~UFO's - A YEAR IN REVIEW~
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STRANGE AERIAL LIGHTS SEEN NEAR ANTIOCH, CALIFORNIA

According to the Contra Costa (California) Times newspaper of March 12, numerous witnesses reported seeing strange aerial lights maneuvering over the delta that extends east from San Francisco Bay on the night of March 10. Witness Joan Gatrell said her car's speedometer and instrument panel lights went dead just before she saw the brilliant lights, which seemed to be "floating" over the delta. Several wintesses called police.

PERUVIAN MUD BATHS GET HEALING POWER FROM UFOS

Ponds of black mud in Chilca, Peru, carry exotic names such as "The Twin Maker" and "The Miracle Maker." Peruvians flock to the ponds in hopes of gaining benefit from special powers that, some say, are caused by the presence of UFOs. Visitors to Chilca are greeted by a sign that reads, "The Preferred Site for Interplanetary Ships and Beings." According to Mayor Numa Rueda, "Lots of people claim to have seen UFOs and strange lights in the night sky over Chilca."

HUGE BRAZIL BLACKOUT -- WAS A UFO INVOLVED?

On March 11, Brazil was hit by one of the worst power outages in its history, affecting some 60 million people. Officially, the outage was caused by lightning, but some UFO researchers disagreed. A witness claimed to have seen "three strange glowing objects, silvery and bigger than an airplane, hovering low over nearby power cables that go from the hydroelectric station at Itaipuh to Sao Paulo." The UFOs reportedly flew away just as the blackout hit, the witness said.

FORESTRY WORKERS SAY UFO ABDUCTED ELK

According to the Seattle-based National UFO Reporting Center, 14 forestry workers allegedly witnessed the daylight abduction of a live elk by a UFO on Feb 25. The witnesses said the elk was lifted off the ground and carried away by a peculiar disc-shaped object, which remained in view for three to five minutes.

TWO YEARS LATER, "PHOENIX LIGHTS" STILL A MYSTERY

A detailed review of numerous eyewitness reports convinces Peter Davenport, director of the National UFO Reporting Center, that a huge triangular object, relatively slow-moving and displaying an array of bright lights, was seen by thousands of witnesses as it flew southward from Henderson, Nevada, over Phoenix and down to Tuscon, Arizona in the mid-evening of March 13, 1997. Sightings and videotapes of apparently stationary lights in the sky south of Phoenix later that night have been explained as military flares, but were probably not associated with the earlier sightings of the triangle UFO.

April 1, 1999 -- CNI News Vol. 5, No. 3

STRANGE LUMINOUS OBJECTS HAUNT RURAL MISSOURI

Ted R. Phillips, veteran ufologist and director of the Center for Physical Trace Research in Reed Springs, investigated an extraordinary series of sightings of strange luminous apparitions in a rural area of southern Missouri that began in Dec 1998 and continued almost nightly through late March 1999. Witnesses included a bank vice president and his wife, more than 30 other local residents, and Phillips himself. The apparitions appear as large orange luminosities, often in pairs or groups, slow moving, sometimes accompanied by smaller white lights.

NEW EVIDENCE SUPPORTS CLAIMS OF LIFE ON MARS

During March, several discoveries were announced that lend support to the possibility of life on Mars. An apparent new variety of Earth-based organism has been discovered that, for the first time, is small enough to be favorably compared with alleged fossil micro-organisms discovered in the Mars meteorite known as ALH0084. Also, signs of possible fossil micro-organisms have been found in another Mars meteorite. And there is also new evidence of an ancient ocean on Mars, which, if true, would greatly enhance the prospects of ancient life.

MYSTERIOUS WOMAN WANTS TO RESCUE ETs IN AUSTRALIA

On March 17, the Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald reported that a woman known only as "Mrs. M" was desperately trying to raise money for an expedition to Western Australia where, she said, she intended to help rescue three aliens stranded in the desert since crashing their spacecraft last month. P.E.E.R. REPORTS STUDY ON ABDUCTION AND PATHOLOGY

Dr. John Mack's Program for Extraordinary Experience Research reported results of a recent study in which 40 professed abduction experiencers were compared with 40 non-experiencers across a wide range of psychological characteristics. The study strongly suggests that psychopathology is not a factor in most abduction reports. Among the findings: experiencers as a group are not more insecure, do not more often exaggerate or seek attention, do not tend to lie more and do not have greater difficulty relating to other people in daily life than do non-experiencers.

NEW CROP FORMATION IN ISRAEL'S JEZREEL VALLEY

A crop formation was found in the Jezreel Valley village of Betlekhem Hagalili, Israel, on March 20, the third formation found in the Jezreel Valley in the past year. This one was barbell-shaped, with two circles each 9 meters in diameter joined by a straight line, also 9 meters long and 90 cm. (almost three feet) wide. Eight hundred meters away, an 11-meter diameter circle was also found. The formations were made in a large wheat field and the nodes of the wheat were bent but the stems were not broken, according to researcher Barry Chamish.

NEW ARGUMENTS RAISED FOR, AGAINST KEY MJ-12 DOC

One of the longest and most controversial documents associated with the alleged secret agency called MJ-12 is a booklet known as "SOM 1-01", which purports to be a manual of official procedures for handling extraterrestrial wreckage and bodies. It was sent as a roll of undeveloped film by an anonymous source in 1994 to Don Berliner at the Fund for UFO Research. Researchers Robert and Ryan Wood, who have since carried out the majority of research on this document, have found many indications suggesting authenticity. But on March 23, a committee of leading ufologists issued a statement claiming SOM 1-01 is fake. The Woods immediately offered counter-arguments. The controversy is ongoing.

April 16, 1999 -- CNI News Vol. 5, No. 4

BENTWATERS WITNESS CONFIRMS UNUSUAL AIRCRAFT

UK researcher James Easton, who had previously published evidence purporting to explain the famous 1980 Bentwaters/Woodbridge UFO incident in conventional terms, in early April published a new eyewitness account claiming that strange triangular UFOs had been clearly observed over the military installations during the incident.

FIRST ENGLISH CROP FORMATION OF 1999 REPORTED

On the morning of April 11, English crop circle investigator Stuart Dike found the first crop formation to be reported in the UK this year. The formation had evidently appeared during the previous night in a field of maturing oil seed rape (canola) in Newton St. Loe, near the city of Bath in North Somerset. Dike said this crop formation appeared earlier in the growing season than any formation from previous years.

WITNESSES WONDER IF UFO CAUSED ROOF COLLAPSE

The roof of the McKim Theatre in Kimberley, British Columbia mysteriously collapsed on the night of March 5, and a diamond-shaped UFO covered with flashing lights may have been responsible, according to at least five witnesses who told local news reporters about the strange "light show" they'd seen directly over the theatre roof that night.

IT SEEMS ALMOST EVERYONE SEES UFOs IN TEPOZTLAN,p>

When Carlos Diaz came down from his first mountainside encounter with a UFO 20 years ago, he was worried that people in Tepoztlan, a popular Mexican resort town, would shun him as a nut case. But Diaz was stunned to discover that, to residents of Tepoztlan, his account of getting close to a glowing object pulsing with yellow, orange and red streaks was no big deal. In fact, locals say, it happens all the time.

MULTI-PLANET SYSTEM FOUND AROUND SUN-LIKE STAR

Astronomers announced strong evidence for a trio of extrasolar planets orbiting the star Upsilon Andromedae, the first multiple planet system ever found around a normal star other than our own sun. Oddly, all three planets are nearly as big as, or bigger than, Jupiter. Upsilon Andromedae is 44 light-years from Earth and is easily visible to the naked eye.

MUFON TO PUSH BALLOT INITIATIVE ON UFO SECRECY

The Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) wants to end official secrecy on UFOs. Toward that end, the organization is undertaking an ambitious ballot initiative in 16 states that permit legislation by direct voter petition. Voters will be asked to officially proclaim the year 2000 as the Year of UFO Awareness and to urge open Congressional hearings. The target states are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

May 1, 1999 -- CNI News Vol. 5, No. 5

BRITISH COMMERCIAL JET CREW REPORTS HUGE UFO

The British media on April 27-28 reported that a jet crew flying for charter airline Debonair saw a huge UFO over the North Sea off the coast of Denmark on Feb 3. According to multiple media sources, the 96-seat BAe 146 passenger jet was flying at 28,000 feet toward Humberside, England, when the crew noticed an "incandescent" light below the plane which lasted for about 10 seconds. Some press reports of a "battleship-sized UFO" flying near the jet were later said to be greatly exaggerated.

UNUSUAL TRIANGLE UFO REPORTED IN PENNSYLVANIA

On the evening of April 21 near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, occupants of a car said they observed an unusual UFO that looked "like an 1/8 slice of pizza, flying with the crust end forward." The front section was reportedly covered with numerous white non-blinking lights, and at one point a beam of white light was emitted toward a passing aircraft. Veteran Pennsylvania researcher Stan Gordon was investigating the report.

U.C. BERKELEY NAMES FIRST ACADEMIC HEAD OF ET SEARCH

The University of California at Berkeley has announced the creation of the Watson and Marilyn Alberts Chair for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence -- the first academic chair of its kind anywhere in the world, according to the New York Times. The first professor to occupy the post is William Welch, a SETI astronomer who conducts searches for ET using a radio telescopes at the university's Hat Creek Observatory near Mount Lassen in Northern California.

SCIENTISTS, THEOLOGIANS PONDER ET IMPACT ON RELIGION

Astronomers, biologists and theologians met together at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in mid-April to ponder how the discovery of extraterrestrial life and intelligence might affect terrestrial ideas about God and religion.

THE MYSTERIOUS GIANT FOREST RINGS IN CANADA

An article dated March 16, 1999 in the National Post newspaper of Canada reported the discovery, by aerial photography, of more than 2,000 giant "forest rings" distributed mainly across northern Ontario and Quebec. From the air, the rings are easily visible -- huge, perfect circles of discolored vegetation, ranging in size from 300 meters to over two kilometers across -- "reminiscent of the bizarre crop circles that have confounded people for years," the Post said.

CAPAO REDONDO PROBE BAFFLES RESEARCHERS

On the evening of Jan 2, 1998, a luminous ball was filmed doing maneuvers over a suburb of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The film excited even skeptical researchers, since it clearly shows a football-sized object doing complex maneuvers at rooftop level in the residential area called Capao Redondo, as if under intelligent control. In all, the orb was continuously visible for over 30 minutes, 4.5 minutes caught on video. Researchers have located and interviewed more than 60 eyewitnesses. Similar glowing orbs have been reported many times throughout the world, but the Capao Redondo orb is unique because of the wealth of irrefutable evidence. But what it was remains unexplained.

ISRAELI MEDIA DISCOVERERS "ALIEN HEALING"

News media in Israel have shown strong interest in the odd claims of computer engineer Adrian Dvir, who says he's been contacted by aliens and acquired healing powers as a result. His contacts come by telephone, Dvir says; and the aliens, called Kliendcontlars, are checking out Earth for a possible mass migration because their own planet has ecological troubles.

SCIENTISTS TESTING LIGHT-POWERED "FLYING SAUCER"

A small flying model called a Lightcraft, built by Prof. Leik Myrabo and his students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, may offer a radically new approach to space travel. The Lightcraft is a tiny flying saucer that shoots aloft on a 10 kilowatt beam of infrared laser light in tests at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. "My goal has been to cut the cost of getting to space by a factor of 1,000," says Myrabo, who's been working on laser-powered launch concepts since 1972.

May 16, 1999 -- CNI News Vol. 5, No. 6

FLORIDA POLICE-UFO ENCOUNTER TOLD IN READERS DIGEST

Rarely does a conservative magazine treat UFOs in a serious way, but that's what Reader's Digest did in a recent article called "UFOs: A Second Look." Of special note was a detailed description of a little-known 1992 Florida case in which police officer Luis Delgado said he was tailed by a bright green UFO that lit up the interior of his patrol car before hovering in front of him, revealing itself as a brilliant metallic dome-shaped object about 15 feet wide. Delgado said his car's engine, lights and radio all died, but restarted as soon as the UFO flew silently away. When three other patrol cars answered his distress call, officers found Delgado in his parked car, shaking in terror.

UFO WITH STRANGE LOGO REPORTED IN RHODE ISLAND

MUFON investigator George Filer, publisher of Filer's Files, said a large triangular aircraft was reported flying low and slow over Woodville, Rhode Island in February. The main witness described a clearly discernible triangular logo on the underside of the craft, depicting two lightning bolts striking the earth. The witness said the craft was only 100 feet in the air and silent. Though some military logos are similar to the one described, they are not usually displayed on the underside of aircraft. Filer said he suspected "some kind of a counterintelligence game or deception" in this case.

NEW CATTLE MUTILATION REPORTED IN SAN LUIS VALLEY

Researcher Chris O'Brien reports that a full grown cow was found dead and mutilated in classic fashion on a ranch north of Questa, New Mexico on May 4, 1999. Ranch manager Tom Reed said the 900-pound red angus was found laying on its left side, missing its tongue and right ear. It was approximately the tenth mutilated cow on that ranch since 1993. The carcass was moved to a diagnostic lab in Santa Fe for study.

DRIVING INSTRUCTOR REPORTS UFO IN SCOTLAND

On the evening of Jan 27 in Fife, on Scotland's east coast, a driving instructor and his 17-year-old driving student reportedly saw a "black diamond shaped UFO flying through the sky." Twenty minutes later, they saw what appeared to be the same craft at a higher altitude, "glowing like a star." Getting out of the car, they saw the object rotate, project an orange beam downward, then fly away slowly enough that they could follow it in the car for another ten minutes before it

disappeared.

SPACECRAFT WILL CARRY DNA TO THE STARS

Was Earth seeded by DNA from deep space? The question is raised with increasing frequency these days as scientists discover complex organic compounds in meteorites and ponder the growing likelihood of life on other worlds. But even if all life on Earth arose from Earth-based materials, life on some other world might arise in the far future due to DNA that arrives on a spacecraft from Earth. Such a spacecraft is due to blast into space from a South American launch pad in 2001. The spacecraft will carry drawings, written and spoken messages, music, information about Earth humans, and up to 4.5 million human DNA samples in the form of packets of human hair.

"AUTONOMOUS AGENTS" ARE COMING OF AGE

Though they're not robots, they can make robots smarter and more useful. They can do the same for space probes, internet browsers and a host of other gadgets that will be common in the next decade. They're autonomous agents, and in their most basic form they are simply software that can learn, plan and decide on its own. Right now, an autonomous agent is piloting the Deep Space 1 (DS-1) spacecraft toward an asteroid -- the first time any unmanned craft has piloted itself toward a distant destination in space.

HUGE MYSTERY TRIANGLE TRACED IN STONE IN CROATIA

UFO investigator Giuliano Marinkovicc, writing from Croatia, reports a strange discovery on the island of Pag in the Adriatic Sea off the Croatian coast. A triangle-shaped depression has been pressed into solid rock on a remote hill called Komarovac, several kilometers from the nearest town. The equilateral triangle measures 37meters, 49 centimeters on a side (about 116 feet), according to a surveyor who found the site. The huge triangle is reportedly "stamped" 25 centimeters (10 inches) into the rock of the hillside, as if by a mysterious force.

SETI@HOME LAUNCHES ON MAY 17

The Pasadena, California-based Planetary Society said it would start distributing computer screensaver software on May 17 that allows computer owners worldwide to listen for extraterrestrial messages from deep space. The project, SETI@Home, will enable personal computers to automatically download and analyze bits of data collected by the giant radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. [By year's end, well over 1 million people worldwide were utilizing the SETI@Home software, making this the largest networked computer project in history.]

MANY UFOs SEEN NEAR WHITE ROCK, BRITISH COLUMBIA

On the weekend of May 7-9, several groups of people reported major UFO sightings in the vicinity of White Rock, southeast of Vancouver, British Columbia. According to UFO*BC, one sighting involved a huge blue plasma ball; another involved a "large wedge-shaped craft"; another involved a "huge boomerang-shaped object" and yet another involved a "stealth aircraft" hovering motionless in the sky.

IMPLANT EXPERT ROGER LEIR SUFFERS HEART ATTACK

Dr. Roger Leir, the California-based podiatrist who pioneered the surgical removal of foreign objects believed by some to be alien implants, suffered a serious heart attack on May 24. He has since made a full recovery.

SECURITY GUARD REPORTS UFO LANDING IN BRAZIL

Valdair Alcantara Maciel, who works as a night watchman at a sports facility in the mountains of Sao Paulo state, Brazil, says he saw a red luminous UFO hover near the mountain during the early morning of May 26. The UFO reportedly left traces on the ground. Maciel said he shot at the object, but "nothing happened." Subsequently, he was afraid to return to work.

NEW FINDINGS POSTED BY CYDONIA RESEARCHER

Respected Cydonia investigator Dr. Mark Carlotto, a specialist in photo analysis of the controversial "Face" and "City" landforms of Mars, posted his latest analysis of new photos taken in April 1998 by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). "Detailed analysis of the Face showed a very high degree of lateral symmetry in the platform, found additional facial features (lips and nostrils) located along the central axis of symmetry, and confirmed the presence of unusual linear features on the head," Carlotto said. Other evidence of "water erosion throughout Cydonia... suggests that water was present on Mars far longer than originally thought, and may still be present in Cydonia," he added.

BIGFOOT RETURNS TO TRINITY COUNTY, CALIFORNIA

The Redding (Calif) Record Searchlight newspaper of May 20 said that several witnesses reported recent Bigfoot sightings around the community of Hayfork in Trinity County, northern California. The area has seen many Bigfoot reports in past years as well. The latest sighting occurred on May 18 when a man spotted a huge hairy creature crossing a dirt road near Hayfork Creek in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest



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