"The first sighting of the flying object took place near the city of Cochabamba" in Bolivia, over the Parque Nacional de Tunari (national park--J.T.) around 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, March 26, 2001.

"Following a sequence of rapid movements interrupted by minutes of static flight, the object reached the city" of Cochabamba " "over which it remained until 8:35 a.m."

Immediately, the telephone began ringing in the office of Colonel Carlos Antero, commander of the Second Air Brigade of the Fuerzas Aereas de Bolivia (FAB, or Bolivian Air Force--J.T.)

Colonel Antero "was at a loss to explain the event which, according to eyewitnesses, involved a circular white dot.: But he notified GAB headquarters in La Paz, the national capital.

The "heads up" alert was passed on to the jet interceptor squadron at FAB El Alto, located on the altiplano (high plateau--J.T.) just north of La Paz.

(Editor's Note: The city of La Paz is located at the bottom of a steep quebrada or canyon. The suburb of El Alto, where the international airport and the FAB base are, is up on the rim of the canyon.

"Only a few minutes before 9 a.m., the white object came over the city of El Alto. Alerted to the phenomenon, the FAB ordered the scramble of a T-33 jet which unsuccessfully tried to approach the object."

"'It was a brilliant, metallic-colored sphere, but we could not determine what kind of object it was,' reported Major Luis Arzabe Torrico, the T-33's pilot, who explained that he piloted his military jet to an altitude of 42,500 feet (13,000 meters) and the object maintained the same distance in regard to the aircraft as it did from the moment of the jet's takeoff."

"Minutes later, the FAB jet landed at the El Alto air base and the object vanished."

For two days, all of Bolivia was talking about the UFO overflight of the national capital. And then the bubble burst.

"It was seen by thousands of Bolivians as it soared across the skies over Cochabamba, Oruro and La Paz. And they'll be seeing two more. The 'unidentified flying object' that caused a commotion during the week was nothing more than a weather balloon, specifically the MIR-3."

(Editor's Note: MIR, no relation to the Russian space station, is a French acronym for Montgolfier Inra-Rouge, a balloon to study the stratosphere in the tropics.)

"Confirmation was provided through the research of astronomer Gherman Morales Chavez, a specialist at the Sigma Octante Astronomical Laboratory at the Universidad Catolica de Bolivia (UCB)."

"MIR-3 is a balloon aimed at researching concentrations of ozone, and compounds of nitrogen, carbon and oxygen at stratospheric altitudes for the inter-tropical regions."

The MIR-2 balloon was launched by France's Centre des Etudes Espaciales and the Balloon Launching Group of the State University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. "The launch took place February 21, 2001 at Bauru, 340 kilometers )2-4 miles_ west of Sao Paulo" The balloon has been aloft for over 50 days. It travels from east to west and takes about 17 days to fly around the world. )See the Bolivian newspapers La Prensa for March 27, 2001, "Object seen between Cochabamba and La Paz: Air Force jet chases UFO for 20 minutes," and Los Tiempos de Bolivia for March 29, 2001, "UFO was the MIR-3 balloon." Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales, autor de los libros Chupacabras and Other Mysteries y Forbidden Mexico, y tambien Gloria Coluchi, para eses articulos de diario.)

"The presence of a brilliant light which was seen over the barrio Morro Gordo (sector) from downtown Arica created great excitement,"

"The phenomenon took place at around 6 p.m. when dozens of witnesses raised their eyes upward to look at it and wonder aloud what it could be. Many in the barrio reached the conclusion that they were in the presence of a UFO."

"At that time of day, the object had the appearance of a first magnitude star with a glow similar to that of the planet Venus, and whitish and metallic in color, and moved slowly toward the southwest (toward the Pacific Ocean--S.C.) As the sun vanished below the horizon, the object's glow disappeared and its color turned to red before disappearing completely a few minutes after 7 p.m."

"The public fathered at a photographic and optical supplies shop located at the corner of Calle 21 de Mayo and Calle Patricio Lynch (streets) where people stood in line to catch a glimpse of the object through a telescope,"

"Those lucky enough to see the object" either with the telescope or with the unaided eye "described it as 'a cup without a handle and a dangling thread' or 'a cup without a base and with a narrow foot.'"

"A couple of youngsters who saw the object through a telescope said that it resembled 'the Temple of the Great Cayosama,' a sort of floating city (which appears in the Japanese cartoon series Dragonball Z--J.T.)"

The fact that the object vanished simultaneously before the eyes of those seeing through telescopes and those seeing it unaided suggest that it disappeared because it stopped shining rather than due to distance."

"Furthermore, the gradual manner in which this happened and the time of day in which the incident occurred suggest that" the UFO was reflecting sunlight "and the object wasn't self-luminous."

"Given the witnesses' descriptions and the slowness of the object's movements, some thought that it could be a balloon When personnel from the Chacalluta Airport were contacted, about the possibility, they indicated that weather balloons were not launched from the region."

Airport personnel also checked with air traffic controllers in Iquique and Santiago de Chile, the national capital. The object did not appear on radar, either at Chacalluta Airport near Arica nor in the other two cities. (See the newspaper La Estrella de Arica for March 25, 2001, "UFO seen over Arica." Oyta vez, muchas gracias a Scott Corrales y Gloria Coluchi para ese articulo de diario.)

On Monday, March 26, 2001, at 8 p.m., a crowd of people at Wainui Beach, near Gisborne, North Island, New Zealand, spotted a strange glow out at sea.

Eyewitness Justine W. reported, "'The object approached as a bright round white light but moved rapidly over the water, coming from the south It definitely was not a boat because a boat cannot go as fast as it did."

"It appeared to be about halfway between the shore and the horizon (about one mile out--N.W.) and just above the water. The light was bright enough to light up the beach. The object moved until it was directly opposite them." (the people on Wainui Beach--J.T.)

The UFO "returned to the southerly direction and then came back again," Justine added, "And then the object shot straight out to sea (east) and until it almost disappeared."

"It stopped again and began radiating colors bright and moving patterns. Someone commented that it looked like angel's wings. When it stopped radiating colors, it again became an intensely white light, It then shot back to the south."

(Editor's Comment: Heading for Antarctica?)

"As it neared the Mahia Peninsula, , it changed color from white to yellow or orange. and finally disappeared. The whole encounter took approximately four minutes."

"The next morning (Tuesday, March 27, 2001) three people who had witnessed the object discussed how they had slept. All reported vivid dreams, In addition, all three reported waking up with headaches and feeling much grogginess."

The case is being investigated by New Zealand ufologist Norman Weiss. (Many thanks to Norman Weiss for this report.)

(Editor's Note: Gisborne is one of the most notorious hotspots for UFO activity in New Zealand and was the scene of a UFO flap back in 1996.)

On Sunday, March 18, 2001, at three people saw "a circular UFO' hovering over Monte Paganella mountain near the city of Trento. "One witness described the object as 'a spherical shape with a metallic sheen to it.' Another said it 'had one point of light moving around inside the sphere.'"

The same evening, Sunday, March 18, at 8:39 p.m., "a similar spherical UFO with an intense white spotlight 'like a star of incredible dimensions,' was seen by a witness in the city of Modena in northern Italy.

On Wednesday, March 21, 2001, at 8:15 p.m., a family in the suburbs of Rome "saw a flashing light that hovered for 15 minutes and then moved around the sky in an elliptical fashion.' The light then shot away at tremendous speed." (See the newspaper. Gazzetta di Modena for March 20, 2--1. Grazie a Edoardo Russo e Centro Italiano di Studi Ufologici per questi rapporti.)

On Thursday, March 28, 2001, at 10 p.m., a witness spotted a dark triangular-shaped UFO flying outside his home in Taylorville, Illinois.

The witness reported, "I was in my bedroom, on the computer. I'm sitting there, talking to my friends, yaddy-yaddy-ya,00you know, having a good time. All of a sudden, I feel a sudden violent movement of the house. I specifically dart to the window, and right when I look out, to my own surprise, I see a triangular-shaped object just traveling in a straight line in what looks like 150 miles per hour (250 kilometers per hour)."

"The triangular object also had lights on the bottom and red lights on the back of it. It was three-dimensional. It made a loud roaring noise."

"Just when I lost sight of it, I could still see it hovering, just sitting in mid-air,. All I could see at this time were the lights through cloud. All of a sudden, it vanished, and that was the last I saw of it." (Many thanks to Rev. Billy Dee and Peter B. Davenport of the National UFO Reporting Center for this report.)

On Tuesday, March 13, 2001, at around 10 p.m., the witness was walking his dog outdoors near his home in Ketchum, Idaho when he spotted a strange red light in the sky.

He reported, "I was staring at the stars, as I do nightly, I saw a red point of light dancing around on a single cloud."

"I assumed someone was playing with a laser pointer. Then the point started darting around, beyond the boundaries of the little cloud against the dark, starry night sky. I then realized it was a vehicle, not a laser pointer."

"What I witnessed had the quality of a 'joy ride,'" as if the pilot were "'taking the craft out for a spin.' There was no discernible symmetry or discipline to the craft's maneuvers--a few loops and zig-zags" going into another part of the sky.

"The sighting started with the craft almost directly overhead, slightly to the west, then darting about 30 or 40 degrees due east, then departing southward. The craft itself was a point of fuzzy red light," which did not blink. (Many thanks to Rev. Billy Dee and Peter B. Davenport of the National UFO Reporting Center for this report.)

This next story sounds like something out of J.P. Lovecraft--The Doom That Fell On West Milwaukee. Except that it actually happened--an apparent case of spontaneous human combustion (SHC) and just last week.

Here's the story as it appeared in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

"A 78-year-old blind man died mysteriously of burns he suffered Thursday (March 29, 2001) after apparently setting himself on fire while lighting a cigar, authorities said."

"Investigators remained puzzled over the rapidity with which Francis (nickname Frank--J.T.) Bertschy became engulfed in flames. He suffered second and third degree burns over about 95 percent of his body, fire officials said."

"Officials were investigating whether an inflammable compound such as glue or alcohol may have been on Bertschy's clothes."

"No such substance was found on the man's body, however, and a search of the apartment where he and his wife shared in the 5000 block of West National Avenue" in West Milwaukee, Wisconsin, "failed to turn up any signs of an accelerant."

"A spokesman at St. Mary's Hospital, where Bertschy was treated, said Bertschy died sometime Thursday evening.. She was unsure what time he died, however, and could not comment on the extent of his injuries."

"Bertschy was burned about 6:15 a.m. Thursday (March 29) after his cotton clothing apparently caught fire while he was trying to light a cigar with a match."

"Fatima Ahmed, Bertschy's 13-year-old neighbor, said she awoke early Thursday morning , as Bertschy screamed desperately for help, and his wife, Mary, pounded frantically on her (Fatima's) front door."

"'I got scared at first because I thought, Nobody pounds on our door at six o'clock in the morning,' she said. 'Then I heard Mary's husband screaming, 'Someone help me! I'm on fire!' Well, I went out in the hallway. I saw him standing there, with his hand on fire.'"

"As Fatima dialed 911 from her home, she said her mother, Noorb Behegum, followed the Bertschys back into their apartment."

"When she joined them minutes later, Fatima said she saw the flames had crept across Bertschy's arm and chest and had consumed his clothing, which Fatima described as 'boxer shorts and a muscle shirt.'"

"The West Milwaukee Middle School student said Frank Bertschy was stumbling around in his one-bedroom apartment and turning on faucets and splashing himself with water in an attempt to douse the flames."

"When police arrived, they found Bertschy still on fire in the bathroom. They used a fire extinguisher and towels to douse the flames, authorities said."

"Two police officers were later treated for smoke inhalation, police said." (See the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel for March 29, 2001, story by Jessica Hansen and Nahal Toos. Many thanks to Louise A. Lowry for forwarding this newspaper article.)

(Editor's Comment: SHC is one of the most baffling Fortean phenomena. I wonder if what happened to Mr. Bertschy might have been caused by a localized electromagnetic field effect, brought on by NOA9393, the largest sunspot in eleven years. It would be interesting to compare the dates of known SHC cases with data on sunspot activity I am reminded what Arthur C. Clarke said on his TV show. "If there's anything more to SHC, I don't want to know about it.")

An earthquake measuring 6.6 on the Richter scale struck the island nation of Indonesia . The epicenter of the quake was deep below ground, 72 kilometers (43 miles) beneath the seabed, in the Indian Ocean. The shock wave toppled palm trees and flattened houses in Bengkulu and Manna, on the south side of Sumatra island. The region was the site of an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale in June of the year 2000. (Muito obrigado a Visitantes Cosmicas por esas informacoes.)

Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes, has its legendary "Ghost Fleet." These are the five ships that have "gone missing" in the last century or so. Their names are known to everyone living between Duluth, Minnesota and Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan-- the Bannockburn, the Hydson, the Inkermann, the Cerisolles...and, of course, the Adella Shores.

The Adella Shores was what we on Lake Superior call a "lumber hooker." That is, a wooden steamboat with a large flat area amidships to store lumber for the long journey through the lakes to Chicago, Milwaukee and Cleveland.

"The Adella Shores was built in Gibraltar, Michigan in 1894 for the Shores Lumber Company. After a quick and unceremonious launch, the incomplete vessel was towed to Ashland, Wisconsin , where the Shores mills were located."

Millowner Walter Shores was one of the most prominent businessmen in Ashland. He was also a leading supporter of the Temperance movement in Wisconsin, and he hated beer and alcohol of any kind.

(Editor's Note: In 1919, the Temperance movement succeeded in passing the Volstead Act, which banned the consumption of alcoholic beverages in the USA. The act was repealed in 1933 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which ended the brief Prohibition era in the USA.)

Mr. Shores decided to name the ship after his beautiful oldest daughter, Adella. But because he was an ardent [prohibitionist, he did not wish the ship to be christened with the traditional bottle of champagne. He was afraid that Ashland people would laugh if the ship bearing his daughter's name would be soaked with champagne.

So, on the day of the ceremonial launch, Shores called his youngest daughter, eight-year-old Bessie, over to the reviewing stand and handed her an empty bottle. "Take this down to the lake and fill it up," he told Bessie, "Then come on back here, and you can launch the ship."

Ole Svalesen, an elderly Great Lakes sailor who had been cruising Lake Superior since before the Soo canal opened in 1855, happened to overhear the businessman. Hobbling over on his wooden leg, Ole said, "Oh, Mr. Shores, you can't do that. If you christen a ship with water, you'll jinx her, and she'll come to a bad end."

Shores was adamant. "I will not have Adella's name associated with champagne. I will not have my daughter made a laughingstock."

"You'll jinx the ship."

"Superstitious rubbish!" Shore replied, "Good heavens, Svalesen! It's the Nineteenth Century. Don't tell me you believe in that foolishness. Next I suppose you'll be telling me you believe in the Black Dog of Lake Erie, too."

Ole turned a ghastly shade of white. "Are you mad!? Bandying the cursed hound's name about!?" He hurried away. "I'll have no part of this!"

"Go on, Bessie." Her father gave her a nudge towards the sandy beach.

Bessie nodded and walked down to the water's edge. Squatting on her haunches, she filled the empty bottle with fresh lake water, put a cork in it, and lugged it back to the reviewing stand.

While her parents and siblings and the spectators sat in the bleacher seats, Bessie stepped up to the bow of the Adella Shores. She lifted the bottle like a baseball player getting ready to hit a home run. Then, in a loud, clear voice, she cried, "I christen thee...Adella Shores!"

The bottle struck the bow, exploding in a spray of glass and water. The ship let out a groan and a shudder and began to slide down the ramp into Lake Superior.

But then something strange happened. Instead of going straight into the lake, the ship slid sideways. The stern struck the corner of the bleachers, collapsing them and dumping eight people into the lake.

No one was really hurt. Just a few people got soaked. But the rumor that Shores had jinxed the ship spread like wildfire. Shores himself tried to put the best face on the mishap.

"It was an accident," he said, "It could happen to anybody."

But, off to one side, Ole Svalesen told a group of sailors, "She's a jinxed ship, and she'll come to a bad end."

Ole died a year later, in 1895.

And the Adella Shores began her career, hauling lumber from Duluth, Ashland and Beaver Bay, Minn. to the ports on the lower Great Lakes.

But the Shores Lumber Company had trouble keeping a fully-manned crew.

Strange things were happening aboard that ship. Helmsmen complained that the steering wheel would suddenly jam and refused to budge for a minute or two. Sailors working below heard strange whispering voices coming from the shadowy corners of the forecastle. Often, between midnight and 3 a.m., the mate on watch would hear an odd sound on the lumber deck. A kind of muted thump-thump-thump, like a man walking with one wooden leg.

In October 1904, sailors dressing for work in the crew's quarters let out a yell. Hovering before the bulkhead mirror was a disembodied white hand. Extending a ghostly forefinger, it began writing on the glass. Then it vanished.

Running to the mirror, the sailors found this message in letters of frost--She's a jinxed ship, and she'll come to a bad end.

Everybody aboard had a look at the message before it faded, The one shocked worst of all was Patrick Olsen, age 20. He recognized the handwriting of his maternal grandfather, Ole Svalesen, who had died nine years earlier.

The Shores mills had to recruit a whole new crew after that.

In November 1905, the Adella Shores was caught in the "Big Blow" that devastated Lake Superior. Many thought Ole's prediction had finally come true. But the tough little lumber hooker survived the storm that sank three larger ships--the Mataafa and the Crescent City.

After that, there were fewer whispers about "the Jinx Ship." The Adella Shores plied her trade on the Great Lakes without incident. When the shipping season began in late March of 1909, there was every expectation that the Adella Shores would have a long, uneventful career.

But one foggy morning in April 1909, the Adella Shores took on a load of lumber at her dark on the bay side of Park Point. She steamed out of the ship canal and out into the Big Lake, heading for the Shores dock in Ashland. She picked up another load of cut boards there and departed in early afternoon, heading up Chequamegon Bay past the Apostle Islands and out into the fogbound lake.

She was never seen again.

Three days later, the Duluth harbormaster received a telegram from the locks at Sault Sainte Marie. Where is the Adella Shores?

The harbormaster fired off telegrams to all of the port cities around the lake--Two Harbors, Minn., Grand Marais, Minn., Ontonagon, Mich., Marquette, Mich. and Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay--J.T.), Ontario. He asked the very same question.

And the answer came back from every port--No sign of her.

That was 92 years ago. No trace of the Adella Shores was ever found.

The "Jinx Ship" has become a ghost ship of Lake Superior. *See the book Haunted Lakes by Frederick Stonehouse, Lake Superior Port Cities, Inc, Duluth, Minn., 1997, page 66.)

The largest solar flare in recorded history erupted from the sun on Tuesday, April 3, 2001. The coronal mass ejection (CME), which originated with the massive sunspot NOA9393, is expected to reach Earth in 72 hours. Disruptions in TV and radio broadcasts are expected, as are tremendous auroras in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

Also on Tuesday, an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale shook buildings less than 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tokyo. Japanese officials said the quake was not a forerunner of an even bigger earthquake centered in Tokyo.

(Editor's Comment: This is not good. I was hoping Japan was all finished with earthquakes for a while after that big one in Hiroshima. Christian seer Quentin Jessup predicted a big earthquake in the metro Tokyo region a month ago, but he did not give a specific date for this event.)

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

-- Large 'motherships' and smaller UFOs are being reported from almost every state including Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana, Texas, plus Columbia, England, Germany, Brunei, and Australia. Intense solar flare activity blasting radiation millions of miles into space has created speculation that the UFOs are coming into Earth's atmosphere for protection. The US Air Force investigated UFOs for twenty years admitting to more than ten thousand sightings. Despite intensive investigation almost ten percent remain unexplained. Congressman Gerald Ford asked Congress to investigate UFOs in 1966, is now the time?.

To hold open, secrecy-free hearings on the UFO/Extraterrestrial presence on and around Earth. To hold open hearings on advanced energy and propulsion systems that, when publicly released, will provide solutions to global environmental challenges. To enact comprehensive legislation to research, develop and explore space peacefully and cooperatively with all cultures on Earth and in space. The recorded testimony of scores of military, government, and other witnesses to Unidentified Flying Objects and Extraterrestrial events and projects from around the world establishes the existence of an UFO/Extraterrestrial presence on and around Earth. This recorded testimony consists of dozens of firsthand, often top-secret witnesses to UFO and Extraterrestrial events, internal UFO-related government projects and covert activities, space-based weapons programs, Extraterrestrial Intelligence, and covert, reverse-engineered energy and propulsion system projects.

The technologies that are of an Extraterrestrial origin, when publicly released within a planned transition period, will provide solutions to global environmental and security challenges. These numerous recorded witnesses constitute only a small portion of a vast pool of identified present or former military, intelligence, corporate, aviator, flight control, law enforcement officers, scientists and other witnesses, who will come forward when subpoenaed to testify at US Congressional hearings. Without a grant of immunity releasing them from their security oaths, many such unimpeachable witnesses fear to speak out. This will provide unprecedented benefits and opportunities to all on Earth and in space. Contact: Alfred Webre 604-733-8134 or Dr. Steven Greer 540-456-8302

Editor's Note: I will be one of the speakers on May 9 in Washington, DC to request hearings. Former President Ford told me that he was never provided information on UFOs despite his requests as Speaker of the House, Vice President and as President of the United States.

On Sunday night April 29, 2001, Regis Philbin the host of the most popular game show on television "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" asked the contestant to tell about her UFO sighting. The contestant mentioned briefly her UFO encounter near Pine Bush, New York. The audience chuckled, so she pointed out that she wasn't a kook!

WEST BERLIN -- Mrs. D'Imperio writes, at 9:30 PM on September 12, 2000, our family saw a very huge lighted disc up in the sky. My brother in-law shouted for the family to come out on the deck. We all looked up and saw a lighted wheel with what looked like bicycle spokes coming out of it. Another ring was on the outside. What amazed me was lights were coming down the spokes going around the outside of the other ring coming back to where they started and coming together all of them in the center of the ring. They kept repeating this action. Then from another direction of the sky came a second object that joined going around the circle but making another spoke. As we watched for some time two helicopters came overhead. One was bigger then the other and went straight for what we were watching. They were flying around for a while. If I attempted to draw the UFO, it would look like a wheel within a wheel with lights going around and coming together in the middle. I posted this information on the web. Thanks to Mrs. D'Imperio at alian 10094@aol.com

ROANOKE -- Andy and Robin Hodge report seeing flying yellowish white round orb like objects? We saw two together while out on my deck April 23, 2001. They were close together and moving so fast I barely caught a glimpse before they were behind the clouds. They were definitely not conventional aircraft. They could have been meteors but do they travel together in twos? I saw no tail, just round fast moving yellowish white lights that looked like orb shapes. There were many airplanes out during this time, but none could move that fast! Thanks to Robin at ahodge@roava.net

CADIZ - The witness was coming home from work on April 19, 2001, when he noticed a white light globe off in the distance over my house at 11:55 PM. He states, it is very unusual for craft to fly low over my small town residence. As I got closer to my home the globe started moving very quickly across the sky. It would move east then stop on a dime and move west, stop again and go straight up and east. I pulled in my drive way and the white light globe lowered itself to three miles away. It hovered again and the white light turned red. It stood there for a few seconds then started west, the red light began flashing fast like a strobe light, and it just vanished. I live outside of town with few lights and I could hear dogs all over town barking. When the light vanished all the dogs stopped barking. Two days ago at midnight I was watching TV when my entire house started shaking very faintly though enough that my candles were vibrating off the window." The witness is a very respected person in his community with a degree in law enforcement. He ran inside grabbed his camcorder and drove to the top of the hill where you can see for miles, but the light never came back.

OHIO UFO INTERCEPT -- James Greenen a MUFON field investigator reports that on April 24, and 25, 2001, on paltalk.com an Internet chatroom a gentleman who runs that sight that had a UFO fly over his car. The UFO stopped his car. He observed a F-15 at full throttle with wings back and afterburners on, break sound barrier and pull up along side of the UFO that suddenly made a quick left hand turn in front of the F-15, and the pilot almost lost it. His dad observed a UFO the night before and got pictures of it. He needs help investigating this sighting. The control towers in a couple of cities around him have told him that the information is none of his business. Stop by on paltalk.com and join the group. The gentleman's name is nighthawk. Thanks to James Greenen MUFON FI iufoc@zoomph.net

MIDDLETOWN -- We noticed an orange colored light in the sky straight ahead on April 19, 2001, so we watched it for about twenty minutes at 4:30 AM. The light appeared to be in a triangular formation. A plane flew underneath the UFO and as it went under the red lights appeared on the UFO as if it were giving a warning. The UFO started moving slowly at first gaining speed toward the right and then it came to a stop and hovered for about five minutes. Then a small star shaped object branched off of it and started flying straight up and around as if it were in orbit with the earth, but still in the atmosphere. The star shaped light disappeared, but we continued to watch the other object as it started moving further away and disappeared. It was neither a plane nor a star and I have never seen any thing like this before.

SCHAUMBURG -- I was outside on my roof at 2:18 AM on April 15, 2001, because that is the time the ship Titanic sank 89 years ago. Well, I was looking up at the stars wondering how those people felt when I saw a flash of light come from behind me. I got scared because I thought it was lightning, and I turned north to see for sure. There were no clouds or anything, so I turned around. Maybe 30 seconds later it happened again and this time I felt a gust of wind also from the North. I looked up towards the sky and saw a bright shiny object moving very slightly in the sky. It was almost diamond/tear shaped and definitely not a planet, star or satellite. I'm in an astronomy class and I know the difference between the three objects. Therefore, I was a little scared and curious. I stood up and waved at it, and then it disappeared. Peter Davenport notes that, if this event occurred, we question whether it had anything to do with the sinking of the Titanic.

On April 25, 2001, at 9: 02 PM Carol sighted an object coming from the west. The object appeared red and white kind of blended together flying fairly high at a pretty fast speed, and faster than most planes. It got behind the many trees in the front yard and I walked to the other side of the yard and saw it again. Carol states, "It was a larger solid round white light moving at the same speed gliding smoothly along as they usually do." Before leaving my sight flying southeast, it again turned to the red mixed with white color. It became smaller and continued on the same flight path. Sighting lasted approximately two minutes. Thanks to Carolncbuckallew@cp-tel.net skyopen@yahoogroups.com

GRAHAM -- Donna B. writes that on April 24, 2001, at approximately 10:30 AM, I observed a large oval object in the southeastern sky; it was silver in color and was hovering. Cannot determine how high it was. It "faded" instead of blinking out this time. There wasn't time to grab binoculars and camera, unfortunately. Have observed this type of UFO before, but have never seen them just fade. Thanks to Donna B. djb0898@wf.net

DERBYSHIRE, ENGLAND -- Andy Darlington of the Matlock Mercury Newspaper writes, "The mystery of UFO sightings over the Peaks and Dales shows no signs of abating after the 23rd reported sighting in the last eight months." Since September, locals have spoken of strange lights, flying saucers, and huge triangular craft in the skies. One was even caught on video. Now a 34-year-old Wirksworth man, who asked not to be named, says he saw a giant disk-shaped craft over Idridgehay. He was driving to market in Derby at 3:00 AM when he saw the UFO hovering near the road. In addition, he was the first person who'd seen the UFOs to admit feeling afraid by what he saw. "It did frighten me because I couldn't explain what it was," he remarked. "I've never seen anything like this before and logic couldn't explain it. It was shocking. I've never been believer in UFOs and sightings but I believe in them now." The man said the craft was hovering above woods and seemed to rotate. It had blue, red, and white lights. The incident follows another sighting of three flying saucers above Youlgrave last Wednesday. Thanks to Gerry @ Farshores

MANNHEIM -- Christian Siedenbiedel reports that the German UFO Registration Office run by Werner Walter has been stressed out since the beginning of February. "A new UFO craze has started in Germany," groans the 43-year-old man who has headed the Office for the past 10 years. "Forty unidentified flying objects in six weeks -- that's more than in 1999 and 2000 put together." Mr. Walter puts some of the blame for this latest wave of UFO hysteria on increased television coverage of the crash of the Russian Mir space station, the planet Venus, and disco searchlights. Even the police called on one occasion; claim they had pursued a UFO in their patrol car. These were most likely the searchlights. A woman in the town of KONSTANZ, claimed she had seen a cylindrical object that was several hundred meters (yards) long above her on the market square in broad daylight. Someone in Hamburg observed a "classical" flying saucer with a diameter of 30 meters (100 feet). An "extraterrestrial theme park" is even being built for millions in Switzerland. Thanks to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Apr. 23, 2001.

SALT ASH, NSW -- Darryyll Jones writes that he holds an ultra light pilots license and a yachtsman so he is more aware of the sky. On April 26, 2001, 15 miles north of Newcastle. I was looking at the sky with a friend at 8:00 PM when a huge triangular outlined shape formed by white lights, mostly on the leading edge, but enough on the trailing edge to define this boomerang outline, flew directly over head. It had to be massive. My first impression was that it was between 10,000 to 30,000 feet high. It was 5 degrees wide, silent and flew straight with no ionization trail. Suddenly it was gone like the lights went out. Only minute's later single lights began scribing perfect arc's between 40 to 80 degrees south, first in one direction then the other in exactly the same circuit, then they too were gone. They were making a crescent shape as they too were fading out in the western portion of their arc. I have wracked my brain for an explanation such birds, aircraft, or asteroids. My friend and I sat down and made notes that were near identical. We concluded the most likely explanation was a mother ship and the single orbs somehow came from it.

I am still far from satisfied with that explanation though. As the military aircraft from a nearby RAAF base were out in larger than normal numbers, the three helicopters and possibly five F18's might have been a laser type focused display. The triangle was "flying" in the direction of the base. My friend was looking the other way when I spotted the triangle approaching. He got two and a half seconds to observe it, while I got five. We agreed on what we saw. The orbs were around for 13 passes for three minutes at very high speed. They dimmed out as they headed west for the sun now over the horizon, suggesting again deep space objects. The main group and then fractured and returned to earth much like fighter pilots peel off. There was a small storm in the distance with heavy lightning that continued all night. Others claim to regularly see the big triangle inland at Bathurs. Thanks to Darryyll Jones vital.earth@hunterlink.net.au.
Editor's Note: Two well qualified witnesses observed a UFO. The craft may be stationed at the nearby air base or pulling into our atmosphere for protection from unusually heavy solar flares emanating from our sun.

This is a translation of a Taiwan Daily Gazette article. "In a heroic dogfight fought over international waters off the mainland China coast, a 60s era American-built Lockheed Electra propeller airliner with 24 US Navy passengers/observers aboard chewed up one of China's best state-of-the-art supersonic fighter aircraft. The Americans, utilizing the infrequently seen combat tactic of straight and level flight, often accomplished by relying solely on autopilot, engaged the unfortunate single seat combat jet and knocked it out of the air using only one of its four formidable rotating air mass propellers. After the action, the crew and passengers/observers dropped in on China's Hainan Island Resort, for some much-deserved R&R as guests of the Chinese government. Reprinted from the Taiwan Daily Gazette by staff writer One Wing Lo, Ray (WA4RLB) and Brenda Burt

in Rhode Island, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Illinois, Nebraska, California, Washington, Chile and Italy. Huge unidentified flying objects are causing a hazard to the aviation public, its time to start examining the hundreds of UFO reports. In the past air traffic controllers report alleged false radar images and diverted commercial aircraft near Chicago. Several UFOs were spotted last week in air space near Chicago's O'Hare International Airport often advertised as the nations' busiest. It seems likely the radars are picking up the UFOs.

At this time of the year, it is appropriate to consider some amazing new discoveries that endorse statements made in the Bible. Your ancestors may not be primordal soup or apes as the Theory of Evolution claims. My mother always told me some people may be related to apes, but we are from a higher place and looked toward the heavens. Zecharia Sitchin the noted researcher and author of the Earth Chronicles explains why your forefathers came from a more complex higher life form.

Zecharia Sitchin writes, "In whose image was The Adam - the prototype of modern humans, Homo sapiens - created?" The Bible asserts that the Elohim said: "Let us fashion Adam in our image and after our likeness." But if one is to accept a tentative explanation for enigmatic genes that humans possess, offered when the deciphering of the human genome was announced in mid-February, the feat was decided upon by a group of bacteria! "Humbling" was the prevalent adjective used by the scientific teams and the media to describe the principal finding -- that the human genome contains not the anticipated 100,000 - 140,000 genes (the stretches of DNA that direct the production of amino-acids and proteins) but only some 30,000+ -- little more than double the 13,601 genes of a fruit fly and barely fifty percent more than the roundworm's 19,098. What a comedown from the pinnacle of the genomic Tree of Life! Moreover, there was hardly any uniqueness to the human genes. They are comparative to 99 percent of the chimpanzees, and 70 percent of the mouse. Human genes, with the same functions, were found to be identical to genes of other vertebrates, as well as invertebrates, plants, fungi, even yeast. The findings not only confirmed that there was one source of DNA for all life on Earth, but also enabled the scientists to trace the evolutionary process -- how more complex organisms evolved, genetically, from simpler ones, adopting at each stage the genes of a lower life form to create a more complex higher life form -- culminating with Homo sapiens. The "Head-scratching" Discovery It was here, in tracing the vertical evolutionary record contained in the human and the other analyzed genomes, that the scientists ran into an enigma.

The "head-scratching discovery by the public consortium," as Science termed it, was that the human genome contains 223 genes that do not have the required predecessors on the genomic evolutionary tree. How did Man acquire such a bunch of enigmatic genes? In the evolutionary progression from bacteria to invertebrates (such as the lineages of yeast, worms, flies or mustard weed -- which have been deciphered) to vertebrates (mice, chimpanzees) and finally modern humans, these 223 genes are completely missing in the invertebrate phase. Therefore, the scientists can explain their presence in the human genome by a "rather recent" (in evolutionary time scales) "probable horizontal transfer from bacteria." In other words: At a relatively recent time as Evolution goes, modern humans acquired an extra 223 genes not through gradual evolution, not vertically on the Tree of Life, but horizontally, as a sideways insertion of genetic material from bacteria... An Immense Difference Now, at first glance it would seem that 223 genes is no big deal. In fact, while every single gene makes a great difference to every individual, 223 genes make an immense difference to a species such as ours. The human genome is made up of about three billion neucleotides (the "letters" A-C-G-T which stand for the initials of the four nucleic acids that spell out all life on Earth); of them, just a little more than one percent are grouped into functioning genes (each gene consists of thousands of "letters").

The difference between one individual person and another amounts to about one "letter" in a thousand in the DNA "alphabet." The difference between Man and Chimpanzee is less than one percent as genes go; and one percent of 30,000 genes is 300. So, 223 genes is more than two-thirds of the difference between me, you and a chimpanzee! An analysis of the functions of these genes through the proteins that they spell out, conducted by the Public Consortium team and published in the journal Nature, shows that they include not only proteins involved in important physiological but also psychiatric functions. Moreover, they are responsible for important neurological enzymes that stem only from the mitochondrial portion of the DNA - the so-called "Eve" DNA that humankind inherited only through the mother-line, all the way back to a single "Eve." That finding alone raises doubt regarding that the "bacterial insertion" explanation.

Zecharia Sitchin states, "The Role of the Anunnaki Readers of my books must be smiling by now, for they know the answer." They know that the biblical verses dealing with the fashioning of The Adam are condensed renderings of much much more detailed Sumerian and Akkadian texts, found inscribed on clay tablets, in which the role of the Elohim in "Genesis" is performed by the Anunnaki - "Those Who From Heaven to Earth Came." As detailed in my books, beginning with The 12th Planet (1976) and even more so in Genesis Revisited and The Cosmic Code, the Anunnaki came to Earth some 450,000 years ago from the planet Nibiru - a member of our own solar system whose great orbit brings it to our part of the heavens once every 3,600 years. They came here in need of gold, with which to protect their dwindling atmosphere. Exhausted and in need of help in mining the gold, their chief scientist Enki suggested that they use their genetic knowledge to create the needed Primitive Workers. When the other leaders of the Anunnaki asked: How can you create a new being? He answered: "The being that we need already exists; all that we have to do is put our mark on it." The time was some 300,000 years ago. What he had in mind was to upgrade genetically the existing hominids, who were already on Earth through Evolution, by adding some of the genes of the more advanced Anunnaki. That the Anunnaki, who could already travel in space 450,000 years ago, possessed the genomic science (whose threshold we have now reached) is clear not only from the actual texts but also from numerous depictions in which the double-helix of the DNA is rendered as Entwined Serpents and often depicted in Sumarian drawings (a symbol still used for medicine and healing)

When the leaders of the Anunnaki approved the project (as echoed in the biblical "Let us fashion the Adam"), Enki with the help of Ninharsag, the Chief Medical Officer of the Anunnaki, embarked on a process of genetic engineering, by adding and combining genes of the Anunnaki with those of the already-existing hominids. When, after much trial and error breathtakingly described and recorded in antiquity, a "perfect model" was attained, Ninharsag held him up and shouted: "My hands have made it!" An ancient artist depicted the scene on a cylinder sea. And that, I suggest, is how we had come to possess the unique extra genes. It was in the image of the Anunnaki, not of bacteria, that Adam and Eve were fashioned. A Matter of Extreme Significance Unless further scientific research can establish, beyond any doubt, that the only possible source of the extra genes are indeed bacteria, and unless it is then also determined that the infection ("horizontal transfer") went from bacteria to Man and not from Man to bacteria, the only other available solution will be that offered by the Sumerian texts millennia ago. Until then, the enigmatic 223 alien genes will remain as an alternative - and as a corroboration by modern science of the Anunnaki and their genetic feats on Earth. Thanks to ZECHARIA SITCHIN (c) Z. Sitchin Reprinted with permission.

PORTSMOUTH - A chevron-shaped object was seen in the Rhode Island sky at night of the Vernal Equinox. The witness and her husband ,who works for local city government, were in the hottub in their backyard stargazing on March 20, 2001. The sky was very clear with a full blanket of stars at 7:30 PM. Local aircraft traffic was flying by but this was not like that traffic. For less than 30 seconds an object appeared, chevron or flying wing in shape, with six unblinking lights along the perimeter. From the witnesses' perspective, it appeared in the night sky to be a hand's breadth and length at arm's length. It moved swiftly and straight from the East-South-East to the North-North-West. Thanks to Peter Davenport National Reporting Center.

ONEIDA -- In early summer of 1972, I awoke around 1:00 AM with my room aglow from what I thought was a forest fire. Black airplanes and helicopters were silhouetted against the red-orange sky. I thought the planes were dropping flame-retardants on the pines. I watched for about 20 minutes, when a HUGE blimp-shaped object, bright red with orange tinge at the bottom, rose slowly and majestically above the pines. As it hovered I saw it was several acres big, as it overlapped the east and west borders of the pine grove. I was stunned and then realized I was watching a UFO. The planes and helicopters had disappeared. By now I was kneeling on my bed with my face plastered against my window in complete awe. After hovering for about three minutes, it suddenly shot upwards within a second it was gone. The pines leaned to the west as it left, as if huge wind was blowing them at once. Seeing that thing shook the perception of reality I had up to that time. I was too afraid to talk about it and had bad dreams about it for years. Thanks to Pat and Larry Clark pathoyt@mediaone.net and nymufon@nycap.rr.com

VIRGILINA -- On January 21, 2001, a disc was observed at 2:15 PM by Susann and her friend who were driving back from getting a large roll of hay for their horses. They were driving south on Red Bank Road and saw a silver, disc-shaped UFO moving North. It was approximately 5,000 feet high. At first, they thought it may be a jet, but there were no contrails in the clear blue sky. They saw it moving North for about three seconds then it vanished after picking up speed and moving faster than a jet. They said if the sun would not have shined off of it they would not have seen it. This report was completed by Tom Ginther, VA MUFON.

DURHAM -- A very large Flying triangular object with two very bright lights on the front and a reddish looking light on the bottom center was observed on March 26, 2001. The witness reports, "As we approached an intersection at 9:35 P.M., we noticed two very bright lights up in the sky that looked like they were just hovering there. One of my kids finally asked me, "What is that?" The only thing I could think of was that maybe they had put up some kind of tower because I knew it wasn't an airplane. We continued to watch it just sitting there and then it began to move very slowly across the main roadway to the other side and began to hover again. As we got closer to where it was we looked up at it and noticed a strange triangular shape with a reddish light in the bottom of the center of it. It began moving again very slowly and then turned and moved back across the main roadway toward the side where we had first seen it. Then it suddenly just disappeared. We turned around to follow it thinking maybe it went down below the tree line, but it was gone. Then as we approached near the hospital, we looked over in the field and saw the two bright lights hovering there again. As we were observing, it began to move slowly away and downward when it suddenly disappeared again. We rode around near both places we had seen it but could not find it anymore. We never heard any type of sound coming from it. Thanks to Peter Davenport NUFORC

OCALA NATIONAL FOREST -- K. T. Frankovitch reports many strange occurrences in the forest where she lives. Goats have been found dead with rectum removed and blood drained. Twelve rabbits were also found dead by their owner drained of blood with two small puncture wounds on their neck. A baby calf was found in wandering in the forest without her mother many miles from any farm or cow. A horse was found dead near the top of a 15 foot Palmetto tree. There is no way for the horse to have jumped that high and it must have been air dropped to its position. UFOs, generally disc-shaped, have been seen regularly in the area. The local people call them space ships. The area is exceptionally dry and is ravaged by fires. Thanks to K.T. Frankovitch.

TAYLORVILLE -- It happened so fast, it made my house shake, and I looked out the window and saw a triangular-shaped object with lights on it. On March 22, 2001, at around 10:00 PM, I was in my bedroom on the computer and talking to my friends, having a good time. All of a sudden, I felt a sudden vibrant movement of the house. I quickly darted for the window. I looked out and saw a triangular-shaped object traveling in a straight line at what looked like 150 mph. This triangular object also had lights on the bottom of it and red lights along the back of it. It wasn't flat, it was three-dimensional. It made a huge roaring noise. Right when I lost sight of it, I could still see it, hovering, just sitting in mid-air. All I could see at this time were the lights though. And, all of a sudden, it vanished. This is definitely no plane, helicopter, military base test flight, or anything else normal. It is the weirdest thing I have ever seen in my life and I'm still shocked over it. We're located 200 miles south of Chicago.

GRAYSLAKE -- Rick writes that on the night of April 8, 2001, I was driving back from my fiance's house down Route 83. About 11:15 PM, I saw a huge triangle shaped craft hovering over the landfill along the highway. As I came closer to the object it moved away from the dump. It didn't loop around like an airplane it actually moved sideways and hovered over the road about 100 feet high. I could tell very easily that it was triangle shaped with a bright light in the front and two at the rear points. The front light was a bright red and the other lights at the rear points were a strange green color. I was going to stop to look at it, but it flew off as I came closer. This situation was disturbing because I'm a photographer and this was one of the few times that I did not have my camera with me. The object was the size of a 747 aircraft. I just thought I should report this. Now keep in mind I'm not a quack and I'm also a major skeptic about UFO stories. However I'm not a skeptic anymore. Thanks to Rick and Whitley Strieber.

Editor's Note: This Flying Triangle was operating less than 25 miles from Chicago's, O'Hare Airport, one of the busiest in the world. Additionally it was operating at 100 feet over a well traveled highway. Other reports indicate these craft cause homes to shake probably due to their powerful propulsion systems. These craft are regularly picked up on the screens of O'Hare air traffic controllers forcing pilots to take sudden turns unnecessarily. Last year, Terminal Radar Approach Control Center in Elgin, Illinois has ordered pilots to avoid what appeared to be planes on their radar, potentially putting passengers at risk. The Chicago Sun Times called them false radar images, but I think they are UFOs.

VALENTINE -- The witness observed an extremely large cigar-shaped craft on March 26, 2001, that he estimates was at least 200 yards long. The UFO had two flashing lights on each end when he noticed it at 9:00 PM. The craft flew right above us, with two flashing lights at each end. It was slightly tilted and was moving fast. We were in an extremely dark part of town and the object was moving East. The UFO was sort of cigar-shaped; the lights were bright, flashing and white. The observers were a freshman in high school and an eighth-grade student. Thanks to Peter Davenport NUFORC

HOT SPRINGS -- I was at work pulling shopping carts inside on March 23, 2001, as my job requires, when an older gentleman said, "What the HELL!'" Concerned for customer safety, I looked around and saw the gentleman looking into the sky. I looked up also at 7:23 PM. About 500 feet in the air were eight crafts that appeared to be making high-speed ninety degree (90 degree) turns. The gentleman noticed me watching and asked me if I saw them too. I replied with a, "Yes sir!" and then proceeded to ask him, "What are they?'' He replied, "I don't know." We watched these acrobatic crafts for almost seven minutes before six of them shot off to the North at an astounding rate of speed. The other two craft just sat and hovered for a minute or so and then shot off the West just as fast as the six to the North did. I have seen aircraft like F-16's make turns but not as sharp or perfectly cornered as these craft seemed to be doing.

Editor's Note: Large mothership cigar shaped UFOs have been seen more often lately perhaps due to severe solar storms. Smaller disc craft are often seen leaving and entering these motherships.

DUBLIN - The witnesses reports he sees these craft almost every morning at 7:40 AM while waiting for the BART train. On March 31, 2001, he made his second report of this cigar-shaped object. It flies over every morning. In my first report the object was flying much lower and much slower. I called the FAA office at the Livermore Airport. Is it coincidental that the object now passes overhead at a much higher altitude so that it will go largely unobserved? It appears to be white, cigar-shaped, with no wings, no sound, no windows, nor anything that would make it resemble a known object. It flies from the Southwest to the Northeast or East.

TROUT LAKE -- Six adult eyewitnesses and five children observed UFOs on April 8, 2001, at 9:42 P.M . Eastern. After a typically cold winter with snow, rain and cloudy skies, the skywatches have started again on the South side of Mt. Adams. Our first skywatch was spectacular when a large luminous light, turquoise in color, came in from the Southwest. It was a pulsing green energy field and looked about four times brighter than Venus. The witnesses are writing statements. As it crossed directly overhead, it threw off several, very large pulses of light which seemed to have a psychological calming effect on the people below. The object was filmed as it passed halfway through the sighting and expanded into what looked like infinity, disappearing in the camera, but to the naked eye it remained. These anomalies are not uncommon. The UFOs often show they have control over what is being filmed. They can even selectively block their appearance to individuals all standing in a row.

CALAMA HILLS -- On April 4, 2001, an object, originally displaying considerable luminosity, was seen by at least five witnesses. The sighting occurred between 1:40 and 2:15 P.M., and had a duration of half an hour. According to Freddy L.A., and his father, René L.M., who were on their way back home, an intensely luminous object drew their attention: it was so bright that it hurt their eyes and kept them from making out any greater details. Freddy claims he has seen the light in that location several times. The light was compared to the brightness of a mirror reflecting the sun. Patricio V.T. and Jaime M.L were clearly able to see an oval, cream-colored object with an intense yellow-hued band around its central section. They estimated its size at 200 meters, adding that the object made constant triangular maneuvers. The object moved a high speed during these motions and shot straight up into the air, losing itself amid "a sort of cloud." Patricio V.T. claims having had the impression that this object engaged in such triangular maneuvers while it waited for, "a door in the skies," to open. As soon as said door opened, it passed through it. Thanks to La Estrella de Arica.