From: John Hayes <webmaster.nul>
Date: Tue, 16 Mar 2004 16:20:00 +0000
Fwd Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 03:11:49 -0500
Subject: UFO ROUNDUP, Volume 9 Number 11


Posted on behalf of Joseph Trainor.

<Masinaigan.nul>
==========================

     UFO ROUNDUP
Volume 9, Number 11
March 17, 2004
Editor: Joseph Trainor

E-Mail: Masiniagan.nul
Website: http://www.ufoinfo.com/roundup/


SHOOTDOWN ON MARS?

      "European scientists are examining an image of the
Beagle 2 Mars lander, taken moments after it was spun off
from the mother ship, that also shows an unidentified
object."
      "The mysterious blot on the photograph has been
scrutinised as one of several potential reasons for the
failure of the mission--Europe's first attempt to land a
probe on the Red Planet."
      Beagle 2 journeyed to Mars aboard the Mars Express.
The craft's separation from the orbiter was successful,
but when British scientists attempted to contact the
lander on Christmas Day 2003, they received no reply.
Further attempts proved equally fruitless, and Beagle 2
was presumed lost.
      "Mission controllers told a London meeting that they
were also considering the possibility that Beagle 2 simply
crashed onto the surface of Mars because the atmosphere on
the planet was less dense than expected."
      "Scientists said they are examining photographs of
the landing site that show four bright spots, dubbed 'the
string of pearls,' that might be the Beagle 2's remains."
      "Beagle 2 has not been heard from since it was
ejected from the European Space Agency's Mars Express
orbiter in mid-December (2003).  The 143-pound probe gave
no answering signal to scheduled attempts to contact it on
Christmas Day and has remained stubbornly silent ever
since."
      Some British ufologists maintain that the image shows
a UFO making an attack run on the Beagle 2 as it departed
from the orbiter.  (See The Scotsman for March 8, 2004,
"Did UFO bring down Beagle?"  Many thanks to Jim Hickman
for this newspaper article.  And be sure to visit Jim's
Web site at http://www.thehickman report.com)


WINGED WIERDIE SEEN IN
WEST MIDLANDS, UK

      On Monday, March 8, 2004, at 9:30 p.m., Steve Nicklin
and a friend "were walking across" Northicote Farm in
Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK "nearby an old Tudor
farmhouse" when "me and a friend saw a humanoid greyish
figure with a human-type head standing in a tree (part of
many trees that border the farm; these were tall pine
trees, and the figure stood in the top branches--S.N.)  We
estimated its size at around 7 feet (2.1 meters).  It had
two legs and two arms connected to membrane-type wings.
Its clawed arms seemed connected to these wings, a bit
like a pterosaur."
      "It moved its head and looked directly at us, since
the moon was full and there were street lights not far
away (the farm is near a heavily-used road--S.N.).  It
turned its head from us, took one giant leap and glided to
the next tree.  The tree bent under this creature's weight
as it took the impact."
      "It then turned its head to look at us once more.
Its gaze felt that it could look into our very being.  We
both felt quite scared (even though my friend is an ex-
artillery officer in the Territorial Army and has done a
lot of night patrols--S.N.)  We both fled quickly."
      "We sat down and discussed what we had seen.  It was
a creature the like" of which "we had never seen before
nor want to ever see again."  (Email Form Report)


STRANGE FIREBALL SIGHTED
IN EASTERN ILLINOIS

      On Tuesday, March 9, 2004, at 9:15 p.m., Ken Walker
was outdoors in Paxton, Illinois (population 4,525) when
he spotted "just a large flaming ball.  I figured it was
just a meteorite, but you never know.  It was rather large
and still big when it hit the treeline at the area of Ten
Mile Grove, outside of Paxton in Ford County."
      "It was a few hundred feet above the treeline when I
noticed it from the corner of my eye," Ken reported, "I
watched it come down until it hit the treeline.  I think
it hit inside the area of Ten Mile Grove, which has three
ponds and a small forest."
      The fireball had "yellow-white flames.  It was round,
a ball of flames...at least at the face of it.  I saw no
sparks, just flames.  It was already pretty close to the
treeline at that point.  There is a tiny forest preserve
there (private property--K.W.)  I think it fell behind
it."
      "As large as the fireball was, it had to be at least
several feet in diameter.  If it was not as close as I
thought it was, then it was probably really big.  The
weather was calm, and no aircraft were in the area.  It
was coming down at an angle from northeast to southwest
(or maybe just east to west--K.W.)."
      Paxton, Ill. is just west of Interstate Highway I-57
approximately 117 miles (187 kilometers) south of Chicago.
(Many thanks to Canadian ufologist Brian Vike for this
report.)


BLUE ELLIPTICAL UFO SEEN
IN WASHINGTON STATE

      On Thursday, March 11, 2004, at 2 a.m., Matti A. was
at her home on Bainbridge Island in the USA's state of
Washington when she saw a UFO approach from the east
across Puget Sound.
      "I was standing inside my house in front of the
door," Matti reported, "I glanced up at the sky and saw a
very bright blue elliptical shape with a bright white
light bordering the shape."
      "The object almost instantly disappeared after
shooting from the right of my (field of) vision to the
left of my vision.  I instantly thought that it was a
comet or a falling satellite, but there was no tail or
trail, except for a very brief light trail.  It winked out
extremely quickly."
      "The object was around an inch or more long, as I saw
it in the sky, which means it had to have been traveling
in the earth's atmosphere.  The color and brightness of
the object were completely stunning, like nothing I've
ever seen in the sky.  The object was about an inch and a
quarter or an inch and a half long as I saw it.  Its speed
was incredibly fast, and it was gone almost
instantaneously."
(Email Form Report)


TWO UFOs PHOTOGRAPHED
IN SOUTHERN BRAZIL

      A building's Webcam accidentally photographed two
silvery UFOs in the daytime sky over Porto Alegre, capital
of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil.
      On Tuesday, March 9, 2004, at 9:44 a.m., the security
camera picked up bright sun flashes over Bahia Guaiba
(bay) just south of the seaport city.  As the objects
closed in, they were "clearly identifiable as silver
spheres, flying in formation."
      The two UFOs made a single pass over the center of
Porto Alegre and then made a long curving turn to the
east, north of Viamao airport, heading towards the South
Atlantic.
      Porto Alegre is about 800 kilometers (500 miles)
south of Rio de Janeiro.  (Muito obrigado a Eustaquio
Andrea Patounas por eso caso.)



STRANGE HAPPENINGS
NEAR AREA 51

      On the morning of Saturday, February 21, 2004, "a
locksmith received a call from a motorist complaining that
the remote-control locking system on his late-model car
refused to respond.  The old-fashioned key, linked to the
same circuitry, wouldn't work, either."  The caller asked
the locksmith to come over and "fix whatever had gone
wrong."
      "A couple of minutes later, another locksmith's phone
rang.  Different caller.  Same problem."
      "By the end of the day, the best estimate is that
police, firefighters, locksmiths, car dealerships and tow-
truck drivers in Las Vegas had received at least 200 calls
from stranded motorists.  Many who are still puzzling over
the incident put the figure as high as five times that."
      "'Maybe it's those little green men,' joked Mike
Estrada, a spokesman for the U.S. Air Force's Nellis air
base" in Nevada, "about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north
of Las Vegas.  He was referring to the fabled Area 51
military research facility, which sits smack in the middle
of Nellis's bombing range and where UFO buffs, conspiracy
researchers and others have long maintained that the
Pentagon picks apart space aliens and their crashed flying
saucers."
      "This time, the likely culprit, according to some,
was a top-secret test of equipment intended to fry an
enemy's circuitry."
      "'As a working hypothesis, the idea that a military
test of some sort was responsible isn't far-fetched,' said
John Pike, director of the Global Security think tank" in
Washington, D.C.  (See The Age of Melbourne, Australia for
March 8, 2004, "So, who did fry those car locks?"  Also
the Las Vegas Review-Journal for February 22, 2004.  Many
thanks to Trevor Griffet for these newspaper articles.)


MOTHMAN STRIKES AGAIN;
FILM EXTRA DIES

      "Betty Jane Mulligan, of Pine Township, Allegheny
County," Pennsylvania, "an engineer, gardener and actress,
died Monday, March 8, 2004.  She was 82."
      "No challenge was too great, no undertaking too
daunting."
      "'She was always an independent soul,' said her
daughter, Judy Brant, also of Pine Township."
      "Mrs. Mulligan appeared as an extra in at least 15
movies, including Lorenzo's Oil, The Silence of the Lambs,
The Mothman Prophecies and Dogma."
      Mrs. Mulligan's is the latest of several deaths that
have come to people associated with the making of the 2002
film, The Mothman Prophecies, which has sparked rumors of
a "Mothman Curse."  (See the Pittsburgh, Pa. Tribune-
Review  for March 11, 2004.  Many thanks to Loren Coleman
for this newspaper article.)


COUPLE SEES A LARGE UFO
IN FRESNO, CALIFORNIA

      On Wednesday, March 10, 2004, at 7:15 p.m.,
eyewitness L.J. and his wife were outdoors in Fresno,
California (population 427,652) when they spotted a UFO
"about a mile or two away.  Ten to twenty lights going in
a circle around the object.  Weather was clear and warm.
We had it in view for five minutes.  There was an airplane
on the southern horizon.  It was a solid object, too far
away for a direct reflection from anything from the
ground.  The object was slowly departing, heading south."
      L.J. described the UFO as "a huge disk with red
lights flashing around the center.  It flew over the
Fresno Air Terminal/National Air Guard airfield and made
no sound.  It was maybe the width of a small city block.
Departure speed was slow.  Height (Altitude) was hard to
tell because the thing seemed so huge."  (Many thanks to
Brian Vike for this report.)


BLUFF CREEK BIGFOOT A
HOAX?  WITNESS SAYS YES!

      "Thirty-six years after the fact, Bob Hieronimus'
conscience finally caught up with him; he confessed to
having donned a gorilla costume and appearing in the
famous 1967 film footage of Bigfoot."
      "'It's time people knew it was a hoax,' Hieronimus
told the Washington Post.  For decades, the grainy film
clip has fueled study and speculation about the existence
of a large mysterious creature in the (USA's) Pacific
Northwest."
      "'It's time to let this thing go,' he told the paper,
'I've been burdened with this for 36 years, seeing the
film clip on TV numerous times.  Somebody's making lots of
money off this, except for me.  But that's not the issue.
The issue is that it's time to finally let people know the
truth.'"
      "The Post reported Hieronimus made his official
confession in the book The Making of Bigfoot by paranormal
investigator Greg Long.  The author says he spent four
years investigating the 60-second film and the people
behind it.  Long traced the Bigfoot costume to Philip
Morris, a North Carolina gorilla suit specialist, who says
he sold it for $435 to an amateur documentary maker named
Roger Patterson (who died in 1972--J.T.)."
      "The hoax was staged near Bluff Creek in northern
California, according to Hieronimus."
      "'Patterson was the cameraman,' Long told the Post,
'They made a gentleman's agreement that Bob (Hieronimus)
would get in the suit and walk in front of the camera for
$1,000.'"
      "Hieronimus' story is a bit different.  'I was never
paid a dime for that, no sir,' he said, adding, 'Sure, I
want to make some money.  I feel that after 36 years  I
should get some of it.'"
      However, "the news doesn't change the views of an
open-minded Jane Goodall, a well-known primatologist.
'She's spoken to people whom she respects who say they
have seen one of these hominids,' said Nora Gandelman, an
aide to Goodall.  'And to many other people she respects
who have heard strange calls they thought were made by
Bigfoot.  As a scientist, she has a very open mind about
this and has yet to close the door on this possibility.'"
      "An associate of the deceased filmmaker (Patterson)
is challenging the veracity of Hieronimus' story.  The
Post says it was contacted by Tom Malone, a Minneapolis
(Minnesota) lawyer, working on behalf of Bob Gimlin, an
associate of Patterson's."
      "'I'm authorized to tell you that nobody wore a
gorilla suit or monkey suit, and that Mr. Gimlin's
position is that it's absolutely false and untrue,' Malone
told the paper."  (See WorldNet Daily for March 10, 2004,
"Man admits: 'I was Bigfoot.'  Many thanks to Steve Wilson
Sr. for this news story.)



NEW HUBBLE PHOTOS REACH
FAR INTO DEEP SPACE

      "Hubble Space Telescope astronomers unveiled the deepest-
ever snapshot of the universe Tuesday," March 9, 2004, "a view
of stars and galaxies active
about 700 million years after the Big Bang."
      "Astronomers say the image reveals more of the so-
called cosmological dark ages from the first billion years
after the Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago.  That
early era ended with the birth of the first stars and
galaxies."
      "The snapshot image is equivalent to a 1-million-
second-long photographic exposure.  The picture shows
light that existed more than 2 billion years earlier in
the universe's formation than what was shown in Hubble's
landmark Deep Field image released eight years ago (1996).
That image of the vast cosmos became an astronomical icon,
adorning textbook covers, museums and dorm room walls."
      "'We believe we have gotten the deepest picture of
the universe, one that opens new lands of discovery,'
institute astronomer Massimo Stiavelli says."
      "Astronomers report finding oddly shaped galaxies
pulling at each other through gravity, hinting at the
dimly understood formations.  They have used telescopes
over the past decade to steadily gain insight into the era
of these early galaxies.  Advances in Hubble and ground
telescopes powered this drive, aimed at understanding the
earliest stars and galaxies and our own galaxy's birth."
      "Last week, European Southern Observatory scientists
claimed to have detected the farthest known galaxy, about
13.2 billion light-years away (one light-year equals about
5.9 trillion miles--J.T.)."
      "'This Ultra-Deep Field image represents the state of
the art in looking at the early universe,' says
astrophysicist Abraham Loeb of the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics."
      "In January (2004), NASA chief Sean O'Keefe rejected
a Hubble repair mission for 2006.  Astronomers expect the
telescope to fail by 2007 without the repairs.  The space
agency plans a $300 million space tug to bring Hubble
safely out of orbit."
      "At the unveiling of the Hubble image, Sen. Barbara
Mikulski (Democrat from Maryland--J.T.) repeated calls to
save the telescope."
      "A successor to the telescope--the James Webb Space
Telescope--is scheduled for launch in 2011."  (See USA
Today for March 10, 2004, "Hubble peers farther back than
ever," page 9D.)




Well, that's it for this week.  Join us next time for
more UFO, Fortean and paranormal news from around the
planet Earth--and occasionally, Mars--brought to you by
"the paper that goes home--UFO Roundup."  See you in seven
days.

UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 2004 by Masinaigan Productions, all
rights reserved.  Readers may post news items from UFO
Roundup on their Web sites and in news groups provided
that they credit the newsletter and its editor by name and
list the date of issue in which the item first appeared.

E-Mail Reports to: Joseph Trainor <Masinaigan.nul>
or use the Sighting Report Form at:

http://www.ufoinfo.com/forms/form_sighting.htm

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