UFO ROUNDUP Volume 5 Number 47 November 23, 2000 Editor: Joseph Trainor
GIANT LUMINOUS UFO FLIES OVER RUSSIAN TROOPS IN THE CAUCASUS MOUNTAINS
A large luminous UFO flew over Russian troops dug in along the ridges in Dagestan during the early morning hours of Tuesday, November 14, 2000.
This region of the Caucasus Mountains, just west of the Caspian Sea, has been the scene of heavy fighting recently between Russian troops and soldiers of the breakaway republic of Chechnya and their Islamic guerrilla allies.
“Alarms went off at 1 a.m. local time yesterday (November 14, 2000) and an hour later. Confusion was extreme in the Dagestan hills bordering Chechnya.”
“At 2 a.m. local time, the first lucid reports began to come in from the Magaramkent region on the Caspian Sea regarding the unidentified flying object which had caused Russian forces to sound ‘Battle stations.'”
“Soldiers provided a detailed description of the object because they witnessed it for a long time as it slowly continued toward the (Caspian) sea. Some garrisons noticed that it was an object flying at low altitude, some 100 meters (330 feet above ground) and had three fluorescent lights above it with two-meter (six feet, seven inches) spaces between them, according to the Russian Ministry of the Interior in Dagestan.”
“Scientists at the Russian Academy of Science in Dagestan were cautious and related their unwillingness to state if the object in question was indeed a UFO.”
“Several civilian witnesses agreed on the description of the lights arrangement on the mysterious phenomenon while hesitating to ascribe its origin to a secret weapon of the Russian Army or some new weapon in the hands of the Islamic separatists.”
STAVKA (Russian military command–J.T.) in Dagestan scrambled a flight of Sukhoi Su-27 jet fighters to intercept the UFO but “the jet fighters arrived–too late–into the pursuit.”
“Acting quickly to forestall any possible rumors,” the Russians “indicated that it could be a NATO spy plane interested in Russian military maneuvers in the Caucasus and the Caspian” regions.
On the rebel side, however, the Muslims hailed the UFO phenomenon as a sign from Allah.
“”Muslim leaders in Dagestan were less ambiguous in their statements.” They claimed “the strange phenomenon was a portent which bore a message from Allah himself. Even an imam (Islamic spiritual leader–J.T.) for Dagestan stated that without any doubt ‘a djinn (genie–J.T.), an angel or another heavenly being, since Allah’s Garden of Bliss is filled with these.'”
Three days later, the small Caucasus nation of Georgia, located 320 kilometers (200 miles) southwest of the Caspian Sea, suffered a mysterious nationwide power failure.
“Georgia’s power grid failed Friday,” November 19, 2000) throwing most of the Caucasus Mountain country of 5.3 million people into darkness and stranding rush hour subway passengers in the capital, Tbilsi, officials said.”
“Some lights were flickering back on several hours after sunset. The Black Sea town of Batumi, which gets part of its power from neighboring Turkey, had some electricity.”
“Hundreds of people gathered in dark streets Friday, sounding frantic and outraged. Some lit fires for light and warmth and chanted, ‘Light! Light!’ Motorists honked horns in protest. Most later went home.”
“The late afternoon blackout occurred when ‘the entire system, the whole grid, failed,’ Minister of Fuel and Energy David Mirtskhuvala said, calling it ‘a massive problem.'”
“‘Cold, hunger, everything in ruins–people are fleeing Georgia,’ said Valeri Beridze, 50, an engineer.”
“Subway service was restored later in the evening after a breakdown that left riders shaking with anxiety. ‘It was pitch dark, and I was scared,’ said Ivesta Darsavelidze, 30, a teacher.” (See the Spanish newspaper Diario de mallorca for November 15, 2000. Also the Chicago Tribune for November 18, 2000, “Protesters grow irate as blackouts plague ex-Soviet republic Georgia,” Section 1, page 8. Many thanks to Scott Corrales and Edoardo Russo for the Spanish newspaper article.)
CHUPACABRA SIGHTED IN NORTHERN ARGENTINA
“The Laboulaye police are looking into reports of a strange apparition in the city’s Belgrano neighborhood, although they dismiss the likelihood of it being an extra- terrestrial phenomenon.”
Laboulaye is a small city in northern Argentina, just south of the border with Bolivia, located about 900 kilometers (540 miles) northwest of Buenos Aires, the national capital.
“Regional Unit 10 of the Cordoba Provincial Police. headquartered in Laboulaye, is investigating the apparition of a creature that is described as ‘being ‘between a humanoid and a wolf.’, allegedly seen by witnesses in this well-populated neighborhood.”
“According to some locals, the creature moves nimbly between the shadows and is responsible for the deaths of small animals, which led them to recall a similar apparition seen last year in the city.”
“According to the Circulo Ovniologico Riocuartense (Ufology Circle of Rio Cuarto–J.T.), which studies these phenomena, the apparition could be linked to the ‘Chupacabra,’ an alleged animal which has attacked goats and sheep in a number of locations in Cordoba” province.
“Resident Jesus Peralta was the first to claim that he saw it in an empty field in the Belgrano neighborhood, to the north of the department of Roque Saenz Pena.”
“‘It looks just like a curly dog but of great size, with red eyes, walking on all fours and standing on two (hind) legs to howl. It’s swift and vanishes when one one tries to (cast a beam of) light on it.’ Peralta claims to have fired twice at it without any effect.”
“Several other witnesses tell of having seen it jump over a 2.2 meter (7-foot) barbed wire fence and run a 100-meter (330-foot) block in five seconds–twice as fast as the Olympic athletes who run such a distance.”
“The disconcerting description reached the ears of the Comision Investigadopre de Contactos Extraterrestres (Investigatory Commission for Extraterrestrial Contacts, also known as COMEX–J.T.) of Rio Cuarto, a UFO study group,. Lucio Rossi, a member of COMEX, was the first to state that this could be the infamous ‘Chupacabra’ and advised that the group will visit the provincial city to collect eyewitness accounts and further observe the phenomenon.” (See Megadiario de Rio Cuarto for November 19, 2000, and La Voz del Interior of Cordoba, Argentina for November 19, 2000. Muchas gracias a Gloria Coluchi y Scott Corrales, auto de los libros Chupacabras and Other Mysteries y Forbidden Mexico para eses articulos de diario.)
STRANGE SIGHTINGS REPORTED IN RENDLESHAM FOREST
“The first investigator to research the Rendlesham UFO sightings will return to the site of the alleged landing (in 1980) to search for other strange lights.”
“Ufologist Brenda Butler claims there has been a marked increase in unidentified bright lights in recent weeks, which are centered upon Rendlesham Forest, close to the former American air base at Woodbridge.”
“She will be among a group of UFO spotters from throughout East Anglia who will converge on the forest to spend time monitoring the skies to gain evidence to back up their claims.”
“Mrs. Butler, who’s writing a book about her UFO experiences, said, ‘Reports of orange balls, white balls, little people (humanoids), discs, roaring noises, weird animal noises and footprints all go to show something is still not right in Rendlesham Forest.'”
“Mrs. Butler, a supervisor in a home for people with learning difficulties, said, ‘Since 1980, there have been lots of sightings, but in the last two years an enormous number seen by members of Skywatch and by people living in the area.'”
‘There is definitely something going on. If you take into account all these sightings, and I think they are coming in through a hole in time. To me, they look like holograms.'”
“She was the first person to investigate the 1980 incident close to the east gate at Woodbridge airfield after an American told a friend of Mrs. Butler’s what he had seen.”
“But it was not until 1983 that the story became world famous with the publication of an official memo written by the deputy base commander, Lt. Col. Charles Halt,” USAF. (See the Evening Star of Suffolk, UK for November 17, 2000, “UFO expected to return after new sightings.” Many thanks to Gerry Lovell for forwarding this newspaper article.)
“MILE-LONG” UFO SPOTTED IN WESTERN OKLAHOMA
On Friday afternoon, November 10, 2000, the male witness was outdoors at his rural home two miles southwest of Elk City, Oklahoma 10,500) in western Oklahoma when he saw a fast-moving group of black helicopters flying low over the prairie.
The witness described them as “five or six dark gray military helicopters.”
The following day, Saturday, November 11, 2000, at 7:10 p.m., Oklahoma ufologist Jim Hickman “was contacted by the witness,” who said “he was seeing” a UFO about one mile (1,600 meters) long “moving west of Elk City. He described the UFO as having three steady white lights and one blinking red (light). It was reported moving from the southeast to the southwest.”
Hickman reported, “I immediately went outside my residence and to my southwest I saw a very bright white light approximately 20 degrees above the horizon. It appeared to be much brighter than aircraft landing lights. I was able to look at the object through binoculars. It did appear to have three bright white lights and one blinking red, just as described. I noticed a white ‘beam’ aimed at the ground that went out just as I was looking at it. I estimated that the object was the size of a pencil eraser held at arm’s length.”
“The witness described the object as seen in the southwest. I saw it to the southwest. There are three to four miles between the two of us.. I’m estimating that the object was two miles to the southwest of me at its closest approach. The wind was five to ten miles per hour (8 to 16 kilometers per hour) from the north at the time of the sighting.”
“This got me interested so I jumped in my vehicle and drove to the area the witness had described. I could still see the object quite far off to the southwest, and it was a dull orange color. It had moved several miles in at least the five minutes it took me to get there.”
“I watched the object continue to move to the southwest and disappear,” Hickman added, “I decided to return to my residence at this time. A few minutes later, I received a call from the witness stating that they had seen the object suddenly disappear, and a bright yellow light flew straight up from it.”
“There have been several sightings of a similar object near the towns of Foss, Canute and Clinton Lake here in Oklahoma, and it appears we are having another flap.”
Elk City is on Interstate Highway I-40 approximately 113 miles (130 kilometers) west of Oklahoma City. (Many thanks to Jim Hickman for this report.)
WOMAN MOTORIST SEES A HOVERING UFO IN MINNESOTA
On Tuesday, November 14, 2000, at 8:30 p.m., Mary F. left the seminar she had been teaching in Little Falls, Minnesota (population 4,000), got into her car and took Highway 27 east. It was a cold, snowy night with a very low cloud overcast, limited visibility and intermittent snow flurries.
As Mary drove east on Highway 27, heading for Pierz, Minn. (population 800), “driving alone during the snowstorm, I noticed very bright blue and white lights hovering at treetop level” beside the highway.
“I have no idea which direction it approached from,” she added, “It made no sound at all.”
Mary could see no object or fuselage, just the bright lights just above the trees, about 60 feet (18 meters) above the ground.
Little Falls is located 95 miles (152 kilometers) northwest of Minneapolis. (Email Form Report)
(Editor’s Comment: It’s unlikely that this was a passenger jetliner making its final approach. It was too low. And the nearest airport with a runway long enough to handle a passenger jet is here in Duluth–130 miles to the northeast.)
UNUSUAL UFO SIGHTED IN SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
On Wednesday, November 1, 2000, the witness, an 18-year-old male, was walking his dog near Union Street in Springfield, Massachusetts (population 220,000) when he spotted a strange light in the clear evening sky
“I was outside for perhaps five minutes before happening to look up, when I saw what looked like a Mars or Venus-sized white star-like object in deep space; then in four to seven seconds, it suddenly grew two to three times brighter (looking like Jupiter or Saturn’s closest approach to Earth–witness) and then it seemed to get much closes to Earth for approximately two seconds. Then the white light almost simultaneously grew again in size to become approximately one-tenth of the moon’s radius, and it gave off a circular-shaped spotlight effect that seemed to almost beam down in my general direction some five blocks from downtown that was comparable to the effect from a lighthouse or a ground-based spotlight, only this was happening downward in my general direction from a position one to four miles (1,600 to 6,400 meters) overhead, with the object maintaining a static yet stationary position in the lower atmosphere.”
“What was particularly odd to me was how far away the object was when I first noticed it and how quickly it came to be so visibly larger and close, never moving laterally in my direction.. The outer white light border was comparable to the moon’s clean, crisp border but made of bright solid white light. The object and its white beaming circular light focused downward for several seconds, never wavering in intensity or size.”
“Then, just as suddenly, it shrunk in size in reverse order, losing its intensity as it seemed to move directly upward and away from my position to an altitude that seemed to be several miles higher. Then the white light, approximately one-fifth of its former maximum size and intensity, moved off 30 to 40 degrees to the right and away from my position and faded out, leaving a short noticeably white-and-blue light streak whose tail was comet-like in appearance.”
“What remained was an equally odd light blue/dark blue almost two-dimensional area filled with what looked like a hazy water-ripple halo effect which seemed to move in the same approximate direction as the blur of light (the UFO) . Within five to seven seconds, the halo effect was gone.”
“I was transfixed during the entire 15-second event and watched it in its entirety and waited for perhaps 20 minutes after the event, just to see if something else might occur but nothing did.”
Springfield is the third-largest city in Massachusetts and is located on Interstate Highway I-90, also known as the Mass Pike, and is located 90 miles (144 kilometers) west of Boston. (Many thanks to the Alberta UFO Group for this report.)
(Editor’s Note: Springfield has a long history of UFO sightings. On December 20, 1909, during L’affaire Tillinghast or “the great airship invasion,” an orange spherical UFO was seen hovering over the city.)
VIRGIN MARY APPEARS AT THREE SITES IN THE NORTHEASTERN USA
On Tuesday, November 6, 1000, the McLeod and Huelgas families were camped out on the shores of Squam Lake near Ashland, New Hampshire (population 1,500). The two couples “noticed what they thought was an unusual cloud formation reflected on the lake’s surface. Then they realized the skies above were completely cloudless.”
“‘I saw that it was forming a beautiful face and clasped hands so I ran to get my camera,’ says Don McLeod, a 39-year-old electrician. ‘By the time I got back, my wife was there along with another couple. It was clear to everyone standing there that the figure in the lake was an image of the Virgin Mary.'”
(Editor’s Note: Formerly known as Miriam bat-Joachim of Nazareth, Galilee.)
“The other couple, Victor and Elena Huelgas, also saw the image.”
“‘I’ve never seen anything like this before,’ Victor says, ‘It’s like God reached down and told us, ‘It’s OK, I’m watching over all of you.””
“The image faded the same day.”
(Editor’s Note: Squam Lake was a favorite powwow spot for Passaconaway, the spiritual leader of New Hampshire’s indigenous people during the Seventeenth Century. Once again, Miriam has popped up at a Native American power spot.)
“In the upstate town of Palz, New York, landscaper Roland Trahn sawed through the trunk of a dead elm tree on” Thursday, October 12, 2000, “and discovered the face of the Virgin Mary. It faded a week later, but not before throngs of pilgrims had traveled to worship it.”
“A hotel maid in Greenwich, Connecticut was cleaning a bathroom mirror on” Sunday, October 22, 2000 “when she noticed a rainbow-hued image of Mary gazing back at her. Other hotel workers rushed to the room and saw the face before it disappeared later that evening.” (See the tabloid Sun for November 28, 2000, “Lady in the Lake,” page 29.)
(Editor’s Comment: This has been a bumper year for Marian apparitions. They’ve been seen everywhere from Uganda to Egypt to the USA’s Northeast.)
READER FEEDBACK:
WHAT DOES THE HAMSTRUNG USA ELECTION HAVE TO DO WITH UFOs?
Cryptozoologist Loren Coleman of Maine writes, “Excuse me, but I don’t know which John is responsible for this week’s very pro-Bush and anti-Jewish statements, but could you explain to me what these have to do with UFOs? (See UFO Roundup, volume 5, number 46) I find these comments very unfortunate and out of place in your usual otherwise great Roundup.”
PRINCESS DIANA GHOST STORY WAS ORIGINALLY A TV COMEDY SKETCH
UK reader Dave Porter writes, “More about this ‘Princess Diana ghost’ story which riled me the other day. I now believe that it was lifted from a comedy sketch acted out on TV (in UK) by comic and impersonator Rory Bremner. Please try to check the info you get because we might feel that if one item is a hoax, then the rest might be as well.”
(Editor’s Comment: Connie, the young woman from whom I heard the Highgrove tale, told me that she heard it while shopping with her boyfriend in Willmar, Minnesota. This seems to be an urban legend that is spreading like wildfire. What started out as a comedy sketch on the BBC has turned into a “true ghost story” 4,500 miles to the west.)
“GIANT CRAB OF CEBU” STORY IS “RIDICULOUS”
Harvey, a reader from the Philippines, writes, “King Moalboal? It’s the name of a tow, and by the way the real name of the town is Boca-Boca, corrupted by the Spaniards, so there will never be a King Moalboal circa 707 A.D. (See UFO Roundup, volume 5, number 7, page 10.) And the name Anakmaganda is not even Visayan or Cebuano. It’s Tagalog, man! And hanbaan is a Tagalog word. In Cebuano, it’s anbam.”
“The tinikling dance is not even Cebuano. It’s an Ilocos dance.”
“I would like to know who wrote this article. I’m from Cebu myself, and I never heard of this story. I am from one of the families that descended from King Hamabar and Queen Maniwantiwan. I never EVER had heard of such a ridiculous story in my life!”
(Editor’s Comment: Unfortunately, Lewis Spence doesn’t list a source in his 1899 book, Myths and Tales of Our New Possessions. So the question is, where did Spence get this story? Did he hear it from a USA military officer who had served in Manila? Or did he lift it out of a feature story in a Hearst newspaper? No such story on Cebu, eh? Too bad. I kind of liked Alimango, the Giant Crab of Cebu.).
from the UFO Files…
1981: I TOUCHED BIGFOOT!
Mid-November of 1981 found the farms of Brockway Township in northeastern Michigan locked in the first cold snap and snow flurries of a Great Lakes winter.
But the weather wasn’t the only topic of conversation down at the Grange Hall. For a couple of weeks, local farmers had reported hearing “nighttime high-pitched screams.” While checking fences on the back pastures, farmers had discovered steel strands of barbed wire snapped in half and wooden posts two meters (six feet, seven inches) high literally torn out of the frozen ground.
“The Barone family,” who lived in Brockway Township, soon became aware that “some unknown creature was scaring the family and the farm animals with” its weird screams.
One November evening, thirteen-year-old Tina Barone heard a commotion in the barn–the stamping of hooves and whinnying of frightened horses. After heading downstairs, she put on her winter coat, a warm hat and her insulated gloves. Soon she was joined by her twelve-year-old sister, Roxanne.
“Where are you going?” Roxanne asked.
“The barn.” Tina nodded in that direction. “Something has the horses spooked. I’m going to go check it out.”
“Wait for me!” Roxanne ran to fetch her coat. “I’ll go with you.”
Soon the Barone sisters were making their way across the darkened farmyard. Wind gusts kicked up the powdery snow. Ahead loomed the barn, serenaded by the excited whicker of the horses.
Tina slid the barn door open. The heavy door rumbled on its aluminum track, and a host of familiar smells tickled her nose–the scent of damp hay, ripe grain and fresh horse manure.
“Are you sure you want to go in there?” Roxanne whispered.
Stepping over the threshold, Tina replied, “Well, we’ve come this far…”
Blackness enveloped them as they walked slowly down the aisle between the empty stalls. Up ahead, they could hear the restless horses. Tina thought she had detected another odor, as well. A strange, elusive musty scent, a faint woodland odor.
“Tina! Where are you!?”
“Right in front of you, Rox. Grab my jacket.”
“Got it!” The younger girl shuddered. “Boy, is it dark in here. I can’t see my hand in front of me.”
Groping with her two hands, Tina said, “Hold on. I think there’s a light switch right up ahead.”
All at once, Tina’s hand touched the wooden wall. She moved forward, letting her hand glide lightly down the wall in search of the switch. Then she made contact with something else. Something warm with matted, dirt-caked fur.
Later, Tina told the newspapers, “At first I thought it was a goat or something, so I took off my glove and I touched it again.”
“Uh-oh!” Tina murmured.
“What is it?” Roxanne whispered.
“I don’t know. But whatever it is, it sure ain’t a goat.”
Slowly Tina’s bare hand inched its way up the fur. When it rose past her face, she looked up and saw a gorilla-like face and a pair of gleaming red eyes.
“The beast that she saw glaring down at her with bright red eyes was no goat. It was two feet (0.6 meters) taller than the girls, and ‘its fur was about one inch (2.5 centimeters) thick and all matted and dirty.'”
Tina and Roxanne fled screaming from the barn. The creature let out a whuffing noise, sprang to the doorway leading into the corral, and vanished into the night.
Days later, when Mrs. Barone, the girls’ mother “learned that a tame bear had escaped from a nearby resident two years before, she identified that as their mystery visitor.”
“But Michigan Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologists were doubtful, saying that a bear would have been observed.”
“‘Bears are very visible. They aren’t nocturnal, and they have no natural enemies, so they don’t try to hide. It wasn’t very likely one could be here without seeing it,’ said the DNR biologist. (See the book The Evidence for Bigfoot and Other Man-Beasts by Janet and Colin Bord, The Aquarian Press, Wellingsborough, Nottinghamshire, UK, 1984, page 26. Also the Port Huron, Mich. Times-Herald for December 9, 1981 and January 29, 1982.)
That’s it for this week. We’ll be back in seven days with more UFO and paranormal news from around the planet Earth, brought to you by “the paper that goes home–UFO Roundup.” See you then. And to our USA readers, enjoy your Thanksgiving dinner!
