UFO ROUNDUP
 Volume 2, Number 39
 October 12, 1997
 Editor: Joseph Trainor
 
 ANOMALOUS TRACKS
 PHOTOGRAPHED ON MARS
 
      On Monday, October 6, 1997, a startling photograph
 from the Mars Global Surveyor was posted on the
 Astronomy Picture of the Day website.
      The photo, taken by Surveyor from an altitude of
 250 miles (400 kilometers), shows a subsided rift valley
 ten miles (16 kilometers) long in the Vallis Nigral region
 of Mars.  The rift valley is similar to the one in East
 Africa here on Earth.  The rimrock on the valley's rim
 shows clear evidence of water erosion.
      Towards the photo's center, just above a square
 depression in valley floor, is a line of uniform tracks
 extending for an estimated distance of just over two
 miles (3.7 kilometers).
      One observer estimated that, based on the
 formula that one Surveyor pixel equals 30 feet (9 meters),
 the tracks are 415 feet (126 meters) wide.  This
 suggests that the tracks were made by an immense
 vehicle, perhaps similar to the one used by the Jawas
 in the movie "Star Wars."
     The age of the tracks is unknown.  However, it appears
 that they are recent and appeared after the great dust
 storm on Mars back in the early 1970s.
      The photo can be found at the following URL--
 http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap971006.html
 (Many thanks to Twitch and Chris for pointing out this
 Surveyor photo.)
 
 EARTH CONTROLLERS LOSE
 CONTACT WITH PATHFINDER
 
      On Thursday, October 9, 1997, the mainstream news
 media reported, "Pathfinder, which landed in July, has
 become mired in technical problems.  Communications
 from its main transmitter resumed Tuesday (October 7)
 for 15 minutes after having been shut down since
 Sept. 27.  Yesterday (Wednesday, October 8) controllers
 tried to get some new engineering data from the
 spacecraft but were not able to get a signal from the
 transmitter."  (See the Providence, R.I. Journal-Bulletin
 for Thursday, October 9, 1997, page 4)
      Pathfinder's last successful transmission was on
 Saturday, September 27, at 3:23 a.m.  The next
 scheduled transmission was to take place that day at
 11:15 p.m. but "no signal was received."
      On Monday, September 29, at 1:30 a.m., the Jet
 Propulsion Lab "ordered Pathfinder to send a carrier
 signal to Earth on the low-gain and high-gain antennae.
 Neither signal was received."
      On Tuesday, September 30, they tried again with
 the low-gain antenna.  "The attempt was done at Mars
 noon in order to ensure maximum power on the solar
 arrays in order to power the S/C transmitter.  No signal
 was received."
      When they tried on Wednesday, October 1, there 
 was no signal at first, "but at approximately 4:23 p.m.
 a signal was received that lasted for about 20 minutes."
      On Thursday, October 2, the JPL team attempted
 to retrieve digital data from Pathfinder's auxiliary
 transmitter.  "The signal turned off at approximately
 11:30 (a.m.) solar time."  The team ordered Pathfinder
 to divert some data to conserve battery power.  "It is
 not clear whether these commands were received."
      On Friday, October 3, the team again tried to pass
 digital data through the auxiliary transmitter.  No data
 was received.  Commands were then sent "to put
 Pathfinder in the safest state possible for a non-
 operational battery.  There was no signal indicating that
 these commands executed on the S/C."  (Many thanks
 to Erik Beckjord and Patrick Bailey for the day-by-day
 narrative.)
 (Editor's Comment: The battery's insulation could have
 been torn loose or otherwise damaged during Pathfinder's
 rough landing.  Martian cold may be draining the battery
 faster than the solar arrays can replenish it.  Either that,
 or something is jamming JPL's radio signals to the
 spacecraft.)
 
 PACACCINI DISPUTES SOUSA'S
 TALE OF SAUCER CRASH
 
      Brazilian ufologist Vitorio Pacaccini, author of the
 book INCIDENTE EM VARGINHA, says he and fellow
 ufologists Claudeir Covo and A.J. Gevaerd have their
 doubts about Carlos Sousa's story of a UFO crash at
 Tres Coracoes on January 13, 1996.
      Sousa claims that he was driving on the Fernando
 Dias Highway from Sao Paulo to Belo Horizonte at
 8 a.m. that Saturday morning when he saw a damaged
 UFO fly slowly overhead.  He further claims he followed
 the object to a farm field 8 kilometers (5 miles) north of
 Tres Coracoes, a city 25 kilometers (15 miles) south of
 Varginha, Minas Gerais, where he saw Brazilian Army
 troops collecting crash debris.
      "I know the highway well," Pacaccini said, "Like the
 palm of my hand.  I have been riding on the highway for
 over 15 years, going to southern Minas Gerais to visit
 my mother.  She lives in Tres Coracoes."
      Pacaccini pointed out that the Fernao Dias Highway
 is one of the most heavily traveled thoroughfares in
 Brazil, with constant 24-hour traffic between Sao Paulo
 (population 8 million) and Belo Horizonte (population
 2 million).  He said it's unlikely that the highway would
 be deserted on Saturday morning at 8 a.m.
      As he followed the UFO, Pacaccini added, Carlos
 Sousa "passed by three big gas stations which are
 also bus stops" and right through the industrial district
 of Tres Coracoes.  "Why didn't he stop and call somebody
 to see the UFO, too?  Were all the places empty, deserted,
 nobody there?  That's impossible!"
      Pacaccini added that he personally visited the alleged
 crash site, "a big open pasture with only one big tree in the
 middle."  From there, one can see three other farms, one
 of which belongs to a family friend of Pacaccini's, Senhor
 Laercio.
      Pacaccini said Sousa claims to have seen "two army
 trucks, one army ambulance, one army helicopter, about
 30 soldiers and five or six civilian cars," noting that the
 pasture is only 200 meters (660 feet) from the farmhouse
 of the owner, Senhor Maiolini.
      "How come nobody heard or saw anything on Mr.
 Maoilini's farm, Mr. Laercio's farm or on the other two
 farms nearby?" he asked.  "On a Saturday morning, they
 were all working, taking care of many farm activities such
 as miling the cows, feeding the cattle, cleaning the stables
 etc.  I've been there, talking to every person on the farm.
 They were all working that day, and they didn't hear or see
 anything.  Especially the helicopter, which is a noisy
 thing."
      Pacaccini noted that "Mr. Carlos Sousa only appeared
 in September 1996--after we had released much information
 about our research to the press," and alleged that Sousa
 used this information "to fit himself into the (Varginha)
 story."  (Muito obrigado a Vitorio Pacaccini por eso caso.)
 
 IRISH UFOLOGIST SAYS SAUCER
 CRASHED NEAR BOYLE
 
      Irish ufologist Rory Thornton claims that a saucer
 from a planet called Sunas crash-landed in a wooded
 area north of Boyle, near the border of County Sligo
 and County Roscommon, in Eire back in May 1996.
      According to Thornton, a self-described ufologist
 and clairvoyant who operates a health clinic in
 Newcastle, County Galway, "the full story has been
 kept under wraps" by the government in Dublin.
      The UFO "got into trouble and crash-landed in
 a woodland" just outside of Boyle, approximately 
 192 kilometers (120 miles) northwest of Dublin,
 Thornton told the newspaper Irish Sunday Mirror.
 "It clipped the tops off the trees as it drifted down to
 earth.  The whole area was cordoned off by 
 authorities, and American Jeeps (military vehicles--
 J.T.) were still spotted there six months after the
 crash."
      Thornton "alleges that the local Gardai (Irish
 police--J.T.) were told by Dublin government officials
 to 'keep their nose out of it.'"
      An unidentified Garda in Boyle told the Irish
 Sunday Mirror that "there had been reports of a
 landing there last year.  They checked it out but
 denied that any landing had taken place."
      "The whole town of Boyle saw something going
 over in the sky," Thornton said.  "It happened in a
 lonely place.  The aliens misjudged the landing and
 hit the tops of the trees before splashing down in
 the lake.  The area was blocked off for six months.
 Boyle was full of Americans, but they wouldn't say
 what they were doing there.  But there were at least
 six American Jeeps in the area.  Nobody was allowed
 in or out, and there was a guard at the cabin for 24
 hours each day."
      Thornton's story was backed up by at least one
 resident of Boyle.  "There has been a lot of activity in
 the forest," said Padraich O'Hearne.  "The authorities
 want to keep it quiet, but there has been so much
 activity that it is obvious that something big happened
 there that night.  I didn't see the spacecraft, but folks
 around Boyle are full of talk about ET and his friends
 landing."
      Daev Walsh, publisher of the online newsletter
 Nua Blather, however, doubts that the Boyle incident
 was a saucer crash.  He said it seems "to be more of
 a NATO cockup that anything 'extraterrestrial.'"  (See
 the Irish Sunday Mirror for September 21, 1997, page 4.
 Many thanks to Daev Walsh for forwarding this story.)
 
 MEXICAN TV AIRS VIDEO OF
 HOVERING SAUCER
 
      On Sunday, September 28, and on the following
 Sunday, October 5, 1997, from 7 to 8 p.m., Mexican
 TV anchorman Jaime Maussan aired videotape of a
 hovering UFO on his show "Tercera Milenio" (Third
 Millenium).
      The videotape was shot on August 6 in a
 residential neighborhood of Mexico City.  Twenty-
 five seconds of video shows the clearly-detailed UFO
 in a cloudy, smoggy sky.  The UFO is gray and
 metallic and has no blinking lights.  However, it does
 have a strange rotating motion.
      The scene shows the object motionless in the
 sky.  Then it moves from left to right on the TV screen,
 hovers for many seconds, then zips away at a high
 rate of speed.
      For a look at stills from the Mexican UFO video,
 go to this URL--http://www.digiserve.com/ufoinfo/news/
 mexico.html
      "Tercera Milenio" has a website at this URL--
 http://www.televisa.com/3milenio/index.htm
 (Muchas gracias a Fernando Camacho para esas
 informaciones.)
 
 UFOs SIGHTED OVER SICILY
 AND SARDINIA
 
      On Sunday, September 14, 1997, three flights of
 three UFOs each passed over Italy's neighboring island
 of Sardinia.  The UFOs flew slowly over the island's
 west coast and were seen in the seaport cities of
 Sassari, Oristano and Cagliari at 8:30 p.m.
      In Cagliaritano, a few minutes after the first flyover,
 people reported seeing "passing in the same direction
 about 15 lights of various colors and intensities."  The
 case is being investigated by ufologist Antonio Cuccu
 of the Centro Italiano di Studi Ufologici (CISU).
      A week later, on Sunday, September 28, 1997, at
 3 p.m., ten people having dinner at the Ristorante
 Mezzoiuso (cafe) in Palermo, capital and seaport city
 on the north shore of Sicily "spotted a black rectangular
 object that was emitting a strong light from its stern."
 The UFO descended suddenly, seeming to come within
 a few dozen feet of the Palermo/Agrigento highway "and
 then zipped away at an insane velocity towards the
 mountain, leaving behind a luminous trail."  This case is
 being investigated by ufologist Antonio Blanco of CISU.
 (Grazie a Edoardo Russo di CISU.)
 
 MYSTERY METEOR CAUSES A
 BIG STIR IN EL PASO, TEXAS
 
      On Thursday, October 9, 1997, at 12:47 p.m., an
 unusual meteor flashed through the sky over El Paso,
 Texas, creating a massive explosion that shook homes
 from El Paso to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
      Robert Simpson, spokesman for the McDonald
 Observatory in Texas, said the explosion was caused
 "by what appeared to be a small meteor...about as
 bright as the surface of the setting sun."
      The meteor was thought to have impacted in the
 West Texas "brush country" desert, south of the Hueco
 Mountains, about 30 miles east of El Paso.
     "A police helicopter flying 25 miles east of the city
 spotted about an acre of scorched ground that might
 be the area where the meteor hit."
      "A police command post was set up in the Organ
 Mountains as U.S. Army Reserve helicopters used
 infrared sensors to look for pieces of debris from the
 object.  What they are looking for is any debris that is
 still hot or anything that came off the object."  (Many
 thanks to Rebecca Schatte for forwarding this item.)
      "Las Cruces (N.M.) police Sgt. Joel Cano said
 the North American Aerospace Defense Command
 (NORAD) tracked the object as it entered Earth's
 atmosphere until it fell to the ground 30 miles east
 of El Paso."  (See Reuters story for October 9, 1997.)
      The explosion triggered "hundreds of calls" to El
 Paso police and other law enforcement agencies.
 Most witnesses saw a "dark contrail" or "black smoke"
 or a "lightning flash in the sky."
 (Editor's Comment:  NORAD tracked the "meteor" all
 the way down, and then the Army Reserve choppers
 scrambled to retrieve it.  I've seen lots of meteors fall,
 and I have yet to see a helicopter strike team show
 up looking for it afterward.  Does anyone else think
 there may be more to this El Paso case than was
 reported by AP and Reuters?)
 
 ANOTHER UFO IN TUCSON
 
      On Friday, October 3, 1997, at 10:25 p.m., a girl
 sighted a UFO near her home in Tucson, Arizona
 (population 330,537).  Tucson is located on Highway 10
 approximately 117 miles (187 kilometers) southeast of
 Phoenix.
      Carmen A. was outside when she "noticed these
 multi-colored lights flashing.  I looked closely because
 I thought it was a plane or a star.  No, it wasn't a plane
 or a star.  I got a better look through my dad's binoculars.
 It was a round object with lights flashing around it.  Red,
 green and white.  It wasn't moving.  I looked at it for
 better than 15 minutes."  (USENET Item)
 
 UFO SEEN BY MOTORIST OVER
 GACKLE, NORTH DAKOTA
 
      On October 3, 1997, at 10:23 p.m., Lee M. Droney
 of Fargo, North Dakota, was driving on Interstate Highway
 I-94 a half-mile (0.8 kilometers) west of Gackle, N.D.
 (population 456) when he spied a UFO.
      Droney reported seeing "a meteorite-like object off
 to the left appeared to stop and hover...The car radio
 seemed to (suddenly) go out of range.  There were other
 vehicles on the road at the time which could have seen
 the object."  (See Filer's Files #40 for October 10, 1997)
      Gackle is located on North Dakota Highway 46
 approximately 126 miles (202 kilometers) southwest
 of Fargo.  (Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON
 for this report.)
 
 BRIGHT UFO APPEARS OVER
 MISSISSIPPI RIVER PORT
 
      On Tuesday, September 30, 1997, at 10;35 p.m.,
 Elizabeth Macready was sitting on her front porch in
 Natchez, Mississippi (population 22,015).  Natchez
 is a famous Mississippi River town located 72 miles
 (119 kilometers) downriver from Vicksburg.
      "While sitting on my porch--I sit every night--I saw
 what I thought was a large bright star," Elizabeth
 reported.  "I realized at the same time that I had never
 seen it before.  It either beamed brightly or moved
 forwards, then moved backward to the west and
 dropped (into the river--J.T.).  I am on a hill, and the
 object was a little above the highest electrical wires.
 Sky not too clear."  She described the UFO as a
 "white star-shaped bright light."  (Email Interview)
 
 NAVY MAN SEES UFO IN
 SUBURB OF INDIANAPOLIS
 
      On Wednesday, October 1, 1997, at 8 p.m.,
 CPO Ethelred Sharkey, USN, a veteran of the
 Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars, was working at
 the Navy Reserve Station in Greenwood, Indiana
 (population 19,327), about 12 miles (18 kilometers)
 south of Indianapolis.
      Chief Sharkey "was looking to the southeast
 and a brightly-lit object 75 to 80 degrees in the sky
 caught his attention.  The object looked like a star
 but (was) extremely intense and appeared to be
 moving upward.  The 'pure white' light was so intense
 that he 'couldn't believe it.'"
      "The object stayed in a small area as it continued
 moving upward before eventually appearing as nothing
 more than a dim star.  The object was at its brightest
 for 15 seconds."  Chief Sharkey described the object
 as similar to "construction night lights" on a highway
 which "blind you to look at them."  (Many thanks to
 Kenneth Young of the Tri-States Advocates for
 Scientific Knowledge, T.A.S.K., for this report.)
 
 UFO FLIES OVER KENTUCKY
 
      On Thursday, October 2, 1997, at 2:22 a.m.,
 an employee of Kroger Supermarket in Frankfort
 (population 25,973), Kentucky's capital city,
 spotted something unusual in the sky.
      The man sighted "a light in the sky to the
 west of his location."  (i.e. over downtown Frankfort.
 Kroger Supermarket is on the east side of the city--
 J.T.)  The UFO "moved from side to side so fast that
 it left a noticeable streak.  The object departed by
 blinking and climbing straight up."
      Frankfort is 23 miles (37 kilometers) northwest
 of Lexington, in northern Kentucky.  (Many thanks
 to Kenneth Young of T.A.S.K. for this report.)
 
 TRIANGULAR UFO SPOTTED
 IN WESTERN OKLAHOMA
 
      On Saturday, October 4, 1997, at 7:15 p.m.,
 Jim Hickman "observed an unusual object in the sky
 over Elk City, Oklahoma (population 9,579)."  Elk
 City is located on Highway 40 approximately 
 109 miles (174 kilometers) west of Oklahoma City.
      The UFO was also observed by Elk City police,
 Hickman reported, "I went outside with my 10X50
 binoculars and my camera.  I saw to my southwest
 a large bright object that appeared to be roughly
 triangular in shape with what I took to be a hole in
 the center.  The object was three fingers (10 degrees)
 above the horizon at arm's length.  The object was
 at least twice as bright as the moon.  I took several
 35mm pictures at this time."
      Another UFO appeared at 7:35 p.m. above the
 original triangular object.  "The original object did not
 move at all during this...Both 'triangles' went slowly
 west and disappeared over the horizon."  (Many thanks
 to Steve Wilson Sr. for this report.)
 
 from the UFO Files...
 
 1947: ARIZONA'S ROSWELL
           CASE
 
      Roswell wasn't the only saucer crash.  Fifty years
 ago this week, two men reported seeing a SECOND
 downed saucer at Cave Creek, near Phoenix, Arizona.
 Here is their story:
      "In early October 1947, 22-year-old Selman Graves
 and his 16-year-old brother-in-law Bob Malody were
 rabbit-hunting and exploring mines in what is now
 known as the Cave Creek Recreational Area north of
 Phoenix."
      "At one point Graves and Malody climbed to the
 top of the most prominent hill in the area and looked
 south back at the ranch house of their friend Walt
 Salyer.  They could see Salyer's house, his corral,
 and even his water tank.  But when Graves looked
 west of the property he witnessed a scene that made
 no sense then and still haunts him five decades later."
      "What he saw can best be described as 'a large
 aluminum dome-shaped thing sitting upright in the
 desert,' Graves said, 'I thought it might be some kind
 of observatory dome, except why should a dome be
 down at that elevation?'"
      "Graves also remembered seeing five men and
 two trucks near the dome.  One of the trucks was
 of the military (2.5-ton) type, capable of carrying
 personnel or equipment.  'But I didn't see any
 equipment like cranes or anything like that,' Graves
 said, 'And the men didn't seem to be doing any
 work.  I could not identify a uniform.'"
      Using Salyer's ranch for size and distance
 perception, Graves estimated that the dome was
 36 feet (11 meters) in diameter and maybe a mile
 away."
      "Graves never considered that he might have
 witnessed the crash of an extraterrestrial craft
 until 1952, after he read BEHIND THE FLYING
 SAUCERS, a book by pioneer ufologist Frank
 Scully (no relation to Dana--J.T.).  In the book,
 Scully wrote about the Cave Creek incident and
 cited an informant who told him that two humanoid
 bodies about four and a half feet (1.4 meters) were
 retrieved, one sitting inside the craft and the other
 halfway out the hatch."  (See the newspaper
 Newsday of Melville, N.Y. for July 6, 1997.  Many
 thanks to Lou Farrish of UFO Newsclipping Service
 for forwarding this news story.)
 
      That's it for this week.  If you have a UFO news
 story to share, email it to us at Masinaigan@aol.com.
 Or clip it out of your local newspaper and send it to
 UFO ROUNDUP, Box 16, 126 Toll Gate Road,
 Warwick, Rhode Island, USA 02886.
 
      Join us next Sunday for more saucer news from
 "the paper that goes home--UFO ROUNDUP."  See
 you then!
 
 UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1997 by Masinaigan
 Productions, all rights reserved.  Readers may post
 items from UFO ROUNDUP on their websites or in
 newsgroups provided that they credit the newsletter
 and its editor by name and list the date of issue the
 news item first appeared. 

Forwarded with Permission by: Ndunlks@aol.com (Steven L Wilson Sr)

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