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New Bufora JournalISSN 1476-5314 - January 2005 - Issue No.13
In this issue :-Men In Black on Merseyside
UFOs,Interference & Crop CirclesThe Eureka Springs UFO Conferences
Are we the Martians?
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Editorial
New Bufora Journal lssue l3 - January 2005
Welcome to the latest issue of the BUFOMJournal.
Unfortunately production problems continue toslow down the rate at which Journals areproduceo. Copy for rssue l2 was complete afew days afler tssue 11 hil doormats, but thenit was sometime in production. The copy forthis jssue was completed a couple of weeksafter issue 12 distribution. Hopefully we havenow cracked the production problems and thiswill arrive sooner.
As many of you will know it is my plan tostand down as eoilor of the New BUFOMJournal with the comptetion of issue 17. Asparl of this process I am glad to announcethat Graham lnglis has been appointedassistant editor. The ptan is that Graham willtake over as editor when I stand down.Graham curently works in the BUFOM officealongside Jon Downes and has wideexper,ence tn all aspects of magazineproductron.
This issue also contains an obituary forresearcher John Mack who was killed recenflyin a tragic accident. lt seems of late that wehave had to reporl the death of ioo manyresearchers and old friends. ln a way I guessrt shows rhat the field is maturinq (or is thatjust a polite way of saying getting otd?).
Reflecting on things, BUFORA itsetf is nowover forty years old and the subject, if we takeKenneth Arnold's report of 1947 as the start ofthe modern era, is well into middle age.
Even Steven Spielberg's film CloseEncounters of lhe Third Kind (whrch madethe Devils Tower, shown on the front coverfamous in Europe) is over 25 years old.
As we are getting older we should belooking to a younger generation to take onthe study and research. tn the forty vears ofBUFOM'S existence the access to hrghereducation has bloomed. We should belooking not only to a younger generation, butalso to a more scjentifically educatedgeneratjon to take up the batton.
By finding the nght people and giving tnernlhe right resources we will make even biggerprogress than we have made already.
As they used to say at the end of the X-filesTV programmes -
The Truth is Out lherel
Steve Gamble
The Eureka SpringsConfe rencesRendfesham Revi s itMIB come to MerUFO Reports,lnterference and CropC i r:c 1esThe Storm that wasn,T
ce Presidents Report
we are MartiansBUFORA Meet inqs
Nerv BullraJournal -lssue li Janurrr -,,,,,'
John Mack Killed
The death of Professor John Mack in a tragicroad traffic accident on 2lh Septembet 2OA4.
John lMack was professor of psychiatry atHavard Medicai School and was also famousfor his study of UFO abductees.
ln 1977 Mack won the Pulitzer Prize for hisbiography of Lawrence of Arabia "A Prince ofOur Disorder". He had attended a conferenceof the T.E.Lawrence Society in Oxford, wherehe presented hir'o papers, before travelling toLondon to visit friends.
Whilst returning from dinner at his friends hewas struck by a car in Totterldge Road andwas pronounced dead at the scene He was74.
John l\Iack was born in New York city. Afterobtaining an undergrad!ate degree at OberlinCollege in 1951 he went on to study medicineat Havard Medical School, from where hegraduated in 1955. His earLy cLinical worknvolved ihe study drearns, nighlmares and
leen suicides. lt is, perhaps, interesting thatsome features of dreams, nightmares andolher sleep drsorders ']ave some features incommon with the alien abductionphenomenon which he was later to study-
Despite the scepticism and criticism hereceived frorn some sections of the academiccomrnJ_rty Mac< carried out extensiveresearch into the UFo abduction phenomenonworking with over 200 witnesses.
He publlshed two books on his alien abductionwork, "Abduciion" in 1994 followed by"Passport to the Cosmos: HumanTransformation and Alien Encounters." Hiswork also formed the basis of a documentary"Touched" made in 2003.
Like other researchers he found that manyabductees reported heightened interest in theenvironment and increased spirituality. Healso found that very few of his abductee
sJblec:s 9'o,,ec a,-='= :'!-:' - .'
ln 1994 Harvard Llec c: S._.c s:: -: apeet co".1m,hee :c '9, €.r ','a:. s :::-::i+work. After a 14 mc.:- _!-s::::a- :-a\deterrnLned that Nfack s^:-: a: ''a: :ainvesrgale $_are!er'e ,i s-i: : . --_ _:r.vesrgariol \1ac; nas 'e: :::- :: :..atloney Roderc. [';cc.- :- -:i -:Ihe news he s rpc'iej :: :!i:: :::t : -.-as sa)'g I j:.j::ij:, -
news. I_rs s; c_ei: :si , -- ,.,:: - 'the kindest -:s' c.-::si :-:: - --: i
healf c 1'ce1s I -E.i:.: -: :-j -:.:represented n_e. y asr:- ::'s::
o","ro ""Egaa,aa
'.'r'. .ir r-'.-,'.a, -",a(6-q€o llac- s ::;:- : -_,. :: -: J.. j -:LFO rese;'c-e-s '.'::- ,< . - _ .1 . ..aslargely forgotten f l'e !.es ,c: _g:: :: i:/enout it would have been ten ye€rs e:a v,ren rt
was ralsing a fuss I th:ik i i,as -csi i.al!,usl an Jnforl-nale acc Cer,:,',-a.e 9c -e:( lrwho was tired after a long oay per-a.slooked the wrong way and didnt see a carcoming.
So desplte the efforts of his academrc cr ticsMack was somebody to stick his head abovethe parapet and be co-nted. ln assessinganybody's life you have to consider is theworld a better place for them having beenhere. Certainly Mack contributed greatly toboth his academic studies and to UFOlogy.So lthink he passes the test.
Certainly, he will be missed ln many quarters.
Steve Gemble
Betty Hill
Following the news in 2004 of the death ofveteran UFO abductee Betty Hill, there willbe more in issue 14 of this Journal.
New Bufora Journal - lssue 13 - Januarv 2005
The Eureka SpringsUFO Conferences
Norrnan Oliver
Towards the end of the 1960s, soon after I
had developed a strong interest in UFOphenomena and was actively involved withBUFOM, I began to make contact withoverseas researchers. One of the first ofthese was Lucius Farish, who, from his homein Plumerville, Arkansas has now producedUFONS - The UFO Newsclipping Serviceevery month as regularly as clockwork sincehe took it over from Rod Dyke in 1977. 'Lau',though not seeking the limelight himself, isone of the most prolific sources of informationon our subject you could ever hope to find. I
recall, for example, that he gave me outlinedetails of the Rendlesham Forest eventsbefore lwas aware that Rendlesham Foresteven existedl He is held in high regard byUFO researchers worldwide, and, indeed,must be one of very, very few ufologists (ifindeed, there arc any otheF, myselfincluded!) who I have never heard spoken ofbadly by anyone!
Following an initial two-day Conference at thetown of Eureka Springs in North WestArkansas in 1988 organised by Bill Pitts fromFort Smith, it was decided by ArkansasMUFON - the Mutual UFO Network -members and other researchers to hold asecond Conference in 1989, but this time athree-day one with a view to it becoming anannualevent. Accordingly, towards the end of1988, Lou, together with Ed Mazur (MUFON'sArkansas State Directoo and others, began toput together a major programme for 1989, thelnn of the Ozarks hotel being the venue. As itturned out, on each of the three days thercwas an audience of between two and threehundred and Conferences in later years haveraised this regularly to around four to fivehundred. The Conference also gives MUFONDirectors, particularly from the more southern
states, an opportunity for a general ,get-
togethe/ and a small conference of their
Pictures from the 1989 Conference
Top - WalterAndruslnternational Director of MI,JFON
New Bufora Journal - Issue lj - Januan lttt.tj
Pictures from top down
'1. Lou Farish in'Myrtie May's'2. Jean Siefried and Tim Good3. The New Conference Hall
It was not intended that the Conferencesshould be an outlet for scientific papersshowing how 95% of reports can be explainedaway, nor was it anticipated that thoseattending would come away having completelysolved the UFO enigma! lts objectives wereto provide a forum for dedicated researchersto present their own ideas, experiences,findings and conclusions and to provide a
diversified and ifformairve procia--e ic. aattending.
Eureka Springs itself is shuated n anextremely beauliful holiday area of the Ozarkmountains which run frorn central A*ansaswell into neighbouring Misso!n Said tohave been given its name over a hundredyears ago by a U.S. businessman whoexclaimed 'Eureka' after his son had beencured following drinking from the nu.nerouslocal sprrrgs. whrlsl Eu'exa Sor -g spopulation is only a little over hvo ihc!sand. itmakes up for that with its atiract ons. whichinclude the local 'trolley cars: the Christ ofthe Ozarks'statue 1500 feet up on lr4egneticMountain, secofld only in slze to the oneoverlooking Buenos Ayres and anamphitheatre sei into the h ls where. everynight between May and October each year. a'Passion Play similar to that ofOberammergau is re-enacted. lt also boastsmore than a dozen large modern hotels apartfrom the lnn of the Ozarks' venue bookedannually for the Conference. The fascinatingdowntown area is largely composed ofhomes and buildlngs built in, or restored to aVictorian archiiectural style. This entiredowntown shopping area is, in fact, on theU.S. National Register of Historic B!ildings
The Conference Centre, part of the lnn ofthe Ozarks complex, is only a stone's thowfrom the hotel itself with its couple of hundredrooms and has hosted the Conference eachyear from 1989 onwards with the exception of2001- ln that year, less than two monthsbefore it was due to be held, there was adisastrous fire, and whilst the lnn of lheOzarks still accommodated most of thedelegates, an alternative location centre hadto be found for the Conference itself and TheVicto.ia lnn, a few miles away wassubstituted at the last moment with very littletime to spare. A new Centre, very much onthe lines of the old one, was built just in timefor the lnn once again to be lhe venue in2002
This Conference is noted for its 'non-combative' attitude. Though its speakers
New Bufora Journal - lssue 13 - Januanv 2005
present a spectrum of ufological thoughts andbeliefs, as indeed do questioners at theSaturday night 'open' sessions when allspeakers assemble to provide - or try toprovide - answers, a'confrontational'approach is discouraged Beware adoptingone or you could find yourself barred fromfuture participation! lt is also noted for its'regulars'- speakers who have been invited toreturn year after year. Two - Linda Howe andAntonio Huneeus are, I believe, well intodouble figures on the number of years theyhave given presentatjons_ Joe Lewels of ElPaso, Texas has also been on the platform onquite a few occasions, giving talks on'lvtan'sHistorical Link to the Serpent Race'in,1996and'UFOS over Mexico'in April 2000, whilstihat veteran researcher Wendelle Slevens hasseveral times been amongst 'The PlatformParty'. I was myself the first overseasspeaker at the first main Conference in 1989and have spoken on half a dozen occasionssince as also, I believe has Tim Good. Tim,indeed, had hoped to be at that firstConference, but was working hard oncompleting one of his books at the time.From the U.K. too, Graham Sheppard andGeorge Wingfleld have both made more thana few appearances. lndeed, it's somewhat ofa standing joke that one place we are allpretty sure to run into one other is EurekaSpringsl
Retrospectively l'd have liked to have been atthat first two day 'introductory' Conference in1988 which, so to speak, 'kick-started' thewhole thjng, particularly so as the speakersthen included Charles Hickson. Hickson, youmay recall, together with Calvin Parker. hadclaimed back in October 1973, to have beenabducted into a craft whilst they were fishingtogether near Pascagoula, Mississipi. A brightobject had descended behind them , they saidand, as the craft settled down, three creaturesemerged from it and came towards them.Hickson and Parker were both'floated' intothe object and a form of medical examinationwas given to them both, a large 'eye ' devicebeing in evidence, after which they were'floated out'again.
Corroborative evidence has been lackinguntil comparatively recently and when aretked Navy Chief Petty Officer, MikeCataldo, of Rolondo West, Fla. related howhe, at the time of Hickson's pascagoulaencounter, was on the pre-commissioningcrew of the USS Tunney under constructionat lngalls Shipyard. Dusk had been settingin as he and crewmates, Ted Peralta andlviack Hanna were on US g0 heading toOcean Springs Peralta was driving andHanna was in the front passenger seat withCataldo in the back. Cataldo related, "Wesaw a very sl.ange object on lhe holzongoing 'pretty fast' from nodhwest acrossHighway 90. lt went down into a wood areaand into the marsh. lt hovered over the keeline, I guess, maybe a minute. We actuallypulled off the road and watched it..we saw it,no qlestion about it. Was it a shooting star,a meteorjte? No it was very diffe.ent."Cataldo said the object looked like a largetambourine with little lights flashing on it. "Asquickly as we saw it, it just vanished." hesaid.
The following morning Cataldo contacted hisexecutive officer on the submarine andmade a report. The next Monday hecontacted Keesler Air Force Base and lefthjs phone number. "lMy Executive Officerand crew members thought we were justlunatics", he said, "Keesler never called ordid anything... ...."
That first rhree-day Eureka SpringsConference in 19Bg will always remain in mymemory, pafticularly so as I had a luggageproblem, my cases, which should have beensent on from Dallas, not arriving atFayetteville, the airport - then - closest tothe venue. Fortunately they were retrievedthe following morning, especially fortunateas in one of them were some three or fourdozen copies of Quest lntemational, lhetoterunne( of UFO MAGAZINE, that the lateGraham Birdsall had asked me to sell anddisplay.
New Bufora Joumal lssue ]3 Januarr 1005
Piciures above
(Top) View of Conference(below) Linda Moulton Howe
Apart from myself, the 1989 line-up ofConference speakers included JimWilliamson: Robert Reid: Robert Swiatek:Rosemary Decker: Bill Clenendon: DannyGordon: Linda Howe: Antonio Huneeus: Dr.James Deardorff: Vicki Cooper, then editor ofthe US. UFO Magazine and Dan Fry. The lateCynthia Hind, that inveterate ufologist fromZimbabwe had also hoped to be present but inthe end was unable to make the journey.Though unable to attend, Time Good hadnevertheless sent over some interesting videomaterial.
I recall my introduction both to the Conferenceand the American way of life very vividly. ltwas a bright, sunny day and I'd just steppedout from my room to walk down to register atthe Conference Center some 100 yards away,
when a car pulled up beside me and speakerDanny "Don't Look Up" Gordon (he'd just hada book published with that title) from WestVirginia invited me to get in his car for a liftll've kept in touch with him from time to timesinc€ then. Danny has been the newsdirector of WWE Radio in Wytheville,Virginia since 1984 and is also the news andsports editor of The Southwest VnEniaE feprse. lvlost of his UFO experiences tookplace during late 1987 and includednumerous sightings both of saucer and c qar-shaped craft. Talks he had given aboulthese experiences, together wth medlaprobings had apparentiy res!lted in hlsoffrces being searched a-d In: rc;: ons ce,figgiven that anoiher conseqlence vr'culd bethat his phone would be tapped and his car'bugged'. He was even v.'arned lhai sho,rld hespeak at a padicular UFO Cc.fererce (notEureka Springs) he \ o! d cc.taci a sktnvirus. He was further told he was Ln dangerof being eliminated To the best of n'iyknowledge, however, he rs st I go ng stroag.though UFO expeaences a.e _o o19er 'nevidence.
Though I have since met and heard herspeak many times I v/as then rnostimpressed by Linda Holve v,hose n-depthinvestigations into cattle mutlations and theirUFO associations were as they always are,extremely detalled and lve ,docLtmented.Also she always manages to include the'human aspeq of the eaecrs of trerr varousencounters on the wtnesses themselves.Latterly, of course, she has also becomeinvolved with abduction scenarios and ever-expanding phenomenon of crop circles.
One speake. lwas particularly pleased tohear back in 19B9, since I had first met himsome twenty-five years previously when hevisited London, was Dan Fry, now regretfullyno longer with us. ln 1989 he was into his80s and had intended to talk aboutdevelopmenis in his own life since his 1950experiences, but his audience wouldn't allowhim to, inisting instead that he go over thoseexperiences in detail again.
iii:!/ff5:# l* m P;:1ru':i,"tx
miafiru:i:, ",'*ljl;tri*:*l#p';";'run,ry:*: r^l#t,:ff L T",",j;Mexrco an.oblate spheroid,about 30 feet in*l:t"l ":rilgq
on the ground more ihan rrttyreer,away Hed approached it and had been:t--l:d, to. hear a deep vorce from lhe air::"1T, fi-. say Befler nol rouch the hu pat]:.:.:tl, n9t.
.He had then been invrted by thevo,ce ,, whjch- gave the name of ,A_lan, toei]ler the craft and he'd been taken on amrny-mrnute_lone trip to the sktes of New yorh
ano back Dan claimed four contacrs wtthspace .people tn all. but lhese were very
:jl-".:."j .typ9. of experiences to the _ nowd rusr.sranoard - encounters with the .Greys..
l:_^:i:":9*"1Iv produced the masazineu-noetstanding. lhe contents of which evolvedrrom tntormalion given him on that first contactdrLu suosequentiy.
This ,1989 .
Conference took place just as theevents and photos taken at Gulf Bieeze wereg€nrng rnto the headlines and Ed Wallers _ arrnar trme just known as ,Mr. Ed.- attendedunoer-an alias. However, I met him during the:"o:t:r:n.9 and we exchanged addresses.rne_ro owng year he was. wilh his wife, to:]::i: 9: "
speaker and give a synopsis ofeveJlts that had occurred. His bo;k on the:11, yr":r" events had then atso lust beenpuorshed and laga;n had a long chal wrthnrm
lhope,to present a comprehensive artrcte onLu drru butr t,Jeeze in a forthcoming NBJ, sorfr leave detajls of Ed's experience; and the,t]11 .,n. th9 area _ which, jndeed, trkevvarmtnster is still ongoino, until then
New Bufora Journal _ Issue l3 _ Januarv 2005
Pictures from the 19g9Conference
(top to boftom)
l. Danny Gordon with JeanSiefried and friend
2. ConferenceAuditorium
3. Meeting of MUFON Directors
On this second visit to Eureka Springs in 1990
- the Conferences are always booked to beheld over the second weekend in April of eachyear, irrespective of the dates on which Eastermay fall - | found its opening was marked bythe presence of the Mayor of Eureka Springs
- Robert Schoeninger - and, when introducedby Ed Mazur, Arkansas MUFON Director, hegave a light touch to the proc€edings when,after formally welcoming delegates to EurekaSprings, he announced that he wouldcenainly arrange honorary citizenship ofEureka Springs to be bestowed on the tirstalien visiting the city - and for that alien alsoto receive a free trolley pass! (Believe me,should that alien decide to explore the city onfoot - or whatever limbs he/she/it might beequipped with, the benefit of a trolley passwould soon be discoveredl)
That year saw both George Wingfield and TimGood joining the 'regulars' for the first of theirmany subsequent appearances at theConferences, the other 'regulars' includingLinda Howe. Antonio Huneeus and myself.Probably, though, the main attraction was EdWalters on the afore-mentioned Gulf Breezeevents.
My own Conference contributjons over theyears have included talks covering the SouthWales 'Flap' of 1976: the Winchesierencounters of Joyce Bowles and Ted Pratt:Brilish contacts and entity encounters ingeneral and latterly making a presentation ofthe controversial Mind Control/Time Travelclaims centred on l\,4ontauk and its allegedconnection with the Philadelphia Experimentwhere the U.S.S Eldridge was said to havebecome involved following invisibilityexperiments. Since 2000, also, Larry Dale, aformer BUFOM National lnvestigations Co-ordinator and close friend who gave meconsiderable assistance when ledited theJournal in the 70s and early 80s himself had aseries of skange experiences at his home in
Thailand. These had occurred next to thehouse I had myself lived for several years in
during the mid-gos. and I made hisexperiences the subject of talks at a couple ofSunday morning 'mini-sessions' in 2001 and2003. These were also featured at length in
Neu,Bufora Journal lssue li Januan lutt:
the October 2001 issue al The BuiaGBulletin when it was under the ediiorship ofBrian James
Esen Sekerkara (above)at the 2003 Conference
These Sunday morning 'minisessions' at theConferences are always devoted to shoftpresentations of anything fiom ten minutes tohalf-an-hour's duration- They can be aboutpersonal experiences: investigaiions ofreports that do not warrant a full 'session':reports from MUFON State Directors and soon. One such experience - I believe at the'1996 Conference - has always stuck in mymind....-
I cannot now recall the name of the speaker,but he was an ex army 'recovery' man, andhe related an incident he had been called outto.
New Bufora Journal - Issue l3 Januan, 2005
A householder had been sitting in his loungewatching TV when he heard a 'crack'and around object about the size of a tennis ballshot through his roof and ceiling, landing on acarpet. Tentatively, he approached it and wasastonished to find it was not even warm. Onattempting to lift it up, though, he found thiswas impossible since, despite its small size hecouldn't move it. This was even moreremarkable since it was resting on the pile ofthe carpet and making no impression on it.
Fudher attempts proving futite, he contactedthe authorities the result being that ourspeaker turned up in a heavy duty recoverykuck complete with various forms of liftingequpiment. Eventually the 'tennis ball, wasretrieved by the lifting gear, though not beforea window and a large pa( of a wall of theunfortunate recipient's home had had to beremoved. The 'ball'was then driven back tothe Army depot.
Enquiries regarding its whereabouts and whathad happened to it were met with theresponse, 'lt's been laken away for laboratoryexamination' and noihing more was everheard of it. One has to wonder exacfly how itWAS examined! Whether true, false or amixture of both, ihe account was certainlywell-presented and fascinating.
Over the years The Conference has hostedmany well-known speakers from a number ofdifferent countries including Russia andTurkey, one from this latter country, EsenSekerkarar, giving an informative talk in 2OO3on everls occurring lhe.e over lhe prev;ousfew years which have included many differenttypes of UFO incidents and multiple repodsfrom Turkish Airline Pilots
It isn't, though, only the speakers that are ofinterest. Many of those who attend have hadstrange experiences of all descriptionsthemselves and, indeed. it is often of interestto follow up other'leads'. ln the lower areabelow the Confercnce theake there arealways many vendors displaying all types ofUFO and UFo-associated material frombooks to statuettes and badges. ltwas here
that, at the Conference in 2001 lfirst cameacross ieafleis about Bob White,s UFO'Museum of the Unexplained'in ReedsSpring, Missouri in which, amongst manyother exhibits is an artifact picked up by Bobfollowing a UFO experience. (An adicte inNAJI, Aptil 2002 coverc the events in theirentirety).
Jean and Richard Siefried, both forme.MUFON State Directors have, I thinkaitended every Conference and they alsohost one of the numerous book and otherstands in the lower vendors' area. Richardhimself spoke in 1990 about a time-tapseexpenence he had had when out on amountain trip (The Steen lvlountainOdyssey) and he is also tne author ofsevera booKs On 2/i Aprit 2002, both heand Jean were the recipients of what musthave been the first 'blow-by-blow' account ofthe sighting of an unknown craft.
Bob White's UFO Museum
These are excerpts from an e,mail they sentme the following day. (See A/8J3 Augusf2002farthe fu account)
28/4/02. 20.42.24 GMT Daylight Tine
'Last night (Aptil 27,2OO2) about 10.45, I
received a call from Mr. X, one of my UFOwatchers. He was out at Grand Lake O'TheCherokees in NE Oklahoma observing a UFO.He gave me a blow-by-blow description of\,r?hat he was seeing...
'lt was a round object hoveing just above theshoreline and about 100 teet inland......... TheUFO appeared to have a rcw of rcund poftalsrcund the outer edge spaced maybe 10 feetapaft. Oddly, they were nat lit up......... lt hada red battam and blue top, a possib/ereflection of red and blue lights rcvolvingrcund it. He was obseNing from a hilloverlooking a latge cove on the lake TheUFO was below him. He watched balls oflight come out of a hole that opened in the topof the object. They ziz-zagged back and fotlhalong the edge of the water......... ... ... thelaryer UFO followed, then moved away about500 feet back from the shore. When at theeasten point of the cove the big one movedtowards then over the balls. Then he said,'Hold lt! lt's coning in to pick them up. Therethey go. They're going straight into the thingfrcm the bottom...up into it. Oh, oh, it'sleaving. lt's going up.........
(By this tine Richard and I had reached outfrcnt porch). Mr.X said, 'Look just to the left ofthe Big Dipper. lt's almost gone.' We wereIooking by then ... ... Suddenly we saw aslow but shotl 'strcbe-quality' flash. Then, 10seconds later, another one just higher andfufther nofth than the lirst. Then, 5-7 secondslater, anothet......... Mt. X was exclaimingsomething with each blink, JUSI AS WEWERE. We werc obviously watching thesame thing from some hundted milesdistant.........(Repoft by Jean and Richard Sieftied)
ln the course of my six or seven visits toEureka Springs, l've me t many people with
New Bufora Journal Issue l3 - January 2005
thoughFprovoking ideas and experiencesincluding - aside from those alreadymentioned, Dolores Cannon, \rho gave a newtwist to the numerous 'translators' of theNostradamus'Centuries' and'Quatrains'byclaiming actually lo have met a 'time-travelling' Nostradamus - or maybe one'alive and well in his own linear trme'as issuggested in Jory Sherman's Foreword toDolores' 1989 book Conversations withNosttadamus: In this, Dolores explains thatNostradamus was speaking from HIS time ioOUR time, warning us aboul wherc and howwe should concentrate our energies dunlgthe next fifty years or so to curtail some ofthe more disastrous events.
To quote Dolores: "..Nostrcdamus believed.as I da, in the theory of'probable futures ofnexus on the lines of time wilh many possiblecourses branching off in all dircctians l-iebelieved that it man had the knawledge hecould see which time line his future wesheaded down and reverce it before it \ras laalate.'
John Foster of Lincoln, Neb.aska wasanother extremely interesting personality. Hrsexperiences were somewhat reminiscent ofthe returning memories of those invoved rn
the claimed time{ravel events at MontaukNot even previously interested in UFOS orAliens he suddenly had a 'total recall oinumerous meetings with various races ofaliens. He has produced iwo fascinatingfully- illustrated CDs. about his experiencesHowever, unlike the Montauk suavivors'whose memories returned over a period oftime, his own came so suddenly andcompletely that for some months he wasoverhelmed by them and could only g.aduallyassimilate their implications and 'tie them up'with previously known events.
I also enjoyed meeting up with LindaEastburn, of the Midwest Research Societywhose own particular interest is RemoteViewing. The Midwest Society holds monthlymeetings covering a variety of subjects andshe invited me to speak a couple of times at
l0
New Bufora Jounral Issue l3 - Januarv 2005
the Societys meeting ptace in Springtretd,Missouriwhitst I was visiting tn the area.
Staying on occasion with author Norm Markand his wife in Cassville, Missouri atsoprovided me with the opportunity to visit BobWhite's Museum al Reeds Spri;g previouslyrelerred to, as well as an attempt one eveningto see The Joptin Lights'. These, the sublectof one of the talks in 2003, have beenobserved for many years in a particular ruralarea on the borders of lvlissou.i andOklahoma some miles south-west of the townof Joplin maybe for as many years as lhetsrown lvlountarn lrghts rn the Blue Ridgelvlountains of North Carohna. sightings ;fwhich pre-date l8OOl Vrsitinq the Jioorrn areaone. night we found an atmosphererem,niscent of the Warmrnster skVwatches rnlhe 60s and 7Os. One enthusrast armed witha telescope ard other equ.pment had regularlybeen vtsittng there for over ten years andcla,med thal. on one occas;on, a silverv ball oflight had zoomed only a few feet aoove rheheads of lhose watching more or lessfollowing the tine of the hedge at the s,de.Others had seen unexplatned lights rn varioJsconlrgurattons on a rumber of occasions.lndeed, coasting atong on a downhi slopewith all lights off we ourselves saw a numberof unusual lights the source of which we couldnot identiry.
.When in Springfietd tdid, atso. attempt tolocate the site of the unique 1897 Adam andtve encounter with a craft and occupantsclaimed by a Mr. Hopkins at that tjme. (Seethe full account in NBJ2. June 2002). We|', Imay have done so, but if Is where I lhink itcould have been, then the site's now occupiedby a Walmartll
UFOS aside, having visrred many of theattractions in the Eureka Springs area itself, Ican personally recommend, in addition tothose previously mentioned, a visit to suchatkactions as the Onyx Cave, with itsstalagmites and stalactites: a short trip on thethree or four-mile length of the Eureka Springsand North Arkansas Raitway (the onlypassenger raikoad you'll find anywhere inArkansasl) and a trip to the BeaveiDam wdh
a two-hour hire of a boat to explore thelakes. Any of these and many more will fillup whatever spare time you may have whilstaftending the Conference. For meals,Mydie
_ Mae's restaurant and take_away,
which forms part of the lnn of the Ozarksrecreation area is to be rccommended, asalso_is a weekend evening get_togethe/ ofuonlerence attendees at the 'Lone Star Bar,in the lnns compound. When in Arkansas,however, beware. Though it isn't the casein Eureka Springs rtsetf, in many of rtscountres one might think they were back inthe 1920s for lhey are 'dry and no fiquorwill be solo anywherel lndeed, in someareas of both Arkansas and lvlissouri evendancing may be banned!
When you re catching the plane back fromNodhwest Arkansas- the airporl currenllyserv,ng lhe Eureka Spfings area _ rememberthat. prior to his eteclion, George Bush hadpromised to reveal ,the truth about UFOS,,since, on November 5lh. 2002, I received ane-mail from UFO researcher Charles Hufferwhich ran as follows -
Today, as this afternoon 4 November 2002,President George W. Bush attanded aRepubJican Campargn Rally at theNorthwest Arkansas Regional Airport (XNA)ln northwest Arkansas. Afler the rally wasover, while on lhe way to Air Force One,President Bush shook hands with some ofthe people at the rally. lvly hand was one ofthose. I took the opportunity to remindPrestdent Bush that he had promised MEover two years ago that he would tell us thekuth about UFOS. I then asked if heintended to keep that promise. Heanswered'YES'
Unfaftunately, this tine ldid not have myrecodet with me, so lhe repod is no belterthan hearsay. BUT IT DID HAppEN."
So - if you're able to vrsit any of the futureL;onterences at Eureka Springs, enjoy themas much as I have you ll be glad you went,even. if it isnt quite the same as being inNew York or Californie!
ll
Neu Bulola Journal - Issue li Januarr l00i
Rendlesham RevisitedMichael Lewis
Saturday 14 August saw a bold BUFORAinitiative in the form of a field kip toRendlesham in the company of Larry Warren,the former US air force policeman whowitnessed the landed UFO in RendleshamForest in '1980.
Old hands will recall the furore generated bythis case and the involvement of BUFOMinvestiqators Dot Street and Brenda Butler.BUFORA devoted mLrch time and attention tothe case, and the investigation was detailed in
Jenny Randles' book "Skycrash". One of theproblerns with the case was ihe veil of secrecywhich descended once enquiries began to bemade. Larry Warren returned to the Stateswhere he was questioned and threatened notto reveal what he had seen. Local witnesseswere told not to reveal what they had seenand even given inducements to move awayfrom the area. Over the years it becameincreasingly difficult to distinguish fact fromfiction.
Larry Warren returned to England and co-authored a book "Left at East Gate", but hadlargely withdrawn from the lecture circuit untilpersuaded by BUFOM to retlrn toRendlesham.
Thus ii was that a parly of members set ouifrom Central London in a minibus chauffeuredby John Wickham, and headed for ihe CherryTree pub at Bromeswell in the forest, wherethey were joined by other members from farand near. Then it was on lo Beniwaters AirBase for Larry's talk. This featured a Sci-Fichannel documentary on Rendlesham whichfor once poatrayed the case in a favourablelight. The talk enabled those present toassess the credibility of the witness at firsthand, and immediately many preconceptionsfell away. Although Larry's outgoingpersonality was apparent, it was pretty clearthat here was an honest man trying to come toterms with what had been a traumaticexperience. I for one would not doubt hissincerity.
During the ta k lhere was a dramatrc rncLdentwhich unfoatunately I drd not wtness. as I
was listening intently to Larry. A ba of light.about the size of a tenns ba . swept in anarc over Larry, and was !r tfessed by severalmembers of the large audienc€ who gasp-adaudibly. The blinds to the windows weredown, in order to keep the sun frorninterfering with the viewing of the vdeo so itdoes not seem likely to have been areflection from outside. To explaln thLs light Iwould be necessary to try io rep ceie ihelight conditions, but there was io i re i.r th sas the party decamped to the icres: r,rereLarry Warren rekaced hs sieas ar ihetfateful night.
It was a revelation lo r_ear a ca:; er ;:co-_(of whal happened rrar -.0'i :': sa::-cincident, as Larry worked a sl i s!s:e.' a.dwas not on duty the night oi the irs: a.c rclThe intense aciivity if the forest. the stranqelighls from two different ianol.c sies a
carne vividly 10 life. Larry was prese.: a: ireCapel Green site and saw a br ll anily :it ccneshaped craft Ln a freld ai case c.afiersLights were darling ro!nd rt Tcp c:icers frcmlhe base we'e p-eser: ;-c ,f i :i,rcsemerged fiom the craft. lvent to meei themAt this stage lesser ranks \1'ere orcjered backinto the forest and Larry saw no more He fe tthai the officers were acirng eccording to aprotocol, which implies th s was nct the firstcontact.
lMeafwhile, things were happening in theforest. An airman i. a vehicle saw a llghtcoming towards h m and a flgure appeared tofloat through the w ndscreen. which theairman smashed in his panic Another alrn'rangrappled with a flying metaLic object whichswooped low over the track. Larryemphasized the psychoLogical effect thisincident had on base personnel, and how theauthorities had used a truth drug and othertechniques to ensure they had full details ofwhat had happened that night. Needless tosay all witnesses were told to forget whatthey had seen. Larry himself left the air forceafler two years, and after the passage ofsome tlventy four years now talks freely of his
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New Bufora Jourrral - Issue
experiences. lf you are interested in learningthe full story, read his book "Left at EastGate", published by Marlowe of New York .
It is fitting that BLJFORA should be behind thislatest initiative, as the association has alwaysbeen to the fore in investigating this case andinforming its members of what is known.Critics of BUFOM take note! lt was certainlyan eye-opener and demonskates how unwiseit is to make judgments from an armchair! lnmy opinion there is a smoking gun here, andmore revelations may follow as interest grows.
Watch this space......
lll .lanuar-v 2005
Uft}r and theFfl lilTEnfRCC
lnterfaceBy Manfred Cassirer,
Stephen Gamble,Elsie Oakensen and
John Spencer
ln this publication, (shown left) fourconkibutors - all of whom havedifferent backgrounds and viewpointsinto the subject - have assembledcurrent ideas on the possibleinteraction/crossover between UFOrepofts and PSI experiences.
lManfred Cassirer presents a
research paper UFOS and thePSI lnterface - in whichexamines the main theoriesrevolving around the subjects.
Stephen Gamble (who hascarried out many roles forBUFORA) compares UFO andPsychic Entities.
Elsie Oakensen (a felowexperiencer) describes Life Aftera UFO Close Encounter - andthis inclLrdes life-changingevents.
John Spencer (Renownedauthor, and BUFORA's Directorof Research) examines anddiscusses UFOS and lheParanormal lntedace.
Copies are available at €7.50 incp&p.
Send cheques, postal orders or lMCs
(payable to "BUFORA Ltd")
13
New Bufora Joumal - Issue l3 - Januarv 2005
Men in Black come to Merseyside manner, to get the witness to inform otherc oftheir experience, a strong method an whichthe content of the story stands out so muchthat people will take notice. Their visit is ameans to inform others of its existence andthat it is real. Whether it is ext€terrestriat ornot is another question.
ln recent years, the public were exposed to ablockbuster movie that carried the veryname, Men in Black. Here, we have an ulkasecret US Government organisation whoseagents' sole purpose was to protect the earthfrom aliens and ensuring that those aliensliving here on Earth obeyed the law and keptthe peace. Actors Will Smith and Tommy LeeJones played the characters K and J lndeedthese two characters were portrayed as belng'cool'. The film's publicity had a great key trne'They are our best, last, and onty tine ofdefence. They work rn secret and tre dress rnblack.' Only the latter part of that phrase boreany sort of resemblance to those apparen ygenuine reports of these frightenlng vrsitors
lvllBs have come io our attention as early asthe 1950s, a few years after the flrst nuctea.bomb was tested and the Second World Wardrew to a close. The world was to take a bigstep into the future; it had entered thenuclear age and the decades of spaceexploration to follow. lt can sound veryexciting, but it must have been stigh yfrjghtening too. A war has ended that haskilled millions of people, and atmost everyoneelse was living off food ration, clothing and oilcoupons to survive. A war ending rneant thatcountries could stad rebuilding. especiallythose in the West, it also meant that theworld could begin to prosper again, but not inan atmosphere of'peace'as we know ittoday.
As the world came away from the SecondWorld War, the LJSA also entered into a ColdWar, and a social era of anti-Communismbegan (commonly known as the l\,,lccarthyEra). Here, it was feared that the promotionof communism was threatening the existenceof democracy and the American way of life.Whilst many were being persecuted for being
Tony Eccles
(notes taken from the book'A Different Sky'by Tony Eccles 2003, Bluecoat Press)
One of the most intriguing aspects of the UFOphenomenon is where entities pretend toresemble human beings and they appear co-incidentally when people report seeing UFOs.Here lies a particularly sinister alien relatedphenomenon, and often, it becomes anunwanted visitor. The 'aliens' I am going to betalking about here, are better known as theMen in Black (or MIB). The Men in Blacknormally come to pay a visit to UFOwitnesses, either at their home or by'bumping'into them in the street. Just as they appearout of nowhere, they also mysteriouslydisappear. Their clothes are generally black,so too are their hat, trousers, jacket and tie.They seldom appear alone. They d.jve blackvehicles. Their appearance is strikingly odd,as is their behaviour in front of the witnessthey are visiting- lt has been reported that theyappeared with facial make up as if trying tohide somethrng from their visitor At times, rnWest Virginia for example, they weredescribed as looking oriental with a dark oliveskin. Their actions, at times stiff like or robotic,suggest that they are not at all human, justpretending to be like one. Their behaviour anddress mode could all be faked, by why gothrough so much effort to scare a witness andthe answer is basically simple, anything thatlooks odd and acts different is noticed more orless immediately and this itself can providethe fear, it is psychological.
It seems as though the purpose of the MtB isto terriry the witness into keeping silent so thatthey refrain lrom talking about their UFOsighting. This is usually accomplished bythreatening the witness. Believe it or not,terrjfied UFO witnesses have actually reportedthe sudden appearance of these MlBs sincethe 1950s. lt seems so odd that in the end thewitnesses do talk about their unwelcomevisitors, it is as if whatever force is lurkingbehind the [/]lB is trying, in a very indirect
t4
members of the Communtst party or shaang acommuntsl ideal. a small number of peopjew€re.also b€comtng vtclims of governmenlsurverllance for lherr beliel in flylng saucers, oroecause.they had claimed to ha-ve observed
:,:::l..tl"-": craft themsetves. Norma y. aur\J wttness does not undergo any form ofsr]rver an^ce. but from the tate j94Os throughlo Ihe 1960s the US and Bntjsh Governmentswere,con_cerned This concern was due Io arear th.at flying saucers were Russian tn origrnano rr lhts was tr,Je then the USA had to f,nd away ot prevenling these new secret weaponsrrom penelrating US arrspace. The USAwanted to sloo the Soviet Union frorn:,:comtng. a dominant woy'd power, and onernar woutd threaten the groMh of the usA. ttwas a real world of susptcton and cloak anooagger. lf we went oack lo that tjme then wewouto notice how dtfferent lhe attitude wastnen
lnitially, the US Government asked theagencies of the Federal Bureau of':^"^"_rll9"l.l dnd the Centrat tnte ,gence
il^"111? took ,nlo UFO s,sht,nss( l) ano roi\e!l, o.eLrcr eye on w[nesses (it was norrnal]:1.._an-,1.:n.gn c(rzen ro reporl anylh,ngunusuat tO the local sne.lff, army or air torceDase. thus making it easy for Ihe aLfhor,lres toKn-ow who the witnesses are). Especially asl::_y,t1."". might possess vitat inteltigencer ormatton
,regardtng these suspicious flyjngsa]Jcers. What made things worse ior the::uullr9ll was that crewrnen and ofricersrj:ln th: us mrtitary were atso makrnq vrsuatano radar sighlngs of UFOS themselv;s. Thelyrng saucer was percetved, at first, to be atnreat lo national security. What the USgovernment could nol le lhe public was thatl. y3" u"ry interested in the ftyinq saucer:iS.IlS:,""d that rt was rahen as ierior,sry.rryrng Saucers were g,ven a hign prionty;
l:lo,T?tlon about it remained top;cret, untrtrne oigtns of the flying saucer could bedetermined.
UFO investrgators and witnesses djd not knowwnat to believe the MlBs were, etthergovernment agents trying to conceal secretmxrtary exp€riments or ET force trying tocover up alien activity. The frrst explanationseems to offer more of a rational explanation,
New Bufora Journal - Issue l3 Januan, 2005
the,latter does not. However, in some caseswe nave documented evidence to show thatwrnesses were interviewed by intelligenceottrcers, especraJly in the lhis country(2j
1|'i:. " ln" sort of background we areoeattng wilh when we come to discuss thexrst appearance of those mysterious Men inbracx their hlslory appears in a number oi9!oo pubtjc€tjons(3) and it seems obvjousthat the MIB ts seen as an Amelcanpnenomenon. but rr ts nol. The l,|B has9e:n .seel in different parts of the wortdrncluding Russja and France
Here is the perfect oppoduntty for me loorscUss one case from the lvlerseysrde arearhrs rare case begrns on i summer3T:-991 of tgz8, on the beach at Westllif'I; !!"t.n9oo_"neo on that day was keprrota y^secret fo. foudeen years. it was onlyrn. 1992 when James garttev wasrnlervrewed for the fi.st time by ; tocatrnvest galor narred Mark Glove.. Jamesro{rno nts ctrcumstances frightening and sourusuat thdl he totd his famrly an; fnendsor]I wanled no aflention from newspapers. tnNrarKs case preamble he wfites, ,,,n
thjscase we have ,f trLre elements that at ft|st:9n1.""-"-I to ind;cate the so cal'ed .tvten
rnBlack (MlB) phenomenon being involveO orrmpxcated.
1:T:: *"" eteven years oid at the rrme,ano ne remembers taking his dog for a watkr{_was a hot sunny summer day and the skywas a wonderful blue. lt must have been twoor three in lhe afternoon heat and Jameswas watking along the promenade. Walkingarong rts length, James spotted a bearded1"11. u"lig a pair of brnocutars, he wasnorotng lhem looking out lowards the sea.James descrjbes this man as being an oldeaman rn hjs late.thidies and he wajvery tall,o_ver stx teet in height and his skin wasiuiterrecKry. James clearly recalls what the manwas wearing because he thouqht heappeared quite odd. The man put d;wn hisornocutars and turned his head, he wasrooKtng n0ht at James
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New Bufora Joumal - Issue '13 Januarv 2005
The man called over to him, beckoned him tocome over and look through his binoculars, forhe was looking at something strange in thesky,
James approached the man and peeredthrough the man's binoculars, it was no tric*.for his sight was directed to a point where astrange silver ball was hovering over WestKirby beach. After a few minutes the objectappeared to shoot straight up into the sky atan incredible speed. James watched as thesilver ball reappeared. James described theball's movement as joli like. The silver ballcontinued to hover for a few minutes before itzoomed across the sky to the boy's left handJleld oi view. The ball then returned to itsoriginal position, hovering over a rocky islandnot far away. lt began to change colour from asilver hue to a reddish green and then itsuddenly shot straight upwards into the sky.James then felt a strong unexplainable urge towalk over to one of the nearby rock islandscalled the Red Rock. This island is one of anumber of sandstone rocks, which isaccessible on foot once the tide has gone out.The older man, who was still standing next tohim, wanted to go along with him.
For no apparent cause, James's attention wasdrawn to lhe road behind him. To his surpise.he saw three cars nearby parked close to thekerb; these were old Jaguars and very officiallooking. A man got out of the nearest car andwalked towards the young boy. James's dogbegan to bark furiously at this man. He did notsay much, James wasjust intrigued and, atthe same time, frightened by a man who waswearing a black suit. James noticed that theman's grey hair was all neat and combedback, he also had pale skin, but James makesa point of recalling that what frightened himwas that the strange man towered above him,his eyes were very odd, the man in blackappeared to have make up around his eyes.This man, then told James in a very senousmanner, that he'had best go home.'
James headed towards the island, and startedmoving quickly away from the skange manover the sand. With him was the man with thebinoculars. They both approached the island,
but to their dismay the situer ball was not inview. When they returned to the promenade,both the cars and the Man in B{aci( weregonel James went home, but he had noticedsomething else, his watch was not wofting, ithad stopped some twenty rninutes after hisUFO sighting!
ln the nights that followed, James L€gan toexpenence disturbing drearrs: ever s'ncethat night I have had recurring dreams ofnuclear explosions over Liverpool andBirkenhead...and as it happens. Ifeel myselfburning as ltu.n away (l seem to be in a highposition). lknow tlat thrs rs no ordr,rarydream because it is so. so rcal "Many close encounter witnesses havedescribed these very visiofs, eitherappearing in their dreams or they wereactually shown the devastation of nuclearwarfare on smallTV like monitors during theirclose encounter. Scenes such as these weremore popular in the early 50s and 60s whenthe possibility of nuclear warfare wasbecoming more of a reality. This is not acoincidence, ihere is a genuine underlyingreason for this, a fear of world destructionwas being carried on a huge scale in societyall around the world. It is the iniensity of thisfear that may have triggered such 'contactee'or close encounter experiences.
Furthermore, what makes James's MIB caseso interesting is that area of his sightingconsisls of sandstone, which also contains anumber of fault linesl As we have seen, it isnot only the UFO sightings that take placenear to fault lines, now close encountersoccur very near to some of these geologicalfaults too! Does ihis mean that the land itselfis causing people to hallucinate? Despitetests conducted on the sides of the braincalled the temporal lobes to see if bystimulating these with an electro-magneticfield has produced some symptoms, whichcould be described as paranormal, ldo notthink the land creates false images in thebrain. ldo believe that a new unknownenergy may be being generated far below ourfeet and that lhis, when released, may be
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New Bufora Journal - Issue 13 - Januarv 2005
responsible for also creating close encounterevents. I feel that this may be done by aperson feeling unknowingly drawn to alocation just prior to this energy release. Oncethe energy is free it interacts with the pe6onand opens up a door of new expeiences tothem. These experiences are completely realbut do not belong to our time or our space, thewitness may actually be drawn into anotherreality, another plane of existenc€ for a shorttime only. Why? I cannot answer that,however, when I look back into Britain's pastof certain tracts of land being revered orrespectfully believed to be sacred, thingsmake a lot more sense. I can only briefly statehere that one must turn their attentlon toancient customs and folklore to provide someof the many needed answers.
There is one intriguing element about the [/]lBthat I have touched upon, that the MIB is not anew phenomenon that began in the TwentiethCentury but one that may have its roots in thehistorical past and, of course, folklore. Themost famous past connection begins with thelate Nineteenth Century sightings of acreature called Spring Heeled Jack. Thjs verystrange malignant black creature was oftenseen attacking young women and thenescaping all forms of capture by taking greatbounds and leaps onto people's houses. Thisreminds me of the story where the Devil hadallegedly visited Devon when people haddiscovered a single set of hoof prints that wenteverywhere, including over the roofs ofpeople's houses. Sightings of Spring HeeledJack in Liverpool co-incidentally took placeduring the Jack the Ripper murders. I feel thata horrendous real event was being highlightedby a real supernatural event, which took placemore or less at the same time.
lf we go back further into Britain's history thereare those people who were believed to havebeen witches. Witch hunting also created asense of paranoia in society, and an unnaturalfeeling of suspicion and fear, the perfectatmosphere for the paranormal and closeencounters to exist. Few people who really didconfess that they lived according to the oldways, had always made claims that theybelonged to a secret coven of witches who
met in the woods and were led, by noneother, than a Man in Black, who wasbelieved to be the Devil. There he wouldcommand them and give them powers. Hewould appear for the nightly ceremony and,when it ended. the Man in Black wouldsuddenly disappear going to the plac€ fromwhence he came- One of the Somersetwitches in 1664 confessed that after beinganointed with a specially prepared oil for theSabbat that she had "'been carried to theplace of their meeting,' and that at the endof the assembly. their leader, the lran inBlack, departed and 'the rest were on asudden conveighed to their homes."'(4) Thissounds remarkably similar to what peopterefer to today as an 'abduction.' I wonder ifthe Liverpool witch Widow Bridge, who livedin Castle Street in 1667, had the same sortof experiences?(5)
However, this is one clear example of arecorded incident where a 'witch' is speciallychosen. prepared for the witches mainceremony to meet her supernatural leaderand is returned to her home, as if by magic,a pattern reflected by people's experiencesof today. I wonder indeed if people hadclose encounter experiences then with MlBsand believed them to be related to the Devilthan creatures from space. And if they alsohad psychic abilities is it no wonder that theybelieved themselves to be witches aswitches were thought of as people who hadremarkable, even frightening, powers. Theywere feared more than respected, and oftensocial outcasts, again very similar to howabductees may feel today. The suggestionhere is that some of those people who werebelieved to be witches may have actuallybeen unwittingly in contact with another formof intelligence; at that time it wasmisperceived as being the Devil.
lvlaybe these few people were thecontactees of their time. lt just maybepossible that those same types of peopleexist in our world today and they are notlabelled as witches (nor should they be) butare now labelled abducteesl
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New Bufora Journal - Issue l3 January 2005
The Man in Black exists in other parts of theworld and rn other forms too. ln the Chrapasregion of Mexico, the Tzeltal Maya ofTenejapa in Mexico have, for many years,repoded confrontations with a frighteningblack entity. Apparently, it has been obseNedimmediately after strange ljghts haveappeared in the sky.(6) According to localstories, this creature has been observed onnLrmerous occasions, one such peculiar lightwas following a lone man, which was only fivefeet away. The man readied his machete and,after several attempts, finally managed toplunge his blade through the sphere. All thatremained, after his strike, was a substancecomposed of ash. These creaturcs have beenknown to attack and frighten people. Reportsclaim that these beings resemble small blackhairy humanoids. Witnesses say that theyhave encountered these creatures flyingaround propelled by a form of rocket on thelrback. lt is claimed that some people haveoften felt paralysed when they encounteredthe lhk'al, very much akin to the CloseEncounter tales of Europe that I investigate.Furthermore, and more disturbingly, the lhk'alstories also include tales of these creaturescarrying off small children and animals to theirlair, a similar event to the abduction story ofpeople who believed they are being takenagainst their will and into a spaceship. Thephysical locations may differ but theprocesses involved are not.
To us here in the West, this sort of story colldsound absurd. but no more absurd than talesof flying saucers and Men in Black. And yet inthe highly developed first world countries suchas the the United Kingdom these stories arebeing related as actual experiences in lheTwenty Fi.st Century. However, the lhk'al isnot out of context for Mexico. ln fact it is quiteappropriate, for these stories may also havethek origins in the ancient mythology of theMaya. The creature itself is believed by peopleto come from a place outside of this world.According to one piece of literature there wasa spate of lhk'al sightings around the mid-,l940s, possibly at a time when KennethArnold observed his unusual aircraft in1947.(7)
Just as the lhk'al probably has its roots inNlayan mythology, the Man in Black of theWestern Woald may have rts roots inwitchcraft and the numerous early medievalfolklore stones of Bfitarn lf we look ar faeries,they were in themselves a reflection ofhuman beings, therc were good faeries andbad faeaies. These faeries were often blackand lived in the heart of a forest or largecaves underground where they would takeseduced and kidnapped people. There is alsothe added warning that if a person wasoffered faerie food and they ate it then theywould remain in the fairy land forever. Thefaerie tales were obvrously stofies forchildren, similar to the Mexican lh'kal. wherethey would present tales of rnorals andguidelines for behaving in society. However, I
feel that there is somethrng eise happenrnghere for the stories of encounters wrlh faer,esbears an uncanny resemblance 10 loday'sencounters with aliens. I am mereiysuggesting that these magical creatures werclike the Men in Black oftoday, they were realbut they belonged to another reality, clearlynot of this Earth, but not from a distant galaxyeither. They belong to the Earth itselfl
To be honest, I cannot be certain if this latterstatement has any basis in fact or not. lnfact, I decided to contact the anthropologistwho was told these stories when he wasresearching the Maya language in theChiapas region of Mexico. His name is BrianStross, a Professor of Anthropology at lheUniversity ofTexas. His research began backin 1967, and he is not alone in collectingsuch stories of the lhk'al(8), or Black Man.The Mazatecs of Oaxaca in Mexico, andoiher Maya, such as Tzotzil, and have theirown Black Man stories. Siross believes thatTzelial people have spoken of the lhk'al forhundreds of years at least, maybethousands. He says 'lvly reason for this beliefis the widespread incorporation of similartypes of small and often black beings into theoral narratives of many American lndians(not to mention into the stories of many otherpeoples of the world).'
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New Bufora Joumal Issue 13 - January 2005
ln the same way that lam making aconnection with the modem interpretation ofthe Man in Black with the witchcraft Black Menof the Seventeenth Century I am comparingthe lhk'al stories of today to those ancientbeliefs in Mexico, and the comparisons arerelatively similar. The comparisons relate notto the physical descriptions of the creature,but to the significance and beliefs in whatthese creatures represent to the culture lhesepeople belong to. I have claimed that humanbeings have never changed throughouthistory, only technology advances, and thebelief systems employed with the Men rn
Black have never really changed, it rs onlytheir image that adapts to cultural perception
There is another added element to the Man rn
Black and his connection to the occult. thesmell of sulphur. ln a number of reports thewitness has often smelt something strikinglypungent in the air when the MIB leaves thehome of the witness. lt is either described assmelling like sulphur or like ozone, and thesesmells are also connected with unexpectedencounters with the Devil. Are the [IlBdemonic? I accept that the Men in Blackphenomenon, like encounters with allegedalien beings, belong to a game ofdeception inwhich we humans are ones being deceived,and that we are the pawns in a cosmic game,of which we know little about. ln my view, itmay not be a good idea to search for a CloseEncounter, it may be wise to avoid one.
So what do researchers, such as myself, try tostudy if science has not found the much-needed data in trying to solve the UFOenigma? lfeel that the best science begrnswith the amateur, look at many of the scientificdisciplines from archaeology to physics; thesesubjecis began with the work of many anamateur. Unfortunately, whatever science liesbehind the UFO subject, it has yet to bedeveloped properly for it is still in its infantstage. Since the late 1940s, only small piecesof true science have emerged, such asearthlights and ball lightning, so it will be awhile before the scientific community has yetto be convinced. Matters are also made worseby the media who often sensationalise andpromote the poor understandino of the
subject. So really there is still a lot morework that needs doing before anytrcmendous breakthroughs are made
lnitial investagations tended to focus onthe UFO itself and there were manyattempts at trying understand how thesealien craft worked. there were a number oftheories put forward to explain how lhefipropulsion systems worked. The majorproblem with this method of anvestigationis that we do nol have access to aphysical alien craft, something tangiblyreal that scientists could study. Any usefulinformation comes from the witness'sstatement or available photographs andfilm footage. Some mrght argue lhat thrshas already happened at a crash site nearRoswell back in 1947. However, there arefiany cases that suggest that the UFOitself either has the ability to manipulatethe physical world that we live in so that itbecomes semi-corporcal, or that the UFOitself is not at all physically real These'craft' have been described as de-materialising in front of witness's eyes,they vanish, or they act like ghosts andhave been reported as being seenpassing through a cliff face. Many believethat UFOS are solid 'nuts and bolts'spacecraft, and in some reportedincidents the UFO itself appears as anapparently solid craft, which reflects thesunlight from its polished metallic lookjngsurface.
People who have such encounters are stillridiculed in society, in the 1950s thesepeople were known as 'contactees',because they ciaimed that they were indirect contact with intelligent beings fromanother world. These people have in thelast twenty yearc been relabelled as'abductees'. because it is believed thatpeople are having contact with intelligentbeings but have lrttle or no choice in theirencounter. They say that they haveliterally been abducted. Reported closeencounter experiences rarely appear to beconsistent in their accounts; they areindividual experiences, sometimes good,sometimes bad, but as a rule not all
19
New Bufora Joumal - Issue l3 - Januan' 2005
witnesses have the same experienc€. This I
feel is very important.
The question remains...wherc are the aliens?The word alien ls too subjective a term for me.ln the Twenty First Century soc,ety of sciencefiction that we live in it means. a creature thatcomes from outer space. I personally have aserious problem with the idea of an intelligentphysical being travelling a vast interstellardistance just to visit this planet. Then it seemslike the UFO occupants find a lonely traveller,or a person who is comfortably asleep in bed,and selects them for an unexpectedconfrontation, which results in the peoplebeing traumatised by their experience and theUFO shooting away and vanishing out ofsight. lt does not make sense and I am notconvinced by current beliefs. ln truth, if thereis another intelligence at work here then we donot know where it comes from, if it comesfrom an!..vhere at all. lnstead of searchjng theskjes maybe we need to be looking at the verylandscape we live in, maybe deep below ourfeet lies a much-needed answer. lf anythingcan be said, the aliens in their spaceships,faeries, Sabbath black men, the Mothman ofPoint Pleasant, Virginia, Spring Heeled Jack,the New Jersey Devjl, the Chupacubras, andthe UFO Men in Black, may all be one and thesame entity, the same 'alien' intelligence thatpeople are often unexpectedly confronted by.
References
1. British Prime Minister, Sir WinstonChurchill, did the same thing in thiscountry. ln an enquiry dated 28 July1952, Churchill asked the Secretaryof State for Air why the 'flyingsaucer'was causing such a stir inthe United States. (Serial No. M.412152) He wanted to know if theywere in anyway significant? TheBritish Government relied, in themain, upon the US lntelligence foranswers to this question.
2. For example, the Ministry ofDefence sent two agents to visitCarlisle fireman Jim Templeton in1964. They arrived in an oldfashioned Jaguar car and they wore
bowler hats They referred to eachother only by a number and askedJim Templeton to show them theexact location of where he hadtaken the photograph Afteranswerang their questions they lefthim stranded on the moor whilstthey drove away in their c€r.
3. The reason why I am not coveringthe MIB history is because they arebetter detailed in the followingbooks, which I recommendi
Gray Barker, 1956, They Knew TooMuch About Flying Sauc€rs T.
Laurie
Robert Bull, 1997, Men in Blackr APreliminary Report British UFOResearch Association (from BMBUFORA, London, WCIN 3XX orraww. bufo ra. org. u k)
John Keel, 1970, Operation TrojanHolse London: Souvenir Press
John Keel, 1975, The [4othmanProphecies E.P.Dutton & Co.
Jenny Randles, 1997, MIB:lnvestigating the Truth Behind theMen in Black PhenomenonLondon: Piatkus Press
4. Christina Hole, 1977, Witchcraft inEngland London: Book CtubAssociates p.33
5. Christina Hole, 1977, Witchcraft inEngland London: Book ClubAssociates p.39
(l'm very curious to see if there isany truth to her living in Liverpoolat that time. Apparently, she wasliving as a tenant of Sir EdwardMoore).
Jacques Vallee, 1988, Dimensions: ACasebook of Alien Contact
20
New Bufbra Journal lssue I3 - Januarv 2005
London: Souvenir Press Ltd p 85
The only other UFO author to havebriefly mentioned this creature isJohn Keel
John Keel, '1970, Opelation TrojanHorse London: Souvenir Press p.231
Jacques Vallee, 1988,Dimensrons: A Casebook of AllenConlact London. Souvenir PrcssLtd p.135
Other researchers include RobertLaughlin, Susan Blaffer, who wrotea book called 'The Black Man ofZinacantan, and Victoria Erickerwho has also written RitualHumour in Highland Chiapas.'
TEMS.Travel and Earth Mysteries
Society(Founded 1992)
The Travel and Earth Mysteries Society isfor people with an enquiring mind and aninterest in unexplained phenomena andhistorical arm of study loosely labelled earthmysteries. TEIVIS is a social and studygroup for people in'West and South-WestLondon, I\4iddlesex & Surrey. (Berks, Essex,Heris & Sussex are also represented)
A programme of speakers, social eventsand fied taips is arranged covering suchthings as ancient siies, crop circles,dowslng, folklore, ghosts, healing, ley lines,old churches, sacred wells, UFOS,anomalous anima s and challenging issues.N4eetings, for which there is a modestcharge, are usually held on a SLrndayafternoon. and include a sociallea break
The Society covers similar subject areas tothose of ASSAP. lt is not a cllt group, andadvocates a balanced approach betweenthe intuitive and anal,,tical faculties. Thisleaves ample scope for exploring new ideas.
The Society is non-profit, non-political andron-sectarian. Fo' 2003. lhe subscripl on isf,8.00. This goes towards calls andcorrespondence in connection withproducing and posting the programme, andpublishing TEMS NEWS. Tl.e News eller isissued three or four times a year andcontains summaries of talks, field trips, clubnews, current news items, articles, book andmagazine reviews, caftoons andillustrations.
For a copy of the programme or furtherinformation, please contact:
Ann Hopkins: 020-8542 3110Lionel Beer: 020-8979 3148
Co-ordinator: 115 Hollybush Lane,Hampton, Middlesex, TWl2 2QY.
2t
Neu Bufom Joumal lssue li - JanLran 1005
UFO Reports, lnterference Effects,and
the Crop Circle Link.
Geoff Falla
Reasonably acceptable explanations can befolnd for most reported UFO sightings, butsome of these reports are mLlch more difficultto explain in any conventlonal way. There aremany cases, for example, in which sightingsare reported to be accompanied by strangephysicaleffects.
Sorne of the most puzzling of ihese casesinclude reported effects on vehicles, involvingthe temporary malfunction or failure in thero.mal ooe.at'o'1 of the vehicle s enginelights, or radio equipment This is reported loh;poen wl'e rhe urt"own object is inappareni close proximity, with the vehiclereturning to norma operation when the objecthas moved away. Additionally, there havebeen many similar incidents involving aircraft,mostly with reponed effects on navigationand communications systems.
The events have evidence of what has beenlermed EM effects, as they appear to beelectromagnetic in nature. ln the case ofvehlcles, the effect is usually noied to interferew.th the electncal system. I he exceptior is rn
the case of diesel engines, which do notdepend on electric ignition, and are reportedto be usually, unaffected in such incidents.Magnetic effects are also apparent in some ofthe reports, these in particular in some casesinvolving aircraft navigation.
With more than 600 of these reports recordedglobally - the earliest of these dating from1944, the reports of interference effects frommany different countries are found to follow avery similar pattern, helping to confirm thereality of these events.
ln Britain, a summary of these c€ses hasrevealed a total of more than 80 repodedincidents, with the earliest dating back to'1955. The location of these repo.ts asoindicates lhat they are not comp etelyrandom events. but that some pattern can beseen.
The interference effect incidents in Britain arefound to be rrore concenlraled n thesouthern countres of England Moreparticularly, there is sorne concentrat on ofthese incidents in the counties of Wltshireand Hampshire No other two co!nties havequite as many reports and the fact that theyare adjoining counties formrng one area,adds to the poss ble signiflcance.
It may not be lr.rst a coincidence lhat thesetwo counlies of Wiltshlre and Hanrpshirehave a so been the major location for manyof lhe strange crop circles and raorecomplex shapes. .Although many of thesehave been revealed to be hoaxes. there arerepoded to be remaining unexp ainedfeatLrres. and complexity in many of tie cropcircle shapes which would appear to defy theabi ities invoLved in any hoaxing.
The mysterious crop circles and patierns areteported to have been largely unknown u|tilaround 1980, although a few were knownbefore that date. At first. the crrcles werereported to be corcentrared n Wiltsr re. rnparticular near Warminster. Also. and inmore recent years, a favoured location hasbeen the Winchester area of Hampshire
A check of the reported vehrcle interferenceeffect locations in Wiltshire and Ha..pshirenow shows that half of these cases havebeen reporled from the same areas as io.many of the crop circles - near to Warminslerand Winchester. lt looks as if there is somedefinite link, as this seems unlikely to be justanother coincidence.
The earliest of the vehicle interference effectincidents in Wiltshire and Hampshire werealso reported from the Warminster area,dating from 1965, and preceded the
22
New Bufora Journal - Issue l3 January 2005
appearance of the crop circles in the samearea. Consideration should therefore be givento the possibility that the interference effectswere some kind of forerunner to later events.
There have always been oc{asional reports ofUFO sightings including luminous objects inrelation to crop circle sites, but it looks as ifthere is this further definite link, with theidentification of similar locations for theinterference effect cases and the crop circles.
The following summary of reported vehicleinterference effect incidents in the counties ofWiltshire and Hampshire will, it is hoped, helptowards a better understanding of what thisapparent link may be. lt could be relatedperhaps to geophysical anomalies atparticular locations. giving rise to lumtnousobjects, and strange effects, or it could be partof the answer in the case of something evenmore remarkable.
Most of the evidence is towards an indirect|nk of some kind, but the last two cases inthis summary od reported events does providesome evidence for a more direct link. Theinterference effects noted in these two casesactually appear to have coincided with theappearance of crop circles nearby.
The summary of incidents consists of thefourteen presently known interfetence effectcases in Wiltshire and Hampshire, with sevenof the cases reported from locations nearWarminster and Winchester.
One case in particular, the November 1967incident on the 4338 road in Hampshire, is inrather more detail. This case involved twovehicles, a large luminous object which wasreported to have produced significant effectson the vehicles and surroundings, and wasfollowed up by a police investigation.
Some of the features described in theseinterference effect summaries may also be ofparticular relevance, in cases where similarreported effects, for example on watches, andon bafteries, heating effects or unusualsounds can perhaps be compared with what
has been noted also at some of the cropcircle sites.
Summarv of Vehicle lnterference Effectcases in Wiltshire and HamDshire.
20 Auoust 1965. 23.00 Warminster.Wiltshire.
A couple were riding a scooter-typemotorcycle between Warminster and DiltonMarsh, near Westbury. They were nearColloway Clump when the engine stalled,and could not be restarted. Two largespheres of light were then seen. Thesehovered, then went spinning across the sky.The lights changed colour, and approachedagain before they disappeared. lt was notedby the couple that both of their watchesstopped at 11.02p.m They reported feelingwaves of hot and cold air during thesighting, which lasted for about 40 minutes.
After the objects had disappeared, thescooter started again without any difficulty.More than a dozen other eyewitnesses alsoreported seeing the strange objects 'like carheadlamps' moving around in the sky thatnight.
( The Warminster Mystery, pp 78-79.)
7 Seotember'1 965. 20.00 Warminster.
Major William Hill reported that his carengine cut out suddenly while he was drivingat about 45 m.p.h. between Warminster andWestbury. After the car came to a halt, itseemed to be shaken by aerial vibrations,and the headlights flickered. When he gotout of his car, the air vibrations could be felt.He could also hear a whining and cracklingnoise. After about three minutes everythingseemed to return to normal, and the carstarted again without difficulty.
(The Warminster Mystery, pp 93-94.)
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New Bufora Joumal lssue 13 - Januan :rl, r'
8 October 1965. 00.25 Warminster.
The driver in this case was travelling past thevillage of Norton Bavant, about two milessoutheast of Warminster, when she saw abright glowing orange object like a ball. Thecar engine star'ted to misfire, and theheadlights dimmed -'flickering like a candle inthe wind'. The engine stopped completely,then a dark object was seen taking off fromnear lhe road, and then spinning across thesky. Red and blue sparks came from theobject's r'n^ lt then became bnght crinson incolour, and left a trail in the sky. The witnessstated that she passed close to lwo figuresstanding in the road, but the car engine hadby then recovered its full power, so she droveaway from the area as quickly as possible. (
The Warminster Mystery, pp 132-133.)
24 September 1966. 21.20 between Tilsheadand Shre\,ton. Wiltshire.
The car engine, lights, and radio failed A redhaze or mist descended a short dislancebehind the vehicle, and settled on theroadway. A light humr.ing sound was thenheard by the two witnesses, and the miststaded rising up and down. The mist ihenvanished, the car lights and radio came onagain, and the engine could be staftednormally.
(Flying Saucer ReviewVol 12, No 6, p 18.)
26 October 1967.04.30 Hook. Hampshire.
The vehicle's electrical system failedsuddenly, and a dark object was noticedstationary over the road ahead. After a fewminutes the engine could be started again, buta short distance down the road the samefailure occurred, and the same dark objectwas noticed ahead. The object was shapedlike a squat ice cream cone, with a rim in themiddle The witness notrced a change inpressure in his ears, and an oppressive smell.After a furiher few minutes the object movedaway silently at moderate speed, and thevehicle's engine started normally again.
( Flying Saucer Revew Vo. '3 i'.:6 .c 6-7.J
6 November 1967.01 00 bei e.^ A!c. andSoolev. Hamoshrre.
Carl Farlow was driving his i ese arl on lheA338 road in clear weather caia : a.s rl.lenthe headlights began to dim. iien farledcompletely. He pulled up. with lhe e19 ne stillrunning, then saw a large eoo-shaaed ollectmoving slowly across the rcai ''aT_ iheright. The object, estir.aiec :. :: ac.!: 80feel long was desc'oec;s -:-j--_a n
colo!t wlth a whltish area Lr.ca:.3a:^ endbecame stationary over tl'e 'aaa a_eaa Acontiruous humming scrnc ca: c a: aeerdand thete was a punqeai s:e _ :-e a r
After several r.inutes ihe c:,eai a:cai :omove away, slo!,,,]y at i'si aeic.e itaccelerated and disappaaiac ' a iewseconds. ll was then rea zec iiai anoihervehicle was also invcveC a -.J-a- catwhich had been traveilng ,'1 :ie..ocsriedirection. The drlver conflrmed thai bcih h sengine a.d ghls -ao m",i-_':: _:: ;: eobject approached He suggesie. :_ai :heyshould telephone the pclice i:cr'r' : _eefby
call-box to repo[ r'le _cde-r T-e i:ep-c-ebox light was not work,r_g a.a i'e .lacuardriver - a local veterinary surgeon. tc!rd thathis torch was a so not wcrk rg. a i:1c-Sh ithad been used the paevious eve.l-c \., iicutany problem.
When the poljce vehlcles a.rived. ii cc!ld beseen that the scrub land and hedge gherethe obiect had hovered appeared to beblackened, while the road had a shinyappearance as if the tarmac sun'ace hadbeen melted. The men were taken to thepolice station at ChristchLJrch for question ng.then to another police stat on atBournemouth where they were aterinterviewed by a man from the t\,4 nistry ofDefence.
When Mr Farlow was driven back to the areaof the incident to collect some belongings .
he noticed men taking instrument readings al
24
New Bufora Joumal lssue l3 - January 2005
ong the road,while a bulldozer was leveilingthe area of blackened scrub, and thetelephone box was being repainted. About aweek later, it was also noticed that the roadhad been resurfaced for about 200 feet at thescene of the incident. Examination of MrFarlovy's vehicle revealed that most of thelorrys electrical system was useless, needingreplac€ment, including the batteries which hadbeen newly fitted about four monthspreviously.
(BUFORA - Vehicle lnterference ProjectReport pp 4445, FSR Vol 13, No 6, p 4, DailyExpress 7/11/67)
- 1967. Clev Hill. Warminster.
A businessman driving past Cley Hill, about amile north of Warminster, felt the interior ofthe car suddenly become very hot, and therewas a high pitched whining noise. The carengine faltered, then cut out completely. Hegot out of the car, and saw a glowing whitedisc directly overhead. The object sped awayafter a few seconds, and disappearednorthwards.
( BUFORA JournalVolT, No 3, p 22.)
25 Auoust 1975. 01.00 nearWarminster.
A seNiceman returning to his military unitstopped a police pakol vehicle south ofWarminster, to report the sighting of a brightred light which had hovered level with his car.The car window had been open, but no soundwas heard. The car headlights had failed, thesidelights became intermdtent, and the enginecut out for short periods.
( BUFORA report.)
14 November 1976. 20.50 near Winchester.Hamoshire.
A car driver and passenger were on the A272road when they saw an orange glow in thesky. Turning into a lane to their destination,the car began to shudder violently, and couldnot be controlled. lt moved diagonally off theroad on to the grass verge, and stopped. The
engine then started again by itself, and'rewed', even though the driver hadremoved her foot from the accelerator. Thecar lights were also much brighter thannormal. A glowing orange cigar-shapedobject, about fifteen feet long, was thenseen just above the ground a few yards infront of the car. The car ignition was thenturned off. Jets of vapour were seenbeneath the object, and three figures werevisible through a window. One of the figuresthen emerged, appearing to pass throughthe side of the object - there seemed to beno door, and approached the car. The figurewas described as wearing a silvery colouredsuit and had pink eyes. but otherwrseseemed to be of normal tall appearance.The passenger's clothes felt very hot at thistime. After about two minutes the figuremoved away, and the object haddisappeared.
The incident had lasted about sevenminutes, and the driver remained veryshaken for several days. Describing theevents, she reported that her watch hadstarted to gaan time considerably, and thatshe had also experienced paranormalphenomena for many years.
( Flying Saucer Review Vol 22, No 4, p 22,aodVol22, No 5, pp 3-14.)
30 December 1976. 18.30 Winchester.
Mrs Joyce Bowles was driving home withtwo friends, and travelling on the 83404road, when a light was seen going in and outof the clouds. A high pitched whistling soundwas then heard. The car started to rock in alldirections, and they reported that they thenfound themselves apparently in a craft ofsome kind with silver-suited occupants.They next remembered being in the caragain, in an area which they did notrecognize. After driving around for about halfan hour they were able to find their wayhome, arriving at 8.15 p.m.
Mrs Bowles and one of the other witnesseshad been involved in a previous incident, also
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New Bufora Joumal Issue 13 - Januan l00i
near Winchester, on November 14th.
( BUFORA JournalVol 5, No 6, pp 15-17.)
7 March 1977 '10.00 Nether Walloo.Hamoshire.
Mrs Bowles, a witness in the previous casesexperienced at Winchester, was driving with acompanion when the car engine spluttered. Ahumming noise was heard, and a brightglowing oval object was seen A figure wasthen seen, and lvlrs Bowles reported that amessage seemed to be communicated to her.The being then returned to the object, whichtook off with a whistling and humming sound,moving parallel to the ground while gatheringspeed.
( BUFORA Journal Vol 6, No 1, p iii of cover.)
7 November 1978. Portsdown. nearPortsmouth. Hampshire-
A family of four were travelling towardsDroxford when a bright light was seen in thesky. Two red
'ights were noticed, then the
shape of a large dome-shaped object becamevisible. There were green lights around thebottom, like windows. The object thenappeared to hover low over the car. The driverfound that even with the full use of theaccelerator, and going downhill, no speedcould be gained. The object moved away atspeed after a few seconds.
(BUFOM JournalVolS, No 2, pp'14-18.)
- 1980. Winchester.
A local resident was out walking with his dogat Cheesefoot Head one summer eveningwhen he saw an object land in one of thecornfields. He described the experience to theWinchester Gazette some years later. inconnection with the appearance of mysteryrings in the fields. He repoded that he hadheard a humming sound before seeing a largegrey object moving across the cornfield, andlanding for about flve minutes. lt then took off,
moving away much faster than an aLrcraft,and leaving a flattened ring in the field. Therewere two other eyewitnesses - a woman whohad also been walking, and the driver of arefuse van emptying a nearby rubbish bin. Allof the vehicles - his own car, the woman'svehicle, and the refuse van would not startwhile the object had been standing in thefield.
( Flying Sauc€r Review Vol 32, No 6, pp 15-16.)
10 Julv 1990. Alton Barnes. Vale of Pewsev.Wilishire.
A heavy buzzing noise was heard during thenight, and on the following mornLng manyresidents found that they could not sta.t theircars. The batteries of cars. vans. and tractorswere all found to be dead. lt was thendiscovered that a large and elaborateformation of crop crrcles had appeareo in afield adjacent to the village. A few miles awayan almost identical pattern had alsoappeared.
UFO [/]agazine June 2001, p 21.)
References.
Crop Circles
The geographical distribution of British cropcircle sites -
Jenny Randles and Paul Fuller. Crop Circles.p 127. ( Robert Hall, London, 1990.)
The concentration of crop circle sites in theWarminster and Winchester areas.-
Ralph Noyes. The Crop Circle Enigma, p 43,'187. ( Gateway Books, 1990.)
Vehicle lnterference Effect cases.
Arthur Shuttlewood. The WarminsterMystery. ( Neville Spearman Ltd, London,1967.)
26
New Bufora Journal - Issue l3 - January 2005
Flying Sauc€r Review. ( FSR Publications Ltd,PO Box 162, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP'13sDZ.)
British UFO Research Association - Vehiclelnterference Project Report, case summariescompiled by G.Falla, 1979, and updatedcases. ( BUFORA Ltd, 70 High Street,Wingham, Kent. CT3 IBJ )
UFO Magazine. ( Quesl Publicationslnternational Ltd, Valley Farm Way, WakefieldRoad, Stourton, Leeds, LSIO ISE )
The "storm" that wasn't
Ernie Sears
(Elsewhere ir this issue is an afticle byGeoff Falla making very inleresting linksbetween UFOS, vehicle intederence andcrop circles. Many of these cases occur inHampshire and Wiltshire. Therefore, Ilhought this tale of abnormal wealher froma sifiilar area might be both relevant andof inleresl....ED.)
Thursday the 25th March..a heavy, cloudy,day.4.00pm approx. Sat on my lounge setteehere in Netley Abbey I felt the room "vibrate"and heard a rumble at the same time as a"flash" illuminated EVERYTHINGI The wholesky. At the same moment my door chimessounded, the flre alarm too, and I leapt out ofthe settee wondering what the hell was gorngonl No one was out there but I saw that ALLthe fire doo.s had shut themselves. Puzzle, I
went looking for a fire or whatever..only twopeople standing at a window who had alsoseen and heard the incident described. BOTHsaid it was weird"..Not the 'usual'thunderstorm. All over in seconds. I phoned aUFO Group colleague on the far side ofSouthampton who, yes, had heard and seenthe incident..also described as'strange'. HerTV had gone off.
I rang the Police Cenkal Control to see if anyother reports. The phone stayed silent ... no
ringing tone. I tried the standard 0845 045454 45 police number. Nothing. Silence.
Next morning I rang the Southern DailyEcho Newsdesk. No reports. No headlinesenvisaged. They would 'enquke around'.Nothing came back from them. Later thatsame day our SUFOG founder andmaagzine newsletter editor Steve Gerrardrang me. He spoke about the "storm" andconfirmed the police phones'went down'.He had been "out" in it when the eventoccured. Desc.ibed it as "strange" Methailstones too. Next day I rang the Echonewsdesk again. No reportsl Nornally thiskind of incident would make the front pageseven. I spoke to our sheltered flats complexmanageress... she confirmed she'dencountered the huge flash and 'strange'single roll of thumder while some two orthree miles away in her car..it'soared'her,she said. I came across a close friend whowas dozing in bed before going on herhospital nightshirt who was aroused by thethunder and flash of lightning plus the soundof her front door openingl
She went out into the passage and, yes,thelocked door was open to the full stretch ofthe security chainl I sent an email tolvleridian TV on the Monday..2gthMarch..asking for any information and WHYhad it not made the news. No reply..then orsince. Nothingl I later said to Southampton.UFO Group's Steve Gerrard..he'd heardNOTHING from anyone. since he isconnected with the Hampshire PoliceAuthority, this was unusual. His commentwas'just a storm'.
Today ... 7th April..my TV l\,ileter man came.He is into and interested in UFOS and theParanormal-.has had .. experiences"! I
casually mentioned I was 'up to my eyes' inthe stuff and mentioned also the 'funnystorm'. Before I could go on he said he'dhad something strange happen that both heand his wife had no answer for. Went on todescribe a recent occasion when his wifewent out the back door and locked it, takingthe key with her. When she came back
28
New Bufora Journal - Issue l3 -lanuan lr'rr-r:
she walked in asking why he had left the dooropen. He went and looked..sure enough thelocked door WAS open to the extent of thesecurity chainl I could hardly wait to tell him,amid my own chuckles, of the skange 11
coincidence" with my friends doorl I alsoasked him WHEN did their experience occur.He thought..and then said it was on Thursday25th March.l He was SURE since it was somesort of date that was important to him. I'dcasually said it was about two weeks before. I
then spoke about ce.tain so far unfoundedsuspicions I had about the matter and myongoing comm!nications" This, eventually,brought about some discussion on the lraqproblern. HE came back with a late nightNews item.about TWO WEEKS AGO..thathad Bush promising an'experts' examinationof the 'UFO Ef igma r ght NOWI Something I
dldn't knowl DO YOU? I reminded the TVmeter chap that Blair and Bush are due for ameeting to discuss lraq in the next week orso..was there a connection or is this allspeculation. I have now also recalled theemail from olrr Steve Gerrard that gaveinformalion fiom the Dorchester Conferenceof the 4th Aprll that alleged UFO N,IAGAZINEwould resume publication in May'Coincidence? lalso recalled, today, that I'dtold our Steve that the sky'looked different'and something had changed' following thatinstant storm. I stillfeel that. Skonglyl
I rest my case! lF ANYONE can add anythingon all this lwould be happy, indeed, eager, tohear.
By the way, our fire doors here, coverlng 54flals in two blocks, all out, look three days toreplace the ' burnt ouf system. lrefuse tobelieve NO ONE else suffered damage in thearea... the search goes on. My next stop is theChief Constable of Hampshire. Who I have acasual and infrequent acquaintance with
By the way. lvly TV meter man lives atWimborne. just east of Bournemouth, whichpossibly confirms the witnesses who saw thelightning being right about it covering thewhole skyl
A 1970S sightrng I hac .a a- :-:-:s ::.ehovering over V,/-aa-_a :-a aaalBournemouth Echo had c.e c:-e-.a_'-.9report when I rang thec.r n'ay!€ a:a:rer"odd" coincidenc€ when l ic-:a .ll--'e mymeter man lived abo!t a year a!a
OK Wny a"r Lrteresreo ,' :-;: s::- r
It's the SECRECY
NO ONE but .c :-:even over a vr'eek laiei
Ernie Sears
PS' Theres oiien a PS :- -.. .-:'-:s'Cos it s a I ongorng s:!1 as ..._::2-:.::Yintrigurng too I reckcil
Following that "storm ,.c ca-: :_a_a s SiiLLSILENCE to* a a-r-cr:es -i -::aparticularly. Hc!i'ever T:es::. :_: a:_.;a'hard on the heels ci.,v 'a'aaa'? a-.aaMERIDIANTV;l 5.- .-::: : ::-.-i cto hear the weathernei sLa::_ , as- :-: :..aS,x Oclocl News p-ear_:r's :: :-a:! ..-:'ithe rosl ^umbe. c:. -.o -.;_-.ls :;.+place, rn Hampshrre? T.e e_s.,=' i,asBedhampton, a sub!rb oi Paisr:cL:r a.dvery near to the Admi.aiy .a', s:a'e:complex atop Polsoow'] -l :-e s:: : d
number of UFO reports over tre yea.s -yfirsl one too rn -9b0 aco :-e ::i-: :'HUNDRFDS of lhose'-.c ., . .:. -a'Anthony Woods whose receni'.:aa l,.eseen n lompany aio ; :_e .. _ - ,
Southampton UFO Group .. v,ir ch I :.0 veryimpressive, compared to the raiher .eaai !eviewpornts of olhe's: lhe ',e] "en n:rr _g
April 7th, the weather girl trotted out a vrhc elist of "hotspots" over the UK where llFOswere most li\e y to be see_: My c-cs: c^ ,s.
WHY the weather people? You get my dr ft?
(Continued on Page 30)
New Bufora Jounral - lssue 13 Januar.y 2005
BUFORA'S 4oth Year AGMVICE-PRESIDENT's ADDRESS
Please give my apologies to members.Colleagues will know that my partner, Joy, hada heart attack at the end of May and this hasmeant re-arranging my calendar in recentweeks. The good news is that we are hopefulof her full recovery.
Technically BUFOM was founded on 25January 1964, which means that it has nowbeen running for 40 years. ln fact theAssociation was founded on 22nd September1962 as the British UFO Association. I helpedorganise the inaugural convention held in theLecture Theatre of Kensington Central Library.ln my opinion 1964 was little more than anadministrative tidying- up. So you have thechoice of 40 ot 42 yeats. Given that themajority of UFO groups have a fairly shorthalf-life, BUFOM can be proud of havinglasted thus far-
In the past decade BUFORA has had to putup with some insidious assaults an itscredibility. Certain people using thecamouflage of challenging standards, havedivened officers attentron away from runningBUFOM in a cohesive manner. We are allvolunteers and I suggest that few of usexpected or even grasped the devious natureof these attacks.
Half-truths and libellous statements have beencirculated on the internet and there seems noobvious remedy. Should we use our time tochallenge this rubbish or merely continue withresearch'? Taking a neutral position as theAssociation has done in the past ;s seen as asign ofweaknessl
Merely saying this leaves me open toaccusations of censorship by deviousindividuals. Those who know me. know better.I am in favour of informed and reasoneddebate. What we have seen in recent yearsgoes well beyond the normal cut and thrust ofsuch things! So what is my message?
It is that I hope that both members andofficers will recognise that we need more unity
of purpose. This will 90 some way to defeatthe cynics. lt is difilcult to appreciate thetime and effort glven to the Association overforty years by members, padicularly ourvolunteer investigators. Work is currentlybeing done by officers led by our Chairman,Judith Jaafar, to put our case files onto arapid access format. This huge task paystribute to our forty+ years of research.
Lionel Beer
The Storm that never was...conclusion
Things suddenly exploded in the next fewdays with items in THE TIMES (a very smallparagraph but listed all the "UFOhotspots"..Bedhampton included!) Followedby my DAILY EXPRESS with a "map"complete with little stick thin men and tied inwith a Russian built "saucer" purchased bythe US Authorities when the Reds ran out ofmoney!..Strictly an earth technology craftaimed at carrying troops to needed areasFAST! Still..that, again, raises questions,eh? The Sun newspaper also carried asimilar item on the same day and the"source" was named along with a veryfactual TV advertisement for Grosch Beer!Featuring our familiar "GREYS"I lveridianTV also said the info, came , originally, forthe Grosch company, from ' an ex ufo lvloDperson'. No guesses as to who that wasl I
conclude by asking, inevitably, WHY NOW?IVly "communicants" have already told methe reasons in advance. even to thatweather phenomenon lf NM members werealso alerted..not an unreasonablesuggestion..share it, if you can, or dare.Your thoughts, your knowledge, can changethings! They ARE changing thingsl
This communication will be going out to myworldwide colleagues. Plus variousauthorities-
29
BOOK REVIEW
The Journey of My Soul
Author : Alan Hilton
Reviewed by Norman Oliver
Readers may recall from articles in earlierJournals lhat Alan organises the yearly UFOWeekend event held at Hourne Farm in EastSussex each October/November which I havebeen privileged to attend as a speaker on anumber of occasions
As Alan tells us: "There are not many bookslike The Jaurney of My Sou/ that will be foundin print since so many controversial andvarying topics have seldom been broughttogether before in the way they are here" Thisis true, for amongst topics included are PastLives: Sai Baba: Astral Projection: AlternativeTherapies: UFOS and Alien Abduction. Alanhimself claims experience of the latter on anumber of occasioirs, details of one such in
Spain in Feb'uary 2003 havng been g,ven in
NBJ8, whilst reference has also been made inNBJ to the occasion in Scotland when acompanion was apparently also involved in anabduction- to his considerable annoyance -the location delighting in the well-remembe.edname of Betty Hill. Several chapters are alsodevoted to the possible intentions of TheGreys.
A number of chapters give accounts of earlywell-known contactess such as HowardMenger (who Alan has peronally visited) andGeorge Adamski, the background to both menbeing given in some depth, together withcoffespondence between Alan and Adamski.
New Bufora Journal - Issue 13 - Januan l[tt,)j
Possible tJFO-connectec a'aas sLJch asCattle l\,4utilations: Tle P. a.e phiaExpe ment and lhe lrre. Eaa_ cams ofRichard Shaver are a sc exa"i ied inconsiderable deiail
Alan has, as I can vcrch io' e" excellentsense of humour and ti s rs $,e b.cJghi outin Chapter XIV 'ET -The Music. ln the late1990s Alan declded to prjt lc:e:-er a siageplay, which was fina v aaia-aa Er thePlayers Theatre. Vi ars S:'::: '=z'C'2"3Cross T'e p cl r.;s : ; :; i : :" -iabdLrcting hu.nan be.!s :a::_: -=as ,r
order to he p produc€ a .l,a' : - -*a- e a1'ace Despie 's c.,._ = :: =--=. : :_
managed lo bnng r^e ::_-::. :,:=' :ilhings well lo r'e 'c'. : : -: j -:,,lusl'ated by Lrs.rq --s: '':' ' ar' -.
SLrllivan: for exan ple i-a' :., r a: ::-..duet We ru_ :l-er - ..ibecoming We beam !c! -a l,a aa;- lcLJup'l
Alan's first visit to lndia ta sa: S: E::a 1
oersol a d lo ci:c-:s -i :::. : a.-:general backg'oL_d rs.,,: :::.-i- i- j-:amongst the many ctl_er :c. as : aa,ssaa ithis w:de-ra.ging bcct a': c-:-- = . :.. -;SprflrLa' Hear'rg Ps\c- : . - :: . :- .
Gravity and the Elecirc V..: c_:-a-:_eresearch proreeJed t! l' : .- . .:-Raudive
Alan is a quali'ed orlor a-r -:s _: :.,- : larrcraft, hs UK tra_.rg'a.'j ::-- :- -,:in a T;qer L4alh pe_e Tli',,..:-i 'The Jautney af |/y St- c e ::.. -: : :-extremeiy enterlaining accc-_i a' r,_eice(ainly reads like a mosi ia:a-a,s :'jouhey to l\,4a ra and bach ! a o:-: a- inumerous other c Iles a_d p eces I a
Ptenlice l;9ll a:'crafl $ii' Al;1 c. c: _: :,epassengers. He refers to this as takinc p Ece'some considerable tlme ago, tho!gh noyear appears to be given. /, vew of thenume'ous untoward r.crdents occu-rrgihoughout the flighi, though, I woud ihink'some considerable time ago' is prettyaccurate!
30
New Bufbra Journal lssue l3 - january 2005
Alan has published the book himself and it isan extremely well-produced, well-printedhardback, excellently set out with numerouspictures and illustrations relative to theparticular chapters. Whilst the subjecls in thebook are serious and are dealt with as such,Alan manages to touch on thei. lighter sidealso. lt's well worth reading - you'll enjoy it!
The Journey of My Soul: ISBN 0954097505 AlanHilton f I9.99 (inc.p&p)
From:AIan Hilton,
Forge Cottage, Perch Lane,Lamberhurst Quaier,
Tunbridge We s, TN3 gAU
OR
Lionel Beer, Spacelink Books,115, Hollyhush Lane,
Hampton, Middx TW12 2QY
FROM HERE AND THERE
A Roundup of world events
l-JFO Theme Park
The Scotsman newspaper for Monday 166August 2004 reports plans to build a !850mUFO Theme Park near Bonnybridge.
UFO near Eristol
Just after midnight on Sunday 8th FebruaryTim Lock observed a strange white light whilstin woods in Bristol.[2]
Scottish Reports
On Wednesday 21'r April a witness reportstwo strange lights over Livingston. [1]
Crop Circles
As usual this summer there were a numberof reports of crop circles. Amongst the mostinteresting was the report of a formation likea Mayan symbol near Silbury Hill inWiltshire. [3]
Reports from Wales
Reports continue to come in from manyparts of Wales.
On 18rh April three silver spherical objectswere seen at aboul 7pm were reported fromthe Carditf area. They were moving in atriangular formation. The lower rear objectbroke away and moved in front ofthe othertow objects at high speed beforedisappearing. The other objects diappearedtwo seconds later. [1]
BBC News for Friday 6rh August reports that26 year old Allison Moore took a video of astrange object seen above ner house inTrehafod in south Wales. [3]
Balloon Sparks UFO Scare
BBC News report that on Sunday 2nd May anumber of witnesses contacted HumbersidePolice to report a strange bullet shapedobject floating in the sky. The reports wereclosed after police received a further reportthat a balloon had broken free. [3]
Northern lreland UFO
The Belfast Telegraph for 26rh June reportsthat two men working on a radio mast inCounty Monaghan reported seeing astrange triangular object cross the sky atgreat speed.[4]
One of the witnesses was Miles Johnston ofthe lrish UFO Research Centre. (Manyreaders will know Miles as he is a lormerBUFORA investigator and frequent attendeeat meetings and conferences). Mjles wasworking with Dublin based rigger Terryl\,Ialone when they spotted the object whichheaded north towards Belfast..
3t
New Bufora Journal - Issue l3 Januan 2005
l1I FilerI2l UFO Roundup[3] ABC News[4] Belfast Telegraph
MAYBE WE ARE THE MARTIANSI
Steve Gamble
One of the early ideas rn the modern era ofIJFOS was that all UFOS were exkatefiestrialspacecraft.
Given that humans have long had afascination with the Red Planet il was not longbefore some people started associating theseexkate(eskials with Mars. lndeed, lbelieve itwas one of the early destinations meniionedby George Adamski.
Since Adamski's alleged encounters in the1950s we have found out a great deal aboutMars and have sent a number of unmannedprobes there. So is Mars a haven for exoticfte?
There is at least some evidence from recentyears that conditions on Mars may at least atsome point in its history to have been suitablefor life. Even more exciting is the possibilitythat life on Earth and any potential Maftian lifecould be closely related.
We now know that the solar system wasformed around 4600 rnillion yeaas ago.Although the basic planets were formed at thisiime ihey were stjll extremely hot with moltensurfaces. Also there was a great deal ofdebris left around in the solar system, so theplanets were under intense bombardmentfrom massive meteorites for many thousandsofyears.
The Earth did not cool down enolgh to haveliquid water until around 3800 million yearsago. However, the earliest signs of life onEarth are found dating from 3500 million yearsago. ln geological terms a relatively shorttime after the Earth cooled. Life seems to
have staded on Earth at the earliest possibleopportunity, which could mean that, howeverit happens, life sta.ts very easily.
These early remains are of clumps ofunicellular organisms. There must havebeen even simpler organisms predating thiswhich have either left no trace or the traceshave not been found yet. ln the early solarsystem. Mars ls thought to have had similarconditions to the Earth
The planel l\lars nay have been able to getahead of Earth in the race to stad early lifeBeing f!rther fia'rl th€ Sun means thal itwould have cooled eerlier lts distance fronrthe Sun wolld have less eifect olr iis ab lltyto retarn heat than iis sn_a er s ze compaTedto the Earth Boih ihese iaciors mean ihatthe surface of [,1ars \l,cuid have so diied-Lc' ear'a' n ,e l" .' :i,a Sc ; . Js:e-)than the sudace of the Eadh dld And rf ithad water, that too would have been aroundearlier.
Water is essential to a :ie as i.,€ ii.c!; i lthas been knovr'n ior sc:r_eirlile :fai :l'a:e s acertain amo!nt of water ocked !C a :te cesaround lhe l\/ai(ian po es LA:lcLc- -csi ofthe polat ice seen rs aciua y iic:er ca.sondioxide.) Over the past cc!p e cf \ears tl.erehas been growag e!ceiae ii.a::_eia \'.asmuch more water cn Mars n ine pasi
Photograohs fron c brng saac€:';: -a.eshown a nuraber oi erce va el,.s saa ar ioriver valleys on Earth The phcicgrachs le\,ealso show lhe c po".c ii--s c: c.-E ..,r .:,seem to be rnade up oi mria€ a.,e-s ofsediment, sin_ilar lo sec reli:e.l '::. s ' --cin areas on Earth which used ic ae s.aHowever, Mars has frequent Cust storms ltis not clear if lhe vare)s a-o la)i. --: siiiare produced by lhe sano clast._q a-:::s :'these storms.
There have been several repons rece.i y :raimethane has beel discove'ed i .-a:,'z-.z-atmosphere by various spac€craft ttai ievebeen sent therc. Given that methane n r-eatmosphere is broken down over a slafi
32
New Bufora Journal Issue l3 - Januarv 2005
period of time by the action of ulkaviolet light,there must be some process going on whichreplac€s it.
The reports suggest that the methane couldbe produced by living organisms. On Eadhthere is a group of bacteria calledmethanogens which release methane into theatmosphere as a waste product.
However, methane is also something which isgiven out by volcanoes. Although there is nodirect evidence of major current volcanicactivity certainly this has occurred in the past.For example, Olympus Mons is a huge extinctvolcano near the lMartian equator which isseveral times the height of Mount Everest.
It is possible that there is still someunderground volcanic activity from whichmethane gas is escaping through small ventsin the l\,4artian surface.
l\,{ethane can be produced by reactionsinvolviflg water and hot volcanic rocks.Frozen deposits of water have been found onlMars and the highest concentrations ofmethane have been found in these areas. Butthen a living organism is likely lo requirewater, so maybe they would be around theseareas. Also set against the volcanic theory isthat NASA'S Mars Odyssey orbiting spacecraftcaffied an instrument to look for volcanichotspots and did not find any.
A recent paper in the Journal Nature byCharles Cockell of the British Antarctic Survey(BAS) shows that bacteria and lichen cansutuive jn temperatures below -50 degreescentigrade sheltered under translucent rocks.It is proposed that this could be evidence that(microbial) life could survive on the surface oflvlars, which has a similar mean temperature.Cockell is a past chairman of the Associationof Mars Explorers and was with NASA beforejoining BAS.
The discovery of the meteorite ALH 84001,thought to have come from Mars, createdgreat excitement. lt is one of about a dozensuch meteorites. lt is thought that impact by
meteors on Mars might cause some of thestones from the surface to be gjected intospace. Because Mars has a much lowergravity and a thinner atmosphere, thisproc€ss happens more easily than it couldon Earth. Over a period of time these rocksget drawn inwards towards the Sun, wheresome of them are captured by the Earth'sgravity and land as meteorites.
The greatest pad of the excitement aboutALH84001 was that when broken open itappeared to contain microscopic fossils ofbacteria like organisms.
In the early l970s astronomers Fred Hoyleand Chandra Wickramasinghe fromCambridge lJniversily put folward the theoryof panspermia. This proposed that lifespread throughoul lhe universe by mrcro-organisms transferring between planets asspores in the interplanetary medium. Morerecent work by Wickramasinghe andcolleagles at Cardiff has shownunexpectedly high numbers of bacteria inthe upper atmosphere. Are these bacteriaescaping into space or bacteria entering theatmosphere?
Recent work by Mark Burchell at theUniversjty of Kent has shown that bacteriacan survive the acceleration of being shotinto space by a meteor impact.
The research into Panspermia and the workon suspected Martian meteorites raises andinteresting possibility.
lf meteorites from Mars can reach the Earthand those meteorites can contain life forms,then life on Earth might originally have beenseeded by one or more of those Martianmeteorites. This would certainly account forwhy life took hold here so soon after theEarth gained a solid surface and liquidwater.
And if through evolution humans havedescended from Martian bacteria, then weare all really Martian colonists.
33
Any form of life found on Mars lthink is morelikely to be bacteria or algae. lf there is anymore advan@d form it is unlikely to be morecomplex than simple worm like creatures.(Although I would be very interested in seeingthe evidence that proves me wrongl)
Almost certainly we will not find the murderousMartians dreamt up by H.G.Wells orAdamski's guys with the neat Flying Saucerrunabout. This in a way brings us to anothergreat Martian myth, the Face on Mars.
The Face on Mars
A small part of one of the pictures taken by aMars probe nearly 20 years ago appeared toshow, after image enhancement, a humanface. This was taken up by some people whothought that the Face was some form ofartificial monument built by some intelligentrace. The image seems to have beenrepeatedly enhanced using a variety ofdifferent algorithms. One problem wilhmultiple enhancements is that they can giverise to enhancement artefacts - create thingsthat are not really there. More rec€nt hjgherresolution pictures have suggested that thearea might be a partly collapsed volcaniccone.
New Bufora Joumal Issue 13 - Januarv 2005
The real way to answer all these questionswill be rather than send very limited robotspac€craft, will be to send a properly plannedmanned mission with the time and the toolsto investigate the Manian surface properly.And for once the UK is up there with theleaders. Following on frorn the ill fatedBeagle 2 (but then it was the UK's flrstattempt, it to the Amercans and Russiansseveral attempts each b€fore they got asucc€ssful probe) lhe same team haveannounced plans for a Eeagle 3 spacecraft.The Open University is strengthening itsspac€ and planetary science tea.n includingthe appointment of the prev ously mentionedChades Cockell as Professcr of Earth andPlanetary Sciences
Perhaps our cu(ent obsessail .,,r:r visitingthe red planei is that we are .-.:!r: ra io oLrrvery distant ancestral roois
REFERENCES
Gamble, S (1998) Coniac w.:r exira-terrestrials? The story of Gecrge Acariski.BUFORA Bulletr No 2 A.- r.'E., '9:: :p'11-16.
UFOCALL
09068 121886Hosted by Norman Oliver
New menu system for news.forthcoming lectures, special
events, how to report asighting and how to join
Bufora.Just dial and listen !
af PrMi@ lale €ll ctw!€s 4pV
34
New Bufora Journal - Issue l3 Januarv 2005
NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF BUFORA LTD.
The Thirty-First Annual ceneral M€eting ofBUFORA Ltd. will be heldat zpm in the l't Floor Function Room at the Sols Arms Public House,65-68 Hampstead Road, London NWI 2PN on SATURDAY 16th July
2005 to receive the Chairman's Report, the Report ofthe Council ofManagement, the Accounts ofthe Treasurer, and to appoint the Auditor
according to the Articles ofthe Association.
Signed on behalf of the Council of Management
Judith Jaafar, Chairman, 1st December 2004
NOTE:
Please note that a Member entitled to attend and vote at this meeting is entitledto appoint a proxy who need not be a member ofthe Company to allend andvote in his or her stead. Instruments ofproxy must be lodged at the Company'sregistered address, BuforaLtd., 15 Holne Court, Exwick, Exeter, Devon, EX42NA not less than forty-eight hours before the time appointed for the meeting.Members wishing to nominate persons tbr election to the Council ofManagement shall give to the Secretary such nominations in writing a1 theregistered address, signed by the person proposcd, stating th€ir willingness to beelected, not less than four, nor more than twenty-eight clear days belore the timeappointed for the meeting in accordance with Section 52 ofthe Articles ofAssociation. Nominations must show clearly th€ name ofboth the proposer andseconder.
Whilst visitors are welcome to attend the following lecture, onlymembers of the Association in good standing and accredited proxiesmay attend and vote at the AGlvl. Only members in good standing maynominate or be nominated as members of the Council of Managementor propose resolutions. Please bring membership cards as this willspeed checking against lhe current membership list
35
New Bufora Joumal Issue l3 Januan 1005
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36
Abi,uf BUFORA
BUFOM was founded in 1962, asa federation of regional UFO groupsthroughout the UK. Many of thesegroups were formed in the 1950s.These included the British FlyingSaucer Bureau, founded in '1952(which is believed to be the UK'soldest UFO group), and the LondonUFO Research Organisation formedin 1959 and the largest UKorganisation atthe time. ln 1962 thegroup was known as the BritishUFO Association, changing itsname in 1964 to the present BritishUFO Research Association.BUFOM became a companylimited by guarantee in 1975. Thismeans that in the event of BUFORAbeing wound up each membersundertaking to cover anyoutstanding debts is limited to €1. ltwas intended to be a prelude toseeking charity status. BUFORA isregistered under the U.K. DataProtection Act, and amongst otherthings membership records are heldon a computer database. (lt is thepolicy of BUFORA NOT to releasemembership records to thirdparties.)
BUFOM is run entirely byvolunteers, relying solely on itsmembers to fund and carry out itsinvestigation, research andeducational activities. The day today running of BUFOM is in thehands of a Council of Managementdrawn from the members.
l\,4embership of BUFORA is open toall who support the aims of theassociation, and whose applicationis approved by the Council ofManagement.
Data Protection ActRegistration F0779204Companies HouseRegistration :
t234924
AIMS OF BUFORA
The three aims of BUFORA are:-. To encourage, promote and
conduct unbiased scientificresearch of unidentified flyingobject (UFO) phenomenathroughout the United Kingdom
. To collect and disseminateevidence and data relating tounidentified flying objects
. To co-ordinate UFO researchthroughout the United Kingdomand to co-operate with othersengaged in such researchthroughout the world.
ACTIVITIES OF BUFORA
BUFORA organises a regularprogramme of lectures on a varielyof UFO related lopics. As dates,times and locations can vary it isbest to enquire about the currentprogramme
N4embers receive free of charge, sixissues per year, of its regularpublication 'New Bufora Jou.nal',which carries details of investigatedreports and results of researchprojects.
BUFOM operates the 'UFOCALL'information service which carriesinformation about reports andupdales on events (phone: 0906812'l 886; Charge: currently 60p perminute.) These pre-recordedmessages are updated regularly.
PUBLICATIONS OF BUFORA
Details of publications currentlyavailable (including back issues ofJournals) can be obtained from theregistered offlce (enclose S.A.E.please).
Some BUFORA publications arealso available through SpacelinkBooks, 115 Hollybush Lane,Hampton,TW12 2QY England
BUFORA LONDON LECTURES 2OO5
The British UFO Research Association is pl€ased to present a ne\r series of bi-monthlylectures for 2005.
All lcclures aro hcld in thc function suilc ofthe Sols Arms public house.65-63 tlarn.il.3i liii- l:!!irin. LondonNWI 2PN - 3:00pm till 6:00pm. Nearest Tube is Wanen Strcet. and Eusron Tubc 3nJ m,:r:l:n. a:. : i_c\\ minulcswalk-
Tickets, which can be purchascd at lhc door and includc a midlcclurc buffct. arc f5 fe.r m;:::rn- and !7 for all
SAT MARCI{ l2rrI - Cary Ilcscltinc
SAT llAY l4rrr Dr. Gail Nina Andcrson,
JULY 16rH - AG t, speaker TBA
SEPT l0rH -speaker TBA
NOV l2rrr - speaker TBA
"Police Rcports of UFOs"
"Vampircs"
'[he above is a provisional listing at th€ mom€nt and may be subjcct 10 chanee. Please check $e \ebsite andJoumal for updates, or use th€ contact information b€low.
AUCUST lgrH - 2lsr - CFZ Wetrd Wcekend, Excter. BUFORA will be hostiDg s scrics of lectures sndmanoing a stall in partnership wi(h the Centre for Fortcan Zoology. Delails laler. Call CFZ.BUFOR{ on01392 424 811 for furthcr information.
For more, or updated information on any of theso London lectures, call Judy Jaafar on 020 8998 J936, email:[email protected]€serve.co.uk or email John wickharn on [email protected]
BUFORA cannot be held responsible for a speaker cancelling, but should this occur, we \\'ill endeavour to providca suitable altemativc lecturcr. Views exprcssed by any spcaker ar€ his/h€rs alone, and do not n€cessaril\ rcflcct theviews ofBUFORA nor any individual director ofBUFORA Ltd.
Ceneral enquiries to BUFOR-A, including m€mbership enquiri€s and sighting reports should be dir€cted to BMBUFORA, London WCIN 3XX oremailr [email protected] W€b address: www.bufora.org.uk
