Inthisissue

Crop circle effects onindividuals studied, p. 3.

7.Alaskan encounter, p.

MUFONForum,p.8.

UFO Press, p. 10.

South Carolina UFO, p.11.

New human speciesfound, p. 12.

Whitley Strieber:What really matters, p.18.

Michigan priest anET?,p.21.

Calendar, p. 22.

UFO Marketplace, p.23.

ColumnsDirector's Message 2Filer's Files 13Stan Friedman 16McLeod's Night Sky 24

December 2004No. 440

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December 2004 Number 440

MUFONUFO Journal

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Director's MessageBy John F. Schuessler

Holiday Greetings2004 has been an exciting year for

MUFON, and that is because of all thewonderful people working together tosolve the UFO mystery.

It is not an easy job, but all of you, themembers andsupporters ofMUFON, havedone greatthings.

S i g h t i n g shave increased,and you haveresponded bystepping up theinvestigations ofthese new j0hn Schuesslercases.

Many have contributed to the pagesof the MUFON UFO Journal, othershave participated in the annual MUFONInternational UFO symposium, while oth-ers have supplied the results of their UFOresearch.

Many have passed their best wishesand offers of support on to MUFONheadquarters. We appreciate all this andmore. We wish you all a happy and pros-

perous holiday season and our best re-gards for the new year.

2005 InternationalUFO Symposium

The 36th annual MUFON Interna-tional UFO Symposium will be held onFriday, July 22, through Sunday, July 24,2005, at the Marriott Tech Center Hotelin Denver. CO. The hotel is locatedabout one mile south of where the 2004symposium was held.

The Marriott Tech Center is a world-class hotel in a tech campus setting, andthe rooms are again priced at $65 pernight.

A limited number of rooms will alsobe available at that price starting onWednesday for anyone wanting to ar-rive early for vacation fun. Mark yourcalendars now, and we will see you inDenver.

Special Donors NeededMUFON has identified more than two

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UK researchers

Crop circles effects on individuals studiedByLucyPringle

Editor's Note: While many cropcircle researchers are concentratingon the physical effects on the plants(elongated or blown nodes, etc.) andthe soil within and around the circles,the UK's Lucy Pringle is focusing onthe possible effects of the circles onpeople who enter them.

Interestingly, even some of thosewho emphasize plant and soil re-search, such as Nancy Talbott, havereported apparent physical and emo-tional effects from entering some ofthe circles.

Results of Pringle's studies arenot yet compiled for the 2004 UKseason, but she and her colleagueshave compiled studies of the 2003season. Extensive charts have beendeveloped which may be viewed onMs. Pringle's website, http://home.darajiet/lucypringle.

Techniques for measuring effectson individuals are constantly beingevaluated and modified, and it is dif-ficult to determine the extent towhich psychological effects causesome of the reported and measuredphysical effects.

The appearance on June 15,2003, ofthe glorious Ogbourne St George forma-tion that appeared two miles from anyhabitation ushered in the season for me.

Its complex series of crescents spi-raled outwards in increasing size from acentral circle, nestling snuggly beneaththe Ridgeway in Wiltshire far from theprying eyes of man.

The Ridgeway is Britain's oldest road,which during its 85-mile (137km) jour-ney passes many other historic sites asit winds it way through Wiltshire,Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hertford-shire, starting at Avebury in Wiltshire andending its peregrinations at Ivanhoe Bea-con in Hertfordshire.

The Ogbourne St. George formation.

Long-time researcher ChristopherWeeks and I visited the formation on June17, two days after its arrival. The farmerwas loath to allow many people into theformation, as he did not wish his privacyinvaded nor his field damaged.

I drove my car as far as I could, andthen the farmer kindly took us in his 4-wheel drive the rest of the way, bump-ing over deeply rutted terrain. For hu-mans to carry their equipment and walkover such an inaccessibly arduous andpitted tract of land seemed unlikely.

We examined the formation in mi-nutely close detail, and at the end of anhour could find no evidence of humaninvolvement.

The stalks were not crushed or bro-ken, and the gray bloom that gives thisearly crop its bluish look was still present.There was no evidence of pole or othermarks.

The scene was unbelievably peace-

ful; early summer at its best. Despite thecircle being only 48 hours old, the younggreen wheat had clearly been only lightlykissed and was rising up fast.

Before entering the circle we buriedtwo pairs of bottles as control samples,and buried a series of pairs of bottlesinside. Towards the end of this exercise,Christopher suddenly asked how manymore bottles were to be buried, "Onlyone more set," I replied. "Thank good-ness for that," said Christopher, "then Iam getting out."

I had not mentioned that I had alsobeen feeling far from well for some timeafter entering the circle. A feeling ofvague nausea, disorientation, headache,and just generally yuk. But our scientificresearch had to come first.

As we walked back to my car we dis-cussed our symptoms, which were thenfast disappearing. We decided that thevortical energy of the circle had been

DECEMBER 2004 MUFON UFO JOURNAL

increased by a possible rebound of vor-tical energy from the steep banks of theRidgeway, doubling the natural effect.By the time we reached my car, we werefully recovered.

However, within 48 hours Christopherdeveloped severe gout. This is not thefirst time it has happened to him aftervisiting crop circles. His gout recovered,we returned a week later to collect thebottles.

Within 48 hours Christopher devel-oped gout once more.

Causes of goutWe know that gout occurs as a result

of uric crystals collecting around joints,causing painful inflammation. It is some-times thought that an abundance of richfood and red wine or port can be thecause. Christopher does not drink wineand eats well, mainly organic foods.

Three other people who visited theformation all felt extremely thirsty as theyleft. Instead of drinking the water.theyhad brought with them, they all cravedred wine. Two of them had forgotten thiseffect when they revisited the formationat a later date. Unexpectedly, this effectwas repeated.

They are naturally moderate red winedrinkers, but this compulsion was some-thing different.

Could there be a chemical constitu-ent that is common to both red wine andthe cause of gout? Relating to red winereports, it has been suggested to me thatthe exogenous stimulus was a "kick" tothe reward centers of the brain, ratherthan a subconscious seeking of an in-gredient.

The next question is the energy input.Eddy currents are now coming to the forein physics when magnetic fields traversethe brain.

Several years ago a young man sentme a report telling me that despite feel-ing slightly nauseous while inside a for-mation, he had desperately cravedchocolate. Many people suffer from thiscondition. We are told that whereaschocolate craving is often linked to eat-ing disorders, there are other possible rea-sons.

The main active ingredient of choco-late is cocoa, a significant source of thestimulant theobromine, which is a known

Peter and Isabel measure Chris in the formation.

mood elevator. In tests it has been shownthat alcohol-loving rats, given the choicewill actually replace their alcohol intakein preference for chocolate.

By doing this the rats increase theirlevel of dopamine, as chocolate appearsto stimulate its production. A study ofrats shows that dopamine kick-starts abrain messenger chemical calledDARPP-32, which in rum activates hor-mones that make females interested insex, hence Valentine Day chocolates.

Researchers at the NeurosciencesInstitute in San Diego have also discov-ered that novel constituents in cocoapowder and chocolate are chemicalcousins of anandamide, which binds tothe same brain receptor sites as mari-juana.

Chocolate and maryuanaThis means that chocolate chemicals

may activate receptors for marijuana andthus mimic its psychoactive effects ofheightened sensations and euphoria.

What are the reasons for thesestrange cravings? Is there a dopaminelink between chocolate and red wine?What about gout? When dealing withcomplex subtle energies, their effects onareas of the brain are still to be thor-oughly understood.

We took seed samples from the cen-ter and perimeter of this formation, plus

control samples from some distance out-side. These were sent to Jim Lyons inYork for analysis. The results are inter-esting, and show significant differencesbetween the two sample types:

A change in protein levelsJim tells me, "You will see a signifi-

cant change in protein levels from thecontrol, with the perimeter results show-ing interesting effects. On the Spectralcharts they have managed to cover abroader range of frequencies than theprevious year, and hence reveal moreresonances. It is these results I am try-ing to put in order."

He continues, "One can clearly see,however, the differences in magnitudeof reflectivity for the differing samples.At least the perimeter results here areconsistent with the protein results."

He adds, "The bottom line is there isa very significant effect (greater than lasttime) on the samples, but with at firstsight a surprise result indicating mostchange for the perimeter results.

"This does show, however, the dra-matic difference between the control andperimeter results. Despite the difficul-ties of getting these results, it has been aworthwhile exercise. We clearly needmany more samples to pursue this indetail."

Reports of abnormal menstrual cyclescontinue, and two women visiting the

MUFON UFO Journal DECEMBER 2004

beautiful Catherine Wheel which ap-. peared at Windmill Hill on June 22 bothsuffered irregularities, one unexpectedlystarting her period immediately after vis-iting the formation, the other finding hernormally consistent menstrual cycle dis-rupted.

Research teamOur scientific research team of Isabel

Maxwell-Cade and Peter Staples (brainactivity), Sheila Partridge (standing in forAnne Srriithells on measured hormonelevels), Dr. Roger Taylor (advancedKirlian program), and Jim Lyons (dows-ing) gathered alongside our six humanguinea pigs at Beckhampton on July 20to conduct control tests in a barn kindlylent to us by David Hues.

The chosen formation was the pen-tacle inside a circle with scimitars ex-tending beyond the outer perimeter. I hadvisited this formation on two previousoccasions. On the first visit I had feltquite nauseous in the center, and madea mental note of this.

The second occasion was when I tooka group of Americans to visit it. Beforeentering I had mentioned that if at anytime they felt unwell, they should leavethe formation immediately. I was the onewho had to leave, as the moment I wentinto the center I was overcome with sucha feeling of nausea that I had to leaveinstantly. Some guide!

I was reluctant to use this formationfor our research, but it was the most re-cent, and I was also unaware at the timeof a report later sent to me by DoreenJenkinson, who has completed the HarryOldfield course.

The Oldfield procedure is not unlikethe Best technique: in one hand the pa-tient holds an electrode attached to themachine that is set to a particular fre-quency or reading while a sound levelmeter (scanner) is passed over thechakra points in the body.

Prior to starting the test, a zero read-ing has to be established-the normalrange being between 10.0+/-6. Othersettings need to be correctly adjusted,such as the ECG readings, which rangefrom A to D. A sensitive probe is pressedagainst the ear lobe or foreman and areading is taken.

Doreen took two other women withher, Annabel and Sally, and even as far

away as the outskirts of the field theycould all feel the vibration of the forma-tion.

On going into the formation they allhad sensations described as "light-headed, dizzy, and giddy," and found itwas not easy to walk against the flow ofthe crop-"like going against the tide: adragging feeling, almost like we weremeant to follow the flow."

Annabel had more violent effects. She-had an immediate headache on arrivalat the outskirts of the field, and felt aresistance to even entering the forma-tion. She nevertheless plucked up cour-age after asking "silent permission" toenter the formation.

Using Harry Oldfield's Electro-Crys-tal clinical unit machine and a soundmeter, Doreen Jenkinson scannedAnnabel at the edge of the field and atthe center of the formation, and thenAnnabel wandered off on her own.

She felt extreme fatigue and after %hour felt she could no longer stay in theformation and wanted to leave. She hada pain in her left temple on leaving thecircle, constriction in her throat, and con-striction in her solar plexus and heartchakra areas.

DisorientationShe ran out of the formation as fast

as she could. She felt very disorientatedand even tried to get into the wrong car.When the keys did not fit she thoughtthe formation had interfered with herkeys (a Uri Geller effect) before sherealized that she was trying to get intothe wrong car. She felt completely dis-orientated and feared for her sanity.

Sally felt dizzy and had heart palpita-tions; her pulse raced, but she managedto stay inside the circle for an hour.

Doreen felt light-headed, a bit spacedout, and dryness in the throat area, butstayed the whole hour without too manyill effects.

On reflection, Doreen has decidedthat in the future she will take controlreadings far away from the formation inorder to obtain more accurate readings,as she believes the energies from a for-mation can have far reaching effects.

Doreen took readings at the exactcentral vortex of the circle. In bothcases, Annabel and Sally showed a hugecongested (blocked) area of energy at

the Brow and Crown Chakras causedby the chakras spinning too fast.

The energy field depleted slightly, andthen "swelled" again towards the ground.

The subjects were then handed a bagof "grounding stones" which they heldfor just three to five minutes. In this in-credibly short time, in both cases therewere marked changes in their energyfields.

From this experiment Doreen sug-gests that by carrying specific crystalswithin the energy field a degree of pro-tection could be afforded to maintain abalanced energy field, especially in for-mations where people are known to beexperiencing bad effects.

She feels it is up to the individual totry this out and find which particular crys-tal helps them, but recommends ClearQuartz, Smokey Quartz, Amethyst, andRose Quartz, as knowledge gained inElectro-Crystal Therapy suggests thatthese crystals do in fact help to balancethe upper chakras.

In order to carry out dispassionatescientific research, none of the scientistsnor the four guinea pigs except JimLyons had reason to expect the forma-tion would be anything but beneficial.

I took the precaution of positioning thegroup in one of the scimitars away fromthe center. Unlike the normal scorchingdays we have usually experienced whileconducting the tests, the day was coldand windy.

Thankfully no one felt ill, but as SheilaPartridge (who had never been into acrop circle before) was measuring thehormone levels, she suddenly remarkedthat she thought all circles were supposedto be beneficial and "from these results,I am not sure we should be here at all."

Hormone changesOn analyzing her results, Anne

Smithells reported, "There were signifi-cant changes to the hormone reading ofall subjects in the test group. Previouscrop circle readings have shown'stressed' adrenal readings to improveafter entering the circle. On this occa-sion, out of the seven test group subjects,three improved and three worsened.

She adds, "The significant hormoneto have shown constant change was

DECEMBER 2004 MUFON UFO JOURNAL

TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone),which showed a lower reading after en-tering the circle in six of the seven cases.

Thyroid hormones do not normallyfluctuate easily. Other hormones thatvaried before and after entering thecircle were estrogen and glucagen (Pan-creas), which increased and decreasedin equal amounts. Melatonin was alsoaffected."

When I asked Annie about these re-sults, she said that it was medically un-heard of that thyroid levels could havealtered so dramatically within such ashort time scale of approximately 2-3hours.

Isobel Maxwell-Cade was the onlyperson whose thyroid levels improved.Christopher Weeks was the most seri-ously affected.

Dr. Roger Taylor measured thechanges in area, spectral width, form,and noise of the Kirlian records. Takingthe measurements so far apart in timewas not ideal, he said. The Russians,who have done the most work in the fieldof Kirlian records, consider that changesoften per cent would be significant.

He found that whereas there was nosignificant change between his controltests and tests inside the formation, mostpeople had marginally benefited frombeing inside the formation.

But it is interesting how this contrastswith 2001. when both readings weretaken in the barn. Here all except Lindachanged in the negative direction, whichI put down to fatigue after a long day inthe field.

Open air not the causeOne might suppose that, on first go-

ing out into the open air, a positive changewould be expected. The results from2002, however, argue against this, sincethere was a generally negative changeon first going into the field outside thecircle-albeit rather smaller than 2001.

There was then little further changeon going into the circle, except Annie M,who had the very positive change.

Thus the positive changes found in2003 on going into the circle seem to berelated to the circle, and not to be merelya result of going into the fresh air.

So in spite of Sheila's findings of nega-tive changes in certain areas, such as

Illinois MUFON State Director David Marler, left, introduces Peter Dav-enport, director of the UFO Center, to an audience of about 80 enthusiastsat a special meeting of Illinois MUFON Oct. 2 in Edwardsvilie

thyroid, my results suggest that the circlehad an overall beneficial effect.

In addition to these effects on people,we have also noted effects on equip-ment.

On one occasion, Suzanne Taylor andher film crew accompanied me in orderto do some interviews. It was a glori-ously warm, sunny day and we con-ducted an interview inside the formation.At one point, Allen Bransen's sound andcamera system failed completely, onlyto work again when he moved to a dif-ferent spot inside the formation.

As always I am profoundly gratefulnot only to all the scientists who havecontributed to this pioneering researchbut also to the many people who haverecognized the importance of this re-search, trusted me with their experi-ences, and gallantly filled in the ques-tionnaires and returned them to me.

On a final cautionary note, I wouldlike to remind people that if they do notfeel well when visiting a crop circle, comeout immediately.

If you are pregnant or thinking of be-coming pregnant, it is not advisable toenter a formation. Also, due to the manyelectrical failures experienced inside thecircles, if you have a health device pow-ered by a battery, such as a heart pace-maker, do NOT venture in.

Invisible comets couldpose serious threat

Comets that are invisible to astrono-mers could pose a lethal threat fromspace, scientists said recently. They be-lieve that giant "stealth" comets madeup of loose material reflect so little lightthat they cannot be seen.

If the theory is right, the chance ofthe Earth being hit by a comet big enoughto wipe out human civilization may behigher than experts believe.

Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe,head of the team at Cardiff University'sCentre for Astrobiology, which deliveredthe warning, said: "It's possible we needto think again about mitigating strate-gies," but noted that NASA has a newweapon with the power to "de-cloak"stealth comets.

MUFON UFO Journal DECEMBER 2004

Object moves over house

Alaskan close encounter leaves man shakenBy Chris Rutkowski

rutk<ms@cc.umanitoba£aThis case would be very worthwhile

to follow up, if it wasn't for the fact thatthe location is so isolated.

Battles, AK, Sept. 17,2004,2:30 AM.Witness' Narrative: "I live in a remote

town in northern Alaska. After havingdinner at a friend's I went home. Myplace is located about two miles southof town.

"There is an airport located there anda rotating beacon for the airport. I havelived here for nearly thirty years.

"Being located away from town, it isvery quiet. I went to sleep around 11PM.

I was awakened by a humming soundthat was not real loud, almost like a fluo-rescent lamp with a bad ballast. I thoughtit was my inverter downstairs and gotup to see if something was wrong.

"As I was lying back in bed I couldsee the light from the airport beaconflashing in the north window. I sat upand noticed red and white lights flashingon the trees through the east window.

"I thought it might be some of the lo-cals stuck in my driveway, and the redand white lights were from the rear ofthe vehicle.

"I then got out of bed to look out thewindow facing my driveway. I never

Tennessee women watch strangely-shapedobject repeatedly change directions

Two women reported sighting astrange object at Elizabethton, TN, onAug. 18,2004, at 9:30 PM. One of thewitnesses described the incident:

"My Aunt Myrtle and I were sittingon my front porch looking to the west.Several planes had gone by. The skywas clear, the Moon was a sliver at 30degrees.

"There was an airplane going fromnorth to south, about an inch under theMoon.

"It suddenly changed directions fromsouth to north. It didn't seem to turn

around, it just backed up."I told my aunt, 'That's not a plane.'

As she looked up it changed directionsagain, going back south.

By this time we were both in the yard.At one time the large part of it pulsatedin a very white glow (see drawingabove).

"We watched it go back and forthacross the sky until it was so small wecouldn't see it. It actually drifted west,although it was going north and south asit changed directions."

-Melvin Redfern, TN MUFON ASD/FI

Back issues of MUFONTUFO Journalto be available early next year on CDs

Back issues of the MUFON UFOJournal (and SKYLOOK too) will beavailable on CDs in early 2005. EachCD will contain a full year of issues,

starting with 1967. We plan to an-nounce the price and ordering infor-mation in the January and February is-sues of the Journal.

even looked down, as I immediately sawthe source of the lights. Just above thetree top was an object just hanging there,not moving.

"It was about 20 to 30 feet across,about 6 to 8 feet thick,and about 50 feetaway. It was more or less disc-shaped.The upper part of the object was dark,while the bottom had red and white lightsthat flashed in no apparent pattern.

"I stepped back from the window andgrabbed the phone to attempt to call thelocal weather service, as they werestaffed 24 hours a day. I was able to getsomeone and told them to look towardsmy house and see if they could see whatI was seeing.

"Due to the trees in his area he wasnot able to see my house. I kept thinkingto myself that this can't be happening,this is not real. After maybe a minute onthe phone I was becoming desperate toget someone to see this.

"I then contacted another person Ithought might be able to see my place.Again due to the trees surrounding hisplace, he could not see my place. By nowI had become very scared. I stood in themiddle of the room, not knowing what todo.

"It must have been two minutes bynow, and the object began to move to-ward the house. As it passed above thehouse it again stopped. It seemed to juststay there for a long time then suddenlythere was an extremely bright white lightthat scanned the entire yard and housethree or four times.

"It stopped and didn't move for a fewseconds, and then started moving to thesouth slowly. I didn't move till I could nolonger see any lights outside.

"I then informed the other party thatif he did not hear from me in two min-utes to come looking.

"I then dressed, grabbed a firearmand flashlight, and went downstairs. Iwent outside looking for it, but it wasgone."

DECEMBER 2004 MUFON UFO JOURNAL

Is the Journal slipping?Dear Editor:As a professional writer and editor

and a member of MUFON for more thanten years, I am becoming increasinglydismayed by the content of the MUFONUFO Journal.

The last two issues of the Journal,with a large number of pages devoted tothe "Raechel's Eyes" story featuring anastounding claim of an "apparent alienhybrid" restoring the sight of a blindwoman, and Beverly Trout's two-partdiscussion of the "reptile perspective,"are especially questionable.

Let me state first of all that I believethe abduction phenomena is real. Fur-ther, I believe that the United States gov-ernment is aware of an alien presenceon our planet and that it is engaged in anactive disinformation campaign.

But, while I am not a scientist and cer-tainly don't see myself as someone quali-fied to be an objective investigator, it'sclear to me that the "Raechel's.Eyes"story is full of holes at least a mile wide.

First of all, there is virtually no men-tion by investigator Jean Bilodeaux ofverification of the claims made by themother of the now deceased youngwoman beyond checking college tran-scripts (there was a "Raechel" found)and interviewing former classmates whoverified that the young woman had an"otherworldly roommate."

With all due respect, I had some"otherwordly" roommates of my ownduring my college years.

The investigator makes no mention(which I find incredible) of whether ornot she even tried to verify the mother'sclaims of the restoration of herdaughter's sight.

I would think that the sudden and in-explicable restoration of sight would bea phenomenon of no small order, and thatvoluminous medical documentation ofthis miracle would be easily found.

But instead of offering any proof of

this astonishing assertion, she devotesthe majority of her articles to a recital ofthe mother's claims, much of it recov-ered under hypnotic regression.

While this is all very interesting, itdoesn't come even remotely close tooffering any proof of the story's verac-ity.

Is the "Raechel's Eyes" story real?It may well be, but the author and editor'schoice of focusing on the "woo-woo"aspects of the story and not on any hardline investigating that may or may nothave been done certainly doesn't giveme any basis on which to judge.

Even more disturbing to me, however,is the reference in the second article'saccompanying Editor's Note to the adin that same issue offering the"Raechel's Eyes" book for sale at theincredible "MUFON Special" price of$45.

Frankly, this violates every tenet ofeditorial-advertising separation in exist-ence, and certainly offers anyone suspi-cious of the editor's motives in choosingto feature these articles so prominentlymore than a little food for thought.

With regard to Beverly Trout'smusings on the reptile perspective, whileI found it thought provoking, it ultimatelyamounts to nothing more than the rankestspeculation and, when added to the ex-tremely shaky "Raechel's Eyes" storyand a short article headlined "KentuckyProfessor Says Extraterrestrials AreHere," convinces me more than ever thatthe MUFONJournal\\2& lost its focus.

With the exception of Stan Friedman'salways interesting observations and "Fil-ers Files," the Journal seems to me tobe heading further.and further into tab-loid territory and further and further awayfrom what it's designed to be: The flag-ship publication of the organization dedi-cated to the scientific study of the UFOphenomena.

-Sandy Coleman

Editor's reply:Dear Sandy,Thanks for your comments re

Raechel's Eyes and the article on reptil-ians. I am in the process of contactingthe author of Raechel's eyes.

The announcement that a book isavailable to Journal readers was madeso that those interested in more detailedinformation could buy the book if theywanted to, something we would do forany article. MUFON was not selling thebook, and gets no commission on anysales. The "special price" to MUFONmembers was the publisher's offer, andwe just passed it on.

As for the reptilians, they seem to bevery much a part of testimonies by manyabductees, and thus part of the totalUFO picture.

While it would be nice to havegroundbreaking news on this topic-aswith other aspects of ufology-we haveto go with what is currently available.Bev Trout, MUFON's director for Iowa,is a very reliable investigator.

Response:Dwight,I very much appreciate your thought-

ful reply. Believe me, I more than un-derstand your need for material and thefact that you' ve got to go with what youhave.

But I remain very disturbed by theRaechel's Eyes piece. The author pro-vided absolutely no proof of any of herassertions or even evidence of her at-tempt to verify the most astonishing claimof all-the restoration of eyesight to ahopelessly blind young woman and with-out it, her piece should have not beenaccepted.

If the proper investigative work wasdone, I would have to believe she wouldbe more than willing to revise. If not, thenher refusal, as well, would speak vol-umes.

8 MUFON UFO Journal DECEMBER 2004

Further, by offering the book for salein the editorial pages of the Journal, itcertainly appears to me to be a MUFONendorsement of the story- something Ithink you should be very reluctant to do.

I certainly don' t know if the story istrue-heck, I'm certainly willing to be-lieve it, but not without some facts andhard evidence to back it up.

I also agree that the reptillian piecewas very interesting and Bev Trout is awoman with a great deal of credibility.But combined with the Raechel's Eyespiece in the same issue, the focus ofthese particular issues seemed to me tobe unnecessarily sensationalistic.

Dwight, I'm certainly not an investi-gator, but I do look to the Journal torcredible, reliable information. If nothingelse is available, I'd rather read ex-panded Filers Files than "woo-woo" ar-ticles that may or may not be true.

Thanks for listening. I know that ed-iting a monthly publication is tough workand I appreciate your courtesy in reply-ing.

-Sandy

Following is a response from theauthor of Raechel's Eyes, JeanBilodeaux:

Dwight,I found the letter to the editor inter-

esting and am replying with clarificationof the points the writer mentions.

First I do want to address the pointabout the suggested violation of edito-rial/advertising separation. When I wrotethe two articles for you and the Jour-nal, I had no idea that the book wouldbe published.

Raechel's Eyes had been submittedto the publisher more than five yearsearlier with no mention of a publishingdate. Had I known it was going to bepublished, I would have informed you ofthis fact and left the decision of whetheryou wanted to print the articles up to you.

I also would have written the articlesa bit differently to make them soundmore exciting. I am sorry if this coinci-dence reflected poorly on your or my pro-fessionalism.

The writer seems to have missed thesentences that stated the articles werejust a "minute portion of the investiga-

tion and that the "investigation contin-ues."

Perhaps my "dwelling" on the "woo-woo" aspects of the investigation in thearticle, was an editorial error on my part.I thought it was interesting, as I hadnever seen a regression before, and itwasn't nearly as "woo-woo" as I hadbeen led to believe by watching TV. Itwas mainly just hard work.

Many names of people, from Marisa'scollege years were recalled during thesesessions and subsequently investigated.Perhaps I could be so bold as to suggestthe writer read the book so as to assurehim(her)self that hard line investigatingwas done.

As for obtaining the voluminous medi-cal documentation that must have oc-curred with the sudden restoration ofMarisa's sight-this is not the movies.

The federal government enforces theHTPA act, which insures patient privacyand forbids the release of any patientmedical records to people other than thepatient's physician or under subpoena bylaw officers.

I could not obtain Marisa's medicalrecords, nor could her mother. Instead Ihad to rely on the testimony of Marisa'smother, brother, husband, roommates andfriends.

Except for her mother, none of theothers knew of the investigation-onlythat I was writing about her life. If thewriter has any other ideas on how to le-gally obtain Marisa's medical records,please let me know and I'll try. BTW,the doctor is no longer in practice.

Of course almost all of us have had"other-worldly" roommates, but time andmaturity modifies our perceptions ofthose different than ourselves. This didnot occur with the remembrances ofRaechel.

Twenty-five years ago I didn't knowmuch about UFOs, had never heard ofabductions, missing time, cattle mutila-tions, or crop circles. After investigatingmore than 200 UFO sightings, 20+ cattlemutilations, three crop circles and sev-eral possible abductions, I can only sayone thing for sure-there are unexplainedthings happening in the world today.

The subject of reptilians makes meuneasy, just as the discussion of abduc-tions and cattle mutilations did in the past.Yet I've heard very credible sounding

people talk about their experiences withthese creatures.

I' ve learned that just because some-thing doesn't fit into my "reality box,"doesn't mean it doesn't exist or isn't con-nected in some way to UFOs.

I wasn't comfortable with "hybrids,"etc. when I started investigatingRaechel's Eyes; however, as you stated,science has now brought this processwithin the realm of reality.

Bev Trout is breaking new ground bybringing this to the public's attention. Onlytime and more research will validate orinvalidate her findings.

I applaud MUFON and you for al-lowing the examination and discussionof topics unexplained yet seemingly re-lated to the UFO phenomenon. None ofus can definitively prove or disprovemuch of anything in this genre.

I have never said that I could proveunequivocally that Raechel was an alien/human hybrid. You said "Apparent" ineach of the articles, and I agree. If Icould prove it, I'd be on the cover ofTime or Newsweek.

I can only put my pieces of the puzzleon the table (your Journal) in hopes thatsomeone will come forward with morepieces, and that ultimately the whole pic-ture will be revealed. For this opportu-nity, I thank you.

-Jean Bilodeaux

Missouri director Widamanteaching UFO courses

Bruce Widaman, MUFON's longtimestate director for Missouri, is teachingUFO courses at the St.Charles CountyCommunity CoUege.

The non-credit courses, Flying Sau-cers 101 and Flying Saucers 102, aretaught on Wednesday evenings from 6to 8 PM.

Flying Saucers 101 topics range fromancient aliens to Roswell to Phillip Corso,while Flying Saucers 102 includes suchtopics as government denial, Area 51,life on Mars, strange harvests, strangedeaths, Cape Girardeau, human experi-mentation, and the alien presence.

DECEMBER 2004 MUFON UFO JOURNAL

MorningstarPass, The Collapse ofthe UFO Coverup, by VictorNorgarde,2003. 1st Books Library,Bloomington,IN,ISBN 1-4140-1909-2,6x9, soft cover, 711 pages.

Reviewed by Dwight ConnellyThis is a fiction book based on the

UFO phenomenon, and one that is bothchallenging andrewarding toread.

The author,who is .writingunder a penname, "served inse.veral theatresof the ColdWar," and is "atrained scientist"who works inthe aerospace field while writing andteaching in the Southeast.

Two things are clear in this book:Norgarde is a good writer, and he givesevery indication of knowing what he istalking about. The numerous charactersin this book are well developed, and thenarration moves along nicely.

The story focuses on two females in-volved with television news, CassandraChen and Pamela Monroe, who play keyroles in the unfolding confrontation be-tween humans and aliens as a govern-ment cover-up unravels.

But ranchers, the military, politicians,and undercover operatives are other keyplayers. ;

Since there are so many characters,and since the story moves from place toplace and character to character so of-ten, it would have been very helpful tohave had a list and brief description ofeach character in a separate section ofthe book so that the reader could keepbetter track of them.

This is especially important becauseof the length of the book-more than 700pages. And these 700 pages are notfilled with the relatively large type you

10

are now reading, but with smaller type.I doubt that few, if any, readers will com-plete this book in one or two sittings,despite its ability to keep the reader fullyinvolved.

In a book so well written, it is surpris-ing that the proofreading is so terrible.

Following is one of the many ex-amples of poor sentence construction:"He stepped up to the desk as she up astethoscope in the ears, he rolled up hisright shirt sleeve, a bandage covered aball of cotton pressed onto his arm."

Or this: "Their has been not detect-able aerial activity near hear, only threemore cattle found cut up to the East nearKhaborsk this morning."

Unfortunately, these are not isolatedexamples. Similar poor sentence con-struction and consistent misspellings arefound throughout the book, and this no-ticeably interferes with the reading.

Mr. Norgarde, who is embarrassed bythe poor proofreading, assures me thatthis will be corrected in future printings.

Despite its annoying errors, this novelis the first attempt by anyone to exam-ine an end-of-the-cover-up scenario inthe context of the whole UFO phenom-enon, including its darker aspects of ab-duction, mutilations, and extra-constitu-tional government conduct.

It is precisely these latter aspects ofthe UFO phenomenon that make disclo-sure so fraught with difficulty for thegovernment, and the book confrontsthese issues head on.

The reader sees the effects of thecover-up from many different perspec-tives, and is forced to view all aspectsof the phenomenon.

Thus I would especially recommendthis book for those who are fascinatedwith the possibilities of a governmentcover-up.

Morningstar Pass will keep you insuspense-and perhaps even frighten youas the plot unfolds.

MUFON UFO Journal

Dan Aykroyd-Unplugged onUFOs, DVD interview by DavidSereda, 2004. $21.95 + $6.95 shipping.Graviton Productions, LAUFO, 233Third Ave., Venice, CA 90291. http://store.laufo.com.

Reviewed by James NeffI was fortunate enough to see a rough

cut of the forth-coming GravitonProductions "DanAykroyd-Un-plugged OnUFOs."

Aykroyd, longknown to be afree-thinker andproponent ofUFO reality (inaddition to excel-

lent actor and famous improvisational co-median) really weaves a mind bogglingthread or two in this fascinating, highlycharged interview conducted by DavidSereda.

Definitely not just for the eggheads,you'll find yourself hearing about andunderstanding cutting edge issues ofquantum physics which are now practi-cally inextricable from the UFO phenomr

enon, and which must be faced if weplan to step gracefully into the 21 st cen-tury mind-culture on the issue of extra-terrestrial visitation, as well as earth-bound endeavors in the race to discoveranti-gravity propulsion.

Do we already have this technology?And if yes, is it the result of back engi-neered alien recovery from crashes orintercepts? Sereda and Aykroyd exam-ine the present state of affairs, geopo-litically and scientifically, including a veryinteresting discussion of The HutchisonEffect, with several remarkable film ex-amples of antigravity in action.

Aykroyd displays an encyclopedicknowledge of both physics and UFO his-tory/culture, and bends thoughts and pos-sibilities in ways only he could do, and attimes with an uncomfortable (even to

DECEMBER 2004

Dan!) sense of dark humor for whichhe is world renown.

Who are they? What are they? Whyare they here? How do they come andgo? Are we their future lunch?

Sereda masterfully intrigues Aykroydwith all the right elements, and Dan justpours forth an unabashed, intellectuallyinspiring examination of the big issues inUFOlogy like a seasoned professor.There's not a dull moment in this superbinterview which is interspaced with fas-cinating UFO footage and visuals.

Aykroyd comes across as an old soul,with insights and understanding of trulyRenaissance proportions. There is evena shocking personal revelation and ex-perience as told by Aykroyd that willleave you with the hair standing up onthe back of your neck!

But you'll have to see the DVD tofind out what that's allabout. No spoilerhere. But believe me, it's quite a remark-able encounter with forces we'd just assoon pretend don't exist in order to sleepat night. To hear it from Dan's ownmouth makes it all the more riveting andconvincing.

This DVD will make you think, andyou'll find yourself rolling the conversa-tion over in your mind many days afteryou've put it back in the case.

A definite must-have for any seriousUFOlogical library. . /Thanks to PatUskert and Graviton for the sneak peak!

More evidence of wateron Mars at one time

Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunitycontinue to uncover evidence of a wa-tery past on the Red Planet, NASAscientists say.

After months of climbing, the Spiritrover reports that volcanic ash mixedwith groundwater built the hillsnear its January (2004) landing site.

Investigations by the rover Opportu-nity inside a deep crater show water hascracked rocks on the Martian surface,says mission science chief SteveSquyres of Cornell University.

Water is considered a prerequisite forlife on Mars.

-Thanks to UFO Roundup, Vol. 9, #46, Jo-seph Trainor.

£;MNt

w-...-12s

Drawing by the wife of the object and the area'bejiitfd their house.

Clear view of UFO and beam of lightreported by South Carolina couple

This case, from Ocbnee County, SC,involved a man and his wife, and oc-curred in.1971 or 1972. It was investi-gated by George Fawcett, and submit-ted to the Journal^ George Lund, SD,NC. Following is the wife's account ofthe sighting:

"The actual year and month of thesighting are, as with time, somewhathazy. I'm not certain whether it was inthe year 1971 or 72. Nor do I rememberthe exact month. We were living in a ruralarea near Salem, SC.

"My husband worked at OconeeNuclear Station, and I was a stay-at-home mother of one or two children, andexpecting another. I can't remember if Iwas expecting my second or third child,because they are only 13 months apart.

"I was in the living room when myhusband called to me to come out on thefront porch. It was not yet dusk. I couldsee everything as plain as day. He said,look at this! I looked across the road,and hovering just above the ground inthe field was a silver-gray saucer-shapedobject. It didn't make a sound, but wefelt its vibrations.

"I don't remember seeing the beamof light on it at that time. I can't remem-ber it actually moving. But later I knewit must have in order for me to have seenthe light that came from underneath the

middle of the object. The light seemedto have moved at least 150 feet.

"The field where I first caught sightof the object was on a hill. Going downthe hill were trees and a small creek thatmy daughter and I would frequently visit,and normally could not be seen from ourfront porch.

"When watching this object with thebeam of light magnifying everything be-low, I became very frightened for mychildren and myself. I told my husbandthat I was concerned for our safety, andstarted to go into the house.

"My husband asked me to stay for afew more minutes. I stayed until the ob-ject just wasn't there any longer. It wasthere, then it wasn't.

"I wouldn't say it vanished, just that itmoved very very fast. The actual sight-ing lasted about 20 minutes."

Estate PlanningPlanned giving can be beneficial

both to MUFON and to your owntax and estate situation.

If you wish to have more infor-mation on various options and ben-efits, please contact MUFON head-quarters.

DECEMBER 2004 MUFON UFO JOURNAL 11

Anthropologists say new speciesof human found in Indonesia

NewScientist.com news serviceThe remains of a tiny and hitherto

unknown species of human that lived asrecently as 13,000 years ago have beendiscovered on an Indonesian island.

The discovery has been heralded asthe most important paleoanthro-pologicalfind for 50 years, and has radically al-tered the accepted picture of humanevolution.

The skull and bones of one adult fe-male, and fragments from up to six otherspecimens, were found in the Liang Bualimestone caves on Flores Island, whichlies at the eastern tip of Java.

The female skeleton, known as LB1-or by the nickname "Ebu"-has been as-signed to a new species within the ge-nus Homo-Homofloresiensis. Exami-nation of the remains shows membersof the species stood just one meter(about three feet) tall and had a brain nobigger than a grapefruit.

A handful of stone tools from the sameperiod were also found in the caves,along with the bones and teeth of sev-eral dwarf stegodons, an ancestor of themodern elephant.

Other animal remains, including rats,bats, and fish, show signs that they werecooked around the time H. floresiensisinhabited the caves.

Jaw-droppingInstead of following a simple evolu-

tionary path culminating in modern hu-mans-j%wz<? sapiens-\h& discovery ofLB1 suggests early humans branchedinto many more forms than previouslythought-some of which survived untilvery recently.

The find also shows that small-brainedhumans could evolve without losingmuch of their intelligence.

"It is literally jaw-dropping," saysBernard Wood, an anthropologist atGeorge Washington University in Wash-ington, DC. "The implications for theevolution of the [human] brain are amongthe most interesting."

"It raises the whole issue of what it isto be human, or a member of the genusHomo? adds Chris Stringer at the Natu-

12

ral History Museum in London, "andshows how little we really know abouthuman evolution."

Homo sapiens are thought to havecolonised Flores island between 55,000and 35,000 years ago, meaning they musthave lived alongside H. floresiensis^tens of thousands of years.

Worn molarsIndonesian archaeologists have dug at

the Liang Bua cave site for the past 20years, so at first the small skull misledthe excavation team.

"We thought the skull and the man-dible was from a child," says excava-tion site director Thomas Sutikna of theIndonesian Centre for Archaeology, whowas there when the discovery was madein September 2003.

"But after a week, we checked theteeth and saw that they were alreadyworn, and that the molars had erupted,so she was more than 20 years old."

The authenticity of the remains hasbeen confirmed by three-dimensional X-ray images which revealed the internalstructure of the skull of LB 1, somethingthat would be virtually impossible to fake.

Accelerator mass spectrometry dat-ing suggests that LBl's remains are18,000 years old. But New Sc/entis/haslearned that some bone fragments couldbe as young as 13,000 years old.

The oldest remains from the site are78,000 and 94,000 years old, respectively.

This means H.floresiensissurvivedwell beyond the last Neanderthals, whichare thought to have disappeared fromEurope and western Asian about 28,000years ago.

Splendid isolation"The most remarkable thing is that

there was a time, not so long ago, whentwo very different human species walkedthe planet," says Peter Brown of theUniversity of New England, Australia,who led the team that made the discov-ery.

H. floresiensis is thought to havedescended from a population that be-came marooned on Flores during the last

MUFON UFO Journal

Ebu 's skull (left) is much smallerthan that of a modern human (image:PeterBrown)

few hundred thousand years.Its tiny size was probably an adapta-

tion to isolated island conditions, wherea low calorie diet and the lack of largepredators made smaller physical char-acteristics advantageous.

There is no evidence the Flores wasever linked by land to other parts ofsouth-east Asia, so the ancestors of thisspecies might have used boats or raftsto reach it.

But the fact this population evidentlybecame isolated suggests that they mayhave relied on temporary land links tofirst reach the island.

Cause of demise unknownWhat caused the demise of H.

floresiensis is unknown. It is possiblethat they were out-competed for foodand other resources by H. sapiens orthat they were wiped out by a volcaniceruption about 12,000 years ago.

Journal reference: Nature(vol 431, p1055, p 1087). Will Knight and RachelNowak

UFO Newsclipping ServiceMonthly collection of news sto-

ries and features about UFOs and re-lated phenomena from the world'spress, including translations.

For a sample copy and additionalinformation, contact UFONS, 2Caney Valley Drive, Plumerville, AR72127-8725, orufons@webtv.net

DECEMBER 2004

Director, MUFON Eastern Re-

George Filer

Note: These reports are presented in or-der to keep readers informed of some of thevast number of sightings. However, thesecases have not been officially investigated.

Indiana Cave Road sightingBLOOMINGTON - On Oct. 14,

2004, the witness was driving west onCave Road be-tween 10:15 and10:30 PM, whenhe observed acloud bank aheadof him "light up."

Immediatelythereafter, an ob-ject with threebrilliant spotlight-like white lightsdescended intoview. The lightswere shining down onto the ground, be-low and behind the object, at a 45-de-gree angle.

The lights emanating from the craftilluminated its underside, revealing arounded or disc-shaped structure. As thewitness' vehicle made the turn ontoGifford Road, the object was continuingits descent, finally leveling out at tree lineheight.

The object came to a full stop onlytwenty yards ahead of the witness' ve-hicle, with the three "spot lights" shiningdirectly downward onto Gifford Road.The object remained stationary for a fewseconds, then "blinked off."

No additional navigational lights, bea-con lights, or forward landing lights wereobserved on the large craft. When askedabout the size of the object, the witnessreported simply that it was "big!"

From inside his vehicle, the witnesscould not hear any accompanying soundsfrom the object, nor did he experienceor observe any associated physical dis-turbances. Monroe County Airport isonly a couple of miles east of the sight-

ing location, but is situated at a right angleto the object's south-to-northwest head-ing. Thanks to Lynn Taylorskysentinel@sentinehiles.com AAARCwww.sentinerfiles.com

UK cross-shaped objectKENT - The witness saw two ob-

jects rise up into the sky on Sept. 29,2004, at 5:45 PM, and after a short whileone moved away while the otherstayed in the same place.

He called to his family, and they gotout the binoculars and watched as oneturned on to its side. This craft was across shape, and it started to rise slowly.

The other one stayed upright, andit was a saucer shape with a quite highdome and what appeared to be legs.

They continued to watch, and itmoved to the side, rose up, and disap-peared, with the two objects moving to-gether and then apart. Thanks to PeterDavenport.

California cylinderRIVERSIDE - A white object was

seen flying north to south, reflecting sun-light on Nov. 1,2004, by a police officerwho was going for his daily walk. Henoticed a white object appear above thetreeline in a blue and clear sky, with strongand gusty winds at 11:40 AM.

At first, he thought it was a toy bal-loon, but it became apparent that theobject was not being tossed about by thewind, but was proceeding from north tosouth, straight as an arrow and contraryto the wind direction.

It passed almost directly overhead, hesays, reflecting the sunlight as it passed.It appeared to be shiny, opaque white,not serf-luminous. There were no wings,fins, or other protrusions visible.

The shape was a short tube withrounded ends, like a vitamin capsule or

maybe an aircraft drop tank. Hewatched it until it disappeared in the dis-tance to the south. There were jetlinersvisible in the sky at the same time onapproach to LAX and Ontario airport,and they appeared much higher than thisobject.

He reports, "The speed of the objectreminded me of a military jet making apass at an air show-fast but not super-sonic. There was no noticeable noisefrom the object, but there was a lot ofbackground noise due to the wind in thetrees.

"I am a law enforcement officer with18 years experience, and have been anairplane buff since childhood."

More Phoenix lights?40 MILES S. OF PHOENIX -

On Sept. 23,2004, at 9:30 PM six bright,golden lights similar to the "Phoenixlights" of 1997 danced across the desertsky, separate and perfectly angled fromone another, according to the witness.

'Two of the lights were vertical to oneanother," said the witness, "arid appearedto be separated by at least a thousandfeet. The other four lights, if connected,would have made a perfect square.

"I could not tell the distance at all. Itwas a clear night over the desert. Thelights could have been five miles away,or 30 miles. The lights then disappeared,sometimes two at a time, sometimes one.Then, they would immediately appearmaybe a mile to the west of where theyhad just been seconds before-again per-fectly spaced from one another.

"At one point, one of the lights van-ished, and immediately like a strobe ef-fect they moved across the sky formaybe half a mile, then vanished. Thelights would appear for about 5 seconds,then vanish for 10 minutes, then showagain. I have been an airline pilot for overa decade and have never seen anythinglike this.

DECEMBER 2004 MUFON UFO JOURNAL 13

"There were no beacons, no naviga-tion lights. These things did not appearto be helicopters for they moved toosmoothly through the sky with no vibra-tion on the lights, and much too quickly.

"Could it have been military? Possi-bly. But, an aircraft we are not privy toknow about." Thanks to Peter Daven-port.

Illinois Halloween UFOsSOUTH CHICAGO SUBURBS -

Three red lights were seen flying in atriangle formation, starting at 6:55 PMin the evening sky shortly after sunseton Oct. 31,2004.

Hundreds reported seeing the strangered lights on the ground in the communi-ties of Tinley Park, Orland Park, OakForest, Frankfort, Manhattan, andMokena that lasted to after 11 PM.

The local police department wasflooded with calls from citizens, curiousto know the cause of the lights. Similarreports were given to the National Re-porting Center.

The formation appears to be indistin-guishable from a formation of three redlights reported on Aug. 21,2004, in thesame general area. Given that the lightsreportedly were simultaneously visibleover a broad area seems to suggest thatthe individual lights are fairly large, withhigh-power sources of illumination.

Moreover, the lights were visible byobservers from as far away as twelvemiles, further underscoring our suspicionthat the lights were not the product ofsome sort of hoax, despite their appear-ance on the night of Halloween.

Field Investigators of the IllinoisChapter of the Mutual UFO Network(MUFON), supervised by State Direc-tor Dave Marler, are actively investigat-ing the two incidents. Thanks to PeterB.Davenport.

Big saucer zooms in TexasRICHARDSON - The witness re-

ports, "My boyfriend and I were lyingon a blanket stargazing in my backyardaround 11:30 PM, on Oct. 29,2004, whenwe saw this saucer-shaped thing exactlylike you see on TV fly over us. It wasextremely big, bigger than my averagesize house.

"It was saucer-shaped with a littlehump on top, only extremely big. I andmy boyfriend just stared at it for a fewseconds. It was really odd because it hadno lights coming from it, yet we couldstill see it.

"It was like someone took a pictureof it during the day and stuck it in a pic-ture of the night. It was dimmer than that,but clearly visible. It zoomed from sideto side over and over, and then forwardand back over and over like a pattern.

"Then it made a hideous sound, like acricket chirp magnified by a million. Ithought something exploded and that theentire city must have heard it. My Momand dad heard it too, but didn't see any-thing.

"Then it zoomed over our heads andwas gone. I figure it must have zoomedaway, but one minute it was there, thenthe next it was gone. Like a blink. Youblink, it's there. You blink, it's gone.

"The sky was dark navy blue with thestars brightly shining. Everything wentback to normal, like nothing happened atall." Thanks to Peter Davenport.

Arizona flying trianglePHOENIX - The witness states, "We

were driving on 60 West in downtownPhoenix to our hotel room on Sept. 28,2004, at 8:15 PM when myfiance and I saw a HUGE triangle ob-ject hovering near the Phoenix Airport."

"The object had about 25-50 red LEDstyle lights fading on and off slowly. Oneach tip of the triangle, there was a whitelight. There was no noise, it was silent.It appeared to be hovering or moving ata real slow pace.

"There were two airplanes flyingaround the craft, appearing to inspect thehuge UFO. The planes looked like antscompared to the huge craft. As we drovealong the highway, we lost sight of it nearDunlap Avenue.

"Traffic on the highway appeared totake notice, too, as we slowed down to55 mph. A police car was next to usobserving the UFO with us. We had ourdigital camera with us and were able totake photos and video of the UFO.

"Because it was night, the photos andvideo are blurry, but you can clearlymake out the object's shape

with the red lights hovering over Phoe-nix, AZ. Unreal.

Maine UFO size of the MoonORONO - The witness was watch-

ing TV at 9:47 PM on Oct. 28, 2004,when he saw odd red and white lightsfly by outside, which went away afterabout five seconds. He stood up andlooked out his window to get a closerlook. All of a sudden, they came back.

He reports, "The lights were circlingaround on a saucer, and you could tellthe object was disc-shaped. It was aboutthe size of a full moon, and maybe 1-2miles away. Then, the lights vanished.When the lights vanished, it seemed asthough the object itself did too.

"Then five seconds later, they cameback. The colors didn't change. Theobject was moving south for about threeseconds when they finally vanished andnever came back. There was no noise."Thanks to Peter Davenport.

New York gray objectsNEW YORK CITY - The witness

reports, "On Oct. 27,2004, at 10:15 PM,the night of the lunar eclipse, my 13-year-old son and I were observing the mooninside Central Park through binoculars.

"I was gazing up at the rest of thesky, marveling at the stars, which is areal pleasure when you live in the city.'What the hell is that?' I said out loud assoon as I saw the phenomenon.

"Up in the sky, about as high as anairplane would fly over Manhattan, at a45-degree angle to the south, were twoseparate V-shaped solid gray metallic ob-jects flying side by side in formation.

"They were flying at the same speed,without lights, and they made no sound.They were clearly visible against theblack, cloudless sky with the city lights& moonlight reflecting their V shape andgray color. They moved together, silently,steadily across the sky toward midtown.

"We lost sight of them in the lightsover mid-Manhattan. The whole episodecouldn't have lasted longer than twominutes." Thanks to Peter Davenport.

14 MUFON UFO Journal DECEMBER 2004

North Carolina red lightsKERNERSVILLE - The witness

was fishing down on the beach near Avonaround 8 PM on Oct. 28,2004, when hesaw some strange red lights in the sky.He explains, "With my back to the ocean,the light appeared just a little to the left.It was high in the sky about cloud levelat a 45 -degree angle.

"It was round and about the size ofyour little fingernail held out at arm'slength. The light first appeared by itselffor about two seconds, then another lightseemed to come out of it. It was spacedaway from the first about the same dis-tance as the diameter of the first light.

"Then, another came out of the sec-ond, and another, and another, until therewere either four or five lights side-by-side in the sky, all the same size. Then, Ican't remember for sure, they either. went out all at one time or they went outone at a time in the order they lit up.

"The night before, I also saw two redlights side-by-side lower to the groundtoward Frisco." Thanks to Peter Dav-enport. .

Unexplained photos in OhioS. Swanson writes: "My friend and I

were driving to New York, and westopped for fuel in Ohio on Oct. 20,2004.1 decided to snap a photo of a signfor humor. They had left out a decimalpoint advertising three foot-long hot dogsfor$1199.

"I stepped out of the vehicle to takeall four photos. Later that night wereached Malone, and I downloaded thephotos from my camera to my computer.It was then that I realized the sign wasnot the only thing in the photos.

"There was no sun shining on that day,and as far as my memory serves me,there was not a light on top of the sign.The rod, code, and light are all embed-ded in the photos. They have not beendespeckled or manipulated in anyway.

"The picture shows clearly some alientype of code written within the rod. Thecamera is an HP PhotoSmart 318."Thanks to S. Swanson.

Brooklyn triangleBROOKLYN - The witness states,

"I was outside with my daughter observ-

ing the lunar eclipse, and looked to thefar left of the moon and saw an odd shapeagainst a few stars. If I hadn't been look-ing at that exact spot. I never would haveseen it. It almost looked transparent.

"I pointed it out to my daughter andshe said 'It's a ship!' It was gliding slowlynorth to south coming directly toward usover our heads. It was four times thesize of a 747, and had no lights and madeno sound. At first it looked like a boo-merang, where its front edges reflecteda dull faint gray.

"As the ship moved above our headsit blotted out the few stars. It was a fly-ing triangle that scared and excited us atthe same time." Thanks to Peter Dav-enport.

South Carolina large triangleCHARLESTON Air Force Base -

The witness was sitting outside on Oct.20, 2004, at 8:20 PM when he noticedeight white lights blinking in the distance,and as they moved closer he saw theyblinked in a huge triangle pattern.

One light blinked at the top, and thenthree or four blinks down the sides si-multaneously. The craft was huge, andit flew towards the Air Force base.When it reached about the edge of themilitary property line it changed direc-tion and flew towards the flight line andcenter of the base.

"I was on a cell phone with a friend,"says the witness, "and she pulled up tosee the top of the triangles blinking lightbefore it disappeared behind a row oftrees two streets away.

"It was high up enough that 1 couldmake out all the lights, even though itnever got on top of us, but about the levelplanes fly when they are mid-level in thesky.

"The craft should have been lowenough to be heard, but it was quiet. Thelights moved across the sky together,never getting farther or closer apart. Westood staring into the sky, and two min-utes after it disappeared, a solid red cir-cular light came from almost exactlywhere we had seen the triangle last, andit was flying swiftly in our direction.

"I am at the far end of the base, and Ionly hear jets take off. When the redcircle was overhead of us, we heard ajet take off-the roar is loud and unmis-

takable. Suddenly the red light justblinked out.

"The triangle of lights was huge,maybe a half mile across, and the redcircle was about the size of an airplane."Thanks to Peter Davenport.

UFOs over HimalayasTARAI REGION, INDIA - "Moun-

tain villagers in the Tarai region of India'sHimachal Pradesh state claim that UFOshave been seen by day and by night nearthe high-altitude glaciers of theHimalayas, and that aliens are building avery large underground base up there.

"Since Sunday, Oct. 10,2004, UFOsranging in size from very large cylindri-cal objects of a dull silvercolor to small speedy discs have beenseen over the glaciers north of Chini,about 25 miles from India's border withChina.

"Indian military personnel are report-ing many exceedingly abnormal activi-ties and UFO sightings all around theclock. Some Indian helicopter pilots arecomplaining about sophisticated jam-ming. Some of the Indian Air Force pi-lots are continually reporting seeingstrange flying objects in the Himalayasnear the Chinese border.

"There are many indications that alarge underground base is now beingbuilt within the hard andesite (bedrock)of the high Himalayas. The constructionis going on in the high terrain betweenIndia and China."

Thanks to UFO Roundup Vol 9, #43,10/27/04 Editor: Joseph Trainor

Note: UFOs have been reported inthis area since 1941, during World Warn

Lights hi the NetherlandsWEERT - The witness reports see-

ing a light blue very bright light with ared light on its right side that was one-sixth smaller than the blue light flyingfrom west to east on Oct. 21, 2004, at9:10 PM.

The lights were flying upward, fasterand bigger than an airplane. Thanks toPeter Davenport.

DECEMBER 2004 MUFON UFO JOURNAL 15

PERCEPTIONBy Stanton T. Friedman

More on the impossibleAfter lectures and on radio shows, I

am sometimes asked what I am work-ing on now. My response is usually thatthere are two books I would like to writeand for which I am gathering data.

One is Flying Saucers and Science.This would include updates on many ofthe MUFON Symposium papers I havepresented, and cover areas that few oth-ers seem to deal with about the CosmicWatergate, technology and saucers,SETI vs. ufology, etc.

The other will be a book, It's Impos-sible, Isn 't It?. History is loaded withexamples where progress in many dif-ferent areas has been significantly de-layed by the obstacles raised by welleducated noisy negativists, ancient aca-demics, and fossilized physicists.

They want to protect us from the new"foolish" concepts, technology, and mindexpanding views. I dealt in a general waywith the false assumptions that underliethese attacks in a Journal column inSeptember, 2003.

Here I will deal with several moresharply drawn examples. My purpose isto get people to think about areas intoday's world where similar bias, igno-rance, and arrogance are standing in theway of their looking at the evidence re-lated to flying saucer visitations.

Moon exploration impossible?A past target for my scorn has been

Dr. Lee Deforest (1873-1961) becauseof his off-the-wall comments aboutspace travel.

He was quoted by the St. Louis PostDispatch (February 25, 1957) as say-ing, "To place a man in a multi-stagerocket and project him into the control-ling gravitational field of the Moon wherethe passengers can make scientific ob-servations, perhaps land alive, and thenreturn to earth; all that constitutes a wilddream worthy of Jules Veme. I am boldenough to say that such a man-mademoon voyage will never occur regard-

16

less of future scientific advances."It took all of 12 years to accomplish

this "wild" science fiction dream. NowDr. Deforest, PhD from Yale in physicsin 1899, was himself a very innovativeand interesting individual. He obtained

more than 300patents.

Many peop-le, especiallyhimself, consid-ered him thefather of mod-ern radio as theinventor of theAudion tubewhich maderadio and tele-vision possible.He actually

Stan Friedman b r o a d c a s tEnrico Caruso from the MetropolitanOpera House in New York City in 1910.

He was also a pioneer in making talk-ing motion pictures possible, and spentthe last 30 years of his life in Hollywood.

Clearly, rocketry and aeronauticswere not his areas of expertise. Did hereally not recognize his ignorance inthese areas when he made his com-ments?

I hadn't appreciated the fact that hehimself in some ways was a victim, muchearlier, of the same closed minded atti-tudes by "experts." I do think it is hilari-ous that one of the first books about him,published in 1930, was entitled Con-queror of Space ...radio waves, notrockets.

In one of his many dealings with ap-parently unscrupulous characters, he waspart of a company that sold stock to ob-tain funding for the development of ra-dio in the early 1900's. A court actionwas brought for fraud.

The district attorney noted in the courtproceedings that "Deforest has said inmany newspapers and over his signa-ture that it would be possible to transmitthe human voice across the Atlantic be-fore many years. Based on these absurd

MUFON UFO Journal

and deliberately misleading statements,the misguided public... has been per-suaded to purchase stock in his com-pany."

Deforest was acquitted, but the judgeadvised him "to get a common varietyof job and stick to it."

Deforest had hoped to win a NobelPrize in physics, but had many enemies(he was married four times and was in-volved in many lawsuits), and did not.

Guglielmo Marconi was also a pioneerin the development of long distance ra-dio communication (really wireless te-legraphy at the beginning) around the turnof the 20th century. However, he did winthe Nobel Prize in Physics in 1907.

During a recent trip to Newfoundland,my wife and I visited the facility at Sig-nal Hill in St. Johns, Newfoundland, inwhich he received the first transatlanticradio signal. The signal, basically Morsecode, had been sent, without wires, fromCornwall in England.

Impossible across the ocean?The kicker here was that a number

of physicists had said it would be impos-sible to send a radio signal (wireless te-legraphy) across the ocean because ev-erybody knows that radio waves travelin straight lines, and the curvature of theearth would make it impossible to crossthe ocean with radio signals.

Sounds reasonable at first blush, eventhough earlier tests had been conductedover shorter distances that still shouldhave been blocked because of theearth's curvature, but were not.

It wasn't until 23 years later that theelectrically conducting and radio wavereflecting Ionosphere was discovered.

But as we know from so many ex-amples in ufology, "Absence of evidencedoes not mean evidence of absence."

Even after the receipt of that first sig-nal on Dec. 12,1901, there were thosein Newfoundland who didn't wantMarconi to set up business there.

There were strong commercial inter-ests who didn't want wireless transmis-

DECEMBER 2004

sion to be pursued, because it would hurtthe business of those with telegraph lines,never mind the many seagoing vesselsthat later received assistance when un-expected events occurred because theywere able to send distress signals withthe new wireless devices.

Underwater cables had been laid atgreat expense to take signals across theocean. I suspect there is a parallel herewith the SETI Specialists who want des-perately to listen for electromagnetic sig-nals from space to discover extraterres-trial civilizations.

They are totally unwilling to pay at-tention to the enormous amount of evi-dence indicating that aliens are visiting"in person." If aliens are visiting, whoneeds SETI?

Another victim not so luckyMarconi won his battles, but another

innovator who had the courage to pur-sue his findings, Ignatz Semmelweiss(1818-1865), did not win.

As a young doctor in Budapest, Hun-gary, he had noticed that the infant mor-tality in the baby delivery wards seemedmuch higher (10% in those cases whereyoung residents rushed from doing dis-sections to the-delivery rooms) than inthe wards served by midwives (3%).

He noticed that the residents wipedtheir hands on their aprons. He checkedstatistics over a period of time, compar-ing the deliveries done in certain rowsof the room with those in others. Hefound a surprisingly great difference.

He reasoned that it was something onthe hands of the rushing doctors, so heset up the practice of washing hands witha strong soap solution, and found a no-ticeable drop in infection and death rates.

However, he had strong enemies whothought his ideas were absurd, and whoput tremendous pressure on the hospitalto push him out of the system despitethe facts.

Obviously they "knew" there was noway anything (visible) could be transmit-ted from the corpses to the deliveryroom. He actually wound up in an in-sane asylum. He died there of an infec-tion in an open wound that had been ex-posed to the same; biological agents(Streptococcus pyogenes) that hadcaused the fatal infections (puerperalfever) in the delivery room.

DECEMBER 2004

His practices had saved many lives,but that wasn't good enough for his jeal-ous colleagues.

Flying is impossible?Back to flight again, I am reminded

of the immortal words of one of thegreatest American astronomers in the19th Century, Dr. Simon Newcomb.

In October, 1903, he made this pro-found comment: "The demonstration thatno possible combination of known sub-stances, known forces of machinery, andknown forms of force can be united in apractical machine by which man shall flylong distances through the air seems tothis writer as complete as it is possiblefor the demonstration of any physicalfact to be."

Of course there was nothing in histraining and experience which would in-dicate that he knew anything at all aboutflight. The Wright Brothers demon-strated with their first flight in Decem-ber, 1903, after many hundreds of windtunnel and other tests, that flight was in-deed possible.

Charles Lindbergh, who certainly hadbeen an aviation pioneer himself, toldHarry Gugenheim (of the GugenheimFoundation which had supported re-search by rocket pioneer RobertGoddard) in May, 1936, "I would muchprefer to have Goddard interested in realscientific development than to have himprimarily interested in more speculativeachievements which are of less realvalue." .

Another real expert who stuck his footin his mouth, according to PresidentHarry Truman in his 1955 memoirs, wasAdmiral William Leahy, who, speakingof the atomic Bomb development projectin 1945, said, "That is the biggest foolthing we have ever done... the bomb willnever go off, and I speak as an expert inexplosives." .

Obviously, his nuclear knowledgewould have been almost nonexistent.

Errors by governmentsA number of governments have made

serious errors with regards to the devel-opment of techniques-and these errorschanged the course of history duringmajor wars;

One of many such false conclusionswas reached by the Germans during

MUFON UFO JOURNAL

World War n, who thought the idea thatanyone would spend five million dollarsto break their enigma (code) machinewas inconceivable-too radical.

They refused to accept the reality ofthe compromise of enigma even whenthey were presented with solid evidenceto the contrary.

There are many other examples ofresistance to the new, the different. Weshould be learning from the past to avoidmaking similar mistakes in the future.

A good source of fascinating examplesof the will not to believe, no matter thefacts, is the Library of Congress Legis-lative Reference Service 48-page book-let, "Erroneous Predictions and Nega-tive Comments Concerning Exploration,Territorial Expansion, Scientific andTechnological Developments," CB 150,by Nancy T. Gamarra, May 29,1969.

An updated version would be muchlonger, fsphys@rogers.com -

Kevin Handle back;Jesse Marcel calledto active duty

Researcher and author Kevin Randlehas returned from active duty in Iraq,and is again a member of the Iowa ArmyNational Guard. He was recently pro-moted to major.

Randle reports, "I have been taking iteasy for the last few weeks, and haveyet to move back into the UFO arena,though I occasionally brush by it.

"For those interested, Jesse Marcel,Jr. was recalled to active duty, and nowfinds himself in Iraq. This is a stealthdraft that has gotten little media atten-tion.

"He is stationed inside the Sunni Tri-angle, but not very close to the cities thatyou've seen on the news.

"For the Marcels, we see the fatherin the Pacific during World War II, andJesse Jr. around Vietnam and now inIraq."

17

Fo^the holidays

What really mattersEditor's Note: Many of us felt we

had read something very touching andunusual when we recently viewed thefollowing on Whitley Strieber's website.

This author of Communion and otherbooks reminds us of the importance ofour closest relationships. Perhaps this isespecially appropriate during the holidayseason when we tend to place too muchemphasis on material things.

The unexpectedSaturday, Oct. 18, was the most ter-

rible day my wife and I have ever known.It started out as a lovely and very nor-mal day. We went to a movie, thenwatched a baseball game with our son.At about nine, we went home.

On the way, Anne suddenly said, "Ihave so many wonderful memories ofmy marriage."

I was rather surprised-not that shehad good memories of what has been awonderful marriage for both of us, butbecause she said it. She's a here andnow person, not given to retrospection.I said that I was so glad to hear it, and Ifelt just the same.

We arrived home, and she went intothe bathroom. As I was entering thehouse, I heard her say, "Whitley, I needyour help." Her tone sounded as if shewanted me to lift something or perhapsreach something for her on a shelf.

But then I saw that she was bucklingat the knees, and in an instant, thirty-fiveyears of pure bliss turned into a night ofabsolute terror and suffering for both ofus.

It is now three weeks since that night,and we are still in the dark of the woods,still wondering if the shadows are goingto catch us.

As I write this, Anne is suffering frompneumonia and is in and out of conscious-ness. There is so much that I don't knowabout what will come next. Even thedoctors cannot tell me what to expect.

But when my girl is awake, she's re-ally awake, and that bright soul is danc-ing so easily in her pain and the terror of

18

her situation that my heart is humbled tosee it.

She cannot speak because of all thetubes, but today when I walked into theICU, she flashed me the A-Ok sign.

When I bentdown to her,she raised herhand and gen-tly stroked myhead, smilingas best shecould frombehind hermouthful ofbreathing ma-chinery.

We hadgotten to thetime in ourWhitley Strie her

m a r r i a g ewhen just being together is a quiet de-light. As you get older, every momentbegins to seem precious. It's why yousee old couples who are deeply in lovebeing so tender to each other.

We know that part of the vow, "tilldeath do us part," has a most preciousresonance, that has to do with the eter-nity of love and the sacredness of life'sjourney.

I know that Annie has found peace inherself. I can see it in the beauty of hersmile, feel it when her hand squeezesmine, see it in the many ways she ex-presses her sense of humor. We are bothfacing an unknown that we desperatelywant to come into focus: what will hap-pen to her; what will become of our lifetogether?

But those questions cannot be an-swered now, not by the doctors or byanybody. They must remain unfocused,as Annie's body either regains its healthor does not, and she either comes backfully or in some other state, or it turnsout that this is when she travels on.

For a long time, I have felt the mostacute agony in the face of these torment-ing but unanswerable questions. I don'tmind if I am to be caregi ver for my wife.To me, that would be a gift from God, a

MUFON UFO Journal

privilege that would bring a whole newkind of joy to my marriage.

But what will Annie have to go throughif she comes out of this diminished, andis conscious of it? How will she bear thatsuffering?

More than anything, I do not want thisperson who has been the object of mydevotion for so long to experience asingle moment of suffering, let alone alifetime of it.

But it may happen that way. It's notthe most likely outcome, and neither isdying, but both are possible and there isabsolutely no way to tell what is to come.

Of course, that's always true in life,but at a time like this, our normal stateof unknowing becomes a truly ferocioustorture.

One comes to a question: what do Ihave to fall back on? What strength haveI to bring to this? How can I help mywife? What now does it mean "to love,honor and cherish?"

At a time of extraordinary sufferingand fear like this, when she needs any-thing she can get, what I want to give iseverything I have to give. And yet, it'snot going to be enough. Nothing I cando can make her well. I can cast a littlewater on a raging fire, but I cannot put itout.

I sing to her a little song that we usedto sing, hand in hand, walking togetherthrough the streets of New York, whenwe were young: "The river is wide, Ican't cross over, nor have I the wings tofly; build me a boat that will carry two,and both shall go, my love and I."

The river did not really seem so wide,then, not like it does now, a great dark-ness flowing, the stringent torrent of timeand chance, its far shore glimmering withthings unknown.

I have, from deep childhood, twowords I learned at my mother's knee:trust grace. "Whitley," I hear her say-ing, "trust grace." Not trust grace tomake my wife whole again, or trust graceto give us a miracle, or trust grace forany hoped-for outcome. Simply trustgrace.

DECEMBER 2004

And that is, I am finding, enough. Weare here in this world to experience timeand chance. It's not up to God to makeour lives turn out one way or another.

When bad things happen, it's not God'sfault. It's not anybody's fault, in fact.Surprise is essential to the perfection ofsouls. Without it, we cannot be freeenough to choose between sin and sanc-tity.

It's the price we pay to be here, and Ifind that I'm glad for it. I do trust grace.I am surrendered to what may come.And so is my beloved. I can see it in theradiance of the smile that comes frombehind the tubes.

She knows what has happened to her.She knows her situation and theunsureness of her future. And her re-sponse is that smile, and I know why:somebody did build us a boat, and she'sin it. Come what may, she has grace.

I have joined her, finally, after theseweeks of deepest anguish. Wherever ourboat takes us is where we go. If we mustpart, then I will carry within me the joyof our marriage, and she will carry it toGod.

If she stays, then it will be, yet again,a new marriage, made of days so pre-cious that I can barely imagine what theywill be like.

How will it be to embrace her, wholeagain, after this? To walk again in theevening, quietly discussing our day, then .to share our bed in the breezy night, toawaken again beside her, and see in hereyes the sparkle of life?

I can only say this, that great suffer-ing is an alchemy, and the secret of thephilosopher's stone is that love is gold.

Our whole Me together is, at this mo-ment, compressed within me into a single,shining moment.

I recall as if it was just a moment ago,our first meeting. We were both entirelyalone in New York, and had filled outthe forms of a computer dating service.

. A primitive one, to be sure.I was a young advertising executive.

We got each other's names on a list. Iphoned one or two of them, but had noluck.

I was pretty low on the totem polewhen it came to prospects-not a pilot, adoctor, a lawyer, just a kid crunchingnumbers in a windowless office and liv-ing in a run down apartment on the

dreary end of a dreary street.She was a receptionist. I recall, as I

walked into the office where sheworked, I saw this extraordinary womansitting there. She had huge, glorious eyes.She was stunning to me.

And I thought, "hell, why can't thatbe her?" I said to her, "I'd like to seeMiss Mattocks, please." She smiled andsaid, "I'm Anne."

The most amazing sensation wentthrough my body, a shock as if of somewonderful electricity and I thought, "ohplease like me."

Until October 18, we had not beenmore than two weeks apart, and onlyonce for that long, not in thirty-five years.Of course our marriage has had its upsand downs. We've fought, but fights arepart of good marriages.

A marriage is a struggle, basically, tolearn to really trust another person eventhough that person is flawed. The onlyway you can do it is to give all that youhave and not keep score.

That is Annie's way, and mine, too.She gives all she has to this marriage. Ido the same. And now what we have isthis great struggle. When she smiles upfrom her bed at me, I remember mymother's words: trust grace.

Don't keep score, that's not man'splace. Just trust grace and, whetherthings are good are bad in your eyes, youwill belong to God's goodness.

When I was five, mother began read-ing the Bible to us. Not a person to dothings by halves, she read every wordof it from Genesis to Revelation, for halfan hour a night every night until just be-fore my eighth birthday, when she read,"even so, comes Lord Jesus," the lastwords of Revelation.

Then she closed the book and an-nounced, "and that is the word of God."

That word has been inside me eversince, as if it is somehow engraved uponmy soul, and at such a time as this, I amso grateful for those Bible nights.

Like my mother, my wife takes a greatinterest in the Bible. She has her ownideas about everything, but she trusts itdeeply, and knows it well, and when itcomes time, at the end of another hospi-tal day, for our family to pray together,her smile returns as I lay one hand onher forehead and hold my son's hand

with the other, and ask God to receiveour suffering.

And then, in the late night. I awaken,the shadows all around me, and think onthis life, how each generation passes intomemory, as we must, and Annie and Imust, and I sense the presence of thekingdom, and am drawn closer to it as ifon a great, sighing wave of surrender.

Then I sleep again, and perhaps driftalong the paths of the night to where mybeloved lies in her hurting sleep, and kissher with the secret kiss that souls sharenaked in the night.

And so it goes, two lovers in our littleboat, sailing the storm, our song barelythere but there, an echo in the wind.

I've Got My Girl Back!Saturday Nov. 13,2004

Yesterday, Anne woke up. I meanthis in a profound way, new for me, thatis unlike anything I have ever seen be-fore. Well, not quite: I remember a fewyears ago when my sister woke up likethis.

One moment, the eyes are there, butthey are just eyes. The next, somethingglistens from within, and you see it: thesoul has returned to the surface of life,called back from where it stood, waitingfor the body to either embrace it againor let it go.

Anne's body has embraced her soulagain, and I, also, have been included inthat embrace. I was the shadowy formwho was always there, singing my songof hope and longing: I love you, you'remy precious, come back to me.

And so she did, travelling along thestrange byways of illness and the edgeof death-I see her moving lightly,touched by the wonder before her, andyet unable-quite-to ignore that voicefrom the past, calling and calling fromthe world of the living and the heart of avery deep love affair.

So she came back. Yesterday, shewas confused, sometimes quiet, some-times talking too much. But, by the endof the day, I could see her soul again,looking out at me with the perfect truththat this ordeal has taught me resides in

DECEMBER 2004 MUFON UFO JOURNAL 19

every living eye.When she fell down, the first thing I

noticed was that a kind of absence cameinto her eyes. I thought it was death, itlooked so cold, so empty. But there itwas, in eyes so dear to me that theymatter more than my own eyes, the blankabyss.

Then, just five days later, all seemedwell. She was awake, with no signs offever or sickness or the horrific side ef-fect of brain bleeds, vasospasm, thatconstricting of blood vessels that re-moves all trace of consciousness, leav-ing the victim in a coma-like thrall that,to the lover at the bedside, seems wo-ven of hell's own eternities.

She sank away then, before my eyes,the abyss coming again while my heartbroke and broke. But even at the worstmoments, she still had two things: hersmile and the grip of her hand.

When I told her how much I lovedher, how dear she was to me, that smilewould rise up out of the darkness andshine forth, soft sometimes, but alwaysthere. And her hand would tighten inmine, and my prayers would sing on,wind in the wires of death.

So it went, long days and longernights, as we skated along the farthestedges, me and my stricken dreamer. Butthen, on Wednesday, things changed, andthis time in a fundamental way. The doc-tors figured out the puzzle of her feverand broke it with a smart new antibiotic.

And my girl came back. She turnedaround in the tide that was carrying herinto memory and began to swim, and thenshe came up through the froth and ontothe beach, where she is now, stillweighted from her ordeal in the suckingocean, but most definitely back.

You do not walk away from a catas-trophe like this, any more than you walkaway from being shot through the head.No, you struggle back by inches, throughthe confusion of your shattered mind,back to the surface of the world.

Anne is doing that now, talking andtalking, exploring herself and her past andall the hidden meanings, the thingsdropped in the crannies of her mind, thebits of debris that make up a person'sreality.

This has its funny side. For example,her nurse said to me, "Earlier your wifewas, uh, talking about-ah-UFOs and

aliens and we're-well-a little concerned.She said she was, well, an expert..."

I said, "She actually IS an expert onthat subject. In fact, she's one of theleading experts in the world." He lookedat me. "Oh," he said, "that, ah, that ex-plains it." Then he added, "She says shetalks about them on some sort of...webradio."

So I said, "She does. She has aninternet radio program and she does talkabout UFOs and aliens on it. Quite a lot,actually."

"Oh," he said, "oh, good. Ah, this onedoes have us concerned. She said thatGeorge Washington stayed at yourhouse."

From the bed came her voice, stillhoarse from her intubation: "Robert E.Lee."

The nurse nodded solemnly. "RobertE. Lee," he said.

I said, "Actually, Robert E. Lee didstay at my great grandmother's house.Before the Civil War."

He looked over at Anne. She smiled.Quiet triumph. I could see it in her eyes:see, I only SEEM confused.

But that isn' t entirely true, for she doeshave a level of confusion. It's less everyday, though, and it is awesome to seeher ranging around through her memo-ries, her thoughts, her ideas, reweavingthe fractured universe of her inner self.

She talks and talks and talks, and Ilisten to the flood of memories, of ideas,to the great themes of freedom and cul-tural richness and the value of womenthat keep recurring, that are connectedwith Anne's very essence, and the abid-ing compassion that drives it all, revealedplain by the intensity of her struggle.

Lying there, helpless, her mind swim-ming in a suddenly murky sea, my wife'sessence is proclaiming itself, telling it-self: remember who you are.

I said to her something that I said tomy sister, that was deeply healing thenand will be deeply healing now.

My sister had no insurance, with theresult that we were not able to affordlavish rehabilitation. So I gave her re-hab, the same way I am giving it to mywife. Although, because we are insured,she will also have more of the profes-sional kind.

I theorized that a big part of thestruggle after a stroke involves fear-fear

that something has gone terribly wrong,that perhaps it will not come right, thatone's very essence has been thrown intofree fall.

So I said this, "Your mind was like apond that you used to swim in, a littlefish who knew every nook and crannyof that pond, where everything was hid-den and where all the secrets were kept.

"Suddenly, somebody threw a rockinto the pond. And the water got cloudedwith silt, and you ended up swimmingblind.

"But it won't stay like this. The siltwill settle back to the bottom of the pond.And things will come clear again."

At that moment, my sister fell asleepand slept for 24 hours, and then beganto reconstruct herself. My wife listened,then looked at me for a long time. Shesaid, "That's exactly the metaphor I wasreaching for and couldn't find." And shegrew quiet, calmly reflective for the firsttime since she'd awakened.

She's stopped running from the fearthat her mind has been ruined. Now she'sready for the next step, putting the piecesof the golden puzzle of self back togetheragain.

And there's this guy beside her, re-joicing now that all the medical effort andall the prayers and all the healings havegotten us to this place: the place whereonly the highest tide of the ocean ofoblivion can reach.

Here we stand, as always, hand inhand, in the privacy and universality ofour suffering, praying that the danger istruly passed, and that tomorrow will bebetter than today.

I know that it will. I can feel it in hergrip on my hand, can hear it in her voice,see it in those limitless eyes: I' ve got mygirl back.

Amen!

Case reportsInvestigators. Please send a

copy of your case reports directlyto the MUFON UFO Journal.

20 MUFON UFO lournal DECEMBER 2004

Local priest an extraterrestrial?

Michigan man a go-between?Michigan MUFON's chief investiga-

tor, Dan Wright, recently presented anaccount of a 1967 UFO encounter thatoccurred in Albion, MI.

Although the case was not brought toWright's attention until May of 1982, thedetails surrounding the event appearedto be indelibly etched in the minds of thewitnesses involved.

Although details of the case are fartoo involved to relate in this article, a briefoverview is in order. (Dan plans to writea book on the case.)

In late August of 1967 an Albionbutcher, Charles William "Bill" Smith, age35 at the time, was driving his pickupdown a deserted road near his homewhen the engine suddenly stalled.

He looked up through the top of thewindshield to see a large domed saucerhovering over the vehicle.

Telepathically, Smith is told to contacthis priest, Father Gerald Boyer, and con-vey the message of their presence. Theship then departed and Bill continuedhome.

Only minutes after this incident, fromtheir front yard. Bill and his wife, Marge,observed a pair of 15-foot red-orangeballs of fire over a barn 250 feet away.

The fireballs approached the Smithhome and moved slowly and silently overthe roof, then continued to a point abovea swampy woods 300 yards away. Theythen descended and simply "winked out."

On Nov. 24,1967, Smith and his wifewatched the sky as a one-footred-orange fireball hovered over the roofof their home. Momentarily, it movedaway laterally and accelerated out ofsight.

Smith finally broke down and told hispriest about the sightings and telepathiccommunication that he was instructed toconvey.

Father Boyer not only believed him,but claimed to be one of the extraterres-trials incarnate in human form! FatherBoyer was more than happy to accom-pany Smith to his home to watch for a

return visit. They were not disappointed.On March 14,1968, Smith, his-wife,

Father Boyer, and eight other witnesses(four of whom were nuns) watched inamazement as three fireballs approachedthem. The four nuns fled the scene interror.

On May 7,1968, Smith, Father Boyer,and a third witness observed a very largebulbous cyUnder in the sky, glowing am-ber and ejecting numerous auto-sizeddiscs that were also glowing amber.

That same evening, Smith witnessedthe landing of one of the ejected discs.Several 4 1/2-foot beings, clad in silversuits, descended a ramp and once againtelepathically communicated with him.

They attempted to convince him to"go for a ride." Smith was apprehensive,to say the least, and refused to go withthem. They obviously respected his de-cision, but told him that he will receivesubsequent messages that he is to passalong to Father Boyer.

Smith also claimed that a helicoptercrew landed in his field around that time.When he went out to ask them what theywere doing, he was told to "get out."

Shortly thereafter, a plain-clothedgentleman who identified himself as"Maj. Holmes" came to his door askingquestions about the encounters.

After the helicopter incident, Smithwas unwilling to talk to or trust anyoneconnected with the government. Maj.Holmes' inquiry was rebuffed.

During an 18-month period in 1967/1968, dozens of neighbors, friends, rela-tives, and other visitors observed regu-lar intrusions of glowing spheres over theSmith property.

Mrs. Smith s daily diary offers com-pelling testimony to further support thefamily's account.

Wright says this is his best-ever "coldcase" and that it is still open and ongo-ing.

-Thanks to MiMUFON.

Mars ReconnaisanceOrbiter to send backmore detailed photos

As Earth pulls away from Mars af-ter the close approach in August, NASAis developing a spacecraft that will takeadvantage of the next close encounterin 2005.

That spacecraft, Mars Reconnais-sance Orbiter, will make a more com-prehensive inspection of our planetaryneighbor than any previous mission.

For starters, it will examine landscapedetails as small as a coffee table withthe most powerful telescopic cameraever sent to orbit a foreign planet.

Some of its other tools will scan un-derground layers for water and ice, iden-tify small patches of surface minerals todetermine their composition and origins,track changes in atmospheric water anddust, and check global weather everyday.

"We're reaching an important stagein developing the spacecraft," saidJames Graf, project manager for MarsReconnaissance Orbiter at NASA's JetPropulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif."The primary structure has been com-pleted."

The structure weighs 220 kilograms(484 pounds) and stands 3 meters (about10 feet) tall. At launch, after gear andfuel are added, it will support over twotons.

Also, the mission's avionics test bedhas been assembled for the first time andput to use for testing of flight software.

Workers at Lockheed Martin SpaceSystems, Denver, will later add instru-ments being built for it at the Universityof Arizona; at Johns Hopkins UniversityApplied Physics Laboratory; at the Ital-ian Space Agency; at Malin Space Sci-ence Systems; and at JPL.

"In several ways, Mars Reconnais-sance Orbiter will advance NASA's fol-low-the-water strategy for Mars explo-ration," said Dr. Richard Zurek, projectscientist for the mission.

Probing below Mars' surface withpenetrating radar, Reconnaissance Or-biter will check the depth of the frozenwater previously detected.

DECEMBER 2004 MUFON UFO JOURNAL 21

CALENDAR Director's MessageMarch 6-12-International UFO Con-

gress Convention and Film Festival,Laughlin, NV. wwwiufocon-gress.com.

April 1-3-Aztec UFO Symposium,Aztec, NM. aztecufo@sisna.com,www.aztecufo.com, 877-823-5810.

April 8-10-17th annual Ozark UFOConference, Eureka Springs, AR. LouParish, ozarkufo@webtv.net, 501-354-2558.

July 22-24-36th annual MUFONUFO Symposium, Marriott Tech CenterHotel, Denver, CO. 303-932-7709,www.mufon.com.

Ozark UFO Symposiumto celebrate 17th year

Lou Parish's popular Ozark UFOSymposium in the resort city of EurekaSprings, AR, will mark its 17th year thiscoming April 8-10.

This conference is somewhat uniquein featuring many of the same speakerseach year, including Wendelle Stevens,Grant Cameron, Linda Moulton Howe,and Timothy Good. Nancy Talbott, whois becoming one of the "regulars," is notyet confirmed for 2005.

On the "new" list is David Marler,MUFON State Director for Illinois, andpossibly Scott Ramsey, who has re-searched the Aztec crash site. Otherspeakers will be announced later.

Parish says he is considering eliminat-ing the speakers' panel so that he caninclude one more speaker.

He also notes that he will have to in-crease the cost a bit this year to $45advance, and $50.at the door.

Accommodations and meals are avail-able at moderate prices at the popularInn of the Ozarks, where the symposiumis held, as well as at numerous othernearby motels and eating places (thetourist season has not yet begun in April,but the weather is great).

Visit MUFON online at

www.MUFON.com

(Continued from page 2)efit the whole UFO community, educa-tional institutions, historical archives, au-thors, and researchers. However, noneof these projects can be accomplishedwithout significant funding.

Since MUFON is a non-profit corpo-ration, we are seeking tax-deductibledonations earmarked at completing theseprojects as early as possible.

Past UFO organizations collected filecabinets full of UFO reports that wereaccessible to only a few people, andwhen the organizations were shut downthe files were dispersed, and many ofthem lost to the public.

The MUFON Business Board wantsto prevent this from happening to theMUFON files by making them availablein electronic form.

Dubbed The Pandora Project, the goalis to scan all of the UFO reports goingback to 1969 when MUFON wasformed and produce CD-ROMs that arekeyword searchable. Professional scan-ning company bids are all in the $35,000range for this project.

In addition to UFO reports, theMUFON files contain hundreds of re-ports of Bigfoot, crop circles, anomalies,special reports, studies, and news clip-pings.

The second phase of The PandoraProject is to scan all of these files andmake them available on CD-ROMs.The estimated cost for this phase is$25,000.

MUFON has been providing amonthly magazine since the organizationbegan. Called Sky look & first, and thenThe MUFON UFO Journal, the maga-zine back copies exist only in a paperformat. The goal is to convert the pastissues to electronic format and makethem available on CD-ROM.

The fourth scanning project involvesscanning all of the 35 years of the an-nual MUFON Symposium Proceed-ings, and making them available on CD-ROM.

MUFON has a history covering nearlyevery facet of the UFO mystery. It isour intent to make this available to allseekers, regardless of their affiliation.MUFON members are urged to seek outspecial donors capable of making these

projects a reality as soon as possible.

Position AnnouncementsIke Bishop has stepped down as

State Director for Idaho. Replacing Ikeas State Director is Robert S. Gatesof Idaho Falls, ID. We thank Ike andRobert for this smooth transition.

Alan Gudaitis, State Director forNevada, and Sandy Lepore Gudaitis,Assistant State Director for Nevada,have retired from their positions aftermany years of dedicated service.

They held regular meetings in theirhome, investigated many UFO cases, andcarried the banner high for UFO re-search. We thank them for their hardwork and we will miss them as theMUFON leaders for Nevada.

Bill Jones, State Director for Ohio,has appointed Angle Hamilton ofAshland, OH, to the position of StateSection Director.

Bruce Widaman, State Director forMissouri, has appointed Tom Ferrarioof Hermann, MO, as Assistant StateDirector for Missouri.

William Weeks, State Director forAlabama, has appointed MonroeSlocumb as State Section Director forMadison County.

New Field InvestigatorsKathleen Marden, Director of Field

Investigator Training, has announcedthat Ralph Barrera of Hollywood, PL;Mary Jane Hulsey of Twin Falls, ID;and Randy James Van Landinghamof Englewood, CO, have successfullypassed the MUFON Field Investigator'sExam and are now MUFON Field In-vestigators.

New Lifetime MembersMUFON has three new lifetime mem-

bers. It is a pleasure to announce thatYvonne Bryant of Mesa, AZ, KathySchuessler of Littleton, CO, andCarman E. Wiese of Del Rio, TX, arenow MUFON lifetime members.

We are extremely grateful for thisvote of confidence and level of supportfor MUFON. Our thanks to you Yvonne,Kathy, and Carman.

22 MUFON UFO Journal DECEMBER 2004

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DECEMBER 2004 MUFON UFO JOURNAL 23

By Gavin A. J. McLeod

January 2005Moon PhasesLast Quarter January 3New Moon January 10First Quarter January 17Full Moon January 25

Bright Planets (Evening Sky)Saturn (magnitude -0.3): In Gemini.

Saturn rises in the east-northeast at sun-set and sets in the west-northwest as theSun rises.

Bright Planets (Morning Sky)Mercury (magnitude -0.3): Moving

from Ophiuchus to Sagittarius. Mercuryremains visible during morning twilightlow in the southeast un t i l aboutmidmonth. For Southern hemisphereobservers, Mercury is visible low in theeast-southeast sky all month.

Venus (-3.8): Moving fromOphiuchus to Sagittarius. Venus is verylow in the southeast during morning twi-light. By month's end it becomes lost inthe glare of the Sun.

For southern hemisphere observersVenus is low in the east-southeast dur-ing morning twilight.

Mars(1.6to 1.5): Moving from Scor-pius to Ophiuchus. Mars rises less than3 hours before the Sun in the east-south-east and is very low in the southeast atthe beginning of morning twilight.

Southern hemisphere observers willfind Mars rising about 3 hours before theSun in the east-southeast and about 20degrees high in the east-southeast afterthe beginning of morning twilight.

Jupiter (-2.0 to -2.1): In Virgo. Jupi-ter rises in the east near midnight andrises to about 40 degrees above the ho-rizon as morning twilight begins.

Meteor Showers: QuadrantidsDates: From Jan. 1 to Jan. 5, peak-

ing on Jan. 3. The last quarter Moon willnot interfere with viewing the meteorshower just after midnight to 1 AM.

Predicted Rate: 45 and 200 faintmeteors per hour.

24

Planetary Conjunction: Just before dawn On Jan. 7,2005, the Moon, Mer-cury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter will present a spectacular site in the predawn sky.

Planetary conjunctions, especially when the brighter planets and/or stars areinvolved, can be a source of sightings reports as observers unfamiliar with the nightsky notice the grouping of bright lights in the sky.

Conjunctions and OccultationsJan. 3: Jupiter 0.4 degrees north of the Moon.Jan. 31: Jupiter 0.9 degrees north of the Moon.

Where To Look: East of Polaris (thenorth star) and below Ursa Major (thebig dipper).

Actor Nicolas Cagefascinated by the Yeti

Movie actor Nicolas Cage is on thehunt for a mythical red-haired ape manwho reportedly lives in the mountainssurrounding Tibet."

The actor, whose new film NationalTreasure premiered Nov. 19, boasts heis "fascinated by modern myths" and,having seen films about the Yeti, "wantsto meet the beast."

The Yeti, sometimes called "theAbominable Snowman," lives on the gla-ciers of the high Himalayas.

MUFON UFO Journal DECEMBER 2004