Professional Documents
Culture Documents
No. 460
issue $4.00
MUFON Director-elect
ames Carrion, right, Mutual UFO ~6twork
resent's MUFON Award
)r Excellence in Ufology
retiring Director John
chuessler, page 13.
. Independent confirma-
on adds credibility to
'alifornia cases, p. 11.
Calendar, p. 12.
Marketplace,
- p. 23
Columns
John Schuessler 2
Filer's Files 15
Ted Phillips 18
Stan Friedman 20
Gavin McLeod 24 The sighting of this object fr as only the beginning of n Midwestem erlcozrnter
which involved strange odors, physical traces, and possible illness. The article
begins on page 3.
August 2006 umber 460
MUFON,
r ?
..
John & Kathy Schuessler receiving accolades from members all
UFO Journal - to retire
After six years at the helm of
over the world.
At the annual July meeting of the
I. (USPS 002-970) MUFON. Kathy and I have decided it Business Board we discussed succes-
(ISSN 0270-6822) is time to step down. sion planning for key MUFON person-
As you all know. MUFON now has nel. This was stimulated by my notifi-
Mutual UFO Network an announced cation back in January that Kathy and I
Post Office Box 369 Mission with would like to retire by the end of 2006.
Morrison, CO 80465-0369 Goals and It was clear that all board members
Tel: 303-932-7709 Strategies were capable of running MUFON, but
Fax: 303-932-9279 aimed at keep- many of them were not in a position in
ing MUFON their careers that they wanted to make
International Director on track. the change right now.
John F. Schuessler, M.S. . And the or- Finally. after thorough deliberation.
- Tel: 303-932-7709 ganization is the board concluded that my successor
schuessler@rnho.net ' now guided by should be James Carrion of Bellvue.
an excellent
- . - Jolrtr Schrressler CO. '
i'
A
bizarre adventure awaited
Dottie and Danny Phillips
upon embarking on a trip
from Eagle Rock. MO, to a resort near
Mount Gilead. OH.
They left home in their truck and
camper at about 3 PM on Aug. 23,
2005. By midnight they were heading
east on 1-70 a few miles west of India-
napolis.
Dottie (primary wimess) was driving,
and noticed what appeared to be a fire
to the north. (See the encounter 1 lo- towards the east-northeast. red blotches over her skin. She also
cation on map.) She saw lights rising Effects of encounters noticed that black flakes would fall when
from the fire which appeared to follow Dottie noticed that her new shoes, she brushed her hair.
their vehicle. which were never worn before the trip, Danny had similar symptoms. Dottie
She immediately noticed a strong had begun to peel after the first encoun- had some pre-existing medical prob-
odor similar to creosol, burnt tar, and ter near Indianapolis.' After the second lems, but these problems were differ-
sulfuric acid. encounter, the surface of the shoes be- ent. She finally saw a physician on Oct.
They continued their journey, and a gan to flake and peel. (See photo on 11, and told the doctor about her UFO
couple of hours later pulled off the side following page.) encounters.
of the road to get some sleep. They The day after the second encounter, The doctor was not surprised, and
awoke around daylight and continued black residue from the shoes collected seemed to have knowledge of physical
their journey, stopping for breakfast and on a carpet of a relative's house. effects caused by being in the vicinity
running a few errands along the way. The couple returned home to Eagle of UFOs. (He worked for NASA un-
They arrived at the Ohio resort about 2 Rock on Aug. 30. Dottie reported her der a grant for the University of Arkan-
PM. incident near Indianapolis to the FBI sas to find evidence of extraterrestrial
At about 6 PM on Aug. 24 the couple office in Indianapolis. life.')
left the resort and drove to Danny's The FBI said that no fire had oc- He diagnosed Dottie's illness as
father's house in nearby Marion, OH. curred on the date and location seen by chemical pneumonia and severe kidney
They arrived at about 7 PM and left the couple, and they criticized Dottie infection. He told her that any radia-
about 10:45 PM. Eastbound on high- for not reporting the incident sooner. tion effects "from these kinds of things
way 95, they noticed a large light to the Dottie then called Homeland Secu- will be the dissipating kind."
north. rity and reported both incidents. Home- Dottie visited the same doctor two
They turned north onto highway 61. land Security said that they couldn't in- weeks later, and the treatment which had
It was about midnight, and they were vestigate, due to being involved with been prescribed by the doctor was
five miles down the road when they saw Hurricane Katrina. working. Recently, however, both
a large craft directly ahead of them and Dottie also reported the incidents to Dottie and Danny have become quite
over the highway. (See front cover, and the local sheriff, and was met with skep- ill.
note the encounter 2 location in the ticism. Dottie has been diagnosed with a
map.) The medical diagnosis neural disorder that apparently can be
They passed directly underneath the Both Danny and Dottie were not feel- caused from chemical exposure. Danny
craft. Again they smelled a very strong ing well when they returned to Eagle is also having severe digestiveproblems.
odor similar to that from their first en- Rock. Dottie had severe digestive Chemical analysis of the shoes (see
-counter. The craft was moving slowly problems, was coughing a lot, and had discussion below) suggests that phenols
after Project Blue Book was officially that he possessed the necessary exper- son, and the Special Collections Sec-
ended. tise in atmospheric physics, astronomy, tion agreed to house them. The cura-
Dismayed by the possibility that the and radar systems which McDonald felt tor there, Mr. Roger Myers, gave in-
Air Force would simply destroy all Blue was necessary to extract the data ef- valuable help and encouragement dur-
Book files because the Condon Report fectively. ing this process.
had brushed off the entire subject as not After he had demonstrated' his ex- The Fund for UFO Research
being of scientific value, McDonald pertise in these fields, she allowedhim (FIJFOR) generously granted $2,400
MUFON -UFOJournal August 2006
Ann DnrfSe1 with Betsy McDonald a t her home amid the 29 boxes of McDonaldkfiles, audio tapes, and record-
ing equipment, May, 1996.
to archive the files. Archiving required McDonald's living room-were moved those originally selected by McDonald.
acid-free file folders, plastic Mylar to the Special Collections Section of the The collection continues with the 580
sleeves for photos, and special storage library. Project Blue Book R-V files photocop-
boxes for other materials in order to Druffel's husband, Charles K., pay- ied by McDonald at Maxwell AFB.
insure their preservation. ing all of his own expenses, accompa- These are in four boxes, filed chro-
As the work continued, involving nied her on this trip and helped with nologically by date, as McDonald origi-
five trips from the Druffel home in some of the final archiving duties. nally arranged them. The dates on
Pasadena, CA. to Tucson. McDonald's In addition to the boxed materials. these R-V files begin with "June 1947,
contributions to UFO research proved the collection includes computer list- Hamburg, NY," and end with "July 11,
even more immense than anyone had ings of McDonald's.400-book UFO li- 1968, Nielson AFB, Alaska."
realized. brary and an itemized catalog of the There is also a collection of 16 large
All together, there were about 1,200 1,200 file folders. vinyl binders. Binder #6 might be of
files, each on a different UFO-related Handwritten journals special interest, as its contents seem to
subject. The collect~on also includes be a preliminary outline of the book
Besides the voluminous files in the McDonald's four handwritten journals, which McDonald had planned to write,
"UFO room," McDonald's former sec- dated 1958 through 1971, which out- rebutting the Condon Report.
retary, Margaret Sanderson-Rae, then lined his 17 years in the UFO field.3 The other binders contain Projects
a publications editor. found many other Two of these had been fully tran- Sign, Grudge, and Blue Book sightings
UFO-related items at the IAP which scribed by Druffel, with Betsy and other materials related to AF in-
were added to the original collection. McDonald's invaluable help. These volvement in UFO research.
Other academic colleagues at IAP, journals, prior to the archiving, were Box #21 contained eight thick maga-
including Dr. Benjamin Herman and totally unknown to anyone in the field. zine holders, in which McDonald had
Dr. William Sellers, searched out other The UFO archives are housed in the placed miscellaneous information, in-
items in storage which were added to Personal Collections Section, where cluding propulsion theories related to
McDonald's UFO files. they are available to the public in a care- UFOs.
In all, the archiving took four years. fully-guarded Reading Room Biographical material includes the
As the complexity of the files became They include hundreds of files con- Memorial Resolution prepared and
clearer, additional archival materials taining McDonald's research on UFO signed by several of McDonald's IAP
had to be obtained, and the Fund for cases, classic and otherwise, as well as colleagues upon the event of his death.
UFO Research graciously increased correspondence and other materials Thls remains the most fitting biographi-
their grant to $3,500 to cover various connected with his numerous seminars cal sketch to describe McDonald's aca-
unexpected expenses. and symposia talks before scientific demic life and scientific contributions.
In May, 1996, 29 boxes compris- groups.This section filled 15 storage Also included is a biographical ar-
ing McDonald's entire UFO files- boxes alone. ticle by AM Druffel, published in IUR
which filled an entire comer in the The file names are, for the most part, (International UFO Reporter), a quar-
dio tapes was entirely eliminated. 51tis estimated that the entire job of pounds called PAHs, which are among
When Druffel and Uhlenkott first converting McDonald's 113 tape reels many organic chemicals that show up .a>,
heard the results in McCarron's studio, into the (finalized) 110 CDs would in living organisms on Earth.
it was as if McDonald, himself, was have cost at least $30,000 if it were Another reported surprise: The team
speaking in the room! done on a regular cornrnercialltime ba- has detected an unexpectedly high con-
Now that same excitement can be sis, without any editing or sound centration of methyl cyanide.
experienced by anyone who accesses cleanup at all. The project, as com- Biologists say methyl cyanide is a
the tapes in the Special Collections Sec- pleted, must be considered essentially key player in reactions that form DNA.
tion in Tucson. It is hoped that eventu- priceless. (Christian Science Monitor). .
10 MUFON UFO Journal August 2006
Independent.confirmation adds credibility
for witnesses, investigators in UFO cases
By Preston Dennett
The only thing more exciting for a
UFO investigator than discovering a hot
new case is getting independent con-
firmation of that same case. That kind
of validation and corroboration can add
considerable credibility to the case.
While doing research for my latest
book, UFOs Over Califontin(Schiffer
Publishing. 2005). I was able to un-
cover additional information to help
corroborate several famous and/or
little-known California UFO events.
Playa Del Ray
One outstanding example of this
concerns the Playa Del Rey UFO land-
ing case of Nov. 6,1957. This incred-
ible case was covered in several news-
papers and featured in Charles Bowen's
classic book, The Humanoids. What
follows is a brief summary of the inci-
dent. peared to be speaking a foreign lan- sightings, local police stations in Long
At 5:40 on that morning, General guage. After a few moments, the fig- Beach received more than 100 calls
Telephone Company employee Richard ures went back into the craft, which from concerned Long Beach citizens
Keyhoe was driving along the Pacific then took off and disappeared. reporting UFOs. I
Coast Highway when his engine mys- Once the object was gone, the car Clearly, the Playa Del Rey landing ,
teriously stalled. engines started running again. Joe Tho- was not an isolated ev,ent!
As he got out of his car; he noticed mas was so unnerved by the incident - Point Magu sighting
that the engines of two other cars had that he reported it to the local police, Another good example is Blue Book
also stalled, and their passengers were which was eventually leaked to the Case #2361.
also exiting their vehicles. media, forever establishing the incident When UFO activity was reported by
At that point, Keyhoe and the two as a "classic case." base personnel over Point Mugu Na-
other drivers, Ronald Burke of Here is where the new information val Base on the evening of Jan. 28,
Redondo Beach and Joe Thomas of comes in. Unknown to any of the three 1953, Blue Book officers were brought
Torrance, observed a large "egg- witnesses, events were still in progress. in to investigate. After interviewing the
shaped" object surrounded in a "blue About ten hours later, at 3 5 0 PM, witnesses, they labeled the case "uni-
haze" landed on the beach only a few and less than 50 miles to the south, a dentified."
yards away. commanding officer and 12 airmen Apparently unknown to the Blue
The object was "tan or cream in color from an Air Force weather detachment Book officers, however, was that the
with two metal rings around it, upon at Long Beach sighted six saucer- Point Mugu sighting was the tail end
which the object apparently rested." shaped objects zoom across the sky,just of a much larger case.
As they watched, two human-look- under a 7,000-foot cloud cover. Immediately prior to the incident and
ing figures with "yellowish-green skin" If that's not enough, about two hours about 50 miles further south, intense
and wearing "black leather pants, white later, between 6:05 and 7:25 PM, ad- UFO activity was reported over the cit-
belts and light colored jerseys" exited ditional officers at the Los Alarnitos Na- ies of Newport Beach and Long Beach.
the object and began asking questions val Air Station reported seeing "numer- At 9 PM that evening, personnel at
of the stunned witnesses. ous" unidentified objects zoom over- the El Toro Marine Base control tower
Keyhoe and the others were unable head. observed an unknown object in the
to understand the occupants, who ap- Finally, at the same time as the above nearby vicinity. 'At the same time,
August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal
observers in the Long Beach Airport seem like isolated events, in fact they Most UFO researchers agree that the
control tower also observed the object. are usually part of a larger chain of vast majority of witnesses do not re-
Marine jet pilot Maj. Harvey Patton occurences. Although UFO witnesses port their encounters. Clearly, in many
was scrambled after the mysterious may think they are alone with their ex- cases, we are still seeing only the tip of
visitor. He was able to pursue the UFO, perience, often they are not. the iceberg of what is really going on.
which was described as "a large fiery I uncovered many other' such ex-
red disc-shaped object." amples of independent confiiation of (Excerpted by author from UFOs
After four minutes of pursuit, Maj. California UFO events. One can only Over California: A True History of
Patton was unable to close the distance wonder how many other people are Extraterrestrial Encozmters in the
between him and the object, and there witnesses to the same extraordinary Golden State. Schiffer Publishing,
the case seemed to end. Instead, as we UFO event, but don't know who to tell. 2005 .)
have seen, the object apparently con-
tinued on towards Point Mugu.
The Van Nuys case
A third example involves a little-
known UFO landing case in Van Nuys.
CA. In mid-June, 1955, Ted Kettridge,
a young electrician, told reporters that
he was awakened in the middle of the
A yeti relic the photos we took inside the dark
night by the barking of his dogs.
monastaries did not turn out well.
Exiting his home, he was amazed to I would like to comment on an ar- There would be no reason for these
see' a gigantic gold-colored sphere in ticle by Stan Gordon a few issues back. monks to pull a hoax on us, as having a
hi's front yard. Standing next to the In his article he mentioned that the wit- letter from his holiness in that area was
object were three seven-foot-tall hu- ness had a close look at the creature. like having a letter from God. I believe
man-looking figures. The witness stated, 'The head of the
the British team came up empty on their
They appeared friendly, had long creature seemed to be cone-shaped." quest.
flowing hair, and spoke flawless En- This I think is a key observation. Here's -Roger Sugden
glish, "as if they had memorized thou- why I say that. Assistant State Director, Indiana
sands of conversations and were repeat- In 1988 I was part of an expedition
ing the words on tape." to the Himalaya. We had a letter fron
Says Kettridge, "[The] men ap- His Holiness The Dali Lahma. This let-
proached me without hesitation and told ter allowed us access to areas that
me not to be frightened." The visitors would otherwise never have been open Sept. 16-17-Mothman Festival,
then imparted a few brief philosophi- to us. Point Pleasant, WV, 740-286-4772,
cal messages and left. We were in Nepal in the Everest re- www.mothrnanlives.com;
Says Kettridge, "I was really scared. gion, as was a British expedition. The Oct. 28-Mysteries of Space & Sky
In fact, the whole thing seemed like a British expedition was there looking for III,near Annapolis, MD, featuring Don
dream, only I know it wasn't. Several the elusive yeti. Berliner, RobISue Swiatek, Anna-
other people in the valley had seen the We were there to document the Ti- Jamerson, Dr. Charles Ernmons, and
same thing, even talked with the men. betan lifesyle, and while we were in one conference organizer Dr. S. Peter Resta
I just hope I never see it again." of the monastaries there were a few (spr100@aol.com) 410-360-1 168 X 8.
The above incident was uncovered items that were brought out for us to Nov. 3-4-National UFO Confer-
by investigatorTimothy Green Beckley. see. ence, Hollywood, CA, 858-523-1068,
Charles Bowen uncovered the follow- One of these items was what the www.nufoc.org.
ing related case. monks told us was a yeti scull cap. The Nov. 10-12-UFO Crash Retrieval
One month later, on July 20,1955, a yeti is a sacred being in the Himalaya, Conference, Las Vegas, NV; 720-887-
"huge ball-shaped object" landed in the and it was kept inside the monastary 817 1, www.ufoconference.com. .
immediately adjacent town of Pan- away from the trekers and tourists. Nov. 17-20-Crop Circles & Keys to
orama City. It was covered with hair, and was Higher Consciousness, Tempe, AZ,
Witnesses from three neighboring indeed cone shaped, or to be more pre- featuring J.J. Hurtak, Russell Targ, Wil-
homes observed "three beings approxi- cise, it curved up from the widest part liam Henry, Jim Marrs, Linda Moulton
mately 6 feet 8 inches in height, with to the top, looking like it had two sides. Howe, Francine Blake, Nancy Talbott,
long blond hair and tight green suits." However, if you looked at it from a Flordemayo, Philip Gardiner, Bert
Two of the witnesses reported that the different angle it would certainly look Janssen, Heather Clewett, & Chet &
beings made "gestures of friendship." cone shaped. I will see if there are any Kallista Snow. www.chetsnow.com,
While many UFO encounters may photos that we took of this, as many of 928-204- 1955.
12 MUFON UFO Journal August 2006
John Schuessler retiring as Director;
*
James Carrion chosen as next leader
By Dwight Connelly
Journal editor
John Schuessler, who has served as
International Director of MUFON for
the past six years, is retiring, and James
Carrion. director of MUFON's Pandora
Project. will be the new director.
While Schuessler's retirement was
news to the public and most MUFON
members, Board members have been
aware for some time of his desire to
reduce his role with MUFON.
"I have had some health problems."
he explains. "and just don't have the
energy to keep going seven days a
Retiring MUFON International John S c h u e s s l ~who has served
week. Kathy and I feel we have earned
some time for ourselves." Director John Schzresslel; right, con- zrfologyfor more than 40 years as re-
He noted, however, that he will re- gratulates International Director- searcher, author, .and leader, was
main as active with MUFON as his elect James Carrion on his selection presented MUFONS first annual
health pennitsin whatever capacity that by the MUFON Board. Award for Excellence in Ufology.
best suits the needs of the organization.
Schuessler says that Carrion, who
lias served as a member of the Board, My lifelong interest in UFOs
will do a great job as director. By James Carrion I was also actively involved with re-
"James is smart, a hard worker, re- When I was a young boy of 11, I searching Chupacabra activity and all
liable. a team player. and a success in was fascinated by stories of aliens, of the Laguna Cartagena UFO sightings.
the business world," says Schuessler. UFOs, and related phenomena, and One of my father's dogs was even the
"He will not only continue the projects began my own news clipping collection. possible victim of a Chupacabra attack.
now underway, but will utilize his con- My mother subscribed to all the ma- Even to this day, Puerto Rico is a hot-
siderable talents to expand MUFON's jor tabloid publications, and they pro- bed for UFO activity.
role in ufology." vided many of the news articles in my I left Puerto Rico to join the U.S.
The transition from Schuessler to collection. Army, where I worked as a Russian lin-
Carrion will take place over the next My family moved to Puerto Rico guist and signals intelligence analyst,
four or five months, with Cariion ex- around this time, and it was there that I and I was stationed for two years in
pected to assume full responsibility in had my first exposure to others inter- Augsburg, Germany.
November or December in a gradual ested in the subject. In 1987I left the military and moved
shifting of roles. There was a local UFO group that to Tallahassee, FL, to attend college.
As Carrion becomes familiar with was actively involved in going to El While living there, I became fascinated
the duties of Director, Kristen Yunque, Puerto Rico's national park and with the story of the Gulf Breeze six, a
Kennington will be learning the office rain forest, where they attempted to group of young soldiers who went
procedures currently being carried out communicate and meet with alien spe- AWOL from their base in Augsburg,
by Schuessler's wife, Kathy. cies. Germany, to search for UFOs in Gulf
Ms. Kennington has been assisting Unfortunately, my father did not al- Breeze.
Canion with the Pandora Project, and low me to accompany the group, as he All six of these soldiers were also
assisted Kathy at the recent sympo- believed that UFOs were evil and de- military intelligence analysts (from a sis-
sium. "Kristen is detail oriented, and monic in nature. According to other ter unit), and I was intrigued as to what
will make a great office manager," says group members, their communication would cause a group of young, intelli-
Camon. attempts were successful. gent, and psychologically competent
August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal
I
individuals (having achieved top secret My goal is to put together the largest
clearances with special background in- UFO database in the world that can be James Carrion resume
vestigations) to pursue their quest while easily accessed by our own research -
1996 Present: M o'u n t a i n
knowing they could face possible prison teams for data-mining purposes. View Systems, LLC, Bellvue, CO,
time and charges of treason. After reviewing most of the files Chief Executive Officer and founder.
One of the Gulf Breeze six even at- MUFON has amassed over the years, I Manage a private computer training
tended the MUFON symposium that am still in awe at the dedication and pro- company that specializesin accelerated
was being held in Pensacola at the time. fessionalism shown by the many computer technical training and com-
That was the first time that I heard of MUFON investigators who took their puter based tutorials (CBTs).
MUFON. Lead instructor and curriculum de-
investigation work so seriously.My goal
In 1996I moved to Greeley, CO, with signer. Winner of the 2005 and 2006
is to make their Information Technology Professional
my wife Lisa so she could attend gradu-
ate school at the University of Colo- magazine award for best accelerated
rado. technical training.
I quickly found myself attending the 1995-1996: Florida State Univer-
MUFON Denver meetings, and joined sity. Tallahassee, FL. Computer Ser-
MUFON soon after. I traveled with vices manager. Responsible for com-
MUFON Colorado members to the cel- puter support for all university admin-
ebration of the 50'" anniversary of the istrative departments.
Roswell incident. Managed a staff of 20 computer
That same year I passed my MUFON r e v i s e d 1;' ,,i ... technicianslengineers.as well as a help
investigator exam and was assigned as MUFONmis- I . . desk that provided excellent customer
state section director for Northeastern sion statement 1.. ' ' service and technical support to com-
L. . -. . -
Colorado. When I moved to Bellvue, and goals. I puter end users. Responsible for evalu-
Carrion ating, purchasing, and implementing
CO, I vacated that position and took was asked to
over as the Northwestern Colorado sec- join the board soon after, and have multi-million dollar computer network
tion director. proudly sewed on it since. hardware and software systems.
In 2003 I proposed to the board the I consider myself a skeptical believer - 1994-1995: Datafex, Inc., Talla-
Pandora Project, and after board ap- in UFOs-skeptical from the point of hassee, FL. Computer technical trainer.
proval began work on it. view that I don't take a UFO sighting at Taught Microsoft and Novel1 technical
Since the files were in Denver, it was face value, but believe that each case training classes to computer profession-
difficult to remotely manage what is es- should be rigorously investigated with als. Provided computer consulting ser-
sentially a very hands-on volunteer- an open but - scientifically discerning vices.
based project. In 2005 I moved the mind. 1987-1994: Florida State Univer-
MUFON files to my home in Bellvue sity, Tallahassee, FL. Computer sup-
At the same time, I believe that the
so I could have more of an active role. port engineer.
UFO phenomenon is real, and although
Since then, I-along with a paid part- 1983-1989: United States Army
I have never had a UFO sighting my- (active and reserve). Signals intelli-
time worker-have processed all of the self, I can't discount the thousands
U.S. files. gence analyst/Russian-Spanishlinguist.
upon thousands of sightings experi- Responsible.forinterception and analy-
This is a very time intensive task of
enced by others. sis of foreign voice communications for
separating out discreet cases, assign-
ing each case a unique Pandora num- I also sincerely hope one day within the National Security Agency (NSA),
ber which is entered into a computer my lifetime that UFOLOGY will be M y targeting the former Soviet bloc coun-
database, and then placing each case in embraced by most mainstream scien- tries prior to the end of the cold war.
a new labeled folder. tists instead of being treated as a pseudo Flight crew member on voice inter-
The files are then scanned by a third science and an object of ridicule-and cept missions (flights) between Key
party imaging company. Thus far, more that MUFON will be the major catalyst West, FL, and Guantanarno Bay, Cuba.
than 9,000 U.S. cases have already been in accomplishing ths. Education
scanned and archived on DVD. The In order to reach this and other 1989-1991: Florida State Univer-
remaining international and other mis- MUFON goals, I plan to stress solid sity, M.A. International Affairs.
cellaneous files will be archived soon. research, expanded educational activi- 1987-1989: Florida State Univer-
I believe, as Dr. Hynek did, that if ties, more involvement of young people sity, B.A. Russian Language with a
we collect enough sighting data and put and women, international cooperation minor in Spanish
it in the proper electronic format, we with other reputable groups, and high 1983-1984: Defense Language In-
will start to see patterns emerge that we ethical standards. stitute, Monterey, CA, 47-week inten-
did not previously notice. sive Russian language course.
14 MUFON UFO Journal August 2006
Note: These reports are presented in or- but he was a charming child and a bless- watch over the children. A swimming
der to keep readers informed of some of the ing to each person who met him. Many pool is 14 times more likely than a
vast number of sightings being reported. were touched by Georgie's love and motor vehicle to be involved in the
However, these cases have not been officially happiness. death of a child age 4 and under.
investigated, unless noted. He would give a rock to his school I asked God, why take someone so
bus driver each day, flowers to his young and loving? I like to think God
Drowning our youth mother, and little seashells to, his has a greater need for him in Heaven.
This month I have dedicated these friends. His Golden Retriever was his Alex, who is Georgie's sister, told me
Files to the accidental drowning of my constant compan- he is watching over us right now.
grandson. Georgie. ion, and even but- Georgie and I ask that you help save
Georgie's gift of life terflies would some other child. so you may be spared
Every so often you see a bright shin- land on his fin- the grief of losing a child you love.
ing star in the skies. Georgie's light of gers. When you go to Heaven, expect to see
love and happiness was here for five It was one of Georgie greeting you and saying, "We
years. the greatest love you, BE HAPPY, let me show you
George A. Filer V was my son's son, shocks of my life my room."
who was the happiest and sweetest kid to lose such a pre- I'm looking for your help in spread-
you would ever want to meet. cious gift as ing information about Georgie's gifts
I announced his birth at the Wash- George. I have and the danger in our pools. Please con-
ington National Press Club Disclosure George cried more in the tact me at Majorstar@aol.com
Briefing to 150 reporters in May of last few days than I have in my whole
2001. Because of Georgie, I agreed to life, and have promised to give a warn-
testify about UFOs. I'm devastated to ing to others.
Lights over Phoenix
report he drowned in his mother's par- When George died, he gave his eyes Don Ecker interviewed photojour-
ents' pool on July 6,2006. to another child, who can now see. nalist Jeff Woolwine, who filmed a
He always ran up to hug me and give I am asking for your help so Georgie rather amazing piece of footage over
a big happy kiss to my wife and me. will not be forgotten-that he has not Phoenix on July 4,2006. Jeff believes
He was the loving star of our family, died in vain. these lights to be "individual entities."
and he had the nickname of Prince He died in a swimming pool acci- A spokesman for Dark Matters Ra-
George. dent, one of about 1,450 young chil- dio says, "We're inclined to believe that
He would sit on my lap and want dren, most under five years old, who this is a singular large aircraft, currently
me to read him stories. He particularly die each year from drowning, typically of unknown origin, that is banking to
liked Spiderman, race cars, and Tho- in backyard pools. the right and pivoting on its nose."
mas Trains. I often wondered how he To put this in perspective, we lost According to Jeff, the Air Force has
could be so happy. He would give me about 1,000soldiers fighting in Iraq and already made a statement that these
a hug ind a kiss and say, "Love You," Afghanistan last year. We lose a third lights were nothing more than flares.
or tell you his favorite saying, "Be more of oudittle children in our pools, This singular event is spectacular for
happy!" yet I see only explosions or terrorist two reasons: this is the second sighting
His personality was exuberant and bombs on our newscasts. over the Phoenix area in recent history
loving, and he often wore his No warnings about the death traps that has been captured by video, and
Spiderman costume, who has breath- in our pools and spas. Yours or your no one is paying attention-again.
taking battles with fearsome criminals. neighbor's. pools can cause death just Without a doubt this is an important
Virtually everyone liked or loved as deadly as roadside bombs. event and deserves more attention and
him. He was born with a smile and Tell your friends about Georgie, and research than it is currently getting. So
showed love for all those around him. warn them to watch their children ev- tell everyone you know, your email list,
He liked to snuggle in your arms. ery minute when near water. It is very your message board favorites, your
His life was a very short five years, important that someone is in charge to neighbor, and perfect strangers to visit
August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal
the Dark Matters website and get this
footage. Thanks to Dark Matters Ra-
dio. ww,w.darkmattersradio.com.
Marley Woods-bovine incisions feet'to the west. The horse would not farm, as if landing. They drove toward
In previous columns I discussed go into either of the rings. the area to see if they could find the
some of the strange sightings related to He found in these fields two gates object, but all was dark. The object had
an area of Missouri which I call Marley of the same construction as the May 8, descended into the area of the old build-
Woods. 1999, event located a mile south. ings on Witness 53's property.
As I investigated, more and more The gates were forced to the ground, The next day they arrived at the farm,
reports came in over a period of time and the pivot pins were turned to the and, as they were watching the place
as area residents came to know and horizontal. The gates were still chained while Witness 53 was gone, they had
trust me. The strangeness did not stop. together and were not marked or dented keys to the gates. It was noon, a clear,
In June, 1999, by impact. The gates cannot be reached calm day.
a second area of by vehicle without unlocking two sets There is an old mobile home 40 feet
activity became of gates to access the fields. SE of the house, which is also quite old
known as the There have been numerous sightings and in bad shape. The entire area was
cabin owner was by Witness 53 and his father over the grown up with high weeds. Witness 73
visiting with his years in this area. A brilliant globe was stopped the car 20 feet from the house
neighbor. Wit- seen on the ground, and video was and walked to the mobile home to check
ness 53. taken of it by Witnesses 11 & 12 from it.
This site is lo- their home 2,000 feet away. His wife, Witness 74, watched from
cated 4,500 feet June 7, 1999: Witnesses 8 & 9 saw the car: she is a very large person, and
south of the orange lights at 10 PM from their farm it is difficult for her to enter or exit the
cabin, and is one Phillips south of the cabin. car. Her view was of the mobile home
of three farms June 16,1999: at the cabin, the care- to the right, and the house to the left.
owned by Witness 53. taker and two other people saw six of She watched as her husband walked
He was reluctant to discuss such the orange lights. One of the lights was from the mobile home toward the old
things, but finally became curious due east over the old barn, followed by house. Suddenly he fell to the ground.
enough to talk. In June, 1999, he had three more in a triangular pattem. The His wife, fearing he had a heart at-
been finding numerous cattle dead un- other two were single lights in the north- tack, left the car and headed for the path
der odd circumstances. east. to the house. She called to him and
The animals were found in the area June 24, 1999: at the cabin, three asked if he was okay. It took him sev-
of an old farm house located on the next witnesses took videos of large white eral seconds to reply in a very weak
high hill south of the cabin. He would light at 9:21 PM. As'the object moved voice.
find a calf just born with the mother, across the sky they could see small A strange force
and the next morning the calf would be lighted objects racing toward the larger She asked him if he could get up,
picked clean of its flesh, the mother still one. The display was seen for ten min- and he said he wasn't sure. When she
close to it. utes. got closer to him she could see that he
This was strange enough, but over a At 10:10 PM another large. white was face down. As she reached him she
period of several days this continued, light moved south, and again smaller felt a "force" or pressure against her
and each time he would find a large ring white lights were videoed as they raced upper back and shoulders and was also
a short distance away from the calf. The toward, and then from, the larger light. pushed to the ground, falling next to her
soil in these rings appeared baked, but July, 1999:Witnesses 73 & 74, both husband.
the center was normal. The rings were in their mid-6OYs,live 2,000 feet west They managed to help each other off
about 20 feet in diameter. of the second farm owned by Witness the ground. He said he was walking
- Near the end of June he was riding 53. One evening in early July the wife between the house and the mobile home
his horse when the animal reacted to saw a "craft" with lights passing over when he was suddenly "pushed" vio-
something, reared up, and almost their house. lently straight ahead. Both reported they
'tossed him off. He calmed the horse and She called to her husband, and they felt two distinct "blows" before falling.
found two more 20-foot rings identical both watched as the object slowly de- He suffered a bloody right leg from
to the 8 other rings located some 800 scended into the woods on Witness 53's the hip to the foot, developed a blood
MUFON UFO Journal August 2006
clot above his right knee, and spent sev- direction and flew away at high speed. The ring of swirled foliage was com-
eral days in the hospital. July 20, 1999: at the cabin. Owner pressed by a very high pressure of some
This couple is highly regarded in the R reported, "Today at about 2:15 PM sort, applied from above. The central
community. They have not reported or while I was driving a cow through the area was exposed to less force.
discussed the event with anyone except 12-foot wide fence alley to my corral, I The swirled area is circular, but
1. a close family friend, and she told R happened upon a large circular area of slightly elongated east to west. It mea-
and me about it. They refused to talk flattened and swirled grass between the sured 9.3 feet north-south, 8.95 feet
with us, even though they have known alley fences. I called Ted on my cell east-west. The alley fences are 12 feet
R for many years. phone, and he arrived at my farm at apart, and the ring edges were: 6 inches
The husband was an avid hunter his 7:30 PM." from the west fence, and 30 inches from
entire life, and he not only stopped hunt- The ring is located 245 feet north- the east fence.
ing, but rarely leaves his house. east of the cabin, halfway down a slop- Samples were taken from the site.
July 7, 1999: at the cabin, at 8:16 ing field toward the area where the There were no compass deviations
PM one larger amber light seen by three gates were impacted earlier. The story across the area, and a metal detector
witnesses. pieced togther is as follows: indicated negative.
July 8, 1999: at the cabin, at 9:21 On the evening of July 19,1999, at CBP 1400 moisture tests on site and
PM two witnesses saw one amber light I1 PM, the caretaker heard the farm control showed no difference.
in the southeast. dogs "going crazy" to the northeast of No radiation was detected, no glow-
July 13,1999: at the cabin, two wit- the cabin. He saw a large white light in ing effects noted at night, normal in-
nesses saw a large white light from the the low east, and went back to bed. sect population in area, and there were
south at 9:30 PM. R took video for three The next day, the caretaker called the no marks or discoloration in the area.
minutes as it moved toward the cabin. cabin owner to tell him of a cow trying No additional swirled areas were
At one point it stopped. hovered for 15 to birth a calf. and she was having prob- found. and there had been no high wind
to 20 seconds, and moved away at high lems. The owner called the local vet, for the past three weeks.
speed due east. and joined him at the farm. Cattle react .
Enormous object The calf had to be removed from the On Aug. 8,1999, the owner tried to
July 14, 199: at the cabin, at 9:37 cow, and was dead. The head was de- drive 166 cattle through the alley. As
PM two witnesses saw "an enormous formed, as was one front leg. The calf the herd approached the swirled ring
object moving very slowly across the was "mummified"-the word used by they suddenly bolted and tried to get
sky from east to west. The object was the vet. through the barbed wire fences on each
longer than it was wide, and it was cov- The vet stated that he not seen this side, rather than cross the circle.
ered over the entire surface with vari- condition before, and it was "very odd." The owner and three helpers forced
ous dim (not blinking) lights. The property owner and caretaker the cattle back and away from the area.
"It made a very low humming sound herded the cow through a fenced alley Then they attempted to drive them
as it traveled, and when it was west of to put her in a barn. The alley has gates through the ring area in groups of ten,
us, it appeared to split in half, with the at each end allowing no access to cattle single file. . .
right half continuing west and the left or vehicles. The cattle went by the ring, single
half traveled southwest." A swirled circle file, stepping only in the 30-inch area
Video was taken, but only a few of They walked up the alley and found between the east fence and the edge of
the lights could be seen; the dark shapethe swirled circle in the high grass. The the ring. Not one touched even the edge
is not visible. The object was seen for fescue around the circle measured an of the swirled circle.
more than five minutes. average of 40 inches in height up to the This ring is located 330 feet south-
July 17,1999: at the cabin, Witness edge of the disturbed area. west of the gates that were pushed
21, caretaker of the property, reported The fescue was tightly swirled in a down earlier.
seeing two of the large orange lights clockwise pattern, flat to the ground. "Normal" sightings continued in
Plants were not broken, scorched, or
appear in the east in the direction of the July, with observations on the 22, 24,
old barn. dehydrated. There was no sign of heavy 29, and 30, all witnessed by two to 8
Shortly after their appearance, a weight or crushing effects. There were people.
bright white light moved across the sky no visible imprint marks. August, 1999: Only one observation
from north to south, then stopped for The center was two inches higher during the month-five witnesses saw a
two minutes east of the old barn. than the outer ring-it was swirled, but large white light.
July 18,1999: at the cabin the owner appeared to be somewhat pulled up September, 1999: observations on
saw a large white light straight over- also. We attempted to duplicate the ef- 4th, 13th, 16th, 21st, 22nd.
head. He braced his video camera on fects with boards, feet, and a large tire. October, 1999: 3 0 "normal"
the windmill framework, and as he When rolled down the fescue would sightings, two significant events.
taped the object, it instantly reversed spring back up. (Continued next month)
Plasmas and UFOs It was completed in 1955, and 21.5% tions could stand up to careful scrutiny.
As Yogi Berra once said, "It's d6jB of the cases could not be explained, Klass had even explained away the
vu all over again." separate from the 9.5% which had "in- Betty and Barney Hill sighting of Sep-
There was a lot of discussion the first sufficient Information." tember, 1961, as a plasma phenom-
two weeks of May about the soon to Did they really not know about enon! As might be expected, he came
be widely released United Kingdom Project GrudgeBlue Book Reports 1- up with at least one other explanation
Ministry of Defense UFO Volume: 12? Or the Congressional Hearings later.
"Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (246 pages) of July 29,1968, with tes- Jim dealt carefully with all aspects
(UAP) in the UK Air Defense Region." timony from 12 scientists including Carl of Klass' theories, such as pollution
The work in the report had actually Sagan, J.Al- being related to the plasma phenom-
been done between 1996 and 2000, and len Hynek, enon, about meteor-produced plasma
some had been classified SECRET be- James Har- blobs. etc.
cause of some still censored informa- der. James E. The simple fact of the matter, which
tion about radar. McDonald, was particularly impressive to me, hav-
A freedom of information request to myself, et al? ing worked on plasmas related to the
the UK Ministry of Defense by four UK These nuclear fusion propulsion system we
researchers seeking a copy had finally were all gov- were examining at Aerojet General
hit paydirt. For a week before the for- ernment- Nucleonics in the early 1960s, was that
mal release on the internet, news ar- sponsored Klass was shown to be wrong in every
ticles appeared. reports in, instance. Plasmasas the source of many
All stressed that the classified study English. UFO reports simply don't cut it.
consisting of more than 450 pages Stan Friedman U ~ O S as Plasmoids as sources for UFOs was
would be posted on the internet on May plasmas is also a topic pursued diligently in an
15. Supposedly the study had found that hardly a new notion. UFO debunker appendix of the Condon Report, "At-
UAPs (They didn't like the term UFOs) Philip Klass had published two articles mospheric Electricity and Plasma In-
did not present a threat to the security in Aviation Week and Space Technol- terpretations of UFOs" by Martin
of Great Britain. Most, it was said, ogy in 1966 suggesting a plasma ex- Altschuler.
could be explained as various blobs of planation for most UFO sightings. He It covered 32 pages, included 108
plasma. elaborated in detail in his first debunk- references, and did not conclude that
Frankly, I was incredulous. One ing book, UFOs Identijied, published many sightings could be explained by
blurb noted that there was supposedly in 1968. the plasma phenomenon.
a claim being made that this was only McDonald's work In my Congressional Hearings pa-
the second government-sponsored re- Dr. James E. McDonald, who was a per, I, too, had discussed plasmas and
port in English about UFOs. professor of physics in the Institute of UFOs, noting that indeed some plas-
The University of Colorado "Scien- Atmospheric Sciences at the Univer- mas might have been involved if they
tific Study of Unidentified Flying Ob- sity of Arizona, had already been dig- were located in the boundary layer
jects," done under the direction of ging into UFOs for a couple of years. around a flying saucer moving in the
physicist Edward U. Condon and usu- He discussed Klass' strange totally atmosphere.
ally referred to as the Condon report, unscientific hypotheses in great detail Benefits of created plasma
.was the other one. in 19 pages of his outstanding 40-page Many papers had been published
The latter volume was finished at the paper "UFOs: an International Scien- showing the great benefit that might be
end of 1968. Careful review indicates tific Problem" presented in Montreal obtained if one created such a plasma
that 30% of the 117 cases studied in on March 12, 1968, at the Canadian and interacted with electric andlor mag-
detail could not be identified. Aeronautics and Space Institute Astro- netic fields produced on board the craft.
Were the authors really unaware of nautics Symposium. Experiments 'indicated that one
Project Blue Book Special Report 14 There are 38 references in this pa- might control lift, drag, heating, radar
with its more than 240 charts, tables, per. Jim used quantitative science tech- profile, and sonic boom production.
graphs, and maps discussing 3,201 niques to show that none of Klass' Plasmas were of great military con-
sightings? many plasma and plasmoid explana- cern because rocket nose cones enter-
20 MUFON UFO Journal August 2006
ing back into the atmosphere would be very loose. If there was an earthquake natural events could also be causes."
going so fast that they would ionize the (even if only a magnitude 2 or 3) within And I could win the big lottery.
air, creating a plasma. Obviously it 300 miles and a few months of a sight- Or "No evidence exists to suggest
would be important to know how this ing, to him that meant correlation! that the phenomena seen are hostile or
would influence the drag and heating There are about a million earth- under any type of control, other than
on the nose cone. quakes per year, and many thousands that of natural physical forces." Would
Targeting nose cones accurately re- of sightings, so correlations are easy if somebody cleared only to Secret be
quires that one know the drag and also one gives enough leeway in the timing aware of any hostility?
the heating. I had a technical report lit- and location. ChristopherRutkowski of Secret versus Top Secret
erature search done in 1969 while at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg Of particular significance is the
McDonnell Douglas on the topic has published detailed rebuttals of simple fact that the study had only been
"Magnetoaerodynamics." Persinger's theories. classified SECRET. Those who have
It included 900 items, 90% of which Obviously, many UFOs observed looked at the almost completely (about
were classified. There has obviously from aircraft many thousands of feet 95%) redacted 156 National Security
been a great deal of technical research above the Earth are not produced by Agency UFO documents "released in
done on plasmas and the atmosphere. earthquakes. 1997 know that they were classified
Many will recall that when the Many people are not aware that plas- TOP SECRET UMBRA.
Apollo spacecraft returned from the mas are very important in all our lives. The 4 CIA UFO documents found
Moon there was a communications The Sun and all stars are not masses of by the NSA, which it took me 5 years
blackout because of the plasma region burning gas, but are plasmas: "electri- to obtain from the CIA under FOIA, all
produced adjacent to the spacecraft as cally conducting fluids." were classified TOP SECRET CODE
it entered the atmosphere. Fluorescent light bulbs have plasmas Word and were very heavily censored.
None of this was covered in the UK inside. Much radio wave propagation Wilbert Smith's 1950TOP SECRET
report. Instead they talked about mete- is produced by reflection from an ion- report indicated that UFOs were the
ors producing "buoyant plasma" that ized layer of the atmosphere. Scien- most classified subject in the USA. The
would move around and be mistaken tists studying nuclear fusion work with FBI said the military considered the
for flying saucers! plasmas all the time. problem TOP SECRET.
Ball lightning not a match They vary greatly in their character- As rioted in my MUFON 2005 pa-
Ball lightning was noted, though any istics. Marconi's early transmission per "Government UFO Lies," it is clear
comparison of size, color, and duration (1901) of radio waves across the ocean, that orders had been given to shoot
between the many reports of ball light- rather than being limited to the line of down UFOs if they didn't land when
ning and UFOs, as noted in BBSR 14, sight between transmitter and receiv- told to do so.
shows that the two groups don't match. ing antenna, was made possible by a Gen. Bolender stated, "Reports of
Klass had not made the comparison, layer of plasma about 60 miles above UFOs which could affect National Se-
although he liked BL as an explanation the Earth, the ionosphere. curity were not part of the Blue Book
for many reports. Some of the comments made in the System." The point is that no such ma-
Of special importance is the fact that advance publicity based on th'e sum- terial could be covered in a Plain Va-
ball lightning is normally less than 2' mary were truly ludicrous, such as nilla Secret document.
in diameter and rarely lasts more than UAP do exist and are "usually de- It is unfortunate that the author of
a few seconds .... And is essentially scribed as coloured lights and some- the report has remained anonymous. It
never noted where there haven't been times shapes," which leaves out most is thus impossible to know whether he
storms. sightings that are investigated and turn wasjust ignorant and an unwitting pawn,
Meteors do ionize the air, which is, out to be unidentifiable! or intentionally trying to deceive.
generally speaking, why we see the ion- Or "reports occur because they com- Supposedly the title given the docu-
ized air rather than the usually small prise unfamiliar and unexpected lights, ment, the "Condign" Report, is just a
piece of rock or metal that is actually shapes and patterns, in the context in random selection of letters! My dictio-
zooming along. which the observer sees them." nary says Condign means "well de-
The MOD report also focuses on the This doesn't really cover most pilot served, suitable...usually applied to pun-
work of Michael Persinger at sightings of nearby craft, obviously ishment."
Laurentian University in Sudbury, metallic, and intelligently controlled, Anybody who buys this balderdash
Ontario. He early on claimed that there nor the few thousand physical trace or the Condon report as the final word
was a connection between earthquake cases collected by Ted Phillips wherein on UFOs or UAP deserves to be pun-
lights produced by friction in rocks at craft are seen on or near the ground ished for being naive.
about the time of quakes and UFO before taking off. -fsphys @rogers.com
sightings. Or "Rare weather, atmospheric con- www.stantonfriedman.com
His correlation was, to say the least, ditions or other 'barely understood'
August 2006 MUFON UFO Journal
Director's Message
(Continued from page 2) Firestone Blvd., Suite #104-373, Investigator's Exam and are now
James, and the hand-over of the office Firestone, CO 80504-6427. Their tele- MUFON Field Investigators.
operations from Kathy to Kristen phone number is 303-651-7136 and All Field Investigator Trainees are
Kennington by the end of 2006, with their. FAX number is 303-651-7137. urged to self-study the MUFON Field
a major milestone occurring at the end Email: ufocongress @ msn.com. Web Investigator's Manual and take the
of October when the headquarters of- site: www.ufocongressstore.com. exam.
fice operation will shift from the Den- We owe a big, big thank you to Bob, The manual is available from
ver area to Bellvue, CO. Teri, Nicole, and the whole UFO Con- MUFON Headquarters for $25 plus
I am not leaving MUFON, and I will gress team for their outstanding audio- $3.50 p&h in the U.S. Total price for
continue to be a member of the Busi- visual support to the symposium. It is delivery outside of the U.S. is $49.50.
ness Board of Directors. a real pleasure to work closely with It may also be purchased on the Internet
I have served two three-year terms them. at www.mufon.com using PayPal.
as International Director and have ac-
complished many of the goals I person- Position Announcements New Lifetime Members
ally had for MUFON. It is a pleasure to announce that Ri- It is a pleasure to recognize two
That made the year 2006 a good time chard W. Beckwith of Rock Springs, members who became MUFON life-
to make the change. Further details of WY, has accepted the position of State time members at the 2006 MUFON
the change may be found in the article Director for Wyoming. We appreciate International UFO Symposium in Den-
by Dwight Connelly elsewhere in this the assistance we have received from ver. They are William Davis of
issue. Colorado State Director Leslie Vamicle Grandview, MO, and Roger Stutz of
in the oversight of the MUFON activi- Los Alamos, NM.
New Office Contact Information ties in Wyoming prior to the appoint- We are extremely grateful for this
Effective Nov. 1. 2006, MUFON ment of Richard. vote of confidence and outstanding level
will be operating from Bellvue, CO. George E. Lund IJI, State Direc- of support for MUFON.
The address will be: Mutual UFO tor for North Carolina, has appointed
Network, Inc., Post Office Box 279, Jeff Cochrane of Charlotte, NC, to the 2007 MUFON International
Bellvue, CO 805 12-0279. Phone: 970- position of Senior-Investigator for NC. UFO Symposium
221-1836 (221-1UFO). FAX: 970- He also appointed James E. Sutton of We hope you will start planning now
221-1209., Newport, NC, to the position of State to attend the 2007 symposium in Den-
Until that time, official correspon- Section Director for all counties east ver, CO, on the weekend of Aug. 10-
dence, memberships, merchandise or- of 1-95. 12, 2007. In addition to an outstand-
ders, etc. should continue to be sent to ing slate of speakers, you will be able
MUFON, P.O. Box 369, Momson, CO New Field Investigators to assist James Carrion with his new
80465-0369. Kathleen Marden, Director of MUFON initiatives and projects. It will
Field Investigator Training, has an- be another excellent event.
2006 MUFON International nounced that Russell Barrett of Okla-
UFO Symposium homa City, OK; Richard W. Beckwith SeptemberIOctober
The 2006 MUFON International of Rock Springs, WY; Kyle Boyat of Director's Messages
UFO Symposium was held in Denver, Esko, MN; Steven Clark of Aurora, James Carrion and I-will issue a
CO, on the weekend of July 14-16. It CO; Fletcher Gary of Huffman, TX; joint Director's Message for the Sep-
was a well-attended event and received David A. Henninger of Greenfield, tember and October issues of the
lots of local and national press cover- IN; Noel McClean of Arnold, CA; Lia MUFON UFO Journal as I phase out
age. L. McVicker of Lodi, CA; Monte of the International Director position.
The theme of the symposium, "Un- McDonald of Las Vegas, NV; James will also be providing articles
conventional Flying Objects: The Best Michelle Schwartzfisher of Eagle, for the journal describing his plans and
Evidence," was reinforced over and MI; Michael Stack of Deerfield, IL; initiatives.
over as the slate of outstanding speak- John Stampfli of Anaheim, CA;
ers provided their packages of evi- Martha Upton of Burlington, IA; Gre- Estate planning
dence. gory M. Von Schleh of Seattle, WA; Planned giving can be beneficial both
Symposium DVDs, videos and au- Vivian Walker of Carrnichael, CA; to MUFON and to your own tax and
dio CDs are available from the Inter- and Shirley M. Wheeler of Lodi, CA, estate situation. Please contact
national UFO Congress, 6160 have passed the MUFON Field MUFON headquarters for details.
MUFON UFO'Journal August 2006
The Cash-Landrztm UFO Incident
By John Schuessler (forward by B o b
Pratt), 323 pages, soft cover, 5 112 X 8
112. $20.00 plus $2.50 post. Please add
$4 additional for shipping outside the
- U.S. Available from MUFON, Box 369,
Morrison, CO 80465-0369.
By Gavin A. J. McLeod
September sky
Moon phases
Full Moon Sept. 7 (largest apparent
size for 2006)
Last Quarter Sept. 14
New Moon Sept. 22
First Quarter Sept. 30
Bright planets (evening sky)
Mercury (magnitude 1.37 to 1.38
to 1.33):Moving from Leo to Virgo.
For northern hemisphere observers,
Mercury will be difficult to see this
month. For southern hemisphere ob-
servers, Mercury will emerge into the
evening twilight sky in the west during
the second half of the month.
Mars (magnitude 1.8 to 1.7): In
Virgo. For northern hemisphere observ-
ers, Mars will not be observable until
December. For southern hemisphere
observers. Mars will become lost in the
evening twilight by midmonth.
Jupiter (magnitude - 1.9 to - 1.8):In Planetary grouping Sept. 20, 2006, before s~rnrise.
Libra. For northern hemisphere observ-
ers, Jupiter will be very low in the west- hemisphere observers, Saturn will of the Moon.
southwest durihg evening twilight, and emerge in the morning twilight in the Sept. 24: Spica 0.5 degrees north of
will set in the west-southwest about 2 east-northeast during the first half of the the Moon.
hours after the Sun. For more favored month, and by month's end will stand Sept. 26: Jupiter 5.0 degrees north
southern hemisphere observers, Jupi- less than 10 degrees high at the begin- of the Moon.
ter will stand about 35 degrees high in ning of morning twilight.. Sept. 28:Antares 0.5 degrees north
the west at the end of evening twilight Zodiacal light of the Moon.
and will set about 4 hours after the Sun Zodiacal light will be visible in north-
in the west-southwest. ern latitudes in the east before the start
Bright planets (morning sky of morning twilight from Sept. 21 to
Venus (magnitude -3.8): Moving Oct. 5. The phenomenon is visible only
from Leo to Virgo. For northern hemi- from very dark locations.
sphere observers, Venus will be very Zodiacal light is sunlight bouncing
low in the east-northeast during mom- off dust grains in our solar system. Look
ing twilight. For southern hemisphere for a pyramid of light in the morning
observers, Venus will become lost early sky somewhat like the light from a city
in the month in the bright east-north- or town just over the horizon.
east mornlng twilight sky. Conjunctions and occultations:
Saturn (magnitude 0.4 to 0.5): In Sept. 1 Antares 0.5 degrees north
Leo. orthe them hemisphere observ- of the Moon.
ers, Satu.m will continue to rise higher Sept. 5: Venus 0.8 degrees north of
in the morning sky. By month's end Regulus.
Saturn w@ stand about 25 degrees high Sept. 19: Saturn 2.0 degrees south
in the east at the beginning of morning of the Moon.
twilight. For less favored southern Sept. 24. Mercury 1.8 degrees north