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M U T U A L U F O N E T W O R KU F O J O U R N A LMAY 1996 ~f NUMBER 337 $3CHART 4-5. DISTANCE FROM WITNESS

252 Qualified Cases

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M U F O N U F O J O U R N A LO F F I C I A L P U B L I C A T I O N O F T H E M U T U A L U F O N E T W O R K S I N C E 1 9 6 7

M A Y 1 9 9 6 N U M B E R 3 3 7M U F O N ' S COMPUTERIZED UFO DATA T. David SpencerROSWELL DEBRIS RECOVEREDO F FIREBALLS GOOD A N D O L D Thomas N. Hackney 10HANDLINGTHE NEWS MEDIA Joe Lewels, Ph.D. 12N E W S OFF THE NET: L A C H U P A C A B R A David Adams 14ABDUCTION NOTESTHE UFO PRESS

John Carpenter 1618

M U F O N FORUMC A L E N D A RREADERS ' CLASSIF IEDS

Gillis and Conroy 202021

THEJUNE NIGHTSKYDIRECTOR'S M E S S A GE

Walter N. WebbWalter Andrus

2224

MUFON UFOJOURNAL(USPS 002-970)(ISSN 0270-6822)103 Oldtowne Rd.Seguin, TX 78155-4099Tel: (210) 379-9216FA X (210) 372-9439EDITORDennis Stacy

ASSOCIATE EDITORWalter H . Andrus,Jr.COLUMNISTSWalter N. WebbJohn S. CarpenterT. David Spencer

ART DIRECTORVince Johnson

Copyright 1996 by the Mutual UFO Network. All Rights Reserved.No part of this document ma y be reproduced in any form without the written permission of

the Copyiiglit Owners Permission is hereby granted to quote up to 200 words o f any one arti-cle, provided the authoi is credited, and the statement. "Copyright 19% b i/ the Mutual UFONetwork, 103 Oldtowne Rd, Seguin, Tews 7S355," is included.

Th e contents of the MUFON UF O Journal are determined by the editors and do not neccssan-ly reflect the o f f i c i a l position of the Mutual UF O Network. Opinions expressed are solely thoseo f the individual autliois.

Th e Mutual UF O Network. Inc. is exempt fioin Federal Income T ax under Section 501 (c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. MUFON is a pul'liely supported organization of the typedescribed in Section 509 (a) ( 2 > . Donors ma y deduct contributions from their Federal IncomeTa\. Bequests, legacies, dci'iscs. transfers or gifts ar e also deductible fo r estate an d gift purposes,provided they meet the applicable provisions of Sections 2055, 2106 and 2522 of the InternalRevenue Code M U F O N is a Texas nonprofit corporation.

The MUFON UFO journal is published monthly by the Mutual UF O Network, Inc., Seguin,Texas. Membership/Subscription rates: $30 per \/ear in the U.S.A.; $3 0 foreign in U.S. funds.Second class postage paid at Seguin, T X.

POSTMASTER: Send form 3579 to advise change of address to: M U F O N UFO JOUR-NAL, 10 3 Oldtowne Rd., Scgiiin, T X 78155-4099.

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A D V A N C E R E G IS T RA T I O N F O R M (Please print or typM U F O N 1 9 9 6 I N T E R N A T I O N A L U F O S Y M P O S I U MHoliday Inn Four Seasons/J.S. Koury Convention Center, Greensboro, NCJuly 5, 6 & 7, 1996of Registrant.

* City State Zip.of Spouse/Guestnote: All spouses/guests pay registration an d reception fee to attend.)

(Friday Eve ning 6-9 p.m.) $10.00 each x = $_(Catered reception with cash bar)(Saturday & S unday) $55.00 each x = $_(Registration after June 29, 1996 is $60.00 per person.Reception is $12 at the door.)

Total amount of check enclosed with registration form: $_make a personal check or postal money order in U.S. currency and mail to:M U F O N 1996 U F O S Y M P O S I U MP.O. B ox 5149Greensboro, NC 27435

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MUFON UFO JOURNAL

Examining M U F O N ' s Computerized U F O DataSection 4: Viewed Objects

Part 2: Dis tanc e an d Size, Surface an d Colors, Emissions, Landings, an d F ol lowin g the WitnessB y T. D avid Spencer, D eputy Director, Inves tigations

OB JECT DISTANCE AND SIZEOf the 585 reports before 1995 that claimed sightings ofUFOs, 514 estimate th e distance. The object's apparentsize is given in 430, and 410 include the estimated actualsize. All three estimates are given in 281 (48 percent) ofthe reports.In 252 (43 percent) of the reports, the three mea-sures were consistent. That is. the object sizes f e l l withinthe ranges of possibilities calculated from the estimateddistances and apparent s izes. Having the three mea-sures, an d their being in agreement, is a confidence in -dication for the measurements - that they were madeconscientiously. The distance and size statistics reportedhere are based on these qual i fied estimates.

Table 4-4. Size an d DistanceC ounts of s igh tings for the 252 qua l i f ied cases havingconsistent measures. Highlighted values ar e those ex -ceeding 20 percent of the totals of both the column an dth e row.

A C T U A LSIZE

< 1 F t .1 - 3 Ft.4 -1 0 Ft.

1 1 - 3 0 F t .31 - 100 Ft.101 -300 F t.> 300 Ft.Total

D I S T A N C E F R O M W I T N E S S< = 20

Ft .o31581020

21 - 100F t.

121

151 53037

101 - 500F t.

11T

225018

T

96

501 Ft. -1 M i.

0>01 53522478

> 1 M i .

036

16

14

2 1

TOTAL4

I IId581 1 4451 0

252

Table 4-4 is a distance - size cross correlation tablegiving the counts from the qualified set. There were nomeasures of less than one foot wh en the objects were atdistances exceeding 500 feet. Similarly , there were nomeasures of sizes over 300 feet when the objects wereless than 101 feet away. In 27 of the 57 distances of lessthan 100 feet, the objects were larger than 30 feet across(almost on top of the witness). The ranges most fre-quent ly reported were distances between 10 1 feet an done mile an d sizes between 31 and 100 feet.

Distance from the WitnessThe proportions of reported distances from th e witnessar e illustrated in Chart 4-5. Except for star shapes, nonebeing reported within 100 feet, the distances for the sixprincipal shapes agree with th e chart. Since an objectident i fied as a star at a distance would probably beidentified as another shape at close range, the exceptionseems reasonable.A lt i tude

Table 4-5. A lt itude and D is tanc eC ount of s igh tings for the 252 qualified cases havingc on s i s t e n t meas ures . H igh l igh ted va lues are thoseexceeding 20 percent of the totals of both the columnand the row.

A L T I T U D E> 500 Ft.< = 500 Ft.T RE E T O PL A N DU n k n o w nTotal

D I S T A N C E FROM WITNESS< = 20

Ft .001 271

20

21 - 100Ft .07

2730

37

101 -500Ft .0

504222

96

501 Ft. -1 M i.3925905

78

> 1 Mi.135102

21

TOTAL5287911 21 0

252

Th e distance versus altitu de cross-correlation of Table4- 5 reveals that the most frequ ent s ightings are close en -counters with objects that are airborne at altitudes of 500feet or below.Ele vat ion An gleThe observed angle of elevation above the horizon helpsassess the object's orientation. Percentages of the data in15 degree increm ents show that over 60 percent of thesight ings were at elevations below 45 degrees, with apeak of 27 percent between 15 and 30 degrees. Another25 percent were between 75 and 90 degrees. Peculiarly,only about 7 percent of the s ight ings fell in each of thetw o intervals between 45 and 75 degrees. Once an angleof 45 degrees is exceeded, people may consider the ob-ject they are viewing to be directly overhead, leading theinvestigator to report a 90-degree elevation.

MAY 1996 N U M B E R 337 PAGE 3

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MUFON UFOJOURNALObject Sizes

Table 4-6. Size Distributions.Counts of sightings for the 252 qualified cases havingcons is tent measures . Highl ighted values are t ho seexceeding 20 percent of the colum n total.

SIZE(Fee t )< 1

1 - 34 - 1 01 1 - 3 031 - 100101 -300> 300 Ft.Total

SHAPESB o o m -erang

000126

11 0

Disc041

22251 30

65

Oval0O

( I16244o

48

S p h -ere134

1S '34

2 1

Star11

T

11

T

0I)

Tri-angle00I )41040

1 8

OtherT

1

31 247133

81

Total4

1 11058114451 0

252

In Table 4-6, wh ich gives the distrib utio n of sizes byshape, the following is observed:1. The sphere was the only principal shape that hadsize estimates across the entire range of values.2. B oom erangs e xh ibite d sizes larger than the othershapes, the most f requent range being between101 and 300 feet.3. There are no qual i f ied cases in which either aboomerang or a triangle w as estimated to be lessthan 11 feet across.4. The estimates of size were p redom inantly between31 and 100 feet. (It is interesting that this range in-cludes the size of most airplanes.)

SURFACE AND COLORSViewed objects either have a surface or are shaped froml ights. Mostly, objects ar e solid an d have i l luminat ion .The object's surface may be glowing or dark and mayhave observable features. External lights may be pulsingor steady. All com bin atio ns are allowed and have beenobserved.Surface A ppe aranc e

Tab le 4-7. Surface Appearances.Proportions by shape from 58 6 cases having data (618data v alue s). V alues in parentheses ar e counts of totals.Other values are percentages by shape. Highlighted val-ues are those exceeding 20 percent.

Of the 586 reports of UFOs, there were 618 claims re-garding surface appearances. Over 50 percent of theclaims said the surface was either dark, dull, or un-know n. Dark surfaces were usually identified either by theoutl ine being seen as a shadow against the brighter sky,

SURFACEA P P E A R A N C E(618)Dark ( 1 1 7 )D u l l ( 7 1 iGlowing ( 2 1 0 lMisty 1 1 5 )Reflective ( 7 2 )Other ( 1 0 )Unknown ( 1 23 1Total I% )

SHAPESBoom-erang

(30)501 31701 001 0

100

Disc(139)

1414283

2121 8

100

Oval(97)

1 5104141 41

1 5100

S phere(62)s5

750

1003

1 0 0

Star(66)

6o5100"1

39100

Triangle(37)528558022100

Other( 1 8 7 i

221 7232103

23100

by the area being visible from its own lights or groundlights, or by the surface blocking the view of stars.From Table 4-7, 60 percent of the boomerangs an dtriangles ha d dark or dull surfaces, which is twice th eproportion of any other principal shape. The darker sur-face is almost a signature characteristic of these tw oobject types.In over 45 percent of the claims, the object eitherglowed or was reflective. Glowing was attr ibuted toover 40 percent of the ovals, spheres, and stars and to 28percent of the discs. These four shapes accounted forover 75 percent of the glowing objects. Only 17 percentof the boomerangs and 5 percent of the triangles exhib -ited a glowing appearance.Twenty percent of the observed discs were identifiedas reflectiv e (m etal lic). The disc represents 40 percent ofal l reflective objects. Although a reflective object withlights at night can be interpreted as a glowing object, themajori ty (7 6 percent) of reflective discs were observedduring daylight (after 0600 and before 2100 hours) .Nearly 40 percent of the star shapes have un kn ow nsurfaces, due to the witness not being able to distin-guish one from th e point of light. Other surfaces wereusual ly claimed as unknown when the area could not bedist inguished from th e background.The "misty" category, identified in 15 reports, re -lates to a cloudy or foggy surface. The disc and ovalwere identified by over half of the reports claim ing thischaracteristic, but the triangle had a greater proportion(1 4 percent) of its sightings given this label than an yother shape.A few cases hav e suggested transpa rent objects. Inone - in vo lvi ng triangle s - a witne ss could see the starsthrough the mi dd le of the shapes. A report from 1995speaks of triangles having surfaces that refracted lightfrom the stars behind them, sim ilar to the refraction ofsunlight by heated ai r from a highw ay. Ano ther case in -volved square or rectangular "windows'" that seem to bewithou t a host.Surface FeaturesOf the 539 identifications in which th e witness believedan assessment could be made, no surface features wereseen for .48 percent of the objects . I n almost equal

PAGE 4 NUMBER 33 7 MAY 1996

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MUFON UFO JOURNAL

CHART 4-6. TEN MOST FREQUENT COLORS517 Surface, 635 External LightsEXTERNAL (LIGHTS)SURFACE

WHITE RED ORANGE GREEN BL-WHGRAY BLACK BLUE YELLOW PINK

amounts of 9 percent of th e total, th e objects were seento have appendages, a dome, and/or windows. A nonsmooth, or patterned surface was detected 5 percent ofth e t ime.Insignias were evident on three occasions. One ofthese, on a disc, w as described as "black arms across thechest." Another id entified brown sq uares with silverstripes on an oval object, and the third (also on an oval )identified a l ightnin g bolt figure across th e side.Most features identif ied as "Other" related to con-figurations of lights on the object. In one case, the wholeobject appeared to the witness l ike a "gray" type alienhead, and it included the eyes. Two o ther reports clai me dobjects hav ing almon d ey e features, on e havi ng dark an dth e other glowing eyes.ColorsFrom Chart 4-6, the two colors represe nting over half ofth e observed surfaces are white and gray. As discussedearlier, th e disc, oval, sphere, an d star accounted fo rthe majority of glowing surfaces. Since glowing ob-jects ar e typically white, th e shapes also account fo rthe majo rity (69 percent) of w hite surfaces.Gray surfaces are mostly metall ic si lver and aremostly reflective. Because of this , it should not be sur-prising tha t discs account for 39 percent of the gray

surfaces, since 40 percent of the reflective surfaces wereattributed to discs.Red, orange, and black surfaces are about eq ual lyrepresented at close to 10 percent each. The two princi-pal colors for external lights are white and red. Blue andgreen ar e each seen about 10 percent of the t ime.Atmospheric conditions can cause dispersion of light,such as from a star. The resu lt appears to be three ligh ts,which could confuse the witness into claiming an objectcomposed of the primary colors. Data analysis showsthat c om b in a t ion sof red, blue, an d green were reportedonly 22 times, fewer than 3 percent of the reports. It istherefore concluded that reports, if any, of dispersedl ights have ins igni f icant consequence.

External Light CharacteristicsThe sighted object m ay have lighting effects which aresolid (unwaver ing) , f lashing randomly or sequentially ,puls ing or osci l lat ing in intensity, brightening, or vary-ing in some other fashion. The object may have no de-tectable lights, or the witness may be uncer ta in . Thepercentages fo r each of these possibilities are given inChart 4-7, which summarizes results from the 348 re-ports containing th e data an d involving only one type ofobject (of 353 reports fo r both single an d multiple ob-jects) .MAY 1996 NUMBER 337 P A G E S

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MUFON UFOJOURNALHalf of the lights were seen as unw aver ing , an d th iswas true for all the principal shapes. Fla shin g and puls-ing l ights (SEQ, R AND OM , an d PULSE) are responsi-ble for about 22 percent of this set of data.S ince both un wave r ing and f lashing l ights are re-qu i r ed on aircraf t , more ana lys i s w as performed toroughly estimate th e impact to the database of misin-

terpreted aircraft. It was assumed that, if of an aircraft,the object was more than one mile away and had anycombination of an u nwav ering, a flashing, and a pulsinglight. There were 41 cases meeting these conditions,which is 11 percent of this set of data and 7 percent of allreports. I t is concluded that aircraft misinterpretationsdue to lights probably occur, but the quan t i ty does notsignificantly influence th e database.EMISSIONS AND SOUNDSFor 80 percent of the cases, no emissions were observedor sounds detected from the objects, but m any of the re-maining 20 percent give an indication that the objects arereal and may have a purpose. Such effects help establishtha t the objects are more tha n appa r i t ions m ovi ngthrough th e sky, an d that they must have intelligence an dmac hinery to direct their seem ingly deliberate tasks.EmissionsThere were 119 cases in which something other thansound was emitted from the object. The only emissionsof significant quant i ty were beam s of light, observed in43 cases an d from all of the principal shapes. The discand oval shapes were seen to issue l ight beams about 10percent of the t ime, which w as more than any othershape.Second to beams of light, trails - inc luding vaportrails, steaks of light and other forms of wakes - were ob-served 14 times. Six of these were associated with ovalshaped objects.In 12 cases, sma ller objects - u sually points of l ight -were ejected, apparently to perform some task. An aurawas seen around an object nine times, five of whichwere associated with principa l shapes (disc, oval, and tri-angle). In seven cases, flames were seen coming fromthe object. On six occasions, clouds or fog appeared tobe emit ted . Four different reports were of sparks orl ightning-like flashes. In a case from 1989, the witnes swatched as a dum bbe ll-shap ed object released angelhair (some of which was gathered later).A case in 1964 involved a glow ing orange sphere thatseemed to be emana t ing a repulsion field. The forcepushed nearby tools away and kept the witne ss awayfrom the object.SoundsOnly 12 1 cases, 20 percent of the reports, included anidentification of sound. Th e lack of sound is so promi-

nent that th is characteristic is often used to help establishthat the object could not be man made.Heard during 80 sighting s were hum s, buzzes, whirs ,an d swishes, and one or a nother of these sou nds was at-tributed mo re than once to each of the principal shapes.Roaring, rumbling, or jet like sounds were heard in 18cases, but none of these were a ttrib ute d to either theboomerang or the sphere. Five cases involved a hisslike static, or a crackling fire, and five others claimedwhist l ing noises. Other sound s were like rattling cans,clicks, and gr ind ing .In one case, witnesses heard a "pfft" sound as the ob-ject ejected ba l ls of ligh t. In an other, a witness claimedmusical tones, composed of the notes A, F#, D, and B.LANDINGSThere were 47 reports of object landings, 13 of which in-volved either a disc or an oval. Only one star shapeand a small number of triangles and spheres were asso-ciated with landings , and no l a n d i n g s of boomerangshapes were reported.The approach of the object was observed in 13 re-ports. In 23 cases, the object was observed hovering. In15, the descent of the object was observed, and in sevencases, witnesses saw the object on the ground. In 12 re-ports, witnesses either saw the object raise from th eground or watched it ascend from the area believed to bea lan ding spot.In two cases involv ing discs and one case with anoval, th e grasses at the landin g spot were sw irled m uchlike crop circles. O ne other case was of four circlesfound in an oat field (1993).

In seven cases, th e landing area appeared either dis-colored, baked (scorched), or b u r n e d , and in four, th earea w as eith er depressed or crushed.Soil and/or vegetation samples were taken after nineof the lan ding s. In four cases, the samples were tested.Except for swirled grass not bei ng dam aged, no test re-sults were given in the reports. Other than th e angelhair m entio ned earlier (Emissions), no artifacts wereidentified.FOLLOWING THE WITNESSI t was comm on for witnesses to chase after UFOs, butthere were only a few cases in the database in w hichUFOs chased witnesses. Such activity reinforces th enotion that UFOs have intel l igent pilots who are noti m m u n e to cur ios i ty and gamesm anship .

Some cases are almost incidental, as in the following: A whi te sphere followed three girls at 45 miles pe rhour, then went on by when they turned a corner.(Log #881004) Two women were driv ing in a wooded area when a

PAGE 6 NUMBER 337 MAY 1996

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MUFONUFOJOURNAL

CHART 4-7. EXTERNAL LIGHT EFFECTS374 Effects from Single Object Lights(348 of the 353reports of external lights)

UNK (3.74%)BRIGHT (5.88%)RANDOM (8.02%)- .$g:3,

' *..- -_>.- _!

PULSE (9.89%)

SEQ (10.43%)OTHER (11.50%)

UNWAV (50.53%)

cylindrical object came over a tree and began fol-lowing them homeward. When th e w o m e n arrivedhom e, the object continue d on. (Log # 9 0 1 2 1 0 ) An oval object followed th e wi tness on the road fo r1. 5 hours - including tw o stop l ights an d direct ionchanges. I t then made a crackling sound and v a n -ished. (Log # 900302) While driving, the witness saw a disc shaped objecthovering over th e right side of the road. After stop-ping and watching it for two minutes , th e witnessdrove on. He soon found that the object was fol low-ing at his speed of 30 - 40 miles per hour. At a corner,th e object hovered a few seconds, then l e f t . (Log#901109)Some cases give a suggestion of a threat, adding tothe witness' fear, as follows :

Two lights followed th e witnesses at th e side of thecar, keeping with them as they tried to get away bu tleaving when they reached their dest inat ion. (Log #881101) A wom an driving home w ith her chi ld saw a whi teoval object in the trees, and it was fo l lowing them.She stopped the car near her house, and the objecthovered above them, it s light reflecting off the road

and the grass. B efore long, her husband drove up, andthe object "shot up and vanished." (Log # 890616) A wom an and her child en route home saw a group ofoval lights following them. When they arrived, th eobjects first hovered 2-10 feet above the mobile homethen split into tw o groups an d left. (Log # 931242J)Two cases highlight the imperfect efforts of the UFOsto keep up with th e witnesses:

A n object followed a man from outside town to hishome on a farm. The object missed a turn, swervedback, and continued follow ing. It hovered over thefarm fo r about an hour. (Log # 880410) While d riving homeward, tw o women saw an ovalobject which was hovering over a street lamp. Theobject began fo l low ing first behind then direct lyabove them. The object overshot a corner but re-turned. When they arrived home, the object recededslowly, then vanished. (Log# 930408J)SUMMARY OFFINDINGS, SECTION 4 PART 2:Size an d Distance The most frequent ranges were distances between

MAY 1996 NUMBER 337 PAGE 7

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MUFON UFO JOURNAL101 feet and one mile and sizes between 31 and 100feet across. Most f requen t ly , s igh t ings were close encounterswith airborne objects which are at alt i tudes of 500feet or below. The majority of sightings w ere at elevation angles be -low 45 degrees. Boomerang shapes averaged larger sizes than othershapes, typically between 101 and 300 feet across.

Surfaces and Colors B oom e r a n gs and tr iangles typically had dark or dullsurfaces (60 percent). O v e r 40 percen t of the ovals, spheres, and s tarsglowed. Tw enty percent of the discs had reflective properties,and 40 percent of the metall ic surfaced objects werediscs. S lightly more tha n half of the sighting s indicatedfeatures on the observed objects. Appendages, domes, or w i n d o w s were seen in 27percent of the sightings. Over half of the surface colors were e ither white orgray, and over half of th e external lights were eitherwhi te or red. Ligh t dispersion resu lt ing in false reports has notbeen significant. In 353 cases, external l ights were observed, and 348regarded lights on sing le objects dis play ing a total of374 effects.

Solid, unwaver ing l ights (189) a c c oun te d for 51percent of the effects. There were 10 6 identifications of flashing or puls-ing lights, amounting to 28 percent of the effects. An estimate was m ade that up to 41, or 7 percent,of all reports could have been misinterpreted aircraft,bu t th e quant i ty is not enough to significantly impactth e database.

Emissions and Sou n d s Em issions were observed in 20 percent (119) of thecases. Emissions of light beams were reported 43 t imes. Vapor trails, or similar, were reported 14 t imes. Twelve repor ts c la imed smal ler ob jec ts be ingejected by a host. Other emissions reported more than once wereauras, f lames, fog, an d sparks. One witness watched the expulsion of angel hair. Sound was detected in 20 percent (121) of the reports. H um , b uz z , sw i sh , an d whir were sou nds claimedby 80 reports. Roars, rumbles, and jet like sounds were men-tioned in 18 reports. Whistl ing noises, his sing , static, or the sound of afire wereYeported 10 times.

Landings There were 47 reports of landings, and 13 of themwere either discs or ovals. H ove ring was seen in 23 cases, the descent in 15and the take off in 12cases. Only seven cases reported seeing the object on theground. F our cases involved swirled grass or crop circles,an d 11 indicated the landing area was either discol-o r e d , b ake d ( sc o r c h e d ) , b u r n e d , d e p r e sse d , o rcrushed.F ol lowin g the Witness In nin e cases, one or more objects were observedfol lowing the witness' car for a significant distance. In two cases, the object overshot the car at a cornerand had to return to contin ue the chase.PR E V I E W OF SECTION 5In part, th e next section of this report discusses addi-tional evidence obtained and examines reported effectsto electronic and electromagnetic devices and to animalswhen an d after sightings occur . A dditionally, mu ltipleevents dur ing th e same day and sequent ial days are ex-amined for corroborations.For some inexplicable reason, your humble editors type-set Part 2 of M r. Spencer's Section 4 ("Viewed Objects")analysis of MUFON'S computerized UFO data beforewe did Part 1. This is embarrassing, of course, but ob-viously doesn 't a f f e c t the outcome of the analysis oneway or the other. W e 'I I try to get back on course next is-sue, and then follow with Section 5. continuing in order.Our apologies for any inconvenience to the author andour readers. Upon completion of the series, we'll includea publication guide fo r future reference, listing the issuein which each section was originally published. Againour profound apologies.

M U F O N C O M M U N I C A T I O N N U M B E R SMUF ON Headq uarters Telephone: (210)379-9216Seguin, TX F a x : (210)372-9439

MUFON UFO HOT LI NE 1-800-UFO-2166WORLD W I D E WEB -http://www.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/MUFON

MUFON e-mail address - MUF ON_ HQ @ aol.comM U F O N ET- B B S (512)556-2524

MUFON OnCompuServe - "Go M U F O N "to access the ForumMUFON Amateur Radio Net40 meters - 7.241 MHz - Saturday, 8 a .m. Eastern Time

P A G E S NUMBER 337 MAY 1996

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M U F O N U F O J O U R N A L

The fragment's silver backside is shown here.

This photo taken while in framethrough non-reflective glass.Two metal clips, not part of thefragment, were used bvframerto hold fragment in position.

FRAGMENT MEASUREMENTSActual.;'

Photo and drawing credits to Miller Johnson,e. New A/cucc .

ROSWELL D E B R I S R E C O V E RE D ?Accord ing to an Associated Press wire report, onS u n d a y . M a r c h 2 4 , a m a n w h o w i s h e s t o r e m a i na n o n y m o u s w alked into Roswell ' s U F O Museum w i t ha piece of me t a l alleg edly recovered from th e 1947crash of a UFO.The donor w as described only as alocal ci t i zen .O n e o f th e m u s e u m ' s a d m i n i s t r a t o r s ,Secretary/Treasurer M ax Littel l . was quoted in the AParticle: "From the informa tion we have," he said, " thi sis from a man who was stationed here and was part ofth e crew that helped pick it up. We are not saying oneway or ano ther that this is w hat it is, but we are go ingto do every thing we can to f ind out."

Pictures of the framed specim en were soon c i rcu la t -in g on the W W W . T h e above or i g i n a l pho to graphsw ere made b y M i l l e r J o h n s o n d u r i n g t h e a n a l y s i sphase. T he darker areas are copper, w h i l e the w h i t eportions are silver.The specimen has now been analyzed by X- r a y f l u -orescence at the New M e x i c o B u r e a u of M i n e s andMinera l Resources in Socorro, and appears to be com-posed of a t h i n s l ive r of si lver coated w i th copper onone side.M i l l e r Johnson ' s repor t on the object, w h i c h firstappeared in the NM MUFON Newsletter, updated an daccompanied by add i t ional photographs , wil l appeari n th e next issue of the Journal.

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OF FIREBALLS GOOD AND OLDThomas N. Hackney

It is said that what is actually heated to incandes-cence when a shooting star scores a path acrosssome small portion of the night sky is a piece ofspace debris no larger than a grain of sand. The casualobserver of these brief bu t stunn ing events, however,would think that something rather more substantial wasafoot.Although these diminutive cosmic visitors can beseen on almost any dark, clear night, the same cannot besaid of their larger counterpart, the fireball. Fireballs donot wink in and out of sight after a second or two ofsplendent flight. Looking som ewh at like an airplane onfire, fireballs eat up the sky l ike nobody's business.Very few people have ever, or will ever, see a true cos-mic fireball in their lifetime. The number of those whohave, however, must have surely increased by somesignificant factor on the evening of October 9, 1992,when a ' ' lime-green" fireball "brighter than a f u l lmoon" was seen from North Carolina and WestVirginia to New York an d Ohio.Because of the early evening hour, the IFO was cap-tured on videotape by no fewer than fourteen amateurvideo recordists in four different states . D urin g th esec-on d half of its lumino us 450-mile, 40-second run, th efireball was seen to fragment into more than 70 clearlydefined pieces. One of these was recovered forty milesnorth of New York City after it smashed through th eback end of a parked Chevrolet. I t weighed 27.3 pounds( 1 2 . 4 k g ) .T h e meteo r i t e c r as h - landed a t 7:50 p.m.w h i l eMiche l le Knapp of Peekski l l w as ins ide her ho us ewatching television. Upon investig ating what soundedlike a car crash outside, sh e discovered to her initialchagrin a smok ing and charred rock emb edded in ashallow crater under her Chevrolet, which had a largehole where it's right-rear signal-l ight used to be. Tomake things worse, she had no meteorite insurance onher car (alas).Over th e next several days, more than 400 peopleshowed up in her front yard to gawk at the basketball-sized hole the meteor had created, or to get a glimpse ofth e football-shaped meteorite that ha d caused it . Severaldifferent local and New Y ork C ity television news trucksalso pulled up in her driveway.As it happened, Michelle Knapp could not have re-ceived a better 18thbirthday present (October 12).Eventually, she was able to sell to two collectors both thedamaged car and the meteor i te for a total of abo ut$75,000. According to Mar t in P r inz , th e Amer icanMus eum of Natural History curator who bid unsuccess-fully for the meteorite, the rock from space must have

sold for upwards of $50,000, while the punctured carsold fo r about $25.000. The meteorite's w inni ng buye r,a dealer in such artifacts, later sold the 27.3-poundchondrite by the gram to a hungry meteorite market,pocketing a considerable profit in the process.The meteorite w as taken first to the Lamont-DohertyGeological Observatory in Palisades, N.Y. There it wasclassified as an H6 Chondrite, making it among themore com mo n meteorites fou nd. Most of the rock 'sfour-billion year old geological history had been meltedor fused long ago, making it relatively uninterestin g togeologists. (Not so to one team of astronomers, though.)According to William Menke of the above-mentionedobservatory, "It's likely the 30-pound brown and greyrock came from the annual Draconid meteor shower,which was visible th e length of the east coast on Fridaynight . I t may turn out that scientifically this is a realbreakthrough or an interesting thing that gets writtenabout on a list with 4,999 other meteorites."I t seems D r. Menke was at least right about on e thing.The v ideo recordings m ade that n ight provided a wea lthof time-resolved dynamical detail never before recordedfor an event of this nature . These were th e first motionpictures of a fireball from which a meteorite has everbeen recovered. From th e large amount of data th ismade available, physicists were able by the followingyear to reconstruct fo r only th e fourth time in historyboth the original orbit in space an d exact groundpath ofa meteor after it s fall. I t was, in a word, th e most f u l l ydocumented and conspic uou s fireball event of moderntimes.Although the fireball sighting occurred during th eDraconid meteor shower (October 8 through 10),itturned out not be a Draconid at all. The fireball t h a t hi ta car had come from a different direction in the skythan that of the constellation, Draco th e Dragon, fromwhence the Draconids are name d. The Peekskill fireballwas a sporadic, whose true source was the solar sys-tem's asteroid belt. This is confirmed by the apparent ra -diant of the fireball , or the point on the celestial spherefrom which the meteor appeared to originate, whichwas: a = 15 h 07 m in 02 m i n . c , = -16.2 0.2(epoch 2000.0).

The first video record, shot when th e fireball was at aheight of 46 km, shows an angle of incidence ofonly 3.4, which is unusual ly low. This means the meteornearly bounced off the atmosphere and headed backinto space. This is reminiscen t of a fireball that did skipof f th e atmosphere in Augus t , 1972, though no t beforebeing sighted from Salt Lake C ity to C algary, C anada, aP A G E 10 NUMBER 337 MAY1996

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MUFON U F O J O U R N A L

Cn r inl by Peckskill meteorite.

distance of almost 1000 miles . I f th is larger meteor ha dcrashed to earth, scientists bel ieve i t would have ex-ploded with a force e qu a l to severa l Hi rosh ima-s izedbombs .A n o t h e r in teres t ing charac te r i s t ic revealed in thevideo record was that j u s t before i t fragmented, it f l ick-ered at a frequency of 6 Hz. Of the thousands of phonecalls received by authori t ies that night, many referred toits strong green hue. This color does no t appear in thevideo recordings because the fi rebal l 's brightness sa tu-rated th e dyna m i c response of the camcorders ' C C D(charge-coupled device) photodetectors.The fireball's groun d p a t h w as determined by trian-gulat ion analysis , which was made possible by a frame-by-f rame analys i s of four of the fourteen recordingsstudied. These inc luded th e ones made from Fairfax.V i r g i n i a ( 3 8 5 1 ' N . 7 7 1 9 ' W ) : J o h n s t o w n ,P e n n s y l v a n i a (40 20' N , 78 56' W ); P i t t s b u r g h ,Pennsy lvan ia (40C 26' N. 80" 01 ' W): and Wil loughby.Ohio ( 4 1 3 8 ' N . 8 1 2 6 ' W ) .A frame rate of 30 frames pe r second (60 video fieldspe r second) was assumed by the a n a ly z in g t eam, wh i chc o n s i s t e d o f f o u r C a n a d i a n s , o n e C z e c h , and o neA m e r i c a n (odd ly e n o u g h ) . Th e i r analys i s revealed apreatmospheric velocity for the fireball of more than 15km per second. According to the i r report to the Bri t i shjou rna l Nature, "The dura t ion of the event (10-20 timeslonger than typical f ireballs) , the use of data from four

More radiowaves in space were scannedand analyzed for intelligent origins duringth e first fe w minutes of this $100 million,"all-sky," alien-hunting project than wereperused in all the previous fifty SETI pro-jects combined.widely spaced stations, the large number of points (254),and the excellent (1/60 s) time resolution all contributedto a rather precise preatmospheric velocity an d apparentradiant." During the last stage of its recorded flight, thefireball w as seen to have slowed to about 5 km per sec-ond.Just for the record, the Peekskill fireball might alsorank among th e more "auspicious" cosmic events inrecent memory. The "cosmic fender-bender" occurredjust three days before th e well noted occasion of the500th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America(October 12, 1992). C oincidentally (perhaps), the eventalso occurred three days before NASA/ Ames activatedthe High Reso lution Microw ave Su rvey, the first large-scale SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intel l igence)project ever undertaken by Man. More radiowaves inspace were scanned and analyz ed for intelligent originsduring the first few minutes of this $100 million, "all-sky," alien-hunting project than were perused in all theprevious fifty SETI projects combined.

0 Washington, D.C.X Greenbank, W. Va.

FIG 1 Map of the northeastern United States showing the location of thestations used in the video analysis, the projection of the trajectory on theEarth's surface and the Peekskill meteorite recovery site. The groundtrack as actually recorded on video is the solid line; the dotted line repre-sents the undocumented trajectory past the last recorded point; the thickdashed line is based on the compilation of visual observations for theearly part of the trajectory; and the thin dashed line is a theoretical initialportion of the trajectory based upon the assumption of an 80-km height atthe start of the luminous trajectory. NY, New York; OH, Ohio; PA,Pennsylvania; VA , Virginia.

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Handling the News Media:What M U F O N Members Need to Know

by Joe Lewels, Ph.D.A nyone who takes the UFO mystery seriouslyhas, at one time or another, been frustrated byth e new s media's often sophomoric and un in-formed coverage of the subject. As a former journalistan d journalism professor, I have often winced with em -barrassment at the antics of broadcast anchormen w hosomehow feel obliged to end every UFO story with asnide com men t or a dumb joke. It is as if by doing so,they can distance themselves from the subject matter anddemonstrate to the audience how objective, credibleand professional they are. Such comments and raisedeyebrows, I have noticed, do not explain to the viewerswhy the TV station chose in the first place to air thestory. They are left to wonder why, if the story was soridiculous, they bothered to cover it at all.The reason, of course, is the ratings. TV stations andnewspapers are, first an d foremost, businesses, and it isthis fact that accounts fo r much of their content. Editorsan d news directors are well aware of the public's seem-ingly unquenchable thirst for UFO information, andeven if they themselves are ignorant of the subject, theyunderstand one thing qu ite well: UFOs sell newspapersand boost ratings. MUF ON members, w ho from time tot ime may find themselves dealing with th e press, mustbe constantly aware of this truth, for it can either be thecause of great consternation or it can provide mu ch-needed public ity opportunities.Three cases of media contact during the last yearserve to i l lustrate th e problem. Not long ago, th e StateSection Director in El Paso, Tex., Dr. Roberta Fennig,w as contacted by a television reporter who was anxiousto get an interview for a story. "We're doing a three-partseries on UFOs and I need to see you right away," hesaid. He was working on a short deadline and askedfor a meeting that same day. D r. Fennig contacted m eand we agreed to meet with the reporter on the conditionthat th e meeting be "off th e record." Since we did notknow the reporter, we felt a need to act cau tiously . Weneeded to kn ow wh a t th e program would cover andhow it would be approached. To determine this, weasked a few quest ions:"Why are you interested in doin g a series on UFOs?"w e asked."My news director assigned me the story,"he responded.

"Is your news director interested in UFOs?""I don't think so.""Then why do the story? Has something happened tostir up interest in the subject?" w e queried."I don't think so."

"Well, why do a series at this time," we probed."It has to do with th e ratings," he confessed. "Nextweek is sweeps week." (The week in wh ich audiencesizes ar e measured to determine ho w much a stationcan charge for advertising is called "sweeps week.")"Ok, what do you know about UFOs?""Not much," he replied honestly."Have you read any books on the subject?""No.""Are yo u aware that your network ( C B S ) devoted anhour of serious discussion to th e sub jec t on the '48Hours' program?" we inquired."Uh, no, I d i d n ' t se e that.""How much ai r time will you r station devote to thisthree-part series?""Each segment is going to be about 2 to 3 minutes."

It q uickly became obvious that 1 ) th e reporter was to-tally ignorant of the subject; 2) neither he nor anyoneat his station had any serious interest in the subject; 3)th e only purpose of the report was to hype th e nightlynews to gain higher ratings; an d 4 ) that th e station w asgoing to rush to throw together something without muchresearch or concern for the seriousness of the subject. Inthe end, we opted no t to participate, alth ou gh we realizedw e were passing up an opportun i ty to bring in newmembers and to publ ic ize ou r hotl ine n umb er . We hadgood reason to be concerned that any comments w emight make could be taken out of con t ex t for the pur-pose of providing the station with a 20-second "soundbyte" to be used to hype their evening news show.D r. Fennig, whose experience at dealing with th emedia is limited, was amazed by the lack of profes-sionalism demo nstrated by the reporter. "I thou ght hewould have at least done a little research on the subjectbefore asking for an interview," she comm ented. This ex-ample should serve as a lesson fo r MUFON spokesper-sons who will find that the job of educating reporters isnever ending. They canno t assume that journalists knowanything about the volumes of evidence pertaining to thereality of UFOs or that they have even heard th e namesof persons like Dr. John M ack, B udd Hopkins, D r. J.Allen Hy n ek or other well-known researchers.Walt Andrus . Intern ational Director of MUFON, re -cently received a call from a reporter from a newspaperin Pensacola, Florida w ho wanted an interview and in-formation on the Gulf Breeze case. "He knew absolutelynothing about th e events of Gulf Breeze," says Walt,"even though Pensacola is j u s t a few miles across th ePAGE 1 2 NUMBER 337 MAY 1996

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MUFON UFO JOURNALRemember that anything you say to a re-porter is quotable unless you received apledge of anonymity before you made thestatement. For that reason, many reporterswill attempt to strike up a casual conversa-tion, without telling you that you are beinginterviewed. As disagreeable as i t mayseem, it is in your best interest to considerevery newsperson as an adversary, for heis capable of making you look extremelyfoolish.bay. He d idn ' t even know who Ed W alters was. I askedhim how long he had worked in Pensacola and he saidfive years. I told him the Gulf Breeze case was at leasteight years old."

On an othe r occasion , a reporter for the El PasoHerald Post approached me for help in arranging an in-terview with an abductee. She wanted to do a featurestory to accompany the story she was doing on JohnCarpenter's lecture on the abduction phenomenon atthe Universi ty of Texas at El Paso. In the past, she haddone an exce llent job on a front page story concerning alecture by speaker Robert Dean. She had even calledhim long distance for an interview. Since I had confi-dence in her, I assisted her in setting up an interviewwith a local wom an w ho had a lifetim e of UFO experi-ences. The interview resulted in a large, front page arti-cle which was no dou bt responsible for the large crowdthat attended Carpenter 's presentation. It was a fair, in -depth an d serious effort to convey th e terror, traumaan d honest confu sion experienced by an otherwise in -telligent, well-adjusted and productive individu al.The difference between these tw o cases of mediacontact serves as a good lesson fo r MUFON memberswho may not have experience in deal ing with th e press.Here are a few suggest ions about how to handle th emedia and to get better pu blic ity:

1) Members should be t aught to handle unsolici tedmedia contact properly. One person in the chapter,preferably th e State Section Director or another experi-enced individual, sho uld be designated as the spokesper-son. All requests fo r information or interviews should bedirected to him or her.2) The spokesperson shou ld seek out reporters w hoare interested in and knowledgeable about th e subjectand work with them by being their sources of informa-t ion . C u l t i v a t e re l a t i on sh i p s with those who can betrusted to do a fair job.3) Media contact is optional and should be on yourow n terms. Y ou are not obligate d to speak to a reporteran d you shou ld not do so if you are unco mfo rtable with

the format or with th e individua l . B e prepared to bebadgered for a statement. Reporters know that if theycan keep you on the phone or engaged in conversationfor more than a minute or so, chances are you will en dup "spilling your guts." Learn to say "no comment ," or"I can't be a source for you on this story," then hang up!R e m e m b e r t h a t a n y t h i n g you say to a r epor te r isquotable unless you received a pledge of anonymitybefore you m ade the statement. For that reason, m any re-porters will attempt to strike up a casual conversation,without telling you that you are being interviewed. Asdisagreeable as it may seem, it is in your best interest toconsider ev ery newsperso n as an adversary, for he is ca-pable of making you look extremely foolish.4) B efore saying anyth ing q uotable, fi rst find outwhat th e nature of the story is and wh a t th e reporter'sviews are. Ask for a face to face, off the record meetingto get acquain ted . Make it clear what comments ar e"off th e record" and which are for at tribution. Taperecord th e interview as a safeguard.5) Do not assume the reporter knows anything aboutth e subject or has done any research. Find out whatbooks he has read and who else he is going to interview.Do not assume that the reporter will be objective, fair orsympathetic. Remember, reporters use people to get astory that w i l l sell newspapers or get ratings. Their ow ninterests come first, not telling th e t ruth.6) When dealing with TV stat ions, find out howmuch air time they plan to devote to the story. Realizethat even though they interview you for 20 minutes,they may only use a 10- or 20-second film clip of themost sensational statements yo u make. I t will be to-tally out of context an d could make yo u look foolish.7) Learn to exercise caution wi t h your choice ofwords an d think carefully before you say anything on theai r or for a t t r ibut ion . Alw ays opt for the most conserv-ative choice of words and qualify your statements. Forexample, invest igators should use the term "UFO" or"object" rather than "spaceship." Remember, you can'tprove it was a spaceship. Use the words, "apparent" or"potential" when describing an abduction or alien en-counter. Be cautious about stating as fact those thingsthat cannot be proven, such as "the government is test-ing flying saucers," or "aliens are from Zeta Reticuli" or"alien bodies were recovered at Roswel l ."8) If your meetings are open to the public, it is a

good idea to ask if there are any reporters or mediarepresentatives in the audience. If so, you may wish toask for a promise that the meeting be "off the record" oryo u m ay wish to ask the person to leave. Having a re-porter present at a me eting may seriously interfere witha free and open discussio n of imp ortant issues. Mem bersshould not have to worry about being quoted in thenewspaper for statements made at meetings.

Continued on Page 22MAY 1996 NUMBER 337 PAGE 13

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MUFON UFO JOURNALN E WS OFF THE NET

LA C H U P A C A B R Aby D a v id A d a m sMiami When police arrived at the crime scenethey had never seen such carnage. Lifeless victims

69 in all lay strewn across the yards of two fami-lies in Sweetwater, a heavily Hispanic neighborhoodin south Miami. But it was a Miami massacre with a dif-fe ren ce a case p e r h a p s fo r Ace V e n t u r a , P etDetective.The vict ims were all animals goats, chickens,geese an d ducks.Who o r w h a t could have done such a das-tardly thing?The killer, sa y police and a local zoologist, was alarge dog.Wrong, sa y local residents. I t was the chupacabras,the Caribbean's very ow n B igfoo t, except this creature isa vampire-like predator whose name literally means"Goatsucker" in Spanish .Don't be surprised if you haven't heard of the chu-pacabras. Until this mon t h it had never been seen orheard of outside Puerto Rico, the U.S. island common-wealth of four million people. For the past si x months ,th e hideous bloodsucking beast with an oval-head an dbulging red-eyes part reptile, part insect, part UF Oalien allegedly ha s been terrorizing th e island's cen-tral mountains.But after the slaughter in Sweetwater, the chupacabrasha s f irmly established a place in the annals of M i a m imake-believe.It may sound l ike something out of Star Trek, but itha s gripped more than just th e imagination of HispanicMiami . F or those w ho believe in the chupacabras, th efear is real. In some cases the attack on livestock hascaused serious economic loss.O ne Sw eetwater woman c la ims to have seen it, andthere have been alleged chupacabras attacks in otherparts of Miami . The beast ha s developed a large fol-lowing in Latino com m un ities across the United S tates,from New Jersey to California.Authorities are taking th e killings seriously up toa point. A specialist ha s investigated th e deaths, and acounty commissioner ha s called for a police inq uest ."It 's mushroomed way out of proportion," says RonMagil l , assistant curator at metroDade zoo. "I'm sit-ting here literally in shock."Chupacabras ha s aroused great interest, and discus-sion some of it less than serious on the Internet ,where it has its own home page, complete with sketchescreated b y a P r i n ce t on U n i v e rs i t y h i s t o ry s t ud en t .(http:/ /www.princeton.edu/~accion/chupa.html)"This ha s turned out to be a new kind of folklore,"said th e student , Hector A rmstrong, a native of Puerto

Drawing courtesy of Cesar Remus MUF ON State Director forPuerto Rico.

Rico. There is even talk of a video-game spin-off, hesays.It already ha s become big business: There are T-shirts, a chupacabras sand w ich, live m ornin g radio anda Spanish pop song with a cho rus that roug hly translatedgoes like this: "Gotta have fun and party. In case theGoatsucker gonna get me."Last week English-language radio got in on the actwhen the popu lar station Y-100 ran a week-long "searchof the elus ive chupacabras!" offering a $1,000 prize fora real photo of the creature. The station made its ownmock effort, sending a reporter into the Sweetwaterwoods dressed in a goat costume.The chupacabras coverage was a hi t .One of Latin America 's most watched Spanish-lan-guage TV chat shows, Cristina, which is recorded inMiami where it has a large audience, gave credence toth e "chupacabras phenomenon" with an hou r-long pro-gram on it Monday .On the show was Jose "Chemo" Soto, th e mayor ofCan ov an as , a t own i n Pue r t o R i co wh e re t h e ch u -pacabras supposedly has claimed more than 100 victims.Soto, who is running fo r re-election, offered viewers thisgrim warning: "Whatever it is, it's highly intel l igent .Today it is attacking animals, but tomorrow it may attackpeople."A form er police detective, Soto is kn ow n to locals as"Chemo ( Ind iana) Jones," for his ques t to capture th emysterious creature. Using caged goats as bait, Soto

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MUFON UFO JOURNALleads a weekly mons ter hunt of local volunteers who pa-trol th e town's surrounding hills so far to no avai l .A lso interviewed on Cristina: a vet from Puerto Rico nicknamed D r. C hupacabras w h o claims th ewounds he has examine d on alleged victim s of the beastare "totally abnorm al" fang-like pu ncture s. Others on theprogram inclu ded an extraterrestrial philosopher and awriter on UFOs, who belie ve the chupacabras was sentfrom anoth er planet to Puerto Rico.According to Jorge M artin, publisher of Evidencia, amagazine on UFO research, aliens are drawn to PuertoRico by the Arecibo Observatory, the world 's largest ra-dio telescope.The killings, wh ateve r their cause, are a serious prob-lem that has f r ightened many people in Puer to Ricoan d Miami .This has been fueled by a num ber of eyewitness ac-c oun t s from s e e m i n g l y credible people. A t least 15C anovanas residents claim to have had a close enco unte rwith th e monster."I w as looking off the balcony o ne nig ht, and I saw itstep out of a bright light in the back yard," said MichaelNegron, a 25-year-old college student."It was about 3 or 4 feet tall with skin like that of adinosaur. It had br ight re d eyes th e size of hens' eggs,long fangs and m ulti-colored spikes dow n its head andback." The creature reportedly disembowelled th e f am-ily goat , draining th e blood from it s neck.Some theories and eyewitness accounts areharder to believe than others. Consider th e latest sightingin the Puer to Rican town of Caguas , where the chu-pacabras a l leg edl y entered a bedro o m w indo w andmauled a stuffed teddy bear, lea ving a "puddle of slime."Cr i t ics say the hysteria has been whipped up by sen-sationalist m edia that are eager to prom ote the legend aspart of a sales or rating drive. Puerto Rico is a fertilemarket fo r such bizarre tales, due to widespread Afro-Caribbean cultural an d religiou s beliefs that involve an-imal sacrifices and blood rituals.Officials sa y folk monster tales are hard to combatwi th rational exp lana t io ns .Ju s t ask Magi l l , th e Miami zoologist. When he at-tended the S weetw ater s layin g, he pointed out to resi-dents w hat he believes to be incontrovertible proof thekiller was a large dog, maybe 50 po unds in weight , ormore."They were just totally not lis tening," he said. On in-spection he found the bite marks were "classic can inepunctures from dogs."As for the vam pire theory, "Contrary to the po pula rbelief, all the anim als were full of blood."H e demonstrated this on one dead goat. "I took aknife and cut in to th e carotid artery and blood cameou t of the carcass."He also showed where he believes a dog dug its wayunder th e garden fence.

"It was a classic do g digging. Y ou could see all thedirt pushed back and dog hair on the bottom of thefence." Magill was able to identify footprints as beingthat of a dog.Residents wanted to know why none of the animalshad been eaten . Again he points to what he calls th e"classic m.o." of dog attacks. "Dogs don't kill fo r food,they kill for fun . It 's a thrill."F or Magill th e scene was a deja vu experience. Twoyears earlier, dogs killed 15 antelopes at the zoo in thesame fashion. B ut Mag ill says all his explanations werefor naught. Local residents were enthralled by heavy me-dia attention that day.An older woman came out of the house and turning toa group of TV cameras demonstrated how she had con-fronted the chupacabras."I t stood up on two legs and was hunched over likethis with big arms and looked at me with these re deyes," th e woman said .

"I just said, 'Oh jeez, here we go,'" says a discour-aged M agill . "A s soon as she did that every new s m ediacamera zoomed in on her. That was the footage theyplayed over an d over again."P a r t C u b a n , and f luent in Spanish , Magil l under-stands the cultural sensitivity of older people in theH ispanic comm unity over their religious an d cultural be -liefs. H e even believes in UFOs and extraterrestrial lifeforms. "I'm not one of those pure scientists who say'No. we are the only ones w ith the truth and all that stuffis ludicrous,' "he says. "It's just in this case that was notit."Copyright 1996 St . Petersburg Times. Al l rights reserved.

Cr: http://www.princeton. edu/~accion/chupa. html

ET HIGHWAYOn Apr i l 18, 1996, at a pu blic ceremony in R achel,Nevada, s tate Governor B ob Miller will dedicate th enewly-named "Extraterrestrial Highway" (State Ro ute375). Rachel, and the h ighw ay , li e nex t to a section ofthe huge Ne l l i s G unnery Range kno w n as Area 51.Area 51 is the site of a super-secret test facility thathas gained u fological fame in recent years. Many sight-ings of strange lights have taken place around the facil-ity, whose very existence was denied by Air Force offi-cials unti l recently. Rachel, located 140 miles northeastof Las Vegas, is a gathering point for ufologists andsight-seers w ho come from around the U.S. to go snoop-ing near the base. The Extraterrestrial Highway desig-nation was made official by the Nevada Department ofTransportation B oard of D irectors on February 1.

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MUFON UFOJOURNAL

John CarpenterThe Science of NOVA: "No Other Viewpoints

Accepted"

On the heels of B udd Hopkins' enlightening article inlast month ' s Journal (#335. March 1996). I wouldlike to offer addi tiona l remark s in response to q ues-t i on s and doubts ra ised by Nova ' s "Kidnapped ByAliens?" program. There were numerous op in ions of-fered wi thou t supportive evidence or opp ortu nities fordebate or reb utt al. This indee d caused the program to beexplana tory rather than exploratory, biased instead ofbalanced, and selective as opposed to openly scientif ic .Science has become a type of religion w i th its ownrules, accepted beliefs, and dis l ike fo r anyt h ing chal-lenging to either . Like an e x c lu s iv e c oun t r y c lub , itsnubs those w ho either do not belong or appear to un-dermine th e expertise of those w ho already "belong."There ar e scientists who are secretly looking at UFOdata but fearful of anyone knowing so. Science does no tseem to learn from its own history in wh ic h the ac-cepted beliefs have been forced to change from over-whelming evidence that accumulates over t ime by thosewho stay open to the scientific process. (Note how manytimes in the past few years the age of the universe hasbeen altered and updated due to new revelations fromth e Hub b le telescope!)The first question should be: "Who should be al-lowed as experts and spokesmen for the study of UFOAbductions?" The obvious answer would be those w hoare involved in the research as well as those from relatedfields of science who have exam ine d ev idence pre-sented to them. This im me diat ely exclu des both C arlSagan who we know has refused to partic ipat e inU F O invest iga t ions when invited and physic is t Pau lHorowitz , who claimed that there is "no evidence w hat-soever" for the existence or visi tat ion of U F O s to th isplanet . Neither Sagan nor Horowitz present any sup-portive evidence fo r their opinions. Al though D r. J o h nMack possesses all the credentials, psychiatric experi-ence, and research inv olv em ent needed to mak e hisstatements, it is Carl Sagan's claim that prevails as to thepsychology of th is mystery simply being "mass ha l lu -cinations." I am no more of an astronomer than CarlSagan is a psychiatri c professiona l, but does this nowgive me the right to present m y theories of the Co smo sas a more informed viewpoin t than Sagan's? Sagan pre-sents safe, palatable opinions based on accepted, logicalthinking but f a i l s completely to cite a single case, sci-entific inqu i ry , or supporting piece of evidence to sub-stantiate his opinions.Carl Sagan 's term "mass hal luc ina t ion" is a c u r iousconstruction in itself. A hal lucinat ion is a private, inter-

nal disturbance of one's mind, individualized and char-acterized by all the dynamics and personal history of thatparticular individu al. The components and nature of thepsychotic distortion are also specific to that individual.We can have ten "Jesus C hrists" in a psychiatric unit bu t no two are exactly alike nor do they typically agreewith each other's perspective! Therefore, millions ofhal lucinat ing persons would produce diverse, individu-alized scenarios, ut ili zi ng popular aspects of sciencefiction, an d mixed with their ow n imagination. What ar eth e odds that these fantasies would fall into neat littlepatterns of intri cate detail, sequence, and w ith similarbizarreness or confusion fo r mil l ions of people? Whatabout th e cases of multiple participant abductions inwhich witnesses independently recall th e same eventin much detail , matching their observations of eachother, the order of events, and the same bizarre bu t con-fusing aspects of the ir shared eve nt?

Why is it that hypnotherapists and researchers ar efinding that efforts to lead abductees or suggestanswers to them that do not fit with research all f a i lconsistently from case to case? In other words, the na-ture of the reality that abductees are either recalling orcreating is apparently existent prior to any hypnosissessions.I f this is just a product of hypnosis as ProfessorRobert B aker suggests, then how can the fantasized ac -counts match so neatly with documented conscious en-counters that are unknown to these hypnosis subjects?How could a family's careful and ful ly conscious de-scription of little gray men with oversized heads and bigblack sl antin g eyes, walk ing around a landed disk in a

park, perfectly match the subconscious fantasies of hyp-notic subjects? Can a hallucination crash in the desert ofNew Mexico and be retrieved secretly by the mil i ta ry?Can a hallucination be tracked on radar and/or leave anoval of highly-affected, dehydrated soil behind? Why dothe best conscious descriptions of alien bodies retrievedan d autopsied (from numerous independent sources) al lmatch the exact details of hypnotically-retrieved de-tails from "fantasizing" subjects? If alien memories area l l e g e d l y i m p l a n t e d b y car e l ess h y p n o t i s t s , t h e nwouldn' t these created scenarios reflect the beliefs andopinions of each hypnotist? The reports from many pro-fessionals wit h vary ing backgrounds from around thecountry are that the accounts reflect a consistent scenariowith an emotional an d detailed core of reality unrelatedto any obvious belief system of a particular hypnother-apist. (Despite acquiring similar data, some researchersdo tend to favor certain aspects or themes in their reportsto others, thus making it appear that they only have cer-tain kinds of cases.)Professor Baker also states that exposing a person tohypnosis merely "turns on their imagination," suggest-in g that hypnotic recall would rarely have any reliablevalue. But a research study of over 50 0 cases of trau-

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MUFON UFOJOURNALPersinger's research into temporal lobephenomena is admirable but hardly enoughto explain the involved and matching pat-terns of countless abduction details. Thevague sensations and feelings describedare hardly enough to fully explain, for ex-ample, a farmer's three-hour, detailed, andvery emotional experiences which matchin precise detail to the accounts of so manyothers unknown to him.matic/violent crimes investigated by the Los Angeles po-lice department analyzed the use of hypnosis and itsreliability in investigating such emotional cases. In atleast half of these cases in which the information re-trieved through hypnosis could be verified, hypn oticrecall had a accuracy rat ing of 90% w h i c h w asgreater than the accuracy rating of consciously-recalleddetails in those cases! Sending someone off into a past-life journey as Dr. Baker did for this Nov a special doesof course dem onstrate sugge stibility and probable fan-tasizing. T he past-life subject reports famil iar themes,common characters, and known aspects of human his-tory. However, abductees are instead confused by whatthey see in terms of strange beings, odd places, un-k n o w n procedures, and inexplicable physics likepassing through walls. P ast-life regressions will alwaysbe uniq ue , diverse, individua lized and personal; theywill never fi t into researchable patterns like abdu ctionaccounts unless D r. Baker's next 10 0 subjects al l reportth e exact same interesting journ ey back throug h time!N ova's emphasis on D r. Mack's one subject who de-liberately lied and played the role of an abducteelike an actress studying a part seems quite unfair. It is notuncommon in Psychiatry for even the best of profes-sionals to be tak en in by a clever liar or sociopath. Thepoint here is that her performance is un iq ue and nottypical of the kinds of respectable persons involved northeir reasons fo r seeking truth and understanding.Persinger's research into temporal lobe phenomena isadmirable but hardly enough to explain th e involvedand matching patterns of countless abduction details.T h e v a g u e s e n s a t i o n s a n d fee l i n gs d esc r i b ed inPersinger's research are hardly e nou gh to fully explain,fo r example, a farmer's three-hour, detailed, and veryemotional experiences which match in precise detail toth e accounts of so many others unkn ow n to him . Howcould the four men in the canoe of the Allagash incidentall experience sim ultaneo us temporal lobe reactions an dreport such bizarre bu t ma tch ing details? H ow co uldthree f ully-a wa ke adults in a car, watching with great ex -ci tement an d fear as a UFO descends, be experiencing

th e hypnogogic effects of sleep paralysis as Dr. Bakersuggests? D r. B aker says that these people "should betold thai it is a dream" because nobody ha s ever beenhelped by bel i ev ing it is t rue . I t would take a whole ar -ticle to l i s t th e nu m e ro u s w ays people hav e felt helped,made changes for the better, an d f e l t forever indebted toou r efforts because of their growth an d personal successafter clar ifying and bet te r unders tanding their l ives.Nova failed terribly in not presenting all the kinds ofinformat ion that it could have . Nova failed in not pre-senting a balanced debate from those actually doingth e research. Nova s imply failed as a science program.Perhaps it is merely a reflection of how our presentprocess in science ha s been fail ing. F or Nova stafferLiesl Cl a rk to state that show ing corroborat ing physicalevidence would be "opening a can of worms" is remi-niscent of the reac t ions that scientists had to viewingGallileo's telescope: To look through it mig ht introducechallenges to accepted science; therefore, don't look!May we all grow bolder to openly look w here others stillfear to even take a measured g lance .Carpenter's E-m ail address is Starman|[email protected] E T N E W S - Continued from Puge /5

At the ceremonies . M i l l e r is to announce the firststep in a promot iona l plan for th e h i g hwa y an d ruralNevada. Robert Harper , th e Pres ident of Market ing fo rTwentieth Century F ox Fi lms, wi l l be a guest at theceremonies, along w i th cast mem bers from Fox ' s newfilm, Independence Day. whi c h opens on J u l y 3. Thefilm, which detai ls an al ien invas ion of Earth , involvesth e base at Area 51 . A special "extraterrestrial theme"sign for the highway w i l l be unvei led at the ceremonies,along with a mon u me n t to commemora t e th e dedicationand the p remi e r of the f i l m . A special panel discussionwith notable ufologis ts w i l l be featured, composed ofWalter A ndru s , George Knapp, Vicki and Don Ecker.The event w i l l begin on April 17, with a reception pu ton by Fox at Planet Hol lywood at Caesar's in Las Vegas.The next morning , a con v oy w i l l depart fo r Rachel fo rth e 2:00 P M dedicat ion.Cr: [email protected] (AUFORA News Update)

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M U F O N U F O J OURNAL

F I R E I N T H E S K Yby Trav i s WaltonReviewed by Robert B l e t c h m a n . J .D .

Travis Walton has w r i t t e n a remarkablebook. Fire inthe Sky (Marlowe & Co.. 1996). It is remarkable becauseth e author, it s central character, presents the case w i t hsuch incisive journalistic excel lence that it 's easy toforget t h i s is basically his t r u e story of an even t of t r a n -scendent consequence to th e h um a n species. The bookinvokes Mark Twain 's dictum, t h a t f a i t h is a wonderfult h i n g , bu t i t 's doubt t h a t ' l l get you an educat ion. Waltonachieves a comprehensive f l e s h i n g out ( m i s s i n g else-where) of the context in which the under ly ing UF Oevent happened. Without t h i s fastidious attention, th eincredible facts ar e indeed hard to digest. F or cr i t ics ,whose doubts have yet to harden i n t o intractable cynicalcertitude, t h i s book gives th e chance to rediscover. Thatis Walton's stated hope, w i t h particular emphasis drawnto reconcile th e imagery of the f i l m . "Fire in the Sky,"based on his first book. The Walton Experience (Berkley,1977). with th e facts as he has come to more com-pletely understand them.Th e context of the event is drawn t h o u g h t f u l l y andcarefully from Walton's f i r s t hand knowledge and hisow n investigation. L i t t l e details are presented such as :hometown Snowflake, Ariz., is not named for the localgullibles, but two of its prominent f a m i l i e s , the Rakes andthe Snows: three academic college scholarships were of -fered Walton: the job of a logger and the personal lives ofthose men ( W a l t o n reflects t h a t he used to be a risk-taker, motorcycles, f a s t cars, m a r t i a l arts, but now. marriedwith tw o children, never m isses a PTA meeting or leavesthe curb before everyone buckles up ); a blistering, docu-mented i n d i c t m e n t of the methods used and conclusionsreached by P h i l i p Klass and C S I C O P in an 82-page ap -pendix: a v i r t u a l treatise on proper an d improper poly-graph testing ( W a l t o n clearly establishes th e s t a t i s t i c a lnear certainty corroborating witn ess testimony), etc.For those fe w u n f a m i l i a r w i t h th e central UFO event,the book t e l l s t h a t on the evening of November 5, 1975,a group of loggers were in a pick-up truck in the Whi teM o u n t a i n s of N . E . A ri zon a when they observed astrange l i g h t in the sky. One of the men. Walton, was cu-rious, an d despite warn ings from th e others, l e f t the ap-parent safety of the truck for a closer look. Su ddenly,standing nearly beneath the soundlessly hover ing craft,he was v i o l e n t l y blasted backw ard 10 feet through th eair. His com panions t ied in fear an d reported Walton'sdisappearance as an enco un te r w i t h a UFO. For f i v edays, the men were suspected of homicide u n t i l Waltonreappeared, recalling being taken aboard an a l i e n craft.PAGE 18 NUMBER 337

For this reader, the book's only weakness is Walton'sfinal acceptance ( ha vi ng formed a personal frien dsh ipwith screenwriter/producer Tracy Torme perhaps ex -plains it) of the film's underlying "artistic" integrity.Ufologists know UFOs don't look the way depictedand abductee s don 't get wrapped in a suffocating gu nkcocoon. However, an untutored audience, taking theseclaimed visual metaphors as authentic experience, mightproperly conclude it was all a strange collective hallu-cination. The film almost encourages that belief by sug-gesting th at Walton's first recall occurred as a terrif yingflashback instead of his immediate conscious recall ofthe major elements of an alien abduction.I highly recommend this great read, powerfully aug-mented by eight pages of four-color i l lustrations byMike Rogers (one of the loggers) and 16 pages of blackand white photographs.

O T H E R N E W T I T L E SThe long-awai ted th i rd volum e of Jerome Cla r k ' sUFO Encyclopedia has appeared. High Strangeness:UFO s from 1960 through 1979 (Omnigraphics, 77 5pp . $95. 800-234-1340). Aside from over a hundredseparate entries. Strangeness also contains a cumula-tive, cross-referenced index for all three volumes anda bibl iography running to some 120 pages. A f u l lreview will be forthcoming.Fastwalker, a UFO novel by Jacques Vallee in col-laboration with Tracy Torme, has just been issued byFrog, Ltd. of Berkeley, California (220 pp, pb, $14.95).Th e book is a revised version of a 1986 Vallee work,Alintel, previously availa ble only in French.

Unconventional Flying Objects: A ScientificAnalysis is not for the mathematically faint of heart.Following his own sighting of two UFOs on July 16,1952 later investigated by Blue Book and classifiedUnknown the late NASA scientist Paul Hill begana quar t e r - cen tur y inqu i r y in to wha t makes U F O s"tick." D id they defy th e laws of physics or merelydemonstrate new applica tions? It has taken another 20years for his research'to f inally appear in a popularpaperback format f rom H ampton Roads P ubl is hingCompany (800-766-8009, 429 pp, $15.95). Give it tothe scien tist on y our shopping list.A t th e o t h e r end of the s p e c t r u m t he r e ' s T hePleiadian Workbook (Awakening Your Divine K a) byAmorah Quan Yin of Mount Shasta, C A, from Bear &C o m p a n y P u b l i s h i n g ( p b , 322 pp, $16, 800-WE-BEARS). According to the rear cover, "The PleiadianWorkshop is a direct transmission from the PleiadianEmissaries of Light-Light beings from the Pleiades..."

Dennis StacyMAY 1996

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MUFON UFO JOURNAL

U F O N O T E S M I SS IN Gby T. Scott Grain, Jr.

I t ' s hard enough f inding government scientists whom ay have intimate knowledge of how the m ili tary han-dled alleged UF O crashes in the late 1940's and early1950's. When you do, then you have to find some w ayto get them to ta lk . Few do . There aren ' t that many leftwho are sti l l l iving. Canadian UFO researcher GrantC a m e r o n and I t h o u g h t we had hi t pay d i r t wh e nAmerican physicist Dr. Robert Sarbacher stated that theone man he knew for sure who had participated in dis-cussions of reported U F O recoveries and their pilotswas Dr . Eric A . Walker , th e former President of thePennsylvania State U niversity . (For background infor-mation see the MU FON UFO Journal , No. 261, January1990). Sarbacher said the Defense Department 's Jo in tResearch and Development Board held the UFO meet-in g at Wrigh t-Pa t te rson Air Force Base in the early1950s. At the time, Walker w as serv ing as Ex ec uti veSecretary of the R & D Board .According to researcher Will iam S te inman, Walkercorroborated Sarbacher's statement. D uring a telephoneinterview on Augus t 30, 1987, Steinman said he askedWalker if he attended those UFO meetings, to whichWalker allegedly responded, "Yes, I attended meetingsconcerning that subject matter ..." What really got u s in-terested was when Steinman asked Walker if he couldremember details of the UFO recovery operations andanalysis of the saucer and bodies. Walker reportedlyresponded, "I am sure tha t I have notes concerningthose meetings at Wright-Patterson A ir Force Base. 1would have to dig them out and read them over in orderto jog my memory."The notebooks of those UF O meet ings would be thekey. That's what we wanted to see. For the next eightyears Walker dodged not only us, but a nu m be r of U FOresearchers and government officials attempting to findou t wh at Walker knew. (See the MUFON UFO Journal ,No. 323, March 1995). D r. Walker died on February 17 ,1995, of a heart ailment. It would be reasonable to con-c lude that his records would be either a) kept in hiswife's possession at home, b) possibly handed over toh is c h i l d r e n , or c) passed o v e r to the P e n n S t a t eUniversity Archives, where Walker maintained an officeun t i l shortly before h is death. Since I l ive less thaneight miles from the University, I made several visits tothe Archives, th e latest on October 20 , 1995, to lookthrough D r. Walker's papers. The collection consists ofapproximate ly 44 boxes of documents, let ters, photoa lbums, newscl ipp ings an d other printed matter. A re-vised prelim inary inventory of Dr. W alker 's papers andmemorab i l ia w as prepared on May 6, 1995. The n in epages of list ings ar e very abbreviated. The collection isopen to anyone interested in e x a m in in g th e files and the

only portions not permitted to be reproduced are thoseinvolving Walker 's personal family matters.The records I examined were scant an d incomplete. Ina box labeled "Report of Activities 1947-49," the bulk ofthe material consisted of letters written by Dr. Walker toothers on various subjects, none of which were related toUFOs. I f oun d no office diaries fo r 1947-49.Another t roub l ing mat ter was the lack of materialconcerning D r. Walker 's relationship to the military 's R& D Board. A s Walker served as Executive Secretary, Iexpected to find some R & D notes. I could not locateany records or notes of meetings from the R & D ses-sions. In contrast, D r. Walker also served as a member ofthe government's Institute of Defense Analysis, in whichI found detailed notes of various meetings in a thicknotebook of these sessions. The R & D notes should bein the Un iversity files, if they were turned over to them .Since D r. Walker's wife is certainly up in years, I ap-proached D r. Walker's son, B rian Walker, by letter, onOctober 31, 1995.1 outlined m y desire to e x a m in e anynotes/diaries of meetings D r. Walker said he attended asExecu tive Secretary of the R & D B oard and if the pa-pers were still at home, would it be possible to reviewth e m . D r. Brian Walker responded on Nov e m b e r 15,1995, expla in ing tha t he received other requests similarto mine, no doubt precipitated by a book Cameron and Iwrote highligh ting Walker , published in 1991 by theMu t u a l U F O Network .Brian Walker wrote that all of his father's official pa -pers were given to Penn State University. He went on tosay that he has reviewed some 10,000 pages of unofficialpapers and found no me ntion of this information.

Where are the R & D Board notes of Dr. Eric Walker?I t is certainly possible D r. Walker pulled these papersfrom his files before he died, and it 's anyone's guesswhat he could have done w i th t h e m .Earlier this year, I was sent several intelligence doc-uments from Dr. Walker's personal government file thatshowed he was appointed to the R & D Board on April22, 1949, and served as Ex ecut ive Secre tary f romAugust 1 , 1950 to J u ly 12 , 1951. Sometime during thatyear, Walker is believed to have attended the UFO meet-ings that Sarbacher refers to. If anyone has any infor-m a t ion r e ga r d in g U F O discussions he ld a t W r igh t -Patterson A F B during this period, please c on ta c t M U -FON or the author at P.O. Box 11 , Port Ma t i ld a , PA16870.

UFOs, MJ-12 AND THE GOVERNMENT:A Report on Government Involvement inthe UFO Crash Retrievals (113 pages)by Grant Cameron and T. Scott Crain

Price: $19 plus $1.50 for postage and handling.Order From: MUFON, 103 Oldtowne Rd., Seguin, TX 78155-4099 /

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Letters to Mufon UFO JournalNO TIME FOR MUFON?I feel that the following is a problem fo r ma n y M U F O NState Directors and Section Directors. H ow m a n y ofyou have called an invest igator or t ra inee for an as-signment only to be told, "I wo u l d l ike to help w i t h th ecase but don't ha ve th e time," or "I have a job tha tcomes first"?I have heard all of the reasons for not being available .My question is, why do these people j o in MUFON as in-vestigators or as an invest igator t ra inee?I f anyone is considering becoming an inves t iga tor ,please keep in mind some important i t ems . One, if youdo not have th e t ime to go on field investigations, do notrequest to be an invest igator or inves t iga tor t ra inee .Two. the majority of state directors, section directorsan dinvestigators, do have f u l l t ime jobs. B u t w e still findt ime fo r MUFON. Three, if you are a MUFON inves t i -gator trainee, it is a prerequisite to obta in a copy of theM U F O N Field Investigator's Manual before you at-tend any t raining classes or go on field inves t iga t ions .So the next t ime your me mb e r s h i p is up for renewal,please change your status from Investigator or Trainee toJournal Subscriber if you do not have th e t ime or desireto participate.R e m e m b e r , in order to solve the UFO p u z z l e w emust ask ourselves. What can I do for MUFON an dnot what can MUFON do for me? J . R . G i l l i s

State Section DirectorMississippi Gul f CoastS P E E D D I S C R E P A N C I E SI 'd l ike to correct some errors in "The Mongo PhotoCase Analysis" (February, 1996). In the abstract au thorRichard F . Ha in e s says th e object t raveled 3900 feet in30 seconds. That works out to 88.6 m p h . not 192 m p h .On page 9 Haines says a sight ing durat ion of 60, 90 or12 0 seconds corresponds to 95.3, 63.8, an d 47.9 mph re-spectively. However, a ssum in g the p re v i o u s l y es t i -mated distance of 3900 feet, th e speeds should be 44.3,29.55, an d 22.15 mph, respectively. On page 10 Hainessays if a path of 10,740 ft (2 miles) were traversed in 60,90 or 120 seconds the speed would be 262, 175, and 131mph, respectively. Mr. H aines needs some help w i th hisarithmetic. These speeds work out to 122.0, 81.36, an d61.02 mph, respectively. Keith ConroyUtica, NYComments? Write the editor at PO Bo\ 12434, SanAntonio, TX 78212.

May 4-5 2nd Annual UFO & Alien Abduction ResearchConference, Holiday Inn, Greenville, South Carolina. Fo r furtherinformation, call coordinator Shannon Kluge at (803) 675-9328.June 12-22 Star Knowledge UFO Conference and Sun Dance.Yankton Sioux Reservation at Marty, South Dakota. Fo r info write toP.O. Box 3497, Warrenton, VA22186.June 27-29 17th Rocky Mountain UFO Conference, University ofWyoming, Laramie, WY. For information contact Dr. R. LeoSprinkle, 406 1/2 S. 21st St., Laramie WY 82070 or telephone: 307-721-5125July 5-7 Twenty-seventh annual MUFON International UFOSymposium, Holiday Inn Four Seasons/Joseph H. KouryConvention Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. For advancedregistration write to MUFON 1996 UFO Symposium, P.O. Bo x 5149,Greensboro, NC 27435-0149.July 27-28 Great Plains UFOConference, Howard JohnsonConvention Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. For information call603-497-2633 or write P.O. Bo x 84131, Sioux Falls, SD 57118.August 10 Great Smoky Mountains UFO, Crop Circle and AlienContact EXPO. At Gatlinburg Convention Center from 9 a.m. to 9p.m. in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Fo r further information write toStacey McGee, P.O. Box3055 CRS, Johnson City, TN 37602.September 7-8 Fifth Annual Midwest Conference UF OResearch. Big Cedar Lodge, South of Branson, Missouri. Fo r infor-mation write to QUEST, 2661 S. Patterson, Springfield, MO 65804or call 417-882-6847.September 13-15 Tampa UFO & Metaphysical Convention. AtCamberley Plaza Hotel, Tampa, Florida. For information: ProjectAwareness, P.O. Bo x 730, Gulf Breeze, FL 32562 or Tel: 904-432-8888; Fax:904-438-1801.September 14-15 New Hampshire MUFON's 6th Annual UFOConference at the Yokens Conference Center in Portsmouth, Ne wHampshire. Fo r further information write to Peter R. Geremia, 57 1Bracket! Rd, Rye, NH03870.September 21 Missouri MUFON UFO Conference. Hosted byMUFON of St. Louis at the St. Peters Holiday Inn in St. Peters, MO .Fo r information contact Bruce Widamann at 314-946-1394October 5-6 National UFO and Unexplained PhenomenaConference at Airport Sheraton Inn, Minneapolis/St. Paul. Fo r infor-mation contact Horus House Press, Inc., P.O. Box 55185, Madison,Wl 53705 or call Tel/Fax 608-537-2383.October 12-13 The UFO Experience North Haven,Connecticut at the Holiday Inn. For further information write OmegaCommunications, P.O. Box 2051, Cheshire, CT 06410-5051.October 11-13 Australian International UFOSymposium inBrisbane, Queensland,Australia at the Mercure Hotel, 85-87 NorthQuay. Fo r further information write to Glennys M. McKay, 106Dykes St., Mt. Gravatt, Brisbane, OLD 4122, Australia.October 18-20 North Alabama UFO Conference in Huntsville,Alabama at the Space Center Marriott Hotel, 5 Tranquility Base. Forfurther information write: UFO, P.O. Bo x 10056, Huntsville, AL35801 -0056 or call 205-533-7321.November 9-11 Eighth European Lyons Congress in Lyons,France. Fo r information contact SO S OVNI B.P. 324-13611 Aixcedex 1, France.

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MUFONUFO JOURNAL

T H E A N O M A L I S T 3Qual i ty , i l lustrated paperback, expanded to 17 6 pages, st i l lonly $9.95 + $2.50 p/h. Articles by Michael Crosso, HilaryEvans, Peter Jordan, Doug Skinner. Martin Kotlmeyer. DonnaHigbee & others on ghosts, death anomalies, mystery cats,human inv isibi l i ty. UFO flaps. Mars rocks on Earth & more.Checks payable to Dennis Stacy, Box 12434 . San Antonio,T N 7 8 2 1 2 . '

C O O L U F O S H I R T S !"I Surv ived Earth! We Are Not Alone." Grinning "grey" alienon whi te si lkscreen T-sh i r t . Sizes S.M.L.XL. 100% cotton.SI0.50 + $3.00 s/h to Jiminy Product ions. Ltd.. PO Bo x16706. West Palm Beach. FL 3 3 4 1 6 . Check or MO. 1 - 2weeks fo r delivery.U F O C H R O N O L O G Y M A PLarge wall char t with instant index & guide book, featur ingc lass ic L'FO cases, s p e c t a c u l a r land ings , f an t as t i c al ienencounters & most dramatic UF O sites. Just $9.95. postagetree. Also free: 3 large classic L'FO il lustrat ions, plus tw oU A P A magaz ines . a "$9.00 va lue. UA PA -B. Box 347032.Cleveland. Ohio 44134 .

VIDEO/AUDIO TA P ES on UFOs. crop circles, av iat ion myster-ies. NDE. Face on Mars & other fascinat ing topics . Free l ist &sample new sletter f rom The Eclect ic View poin t. Box 802735-M.Dallas. T.X 75380. Future lecture hotline ( 2 1 4 ) 601-7687.IMPLANT REMOVAL: FYI. I was he photograher who lookth e c lose-up s t i l l s during th e operat ion w hose photos appearedon cover and inside April MUFON Journal. To me they were 2 x3 mm each and kudos to Dr. Leir. Pat & Patricia, the abductees.Erik B e c k j o r d . "Let 's d o t h i s in SF." N e w e m a i l :ufobmuseum(9'value.net.

DON'T L E T S U N S H I N E O N UFOsI f you wan t to believe in UFO-abduct ions, Roswel l crashedsaucers. Al ien Autops ies & Government cover-up, do NOTDARE to read Skept ics UFO Newslet ter (SUN) , u ro log y ' sunique publ icat ion. For sample copy , send $2 to Philip J.Mass. 404 "N" St. SW. Washington D.C. 20024-3702.A U S T R A L I A N U F O S Y M P O S I U MI n t e rn a t i on a l U FO S y m p o s i u m in Br isbane, Queensland.

Aust ra l ia . Oct . II - 1 3 . 1996. at the Mercure Hotel, 8 5 - 8 7North Quay. Fo r further information wr i te 106 Dykes St., Ml.G r av a t t . Brisbane Q L D 4 1 2 2 , Aust ra l ia . Phone/Fax: 6 1 - 7 -3849 6450. E-mail: elenmacklfl ' thehub.com.au

T H E E X C Y L E SMiu Adams' true story about her contacts wi th extraterrestr i -al s & romance wnh an intel l igenc e agen t. Included is theagent's report outlining the agendas of alien confederations onEarth & the intelligence agencies network created to deal wi ththem. Send $16.95 + S2 s/h to Excelta Publishing, PO Box4530, Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33338.

S C IE N C E F R O N T I E R Sis an illustrated. 4-page bimonthly new sletter devoted to sci-e n t i f i c anomal ies in th e realms of a rcheology , ast ronomy,biology, geology , geophysics, psychology an d other disci-plines. Free to regular customers, or S7 for six issues fromTh e Sourcebook Project. PO Box 107, Glen Arm. MD 21057.

E L E C T R O G R A V I T I C S S Y S T E M SNew Propulsion Methodology ! Reports about T. T. Brown'swork a f t e r h is L'FO r e s e a r c h : 1 2 0 - p a g e p b