Artist's rendition of a wormhole. Wikipedia illustration.
An Oklahoma witness reports an unusual appearance of what seemed to be a wormhole opening up and a light moving out of it, according to testimony from the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) database.
The December 31 incident occurred as the witness was watching the rising full moon - but stated that "off to the right of the moon there appeared to be a darker place which was like a circular void. "
Within the void, a large "X" of light appeared. This light began to spin, then a "lit cloud tube extended" from that area. Then, "a tiny blip of light came out, which moved out a distance from the point of origin and then disappeared."
Other similar stories from around the country have been reported recently - like details from the the July 5, 2009, case,
30 foot cone-shaped object lands on California ranch.
The following is the unedited and as yet uninvestigated report filed with MUFON. Please keep in mind that most UFO reports can be explained as something natural or manmade. If Oklahoma MUFON investigates and reports back on this case, I will release an update.
OK, December 31, 2009 - wormhole ufo? MUFON Case # 21390.
I was observing the rising full moon, immediately below but off to the right of the moon there appeared to be a darker place which was like a circular void.
Within that void a large X of light appeared.
That X started to spin, and as it spun a lit cloud tube extended from the place where the void across the sky to the right of the point of origin. At the point where the black void started and where the tube started a tiny blip of light came out, which moved out a distance from the point of origin and then disappeared.
The tube started to fade, but continued to seem un-naturally lit for about 3 minutes as it shortened.
It did not flow away like a cloud, the sky was perfectly clear and this appeared to be way above the atmosphere. It had entirely disappeared within 5 minutes.
Jan 3 2010 by Paul Cole, Sunday Mercury
FROM medieval dungeons to modern penitentiaries, prisons are truly frightening places – and they remain frightening long after the last inmate has finished his porridge.
One former prison that sees a lot of paranormal activity is the former Derby Gaol, now owned by ghost expert and historian Richard Felix.
It was built in the 1750s on a traditional and very busy execution site. As a result, death and suffering were associated with the building right from the start.
England at this time was experiencing a massive crimewave caused by terrible poverty and cheap gin which large numbers of the population were addicted to.
The gap between rich and poor was immense and the ruling classes were not about to let the peasants get their grubby hands on the family silver. If you were poor and committed a crime you could definitely expect brutal punishment.
More than 260 crimes carried the death penalty. A 12 year-old who stole a handkerchief was just as likely to hang as a highwayman who committed murder.
Therefore, the vast majority of the poor souls who entered Derby Gaol had a rather unpleasant appointment with the hangman.
As if the prospect of the gallows was not terrible enough, condemned inmates had an additional fear which caused them great anguish. Their bodies were often handed to the surgeons to be dissected and examined (and then put on public display as a warning to others).
In these more religious times it was firmly believed that your soul could not enter heaven if your body had been dismembered.
This belief could be a contributing factor as to why some spirits stay on the earthly plane and refuse to “cross over”.
Today, Derby Gaol is regularly visited by paranormal investigators and interested members of the public. Many have witnessed unusual and sometimes quite scary activity within the building.
Even an experienced investigator like Richard Felix has been frightened by close encounters of the paranormal kind. He was once confronted by a grey haze in the shape of a man, who glided straight past him before disappearing at the end of a corridor.
A builder was once working in one cell when the heavy door slowly closed by itself, locking him in. He also experienced feelings of nausea – a common experience in haunted locations.
No rational explanation could be found.
In fact, many people visiting Derby Gaol begin to feel sick and have to leave. Some feel that they are being suffocated or strangled.
Hanging
People also claim to have seen two young men hanging from a beam, their bodies slowly rotating.
A similar vision has been witnessed in the Day Room where a visitor noticed a man hanging from a doorway. He thought that this was a very convincing stunt by an actor but was shocked to discover that nobody else had seen the hanging man.
Could these frightening visions be somehow conjured up by the building’s long association with death by hanging?
One particular scary figure has been encountered lurking in a doorway of Derby Gaol.
He has been described as an evil-looking bald man wearing a kind of leather garment or apron. I remember reading that when prisoners were flogged, the jailer would wear a leather apron because it was easier to wipe off blood.
This leather-clad bald man has also been seen to walk through a wall.
Another strangely dressed figure, a woman in a large fancy hat, was seen to walk down a corridor and through a door to the outside. The witnesses followed her outside to be confronted by freshly fallen snow – and no footprints!
Derby Gaol seems to be full of strange ghostly people.
A man in a long scarlet coat is sometimes seen acting as if he is looking for someone. A “terrified-looking” blonde woman was witnessed lying on a bed, a dark figure seeming to menace her.
Derby Gaol also has more than its fair share of poltergeist activity. Cups, glasses and various ornaments have all moved by themselves – sometimes flying past the heads of shocked visitors and staff.
Written by Nick Diamond
Thursday, 10 December 2009 18:24
“On a chilly, fall night in November 1966, two young couples drove into the TNT area north of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, when they realized they were not alone,” reads the plaque on the front of a twelve foot tall stainless steel sculpture of the Mothman that stands eerily in downtown Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
The legend of the Mothman was born in the small town of Point Pleasant during the 1960’s when over a hundred eyewitnesses were horrified by something they had never seen before. The townspeople began reporting sightings of a tall creature with piercing red eyes and demon wings. The creature was said to be about eight feet tall and resembled the figure of a man.
Today, the little town in West Virginia still remembers the events that took place. A book was even written by John A Keel, supernatural phenomenon expert and writer. Keel investigated the events in the town and put his findings and works together in the book “The Mothman Prophecies.” The book also inspired the creation of the 2002 Richard Gere film “The Mothman Prophecies.” Hundreds of websites have been dedicated to the investigations, events, and witnesses of the phenomenon. Tourists and cryptologists (researchers of entities that have not been scientifically proven or explained) flock to the town to visit the world’s only Mothman Museum and Mothman statue. A festival is also held every year in memory of the legend. Tours and guides are also given to anyone interested in probing the little town of every nook and cranny the story can offer. Tourism, tourism, and even more tourism seems to be the biggest reason people visit the town today.
Point Pleasant is approximately 226.57 miles from Frostburg, Maryland, averaging about a three and a half hour drive along interstate 68 West. The best way to get there is by simply taking the interstate and driving west through Morgantown, Clarksburg, and Pomeroy until you reach Point Pleasant.
The story of the Mothman is very widely known, if you’re into that sort of thing. When asked if they have heard of the Mothman, many people in Frostburg, Maryland, replied, “What in the hell is a Mothman?” Brett Showalter is among a handful of FSU students that have seen the movie, know the story, and quite frankly are very spooked by it. “There aren’t a lot of ghost stories that really get to me, to be honest,” claimed Showalter as he ran his slender fingers through his dark gel-tipped hairdo. “Honestly, if a dozen people around here started saying they saw giant green bunnies, I might say I saw one too just to be part of the hype. But the movie inspired me to do research, and after just a few days of looking around, I can tell you that Point Pleasant is NOT somewhere I would visit anytime soon.”
Fortunately for Mr. Showalter, he was not one of the alleged eyewitnesses of the events. The first encounter of the Mothman took place on November 15, 1966, by David and Linda Scarberry and Steve and Mary Mallette. The two couples were traveling late at night in the Scarberry car. They passed the West Virginia Ordanance Works, an old abandoned World War II TNT factory. They noticed two red lights in the shadows by an old generator plant. After stopping the car, they realized the lights were the glowing eyes of a large creature, “shaped like a man, but bigger, maybe six and a half or seven feet tall, with big wings folded against its back,” according to Roger Scarberry. The couples were terrified. They fled and reported what they saw to the police.
They were not the only ones who encountered this creature. On the 16 Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Wamsley and Mrs. Marcella Bennett were going to see some friends who lived near the TNT plant. When Mrs. Bennett got out of the car she realized there was a figure lurking behind them. “It seemed like it had been lying down, slowly rising up from the ground, large and gray, with glowing red eyes.” Mrs. Wamsley ran inside and phoned the police as the creature walked onto the porch and peered in at the couples through the window. The entity fled before the police arrived.
During these strange encounters, something terrible happened to the town of Point Pleasant. On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge, which connected Point Pleasant to Ohio, collapsed. It plummeted to the depths of the river, killing 46 people. The event was heavily investigated, and the only consensus of the collapse was a small manufacturing flaw in the single eye-bar suspension chain. The believers in the Mothman sightings would say that the two events are connected. Witnesses and believers even claim that the Mothman appears before upcoming disasters.
Between 1966 and 1977 there were over a hundred eyewitness encounters with the creature. Jeff Wamsley was among the few people willing to discuss his personal knowledge of the events. Mr. Wamsley has lived in Point Pleasant his entire life. “I actually live in nearby Gallipolis, Ohio, now…I was born and raised in Point Pleasant West Virginia…right down the street from where those original witnesses lived back in 1966,” said Wamsley. “I grew up hearing about the Mothman sightings…I was always interested in the story because it took place literally in my hometown…I was lucky enough to launch two book projects that contained exclusive interviews with many of those original witnesses. I have collected archives for years and run the worlds only Mothman museum…I ran my own chain of record stores for about fifteen years.” Mr. Wamsley now teaches graphic design in Point Pleasant at the career center and high school.
But the Mothman was only one of the mysterious things that occurred in Point Pleasant during this time. UFO’s were often reported, including eerie encounters with the MIB (Men in Black). The Grinning Man, as many refer to him, was supposedly in Point Pleasant as well. The best known Grinning Man was Indrid Cold, who appeared during the Mothman sightings. The first encounter was on November 2nd of 1966. A man by the name of Woodrow Derenberger was driving home after work when he heard a sudden crash behind him. A strange vehicle shaped like an old furnace firing soot and embers at both ends sped by him and stopped, blocking off the road ahead. A tall thin man stepped out of the car and approached Mr. Derenberger. He approached with a broad grin on his face and said his name was Indrid Cold. The two men had a brief conversation about the Mothman sightings, and then Mr. Cold left.
There were a number of other encounters with a Mr. Indrid Cold after this night all descriptions matched, but no explanations. Jeff Wamsley briefly mentioned such strange things that he remembered during his childhood. “The UFO’s were here before the Mothman stuff started occurring…the MIB were here asking witnesses and others a lot of questions…some witnesses were too scared to talk to anyone about what they saw.” So there have been other strange occurrences in Point Pleasant? “Actually the Mothman sightings are just a small part of all that was going on here.” It seems that while Point Pleasant is known only for the story of the Mothman, there is obviously much more to uncover in this small town.
While the media was never really interested in the occurrences of Point Pleasant, the entertainment platform seemed to grasp the story with great intensity. The two biggest contributors to the widespread attention the town has received today is the 1975 book by John A. Keel and the 2002 Richard Gere movie, both titled “The Mothman Prophecies.” Many citizens in Frostburg and Cumberland were asked if they have read the book or seen the movie. Out of about two dozen people questioned, only five had ever even heard of the book.
One of the few dozen people that were asked about the movie was Jonna Schartiger. Ms. Schartiger grew up in Cumberland, Maryland, is currently a junior studying business at Frostburg State University, and has seen the film. Schartiger agreed to meet in Dunkle Hall on Tuesday October 20th after her philosophy class to answer some questions. When asked what she thought of the story she replied, “It’s a load of crap, if you really want my opinion. I don’t believe in sorts of things like UFO’s, or Mothmen. I know that some pretty weird things happened in West Virginia, but lots of weird things happen everywhere all the time. That doesn’t mean they are supernatural phenomena. The story doesn’t really spook me anyway. The Mothman does not exist, and that’s all there is to it.” Schartiger said as a few eavesdropping students beside us exchanged skeptical glances.
Did someone say Tourism? In a town such as Point Pleasant, with its narrow streets and old buildings that have no doubt been there since the beginning of time, it’s very odd to think that this place could attract hundreds of people each year with any kind of story. But it does, and it does it well. Instead of vending out hotdogs or corndogs to by standards at the yearly festival, Mothman plush dolls and posters are sold to little kids excited to get their picture taken by the gigantic stainless steel sculpture of the demon monster from the hellish death realm. The statue was made by local sculptor Robert Roach.
This year’s Mothman Festival was held between September 19th and 20th in downtown Point Pleasant. Events at the festival included testimonials from Mothman eyewitnesses such as Linda Scarberry and Tom Ury among other guest speakers, Mothman pancakes, power lifting contests, the Ghostbusters, a rock climbing wall, and live music! The next Mothman festival is already scheduled for September 18th and 19th in 2010. The festival is only a yearly attraction for those that come to get a taste of the town and it’s legend. Jeff Wamsley’s museum is open year round for anyone looking to purchase a Mothman plush doll. Could this have been prophesized as well? The Museum is open every day from noon till five. Admission for ages nine and under is only a dollar, and for ages ten and up its three dollars. The museum is run by Jeff Wamsley and is conveniently located at 411 Main Street , downtown Point Pleasant. Here you can buy all your Mothman desires, from coffee cups to Mothman University T-shirts.
But if you really want to experience the extent of the tourism and excitement in the town, the tours are the only way to go. Tours cover the TNT area and a visit to the North Power Plant. During the tour the guide will point out the areas of the Mothman encounters. Cameras are welcome as well! Tour prices are $19.95 ages twelve and up and $14.95 for kids under eleven. Tours depart from the Mothman Museum, including a special Halloween tour on October 31st at 8 PM and 10 PM. You can call for Mothman Tour Bus information at (304) 812-5211.
Current Allegany College of Maryland Senior Marcus Kendal had the opportunity to go on the tour. Mr. Kendal grew up in Frostburg, Maryland, and attended Beall High School all four years. He currently studies Philosophy at Allegany College and is quick to point out that paranormal phenomena are a favorite hobby of his. Mr. Kendal agreed to meet up at Frostburg’s McDonalds because he had not eaten lunch yet. This way we could “kill two birds with one stone,” Kendal said in amusement.
“I didn’t much like the tour just because I was expecting to see the Mothman jump out of the bushes to frighten us. I guess it was as good as it could be if you weren’t expecting to actually witness something crazy happen. I went last year with a few buddies that are into that kind of stuff too. We all enjoyed the trip, but I guess you kinda get caught up in the movie and stories and just expect to see more when you’re there,” said Marcus as he gulfed down a specially ordered double cheeseburger with Big Mac sauce.
A friend had joined the table at this time and quickly jumped in the conversation. Luckily he actually had some things to say about the story of the Mothman as well. Tyler Miller is a friend of Kendal’s. He noted that he did not do the tour with Mr. Kendal, but he has seen the movie and has read about the bizarre stories in Point Pleasant. “I completely believe that something strange happened in Point Pleasant at that time, UFO’s and all. I heard a theory once about that town being a window to the supernatural.” Miller spoke quietly as if people may have been listening on the conversation. “There obviously isn’t any proof of any of the freaky shit that happened, but when that many people claim to see something that weird…it can’t be a hoax.”
But has the tourism been bothering people of Point Pleasant? Or is it welcomed? Mr. Wamsley seems to think the latter. “People have always been visiting Point Pleasant ever since the Mothman was first reported…now that we have the museum and festival it has become somewhat of a destination for tourists…most people here in Point Pleasant are used to all of the attention by now. Some believe in the sightings and as always some do not.”
Regardless of what people believe, the events that occurred in Point Pleasant have been strongly speculated as hysteria. Skeptics such as paranormal investigator Joe Nickell looked into the stories and concluded that it was only a common barn owl that was witnessed numerous times. Whatever the Mothman was, it terrified the townspeople for almost a year and suddenly left.
Mr. Wamsley was asked what his personal take on the story was. He simply replied, “I have no real explanations to what this thing was, but I can tell you that these people saw something that really shook them up…over 100 reported sightings in a thirteen month time frame…all the descriptions matched…no doubt they saw something they had never seen before.”
Last Updated on Friday, 18 December 2009 13:30
British UFO witness speaks out as UK closes door to investigations
Witness illustration of UFO. Darren Perks graphic.
As the British MoD closes its UFO investigations desk, one witness to past events is speaking up.
UFO Witness Darren Perks experienced a UFO sighting in March 1993 at age 16.
Perks' incredible triangle UFO sighting is featured in this Austrailian
Sunday Night show here and well worth watching.
"To date in the UK there has been thousands of UFO sightings," Perks tells the UFO Examiner, "some good, some bad, and some simply explainable. However, thousands of genuine people cannot be wrong in what they see and witness.
"The UK MoD has just said that from the 1st December 2009 it will no longer have a deticated UFO desk in operation investigating reports.
"But i am sure that somewhere and someone in the MoD will be looking out for reports, and the end of the day if UK airspace is intruded by an unknown craft it has to be investigated properly. The more reports people come forward with, the more the truth will come out.
"I 100 percent believe that UFO and extraterrestrials are with us constantly, and it is only a matter of time until it is fact. Keep watching the skys!"
Original Statement
Darren Perks' original and unedited statement regarding his UFO sighting follows.
As a 16 year old at the time of the incident I was preparing to enter the army as a solider with the army air corps. Since the age of 12 I had been a member of the cadet force in which I held the rank of flight sergeant in the royal air force section. So as you can imagine I had extensive knowledge of all types of military aircraft in this country but also in other countries. I also had good knowledge of civilian and or NASA type aircraft and satellites. Being a member of the cadets I was a frequent visitor to RAF Shawbury airbase near my home where I went flying in fixed wing and non fixed wing aircraft.
I had and still have a big interest in aircraft.
On march 30th 1993 at approx 11pm I was walking home from my part time job at the local bowling alley in the northern outskirts of Shrewsbury my home town. My parents at the time owned a public house called the Harry Hotspur and it was only 600 metres from my work along a road called Harlescott lane.
The walk only took me normally approx ten minutes. As walked home I got to within 100 metres of my home and my eye caught a slow moving structured object moving from left to right, south to north, in the sky approx 300ft up.
As I got to my home, I continued to watch this object. It was a black triangle shape, structured, approx 200ft in length and approx 150ft to 200ft in diameter. It was very defined, and blocked out the stars. As it was a clear night with no clouds. On the two rear points of the triangle I noticed a faint red or orange coloured glow and at the front the triangle was omitting a brilliant white light, and this was moving back and forth as if was looking for something.
The triangle was moving very slowly I would say about walking speed and I could hear nothing but a very low humming sound that was irritating to hear. I also felt warm and the sense of being watched or at least whoever or whatever was controlling the triangle knew I was watching it.
Opposite my house at the time was rough ground and fields and the triangle continued to move north over them with the white light flicking back and forth randomly. At this point I estimated that I had been watching this craft for about 2 minutes when all of sudden it shot off to the north at incredible speed making no sounds at all.
I knew that this craft was not a military or civilian aircraft and I rushed into my house and woke my parents up to tell them what I had just witnessed, all of us then went outside to see if we could see the craft but there was nothing.
Basically that was that for me I never told the authorities because I didn’t know what to do and during my time in the military I never spoke of the incident as I didn’t want to be ridiculed.
However it’s only been in the last 2 years where I found out about the Cosford incident and that what I saw was linked to sightings all over the UK that night.
Ever since the incident I have had a feeling of knowing that the craft will come back, it makes me feel uneasy but at the same time I want to know where it was from and why it was here.
I can’t explain, but I have in my head that in 2012 something is going to happen and that its linked to what I witnessed. It’s a feeling that never goes away, and when I go back to the spot where I witnessed the incident I get an over whelming sense of uneasiness to this day.
I think the military in the UK and the United States know of these craft but are keeping it under wraps away from the public so as not to alarm people.
I still live in Shrewsbury and work here, I have appeared on an Australian programme called Sunday night which was about the Cosford incident, explaining what happened
back in March 1993
I hope this report of my experience is ok and as I said I’m willing to share it with everyone if need be.
Darren Perks.
The following article relating to this case is written by British Ufologist Nick Pope.
On 30 and 31 March 1993 there was a series of UFO sightings in the UK involving over a hundred witnesses. Many of these were police officers and military personnel. The UFO also flew directly over two RAF bases. What follows is the extraordinary story of what has been dubbed The British UFO Mystery.
Overview
The first sighting took place on 30 March at around 8.30pm in Somerset. This was followed by a sighting at 9pm in the Quantock Hills. The witness was a police officer who, together with a group of scouts, had seen a craft that he described as looking ''like two Concordes flying side by side and joined together''. The reports came in thick and fast and when I arrived at work the following morning I received a steady stream of reports. It was soon clear that I had a major UFO event on my hands. One of the most interesting reports came from a member of the public in Rugely, Staffordshire, who reported a UFO that he estimated as being 200 metres in diameter. He and other family members told me how they had chased the object in their car and got extremely close to it, believing it had landed in a nearby field. When they got there a few seconds later, there was nothing to be seen. Many of the descriptions related to a triangular-shaped craft or of the lights perceived as being on the underside of such a craft. Indeed, in an apparent coincidence these sighting occurred three years to the very day after the famous wave of sightings in Belgium that had led to F-16 fighters being scrambled to intercept a UFO being tracked on radar.
RAF Cosford
The UFO was seen by a patrol of RAF Police based at RAF Cosford. Their official police report (classified Police In Confidence) stated that the UFO passed over the base ''at great velocity ... at an altitude of approximately 1000 feet''. It described two white lights with a faint red glow at the rear, with no engine noise being heard. The RAF Police report also contained details of a number of civilian UFO sightings that they had been made aware of in the course of making enquiries with other military bases, civil airports and local police.
RAF Shawbury
Later on that night, the Meteorological Officer at RAF Shawbury saw the UFO. He described to me how it had moved slowly across the countryside towards the base, at a speed of no more than 30 or 40 mph. He saw the UFO fire a narrow beam of light (like a laser) at the ground and saw the light sweeping backwards and forwards across the field beyond the perimeter fence, as if it were looking for something. He heard an unpleasant low frequency humming sound coming from the craft and said he could feel as well as hear this - rather like standing in front of a bass speaker. He estimated the size of the craft to be midway between a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft and a Boeing 747. Then he told me that the light beam had retracted in an unnatural way and that the craft had suddenly accelerated away to the horizon many times faster than a military aircraft. Here was an experienced RAF officer who regularly saw aircraft and helicopters, telling me about something he said was quite unlike anything he's ever seen in his life. The MOD party line about UFOs being of ''no defence significance'' was looking decidedly shaky. What was I supposed to say to him, I wondered - ''don't worry, it was probably just a weather balloon''! I corresponded with him recently about this but, unlike some sceptics, I intend to respect witness confidentiality and won't name him.
How Many Reports?
For a number of reasons UFOs are notoriously under-reported. The two main factors here are fear of disbelief and/or ridicule, and the fact that many people do not know who to contact with details of their sightings. While there were standing instructions that UFO reports sent to military bases, civil airports and police stations should be forwarded to the MOD for investigation, this national reporting system did not always work. The casefile on the 30/31 March 1993 UFO incident makes it clear that there were many more sightings than ever reached the Department. One throwaway line from a signal reporting how police officers in Liskeard, Cornwall, had seen a UFO stated that the object was ''seen by other police officers throughout Devon and Cornwall''. We can only guess at the number of sightings that went unreported that night.
RAF Radar
I launched a detailed investigation into these sightings, working closely with the RAF, colleagues in the Defence Intelligence Staff and personnel at the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System at RAF Fylingdales. One of the first things that I did was order that radar tapes be impounded and sent to me at MOD Main Building in Whitehall. The radar data was downloaded onto standard VHS video cassettes and arrived shortly thereafter. I watched it with the relevant RAF specialists who told me that there were a few odd radar returns, but that they were inconclusive. Radar is not an exact science and in certain circumstances, false returns can be generated.
Aircraft
Later, a more formal assessment of the radar data was made. Unfortunately, one of the radar heads was not working on primary radar during the reporting period, so only aircraft working Secondary Surveillance Radar could be seen. But with this and with other checks, what we were able to do was build up a picture of all aircraft and helicopters activity over the UK, so that we could factor them into the investigation and eliminate them from our enquiries if appropriate.
Fylingdales and Cosmos 2238
The Ballistic Missile Early Warning System at RAF Fylingdales, with its powerful space-tracking radars, was an important part of my UFO investigation. They quickly alerted me to the fact that there had been a re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere of a Russian rocket carrying a communications satellite, Cosmos 2238. We postulated that this was a possible explanation for a cluster of UFO sightings that occurred at around 1.10am on 31 March. As an interesting footnote, ufologists such as Jenny Randles have previously claimed that some UFOs may be interested in re-entries!
Ufologists
Most ufologists had not even heard about this case until I wrote about it in 1996, in my first book, Open Skies Closed Minds. One ufologist who had been very closely involved was Doug Cooper. I worked closely with him during the course of my official investigation, as part of a new more open policy that I had instigated. Some ufologists like Doug had welcomed this but others, sadly, saw me as a sinister Man in Black and refused to have anything to do with the MOD, believing that we were part of a conspiracy to cover-up the truth about UFOs. Doug shared with me his own report into the wave of sightings. Like us, he had concluded that the Cosmos 2238 re-entry was the probable explanation for the cluster of sightings at 1.10am. But there were some interesting gems in his report, including a reference to one of the UFO sightings having unnerved cattle in a field, which were reported as having been restless somewhere between midnight and 1am. The witnesses then described their absolute astonishment at seeing all the cows standing in a circular formation in the middle of the field, all completely silent.
The British UFO Mystery
On 1 November 2006 Channel Five showed a one hour documentary on this case, entitled ''The British UFO Mystery''. The investigative documentary was part of Channel Five's second ''Stranger Than Fiction'' series. The production company, Steel Spyda, had adopted an unusual approach when making this documentary. All too often, UFO documentaries rely on an endless series of 'talking heads', with witnesses telling their stories, followed by believers and sceptics from the world of ufology expressing their contrasting views. Steel Spyda tried a new approach. They obtained the MOD's case file on the incident (which ran to 105 pages of documentation) and based the programme around that. As I'd led the investigation, they asked me to front the programme, giving viewers an unprecedented insight into the methodology of an official MOD investigation. The programme drew just over one million viewers - a strong showing for Channel Five. Ufologists were pleased to see their subject back on one of the national networks at primetime.
Sceptics
Sceptics soon jumped on the bandwagon and some lengthy analyses of the case (actually little more than a reproduction of material from the MOD casefile) appeared, following the broadcast of the Channel Five documentary. These were conclusion-led and marred by misunderstandings about the way in which the military record time and the way in which aircraft heights are recorded. Sceptics leapt on the Cosmos 2238 explanation (which MOD had known about at the time) to explain the cluster of 1.10am sightings and promptly tried to shoehorn all the other sightings into this, suggesting that witnesses who had seen the UFO at any other time must have got the time wrong - sometimes by several hours!
Black Projects
A theory often put forward to explain some of the most spectacular UFO sightings is that they might be prototype aircraft or UAVs. Of course, at any time we will be test flying various things that you won't see at the Farnborough airshow for several years, but the bottom line is that we test fly such things in certain areas so at least within government we can differentiate between black projects and UFOs. In view of the controversy about Aurora (an alleged hypersonic replacement for the SR-71 Blackbird) we did, in the case of the March 1993 UFO sightings, raise the issue with the US authorities, through the British Embassy in Washington. Was it possible that something had gone wrong with the normal processes for overflight of another country and could our UFO sightings be attributable to some US prototype? The answer I got back was extraordinary. The Americans had been having their own sightings of these large, triangular-shaped UFOs and wanted to know if the RAF might have such a craft, capable of moving from a virtual hover to speeds of several thousand mph in an instant. We wish we had! The interesting thing about this was that somebody in the US was still clearly taking an interest in UFOs, despite the apparent disengagement from the subject in 1969 with the closing down of Project Blue Book. Sadly, a letter to the US Embassy about Aurora was the only document missing from the casefile released to Steel Spyda following their FOIA request for documents relating to the March 1993 UFO sightings.
Jodrell Bank Observatory
Intriguingly, even the cluster of 1.10am sightings might not all be explained by the Cosmos 2238 re-entry. The sceptics were torpedoed by Professor Ian Morrison, Director of the Jodrell Bank Observatory (and hardly a believer in UFOs!) who in speaking about these sightings on ''The British UFO Mystery'' said ''Sometimes people see a pattern of lights that stay pretty much in formation for maybe several minutes at a time and to be honest I don't believe that can be the break up of space junk or anything else. Those things are short-lived and they all leave streaks, and the relative positions may well change as they travel''.
Conclusion
Given the MOD's ''no defence significance'' conclusion on UFOs, it seems fitting to conclude with quotes from MOD documents which contradict the usual stance. In a briefing that I prepared for my Head of Division on 16 April 1993 I wrote:
''It seems that an unidentified object of unknown origin was operating in the UK Air Defence Region without being detected on radar; this would appear to be of considerable defence significance, and I recommend that we investigate further, within MOD or with the US authorities''.
My Head of Division was normally sceptical about the UFO phenomenon, but on this occasion he agreed with my conclusion. His 22 April 1993 brief to the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (one of the UK's most senior RAF officers) stated:
''In summary, there would seem to be some evidence on this occasion that an unidentified object (or objects) of unknown origin was operating over the UK.''
This is about as close the MOD will ever get to saying that there's more to UFOs than misidentifications or hoaxes.
Uh oh, Bigfoot roaming in north Fayette?
By: Ben Nelms Tue, 12/08/2009 - 4:58pm
Reports of the sightings of large primates, usually referred to as “Bigfoot,” are not uncommon across the United States. But they are uncommon in Fayette County. At least until this past summer.
A story posted on the Georgia Mysteries website on Dec. 5 changed all that with its report of a north Fayette County woman who said she encountered a large hairy creature on Lee’s Mill Road in mid-July.
The Citizen was unable to contact the Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO), its investigator or the Georgia Mysteries website contributor to obtain additional information on the incident described on the website.
The unnamed woman who reported the July 17 incident, according to the Georgia Mysteries story, was rounding a curve on Lee’s Mill Road as she drove home from work on a clear night at approximately 11 p.m.
The woman described the creature in her headlights as being approximately 6 feet to 7 feet in height, hairy with a medium build and with a loping gait.
“As I rounded a curve I saw something walking across the road in front of me. It was tall, not slim but not thick and covered in grayish-brownish hair. It never turned to look at me and just loped across the road and off in the dark. I was traveling about 40 mph and slowed quite a bit to ensure it would make it across without me hitting it,” the website report said.
The creature did not turn towards the vehicle at all, just continued across the road to the other tree line, according to the unverified report. The sighting lasted 10-15 seconds. At the closest point the woman said she was approximately 10 feet from the creature, according to the report.
A follow-up report was done by BFRO investigator Mary Snyder. In her statement Snyder said the witness had been sincere in her report of the incident.
“I could hear in her voice that she was still very upset about the encounter,” Snyder said.
The woman is reported to have said that subsequent to the event she learned that sightings had occurred a few years ago in Coweta County. There were several sightings of the “Happy Valley Horror” in 2005 in the Happy Valley Circle area of north Coweta, as reported in the local media.
The story of the Fayette County Bigfoot sighting can be found on the Georgia Mysteries website
here.
Ghost hunters claim apparition led them to bones in Gibson
Benton Lovoi (from left) Frank Lovoi and Jim Boudreaux look over a photo Tuesday of what they believe is a ghostly image in Schriever.
Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, November 29, 2009 at 6:01 a.m. Last Modified: Saturday, November 28, 2009 at 8:29 p.m.
SCHRIEVER — The mysterious vision of a man with no lower body and a pair of overalls draped atop his broad shoulders that they saw near a white house built on a reported Indian burial ground raised their antennae that something strange was afoot.
And, one week later, when the members of the local paranormal investigations group H.I.T. MEN went inside 234 Fandal St. in Gibson, they were not disappointed.
While touring the house as prospective buyers last Saturday, Jim Boudreaux and brothers Benton and Frank Lavoi say they found about 100 human bones scattered across the basement floor and notified authorities.
“This guy was trying to correct a wrong,” Jim Boudreaux, 43, said of the ghost. Boudreaux’s American Indian ancestry made him angry the bones were not buried years ago, he added.
Louisiana State University’s anthropology department is examining the bones. Once their analysis is complete, the Terrebonne Sheriff’s Office will determine whether the house should be investigated as a crime scene.
In the meantime, LaRussa Real Estate Agency of Houma has taken the four-bed, two-bath home valued at $125,000 off the market, according to the company’s owner, S.P. LaRussa.
“Nobody’s going to buy this type of house if it’s got these types of problems,” LaRussa said Friday afternoon.
Members of the H.I.T. Men, which stands for Haunting Investigative Team, initially became interested in the house while helping a friend look for property to keep his horses. When they saw a picture of the property, it piqued their interest because it looked like it was built upon an American Indian burial ground, they said.
The Lavoi brothers viewed the property Nov. 14. They walked around the house’s outside and took pictures, as is their custom, but nothing remarkable happened.
Not until they were driving home, that is, and Benton’s son saw a photograph of what appeared to be a man with no legs.
The H.I.T. Men repeatedly viewed the digital image, which was only visible by pressing the camera’s zoom button several times. And what they saw convinced them the ghost wanted them to re-visit the house.
LaRussa said his sales agent, whose name he did not know, had no idea the men performed a paranormal hunt inside the house. After all, they toured the house under the guise of interested buyers.
The H.I.T. Men, who refused to identify the agent, said the woman did not know their intent and say nothing illegal took place.
Once inside the house, the trio walked into the basement armed with digital cameras, handheld audio recorders and courage.
“That looks like bones,” said Boudreaux, who recalled feeling nauseated upon entering the house.
Sure enough, it was.
“I was a meat-cutter for about 10 years, and I know there ain’t no femur bone in a pork chop,” Benton Lavoi, 47, joked. But, he added, “I don’t think we realized the ramifications of having bones in the house.”
The peaceful house soon became the site of a crime-scene investigation.
Authorities initially said that a real-estate agent showing the house had discovered the bones. The H.I.T. Men, however, say they found the bones and have photos as proof.
Now that they’re confident they answered the ghost’s wish, they are hopeful that the bones will be placed where they won’t be disturbed.
Is the Paramount haunted?
Some people believe the Austin theatre is home to a ghost
Published Thursday, October 29, 2009
Photo by Eric Johnson
Current manager of the Paramount Theatre Scott Anderson talks about how the old projectors worked when the Paramount showed movies. With the theatre believed to be haunted Anderson has a theory that it could be one of two people including a projectionist George Dorin.
Photo by Eric JohnsonIs this an orb? Some in the field of paranormal research claim these white globes represent a spirit presence while others explain them away as nothing more than lens flare, dust, or insects. This photo was taken Tuesday with no one else Paramount Theatre and no flash used while appearing too far away to pick up an insect. You judge for yourself.
During the Halloween season, haunted houses are a dime a dozen.
People can’t seem to help themselves. The truth and myth of Halloween are so tightly woven together that you need several new shows from the History Channel each year to disseminate them all.
Plus, it’s just plain fun to not only tell a story that takes place on a dark and stormy night, but to hear them. To willingly take that feeling of fright upon yourself.
Which brings up the subject of this particular haunting: Does the Paramount Theatre have a ghost?
Manager Scott Anderson thinks it does and the historic, aged theatre has even made the pages of the book, “The Nearly Departed: Minnesota Stories and Legends.”
“I believe there is a ghost here,” he said Tuesday.
Before we go much further however, we need to dip into belief vs. skepticism, subjects entwined with one another and seen weekly on shows like the SyFy Channel’s Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International.
Largely, the idea of something being haunted comes down to personal beliefs in the paranormal and possibly life after death. If you don’t have the latter, it’s hard to believe in the former.
The line between belief and skepticism becomes blurred when the first and possibly biggest hurdle is approached. Proof.
Much of what paranormal investigators claim to catch in pictures, video, or audio recorders can in some way be questioned. It’s the major problem in paranormal investigation.
There is no tell-tale way, no absolute way, to prove ghosts exist. Generally, you are forced to believe a person who has experience in the field, for whatever that’s worth because again, those who study this area tend these days to not be scientists.
With that in mind, you inevitably have to place a certain amount of trust in those who say a place is haunted. Sometimes, though, conviction in what a person has experienced is enough, and Anderson is no different. He doesn’t hesitate to talk about the Paramount’s ghosts.
In his time as manager of the Paramount Anderson has heard stories and had his own experiences. Nothing so fantastic as you might see in a horror movie, but experiences all the same that make you question what is out there.
Anderson isn’t a recent convert to the paranormal having already had an experience with his wife Janet before the two were married.
It happened when the two were getting ready for bed one night when Anderson rented an old farmhouse with some friends. The friends were in town on the bar scene leaving Scott and Janet in the house alone. It began almost as soon as the lights went out.
“We were alone in the house with two dogs and I remember sitting up and hearing very deliberate footsteps on each step,” he describes, pounding his fists on the desk to replicate the sounds of that night. “I mean, what was that. We knew no one was here.”
“We’re reasonably smart folks, and we do not make this stuff up,” he said.
Now, on to the Paramount. Anderson’s first hand experience in the matter came late at night when he was doing some work in the Paramount. Anderson places himself in the lobby.
“I’m an old rock and roller, so I was playing Steely Dan, and it was cranked way up,” he said. “I wanted to hear it in the lobby.
“Twenty minutes later I noticed that the sound system was barely audible. I went to the controller and noticed the volume was way down. I just turned around and said, ‘where are you. I know your there,’” he finished with a laugh.
It’s important to add, that on a soundboard, the sliders that control various sound components, can’t simply slide on their own. It requires a human hand to move them.
Anderson believes he has narrowed down who the haunting spirits may be. The first is the first manager of the Paramount, Karl Lindstaedt, when the old Park Theatre was rebuilt into the Paramount in the late 1920’s.
The second option is projectionist George Dorin, who worked at the Paramount in the early 30s.
It was with relatives of Dorin that Anderson was part of a second experience. He was with two cousins, great-granddaughters of Dorin, who were visiting the place that Dorin loved.
While talking with Anderson, both ladies took pictures, one with a digital and another with a film camera. When the woman with the digital looked at her picture of the moving clouds on the ceiling, she commented about a moon.
There is no moon that’s part of the projected clouds, so Anderson asked to look at the picture and seeing what many in the paranormal field describe simply as an orb, mentioned it must be the ghost of their great grandfather giving them a sign.
It passed until they were making to leave, and one of the women asked Anderson what he meant by the ghost.
There are other stories surrounding the paramount witnessed by several people over time including a bar manager who witnessed a freely spinning barstool, an apparition in a picture and the marquee that came on after it was turned off.
Does it bother Anderson that the Paramount may be haunted?
In all the stories of apparent paranormal activity there has never been reports of malicious actions. Anderson thinks he understands why they are still here.
“They loved the Paramount, like a lot of people do,” he said. “I think it’s pretty cool that they’re here.”
Brazilian military document confirms UFOs
Written By: Inexplicata
Posted: 10/23/2009
Brazilian military document confirms UFOs "solid" and under "intelligent control"
Dear colleagues:
As I have informed before, the Brazilian Government declassified a few weeks ago a new set of previously secret UFO documents, covering the 80s. I also informed you that we already had disclosures covering the 50s, 60s and 70s. They have been doing the releases by decade. So far over 4,000 pages and 300 photos have been disclosed. This time declassification, the 80s, is composed of some 800 pages and is very powerful.
Among the documents released are the reports of UFOs on May 19, 1986, considered the ’Official UFO Night in Brazil’, when 21 spherical objects, estimated 100 meters in diameter - according to military sources - literally jammed air traffic over the major Braziian Airports, when several Mirage and F5 jets were scrambled to pursue them for hours.
As most of you already know, at that time the Air Force minister Octavio Moreira Lima went public on national TV networks about it the other morning. The pilots and their commanders also spoke freely about the pursuits, which occurred over several hours. This was a major thing in Brazil.
Now, when on TV to the whole Nation, the Moreira Lima promised that a full report would be issued about the events, considering the air-air and air-land radar detections and the pilot pursuing, and it would be available in 30 days. And as most of the things that happen in my country, when governmental promises are involved, this so expected document was never known.
Now we know why!
Among the important files just released in the 80s package, there it is a certain ‘Occurrence Report’, dated June 02, 1986, just a few days after the ‘invasion’ by 21 UFOs of the most developed areas in the country. It has 8 pages and is signed by Air Brigadier Jose Pessoa Cavalcanti de Albuquerque, acting commander of the Brazilian Air Command of Air Defense (COMDA). Now, what this report contains is very interesting, and I quote its Final Considerations part:
1. Based on the analysis of above-reported events, it is this Command’s opinion that, according to the information from the controllers, pilots and previously elaborated reports from I Cindacta (Air Traffic Control and Aerial Defense Center), that there are some points of coincidence regarding radar echoes, accelerations, illumination, velocities and behavior, either by technical detection or by visual contact.
2. Some of those coinciding points that we can name are those phenomena which exhibited certain constant characteristics, as follows:
a. Produced radar echoes, not only on the Air Defense System, but also on the intercepting airplanes simultaneously, with visual comparisons by the pilots.
b. Change in velocity, from subsonic to supersonic, besides hovering capability.
c. Varied altitude, from below FL-050 to altitudes above FL-400.
d. Occasionally seen as white, green and yellow lights, and sometimes no luminous indication.
e. Sudden acceleration and deceleration
And there is more. In the Item 3 of the Final Considerations part, the Occurrence Report says clearly that ‘the phenomenon (UFOs) is solid and reflects intelligence’. See it in full:
3. As a conclusion of the observed constant facts in almost all presentations, it is the opinion of this Command that the phenomenon is solid and reflects intelligence by its capacity to follow and sustain distance from the observers, as well as to fly in formation, and are not necessarily manned craft.
I have asked our volunteers Edison Hashida, Simon Levy and Marcos Malvezzi to translate the material and I have it for you for download. You can have both the full original document, in Portuguese, as well as the English version, both in PDF format at:
www.ufo.com.br/documentos/night
Occurrence Report - Original.pdf
Occurrence Report - Translated.pdf
I believe that this is one of the most powerful existing documents revealing the reality of the UFO phenomena, now fully admitted by our military authorities. We are now working to have more than 600 pages translated, and next Sunday I will interview the former Air Force minister Socrates Monteiro, another authority and officer in Brazil that decided to come public about what he knows and accept to receive me. He was the commander of the Air Traffic Control and Aerial Defense Center (Cindacta).
This is all a direct result of the campaign UFOs: Freedom Of Information Now, promoted since 2004 by the Brazilian Committee of UFO Researchers. All thousands of pages and hundreds of photos since the 50s given to the Committee are available for download in the Brazilian UFO Magazine website as well as physically at the National Archives, in Brasilia.
In late July, hundreds of papers from the Brazilian Air Force’s official System for the Investigation of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (SIOANI) have demonstrated how the nation’s military authorities dealt with the UFO Phenomena in the 60s and 70s.
The Brazilian UFO Magazine website - www.ufo.com.br - has over 1,600 pages of documents, 200 photos for download of SIOANI’s activities and Operation Saucer, carried out in the Amazonian region in 1977. Along with documents received by the Committee from other military sources.
Included in the recently revealed documents are the detailed research proceedings carried out in dozens of UFO-related incidents which had not been made public previously. Some of the colored sketches of UFO incidents investigated by SIOANI are here:
www.ufo.com.br/documentos/sioani/
www.ufo.com.br/documentos/prato/
www.ufo.com.br/documentos/extra/
www.ufo.com.br/documentos/geral/
www.ufo.com.br/documentos/anos_80/
www.ufo.com.br/documentos/novos/
Please note: Download, print, publicize and otherwise share these documents, but please do not fail to mention the source, Brazilian UFO Magazine, and emphasize that this material is public thanks to the efforts of the Brazilian Committee of UFO Researchers (CBU).
By closing, let me tell you all, as previously posted here, that the recent disclosures proves that Brazil was the first country in the world ever to officially and publicly admit the reality of the UFO Phenomena, and the first one to investigate it openly, in a not secret manner
A. J. Gevaerd,
Editor, Brazilian UFO Magazine
Coordinator, Brazilian Committee of UFO Researchers (CBU)
National Director, Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)
www.ufo.com.br
Motorist Has Near Collision With Bigfoot In Pennsylvania
Written By: Stan Gordon
Posted: 7/21/2009
A report of a possible Bigfoot encounter in Pennsylvania was received by the Sasquatch Watch of Virginia and was then referred to Eric Altman, the Director of the (PBS) Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society to investigate. The incident occurred on July 10, 2009, outside of Uniontown, in Fayette County.
On July 15, 2009, a team from the PBS traveled to the location where the reported Bigfoot encounter occurred to interview the witness and to look over the area for any possible physical evidence. The team was comprised of Eric Altman and PBS members Dave Dragosin and his wife Cindy. Eric also invited me to go along to participate in the investigation.
When we arrived on the scene, the witness and her husband were awaiting us. We went through our introductions, then walked over towards the roadway where the encounter had occurred. The location of the incident was on a two lane roadway outside of Uniontown.
It was about 6 P.M. when the event occurred, and the weather was warm and clear at the time. The witness was driving down the road about 35-40 mph, when suddenly, she caught out of the corner of her eye, a figure coming from the left side and approaching her. Her first thought was that a person was about to walk out in front of her car, and she was about to hit the subject.
She suddenly swerved over to the right side of the road, and was thankful that nobody was there. As she was making the turn, she got a good look at the figure, and suddenly realized that it was not a person, but a strange creature. As she sat there for a moment, she looked into her rear view mirror, and realized that the creature had gotten behind her car. “I looked into the rear view mirror and I saw it leap across my trunk.”
While still pulled over on the roadside, the woman remained seated in her car, trying to regain her composure. She could not believe what had just occurred. Seconds later she looked up to see the creature now on her right side running quickly down the middle of another road about 75 feet away. That was the last time she saw it. The entire incident had lasted just several seconds, but enough time for the witness to recall a detailed description of a creature which she was certain was not human, or a person in a costume.
What she saw in daylight and at very close range was a dark colored, hair covered man-like creature, which she estimated was, “at least 6 feet tall or slightly taller.” The creature, which walked upright on two legs, had a head that was said to be large and elongated, and covered with hair that just looked wild.
The neck was somewhat hard to explain since it was covered in hair. The witness said that it appeared to be thin and long. “The neck looked strange because the head was big and the shoulders were wide.” The face was mainly covered in hair, yet the area that was exposed appeared to be very white. There was hair coming out from all over the face, like that of a dog or a wolf. The nose was flat and dark, but was also mostly covered in hair. The mouth could not clearly be seen. The ears were not seen since they were covered with hair as well.
The eyes were it’s most prominent feature that really caught the witnesses’ attention. The eyes were at least twice the size of a human and circular in shape. The eyes were dark, possibly black in color, wide set, and “wild looking.” There was “no iris, no whites.” The witness thinks that is why the eyes looked so odd. The wild look and the fierceness of the eyes of the creature, scared the woman.
The creature was stocky and muscular in appearance. The chest area was described as thick and hairy. The shoulders were wide and rounded. The arms were very long, hanging down to the knees or beyond. The witness said the hair on the arms was long, like ape hair. The woman didn’t recall seeing any muscles, however, it appeared as though it was muscular, and in good physical shape.
The witness had the impression that this creature was older in age. Very little detail was observed below the waist. There was no unusual sound or odor noted during the observation. The witness did have her windows up and air conditioner on.
At the scene, Dave Dragosin sketched an illustration of the creature under the direction of the eyewitness. Eric and the witness’s husband searched a wooded area not far from the location of the encounter, but nothing of interest was found.
We also went over to examine the car. As I was looking over the car body, I noticed what appeared to be an unusual scratch mark on the trunk surface on the left side of the vehicle. I pointed it out to the others, as well as the woman and her husband. They had never seen this surface area damage before.
The affected area was about 6 inches from the left tail light to the first striation of the scratches. The scratched area was about 8.5 inches long and 2 inches wide. There were numerous vertical and horizontal very thin scratch lines that went into the paint surface. There is the possibility that this might be related to the creature’s movements as it leaped across the trunk area from that side.
It was my impression that the witness was very sincere and competent. As she described to us what she had seen and experienced that night, it was evident that she was still emotionally upset by what had occurred. The witness told me that after the encounter, she drove down the road a short distance and parked her car. She sat there thinking about what had happened. She was trying to convince herself that this was a person, but realized that it couldn’t have been.
These are her reasons why she feels it was not a human. (A) The rate of speed the figure came across into the path of her car, it didn’t care that it was going to get hit. (B) The fast movement of the creature and the way it leaped over the trunk. She also had a good look at the creature and some facial features. The eyes of the creature frightened her.
When she arrived home she waited a little while before telling her family about what she had seen. She was initially met with some disbelief from her children. Her husband listened to her and believed that she had seen something. He told her she should call the police to see if anyone else had reported something similar. The witness said she was not calling the police, concerned that she would be ridiculed.
The direction that the creature was last observed moving towards would take it into a heavily wooded area in the direction of Jammonville. There has been a long history of Bigfoot sightings being reported for many years in this same general area of Fayette County.
For information on Bigfoot sightings in Pennsylvania, visit the (PBS) website at: www.pabigfootsociety.com .
For some other interesting articles of all aspects of the paranormal you can visit Paranormal News
