Number 103

MUFON UFOJOURNAL

JUNE ,1976

Founded 1967 $1.00

I OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF MUFONJ MUTUAL UFO NETWORK,

err 'TSrt'.

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O O O

DRAWING MADE BY POLICE OFFICER GEORGE WHEELER SHORTLY AFTER HE SPOTTED THE 250-FT-oiAMETERH O V E R I N G O V E R A H I L L I N H I S P A T R O L A R E A O N A P R I L 2 2 . W H I L E D E S C R I B I N G T H E OBJECT OVER H I SHIS P O L I C E R A D I O , W H E E L E R WAS HIT BY "BLAST OF L I G H T 1 1 AND L A T E R H O S P I T A L I Z E D FOR 1 *4 DAYS.

MUFON

JOURNAL103 Oldtowne Rd.

Seguin, Texas 78155

Dennis William HauckEditor

Walter H. AndrusDirector of MUFON

Joseph M. BrillEditorial Assistant

Rev. Dr. Barry DowningReligion and UFOs

Ann DruffelCalifornia Report

Lucius ParishBooks/Periodicals/History

Morjorie FishExtraterrestrial Life

Stan GordonCreatures & UFOs

Richard HallInternational Coordinator

Mark HerbstrittAstronomy

Rosetta HolmesPromotion/Publicity

David A. SchrothSt. Louis/Mass Media

John F. SchuesslerUFO Propulsion

Dwight ConnellyNorma E. ShortEditor/Publishers Emeritus

Len StringfieldCommentary

The MUfOK UFO 10IHIHL ii published monthly by Ihi

Mutml UFO Network, 103 Oldtowne ltd., Stpiin, Tews

7S1SS UU. Subscriptions rates: $8.00 ptr year in U.S.;

$9.00 per fur foreign.

FROM THE EDITORKM OM goes from a driving interest In

mathematics to an all-consuming interestin UFOs Mb a bit about thtf reality of thoseobjects and might wan Mm at anappropriate introduction.

I MI a gradual* ttndent at theUntversHy of Vienna on a typical Aottrlanholiday: skiing in tho Alp. But not utypical MI tho spinning, metallic disc twocompanion and I came upon as wo sModwer a ridge mar Innsbruck's Nordkotton.Tho silently hovering objoet, as big as aear, actually disappeared as MO approachedH! Thus, presented with the problem of asolid object which behaved impossibly, Icould not cease searching for a solution.

As MUFON State Pireetor for Indiana,

North American Director for theInternational UFO Registry, and an activemember of every other major UFO group, Ihave become even more convinced of theurgency of the UFO problem. As Editor ofUFOlow magazine, I have fought tongue-in-cheek aphasia with a solidly objectiveapproach, and I hope to continue thatdedication In the pages of the MUFON UFOJournal.

Some may accuse me of being apolitical,perhaps because I see all of us in the sameboat. Whatever the inadequacies,jealousies, and conflicts we experience,there Is something more going on. And that"something more" Is why we call ourselvesrtfjJjhAt*!*UTlNOJIffS.

L THIS ISSUE DEDICATED TO DWIGHT CONNELLY AND NORMA SHORT,WHO MADE SKYLOOK THE MOST RESPECTED UFO MONTHLY ANYWHERE.

In this issue

PSYCHIC UFOs-A SCIENTIFIC ENTRAPMENT BY BILL PITTS 3POLICEMAN HOSPITALIZED AFTER UFO ENCOUNTER BY JACK BOSTRACK...^REPORT FROM SCANDINAVIA BY RICHARD HALL... 6SEVENTH ANNUAL MUFON SYMPOSIUM BY D. WILLIAM HAUCK.. 7INTERNATIONAL ROUND-UP: PART 1 BY RICHARD HALL 9ODDITIES AMONG THE ERRATICS: PART 1 BY ANN DRUFFEL 10IN SEARCH OF ANCIENT GODS: A REVIEW BY REV. B. H. DOWNING 12CAR PACING REPORTS BY RICHARD HALL 13NOT ALL ARE UFOs BY KEVIN D. RANDLE 14SANTA MONICA UFO SIGHTING BY WILLIAM F. HASSEL 16REPORTS OF FLYING SOUND IN TEXAS BY JEROLD JOHNSON 17LOW LEVEL SIGHTINGS IN PENNSYLVANIA BY STAN GORDON 18DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE BY WALT ANDRUS 19RECAPPING AND COMMENTING BY RICHARD HALL 20ASTRONOMY NOTES BY MARK HERBSTRITT 20

T||l contents of th< MITOH UFO IOUIIIHI. ire determined by the editor, end do

not necessarily represent the official position or judgement of UUFOM. Opinion)

of contributors ire then o*n, and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor,

the ttiff, or MUFON. Articles should be submitted to Dennis William Hauck, 114

Gostlin St., Himimxid, Ind. 46327.

Permission is hereby panted to quote tram this issue provided not more than 200

words are quote from thrs issue provided not more than 200 words ere quoted

from any one article, the eirthof of the article is jirai credit, and the statement

"Copyriiht 1976 by MUFON UFO lOURN/U, 103 Oldtome Rd., Sejuin, H" is

included.

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PSYCHIC UFO'S-A SCIENTIFICENTRAPMENT

by Bill Pitts500 North 2nd St.

Fort Smith, Arkansas 72901

UFO's, at this point in time, meandifferent things to different people;however, due to sensationalism in someof the various pulp-type magazines andpublications, some of our top UFOinvestigators are being deluded fromthe real issue-to the consideration of

. prospects which could, further, makethem the "laughing stock" ofofficialism, families, and scientificcolleagues. It is this writer's sincerebelief-that, when all the hoaxes,misidentifications, and misconceptionsare proven to be such-eventually, wewill find that the true UFO will prove tobe a metallic-structured object. Wherethey are from,.why they are here, andhow they got here-is pure conjecture atthis time.

Philip Klass has run the gamut inexplaining away UFO's as being onething-and, then, another. We have himto thank, however, .for showing that alltoo ,often the "experienced"investigator leaves much to be desired-and that we, oftimes, do not .properlyinvestigate the reports. However, evenDr.-Hynek has offered varied opinionsdown through his UFO years-sometimes drifting from one extreme toanother. Dr. Hynek warrants accolades,however, since he has added a degreeof authority, officialdom, and the voiceof a scientist to UFO investigations.These differences in opinions may behealthy when evaluating .UFO reports. Itshows/too, that regardless of who weare (or think we are), we are entitled tochange our minds and offer varyingexplanations-oftimes contrary to eachother. Thus, we should bear in mindthat none of us may be completelyright-and, in like manner, completelywrong.

A disturbing aspect to this writer,however, is when some of our"leaders" begin considering third

dimensions, psychic projections, andother matters that belong to occult-oriented material and persons. Make nomistake about it-l do not care what yourinterest may be in either field-UFO's andthe Occult (and I differentiate betweenthe two)-there is not one documented,scientifically investigated, case of anytype of psychic projection. To honestlybelieve that a person can, throughthought projection, place an object-which appears to be real and solid-before the eyes of several others-is amatter of sheer'nonsense. There is noway that there has ever been) or -everwill be, any object projected beyond theinner mind, and skull, of an individual-toan outward, position where the"conceived" object may be viewed byothers. I know of which I speak-and Ihave, in the past, openly challenged anyalleged psychic, occultist, medium, orclairvoyant, to project before me, orhave projected before me, any type ofobject, creature, or person-and havethem appear and/or disapper beforeme. Just recently, I have again placedsuch a challenge before a meeting ofsome of the alleged leading "psychics".I know that you may have read aboutsuch , experiences-and some-one. willsay that I do not know what I am talkingabout-and that such experiences havebeen documented and. I say to them -"hogwash". It may be true that youhave read about such, but that does notmake them true. Anyplace you wouldhave read, about them would, again, bein sensationalist material-none of whichhave any factual foundation. From mylatest challenge, if I should find that | amin .error, and am wrong-you will beamong the first to, ;read of myacknowledgement of such-and with afull report as to my findings.

MUFON members-persons primarilyconcerned about the occult, for themost part, could not care less whether

or not UFO's are real. UFO's, to them,!offer just another fanciful venture toanother Alice in Wonderland.

I was amused over a little.dissertationfollowing the Fort Smith Conference-aspersons were departing the Motel-aperson known to most of you, wasdiscussing "psyhic projections of craft"with Philip Klass. In endeavoring towind-up a "friendly disagreement",Klass told them that he would be open-minded-that if the other person couldconjure-up a psychic-projected vehicleto get him to the airport-he would bemore than willing to ride in it. That, myfriends, is being practical.

We may want to believe that thingslike this could happen-but that does notmake it "so". Thus, I submit to theleaders of the various UFOorganizations and their investigators,that they not place any undue emphasison the matter of occult and psychic-projected UFO's. These will continue tobe written about in the newsstandpublications, but they are not a part ofthe good reports worthy of scientificthought, nor serious investigations. Tothose persons becoming involved insuch trivia, you will soon find that thoseproposing such matters are notinterested in whether or not UFO's arereal-but other matters not even thoughprovoking. To those UFO Investigators,and our UFO Scientists, trying to solvethe mystery of the UFO-you will not findthe answer among the occults-you .arewasting your time. Read about, and.even investigate psychic phenomena-ifyou will-but do not let it bog us down inUFO investigations when moreimportant, and real, issues may benearer at hand. Separate the two-and letthem fall where they may rightfullybelong, but joining hands is anentrapment, which could take theserious investigator around the "bend"from normalcy.

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WISCONSIN POLICEMAN HOSPITALIZEDAFTER UFO ENCOUNTERlOCQtlotll Hntwood, WlicomlnDO tOt April M, 1976ln>>«trOOton Jock M. loitrodt (MUFON Stato SectionDirector and Profouor of Biology at ttm Unlranlty ofWlicoraln.Typ» of lighting! daylight cloM •nmintor.

This sighting was first broughtto my attention on Friday, April23,1976 by a student in my generalbotany class at the University ofWisconsin-River Falls. He and afriend had intercepted one ormore of George Wheeler's radiotransmissions, concerning a UFO,to the Pierce County sheriff'soffice in Ellsworth, Wisconsin.This had occurred the previousnight (Thursday, April 22,1976). Iwas particularly intrigued whenGeorge Wheeler's name wasmentioned because it was justover one year ago (April 6, 1975)that Mr. Wheeler observed a UFOnear the outskirts of Elmwood,Wisconsin. I had interviewedGeorge concerning his sighting ofApril 6, 1975, and was convincedthat he was a reliable witness andhad experienced what he haddescribed. It seemed unusual,however, that the same individualwould experience anothersighting in the same general area.

I tried to contact George overthe weekend and throughMonday, April 26, but to no avail.On Tuesday, April 27,1976 Georgecalled me and briefly describedhis experience, it was then Ilearned that the reason I had notbeen able to contact him was thathe had been in the hospital fromFriday, April 23 until Tuesday,April 27,1976.

I drove to Elmwood thatafternoon to interview Georgeconcerning this latest UFOsighting. It was my impressionthat George was still a littleunsteady from his experience.During our discussion he

PAGE 14

GEORGE WHEELER INDICATING THE APPROXIMATE POSITIONUFO OBSERVED ON THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 22, 1976.

OF

mentioned that he had beeninformed, second hand, that Mr.Paul Fredrickson, administratorof the nursing home in Elmwood,had observed a light at the sametime, in the same place and on thesame night. George called Mr.Fredrickson and madearrangements for the two of us tovisit with him. Mr. Fredricksoninformed us that he had beentelephoned by an individual at thenursing home, who was aware ofthe sighting in progress, andasked if he would go down to hisporch and look toward the quarryon Tuttle Hill. Mr. Fredricksonlives approximately three-quarters of a mile from thequarry. When he looked towardthe quarry from his porch he sawa "difficult-to-describe" brilliantorange light. Strange, he related,because of the color and thelimited nature of it (i.e., it was notflickering and irregular in outline

as would be the case if a buildingwas burning, but, rather a steady,brilliant light). Knowing of hiswife's interest in UFO phenomenahe hurried to inform her of theincident. However, when theyboth returned to the porch thelight was gone. Mr. Fredrickson'sobservation confirms Mr.Wheeler's sighting by place, timeand color. However, from hisvantage point Mr. Fredricksonwas not able to discern a solidobject-only the bright orangelight.

Next, George and I drove to thequarry on Tuttle Hill where hedescribed in detail his ex-perience:

"When I got to the1 top of Tuttle Hill therewas this huge object that appeared to beabout as high as a two-story house andabout 250 feet across. It was about 500 feetaway from me and about 100 feet off theground, between the quarry and where the

old barn burned, as near as I couldestimate. There was an orange-white lightat the top and six bluish white lights on theside and I could see shadows as ifsomething were moving inside it. In themiddle of the side, there appeared to be apanel that was open and I could seesomething within it that appeared to berevolving slowly and had some fin-likeparts on it. What appeared to be legs Of thecraft were partially extended from thebody arid there was a long, black hose-likeappendage on the craft. It rose straight up,extremely fast and at this time there was atype of flash and my car lights went out,the radio went dead and the motor stop^ped. I don't remember anymore untilsomeone asked me if I needed help."

A short distance away is the'L.O'Bryan farm. On the chance thatthey may have observedsomething on the night in questionwe stopped in and briefly visitedwith Mr. and Mrs. O'Bryan. Welearned that Mrs. O'Bryan hadgone to sleep before 11:00 P.M.that evening, but Mr. O'Bryanhad been awake watchingtelevision. When we asked if hehad seen or heard anything out ofthe ordinary that evening, hereplied in the negative. However,he mentioned that his TV set hadgone black that evening for a fewseconds just after 11:00 P.M. Mr.O'Bryan could not remember thename pf the program he had beenwatching, but knew it was a fewminutes after the program hadstarted that his TV "blacked out".This would coincide with the timethat Mr. Wheeler and his squadcar were enveloped by the lightfrom the UFO. On my second visitwith Mr. O'Bryan (May 8,1976). Ihad a copy of the TV programschedule for Thursday, April 22,1976 and he confirmed that he hadbeen watching the Perry Masonshow on Channel 11 which beginsat 11:00 P.M. Mr. O'Bryan addedthat he had heard that one of thechildren in the family living on thenext farm down the road had seensomething on that evening.

.The next farm down the road,but within sight of the O'Bryanfarm and the quarry, is occupied

by Mr. James Kuehl and family.George and I drove to the Kuehlfarm and talked with Mrs. Kuehland her children. Contrary towhat Mr. O'Bryan had heard noneof the Kuehl children had seen orheard anything strange thatevening, nor had Mrs. Kuehl.Next, we went down to the barn totalk with Jim Kuehl. He relatedthat he had not noticed, any thingunusual that night either.However, he did mention that hiswife had come home from ameeting shortly after 11:00 P.M.that evening and noticed apeculiar change in behavior oftheir dogs. They have severaldogs and some are rather young.Jim mentioned that his wife hadremarked that the dogs had actedvery peculiar when she arrivedhome that evening. Usually theycome running and are jumping upon her when she comes home. Onthis evening none of the dogscame to her, but stayed at adistance and barked. She called tothem and still they would notapproach her. This was the onlynight the dogs ever exhibited sucha change in their behavioralpattern.

During the period May 3:8 Jtried to contact George again, butcould get no answer. On Saturday,May 8, I drove to Elmwood andfound his wife, Doris, at home.She informed me that George hadbeen in the hospital again thatentire week. During that trip Ivisited with police officer, GeneHelmer and his wife. Thisdiscussion added little newinformation, but did corroboratewhat George had related to meabout the incident.

On Thursday, May 27, Georgeand I discussed again variousaspects of the case. Georgementioned that he had talked onthe phone with Mrs. MilesWergland, Elmwood, who hadseen the UFO that same eveningwhile looking out a window of herhome. We stopped at her home onThursday, May 27, but no one washome.

This appears to be anextraordinarily good sightingwith various bits of confirmingdata; including two other personswho observed the UFO (at leastthe light from it) from separatevantage points.

THE L. O ' B R Y A N FARM T A K E N FROM THE PLACE WHERE GEORGEWHEELER WAS S T A N D I N G WHEN HE OBSERVED THE OBJECT. NOTEA L S O IN B A C K G R O U N D , DOWN THE R O A D FROM O ' B R Y A N FARM,ONE CAN SEE THE JAMES KUEHL FARM.

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REPORT FROM SCANDINAVIAby Richard Hall, MUFON International Coordinator

(MUFON has representatives inNorway, Sweden, and Finlandand exchanges- data withS k a n d i n a v i s k U F 0Information - SUFOI - in Den-mark. Here is a small sample ofsome of the more interestingScandinavian UFO cases withinthe past few years).

A spectacular sighting byDanish police officer EvaldHansen Maarup August 13, 1975has received wide attention in theScandinavian press. Maarup wasen route home in his police car at10:50 p.m., driving betweenKabdrup and Fjelstrup when thecar was suddenly surrounded bybright bluish-white light andexperienced' a total electricalfailure. Shielding his eyes fromthe dazzling light, Maarup pulledto the side of the road and reachedfor his radio to call his station.The radio was also dead. He thennoticed that the interior of the carwas warming up as if from a hotsummer sun.

After a while Maarup noticedthat the light, a cone with adiameter of 4-5 m, was rising, Itcame from a luminous hole in thebottom of a large gray object(about 10 m diameter) with twodome-like downward protrusions.Somewhere in the sequence heinstinctively activated a mountedcamera in the patrol car and tookthree pictures. A little later hetook three more.

After the cone of light vanishedinto the UFO, it began moving,accelerating rapidly anddisappearing vertically upward

PAGE 6

making no sound. When it left, thecar started easily, the lightsworked, and he reported theincident to the station on his radio.Maarup searched the area fortraces but found nothing. He didnote that the front mudguard stillfelt hot to the touch. The car wasan almost new Ford Zodiac (6cylinder) in good mechanicalcondition with no history ofproblems.

When the film was developed,one frame showed an unexplainedspot of light. The report andpictures were submitted to the AirForce, but no analysis report wasreleased. (Credit: SUFOI,Soborg, Denmark).

Professor Bertil Soderquist,Swedish Representative, hassubmitted brief summaries of anumber of cases. (More detailsare available from him if desiredby any MUFON specialists).

February 22, 1975; Finnerodja,central Sweden--At 6:50 PM fourwitnesses observed a large, graybus-shaped object at low altitude(40-50 m) when it moved slowlyacross the road ahead of their car.The UFO had three"searchlights" at the front andmoved with no sound. A rearview, as it passed, revealed 9staggered brightly illuminatedopenings. The object was about 30m long, 20 m wide, and 3 m inheight.

March 18,1975; Agesta, centralSweden~A family saw five brightobjects circle above a nearbynuclear power station about 8 PM.The first object seen was cigar-shaped; it was then joined by fouradditional bluish-white objects

which circled around the cigar. Asthe father observed throughbinoculars, the four smallerobjects disappeared suddenly,leaving smoke puffs. The cigarremained visible for five minutesbefore disappearing.

In an earlier report fromTanndalen, northern Sweden, anunusual observation lasting ll/zhours was reported by twowitnesses December 31, 1974.First seen at 5 PM, the brightly litUFO changed shape from roundto oblong, divided into, twoobjects, and emitted rays of lightfrom time to time. When one ofthe witnesses shone a flashlighttoward the UFO, the objectapproached and the witnesses fledin fear. A few days later the sameor a similar object was seen bymany others and photographswere taken, showing only adiffusely lit object.

Astrid Svelmoe of the NorskUFO Center, Trondheim, hasforwarded a packet of 1974 casestranslated into English forMUFON on Center report forms.One of the more interesting casesoccurred on Dec. 31, 1974 atDagali, Norway at about 7 PM. Adull red, faintly glowing ball-likeobject was observed movingslowly at low altitude (20-50 mabove the hilly terrain) movingsouth, turning west and stoppingat the end of a new airfield. Thelight suddenly flared into brightwhite. After about five secondsthe object darkened again andmoved away rapidly to the south-southeast through a gap in theDagali Mountains. A short red tailwas seen during motion.

SEVENTH ANNUALMUFON SYMPOSIUM

by D. William Hauck

W A L T A N D R U S

"New Frontiers in UFO Resear-ch" proved to be an appropriatetheme at the Seventh AnnualMUFON Symposium held June 12and 13 at Weber Inn in Ann Arbor,Michigan and hosted by State Direc-tor Robert Stinson and Universityof Michigan sociologist Dr. RonaldWestrum. The emphasis on newfrontiers was apparent from thebeginning as Director Walt Andrusstressed continued support for theCenter for UFO Studies, com-plemented with a rededication onthe part of MUFON members toscientific ufology.

The only program change wasJerome Clark's pitch-hitting forJacques Valle. The co-author of-Unidentified presented a fascinatinga c c o u n t of h is pe rsona linvestigation of the Sandy Larson(Fargo, North Dakota) humanoidcase. Clark's threefold set ofpossible explanations for suchabduction cases was: 1) Theincidents take place in anotherreality, a combination of dreamworld and physical reality; 2) Theincidents do not actually take placeas recalled, being either phoney orimplanted memories; and finally 3)The ufonauts are somehow limitedin their power, thereby accountingfor the, incomplete or utterlyfantastic interpretations humansgive to the events.

J E R O M E C L A R K

D A V E WEBB

Further insights into the study ofhumanoid reports were brought outby Dave Webb of the HumanoidStudy Group. Analyzing the 1000entity cases that the MUFON studygroup has accumulated, Webb founddistinct correlations with Vallee's"Law of the Times", which states

that there is a distinct preference fornighttime landing and extra-vehicular activity peaking betweennine and ten in the evening. Similarcorrelation was found with Saun-ders' 61 month sightings wave pat-tern. Although these correlationsmust be borne out with a larger casepopulation and more representativeinternational . sampling, thepreliminary findings promisesignificant advances from continuedorganization, computer coding, andeventual computer cataloging ofhumanoid encounters. .

HENRY MCKAY

Another result of UFO landings isof-course, physical traces, a subjectably presented by Henry McKay,Canadian Regional Director forMUFON. Not only does the in-vestigation of physical tracesrequire a knowledge of such diversedisciplines as geology, meteorology,and chemistry, but also an un-derstanding of the effects of rarephenomena such as ball lightningand fairy-ring rungus. McKay'sthorough on-the-site investigation oftwelve Canadian "UFO ring" casesprovided some fresh material in an

PAGE 7

area of UFO research which hasbeen beset with unscientific,delayed, and inadequate in-vestigation. Hopefully betteranalytical techniques and quickerresponse will enable ufologists togather as much information aspossible from the rare and extremelyvaluable physical trace cases.

design can be used in a variety of dp-plications, since the majority of theequipment is completely mobile

surface reflectivity can be easily in-terpreted and reprocessed in three-dimensional coordinates.

' RAY S T A N F O R D

Nowhere were new frontiers moreevident than in the presentations oninstrumented UFO research. RayStanford fired the enthusiasm of allpresent with Project Starlight'sOperation ARGUS concept. Arguswas a creature in Greek mythologywith many eyes and the acronymseems quite appropriate (AutomaticRingup on Geolocated UFOSightings). The new system feedsUFO data acquisitions fromtechnician-operated telescopiccameras directly into a central com-puter, which then calculates anddisplays the UFO coordinates in-cluding distance, altitude, and sizedata. At the same time the computerselects a pre-recorded aerial photo(or map) and superimposes the pathof the UFO on a video .screen.Automatically, the computertelephones volunteers within thevisibility radius of the UFO andissues a general UFO alert overamateur and CB radio frequencies.With radar, recording magne-tometer and gravitometer,and previously installed UFO VEC-TOR laser monitoring equipment,any UFO event occurring withinrange of the Project Starlightlaboratory will be fully documented.What is more, progress in systems

P A G E 8

W I L L I A M S P A U L D I N G

While Project Starlight has em-phasized the analysis of the UFOevent as it occurs, Ground SaucerWatch (GSW) has enlisted the aid ofcomputers in the analysis of thephotographic 'evidence for UFOevents which have already takenplace. As most ufologists are keenlyaware, UFO photographs havepresented serious problems of bothinterpretation, and authentification.But new progress on both countswas presented by GSW DirectorWilliam Spaulding.

Edge enhancement, the first stepin the computerized analysis ofphotographs, automatically sup-presses bright and dark blotches,while at the same time intensifyingimage changes from white to blackor from a lighter to a darker tone.The result is a high-contrast imagewhich sharply delineates objectsphotographed. With the secondst'ep, color enhancement, thephotographic density is elec-tronically analyzed and classified in-to more than thirty colors whichcontour the thickness and shapes ofobjects. The last step is actual com-puter enhancement of thephotograph. This is accomplishedby digitizing the photo into thousan-ds of tiny "pic-cells", that areassigned numerical values accordingto their relative intensity. A graph,displaying the pic-cell informationalong a visual cursor, can besuperimposed on the photograph. Inthis way data on shape, density, and

J. ALLEN HYNEK

Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Director ofthe Center for UFO Studies, told thefull story of the infamous Michiganswamp gas case to the MUFONaudience. Apparently the case couldnot have happened at a worse time;for Dr. Hynek that is. With his jawwired from an accident a few daysearlier in New Mexico, Dr. Hynekarrived to face a screeching horde ofreporters who demanded to knowthe explanation for the sightingsbefore he had time to interview theDexter or Hillsdale witnesses. Yeton the evening before the Detroitpress conference, 'a chemistryprofessor from the University ofMichigan approached Dr. Hynekwith a possible explanation: swampgas. After studying the chemistryand visual effects of swamp gas,they concurred that indeed some ofthe Michigan sightings wereprobably just swamp gas. Happy tohave some alternative to planetaryinvasion, Dr. Hynek faced theassembled media representativeswith the possibility that some of thesightings "could have been due tothe release of variable quantities ofmarsh gas". Of-course the pressseized on this as the official ex-planation for all UFO sightings. Theensuing notoriety is well known,however the effect on ufology waseven more profound. Under pressurefrom certain members of Congress,including Gerald Ford, the swampgas episode eventually led to the for-ming of the Condon Committee anda more intentional whitewash of theUFO phenomenon.

INTERNATIONAL ROUND-UP: PART I by Richard Hall, MUFON Internallonal CoordinatorFrom a survey of and correspondence

with cooperating individuals and groupsaround the world, here are some factsand figures about the MUFON in-ternational network.

AFRICA. Representative for Rhodesia isMrs. Cynthia Hind, a free-lance jour-nalist who travels extensively at herown expense following up on UFOreports. She speaks Afrikaans fluently,and is member of a group in Salisburycalled "S.F. Alpha." She submits cut-tings (clippings) and reports regularly toMUFON. Most Rhodesians, she says,consider people interested in UFOs tobe "cranks" and the press does not takethe subject seriously.

Carl Van Vlierdan, a homeopath withtraining as a mechanical engineer, isrepresentative for South Africa. .Carlsent in packets of newspaper stories,along with notes and comments, for the1975 sighting wave.

AUSTRALIA. Research Associate PaulJackson, in Hobart, is CorrespondenceOfficer for the Tasmanian UFO In-vestigation Centre (TUFOIC) whosereports areread in SKYLOOK from timeto time. Their creditable work is sum-marized in a newsletter (copiesreceived by MUFON). Correspondencehas also been received from KeithBasterfield (MUFON appointment pen-ding). Research Officer for UFO Re-search in South Australia. Distance inAustralia, he says, divides UFO groupsbut an umbrella organization calledAustrialian Co-Ordination Section forthe Center for UFO Studies (ACOS) hasbeen formed for cooperation with theCenter, and will also correspond withMUFON. Keith chaired a session ofACOS October 4-6, 1975. He and BillChalker of New South Wales are com-piling a catalogue of Australian lowlevel and close encounter cases. Atpresent, the catalogue includes about340 cases and about 30 occupant re-ports.

BELGIUM. Miss Alice Ashton, PhotoDossier Supervisor for the SocieteBeige d'Etude des PhonomenesSpatiaux (SOBEPS) in Bruxelles,cooperates fully with MUFON and hassubmitted detailed case reports. Thereare several UFO groups in Belgium, she

says, but the two most important areSOBEPS, whose journal Interspace isreceived by MUFON, for the French-speaking region; and GESAG, publisherof UFO-INFO, for the Flemish-speakingnorthern district. Overall MUFONrepresentative for Belgium is JacquesBonabot, a career military officer andDirector of the Dutch department ofGroupement pour ('Etude des Sciencesd'Avant Garde (GESAG). A thirdAdamski-oriented "cultist" group) hesays, operates at Antwerps. Jacqueshas submitted a list of significantBelgian UFO reports since 1960, and arecent Dutch newspaper report of asighting by Belgian Air Forcemeteorologists.

ENGLAND. J.B. Delair, Secretary forContact (UK), is representative. Copiesof their publications "Awareness" and"The UFO Register" are received byMUFON. They have nearly 200 fieldinvestigators all over Britain, and aworld UFO catalogue in progress withupwards of 45,000 entries (incooperation with Dr. David Saunders'UFOCAT). Other British organizationsinclude the British UFO ResearchAssociation (BUFORA) and theNetwork of Northern England UFOassociations. Delair notes'"smallfavorable movements in the sciencearena, and slowly several Britishscientists are expressing (openly) aninterest in the subject." Politically, UFOsdon't exist and the national press sayslittle. Popularity interest is high aridsteady and sales of all UFO books are •described as "brisk."FINLAND. Ilkka Serra (nee Seppanen),a student in Imatra, is representative. Hegathers data from newspapers andUFO-related publications in Scandinaviaand forwards them to MUFON, andrelays MUFON information to theFinnish people. Ilkka is associated withthe UFO Study Center of Finland,whose president is Tapani Kuningas,editor of Ultra, the. major UFOpublication, and author of two UFObooks. There are several UFO clubs inmost of the major cities, he says, butthey cooperate with the Center. Ilkkapreviously submitted a summary of themajor sightings and landings in Finland.

FRANCE. An appointment is pendingfor a French representative. Anexchange has been arranged withOuranos (in its 25th year of publication)with Director Pierre Delval, who haskindly granted permission for MUFONto use any information contained in thejournal. An exchange of French for U.S.clippings on UFOs has been arrangedwith Mr. Jean Bastide. in Aix-en-Provence.GERMANY. Illo Brand von Ludwiger, aphysicist in Munich, is representativefor West: Germany and Director ofMUFON-C.E.S. (Central EuropeanSection, German-speaking members inAustria, Germany and Switzerland). Hesubmits English summaries of Germanreports. Due to the activity of cultistsgroups that have made serious publicand TV and newspaper attitudes arevery negative. The group includesphysicists and mathematicians whospecialize in studying physical aspects,possible propulsion methods, andimplications for theories of gravitationand unified field theories. An annualmeeting is held, with presentation oftechnical papers. Illo Brand hascollected about 700 cases of UFOsightings over Germany.

JAPAN. Jun-lchi Takanashi,representative for Japan, is one of thebest informed UFO experts in thatcountry, and the invited author ofseveral UFO books. He is an exporter,writer, and Chairman of the ModernSpace Flight Association (MSFA). Hereports that UFO events have beenfrequent, and appear often innewspapers, magazines, and on TV. Apopular bimonthly UFO magazineentitled "UFOs & Space" has been verysuccessful there. There are at least fourmajor UFO organizations. MSFA wasfounded in November 1956 and hasabout 700 members. They publish"Flying Saucer Investigation" (now inits 75th issue) and special reports. In

•addition to the large UFO groups, hesays, there are numerous UFO researchclubs (100 or more), some affiliated withuniversities and doing excellent work,others superficial. -

( C O N T I N U E D ON PAGE 18)

PAGE 9

CALIFORNIA REPORT

"Oddities Among the Erratics"

by Ann D ruff el(Part!)

Science ins the term "erratic" to dantify an artifact orhstorical event which tesn out of place, extiaordiHry orstrange. Therefore, UFOs an "erratics" to those personwiling to accept ther eiBtmca. ben the more commonUFOs which occur repeated)y, century after century—thedomed discs, the maneuvering ovoid fights, the cloud-cigar!with accompanyiig smaller discs contained withii-areconsidered "erratics".

All lesearchers are fambar with these garden-variety UFOs.In fact, we M comfort in being able to correlate shapes ofvarnus types. Such repetitnn lends us encovagement andstrengthens our data.

From time to time, however, an "oddity'' wi appear amongthe erratio-a UFO which ones not fit any known pattern-end we are Distantly il-at-ease. Should we disbelieve thewitnesses who describe these exotic types? Or should weadmit that the genre "UFO" is more infinitely complex thanwe had hoped?

Southern California is a gathering place for oddnies of allkilds. We have strange religious and metaphysical cults,unusual behavior in manners and dress. We have our"oddities" in UFOs, too..

On January 24,1967 a gOsteniig object shaped Eke e tophat startled a fourteen^ear-oU boy at sunset It appearedadjacent to a bedroom window in his home in Yorba LWa,Caifomia, some thirty miles southeast of Los Angeles. It hadthe texture of "aluminum fid", and four thin tegs dangledfrom the bottom. These legs or "antennae" had reduced theirnumber to three by the tone the quick-thinking boy snapped apicture as the visitor meandered away. V

On May 24,1S8E in Temple City, Caflfomia, fourteen mitesnortheast of Los Angeles Ovic Center, a UFO shaped Iketwo geranium pots with rims placed together" swooshed towover a crowded boulevard in broad daybght Sparkfing grass-green and surroinled by haze, it sported an antenna stuck in

The witnesses of these "oddities" (and of other odd UFOsto be discussed next month in part III are all reasonable andintelligent people. As strange as the objects seemed to them,they reported them in good faith. The incidents weresubsequently documented and recorded

PAGE 10

These "oddities" night have been simply stuck away inorganizational fles and forgotten, had not a startingcoincidence occurred. Within weeks of each of the abovesightings, UFOs which seemed almost identical cropped up inthe torature under circumstances that precluded anycokborathm on the part of the witnesses.

Consider the flying "toptet" which startled the youngwitness in Yorba Linda on January 24, 1967 (sketch A).Within weeks, an almost identical object was sighted onMarch 22,1967 ii Wapeb, Iowa. This witness was also afourteen-year-old boy, Douglas Eutster. His sketch of a hat-shaped UFO with four legs or "antennae" bears an eerieresemblance (sketch B), but was not made public until thewinter of 1967, almost a full year after the Yorba Lindayoungster had shakily drawn his sketch for his concernedparents and long before NICAP had begun an intensiveinvestigation of the Yorba Linda photo. *

To add to the mystery of this mufti-legged craft, whichseemed to have a propensity for dose approaches to children,in Dubuque, Iowa on October 12, 1967, a similar devicehovered over a group of youngsters at a Columbus Day picnic.Although the angle of vision did not permit a view of its top,several "poles" hung down from the rounded bottom.5

So we have a strange "oddity" recurring within months,and then seen no more. Does anyone out there have anyspare photographs of flying top hats?

In regard to the flying "geranium pots" of May 24,1966(sketch F), there is more than a passing resemblance betweenTemple City's UFO and the terrifying object which chasedDale Spaur's patrol car through Portage County, Ohio on April16,1966. True, the top of the Ohio UFO was not so tall andthe bottom part is not in.evidence (sketch G). But considerthe foDowiig. The most puzzling thing about the Temple Cityobject was that it seemed to have the ability to changeshape. During its numerous appearances over the city, itappeared as a lozenge-shaped affair (sketches 0 and E).However, in one low pass, it revealed itself in the shapesketched (F). Is it possiile that Dale Spaur's nemesis was, infact similar to the Temple Chy Object? Was it, for themoment, puling in its bottom and revealing only a portion ofits top?

This question would be academic if only the two cases-Temple Qty and Portage County-were concerned. But thereis at least two additional reports which add strength to this

On May 27,1966 in a town bordering Temple City, DonaldPresti reported an orangwed UFO glowing in the night sky. Acasual glance of its Mercury-capsule shape (sketch H) showsthat the configuration is midway between that of DateSpaur's UFO and the Temple City "geranium pots". Thiswitness reported the object changed shape as it maneuveredaway, pulling in its top dome.'

Consider, also, the case of the Presque Isle, Maine sightingof July 31, 1966. Douglas Tibberts and Betty Jean Klein,witnesses to this classic sighting, drew two different aspectsof what they had seen. The pentagonal shape (sketch C)hovered in the sky, but when the object landed, it somehowprojected a bottom (sketch I) not unlike the bottom of theTemple Qty UFO.'

The thing which grabs most about the above cases is notnecessarily the similarities in shapes and changes in shapes, ttis the fact that aD four cases occurred within four and a hah"months of each other in 1966. To my acknowledge, no casesinvolving these peculiar aspects have cropped up since then.Anyone seen any flying geranium pots lately?

Next month, this column will point up more cases ofidentical "oddities" occurring within a close span of time, andspeculation will be presented in an attempt to explain this

End of Part I

.REFERENCES .

'Documented report (45pp.) in NICAP and Druffcl fib.'Hying Sauca Review, Special teue No. 5, Nov. 73, 'Hie Yorta LindaPhotograph", by Drutfel, Ann•Documented report (2$p.) in NICAP and Dioftel filet'True Repot no flying Saucers, Issue No. 2, December 1967, p. 68The A.PAO. Bulletin, Sept-Dct 1967, p.10•Report in NICAP and Oruffel filesIteming News, Erie, Pent, Wed. August 3,19S6

Yorba Linda, Calif.January 24, 196?5:25 p.m.

rWapello, IowaMarch 22. 1967- 10:20 p.m

Presque Isle'MaineJuly 31,196(shortlyafter dusk

ODDEST OF' ALL—-

DOES THIS ='THESE?

Temple City. Calif.May 24, 1966

A\ 4:15 p.m.

Temple City, Calif.,May 16-24, 1966 (numerousDaytime sightings)

San Gabriel, Calif.May 27th, 19668:45 p.m.

Portage County, OhioApril 16, 1966 • •Nighttime

Presque Isle;Maine - •, - 31, 1966portly after

IN SEARCH OFANCIENT GODS

A Review by theRev. Barry H. Downing

Author ofTHE BIBLE AND FLYING SAUCERS

If you are the kind of SKY-LOOK reader who reads every-ghing von Daniken writes, Ihope you at least wait untilthis book comes out in paper-back. The book is interestingin some ways, but certainlyought not be on anyone's "ur-gent" reading list. This isvon Daniken's fifth book, al-though his work IN SEARCH OFANCIENT GODS is really a pic-torial summary of his otherworks.

This is von Daniken's mostreligious book. His first wordsin the "Foreward are, "Thiswas a book I had to write. Itis from the heart." Although Iam never sure when to believevon Daniken, I do believe thesewords. In his previous books,von Daniken has marketed him-self as a speculative scientistwith a casual interest in re-ligion. In this book his re-ligious self takes centerstage, and his scientific selfprovides -the advertising, orperhaps the props.

Von Daniken is either an ag-nostic Catholic, or perhaps amodern day Martin Luther(Luther please forgive me). InCHARIOTS OF THE GODS? it wasnot clear . that von Daniken washanging this as the first of 'ninety-five theses on the doorof the Roman Catholic Church.MIRACLES OF THE GODS is thesis,number five, and it is hungclearly on the door of thechurch.

Chapter I is entitled "Vis-ions- -Illusion or Reality?,"dealing with various RomanCatholic miracle and vision

PAGE 12

stories, such as the Fatimasighting of the Virgin Mary,and the "sun disc" in Portugalin 1917. Von Daniken believesthis "vision" really occurred.But'he complains, "The CatholicChurch derives its claim to bethe sole authority which canrecognize the authenticity ofsucl\ phenomena from its teach-ing mission" (p. 31).After examining several Cath-

olic visions, he even includesa few non-Catholic' ones, suchas Joseph Smith's experiencesleading to the Mormon tablets.Thus in the first chapter, vonDaniken says he believes in re-ligious visions, but he doesnot believe in the authority ofthe church to decide when avision is ...authentic. (He be-lieves in his authority to de-cide, of course.)

His second chfoter is enti-tled, "Who Really SpeaksThrough the Bible?--Do the Gos-pels Plus the Epistles Plus theBooks of the Prophets Plus theOriginal Texts Add Up to 'God'sWord'?" In this chapter, bor-rowing mainly from Robert Kehl,he attempts to prove that theNew Testament is an almost to-tally unreliable document,whose ideas are "mostly bor-rowed from older religions" (p.99). Many scholars are convin-ced that many mystery religionsare spin offs from Christian-ity, rather than the other wayaround, but von Daniken doesnot deal with these issues.

- It is ironic to see that theNew Testament is totally unre-liable, since he used the OldTestament to help prove his

ancient astronaut theory, say-ing space beings bombed Sodom,and that Ezekiel saw a spaceship. Consistency has neverbeen one of von Daniken'sstrengths. Why does von Danikengo to great lengths (more thanfifty pages) to prove you can-not believe the New Testament?Because he wants to answer the.question. Was Jesus an astro-naut? His answer is, "No, wemust forget all about the storyof the astronaut Jesus. He didnot exist, just as Jesus theRedeemer never existed" (p.113).

If Jesus was not one of vonDaniken's ancient astronauts,who was he? Just a missionaryfrom an ascetic group of Jewishmonks, the Essenes. Von Danikenis not just a little opposedto the astronaut-Jesus theory,he is strongly opposed. "Jesuswas...no astronaut. The ideais even more absurd than allthe other things that have beenclaimed in the course of thelast two thousand years." (p.114).

Yet von Daniken does claimto believe in God. God is kindof like a huge computer which"exploded" itself into the wideuniverse in order to gain "ex-perience." Eventually God willget it all together again, asin. the expanding universetheor7.

What about the Holy Spirit,is that how the. visions wereinspired? No, there is no HolySpirit either; instead, thereare the ancient astronauts whouse mental telepathy to inspirevisions in man. They can do

this from great distances, andin this way influence the de-velopment of man on earth.. Itis not just religious visionsthat these beings inspire--theyalso inspire scientific ad-vance, as in.the discovery ofthe DNA structure. Niels Bohris among those whose idea ofthe atom was inspired by thegods. The fact that this ideaof inspiration is not far fromthe biblical idea of the HolySpirit, the work of the angels,and of God, is not consideredby Von Daniken.

" Without benefit of any vis-ions, I predict this will bevon Daniken1s idast successfulbook. It has little of scien-tific interest. Its attack onthe authority of the Bible andthe church will be little no-ticed in this secular age.

Von Daniken is not really astudent of UFOs, and thereforehe knows nothing of the workthat has already been done,such as by Jung, and latelyJerome Clark and Loren Colemanin THE UNIDENTIFIED, which ex-plore the possible psychic as-pects of UFOs, visions anddreams.

Thus what is new in thislatest work--linking gods andvisions—is .not really neweither. (For those interestedin my views of possible linksbetween UFOs, religion, and thepsychic, see my paper, "Relig-ion and UFO's: The ExtrasensoryProblem," 1974 MUFQN SymposiumProceedings.). .

car pacing reports byRichard Hall

YOUR A R T I C L E S , N E W S C L I P P I N G S ,

A N D S U G G E S T I O N S A R E G R E A T L YA P P R E C I A T E D . SEND M A T E R I A L T O :

D. WILLIAM HAUCK, EDITOR1 T4 GOSTLiN STREETHAMMOND, IND. 6̂327

August 22, 1972; Market Deep-ing, England, John-Burgess, 32-year-old employee of NewallsEngineering, was driving homefrom Spalding about 2 a.m. whenhe saw a red light coming a-cross a field toward him. Ashe slowed to watch, the objectzoomed up to within 200 yardsand assumed the shape of aglobe about 20 feet in diame-ter, following along at treetoplevel. Burgess accelerated to75 mph but the UFO kept pace.When he arrived home, Burgesswas afraid to leave his car be-cause the UFO was now circlingoverhead. Finally it flew awaytoward Stamford. (N.U.F.O.R.O.Bulletin No. 7, November 1974).

March 24, 1973; Nr Wensley-dale, England. Driving atnight, Alan Blades of Hawes sawa red glowing oval object abovehis car and between it and the2,000 ft summit of Stags Fell.He stopped and switched off hislights to watch. The UFO tiltedto one side and started tb moveslowly, its underside apparent-ly spinning. Frightened, Bladesstarted his car and headed forhome and the UFO kept pace withhis car. As he passed throughSimonside, the UFO suddenly ac-celerated away to the south-east. (N.U.F.O.R.O. BulletinNo. 7, November 1974).

January 9, 1975; Leek andCheddleton, Staffordshire, Eng-land., Two separate groups ofwitnesses about 2 miles apartreported sighting a UFO about6:45 p.m. One group saw ithovering low over a field, mov-ing past their car, stopping a-gain, then dropping from sightbehind a small hill. It ap-peared dome-shaped with twowhite and one reddish body

lights, and flat on the under-.side. The other group saw anobject of uncertain shape withtwo white and one red bodylight- visible through trees asit paralleled their car at lowaltitude, almost on the ground,for 10 seconds. Finally it.turned away at an angle andseemed to drop to the ground,displaying a large, brightlylit oblong "window" or seriesof "windows." (BUFORA Journal,May-June 1975).February 20, 1975; Tem Hill,

Shropshire, England. A youngfarmer's wife driving home a-lone about 1:45 a.m. wasfrightened when a brighly litbowl-shaped object appeared be-hind her and followed her carfor 15-20 minutes, She : accel-^erated, but the UFO appeared tozoom in.closer and swing fromside to side, finally disap-pearing when she turned off the*main road. (BUFORA Journal,Sept-Oct. 1975).

July 22, 1975; Kyabram, Vic-toria, Australia, Three femaleemployees of John Brown Indust^ties reported that a UFO fol-;lowed them » between Kyabram andStanhope between 8 and 8:30 p.m. The UFO was first noticedhovering overhead as they lefta service station. As theydrove toward Stanhope it tookup a position in front of thecar, then moved off to oneside. It appeared as a bright.light "about four times as bigas the evening star," and

. .showed an orange red "flame" atthe trailing end. A UFO emit-ting red flame and following acar was also reported at Maldonat about 8:30 p.m. (Kyabram,Victoria, FREE PRESS; July 25,1975>v PAGE 13

NOT ALL ARE UFO'Sby

KEVIN D. HANDLE

Not all UFO sightings turn out to unidentified. Manytimes people are fooled fay the mundane such as Venus,Jupiter, bahons, airplanes and even the moon. Theinvestigators has to determine whether there is a goodexplanation for the sibling or if it b unknown* Justojiesthnung the witnesses is not enough. The investigatormust be famffiar with the area, with the people and theirreactions, and with the UFO phenomena.

*The evening news on Nov. 5,1975, carried a report of a

sighting of an UFO hi Grant County, Wis. Greg Schier, hiswife and a few neighbors claimed that they had seen twobright lights appear in the southwestern sky shortly after 7p.m. They watched as it appeared to move closer and drifttoward the west After several minutes, the Schiers lost sightof the UFO's as they passed behind the bam.

It wasn't long before the two lights reappeared over thebarn, flew over a tree in the Setter's front yard, almost flewover the house, and disappeared in the east Both thoughtthat there were two fights on one object, but neither couldsee a shape. The figtowere described as "being like theheadlights of a car as it came toward you." Estimates of thealtitude ranged from ISO feet to over one thousand. Thelights were in sight for almost twenty minutes.

reports to be aired that evening. It was also quite early whenthe first "UFO investigator" arrived in Fennimore, in his paneltruck with "UFO" painted on its side. He began by randomly

the Grant County Sheriffs office in Lancaster. A patrol carwas dispatched to the area neai Bagley, and the officerreported that he saw the light and that it passed over thepatrol car at a low athhude. He made a call over the CB radioabout the UFO and since almost all the farmers in the areahave CB sets, the word was out

About 10:30 p.m., police officers in Fennimore, Wis.received reports of a bright object hi the southwestern sky. Itappeared to he at a very high altitude and appeared to behovering. One of the men tried to take several pictures of theUFO. After watching it for several minutes, the officersreturned to town and went to see one of the local citizens.The man, who wishes to remain unidentified, was taken to.the outskirts of the town and he too was able to see theUFO.

By 6:30 a.m., radio stations in the area were carrying thereports of the sightings, and news reporters from other areasin Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois were calling for moreinformation. Several of them made trips to the area for filmed

PAGE 14

More Reports

Sometime after 7 a.m., a farmer living near MiUville,Wisconsin, called the sheriff to report that he too, had seenthe strange lights-of the night before. In fact, he was sure

, thai the light had touched down behind his house, stayingthere aD night About dawn, the light vanished and it wasn'tuntil later that he was abb to call the sheriff. He has nophone in his farm house.

During the day, Nov. S, about a dozen rumors were started.On a farm, not far from the Schiers, a man had found a deadand mutilated cow. The "UFO Investigator" seemed to thinkthat this might be related and told newsmen, "It seems thatevery time we get an UFO sighting, we get a mutilation.". TV. reception had been disturbed on Tuesday night People

. reported that their pictures were fuzzy, some stations fadedout while others seemed to have unusually strong signals.Once again there was speculation about a connection with theUFO sightings.

There was a report of another UFO early on the evening ofNov. 5. At 6:34 p.m., a man called the sheriff to report thathe had seen a light near Camel Ridge. There was no objectseen, only a bright light that vanished quickly and quietly.

Story Distorted

The newscasts were another story. They reported thatSchier had seen lights and that a-mutilated cow had beenfound. For some reason, probably because the UFO

. investigator had said it several times, the media claimed thatthe two events were connected. One station also reported thetelevision reception problems and thought that all three were

On Thursday, Nov. 6, there were several sightings. About8 p.m., Greg Schier was hunting with two friends, DaveHuser and Greg Huser. They reported that they saw a brightlight in the southern sky that would slowly fade out and then,reappear. The light was at an extremely high altitude, andwould hover for a while and then move to a new location. Itnever moved too far and they were able to keep it in sightuntil 11 p.m. It didn't disappear, taut the overcast thickenedand they went home. As far as they could tell, the object or

: rather the light, was still there.At 8:08 p.m., another UFO was reported near Camel Ridge.

A little more than an hour later, at 9:19 p.m. the UFO wasagain reported to the sheriff. At 9:36 p.m., a light wasreported near the ground three miles north of Sttaer, Wis. Inall the sightings, no one saw an object only a light that some

Another string of sightings was reported on Sunday, Nov. 9.The sightings began at 6:10 p.m., when a man called thesheriff to report a bright light in the sky. At 7:14 p.m., therewas a second report and at 7:30 p.m., there was a thirdreport By that time, however, the weather closed in andthere were high winds, heavy rains and thunderstorms.

By midnight the reports had reached various news mediaand they were calling the sheriff, asking for details. A briefstatement was written covering the Schier sighting,- and thatwas released to the media. It contained no speculation about

The Plot Thickens

By Wednesday, Nov. 12, the rumors were thicker than theUFO sightings. Calls had been received by the police andsheriff asking about the rumored mutilations of two huntersand if others had been reported missing. One man claimedthe UFO's were dropping albino turkeys and that they hadknocked down a TV antenna as they passed over a cabin.Others were talking about a wholesale slaughter of cattlearound the county.

The first thing to be done, the first rumor to be destroyed,was the cattle mutilation rumor. Dr. Jeff Davis, the veterinaryin Bloomington, Wis. had examined the cow after it died. Hewas there less than ten hours after the death and was ableto pinpoint the cause as respiratory failure. He went on to saythat the cow had been sickly from birth and only had onefunctioning, lung. Indications were that it had been chaseduntil the lung collapsed, killing the cow. One ear had been"hacked off with a rather dull knife and part of a lip wasmissing." Dr. Davis was sure that the UFO's had nothing todo with the mutilation.

Some siezed on the phrase, "chased until," and wanted toknow who had done the chasing. The sheriff, however,thought that he knew the answer to that question and itinvolved local teenagers, not aliens.

In fact, it didn't even fit the pattern of the mutilations thathave been reported in other parts of the country. The only

damage done to the cow was the missing ear and lip. Theblood had not been drained, the sexual organs had not beentouched and there were footprints al| over the site.

Other mutilations had been reported near Prarie de Chienabout four weeks earlier, but even those are open to question.One veterinarian claimed that there were some "irregularitiesin the deaths," but others felt that disease accounted for thedeaths and that .small scavenger animals had eaten themissing organs. There were no UFO sightings in connectionwith the deaths and no reason to assume such a connection.It was the same with the November mutilation. Noconnection.

Investigations continued for several days and they revealedthat Greg Schier had first seen a UFO on Oct 30,1975. Hesaid that it appeared in the south, close to the horizon andslowly moved to the west. Finally it "descended behind sometrees and I lost sight of it It seemed to be huge and waswhite." Schier didn't see any shape, only the light

That was the problem with al the Schier sightings. Theynever reported any objects, only bright lights. The first andsecond sightings give no clues to a real identity. They couldhave been nocturnal lights, or, given the weather conditions,scattered ground fog and low hanging clouds, the Schierscould have fooled by Jupiter and Sirius seen through the fogand clouds. :

The final Schier sighting on November 6, is probablyJupiter. The descriptions and weather lead directly to thatconclusion. Jupiter is very bright and when seen throughscattered clouds would seem to dim and disappear. Theynever saw it move far, indicating that it didn't move but thatthey were fooled by the atmosphere and their own eyes.There is no reason to believe that the Schiers saw anextraterresbal spacecraft • .

The officer sent to the area after the November 6 Schiersighting was probably fooled by the similar naturalphenomena. His sighting was of only one light and istherefore, not related to the Schier sighting. Once again, there*is no reason to assume anything extraordinary.

The officers in Fennimore, Wisconsin, reported that theysaw a light but unlike many of the others, they identified it.Larry Smith said that he was sure that he was looking atJupiter. A star chart and a professor at the University ofWisconsin confirmed Smith's opinion. There is no reason to

:er.

for making up stories. The radio reports of UFO's may havesuggested the idea to him and since there was no otherwitnesses and no physical evidence there is no reason to

deal with the rumors. The important point here is toremember that as far as had been demonstrated by the factsand the investigations, there were no sightings of UFO's,

LaVerne Ackinson used a Kodak Instamatic Camera to takeseveral pictures of the light. However, what appeared in thepictures is not what they were looking at There are severalways to explain the arc of light in the pictures, none of whichare very satisfactory. By the same token, there is no reasonto believe that there is anything extraordinary about thepictures and since none of the people present saw the "thing"that was photographed, there is really no place to go with it

The MiUville farmer's sighting wasn't reported until the nextmorning and several people indicated that he had a reputation

The light reported at 6:34 p.m., near Camel Ridge isprobably Jupiter. Since the planet accounts for a large numberof the sightings, it is reasonable to assume that it applieshere.

The November 6, sightings can all be explained by Jupiteror noctural lights, or a combination of the two. Again, no'onesaw any objects and the weather was the same as it hadbeen for the last two nights. There were scattered clouds andpatches of ground fog. These factors, plus the renewedinterest in UFO's may account for all the sightings.

The November 9, sightings have aU been identified. At 6:10p.m., and again at 7:14, the light causing the sighting wasJupiter. At 7:30, just before the rain and wind storms hit,there was a sighting of the moon. Noonlight through the thinclouds caused a strange glow but sheriff's deputies were surethat the sighting called to them was of the moon.

In addition to all the sightings that are explained by Jupiterand the moon, there are others that can be explained by otherfacts. For example, one man called the sheriff to report thathe had seen a flashing red light hovering near the edge oftown. Since the UFO was still in sight, a car was dispatchedto the area and the UFO was identified. The man was'lookingat the flashing red lights put on radio and TV towers so thatplanes can see them at night The man had been hearing theUFO reports for several days and when he noticed the lights,for the first time in years, he called the sheriff. It was a caseof the man living in the area for several years but not lookingat it. '

Grant-County sheriffs deputies kept any rumors from-spreading. As reports poured into the office, they would try toidentify the UFO. Many times, by keeping the witness on thephone and stepping outside, the deputies could see the UFO.They always seemed to turn out to be Jupiter. Some of thewitnesses would then come to the sheriff's office and point tothe UFO. They would point out a bright, blue light movingirratically and the deputy would point to Jupiter. They were

The deputies weren't interested in just explaining the.sightings. When they had an answer, they wouldprovide it and in these cases they had it However, some ofthem had seen UFO's on other occasions and one or two toldinvestigators of those sightings. They involved more than justa bright light in the sky. One deputy said that he had seen alarge, cigar-shaped craft with lighted windows. It has passedover the car slowly and had made no sound. If anything, itproved that the deputies were being completely candid in theircomments.

It is almost ridiculous to explain the other rumors thataccompanied the UFO's. However, to prevent anyone fromsuspecting that a total investigation wasn't carried out, I will

First, and probably .the most.important of the. relatedphenomena was the TV reception problem. There wss noreason to assume that h was connected with the UFO's. The

'reported problems were not consistent with the EM effectsas demonstrated in the past In UFO related cases, thereception is usually stopped and the power is knocked out

. When the UFO leaves the area, the reception and powerreturn. The EM effects are usually restricted to a limited

or powerplant, the effects can be spread over a large area. but those are indirect The UFO affects the station and that

affects the outlying areas.However, the TV reception problems of November 4 did not

fit the pattern. TV reception was also impaired in regions ofIowa and NBC reported that they were having transmissiontroubles on that date. The problem was in New York and notin Wisconsin. Others, living in Fennimore, Wisconsin, reportedthat such troubles were quite common and happened at leastonce a month. The reception difficulties fit the pattern of. theproblems in other.months and not in UFO .sightings. There isno reason to assume a connection.

That didn't prevent an editorial in the FENNIMORE TIMES.The writer remembered the UFO and the reception andwondered if it wasn't a rather strange coincidence. A strangecoincidence, yes, but not related to the UFO. Usiog the logicthat there is a connection because it happened on the sameday is shakey. There was a report of a bomb on theFennimore campus, of the Southwest Wisconsin Vocational-Technical Institute and since it happened on the same daythat the "UFO appeared," the two events "must" beconnected. Of course that is not true, but it does show howfaulty the logic is.

The chance of physical evidence connected to any UFOsighting is a big factor for most investigators and they will goout of their way to find it And, since the downed antennawas found the day after the first UFO sighting, severalassumed-a connection. An examination of the area showedthat the only damage was done to the antenna and if an UFOhad been involved, there should have been indications in thetrees surrounding the site. None was found. There were highwinds, and it is more Italy that the wind is responsible forthe damage. Since no one saw a UFO near the antenna at anytime, there is no reason to assume that one was there. Somearen't content with that however. They want to believe thata UFO hit the antenna and will not accept any other answer.

One by one, the rumors as well as the UFO sightings wereexplained until only the albino turkey rumor was left. Thatwas started fay one man who claimed to be a UFOinvestigator. He believed that UFO's had been dropping albinoanimals for experimentation and he 'was looking for

PAGE 15

confirmation of thk Save there NM no UFD't, meaningspacecraft, there wu no reann to raped that any dittoturkeys would be found.

The investigator drin't wsn chase hit own rumor very hard.There had been a rfiort story in the FENNIMORE TIMESabout an afcino raccoon being Bed. It happened weeksbefore the UFO sightings, hut at feat it was atom ABfnoismis common to all species on earth, and again, no reason toassume an (uuiluiulul origin.

The final conclusions, after several days of investigation, isthat there were no sightings of an extraterrestial phenomena.AD the sightings can be explained, easily, by alternativefactors. The key word is easily. Why invent a spaceship whenone isn't needed? There are many other cases wherealternatives don't exist, but there in Wisconsin there aredozens of alteratives. AD the tat of UFO's probably leadsome people to look for strange things hi the sky and when •they start looking, they are bound to see it Unless newinformation is added, there is no reason not to believe that allthe sightings are explainable by natural phenomena.

The Series of Wisconsin sightings show the investigator'sneed to probe beyond the witnesses. Don't just ask what theysaw or thought they saw but explore aH the information.What baffles one can be explained by another. By onlyInspecting the surface, we could have been left with aphysical evidence case, EM effects, one mutilated cow,pictures, and multiple witnesses. Looking further, we foundsolid explanations for all the facts. We didn't have to reach tomake them fit or didn't have to bend them into shape. Theywere there, hidden by the surface clutter, some of it thrownup by a mailed UFO investigator.

The job of the realinvestigator is to find explanations forsighting! He is not there to interview one or two people butto talk with everyone that has a stake in the case. Only byeliminating the worthless sightings wi we he able to movethe UFO into a respectable location. Leaving haphazardinvestigations for debunkers to destroy only ruins thecredibility of other sightings and in this business, credrtffity is

MUFON103 OLDTOWNE RD.SEGUIN, TX 78155

Phones:

512-37*9216(MUFON headquarters and

Walt Andrus' home)

512-379-8850(Director Walt Andrusplace of employment)

Santa MonicaUFO Sighting

by William F. Hassel

At about 4 o'clock in the afternoonof 28 January 1976 Lacuion Johnsonwas looking out through a glass doorof her second floor office. The doorfaces southwest and opens onto a por-ch. The sun was low in a clear sky inthe west-southwest direction. MissJohnson was standing about a footfrom the glass when she noticed anobject moving from the left towardthe direction of the sun. The objectwas elliptical in shape in its upperportion and flat on the bottom. It'selevation angle was no more than 10degrees, so the underneath side couldnot be seen. The upper portion was asmooth, shiny surface having the ap-pearance of bright aluminum. Therays of the sun reflected off one por-tion of its surface. It movednoiselessly with no trail, and itsoutline was well defined. The ob-server at first thought it might be theGoodyear blimp, but then realized itcould not be because of its flat bot-tom. After watching it for about 5seconds during which time it movedin a straight line through a line-of-sight angle of about 45 degrees, andmoved slightly past the southwestdirection, she turned to call toanother in the office. A second or solater, when she turned back to thedoor, the object was gone.

Based upon Miss Johnson's descrip-tion that the object appeared to passclose to a church steeple a blockaway, it is estimated that its distancewas 500 feet and its altitude was 75-100 feet. Its estimated diameter was26 feet and its speed 100 feet/second.

Miss Johnson reported that she hadone previous UFO sighting. This was anighttime light sighting in Detroit in1968 in which the light alternatelyhovered and darted.

Miss Johnson uses glasses for driving,but was not wearing them at the timeof the sighting. She has interest inUFOs but has not followed theliterature. The UFO was seen in SantaMonica, but since the Goodyearblimp did not pass over Santa Monicaon January 28, it can be eliminatedfrom consideration. Also the UFO ap-peared too close and at too low analtitude to be a plane. The charac-teristics of the sighting would in-dicate that it could not be a con-ventional object.

1976MUFONSYMPOSIUMPROCEEDINGS

"Swamp Gas Plus Ten - And Counting" by k J. ADen

"Canadian UFO Residuum" by Henry H. McKay, MUFONCanadian Regional Director.

"Heavenly Chariots And Frying Saucers" by Dr. Ted Peters,MUFON State Section Director for Central South Carolina.

"UFOIogy and the Digital Computer - A Lesson In TheEvaluation Of UFO Secondary Evidence" by William H.Spaidding, Director of Ground Saucer Watch, Inc.

"The Operation ARGUS Concept - A New Look At UFOEvent Sharing And UFO Data Sharing" by Ray Stanford,Director of Project Starlight International.

"Analysis Of Humanoid Reports" by David F. Webb,MUFON Eastern Regional Director and Co-Chairman of theMUFON Humanoid Study Group.

"Must We Stand Idly By? Social Reaction To UFO Reports"by Dr. Ron Westrum, MUFON Consultant in Sociology.

The 1976 Proceedings is availablefrom MUFON, 103 Oldtowne Rd,Sequin, Texas 78155 for $4.00 post-paid.

PAGE 16

REPORTS OF FLYING, PULSATINGSOUND IN TEXAS by Jerold R.Johnson

Several recent UFO reports in thecentral f exas area involve something inthe night sky that was heard but notseen. At least three occurances of alow-pitched, throbbing sound passingnear witnesses who could neither see asource or otherwise account for thephenomenon have been reported. Twoof these unidentified sounds werereported by staff members of ProjectStarlight International who were onboth occasions participating in thenightly "UFO watch" at the P.S.I,facility hear Austin. The third reportcame from totally independentwitnesses who were "buzzed" threetimes in a wooded area some 50 milesfrom the P.S.I, site by a similar-sounding UFO. The first occurance, inNovember of 1975, was recorded by thewitnesses as a highly unusualphenomenon but not consideredimportant enough to report as a UFO"sighting". The second unidentifiedsound heard in the same location,followed by a third report only 18 dayslater from university students near SanMarcos Texas, prompted aconsideration that this may represent anew type-event of possible importancein the overall UFO picture. We ask anyother field investigators who have takenreports of similar unidentified sounds toforward them to. the MUFONheadquarters.

The first reported "sound-UFO" waswitnessed by 7 persons in a rural areaabout 20 miles northwest of Austin. Thedate was 9 November 1975 and thenight sky was clear at 9:45 p.m. Thewitnesses describe a sound that begansuddenly, nearly overhead, and lastedabout four seconds moving apparantlynorthwest. One of the people present,P.S.I. Director Ray Stanford, describedthe sound as a periodic beating, "like amechanical airfoil of some type beatingat three to six times per second"Another witness, Bob Dunnam, said thesound was like a far-distant train

chugging. He also said he had a"strange feeling" which began about 10seconds before the sound started, as ifsomeone was doing something to hishearing.

AN of the witnesses searched the skyfor some object that could be producingsuch a sound but saw nothing. It wassuggested that the rotors of a helicopterat an altitude of several hundred feetcould produce such a sound, but nohelicopter engine was heard, and thesound was said to have begun andended very suddenly overhead.

A second occurance at the samelocation, again at night, happened on 27February 1976 at 11:05 p.m. Max Wilsonwas walking down a road toward theP.S.I, laboratory building with his dogwhen he was startled by a sounddescribed1 as "like wind through hightension wires but with vibration orpulse". The sound lasted 8 to 10seconds and seemed to move from leftto right about 15 feet in front of thewitness. Mr. Wilson said that the soundwas very "localized", not more than 7feet off the ground, and he wassurprised that he could not see whatwas producing it. He said that the dogstopped and looked in the direction ofthe sound but did not seem frightened.Mr. Wilson said that he is familiar withnoises of wind, birds, and animals, andhe cannot place the sound he heard thatnight among any of these naturalphenomena. Other members of theP.S.I, staff were present about 50 yardsaway, but they did not notice' anythingout of the ordinary.

The latest report was telephoned intothe Project Starlight International officethe day after it occured by Scott Smith,a university student living in a rural,wooded area between San Marcos andWimberly Texas. On 15 March 1976, atabout 9:30, p.m., Scott Smith, hisbrother Randy Smith, and a friend,Tami Berg all heard a strange, flyingsound "like a boomerang'.'. The invisible

noise passed from south to north andwas heard for only four seconds. About30 seconds later the same, or a similarsound passed above the group. RandySmith and Tami Berg claimed that itcame from the north this time, but ScottSmith thinks that, it came out of thesouth as before. All agree that it was apulsating, enveloping sound whendirectly overhead. Scott Smith wassomewhat frightened by the unseenvisitor and suggested that the groupshould return to his mobile home some200 yards from the small clearing wherethey were:

About 10 minutes later while thethree students were sitting outdoorsnear the mobile home listening torecords, the sound came a third time.This pass, heard only by Scott Smithand Tami Berg, went west to east andwas slower both.in speed and period.Mr. Smjth guessed that this time itpulsed at about five beats per second,and might have been from a source 10to 15 feet above his head, altho he couldsee nothing. (It should be pointed outthat there is no way that the altitude ofan invisible, unfamiliar sound can beaccurately judged. Since all witnessesheard the sound essentially overhead, agreater altitude is suggested. Recall thatat one point the witnesses disagreed asto whether the sound was coming fromthe south or north. -J.R.J.) Randy Smithdid not hear this third pass, but it wasexplained that he was sitting close tostereophonic speakers and thus maynot have been abie to hear. Theamplitude of the sound was such that itcould have been heard by thewitnesses, they later described, frominside a quiet automobile with thewindows up, but probably not if theengine were running.

The witnesses also noted that a colliepuppy, playing in the yard at the time,began to whimper and nudge againstpeople's feet in an unusual mannerbeginning about three minutes before

PAGE 17

the passage of the UFO.These three reports remind us that a

UFO "sighting" need not involve avisual stimulus; that an unknown object,flying at night, may be heard withoutbeing seen. It is also possible that theseoccurances may not be connected withwhat we usually consider as UFOphenomena, but there is insufficientdata available at this time to separatethese reports from the conventionalUFO material. Perhaps additionalexperiences with these sounds wiHprovide us with a prosaic, naturalexplanation, or perhaps a report willcome in of an observed UFOaccompanied by a "boomerang" noise.In either case it is important that wecollect, document, and publish theseodd experiences with fyling sounds,treating them as we would conventionalUFO reports. .

. . ( C O N T I N U E D FROM PAGE 9)

NORWAY. Miss Astrid Svelmoe of theNorsk UFO Center functions asrepresentative for Norway and AntonLidstrom as correspondent. A packet ofUFO reports in Center report forms wasreceived late in 1975. The Center,located in Trondheim, has a cooperatingnetwork in Scandinavia and elsewhere.The-Center has a nationwide network ofreporters, field investigators, andadvisers. Investigators have instructionsfor surveying, taking samples, sketches,photographs, etc. and have access totwo consulting laboratories. Goodcooperation, with top military officials isreported.SWEDEN. Bertil Soderquist, anassistant professor of classicalmechanics in Linkopjng, isrepresentative. He has submitted anumber of detailed case reports andsummaries. He reports: "Slightevidences can be seen in Sweden ofofficial interest, but the subject of UFOsis still very much scornedofficially...Hopefully, the technologicalexplanation of the UFO phenomenonwhich, it has been hinted, the Russiansare working on, will prod the Westernworld into increased activity."

PAGE 18

Stan Gordon

Low Level UFO Sightings inPennsylvania

Reports of UFO activity fromthroughout the Keystone state havebeen flowing in constantly to the Pen-nsylvania Center for UFO Research inCreensburg. Many of the sightingshave been easily explained asmisidentifications of natural objects.Many nocturnal light reports showingindication of intelligent control havebeen received in recent weeks. SinceMarch several low level observationshave been reported. Most of thesereports are still under investigation.The following is a brief summary oftwo recent events.

Level Green, Pa. (North Hun-tingdon Twp.) March 28, 1976: At ap-proximately 8 P.M. a woman and herhusband as well as their young son ob-served the apparent landing of a UFObetween Level Green and Ardara.When the object was first seen it wasmoving down over a hill and was aslarge as the front end of anautomobile. As it approached closer ared blinking light was noticed on topof the object and a green light on thebottom. The object was of a roundshape and was yellow. It appeared torotate as it moved. Around the middlethere appeared to be lights comingfrom within a rcrw of square Windows.The object approached the trio towithin a distance of 4 car lengths. Theobject made a sound like a chirp in 2tones. When the occupants of the carstopped to better observe the objectit looked like "a genie's lamp onlywithout the handle and spout". Whenthe object started to descend behindsome trees, something illuminatedprojected from the bottom. Asdescribed by the witnesses "Therewere lights on it. Like legs and awheel. The wheel at the bottom wasl|t and the legs were lit up. That hap-pened when it was standing still. Itwas like lines were coming down andthey lit up. It was moving steadily un-til it got to where it was going to land,

then it came down then it jerked andbounced". The object was in view for15 to 20 minutes before it disap-peared below the tree line. Thewoman .after the sighting sufferedfrom dizziness and an upset stomach,and the young boy complained of eyeirritation. This case from detailed in-vestigation has also produced eviden-ce of a psychic nature which seems tobe directly involved in some UFO andcreature cases.

Mt. Pleasant, Pa. March 28, 1976:At 9:20 P.M. husband and wife weresitting m kitchen talking when theynoticed a bright object approachingfrom the North. They watched it for ashort time, when it began to moveSouth. It then reversed directiontowards the North then stoppedmotionless. The object was describedas looking like a giant child's top. Itwas very bright white and there werelights revolving around it. The lightswere multi-colored and the smallerlights seemed to vary in intensity. TheUFO was observed for almost 90minutes when it suddenly moved at afast rate of speed toward the East andwent out of sight. The observers livein a house trailer on the outskirts ofMt. Pleasant. There were no EM ef-fects or animal disturbances noted.The couple who were skeptical ofUFO reports prior to their sightingwere quite amazed at what they saw.The most interesting aspect of thecase involves the wife who claims thatshe heard a voice in her head say inenglish "I will show myself to thosewho believe". This was heard twiceduring the time that the object was inview. A further investigation is beingmade into this case. As I havesuggested before, there seems to be inmany UFO encounters a psychicrelationship which should becarefully investigated. In a future ar-ticle I will discuss this aspect ingreater detail.

DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE byWalt Andrus

The May issue of SKYLOOKinitiated the first of a series of UFO ac-tivity reports prepared by Raymond E.Fowler, MUFON Director of In-vestigations from monthly reports sub-mitted by State Directors. Each StateDirector or Acting State Director hasreceived a letter from Ray elaboratingupon the method of reporting and ayear's supply of forms. A threefold pur-pose will be served by your cooperationin providing these monthly reports toRay:

1. A chronological catalog ofMUFON-investigated reports by date,time and place. This is a basic steptowards research.

2. A ready index of special-effectscases received by MUFON for retrievaland research by MUFON Consultants.

3. A medium to assure closely knitcooperation/organization among StateDirectors, Section Directors, Field In-vestigators and Staff.

A steady stream of good investigatedUFO reports arrives daily in our mail,therefore, we are cognizant that there isconstant activity somewhere on theNorth American continent. For Mr.Fowler to perform one of the essentialfacets of his position as Director of In-vestigations, it is essential that our StateDirectors or Alternates complete thismonthly report, whether you have hadactivity or not.

We would like to extend our thanksand commendations to Robert L. Stin-son, Ronald Westrum, and the entireMichigan MUFON Section for hostingthe very successful • Seventh AnnualMUFON UFO Symposium in Ann Ar-bor, Michigan on June 12 and 13. Thefacilities were fantastic and thespeakers outstanding. Hosting aMUFON Symposium always has afringe benefit of a lasting nature in acommunity due to the very favorablepublic relations achieved and the ex-posure to the news media.

The 1976 MUFON UFO SymposiumProceedings was dedicated to John F.Schuessler, former Deputy Director,who is personally responsible for thesuccess which MUFON has achievedsince 1969. John, a consultant inAstronautics, has submitted hissuggestions to Jim McCampbell on"Specific Technical Investigations". Weinvite and encourage other consultantsto respond in similar manner to Jim Me-Campbell's letter that each receivedtwo months ago.

At the MFON Annual CorporationMeeting on June 13th in Ann Arbor,Michigan, Mr. Thomas H. Nicholl waselected Deputy Director of MUFON bythe Board of Directors. Tom is presen-tly the State Director for Kansas andhosted the 4th MUFON UFO Sym-posium in Kansas City in 1973. Tomand his lovely wife, Grace, live at 9936High Drive, Leawood, Kansas 66206.Mr. Nicholl is the President of a verysuccessful Manufacturing firm in Kan-sas City. He will basically have theresponsibility for the businessmanagement of MUFON and theJOURNAL, working directly with theother Corporate Officers and Board ofDirectors.

Dennis William Hauck, 114 GostlinStreet, Hammond, Indiana 46327;Telephone: (H) 219/932-4760 and (B)219/836-1130, has been appointedState Director for Indiana to replaceMark H. Ward, who has moved toCalifornia. Dennis, or Bill, as he issometimes called, is the former StateSection Director for Lake, Porter, andLaPorte Counties. He is the NorthAmerican Director for UFO RegistryCenter and Editor of "UFOlogy", theJournal of UFO Research.

Louis Kingsland, P. O. Box 156, LaCanada, California 91011; Telephone:213/792-8328, has volunteered to ser-ve as a Consultant in AeronauticalEngineering. Louis is currently Deputy

Mission Director of the Viking MarsProject (NASA) and holds a M. S. inAeronautical Engineering fromCaltech. The results of Mr. Kingsland'sfine work should be realized on July 4,1976, when the two space probes landon Mars and start their experiments.

David F. Webb, Eastern RegionalDirector, has appointed Whitney"Chip" Hayward, 144 Hams Road,Nashua, N. H. 03060, as State SectionDirector for Hillsborough County. Chiphas previously served as a Field In-vestigator for MUFON. He may be con-tacted at this telephone: 603/889-3232.Lawrence "Rick" Neely, Route 1, Box57; New Buffalo, Michigan 49117;Telephone: 616/469-3501, was ap-proved as the State Section Director forBerrien, Van Buren, Cass and St.Josephs Counties by Robert L. Stinson,State Director. Rick and his lovely wife,Peggy, attended the 1976 MUFONSymposium in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Warren B. Nicholson, 1906 Queen-sbridge Drive, Worthington, Ohio43085; Telephone H) 614/889-0069and (B) 614/424-6424, ext 3416, hasbeen selected as the State SectionDirector for the Ohio counties foFranklin, Fairfield, Pickaway, Madisonand Delaware. He is presently Directorof "The Civil Commission on AerialPhenomena". Warren has a B.S.E.E.,and is an amateur radio operatorW8CZK.

Charles R. Bennett, 932 Holbrook 4,Ft. Scott, Kansas 66701; Telephone:316/223-0114, has volunteered fo notonly serve as a Field Investigator forBourbon County, but also as a Tran-slator for French publications, reportsand correspondence. Charles has a M.S. in French, and a M. A. in Counseling.

Speaking in behalf of the MutualUFO Network and all of its. members, Iwould like to take this opportunity tothank Dwight and Carolyn Connelly forthe terrific job they have done in

PAGE 19

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19)

helping to make SKYLOOK one of the: leading UFO publications in the Worldtoday. Dwight's journalism educationand newspaper experience were veryevident in the professional touch that hepersonally bestowed upon SKYLOOK.After Dwight and Carolyn build theirnew home and his additional teachingresponsibilities stabilize later this year,Dwight may write a column for the of-ficial publication of MUFON, successorto SKYLOOK.

Starting with the June issue, NumberW3, D. William Hauck has volunteeredto be the interim Editor of the MUFONmonthly magazine. Many new namesfor our official publication weresuggested at the Annual CorporateMeeting in Ann Arbor on June 13th.The name which most exemplifies thegoals and objectives of the organizationas a scientific-educational-research in-stitution is brief but descriptive~THEMUFON UFO JOURNAL. A sub-scription to our monthly magazine willcontinue to be included in the regularmembership dues to MUFON as in thepast. The MUFON UFO JOURNALwill now be an integral part of theMutual UFO Network, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation established under theState Laws of Texas. We all look for-ward to the congenial associations andoutstanding contributions of themajority of the present Staff, who willcontinue to expand the publicationwhich Mrs. Norma Short and DwightConnelly have so expertly nurtured sin-ce 1967. As Editor of the very suc-cessful quarterly publicationUFOLOGY, The Journal of UFOResearch. D. William Hauck is eminen-tly qualified to carry on the fine work ofMrs. Short and Mr. Connelly. We areindebted to Dennis for so graciouslyvolunteering his help so the transitioncould be accomplished with theminimum of inconvenience to our mem-bers and readers. The June issue willundoubtedly arrive late, but please bearwith us as we edit and typeset themagazine in Hammond, Indiana; printand assemble in Versailles, Missouri,and mail from Seguin, Texas.

RECAPPING AND COMMENTING(Comments in this month's column are based, in part, on articlesappearing in the April, 1976, Skylook). By Richard Hall

Robert Boyd's request for in-formation and help in studying thephysical anomalies suggested in UFOreports tells us something about thestate of so-called "UFOIogy." My firstreaction was, "But aren't all thoseMUFON scientif ic consultantsalready doing that?" After a littlethought, I realized more clearly whatI had known all along: A few scien- .tists associated with MUFON (APRO,NICAP, and CUFOS) are activelystudying UFO cases and contributingsomething of value to UFO research.Most are casual followers of theliterature, too busy with their full-time occupations to be applyingscientific methods to UFOs more thansuperficially.

The major cases in thisissue —describing, as they do,anomalous effects on cars andphysiological/medical aftereffects onwitnesses —point to vitally importantaspects of the UFO mystery that stillare not being studied scientifically,i.e., systematically and employing theinstrumentation and expertise ofscientific specialists. Can any privateUFO group, by itself, bring to bearthese instruments and .skills on aregular, systematic basis? No.Medical, physiological, and possiblepsychological tests are clearly in-dicated for Mona Stafford and JanetStewart; skilled interviewers,sociologists, social workers, amongothers, could be usefully employed inthese investigations. Physicists,mechanical engineers, electronics ex-perts, and others are needed for in-tensive study of affected vehicles ordevices.

One can only hope that Mr. Boydgets a good response, and that otherswill take similar initiatives to attemptmore thorough and systematicstudies of physical t races,physiological effects, and allanomalous UFO case aftereffects.This kind of intensive investigation,by establishing the exact nature andrelationships of what is happening,could form the basis for later

theories. One would hope thatCUFOS could take the lead in suchscientific investigations and foregopremature and i l l - foundedspeculations drawn from psychic andscience fiction literature. The "anec-dotal" data which scientists decrystill dominates the field, and will con-tinue to do so until more thoroughc a s e i n v e s t i g a t i o n s o fphysical/physiological effect casesare accomplished.

I have suggested before the needfor scientific/technical committeesfocusing on special case types, cut-ting across the ranks of UFO groupsbut drawn from all of them andpooling all information. NeitherCUFOS, nor APRO, nor NICAP, norMUFON by itself has the personneland resources to do what needs to bedone. Collectively, there is a largetalent pool, and some access tonecessary equipment and in-struments. No Supergroup is needed;just cooperation in the area of hard-core science among the existinggroups.

[Mark R. Herbstritt

.stronomyNotes

JUNE SKY

Mercury • It is too close to the sun forobservation-superior conjunction on the 15th.

Venus • It is an evening star now and at mid-month it is about 6 degrees above the north-western horizon at sunset.

Mars - In Leo, it is well down in the west atsunset and sets within 2 hours. On the eveningof the 5th it is less than a degree north ofRegulus.

Jupiter - Moving into Taurus it rises at aboutmidnight. Between the mornings of the 21st and22nd the waning moon switches from west toeast of Jupiter.

Saturn • It is too close to the sun for easyobservation. On the 29th it is in conjunctionwith the Sun.

Meteor Showers • The Alpha Cygnids occur onthe 14th. The Delta Aquarids occur from the26th to the 31st.