The Informer, Volume 1 Number 6 brings us the
sad news that Chad Deetken, "famed for his wild and
over-ambitious claims regarding the increasing number of crop
formations in Canada", has been found flattened in a circle
close to his home. Apparently Deetken was rolled to death having
fallen asleep after spending "eight hours on his hands and
knees looking for signs of hoaxing" (don't worry Chad it
took me 6 years !). There is also a "review" of Barry
Reynolds' article in the September issue of The Circular.
I just love the Top Ten List of George's Worst Nightmares - eg
John MacNish reveals that he has footage of the Barbury Castle
formation being made by George's son Rupert - and Due to a mix-up
at the publishers, Jim Schnabel is commissioned to pen George's
biography ... If you want a copy of this superb mag I'd just love
to give you Rob Irving's address but even The Crop Watcher
doesn't know where Britain's favourite M.I.5 spy is living any
more.
MUFON UFO Journal, 103 Oldtowne Road, Seguin,
Texas 78155-4099, U.S.A. $ 30 for 12 issues per year. One third
of the September issue is devoted to a precis of MUFON's
24th Annual Symposium, held in Richmond, Virginia over the July
4th weekend. The international line-up of speakers attracted over
800 paying delegates. There are some interesting views expressed
in Professor John Mack's lecture. Mack asked Thomas Kuhn, the
scientist who wrote the classic The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions, how scientific paradigms change. Kuhn replied
"Just observe. Drop all your categories as best you can. Put
them aside and just collect raw information. Don't worry about
words like happening or didn't happen, exists or doesn't exist,
inside and outside, real or unreal, internal or external. Put all
that aside and just collect information." Those professional
("dry") skeptics who dismiss UFOlogy and eye witness
testimony out-of-hand take note !! It is interesting to observe
how John Mack's developing views about the alien abduction
experience reflect his own innermost fears about the Earth's
ecology and man's destruction of our environment. Like Colin
Andrews, he sees the alien abduction claim as a response by a
superior alien intelligence concerned for the future of mankind.
Vincente-Juan Ballester Olmos describes how his patient and
behind-the-scenes approach to the Spanish Air Force over a period
of six years finally succeeded in the release of 66 previously
classified Air Force files involving military encounters with
UFOs. There is an excellent summary by MUFON photoanalyst
Jeffrey Sainio of the advantages and disadvantages of video films
of UFOs compared with still photographs. Budd Hopkins discusses
the "Washburn" case (see CW19
pages 10-11) and Linda Moulton-Howe promotes alleged animal
mutilation cases. I was amused to read Dennis Stacy's critical
comments about Colin Andrews' crop circle lecture. Apparently
Andrews promoted two known crop circle hoaxes (so what's new ?).
Hoax No 1 was the Silbury Hill "necklace" (created by
Jim Schnabel and admitted to in Round in Circles ), whilst
Hoax No 2 was David Langford's "An Account of a Meeting with
Denizens from another world", which purported to be a true
account of a UFO encounter in a genuine Victorian manuscript.
Langford admitted his hoax several years ago in The New
Scientist so why did Andrews not know about this confession ?
The MUFON Symposium is a real old mixture of informative
useful research and uncritical destructive myth-mongering. It is
particularly disappointing to see MUFON continue to promote Colin
Andrews and George Wingfield as credible researchers to the
public. How much more damage to UFOlogy will these men be allowed
to inflict before MUFON replaces them with researchers who
deal in facts and reason ? Best selling author and UFO
"abductee" Whitley Strieber describes the living hell
he and his family have been put through since Strieber publicised
his meetings with "visitors" in his best-selling
"Communion". His comments about the way his claimed
experiences have been treated by the international UFO community
makes fascinating reading. T. David Spencer describes MUFON's
UFO Report database with admirable statistical caution.
In my view the November issue is comparatively disappointing.
There is a stupid article by Ann Livingston discussing alleged
electronic harassment of people who claim abductions by aliens
(!). This is followed by a "New Protocol for Abduction
Research" by Victoria Alexander, who argues (quite
correctly) that if alien abductions are physically real events
then UFO investigators need to search for real physical evidence
of those abductions just as if they were police forensic
scientists at the scene of a crime. Barry Greenwood discusses the
recovery of 32,000 pages of 1952 press clippings about UFO
sightings as well as USAF case investigations that were literally
thrown away by Project Blue Book because they didn't have the
room to store the microfilm !
Northern UFO News, Issue 162, September 1993. £
7 for 6 issues per year. Available from Jenny Randles, 37
Heathbank Road, Stockport, Cheshire, SK3 0UP. Jenny Randles
describes a fascinating misperception case from Bristol,
highlighting the way that well-meaning skeptics like astronomer
Patrick Moore actually help to perpetuate the UFO myth by failing
to speak to witnesses and then making ill-advised comments to the
press ! Albert Budden chips in with some comments about how UFO
investigators reinforce credulous UFO claims by repeatedly
questioning them, thus inducing paramnesia (a belief in something
which didn't actually happen). There is plenty of UFO case
material in this issue, including an intriguing multiple-witness
encounter in a steep Welsh valley with a rapidly moving (earth?)
light. There is a useful summary of the 1993 crop circle hoaxes
along with somewhat critical comments about Doug Bower and Ken
Browns' tactics at their two public lectures last summer. Several
times during this issue there are hints to the great UFOlogical
battle that has been raging in Britain this last year. The Winter
1993 issue (no 163) carries an Editorial statement explaining
Jenny Randles' recent decision to resign her Directorship of BUFORA
Council. There is also a review of this year's cerealogical
developments plus some interesting UFO case summaries, several of
which Jenny Randles attempts to explain as Identifiable Flying
Objects. Finally there is a fascinating account of how the
British MoD responded to BUFORA AI Doug Cooper's concern
over the ridicule suffered by one of their naval officers after
his encounter with a UFO in Cornwall. This UFO also exhibited
three protrusions from its base - perhaps it was some kind of BL
?
The Southampton UFO Group Newsletter contains a
listing of all media articles involving UFOs, crop circles and
other alleged paranormal phenomena, along with articles about
specific cases. Send £ 5 for 10 A4 issues to Steve Gerrard, 25
Weston Grove Road, Woolston, Southampton, SO2 9EE. Steve has
spent years assembling one of the largest collections of UFO
cuttings/radio interviews and videos in Britain so if you need
something UFO-related Steve is the man to contact !
Dimensional Force, published by the Hereford UFO
Research Group. £ 1 per 12 page A4 issue. Available from HURG
Journal, The Editor, c/o 6 Whitehouse Drive, Kingstone, Hereford,
HR2 9ER. Articles include an account of recent Puma sightings in
Surrey by BUFORA's Lionel Beer, a review of TORRO's
meteorological work, a review of BUFORA's 1993 Bristol
Conference, an interesting UFO/ghost/OBE case and some reviews of
magazines. An informative group newsletter. One to watch out for
in the future.
Annals of the Enquiring, Vol 4, No 3. £ 6 for 4
issues. 24 A5 pages. 8 St John Street, Wells, Somerset, BA5 1SW.
An excellent magazine full of articles on anomalies. There is a
discussion of the March 31st 1993 sightings over Eire that
possibly involves the same stimuli as the two dozen cases
reported from the south west of England and even France. Many of
these cases were reported by police officers and the MoD insist
that they don't know what was seen. I know that BUFORA's
Doug Cooper has been researching these cases and produced a
comprehensive case summary. However, Editor Jerry Wells suggests
that the lights were definitely the result of COSMOS 2238
re-entering the Earth's atmosphere following an analysis of the
case by the USAF. John Macklin describes the latest Weeping
Madonna case and a werewolf case from France. Plenty of Forteana.
Wonderland, A Sideways glance at the weird,
wonderful and bizarre. Issue 2. 60p. Write to David Taylor, 79
Sandringham Road, Wordsley, Stourbridge, West Midlands, DY8 5HL.
This issue contains excellent articles by David Taylor
(summarising the Tectonic Strain Theory of UFO sightings) and
Peter Rogerson ("Secret Abusers across the ages. Witches,
Buggers and Grey Meanies"). Rogerson's article takes a
comparative look at alleged alien abductions, historical accounts
of witchcraft and modern moral panics such as child abuse scares.
Some of the other material presented in this issue is amusing but
less than objective, eg there is the claim from the Weekly World
News (the US equivalent of the Sunday Sport) that an amateur
photographer in Zaire recently photographed a real live
pterodactyl with a wing-span of 77 feet !
HUFON Report. $ 2 per issue. 12 pages. Monthly.
Write to P.O. Box 942, Bellaire, Texas 77402-0942. November issue
contains an extensive and highly revealing interview with John
Schuessler, one of the founding members of MUFON.
Apparently we must "thank" Stanton Friedman for
uncovering "hundreds" of witnesses to crashed
spaceships. Also the US Government has spent "billions"
of dollars to keep this from the public ! David Jacobs describes
how he and Budd Hopkins counsel UFO abductees. Bill Eatwell
describes the 1993 crop circle hoaxes in Britain. Editorial
describes internal BUFORA-style wranglings. December issue
contains sightings summary, a discussion about the correct
terminology for alleged alien abductions, a Crop Circle Update
and some interesting comments on Colin Andrews' press release
following his United Nations fiasco.
International UFO Reporter, 2457 West Peterson
Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60659. $ 30 for 6 issues per year.
Professionally produced. September/October issue contains a
fascinating account by Ann Druffel of the life and work of Dr
James E. McDonald, a physicist who strove for years to research
and investigate UFO reports from a scientific perspective.
Druffel takes a brave stance against the failure of UFOlogy to
adopt sceptical competent investigative standards and its
questionable use of hypnotic regression. Sociologist Richard Hall
takes a similarly critical view, stating that "As long as we
passively embrace [the New Agers] rather than openly disown them,
we deserve as a field not to be taken seriously". There is
an impressive investigation by W.L. Garner, Jr., into a series of
UFO sightings by multiple independent witnesses spread across an
area of 120 square miles south west of Monroe, Louisiana on
Christmas Day, 1992. The witnesses include 50 or so civilians and
half a dozen police officers. The silent but multi-coloured
UFO(s) bobbed up and down, often at tree top height, leaving no
traces. There is some indication that several UFOs were seen. One
witness walked underneath the UFO trying to photograph it !
Another witness obtained 101 seconds of video footage of a
W-shaped light source (a still photo is reproduced). In this
reviewer's opinion some of these sightings were probably
misidentifications of Venus and Saturn, which according to W.L.
Garner were brilliant objects in conjunction low down on the
south-west horizon (I can hear Steaurt Campbell reaching for his
handbook on mirages !). Other sightings sound more difficult to
explain. The description and behaviour of the UFOs sound like
typical earthlights. An excellent case study. In another
excellent article Walter Webb claims that the Fortune Photo shows
a luminous lenticular cloud with a trail - a phenomenon he claims
to have witnessed in 1967. This explanation is supported by a
letter to Scientific American published as long ago as March,
1961. Proof, once again, that a scientific explanation was there
just waiting to be found ! There is also a review of the famous
Lubbock Lights case, which were almost certainly the reflection
of street lights off the bellies of flying geese.
Magonia, £ 4 per issue. John Dee Cottage, 5
James Terrace, Mortlake Churchyard, London, SW14 8HB. October
1993 issue contains an excellent re-examination of the early UFO
abduction cases from the mid 1960s by Peter Rogerson, a long-time
supporter of the "psycho-social" explanation for
alleged alien abductions. Rogerson appears to demonstrate
convincingly that the Betty and Barney Hill case was not the
first of its kind and that there were earlier precedents which
drew on current fears as well as motifs from folklore. Rogerson
argues that the Hills knew enough about current UFOlogical
beliefs to have incorporated these into their somewhat mundane
encounter with a light. The Hills were exhausted and were racing
home trying to avoid an approaching hurricane. Barney Hill was
expecting to shortly undergo an ulcer operation. By going back to
the "first" case UFOlogists often discover interesting
factors that influence how the UFO myth subsequently develops.
Now this is all good stuff worthy of proper debate, but there are
important criticisms that can be made against this perspective.
Several cases quoted by Rogerson are capable of being
re-interpreted as encounters with unusual natural phenomena. Take
the Zuccala case for example. According to the account published
in FSR in 1962 Zuccala was struck by a gust of wind (AH-HA
!!). Then an object resembling inverted bowls appeared. When it
was about 6-7 metres from the witness a cylinder emerged from the
underside of the UFO. This produced some diffuse white light from
which two entities emerged. Thereafter a standard alien abduction
occurred. Now how many times have we read about UFOs with a tube
emerging from their undersides ? Is this an obscure folklore
motif (Freud would have had a field day !) ? Are there parallels
between "real" UFO encounters and early 20th century
science fiction stories involving UFOs with extending tubes ? Or
are these witnesses describing an objectively real encounter with
a plasma-vortex (or an earthlight, or some other natural
phenomenon with a protruding tube) ? The Felixstowe case cited
(complete with orange light, buzzing sound., suction effects,
hallucinations) is another case discussed that cries out for an
explanation in terms of real physical forces rather than some
wholly psychological explanation. In another well-researched
article Luiz Gonzales expertly summarises the UMMO hoax. This
issue is spoilt by an uncritical and unquestioning review of Jim
Schnabel's Round in Circles. As I feared in the extensive
review of Schnabel's book I published in CW18 "Round
in Circles" is being used by the Skeptics to rewrite
crop circle history to meet their own political agenda. Just what
is it about crop circles and the plasma-vortex theory that drives
some researchers to rewrite crop circle history ? Is it a fear
that after all their vociferous armchair theorising that there
might, afterall, be a genuine atmospheric phenomenon behind some
UFO encounters and crop circle cases ?
Folklore Frontiers, no 20, £ 5 for 4 issues a
year. Available from 5 Egton Drive, Seaton Carew, Hartlepool,
Cleveland, TS25 2AT. More news on the Monkey Hanging legend,
Sharon Stone's missing knickers and the latest Hartlepool Puma
Scare. Issue 21 contains the 40 most popular urban legends from
media stories as well as an entertaining article about
"sexually sensational" Wendy Orlean Williams, whose
stage show takes some believing. There is also an interview with
Hereford's most famous tramp, Peter McMahon, who (it is claimed)
walks for long distances in straight lines. Superb folklore
material.
Enigmas, The Journal of Strange Phenomena Investigations.
Issue 34 Vol 3. £ 10 for 5 issues. Available from 41, The Braes,
Tullibody, Clackmannanshire, FK10 2TT. The highlight of this
excellent issue is an extensive and highly revealing interview
with Linda Moulton-Howe, the researcher whose exotic
interpretation of alleged animal mutilation cases has struck such
a chord with the international UFO community in recent years.
There are plenty of clues to what may be going on here, eg the
tissue samples display evidence of "high heat", witness
testimony of the UFOs are obtained by employing dubious hypnotic
regression, the hypnotists involved are all pro-ETH believers. It
is interesting to read that witnesses often report seeing a beam
of light (from an unseen craft or helicopter) which strikes the
unfortunate animal leaving its head and genital areas peculiarly
destroyed. Other (unrelated ?) cases involve domestic pets being
found cut in half, with one half missing. I won't give the game
away now as Albert Budden has promised to send me The Answer to
Animal Mutilation Cases for a future CW! It is
disconcerting however to see that Linda Moulton-Howe appears
unaware that several individuals have been detained and suspected
by the police for being responsible for the numerous ritualistic
attacks on horses in southern England. This fascinating issue
contains a whole range of articles covering topics as varied as
claims of government UFO cover-ups to an analysis of Yowie
(man-beast) sightings from Eastern Australia to spiritualism and
psychic research. Fine reading.
The Journal of Meteorology, Vol 18, No 182.
Available from 54 Frome Road, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, BA15
1LD. The highlight of issue 180 (July/August 1993) is an
extensive examination of several unusual frontal systems that
passed over Scotland in December 1992, producing nine unusual
meteorological events inside a seventeen day period. Issue 181
contains a quantitative study of vortex strikes caused by
aircraft landing at Heathrow Airport. Interestingly 70 per cent
of strikes occurred when wind speeds were below 5 metres per
second - low wind speeds were always a factor that was always
part of Meaden's original hypothesis for crop circle formation.
Most vortex strikes lasted for only one second and moved at
between 2 and 5 metres per second. The largest vortex measured
was capable of removing roof tiles across an area of approx 4
square metres and had a core diameter of only 0.55 metres.
Obviously naturally generated vortex effects would need to be
larger to create crop circles. There is an important article
discussing cup and ring markings on rocks in streams. These are
caused by attrition where small rock particles are caught in
whirlpools. The photos include a ring 0.5 metre across and a
triplet formation. Apparently there are also rings that interlock
creating a figure "8" [a sure sign of intelligent
causation !]. It is suggested that these are the aquatic
equivalent of vortex-produced crop circles. Issue 182 (October
1993) contains a well investigated Ball Lightning case from
Austria, an analysis of the effect of the eruption of Pinutubo on
the skies of New Zealand and statistically flawed analyses of the
"Biennial Oscillation of Summers in London" and
"The Incidence of Very Deep Depressions in the North
Atlantic Area". Statistical results should always be
illustrated. There are no indications of the variability of the
data presented (ie a standard deviation). The effect of the urban
heat island is not discussed in the former's comparison between
data presented for York and London. Issue 183 contains an
excellent summary of "Britain's Severest Hailstorms and
'Hailstorm Outbreaks' 1893-1992" by TORRO's Jonathan
Webb. Almost all of this data is based on newspaper accounts or
eye witness testimony with no independent film of the hailstorms
actually occurring yet the Skeptics are notable for their failure
to publicly dismiss this evidence in the way they vociferously
dismiss eye witness testimony of historic crop circle cases and
UFO reports. There is a similar analysis of Scottish tornadoes
along with a somewhat speculative attempt to link climate to the
"north-south" economic divide and the disappearance of
Atlantis.
Readers will recall that in CW17
page 35 I referred to an article in J.Met. volume 18 no 179 which
discussed the swirled traces found in Turkey in 1975 by Dr Alan
Wells. I have to admit that over the past six months I've been
thinking about the status of these "circles". It seems
odd that a postulated vortex could leave permanent ridges of
snow. Surely this would require a non rotating vortex !! I would
like to suggest an alternative natural solution. According to the
account published in J.Met. the snow was thawing. What does this
produce ? Water of course ! What if the snow was lying on top of
a glacier/ice sheet, perhaps with running water beneath the ice ?
What if several sink holes formed along the valley bottom and the
water began to rapidly percolate down the sink holes ? Wouldn't
this produce the same effect ? Please will someone let me know.
FGK-Report, Mitteilungsblatt der
Forschungsgesell-schaft Kornkreise, Available from Lepsiusstr. 1,
D-12163, Berlin, Germany. Unfortunately I can't read a word of
German but judging from the photos there are plenty of case
studies of the circles Jim Schnabel and the UBI have been
making this year along with a case study of eight circles found
at Peissen, Halle, Germany. If any reader would like to offer a
translation service I'll be happy to offer free copies of CW in
return !
Phenomena, la revue des phenomenes OVNI.
Published by SOS OVNI, Boite postale 324, 13611
Aix-en-Provence Cedex 1, France. This review of issues 12-17 is
based on the English precis supplied with each issue by SOS
OVNI, one of the leading UFO groups in France. Issue 12
contains an account of a black diamond-shaped object seen by four
military personnel from a helicopter on July 8th 1992 at 3.25 pm.
The helicopter was over the town of Brignoles at an altitude of
6,000 feet when the UFO appeared. Estimates of height and
velocity are uncertain but the UFO was possibly flying at 10,000
feet at 300 knots. SOS OVNI was later able to meet the
pilots and crew involved at their base and received the full
assistance of the military authorities. According to the pilots
the UFO may have been only 5 metres long and seemed to move with
the prevailing wind towards northern Italy. In another article
there is a discussion of the role of the official French
government UFO group SEPRA (previously known as GEPAN). SOS
OVNI claim that SEPRA appear reluctant to investigate
UFO cases and admit to a growing unease about SEPRA's
activities. There are indications that SEPRA is adopting
the same role as the Condon Committee did in the USA. Issue 13
carries an obituary of Aime Michel, the noted French UFOlogist.
There is an article on the intriguing Montreal sightings
discussed in CW18 page 23
plus an update on the Belgium wave of sightings. The Belgium
Minister of Defence is on record stating that his Ministry could
not explain the UFO sightings. Suggestions that the US military
were testing post stealth technology were dismissed by the
Belgium Air Force. There is also an article discussing the
implications of a paper in the Wall Street Journal which
suggested that the US military had developed technology capable
of projecting holographic images onto clouds for propaganda
purposes. The implication is that the US can create holographic
images of UFOs in the sky ! Issue 14 contains an abridged version
of the Hansen, Stefula and Butler paper published in CW19. There is an update on
the Hesdalen sightings plus an interview with Ballester Olmos.
Issue 15 contains accounts of the sightings of March 30/31st
discussed in Northern UFO News 160, which were seen across
England, Ireland and central France [and must, therefore, have
involved objects at quite high altitudes]. There are important
revelations about Jordan Pena, one of the people apparently
responsible for the 26 year UMMO hoax that the more nieve
UFOlogists willingly promoted. Issue 16 is largely devoted to a
fascinating report released by a Major Lambrechts of the Belgium
Air Force. This report involved what might well be anomalous
propagation radar targets that were chased by two air force jets
on the night of March 30/31st 1990 (a rather unfortunate date).
The target(s) was/were tracked by two ground-based radar stations
at speeds of up to 1800 km/h. At one point it is claimed that the
target accelerated so fast that if it was a solid object it would
have been subjected to a 33G acceleration. Subsequent analysis of
TV footage of radar lock-ons cast doubt on this claim. SOS
OVNI have a transcript of the conversation between the pilots
and their ground control. There is some doubt about the
authenticity of this material and the Belgium military have
refused to officially release their evidence as it was
"sensitive military information" which was "not of
public interest" (!). Despite this brush-off the Belgium
military claim to have attempted to reproduce the radar returns
without success. There is also a summary of recent sightings and
crop circle cases. Issue 17 contains some intriguing UFO cases
from France and Italy. The first case involves a blue ball of
light which dazzled a passing motorist. The witness subsequently
arrived home some 45 minutes late and suffered a severe headache
when taken by investigators to the scene of his encounter. There
are several accounts from Italy of a small balloon-like object
with two short appendages ("legs") and an
"antenna" on its side. In one case a witness who
thought it was a balloon tried to catch the object for his small
son but it bounced out of reach three times. A subsequent
sighting was made by five people in a helicopter flying in the
same general area. The UFO flew alongside the helicopter at a
speed of 100 km/h for three minutes. Then it turned towards the
helicopter, circled it twice and then descended out of sight. A
third sighting was made near Rome a month later. SOS OVNI
have found no explanation for these sightings but they sound to
me like a remotely piloted vehicle of some kind (RPV). This is a
super magazine with admirably skeptical articles.
OVNI Presence, no 52, December 1993, 35 Francs.
Available from C.P. 25 CH - 1800 Vevey 1 FRANCE. This issue
carries a short article about a large "Q"-shaped
pictogram found near Klein-Gummenen, Berne in Switzerland in June
1993. Bruno Mancusi's article describes how the formation is the
first to appear in Switzerland and was discovered by passengers
on a passing train. Whilst no firm conclusion are drawn it is
suggested that the formation may have been made by "New
Age" hoaxers. There is a major article about the
"Helene Smith" contactee case by Hilary Evans plus an
interview with Jean-Jacques Velasco, the chief of the official
French Government UFO Research group SEPRA. Evans also has
an article summarising Ball Lightning phenomena. Does anyone have
an English translation of this super magazine ?
Fortean Times, £ 2 per issue, bi-monthly. 68
pages. Professionally produced newsstand publication.
October/November issue (number 71) contains some excellent
articles. Jim Schnabel examines "repressed" memories of
childhood abuse, asking whether these are memories of real abuse
or the products of psychological states such as False Memory
Syndrome (FMS). Schnabel's analysis of Dissociative Disorders and
their relevance to claimed UFO "abductions" needs to be
read by every researcher worth his salt. Other topics include
stigmata, fairy sightings a technological solution for falls of
webb-like material from the sky. Mike Dash's illustrated article
examining the way aliens have been portrayed by witnesses and the
cinema since the turn of the century also deserves mention.
December/January 1994 issue contains some excellent Fortean
material. One of the highlights of this issue is an interview
with Jenny Cockell, who has claimed since childhood to recall a
previous life in rural Ireland. This fascinating case featured in
a recent programme on ITV. There is also an amusing article
summarising a hoax claim that Hell has been found in Siberia plus
a review of some of the best documented "Sleeping
Beauty" cases. Peter Brookesmith, former Editor of The
Unexplained, reviews the 1993 Sheffield Conference and there is a
rather credulous article summarising the numerous conspiracy
theories that have grown up around the assassination of John F.
Kennedy. Is there no-one prepared to argue the case that Lee
Harvey Oswald was a nut who led a bizarre fantasy life and
decided to kill the president on his own ? Dennis Stacy makes
some excellent criticisms of UFO crash-retrieval claims.
NUFOC-Flash!, the new publication of the
National UFO Centre of Belgium. December 1993 issue). This mag is
written in near perfect English and is edited by Paul Vanbrabant,
a well known skeptical UFOlogist This first issue begins with
some comments about the general state of world UFOlogy and the
philosophical problems facing the subject. According to Paul
"[One] problem is distance. These days people tend to say
its a small world, but when it comes to correct and reliable
information, the world seems as large as the solar system".
According to Vanbrabant the problem is that UFOlogist the world
over judge cases according to their own highly-variable
standards. The solution, he claims, is a world-wide organisation
with a central office and "active, critical researchers
spread all over the world". The major part of this magazine
is dev-oted to some important information about the wave of
low-level UFO sightings that have haunted Belgium over the past
few years. To begin with, it appears that somehow the great
Belgium wave has been misrepresented by UFOlogists (shock ! gasp
!). Whilst many sightings describe triangular-shaped objects with
white lights at each apex and a red light at the centre there
have also been reports of rectangles, diamonds, squares and
circles. Secondly, 90 % of the sightings were concentrated in
just the Flemish-speaking area in the southern part of Belgium -
curious eh ! Thirdly this part of Belgium is the busiest part of
the country for air traffic - so much so that local air traffic
control operators showed NUFOC members dozens of
uncorrelated targets on their radar screens during a visit to
Belgium Air Traffic Control ! According to Vanbrabant this makes
for a perfect situation if someone is developing new technology
and wants to hide that technology amongst numerous
misidentifications of ordinary aircraft lights [in my view this
is similar to the way someone used the Rendlesham Forest
"UFO crash" to cover-up unusual military activity]. It
seems that Paul Vanbrabant has come up with a plausible
non-exotic explanation for what's been going on. This is proper
UFO research people. Finally there is a point-by-point refutation
of claims made by Dr Steven Greer (see CW12 page 20) in his
promotion of the Belgium wave in MUFON UFO Journal no 289. Write
to Tiensesteenweg 78/401, B-3800, Sint-Truiden, Belgium.
The Swamp Gas Journal, Edited by Chris
Rutkowski, is a privately circulated magazine for UFO and crop
circle researchers. September 1993 issue
discusses the Fire in the Sky movie that was released here
in the UK last year by Paramount Pictures. Apparently the movie's
producer, Tracy Torme, was not happy to see some critical
comments from Rutkowski about Torme's interpretation of the
Walton case on the skeptics INTERNET BBS. Rutkowski and his
associates were particularly unhappy with the abduction scene in
the movie as this never featured in the original claim. Torme
admits that he was forced to include the abduction sequence
because his superiors wanted something more marketable than
Torme's original script. There is an excellent repost to a claim
by anonymous skeptic "Clinton Dogposture" that
"all circles are hoaxes" and that Meaden has abandoned
his atmospheric vortex theory (a claim The Cerealogist
first put about but has yet to publicly withdraw). Marshall
Dudley of Project Argus gets involved, quoting my list of proven
hoaxes from May 1992. There is so much that is wrong and so much
that is downright misleading in Dudley's paper that I will have
to publish something about this in a future CW. Finally
another skeptic writes in to claim that he can create
fantastic-looking crop circles after only 20 minutes of practice
! Rutkowski sums up, "It is very plain that what data we
have about crop circles is hopelessly contaminated with
hoaxes". Write to Box 1918, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada R3C
3R2 if you want a copy.
Gloucestershire Earth Mysteries, issue 17, will
be out soon. This will contain a proper critique of Andy Collins'
Orgone '93 project, along with reviews of "Crop Circles, A
Mystery Solved" and Michael Glickman's recent talk at
Cheltenham CCCS. We will comment properly on the Orgone Project
in a future issue as this controversial work deserves proper
examination. If you want a copies of Andy Collins' Orgone 93
Newsletter write to PO Box 189, Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, SS9 1NF
enclosing a cheque for £ 10.
Wim van Utrech't has written in to point out that the German CNEP
Report published an article by himself a few years ago
describing an ice ring case from Sweden in 1986 (which featured
on the back cover of CW8). Van Utrecht takes issue with
Peter Williams' suggestion that all ice rings are hoaxes.
