______ _______ ____ ------ / / // ____// |---------------------------------------------- U K / / // ___/ / / ' January 11th, 1997 / / // / / / / N E T W O R K Issue 68 --- (_____//__/ -- (_____/------------------------------------------------ United Kingdom News [U1] Into Battle For Britain, The Plane That Needs No Pilot [U2] Nightmare on Salisbury Plain, British Soldiers Encounter 'Black Triangle' on Night Manoeuvres. Alien Craft or Top Secret Military Experiment? Or BOTH [U3] Copped, One Flying Saucer [U4] Experts Baffled By UFO [U5] Did High-Speed Military Jet Pursue UFO Across Skies At Night? [U6] "UFO Abductee" Set For Soft Landing With $2M Payout World News [W1] Outcry Over Space Monkeys [W2] Rumors Of Aliens Trail Comet [W3] When Rumors Make The News [W4] Growing National Paranoia, Conspiracy Mania [W5] Find Adds To Strife On Mars [W6] NASA bids fond farewell to Carl Sagan [W7] Coppola Sues Carl Sagan [W8] It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's A Mystery Ball! Editorial --------- The UK.UFO.NW www page has now moved to a new site and hence has a new address. Please make a note of the following url and add it to your browsers bookmarks. http://www.holodeck.demon.co.uk The site is currently under construction while things are moved across, altered, changed, updated etc. etc. The re-opening of the site will be announced through these pages and through an online web page at the site. Secure e-mail addresses ----------------------- We would like to advise all subscribers that their e-mail addresses are secure on this list. No persons (inc subscribers) other than the list owners have access to any of the e-mail addresses of this group. No e-mail addresses are made available to any other organization or group. Little Green Men Home Page Back! -------------------------------- After months of inactivity the Little Green Men web site has been totally revamped! In construction at the moment, in association with the UK UFO Network is a large archive of UFO related news stories that have appeared in the worlds press since 1954! As well as this huge archive the site will also carry the very latest news too, so why not pop along to the new Little Green Men Home Page at: http://www.nolimits.demon.co.uk/ UK News [U1]****** Source: Daily Mail newspaper Date: Tuesday 17th December 1996 Into Battle For Britain, The Plane That Needs No Pilot By John Deans The RAF could be eqipped with pilotless attack aircraft in the next century, the Government revealed last night. The next generation of bombers could be computer-controlled jets, Defence Procurement Minister James Arbuthnot told MPs. Alternatively, the RAF strike capability may be centred on massive transport aircraft packed with cruise missiles, or a variation of the planned new Eurofighter due to enter service at the turn of the century. Announcing a 35 million pounds Sterling feasibility study into the options for Britain's 'future offensive air system', Mr Arbuthnot made clear that plans to replace the existing air defence Tornado F3 jets with the Eurofighter were not in question. However, a replacement for the now outdated Tornado GR4 ground attack aircraft, which proved so vunerable to ground fire in the Gulf War, was still to be decided and 'may not even be a conventional fast jet. It could be a revolutionary unmanned aircraft, known in the Ministry of Defence jargon as an 'uninhabited air vehicle'. This would be 'flown' from a virtual reality cockpit either at a base or, more likely, aboard an AWACS radar 'mothership' circling outside the combat area. It is expected to take months, possibly years, to study the full range of future technologies. Even U.S. style stealth jets will be considered, although stringent cost disciplines will apply to any project. [U2]****** uk.ufo.nw says: Below is the newspaper report that we featured in the last issue {67}. After that you will find a further most interesting report. Source: Daily Express newspaper Date: Tuesday 3rd December 1996 UFO left soldier in a trance A soldier under hypnosis has recalled how he was left dazed and terrified by a UFO. News of the alleged incident, which happened while he was on night exercise on Salisbury Plain with five comrades, has just been revealed. Put into a trance at the request of close encounter sleuths from the magazine UFO Reality, he told how the party was zapped by beams of light from a mysterious black triangular aircraft. The alleged sighting, in 1990, happened in a part of the area said to house a secret Ministry of Defence compound. Investigators believe it could have been connected with top secret technology rather than an alien craft. Source: UFO Reality Date: December 96 / January 97 From: Duncan@life.com Nightmare on Salisbury Plain British Soldiers Encounter 'Black Triangle' on Night Manoeuvres. Alien Craft or Top Secret Military Experiment? Or BOTH Jon King investigates Encounter Six British soldiers encountered a large black triangular UFO whilst on night manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. The encounter occurred close to Dunch Hill Plantation, which separates the well known Bulford Range from a highly secret MoD compound on Salisbury Plain. The soldiers (all names on file) were hiking from a place called Beach's Barn to Dunch Hill Plantation when the encounter took place. A few weeks ago I interviewed one of the soldiers in question. For his own security I will refer to him as 'Mark'. "It really did my head in," Mark told me, still visibly shaken by what he and the others had witnessed, even though it is now six years since the incident occurred. "It was weird, really weird. We were about 400 metres from our destination (Dunch Hill Plantation) when suddenly this craft just appeared there above the tree tops. It was massive. And black. Very black. The next thing I remember we were 600 metres away from where we were supposed to be - all six of us bending over a map, trying to figure out where we were and how the hell we'd ended up there. I still can't remember how we ended up that far off course." According to Mark, the entire manoeuvre was a mystery to the six soldiers from the outset. In fact, Mark's own words to me were: "We all thought what a total waste of time it was." He confirmed to me that his platoon had never before, and never since, been required to perform such a "totally bloody useless exercise." Volunteered The soldiers had been 'volunteered' to walk 4 or 5 kilometres, out in the open, in a virtual straight line, from Beach's Barn to Dunch Hill Plantation. According to Mark, although it was around 2 o'clock in the morning and very dark, the exercise was so straightforward they barely even needed a compass. They were told the reason for this unusual exercise was that a reconnaissance unit, positioned around Sidbury Hill (about 2 kilometres northeast of Dunch Hill Plantation) was testing night-vision equipment. The purpose of the exercise was to see if the night-vision equipment could detect the soldiers in the dark. Hmmm... As Mark told me, he has himself used the same equipment, and it was obvious to all and sundry that, being out in the open, even in the dead of night, the soldiers were bound to be detected. "This night-vision gear is brilliant," he said. "It's just like looking through binoculars in broad daylight. There's no way they wouldn't have seen us. It was a pointless exercise." So what was the real reason behind this 'pointless' exercise? I put the question to Mark. "I don't know," he said, grimly, shaking his head. "But it sure as hell wasn't to test the night-vision gear. No way." Could they have been testing new equipment? Could it have been equipment you were unfamiliar with? "Possibly. But if it was, then the whole thing was even more ridiculous. If the equipment I'd used could pick us out, then any new equipment would, presumably, be even better than the old equipment. It was a total waste of time." The Manoeuvre Following several communications, both by letter and by telephone, I finally went to interview Mark at his home. During the course of the interview he told me exactly the sequence of events that, as I was to learn, led to what can only be described as one of the most unprecedented case in British UFO history. What follows is Mark's story... "The six of us were volunteered from the platoon. We were always the ones that got the naff jobs, but this one was a total waste of bloody time... "...We set off from Beach's Barn at around 2 o'clock in the morning, the corporal at the front... I was about fourth in line. All we had to do was walk the 4 or 5 kilometres across the plain to Dunch Hill Plantation, completely out in the open. We were told that a recce unit was positioned up at Sidbury Hill, testing their night-vision gear, and that all we had to do was walk from A to B... "... When we got about 400 metres from our destination (Dunch Hill Plantation) this 'craft' suddenly appeared there above the tree tops... Dunch Hill Plantation is right next to an MoD area that's sectioned off from the army land... there's a copse there that mark's the boundary of the MoD area... "... Suddenly this craft was just there...it just appeared there above the tree tops. It was massive. And black. Very black. The strange thing was, no one said anything. All of us could see this thing, and yet none of us said anything. I guess we were all stunned, afraid...I know I was... "... All of a sudden it started beaming down this light onto the trees, onto the copse, where I sensed some kind of movement. There were lights in the copse, light torch lights [flash lights], as if some people were milling around in there. Then suddenly this huge black craft was beaming down this really powerful light, like a search light, onto the copse. I couldn't make the shape of the craft, but it was massive and black... "... The night was really dark... it was 2 or 3 in the morning by this time... but the craft was even blacker than the night... "... It was about the size of a Hercules 130, or even bigger, maybe even as big as a football pitch. But it was just hanging there, making no noise whatsoever. Then suddenly it just took off at incredible speed, still silent, and flew off in the direction of Tidworth [to the east)... "... The next thing I remember we were 600 metres away from where we were supposed to be - all six of us bending over a map, trying to figure out where we were and how the hell we'd ended up there... "... We have these red night torches...we were all bending over the map trying to ascertain our position. It was ridiculous. We only had to walk in a straight line - there was no way we should have been where we were. I still can't remember how we ended up that far off course." I asked Mark if he thought it possible that he could have hallucinated the incident. He said that he truly wished that that was the case, but that it was highly unlikely as he'd only had to walk a maximum of 3 miles (4 or 5 kilometres). He told me that he knew the feeling of 'hallucinating' from participating in longer, 25 kilometre hikes, and from being forced to stay awake for up to forty hours at a time on some exercises. But a 3 mile walk? He also told me that, being somewhat used to night manoeuvres, his night vision was good, as was that of the other soldiers with him. So far as Mark is concerned, whatever happened that night was a real event, and whatever the soldiers had seen had actually been there for them to see. He bore little doubt on that score. So what happened next? All Mark could remember was being picked up by an army Land Rover (driven by another member of is platoon) and taken back to barracks. So far as he can remember, he was not officially debriefed on his return. Summary It was apparent from speaking with Mark that he had suffered at least some loss of memory concerning the event. He could remember approaching Dunch Hill Plantation clearly enough, then being confronted by what he described as a "massive black craft" that simply appeared in the night sky above the copse (or at least it arrived so swiftly that it seemed simply to appear); people milling around inside the copse; the craft beaming its light down onto the copse; the craft then taking off at incredible speed towards Tidworth; and then... blank. The next thing he could remember was being 600 metres from his position, poring over a map with the rest of his colleagues, trying to figure out where they were and how they had suddenly arrived somewhere else, 600 metres off course. Then he was picked up by an army Land Rover and ferried back to barracks, where, he made a point of telling me, no one said a word about what they had just experienced. Indeed, according to Mark, none of the other soldiers ever spoke to him about the incident. But what was even more unusual, Mark never said a word, either. Until later, that is. Much later. Over the years Mark began to recall the incident that seemed to have wiped itself from his memory. The incident occurred in the winter months of 1989-1990, but it wasn't until some years later that Mark began to remember the incident more clearly. The memory of the manoeuvre itself remained with him, or course, but the detail only started to come back to him a couple of years ago, and even then, the finer details were patchy. The time loss period, however - the period between him approaching the copse and seeing the craft, and then finding himself 600 metres off in the wrong direction - never came back at all. The Remembering It was at this point that we called on the assistance of Robert La Mont Mich, a very highly regarded Harley Street hypnotherapist and Member of the Institute of Clinical Hypnosis. Over recent years Robert has helped many 'abductees' to recall memories of their recent encounters. On hearing of this case, Robert kindly agreed to 'regress' Mark in order to see if he could 'unlock' his missing-time memory. During the regression session (which I attended) Robert proved to be a very thorough and professional hypnotheropist. I would say he took a good fifteen to twenty minutes to put Mark 'under', so to speak, working slowly and methodically to ensure Mark was completely relaxed and responsive to command. Indeed, from where I was seated, Mark looked fast asleep. I should add that at no point did Robert lead by suggestion. Rather, if anything, he led by counter-suggestion making absolutely certain that Mark was telling his own story, and not the story we all may have wanted to hear. What came out of the session was remarkable, to say the least. Under hypnosis, Mark related the sequence of events that had led to his sighting of the 'craft' - how the officer had called on them out of the blue, with no prior warning, to hike the several kilometres to Dunch Hill Plantation; how their route had taken them across open ground, in full view of the reconnaissance unit allegedly positioned on Sidbury Hill, to the east; how the soldiers had become 'bored', 'cold' and 'agitated' en route. What follows is an edited transcript of what Mark was able to recall under hypnosis, fro the point were he and the other 5 soldiers were approaching Dunch Hill Plantation , their ill-fated though prearranged - destination. The Tapes "... So where are you now?" Robert put to Mark. "I can see the woods... all dark and thick... lights... in the copse... people milling around in the copse." Robert then told Mark to continue on towards the copse, as he had done six years previously. "Could the lights you're seeing be a helecoptor?" Robert said. "No." "Is it an aeroplane, then?" "No. The lights are in the woods." "How high off the ground are the lights?" "They're in the woods... they're in the woods." "And do you go to investigate the light?" "No." "You're not bothered about the lights?" "No." "Ok. Walk on a little bit further." At this point, Robert told Mark to 'freeze-frame' and 'zoom in' on the lights (Mark had been told that he was watching a replay of the event on an imaginary screen in his mind, and that he had a 'remote control' in his hand, with 'pause', 'rewind' and 'zoom' facilities etc.). "What can you see now?" Robert asked. "Don't know... don't know what it is ...big thing." "Big thing?" "Yeah." "Can you describe the big thing for me?" "Just dark." "In the woods?" "Above the woods... the woods are illuminated." "The whole of the woods?" "The copse, yeah." At this point Mark started to show signs of distress. "Ok, Mark, You're back on the path. Describe to me what you can see?" "The lights shining on us... I'm cold ..." "What can you see, Mark? Where is the light that's shining on you coming from?" "From above." "Above? So you're looking up now?" "Yeah... it's shining in my eyes..." "And then what happens?" "I... I can't see..." Again Mark became visibly distressed; Robert spent the next short while reassuring him. Total Recall A few moments later: "Tell me what you can see now, Mark." "A yank..." "An American?" "Mmm..." "Where did the American come from?" "Out of the woods." This time Mark's distress became very apparent indeed* Robert again took a short timeout to reassure him everything was ok, that what he was seeing was only a 'replay' of something that had happened a long time ago, and that as such, it could not harm him. Eventually Mark settled down again. Then: "Ok, Mark. The American's come out of the woods now..." "He's poking at us..." "What are they poking at you?" "A stick thing..." Mark's voice was still trembling; he sounded very afraid, and once again, for a few moments he was too distressed to continue. Once again Robert spent a few moments calming him down. Then: "Ok. Can you describe what this American's wearing?" "A black zip-up thing... like a flying suit." "How do you know it's an American?" "His accent... he's swearing and stuff ..." "What's he actually saying?" "F*****g British!" "And what are the rest of the guys saying?" "Nothing, We're all backing away." "How many Americans are there?" "One." "Just one?" "Yeah." "So you've got six guys backing away from just one guy?" "Yeah." "Don't you find this strange?" "He's pointing at me." "He's just pointing at you?" "Yeah." "Describe the stick to me, Mark." "It's a... pointer... like an aerial..." "And what's he doing with it?" "He's just pointing at me... and pushing me and prodding me in the chest." Robert now told Mark to use his imaginary remote control, and to move through this particular sequence 'frame by frame'. "What's the American doing in this frame?" "He's just stood there... but there are lights on us." "He's on his own, your stood in a group, and there are lights on you. Is that right?" "Yeah. We're huddled together." Next frame: "It's like a beam... encircling us..." "And where's the American?" "He's outside of the beam." Next frame: "We're all getting moved by the beam... we're moving with the beam." "Where to?" "To the right." Next frame: "We're right be the edge of the wood... by the edge of the copse." "And were's the American now?" "He's not there any more." "Ok. Are you actually walking? Can you feel yourself walking as you move?" "Yeah...shuffling..." Next frame: "We're all being moved by the beam." "And then what happens?" "We're all just stood there... with the light on us?" "And the object is still there?" "Above us, yeah." Next frame: "We're just underneath it." "Can you make anything out as you look up?" "It's a triangle... black metal... it's not smooth or anything... it's like... wedgy... sort of wedged." "Whereabouts is the light in which you're standing emanating from?" "From the middle" [of the craft's underbelly]. "Any other details?" "Black... it's just dark... at the bottom end it's like an aircraft light..." "Any other details?" "We're just covered in this light. It's like pulses of light... directed at us... I fell sick, dizzy..." Next frame: "... I'm surrounded in light... pulsating light... and there's a noise... almost like a generator... like a humming, pulsating, continuous..." Mark went on to recall how the craft had finally departed, slowly at first, and then at incredible speed, but with no apparent acceleration. He was then able to recall how six soldiers had wandered off in the wrong direction, stunned, dazed, explaining how they had finally ended up 600 metres from where they were supposed to be. They had walked, although none of them had remembered doing so. Conclusions Firstly, I will offer you Robert La Mont's conclusions. "My professional opinion on this case is that the subject did in fact have an encounter, along with his colleagues. This conclusion is based on the visual reactions to his regression session, and the following observations. 1: The traumatic reaction to the situation. 2: The apparent lack of communication between 'command' and the soldiers. 3: Identification of the 'ground crew' of the Triangle [American] - because no one was seen entering or leaving the craft, I cannot call them 'occupants'. 4: The now familiar geographical location of this type of craft, close to military activity. 5: The amnesia induced in all the victims, almost instantly. 6: The identification of the small insignia on the left upper chest area of the suit worn by the 'ground crew'. (Although edited out of this article, Mark did indeed describe a 'small insignia on the left upper chest area of the suit worn by the Americans', whoever he was.) 7: The apparent 'Philadelphia Experiment' scenario, in that there seems to be no other witnesses to this event, yet the proximity to other people in the area should have produced some corroboration, even amongst the individual witnesses. I could pick out further findings, but I feel the point has been made." Questions If Mark's story is true - and there is every reason to conclude that it is - then there are some very serious and pertinent questions to be asked. For one: Since when did our alien neighbours take to wearing black flying suits and speaking with American accents? And two: What was the real agenda behind this highly unusual manoeuvre? To test some new beam-weapon capability, perhaps? Remember, Mark said that all six soldiers were being "moved by the beam", and it is now evident that the "beam" was in some way responsible for inducing amnesia in its victims. Sound familiar? Do you still think that it's 'aliens' who are abducting and experimenting on people? I rigorously put to you that, given the unprecedented circumstances of this case (coupled with the mountain of supporting evidence that is now available) the so-called 'alien abduction program' is not the work of aliens alone. I put to you that it is either the work of some Ultra Top Secret arm of the military-industrial-intelligence complex (the government) or worse, that it is the work of a joint alien/government alliance whose motives and agendas are the very reason for all the secrecy surrounding the UFO phenomenon. And either way, this empire must be brought to its knees. So were Mark and his colleagues used as some kind of guinea pigs on the night in question? Mark now feels certain that this is precisely what happened. "I feel bloody angry," he told me recently. "Sick ... and bloody angry. I feel like I've been used." Footnote: We are currently in possession of evidence which suggests that this is not the first time this kind of 'experiment' has been carried out on Salisbury Plain, or indeed, within the military in general. Our investigations are ongoing. A copy of this article has been sent to the appropriate government Departments, together with a demand for an immediate inquiry. We will keep you informed. Our thanks to Robert La Mont for his invaluable assistance with this case - and a special thanks to 'Mark' for coming forward with his story, especially in the face of possible recriminations. Any other military or former military personnel out there with UFO and/or secret technology stories to tell, we would be very pleased to hear from you. It is our position that the public has a right to know what their government is up to behind the scenes. Of course, any request for anonymity will be readily granted. Ed. ...... The excellent UFO Reality magazine can be ordered as follows: Subscription rates - 6 issues (bi-monthly) UK: 15 pounds Sterling -Europe: 18 pounds Sterling - make cheques/POs payable to UFO Reality and send to: UFO Reality, PO Box 1998, Glastonbury, Somerset BA6 8YB, UK. USA & Canada enquiries to: Orion Marketing, NY. Phone (315) 4510667 - Rest of World: Please write in for details ...... [U3]****** Source: Daily Mail newspaper Date: Thursday 26th December 1996 Copped, One Flying Saucer Two policemen who spotted a UFO trailed it's red, white and blue lights for ten miles before it vanished over the North Sea near Holt, Norfolk. The local airport ruled out any planes. [U4]****** Source: Eastern Evening News (Norwich) Front Page. Date: 21st December, 1996 Experts Baffled By UFO Aviation experts are baffled by a fast moving, shining object seen by two policemen as it flew over North Norfolk. Air traffic controllers have no logical explanation for the luminous oblong shape which the pair tracked for ten miles. Sgt Steve King and PC Andy Coller stared in disbelief as the UFO with red, white and blue lights darted accross the sky, but they lost it when it hovered over Cromer and then sped out accross the North Sea. The policemen, stationed at Fakenham, were lef "mystified" by the object, which they followed from near Holt to the coast. The sighting is the lastest in a series in recent weeks that have not been satisfactorily explained. Just two months ago a tanker crew tracked two sets of strange coloured lights hovering in the sky off the East Anglian coast. The sightings by the tanker Conocoast near the Wash promted an invesigation by the Ministry of Defence. But UFO sleuths acused the MoD of staging an X-Files style cover up and dismissed the official explanation that the mystery lights were caused by a combination of the 200ft Boston Stump church tower and an electrical storm over the North Sea. There has still been no conclusive expanation for the so called Boston Stump UFO. Meanwhile, colleagues of the two officers were so intrigued by the craft with bright white and red lights that they contacted Norwich Airport. An air traffic department spokesman said yesterday: "They phoned up and spoke to the controller at about 6.15am on Sunday. "It certainly wasn't anything from the airport. It's reported in the book as a possible UFO sighting." Colleagues at Fakenham police station say the two officers are trating the sighting seriously PC Coller and Sgt King were not available for comment yesterday but would like to know more about the UFO sighting at 4.40am on Sunday. Anyone with information which could help explain the phenomenon can ring the police on 01692 402222 [U5]****** Source: The Weekly News Date: 26th August 1995 Did High-Speed Military Jet Pursue UFO Across Skies At Night? Officially, the answer is no. But dozens of people reported encounters with mystery craft. Secret UFO Files Jenny Randles, one of Britain's leading UFO investigators, opens her fascinating casebook. Jenny Randles is an established writer, broadcaster and expert on the para-normal and UFOs. She has written and presented programmes for TV and radio, and regularly lectures around the world. Her work has including briefing senior British politicians at Westminster on UFOs. Jenny is the author of over 20 books, and was a consultant on the popular ITV series , "Strange But True?" which was presented by Michael Aspel. Around 500 people in Britain each year report the sighting of a UFO. Most such incidents turn out to be what UFOlogists call IFOs (identified flying objects). They are misperceptions of ordinary things such as aircraft lights, weather balloons, laser displays and countless other phenomena - all seen under unusual circumstances that cause them to be mistaken for something strange. However between 5 and 10% of all reported encounters defy such ready explanation. These lie at the heart of the UFO mystery and the mounting evidence from such cases has been collected for decades by official and unofficial groups. When examined together these reports convey the impression that something remarkable and unexplained is going on. Superior And if amateur UFO groups can reach such a conclusion with limited resources what do the authorities know as a result of their superior capabilities? One case from my files puts such a question into sharp focus, for it involves what seems to have been the pursuit of a UFO by a high speed military jet across the skies of North West England. I first new something odd was going on when a call came through from tailor Mike Sacks, who lived at Bacup, a small mill town in East Lancashire's Rossendale Valley. It was around 2am. on February 24th 1979. Rossendale was frequently alive with UFO activity. In fact, so many sightings were taking place in the area that the local press later dubbed it "UFO Alley". Unknown To UFOlogists, it was at the heart of what we call a "window area", because far more encounters occur than chance should dictate. Mike told me that he and his wife were shaken as the bedroom filled with an orange glow pouring in from the sky. Looking through the window, thy saw a strange object that stopped dead in mid flight, an instantaneous manoeuvre that no aircraft could possibly match. The glow went out and an arc of blue light appeared in its place, plus a superstructure comprising three rings and a deep-red pulsating mass. As the couple stared in astonishment at the unknown craft, it fell slowly into a disused quarry, casting light onto the pictch-black hillsides. Mike decided to set off for the quarry, and arrived there at 2.40am. He reported seeing a row of windows on the ground below, which he assumed to be a workers portakabin. The next morning, returning to the spot in daylight, no such building was present. Others in the area reported strange sightings that night. A farmer and a worker also reported an object with a dome and red rings fall silently from the sky into the quarry. Two police officers recalled seeing an orange light streak across the sky and disappear, shortly before Mike Sacks arrived at the quarry. It had flown in majestic silence away from the quarry and off above the hill slopes. Had this been the UFO departing from its landing place? At 2.45am. the orange light was reported again, by taxi driver Stephen Alexander and a passenger, some 25 miles north-east of the quarry. Eerie They said it was racing westwards at quite some speed. Yet there was no sound associated with it, just as all the witnesses in the silence of the Rossendale Valley had attested to the eerie quiet of this mysterious craft. About as dozen separate sightings were also made in and around Merseyside. All occurred between 2.40am. and 2.50am. that February morning. They could be plotted onto a map of north-west England, revealing a striking pattern. The interesting thing about these Merseyside sightings is that they were evidently not of the object heading west from the Bacup quarry towards the Lancashire coast. For these were of an object coming from the south and travelling north-westwards. Moreover, several of the witnesses commented on the roaring noise, like a jet engine that this particular object made. Further encounters involved a caravan park at Scarisbrick, a village on the coast near Southport. Residents were shaken from their sleep by an explosion of noise. Doors and windows rattled violently as a ball of flame flew at great speed and low level towards the Ribble estuary. TV host Some residents were in little doubt what this UFO was. They concluded that a military jet fighter was breaking the sound barrier - hence the bang - and ignoring all the regulations that normally prevent such activity over inhabited areas. They were not alone in their concerns. Indeed, the then MP for Ormskirk, Robert Kilroy-Silk, who is now a TV host, took action on their behalf and requested an explanation from the Ministry of Defence. UFOlogists were also pressing the MoD for answers, although they were in possession of a lot more evidence than was the MP. To him, this was an isolated incident affecting his constituents, perhaps involving a straying aircraft breaking the rules. Unfortunately he can have no idea about the amazing pattern of UFO activity going on that night, which researchers were slowly following through and I was piecing together. The Civil Aviation Authority had suggested - fairly logically - that the object sounded to then like a military jet using "afterburn" and "reheat". This is a system that rapidly accelerates the speed of the jet and, in the dark, creates a spurt of orange flame from the rear. It certainly fits the fact as described by the witnesses over Merseyside and south Lancashire, though the Civil Aviation Authority recanted this suggestion when the MoD failed to offer support. No military jet should have been allowed to engage reheat in this place at this time - unless there had been an emergency. Statement Eventually, the MoD issued their definitive statement on the matter. It simply claimed that it could "confirm that a special United States Air Force exercise" had been underway at the time. F-111 jets from the USAF base at Upper Heyford in Oxfordshire were involved in this and "operated at low level". At no time did the MoD state that the object seen over the north-west was such an F-111. Nor did they attempt to explain why such an aircraft would break the rules and pass at low level through restricted airspace where aircraft bound for two major civil airports (Manchester and Liverpool) could have been put at risk. They simply allowed people to draw the conclusion that this episode had been an "exercise" and an F-111 had somehow been flying at low height to cause the sightings. Unfortunately, there are big problems with this conclusion. Firstly, the silent object seen to land and then take off from Bacup (heading west, not north) could not possibly have been an F-111. But, perhaps more significantly, Colonel Shrihofer, the man in charge of the alleged exercise at USAF Upper Heyford, insisted that his men knew all about airspace restrictions and that what was seen over Lancashire was, as he put it, "definitely not (our) F-111s -that's official!" Problems I took all of this information back to the MoD. Their comment about a special USAF exercise had presumably by now placated people like Robert Kilroy-Silk and the caravan park residents. When I pointed out the problems with it Colonel Shrihoer's response they told me, "Clearly, our suggestion was wrong. But then, it was never put forward as an explanation in the first place." As for what was really encounted on the night of February 24th, they had no idea. In other words it was a UFO! There is one final story in this case. I interviewed a man who at the time was a security guard on the Central Pier in Blackpool. At between 2.30 and 2.45am. of the night in question, he recalled feeling the pier rattle and vibrate as if struck by a very heavy swell - yet the tide was out. Rushing outside, he saw a ball of orange light over the sea to the south. It made a roaring noise and vanished north-westwards. There was also a lingering smell, a bit like ozone. There have been numerous reports of UFOs ionising the atmosphere and creating the smell of ozone, which the security guard recognised. It was not aviation fuel, he told me, which has a very different odour. He stood on the pier for some time watching the sea and about 30 minutes later, gazed in amazement as a series of white lights climbed up from the Irish Sea just off the South Pier and spiralled in unison into the clouds. What had been witnessed from this deserted Blackpool pier? Had the noise been caused by a military jet streaking out to sea in pursuit of something? Were the lights seen a little later climbing into the sky the silent UFO - that had hidden below the water line until the coast was clear? Perhaps we will never know... A detailed history of the UFO phenomenon, including the British Government's association with the problem, is published by Jenny Randles and Peter Hough in their "Complete Book of UFOs" (Platkus, 1994). [U6]****** Source: Adelaide Advertiser (South Australia) Date: December 19, 1996 "UFO Abductee" Set For Soft Landing With $2M Payout World, Page 18. It could be the perfect case for agents Mulder and Scully. In true X-Files style, an electrician claims he was lifted from the ground and knocked unconscious by a UFO in Swindon. He is apparently to be paid 1 million pounds ($A2.06) by insurers who covered him against abduction by aliens.Industry sources, however, are suggesting that the payout could, just possibly, be an out-of-this-world publicity stunt. The story starts on October 8, when Joseph Carpenter, 23, from Enfield, North London, claims he was struck down by a mystery light near Swindon. The area is a "hot-spot" for such phenomena, says Mr Carpenter, who runs a UFO hunting group called the Majestic Twelve. "On the evening in question, an intense beam of light, like a police helicopter, had me, "he said. "The anti-gravity force within it lifted me above the ground. I passed out as I went directly into it. All this was captured on film." Mr Carpenter had paid 102.5 pounds ($A208) for cover against such an eventuality to a company called GRIP, run by insurance broker Simon Burgess. Mr Carpenter was able to produce "compelling evidence" of his ordeal, including camcorder footage, witnesses and DNA samples taken from what he said was a nail from a claw found at the scene. Mr Burgess said last night : "The work on the DNA sample was carried out by a research fellow at Cambridge University, I can't give you his name. "But the work proved conclusively that the sample was something that had never been seen before and which was not of this Earth". Mr Burgess says Mr Carpenter will receive his money on Saturday at a London hotel from Scully herself. X-Files star , Gillian Anderson. The broker, described by one industry source, as "an unhelpful maverick", is understood to have made a deal with a Sunday paper for exclusive coverage of the presentation. Industry Insiders say he is almost certain to make a profit from Mr Carpenter's successful claim. One said: " If he plays his cards right, he will claw the money back by wisely selling the world rights of the video evidence to TV companies. If he sat down and co-wrote a book using the evidence, the money would also roll in". So, publicity stunt or not ? As they say in the X-Files, the truth is out there ......... World News ---------- [W1]****** Source: Daily Mail newspaper Date: Thursday 26th December 1996 Outcry Over Space Monkeys Two monkeys were sent into Earth orbit in a Russian space capsule yesterday, despite protests by animal rights campaigners. The two week mission will research effects of weightlessness. [W2]****** Source: Albuquerque Journal Date: 3rd December, 1996 Rumors Of Aliens Trail Comet Charges that a spacecraft is headed for Earth behind the Comet Hale-Bopp have taken on a life of their own By John Fleck Journal Staff Writer An alien spacecraft is headed toward Earth, tailing Comet Hale-Bopp. NASA and the U.S.government know about it and are suppressing the telescope images that would prove it. Those charges, lurking on the Internet and talk radio since the comet was discovered in 1995, have exploded in recent weeks. The talk has been fueled by nationally syndicated late-night talk show host Art Bell and discussion groups on the Internet, where anyone who wants can weigh in. Despite debunking by scientists, the conspiracy theories have gained a momentum of their own, with the scientists who offer explanations immediately lumped in with the conspirators. The debate has grown so intense that, two weeks ago, one Internet critic called Alan Hale, the New Mexico astronomer who discovered the comet, "an Earth traitor" after Hale helped debunk one of the latest "mystery spaceship" sightings. "This whole thing is nutty," said Hale, who said he is alternately amused and aghast at the uproar surrounding the comet that bears his name. The most popular tale is that the spacecraft is either out to destroy us or save us. The government knows about it, according to the conspiracy theorists, and is keeping it from the public. Their evidence is a hodgepodge of speculation, information allegedly gathered telepathically from the aliens and astronomical data that, scientists say, have been misinterpreted out of ignorance. Neither Bell nor any of the other chief conspiracy theorists responded to Journal requests for comment. Hale-Bopp would seem an unlikely subject for an international cover-up, scientists say, simply because anyone who wants can take a look. Now 270 million miles from Earth and growing brighter, the potential comet of the century is hanging out there for anyone with a cheap telescope or even a pair of binoculars to see. Hale, who lives in the mountains outside Cloudcroft in southern New Mexico, has been observing the comet every night it's visible, and hasn't seen anything amiss. "Don't take my word for it," he says. "Go out and look at it." Since Hale and amateur star-gazer Thomas Bopp discovered the comet in July 1995, the conspiracy theorists have latched onto the comet with a vengeance. The evidence for the alien presence is hung from bits of truth. As astronomers gather more data on the comet's orbit, they have revised their calculations of its orbit. That has led to calls from conspiracy theorists that Hale-Bopp has "changed course," something no comet could do. Conspiracy theorists have also made much of a perceived paucity of publicly available images from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble comet pictures taken in September and October, published recently in the magazine Science News, do not seem to have reduced the vehemence of those arguments. For the record, NASA scientist Jay Bergstralh, who is heading up a portion of the space agency's comet research efforts, said he has heard of no such conspiracy. The discovery of "mysterious objects" in telescope pictures of the comet has been trumpeted by the conspiracy buffs, only to have astronomers identify them as stars in the backgrounds of the pictures. "What's upsetting is that they won't take the time to learn," said Harvard-based astronomer Daniel Green. If there was a mysterious object flying alongside the comet, said Green, amateur and professional astronomers around the world watching the comet would have seen and reported it. "That's the way science works. That's the way astronomy works. You can't hide anything," said Green, who works for the International Astronomical Union, an international clearing house for such information. The "mysterious object" pictures have nevertheless raised the conspiracy talk to a crescendo in recent weeks, led by late-night talk radio host Bell, whose syndicated show runs in Albuquerque on KOB AM (770) from midnight to 4 a.m. Last Thursday night, a guest on Bell's program claimed to have "remotely viewed" the alien spacecraft, using a sort of telepathic eyesight. Hale said the Internet has been both a curse and a blessing. Anyone with a computer and a telephone connection can "publish" information on the Internet, a worldwide computer network. That has allowed the Hale-Bopp conspiracy theories to spread quickly, but it has also given scientists an equal forum. But with Hale-Bopp getting brighter and likely to be major public spectacle next spring, Hale expects the wild talk to continue. "It's just going to get worse," he said. [W3]****** Source: Newseek (US) Date: January 6, 1996 When Rumors Make The News Public-service warning: The Internet is not a news service. Read what's there with care, and be your own editor. by Richard Turner He wears a trench coat. He worked for Kennedy. His image, with the Eiffel Tower in the background and the ABC logo in the corner, exudes a sense of legitimacy. This is the familiar medium, the thing we're supposed to trust. So when former ABC news correspondent Pierre Salinger breathlessly announced last month that he had evidence that TWA Flight 800 was felled by a friendly-fire U.S. missile, the story had enough credibility to resurface in the "mainstream" press, where it had briefly appeared two months before. For most people, this episode played out as embarrassing, a little bit sad, a little bit Brinkley-esque. But inhabitants of cyberspace were less compassionate. To them, this was yet another sign of establishment cluelessness about the Internet. They witheringly pointed out that the same document Salinger referred to had been on the World Wide Web, posted for all to see, for months. "Well, Pierre, if you'd get a little Net-savvy, you'd figure it out," sniffed one Web site, conspire.com, which concluded: "Learn to surf, Dude." There they go again, the denizens of the "old" media and the Netizens of the new. Their mutual distrust colors a debate which really ought not to be so supercharged. Mainstream-media watchdogs view the loopy Salinger story as yet another sign that the Net is a giant, churning rumor pit, because the friendly-fire information resided there. The technophiles think they're under attack by a punditocracy afraid to give up control. And so there was similar fretting from both sides when a slightly overreaching story in the San Jose Mercury News--which appeared to say that CIA-sanctioned cocaine sales launched the crack epidemic--took on momentum, fed by the Net. The tale became holy writ to many, especially in the black community. The Mercury was blasted for how its Web version of the story helped spread and distort it. We don't mind mentioning these things, or the alien autopsies, or the United Nations plot with the black helicopters. But there are other examples of "news" floating around the Internet that we won't articulate, like the famous Republican politician said to have been involved in a homosexuality scandal some years back. Why won't we put it in the magazine? Well, short of actually investigating it, we'll rely on the San Francisco Chronicle, which ran a story saying there's no evidence that it's true. It's part of the "legitimate" press, and we fancy that we are, too. This is very civic-minded of us, and, of course, very pompous. Who are we to decide? Media mandarins, determining from on high what people can and can't know. This is the view of the apostles of cyber-nirvana. To them, the Net is a means for regular people to assert their rights against the old order of top-down windbags. All of this obscures the obvious fact that the Net is a means of communication, not a news service. Everybody who's spent five minutes there knows it's full of self-indulgent rantings, junior-high-school feuding--and porno. Just because something's on the Net doesn't give it gravitas. The TWA friendly-fire story, before it hit the Internet, actually showed up on CBS's local TV station in New York just after the crash. But CBS network news didn't pick up on it, and this is the point: with so much information out there today, people have to know whom to trust. For better or worse, this trust still resides in some TV news organizations and a handful of newspapers and magazines--many of them controlled by family members willing to tolerate flattish stock prices in return for some high-minded and corny ideal that their stories should try to tell the truth. They set the agenda for most other news. And readers by now know when they browse the newsstand that there's a difference between The New York Times and Weekly World News. For those who aren't waving a banner for one side or the other--who believe that the Net is important but doubt its utopian qualities--the debate about news pollution on the Net is just another reminder that citizens have to pick through their news as carefully as cats. "You can't scroll through the Net uncritically," says high-tech attorney Michael Godwin. "You have to be your own editor. That's called being an adult in an information society." And that still means listening to guys in trench coats, even if they sometimes get it wrong. [W4]****** Source: Newsweek (US) Date: February 6th, 1997 Growing National Paranoia Conspiracy Mania Aliens killed JFK. The CIA started the crack epidemic. Kurt Cobain was murdered. Who comes up with this stuff? And why do so many people believe it? by Rick Marin and T. Trent Gegax Inside a beat-up white trailer home in the Nevada desert, Glenn Campbell sits leashed to his desk by a telephone headset. Faxes grind and modems screech while Campbell (no, not that Glen Campbell) runs the one-man government-watchdog station he calls the Area 51 Research Center. A giant black satellite dish out back points ominously skyward. The front yard is decorated with the tail of a crashed F-4 jet. Animal bones scattered in a macabre rock-garden formation separate the trailer from the dirt frontage road along Nevada State Route 375--a.k.a. The Extraterrestrial Highway. A sonic boom from the local air force base cleaves the heavens as Campbell hangs up with a deep military source. "We found a connection between Ron Brown's plane crash and Area 51!" he announces. "It's all linked together!" He's kidding--sort of. Campbell is a conspiracy theorist, not a conspiracy nut. A retired Boston software executive, he cashed out a couple of years ago at the age of 33 and relocated to the sun-baked hamlet of Rachel, Nev., to become the leading authority on Area 51. You know: the "secret" section of an air base that houses alien spacecraft. This is ground zero for UFOlogists convinced that the world has been controlled by aliens ever since the first flying saucer fell to Earth in 1947. "There is alien contact with the military," Campbell says, though, he admits, "I don't have proof other than what I hear from my sources at Area 51." Coincidentally, those sources commute from their homes in Vegas to the air base in a T-43 transport plane just like the one that carried Secretary Brown to his death. Conspiracy paranoia is surrounding us. A paranoid person might even say it's closing in, because these wacky theories aren't just spreading in the usual cheesy newsletters dense with type and craziness. Fomented on the Internet, mass-marketed by Hollywood ("The X-Files," "Independence Day"), conspiracism has become a kind of para-religion. Its vast flock ranges from casual believers to zealots who think O. J. Simpson was set up by the Japanese mafia and that Prince Charles is a puppet of the new world order, instructed by a computer chip planted in his royal buttocks. Wait until Pierre Salinger starts looking into that one. This great nation has always had its share of conspiracy freaks. Hell, the country was founded by Freemasons, the ultimate secret society. (Who do you think put that weird eyeball-and-pyramid symbol on the dollar bill?) But the ranks of the darkly deluded may be growing. A recent survey in George magazine indicated that three quarters of Americans believe that "the Government is involved in conspiracy." Depending on your level of venality, that statistic can be read as either mass psychosis or a marketing opportunity. This year, America Online started a "channel" called ParaScope, to attract devotees of the paranormal and the paranoid. Mel Gibson's next movie is called, simply, "Conspiracy Theory." He'll play a cabdriver who finds himself in trouble when one of his harebrained theories turns out to be true. Surprisingly, Oliver Stone is not directing. "There certainly seems to be a resurgence in sympathy toward conspiracy theory and an increasing strain of paranoia," says Kendrick Frazier, editor of The Skeptical Inquirer, a monthly devoted to debunking wacko theories. Clearly, something is heating up in the more tropical climes of the American psyche. So, herewith, a skeptical inquiry of our own. Kurt Cobain's 'Suicide.' The shotgun blast that killed the Nirvana front man and Gen X martyr was not self-inflicted, this theory goes. Cobain's widow, Courtney Love, is implicated, according to the book "Love & Death: The Story of Kurt & Courtney," by Montreal journalists Ian Halpern and Max Wallace. Private investigator Tom Grant, originally hired by Love to look into her husband's disappearance, is working hard to keep Cobain's suicide as mysterious as White House aide Vince Foster's. "The picture that was painted of this thing as a suicide was totally false," Grant says. Contrary to press reports, he claims (and says police records back him up) Cobain did not place his driver's license on top of his wallet on the floor next to him to help authorities identify the body. In fact, Grant says, a cop put the license out for the crime-scene photographer. "That information led people to think it was a suicide," Grant says. "But it was not true." More "proof." In addition to the suicide note at the scene, Grant says, Cobain left Love a Dear John letter: "We'll learn in the end that that note explains exactly what he was doing. He was retiring, leaving the music business, leaving his wife. That was a retirement note to his fans, not a suicide note." The motive? Grant's got that figured out, too. "She was after his fan base. The motivation is greed and career"--the same motivation Grant has been criticized for by the Courtney camp. Love dismisses the charges. And Seattle police spokesman Sean O'Donnell says, "I've had to respond to so many theories and conspiracy theories since the event occurred, and I've refuted them consistently. There's just no information that would indicate this is anything other than a suicide." Hemp Power Suppressed. Another Gen X favorite, and stoner perennial, since hemp (another name for cannabis) can be smoked as pot or turned into a fiber. In June actor Woody Harrelson was arrested when he planted four nonhallucinogenic, industrial hemp seeds in a Kentucky field. Such a Thoreau-like act of civil disobedience would have been unnecessary in 1938, when a Popular Mechanics cover story headlined hemp as the new billion-dollar crop. But "something went wrong between 1937 and 1942," says Allen St. Pierre, deputy director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML). "I can't tell you that I've been able to find a conspiracy. But there was such a moneyed interest involved, it makes you wonder." NORML claims to have documents showing that as part of the war effort the government set up hemp farms in Kentucky, Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio. St. Pierre says hemp supplied superstrong twine for parachute cord and oil for war vehicles. "The U.S. forces were one big mobile hemp unit," St. Pierre says. During World War II, a "Hemp for Victory" newsreel featured fresh-faced 4-H kids sewing hemp seeds. It also made Levi's denim famously sturdy. What happened? St. Pierre blames Harry J. Anslinger, the nation's first drug czar, who he says needed a fresh target once Prohibition failed. "They made pot illegal for their own purposes," St. Pierre says, citing an Anslinger-Du Pont-Hearst triumvirate as the culprit. The Du Pont family feared cannabis could supplant many of their petrochemicals, and William Randolph Hearst needed a new moral high horse for his newspapers. Nonsense, says Bob Barker (no, not that Bob Barker) of the American Fiber Manufacturers Association. He says hemp doesn't even compete with textile and petroleum products: "It's kind of a nice, back-to-nature sort of thing to believe." Especially if you're baked. The Klan in the 'Hood. The black community is a hotbed of this kind of suspicion and mistrust, some justified, some fantastical. In October, Rep. Maxine Waters convened a town meeting in South-Central Los Angeles between her constituents and CIA Director John Deutch. A heated debate ensued over reports speculating that the CIA had spread the crack epidemic by backing Nicaraguan drug dealers whose profits went to the contras. "Black-oriented talk-radio shows are rife with conspiracy stuff," says Dr. Jewelle Taylor Gibbs, a University of California, Berkeley, professor who has written extensively on race issues. At WVON in Chicago it's conventional wisdom among listeners that AIDS is a plot to wipe out African-Americans. Keisha Chavers, an executive producer at the station, says, "The common refrain is 'Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you'." Such is the conspiracist's reflex mentality. It's often a reaction against authority among groups that feel they've been politically marginalized, socially isolated or economically oppressed. Gibbs agrees: "Invariably, blacks start asking if the government is against us. Once these urban myths take hold, you can't do much to disprove them." Like the myth that the Snapple Iced Tea label depicts a slave galley, reflecting the company's solidarity with the KKK. The picture in question is actually of the Boston Tea Party. The New World Order. When Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan and right-wing political extremist Lyndon LaRouche meet, they can agree on one thing: the malign, totalitarian power of the NWO and its executive arm, the Trilateral Commission. When President George Bush (a member of Yale's secret society Skull & Bones) proclaimed a new world order, he didn't tell us that "black helicopters" would be patrolling the night skies, monitoring our every move. Or that the government keeps a genetic record of every citizen in secret "DNA banks" (a hot topic in AOL's ParaScope chat rooms). Oklahoma City bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh reportedly claimed that the U.S. Army (the military arm of the NWO) had implanted a computer chip in his buttock to control him. He didn't say whether he and the Prince of Wales had experienced any chip-to-chip contact. These bizarre fantasies would seem safely ridiculous if they didn't occasionally turn out to be true. "My paranoia and mistrust of authority came of age during Watergate," says Chris Carter, creator of "The X-Files," TV's weekly conspiracy-geek bible. On "The X-Files," everything from who killed JFK to why the Buffalo Bills lose so many Super Bowls is traceable to a single master plan. "It helps when you pick up the paper every day and see how the government has lied to us," Carter adds, ticking off recent revelations about the cover-ups surrounding gulf war syndrome and President Clinton's apology for radiation experiments conducted on unwitting Americans as late as 1974. In "Journey Into Madness: The True Story of Secret CIA Mind Control and Medical Abuse" (Bantam, 1990) British journalist Gordon Thomas meticulously documents the brutal brainwashing of soldiers in the Korean War. Militia extremists who had been warning of a new world order for years felt vindicated when their president actually announced one. See! They told you so. As Glenn Campbell likes to tell people out at his trailer in the middle of nowhere, it's all linked together. He just can't quite prove it. Yet. [W5]****** Source: The Electronic Telegraph Date: Thursday 19 December 1996 Find Adds To Strife On Mars By Robert Uhlig, Technology Correspondent THE existence of life on Mars has been thrown into further doubt after scientists found that two of the four lines of indirect evidence supporting the meteorite finding can be explained by non-biological processes. When Nasa announced it suspected early extra-terrestrial microbial life on Martian meteorite ALH 84001, it based its claims on the fact that four compounds found inside the meteorite could be produced only by living organisms. Most damaging of all to supporters of the Martian life theory is the suggestion by geoscientists in America that magnetite crystals inside the meteorite, assumed to be the product of bacteria, were not produced by a biogenic process. "The biological explanation is becoming less and less plausible," said John Kerridge, a planetary scientist at the University of California at San Diego, who is familiar with the studies published or about to be published in the journal Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. San Diego scientists also found organic molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Antarctic ice were the same as those inside the meteorite's globules. They were also found in other meteorites that did not come from Mars. [W6]****** STATEMENT BY NASA ADMINISTRATOR DAN GOLDIN ON THE PASSING OF ASTRONOMER CARL SAGAN "All of us at NASA are saddened by the passing of Carl Sagan. For more than three decades, Dr. Sagan was an eloquent, passionate voice for the sciences that he so ably advanced. As much as any scientific figure of our time, Carl described for an entire generation -- the generation of the Space Age -- the true wonders of the Universe around us. His unbelievable ability to explain the complexities of space and space exploration inspired people to look up into the night sky in wonder. Through such efforts as the television series 'Cosmos' and his recent book, 'Pale Blue Dot,' Carl reached -- and touched --millions around the world. He was a pioneer of the idea that life could exist on Mars, years before NASA was able to uncover evidence of potential early life on the Red Planet, and he was an important voice in our Mars science programs for many years. He was an early champion of the idea that the two leading spacefaring powers, America and Russia, should work together in the exploration of space. He also was at the forefront of constructing humanity's first messages to the stars, which even now are hurtling out of our Solar System aboard the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft. Carl himself likened the effort to the launching of a message in a bottle on the interstellar ocean. We will remember his vision, his eloquence, and his intellect, and we will miss him." [W7]****** Source: The Associated Press Date: December 28, 1996 Coppola Sues Carl Sagan LOS ANGELES (AP) -- One week after Carl Sagan's death, director Francis Ford Coppola's company has accused the astronomer of breaking a contract with him. In a lawsuit filed Friday, Coppola's Zoetrope Corp. asks that Warner Bros. stop production of the movie ``First Contact,'' based on a book by Sagan. Sagan died Dec. 20. Coppola says that 20 years ago, Sagan had agreed to work with Coppola on a TV series based on the book, which was still in the planning stages. The book was published in 1985 and Sagan entered into a contract with Warner Bros. for the film. Warner Bros. did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment after business hours Friday. Zoetrope's attorney, Robert S. Chapman, said Coppola and Sagan had agreed to share profits from any other projects related to 'Contact'. 'First Contact', a science fiction film about Earth's encounter with aliens, is scheduled to be released next year. [W8]****** Source: CNN Website - http://www.cnn.com Date: Decemver 17, 1996 It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's A Mystery Ball! SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A mysterious glowing ball of light traveling 1/100th the speed of light has been spotted and videotaped in the earth's upper atmosphere, but what it is has scientists puzzled. Brief footage of the image, which appeared for about 3/100th of a second at an estimated height of 80 kilometers, was presented publicly for the first time Monday at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. In a six-frame sequence, the object can clearly be seen crossing upwards and left across the field of view, while retaining its shape and intense glow. "It's the first and only event of this kind photographed to my knowledge," said Dr. Dean A. Morss, assistant professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Creighton University in Nebraska. Morss is heading a research project designed to videotape luminous electrical phenomena, called sprites, in the upper atmosphere. 'Clearly moving' Scientists were observing a region of thunderstorm activity in western Kansas from a ground observation point in Nebraska when the mystery ball appeared. Navy Lt. Paul McCrone, a graduate student at Creighton, videotaped the image on August 22, using equipment on loan to the university from Los Alamos National Laboratory. "It's clearly something that does not have any mass. The angular speed is too fast to be anything at orbital velocity," said Morris B. Pongratz, a scientist with Los Alamos National Laboratory who has examined the tape. "This guy is clearly moving." Morss and his colleagues maintain the ball's tremendous speed and apparent lack of mass eliminate many commonly proffered explanations for unknown objects sighted in the atmosphere. "People are seeing new forms, new shapes, all sorts of new phenomena," Morss said. "It's not traditional meteorology." --------------------------------------------------------------------- UNITED KINGDOM UFO NETWORK Please forward all reports to: ufo@holodeck.demon.co.uk If you have something to say about the articles and features published in the e-zine please mail: feedback@nolimits.demon.co.uk. Visit us on the World Wide Web at http://www.holodeck.demon.co.uk/ http://www.nolimits.demon.co.uk/ For information on receiving back issues and other files send mail with REQUEST INFO in the subject area to: ufo@holodeck.demon.co.uk Meet us on the IRC. Regular meetings held every Saturday night at 11pm (2300hrs) - 10pm (2200hrs) GMT. 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