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UFO Casebook Newsletter # 52
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05-30-03 / Issue # 52 Featured Articles Breaking News Site Updates UFO sighting reports Quote of the Week Editor, B. J. Booth
Contributor, Billie Brinkley |
The witness took three pictures of the strange flying objects that showed twenty perfectly round orbs that were not noticed by the witness during the sighting. Three orbs formed a triangular formation. Experts were contacted and couldn't explain the phenomena that was displayed. In Belgium last week, an erected cross "standing" in the air was seen by 9 witnesses. Thanks to Toine Trust Site http://www.UFOPlaza.nl. Šutch UFO Disclosure "

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First Earth Picture taken from Mars
A short distance away is a much smaller disc of the Moon.
The unique view of the world, released by Nasa, was captured by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft now orbiting the Red Planet. Jupiter, aligned with the Earth, was also caught on film along with some of its moons.
Dr Michael Malin, head of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego, California, which operates the spacecraft's camera, said: "From our Mars orbital-camera perspective, we've spent the last six-and-a-half years staring at Mars right in front of us.
"Taking this picture allowed us to look up from that work of exploring Mars and take in a more panoramic view. This image gives us a new perspective on that neighbourhood, one in which we can see our own planet as one of many."
Scientists have processed the image to allow the Earth and the much darker Moon to be visible together. At the time the picture was taken, on May 8, Mars was 86 million miles from Earth.
The bright area at the top of the Earth is cloud cover over central and eastern North America. Below that, a darker area includes Central America and the Gulf of Mexico. The bright feature near the centre-right of the crescent Earth consists of clouds over northern South America. Story filed: 16:59 Friday 23rd May 2003
The Phoenix Lights, 1997, Arizona
Evidence points to March 13, 1997 as the onset of this extremely compelling account of various and sundry phenomenal lights which moved over the state of Arizona. These lights, though referred to as the "Phoenix Lights," were actually witnessed in at least five other cities. Phoenix has the distinction as the first Arizona city to report the unknown light sources, which were initially spotted over Superstition Mountains, east of the city, at about 7:30 PM. The first reports indicated an object of six points of light, immediately followed by a report of eight connected lights, with a separate ninth, which moved in unison with the eight.
The formation was seen again over the Gila River just before 10:00 PM. In a matter of minutes, the enormous, lighted structure had made its way over the southern part of the city of Phoenix. At this time, literally thousands of people witnessed the object or objects. It was at this time, that the first photographs and videos were taken. The final sightings of the night were in Rainbow Valley. Witnesses there reported a distinct "V" formation. This sighting occurred at about 2:00 AM on March 14.
Though the huge lighted formation seemed to move in a tauntingly slow speed over Arizona, it was reported that strange lights had sped from the Henderson-Las Vegas, Nevada area toward Arizona, and seemed to slow down as it entered the Arizona area. Initial reports described anywhere from 5-7 points of light, and ultimately 8 with a trailing ninth. The enormous object was extremely low, and mountainous area could be seen behind the craft in pictures, therefore giving photographic experts scale to approximate the elevation from the ground, and the distance from the camera. This would enable an estimate of the craft being a whopping one mile or more in length! The color of its lights were described as "blue-white," to "yellow-white," to "amber." Again, these differences of description do not necessitate there being more than one object. During the crafts fast moving period, it was estimated to be moving at Mach 2-3. As it slowed down as if posing to be filmed, the speed dropped to an estimated 10-15 MPH. At one point over Sky Harbor, it reportedly hovered for several minutes.The object was also reported to change shapes, speeds, and colors, as it made its way across the skies of Arizona.
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Various photos of the Phoenix Lights
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Another dramatic description of the mother-ship was made by a group of real estate agents who had subdivided property over the north part of Phoenix. They would also get a close-up view of the gigantic disc. They estimated the craft to be a staggering two miles wide as it flew at a low altitude near Phoenix. They could see dozens of bright lights along the leading edges, and also a row of windows with "silhouettes of people." It also seems highly probably that for some reason, the giant craft turned off its lights, as observers could see only the windows with what appeared to be people shadowed in the glow of the inside. Another family got a brightly lit view of the unknown object, and described its color as "flat blue-black, like the color of a shotgun barrel."
It is almost inevitable that the United States Air Force would become involved in an event case of this magnitude, and the Phoenix lights mystery would be no exception. While driving down Interstate-I-17 from Camp Verde, a truck driver had been seeing two amber colored UFOs moving ahead of him southward for two whole hours. His destination was a materials plant near Luke Air Force Base. Upon arriving there, the two UFOs hovered nearby. While his truck was being loaded, the driver walked upon a pile of materials to get a better look at the two UFOs. He could make out two identical "toy, top-like amber orbs" with a white glow
to them. A band of red lights pulsated on the craft as it hovered near the Luke AFB runway. Suddenly, two F-16s "blasted out of Luke with their afterburners on full." Soon, a third plane followed, and all three made a direct run toward the hovering UFOs.
As the first two jets were about to reach the UFOs, the unknowns shot straight upward, and disappeared "in an instant." The two jets flew right through the exact spot the UFOs had previously occupied. A Luke ground crewman later confirmed to NUFORC that the driver's account was true. He also stated that upon returning to the base runway, one of the pilots had to be helped from his cockpit. He was visibly shaken from what had just happened.
(excerpt from a report made by Peter Davenport of the NUFORC)
One of the more intriguing reports was submitted by a young man who claimed to be an Airman in the Air Force, stationed at Luke Air Force Base, located to the west of Phoenix in Litchfield Park. He telephoned the National UFO Reporting Center at 3:20 a.m. on Friday, some eight hours after the sightings on the previous night, and reported that two USAF F-15c fighters had been “scrambled” from Luke AFB, and had intercepted one of the objects. Although the presence of F-15’s could never be confirmed, the airman provided detailed information which proved to be highly accurate, based on what investigators would reconstruct from witnesses over subsequent weeks and months. Two days after his first telephone call, the airman called to report that he had just been informed by his commander that he was being transferred to an assignment in Greenland. He has never been heard from again since that telephone call.
The Phoenix lights case is not without its controversy, much of which originated from the Air Force. In May of 1997, Luke AFB Public Affairs Office stated that Air Force personnel had investigated the so-called "UFOs," and had solved the case. They claimed that flares dropped from an A-10 "Warthog" had caused the numerous reports of night lights. This explanation is totally unfounded for several reasons. First of all, flares do not move in unison, fall toward the ground, and then fly back up into the air, and move across many miles without changing their relativepositions. Secondly, many witnesses had made reports of the giant lights hours before the reported time of the launch of the flares.
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Article from The Arizona Republic.
May 11, 1997.
X-Files is Opened Into Phoenix "UFO", BarWood asks staff to investigate lights By Susie Steckner and Chris Fiscus. It's not exactly the kind of made-for-tv case those X-files agents would investigate. But, says Frances Emma Barwood, those strange lights in the Phoenix sky should be checked out by city staff, at the very least. "I asked them to find out if it's a hoax or what," the Phoenix councilwoman said Friday. "I did not see it. I wish someone would have called me. "Apparently, people all over the city got video of it. They all said it was as big as a football field." So Sculley -Sheryl, the assistant city manager, not X-files FBI Agent Dana Scully - has asked police to look into the sightings, at Barwoods request. "I guess they'll ask Sky Harbor, ask the military, look at videos, I'd love to see all the videos," Barwood said. In March, callers from Prescott Valley to Tucson flooded the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle to report the appearance of a boomerang-shaped, lighted object. The center called it "the most dramatic sighting" reported in the past two or three years. In the following weeks, it drew hundreds of calls - even one from Las Vegas - and resulted in an inch-thick stack of written reports, center Director Peter Davenport said. Then, in April, the sighting was featured on the out-of-this world radio program called The Edge of Reality, which is produced in New York City. "Personally, I think it's something the Air Force is working on, some sort of large transport," Barwood said. Does she believe in UFOS? "That's a good question," she said. "I guess I have an open mind." Since God created the universe, she said, "Why couldn't he have created others?" UFO researchers so far say they have no explanation, despite asking questions around Luke Air Force Base and local airports. Davenport, meanwhile, is thrilled to hear that a public official is taking the sightings seriously. "As far as I know, this is the first time I've ever heard of a local or state body taking an official stand," he said. "I'm encouraged. I'm heartened by that." At a City Council meeting this week, Barwood said she was "a little curious" about the recent sightings. She said a television news crew asked her about the lights, and piqued her curiosity. The crew was from the show Extra, which aired a segment Thursday about the "Phoenix UFO mystery." Barwood said the main reason she asked the city to look into the matter is because the TV crew asked why no one was investigating the reports. "I said, 'I'll ask.'" "I don't know why they (the government) don't check it out and if it was nothing, say it was nothing," Barwood said. "Being there were videos of it, it has people's curiosity. Why not check it out and see if it's a hoax?"
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Article from The Arizona Republic.
3-11-98 Steve Wilson - Republic Columnist 'Phoenix Lights' witnesses credible, hard to dismiss: When the "Phoenix Lights" were reported last year, I yawned. I didn't see them, and breathless TV broadcasts were underwhelming. It seemed easy enough to dismiss the lights as flares or military aircraft. UFOs? You've got to be kidding. Still, as the March 13 anniversary of the sightings approached, I was curious enough to seek out some witnesses. I suspected most would turn out to be UFO devotees. My skepticism was heightened by a New Times story last week that debunked the extraterrestrial theorizing and discredited a leading local theorist, Jim Dilettoso, as a "quack scientist." I found several people with credible credentials who witnessed the lights. At the least, their stories are interesting. Even if you regard their accounts dubiously, as I do, they raise legitimate questions. Enough questions, says Peter Davenport, director of the National UFO Reporting Center in Seattle, that what happened that night "may rank as the most dramatic UFO event in the past 50 years." First, a little background. The lights were spotted between 7:30 and 10:30 in the evening over a 300-mile corridor from the Nevada line through Prescott Valley and Phoenix to the northern edge of Tucson. Some reports indicate that a single "V" formation traveled across the state, while others suggest multiple UFO events. The lights were seen by hundreds of people. Here are four: Dr. Bradley Evans, 47, is a clinical psychiatrist from Tucson. He and his wife, Kris, were driving north on Interstate 10 to a swimming meet in Tempe. They watched the lights for 20 minutes or so move slowly south in a diamond formation and pass over them at an estimated 1,500 feet. Even then, with the car's moon roof open, they heard not a sound from the sky. He was "awed" by the experience and has no idea what he saw. Kris said she couldn't explain it either and guesses it was "something military." Trig Johnston, 50, is a retired commercial airline pilot who lives in north Scottsdale. His 22-year-old son was looking for Comet Hale-Bopp that night when he noticed the lights and told his dad. "I looked up and remember saying out loud, "I'm going to chalk this up to an illusion.' It was the size of 25 airliners, moving at about 100 knots at maybe 5,000 feet, and it didn't make a sound. I've flown 747s across oceans and not seen anything like I saw that night," Johnston said. "I don't expect anybody to take my word for it," he added. "This was something you had to see for yourself to believe." Max Saracen, 34, is a real estate consultant who lives in north Phoenix. He and his wife, Shahla, were driving west on Deer Valley Road when they saw a huge triangular craft. They pulled off the road, got out and watched it pass overhead. "It was very spooky -- this gigantic ship blocking out the stars and silently creeping across the sky. I don't know of any aircraft with silent engines." Dr. X is a physician who lives near Squaw Peak in Phoenix and asked to remain anonymous for fear of ridicule. Her home has an elevated, panoramic view of the Valley, and she has some of the best known videotape and photographs of the lights. Though she had no prior interest in UFOs, the episode prompted her to begin her own investigation. "I think what happened is mind-boggling," she said. "I'm trying to be as scientific as I can, and a number of things just don't compute." I'm not given to an otherworldly answer. But neither do I think these four people and so many others who saw the lights are all exaggerating or delusional. Of all the explanations, a U.S. military operation of some sort, maybe testing experimental aircraft, seems most likely. Mitch Stanley of Scottsdale said he could clearly see several planes when he pointed his telescope at the lights. But if it was a classified operation, why conduct it directly over the nation's sixth-biggest city? And if it wasn't, why hasn't the military simply acknowledged it? You don't have to be a ufologist to be puzzled about what lit the sky that night. Steve Wilson - Republic Columnist - e-mail: steve.wilson@XXXXX ~end of article~
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EAST MEADOW -- Two friends were walking outside on April 25, 2003, at 8:10 PM when they looked up at the sky and saw a grayish disked shaped flying object. The witness says, "I told my friend to look up and then we both watched it for about ten seconds than it instantly disappeared." Thanks to Peter Davenport National UFO Reporting Center
GEORGIA MUFON INVESTIGATION OF LIGHTS
Tom Sheets State Director reports, "Our investigator's have undertaken the joint NUFORC/MUFONGA inquiry in Meriwether County. The witness interviews went well, and Jim and Olivia appeared with Peter Davenport on the national Rense Program. The Gwinnett Daily Post featured an article regarding this investigation of strange fragmented lights. The below link will carry you to the on-line GDP edition and the article. It turned out pretty nice, as have most of the past GDP stories about our group. While the AJC and Fox-5 News have also done OK with MUFONGA, give me the GDP!! Kudos to Staff Writer Laura Ingram...she certainly writes with class! I spoke with the Sheriff of Meriwether County a few days ago. He is not familiar with any other citizens that have reported such events in the county. The Sheriff stated that he would check some other sources and advise me if anything turned up. This case is mostly completed, but some minor "mop up" chores remain and will be completed shortly. "UFO Magazine" recently ran an article concerning the former highly confidential NIDS project on the "Gorman Ranch" in NE Utah, where certain events described therein, have also been reported in Georgia. These are things other than the routine UFO report. One of the NIDS physicists that worked on this secretive project was ALL EARS about a year ago when I posted the info about the S. Fulton area police officer that encountered the floating rectangle of light in his darkened bedroom (the rectangle that later fragmented into thousands of tiny pieces before vanishing). This ranch has been called a possible "portal" area by the scientists involved. Best and Semper Fi! Tom Sheets, SD MUFONGA@webtv.net
KENTUCKY - UFO SIGHTING OVER OHIO RIVER
ASHLAND - On Thursday, May 1, 2003, the witness was looking out his 5th floor room in the Ashland Plaza Hotel at a developing lightning storm to his right and saw a UFO about 3:30 PM. He states, "I noticed an object about the size of a small car floating in the air over the river - I'm not sure of the altitude, but it was a little less than twice as high as the bridge." It was moving to the left, in the direction of the wind, as I could tell from the flag in front of the courthouse across the street. Although the wind was stiff, the object moved slowly in a controlled and deliberate manner, without the vagrant, flapping, unstable motion of, say, a plastic bag. Apparently, it made no sound. It was black and roughly triangular in shape. It was either changing shape in motion or rolling somehow. I thought it was a kite or a paraglider someone was flying off the back of a boat, as it was following the course of the river. That theory was shattered when it continued over the bridge. Shortly afterwards, it deviated away from the river, and me, and dwindled away to an invisible speck in the distance. It was an UFO at least as far as I'm concerned, if only for the simple fact that I couldn't identify it during the ten minutes I observed. Thanks to Peter Davenport National UFO Reporting Center
WISCONSIN -THREE FLYING SPAGHETTIOS
WINNEBAGO, OSHKOSH COUNTY -- UFO Wisconsin Reports by Lee B. Two recent sightings to report: May 15, 2003. My dad and I were out in his backyard with a telescope and a digital camera, watching the lunar eclipse. At some point that night, while I was star hopping with my binoculars to locate a Messier object, I saw 3 very distant shapes move across my field of view. I instantly started following it/them through the binoculars. They were so faint I knew I wouldn't be able to find them again if I looked away for even a second. My girlfriend was right next to me and I told her what I was seeing, and she said she could barely see something moving up there in the same direction. The objects appeared to me as 3 orange/red shapes, the light appearing in a ring about the object, not as a solid sphere of light. They moved steadily east, and eventually disappeared in the trees. At first glance, I was just intrigued. And I didn't think of them being odd until I saw how they moved independently! It wasn't one fixed set of lights; all 3 seemed to bob towards and away from the other while they continued on their path.
On May 20th, I was setting up my telescope; an airplane flew over my head low in the sky, heading south. Then 3 lights appeared again in the sky almost exactly at the same position I noticed them last week, except this time they were dramatically bigger. All I could do was poke my dad and point to them, and he was absolutely astonished. They were very large this time, 3 very distinct orange/red rings, like 3 Spaghettios that again were heading east over Lake Winnebago, seeming to sway and swarm about each other slightly. My dad has been an astronomer, and an aviation enthusiast since he was a teen, and he had no explanation for what he saw, at least no earthly one. After doing some research today on the web, I hadn't found anything that really resembled what I saw until I saw this site. The video clip by Jim Jordan from 7-20-02 (View video at: http://www.ufowisconsin.com/video_gallery/v2002_0720_ufodaze.html, near bottom of the page), shows perfectly at one point how 3 of the lights moved about each other in the same relationship that I saw. Thanks to UFO Wisconsin.com/
ILLINOIS - STRANGE CREATURES
My sister and her friends described what they saw to me on May 2, 2003, party out at her house out in the country at 3:30 AM. There were almost twenty kids there. They had set a fire in between the house and an adjacent field. The party wound down at around 2:45 in the morning. My sister who is 17, and her two friends started to clean up. They were unloading some chairs when my sister saw a figure standing a little off the driveway by the house. She motioned her friend to look; they were a little scared so they jumped into the van. Once in the van, they looked back up towards the house, and the figure was gone. My sister described it as appearing to look like maybe it was a man, and it had lighter colored, or white clothing on. Once the van was started, they all convinced each other, that the figure or person was probably E's dad just checking up on them. They then headed back down towards the fire to resume cleaning. About 3:20 AM, they headed up the driveway and into the grass, and down the hill towards the fire, which was still burning. The van's bright lights lit up "frozen things." There were strange figures or creatures or something in two separate rows. She says maybe fifteen in each row, and thirty in all. She said, "They were three feet to four feet tall." They were directly in front of the car about fifteen feet away from them. She describes them as having a Christmas light head, and that the heads were connected to the body but she couldn't see how. She says their arms were up, but she couldn't see hands. She says they were stick like. Stick people she says, dark gray or brown in color. They didn't move. Not at all she says. She says they were just frozen in these two separate rows. My sister immediately began to cry, and then both girls screamed for E to get the car moving. She peeled out and they headed to town. The girls drove around for two hours until they finally got enough courage to go back as the sun came up. She hasn't been able to sleep, or eat, and when she told us what happened she could barley finish the story because she was fighting back tears. To say that she was shaken up is an understatement. Thanks to Peter Davenport National UFO Reporting Center
OKLAHOMA - HOVERING RECTANGLE WITH SEARCHLIGHT
ADA - The witness claims, "I did not believe in aliens, until now, when my best friend and I drove along a well-traveled highway on May 7, 2003, I saw a search light out of the corner of my eye at 9:05 PM." At first, I figured it was an airplane because it was moving through the sky and it was low, and might be landing at the airport. I really didn't pay that much attention until my best friend asked me what it was? I looked again and the object had come to a complete stop and had a searchlight of some sort. She stopped the car in the middle of the highway. The object made no sound. We continued to stare at the object. We, then, decided to turn around and come back. To turn around and drive back by the sight where we saw the object took a maximum of 45 seconds and the object was gone from sight. If the object had been a helicopter, not only could we have heard it and felt the force of the spinning propeller, but also when the helicopter flew off we would have seen it in the sky. Airplanes don't hover. Thanks to Peter Davenport NUFORC
CALIFORNIA - THREE CIGAR SHAPED GREEN FLYING OBJECTS
NORTHRIDGE -- On May 7, 2003, four witnesses were playing poker when Karin noticed a UFO out the window about 10:30 PM. We got up to look out the window and realized in no way was it a plane or helicopter. The clouds were very low and we didn't know what it was. We saw this very weird thing moving from south to north. There were three green cigar shaped flying objects. First they were flying slowly, but then they separated and one flew east, the other two joined it five seconds later and they increased their speed and disappeared into the clouds. That was really scary and creepy! Thanks to Peter Davenport National UFO Reporting Center
WASHINGTON GREEN SPHERE
YAKIMA - The witness reports seeing a green sphere about fifteen minutes after midnight on May 6, 2003, as he was driving south. The object was 1/2 to 3/4 the size of the moon and could have been a meteor. It came into view traveling from east to west, it then disappeared and then reappeared a split second later. Peter Davenport spoke with this witness and felt he was quite credible. The green sphere had a long trail behind it that seemed too large for a meteor. Thanks to Peter Davenport
CANADA - CONE/TRIANGULAR OBJECT MAKES TERRIFIC SOUND
DURRELL/TWILLINAGTE NF -- It was around 10:45 PM, on May 8, 2003, and the witness was in bed talking on the phone, when both heard the same loud noise fly over them at the same time. It sounded like a plane was in trouble and about to crash. The other person on the phone lives about five kilometers away so the noise covered a large area. The witness reports, "I got up and ran to the window and just above houses on the hill was a sort of cone or triangular shaped object. (I couldn't really tell because it was dark, this was the shape I saw in lights). The lights were red, white/yellow, and green. They were blinking and the object was quite large. It hovered for about 2-3 minutes and zoomed off quickly. It looked as if it were spinning so fast the colors of the lights combined. It vanished over the hills shortly after. There were several people who saw it: Myself, my brother, a guy from school, my father and the person I was talking to on the phone could hear it. I'm sure there were others as well, but it only happened last night and I haven't been talking to many people who are possibly witnesses. There are no military bases or airports in the area. I have seen planes and helicopters in the night's sky before but there is nothing to explain the sight I saw last night.
The UFO Sightings and Updates on this page come from a wide
variety of sources. Among them are:
NUFORC, MUFON database, Filer's Files, UFO Round-up, UFO Wisconsin,
and the UFO Casebook.
RONALD REAGAN TO STEVEN SPIELBURG ON THE MOVIE E.T. AS IT WAS BEING SCREENED AT THE WHITE HOUSE:
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Editor
B. J. Booth
Casebook Productions