dean Stanton, and FredWard. Make no mistake, it is not themovie that ufologists would like to see,rather it is a movie that they should see! -

The story is set in a small desertcommunity in California. (I note withi r o n y t h a t i t was f i l m e d inLancaster/Palmdale, the site of asenseless hoax I once investigated.)Much of the move's tone is set in theopening scene showing Sheldon Bart(Fred Ward) driving down the highwayat sunrise in an open convertible, onefoot propped up on the dash, drinking abeer and singing along with the radio aWaylon Jennings..tune. The movie islaced with country. music, artfullyselected to match the story line, ifperhaps hard on this author's nerves.

It would, of course, be the height ofrudeness to .reveal much of the plot.Fortunately, it isn't necessary, as muchof the movie's value to ufology lies in itscharacterizations.

Take Sheldon. He's basically adrifter, a good natured fellow with littleeducation and a history as a scam artist,but a rationalist nevertheless. The onlything he believes in are "things that canbe proved in black and white." ^

Initially just passing through town,Sheldon visits an old friend, now goingby Brother Bud (Harry Dean Stanton)of Brother Bud's Crusade. Brother Bud

14

is an obvious con man who finds faithhealing to be "better than working forLockheed!". He's always looking for agimmick, a fast buck, even if it meanss e l l i n g . . ho.t . c a r s u n d e r thetent..."Friends, the „ proceeds go toJesus/". ' . ' , - '

. Then, there's . Arlene Stewart(Cindy Williams), a cashier in thelocal supermarket. Arlene has herproblems...a lonely woman in a lonelyplace, isolated and sexually inhibited byextreme religious ideas,.and possiblysuffering from a sleep disorder.Previous to viewing this film, it hadnever occurred to me that to themodern supermarket checker, working40 hours a week only a few feet from thesensationalist tabloids, irrational beliefsmay well be an occupational hazard.Indeed, Arlene has been known toread the.UFO pulp magazines duringbreaks, and. has come to believe that"Jesus came to earth in a UFO, and heleft in one!". .

Amile is a shy, introverted youngman also very much into religion. Bornand raised in Oklahoma, he now travelswith Brother Bud. He knows the latteris insincere, but he believes that"sometimes you don't have to believe insomething to do people a lot of good!".

And then there's Toby and hiswife, who live out in the country in apyramid-shaped farmhouse. He's a newwave type wi th- , a history ofhallucinogenic drugs, and he hasboasted to Arlene "I believe ineverything!". It is Toby who is to firstsuggest to Arlene that her dreams maybe real.

Finally, there is the elderly couplewho think they have seen a UFO. It isn'tclear from the story line whether or notthis encounter was real. But theirexperience with the authorities andwith the press have left them angry andconfused.

Sitting Ducks! Arlene, Amile, Tobyand his wife, the elderly couple — withtheir admixture of religion, uncritical

acceptance of tabloid material, generalcredulity and confusion, they are all ripeplucking for the contagion that is tofollow.

As I watched these, charactersdevelop. on the screen, I realized I hadseen them all before! I spent 3 yearswith MUFON Los Angeles, two of themas state section director. We hadmeetings every two or three months,and they were always open to .thepublic. Most of that public was level-headed and sane, but there was alwaysanother component populated withastrologers, nurherologists, psychics,housewives suffering from 'tabloidfever', and the psuedoreligiousinterested in the- 'spiritual side' ofUFOs. Most of these folks weretransients of sorts — MUFON was too'conservative' for them. I could havecast UFORIA with real counterparts toits fictional characters many times over!

It is a problem riot mentioned inpolite society, but anyone who has beenactive in ufology for any time must beaware of it. Like the characters inUFORIA, these people are quite saneand usually gentle souls. They havemerely succumbed to their beliefsystems. And they do a lot of damage.

These are the folks who allowedthemselves to be led around thesouthwest by The Two', and who keepthe UFO pulp papers in business. Theyare largely responsible for the poisoningof our data base and for the generaldisrepute of ufology in academic andgovernmental circles. They are a socialphenomenon into themselves who flyinterference with legitimate ufology,and we have, yet to learn to deal withthem.

Universal held back the release ofthis movie for 5 years, and I suspect thatit will not be a blockbuster. ButUFORIA is, I think, a jewel whoseoptimum audience rriay well be present'or former state section directors withtwo or more years experience.

Dennis Stacy is the editor ofthe Journal and a San Antonio-based photojournalist whosearticles and pictures have appearedin a variety of newspapers andmagazines both here and abroad,inc luding "Southwest" and"OMNI."

AURORA

The Aurora Encounter (NewWorld Pictures) purports to be about a"true story," the alleged crash of analien airship at Aurora, Texas, on April17, 1897. According to legend (mostUFO historians regard the account asmore hoax than history), the soleoccupant of the ship, who perished inthe collison with a water tank, wassubsequently buried in the towncemetery.

A s a n d s t o n e h e a d m a r k e rsupposedly portraying the strangeairship reportedly marked the graveuntil sometime in the Seventies, whenrenewed interest in the case brought aninflux of outside visitors and it wasstolen. Metal detectors were said tohave picked up readings under the nowunmarked gravesite, but these samplesla ter disappeared, too, undersomewhat mysterious circumstances.Finally, the local cemetery associationsought and received a court injunctionto prevent any further digging.

The Aurora Encounter alsopurports to be a movie, but offers littlein its own defense, borrowing heavy-handedly virtually every Spielbergcliche in the book, from flying children,caves and cobwebs, to a cuddly alienvisitor. What emerges, however,including what must be the absolutelyworst spaceship in the history ofcinema, is more spaghetti thanSpielberg.

One looks for a kind word to sayabout such a promising storyline, butone looks in vain. The acting is for themost part wooden and the plot hasmore holes in it than a coffee filter.

ACTORS

Jack Elam, the only name actor,who's probably been in more westernsthan he cares to remember, turns in acredible performance, given the script,

as Aurora's town scalawag and drunk, apeddler of Doctor Neptune's Elixir, analcohol-laced antidote to the yellowfever sweeping the countryside.

Carol Bagdasarian, as AlainPeeples, the school ma'am who inheritsher daddy's newspaper, the "AuroraSentinel," is called on to deliver mostof the movie's lines, and does passinglywell, again considering the script. Thehigh sheriff, "Not-in-my-town-you-won't," is played by Tom Brown, whohas little to say and seems thankfulenough for it.

There ' s a l so a b a d - g u y ,undercover Texas Ranger (yes, in blackhat), a cameo appearance by SpankyMcFarland as the state governor,Dottie West as Irene, who contributes agratuitous nipple, and more cutechildren than you can shake a stick at,probably impressed into their roles bytheir parents.

More material falls through thesieve-like plot than floats to the surface,but for whatever reason(s), adiminuitive alien (Micky Hayes) aboardan airship from the moon turns up inAurora shortly before the turn of thecentury. Which proves to be just whatthe suffering small town needs, havingbeen bypassed by the railroad, itscotton crop failing, and dread yellowfever on the loose.

For more reasons unknown, thelittle alien frequents a riverbank wherehe maintains a bunch of cattle skullsand feathers on sticks. This is justabove a fakey cave three young girls fallinto for a convenient late afternoonstroll through a cutrate Spielberg set.

I think boy-alien is visiting the placebecause his ancestors (more skulls) areburied here among all sorts ofmysterious Aztec and Mayan allusionsthat otherwise go unexplained.Anyway, the girls are imperiled by afake roof falling in, though the under-cover Ranger lurking above is appar-ently unaware of all the seismic activity.Boy alien arrives in the nick of time, andone of the grateful girls gives him herCabbage Patch doll.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

Moving right along, the schoolma'am, who has built the first crudeaeroplane in the meantime, decides the

alien should fly down Aurora's mainstreet because it will apparently makegood copy for her 4-page newspaper.This publicity coup begins in broaddaylight which quickly turns to nightfallso the special effects budget can beused up in one swell foop. Previously,and again for reasons left unexplained,the airship alternately glowed orsteamed smoke, neither mode of whichpropulsion seemed necessary as longas it was securely supported by cablesand cropped camera angles.

But come downtown it does, in ablaze of arc-lights. Boy alien steps out ofhis ship long enough to be gunned downby the dastardly Ranger. He staggersinside, lifts off, and then passes out atthe controls so his ship can slam intothe Aurora water tower and explode.But the cascading water puts out thefire long enough for one of the girls toretrieve his body before the spaceshiperupts in paltry pyrotechnics again.

A tiny casket is prepared for burial,but just like in E-T, cuddly alien moviesdon't end on sour notes. The casketglows blue, and what I assume to beboy-alien's soul streaks skyward, a sortof moonbeam in reverse.

I caught Aurora at a bargainmatinee and even then felt swindled. Ifyou have some very young (andgullible) children, perhaps it'll be worthyour while. Otherwise, encounter itsoon on a TV or videocassette nearyou, because it's not long for the box-office.

17TH ANNUAL

UFOSYMPOSIUM

JUNE 27-29. 1986

PRESENTED BY

MUTUAL UFO NETWORK

15

NEWS <N'.VIEWS

UFO

LARRY W. BRYANT

Larry W. Bryant operates the,Washington, D.C., office of CAUS(Citizens Against UFO Secrecy)

'' , '( '• ' 1 '

Donald M. Ware's , aplogia(MUFON, UFO Journal, December1985) for, the' government's program' ofUFO news management cannot be leftunchallenged. . .

Indeed','even the title of his essayon why U:S. citizens should yield to thegovernment's^ .paternalistic pleadingson the UFO'problem misses the point:instead of "Security Policy,", it shouldhave borne the title."Secrecy Policy"—since secrecy for. its own sake can neverguarantee security. Rather than being amatter' of'national security, the UFOproblem reflects "national (andinternational) insecurity" — theinsecurity born of government-fosteredignorance of the body politic as to thetrue and complete nature.iof the UFOproblem.

Does Ware, in his wisdom gleanedfrom1 a military-service career, reallythink the government.will! condescendto cooperate with independent UFOresearch?. Or is he merely indulging inan exercise of introspection to relievehis conscience-pangs over how hisformer .superiors have helped thegovernment" manage to deceive thepublic all these years? You decide.

THE RECORD

In that decision-making process,consider the following points: It was thecontinuing campaign of dedicatedresearchers who won't accept as ananswer "mind your own business" that

(continued next page)

ARTIFICIAL CHEMICAL CLOUDS TO BE VISIBLEAT DA\yN ALONG EAST COAST

• ; ( ' . , . . ' ' " . ' . - „ ' . , ' ; ' , * • ' ' . ' ' . ' ' ' • ' . '•••" ' ' • : .- ' "'., . ' . , . ' ' • . ^

; > . ' . X • ' ' ; • ' ' RELEASE NO 85-33 ' ''V . i , ' " ' • ' • , ' ' ' •."1" ' ". ' • ' • ' ; " • ' " , , ' ; .'.''•-•> • '

A rocketborne scientific experiment which is programmed to createchemical1 clouds at high altitudes is."scheduled for launch during mid-November, from'NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops FlightFacility1 on Virginia's Eastern.Shore.J ' ;

1 ,A large three-stage, subdrbital rocket—aTaurus-Nike-Tomahawk —is, scheduled for a pre dawn 'flight1 from Wallops, Island during a launch

" window November 13'through November 22; The launch window lasts•'about; 15 'minutes each,morning, starting about 5:10 a.m. EST. Since the

date will be obtained optically, clear weather conditions are required at theground observing sites. Delays could occur due to operational constraintsor. cloud cover at the ground-based camera sites so the launch will bescheduled on a day-to-day basis.

The objective of this experiment is to provide baseline data onexpected yields, vapor expansion velocities arid other parameters for thechemical release canisters for the.Combined Release and Radiation EffectsSatellite (CRRES) scheduled to be launched in July 1987 from the SpaceShuttle. Three types of reaction chemistry will be tested on this flight: atitanium-boron-barium mixture, a titanium-boron-lithium mixture, and a

• bariunvcupric-oxide mixture. The barium and Hthium vapor will -scattersunlight at specific optic wavelengths (or colors) and will be visible from theground in the predawn sky.

The chemical releases will be visible, cloud-cover permitting, from allareas of the United States- east of the Mississippi River.

The payload is approximately 90 inches (2.3 meters) long and weighs151 pounds '(68.5 kilograms). It will.contain three separate chemicalcanisters. The release altitudes for each canister will simulate, as closely asfeasible; the CRRES release altitudes.

The flight will.release the titanium-borqn-barium chemical at the 370km .(230 statute miles)'point oh the .upleg, the titanium-boron-lithium.chemical at 523 km (325 statute miles) and .the barium-cuprie-oxidechemcial at the 370 km (230 statute miles) point on the downleg portion ofthe trajectory. The barium clouds will appear from the ground as greenish-white balls that, rapidly expand while ejecting barium ions along themagnetic field to form a visible streak more than 62 miles (100 km) in length.The lithium cloud will 'be red and will expand to a diameter of severalhundred kilometers in less than a minute. The chemical clouds will be visibleuntil the twilight sky becomes too bright to see, about 15-20 minutes.

.. ' , : -•"; . Dr. David L. Reasonerof the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.isthe principal investigator for this mission. The data will be taken by ground-based optical systems provided by Dr. J. Heppner, NASA Goddard SpaceFlight Center; Dr. P. Bernhardt, Los Alamos National Laboratory; Dr. G.Haereridel, Max Planck Institute, Germany; and Dr. S. Mende, LockheedPalo Alto Research Laboratory. These ground-based optical systems willbe distributed among four optical sites in North Carolina, Virginia,Maryland and West Virginia. Ground'observations will also be conducted

.with the Millstone Hill. Radar at MIT and two portable radars in the

16

Bahamas. ' • • ' • •Other scientists who may participate in the observations include Dr.

M. Mendillo, Boston University and Dr. H. Carlson, Air Force GeophysicsLaboratory. •

Ball Aerospace Systems Division, Boulder, Colorado, is the primecontractor for the chemical canisters as well as the entire CRRES and hascontracted with Franklin Research Center, Elverspn, Pennsylvania, tomanufacture a major portion of the rocket payload and the titanium-boroncanisters for flight. Dr. G. Haerendel from Max Planck has responsibility forthe barium-cupric-oxide canister. . . . ',

This flight mission, as part of the NASA Sounding Rocket Program ismanaged at Wallops. Jay F. Brown is the Wallops Payload Manager andDebbie Frpstrom is the Wallops Project Engineer for this flight.

RECORD, Continued

produced the FOIA revelations abouthow the g o v e r n m e n t ' s UFOpolicymakers continue to withholdhard-core evidence of UFO reality.That campaign's success'in'compelling'the release of hundreds of pages ofUFO;related documentation .showsthat the Emperor's UFO clothes aren'tnew at all — that Keyhoe's assertion,back in the fifties, that the governmentwas suppressing vital UFO evidencehad every basis•'• in fact, despite thegovernment's denial. The success alsoshows that .«the Emperor — in theperson, e.Q., of the U.S. CentralIntelligence Agency (which admits towithholding at least 57 documents) andthe U.S. National Security Agency(which admits to withholding at least135) — still feels impervious to thestares and jeers.of the small group ofexposers pointing their accusatoryfingers. Because of that feeling, theEmperor expects his accusers to growweary, eventually, of the effort requiredto sustain their expose.

SCIENCE NO HELP

Meantime, Ware would have usbelieve that in the. absence of the.Emperor's capitulation the scientificcommunity can be lured into taking agreater role in UFO research. That'slike saying the Watergate scandal couldhave been resolved without theintervention of Congress and the press.You simply can't expect the privatesector's scientific community to freelycommit its time and resources to 'aproblem with political strings attachedand with a history of being agovernment-fostered taboo.

PUBLIC REMEDY

As ecologist and taboo-stalker Garrett Hardih says, "It takes'imagination to see the truth." In thecase of unwarranted UFO secrecy, Irefer to the kind of imagination -thatwould impel the hews media and theCongress-' to start asking the rightquestions of. the right' people —. thesame 'practice that I and-several otherresearchers have been pursuing for atleast 10 years.

'The goal? Full governmentaccountability as to (1) what do U.S.officials know about the true nature of•the UFO problem? -.and, (2) how longhave they known it? To demand less ofour government is to relinquish ourcitizenship role — and hence to subjectour right-to-know to the whims of anygovernment or agency that would seekto cloak its UFO. secrecy in the clothesof "national security."

McAULIFFE

As , one who wanted to be acandidate for the Teacher in SpaceProgram, I would* not feel right if I didnot take a few moments to salute a veryfine human being and an outstandingeducator who has been a stronginspiration to me and to millions ofother teachers in the short time that shewas in the media -- CHRISTAMcAULIFFE.

Christa had a quality that is all toorare in individuals today, and that is thedrive and desire to follow one's dream.As poet .Robert Browning p u t - i t , "Ifman's reach does not exceed his grasp,what's a heaven for?" Christa McAuliffeexemplified that philosophy, and she

served as an inspiration for all of us. Shemade me feel proud to be a teacher, andbecause of society's lack of-respect forteachers, I hadn't felt proud to be ateach for quite a while. She gavecountless students the confidence toreach for the stars, and to set high goalsfor themselves. We need more ChristaMcAuliffes in our society. We couldcertainly use a few Christa MaAuliffesin. the field of UFOlogy. Too manypeople in our field .give up easilybecause they feel that they can't changethings, or that the odds are too.unsurmountable.

•'•• The MaVch' 1986 issue of theMUFON UFO 'JOURNAL was amemorial tribute to theChallenger51-Lcrew. I am taking this opportunity ofhonoring this courageous, enthusiasticwoman who I hope will inspire many ofyou as much as she has inspired me.Let's "reach for the stars." Let's set burgqals^high. Let's be as good as we can atwhat we do, and let's let -Lthe- publicknow that we are professional,'serious,credible researchers.

-Marge Christensen

LETTERS, Continued

Dear Editor,In the December 1985 issue of the

MUFON UFO JOURNAL thereappeared on open letter from Dr. WillySmith to Jenny Randies. In the letter,Dr. Smith asked Ms. Randies to refrainfrom her ongoing,verbal and literarybattle with Ian Ridpath.

I could not agree more with Dr.Smith in this matter. Not only does thistype of confrontation demonstrate thefutility of attempting to engage oneselfin a rational discussion of a UFO matterwith a debunker (it would appear thatRidpath is England's answer to our ownPhil Klass), but it also serves nopurpose other than to .give thedebunking community cause to addmore confusion to the minds of analready confused public.

Dr. Smith hits the nail on the headwhen he states in his letter that thedebunking community is "banking onthe ignorance of the publ ic ."Exploitation of an ignorant public is the

(continued on page 19)17

MESSAGE, Continued

separate check/money order or majorcredit card number to guarantee the.'room. 'Make your plans and.reservations before May 27th by writing

. to George Coyne-for both symposium'! registration and room reservations so

that you may obtain the $25 rate for thesymposium. If you need MUFONshuttle service from the Capital, City.Airport,. Lansjng; AMTRAK, EastLansing;: or Greyhound-Indian Trails,.East Lansing; please so indicate whenyou make your , registration to Mr.Coyne. We will be anticipating meetingmany of you in East Lansing, Michigan

. for MUFON's seventeenth annualUFO symposium.,

*. * *Planning has already started for

the MUFON., 1987 UFO Symposium inWashington; DiC. to be hosted by theFund for UFO Researched sponsoredby the Mutual UFO Network. FredWhiting, sympoisum coordinator,

.confirmed the decision of the Board ofDirectors -after their recent meeting.The location .will probably be" auniversity campus in Washington D.C.similar to the.facilities at M.I.T., M.S.U.and-fhe University of Nebraska. •"

Marge Christensen, Director ofPublic Relations, and the P.I.P.E.committee want to remind everyone

. that MUFON's Second National UFOInformation .Week is scheduled forAugust 10-17, 1986. Gary Levine,Ph.D., State Director for New York,.published his 'first MUFON, NEWYORK NEWSLETTER, Issue 1,January-February 1986. He has nowjoined Marge Christensen (Massachu-setts) and Francis Ridge (Indiana) inpublishing a state newsletter.

* * *The Office of Public Relations for

the Mutual UFO Network, Inc. will bemoved to Tucson, Arizona in July 1986,when Dave, Marge Christensen, andc h i l d r e n move f r o m B e v e r l y ,Massachusetts to the sunny southwest.They have already leased an apartment

(continued next page)

THE NIGHT SKY, By Walter N. WebbMUFON Astronomy Consultant

APRIL 1986

Bright Planets (Evening Sky):

Venus, shining brightly in the west after sunset at magnitude -3.9, graduallygains altitude.during the month. It sets nearly 2 hours after the sun in mid-April.Look very low in the west in midtwilight on the 10th; the brilliant planet lies only.'a degree or so from a.ydung crescent moon. Next night the moon' has moved10° above Venus, still a nice sight. '

. Saturn, in Ophiuchus, is now an evening planet, rising in the ESE about 9:45 PMin midmonth, • . • • ' • • ,' •

Bright Planets (Morning Sky): . . . ' . . ." • •' ' ' . " ' '. ' ;' • ., ' '•• * • ' •' ' '-

Mars, in Sagittarius, rises shortly after midnight in .the ESE. The red planet isbrightening, surpassing Saturn by 3/4 magnitude at month's 'end. CometHalley's head lies below Mars early in April. - . • ' , ,

Jupiter, in Aquarius, rises about 3:30 in midmonth "and gleams- brilliantly at. , magnitude -2.1. The giant world is climbing higher in the ESE during morning

.; "twilight/,

Saturn passes 61/2° above the red start Antares oh Apr. 1, the year's secondconjunction (one of three) between these.two objects. The ringed planet stands •28° directly above Comet Halley's head on the 7th. Saturn appears .low in the

; SSW at dawn.

Total Lunar Eclipse:

The full moon enters the earth's shadow on the morningof April 24. In the East,the moon sets before the eclipse begins; in the central U.S., early stages of theevent's partial phase will be seen (weather permitting); from.West Texaswestward to the coast, some of the total phase can be glimpsed beforemoonset; and from Hawaii and the Pacific, all stages of the.eclipse areobservable. The moon .enters, the earth's dark central shadow at 3:03 AMPacific Standard Time and is totally eclipsed from 4:10 to 5:15 (totality occursduring twilight in the western states). From Hawaii, Comet Halley shouldemerge into view as the moon darkens.

Meteor Shower:

Unfortunately this year the Lyrids peak on the morning of the 22nd will bespoiled by the bright light of a .gibbous moon. Under better conditions,observers would see about 15 of these bright white meteors in an hour duringmaximum. . , v

Halley's Comet: . . ; ' . '

SUPPORT NATIONAL UFO INFORMATION WEEK18

NIGHT SKY, Continued

During April Halley races across parts of eight constellations as it once againpasses earth (on the 10th), this time on its outbound leg. Now the famouscelestial visitor is at its peak, especially from the southern U.S. and SouthernHemisphere. Avoid bright moonlight by viewing the comet from April 2-16.Observers in the northern states must be sure to select a clear, unobstructedsouth horizon. Even so, the comet's head will lie below the horizon at somenorthern latitudes. From the 2nd to 5th, look low in the south about 1 hr. 20mins. before sunrise (lat. 30° N) or l'/2 hrs. before (40° N). Halley's tail, slantingto the right, may extend 25° to 30°. From the 6th to 16th, observe when thecomet is highest and due south. The time will vary from about 4 AM local timeon the 6th to 11 PM on the 16th, the south point being reached half an hourearlier on each succeeding night. During the time of its passage by earth,Halley's tail swings upright, pivoting from right to left and shortening to less that10° in length. Moonlight again interferes from April 17-24 as the fading cometmoves higher in the southern sky each evening. On the 25th it is 26° up (at lat.40° N) in the south as evening twilight ends. Be month's end, Halley has dimmedto 4th magnitude and the tail length is down to a few degrees.

Moon Phases:

Last quarter-April 1New Moon-April 9First' quarter-April 17Full moon-April 24Last quarter-April 30

€O

The Stars:

The Big Dipper, high in the northern sky at 9 AM in midmonth, is a built-inpointer system to other stars and constellations. Last month we mentionedhow the two stars on the end of the bowl point to the North Star. Using thesame two stars, another line can be extended backwards to Leo the Lion, withits well known sickle pattern and the animal's heart, the star Regulus. Followingthe curve of the dipper's handle, you "arc to Arcturus," the orange star inBootes the Herdsman, and then continue the curving path-"spike to Spica"-ablue-white luminary in Virgo the Maiden.

Be aware of two "IFO" stars near the horizon this month. Vega rises in the NEabout 8 PM, and Sirius sets in the WSW about 10 PM.

MESSAGE, Continued

and will be building a new home inTucson. Marge is looking forward tovisiting some of the local MUFONorganizations in the southwest andwest coast after they are settled inArizona.

* * *An a n n o u n c e m e n t in the

International UFO Reporter,November/December 1985 issue,received March 8,1986, is of interest toeveryone in Ufology. Quoting fromIUR:

"J. Allen Hynek has resigned aseditor-in-chief of IUR, citing health

reasons. He will remain on themasthead as editor emeritus and heretains his position as the ScientificDirector of CUFOS. In a November 22letter to IUR editor Jerome Clark, Dr.Hynek wrote, "I am very proud of theCUFOS talent. I don't think it ismatched anywhere. And it covers awide field of expertise." He has alsoasked IUR to report that "I amcompletely disassociated (and I meancomplete ly) f rom the Phoenixoperation. My connection with theInternational Center for UFO Researchis null and void."

C o n t r a r y t o w i d e s p r e a dmisunderstanding, ICUFOR was an

entirely separate organization fromCUFOS, which has always beenheadquartered in the Chicago area. Itwas not CUFOS' "Phoenix branch," assome have alleged. Meanwhile,h o w e v e r , Dr . H y n e k ' s UFOinvestigations continue. "There hassprung up here (in Scottsdale, Arizona)a new Invisible College of seriousqualified scientists devoted to a seriousstudy of our subject," he says. "Mostactive is Willy Smith, whose work withUNICAT is already being recognized inmany parts of the world as a uniquedatabase." (End of quote.)

LETTERS, Continued

debunking community's most effectivetool, and when given the opportunity touse it, they invariably will not hesitate todo so.

The most successful way toencounter ignorance has always beeneducation. Granted, educating thegeneral public with regard to the UFOphenomenon would appear to be amassive endeavor. Nevertheless, withthe advent of MUFON's PublicInformation and Public EducationCommittee and the first National UFOInformation Week, it has begun. This istruly the most constructive way tocounter the misleading pronounce-ments of the debunker, not by engagingin a war of words.

As Dr. Smith suggested, one's timewould be better spent engaging in. UFOresearch.

Thomas J. BurnsNew Jersey

MUFONAMATEUR

RADIONET

EVERY SATURDAYMORNING

AT 0800 EST (OR DST)ON 7237 KHz S.S.B.

19

DIRECTOR'S MESSAGEby

Walt Andrus

The March 1986 issue of theMUFON UFO Journal contained aballot in which each subscriber wasinvited and encouraged to cast his/hervote for one of the candidates who willbe the recipient of the MUFONAWARD FOR OUTSTANDINGWORK IN THE UFO FIELD. Theaward will be presented at the MUFON1986 UFO Symposium to the personjudged by the ballot of members whohas done the most for the UFO subjectduring the MUFON corporate calendaryear from July 1985 through June 1986.The candidates nominated for the 1986award by the Public Information andPublic Education Committee (P.I.P.E.)are as follows: Barry Greenwood,Budd Hopkins, Marge Christensen,Dan Wright and Bruce Maccabee.

In addition to the plaque beingawarded by MUFON, the Fund forUFO Research will make a monetaryaward of $250 to the awardee inmemory of Isabel Davis. Please submityour ballot promptly to Walt Andrusbefore May 15, 1986 for tabulation soadequate time will be available forengraving the plaque.

MUFON and the P.I.P.E.committee will also present anengraved plaque to Dr. J. Allen Hynekin recognition for his lifelong dedicationand contributions to UFO research andpublic information at the UFOSymposium in Lansing, Michigan.

* * *Michael Sinclair, International

Coordinator, is proud to announce thatSr. Carlos Paz Garcia, a professor inLima, Peru, is the new Representativefor Peru. He is a member of numerousUFO organizations in South Americaand has had other specialized trainingin exobiology, astrobiology, andparapsychology. John A. Banasick,M.A., a retired U.S.A.F. Lt. Colonel,and physics instructor, has acceptedthe position of Representative for theRepublic of Panama where he resides.Mr. Banasick has accumulated 140graudate hours over his Masters

Degree from various universitiesthrought the U.S.A.

It is a pleasure to announce thatFred Whiting, a State SectionDirector living in Alexandria, Virginia,has assumed the responsibility of StateDirector for Virginia, replace BobG rattan who will be transferring April1, 1986 to Paris, France to be headlibrarian at the American Library. Fredhas also been very active in the Fund forUFO Research and Citizens AgainstUFO Secrecy. He will soon be selectingnew State Section Directors for thecounties in northeast Virginia to fill thevacancies created by his promotion.

* * *The following new State Section

Directors have been appointed: FrankE. Mangus, Lt. Col. (retired) U.S.A.F.,living in Durango, Colorado, will coverLaPlata, Montezuma, Archuleta andSan Juan Counties. During his 20 yearsin the service, he has been an instructorpilot, senior navigator, electronicsengineer, and communications andelectronics staff officer. Mr. Mangus isan amateur radio operator (NOGCG).Robert S. Gates of Idaho Falls, Idahohas been assigned the counties ofBonneville, Bingham and Jefferson. Hehas been specializing his UFO researchto UFOs over military installations,minutemen bases and airline UFOencounters.

Bernard Haugen, M.A., a retiredscientist and educator from Oxford,North Carolina, has also concentratedhis research to pilot reports andaviation reports from Project BlueBook. Mr. Haugen has been a memberof MUFON since 1982, however he willnow take a more active role as StateSection Director for Granville, Personand Vance Counties. William I.McNeff, B.S.E.E., an electricalengineer residing in Coon Rapids,Minnesota, has been recommended byWalter J. Moe, Asst. State Directorfor Minnesota to oversee the countiesof Anaka and Hennepin. Mr. McNeffsprime interest to date has been in the

area of extraterrestrial life and thepossible advance in scientificknowledge that might accrue from suchcontact.

* * *"UFOs: Beyond the Mainstream of

Science" is the theme for the MUFON1986 UFO Symposium to be held June27, 28 and 29, 1986 at Kellogg Centerfor Continuing Education, MichiganState University in East Lansing. Inaddition to the speakers and theirsubjects previously announced in theMarch issue of the Journal, thefollowing have provided the titles oftheir presentations: Alan C. Holt, M.S.- "Interstellar Spaceports andTransportation Systems"; Michael D.Swords, Ph.D. - "The Case forE.T....Within the Mainstream ofScience"; and Harley D. Rutledge,Ph.D. - "Project Identification: ThirteenYears and One-hundred and SixtySightings Later." Other speakers areBruce Maccabee, Ph.D., David M.Jacobs, Ph.D., John F. Schuessler,M.S., Richard F. Haines, Ph.D.,Robert H. Bletchman, J.D., and thekeynote speaker Mrs. MargeChristensen.

Reservations for rooms at theKellogg Center and registration for thesymposium are now available by writingto George Coyne, 6171 River Road,Flushing, Michigan 48433. Registrationfor the MUFON 1986 UFO Symposiumis $25 in U.S. funds ($30 after May 27)by check or money order made payableto Michigan MUFON, Inc. Rooms atthe Kellog Center are $35 per night forsingle occupancy or $42 per night fordouble occupancy. Michigan MUFONwill forward your room reservationrequest immediately upon receipt.Reservations received by the KellogCenter after May 27 cannot beguaranteed.

If you will be arriving after 6 p.m. onthe first night of reserved roomoccupancy, you must prepay by

(continued on page 18)