UFO Disclosure - Brazil Release More UFO Files

Last week many sites covered the recently posted of the Brazilian disclosure courtesy of A. J. Gevaerd and was as follows:

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This is to inform that Brazilian Government has just declassified a new set of significant previously secret UFO documents, now covering the 80s. We already had disclosures covering the 50s, 60s and 70s, all with very important documents and information. So far over 4,000 pages have been disclosed.

The recent disclosure is particularly powerful because it contains dozens of reports of UFOs on May 19, 1986, considered the “Official UFO Night in Brazil”, when 21 spherical objects, estimated 100 meters in diameter – according to military sources – were detected by radars and spotted by civilian pilots, and literally jammed air traffic over the major Brazilian Airports, such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Then, several Mirage and F5 jets were scrambled to pursue them.

As a result of that “invasion”, the Air Force minister brigadier Octavio Moreira Lima went public about it the other morning on the national TV network, declaring all facts openly. The pilots who took part in the pursue and their commanders also spoke freely about the pursuits, which occurred over several hours.

We've had several other disclosures since 2007, all as a direct result of the campaign UFOs: Freedom Of Information Now , promoted since 2004 by the Brazilian Committee of UFO Researchers . The latest disclosure comprises over 2,200 new pages of formerly secret UFO documents that were given to the Committee and also sent to the Brazilian National Archives.

In late July, hundreds of papers from the Brazilian Air Force's official System for the Investigation of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (SIOANI) have demonstrated how the nation's military authorities dealt with the UFO Phenomena in the 60s and 70s.

Considering that SIOANI wasn't a top secret agency and that even civilian researchers took part in its procedures, the structure and functionality of which proves that Brazil is the first country in the world to officially and publicly admit the reality of the UFO Phenomena, and the first to investigate it openly.

For instance, where have you ever seen color drawings of flying saucers reported by witnesses and investigated by military personnel , such as these ones?

Caso_SIOANI_007_Croqui_Colorido.jpg
Caso_SIOANI_034_Croqui_Colorido.jpg
Caso_SIOANI_035_Croqui_Colorido.jpg
Caso_SIOANI_063_Croqui_Colorido.jpg
Caso_SIOANI_064_Croqui_Colorido.jpg

These are only a few links to recently discovered colored drawings of UFOs seen in Brazil and investigated in the 60s and 70s by the Brazilian Air Force's official System for the Investigation of Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (SIOANI). Much more is about to be disclosed.

The Brazilian UFO Magazine website – http://www.ufo.com.br/– already has thousands of pages for download, such as over 1,200 pages of documents, 200 photos of SIOANI's activities and Operation Saucer, carried out in the Amazonian region in 1977. Along with documents received by the Committee from other military sources.

Included in the recently revealed documents are the detailed research proceedings carried out in dozens of UFO-related incidents which had not been made public previously. Some of the colored sketches of UFO incidents investigated by SIOANI are here:

http://www.ufo.com.br/documentos/sioani/Novos_documentos

Other documents can be found here:

www.ufo.com.br/documentos/sioani/
www.ufo.com.br/documentos/prato/
www.ufo.com.br/documentos/extra/
www.ufo.com.br/documentos/geral/

A. J. Gevaerd,

Editor, Brazilian UFO Magazine
Coordinator, Brazilian Committee of UFO Researchers (CBU)
National Director, Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)

http://www.ufo.com.br/
gevaerd@ufo.com.br
aj@gevaerd.com

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There are a couple of links to images in the article and poses the question, “Where have you ever seen color drawings of flying saucers reported by witnesses and investigated by military personnel , such as these ones?”

I visited the URL's as well as a few others and above is a selection of the images which I completely agree are more aesthetically pleasing than the normal scribblings proffered, perhaps because due to being somewhat culturally conformant they are best described as the ‘classic' flying saucer shape. (Art imitating life or…..)

But I hasten to add I'm not being dismissive, in fact the complete opposite as it seems as if the “Disclosure Bandwagon” is well and truly rolling and gathering speed, but of course while there's evidently no, “Proof of contact” (as it were) these are undoubtedly exciting times that we're living in as more and more previously classified UFO-related information becomes readily available than ever has before.

I guess the dilemma faced now is whether the broader UFO community will accept that the slew of documents released (& to be released) from several countries do indeed represent disclosure, because sadly it seems unless the documents tout definitive proof of the ETH then there will always be a large faction that doubts this is the case and so subsequently –albeit inadvertently- somewhat undermining the oft unreferenced efforts of the many UFOlogists actively involved in securing, and in some cases policing, the respective release of information.

Well this was what happened in the UK recently and I do sort of understand their gripes because if EVERY country were indeed to declassify their UFO files then this would surely lead to the unemployment of the many UFO ‘celebrities' and more importantly their revenue currently earned from the lecture/conference circuit and of course book sales. (Not to mention Greer et al).

I suspect that they'd still survive though because lets face it, and from what I've seen, the majority of them are peddling belief and rarely bother themselves with mundane things such as independently verifiable fact…..

“Yep, son, we have met the enemy….and he is us”

(Img source)

Justice For Gary McKinnon?

Well, yesterday (26th September, 2009) saw UK based “Tribune magazine” who describe themselves as, “A thorn in the side of all governments, constructively to Labour, unforgiving to Conservatives” posted about the plight of Mckinnon in an article called, “Securing Labour's future.”

The opening paragraph stated:

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Ann Black identifies the priorities for Labour in the time remaining before the general election.

"As Labour gathers for its conference in Brighton, penned behind the ring of steel, the omens are mixed. The recession is easing, but the summer saw errors over Gurkhas' settlement rights, compensation for wounded soldiers and the lingering MPs' expenses scandal. Blaming the SNP for freeing Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, will not wash. Instead Labour hits out at soft targets in agreeing to deport Gary McKinnon, the hacker with Asperger's syndrome, to face rough justice in the United States for accessing military computers in search of evidence of UFOs.”

Source: Tribune Magazine

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It seems as if the general consensus has gradually swung in favour of McKinnon, ComputerWeekly.com posted under their, “Legislation and Regulation” section on 14th July, 2009 that:

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US allegations against UFO hacker Gary McKinnon were 'over baked'

US allegations about the severity of Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon's crimes were trumped up, a court heard today.

Edward Fitzgerald QC, McKinnon's barrister, argued that the Director of Public Prosecutions decided wrongly in February not to prosecute the hacker in the UK and so allow his extradition to face charges in the US instead. Fitzgerald told the court that US allegations that McKinnon was guilty of "the worst crimes of the century" were over baked. He submitted a file said to contain DPP evidence that demonstrated how the US did not have evidence to support these allegations. The actual US indictments - as apposed to allegations - were for computer fraud and damages. These charges were comparable with those listed under the British Computer Misuse act, the court heard.

McKinnon, who is accused of causing £475,000 worth of damage to computers by hacking into computer systems belonging to the Pentagon, Nasa and the US military from his home in North London, claims that under human rights law he has a right to be tried in the UK. McKinnon hacked military systems in the search for suppressed evidence of UFOs. He found little evidence of other-world natives or technology, except for a spreadsheet that listed "non-terrestrial officers, ships' names and goods movements", and a picture of what he said was a UFO with a perfectly smooth surface.

Source: ComputerWeekly

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Back on the 10th September we were told that the presentation made on behalf of McKinnon by several MPs was apparently dismissed:

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McKinnon plea falls on deaf ears

LABOUR, CONSERVATIVE and Lib Dem MPs who argued the case for protecting Palmers Green hacker Gary McKinnon from extradition in the US have drawn a blank. Michael Meacher, for Labour, former shadow Home Secretary David Davis and Liberal Democrat MP Chris Huhne had a 30-minute audience with Home Secretary Alan Johnson yesterday, but were disappointed by his response. The senior cross-party trio relayed arguments made by leading human rights lawyers concerned for the welfare of the 43-year-old Asperger's sufferer if the planned extradition took place.

Mr McKinnon admits cracking NASA codes, but says he was looking for evidence of UFOs, while the US says he is guilty of the biggest military computer hack and could send him to prison for up to 60 years if he is found guilty. The MPs will now take their case to the new US ambassador Louis Susman, who recently backed a sponsored walk for an autism charity.

Mr Meacher, who has criticised the UK's Extradition Act as being unfairly weighted in favour of the US, said:

“Alan Johnson made clear that in his view, after a string of court decisions at all levels over the last seven years, it would be very difficult for him to [intervene]…..It was also quite clear that Alan Johnson was concerned about the precedent that would be set in regard to other current cases, notably that of the alleged terrorist Abu Hamza…..We pointed out that this showed how poorly drafted the Extradition Act 2003 had been when not only was it gave rights to the US that were denied to the UK, but it bizarrely applied the same rules to a misguided but innocuous young man as to a serious alleged terrorist. A more common-sense and proportional approach was needed.”

Mr McKinnon is now waiting to hear if his legal battle will be taken on by the new Supreme Court, which replaces the House of Lords as the highest appeal court in the UK and starts to hear cases from October 1.

Source: Enfield Independent

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Putting political agendas aside and again with ComputerWeekly.com who posted the following on September 22nd (2009) in their, “Risk Management” section:

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Expert challenges UFO hacker's $700k bill

The US inflated the $700,000 bill for damages it slapped on UFO hacker Gary McKinnon by stuffing it with costs incurred for patching the gaping holes the hacker had exposed in its computer security, according to a document filed with the Supreme Court. The US had not taken reasonable steps to protect its security and now expects McKinnon to pick up the bill, said an expert witness statement made in McKinnon's ongoing appeal against a US extradition order.

Peter Sommer, professor of security at the London School of Economics, said damage assessments of computer security breaches should consider, "whether the victims have taken reasonable steps to limit the damage."

McKinnon had used Remotely Anywhere, a software tool, to hack US military computers in search of UFO secrets. The 42-year-old faces extradition after being accused of hacking into 97 US government computers causing $700,000 of damage.

But Sommer said, "Every intrusion detection system I have come across would flag up the installation of a remote control program like Remotely Anywhere……Any firewall also ought to block the 'ports' [internet access points on a computer] used by Remotely Anywhere. On this basis, the costs claimed for are features that should have been there in the first place."

Sommer, who once advised insurers underwriting the risks of computer damage, said hackers could not be held accountable for the, "consequential loss" resulting from their intrusion into systems unprotected by "preventative measures for reasonably foreseeable hazards ….. Insurers will not insure computers or computer-dependent businesses in the absence of reasonable levels of protection and means of recovery.”

But security experts in the US said McKinnon should be liable for the full $700,000 of security checks performed in his wake.

Professor Eugene Spafford, founder of the Center for Education and Research in Information Assurance and Security at Indiana's Purdue University, said the victim of a cybercrime should not take the blame. If someone broke a door to rob a store, he said, it was usual to charge them the cost of the door. Anthony Reyes, a former cybercrime detective who helped develop the US Cyber Counter Terrorism Investigations Program, said, " Just because security is weak, it doesn't give you a red flag to go into a computer system and start browsing around ."

Source: Computer Weekly

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Apart from the discrepancies between the dollar amounts stated to date regarding the alleged damage McKinnon caused (apparently depending entirely on which webpage the information was posted) this is the first time I've seen the allegation that the, “Damages” were nothing of the sort but instead are down to the cost of plugging the holes in the amateurish system setup that McKinnon exposed. While I agree that just because the security is weak it doesn't give you free licence to breech the network at will, but when someone exposes the system weaknesses to then try and also pass the cost of fixing these flaws onto them (which are there due to your own incompetence) doesn't seem right, does it?

And if the damages being pursued are just for locating and correcting his edits then it's still ridiculously overpriced at $700,000. Plus, if McKinnon is to be believed and this security flaw was indeed directly due to no more than the machines not having been assigned a password and so were still operating on the default settings, then I would tend to agree with McKinnon in that this estimate is massively inflated for the sole reason of obtaining extradition to the US, which in turn means I also share McKinnon's apprehension in that this is quite a risk to take if the US are just planning to extradite him for a lenient sentence.

I appreciate that the only reason I'm even mentioning McKinnon is due to what he claimed he found while browsing through the -less than- secure system and for what it's worth I don't believe McKinnon saw what he thinks he did, I wouldn't go as far as to say McKinnon is lying but I feel he is at best mistaken. However, that doesn't and shouldn't in any way affect the bigger picture which is surely that extradition while always accepted as a possibility is one I feel was never really expected to go as far as it has and especially so when several high-profile UK hackers have been tried for similar offences here in the UK (i.e. where the people were located when the cyber-crimes were committed).

I should also point out that I believe, “Team McKinnon” should have long since dropped the UFO angle, if absolutely necessary then perhaps play on McKinnon's (alleged) naivety in searching for answers to one of the most profound questions we as a species have ever asked, but to continue pushing the fact that McKinnon actually found evidence of this at the exact some moment being ‘caught in the act' is a very difficult coincidence to accept. Basically they are saying that after at least 96 fruitless attempts at discovering ANY information and many, many hours spent searching for it, Mckinnon finally stumbles upon the evidence he has been relentlessly questing for at the exact same moment that someone happens to notice he is online and has unauthorised access, the EXACT same time after so long undetected (in the act)?

And in what appears to be something of a contradiction McKinnon when appearing on the Hackers' Panel at the Infosecurity Europe 2006 conference (April 27th, London) and upon being asked how his exploits were first discovered, answered that he had miscalculated the timezone. He further claimed that this led to him actually using remote desktop software to operate a Windows computer while its user was sitting in front of it.

But yet also in 2006 when specifically asked, “What did you find inside Nasa?” McKinnon told the BBC's, “Click” programme:

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“I got one picture out of the folder, and bearing in mind this is a 56k dial-up, so a very slow internet connection, in dial-up days, using the remote control programme I turned the colour down to 4bit colour and the screen resolution really, really low, and even then the picture was still juddering as it came onto the screen…..But what came on to the screen was amazing. It was a culmination of all my efforts. It was a picture of something that definitely wasn't man-made…..It was above the Earth's hemisphere. It kind of looked like a satellite. It was cigar-shaped and had geodesic domes above, below, to the left, the right and both ends of it, and although it was a low-resolution picture it was very close up…..This thing was hanging in space, the earth's hemisphere visible below it, and no rivets, no seams, none of the stuff associated with normal man-made manufacturing.”

Source: Click (BBC)

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So from what information is available something doesn't seem to jibe as how was McKinnon able to locate and commence the download of an image on a PC on which a user was logged in and actually using at the time? Of course this is purely my unlearned opinion and either way I suppose this is something of a minor discrepancy and pales into insignificance when compared to the charges and the possible repercussions faced should extradition go ahead and McKinnon faces trial in the US.

And let's not forget that searching for UFOs/free energy etc. may be what Gary is claiming as the reason behind his foray into cybercrime it would be negligent to omit the statement he left on the system while hacking under the guise of, “Solo”:

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“U.S. foreign policy is akin to government-sponsored terrorism these days ... It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand-down on September 11 last year... I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels.”

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Remember this is post 9/11 and personally speaking this is not only in very bad taste but for all intents and purposes it certainly sounds like the words of a terrorist, cyber or otherwise.

Anyway that's more than enough rambling from me so I‘ll wind up by saying:

Support Gary McKinnon!!

But perhaps just not for the reasons you might have thought.....

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A few earlier Blog posts:

(29 Aug 2008) Gary McKinnon Loses European Appeal
(31 Aug 2008) Protest For Gary McKinnon , Home Office (London) Tuesday
(31 Jan 2009) Boris Johnson criticised for defending UFO Hacker
(06 Apr 2007) Gary McKinnon Faces US Extradition On Hacking Charges, (+ Video)

MoD Fourth Release of UFO Files (Rendlesham Documents)

The fourth release of the formerly classified MoD's UFO files is upon us and yet again the media-embargo has been ignored and this time it was the UK's “Morning Star” which initially broke the embargo but untrustworthy media aside then this could prove to be one of the more interesting releases:

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An excerpt from The Morning Star article follows:

“Attempted abductions, scrambled fighter jets and flying saucers over Glastonbury are among hundreds of dramatic reports of extraterrestrial encounters released by the Ministry of Defence. Some 800 sightings dating from 1981 to 1996 have been released by the MoD and the National Archives, including reports of aliens with lemon-shaped heads and laser beams being shot to earth. They were released as part of a three-year joint project aimed at opening up the records to a worldwide audience.

This fourth instalment consists of 14 files of sightings, letters and parliamentary questions, amounting to 4,000 pages in total. The records feature papers relating to the Rendlesham Forest sightings of December 1980, when a number of people claimed to have seen a UFO in Suffolk.”

Source: The Morning Star

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Several other articles have been posted about the imminent release with perhaps the most revealing being by Associated Press who details several points of note which I assume accompanied the ‘press package' which in the past has been wrote by Dr. David Clarke (whom I also suspect prepared the briefing for this, the fourth release):

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British government posts 4,000 pages documenting 800 UFO encounters

LONDON (AP) - The deputy commander of a U.S. Air Force base in England was baffled by what he'd seen: bright, pulsing lights in the night sky…..Britain's defense ministry couldn't explain it either, but concluded that the unidentified flying object posed no threat.

The National Archives on Monday released the government's complete file on the "Rendlesham Forest Incident" of December 1980, one of Britain's most famous UFO sightings…..It was among more than 4,000 pages posted online Monday documenting 800 alleged encounters during the 1980s and 1990s. Over the past three years the Ministry of Defense has been gradually releasing previously secret UFO papers after facing Freedom of Information demands. The Rendlesham file contains U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Charles Halt's first-hand account of the event, which has been public knowledge for many years. The file includes the conclusions of a British government investigation and a letter from a former defense chief urging officials to take UFOs more seriously. Halt reported that two servicemen had noticed "unusual lights" about 3 a.m. in the woods outside the gates of RAF Woodbridge, a U.S. base in eastern England. He wrote that patrolmen sent to investigate saw "a strange glowing object" in the forest.

The metallic, triangular object "illuminated the entire forest with a white light," he wrote.

The next day, investigators found depressions in the ground and unusual radiation readings. That night many personnel - including Halt himself - saw a pulsing "red sun-like light" in the trees that broke into five white objects and disappeared. The Ministry of Defense could offer no definitive explanation for what the Air Force officers had reported seeing, but also found no evidence of "any threat to the defense of the United Kingdom." Nothing had registered on radar, and "there was no evidence of anything having intruded into U.K. airspace and landed near RAF Woodbridge." A 1983 letter in the file proposes a possible explanation involving a combination of the nearby Orford Ness lighthouse, a fireball and bright stars.

Case closed, as far as the ministry was concerned.

But not everyone was convinced.

A 1985 letter from Lord Hill-Norton, former head of Britain's armed forces, to then-Defense Secretary Michael Heseltine, complained that the "puzzling and disquieting" episode had never been explained properly. Hill-Norton said if the sighting was genuine, "British airspace and territory are vulnerable to unwarranted intrusion to a disturbing degree." The alternative explanation was that "a sizable number of USAF personnel at an important base in British territory are capable of serious misperception, the consequences of which might be grave in military terms."

Britain's defense ministry has charted UFO sightings since the 1950s, when a Flying Saucer Working Party was established. More files are due to be released by the archives through 2010.

Some of the newly released events came with easy explanations…..In 1993 and 1994, the ministry received numerous reports of a "brightly illuminated oval object" over London. It turned out to be an airship advertising a new car.

More mysterious was a UFO "attack" on a cemetery in Widnes, northwest England, in July 1996. A police report said a young man - "a sensible sort of lad and genuine" - reported seeing a UFO firing beams of light into the ground. A police officer sent to the scene found a smoldering railway sleeper. "It does look rather odd," reported the officer, whose name was blacked out in the document.

The files include a little grist for conspiracy theorists.

The head of the ministry's UFO desk wrote briefing notes in 1993 reporting a spate of sightings in southwest England and speculating whether they might be connected to Aurora, a secret U.S. spy plane whose existence has never been officially admitted….. Atop one of his letters, someone scrawled: "Thank you. I suggest you now drop this subject."

The files reveal a 1996 spike in UFO sightings: 609 that year, up from 117 the year before. David Clarke, a UFO historian and consultant to the National Archives, said it was probably no coincidence that the supernatural TV show "The X Files" was popular in Britain at the time, and that alien-invasion movie "Independence Day" came out the same year.

"It's evident there is some connection between newspaper stories, TV programs and films about alien visitors, and the numbers of UFO sightings…..Aside from 1996, one of the busiest years for UFO sightings reported to the MoD (Ministry of Defense) over the past half century was 1978 - the year 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' was released."

Source: Associated Press

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The timing of the release of all of the Rendlesham-related documents coincides nicely with the 30th anniversary of the event which is next year (2010) and while mentioning the Rendlesham Forest UFO case then I feel obliged to also highlight the plight of one of original witnesses as he attempts to finally sort the wheat from the chaff, and (hopefully!!) present the facts of the event before they become forever obfuscated by the passage of time.

I'm talking about TSgt. John Burroughs and he has a new Blog called, “Back To Bentwaters” and here's an excerpt from his first post which was only made on the 23 rd June (2009):

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“My name is TSgt. John Burroughs. In December 1980 I was a first hand witness to the strange events that took place in Rendlesham forest out side the Bentwaters RAF base where I was stationed. It is my intention to put together a 30 year reunion next year at RAF Bentwaters for all of the witnesses involved in the incident.

I am looking for anybody involved in the incident who would like to come over to England or go on tape to talk about their experience during those events…..Currently we are seeking a sponsor who would like to help put this together. We would welcome any help in getting to the bottom of this 30 year mystery.”

Source: Back To Bentwaters

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Unfortunately at the time of writing it seems as if no attempts have been made by the other military personnel involved with the original event to help or even get back in touch with TSgt. John Burroughs…..

Anyway, as always, the new files as always are available at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos/

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And previous post on the earlier releases:

• (22 Mar 2009) UFO Blog: Ministry Of Defence Release Third Batch Of UFO Files


• (21 Oct 2008) UFO Blog: MoD Files - North East UK UFO Reports


• (19 Oct 2008) The National Archives Second Release Of MoD UFO Files (20th Oct 2008)


• (5 Aug 2008) The MoD UFO File Release, The Sun & The 2008 UK UFO Wave


• (13 May 2008) UFO Blog: Ministry Of Defence Starts UK UFO Archive Release (14th ...


• (10 Jan 2008) UFO Blog: North East UK UFO encounters – The Journal (Jan 10 2008)


• (24 Dec 2007) UFO Blog: MoD Confirms Release of UFO Reports (Dec 2007)

(UK) Peterborough UFO, Appeal For Witnesses (May 2009)

(To be honest the main report sounds like Chinese Lanterns but as the article includes several other sightings I thought it warranted a mention.)

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Mystery surrounds the appearance of eight eerie orange lights which lit up Peterborough's skyline on Sunday evening and left star gazers in awe. The bright circular lights, which were spotted around the city by Evening Telegraph readers on Sunday (3 May), have re-ignited the great Peterborough UFO mystery.

Local people have reported between eight and 10 lights seen floating around Whittlesey, Coates, the Ortons and Hampton – the latest in a long line of mysterious heavenly sightings in and around the city in recent months – only some of which have been explained. Stacie Dunn, of Belton Road, Stanground, Peterborough, was driving along Fletton Parkway with her family at about 10.10pm when she noticed the bright lights. The family pulled over to take a closer look when they noticed there were eight glowing orange lights.

Stacie (18) said: “We all got out to look but there was no noise, a clear sky and these objects seemed to be heading towards Whittlesey”.

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More sightings in Peterborough

A mysterious aircraft was seen circling the city on April 8 by eagle-eyed residents in Werrington. However , it was later revealed to be a aeroplane with thermal imaging equipment, which shows up heat use, carrying out a night-time mission over Peterborough to map out the energy use of city homes.

In January The Evening Telegraph reported other unexplained lights at about midnight on New Year's Day. While some thought aliens may have landed, it was revealed a city family had lit half a dozen Chinese lanterns and released them as part of their new years celebrations.

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There was another sighting above the city in October last year, when residents in Werrington reported seeing a fireball streaking across the night sky. It turned out to be an "unusually large" meteor.

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Other strange lights were spotted in Wisbech in November and above Peterborough in August – the latter of which was said to have been a recently- restored Vulcan bomber in flight:

"It was amazing. They were perfect circular objects, but we have no idea what they were. They seemed to be overtaking each other and as they moved along, their glow started to fade….."I tried to take a picture with my phone, but it didn't come out. We are just baffled and amazed as to what they may have been. I searched the internet the next day but I can't see anything that looks like they did."

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Another reader, Laura Saidler, from Orton Longueville, wrote in to say she also saw about 10 lights floating in the sky:

"They were quite low down and all floating together. They were an orange and yellow colour and looked like candles floating…..There was no noise coming from them…..We tried to take pictures but nothing came out on the camera and the lights floated towards Orton Hall Hotel."

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However, Mike Dunne, from Castor, near Peterborough, believes the lights were a result of someone shining a very strong light on to the low cloud base:

"My daughter spotted these strange lights in the sky and phoned me…..I had a look and, although faint, a beam of light could be seen coming from the Peterborough area. It was obviously someone shining a very strong light on to the low cloud base. UFOs – rubbish."

Source: Peterborough ET

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Firefighters Investigate ‘Burning object’ UFO alert - Shadsworth UK (May 2009)

‘Burning object’ UFO Alert

AN unidentified flying object was seen over the skies of Blackburn.

A ‘burning’ object which then shot through the sky at speed was witnessed by a 15-year-old boy and a resident in Arran Avenue on Friday night.

Firefighters were alerted around 9.30pm to the unusual goings on over Shadsworth.

Crew manager Paul Jennings said:

“We were called to reports of a UFO around 9.30pm in Arran Avenue.....A 15-year-old lad and one of the neighbours said they had seen a burning objects in the sky. They said it was almost like a hot air balloon but it was moving too fast....It had disappeared by the time we got there. We spoke to the lad but we would not have been able to do anything had we seen it.”

Source: Lancashire Telegraph

Nick Pope Internet Radio (Sat 25th April 2009)

I just received a message on one of my YouTube accounts from “Pair a normal guys” that said that Nick Pope had just given an interview with them on the 25th April 2009. And for a change (with Pope) I was pleasantly surprised at the sober tone of the interview, and I was shocked to find that his views on disclosure and what exactly the government knows echo my views to an extent as does the fabled 'acclimatisation' theory. Pope also discusses Rendlesham and Condign briefly as well as the usual suspects (Roswell etc.) as well as the recent XConference at which Pope was a speaker.

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Here’s the less than accurate blurb (Minister?) that accompanies the interview:

UK DEFENSE MINISTER AND UFO RESEARCHER Sec(AS)2a (Secretariat of the Air Staff).NICK POPE WILL JOIN PAIR A NORMAL GUYS INC TO DISCUSS SOME MEMORABLE UFO CASES IN THE UK ALSO HOW UFO SIGHTINGS ARE REALLY HANDLED BY THE MILITARY AND GOVERNMENTS AND NEW EVENTS AND SIGHTINGS AS WELL. PLUS OTHER PARANORMAL TOPICS ALSO WILL BE COVERED. JOIN US AS WE GET A UK PERSPECTIVE ON UFOS.

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And the interview can be heard here.

Did you see these UFOs? (Isle Of Wight April 2009)

A RYDE woman who said she saw a late night UFO ‘near miss' has appealed for other witnesses to come forward. She said at 11.10pm on Saturday the police spotter plane, circling the south of the town, was involved in a low-altitude ‘ near miss' with three other craft. Police, who confirmed their spotter plane was in the area and that three officers were on the ground searching for occupants of a stolen car, who ran off after a crash, said none of the officers reported seeing any unusual activity.

A police statement said:

“The pilot, observers and police officers on the ground did not see, hear or come into contact with any other aircraft while flying over the Island at this time…We are satisfied that Hampshire Police Air Support Unit was not involved in an air near-miss incident.”

But the woman maintained:

“I was watching from the bedroom window, which faces east, at 11.10pm…What appeared to be three jets came very fast from the west and flew even lower towards the plane…f these had collided, half the houses in Ashey Road would have been wiped out…The strange thing is, the three craft didn't make any noise…I do not want publicity, do not drink and have never taken drugs. Somebody must have a record of what these craft were up to?

“The spotter plane had lights under each wing and one on the nose. The three, that appeared as fast as the Red Arrows, had only one light…Surely someone else must have been watching at the same time?”

This report follows a Sandown woman describing a bright orange circular object making its way silently across the sky on Wednesday last week. Meanwhile, on Bank Holiday Monday, a Bonchurch resident reported seeing a luminous ball of light in the sky. Again, it made no noise.

Source: IWCP.com

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(The scourge of UK UFOlogy?)

UFO Contactees: Whispers From (Inner) Space?

I wrote a Blog post back on the 17th October (2008) (three days after the fabled representatives of the 'Federation Of Light' failed to materialise) and while I didn't connect it to Blossom Goodchild (BG) or to the UFO phenomenon in any way, shape or form I still think it's fairly obvious that it was at the forefront of my mind at the time of writing.

(Apologies If you landed here looking for the Gray Barker documentary).

Was the Blog post even relevant?

Well, I'll leave that to the individual to arrive at their own conclusion…..

If anything I was merely trying to weigh-up one of the more ‘unspoken' options (informed opinions and all that) and tried to accomplish this by considering an oft misunderstood aspect of the human condition. It may seem a bit strange when talking of BG to speak of diverse aspects and then not to include her predictions as an example of this diversity, but strangely once you've read some (any?) of the many accounts/predictions from people who believe themselves to be contactees then the BG one was pretty much standard fare and was indistinguishable from the majority of its predecessors. I should stress at this point that this post ISN'T directed at anyone in particular and certainly not at BG but rather it's directed at the broader contactee 'experience' as well as other experiences which involve conversing with or hearing disembodied voice/s.

Also EVERY single person (EVER!!) who has put themselves out there and hazarded a prediction at the date of any future global –extraterrestrial- contact (and which has come and gone) has been hung out to dry by their alleged sources. Actually nearly every (if not every?) prediction ever made regarding cataclysmic or epoch-type event/s has been found wanting (obviously or we'd ALL already know of them) or at best have been open to massively differing interpretations.

But specifically regarding contactees I personally think the real question demanding an answer is whether the people making these predictions are merely hapless victims of the ‘cosmic-trickster' that the elusive UFO phenomenon masquerades as, or whether the perceived contacts and their celestial messages are the combination of many influences, a sum total of parts which is ultimately and exclusively a direct product of the human condition. (Hoaxers notwithstanding as surely, SURELY, all those who believe they have been privy to such messages can't ALL be deliberately deceiving, can they?)

Anyway, I just thought I'd (re)frame and present it in the context I originally intended.

Food for thought if nothing else.....

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Hallucinations, Psychosis & Subjective Reality

• Psychosis literally means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality".
• People suffering from psychosis are said to be psychotic.
• People experiencing psychosis may report hallucinations or delusional beliefs.

“One important and puzzling feature of psychosis is usually an accompanying lack of insight into the unusual, strange, or bizarre nature of the person's experience or behaviour. ” (Carpenter, William, Strauss & Bartko - 1973)

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Hallucinations

Hallucinations are essentially defined as sensory perception in the absence of external stimuli, i.e. perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli AND which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space.

These definitions distinguish hallucinations from the related phenomena of:

• Dreaming, which does not involve consciousness;
• Illusion, which involves distorted or misinterpreted real perception;
• Imagery, which does not mimic real perception and is under voluntary control;

Hallucinations also differ from "delusional perceptions" in which a correctly sensed and interpreted genuine perception is given some additional and usually bizarre significance. (Hallucinations may occur in any of the five senses and take on almost any form).

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Auditory hallucinations

• Hallucinated voices may talk about, or to the person, and may involve several speakers with distinct personas.
• Auditory hallucinations tend to be particularly distressing when they are derogatory, commanding or preoccupying.
• Auditory hallucinations, and in particular the hearing of a voice as well as being a common and often prominent feature of psychosis are additionally thought of as particularly characteristic of people suffering from schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a group of psychotic disorders characterized by disturbances in perception, affect, behaviour and communication lasting longer than 6 months. Symptoms are often described in terms of positive and negative with positive symptoms including delusions, auditory hallucinations, and thought disorder. These are typically regarded as manifestations of psychosis and for obvious reasons it is difficult for a person to tell the difference between real and unreal experiences and even in the case of an acute psychosis people may be completely unaware that their vivid hallucinations and delusions are in any way "unrealistic".

“If you talk to God, you are praying. If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia…..” (Psychiatrist & Professor of Psychiatry, Thomas S. Szasz)

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Normal subjects also report auditory hallucinations to a surprising extent and many studies have shown that hallucinatory experiences take place worldwide. One study from as early as 1894 in a report on the census of hallucinations (Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research) reported that approximately 10% of the population experienced hallucinations.

• Bentall and Slade conducted a study in 1985 (Reliability of a scale measuring disposition towards hallucination: a brief report ) and reported that as many as 15.4% of a population of 150 male students were prepared to endorse the statement ‘In the past I have had the experience of hearing a person's voice and then found that no one was there'.


• Green and McCreery (Apparitions) found that 14% of their 1800 self-selected subjects reported a purely auditory hallucination, and of these nearly half involved the hearing of articulate or inarticulate human speech sounds.


• Posey and Losch in their 1983 paper, “Imagination, Cognition and Personality” (Auditory hallucinations of hearing voices in 375 normal subjects) estimated that 10% of their population of 375 American college students had had this type of experience and temed it as: “Hearing a comforting or advising voice that is not perceived as being one's own thoughts.”


• A four year survey of over 13,000 people (Prevalence of hallucinations and their pathological associations in the general population. Psychiatry Research) between 1996-1999 reported a much higher figure, the results which were published in 2000 and revealed that a staggering 39% of people reporting hallucinatory experiences, 27% of which were daytime hallucinations, mostly outside the context of illness or drug use.

Although many people not suffering from a detectable, noticeable or diagnosable mental illness can hear voices as well and there are several support/advocacy organizations and charities geared towards people who hallucinate voices, but do not otherwise show signs of mental illness or impairment. As shown above, research has shown that the majority of people who hear voices are not in need of psychiatric help. There are various explanations for the experience of hearing voices which have been shown to empower voice hearers, enabling them to live with the experience in a positive way and, “The Hearing Voices Movement” was created to support voice hearers, regardless of whether they are considered to have a mental illness or not.

• INTERVOICE Online: (International hearing voices movement )
• Hearing Voices Network

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(The following was originally posted by Andrea Thompson at
Livescience.com 15 September 2006).

Hearing Voices: Some People Like It

For some people, hearing voices in their heads is a positive experience, not a sign of mental illness or cause for distress. Researchers at the University of Manchester are aiming to find out why. Traditionally these auditory hallucinations, as psychologists call them, are associated with mental illness. They can be a symptom of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and sometimes depression.

But studies by Dutch researchers that began in the 1990s found that some healthy people also regularly hear voices. The scientists ran a program on Dutch television asking for volunteers who heard voices, and they got a surprising response. Many of the people who contacted them did not find the voices disruptive and had never felt the need to consult mental health services. Some even said they found the experience to be positive or inspirational.

The resulting studies found that more people might hear voices than psychologists had thought, perhaps around 4 percent of the population. Aylish Campbell, a psychologist at the University of Manchester , is hoping to expand on the Dutch study by investigating why peoples' reactions to hearing voices vary so widely. Campbell has just begun looking for study participants in Britain . Campbell and her colleagues suspect the variation could be caused by different life experiences. Childhood traumas, beliefs that other people are untrustworthy or dangerous, and feelings of vulnerability might react with fear to cause people to hear voices.

The experience might be enjoyed by people who have positive outlooks, Campbell thinks anyone can hear voices, particularly when stressed. For example, those who are grieving over the recent loss of a loved one might hear that person's voice.

"We're looking for people who hear voices who have a range of experiences…..It might just be a normal human experience…..People are susceptible to different degrees…..If we can understand a bit more about the factors, we might be able to use that knowledge to help people who do find it distressing," said Campbell.

Campbell hopes that learning what triggers different reactions could help develop new psychological therapies to help people—at least those who don't like the phenomenon—to cope with the voices.

Source: LiveScience – Andrea Thompson (15 September 2006)

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Auditory Hallucinations:
A comparison between patients and nonpatients.

Honig A, Romme MA, Ensink BJ, Escher SD, Pennings MH, deVries MW. (Department of Psychiatry and Neuropsychology, Maastricht University, Academic Hospital Maastricht, The Netherlands).

The form and the content of chronic auditory hallucinations were compared in three cohorts, namely patients with schizophrenia, patients with a dissociative disorder, and nonpatient voice-hearers. The form of the hallucinatory experiences was not significantly different between the three groups. The subjects in the nonpatient group, unlike those in the patient groups, perceived their voices as predominantly positive: they were not alarmed or upset by their voices and felt in control of the experience. In most patients, the onset of auditory hallucinations was preceded by either a traumatic event or an event that activated the memory of earlier trauma. The significance of this study is that it presents evidence that the form of the hallucinations experienced by both patient and nonpatient groups is similar, irrespective of diagnosis. Differences between groups were predominantly related to the content, emotional quality, and locus of control of the voices. In this study the disability incurred by hearing voices is associated with (the reactivation of) previous trauma and abuse.

Source: National Center for Biotechnology Information.

Sources/Further Reading Wikipedia: Hallucination, Psychosis Differences and similarities in the sensory and cognitive signatures of voice-hearing, intrusions and thoughts. [Schizophr Res. 2008] The omnipotence of voices: testing the validity of a cognitive model. [Psychol Med. 1997] Emotional prosodic processing in auditory hallucinations. [Schizophr Res. 2007] Interpretations of voices in patients with hallucinations and non-patient controls: a comparison and predictors of distress in patients. [Behav Res Ther. 2004] Cognitive processes in auditory hallucinations: attributional biases and metacognition. [Psychol Med. 1998]

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Ministry Of Defence Release Third Batch Of UFO Files

Ministry Of Defence Release
Third Batch Of UFO Files
(Saturday, 22 March 2009)

The third collection of UK Ministry of Defence UFO files can now be downloaded from the The National Archives (TNA) dedicated website (here).

The initial media coverage seems to be as feverish as ever but really they are only working from the details released by Dr David Clarke who is the consultant for the TNA's UFO project. Dave prepared a detailed summary for both the national and international media and also recorded a podcast regarding this -the third- release of UFO MoD files.

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Dave writes:

“This tranche consists of seven files containing more than 2,000 pages of material. Six of the files contain UFO reports copied to the MoD's secretive Defence Intelligence branch DI55, between November 1987 and April 1993. During this period 1200 individual sightings were reported to the authorities.

The release of these papers is in itself a victory for open government. For as recently as ten years ago the British Government refused even to acknowledge the existence of DI55, let alone comment upon their role in the investigation of UFO reports. The arrival of the Freedom of Information Act in 2005 brought this ludicrous situation to an end. But even then for at time it appeared unlikely we would discover anything further."

Source: Dr David Clarke's Blog

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For further information regarding this latest release then as well as visiting the official TNA pages you should also visit Dr David Clarke's new Blog as he has an excellent run-down of the documents as well as sharing his personal insights gleaned from years of UFO research.

I suspect that this means that just as it seems that media interest was waning then this recent release will yet again increase public interest which in turn will inject more urgency into the reporting of any anomalous aerial phenomena. To be honest I've been pleasantly surprised of late with the handling of the UFO reports by the media in general as the ‘giggle factor' seems to be decreasing so it's a shame that this urgency generally means reporting wholly identifiable objects as unidentified.

There are exceptions to this ridicule-free approach and right at the forefront of this irresponsible gutter journalism is a UK paper, namely “The Sun”. In my opinion the sooner everyone realises that The Sun is quickly becoming the new, “Weekly Word News” then the sooner their ludicrous reporting of the phenomenon will be afforded the contempt it so rightly deserves. More than once in the last few months The Sun have approached UK UFO researchers asking for comments on a UFO report they have received and were given a thorough and concise (earthly) explanation of what was seen before promptly ignoring the explanation and running the story as a UFO sighting anyway, often quoting an obscure expert as verification or even more worryingly enlisting the help of their resident UFO expert Nick Pope. The only reason this is more worrying is that Pope is perceived by the general public as the UK UFO expert due solely to the fact that he manned the MoD's UFO desk part-time for a couple of years in the 1990's, a job which was/is effectively a ‘front,' representing the public face of the MoD's interest in the UFO phenomenon, however with the recent release of the UFO files it's obvious that this ‘interest' was more of an annoyance, a necessary evil to placate the growing public concern.

As Pope is currently employed by The Sun then it appears to me that his opinion is bought and paid for then as such any comments published should ONLY be considered as those of a spokesperson for The Sun rather the UFO expert he is often touted as……

Alien Abduction - Nigel Watson & “The Alien Deception”

A new book has just hit the shelves (March 2009) which is titled, “The Alien Deception”.

Written by Nigel Watson it is an, “Exploration of the AlienAbduction Phenomenon” and while I haven't yet obtained a copy of the book the write-up for it does sound promising and is as follows:

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At times, after such encounters, the abductee has little conscious recollection of these events, and usually through nightmares, flashbacks and hypnosis they eventually learn more.

Some abductees even believe they have been used as part of a breeding project to create hybrid alien/humans. Almost all are truly bewildered by their experiences.

Ultimately, alien abductions make us consider fundamental questions about our place in the universe and our future evolution as a species. Are abductions real events that have momentous consequences for the whole of humanity or are they the product of rumour, psychosis, hoaxes, media hype and sensationalism?

Is there a grand Alien Deception manipulating our minds and our governments or are we deceiving ourselves?

Nigel Watson's groundbreaking exploration of alien abductions takes a comprehensive look at the reports by the earliest abductees (such as Betty and Barney Hill), right up to the latest encounters. Watson considers the possible historical, paranormal, extraterrestrial, psychological and media influences that might help explain the origin of these reports.”

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Police Helicopter ‘Swerves' To Avoid UFO

From what we've been told so far then this particular report is certainly a strange one and again involving a police helicopter which I wrote about back in June, “UK UFO – Police Helicopter Crew Reports UFO.” Anyway here's the more recent report as originally posted by the Birmingham Mail on the 21 st November, 2008 but actually occured almost 5 weeks prior to the earlier report.

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UFO involved in a dramatic incident.

A POLICE helicopter flying over Birmingham narrowly avoided tragedy when it nearly collided with a UFO, a report has claimed. The pilot managed to swerve out of the mystery aircraft's way while he was on a routine police surveillance task over the city centre earlier this year. The helicopter was also carrying two police observers during the journey at around 9.50pm on May 2nd.

All three reported seeing an aircraft with two continuous blue/green lights – but were unable to identify what it was. The extraordinary incident is detailed in a document compiled by experts from the Airprox Board, which records near misses and reports them to the military and air traffic control units.

The report stated: “ The front observer saw unidentified lights flying around their aircraft. The pilot established visual contact, as he manoeuvred the aircraft to avoid a collision and to identify the light source.”

The object was less than 100m away and flew around them. The pilot told the Airprox Board he thought the intent may either have been sinister or just someone messing around. It was initially believed that the object was a radio controlled aircraft and that it was purposefully flown around the helicopter.

The report stated: “He (the pilot) believes the lights may have come from a radio controlled fixed wing aircraft, the lights being to assist with night flying.”

Despite searching the area with a thermal camera, the pilot was unable to find any signs of radio-controlled model activity. And the British Model Flying Association ruled out the possibility, saying the mystery object was flying too high to be a miniature craft. Leading expert Nick Pope, who previously worked for the Ministry of Defence's UFO desk and is nicknamed the British Fox Mulder, told the Birmingham Mail today:

“A helicopter was nearly blown out of the sky…..This is a very disturbing incident which needs to be thoroughly investigated by the MoD and the Civil Aviation Authority as well as other near misses…..The conclusion on the report is unsatisfactory especially when this aircraft came within seconds of a collision. It is a very interesting case especially when you look at the eyewitnesses. They are credible and reliable sources who have experience in night time flying…..This sighting clearly illustrates that whatever one believes about UFOs, this incident raises important air safety issues and should be taken seriously.”

Source: Birmingham Mail

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The Official Airprox summary is in a PDF file and it's quite large (668 Kb) and this event is only referenced in 3 pages of it, alternatively you can view the three pages in question by visiting here.

Sunderland UK UFO: Cylindrical UFO Sighting – Wednesday 29th October, 2008

The following was recently posted to the UFOCasebook forum by a new member who signed up to report the sighting and also to ask for any information regarding it:

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Wed 29th Oct, 2008 – Sunderland, Tyne & Wear, North-East England.

"At around 9.00am, I was looking out of a west-facing upstairs window in my house when I saw an airliner coming from the north and heading roughly southwest at maybe 2,000 – 3,000 feet. It was clearly visible and stood out against a cloudless blue sky. I watched the plane for a few seconds before I realised there was something wrong with what I was looking at – the body of the plane was very wide and it was travelling too slowly for an airliner at that height. I grabbed a small pair of 10x25 binoculars and was able to focus on the plane for maybe half a minute before it moved out of sight behind nearby trees.

Through the binoculars I could see it wasn't an airliner, but a rocket-shaped cylinder – cream or off-white in colour – travelling horizontally like a cruise missile. There were no wings or fins, no markings, no flashing lights, and no flames or smoke trail. The front of the cylinder was definitely pointed and the end was solid, with no darkened area to suggest a jet exhaust.

Guessing the altitude to be 1,000 feet, I estimated the cylinder to be about 50 feet long (but this could all be way out) and I came to the conclusion that it must be some sort of balloon drifting in the wind. To confirm this theory, I emailed the UK Met Office on Thursday morning who told me the wind direction at 9.00am on Wednesday was westerly. This means the object was travelling against the wind under its own power. Very difficult to estimate its speed, but I would guess around 100 - 150mph.

I'm sure no self-respecting alien would be seen dead travelling around in a magnolia-painted space craft so I'm assuming the cylinder originated on this planet. Whatever it was, the sky was so clear it must have been seen by dozens if not hundreds of people as it headed southwest from the north of England . If anybody saw it or knows what it was, would you please enlighten me.”

Source

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UK - The Sun Has Best UFO Proof Yet (Again)

A strange image was published by the Sun newspaper (via Gary Heseltine) which they stated was photographed at Dudley castle 'last April'.

To be honest I've purposefully refrained from posting any of the Sun newspapers UFO stories, mainly because they were caught out a couple of months ago and admitted intentionally lying to their readers, this was defended by claiming they were just, “Having a little fun” with their long suffering readership.

But prior to this wholly unsurprising revelation about their lack of ethical integrity their previous track-record in reporting UFO related stories was equally wanting. The stories were always misleading and they consistently contacted several UFO researchers and inevitably quoted the one researcher who agreed there was something anomalistic about the 'exclusive' photograph they'd been sent, usually insinuating (if not stating outright) that any/all objects captured were of obvious extraterrestrial origin.

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UFO picture is 'best proof yet'

A “FLYING saucer” is photographed in daylight over a town — in a snap hailed as one of the most important ever pieces of evidence of alien life. The UFO shot across the sky in front of clouds above Dudley in the West Midlands . A startled visitor to Dudley Castle captured the amazing image, and sent it to a police detective who collects UFO sightings. Yesterday DC Gary Heseltine, 48, said:

“It's a very intriguing photograph that was taken purely by chance…..If it's genuine then it could be one of the most convincing pieces of evidence about aliens from the UK ever.”

The photo was taken by a 57-year-old nanny on a day out last April. DC Heseltine, of Wakefield , West Yorks, has now handed it over for study to a former US navy physicist who specialises in photo analysis. The British Transport Police officer will reveal the findings at the UFO Data Magazine annual conference in Pontefract, West Yorks , on October 25.

(Virginia Wheeler - 20 Oct 2008)
Source: The Sun

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Gary Heseltine is no stranger to the UFO subject and runs the, “PRUFOS (POLICE REPORTING UFO SIGHTINGS) DATABASE” website which collects and catalogues UFO reports from police officers while both on and off duty.

It's more than likely that the, “Former UFO Navy physicist ” is none other than the inimitable Dr. Bruce Maccabee, the following is a brief excerpt from his Bio page: "Studied physics at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass (B.S. in physics) and then at The American University, Washington, DC (M.S. and Ph. D. in physics)…..1972 commenced his long career at the Naval Surface Warfare Center…..has worked on optical data processing, generation of underwater sound with lasers and various aspects of the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) and Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) using high power lasers…..active in UFO research since late 1960s when he joined the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP)….active in research and investigation for NICAP until its demise in 1980…..became a member of MUFON in 1975…..appointed to the position of state Director for Maryland, a position he still holds…..1979 he was instrumental in establishing the Fund for UFO Research…..chairman for about 13 years…..presently serves on the National Board of the Fund.."

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In fact even if it isn't Bruce Maccabee then I still strongly urge you to check out his personal pages as his investigative analysis is consistently methodical in approach and execution and as such is testament to the rigorous protocols employed in his previous investigations. And as well of course as (usually!!) making for fascinating reading.

Of course there's so little information available and the image posted to the Sun website is compressed to such an extent that no manipulation could bring out any more detail than is already evident, but when Bruce Maccabee receives the original then he will certainly be able to (at least) ‘yay or nay' its validity, i.e. whether its actually a genuine image and also whether or not it's a physical object. But whether it's an object in the sky, a camera artefact or even a rogue cloud formation I found it to be one of the more aesthetically pleasing and interesting images that has been posted online for a while.....

MoD Files - North East UK UFO Reports

While the media coverage of the last two days (since the release of the MoD UFO files) is almost at epidemic proportions I always try and post my regional (North-East) UFO related stories, so here's an article regarding the six-years worth of UFO files (and of course which are relevant to North East) from the Evening Chronicle.

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Secret files reveal Tyneside UFO sightings

SECRETS of strange happenings on Tyneside have been revealed in unseen UFO files. Glowing lights and amber aircraft are among the night-sky mysteries which spooked people in the region between 1986 and 1992. The classified Ministry of Defence (MoD) reports were released for the first time yesterday, published by the National Archives. And among the hundreds of descriptions are dozens from the North East.

A night security guard in Newcastle was baffled by a white lights hovering over the city in 1987. On June 30 he alerted RAF Boulmer to the flying saucer sighting, which he said lasted 15 to 20 minutes. The former member of the armed forces wrote: “A large, white light was travelling west to east. The other five lights travelled in various directions.” He described the weather conditions as clear, but said it was too high to estimate the distance of the lights.

Meanwhile, three terrified Gosforth residents made separate reports of a green object in the sky above Newcastle in the same year, on March 6. One UFO spotter looked out of his window and was shocked to see what he described as a pale, bright, green object. The report continued: “Nil sound or smell. Steady movement, then it disappeared.” It was reported to Northumbria Police and then to Newcastle Airport . Police were alerted to the green object by a second Gosforth resident, who described the light as green and glowing. It was seen outside his house for a few minutes.

Then a third report came from a Gosforth resident, who made the sighting while outdoors in Longbenton. He saw a green sphere for five minutes and immediately alerted the police. Six months later a customs officer spotted a bizarre sight near Newcastle Airport . He claimed to see an unusual aircraft for one or two minutes, which he described as a cigar-shaped object, gold and orange, with bright lights on descent. The police officer who took the call seemed convinced by the report and said the caller sounded rational and intelligent, although a little breathless.

Another UFO was reported near the airport in November 1987, when someone spent 15 to 20 minutes watching blue and amber lights. The file reads: “One object, approximately the size of helicopter, with blue and amber lights – very bright.” The sky was clear, and the aircraft hardly seemed to move. A neighbour backed up the caller's report and no explanation could be found.

Experts at the MoD created more mystery when they tried to explain UFO sightings near RAF Boulmer in Northumberland in 1987. Responding to a letter about suspected flying saucers, the squadron leader wrote:

“We have checked our records covering the period April 2 to 22, 1987, and are unable to confirm or deny that your reports of unknown targets originated from aircraft taking part in exercises being carried out at the time……I can inform you that our day-to-day practice sorties are carried out over the North Sea and would not normally be visible from the coast…..However, between April 6 and 10, 1987, we were involved in Exercise Mallet Blow and from April 13 to April 15, Exercise Priory took place in a similar area. Both of these events did include a number of low-flying target aircraft which would have flown inland from the North Sea toward firing ranges in the Otterburn area…..Unfortunately I am unable to tie any particular aircraft to any given UFO sighting.”

Alfred Dodds, of the Northumberland UFO Research Centre, says all the reports are vital in helping build up a picture of UFO activity in the region:

“I think everybody in the industry is interested in these files…..When we get sightings in, I compare them with sightings that have been registered, so it helps in that way. It gives a better idea of whether to investigate further or not…..A couple of years ago there was a report of two red lights circling each other in a way that airplanes don't do. And when the last files were released, there was a report from down south that was exactly the same…..There have been quite a number of reports from this area in the past five years. These files are very important to shed light.”

(Oct 21, 2008 by Katy Simpson)
Source: Evening Chronicle (Chronicle Live)

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The National Archives Second Release Of MoD UFO Files (20th Oct 2008)

Well it seems as if the second release of previously classified Ministry Of Defence (MoD) UFO files is due for release on the Monday the 20th October 2008.

I personally thought that the previous release and more importantly the incessant and outlandish media coverage of it was almost single-handedly responsible for what became known as, “The 2008 British UFO Wave” and elaborated on why in some detail here.

Indeed, it was almost impossible to have missed the furore regarding the MoD release of their "UFO files" back in May as it was all over the web, the television and the media for several weeks. The event was covered by many different authors at many different venues in many, many different countries. The relentless media coverage (especially in the UK ) was unparalleled for a UFO related story as for at least a few days in May 2008, UFOs certainly went mainstream.

To see and appreciate the extent of the coverage I've correlated it into some loose semblance of order, due to the lists of reports and the amount of media footage it wasn't possible to include them all in one Blog post, so I'll only post a couple of clips here. (Main post here)

Also available is a collection of the recent online UK UFO reports as well as all of the online video & audio related to the earlier MoD UFO file release (and of course liberal sprinklings of conjecture and opinion) then visit, "The MoD UFO files release, the Sun & the 2008 UK UFO Wave."

Lastly regarding the first MoD UFO file release, Joe McGonagle (UK-UFO.org) organised a team of UK UFO researchers to catalogue the first TNA MoD UFO files release. This is provided in a very user friendly spreadsheet, which is available here.

Spreadsheet available of the first TNA/MoD UFO files release available here.

Right, onto the release scheduled for the 20 th October 2008…..

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It seems as if yet again a couple of the nationals have jumped the gun and published details of this hours before (again) the release is publicly announced, and as before the release will be available from the ‘The National Archives' (TNA) website.

It would appear that the ‘Sunday Mirror' was the first to crack and run a story on the imminent release which was as follows:

Passenger jet almost 'collided with UFO'

A passenger jet heading for Heathrow almost collided with a UFO over Kent , according to the latest "X-files" to be released by the Government tomorrow. In other reports US Air Force pilots were ordered to shoot down a UFO over East Anglia (the files don't say what happened next) and RAF Tornado jets were overtaken by another UFO over Germany . The files from 1986-92 include claims from people who say they met or were abducted by aliens. They will be posted on the National Archives website.

Source: sundaymirror.co.uk (19/10/2008)

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US jet 'ordered to fire at UFO over East Anglia '

A US Air Force fighter pilot claims he was ordered to fire all of his 24 rockets at a UFO spotted flying over East Anglia – and then warned never to speak about the incident - the MoD records reveal.

Milton Torres, then aged 25, was on standby at RAF Manston in Kent on May 20 1957 when he received an urgent order to scramble and intercept an unknown craft with " very unusual flight patterns ". He managed to get a radar " lock-on" the target, which he could not see because of thick cloud but which his instruments indicated was the size of a B-52 bomber.

The order then came through to fire his jet's entire arsenal at the UFO, but it darted off his radar before he could act. Dr Torres, now 77 and still convinced it was an alien craft, says he was visited the next day by a man claiming to be from the US National Security Agency, who threatened him with losing his flying status if he told anyone what happened. The former pilot's story entered the MoD's archives after he repeated his claims at a veterans reunion in 1988.

"There are people who are still alive on Earth who know about this," he said.

Source. (Last Updated: 5:21PM BST 19 Oct 2008)

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Five of the strangest UFO sightings and encounters

These are some of the most interesting reports contained in the released Ministry of Defence files:

1) January 1991: Man reports seeing two aliens landing their flying saucer next to a railway track near Warminster Army barracks in Wiltshire.

2) March 1990: Woman claims she is an alien from " Amazon, the planet of warrior women " in the Sirius system, whose spacecraft landed on Earth during the Second World War. Encloses drawing of herself with ears similar to Star Trek character Mr Spock.

3) 1989: Two aliens seen emerging from flying saucer in Somerset , apparently in order to check their engine. One was able to speak in perfect English, according to witness.

4) April 1991: Alitalia airliner en route from Milan to Heathrow has near miss with brown missile-shaped object near Lydd in Kent . Case closed after investigation fails to identify object.

5) June 1991: Four passengers on board a Dan Air Boeing 737 saw a "wingless projectile" pass beneath the aircraft as it climbed from Gatwick Airport headed for Hamburg .

Source. (Last Updated: 5:21PM BST 19 Oct 2008)

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UFOs, alien abductions and Tina Turner feature in Close Encounters secret files

Passenger jets nearly colliding with UFOs, reports of alien abduction and lasers from a Tina Turner concert all feature in the latest "Close Encounters" released by the MoD.

The 19 files, which date from 1986 and 1992, show the extensive records of strange sightings by members of the public and unexplained radar images from air traffic control. In one instance, an Alitalia flight coming into land at London 's Heathrow Airport reported a near miss with a UFO, which the pilot described as " similar to a missile - light brown or fawn - about three metres in length but without any exhaust flame ". Captain Achille Zaghetti was so concerned about a collision he shouted " Look out! Look out !" to his co-pilot who then spotted the same object. A corresponding image appeared on the Air Traffic Control radar and the MoD was brought in to investigate.

In the files, released by the National Archive, the military admitted the sighting in April 1991 could not be explained, having ruled out a British or American missile. It concluded: " In the absence of any clear evidence which could be used to identify the object, it is our intention to treat this sighting like that of any other Unidentified Flying Object. " Two further near misses were reported in the summer of 1991 when one aircraft flying in to Gatwick airport reported a " wingless projectile " passing the left side of the plane and another flight leaving Gatwick spotted a " small lozenge-shaped object " speeding past the cockpit. The newly released files also go into detail about a US Air Force pilot who claims he was ordered to shoot down a UFO flying above East Anglia in 1957, and was later warned never to speak about the incident.

Also included in the material are several reports of alien abductions and strange sightings. In 1989, one man from Somerset reported seeing a flying saucer land near the Feltham bypass and two aliens, dressed in black, apparently emerged. One alien checked the engines while a second said - in fluent English - " capture that man before tells anybody else ". Another man from Brighton spotted a brightly-lit UFO, shaped like a " squashed rugby ball ", which hovered above his house.

Two men in beige uniforms were seen inside, but when they spotted the man, they turned out the lights and sped out to sea. The RAF official who took the call noted: " Caller sounded genuine enough and his main concern seemed to be that he didn't want to talk too much about the craft if it was 'one of ours that we wanted to keep secret'. " In August 1989, reports of "two to three lights, green, red and orange oscillating" and moving " left and right and around each other " were reported to the MoD. What the concerned callers did not realise was that they were looking at the lasers illuminating Tina Turner's latest concert.

Source (Last Updated: 8:29PM BST 19 Oct 2008)

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I predict more of the same as we seen with the earlier release as the all too fickle media pretend to (albeit briefly) take the UFO subject seriously. Still, give it a couple of days as after they’ve had a chance to actually peruse the documents they’ll start publishing the ridiculous accounts, the snide comments and the, ‘Aliens abducted my dog’ accounts before moving on to more 'important' stories.....

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