- PENNSYLVANIA REPORTS TWO NEW UFO SIGHTINGS
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- On Tuesday, December 16, 1997, at around
8 p.m., Kevin L. spotted a large triangular UFO in the skies above his
hometown of Allison Park, Pennsylvania (Pa.), on the William Flinn Highway
(Route 8) just north of Pittsburgh.
-
- "My best description of color would
be a dark classical gray," Kevin reported. "There were six large
lights on the outer rim of the object. The two lights at the point of
the (triangular) objet were red, while the others on the corners were white.
The lights on the object were not very bright compared to what you see
on aircraft--they looked more like a glow."
-
- "The object was in constant motion.
It basically looked like a great granitic slab crossing the sky... My
best guess was that the object was between 4,000 and 6,000 feet in the
air." "I looked at it through a pair of binoculars that were
7 X 35mm and rated for a view area of 578 feet at 1,000 yards. The object
took up about one-half of the view of the binoculars at full magnification."
Kevin estimated that the UFO approached Allison Park from the east at about
70 degrees above the horizon.
-
- The object then "headed off in a
northwesterly direction. This is an unusual route for air traffic. The
Pittsburgh airport is 25 miles southwest of my house. When I first saw
the object, it was already one-quarter of the way across (the sky) from
the horizon. I could see it clearly for about one minute, after that it
was too small to see any real details." As the UFO left, Kevin estimated
that it was headed for the Franklin Park section of Pittsburgh and nearby
Marshall township. (Email Interview)
-
- On December 2, 1997, at 11:33 p.m., Brian
C. was driving west on Interstate Highway 76, the Schuylkill Expressway,
just west of Philadelphia. As his car approached the West Manayunk exit
(Belmont Avenue--J.T.), he noticed "a green light with my peripheral
vision to the right of my car out the passenger side window. My initial
reaction was that I thought it was a helicopter. Air traffic copters often
fly up the (Schuykill) river for their reports. Almost as quickly, I realized
how fast it was moving, because it shot straight up the river parallel
to the highway and no more than 300 feet in altitude."
-
- "The whole incident took no more
than five seconds," Brian added. "There was no tracer following,
no smoke or trail of any kind...It could not have been a meteor because
it was so low and flew straight across at a consistent height." (Many
thanks to Tim Hagemeister of NACOMM for this report.)
-
- HORSE FOUND MUTILATED IN SOUTHERN COLORADO
-
- On Wednesday, December 17, 1997, at 10:30
a.m., rancher Ron Gardiner found one of his horses dead and mutilated on
his property five miles (8 kilometers) west of Alamosa, Colorado (population
1,359). Alamosa is at the intersection of Colorado Highways 160 and 285
approximately 228 miles (375 kilometers) south of Denver.
-
- According to Christopher O'Brien, author
of THE MYSTERIOUS VALLEY (St. Martin's Press, 1996), "The animal was
still warm, and the rancher estimated that the animal was killed and mutilated
sometime around dawn."
-
- "The horse was missing its penis
and an 8-inch circular patch of hide behind the sheath, which was still
intact. The rear end was neatly cored out in a slightly elongated circle
to a depth of 8 or 9 inches. Eyes and tongue were intact."
-
- O'Brien visited the crime scene on Thursday,
December 18, and secured three sets of incisional samples for forensic
tests.
-
- "The animal was found lying on its
right side at the bottom of a dry 7-foot-deep irrigation channel or canal.
There was evidence of a struggle in broken chimisia bushes." However,
other than the horse's own hoofprints, no other tracks of any kind were
found at the scene.
-
- O'Brien and investigators of the Alamosa
County Sheriff's Department found "a five-inch shallow gash"
in the horse's neck. Also, "several drops which appear to be blood
were found in snow about 60 feet away, over the fence and across the road."
-
- "The vast majority of San Luis Valley
unusual animal deaths occur from last-frost to first-frost, during the
warmer months," O'Brien said. "Rarely are these deaths reported
during cold sub-zero nights. This may be a new wrinkle" in the ongoing
mutilation mystery. (Many thanks to Chris O'Brien for this report.)
-
- GLOWING ORANGE FIREBALL STIRS UPPER MIDWEST
-
- On Friday, December 12, 1997, at about
8 p.m., a UFO described as "a glowing orange or red" sphere was
seen over Eyota, Minnesota (population 1,448), a town on Interstate Highway
90 about 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Minneapolis.
-
- Within 15 minutes, calls were received
in police stations to the south in Wisconsin, Iowa and Missouri, reporting
"a mysterious flash of light." Experts said the flash was "probably
caused by a meteor."
-
- "It was a good-sized red ball,"
said Wylie Peterson of Colfax, Wisconsin (population 1,110), a town on
Highway 170 about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Eau Claire and
261 miles (418 kilometers) northwest of Milwaukee. "It left a pretty
good tail behind it. It was too big to be a flare."
-
- In Boyceville, Wisconsin (population
913), a town 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Colfax, a private plane was
reported overdue, and townspeople organized a search of the local woods.
The search was suspended after they realized that the glow was "probably
from the meteor" and not a crashing aircraft. Astronomers at the University
of Minnesota and Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa said "the phenomenon
was best explained by a single meteor entering the Earth's atmosphere."
They noted that December 12 is the height of annual Geminid meteor shower.
-
- "We are constantly bombarded by
fragments of old comets," said Lawrence Staunton, a physics and astronomy
professor at Drake University. "They are mostly not seen."
-
- The orange fireball, however, was also
seen in Cresco, Iowa (population 3,669) on Highway 9 about 228 miles (365
kilometers) northeast of Des Moines. (Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr. and
Errol Bruce- Knapp for these reports.)
-
- MUFON MEMBER SPOTS UFO IN NEW HAMPSHIRE
-
- On December 2, 1997, at 4:32 p.m., MUFON
member Carolyn S. McNellis was driving south on New Hampshire Highway 12A,
along the eastern bank of the Connecticut River when she spotted a UFO.
-
- "I spotted a fireball approximately
half the size of a ping-pong ball at arm's length," Carolyn reported,
"while driving south on Route 12A at the intersection of (Interstate)
Highway 89 in West Lebanon, New Hampshire (N.H.). The road parallels the
Connecticut River, which forms New Hampshire's boundary with Vermont.
I saw the object in the southwestern sky. I concluded that because the
sun was just going down and the object was picking up the golden orange
of the setting sun."
-
- "That evening I questioned a local
astronomer-friend and he had not heard of a meteor at that time, but December
was supposed to be full of meteors. I witnessed (the) Hale-Bopp (comet)
in the early spring, and this was MUCH, MUCH larger. It was half the size
of a ping-pong ball. Hale-Bopp was the size of a head of a pin and needed
binoculars to really be seen clearly."
-
- Ms. McNellis kept the UFO in view until
she drove into a wooded area. "Seven minutes later, when I emerged
from the woods, it was not to be seen." (See Filer's Files #50 for
December 19, 1997. Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for this report.)
-
- TRIANGULAR UFO SIGHTED IN WESTERN GEORGIA
-
- On December 5, 1997, at 8:40 p.m., a
man living in Franklin, Georgia (population 876), located north of West
Fork Lake on Highway 34, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Atlanta,
spotted a triangle-shaped UFO moving through the night sky.
-
- "The witness observed a formation
of five white-to- amber-color lights," John Thompson, MUFON Georgia
state director, reported. "A structured object would have made a
triangle 50 feet (15 meters) in size. The UFO flew to the southeast at
2,000 feet altitude or lower."
-
- The witness observed the UFO for 20 seconds
before losing sight of the object among the trees. "He said the UFO
flew slowly and made no sound," Thompson added. "The lights
did not flash, and he is assuming they were on a strucutred craft he did
not see. The sky was clear, with little wind, and the UFO, according to
him, was clearly close enough for him to have heard noise, if it had made
any." (See Filer's Files #50 for December 19, 1997. Many thanks
to George A. Filer and John Thompson for this report.)
-
- MYSTERY BOOM STARTLES PEOPLE IN THE OZARKS
-
- On Wednesday afternoon, December 17,
1997, a huge aerial explosion jolted the town of Rogersville, Missouri
(population 995).
-
- According to news reports on KYTV (Cable
Channel 12 in Florida--J.T.), the blast "rattled windows and blew
open storm doors" in the small community on Missouri Highway 60 approximately
13 miles (21 kilometers) east of Springfield.
-
- According to KYTV, a U.S. Air Force spokesman
denied that the mysterious blast was a sonic boom caused by low-flying
supersonic jet interceptors. The cause of the "sky boom" is unknown.
-
- The mystery deepened when Cal W., a retired
farmer living in Ozark, Missouri (population 4,243), a town on Highway
14 just seven miles (10 kilometers) south of Springfield, telephoned a
radio talk show and told how he and his wife had seen "five or six
high-altitude jets" flying what appeared to be a crisscrossing search
pattern across the sky. Contrails were pefectly visible in the clear,
cold upper air, he reported.
-
- 1909: AIRSHIP FLAP SPREADS INTO RHODE
ISLAND
-
- This week we continue our look back at
the 1909 airship flap in the USA's New England states. Here are a few
actual newspaper stories from Rhode Island. "Charles J. Greene, who
is head gardener at the estate of Colonel Robert H.I. Goddard at Potowomut
Neck (now Goddard State Park just south of East Greenwich, Rhode Island--J.T.)
noticed a moving light in the sky somewhat north of the Goddard place.
He and other employees watched the light until it was out of sight to
the southwest. According to Mr. Greene, the light was of rather a bluish
tinge...Had the night been darker, with less interference from the moon
and stars, Mr. Greene thinks it very likely that he could have satisfied
himself that it was an airship. He judged that it crossed the west shore
of the bay at a point above Old Warwick." (i.e. the Shawomet section
of Warwick, R.I.--J.T.)
-
- On December 22, 1909, at 1:15 a.m., a
very large UFO flew over the cities of Providence and Pawtucket in Rhode
Island. Two witnesses were Mr. and Mrs. William S. Forsythe of 85 Evergreen
Street, Providence, R.I. The Forsythes were putting up Christmas decorations
"when Mrs. Forsythe looked out of the windows. Her attention was
attracted by two red lights in the sky which were different from anything
she had ever seen before. She called her husband to the window and both
watched the strange spectacle. The lights appeared to be covering a course
that was varied, now rather close to the earth and then soaring upward,
but always making toward the south. They were able to make out an object
which appeared to be in front of the lights...It was moving at such high
speeds that they could get little more than a superficial view of the object,
although what they saw was enough to satisfy them as to the identity of
the contrivance. The Forsythes watched until the lights faded out in the
haze on the southern horizon. When they arose in the morning, they promptly
told all their friends of what they had seen." (See the Providence,
R.I. Journal for December 22, 1909.)
-
- In Pawtucket, people "were alerted
by a whirring noise in the heavens...and those who looked upward beheld
a dark object which was easily discerned by the presence of two red lights.
It moved gracefully away in a southerly direction, crossing the city over
Woodlawn as if Bound for Newport." (See the Pawtucket, R.I. Times
for December 21, 1909.)
-
- And in West Warwick, "The phenomenon
which has been perplexing people from Worcester to Willimantic for the
past several nights has at last been noticed by the Arctic Centre folks
on Quidnick Street. Last evening (December 27, 1909--J.T.) here assembled
a cluster of people, many armed with small telescopes, field and opera
glasses and each contending as they took a peep at the bright and shining
'Venus' which appeared so brilliantly in the heavens, that the light moved
to the westward very rapidly and the shining rays of its searchlight were
clearly visible."
-
- "One lady, who was an interested
spectator, claims to have seen the light go down and entirely disappear
from the heavens. Other claim to have followed the course of the light
for fully half an hour and that it changed to many different angles during
that time." (See the Pawtuxet Valley Daily Times of West Warwick,
R.I. for December 28, 1909.)
-
- UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1997 by Masinaigan
Productions, all rights reserved. Readers may post items from UFO ROUNDUP
on their websites or in newsgroups provided that they credit the newsletter
and its editor by name and list the date of issue in which the item first
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