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May 20, 2004 3:25 pm US/Mountain. To the naked eye, Tommy Woodard's digital photograph appears to be nothing more than a pretty picture of trees in Provo Canyon.
But zoom in, he says, and the purple glow of a saucer hovering at an angle above the tree line starts to take shape.
Woodard, 22, a photo librarian with the Utah Film Commission, took the photo that he believes represents an unidentified flying object. He was in the canyon Tuesday shooting still pictures for a possible film location, and began taking pictures for himself on his way out. At the time, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary in his photograph. But later, after noticing a black speck in the frame, he zoomed in and ``the closer I got, the more impressed I got by it,'' he said Thursday.
enhancement by UFO Casebook
``I was kind of skeptical but it's pretty obvious when you zoom in,'' said the self-described ``sci-fi'' fan, whose friends and colleagues are similarly impressed. Woodard said he's a ``believer'' because the recent photograph is not his first encounter with mysterious flying objects. Once, playing baseball at the age of 10, he saw three blurry gray spheres rotating in the sky. Within a moment, they were gone. Woodard contacted officials at Hill Air Force Base to ask if any planes were flying in the canyon area Tuesday but hasn't heard back yet. ``They kind of laughed, you know,'' he said. Hill Air Force Base spokeswoman Lt. Caroline Wellman told The Associated Press on Thursday she is awaiting response from the 388th Fighter Wing whether any of their F-16 jets were above Provo Canyon Tuesday. Another skeptical reaction to the digital photograph came from a representative of the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle _ he said thought the sphere looked like a bird. ``A bird?'' asked Woodard in disbelief. ``Come on _ I don't know how he could think it's a bird!'' Woodard discounted the theory that the image could be nothing more than a speck of dust on his film. Of the hundred photos he shot Tuesday, none contained a similar mark, he said. The Provo Canyon photograph is not the first reported UFO sighting this year to immediately get debunkers. In March, the Mexican air force captured images of bright blurs in the sky using infrared equipment. The videotape aired on television for the first time last week, with one scientist saying the objects could have been caused by gases in the atmosphere. source: Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press |
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The UFO Casebook received this sighting and photograph report via email. As I am in the Royal Air Force, I often go away on exercises and detachments with various aircraft. On this occasion I was working with a crew of Sea King pilots and ground crew in the Lake District area. The place was called Wastewater and is near Gosforth. I will enclose a link of the hotel we stayed in as it is situated on the lakes that the photo was taken of. We were working in the mountain area for the week commencing Saturday the 7th of March, and Saturday the 14th inclusive. I'm not sure of the exact time or date, but my best guess would be Monday or Tuesday (8th/9th) at approximately 4pm to 4.30pm. The photo was taken from the Sea King helicopter on the way back to the hotel, and was only taken for the scenery. No one on board the aircraft, or at the hotel 2 minutes away mentioned seeing anything strange, and this photo was only spotted by luck weeks later when I was erasing the memory card. I really hope some of this will help in some way. Thanks again for helping out with the photo, and replying so quickly. source: D J from Stafford. www.wasdale.com
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One man seeks the truth. Swartz Creek, Michigan — (05/21/04)--Could UFOs be hovering around Mid Michigan? For the past week, a bright light in the western sky at night has many residents wondering what the object is. One man took this image of an unusual looking object hovering in the night. By Kevin Goff source: image/ copyright ABC12 http://abclocal.go.com/wjrt/news/052104_NW_da_ufo.html.
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A report has been received that on May 5, 2004, Mr. Aguirre, a fisherman and local resident of Cabo Rojo, a town in the southwestern corner of Puerto Rico, reported seeing "strange lights" entering and leaving the sea and the cliffs near the famous Cabo Rojo light house late at night. An on-site inspection revealed that many tourists who visit the site have experienced odd sensations and certain types of "paranormal energy" as thought there were something else at the location. It is well known that UFO skywatches have taken place in the area and some of them have yielded positive results. Our survey of the site disclosed that the waters near one of the cliffs showed evidence of what could be termed remains of spiritual or witchcraft "trabajos" (artifacts). The height of another cliff gave us pause, perhaps as well as its magnetism (sic). What is worth pointing out here is that many people claim having had unusual experiences in the vicinity of the lighthouse, giving rise to the belief that this is an area of intense paranormal activity. It must be made clear that the light house's beam has been confused with other surrounding lights, which makes the study of something taking place in the region even more interesting. One of the strange lights reported in recent days over the lighthouse, far above the range of the light issued from the structure. The object presented signs of movement and deformation. (see image above) Translation (c) 2004. Scott Corrales, IHU. Special thanks to José Martinez Echevarría (Project Argus) source:Proyecto ARGUS DATE: May 19, 2004 |
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I received some very interesting photographs from my good friend and correspondent Tomek Wierszalowicz in Poland. The photographs were taken
May 4, 5, 2004 in the city Rzeszów.
I was sent to the Polish website which carried the story, but details are still very sketchy. According to the Polish website, the photographs are being evaluated, but so far, no further evidence is available. As usual, if and when new info is sent to me, I will update this page.
source: http://ufo.internauci.pl/?module=news&id=437&SID_UFO=7c2e74abde63a1d4fe705533e63d3431 Tomek Wierszalowicz
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On May 22, 2004, the UFO Casebook received an excellent photograph of what appears to be an unknown flying object.
While two friends, Max K. and Ho Jim L. were hanging out together, one decided to take some photos of the other while he was shooting some hoops. The incident occurred in Soap Lake, Washington on April 23. Later, when the two were checking out the photos, they "couldn't believe their eyes" when they noticed something that they hadn't seen when the photos were taken; a UFO. When the object was first noticed in the photo, they felt that they had photographed an "artifical intelligence." The object appeared to be moving toward Moses Lake.
click on image to see full size
source: UFO Casebook email
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For those who do not understand what FLIR or forward looking infrared is and a possible way of answering all the debunkers is just this. From my Army days, we used infrared as a way of seeing in the darkness. For those who do not understand what "IR" is, well it's easy. Everything that is not frozen at absolute zero has an "IR" signature. The more heat emitted from anything, the brighter the "IR" signature or picture. For example, the clouds in the Mexican Air Force video, using a bad guess as a reference, say are at 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Watch the video and see the dim but viewable clouds? Note the brightness of the clouds. This is the "IR" or thermal signature for that hypothetical temperature. Now, the objects in the video appear as brilliant, almost like light emissions from an electrical light source. This "IR" signature is possible in the hundreds but not tens of thousands of degrees that "ball lightning" would be. For those of us who have seen a lightning strike thru "IR" find the suggestion of "ball lightning" a laughable and ridiculous debunking attempt. Weather balloon theory? Helium in a suspended radiosonde device (balloon) will be near the same temperature as the outside air. The "IR" signature would be nearly, if not completely invisible, looking like the background sky. (It is not "heat" in a helium filled balloon that makes it float) Also, the debunkers have said that the objects were "gas," Common sense tells us that there is no such thing as hot "gas" moving at high speed in the atmosphere. Again, a ridiculous attempt to debunk. Why is this relevant? Easy, the FLIR camera is a calibrated instrument. It was set up by its manufacturer to register thermal radiation sources at certain, probably "assigned" temperatures. The video can be analyzed by the maker of this FLIR device and a true temperature of the objects in the clip can be determined. Why has no one suggested this? Knowing as little as I do about Infrared, I feel this is a possible answer to the de-bunkers. Have the video analyzed by the FLIR technicians that calibrated the device. We will then have an approximate thermal reading on the objects. Then, armed with this data, the debunkers will crawl under their rocks. Hope this helps us find a few realistic answers. source: Best Regards, Kim Shaffer State Director, MUFON Tn. (East)
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January 1878, Denison, Texas Daylight UFO |
The term "flying saucer" was made popular by a journalist covering Kenneth Arnolds's sighting of nine flying disks in June of 1947. The journalist misquoted Arnold, who did not describe the objects as saucer shaped, but describes they strange movement as similar to a saucer thrown on water and bouncing several times: they "flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water." But a Texan farmer, John Martin, used the term "saucer" 69 years earlier to describe the flying object he saw on a hunting expedition in the surroundings of Denison, Texas, on January 2, 1878. In this case also, "saucer" does not refer to the shape, but to the size of the observed object, as its shape was described as that of a balloon. John Martin saw the dark object high in the Southern sky. He first noticed it to be about the size of an orange, that grew in size as it got closer to him. After he had to rest his eyes, it had increased considerably in size and appeared to be going quite fast. When it was over him it was the size of a large saucer and at a great height. Because this UFO was dark, and not a mysterious light, reflective, or silvery, many scientists believe he saw a solid object against the sky, with the light behind it. The sighting was reported by the local newspaper Denison Daily News on January 25, 1878, with the title "A Strange Phenomenon." The article was a first-hand report from the farmer, and its full text is: "From Mr. John Martin, a farmer who lives some six miles south of this city, we learn the following strange story: Tuesday morning while out hunting, his attention was directed to a dark object high up in the southern sky. The peculiar shape and velocity with which the object seemed to approach riveted his attention and he strained his eves to discover its character." "When first noticed, it appeared to be about the size of an orange, which continued to grow in size. After gazing at it for some time Mr. Martin became blind from long looking and left off viewing it for a time in order to rest his eyes. On resuming his view, the object was almost overhead and had increased considerably in size, and appeared to be going through space at wonderful speed." "When directly over him it was about the size of a large saucer and was evidently at great height. Mr. Martin thought it resembled, as well as he could judge, a balloon. It went as rapidly as it had come and was soon lost to sight in the heavenly skies. Mr. Martin is a gentleman of undoubted veracity and this strange occurrence, if it was not a balloon, deserves the attention of our scientists." Of course, old reports somehow lack in accurate information, and no witness interview is possible to get the missing information or check the witness reliability. But these old reports exist, and even lacking of clear data, they sometimes cannot be easily interpreted in terms of commonplace phenomenon. Who knows? Maybe some even older report can still surface, where a UFO is described as "saucer" - like in some aspect. REFERENCES: "A Strange Phenomenon", article in newspaper Denison Daily News, January 25, 1878. "The flying saucers are real", book by Major Donald E. Keyhoe, ret., 1950.
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Did you know that... There have been a number of well-known UFO cases from the state of Texas. How many can you name? Answer below after "UFO Quote of the Week."
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On Wednesday, May 19, 2004, at around 11 p.m., Leigh
Harrison and her friend, Jo, were walking around the
millpond at Bewbush in Crawley, West Sussex, UK when they
spotted something unusual approaching from the east. "I was walking my friend Jo home near the millpond," Leigh reported, "As it is quite dark, no street lamps. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a light. As I looked around, I saw a perfect circle of light going fast across the sky." "I said to Jo, 'What the f*** is that!?'" "'It's a UFO,' Jo replied." "'Oh, my God! I've never seen anything like that before.'" "Then it changed direction, moving away from us, and was gone in a second." Leigh described the UFO as "a clear, very bright, white light, circular in shape. There were also two aircraft in the sky about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away with red and white flashing (navigational) lights. The object we saw was nothing like this and definitely not of this world. It was 500 feet (150 meters) up and half a mile away, maybe less. I would say that the UFO was as big as a jumbo (jet), maybe larger. It was fast...a thousand miles per hour. source: UFO Roundup
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On Wednesday, May 5, 2004, Joe Moran was at the
intersection of Interstate Highways I-10 and I-17 in
Phoenix, Arizona, near Encanto Peak and 15th Avenue South,
when he decided to shoot some photos with his Canon A80
digital camera. "I was looking west when I took the photos," Joe reported, "I saw the UFO at 4 p.m. It was three miles (5 kilometers) away or so. I didn't actually see the object- -my camera caught it. I was alone when I shot the image. I did not hear any unusual noises at the time. Also, there was no loss of power in the Canon A80 or in any other battery-powered devices on my person when I shot the photo." (Email Interview) source: UFO Roundup
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"An unidentified flying object crashed last Saturday,
May 15, 2004, in the vicinity of the Raul Leoni
Hydroelectric Station," located in a remote jungle region
of southeastern Venezuela. The hydroelectric station is at Guri Dam, at the north end of the man-made Lago de Guri. The dam in on the Rio Caroni, 100 kilometers (60 miles) south of the Rio Orinoco at Ciudad Bolivar. "The accident, which occurred during the early hours of last Saturday, was witnessed by workers at the dam and took place to the northwest of that location. Stringent security measures were immediately undertaken by" soldiers of Venezuela's Guardia Nacional, "who proceeded to cordon off the area." Further north, in Puerto Ordaz, residents saw low- flying black helicopters cross the overcast sky, heading south towards the dam. "The presence of U.S. personnel was also observed, a common feature in all (South American) crashes involving UFOs." "It must be noted that the Seismology Unit" at the university in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, "reported movement at the time of the crash, a detail reminiscent of the Roswell, New Mexico incident of (July) 1947." "With regard to an alien presence, no reports have been received at this time." "Access to the crash site has been highly complicated due to the torrential rains at the site during this time of year. (It's the rainy season in Venezuela--J.T.)" "However, accredited personnel of Proyecto Orion went to the site on" Wednesday, May 19, 2004 "to investigate the reported crash and to collect eyewitness testimony." (Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales y Cristian Quintero de Planeta UFO para esto informe.) source: UFO Roundup
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ROWAN - Jessie Burchette of the Salisbury Post reports,
"They're not sure whether it had a red tail, but Arnold and
Lena Crook have spent the last three nights watching a
dancing unidentified flying object. "It's a good ways up
there, way high up in the sky and a long distance off,"
said Crook, a former Granite Quarry alderman. The
far off encounter started Monday night when he went
outside his home at 305 N. Oak St. to smoke a cigarette. Looking to the southeast, he saw a light that "kind of danced around." He called to his wife to come out and take a look at "a dancing star." "She said it was an airplane," said Arnold. "It's not an airplane, just wait and watch it jump around," he assured her. "It" did a circle, and a square and just kept kind of dancing. She was quickly convinced "it" wasn't an airplane. Tuesday night, Lena joined Arnold to check the sky, and there "it" was, just jumping around. Wednesday night, they were back out and "it" had grown or had friends. "Last night it was several lights, kind of like a big old box," said Arnold. Lena kept pointing out a red tail, but Arnold disagreed. "I didn't see a tail," he said. They hadn't thought much about it, or told anyone until Thursday. (snip) source: the Salisbury Post
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MODESTO -- R. David Anderson writes, "I have had a busy week taking several pictures of UFOs. These were moving above my house at about 1, 000 ft or lower depending on how large they are in size. Today ( Sat ) after taking pictures of a UFO which was hovering in the East ( in windy conditions! ) a big plane was circling our house. I looked at it in binoculars and it had U.S.A.F. emblems on the wings. Thanks to R. David Anderson SACRAMENTO – A white UFO was observed by Jeff Challender and his family moving against the wind. The object Candy apple red UFO with a fin at end with a yellow flange with a red Saturn like UFO. There was a strobe on leading edge of craft on May 3, 2004. The object was seen at 9:15 AM near the American River. Thanks to Jeff Challender
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FT .LAUDERDALE BEACH – At 3:35 PM, while on Pompano Beach we watched a black triangle shaped object moving at high altitude on May 8, 2004. We first thought it was a large military aircraft, but the closer it came it was apparent that it was huge in size and dwarfed commercial airliners flying into Ft. Lauderdale/Miami Airports. We could see the contrail over the Atlantic Ocean that was huge circles. The craft approaching land went into a partial cloud cover, but you could see through the cloud. We watched to see it come out of the cloud, but it simply disappeared. We waited and looked around in other directions but it was gone. Strangely the contrail stopped short of land and the craft was just gone and the normally busy flight path was empty of aircraft for at least a hour. The contrail stayed for 30 to 45 minutes. It was bigger than 10-15 commercial jets set side by side. They would not have covered it, It was flying at an estimated 35000 feet. I don't know, what it was or why vanished. There was no sound. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director www.UFOCenter.com
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SHERWOOD – A pilot spotted an object overhead that looked like a balloon at 5-10,000 feet in a clear sky with only a few scattered cumulus clouds on May 8, 2004, at 1:45 PM. The witness brought out his 8x42 binoculars and saw a sphere cluster of about 5 spheres with a cord hanging down and a small object at the bottom. He thought this could still be balloons so he got his 18x50 image stabilized binoculars and noticed the cord and the attached object had separated and was falling away. The sphere's were about 5 to 10 feet in diameter. They were moving with the upper level wind west to east at about 10 knots. The spheres were not rotating or tumbling like balloons would and were an off-white color. At about ten minutes duration, I noticed three smaller sized spheres near but moving away from the cluster. No planes or confirmed balloons were in the area. Two minutes later, I noticed three smaller objects' closer to the cluster and moving away at a slightly faster speed. After some distance away from cluster, the smaller objects disappeared. Size difference between cluster and small object's would be like: pea to a golf ball. Then, focusing on the cluster, I actually saw three smaller object's being released by the cluster and this was repeated two more times.
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DENVER -- This morning, at about 3:35 AM, the witness went out in the back yard for a smoke on May 10, 2004, and saw a pretty amazing sighting. He noticed a star moving, then another near it. After checking to make sure it wasn't illusory movement, he noticed a third. He states, "Basically, it was a triangular formation, two lights leading with the third trailing them." The formation came in from the south-east and as the trio passed directly overhead, a fourth "appeared", joined the trio, and seemed to drop in altitude (perhaps because it definitely grew much larger and brighter than the other three). The fourth came in from the east, then changed course and speed to match the trio; the fourth partner sped off ahead of the trio to the north-east. The trio followed slowly, taking about 3 minutes to cross the sky and disappear. By the way, I say "trio" rather than "HUGE black triangle" because the stars only seemed to dim and blur as the triangular formation crossed them, rather than completely blocking stars as I expect an intervening triangular vehicle would. Anyway, I was amazed and felt fortunate. "Thanks to Peter Davenport Director www.UFOCenter.com
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RUSHVILLE – A couple went to a friends
house to relax around their camp fire on May 16, 2004, and noticed four falling stars within about an hours time. Driving home they traveled a country road and stopped about 2 AM, and noticed a light moving very slowly across the sky. The witness states, "I pointed at the lights and asked my girlfiend if she saw them? and she said "What that triangle?" That's when I saw the third light following behind forming a triangle. It looked like 3 stars moving about five miles per hour but they stayed exactly the same distance apart. We couldn't see the craft, but the stars couldn't been seen within the area of the lights, so it was more like watching a black triangular void with a star at each point slowly moving across the sky. The craft was completely silent and looked like it was about 100' above the trees. We watched the lights for about 10 minutes, until they were obstructed by the trees. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director www.UFOCenter.com
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FREEHOLD -- There was four observers on the porch just enjoying the night on May 10, 2004, at 10:40 PM., when the boyfriend saw it first and jokingly said "Look a UFO!" The observer states, "We all looked up and realized, oh my God what else could it be because we saw an orange circle and it wasn't moving steadily, it was kind of wobbling like a Frisbee that you threw." But the object stayed in the air much longer than that, and instead of coming down like a Frisbee would it simply vanished into the clouds. About two minutes later the second one appeared. This one seemed to be flying sideways and it to disappeared within seconds. What else could it have been? Thanks to Peter Davenport Director www.UFOCenter.com
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EDMONTON -- On May 10, 2004, at 12:45 AM, the witness was looking northeast out a large picture window when he saw a meteor shower in the northwest sky. However, the way the lights were traveling made him quickly realize they were not meteors. I went out my front door and watched as they moved like birds flying south. There were seven objects moving at about the same speed but changing places. The creepiest part of the whole experience was that they didn't seem too far off and they where completely silent. I am involved with jet car racing and know that to attain a speed like what I witnessed would have to involve some sort of afterburning jet engine that would create and incredible amount of noise at that altitude and speed. They appeared to fly from Fort Saskatchewan towards the Camrose area. I was a bit 'creeped' out about the sighting. Thanks to Brian Vike www.hbccufo.com
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Bangkok – A couple lives in a high rise apartment building on the 17th floor in the middle of the city so they have a spectacular view. On May 7, 2004, at 11:48 PM, they were watching TV when the husband told his wife, "There were sparks in the sky." They saw there was something peculiar. At first there was only a few of these red lights or these red star like objects. There was a tall building blocking a part of my panoramic view of the sky, so it looked like these objects were coming from behind that building. And then it kept on coming, lots and lots of it... I'd say hundreds or more, lots of them!
And they floated upwards toward the sky slowly, dispersing themselves as they moved, distancing themselves from each other. There was no sound and we were just watching it in awe. I have never seen anything like it. I'm a UFO skeptic and also a backyard astronomer. I'd like to call this a natural phenomenon, but nothing fits the description. Whatever it is that I saw I highly doubt that its a meteor shower, because it doesn't come from a point in the sky. Rather it comes from just above the horizon and floated upwards, traveling from west to north of the night sky before it disappeared slowly. It wasn't fireworks either, there was no noise at all. I'm pretty sure other people must have seen it, because it happened in the center of Bangkok. Thanks to Peter Davenport Director www.UFOCenter.com
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NUFORC, MUFON database, Filer's Files, UFO Round-up, HBCC UFO Research, and the UFO Casebook. These are preliminary reports, and many will be investigated further. Any updates to these of any significance will be posted at a later date. Thanks to these great sites for their information.
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"(UFOs) are conceived and directed by intelligent beings. They probably do not originate in our solar system." "We cannot take the credit for our record advancement in certain scientific fields alone. We have been helped." When asked by whom, he replied, "The people of other worlds."
Dr. Herman Oberth
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The Six Most Well Known UFO Cases from Texas;
1) 1878-Denison daylight UFO
2) 1897-UFO allegedly crashes in Aurora
3) 1951-Lubbock Lights
4) 1957-Levelland UFO landings
5) 1965-Damon, police car illuminated by UFO
6) 1980-Cash/Landrum encounter in the Piney Woods
Editor
B. J. Booth
Contributor
Billie Brinkley
Louise Lowry
Casebook Productions
