The Sun Newspaper - UK UFO (Red) Herring Gull (Dec 29 th 2007)

“Oooh arrrr not alone anymore”

The SUN Newspaper recently ran a UFO story with the inspired(?) headline, “Oooh arrrr not alone anymore.” The story was as follows:

THIS stunning photo of a UFO over Cornwall was last night hailed by experts as one of the best ever taken in Britain . KELVIN took his picture at 3.31pm on December 29, with a Nikon D80 Digital SLR on automatic.

The classic flying saucer shape is seen above two ships. And UFO watchers believe it could be proof we are NOT alone. Kelvin Barbery snapped the mystery object from a coastal path between Swanpool and Maenporth, near Falmouth . In a weird twist, Kelvin, 55, did not even see the UFO at the time.

He thought he was just taking a sea view — but when he loaded the digital camera card on to his computer, the round metallic “craft” was in the centre of the shot, about two miles away.

Kelvin, a facilities manager for schools, said: “There were a couple of tankers out in the bay and I thought that it made a nice shot.

“There was nothing in view and certainly no fault on the camera. When I got home I couldn't believe what I had. I thought, ‘Wow, where did that come from?' I'm not the sort to believe in UFOs — now I'm not so sure.”

Nick Pope, one of Britain 's foremost UFO experts, said the photo was one of the best he had seen, Nick, formerly the official Ministry of Defence UFO analyst, said: “If I was still there I'd be looking at this very closely. The object looks structured, symmetrical and metallic. This man has caught something very interesting indeed."

Michael Soper, of the Contact International UFO group, agreed: “This does appear genuine. Digital photos can be doctored but everything about it appears consistent.”

To be honest, I find its strange that this image is being touted as, “One of the best” as even if you squint and tilt your head slightly it appears to show a gull, and regarding, “The object looks structured, symmetrical and metallic” perhaps this was a quick glance that the former MOD, “Analyst” Nick Pope cast over the image as I personally fail to see any of the features described.

Eye of the beholder?

It seems that there really is no happy medium with the tabloids, the UFO subject is either ridiculed and mocked, or blatantly dubious images are touted as absolute proof, is it any wonder that the uninformed public weigh and measure the subject and more often than not find it wanting?

Thanks to UK UFO investigator/researcher Jenny Randles for the lead and I believe Jenny also sums up the widely perceived problems regarding the MoD, also alluding to the reason why the media jump on sightings such as this (with seemingly prosaic explanations) and perhaps more importantly why prominent UFOlogists appear to pander to their whimsical and fleeting interest (when not misquoted).

"My bet is they (the MoD) will turn out to have been just as hopeless as the rest of us as at this tricky business. Indeed I suspect that you need many years of battle hardened study of the data before you see the basic issues involved and can talk yourself out of the romanticism that surrounds the evidence. Especially amidst the siren calls of the media who mostly only want to hear you say exciting stuff not find explanations.

Nobody working with the MoD had this depth of continuity to get to the point where they saw the subject in all of its complexity (and at heart, its simplicity).”

Source

UFOs are seen as a joke but it's almost an absolute certainty they exist.

The South Wales Echo recently ran a story (article below) with the headline, “UFOs are seen as a joke but it's almost an absolute certainty they exist” (Dec 29 2007). As the close of the year approaches it seems that the media are gradually becoming more and more tolerant towards the entire UFO phenomenon.

Of course you'll always have caustic, abrasive comments from news anchors like CNN's Nicole Lapin who when referring to respected former pilots, military personnel and even a former governor recently said:

“When you think of people saying: ‘Oh, Hey, I saw a UFO,' you kinda think of freaks. I'm not gonna lie.”

I hope not Nicole as CNN has previously been such a bastion of truth and well balanced reporting……

On a more worrying note (according to the CNN website), Lapin is currently serving as an ambassador for the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation, where she hosts a campaign called "Being Smart is Cool.”

But apart from the occasional snide comment it's still been an interesting year watching as the media ridicule of the subject was strangely blunted and stories seemed to point towards a somewhat reluctant acceptance of the fact that UFO's exist, or the media at least appeared open to, and acknowledge this possibility, which in itself is a considerable improvement.

Anyway, on closer examination of the article in the South Wales Echo it appears that the eye-catching and brazen headline, “UFOs are seen as a joke but it's almost an absolute certainty they exist” is no more than a quote from, “UFO investigator Mr Coggins, 67, of Pontypridd, <who> hypnotises people who have seen UFOs and then experienced periods of missing time.”

And then immediately following Mr Coggins' statement and closing the article is an, “Old faithful” MoD quote, “We believe that rational explanations, such as aircraft lights or natural phenomena, could be found for them if resources were diverted for this purpose.”

-------------------------------

“All media exist to invest our lives with artificial perceptions and arbitrary values”

Marshall McLuhan

UFOs are seen as a joke but it's almost an absolute certainty they exist.

Dec 29 2007 ( South Wales Echo)

Sightings of unidentified flying objects have soared in the last month, with at least two a week seen by airline pilots in South Wales . Dancing lights, large craft and mysterious flashes are among dozens of UFOs sighted above Cardiff and the South Wales Valleys in the last few years.

And only four days ago, on the night of Christmas Day, a couple saw spherical orange lights in the sky above their home in the capital. According to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act, the Ministry of Defence has looked into 13 reports of UFOs in South Wales in the past three years. Several other sightings have been posted on UFO websites but it is thought that many more go unreported.

David Coggins has been a UFO investigator for 30 years and says there has been a spate of sightings in recent months. He said:

“There have been lots of reports by airline pilots flying in and out of South Wales who are seeing a lot of unidentified craft on a frequent basis, one or two a week…..Generally speaking, they are large triangular shaped objects. It's not just during the night but in daylight as well…..I've come across people who have seen UFOs very close up, from a distance of 12 feet.”

Just three weeks ago, Martin Dupres and two friends had a close encounter when they saw a strange light in the sky in Lisvane at 5pm on Tuesday, December 11. Martin, 43, of Riverside , Cardiff , said:

“I saw an extremely bright light come straight across the sky. Then it faded out but it might have sped up…..It wasn't a satellite or an aeroplane. This thing was not like that. The light shone towards my eyes then carried on. I'm curious, I've never seen anything like it before.”

There was another sighting of a UFO at 4am on September 9 in St Mellons, Cardiff . The witness saw an incredibly bright star but it suddenly started moving up and down and side to side swiftly and then flashing lights appeared around it like cameras. One account comes from a Cardiff man left shaken after he saw three lights dancing around each other before flying away in April 2006.

“I saw something that I never believed I would. I saw what at first I thought was a plane, until it changed direction at such an acute angle. At this point it was by two more lights – they were very blurry, orange in colour. They danced around each other and then moved off……..I don't make silly claims. Quite frankly this has shaken me considerably.”

UFO investigator Mr Coggins, 67, of Pontypridd, hypnotises people who have seen UFOs and then experienced periods of missing time. Mr Coggins, who is featured in the alien encounter book Does It Rain In Other Dimensions, said:

“Strange as it may seem, people who had seen a UFO close up have ended up on the crafts and while they've been on, strange things happen to them such as medical examinations……….They don't remember until they are hypnotised. One man in South Wales had lost one-and-a-half days. He recounted what had happened under hypnosis and when I played him back the tape, he broke down in tears and said ‘did that happen to me?'. It's impossible not to believe in it……..UFOs are seen as a joke but it's almost an absolute certainty they exist and are visiting this earth on a regular basis.”

The MoD examines UFO reports to establish whether what was seen has any defence significance. A spokeswoman said: “We believe that rational explanations, such as aircraft lights or natural phenomena, could be found for them if resources were diverted for this purpose.”

Source: South Wales Echo

Whitley Strieber Revives, “Drone UFO Flap?”

Whitley Strieber recently authorized the following email to be sent to his “Unknown Country” subscribers list (6th December 2007) and it was emailed on his behalf.

------------------------------------------------

This morning at 4:53 AM, Whitley Strieber saw a drone over Santa Monica , California . The Striebers are in California seeing friends, and Whitley has sent me the following email, with permission to publish it. He will write a journal entry about his experience that will be posted on Saturday, December 8.

And remember, there are a lot of people out there lying about the drones and trying to debunk them. But these people ignore ONE THING: Linda's interviews with credible eyewitnesses. Do not be deceived about this.

This was in his email:

“Well, in one sense the drones mystery is solved because at 4:53 this morning, I saw one.

I had an extremely restless night, full of complex and astounding dreams that I will record in a journal on my website. They also involved my book the Key and the crop circles, and have led me to a very clear understanding that there is a new level of consciousness available to us now. The dreams lasted from about 3:00 to the moment I woke up and saw the thing outside, which was at exactly 4:53. (I know the times because I sent one of my agents an email at 2:47 about a business matter, then went to bed and was shortly asleep. When I saw the drone, I was looking across the bedroom toward the window, with my wife's lighted clock just visible below the window.)

I woke up lying on my side, and saw the thing moving just below and in the bottom edge of the clouds. It was stormy. The object was enormous, and from where I was lying it must have been no more than a few hundred feet overhead. It appeared almost level with the line of the roof that is visible outside my window. It was moving toward our building at a stately pace, gliding easily, like a dirigible. I had the impression that it was quite large, but obviously, no way to tell for sure. Because of the clouds, I did not see the characteristic tall antennae on it, but I did see structure that looked a lot like what the bicyclists photographed. I immediately woke Anne up and went to the window. But we could not see it from the window.

I looked for a while, trying to see if I could spot some edge of it in the clouds. It had not been moving fast at all, so there was reason to believe it was still there. Not seeing it, I went to the dresser and got my cellphone, which has a camera in it, and put it beside the bed. I then lay down and turned over to the same position I had been in when I first saw it--and there the thing was again, clearly visible just below the cloud cover. Now it was much closer to the house. When I moved my head to get up again, I could no longer see it. When I returned to the original angle, I could see it again. This time, it was gliding west, toward the ocean, only its lower structure visible in the clouds. I opened the cellphone, in an attempt to take a picture of it from that angle, but by then it had passed beyond the edge of the window. I saw nothing more of it, but there is no question in my mind at all but that they are real.”

------------------------------------------------

At the time of writing this (Sunday 9th December) his journal has still to be updated and still shows the last entry to be the 27th November. Whitley Strieber has always said he can't prove (and as such didn't know) that the Drones were real and that perhaps the lessons learned from the full experience are more important than the nuts and bolts physical reality of the craft.

Well that all seems to have changed with this latest revelation, the first line of Whitley's recent email states:

“Well, in one sense the Drones mystery is solved because at 4:53 this morning, I saw one.”

And the last line of the email reaffirms this by stating that:

“There is no question in my mind at all but that they <the Drones> are real.”

There really is so little information to be gleamed from this brief correspondence that's partly why I've held off posting anything about it, but since Whitley's self-imposed deadline of the 8th December has come and gone with no sign of him updating his personal journal I thought it prudent to mention it.

Personally I do have great difficulties in believing that the entire account is simply nothing more than a fabrication, and I'm interested to see which path Whitley is planning on taking, hopefully it's not just the path that leads to his bank…..