UFO ROUNDUP
 Volume 3, Number 9
 March 1, 1998
 Editor: Joseph Trainor
 
 TRAIN CREW SEES GIANT UFO
 TAKE OFF IN AUSTRALIA
 
      A very large UFO landed at a remote railroad
 crossing in northern Australia in late December 1997
 and was seen by the crew aboard a freight train.
      The sighting took place at Kajabbi, Queensland
 (Qnld.), also known as the Milk Stop.  Kajabbi is at
 the end of a spur line out of Cloncurry, which is
 located on the main line between Brisbane and
 Mount Isa.  (Editor's Note: A passenger train, the
 Sundowner, makes two trips each week from
 Brisbane to Mount Isa.)
      Kajabbi is located 1,210 miles (1,936 kilometers)
 northwest of Brisbane.
      As the freight train rolled into Kajabbi, the crew
 spied what looked like "a large building" beside the
 track.  One witness remarked, "When did that go up?"
      The object was described as "a large, almost
 transparent, rusty brown building large enough to
 accomodate a line of trains," i.e. probably in excess
 of 1,000 feet (300 meters).
      The UFO "was seen to lift off the ground and take
 off straight up into the sky" as the train approached
 the siding.  The crewmen were reportedly rattled by
 the sight, and a few "have said they will never go to
 that area again."
      Elsewhere in northern Queensland, aboriginal
 people "have reported sighting many Min Min lights."
 (Many thanks to Ross Dowe and the Australia/New
 Zealand National UFO Hotline for this report.)
 
 NEW JERSEY UFO SIGHTING
 INVOLVES MISSING TIME
 
      Two groups of witnesses reported sighting a UFO
 in Toms River, New Jersey (population 7,524) on
 Thursday, February 19, 1998.  And one group also
 reported an episode of "missing time."
      Toms River is located on the Garden State
 Parkway, a.k.a. New Jersey Route 9, approximately
 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of New York City
 and 52 miles (83 kilometers) east of Philadelphia.
      On February 19, at 10 p.m., firefighter Bob M.
 and his friend, George P., "drove off the Garden State
 Parkway heading west on Route 37 when they entered
 an area of large pine trees.  They decided to make a
 U-turn to return to the Parkway."
      "As they swung the car off the road, George suddenly
 stepped on the brakes to avoid hitting a large object.
 Just off the road in a small clearing was a saucer-shaped
 vehicle with three legs extended.  It was only 25 feet away
 as they skidded to a stop.  They were both staring at the
 object for maybe a minute."
      Bob said, "Do you see what I see?"
      George replied, "If you see a flying saucer, that's what
 I see."
      Then they exclaimed in unison, "Let's get the hell out
 of here!"
      George stepped down hard on the gas pedal.  Tires
 spitting sand and gravel, their car fishtailed back onto
 the asphalt and roared away.
      "Bob wanted to go back, but George refused.  They
 drove directly home 'in about an hour' but could not
 believe that the sun was rising (that it was 6:15 a.m.--J.T.)
 They thought it was no later than midnight."
      The men's "last clear detailed memory" was of "the
 saucer with its legs extended and a small staircase that
 led to the ground. There were no markings on the saucer
 and it appeared to be made of dull aluminum."
      However, Bob and George have no memory of what
 transpired between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m.  Those six
 hours are a complete blank.  (See Filer's Files #8 for 1998.
 Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for this report.)
      Earlier that day, at 4:30 p.m., Ellis Smith, his nine-year-
 old son and his five-year-old daughter watched a UFO
 perform aerobatics over Toms River.
      "We were driving home from the theater in Toms River,"
 Smith reported, "when I noticed about 20 miles to the
 southwest, 40-45 degrees (above the horizon) what
 appeared to be an instant contrail" behind "a very bright
 white light.  The sky was clear and I couldn't see where
 this thing came from."
      At first the Smith family thought it was a private plane,
 but while watching it, they "started thinking it looked more
 like an incoming missile, but then it stopped and very,
 very slowly began to level out."
      "It took about three minutes for it to complete what
 appeared to be a J, then glowed very brightly, changing
 sizes, and then appeared to change into a very large,
 bright, solid object with a mist-like substance surrounding
 it."
      The UFO repeated the maneuvers six times.  Each
 formation of the J took about four minutes, Smith reported.
 "The first event...lasted nearly two minutes. whereas
 toward the last one, it was barely 30 seconds."  At the
 end, "it looked to us like the saucer slowed down, then
 turned into a ball, then hazed up" before vanishing.
 (Email Interview)
 
 V-SHAPED UFO SEEN OVER
 LONGMONT, COLORADO
 
      On Saturday, February 21, 1998, at about 9 p.m.,
 Adam T. and his dog, Kala, stepped outside of his
 home near Third and Terry Streets in Longmont,
 Colorado (population 51,555) and had a strange
 sighting.
      "I was taking my dog outside so she could
 'take care of business,'" Adam reported.  "I walked
 down the back steps and onto the grass.  I turned
 and noticed my dog Kala was not coming out onto
 the lawn.  Instead she sat there whimpering, looking
 at the sky.  That struck me as a little curious as
 dogs rarely look up.  I turned my gaze toward the
 lawn and saw five or six burnt orange lights hovering
 over my house.  Within a split second they shot off
 almost like shooting stars.  They traveled in a loose
 (wide) V formation."
      "I was so excited I rushed into the house to get
 my wife.  But at that point they were, of course, gone.
 Last night (February 22), just for fun, I set up my video
 camera and I'm going to record it..."
      "My sighting lasted three to four seconds.  The
 (orange) lights did not blink.  I don't know if what I saw
 were separate lights or if it was many lights on one
 craft...The craft was just below the clouds, maybe
 8,000 to 10,000 feet...I'm not sure what I saw, but,
 like I said, it was like nothing I've ever seen before."
 (Email Interview)
 
 ALIEN ENCOUNTER REPORTED
 IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
 
      On Sunday, February 1, 1998, at about 2:30 a.m.,
 Rowena Judd was asleep at her home in Fremantle,
 Western Australia (W.A.)   Waking up suddenly,she
 saw "a visitor suddenly appear at the bedroom door."
 She described the humanoid as "seemed to be dark
 in colour and had a shining light around it" but "could
 not see any face."
      Two weeks later, on February 15, 1998, "a beam
 of light...came out of the sky 'after a loud zipping
 noise'" and illuminated the Judd house.
      Fremantle is located about 10 miles (16 kilometers)
 south of Perth, the state capital.
      On Sunday, February 22, 1998, at 12:25 a.m.,
 residents of Karangi, W.A. near Perth reported "sighting
 three bright orange illuminations heading to the southwest
 of Perth" toward the Garden Island Naval Dockyards.
 "The illuminations slowly traveled overhead in a
 triangular formation...at one point, they appeared to
 turn upright and form a vertical line.  They all kept at the
 same distance apart during the whole sighting period.
 At one point, a white light came out of one of the orange
 illuminations and fell directly toward the ground."
 (Editor's Note: A UFO was videotaped doing the same
 thing in Gulf Breeze, Florida in 1992.)
     "The orange illuminations appeared to be about
 one kilometer (0.6 miles) away.  There was no
 flickering and these lights were a constant source
 of fiery-colour orange lights."  (Many thanks to Ross Dowe
 and Australia/New Zealand National UFO Hotline for
 this report.)
 
 DEPUTY REPORTS STRANGE
 LIGHTS AT SITE OF NAVY JET
 CRASH IN CALIFORNIA
 
      On Wednesday, February 18, 1998, a U.S. Navy
 UH-1D helicopter "on a search and rescue training
 mission" crashed in the Sequoia National Forest
 near Johnsondale, California.  All five crewmen
 aboard were killed.
      "Sheriff's Lt. Mike Gutsch said the Huey from
 the China Lake Naval Weapons Center burst into
 flames after crashing shortly after noon Wednesday
 near the Kern River in the Sequoia National Forest."
      "All the victims were Navy personnel from China
 Lake, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) east across
 the Mojave Desert from the crash site.  Their names
 were not released."
      According to the Fresno Bee, their South Valley
 Bureau stated that "there were 'many' people who
 reported a bright object in the Kern (River) Canyon
 at 11 p.m. on February 18," nearly a dozen hours
 after the helicopter crash.
      The news bureau also stated that "Deputy Ernest
 Cowan acknowledged that the bright light caused some
 concerns.  Cowan said the object wasn't a flare but was
 most likely a shooting star (meteor) or possible 'space
 trash' from a satellite launch at Vandenberg Air Force
 Base."
     But witnesses claimed the mysterious object
 "exhibited a strange 'arcing motion'" that is not a
 characteristic of a 'shooting star."  (See the newspapers
 Attleboro, Mass. Sun-Chronicle and the Fresno, Cal.
 Bee for February 19, 1998.  Many thanks to Kenneth
 Young, public information director of Tri-States
 Advocates for Scientific Knowledge, T.A.S.K., for
 forwarding the Bee article.)
 
 TWO UFOS VIDEOTAPED
 FLYING OVER LEEDS
 
      Two UFOs hovered over Leeds, a large city in
 the UK 140 miles (224 kilometers) north of London,
 and were videotaped by a local resident George
 Hickinson.
      The sighting took place on Monday, February 2,
 1998.  Hickinson reported, "At about 5:35 p.m., I
 noticed a pair of bright white lights that were stationary
 in the west, while positioning together at 10 and 4
 o'clock respectively.  My initial thought was a banking
 plane with a light on each wing, and I watched them
 until three or four minutes later, when I decided that
 it was very strange the lights appeared at the same
 altitude as my first observation."
      Hickinson went to get his video camcorder and
 then shot footage of the two lights until 5:40 p.m.,
 when "they disappeared out towards York."
      Hickinson's video was broadcast on the
 BBC program Look North on February 12, 1998.
 (See the Yorkshire Evening Post for February 11,
 1998 and the London Daily Telegraph for
 February 24, 1998.  Many thanks to George
 Hickinson for this story.)
      Elsewhere in the UK, on Sunday, February 15,
 1998, at 7:10 p.m., a family driving on motorway
 (highway) A37 from Doncaster to Yeovil "saw a
 large bright light come from behind us and our car
 in the sky."  The UFO veered off to the left and
 disappeared.  Witnesses described the object as
 having "a red/green glow and a tail."
      Doncaster is 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast
 of Leeds.  (Many thanks to John Thompson of ISUR
 and George A. Filer for this report.)
 
 MANY NEW UFO SIGHTINGS
 REPORTED IN AUSTRALIA
 
      More UFOs were reported throughout Australia
 during late February.
      On Tuesday, February 17, 1998, at 6:20 p.m.,
 witnesses in Sumerville, a town on the Mornington
 Peninsula in Victoria (Vic.) state, reported "a blue-
 white flame illumination.  It flew overhead from the
 western sky heading for the east."  The UFO was in
 view for ten seconds.
      At the same moment, in King Island, Tasmania,
 across the Bass Strait, people spied "a blue-green
 illumination in the eastern sky, heading north...
 no sound heard."
      On Thursday, February 19, 1998, at 4:15 a.m.,
 residents of Tarragindi, Qnld., a suburb of Brisbane,
 saw "a huge bright pulsing orange illumination with
 white-colored lights" flying from the northeast to the
 southwest.  They had it in view for 15 minutes.
      On Saturday, February 21, 1998, at 9:30 p.m.,
 people in Richmond, South Australia "saw two large
 orange illuminations heading away from the area.
 One illumination was heading west while the other
 was heading north.  The UFO heading west seemed
 to be stopping and starting as it traveled."  The other
 one "seemed to be going around in circles as it
 traveled away."
      On Sunday, February 22, 1998, witnesses in
 Campbelltown, S.A. "sighted a bright orange
 illumination heading to the north-northeast.  The
 resident said the bright orange object was 'brighter
 than anything else in the sky.'  It was brighter than
 a helicopter or an aircraft light crossing the night sky."
 The UFO was seen to be "30-40 degrees from the
 ground."
      On Monday, February 23, 1998, a man in
 Tullamarine, Vic., near Melbourne, "reported sighting
 a while illumination" near the constellation known as
 the Saucepan, 85 degrees above the northeast
 horizon.  "It then traveled quickly to the east-southeast.
 There was no trail, and the witness didn't think it was a
 meteorite."
      Also that night, at 8:45 p.m., people in Doncaster,
 Vic., near Melbourne, "sighted a fast-moving illumination
 crossing the sky from east to west.  The illumination
 stopped and made a number of turns and then disappeared.
 When it reappeared, it quickly went off to the west and
 vanished."  (Many thanks to Ross Dowe and Australia/New
 Zealand National UFO Hotline for these reports.)
 (Editor's Comment:  Hmmmm, one sighting in Doncaster,
 Yorks., UK--another in Doncaster, Vic., Australia.  There's
 a UFO clue in there somewhere.)
 
 RECURRING WEDNESDAY UFO
 HAS THE ITALIANS TALKING
 
      On Wednesday, February 11, 1998, at 6:30 p.m.,
 a UFO described as "a ball of light of a yellow-greenish
 color with a long bright blue tail" crossed the sky in
 a descending trajectory over Lombardia province.
      The UFO was seen by hundreds of people in the
 cities of Bergamo, Brescia, Asola, Parma and Mantova
 before disappearing over Lazio.
      Italian scientists dismissed the object as "an
 unusually bright bolide."
      Exactly one week later, on Wednesday, February 18,
 1998, "the phenomenon repeated itself," and again the
 luminous yellow-green UFO with the blue tail flew
 over Lombardia "in an oblique descending trajectory"
 and "was seen by hundreds of people."
      Now everyone in north-central Italy is talking 
 about 'il bolide del mercoledi (the meteor of Wednesday)
 and looking for a repeat appearance. (See the Italian
 newspapers Il Messagero, Gazzeta di Parma and
 Gazzeta di Mantova for February 19, 1998.  Grazie a
 Renzo Cabassi, Carlo Cruciani, Roberto Labanti e
 Edoardo Russo per questo rapporto.)
 
 UNIDENTIFIED FLYING CATFISH?
 
      As William Corliss points out in his newsletter,
 Science Frontiers, "Anomalies crop up in out-of-the-way
 places and unusual publications."
     "A radio amateur (Dave, call sign K1WH8) noticed
 that his 432-MHz beam was higher than normal.
 Checking his tall antenna, he saw something dangling
 from the horizontal elements (tines).  It turned out to be
 a good-sized, dessicated catfish.  Dave's antenna is
 60 feet high and miles from any lake or stream."
 (See Science Frontiers No. 118, March-April 1998,
 page 4.  Also the February 1998 issue of QST
 magazine, page 21.)
 (Editor's Comment: Ah, yes, another item Charles
 Fort would have loved.  Obviously this particular
 catfish is native to the Super-Sargasso Sea.)
 
 from the UFO Files...
 
 1957: UFO NEARLY COLLIDES
           WITH AN AIRLINER
 
      On March 8, 1957, PanAmerican Airways Flight 257
 took off from Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy
 International Airport--J.T.) in Queens, N.Y.  Leaving the
 runway at around 11:30 p.m., the four-engine DC-6
 airliner banked to the southeast and began its long
 flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
      As the propellor-engine DC-6 neared Bermuda,
 Captain Matthew Van Winkle received a storm
 warning over the radio.  He advised Hamilton Tower
 that he was adjusting his course, turning west on a
 new heading that would take him closer to Florida.
      At 3:30 a.m., on March 9, 1957, Flight 257 was
 about 150 miles (240 kilometers) east of Jacksonville,
 Florida, flying at 20,000 feet over the Atlantic Ocean.
      Suddenly, Captain Van Winkle "was startled by
 an intensely brilliant beam of light from his right and
 below his plane.  The object carrying the light had a
 defined edge which Van Winkle saw in the split-
 second..."
      Van Winkle described the UFO as "a big fireball
 advancing with tremendous speed with a roaring
 sound."
      Instantly the pilot "did what comes naturally,"
 pushing all the engine throttles forward and pulling
 the yoke all the way back.  Engines howled as
 "he yanked the big plane up into a zooming climb
 to avoid a collision."
      In the DC-6's cabin, "Passengers, diaper bags,
 suitcases, the inevitable stale magazines, lunch
 boxes, stewardesses (flight attendants--J.T.) and
 the co-pilot (who was in the cabin at the time)--all
 mingled in mid-air as Van Winkle fought to bring
 the plane under control."
      "A stewardess and woman passenger were hurt
 and later hospitalized, and three other passengers
 were shaken up."
      PanAm Flight 257 landed safetly in San Juan,
 and an investigation ensued.  "Four other plane
 crews in the same general area had seen the same
 or a similar object within a few minutes" of 3:30 a.m.
 "They all described it as a glowing thing with a
 brilliant light on the front and a reddish glow or
 exhaust on the rear."
      Despite the testimony of the other crews,
 however, the official explanation of the oncoming
 object was "a meteor."  (See FLYING SAUCERS--
 SERIOUS BUSINESS by Frank Edwards,
 Bantam Books, New York, NY 1966, page 38.
 Also MYSTERIOUS FIRES AND LIGHTS by
 Vincent H. Gaddis, Dell Books, New York, NY
 1967, page 71.)
 
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 which has plenty of news stories, features and
 photos ready for viewing.  You can reach the site
 at http://www.digiserve.com/ufoinfo/
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 at our site.  Catch up on your UFO reading at
 http://www.digiserve.com/ufoinfo/roundup/
 
      On this date, March 1, 1692, a woman named
 Tituba, a slave of African and Taino ancestry born
 on the island of Barbados, was convicted of
 witchcraft at the Court of Oyer and Terminer in
 Salem, Massachusetts.  Her conviction came
 after Judge Hawthorne ruled "spectral evidence," i.e.
 hearsay, admissible in court.
      Tituba was hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem,
 the first of nineteen Massachusetts residents
 executed for witchcraft that year.
 (Editor's Comment: Of course, such horrors as the
 Salem witchcraft trials could never happen in this
 enlightened era of 1998.  But I'm sure John Ford
 and Heide Fittkau-Garthe would give me an
 argument about that.)
 
      We'll be back next Sunday with more saucer news
 from "the paper that goes home--UFO ROUNDUP."
 See you then.
 
 UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1998 by Masinaigan
 Productions, all rights reserved.  Readers may post
 items from UFO ROUNDUP on their websites or in
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 and its editor by name and list the date of issue in
 which the item first appeared.