UFO NEWS - June 3, 2011

Our 'Roswell' now one for the history books

By JEWEL TOPSFIELD

Sydney Morning Herald- ON APRIL 6, 1966, students from Westall High School and Westall State School claimed to have seen a mysterious metallic flying object hover above them before descending behind trees in Clayton South.

Many more say they later saw the perimeter of a perfect circle singed into the grass at the Grange Reserve near Westall State School.

The Age reported the next day that hundreds of children and a number of teachers saw the unidentified flying object, which the paper said might have been a weather balloon.

The article said witnesses had seen a number of small planes circle around the object - however, a check later showed that no commercial, private or RAAF pilots had reported anything unusual in the area.

But despite the many witnesses, exactly what happened at 11am that day in Cold War-era Melbourne suburbia has remained a mystery.

Suzanne Savage, who was in form 2 at Westall High in 1966, recalls principal Frank Samblebe holding a special assembly after she and her science class saw a ''classic saucer-shaped object'' descend into Grange Reserve and then disappear into the sky.

''He said he didn't want to hear any more about this nonsense. We were not to discuss it ever again - and so I didn't,'' Ms Savage told The Saturday Age.

Ian Cochrane, who was in form 3 at Westall High in 1966, also believes the bizarre occurrence was covered up.

Mr Cochrane recalls returning to Grange Reserve the following Saturday to show his mates the perfect circle of flattened grass, only to discover the site had been dug up.

''If you talked about it you'd get nutbags to contend with, or people who couldn't cope, so you just didn't talk about it,'' Mr Cochrane said.

What did the students see? Was it a UFO from outer space, a secret military aircraft, a meteorological oddity or an example of a psychological phenomenon, where people were influenced by each other to believe in something they did not really see?

Read more here.

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We’re worlds apart on UFOs

By MIKE HALLOWELL


Shields Gazette- I’VE had an enthusiastic response to last week’s column on the UFO phenomenon.

The vast majority of it was supportive, but one Gazette reader wasn’t happy.

In an extremely aggressive manner, they suggested that anyone who was broad-minded enough to believe in the existence of UFOs was a crank.

Well, I’ve a few questions I’d to put to those who aren’t just content with denying the existence of UFOs, but also vilifying those who do.

The universe is a big place, and as far as I’m aware, we earthlings haven’t yet explored every nook and cranny of it.

How the sceptics can then say that there isn’t life in outer space is beyond me. How could they know?

Have we been visited by more advanced lifeforms from other worlds?

The only cogent (but not necessarily correct) argument I’ve ever heard is that the vast distances between star systems would make travelling to them impossible.

Well, NASA and other bodies have been looking at several theoretical possibilities as to how this could be accomplished for some time.

The general consensus seems to be that it would be at best difficult, and at worst impossible.

Of course, as our knowledge of the sciences advances, history tells us that what seems impossible today may simply be difficult tomorrow, and what is difficult today may prove to be as easy as falling off a log next week.

Any pronouncement that interstellar travel will never be possible is very presumptuous indeed.

Whether we have actually been visited by extraterrestrial life is another matter, of course. Again, how do the sceptics know?

Were they personally present at every alleged UFO sighting or alien encounter?

No; therefore they simply have no way of establishing that the witnesses were either mistaken, hallucinating or lying.

If interstellar travel is possible, then it is highly likely that a number of advanced civilisations have engaged in it and visited other worlds, including ours.

Seen in this light, it actually makes more sense to believe in UFOs than not to.

Sceptics (well, the rabidly cynical ones, anyway) are the first to shout, “Where’s the evidence?” when confronted with an alleged paranormal encounter.

They’re missing the point. How many sceptics out there have evidence that they ate breakfast yesterday? None, more than likely, but we’d have no reason to disbelieve them.

They might even have the eyewitness testimony of their spouse who shared breakfast with them.

Sceptics would argue that eating breakfast is a mundane event which is perfectly believable, while claiming you’ve seen an extraterrestrial craft and its occupants is not.

Actually, what this demonstrates is not that UFO sightings are false, but that the sceptics just don’t possess the vision to accept they might be true.

The witnesses were there at the time, the sceptics were not, so whose testimony would it be more logical to believe?

I can sympathise with moderate sceptics who do not accept the existence of UFOs, but who at least reached their conclusions after a period of sober reflection and research.

Unfortunately, the rabid sceptics out there aren’t satisfied with this, and for some reason feel the need to decry those who claim to have seen UFOs as cranks and those who believe them as idiots.

Why? Let me tell you; Deep, deep down they’re scared. They’re scared that we really have been visited by alien lifeforms, and so enter a state of denial which they reinforce by launching vicious, personal attacks on anyone who thinks differently.

That way, they can kid themselves that there are no UFOs and therefore there’s nothing at all to worry about.

If the only way they can maintain their shaky stance is by heaping abuse on those who think differently, then I pity them.
Read more here.

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Area 51: Declassified photos, Google Maps, unravel some of the mystery

By ELIZABETH FLOCK


Washington Post- A supersecret military base on the southern shore of Nevada’s Groom Lake has been the object of speculation over UFOs, and aliens for decades. It hasn’t helped that the government has barely acknowledged the site’s existence.

But now, National Geographic has published declassified photos of Area 51, taken in 1963 of a military plane crash that was allegedly covered up by the government.

“Area 51 was created so that U.S. Cold Warriors with the highest security clearances could pursue cutting-edge aeronautical projects away from prying eyes,” National Geographic writes.

One of those projects was the A-12, a plane which was so fast it could cross the continental U.S. in 70 minutes. Too fast, perhaps, because in 1963 it crashed while coming out of Area 51. See the first evidence of that crash through declassified photos here.

Despite the presence of radar stations and other security that protect the area, you can also see a satellite Google Map of Area 51 below:
See Photos Here

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Poll Finds Many Washingtonians Believe Sasquatch, UFOs Are Real

PRNewswire- You might not believe that hairy hominids roam our wildlands, but some of your neighbors do: Nearly four out of 10 Washington residents believe it's possible that Sasquatch exists, and 13 percent say they've either seen one or know someone who has, according to the latest PEMCO Insurance Northwest Poll.

And even if you're not convinced, a Spokane woman believes she captured a Sasquatch on her iPhone camera last week while hiking along the Spokane River, and she posted the video to YouTube as proof.
"The Northwest is home to unique folklore, so we decided it would be fun to explore what residents think about subjects that clearly are, well, a little different," said Jon Osterberg, PEMCO spokesperson. "We've had our share of strange sightings and events in Washington, and people here apparently are open to the idea that some of it is real."

Surely, in a state where so many rational beings work in high tech, biotech and aviation, few would believe in UFOs, right? Washingtonians were asked, "Do you believe there have been sightings of UFOs – space craft – that truly cannot be identified by anyone?" While 28 percent said "no, there's always an explanation," 55 percent said "yes, UFOs exist." And 32 percent said they've seen a UFO or know someone who did.

Although many Washingtonians say they believe in UFOs, a smaller number know where "flying saucers" first were reported. About one-third said it was in Roswell, N.M., while 10 percent said Area 51, Nevada. Only 12 percent correctly answered Washington, perhaps aware that the first highly publicized sighting of "flying discs" – which evolved into the widely used term flying saucers – was by pilot Kenneth Arnold near Mt. Rainier, when in 1947 he reported seeing nine flying discs that "moved like saucers across the water."
"I guess it's appropriate that 'The X-Files' was shot on location in the Northwest, in Vancouver, B.C.," said Osterberg, referring to the long-running TV show.

The Northwest is home to other colorful folklore. In November 1971, a man using the name Dan Cooper (subsequently reported as D.B. Cooper) hijacked a Northwest Airlines 727, collected a $200,000 ransom in Seattle, and parachuted out of the jetliner at 10,000 feet near the southwest Washington town of Ariel. In 1980, a boy found $5,800 of Cooper's money while playing on a Columbia River sandbar. So speculation remains: Did Cooper jump to freedom and lose some of his loot while hiking out of the hills? Or did he die after jumping, perhaps from exposure or from broken bones?

The PEMCO Poll didn't ask residents whether Cooper lived or died, but if inquiring minds want to know, it could be addressed in the future. Perhaps the truth is out there.

Washington is home to many well-publicized Sasquatch sightings and reports of giant footprints. Even skeptics found the Bossburg footprints, discovered in 1969 north of Kettle Falls, too intriguing to simply dismiss. The left imprint measured 18 inches long and nearly 7 inches wide, but it was the right imprint that caused a stir: deformed, crooked, with a skewed small toe, it showed so much anatomical detail that  Washington State University anthropology professor Grover Krantz said the average person would not have the expertise required to fabricate the print.

Krantz put forth the theory that Sasquatches could be surviving Gigantopithecus, a giant ape that inhabited China and southeast Asia 300,000 years ago.

There's also the mystery of "Mel's Hole," a paranormal pit with mystical properties allegedly located near Manastash Ridge in rural Kittitas County. Urban legend told of the nine-foot hole for years, and in 1997 a man calling himself Mel Waters phoned Art Bell's late-night radio show to say it indeed exists on his former property, though he refused to reveal its location. Waters said the hole was perhaps endless, because he'd dropped 80,000 feet of weighted fishing line into it without touching bottom. Animals and birds avoided the hole, and neighbors dumped trash and carcasses into it for years but it never filled up. Waters also claimed a dead dog was once tossed into the hole, only to be seen hours later alive and well. Some say that if Mel's Hole is real, it's perhaps a lengthy lava tube, a Mt. Rainier blowhole.

Some Northwest legends are in fact true. Old tales of a sulfur mine and wood shack at the summit of 12,276' Mt. Adams seem preposterous, but the U.S. Forest Service confirms that sulfur was mined at the very top of the peak in the 1930s and hauled down the mountain on pack mules. The shack ruins are still visible, particularly in low-snowfall years.

Then there are the Mima Mounds near Rochester, Wash., thousands of short grassy humps ranging from 10 to 70 feet across on a 637-acre preserve. No one knows how they were formed, but theories abound: tailings from busy gophers. Wind and water erosion. Odd settling from an earthquake. Glacial deposits. Scientists know what they're not – a remnant of secret nuclear tests, since the mounds predate the atomic age; nor are they Native American graves, as suspected by 1841 Naval explorers.

You can visit the sulfur mine, the Mima Mounds, and – if you can find it – the Prosser gravity hill. Somewhere within a few miles of the southeastern Washington town, you can stop at the base of a gentle rise, put your car in neutral, and roll uphill several hundred feet. That's what many people claim, as documented on their YouTube videos. Skeptics offer a simple explanation: optical illusion. They say the hill is not really a hill at all.
"The fact so many people embrace this stuff makes the Northwest an amusing, engaging place to live," said Osterberg, noting a 1969 Skamania County law protecting Sasquatch as an endangered species. "We don't need a poll to confirm that the Northwest is in fact a little different. Where else in the country do you find a law making it a felony to shoot a Sasquatch?"

To learn more about the PEMCO Insurance Northwest Poll and to view a summary of the results, visit www.pemco.com/poll, where the public is invited to participate in an informal version of the poll to see how their own responses compare to those collected by FBK Research of Seattle in November 2010.

Read more here.

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