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Number 104 THE MUFON JULY, 1976 UFO JOURNAL OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF MUFON/ MUTUAL UFO NETWORK, PHOTOGRAPH OF OBJECT SEEN NEAR CHINGOLA, ZAMBIA (NORTHERN RHODESIA) IN EARLY OCTOBER,1961 OBJECT is CIRCLED IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH; E N L A R G E D V I E W AND CASE DETAILS APPEAR INSIDE.

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Page 1: Mufon ufo journal   1976 7. july

Number 104 THE MUFON JULY, 1976

UFO JOURNALOFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF MUFON/ MUTUAL UFO NETWORK,

P H O T O G R A P H O F O B J E C T SEEN NEAR C H I N G O L A , Z A M B I A ( N O R T H E R N R H O D E S I A ) I N E A R L Y OCTOBER,1961OBJECT is C I R C L E D I N T H I S P H O T O G R A P H ; E N L A R G E D V I E W A N D C A S E D E T A I L S A P P E A R I N S I D E .

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MUFON UFOJOURNAL

103 Oldtowne Rd.Seguin, Texas 78155

I

Dennis William HauckEditor

Walter H. AndrusDirector of MUFON

Joseph M. BrillEditorial Assistant

Mark.ChesneyAssociate Editor

Rev. Dr. Barry DowningReligion and UFOs

Ann DruffelCalifornia Report

Lucius ParishBooks/Periodicals/History

Marjorie FishExtraterrestrial Life

Stan GordonCreatures & UFOs

Richard HallAssociate Edi*i>r

Mark HerbstrittAstronomy

Rosetta HolmesPromotion/Publicity

David A. SchrothSt. Louis/Mass Media

John F. SchuesslerUFO Propulsion

Dwight ConnellyNorma E. ShortEditor/Publishers Emeritus

Len StringfieldCommentary

The Mliroil UFO JOUIlim a published monthly by the

Mutual UFO Network, 103 Oldtowne «d., Serjuln.Teus

78155 USA. Subscriptions rates: B.OO per near in U.S.;

(9.00 toreijn. Second class postage paid.

FROM THE EDITORI would like to thank

all of those who took thetime to write in and com-ment on my first issue. Ifound the comments mostcomplimentary and will at-tempt to build future is-sues around the very help-ful suggestions I received.Please keep the suggestionsand material coming, sincethe "JOURNAL" belongs toall of us!

Along the same lines, Iam happy to announce theappointment of Richard Halland Mark Chesney as Assoc-iate Editors. Both havebeen tremendously helpful,and it is only proper thatthey receive the credit duethem. Richard Hall, as allof you know, is the Inter-national Coordinator MUFON.Richard is a gifted writerand spends a good deal ofhis valuable time preparingmaterial for the "JOURNAL".

Mark Chesney has alsovolunteered his time to theMUFON UFO JOURNAL. Mark isno new-comer to ufology. Heserved as Investigations Co-ordinator for the Center forUFO Studies and has had alife-long interest in thesubject. We still need vol-unteers to write up casesfor the MUFON UFO JOURNAL,so let us know soon if youare interested!

One final note pertainingto the Travis Walton articlein this issue. It in no wayis an attempt to discreditany organization or invest-igator and should not be con-strued as such. It is pre-sented for the informationof MUFON members in whathas become one of the mostfascinating cases of thedecade.

In this issue

MUFON QUARTERLY UFO ACTIVITY REPORT BY RAYMOND FOWLER 3UFO PHOTOGRAPHED NEAR CHINGOLA, ZAMBIA BY JOE B R I L L *4COMPUTER ANALYSIS OF CHINGOLA PHOTO BY W I L L I A M SPAULDING 5SOUTH AFRICAN REPRESENTATIVE RESIGNS BY R I C H A R D HALL 6NEW "INTERRUPTED JOURNEY"? BY JEAN BASTIDE 6GIANT UFO WITH E-M EFFECTS IN FRANCE BY R I C H A R D HALL 7THE TRAVIS WALTON ABDUCTION: PART I BY P H I L I P KLASS 8ANATOMY OF A LOCAL FLAP BY ERNST BERGER 13MUFON PICNIC 18

FOREIGN STAMPS HELP MUFON BY R I C H A R D HALL 18DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE BY WALT ANDRUS 19RECAPPING AND COMMENTING BY RICHARD HALL 20ASTRONOMY NOTES BY MARK HERBSTRITT 20

The content] of Ihe MUTON UFO JOUHN1U. ere determined by tbe editor, end donot necessarily represent tbe official portion or judgment ol MUFON. Opinionsol contributor! are their own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor,tbe stiff, or MUFON. Articles should be submitted to Dennis William Hauck, 114Gostlin St., Hammond, Ind. 4(327.

Permission is hereby (ranted to quote from this issue pntirjed not more then 200words are quote from this issue prodded not more thin 200 words ire quotedtram any one article, the author of the article is lira credit, and the statement"Copyright 1976 by MUFON UFO JOURNU, 103 Oldtowne >d., Seguin, FT nincluded.

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MUFON quarterly UFO activity reportPrepared by: Raymond E. Fowler 20 July 1976

MUFON QUARTERLY REPORT OF UFO ACTIVITY

(For Period April - June 1976)

DAY MONTH LOCAL STATE OR TOWN OR CITY TYPE NO. SHAPE/LIGHTING/DISTANCE

4

4

•444

47

11

1921

23

29

APR

APR

APR

APR

APR

APR

APR

APRAPR

APRAPR

APR

TIME

2115

2127

2145,

2153

2157

22001900

19102130000321002305

PROVINCE

MA

MA

'MA1'/" '''''MAMA

MA

SCMA

•', MA

IL..-• sc

MA

Ipswich

''':,\ Essex.Ipswich

IpswichIpswich

Ipswich •Granville

Essex , . .N. Reading'CarthageMauldin

Topsfield

EVENT

General

General

GeneralGeneral

General• General

GeneralGeneralGeneralGeneralGeneral.General

WIT.

131

22111621

1

/LTSO/DIST

OVAL/LTOB/CLOS

/LTSO/CLOS

_/LTSO/CLOS/LTSO/CLOS/LTSO/CLOS

OTHR/GLOB/DISTOVAL/GLOB/DISTOVAL/LTOB/CLOSOVAL/GLOB/DIST

/LTOB/DIST/LTSO/CLOS

LEGEND

OVAL - Oval ObjectCYLR - Cylindrical ObjectOTHR - Other-shaped ObjectLTOB - Lighted Object

* GLOB - Glowing Object. . . .LTSO -Light Source OnlyDIST - Distant EncounterCLOS - Cl ose -Encounter (1000 ')

* - Revision to initial form

NEGATIVE REPORTS RECEIVEDDeleware, Illinois, Nebraska,New. Hampshire, Pennsylvania,and West Virginia.

NO REPORTS RECEIVED '

(State Directors are delinquent)

Alabama - KentuckyArizona • • LouisianaArkansas : ; < MaineN. California^ MarylandS. California MichiganColorado ..MinnesotaConnecticut" ' Mississippi

, \Florida Missouri ;Georgia: - Nevada'Hawaii .:•••••.•• ,-.: New JerseyIndiana .-. : New MexicoIowa ,, . .! 'N. CarolinaKansas Ohio

OklahomaOregonS. DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVirginiaWashingtonWisconsinWyomingA.lberta Province

: Ontario ProvinceQuebec Province

STATE DIRECTORS OR.THEIR..ALTERNATES ARE URGED:TO SUBMIT MONTHLY REPORTS REGULARLY TO THEDIRECTOR OF INVESTIGATIONS - BACK MONTHS MUST.BE MADE .UP FOR FOLLOW-ON ANNUAL REPORT - INPUTFORMS ARE AVAILABLE FROM R/E! FOWLER1, BOX'19, '.WENHAM, MA 01984, IN THE EVENT THAT'YOU DID'NOTNOT RECEIVE OR MISPLACED ORIGINAL FORMS.

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UFO PHOTOGRAPHED NEARCHINGOLA, ZAMBIA• by Jbe;Brill

It was in early October of 1961and at that time Chingola was acity in Northern Rhodesia asthere was no Zambia as it existstoday. The photographer, whowishes to remain anonymous, wasat this time in the military whichwas known as the Federal Forces.The Federal Forces were incharge of patrolling the borders ofthe Central African nations.

On the particular day that thisphotograph was taken (thephotographer cannot recall theexact date) it was very hot andthe sun was very bright. He wasaboard a helicopter (French"Alouette" type) which wasperforming practice landing andtakeoff maneuvers. The reasonfor this was that only about amonth previous to this ahelicopter had landed on whatwas thought to be a clear beach.Upon leaving the helicopter, thetroops soon found that this clearbeach was crawling withalligators and they made a veryrapid departure from there. Thephotographer had been takingphotos of these "water practices"and of the numerous game thatwere in the area. He was using a"cheap Agfa camera that had costabout twelve pounds".

The time was "about noon" andthey were at an altitude ofapproximately two hundred feetand travelling at approximatelyone hundred and twenty miles anhour. It was at this time that theUFO came up from behind themountain top (see photo)travelling at a tremendous speedstraight up and directly over thetop of the helicopter and disap-peared over the opposite horizon."It took no more than ten secondsfrom the first observationP A G E M ' -

. J

Enlargement of Chingola Photograph.

(coming up from behind themountain tops) until it disap-peared over the oppositehorizon." There was only time forone very quick shot, which hetook. It tra veiled Jn a "straightline almost directly overhead."The shape was perfectly roundand the color was silver with achrome or mirror-like surface.There were no lights, no soundheard (probably due to the chop-per noise), no smoke, no iden-tification marks- no extentions, noholes, no windows, platforms,doors, aerials, no legs or wheels.The color was completely uniformand it seemed to reflect the brightsunlight all the time, never in-creasing in brightness or fading.The photographer guessed thedistance to be anywhere from one.to three miles away.

In addition to the photographer,there were four other witnessesincluding the pilot of the chopper.One of the other witnesses was afellow by the name of ChippyAckerman, who was killed in 1964by' a antipersonnel mine in theCongo. Another witness was aGerrie Schultz, whose presentwhereabouts is uncertain.[-. thepilot's name -was Brahm whose

present whereabouts is eitherCanada or the Bahamas. None ofthese individuals have ever beencontacted on this matter againsince the incident. This was thefirst time any of these men hadever seen a UFO and their firstthoughts were that it was somehighly secret aircraft of theUnited Nations forces in the area.This notion was quickly rejectedbecause of the velocity attainedand the unusual shape.

When the military authorities"got wind" of. news that thisphotographer had been takingphotographs of the border areasduring their practice exercisesthey confiscated all the negatives.Fortunately, the photographerhad already made a set of prints^from these negatives and this iswhat was left for us. Thenegatives were never returnedand it was assumed that becauseof the nature of the areaphotographed, they weredestroyed. This meant that thenegative with the UFO on it wasalso destroyed or filed away bythe authorities of the FederalForces at the time.

The photographer kept this onephotograph in his personal photo

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collection and in the summer of1975 when there was a UFO flaptaking place over Rhodesia, hetelephoned an individual, who atthe time was acting as the UFOcentral gathering office andinquired if she might be interestedin a photograph he had taken backin 196i. She informed him that shewould be and he then sent in hisphotograph to her for whatever itmight be worth.

This photo was then forwardedon to me for further study here inthe U.S. Although, it certainly isnot one of the clearest UFO photosever taken, it does reveal anaerial object that cannot beexplained as anything known topresent day aircraft.

The photograph that was keptall these years was in very poorcondition and had been bent to thepoint, where the emulsion wascracked in many vertical lineswhich extended through the entirepicture. Also the photographertook it upon himself to circle theUFO in ballpoint pen, which couldnot be removed from the photowithout also removing theemulsion from the ridges of thevertical cracks.

With this as the total amount ofbackground data, the next stepwas a complete and thoroughevaluation and analysis by thetechnicians at Ground SaucerWatch in Phoenix, Arizona.Copies of the print were thenforwarded to Mr. WilliamSpaulding for examination and

•, testing by GSW.

COMPUTER 4N4L515 DF THEPHOTOGRAPH

YOUR ARTICLES, NEWSCLIPPINGS,AND SUGGESTIONS ARE GREATLYAPPRECIATED. SEND MATERIALTO:

0. W I L L I A M HAUCK, EDITOR11*4 GOSTLIN STREETHAMMOND, IND. 46327

•BY WILLIAM SPAULDING, GSW INC.

STEP A - EDGE ENHAN-CEMENT PROCESS

The edging technique was per-formed with a newer (modified)program. In Photo I the shape ofthe 'object' becomes well-defined.The bright area on the UFO,represents the point where the sunis reflecting off the object. Bymeasuring this area with colordensitometry it was determinedthat the 'object' has a metallicsurface. (Reference should bemade to the previous supplieddigital density data). The darkestpoint on the 'object' (180° op-posite) indicates a true curvedplane.

A cursor (an electronicprofiler) which reveals real shapeand the measurable aspect ratio,displays a disc-shape (a curvedtop surface).

Although the general picturequality is poor and the UFO isreflecting brilliantly in thesunlight, causing the density ofthe UFOs surface to be ap-proximately the same as thesurrounding sky, the followingquantifying data was retrievedfrom the evaluation..

1) The aspect ratio (height to wid-th) is 1 to5. (ReferencePhoto II).This is measured by superim-posing an electronic grid over thephotograph and measuring theratio with a video micrometer(W/digital results)

2) The 'object' is; fairly close(estimated 2-3 mis based on com-puter data) to the witness(es)camera and is slightly blurred.This movement, in GSWs opinionis a combination of the following;the slow speed (Low ASA nunvber) of the color film and rapid ob-

ject movement. Note the foothillsand/or mountains are out offocus, however the high cirrusclouds are in a fairly good focalplane

STEP B - COLOR CON-TOURING

This analysis is generally per-formed to evaluate the substanceand reflectivity of an object onany photographic/radiographicmedium by scanning each pixel(picture cell) with;digital den-sitometry. ,

* A wispy white cloud, usu. ofminute ice crystals formed ataltitudes of 20,000 to 40,000 feet

A pixel is the basic element ofpicture resolution in the Com-puter Scan System. A picture isdivided into an array of 512horizontal columns and 480 ver-tical rows, thus producing 245,760equal and discrete pixels. Eachpixel is then assigned a valuebased on the average level of greycontained in that minute portionof the picture. The grey scale (Z -value of the pizels) ranges from 0to 255, where 0 is black and 255 iswhite.

By evaluating your data andcomparing it to a certifiedmaterial photographic stepwedge, the 'reflective' densitywas similar to a polished steelsurface: However the assumptionis based on the sun angle(azimuth) from the photographicangles (shadows), ie, this is sub-jective data rather than hard, ob-jective facts. Possibly ourazimuth angle is 10° -15° off, due

;to erroneous calculations,however the object in thephotograph is definitely metallic.Photograph III gives you an idea

PAGE 5

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of the color contouring effect foranalysis purposes. Photo IV is acolor profile (histogram) of ourmetallic photographic stepwedge.

CONCLUSIONS:After a complete review of the

total data the following items canbe disregarded as the source ofthe object:

l)Len(s) flare2) Len(s)/camera anomalies3) Developing/processing

(chemical) artifacts4) Known airborne craft5) Models or other small objects

- close to the camera6) Any non-metallic object -

debrisBased on the information

retrieved from the entire com-puterized evaluation, it is theunanimous opinion of GSW thatthe object displayed in thephotograph depicts a large (30foot) object, with a metallic sur-face, of an unknown origin andtechnology.

MUFON REPRESENTATIVEFOR SOUTH A F R I C ARESIGNS

BY R I C H A R D HALL

Carl van Vlierden, MUFON'sRepresentative for South Africafor the past 2-1/2 years, resignedin April.

Citing the "pressure of work,"Carl noted: "I have not been ableto give MUFON all the attention itdeserves as your representative.Wishing you, and MUFON, all thevery best for the future."

MUFON wishes to thank Carlpublicly for his support and help.We are still represented by Mrs.Cynthia Hind, P.O. Box 768,Salisbury, Rhodesia, who hasagreed to copy and circulate toother UFO researchers in Africareports and news sent to her.

P A G E 6

HE W "INTERRUPTED JOURNEY"? byJean Bastlde

A French civil servant, MissHelene Giulana, 20, experienced avery strange adventure on thenight of June 10/11, 1976. MissGiuliana is honorably known inthe town of Hostun (Departmentof Drome, France) by all theinhabitants and the Mayor, sinceshe is employed in the Town Hall.About the experience she said: "Iwas afraid to tell this; I wasfrightened, for I thought theywould laugh at me." But shefinally made up her mind,somewhat reluctantly, to tell herfantastic story.

She was driving her car (a "4Li"') on National Route 531 fromValence (Drome) to Hostun,where she lives, when the ex-perience occurred. She had beento the movies in Valence and hadjust drunk some black coffee. Justafter she crossed the bridge of"Le Martinet" (a littte pastPizancon on the "Commune" ofChatuzange-le-Goubet) her carinexplicably began to lose speed.She stopped, opened the door, andexamined the level of petrol in thecar's tank, which was quite nor-mal. She resumed the trip, but theengine failed several times and,abruptly, the headlights went offand the engine stopped. It was ap-proximately 1:30 AM.

At 15 m (about 50 feet) in frontof the car, she saw. a strangeluminous orange-colored massstanding on the road. Frightened,she locked all the doors andcovered her eyes with her hands.Finally, she glanced at the road,but the thing had disappeared af-ter an unknown period of time.The car started perfectly and,panic-stricken, she failed to takethe well-known way home, insteadtaking the long way around via LaBeaume d'Hostun"When I arrived home," she said,"it was 4 o'clock. But the trip hadto be only 30 minutes, not 2-1/2

hours."The strange fact is, therefore,

that nearly two hours elapsedduring which the car was im-mobilized, and she cannotremember exactly what hap-pened during these two hours, justas in the "Betty and Barney Hillcase. As Betty Hill has said underhypnosis, "...and the motor died;the car stalled." All UFOlogistshave read what happened afterthat.

1976MUFONSYMPOSIUMPROCEEDINGS

(84 pages)

"Swamp Gas Plus Ten - And Counting" by'Dr. J. ADenHynek, Director of the Center for UFO Studies.

"Canadian UFO Residuum" by Henry H. McKay, MUFONDirector.

"Heavenly Chariots And Flying 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 Dy? 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 $5.00 post-paid.

Page 7: Mufon ufo journal   1976 7. july

GIANT UFO & SATELLITE OBJECTWITH E-M EFFECTS IN FRANCE

Dy mourn Hill.MUHM tolef national Coordinator

(Summarized from Nostradamus No.184, October 15, 1975. Submitted byJean Beatlde, translated by LexMebane).

An unusually well-qualified wit-ness reported a startling UFOsighting which occured about 9:30PM September 26, 1975 at Asser-vent, a small village nearMaubeuge, France. Michel Satsi,33, is an aeronautics buff andreserve lieutenant in the Air For-ce. He served 8 years as an of-ficer-instructor at NATO bases,with tours of duty in Germany andthe U.S. "I keep asking myselfwhat it was I saw that evening,"he says. "All I know is that it wasa flying machine—or, two flyingmachines—that made use of aperfectly astounding technology."

Sasti, who flies radio-controlledmodel planes, was working on amodel helicopter in his livingroom about 9 PM that night. Afriend who was leaving cameback inside and told him thatthere was an unusual orange lightin the direction of La Salmagneairport. He and his wife joined thefriend and they stared at the light.Satsi decided to investigate; hepicked up a camera, whistled forhis dog, and the two men startedout. Oddly, the dog, who loves togo riding, obstinately refused toget in the car.

In about 5 minutes they reached>the area called La Fagnee andcould see an enormous cigar-shaped object hovering overfreshly plowed fields and corn-fields. Satsi drove around on sideroads trying to get closer. Sud-denly his car motor died and theheadlights went out, and theycoasted to a stop. They notedother stopped cars there, but noneof the occupants got out. S atsi andhis friend struck out across, thefield, finally coming to a hedge.The UFO appeared to be about 300

m away. Satsi pushed on throughthe hedge, but his friend stopped.He noticed that the shape had notchanged at all; judging by thetrees, he estimated the altitued asabout 20 m and the diameter 250-300m.

Satsi had just taken aphotograph when the UFO beganto roll slightly, like a boat on thewaves. He could then see againstthe dull orange color of the mainbody a series of lighter andbrighter lights slowly movingcounterclockwise. He determinedthat the entire object wasrotating, not just the lights, anddue to the roll could now see thatthe UFO was circular. At thispoint, a cone-shaped objectdetached itself from the top of thecraft and rose slowly to a height ofabout 100 m, and departedlaterally to the left. About 10minutes later it returned and re-entered the main craft. No aper-ture could be seen where the coneexited and entered!

After the rendezvous the UFOstabilized, the "portholes" disap-peared, the light became more in-

tense, and it took off at fantasticspeed, disappearing within 5seconds. "I was very astonished,"Satsi said. "That machine was notmoved by the known propulsionmethods, airscrew or jet, becauseI noticed neither sound, nor wind,nor smoke, nor heat at the time ittook off."

During the observation Satsitook eight photographs. None ofthem "turned out to be good."

(Ed. Note: . . • ' • . . , .Although Nostradamus: is a

newspaper pf unknown reliability,the account also quotes a regionaldirector of Lumieres Dans la Nuitand the case appears to be authen-tic. Comments are invited fromFrench UFO investigators whoknow of the case). •

P A G E 7

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THETRAVISWALTON

ABDUCTIONBY P H I L I P J. KLASS(AUTHOR OF UFOs' E X P L A I N E D ,R A N D O M HOUSE 197A ANDVI'NTAGE PRESS 1976)

THIS IS THE F I R S T OF A TWO-PART S E R I E S ON THENOW FAMOUS T R A V I S WALTON A B D U C T I O N CASE. BE-CAUSE OF THE P O S I T I V E H A N D L I N G THIS PUBLICATIONG A V E THE' CASE WHEN IT F'l R ST .OC CURRED, WE THOUGHTIT IMPORTANT THAT ML) FON MEMBERS BE AWARE OF THENEW FACTS BROUGHT TO L I G H T H E RE.

(Summary of the incident asreported in the news media: Onthe evening of Nov. 5, 1975, at ap-proximately 6:15 p.m. MST, acrew of seven young woodcutters,headed by Michael Rogers, wasreturning home. Rogers (age 28)was under contract to the U.S.Forest Service to thin out 1,277acres of National Forest land nearTurkey Springs. According to thestory later told by Rogers, andother members of his crew (ages17-25), they saw a UFO hoveringnearby. They claim that TravisWalton jumped out of the movingcar and walked/ran under theUFO, that he was "zapped" by anintense glowing beam from theUFO, and that the rest of the crewpanicked and drove off, leavingtheir friend behind. A short timelater, they claim, they returned tothe spot to seek Travis but that hehad disappeared — seeminglycarried off by the UFO. It was notuntil more than two hours laterthat Rogers and his crew decidedto report the incident to Under-Sheriff L.C. Ellison in nearbyHeber, Ariz.

(While Travis was missing,Rogers and the other five youngmen took a polygraph test, onNov. 10, administered by C.E.P A G E 8

Gilson of the Arizona Dept. ofPublic Safety of Phoenix. Five ofthe young men "passed" theexamination but the results forone (Allen M. Dalis) were "in-conclusive," according to Gilson.The reported test results havebeen widely interpreted as en-dorsing the authenticity of thealleged UFO abduction.

(Shortly after midnight on Nov.11, Travis telephoned his sister,Mrs. Grant Neff, of Taylor, Ariz,(near Snowflake), from a phone-booth in Heber, about 30 milesaway. Mr. Neff and Travis's olderbrother Duane, who had come toSnowflake from his home inPhoenix shortly after the allegedUFO incident, both drove toHeber to pick up Travis^ Theyreported finding him crumpled onthe floor of the phone-booth, andin a very "confused" mentalstate. A short time after returningTravis to his mother's home inSnowflake, Duane decided todrive Travis to Phoenix, repor-tedly to obtain medical assistan-ce. Later that same day he wasexamined by two physicians atthe request of APRO.

(On Feb. 7, 1976, almost threemonths after Tavis's return, heand Duane took polygraph tests

administered by George J.Pfeifer, then employed by TomEzell & Associates of Phoenix. Ac-cording to published reports, bothmen passed the exam which in-volved many questions dealingwith Travis's claim of havingbeen abducted by a UFO. Thewidely publicized results of thesetests seem to confirm that such anincident actually occurred.)

The alleged "UFO abduction"of Travis Walton on Nov. 5,. 1975,in the Apache-Sitgreaves NationalForest (Ariz.) is a hoax, and theclaims of six other young wood-cutters that they saw the allegedincident are not true. Evidencethat indicated that the incidentwas a hoax has long been knownto APRO (Aerial Phenomena,Research Organization), a largeTucson-based UFO group, and tothe "National Enquirer"newspaper. This evidence hasbeen withheld from APRO'smembership and from the public.

WHAT THE PUBLIC ANDAPRO MEMBERS HAVE NOTBEEN TOLD IS THAT TRAVISWALTON TOOK A LIE-DETECTOR TEST THREEMONTHS EARLIER, ON NOV.15,1975. HE FLUNKED IT!

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This first lie-detector test wasgiven in the Sheraton Hotel inScottsdale on the afternoon ofNov. 15. Arrangements for thetest were made by Mr. L.J. Loren-zen, APRO's International Direc-tor. The tests were paid for by the"National Enquirer,"

This Nov. 15 lie-detector testthat Travis Walton failed wasgiven by John J. McCarthy, direc-tor of the Arizona PolygraphLaboratory in Phoenix. Mc-Carthy, who has been practicingfor nearly 20 years, was trained atthe Army's polygraph school atFort Gordon, considered to be thetop polygraph school in the U.S.McCarthy is a member of theAmerican Polygraph Assn. andhas been licensed by the State ofIllinois since 1964. (Arizonapresently does not requirepolygraph examiners to take arigorous test to practice in thestate although such legislation isnow pending.)

Immediately after the test, Mc-Carthy reported his findings of"gross deception" to Paul Jenkinsof the "National Enquirer" andto Dr. James A. Harder, APRO'sdirector of research and Harderthen relayed the results bytelephone to APRO's Lorenzen,according to McCarthy. DuaneWalton, upon hearing McCarthy'sconclusions, became furious withthe polygraph examiner, Mc-Carthy told me.

The "National Enquirer" askedMcCarthy to send a formal writ-

/ ten report to Mr. John Cathcart atthe newspaper's headquarters inLantana, Fla. and McCarthy wasinstructed not to reveal that hehad tested Travis Walton. In Mc-Carthy's formal report, datedNov. 16, he said .that his charts in-dicated that Travis Walton was"attempting to perpetrate a UFOhoax, and that he has not been onany spacecraft." The very ex-perienced and perceptive Mc-Carthy reported -that he haddetected a deliberate attempt by

Travis Walton to distort hisrespiration pattern in an effort todeceive the polygraph examiner.

The "National Enquirer" ran afeature article on the TravisWalton incident in its Dec! 16,1975, issue. But there was no men-tion of the lie-detector test thatTravis Walton had taken underMcCarthy!

The November 1975 issue of"The APRO Bulletin" carried anextensive account of the TravisWalton case, including a report onevents that had transpired duringthe period that Travis had takenand flunked his Nov. 15 lie-detector test, but there was nomention of this test.

There is hard physical eviden-ce, which I have personallyexamined, to show that McCarthydid test Travis Walton on Nov. 15,1975, and that Walton failed theexamination. This includes thefollowing:

(1) Polygraph examinationstatement of consent, dated Nov.15, 1975, and signed by TravisWalton, in which he agrees to letMcCarthy conduct the test.

(2) McCarthy's written reportof Nov. 16, 1975, to the "NationalEnquirer," stating McCarthy'sconclusions that the UFO incidentis a hoax.

(3) "National Enquirer"payment voucher receipt,payable to McCarthy's company,dated Jan. 14, 1976, for "TravisWalton UFO Incident."

(4) Agreement to conduct thetest and supply written report to"National Enquirer" signed byPaul Jenkins and Jeff Wells. (Thisstatement is dated Feb. 15, 1975,which is a typographical error.)

During the private discussionsbetween McCarthy and TravisWalton prior to the start of the for-mal examination, WALTON AD-MITTED THAT HE AND AFRIEND HAD ONCE BEENARRESTED FOR STEALINGPAYROLL CHECKS; FORGINGSIGNATURES AND CASHING

THE CHECKS, McCarthy told meduring a telephone interview onMar. 15,1976.

The accuracy of McCarthy's in-formation was confirmed when Icalled the office of the Clerk of theSuperior Court of Navajo County,in Holbrook, on May 10,1976. Mrs.Leona Downing, chief deputyclerk, after checking the case file,informed me that on MAY 5,1971,T R A V I S W A L T O N ANDCHARLES ROGERS HADPLEADED GUILTY TO FIRSTDEGREE BURGLARY ANDFORGERY CHARGES. (CharlesRogers is a younger brother ofMichael Rogers, later involved inthe UFO incident.)

The charges arose from thetheft of blank payroll checks fromthe Western Molding Co., ofSnowflake, where Charles Rogersthen worked and where TravisWalton had earlier been employedon a part-time basis. The stolenchecks were filled in with a fic-titious name, the signature ofcompany president Robert W.Gonsalves was forged, arid theChecks were then cashed

On May 10, 1971, after the twoyoung men agreed to makerestitution of the funds, CharlesRogers and Travis Walton wereplaced on a two-year probation.Under such circumstances,Arizona law provides that if theparties fulfill their probationperiod satisfactorily, they canlater return and ask the Court toexpunge the record,' Mrs.Downing explained to me. OnAug. 3, 1973, Travis Walton andCharles Rogers took advantage ofthis provision to retroactivelyretract their original "guilty"pleas and to enter "riot-guilty"pleas, Mrs. Downing told me.f

McCarthy also told me thatduring his pre-examinationdiscussions with Travis Walton,that Travis admitted that He hadpreviously used "pot," "speed,"and LSD. The importance of thiswill become apparent shortly.

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It was not until nearly threemonths after Travis failed the Mc-Carthy lie-detector test that hetook another, whose results havebeen widely publicized because heseemingly passed with flyingcolors. The test was arranged byAPRO and was given by George J.Pfeifer, an examiner with onlytwo years experience.

Pfeifer had abandoned his ownprivate practice in January, 1976,to go to work for Tom Ezell &Associates of Phoenix. A shorttime after the Walton test wasgiven, Pfeifer decided to return toprivate practice.

When I first talked with TomEzell about the Walton test onMar. 13,1976, he explained that hehad been out of town when the testwas given and that APRO hadmade all of the arrangementsdirectly with Pfeifer. Ezell toldme that when he returned toPhoenix and discussed the Waltontest with Pfeifer that he had lear-ned that APRO and the Waltonshad told Pfeifer the specificquestions they "wanted asked andthat Pfeifer had obliged. Ezell,who has himself been practicingfor five years, told me he wantedto dig into the matter andexamine the Walton charts.

When next I talked with Ezell,on Mar. 22, 1976 he told me:"According to his (Pfeifer's)report, Travis did dictate thequestions that he wanted asked."Ezell explained, and later con-firmed in a Mar. 29 letter, that it isperfectly proper for the sponsor ofa test (APRO) to indicate theareas which are to be in-vestigated. But Ezell emphasizedthat the polygraph examinershould use his training and ex-pertise to frame the specificquestions asked of the subject.

"Because of the dictation ofquestions to be asked, this test

. should be invalidated," Ezellwrote. More important, Ezellsaid, after examining the TravisWalton charts: "The reactions onP A G E 10

the charts, to my way of in-terpretation, would not . bereadible. You would not be able tosay if he (Travis Walton) is tellingthe truth or if he's lying." Ezellreaffirmed this appraisal in hisMar. 29 letter.

Pfeifer acknowledged thatTravis had come in with thequestions he wanted to be asked.When I asked Pfeifer if this wasstandard procedure, he first saidit was. But when I replied that Ihad talked with other polygraphexaminers who said it was not anormal procedure, Pfeiferreplied: "Well, like I wouldn't sayno. (But) we don't have a stan-dard situation here either." WhenI asked: "In what respect,"Pfeifer said: "Well, how manytimes do people claim that they'vebeen picked up by a UFO? "

Pfeifer disclosed an even more"curious" aspect of the TravisWalton test during our Apr. 27conversation. He said that whenAPRO's Lorenzen called toarrange the test he only askedthat Pfeifer test DUANE Walton.There were no mention of Travisbeing present or being tested,Pfeifer told me. Only after Pfeiferhad completed the test on Duaneon the afternoon of Feb. 7, andwent out to inform APRO's Loren-zen that Duane had passed, didLorenzen then ask Pfeifer if hewould test Travis Walton also.

THERE IS AMPLE EVIDEN-CE THAT TRAVIS WALTONTOLD AT LEAST ONEFALSEHOOD DURING HISFEB. 7 TEST WHICH PFEIFERFAILED TO DETECT.

The question was one thatTravis insisted that he be askedand which Pfeifer (in accordancewith accepted procedures)discussed with Travis prior to thetest to be sure that he understoodits meaning and that he could an-swer it with a clearcut "yes" or"no."

That question was: "BeforeNovember 5, 1975, were you a

UFO'buff'?"Travis answered: "NO."

Pfeifer believes Travis believedhe was telling the truth.

Yet according to McCarthy,during the pre-examinationdiscussion with Travis, he ad-mitted that he and his brotherDuane, and their mother Mrs.Mary Kellet, had often speculatedabout riding in a UFO. This prom-pted McCarthy to pose thefollowing question during the for-mal examination of Nov. 15: "Inthe past, have you ever thought ofriding in a UFO?" Travis an-swered: "YES". The resultingpolygraph chart indicated thatTravis was being truthful.

There is extensive evidence,from sources that can not be con-sidered to be prejudiced againstTravis Walton, that the Waltonfamily had a keen and long-standing interest in UFOs beforeNov. 5,1975. For example:

Dr. Howard Kandell, an APROmember, was one of the twophysicians who examined Travison Nov. 11, the day that he reap-peared. During a telephone in-terview with Dr. Kandell on Apr.25,1 asked him whether Travis orDuane had indicated any previousinterest in UFOs during his Nov.11 discussions and examination.Dr. Kandell replied:

"They admitted to that freely,that he (Travis) was a 'UFOfreak,' so to speak... He had maderemarks that if he ever saw one,he'd like to go aboard."

Dr. Jean Rosenbaum, a ;psychiatrist from Durango, Colo.,journeyed to Phoenix and in-terviewed Travis Walton severaldays after his reappearnce.APRO's Dr. James A. Harder waspresent during the interview.During a telephone interview onApr. 26, I asked Dr. Rosenbaumwhether Travis had mentionedany prior interest in UFOs duringtheir interview. Dr. Rosenbaumreplied:

"Everybody in the family

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claimed that they had seen them(UFOs)... He's been preoccupiedwith this almost all of his life...Then he made the comment to hismother just prior to this incidentthat if he was ever abducted by aUFO she was not to worrybecause he'd be alright." (Envphasis added.) .

Duane Walton was interviewed,along with Mike Rogers, on theevening of Nov. 8, 1975, whileTravis was still "missing." Theinterview was conducted by FredSylvanus, head of the ArizonaRegional UFO Project and amember of Ground Saucer Watch.The interview was tape recordedand I have obtained a copy.During the interview, DuaneWalton volunteered that he andTravis had often discussed thepossibility of getting a 'ride on aUFO. That if either one of themgot such a chance, he would try toget the UFO to go and pick up theother brother so he could sharethe experience. Here are Duane'sprecise words: • • . ..

"Travis and I discussed thismany, many times at great lengthand we both said .that we wouldimmediately get as directly underthe object (UFO) as physicallypossible... We discussed this timeand time again. The opportunitywould be too great to pass up andat any cost, except that of death,make contact with them andwhoever happened to be left onthe ground, if one of us didn't

.make the grade, to try to convincewhoever was in the craft to comeback and get the other one. Heperformed just as we said wewould and he got directly underthe object, and he's received thebenefits for it."

Earlier in the interview withSylvanus, Duane said:

"I saw one almost identical towhat they (Mike Rogers and othercrew members) described for aperiod of almost 30 minutes inbroad daylight about 12 years agoat 1 o'clock in the afternoon, about

eight miles from this locationright here (site of the allegedTravis Walton incident). And itfollowed me around these woodsfor about 30 minutes and wasnever more than 200 feet from meat any time." (Emphasis added.)

Yet when I interviewed DuaneWalton by telephone on Apr. 23,1976, and asked him when he andTravis first became interested inUFOs, Duane replied:

"About November 11,1975."Contrast Duane Walton's an-

swers to some of my otherquestions with the known facts.For example:

Klass: "Has Travis ever gottenin trouble with the law on anyserious charges?"

D. Walton: "No sir! Everybodyhas trouble as a juveniledelinquent, even I."

Klass: "But to your knowledge,he has never been in trouble withthe law in any serious thing, ex-cept maybe being arrested forspeeding?"

D. Walton: "Or a trafficwarrant or ticket. But my brotheris not a criminal if that's whatyou're trying to imply... I think ontwo occasions he was arrested foroutstanding traffic warrants, fornot paying a traffic ticket.''

SURELY DUANE WALTONWAS AWARE OF THE IN-CIDENT LESS THAN FIVEYEARS EARLIER WHENTRAVIS HAD PLEADEDGUILTY TO THE FIRSTDEGREE BURGLARY ANDFORGERY CHARGE.

According to McCarthy, "DuaneWalton was present when Mc-Carthy reported the results of histest on Travis, and Duane wasoutraged at his findings. Thefollowing exchange took placewith Duane during our telephoneinterview of Apr. 23:

Klass: "When did Travis firsttake a polygraph, or lie-detector,test?"

Walton: "I don't know. I don'thave the foggiest notion. I know

that he and I took one togetherrecently. That's been six weeks,maybe two months."

Klass: "Had he taken anypolygraph test before that? "

Walton: "I don't have thefoggiest notion. I really don'tknow..."

Klass: "Well, you were withhim the first few days after hecame back."

Walton: "Yup."Klass: "And did he take a

polygraph test at any time duringthat week?"

Walton: "I don't know. I mean Iwas with him just about everyminute of the time, but I have ajob...and there were times that Ihad to be a way."

Klass: "Were you with himwhen he was interviewed byJames Harder and the 'NationalEnquirer'?"

Walton: "Yes, I was there whena doctor (Harder) gave some hyp-notic regression."

Klass: "And was there anypolygraph test given at or aboutthat time?"

Walton: "I don't know sir."During my interview with

Duane, I asked whether he andTravis had told Pfeifer thequestions they wanted him to askduring their lie-detector tests:

Klass: "Who framed thequestions that you were asked?Did you or Travis have anythingto do with the framing of thequestions?"

Walton: "That would be kind ofat odds to the end (purpose),wouldn't it? No sir, in answer toyour question, no."

Duane Walton's answers to myquestions provides another usefulbenchmark for appraising theoverall value of Pfeifer'spolygraph examination of Travisand Duane Walton. During theexamination of Duane, Pfeiferasked him the following: "Wouldyou lie to help Travis in this mat-ter? Duane answered: "No."Pfeifer found no indication on his

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charts that Duane was not tellingthe truth.

In the polygraph test given tothe six young wood-cutters, it hasbeen reported that five of the sixpassed. The results for the other,Allen Dalis, were termed "in-conclusive." The test was givenby C.E. Gilson, a man with fiveyears experience, employed bythe Arizona Dept. of PublicSafety. The test was given on Nov.10, at a time when Walton hadbeen missing.for five days andthere was great concern byNavajo County law enforcementofficers that Travis might be thevictim of foul-play at the hands ofhis associates. For this reason,three of the four relevantquestions asked by Gilson duringthe test dealt solely with the issueof whether the young wood-cutters had killed or physically in-jured Travis. Obviously all of themen could truthfully answer thesethree questions with a "NO."During our May 20 interview,Gilson said: "That was our solepurpose...to determine whether ornot there had been a crime com-mitted." . , -

Gilson said that the one questionabout a UFO had been added atthe suggestion of Sheriff MarlinGillespie. With the perspective ofhindsight, Gilson told me on May20: "That one question does notmake it a valid test as far asverifying the UFO incident. I wishthese people out here wouldrealize that, but there's no wayyou can even get them to listen toyou..."

This single UFO-relatedquestion was: "Did you tell thetruth about actually seeing a UFOlast Wednesday when TravisWalton disappeared?" Note thatthe question did NOT ask whetherthey saw Travis being "zapped"by a UFO, nor whether they reallybelieved that Travis had been ab-ducted by a UFO.

Celestial bodies are sometimesmistaken for UFOs. At the time of. P A G E 12

the Walton incident, the planetJupiter was very bright in theearly evening sky and would havebeen visible at 6:15 p.m. This isNOT to suggest that Rogers andhis crew honestly imagined thatTravis had been "zapped" byJupiter. But if they were all part-ners in a pre-arranged hoax, allmight be able to answer "yes" tothis one UFO-related questionwithout displaying overt signs oftelling a significant falsehood.

The testimony by Mike Rogersand the other five crew membershas . seemed to some to sub-stantiate the UFO abduction storybecause these six witnessesseemed to have no motive, otherthan possible friendship withTravis, to fabricate the story.B U T I N V E S T I G A T I O NREVEALS THAT THERE WAS AMOTIVE, A STRONG FINAN-CIAL MOTIVE, FOR ALL OFTHEM TO COLLABORATE ON AHOAX.

In the spring of 1974, the U.S.Forest Service requested bids ona timber-thinning operation on1,277 acres in the Turkey Springsarea of the Apache-SitgreavesNational Forest. Three bids werereceived: $71,512 $44,567$34,989. The low bid camefrom Mike Rogers. His es-timate was less than half theamount of the highest bid, and 27per cent below the mid-figure, andworked out to only $27.40 per acre.If Rogers had underestimated theamount of work involved, both heand his crew would suffer finan-cially.

The contract called for the jobto be completed in 200 workingdays, i.e. excluding bad-weatherand winter when work was im-possible. Although the contractwas awarded on June 26, 1974, itwas not until more than a monthlater—Aug. 7—that Rogers finallyassembled his crew and startedwork, according to Maurice Mar-chbanks, Forest Service con-tracting officer at Springville,

Ariz. It was a portent of things tocome.

By the summer of 1975, it wasclear that Rogers had badly un-derestimated the job and he wasstuck with his fixed-price con-tract. Rogers asked for an ex-tension and the Forest Servicegranted one — for 84 days. Thenew work completion deadline asNov. 10,1975. But in return for theextension, Rogers would bepenalized $1.00 per acre for allwork performed after the ex-piration of the original contractdate.

Rogers' financial situation wasaggravated by the long-standingForest Service policy that callsfor paying contractors for only 90per cent of the work performed, sothey can pay their crews, whilewithholding 10 per cent until theentire job is completed.

As the Nov. 10 deadline ap-proached, it was clear to Rogersthat he could not meet even his ex-tended contract date. In the Nov. 8taped interview with Sylvanus,Rogers mentioned that "This con-tract we have is seriously behindschedule. In fact, Monday thetime is up. We haven't done anywork on it since Wednesdaybecause of this thing, andtherefore it won't be done. I hopethey (Forest Service) take that in-to account, this (UFO) problem."Without the "fortuitous" UFO in-cident, the best that Rogers couldexpect would be another deadlineextension, but he would beassessed still another financialpenalty in contract price.

More serious, winter was nearand its bad weather wouldprevent Rogers from completingthe job until the following spring.Thus the Forest Service wouldcontinue to hold back 10 per centof the earned pay. Rogers and hiscrew faced a bleak financialsituation as the Nov. 10 deadlineneared.

(TO BE C O N T I N U E D INTHE NEXT I SSUE #105)

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ANATOMY OF A LOCAL FLAPby Ernst Berger, MUFON Central European Section

(Translated by Charles Huffer andadapted from a copyrighted article,with permission, by Richard Hall. Thisremarkable local concentration ofbizarre UFO sightings covers a periodof over 2- Vi years).

For six days in 1974, ErnstBerger and a team from MUFON-C.E.S. conducted an intensive in-vestigation of a long series ofsightings concentrated near Graz,Austria, capital of the FederalProvince of Styria, from 1972 to1974. As so often happens, thesigntings came to light ac-cidentally when Berger chancedto meet the key witness, Mr. AloisA—, at a health spa in summerof 1974. Mr. A—, a dentaltechnician, was a World War IIaerial observer in charge of anti-aircraft platoons and is describedas "a sharp, analytical ob-server." His wife Sabine A—,another witness, is a trained nur-se. They were questioned atlength and crossrexamined; keysightings were reconstructed,measurments taken, and the areaexplored.

The objects they had seen,along with occasional other wit-nesses, included discs, cones,triangles, the classic domed ellip-se, and smaller objects moving toand from larger objects("satellite object" cases). Manyhad sharply defined segments ofgeometric color patterns, and the

,bright color displays were a cen-^ tral feature of the sightings.

Another salient feature, com-monly but not exclusively, was anincrease and decrease in size as ifthe object were moving in astraight line directly toward andaway from the observer. This hasbeen labelled the "zoom effect."In various cases the UFOs disap-peared in one of three ways: by"zooming" out of sight upwardinto space, by being "collected"into a larger object, or by sud-denly vanishing.

At Graz, the land rises from theMur River valley towards theGraz-Webling Basin where theA— family lives in a modernhouse, surrounded by a woodenmountain ridge in a semi-circlestretching from north throughwest to south. The summits,which figure into the cases, arethe Buchkogel (657 meters), theBockkogel (539 m) , andFlorianiberg (520 m). Every workday, Alois A— bicycles the 10 kmto work from Webling to Thondorfstarting out in early morning af-ter rising about 4 am. Normallyhe is in bed about 10p.m.

Mr. A- at the placeof the "blue hand"incident.

The strange series began May17,1972 when Sabine A— noticed ared, star-like object moving backand forth on the southern horizon.She woke her husband, who grab-bed his 8 x 30 binoculars and ob-served the object through theopen window. He saw a milkywhite oval, flattened on top, about24 degrees above the horizonmoving over the hills betweenFlorianiberg and a red-orangeelliptical ring was visible on theupper third. Underneath, a sackor drop- l ike p ro t rus ionperiodically elongated and retrac-ted. (See sketch, the "drop.") TheUFO remained visible for threehours, displaying the "zoom ef-fect" and departed abruptly by"zooming" up out of signt. A fewnights later, the "drop" reap-peared moving jerkily along andstopping at the same spot.

The experience caused Mr. A—to recall wartime observing, andhe and his wife began watchingthe sky. In June 1972 the "drop"was seen again, this time alongwith a red disc that emitted aconical beam (see sketch).During that summer, while thesightings continued, dogs all overthe area barked and howled inconcert whenever the UFOs werepresent. "It even developed," A—said, "that when the dogs began tohowl we would look out and sureenough something would bethere."

One night during this period,past midnight, an object whichroughly resembled an invertedtank (ellipse with dome beneath)first appeared. Points of lightwere observed emitting from thedome downward toward thesouthwest horizon. Shortly af-

P A G E 13

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THE "TANK" AND L O C A T I O N OF S I G H T I N G .

i" J TYPICAL LOCATION OF "WIND GUAGE" SIGHTING,

TYPICAL LOCATION OF THE "SECTOR DISKS"

\

PAGE m '

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TYPICAL LOCATION OF THE "DROP" UFO

•ECK9T

LOCATION OF THE "RED DISK" S I G H T I N G ,

TYPICAL" LOCATION OF "TILTED STOVE" S I G H T I N G ,

1

PAGE 15

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terwards, at this point on thehorizon, white balls of light wereseen jumping around erratically"as if there were no gravity."There were 50 or 60 of them,hovering and darting here andthere, with sudden sidewaysdisplacements and "wild jumps."The zone of their action wasaround the summit of Buchkogel.Two hours later the balls of lightdisappeared behind trees, andthen points of light were seenreturning to the larger UFO. The"drop" and another disc werealso seen during the "dance of thespheres."

Late in July a round yellow andgreen object, rotating with aspiral effect, was seen by theA—'s about midnight. The lightwas dazzling, and Mr. A— suf-fered a splitting headache. In Julyor August Mr. & Mrs. A— watcheda formation of four cone-shapedobjects maneuvering "like ducksin a row" in the same area wherethe spheres had been. They had agreen phosphorescence at thetrailing edge; they stopped andtilted down above Bbckkogelbefore moving away to the southand disappearing. About thisperiod, they often noticed a largenumber of cars with headlights onmoving along the ridge on theMantscha Road from Buchkogelto Florianiberg, sometimesrecklessly at high speed. Two

separate contactee prone in-dividuals also visited the A—'sduring this period, but were notwelcomed.

>The "sector discs" (like colorwheels) first appeared at the endof August and early September1972, displaying four bright redand four green segments; theseobjects were always stationary.Also during August a new formlabelled the "tiled stove"(because of its resemblance toold-fashioned Austrian stove tile)appeared, once dividing into ninesections. At one point small star-like objects were seen being"collected" by this object.Although sightings diminishedearly in 1973, the "tiled stove"was seen again during March.The "Blue Hand"

One of the most spectacularsightings experienced by Mr. A—occurred on March 26, 1973 whilehe was cycling to work. It was acold, slightly foggy morning, andthe "tiled stove" UFO was visible,hovering ahead of him andseeming to retreat as he ap-proached. Suddenly he noticedthat the damp street was brightlyreflecting a blue light, apparentlyemanating from behind him, andhe turned to see a very strange ob-

ject only 300 to 400 meters awaygliding silently toward him. It wasrectangular with four pointedprotrusions in the direction ofmotion, shaped something, like ahand, (see sketch) Pedalling fran-tically, bathed in the blue light, heturned again to see the UFOnearly overhead. Then it climbedupward at a steep angle(revealing a row of eight redknobs or cupolas at the rear) andvanished "as if everything hadbeen switched off." Discussingthe sighting later, he thought thefour sharps points might havebeen sharply outlined and focusedbeams of light.

Space does not permitdescribing the details of the othersightings reproduced in the ac-companying sketches. The "Scor-pio" case occurred early in July1973, with the object goingthrough the pictured sequence(see sketch) between 10 PM and 3AM.'The "traffic signs" (triangleand circle) were seen in August1974. The "wind guage/' four redspheres on two crossed barsthrough a central red sphere, theentire structure rotating like ananemometer, was seen in June1972.

P A G E 16

THE "BLUE HAND" UFO SEEN BY MR. A- ON MARCH 26, 1973

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ON OF THE i t

SIGN"

^'-V/;-">'-'"'if.- . ••<••.•*;•.,• .,'! ,.;. ^nw.« •' • • - .

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Page 18: Mufon ufo journal   1976 7. july

Men in WhiteA minor mystery was added to

the end of July 1972 when twoyoung men dressed in whiteclothes and shoes visited the A—'sclaiming to be part of a Mormonpolling mission and askingquestions about Americanpolitical figures. This seemedvery odd to Mr. A—. One said hewas a Harvard student and theother an astronomy student,school not mentioned. They spokevery good German. When the sub-ject of UFOs came up, one of theyouths claiming to be a nephew ofCapt. Charles R. Reid of theArgentina, who vanished in theBermuda Triangle October 30/31,1968, told that story. They wereseen several times after thatwalking around town, apparentlyrooming in the area and theirpresence at that time could havebeen pure coincidence. (ErnstBerger requests information fromanyone who happens to know aMormon Harvard student whospent some time at Graz, Austria,in the summer of 1972;, his lastname may be Reid).

This condensed version ofBerger's report can only conveysome of the flavor of the full story.Appended to his report are a sec-tion describing the investigationand an evaluation section. TheA— family is described as veryself-critical, and very careful andconsistent in their reporting. Theinvestigators explored thesighting area, noting that it lies onan elongated platform ofpaleozoic rocks, two tectonicfaults were found running in anorth-south direction, and a karstcrater (indicating limestonecaves) was visible on the ridgenear the Buchkogel.

The strange variety of shapesreported, and the usual orien-tation toward the observer so thatthe axis of rotation pointed towardhim, are considered extremelypuzzling. Yet, investigation showsthe wittnesses to be honest aridreliable, and in: Mr. A—'s casetrained in aerial observations.P A G E 18

MUFONPICNIC

FOREIGN STAMPSHELP MUFON

by Richard Hall

MUFON International Coordinator

The Eight Annual MUFON Pic-nic proved to be an enlighteningand entertaining affair. Over ahundred people showed for thefestivities, which began at 7:00p.m. July 10 with the UFOSkywatch at the Boulder Accesson Carlyle Lake. The picnic washeld the next day at the Old FishHatchery Park in Carlyle.

The idea of a UFO Picnic wasconceived by Rosie and DickHolmes and has proved athoroughly enjoyable and well-attended affair. Director Walt An-drus delivered a talk on the cattlemutilation cases, which hebelieves are due to a fanatical cultof some sort, and former Air For-ce Sargent Clarence Dargietalked about how the Air Forcetries to cover up UFO sightings onthe one hand while NASA tries tofind sources of extraterrestriallife on the other.

UFO researcher and author JoeBrill summed up some recent in-ternational cases and passedaround pictures of UFOs fromRomania. Bob Borman recappedthe events of the Harold ShermanPsychic Seminar held in St. Louis,and developed some interestingideas concerning the psychic com-ponent in UFO sightings.

Another highlight of the picnicwas the hoisting of a heliumballoon craft with two Americanflags hanging from a crossbar.The flags, one with 13 stars andthe other with 50 stars, com-memorated the years Bicen-tennial Celebration in a mostspectacular fashion.

But of course we shouldn'tforget to mention the .real star ofthe UFO Picnic. Everyone knowsthat was Rosie Holmes' home-made chicken noodles. Delicious!

An arrangement to trade can-celled foreign stamps for U.S.postage to be used for mailings tooverseas MUFON supporters andinformation exchange centers hasbeen worked out with stampcollector Joseph L. Nyman, Med-field, Massachusetts. This"recycling" will greatly benefitinternational exchange of UFO in-formation by helping to offset thehigh cost of overseas mailings.

As a gesture of good faith, Mr.Nyman recently sent me a sub-stantial amount of U.S. postage(over $20 worth) in requesteddenominations as credit to berepaid. As a first repayment in-stallment he has been sent 1-1/2ounces (bulk weight) of stampstaken from correspondencereceived from overseas. Our over-seas supporters can contribute tothis exchange by the simple act ofaffixing commemorative stamps(or other less common types ofstamps), whose exchange value ishigher, to letters and packagesmailed to me.

MUFON specialists and othermembers who are receivingcorrespondence from overseascan also contribute to the in-formation exchange program bysending cancelled foreign stampsto me, in any quantity, for ex-change with Mr. Nyman.(Richard Hall, 4418 39th St., Bren-twood, Maryland 20722.)

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DIRECTOR'S MESSAGEThe July issue of the MUFON UFO JOURNAL is closely following the June issue due to the delays in making

transition of editors from Dwight Connelly to D. William Hauck, securing a new typesetter, and by mailing fromSeguin, Texas. We apologize for the inconveniences created by these delays, but the tremendous work done byMrs. Norma Short and Mr. Dwight Connelly will be carried on in the same tradition of SKYLOOK in its successor-THE MUFON UFO JOURNAL. All subscriptions to SKYLOOK will apply directly to the JOURNAL as willMUFON membership, which includes the JOURNAL.

The continuing program to arrange the MUFON membership date and JOURNAL subscription to concur sim-ultaneously will be rectified as all memberships and subscriptions are sent to MUFON at 103 Oldtowne Road,Sequin, Texas, 78155. Automatic reminders that one's MUFON membership and JOURNAL subscription willexpire on a designated date will be enclosed with the copy of your JOURNAL.

A productive and beneficial meeting of the JOURNAL Staff members attending the Carlyle UFO Picnic (Illinois)on July 11, 1976, was held by Dennis Hauck, Joe Brill, Lucius Parish, David Schroth, Rosetta Holmes and WaltAndrus.

We are pleased to announce that Bill Pitts of Ft. Smith, Arkansas, formerly a State Section Director, will bethe new State Director for Arkansas replacing Lucius Farish who resigned this post. Lou, a founding memberof MUFON, will continue writing his JOURNAL column titled "In Other's Words" dedicated to reviewing newbooks and commenting on articles in newsstand publications. Mr. Pitts may be contacted by writing to 500 North2nd St., Ft. Smith, Ark. 72901; Telephone: 501/782-0373, or at his home, 501/783-0754. Bill received inter-national recognition when he practically "single-handedly" conducted the "Fort Smith UFO Conference" onOctober 17, 18, and 19, 1975, utilizing the theme, "United for Objectivity". Bill will be travelling in Japanthis fall, meeting MUFON Directors and Sectional Directors and hopefully appearing on Japanese TV as planned.

Gregory M. Kanon, P.O. Box 142, Armdale, Nova Scotia, B3L 4J9, Canada, has accepted the position of Pro-vincial Director for Nova Scotia, but will also handle the rest of Eastern Canada — New Brunswick, Newfound-land, and Prince Edward Island — until such time as Provincial Directors are assigned to these areas. Gregoryis a Syndicated Columnist writing a weekly column titled, "The Unknown", which appears in newspapers through-out North America. Greg is a graduate of the University of Arizona and his mother lives in Houston, Texas.

As MUFON grows in international stature, we have found that we can be more effective in some nations byestablishing a National Section instead of relying entirely upon representatives to act as liaison between exist-ing UFO organizations and MUFON. Presently we have two such sections Illobrand von Ludwiger is Director ofMUFON/CES (Central European Section), or the German speaking nations of Europe; and Harold H. Fulton coversNew Zealand as Director. Charles Buffer, a member of MUFON/CES recently stopped in Seguin, Texas to visitthe MUFON administrative office while in the United States on vacation. He advised that they will have theirthird annual UFO Symposium in Munich, Germany during the later part of July. Herausgegeben von I. Ludwigerhas just released a new scientific book on Electromagnetic gravitation and UFOs, which will be subsequentlyreviewed after translation from Deutsch. The title is "UNGEWOHNLICHE GRAVITATIONS-PHANOMENE".

Richard H. Hall, International Coordinator, is adopting the national section in Japan as suggested by yourDirector with the elevation of Mr. Jun-Ichi Takanashi from liaison representative to Director for Japan. MasaruMori (a visitor to MUFON in Seguin and presently a Field Investigator) has been appointed Sectional Director forNorthern Japan with responsibility for Tokyo and Hokkaido Islands. Mori lives in Chiba City and is a free lancewriter. Mr. Takao Ikeda, living in Hiroshima, will be the Sectional Director for Southern Japan responsible forthe area south of Tokyo covering Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu Islands. Steve Hatzopoulos, 22 Fiddipidou St.,Athens, Greece 609, has been appointed a Field Investigator for the area around Athens by Richard Hall.

D. William Hauck, State Director for Indiana has selected Bruce Schaffenberger, 7216 Oakdale Ave., Hammond,Ind. 46324, to be State Section Director for Lake, Porter, and LaPorte Counties, succeeding Bill.

Irving Lillien, Ph. D., 10181 S.W. 198th St., Miami, Florida 33157, telephone: 305/233-0765, will be theState Section Director for Dade and Monroe Counties in a new alignment for Florida. Dr. Lillien will also serveas a Consultant in Chemistry. Mr. Frank H. Inderwiesen in Orlando, Florida is MUFON's acting State Directorfor Florida.

A valuable addition to MUFON's staff in Seguin, Texas and to our International Coordinator occurred whenMrs. Guillermina (Mina) G. Syrja, 514 South Milam, #4, Seguin, Texas 78155, volunteered to serve as a Trans-lator for Spanish, French, and German. She has her B.A. from Texas Lutheran College in foreign languages.

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On July 21, 1976, J. Allen Hynekinnaugurated the outgoing WATTStelephone from the Center for UFOStudies by calling your Director withpertinent news items concerningprogress by CUFOS. The Centernow has a financial sponsor for theWATTS line and a monthly newslet-ter which will first be issued earlythis Fall. The newsletter will becalled "The International UFOReporter", with an annual sub-scription of $10.00; half of the profitbeing dedicated to UFO research byCUFOS and the other half to thesponsor. Mr. Allan Hendry has beenhired by CUFOS as a full time in-vestigator. He and his wife attendedthe MUFON Symposium in Ann Ar-bor, Michigan. The new office ad-dress of CUFOS is: 924 ChicagoAvenue, Evanston, Illinois 60202.

Mr. Norman A. Weis, 227 E.Hazeltine Ave., Kenmore, NewYork,, 14217, a MUFON Field In-vestigator, will be travelling inEurope starting September 13th. Hewill endeavor to secure UFO reportsand make contacts with MUFONrepresentatives in Holland, Belgium,Switzerland, Austria, Germany,Italy and France during his visit.

ark R. Herbstrftt

AstronomyNotes

JULY SKY

MERCURY • It is too close to the Sun for ob-servation until the end of the month, inferiorconjunction being on the 22nd.VENUS - It is an evening star about 9 degreesabove the western horizon at sunset and gettingwithin one hour.MARS • The Red Planet is too close to the Sunfor easy observation.JUPITER • In Taurus, it rises about three hoursafter sunset.SATURN - In Cancer, it rises about three hoursbefore the Sun.ALPHA AURIGID meteor showers occur on the22nd.

RECAPPING AND COMMENTINGby Richard Hall, MUFON International Coordinator

(Comments in this month's column are based, in part, on ar-ticles appearing in the May, 1976, Skylook.)

Since the May issue may be thelast under Dwight Connelly'seditorship, and even the last issueof "Skylook" under that name, itis time to publicly thank Dwightand Carolyn Connelly for the finejob they have done and the creditthey have reflected on MUFON.Publishing is a costly business,and often a thankless one. We canonly wish the new editor well andpledge support, especially in theform of articles and news reportsin manuscript form which everyeditor needs. I hope all MUFONspecialists will begin to realize theneed for summary reports of theircases and activities. The Con-nelly's have set a high standardand a solid foundation to build on.

The issue contains its share ofinteresting UFO cases, but we canalso note a number of pointsrelated to methodology andprocedures, all too often taken forgranted by self-s tyled"UFOlogists." Ray Fowler's ef-fort to compile UFO activityreports, and the Alabama UFOStudy Group's similar report, arepraiseworthy and a fundamentalpart of any systematic, scientificstudy. I doubt that they shouldtake up newsletter space morethan a few times a year, for theyare not terribly readable nor ofgeneral interest. But they are im-portant and could be incorporatedin the annual symposiumproceedings, and occasionallysummarized in these pages.

Scientific Case Study

Identification of the Clovis,

N.M., photograph as a blurredimage of Saturn by Ray Stanfordand the P.S.I, team is the kind ofanalysis that needs more, ratherthan less, exposure. I am appalledthat anyone styling him-self/herself a "UFO researcher"would criticize P.S.I, for releasingthis information to the press. It is,first, the truth; it also shows areal scientific attitude and ob-jective reporting habits which, inthe long run, should win sup-porters for the cause. They willknow that we are critical, notgullible, and determined to seekout the truth. A vital part of UFOinvestigation is screening outerrors while spotlighting theircauses, and exposing hoaxes.

The Director's Message in thissame issue puts its finger on theproblem of trying to "scien-tifically study" UFOs part-time.There is an inherent contradictionthere which we all need to realize.Walt Andrus highlights the needfor "an increase in participationof our Advisory Board of Con-sultants, stimulation of specificinvestigations, and exchange ofinformation." Indeed, this isexactly what is needed byMUFON and all other groups pur-porting to be studying UFOsscientifically. Just how possible itwill be for part-time con-sultants/full-time scientists orengineers is the critical question.Certainly many could be more ac-tive than they have been, and thedegree to which they do activelyparticipate will determine thesuccess and credibility ofMUFON and other groups.