PRB

A V I EW FROM BRI TAIN

THE JENNY RANDLES COLUMN
(Originally published in The MUFON JOURNAL, August 2001)

(Editor's note - Please bear in mind the original date of publication. YUFOS extends its thanks
to Jenny & to Dwight Connely, editor of The MUFON Journal, for permission to reproduce this
work.)

Air of Mystery that this was an accidental missile launch from

a coastal base, but this option was likely
One of the topics being hotly debated in the eliminated and according to the records I saw
UK right now concerns mid air encounters whilst wri t i ng Something in the Air the case
between UFOs and commercial aircraft. There was accepted by the CAA (Civil Aviation
has been increasing alarm at the rising Authority) as a genuine UFO_ encounter. Not
numbers of such events during the past that they knew what one of those
decade - with dozens on publ ic record in the
.
was!
UK - and the fear is growing that they may
lead to a disaster. Possibly the most famous event (in the US at
least) happened within 5 miles of where I lived
This is a topic that I have been concerned with in the Peak District of Derbyshire. A British
for quite some time -and I have personal cause Airways Boeing 737 heading into Manchester
to know just how dangerous that scenario can on a flight from Milan in early January 1995
be. came close to a rocket shaped mass which
crossed its path as it flew above the settlement
Partly as a consequence I have compiled a ofWhaley Bridge.
study of mid air encounters in book form - that
was published in the UK as Something in the Although this case has often featured on TV
Air (Hale) and in the US under the rather less programs discussing UFOs I personally am
subtle title UFO Danger in the Air! (Sterling, reasonably certain that it was an encounter
1998). with a bolide - a bright meteor that trailed
gasses but was not seen from the ground owing
to cloud cover. The CAA investigation found
The figures that only the Boeing was on radar and I think
the crew's impression that this thing passed
close by them was subjective and it was in fact
Almost 100 m;d air encounters have been
reported since 1990 over Britain alone. These much higher and further away.
figures are likely to be an under estimate -
given evidence from a study by a Scottish Indeed there are marked similarities between
UFOlogist Jim Sneddon who routinely this case ID1d the famous Chiles-Whitted
recorded mid air to ground radio episode over Alabama in 1948. I personally
communications and found a steady stream of believe that this incident was a bolide - too -
never reported UFO encounters. So the official based on cases that I have followed up where a
figures are the tip of the iceberg. trail of debris crossing the atmosphere has
been perceived by witnesses as being lights or
This concern is seen in true context when one windows on the side of a rocket or cigar
considers that the skies over the UK are not as shaped craft.
densely trafficked as the US (there is only a
modest level of internal flights given the But I do realise that theory is a contentious
relatively short distances involved and argument! I refer you to Something in the Air

the extensive rail network that carries most for a closer discussion as to why I think this
long range passengers across the nation). solution appropriate but you are free to
consider both cases more strange. The
A particularly serious incident occurred in British Airways crew do not agree with my
April 1991 when an Alitalia flight heading into conclusions, I should add.
London Heath.row over Kent encountered a
fast moving lozenge shape that was also
tracked on radar. For a time there was a fear

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Vol. 6, # 3, October 2002
 PRB
A real threat and do fool the senses. Some times it does not
matter if you are Albert the dockyard worker
However, in some r e spect s it actual ly does not or Albert Einstein humans see ord inary things
matter if the 1995 sightin g is expli cable. I think in extraordi nary ways. It is how our senses and
other mid air encounters p rob ably have our brains o perate. It is the fundamental
explanations too - such as an e pisode on the prin ciple behind many UFO sightin g s.
approach to Gatwick in Sussex when a smaU
silvery ball crossed the pat h of a descending However, even if a sighting is exp l i cable - as I
jet. think many of these mid air encounters
p robably are (other causes involving met
In that case I bel ieve the UFO was a toy bal lo o ns and military test equ ipme n t for
balloon. Whilst that might seem almost ab surd example) - this is not to minimise the
(maybe even more absurd than a bol ide in the consequences. Indeed quite t he reverse. I think
above case) I have first hand experience of the we n eed to be better informed about the things
possibility. that are visible up there because they are a
p o te nti al t hreat .
In May 1969 I witn essed from the ground a
small silve ry ball pace an aircraft heading over The more that air crew can become aw are of
Manchester. It circled the tail fin and then what they might encounter and how they might
pulle d away as the plane banked. I was lucky perceive i t the safer air travel will be. I am
enough to have a tel escope handy and very of the work that Richard
respectful
watched the incident through this - seeing that Haines is doing in t hi s regard, for example.
the ball was, in my view, almost certainly a
smal l balloon. This had probably e scaped from It is extr emely foolish to d is miss as irrelevant a
a fair then ongoi ng in a nearby park and must sighting of what might be j us t a toy balloon on
have got caught in the slipstream of the the grounds that it clearly is no risk to a
plane. After being tugged alon g it 'broke free' huge jetliner. Physically it may not be. Neither
but only when the aircraft changed direction. would a bo lide bu rning up man y miles above
the aircraft. But if the air crew perceive the se
Havi n g seen this ha ppen all those years ago I things (as they often do) in far more
have investigated the po ssib ility of balloon intimidat ing fashion then the threat is very
slipstream captures involving ascending and real indeed.
de scending jets and by all accounts this does
seem to be a probable cause of a n umber of The risk
mid air encounters (although, of course, hardly
all or even most of t hem) . Of course, thankfully, pilots are highly trained
to expect the unexpected, but they are bound to
I think it is wort h bearing in mind that 90 - react instinctively when t hey see something
95% of all UFO sight ings do have a r eso lut ion heading at them that they believe might be a
as some form of IFO. And it would be Wlwise UFO. Who wo uldn't? If unaware of the
to imagine that a fair ratio of mid air sigh tings poss ibilities they could put the aircraft into a
are not going to be explained away as dive and lead to stres ses on the superstructure.
we ll . Air crew are, of course, experienced It may ev en be necessary to do this in the
observers and when they have instrumental prevailing c ircumstance s. But I am arguing
back- up (such as radar trackings) the sighting that the more informed about UFOs (and most
can be very intere st ing and difficult to crack. espec ially about IFOs) that air crew can be the
But pilots are also human beings and just as better it will be for all of us.
likelyto misperceive things as any human can
be. Indeed at speed in mid air any si ghting can So I certainly do not believe that the solving of
be quite fleetin g making estimates of speed, matt e r.
mid air c ases is a trivial
height and size almost impossible to make
accurately (especially at night). Yet even if many mid air sightings are
explicable that word many is not the same as
Whilst I am often ac cused of demea ni ng of the all. The re are cases that will be genuine
capabilities of a trained and skilled o bserver by encounters between an aircraft and a real UFO.
saying such t h in gs , that is not the case. I am Since both ar e flying objects and thus within
full of admiration for the skills of t hese mid air their own environment the percentage of
witnesses. But as an experienced investigator unsolved mid air cases is likely to above the
of UFO si ghtings - like many of you - I am norm because air craft ar e s imply in the right
also aware of how often anomalous stimuli can (or wrong!) place at the right (or wrong!)

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Vol. 6, # 2. October 2002

moment - unlike peopl e on the ground and so
seei ng these things above their heads most of
the time.
So t his article is emphatically not an argument
that all mid air en cou nters are misperceptions.
And it is equally important that air crew are
familiarised with relatively remote but
the
nonetheless real possibility that an actual UFO
might cross their path one day. The more we
can study these things - the more IFOs we can
eliminate and the more we can know
- and those of us on board burst into
about the unsolved phenomena that might be
up there - the better we can inform those who
take the great resp onsibility of flying us around
the pl anet .
For often it will be our responsibility to bring
forward this infom1ation. \Ye cannot rely on
the (largely poorly in formed) powers that be
to do it for us. And, sadly we need to make
, waited for hours at the Isle of Man!
ou r case with obj ectivi ty and humility - rather
than to insist that every mid air encounter is a
deadly brush with an alien scoutship - in order
that our words might be listened to by those
who quite rightly will respond to common
·sense rather than hysteria.
So what happened to me you mi ght ask? Here
is the story. It occurred - by the way - in the
same general area (the Pennine Hills) and in
the very same month (January 1995) as the
British Airways episode described above.
On the 28 January I was flying home from a
live TV show in Ireland where I ha d talked
about alien abductions. The journey across the
Irish Sea by a sm.lll turbo prop of Jersey
European Airlines should have taken under an
hour to reach Blackpool. However, things went
wrong soon after take off and we had to land
on th e Isle of Man because of the fault. A
replacement aircraft was sent for but it took
many hours to arrive.
By then the weather was deteriorating, with
driving icy rain and gale force win ds. As the
second aircraft appe ared conditions
deemed too unsafe to take off Eventually the
airline decided to risk it rather than a bandon
plans until the next day. But we were nearly 12
h ours late as we crossed the sea for the 20
minute onward flight to Blackpool. On this
short hop we began to doubt the wisdom of the
move. The little plane was being rocked from
side to side.
As we flew over Blackpool the
announced (whilst we circled the seaside towns
famous landmark - a tower similar to that in
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PRB
Paris) that it was too dangerous to land . In fact
I latter discovered the winds were sending road
signs below us hurling thro ugh the air like
rockets and so tllis was probably a wise move!
We flew on across the Pennines and aimed to
lan d at L eeds/Bradford Ajrport (about 70 miles
away} where t here were better facilities -
although only slightly less severe weather.
Thankfully the little plane touched down safely
(alth ough very bumpily) at just after 6.30 pm
spont a n eous applause at the skill of the cre w
given the terrible conditions. I d oubt any
of us ·were looking out of the window as we
came in. We were just focusing on
getting on the ground and on the activities of
the flight crew who were seeking to reassu re
one passenger who had made the most of the
free drinks supplied by the airline whilst we
A few days later a UFO sigh ting was routed
through to me by the radio telescope and
science centre at Jodrell Bank. This of itself, is
,
not unusual. I get many cases this way each
year. But the sig hting itself was to say the least
fascinating.
Mrs Graham from Bradford had been out
walking her d og on the evening of
my flight when she noticed a small pl ane
heading into Leeds/Bradford fighting against
the winds. From the time she recalled this
flight had to be ours (few othe r planes landed
anywhere near this same time and none were
small ones). As Mrs Graham watched she saw
a ba ll of white light head towards it from the
side and feared a co J iision. But this ball
seemed to then hug the side of the aircraft and
'escort' it just a few feet away. She estimates
the ball was only a foot or two in di ameter. As
the aircraft descended int o the airport to land,
the ball of light pulled away at a sharp
angle and streaked away into the sky.
It is hard to know what to make of this
were stunning acrount. But Mrs Graham had no way
to know that I had been on t hat plane whe n she
described it to me. Her story was clearly
sincere. And I do not know whether to regard
this eerie tale as one big coincidence to think
,
that 'someone up there was guiding me home,
'
or to ponder if this suggests that mid air
encounters are now so commonplace that it
was no big deal that I got involved in one. If s o
then we might not be aware of anything like
pilot the full exte n t of the proble m. Whatever the
case this encounter was r a the r too close for
comfort!
�
Vol. 6, # 2, October 2002
 PRE

CROP CIRC LES: "S IGN S" FROM ABOVE OR

HUMAN ART I FACTS?
BY JACQUES VALLEE

(Thanks to Dave Haith <visions@ntlworld.com>)

Some personal speculations on a fractal theme. happens to the vegetation inside the affected
areas?
The key to investigating anomalies often lies in
asking the right questions rather than Is there anything special about the location of
pondering a long list of assumed answers and the phenomenon? To seek infonnation on these
fighting over hypotheses. The crop circles that topics they established a protocol to gather
have adorned English fields in the last couple vegetation samples and sent them to a number
of decades are a good example of this of laboratories for microscopic studies. The
principle. Many well-intentioned "paranormal" results, which have been discussed at meetings
investigators and New Age enthusiasts have of the Society for Scientific Exploration and
immediately posited hat the circles must be other public events, have never seemed of
caused by Aliens, while the general sufficient interest for the media (or, indeed, the
opinion of journalists and academics tended to ufological mainstream) to take notice, perhaps
state they were he product of hoaxes. Indeed because they conflicted with the sensational
two retired men were featured in he world nature of other hypotheses.
media as the confessed authors of many
circles. The answers are as follows:

Over he years several interested researchers - The early fonnations were simple circles, then
including this author - have met with and circles with satellites. In later years more and
interviewed self-described "artists" who had more sophisticated and precisely-drawn
generated some complex crop formations as a geometric figures appeared.
new type of display where the landscape is
used as a canvas to shock popular Vegetation is bent because the nodes are
consciousness and stimulate reaction. There is exploded. The stalks are not broken and indeed
no question that at least some of the formations the plants are often reported to start
- including some remarkably complex ones - growing again. , All the significant formations
are their handiwork. were observed �n an area in close proximity to
major research facilities of the British defence
This leaves most of the formations establishment, often in controlled airspace.
unexplained, especially those that have
appeared in a very short time or under So much for Aliens and Druids.
conditions ofvery high mathematical accuracy.
Drawing a bicycle or a spider in a wheat field These studies point to the crop fonnations as
is one thing, the Mandelbrot set of fractal the result of sophisticated electronic warfare
geometry is quite another. experiments conducted by defence contractors.
The answer to question (I) provides the
When sophisticated fonnations started first clue: If you are trying to calibrate a beam,
appearing in the English countryside several drawing a pattern on a wheat field can yield
teams of UFO investigators (who came from a precision information within the diameter of
background of soil and trace studies related to one stalk over hundreds of feet, an ideal test
the familiar imprints often left behind after situation. The answer to question (2) narrows
sightings such as Delphos or Trans-en­ down the type of energy that can be
Provence) began to take notice. Rather than
' responsible, because the amount of heat
jumping to conclusions about the origin and radiation that needs to be coupled into one
purpose of the formations they drew up a list node of a stalk of wheat to vaporize the water
of fundamental questions that went like this: content is a known quantity, as laboratory tests
in France and in the United States soon
established. The answer to question (3) points
Is there a change in the nature of the to the likely authors of the tests.
fonnations over time? What is it, exactly, that

�
VoL 6, # 2, October 2002
 PRB
It is tem pting to jump to the conclusion that the front page of the Wall Street Journal and
some sort of space based weapon is being
- the New York Times) le Figaro and many
developed. I am reluctant to assume this other papers the same day. Where did the two
b ecause of th e cost involved. Even if sate!Jites pensioners get the kind of clout that would spin
represent the ultimate plat form for such a their claim around the pl anet? The result was
weapon which does not seem ob viou s to me,
, instantaneous: The press and, more
the calibration tests can be carried out far more importantly, most sci entist s lost all interest in
cheaply from a conventional aircraft. In those the story for I 0 years.
cases when wi tnesses on the ground have seen
fonnation s in the process of being created, they Why do the te sts continue? I admi t I have no
have described a reddish glow at ground good answer to this. It seems farfetched to
level, with the vegetation bent over in a matter assum e that they have become more
of minutes. sociological than technological in nature, yet
this could provide an expla nat ion. Soon or later
This would be consistent with a beam directed the truth will be known, and it can be used to
at the field from a hovering dirigib le p ainting , disc redit the community of paranormal
a fig ure very much in the same way as an researchers who have rushed to de ci pher alien
electron beam "p aints " a digital i mage on a scripts in the formations or have hypothesized
,

computer screen. From conve rsation s I have a return of the Druids, earth lights or messages
had wi th the investigators involved, the beam from Gaia without fi rs t testi ng the basic
would be unl ikely to be a simp le infrared physics of the situation. It may also be that
beam. Instead a combination of laser and such h ypothe ses have been coldly planted
microwave transmitters may be involved, or a among the New Age milieu as part of a
form of maser. Perhaps the incr eas ingly psychological warfare experiment, and that the
sophisticated tests are de signed, precisely, to real nature of the crop fomtations can thus be
discover op timal combinations. hidden from serious attention for a very long
time .

This leaves several issues pendi ng : Why don't

witnesses see the supposed hovering platforms Why would one need to develop such a beam?
if they simply fly over the count ryside? What Destruction of incoming missiles (or simple
about the "confessions" of the two retired men confusion of their electronics) would be an
who claimed they made the circles with a two­ obvious purpose, but several projects are
by four and a piece of string? And why do the
- already under way to produce such weapons,
experiments continue at a point where the notably at Boeing and other defence
technology seems to h ave reached a high level contractors. But we may be wrong in assuming
of perfection? I only have t en tative a nswers to that the beam it self is a weapon; it might be
this new set of questions: used si mply to guide a mu ch larger amount of
energy (contained pl asma , or the fireball
Many years ago I gave a lecture on UFO c reated by a nuclear explosion, for example) to
research at Oxford University . One of the its ultimate destination. The type of threat that
peop le attending, a physics facul ty member, is present in today's world includes targets that
told me of an interest ing p er sonal exp erien ce. one may not want to blow up, but rather to
His hobby was to fly gliders over the E n glish fuse inside a fireball. Such a t arget might be a
coun trys i de. On one occasion, on a bright biological laboratory , or a chemical factory ,

afternoon, he was astonished to see his where dispersion of a pa thogen is undesirable.

plane reflected in a surface that appeared to be Is that what the innocent designs in English
motionless in the a tmosphere. He ac tu ally flew fields are really telling us to get ready for? If
around the obj ect and determined it was a so, their message may be far more ominous
perfectly reflecting cylinder. It is obvious that any comm unication from ETs, friendly or
that such a device would have "low­ not.
observable " characteristics - a visual stealth
platform . Jacgues F. Vallee
What is suspicious about the two older men's
EDITOR'S NOTE: And here's m� thinking
confession is that it appeared simultaneously
it's all done with a plank of
" "

on the front pages of i nte rn ational papers and

wood ... Anyhoo, Jacques article has
on CNN the same day. Any published
caused bit of a stir on the UFO Updates
a
author familiar w ith the difficulty of getting
list. Any comments on this latest theory
media attention will know that it takes a very
from readers of PRB?
powerful public relations firm to get a story to

�
Vol. 6, # 2, October 2002
 PRB

OUT-OF-THE-BODY
BY JONATHAN SLATER (YUFOS)

If recently came to my attention that a close neighbour had just come out of the Northern
General Hospital in Sheffield, having had open heart surgery. Complications set in, and she
was told later that all her major organs had stopped working. Betty was asleep for about two
weeks; altogether she spent three weeks in intensive care. WhHe in the hospital, she had an
out of the body experience. Mrs B Spencer, who lives on the Shiregreen estate of Sheffield,
has since made a full recovery from her operation.

JONA THAN SLATER: Betty are you a Has this experience changed your life
refigious person? in anyway?

BETTY: Yes, l am a Catholic and I have No, only that I can't forget it.
brought my family up in t he Catholic faith
Have you ever had any other
Can you say why you were in paranormal experience?
hospital?
Yes when I was about 17 years old I worked at
I had an ope n- heart o peration and just after my 'Wilks Bras' right at the top of the building. I
opera ti on, they told me all my insides s topp ed was a cashier, when we used to send the
working (kidneys, liver, stomach, and heart) change down the chute in a container. It was a
and they told me I had about 12 machi nes very old buildi ng and I remember this
pumping drugs into me. particular morning I wasn't very well and
something told me to look round and in a split
I was in intensi ve care for about three weeks� second I saw the face of the Virgin Mary or a
two weeks I was asleep. So I d idn't know nun.
anything that was go in g off "thank goo dness " .
I was terrified I ran down the stairs and at that
Did you see a tunnel of bright light in time no one believed me. Then when I was I8
you out-the-body·experience? years old I met my husband to be who was a
catholic and I c h anged to catholic and brought
I just reme mber being in this building my three children up in the faith and one of the
everything was white. nuns told, I was a chos
· en one.

Can you describe what the room you

saw looked like?
The building was white and all the people were
in white. They were very kind to me, and put
me to bed I put my hand at the side of me and I
felt my husband's leg. I didn't see him but I
kn ew it was him. By the way he's been dead
six years.
Editor's note: I find the above case - actually
more typical of a Near Death Experience
(NDE), interesting for a number of reasons.
Many people have pointed out similarities in
OBEIND£ cases and Alien Abduction
accou n ts. Compare Bettyls description of the
room to that of an abductee's "spaceship" • a
white room; machinery, busy people in white
overalls...

I also find Betty's earlier encounter particularly

This room had a lot of machinery most of the
people were getting on with what they were
d oing . One asked me if I wanted some toast for
breakfast it was all so strange. I can still see it.
revealing. Although she does not say so in the
interview, I assume that it is only in later years;
after her conversion to Catholicism, that the
figure she might once have referred to as a
ghost, is now considered to be The Virgin
Mary.

Can you describe what the people you

Although we have no proof whether anything
saw looked like? ureal" h appened to Betty in either case, it is her
perception of the events that are so fascinating.
I didn't recognise anyone. They all had on
white overalls.

�
Vol. 6, f# 2. October 2002

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 PRB

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF CAPTAIN

SCHAFFNER- NEW EVIDENCE...
CASE CLOSED.
BY OAVE BAKER

The disappearance of USAF pilot Captain The QTA records for Binbrook, Patrington and
William Schaffner, lost - allegedly - while 5 Squadron, all describe how the base was
chasing a UFO, has been a mainstay in UFO suddenly placed on alert without warning on
folklore for over a decade. I first became aware the night of 8 September for a T ACEV AL
of the case in
1993 via the TV programme (tactical evaluation exercise), which involved a
UFO- No Defence Significance, and although slow moving Avro Shackleton transport
not at all active in it's investigation, I was entering UK. airspace. Lightnings were
aware of it re-surfacing on a number of scrambled one by one at slow speed, and
occasions in books, magazines and on the Schaffner had to track, identify and 'shadow'
intemet. ti) this target, which was unknown to him.

The story was always more or less the same� He was actually less qualified than earlier
that the American pilot had bee.n scrambled in sources had suggested and not experienced in
his Li ghtning jet to intercept an unidentified this kind of manoeuvre. The pilot made a fatal
flying object over the North Sea, that radar mistake, flying too low and beneath the
operators had watched in disbelief as the radar­ Shackleton and he had been forced down onto
blips of the UFO and the Lightning had the surface of the sea. Clarke received a letter
merged into one, and that Schaffuer's jet was from Schaffner's commanding officer which
recovered from the sea bed a month later, with confirmed all of this.
the pilot missing from a closed cockpit.
According to the official accident report, the
Earlier this year, in Dr. David Clarke and Andy automatic canopy release mechanism on the
Roberts' book Out of The Shadows, an Lightning had malfunctioned, forcing
alternative and altogether more rational Schaffner to open it manually in order to
explanation was presented. escape the sinking aircraft. While doing so, the
pressure of the water had forced the canopy
In 2001, many records relating to the case were closed, severing the tether that connected the
released at the Public Records Office, London pilot to the aircraft's survival kit. It was
under the 30 year rule. Clarke & Roberts believed that Schatfuer either never made it to
examined a number of important documents, the surface, or was lost at sea.(2)
which shed vital new light on the Schaffiter
case. These included the Operation Record Clarke and Roberts book, had, for many people
Books for RAF Binbrook, 5 Squadron (the provided ample explanation for the case to be
QRA to which Schaffner was attached), laid to rest as an unfortunate accident with no
Patrington (the radar station involved) and the connection to UFOs.
Lightning QRA squadrons from Scotland that
were supposedly scrambled to pursue the UFO. Last month though, the case was once more
given public prominence via the BBC TV
Clarke checked the UFO reports received at programme Inside Out and it's on-line
S4f (Air) - the '�UFO desk" later made famous equivalent.(3) Researchers from the programm e
by Nick Pope- for S eptember 1970, but found re-investigated the case on behalf of Captain
no menti on of any UFO int erceptions in Schaffner, s sons, who wanted closure to the
Scotland. mystery surrounding their father's death and
who had been understandably distressed by the
QRA records for the Lightning Squadrons at rumours of alien abduction.
Leuchars showed that none of the
squadrons on alert that night were scrambled, As we have discussed various aspects of the
and that according to the squadron logbooks case at YUFOS meetings, and the group had an
there were no 'live' scrambles at all between 8- interest in the case, I felt that it was relevant to
11 September 1970. compile an article about Schaffner for
inclusion in Project Red Book.

z
Vol. 6, # 3, October 2002

The evolvement of the Schaffuer case from a
tragic accident at sea to an encounter with a
hostile UFO is a long and c omplex one and
one which is still being investigated by
researchers such as Clarke & Ro berts, and Hull
investigator Gary A nthony and consequently
something of a 'hot pot ato Although I h ave
'.
been made fuily aware of th e investigation into
the Schaffuer case, and into the search for the
original source of the UFO link, I do not
' '
think it appropriate that I should present all of
the in fonnation available in my own article.
These researchers have worked too hard and
too long in an effort to gather all the relevant
facts about the case, and it is they who should
present the case-file when they see fit.
I had therefore merely planned to publish a
printed version of the BBC' s on line report in
-
PRB. On transfening it to ' paper
considered that it l acked a little depth and
background for a magazine article. I believed
that in order to understand and appreciate the
rational explanation for the tragedy, I had to .
present the alternative,
sensationalistic explanation of events, for those
who had never heard of the case at all
What may not be common knowledge, is that
at the time of Schaffuer's death in 1970, media
coverage treated the case as a tragic accident at
sea and nothing more. There was not even the
slightest hint of UFOs or 'alien intervention'
until the early 1990s.
To fully understand the stark differences we
must first look at the ease as it has appeared in
UFO folklore. I shall present here only the bare
bones of the alien abduction account. There are
many plac es in terested readers can find the full
story should they wi sh.( I)
At the height of The Cold War the RAF had ,
become increasingly anxious about the number
of unidentified radar returns from over the
North Sea. A task force was set up track and
intercept any breaches of our airspa ce be they
Russian intruders or bona fide UFOs.
'Ope ration Aenid' cons isted of a chain of 37
radar stations, all in con tact with RAF High
Wycom e and RAF Rudloe Manor (itself long
associ ated in the UFO co mmunity with UFO
investigation and conspiracy theories).
At 8:17 pm on September 8th 1970, RAF Saxa
Ford in the Shetland Islands pi cked up an
unknown target travelling southwest over the
North Sea, between the Shetlands and Alesund,
Norway. It maintained a steady speed of 630
PRB
mph at an altitude of 37,000 feet for several
minutes, then turned 30 d egrees to head due
south, accele rating to 900mph.
Two L ightning Interceptors were scrambled
from RAF Leucars on the coast of Scotland to
intercept Before they could reach the target, it
.
executed a 180 degree turn and headed north at
a staggering 17,400 mph vanishing from Saxa
,
Fords radar screens.
For the next hour, the object, or others like it,
was detected numerous times on radar and ,
more attempts were made to interc ept it, with
Lightnings, and later with more sop hi sticated
USAF F4-Phantoms scrambled from the US
base in Keflavik, Iceland. The object always
managed to turn and di sappear northwards
before visual contact c ould be made.
' though, I As tension increased, RAF Fylingdales in the
UK, and NORAD HQ at Cheyenne Mount ain,
USA, were alerted and sta rt ed monitoring the
activity themselves. It was at the request of a
· . "highly plac ed source" at NORAD which
and more resul ted in Captain Wi1Jiam Schafiher being
drafted in to intercept the o bject.
Schaflher, part of an exchange programme
between the RAF and the USAF, was stationed
at RAF Bin brook in North Lincolnshire. He
duly took off in his Lightning LX 894 at 10:06
pm on an int ercept course and, unlike the
aircraft before him, actually managed to catch
up with the unidentified object . (4)
The following is purported to be the "official
tr anscript of the conversation between
"
Captain Schaffuer and Radar Station Staxton
Wold, in North Lincolnshire, which was leaked
by "a reliable source".
It is this transcript which has found its way
onto the internet and elsewhere . . .
Schaflher: I have visual contact, repeat visual
contact. Over.
,
Sta�on: Can you identify aircraft type?
Schaffner: Negative, nothing recognisable, no clear
outlines. There is ... bluish light. Hell that's bright . . .
very bright.
Staxton: Are your instnunents fimctioning, 94?
Check compass. Over.
Schaffner: Affmnative, GCI (ground control). I'm
alongside it now, maybe 600ft off my .. . Jeezc, that's
bright, it hurts my eyes to look at it for more than a
few seconds.
�
Vol. 6, # 3, October 2002
 PRB
Staxton: How close arc you now?
Staxton : Descend to 3,500ft. Over.
SchaiTner: About 400ft, he's stil l in my three o'
clock. Hey ·wait . . . there's something else. It's l i ke a Schaffuer: Roger GCL
large soccer ball. It's l ike it's made of glass.
Sta'Xton: What's your fuel state 94 ? Over.
Staxton: Is it part of the object or i n dependa nt ?
Over. SchafTner: Abou t 30 per cen t GCL

Schnffncr: It . . . no, it's separate from tl1c m ai n body Staxton: That's what we calculated. Can you tell us
.. . the conical shape . . . it's at the back end, the sharp what hnppcned 94? Qyer.
end of the shape. It's like bobbing up and down and
going from side to side slowly. Tt may be the power Schaffncr: I don 't know. It came in close . . . I shut
source. There's no sign of ballistics. my eyes .. . I figure I must've blacked out for a few
seconds.
Staxton: Is there any sign of occu pation? Over.
Sta.:xton: OK 94. Standby.
Schnffucr: Negative. noth i n g.
Schaffner: Can you bring me in GCI? o,·er.
St axton: Can you assess the rate?
Staxton: Er... Hold Station, 94. Over.
SchafTner. Contact in gentle descent. Am going with
it. . . 5 0 . . . no about 70 ft . . . it's levelled out again. A few minutes later . . .

Staxton: Is the ball object still with it? Over. Staxton: Foxtrot 94. Can you ditch ajrcraft? Over.

SchaiTner: A fflilTlative. It's not actually connected . . . Schaffner: She's handling fine. I can bring her in.
maybe a magnetic attraction to the con ical shape. Over.
There's a haze of light. Yc'ow . . . it's within heat
haze. Wait a second, it's turning. . . coming straight Sta'<ton: Negative 94. I repeat, can you ditch
for me.. . am taking evasive action. . . a few. . .I can aircraft? Over.
hard I . . .
Schaffncr: Ycah . . . I guess.
Staxton: 94? Come in 94. Foxtrot 94, arc you
receiving? Over. Come in 94. Over. Staxton: S tandby 94. Over. Oscar 77. Over.

A few minutes later . . . Sh ackl cton : 77. Over.

Schaffu.er: GCl . . . arc you receiving? Over. Staxton: 94 is d itching. Can you maintain wide
circuit. 0\·er.
Staxton: A ffirmative 94. What is your condition?
Gvcr. Shacldeton: Affirmative GCJ. Over.
Schaffncr: Not too good . 1 can' t tll ink what has
happened . . . I feel kinda dizzy . . . 1 can see shooting Stax.ton: Thanks 77. Stanby 94, execute ditching
stars. proceedure at �our discretion. Over.

Sta:"<ton: Can you sec your instruments? Over. Schaffner: Descending now, GCI. Over.

Schaffner: Affirmative, but er. . . the compass is

useless . . .
A month later, the Lightning was recovered
Staxton: Foxtrot 94, turn 043 degrees . Over. from the North Sea bed, with the canopy
closed, the ej ec t o r seat intact, and Schaffuer' s
Schaffner: Er . . . all directional instruments are out, body nowhere to be found.
repeat useless. Over.

How could the pilot of the Lightning have

�: Roger 94, execute turn right, estimate
quarter turn. Over. vanished from within a closed cockpit?

Schaffner: Turning now. How indeed . . .

Staxton: Come furilier 94 . That's good. Is your Next, we present the BBC-lnside Out- on- l ine
altimeter functioning? O ver. report on the Schaffuer case, which appeared
on Monday I 6th September 2002. It should be
SchatTner: A ffirmative GCl.

�
Vol. 6, # 3, October 2002
 PRB
pointed out that the segment on Schaffner from the sea, I unfo rt unate l y cannot reproduce
appeared on the regional edition of the them here.
programme broadcast in the Yorkshire and
Lincolnshire regions. Other regions may have Most importantly, compare the transcript of
not have covered the story. Schaffuer' s conversation with Staxton Wold
from the internet, to that officially released by
The following text appears unabridged� but as the MOD . . .
the BBC do not hold the copyright to many of
the photographs which appear in the article, for NOTE: The entire text is copyrig ht ed by the
instance those of William Schaffuer and the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) and
wreck age of the Lightning being recov ered must not be re-produced without express
pennission.

FRESH EVI DENC E O N YO RKS H I RE ALI EN

AB DUCTION © BBC
(Published with the kind permission of BBC Online)
Britain ' s most plausible alien abduction Their efforts have not solved the mystery.
happened off the East Yorkshire coast,
accord i ng to some UFOlogists. Until now . ·

The incident happened in September 1 970. BREAKTHROUGH

Foxtrot 94, an RAF Li ghtening fighter j et
crashed into the North S ea. Secret documents and classified photographs
of th e RAF fighter have been exclusively
UFO l ogists claim its pil ot , Captai n Wi11iam obtained from the Ministry of Defence by the
Schaffner was abducted by an alien spacecraft BBC' s In si de Out team.
after he' d scrambled to intercept it off
Flamborough Head. The followi ng will finally give the brothers the
infonnation they desire and deserve:
The Li ghtning aircraft was reco vered three
month s later from the seabed. Remarkably, it • A copy of the inquiry report
was virtually undamaged.
• A transc ript of the Captain's final
The coc kpi t canopy was sliut but there �as no conversation with ground control l ers
sign of Captain Schaffiler' s body.
• P ictures showing the pilot' s empty
The unusual condition of the wreckage fuelled cockpit
UFOlogists sp eculation s of an alien abducti on .
The inquiry report makes the follo\\oing points:
These claims are the talk of UFO Internet sites,
a s are bogus t ranscript s of t he Captain ' s last It was not a UFO but a slow movi ng
radio conversation with RAF Patrington. Shackleton reconnaissance aircraft that
the
Captain was t ryi ng to intercept on an exe rc i se
Captain William Schaffner was a 28-Year o ld -
American exchange officer. Its crew had lo st radio contact .
His family were never told the results of the Then, by the light of a flare, they'd seen the
official inquiry into the crash . aircraft in the water .
The Mimstry of Defence has previously The Captain had simply flown too l ow trying
insisted that the report on the crash was to get beneath h i s target and hit the sea.
shredded.
Captain Schaffuer had not been properly
His sons, Glenn and Mike Schaffuer, have trained to cany out the exercise he had been
b een trying to discover the truth about their asked to undertake.
father' s d isapp earanc e for years .

10
VoL 6, # 3, October 2002
 PRB
When he tried to bail out, his ejector seat failed Fighter Controller: 52 that ' s affirmative and 45 is
to operate. south of you at this time range 35 not on channel
yet.
AC C ID ENT
Capt. Schaffner 's Wingman : Roger.

These points appear to suggest that the crash

Fighter Controller: 52 on this heading Fl amborough
was an unfortunate accident with a p l aus ibl e
H e ad is dead ahead of you, range 20 miles.
explanation. This should destroy some of the
alien abduction rumours, which h ave angered Capt. Schaffuer's \Vingman: 5 2 .
and upset Captain Schaffuer's sons for years.
Fighter Controller: 52 i s the target still at 1 500 feet?
OPPOS ITI O N
Capt. Schaffner's Wingman: Affinnati,·e.
A few budding UFOiogists may still not accept
this explanatio� due to distrust of the Mi n istry Fighter Controller: Roger.

of Defence documentation.
C apt . Schaffner: M i ss ion 45 airborne at one zero
zero.
Former North Yorkshire policeman Tony
Dodd told Inside Out, "I don 't think that we
Fighter Controller: Roger 45 Patrington port 335
will ever get to the bottom of what happened ov er .
because the RAF would never accept that a
UFO could be invol ved . " Capt. SchafTner: Roger understood on a port turn
3 3 5 a heading of 1 00.
Reporter Sophie Hull said, "Some aspects of
Capt. Schaffiler' s disappearance can't be Fighter Controller: Roger 45 ha ve you weapon
explained. contact and the target is north-west of you range 35
at this time and his height is at 1 500 feet.
"But we believe this is as close to a detailed
Capt. Schaffuer: Roger 45 copied - level l OO until
explanation of what actually happened that close.
anyone will get."
F ighter Controller: 45.
It appears to be enough for Captain Schaffiler' s
sons. They can now concentrate on enjoying Fighter Controller: 45 the OHH is 986 • 5 2 is \\ith
their father's memory in peace. the target at this time shadowing and your task will
be to take over from 52.

., '
C apt. Schaffner: Roger.
Tran script of tape recording at RAF Patrington
concerning incident to Mission C?M45 at Fighter Controller Buster buster target range 28.
20 :45 Hours on the 8th September 1 970.
Capt. S chaffner : Roger buster.
I
Fighter Controller: Time check 20:30.
Capt. Schaffner: Target heading?
Capt. Schaffner s Wingrnan: 52.
'
Fighter Controller: 45 the last target heading was
230. 52 Patrington confinn target heading?
fighter Controller Is the target heading about 250°
again?
Capt. Schaffner's Wingrnan: 5 2 affirmative and the
target speed I estimate at no faster than 1 60 knots.
Capt. Schaffncr's Wingrnan: Affirmative but I shall
not have enough fuel to accompany to land if he
Fighter Controller: Roger - did you get that 45 '!
does cross territorial waters.

Capt. Schaffner: Got it.

Fighter Controller: Roger 52.

Fighter Controller: Roger.

CC Assistant controller pl ease - will you tell him
that his fighter 45 is airborne at 20:30. I think that' s
Fighter Controller: 45 on 335 target is 1 0 right to
h i m there.
you range 2 1 .

Cont I A ss t : 2 0 : 3 0 ? Yes OK thank you.

-
C apt. Schaffner: Roger des cending.

Capt. Schaffner's W i ngman : 52 check abo ut 45

Fighter Contro11er: Roger 45.
miles from point alpha?

Capt. Schaffner: 45 will descend to five.

11
Vol. 6, # 2, October 2002
 PRB
Fighter Con troller: Roger. Fighter Controller: 45 on 3 10 ta rgets at 40 left,
rarige 7'h.
Fighter Controller: 45 target is holding at 1 0 to 1 5
le ft and the range l 7'h. Ca,pt. Schaffner: Roger.

Capt. SchaiTner: Roger looking. Fighter Controller: 45 be advised the targets about
12 mile s off Flamborough Head on hi s present
Fighter Controller: 45 one instruction was if the heading.
aircraft crosses the In ternational Boundary Line he
is to be ordered to fo1Jow you back to Binbrook. Capt. Scha:ffner: Roger.

Capt. Schaffner: Roger. Fighter Controller: 45 port 250 over.

fighter Control l er : 45 the target is now 35 left range Capt. Schaffuer: Roger turning port 250.
1 3 'h.
Fighter Co ntrol ler : 45 target range 6 'h - 7.
Capt. Schaffner: 45 roger at 5,000.
Capt. Scha ffner: Contact with a set of lights in that
Capt. Schaffner: 45 is armament safety check area.
complete.
Fighter Controller: Say again.
Fighter Control ler: 45 say again.
Capt. Schaffner: Set of lights in that area - closing.
Capt. Schaffner: 45 is armed safe.
This took place at at 20:45 Hours on
Fighter Controller: Roger 45. September 8, 1 970.

Fighter Controller: 45 the target has moved 45 left Fighter Controller: 45 your in a clutter area of mine
range 1 0. at the moment - keep a sharp look out please.

Capt. Schaffner: Roger. Capt. Schaffuer: Roger I'm watching em.

Fighter Contro ller: 45 Port 3 1 0 over. Fighter Controller: Keep a close look out for
Flamborough Head it's about range 6'h now.
Capt. Scbaflber: Roger Port 3 I 0.
Capt. Schaffner: Roger.
Capt. Schaffner: 52 check height.
Fighter Controller: 45 Patrington changing
Capt . Schafiner's Wingman: 52 is at 1 ,500 feet with controllers.
the target at 2,00 yards. �
Capt. Schaffn.er: Roger.
Capt Schaffner: Roger.
Capt. Schaffner: 45 the target looks like he's
Fighter Controller: 45 make speed decimal 95 over. heading about 1 80.

Capt . Schaffner: 4 5 roger? That's pretty fast. Fighter Controller: Roger.

Fighter Control ler : Roger 45 make it a speed Fighter Controller: 45 estimated range from the
commensurate with your endurance then, that target coast now 5 miles - if he comes within 3 miles he is
range 1 0 at this moment. I think we've got enough to be escorted to Binbrook.
to catch up at this peed, he· s only 1 60 kts.
Capt. Schaffner: Roger.
Capt. Schaffner: Roger.
Capt. Schaffner Wingman: 52 s teady 1 80 - 5,000 ft
Capt. Schaffner's Wingman: 52 be leaving the target for recovery.
in about 2 minutes.
Fighter Controller: 5 2 Northern Radar have you
Fighter Con troUer: Roger 52 understood. contact would you squa·wk ident and call them on
stud 4 - if no joy back to me.
Capt. Schaffner: 45 's now at 2,000.
Fighter Controller: 45 Patrington amendment to
Fighter Controller: Roger 45. previous instruction - if t arget aircraft approaches
within 3 miles of the UK coast line he is to be
Fighter Controller: 5 2 your pigeons to a lp ha 200 directed to land at Waddington - I say again -
range 3 2 .
directed to land at Waddington.

Capt. Schaffner·s Wingman: 200 32 copied.

12
Vol. 6, # 2, October 2002
 PRB
Fighter Controller: 45 Patrington be adYised you 're potential minefield they are choosing to enter.
dark to me a t this time. It i s their encounter, their report and they have
chosen to - po ssibly - become part of UFO
Fighter Controller: 45 Patrington you are dark to me
legend and folklore and whatever that may
this time - check target· s heading and your 0\m

over.
bring to them.

Fighter Controller: 45 Patrington nothing heard. Captain William Schaffuer and his family did
not seek this infamous publicity. It has been
Fighter Control ler: C45 C45 Patrington do you read forced upon them by others, either by intention
over. - those who deliberately mutated the case from
accident to abduction, or those who
Fighter Controller: C45 C45 Patrington · over.
thoughtlessly continued to promote the story as
Fighter Controller: 45 Patrington do you read. an alien abduction without first checking on
it 's veracity.
Fighter Control ler: 45 Patrington nothin g heard.
No one is suggesting that this has been done
Fighter ControUcr: 45 Patrington if you read me maliciously or for selfish personal gain. All of
your standby channel fighter stud 30 • ca11 Bawdsey us though, must bear some responsibility for
fighter stud 3 0 - over.
the words we write, and the long-range
ramifications of our wo rk
Fighter Controller: 45 Patrington still
.
nothing heard
if you' re this frequency would you call Bawdsey
fighter stud 5 or 30 fighter stud 30 call Bawdsey. EDITOR'S NOTE

Background noise ceases on this tape and the Gary Anthony, an experienced independent

remaining 1 6 minutes of tape bear no researcher from Hull, has been investigating
the Schaffner case since 1 992. Even back
recording.
the n , Gary had many reasons to believe \hat
the case - however tragic - was definitely not
©British Broadcasting Corporation 200 1 ,
Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London, UFO-related, and there was no reason to
W I A J AA continue to treat it as such.

As more evidence has come to fight, Gary,

AFTERWORD a long with other researchers such as Andy
Roberts and Dr. David Cfarke, have gathered
The Schaffner case stands as a significant and more evidence, fires and testimony to prove
sobering lesson to the whole field of ufology. once and for all - beyond the boundaries of the
It is far too tempting to accept theories and BBC Online investigation - that the Schaffner
"facts" at face value, to b eli eve the most case can be dosed.
exciting hypothesis, to see what we want to see
in order to see 'the truth'. So many UFO p
Gary ho es to g ather all of this evidence int o a
enco unters are re-hashed and re-distributed in definitive report - and on completion, this
books� TV shows and magazi ne articles, and important case shall be published in Project
Red Book and in EYE Magazine.
presented therein as undeniable and absolute
fact, without even the barest check on their
authenticity. There are other such cases, some REFE RE NCES
of them regarded as "classics" of UFO lore ,

which have absolutely no basis in reality
whatsoever.
More importantly, this case has
emotional angle too. Unlike many stories in th e
armals of ufology, from sprawling spectacle s
such as Roswell and Rendlesham, through
cl aims of alien abduction and contactees, right
down to the most run-of-the-mill sighti ng of a
simple l ight in the sky, a very real human
tragedy is at it's centre; the loss of a man's life,
and the devastating impact upon his family.
(1) Hull Daily Mail (22123 October
1 992) 'Captain Shaeffer 's Last Flight ' (Flyi ng
Saucer Review, Vol.39 # 1 , S pring 1 994)
a strong
Alien Investigator (Dodd, Tony, Headline,
London I 999) UFO - No Defence Significance
(2) Out of the Shadows (Clarke, David &
Roberts, Andy, Piatkus, London, 2002)
Personal communication with Dave Clarke
(3) Inside Out (BBC l tel evi si on programme
broadcast, Monday 16th September 2002)
(4) Otter, Pat, Captain Shaeffer 's Last Flight
(FSR Vol 39. # 1 )

Most participants in UFO cases have brought

themselves into the limelight and publicity,
even if in some of them do not realise the

13
Vol. 6, # 2, October 2002

MORE FROM " M U H N O C HWA"
The Muhnochwa, or "Face-Scratcher', (see last issue) continues to spread terror, panic and
indeed injury and death in India. With no sign of the epidemic abating, here is a selection of
the latest stories of this social-panic-in-the-making. -DB
FAC E-S C RATC H E R FEAR: l iT HAS A
FACE-SAVER CALLED BALL LIGHTNING
(Indian Express I 20 Aug 2002)
Rumour region: 1 more killed
New Delhi, August 1 9: Even as officials float
fanciful, even bizarre, theories on the
mysterious flying mauler terrorising eastern
UP, (Uttar Pradesh) here's the official word:
ball lightning.
It's a rare, mobile form of lightning that has
frequently been mistaken for unidentified
flying objects (UFO) in the past. When the
rains pass, so should the hysteria, a UP
government source privy to the report told The
Indian Express. The report, authored by the
Indian Institute of Technology (liT), Kanpur,
was submitted to the UP Home Department
today.
But the reign of the muhnochwa (face­
scratcher) continues. Last night, a man
accidentally killed his mother while shooting at
a light he believed was the creature plaguing
one of India's most backward - and rumour­
prone -- regions.
The ball lightning presumption will clearly
take some selling. UP's own officials are lining
up the theories. Genetically engineered insects
from Pakistan is one. Laser-equipped terrorists
is theory. After all, victims report seeing a
,.
flashing red light, then suffer facial injuries.
Saner explanations: Disoriented migratory
birds, bats or locust swarms.
Such hysteria isn't new to eastern UP. Only six
years ago this region, with human development
indicies that rival sub-Saharan Africa, was in
the thrall of the manai (the man creature) After
more than 20 babies were killed, the panic
enabled all manner of scores to be settled� 40
people were lynched in various incidents then.
The baby-lifters turned out to be a pack of
wolves that had lost their habitat and natural
prey in a region plagued by deforestation.
"People now see satellites moving across the
night sky and say it's the muhnochwa," says
Jj
Vol. 6, # 2, October 2002
PRB
Ashok Singh, former UP chief wildlife warden
who hunted down the wolves in 1 996.
"If you develop a rurnow·, it spreads like
wildfire in these areas," says Singh.
Yet it was just yesterday, after one person was
killed in police firing on a hysterical mob, that
DIG Faizabad K N D Dwivedi said the
muhnochwa was a three to six-inch-long insect
"brought from outside India," developed with
"special technology by anti-national elements."
Today, after being upbraided by Lucknow,
Dwivedi isn't forthcoming about his theory.
"Even if I have said it, I have not said it," he
says and laughs. So what is the muhnochwa
anyway? "It could be animals, insects,
anything."
"No one talks of a living being though," says
Arvind Kumar, district magistrate of Kanpur in
central UP, new muhnochwa territory. "They
all talk of a mechanical thing with flashing
lights."
One of India's leading ecologists suggests that
'the administration would do well to call in an
entomologist. "AIJ they really need to do is to
contact the nearest office of the Zoological
Survey of India or even one from the
Agriculture department," says Raghavendra
Gadagkar, chairman of the Centre For
Ecological Sciences at Bangalore's Indian
Institute of Science.
Bats, he explains, are known to bite people.
MUHNOCHWA HAUNTS MAYAWATI
(Manjari Mishra Times ofIndia I 21 Aug 2002)
LUCKNOW: The raging muhnochwa (face­
scratcher) controversy dogging Uttar Pradesh
for the last two months took an unexpected
twist on Tuesday with chief minister Mayawati
blaming the opposition Samajwadi Party for
raising the monster bogey in order to
destabilise her government.
Mayawati on Monday lambasted her political
rivals for engineering violence in Barabanki
that claimed the life of one of the villagers
 PRB
agitating against the recurrent attacks by the incidents of mischief, the "genuine cases" have
mysterious object . baffled the authorities.

And even as debate over such a possibility There have been no mistaking the bloody
rages, the basic question still remains scratches on the victims' bodies, some of
unanswered: What exactly is muhnochwa whom have suffered severe t rauma, requiring
which has sidelined and even overshadowed all hospitalisation and prolonged treatment.
other activities in the state?
The victims' descriptions are eerily similar -­
The issue led to unprecedented bedlam in the blue and red lights, a moving object, sudden
state legislative assembly on Friday as attac� and electric shock -- defying all rational
Samajwadi :MLAs, alleging a foreign hand in explanations.
the attacks, demanded a thorough inquiry.
So, when an expert in Allahabad demanded the
It has been probed i nto by the intelligence intervention of the National Human Rights
agencies, forensic experts, medico-legal Commission, only a iew in the city found it
experts, electronic enJomers, physicist s, fu nny.
psychiatrists, UT faculty members, local
administrative and police officials -- but each 'MUHNOCHWA' MONSTER A BALL OF
version has only confounded the prevailing LIGHTN I N G : l iT (abridged)
confusion. (Vinay Krishna Rastogi Sify News [India] I 21
Aug 2002)
The bizarre happening, which led to much
panic, began in Mirzapur, Chandauli and Dr Ravindra Arora, an eminent scientist
Varanasi and gradually spread over the heading a team to delve deep into the mystery
adjacent districts of Sultanpur, Sitapur,Rai of the entity said the injured men and women
Bareily, Pratapgar� Lakhimpur Kheri, Pilibhit, fell prey "to a ball of lightning" which is
Lucknow, Kanpur, Allahabad . . . all of eastern caused due to ineffective man-made or natural
Uttar Pradesh. light conductors.

And as the death toll of the victims rises by the Some say that it is plasma state of gas while
day, agencies pitted against the unknown others attribute it to a slowly burning gas-­
enemy find the pressure building up from all radiation from long-lived meta stable state of
quarters. air particles, a sphere of heated air at
atmospheric pressure. It can produce at least
The harassed Lucknow police is even ., . 1 00 watts of current emitting red, blue, yellow
contemplating booking rumour-mongers under and green colours.
the National Security Act. Forest officials are
worried over the merciless killing of squirrels, As the ball collides with the uncovered part of
foxes, bats, hyenas and wolves by terrified body, it causes skin burning and rashes.
villagers. Scientists say. that the ball of lighting ceases to
exist if it collides with non-living object .
Predictably, the incidents have contributed to
many a goof-up. Like a high-ranking police In many areas the incidents of attack were
official stating it was a "technologically videographed and compact discs prepared by
developed insect . . . released by anti-social district magistrates which wt::.re given to
elements. " Or the much-hyped carcass in scientists.
Lucknow that turned out to be a hannless
insect from the grasshopper family. At least I 00 have so far been injured and the
mass hysteria has led thousands to stay up at
Even llT scientist became the butt of ridicule night, burning bonfires and maintaining night­
when they propounded the theory that long vigil on roof-tops with torches to ward
muhnochwa was a "ring of gas" or "ball of away the " monster".
lightning" emerging due to the drought.
But while some injuries have been found to be There are several versions of what the
self inflicted, and there have been stray "monster" looks like - some say he is a huge
man with long hair, blood-shot eyes and claws red yeJJow and green light when attacking his
like that of a tiger. victim. Some described him as half-dog , half­
human who flies after attacking the victims.
Others describe him as a robot who emit s blue,

15
Vol. 6, IJ 2, October 2002
 PRB

F RO M ARO U N D T H E WO RLD . . . AN D BEYO N D ! ! !

UFOS, CONSPIRA CIES, FOR TEAN AND PARANORMAL EVENTS
COMPILED B Y DA VE BAKER

LARGE C ELESTIAL OBJECT FALLS made object, such a satel l ite re -enterin g the
TO EARTH IN StBERIA atmosphere, or a rocket being launched.

Gazeta Russia - Residents of Bodaibo in the "Meteors can happen at any time . . . there's no
Irkutsk region of Siberia were eye witnesses to predicting w hen it may ha ppen," he said.
the descent of a large ce l estial obj ect.
One wit ness said the obj ect had a tail . "All of a
Scientists think it might have been a sudden Ive seen this light streak �K:ross the
meteorite. The regi onal staff of the Ministry sky . . . the front of the light was much larger
for Civil Defence a nd E mergenc i es rep ort ed on than what you would call the tail," he said.
Thursday that th ey had been informed about
the unusual phenomenon by the Institute of The B BC's Ben Go dfrey saw the fireball as he
Solar and Earth Psychics of the Eastern arrived at work. "It was remini sc ent of a
Siberian Department of the Russian Academy meteor you might see in a fi lm. . . it was huge,"
of Sciences. Scientists said that Bodaibo he said.
residents had witnessed the fall of a very large,
luminous body, which looked like a huge Local aviation authorities confirmed the object
boulder. was not aircraft- related.

The unidentified object fell in the hills in the It has been an eventful period for the West
taiga between the vi llages of Bodaibo and Midlands in nature terms, with the region
BaJakhninsky. Although that place is l o cat ed shaken by an earth tremor on 23 September.
far from the two villages, peop le felt a tremo r
comparable to an earthquake, the sourc e said. 'BIG BALL OF FIRE• METEOR
They also he ard a loud n oi se. Sporadic fl ashes (The Denver Post, 08 Oct 2002)
have been seen above the site .
Monday, October 07, 2002 • A fireball with a
long tail streaked westward across the western
'METEOR' LIGHTS UP M I DLANDS United States' sky Sunday night, causing
(BBC News, 6 October, 2002) witnesses from Boulder to Durango to Salt
Lake City and even Idaho to eaU authorities
A burning obj ect s ee n streaking across West with vivid descriptions of what was p robably a
Midlands skies on Sunday mo rni ng may have meteor burning up in Earth's atmo sphere.
been a meteor, astronomers have said.
"We've g otten several re ports of brilliant white
The streaking fireball was seen heading south/ light the size of a basketball with blue flames
shortly before 0600 BST. turning to o range," Chaffee County sheriff
dispa tc her Jeanette St ephens said.
Its passage was followed by a bright flash
which lit u p the sky. Debbie Taylor, staff duty officer with the
Federal Aviation Admini stration in Seattl e,
Sightings of the objec t we re repo rted at sites said she got calls from Denver, Salt Lake City
i n clu d i ng C o ventry, England's south coast and and Idaho, and the observers "called it
Wales. everything possible from a UFO to a fireball to
a me teor to a mid-air collision."
Andy S al mon, from the B i rmingh am
Astronomical Society, said it may ha ve been a "What people saw are the characteristics of a
mete or - space debris burning up in the meteo r," said Denver Museum of Nature &
atmosphere. Science spokeswoman Julia Tay1or. "The
different colours are from the chemical
He also suggested it may have been a man- composition of the meteor as it bums and
cools."

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Vol. 6, # 2, October 2002
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Douglas Duncan, the director of the Fiske detail than anyone else befo re ," said Dr
Planetarium at the University of Colorado at Kavelaars.
B oulder, said that fireballs are usually meteors
or man-made space debris entering the To find the moonlet, the astronomers used
atmosphere. large telescopes in Chile. The search
technique, developed by Gladman and
Duncan said that it is difficult to judge how Kavelaars, has led to many new discoveries of
large a m eteor is by how bright or how big it fai nt objects in the outer Solar System.
looks.
These latest findings appear to support the
"A big, b right one looks pretty close, but we theory that the small satellites are the remnants
know that they bum 60 to 1 00 miles up, " of a collision between a much larger body,
Duncan said, adding that the space shuttl e and orbiting around Uranus, and a passing comet .
the Hubble telescope orbit approximately 300 The irregular satellites, which have no
miles above the Earth. preferred orbital plane, are likely to be the
chunks of material ejected from the surface of
If witnesses over a large area view the meteor, the parent object or objects.
Duncan said, it is possible to triangulate an
approximate position for a meteorite, but he The new discovery, officiaily called S 200 1
said the chances of finding a meteorite are U 1 , is just a few tens of kilometres across at
small because they are hard to distingui sh from most. It is so faint that even the best telescopes
surrounding rock s . are having trouble tracking it.

Irregular satemtes are those whose orbits are

NEW MOON FOR URANUS either very non-circular or very incli n ed with
respect to the equatorial plane of the planet.
(By Dr J)ayid Whitehouse, BBC News Online They also t end to be very distant from the
science editor, 4 October, 2002) pl anet .

Astronomers have discovered a small moon

circling the distant planet Uranus. The y say it A I R TRAFF I C STAFF S E E 'GHOST
is among the faintest objects ever det ec t ed in P LANES'
our Solar System. (BBC News online, 10 October 2002)
It was first seen in Au gu st 200 1 , but quickly "Ghost planes" are appearing on comp ut er
lost amid the glare from Uranus. It was only screens at the new national air traffic co ntro l
rediscovered and confirmed a few weeks ago, centre at S wanwick.
in August and S e p t ember 2002.

It is believed the phantom aircraft, which

"The extraordinary small moons we detected appear over the North Sea, are caused by
around Saturn convinced us that there should screens showing incorrect radar data.
be similarly sized small moons around
Uranus," Or J Kavel aars of the Nat ional It is the latest glitch to hit the £623m c ent re in
Research Council of Canada told BBC News Hampshire since it opened in January.
Online. "Now we have found them."
A spokesman for National Air Traffic Services
Until 1 997, Uranus was the o nly gas-giant (Nats) insi s ted safety was not being •

planet in our Solar System without any known com p romised by the non-existent planes.
small moons. Now, including the latest on e six ,
Staff warned.
are known to orbit the planet .
The Nats spokesman said: "The ghostrng
Kavelaars' team included Matthew Holman, of problem has affected only a few screens and
the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for only affects an area of the North Sea.
Astrophysi cs , Jean-Marc Petit, of the
Observatoire de Besancon in France, B rett " Safe ty has not been co mp ro mise d , but,
GJadman of the Universi ty of British C olu mbi a nevertheless, we felt it right to issue a notice to
and Dan Milisavljevic of McMaster University employees. "
in Canada.
Nats has now warned controllers at Swanwick
"We have looked at the Solar System in finer of the problem and told them to keep aircraft

17
Vol. 6, # 2, October 2002
 PRB
further apart than normal if the phenomenon The UFO came from the direction of the
occurs. Stanton Works and later headed back that way.

The problem is only one of a number Omar Fowler, Phenomena Research

encountered by the multi-million pound centre. Association spokesman, said : "The family
said that it made a low-pitched droning noise
Recently controllers said they were concerned and that is typical of a large UFO craft.
they might misread the height of planes
because of difficulty in reading numbers on "It is a major sighting and points to an increase
their screens. in activity in the llkeston area . "

Controllers have said the latest "ghost" DIAMO ND-SHAPED C RAFT

problem did not occur at their centre in West S I GHTE D OVER CALGARY
Drayton, west London - the centre that (Melissa Ridgen The Calgary Sun, 10--1-2)
Swanwick is replacing.
Area 5 1 , move over - Deer Run may be taking
FAM I LY IN 'MAJOR' S I GHTI NG O F over as destination of choice for visitors from
UFO outer space.
(Evening Standard via ThislsDerbyshire
04 October 2002) A southeast Calgary family saw a strange sight
in the sky Tuesday evening, hours before a
A cigar-shaped UFO drifted over Ilkeston - northern lights display danced overhead.
and then did an encore.
Tammy Woodward's boyfriend came into their
A family, from Kirk Hallam, say it appeared to Deer Run home around 1 p . m . , to get her to
head for the village of \Vest Hallam before look at an odd object he'd spotted in the sky.
returning from whence it came at about
7.45pm on Monday. "The sun was just going down and the sky was
The mother, father and son, who do not want perfectly clear except for this thing,, said
to be named, have lodged a detailed report Woodward. "We saw what looked like a small
with the Derby-based Phenomena Research piece of really bright-white cloud but it was
Association. moving way too fast to be a cloud, " said
Woodward, whose two children also saw it.
They also called Derbyshire police, who did
not receive any other reports. "It was going really fast, west-northwest. It
was diamond-shaped and it was gone from
Although looking like a cigar, they say it flew sight over other houses in about 1 0 seconds,"
sideways and had a series of lights. the 34-year- old said.

The mother watched the object through Environment Canada meteorologist Bill
binoculars from the family home. McMurtry is at a loss as to what the family
saw.
She said : "'I have never seen anything like it.
There's no aeroplane like that. It seemed to It could have been an aircraft, satellite or
float across and there was this hum coming meteorite - but he doubts it was, because the
from it. latter two aren't visible while it's light out, and
most people know a plane when they see one.
Her son frrst saw the UFO while he was
looking towards Little Hallan1 Hill, and alerted On Sept. 6, 1 99 1 , three people in the city's
his parents. Monterey Park reported three amber, diamond­
shaped lights moving in the eastern sky.
The object had two rows of white lights near
each end. Undemeath were two yellow lights - An unexplained spectacle was also witnessed
and a red pulsating beam. in Edmonton, according to the Alberta UFO
Study Group. On Sept. 13, a person in
The centre of the craft was dark and it was Edmonton saw 1 0 yellow-white lights moving
difficult to gauge its size. But the mother held "fast like a fighter jet" to the northeast, then
a biro at arm's length and said it appeared as disappearing 30 seconds later.
long as that.

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Vol. 6, f# 2, Ocrober 2002
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TALKI N ' BOLLOX I N S KI

With the U SA's most maverick investigator of the paranormal, Tom Bolloxinski.

Now I know what you 've all been t hi nking. the aliens can communicate with people and
"I've had a great summer holiday in Ibiza; drop stonesfrom the sky.
Jeffrey Archer's still in prison; Lord Of T11e
Rings has been released to buy on DVD; and Mr Parish, who .,,,.orks as a groundsman, said:
The Office is back on TV, but what I really "They are quite intelligent. They seem to
need is a dose of Bolloxinski . I wonder what communicate with people. Stones have been
the leading force in paranormal investigation dropping out of the sky but whether they are to
and alien research has been up to lately?" do with the rods 1 don 't hww.

Well, quite a lot actually. "/ ask ed the rods if they were from another
dimension. I told them to drop one stone if they
I ' ve just added the finishing touches to my were and two stones if they were not and they
latest book "Grey Dudes, Blonde Babes and dropped one stone. "
Rollen Reptilians: The Alien A-Z of Extra­
terrestrial Life. " By Tom Bolloxinski. Who said your English papers were full of
crap?
It 's fantastic, and with the kind permission of
my publisher Haphazard House, PRB will be Now I know that they're regular contributors
printing extracts from it in the next issue. Hey, to Project Red Book, and pretty friendly with
it ' s got the lot, everything from .Adamski, editor Dave Baker and all, but those two so­
George, to Zigmund Adamski. Cool ! called "researchers", Clarke & Roberts,
messing around in their precious "Public
I came across thi s little gem in one of your Records Offices", digging up so-called
papers . . . "authentic", "actuaf' files of "real" UFO
encounters, and finding hitherto unknown
RODS FROM SPA CE IN RENDLESHA M secret military investigations into UFOs . . . . call
(Evening Star, [Ipswich] September 2 1, 2002) that important research?

UFO fanatic Peter Parish claims that strange Talking to invisible ultra-fast unknown space­
rod-like beings have been spotted in aliens from another dimension in the middle of
Rendlesham Forest, adding to the list of a forest via the medium of stones . . . now that 's
peculiar events said to have taken place there. what I call research !

·
The latest unexplained phenomenon, which lvfr More importantly, this answers a mystery
Parish thinks is from another dimension, has that ' s been bugging me for some time. To
been labelled the Rendlesham Rods. promote the U.S. paperback edition of my
book Rend/esham - The £/vis Connection, I
Jvfr Parish, ./-1, of Thellusson Road, did a small U. S . tour of Elvis Presley fan clubs.
Rendlesham, first saw them on the evening of Many of these are held outdoors, and as I
August 31 and has since caught them on regaled the Presley faithful with my Aliens
camera. abducted E lvis theories, I was under constant
attack by "thrown" stones. And some of them
There have already been reports of similar hurt ! I was extremely upset by this, for I could
rods being seen in America, Scotland and not understand what "Pelvis" fans could have
throughout Europe. against me . . .

Jvfr Parish and friend Brenda Butler, 58, are B ut now of course I realise . . . it wasn't the
fascinated by this phenomenon and he said: Elvis fans that were pelting me. It was Rods!
"They are either coming from another Invisible, supersonic Rods, telling me that my
dimension or they are unlawwn creatures that theories are right ! "Yes !" the little suckers
can tr·al'e! at a tremendous speed " were saying. "Yes! Yes ! Yes!"

He claims they are invisible to the naked eye Ain't ufology beautiful?
but can be picked up on camera. He believes

19
Vol. 6, # 2, October 2002
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