UFO RESEARCH AUSTRALIA
PO BOX 2435, CAIRNS QLD 4870
AUSTRALIA
RESEARCH DIGEST
ISSUE 34
MAY/JUNE 1993
COPYRIGHT 1993 - UFORA
REPORTS FROM THE NETWORK
We welcome the support of Helen Chapman and the
other members of UFO Investigation Network, Inc of
Brisbane. Reports from Helen and the group com-
mence appearing in this issue of the Digest. We look
forward to a mutually rewarding association with
them.
UFORA93040 Aug 1979 Mt Tibrogargan QLD
2100hrs CE1 Level B S4/P4
Mr and Mrs H were travelling back to Brisbane from a
day trip to Caloundra in their 1977 Suzuki 4WD soft
top. There were no other vehicles on the road, front or
rear. The car was suddenly engulfed in the most tremen-
dous noise, like a giant humming top, the car lights faded
out and the motor cut out. Mr H managed to steer the car
onto a grassy verge. The noise lasted about 10 seconds
then diminished after which Mr H restarted the car and
proceeded onto the highway. The noise came again and
situated itself on top of the car. Although the lights and
motor did not cut out, the noise suddenly left and faded
away to the east (Glasshouse Mountains). No lights were
observed as in aircraft or helicopter lights. Mrs H says the
car's interior lit up with an orange glow but Mr H was not
aware of this. The rest of the trip home was uneventful.
(Helen Chapman/UFO Investigation Network Inc)
UFORA93041 17 Jul 1989 Wolffdene QLD
1000hrs Med Level B S4/P4
A 45 year old man was watching a light aircraft from his
backyard when he caught sightofabright, white flashing
light in the southern sky. After observing for a minute or
two he fetched hisbinoculars. Through the binoculars the
object was still small. At the front of a tear drop-shaped
black object was abright light whichpulsed light in white,
green and blue flashes. Beneath the black shape was a
long white projection pointing downwards. The white
proj ection was very long in proportion to the black shape .
The object was first seen at 45 degrees south, and stayed
on a level course moving towards the east. It appeared to
fade into the distance at 45 degrees east. Total duration
20-30 minutes.
(Helen Chapman/UFO Investigation Network Inc)
UFORA93042 TA93006 1983 Forcett TAS
1700hrs CE3 Level B S31P4
The witness reports that when about 15 years old was
staying on a friend's farm. She felt an urge to look outside
and saw a bright light to the north. She and her friend
went outside, the light resolved into a grey squarish shape
with windows and flashing lights. Visible througwindow
at the front were black human-like figures. The object lost
height and was obscured from view. Air traffic does pass
over this area but the witness claims this was certainly not
any aircraft.
(TUFOIC.)
UFORA93043 TA93032 Ca 21 Jun 1985 Flinders
Island 0100hrs Low Level B S3/P4
A crew member of a boat, north-east of Flinders Island
was on watch and observed six or more lights shining
clearly under the water. They had appeared suddenly,
some 100m from the boat. The lighted areas were some
3/4m across and green in colour, but bright. After some
10 minutes the witness altered course to pass round the
lights. They faded out of sight soon after.
(TUFOIC.)
UFORA93044 30 Dec 1992 Bellenve TAS 2340hrs
Low Level A S3/P5
A man had just returned home when he became aware of
two steady red/orange lights to the north-west. They
looked to be approaching at a steady speed over the city
of Hobart area. However, they then changed course and
started to move away to the south-west. The gap between
the lights widened now as one increased speed to go out
of sight. The witness had thought at first that they had
maybe been on one object. The second light gradually
went away in the same direction, pulsing as it departed.
(TUFOIC.)
UFORA93045 TA93020 11 Jan 1993 Mt Nelson
TAS 8210hrs NSW Level A S3/P5
Awoken by the barking of her dogs, a woman saw a very
bright, yellow light just above the treeline some 2km
distant. There are no houses etc. in that direction (west).
The light seemed tobe rocking backwards and forwards.
She watched it for some 10 minutes, After this the dogs
quietened down and she returned to bed.
(UFOIC)
UFORA93046 TA93004 12 Jan 1993 Evandale
TAS 2200hrs Level A S3/P5
A cylindrical shape wit three spinning lights was seen
by a married couple from their home near Evandale.
Close at first, it seemed to gradually move away to the
northeast. It seemed to become blurred near the horizon
and disappear. No air traffic was known to be in the area.
(TUFOIC.)
UFORA93047 TA93041 21 Feb 1989 Launceston
TAS 2200hrs Low Level B S4/P5
The pilot of a Piper Lancer, single engine/low wing
aircraft, was conducting a series of night circuits. Two
people were onboard. About 30 minutes into the circuits,
air traffic control brought to their attention that they had
observed a coloured light in the nortbern sky. ATC's first
thought was that another aircraft had penetrated con
trolled air space without clearance. The pilot offered to
fly towards the sighting in order to identify it and so took
offonabearing of 325 degrees magneticfromLaunceston.
The light appeared to alternate between the colours red
and green which led them to at first believe it was a
navigation light of another aircraft The object seemed to
be at their level. After travelling about 30nm from
Launceston on the same track, the distance between the
plane and the light appeared to decrease at a rapid rate and
at one stage they had to take evasive action and alter
course to the left in orderto avoid whatthey thought might
be a collision. They seemed to remain close for 2 minutes
and then the object appeared to be as far away as when
they first started out to look at it.
They continued on their track until some 20nm off the
northern coast until they turned back with the object still
in the northern sky.
(TUFOIC.)
UFORA3048 9 Apr 1993 Over NSW 0835hrs
Low Level E S1/P5
Dozens of people from a wide area of New South Wales
reported an object in the sky. Initia11y appearing as a white
glow, it became a coloured ball with a tail . It then split into
two and disintegrated. Later there was what appeared to
be a sonic boom heard. Most likely a bolide.
(Copy of item from the Sydney Daily Telegraph Mirror 10
Apr 93 via John Jensen.)
IN THE LITERATURE
Volume 4 ofthe new series ofthe Journal of UFO Studies
includes:
* Walker, W. W. & Johnson, R. W. "Further Studies on
the Ubatuba Magnesium Samples."
* Kerth, L. & Haines, R.F. "How Children Portray
UFOs."
* Swords, M.D. "Astronomers, the Extraterrestrial Hy-
pothesis and the United States Air Force at the beginning
of the Modern UFO phenomenon."
* Hall, R.L., Rodeghier, M. & Johnson, D. A. "The
Prevalence of Abductions:A Critical Look."
* Jacobs, D. M. & Hopkins, B. "Suggested Techniques
for Hypnosis and Therapy of Abductees."
RESEARCH NOTES
Crop formations in the UK-1992/1993
The 1992 UK crop circle season received very little
attention here in Australia. However, news from avariety
of sources indicated that 1992 brought:
* "The Cerealogist's" Manmade Circle Making compe-
tition. Twelve teams competed for a 3,000 pound prize.
The competition revealed that realistic geometric forma-
tions could indeed be made at night by humans.
* George Wingfield, of the Centre for Crop Circle
Studies (CCCS) declaringthat there was an international
government plot against crop circle research.
* An increasing number of people being caught in the
act of manufacturing crop formations.
* The continuing awareness that there is still no definite
way for crop circle "experts" to tell you what distinguishes
a man-made from a "genuine" formation.
* The knowledge that the Meaden vortex theory is at best
limited to a small number ofthe "simpler circles", whilst
still having the possibility of being able to explain some
af the formations
What ofthe 1993 season? The Center for North American
Crop Circle Studies (CNACCS) released their Bulletin
Number 3 on May 27, 1993 reporting on the UK scene.
We bring you the following courtesy of both the CNACCS
and PARANET/UFORA
The 1993 UK season started as early as May 5.
Then on the May 11, Montague Keen of the CCCS found,
near St Neots, Cambridgeshire, a tailed shaft with large
and small circles in wheat. Others followed including an
18m circle in rape with a "sunburst" centre on West
Overton North Farm in Wiltshire; and a 24m tight, neat
circle in rape with a 45cm spiral and a ridged, "ripple
wave flow effect."
The CNACCS also advised that the CCCS and German
and American colleagues have set up near Silbury Hill
and near Alton Barnes to monitor environmental changes.
The US/UK/Canadian project Argus sampling group,
whowereactive in 1992, will notbe intheUKthis season.
However, Dr W C Levengood will continue plant sam-
Dling.
Dr Steven Greer, director of the Center for the Study of
Extraterrestrial Intelligence, is again expected to be in
Wiltshire to continue his experiments to contact who-
ever/whatever is behind the croD formations.
"Fire in the Sky"
The film "Fire in the Sky", based on the 1975 Travis
Walton abduction case, opened in Austalia movie
theatres on May 13, 93. We will be monitoring the
number of Australian abduction reports during this pe-
riod to see what affect, if any, the movie has on Austra-
lians.
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Physical traces
With all the emphasis on abduction cases these days and
the chase for physical evidence in the form of implants,
we tend to forget that we already possess tantalising lines
of physical evidence of the UFO phenomenon.
Two of the most spectacular physical trace cases, with
direct links to UFOs, happened in Valensole in 1965 and
Trans-en-Provence in 1981. Curiously, both events oc-
curred in the same south-eastern corner of France, near
Nice
For those who may not be aware of these cases we present
a summary of both. They serve as classic cases with which
to face any sceptic.
Valensole
The following account is drawn from a series of articles
which originally appeared in the English Flying Saucer
review (1965a b,c.)
Valensole is a small village in the south-east of France,
near to Nice. A significant event occurred there on July
1, 1965. In the month of June, Maurice Masse, a World
War Two resistance fighter, and a trustworthy farmer
according to local police; together with his father had
noticed someone had been picking their lavender plants.
At 5.45 a.m. Masse was standing by a tractor smoking a
cigarette. The tractor was parked by a mound of pebbles
and rakings, close to a small vineyard, in the lavender
field.
A whistling sound came to his attention which he thought
was a helicopter. However, upon looking around the
mound he saw an unusual object. It was shaped like a
rugby football and the size of a car. It stood on a number
of legs, stated to have been 6 in number by Bowen
(1974:246) and 4 by Vallee (1990:108). There was a
central pivot stuck into the ground beneath it. Masse
noted what he first took to be two children, about aged
eight years, close by the object apparently inspecting a
lavender plant.
Masse thought at first, from an initial distance of 60m,
that these were the people who had been taking his plants.
He decided to approach quietly through the vineyard.
However, when he got closer he realised the figures were
not children but unusual beings. He left the vineyard and
walked though the low height lavender field.
At about 5m distance from the object, one of the beings
turned and pointed a pencil-like object towards him and
Masse was frozen, unable to move. Vallee (1988:27)
reports that masse could still breath and feel his heart beat
present.
The beings were described as follows. They were some
120cm tall and wore close fitting, grey-green clothes, but
no head covering. Their heads were pumpkin-like, with
high fleshy cheeks. The eyes were large and Vallee
(1988:26) adds that Masse told him that the eyes con-
veyed human expressions. These eyes slanted away around
the sides of the face. The mouth was merely a slit or hole,
without noticeable lips. Their chins were very pointed.
Vallee (1988:26) adds their hands were small and nor-
mal. Grumbling sounds came from their middles.
Masse has consistently refused to disclose what - if
anything - happened between him and the beings.
After a while the beings re-entered their object. Vallee
(1988:27) notes the door closed "like the front part of a
wooden file cabinet. " The beings were apparently visible
looking at him from inside the object, while the legs
whirled and retracted. The central pivot made a thumping
noise. Then the object lifted offand floated silently away.
At 20m distance from the landing spot the object simply
vanished fromview. Masse, according to Vallee ( 1988 :27),
says: "One moment the thing was there and the next
moment it was not there anymore."
It took some 20 minutes forthe paralysis to wear off. After
that Masse went back to Valensole. The proprietor of the
cafe des Sports questioned him after being alarmed by
Masse's appearance. Masse told him part of what had
happened, and the police were informed.
The Digne Gendarmerie, lead by a Captain Valet, were
called in to investigate.
The taces:
At the time traces were found at the spot where the object
had rested. These consisted of a flat imprint just over 1m
in diameter. In the centre, where the central support had
been, was a cylindrical hole some 30cm deep and some
15cm diameter. From the hole radiated four flat grooves,
making an x shape. Each of the grooves was 2m long and
25cm deep. The soil here was of a near-liquid consistency
despite the fact that it had not rained for some time.
That evening Masse and his 18 year old daughter went
back to the site . The soil surrounding the central trace was
as hard as cement compared to the surrounding soil which
crumbled when held.
After a period of time, a 3 m diameter circular area in the
middle of rows of lavender plants died, with only a few
weeds continuing to grow. Around the perimeter a num-
ber of lavender Plants were stunted and withered looking.
The calcium content of the soil, taken from the site, was
much higher then in soil taken from other areas of the
field (Phenomenes Spatiaux 1966:26)
Masse reploughed the landing site and replanted, but
these plants also died.
After effects:
Vallee (1988:27) reports that for several weeks after the
event, Masse was overcome with drowsiness and found it
difficult to stay awake for more then four hours at a time.
Aime Michel visited Masse on Aug 8,1965, and at the end
of the interview showed Masse a drawing of the Socorro
object which Masse took to be his object.
Michel reported that Masse appeared anxious, nervous
and distressed at interview. Masse said of the beings:
"They were good" and n they did not wish to do us any
harm."
References:
Bowen, C. (1965a.) "A significant Report from France. "
FSR 1165).
Bowen, C. (1974). :The Humanoids" N London. Futura.
GEPA. (1965c). "The Significant Report from France."
FSR 11(6).
Michel,A. (1965b.) "The Valensole Affair." FSR 11)6).
Phenomenes Spahaux. (1966.)Bulletin du GEPA. Marp 26.
Vallee, J. (1988). "Dimensions New York Contemporary.
Vallee, J. (1990) "Confrontations. New York Ballentine.
Transen-Provence
Renato Nicolai, aged 55, was building a little cement shed
on his property, at about 1700 hours, on January 8, 1981.
His attention was drawn to a whistling sound and upon
turning around he saw an object in the air. It was at tree
height and descending. As it descended he approached it,
and then saw it standing on the ground. He was some 30m
away at this stage.
At that time, the object emitted another constant whis-
tling sound. It took off and when it had reached tree top
height, it left rapidly to the north-east. Nicolai noted that
the object kicked up a little dust as it left the ground. Total
duration of the whole event was 30-40 seconds.
Nicolai walked towards the spot where it had been and
saw a circular marking on the ground, some 2m in
diameter.
The object:
He described it as like two saucers one against the other,
some 2m highby 2.4m wide. It was the colour of lead, i.e.
gray. It had a border around its circumference. Under-
neath there were two round pieces, which could have been
landing gear or feet, extending some 20cm below the
main structure. There were also two circles looking like
trap doors underneath it.
Traces:
The police attended on the Jan 9, 1981, and took samples
as part of their investigation. The police found two
concentric circles 2.2 and 2.4min diameter. Two portions
of these circles were more clearly visible than other
portions. The marking was still visible 40 days later.
The police returned to the site on the Jan 23 to take more
samples and GEPAN investigated and took samples on
Februaxy 17.
Vallee (1990: 105) notesthat GEPAN found that the earth
inside the ring was compacted and a tough crust, 6mm
deep, was present consisting predominently of calcium.
This crust had been subjected to a rubbing effect. It
appeared that strong mechanical pressure had been ap-
plied to the soil by a heavy weight, causing erosion,
striation and heating (less than 600 degrees C.)
Analytical indings from the GEPAN report:
* The chlorophyll pigment in the leaf samples taken
from inside the ring was weakened by 30-50%.
* The young leaves "withstood the most serious losses,
evolving towards the content and composition more
characteristic of ald leaf
CLASSIFICATION OF LEVEL OF
INVESTIGATION .
LEVEL A - A Report which has received on site
investigation 6y experienced investigators.
LEVEL B - An interview with the witness was
conducted by investigators, but there was no follow-
through investigation.
LEVEL C - The witness has simply completed a
standard UFO report form. No interview has 6een
conducted.
LEVEL D - The report consists solely of some form of
written communication from the witness.
LEVEL E - This is based on information received hang,
e.g. newspaper.
STRANGNESS/PROBABILITY
S7 - Prosaic explanation-previously termed an IFO.
S2 - Probably explainable, with more data.
S3 - Possi61y explaina61e, but with elements of
strangeness.
S4 - Strange; does not conform to known scientific
principles.
S5- Highly strange.
* Attempts to duplicate the changes were unsuccessful.
Applying nuclear radiation does not seem to be analo-
gous with the energy source implied with the observed
phenomenon."
* On the other hand, "it could be tied to the actions of
some type of electric energy field."
* Concerning the witness, the investigations clearly did
not show: "indications of invention or exaggeration on
his part or a mental deformation whichwould cast doubt
on his testimony."
Conclusion:
The GEPAN conclusion was: "We cannot give a precise
and unique interpretation to this remarkable combination
of results...We can state that there is, nonetheless, an-
other conformation of a very significant event which
happened on this spot."
References:
Anonymous. (1984). "GEPAN" Most Significant Case."
MUFON Journal No 193, March 1984.
Vallee. J. (1990.) "Confrontations. " New York Ballentine.
PROBABILITY THAT THE EVENT
OCCURRED AS DESCRIBED BY THE WITNESS
P7 - Not credible or sound.
P2 - Lacking in soundness; smacks of hoax.
P3 - Somewhat credible or indeterminate.
P4- Credible
P5- Highly credible.
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