History of Mystery - UfO part 4

Westall UFO 1966 mass sighting 

The Report in the Dandenon Journal 

• In Australia way back in 1966 apparently a UFO appeared in full view of 200 school children and teachers at Westall School in Clayton Melbourne. The chemistry teacher Barbara Robbins did in fact take photographs but both her camera as well as the film was later inexplicably confiscated. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?

• It happened almost 50 years ago since the event took place an amateur investigator Shane Ryan shot a video in 2005 in which he interviewed about 30 of the original witnesses  in an attempt to find some tangible evidence for the siting. 

Eye Witness Report

At approximately 11.00 am on Wednesday, 6 April 1966, a class of students and a teacher from Westall High School were outside on the main oval when an object, described as being a grey saucer shaped craft like a bell shape, was seen. Andrew Greenwood, a science teacher at the high school, told The Dandenong Journal at the time that he saw a silvery-green disc. 

• There were reports from some witnesses that the largest craft flew over and along some large Electricity Pylons near the school before landing. 
• Claude Miller was on yard duty that day he tells that the children arrived in the school yard just in time to see the craft lift off and was about 50 feet in the air, Andrew Greenwood came up to Claude him and asked him if he had “seen it”. The craft then set down further ahead and then it was said some small planes came in the area and the craft lifted straight up and took off at a breathtaking speed. It went across to an area called “the Grange” a smaller wooded area  a short distance away  behind the School. The students all took off and ran after it towards this wooded area

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vahJIDsOvp4

This is taken from a brilliant video made by illustrator Lee Whitmore 

http://www.leewhitmore.com.au/westall.php

• It was further reported that there were two other smaller craft of similar design that had hovered over ( but not landed on and only hovered above ) the dirt roadway at the front of the school. 
• One student a girl called Tanya had ran to the craft and had touched it apparently, she was found passed out, she was taken to Hospital and in another strange twist she never came back to School , her parents moved out from their home and they were never seen by anybody in the area again. Students rang up newspapers and TV and reporters were dispatched. The Police were called as well as the local RAAF base.

A Drawing made of the strange craft from a witness

• The incident was reported on television news that night and in the local newspapers. But despite the evidence, that day at Westall High School, the headmaster called a special assembly. He told students and staff that they had not seen a flying saucer – in fact, they hadn’t seen anything at all. And they were not to talk about it to anybody.
• Afraid of being ridiculed or punished, many witnesses kept the secret of that day. Some are still angry about not being believed. Others say the incident has affected their lives and continues to haunt them today.

Shane Ryan

In 2010, researcher Shane Ryan presented his documentary - Westall '66 - about his investigation of the incident, based on exhaustive research over a five year period. 

Through a public appeal, Ryan was able to uncover many previously unknown witnesses to the event and many from the surrounding area beyond the school grounds. In an interview given to the The Age in 2010, Ryan expressed his certainty that all those witnesses had seen... something:

• Forty-four years after the event, Shane Ryan inspired by a deep sense of injustice at how the students were treated, tracking down former students and staff and searching for the authorities that presided over the day.
• Canberra academic Shane Ryan , who organised a 40th anniversary reunion for eyewitnesses in 2006, has claimed GTV 9 news footage was pulled after Federal Government intervention.
• On his documentary he describes how he was Told GTV channel 9 television ran a report and interviewed a student. But when he went to the station to ask for the tape, it had mysteriously disappeared.
• Channel Nine Journalist, who told him a Government minister had requested that owner, Sir Frank Packer, based in Sydney, remove the footage from the news archives.

Missing Film

• Channel Nine didn’t confirm or deny the story. An archivist at the Melbourne station said the film could not be found for a story on the April reunion. She said it could have been lost through the vagaries of an old system of cataloguing or deliberately removed. The film was filed under a card system, and keyword searches such as “UFO” were unsuccessful. She said the Sydney station could not find the footage either.
• Mr. Ryan said he’d searched all publicity accessible records on UFOs at the National Archives, but there was no mention of the Westall High School incident.

• He said he was pursuing the mystery because of the passion of the eyewitnesses to know what had happened. “If it was an official secret then surely it can be spoken about now.A Department of Defence spokesman said the air force was responsible for responding to reports of “unusual aerial sightings” at the time, “the air force has been unable to access any information relating to this incident within the timeframe available.”

• Here is a case with multiple witnesses, military involvement and cover up (No reports have ever been released) and physical evidence there is no film or even a photograph but the sheer number of witnesses is cause for some credibility.
• Article from: ”http://thearrowsoftruth.com/tag/shane-ryan/

Excerpt from original report 

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Westallhighschoolufo/conversations/topics/30

An account by one of the students appeared in the school 
magazine, "The Clayton Calendar", which was produced by pupils of 
grade 6C-5C: 

"I was in class when the disturbance occurred outside. I didn't 

take any notice and when the bell went for morning recess my classmates and I went to our lockers and then walked out into the yard. we noticed that all the girls who were doing Physical Education 

were gathered right down near the end of our playing field. Suddenly 

the school came alive with excitement and everyone began running down towards where the girls were. I was among the surging mob. I had seen something that looked very unusual in the sky. 

"As I looked up I saw a dazzling, silvery object flying around 

some pine trees which grew on a ridge about a quarter of a mile 

directly behind the school. It then flew across some open paddocks 

also behind the school and returned to the pines. On the other side 

of the ridge there is a small field. The thing hovered over the pines 

and descended behind them and must have been directly over the field. 

I then lost sight of it because of the pines. 

"As the thing was out of sight I began to notice many private 

aircraft mainly Cessna, flying towards the pines. It was then, the 

thing reappeared and rose to the level of the approaching aircraft. 

This enabled me to get a rough idea of its size. It was a silvery 

object as long as one of the Cessnas, but very thin. 

"As the aircraft approached the thing tilted on about a 45 degree 

angle and started to move into the distance, gradually gaining height. 

The planes increased their speed and began to follow it, but the 

object streaked away leaving the planes far, far behind. The planes 

turned back, but we all stood hoping it would return but it didn't, so 

we all went into school, fifteen minutes late. 

"After school two friends and I went to the field where the 

object had descended. In a few minutes we were crawling under a 

barb-wire fence which surrounded the field at a height of about four 

feet. We waded through the waist-high grass making for a gap in it. 

Suddenly we were there. We found ourselves standing in a spot where the grass had been utterly crushed against the earth. It was an area of about 25-30 feet in diameter. Cows could not have done it because the fence was barbed, and also cows would have left a track through the grass. There was no track. The object had descended over the field; could it have done this? It all leads back to the same question. What was the object? Some people say it was a weather balloon, but do weather balloons go up and down quickly, crush grass and fly across the skies faster than reasonably speedy aircraft? Otherwise, your guess is as good as mine." 

The proceeding statement by a male student at Westall High school was 

released by the science teacher, Mr. Andrew Greenwood. Mr. Greenwood said of the student, "I taught him some years ago and found him intelligent and well balanced, and certainly not given to making irresponsible statements." 

Andrew Greenwood

The teacher who saw the craft, who was a science teacher at the time, Andrew Greenwood, says that two Air Force officers visited him at home and threatened him with destruction of his reputation and career if he continued to talk about what he had seen. In the word of Shane Ryan, who spent four years looking into the incident:

“He didn’t put any spin on it, he didn’t give nay particular interpretation, he wasn’t saying what the objects were because he didn’t know.”

Witness Reports Today

Joy Clarke, now 60, 
 For years and years we were made fun of. You got told: ‘How crazy were you? What drugs were you on?’ For God’s sake, I was 12 and a half and at school. I wasn’t dropping LSD.

A History of Mystery - UfO part 3

A most disturbing event in Zimbabwe 1994

This section is for those who say there are never any UFO stories that take place in South Africa where we live. 

This next event is well known to UfO enthusiasts but certainly not widely known outside of enthusiast reports

The story has remained as mysterious and unexplained as it was reported back in 1994 when it happened.

• This is our second case involving multiple witnesses, again there is not much more that the testimony of 62 kids who witnessed a bizarre encounter whilst they were outside in the playground of Ariel School in Ruwa Zimbabwe.
• The credibility of the  Story is based on the consistency as well as similarity of the accounts given by the children.
• However, there were no adults at the School to corroborate the story which leads others to say perhaps it was a prank . 
• But then again we must firstly ask if Adults are better at telling the truth than children, and are 62 Kids all capable of inventing a lie that not one of them at any stage admitted to.
• There was no physical evidence left of any kind and no photographs or records made. 
• But then again when some of the children were located 20 years later they still did not change their story and all agree that they saw something inexplicable in conventional terms.  

• The only adult near the playground was a mom working in the tuck shop who was reluctant leave the shop unattended even when the kids ran to her screaming and crying. The teachers apparently were incredulous and they carried on classes, but the children were do unnerved by the event they told their parents who began one after the other to contact the School asking what had happened. 
• It seems someone new a local journalist who specialised in the paranormal and Cynthia Hind was contacted.She then arrived at the School the next day armed with camera to find out what had happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imBubaiUzHQ&index=3&list=PLXvVJ6vqlYrTzJ2rO_f9xOorT_a217PNX

Cynthia Hind 

• These events took place were reported by Cynthia Hind.
• Who is Cynthia Hind?
• Born in Namaqualand in South Africa 
• After living in England and having her family she emigrated to Zimbabwe in 1957. She began free-lance writing and during this period her interest was aroused in UfO’s

So in 1974 she Joined MUFON

• Stands for the “Mutual UfO network, this was originally established in 1969 to investigate the validity of UfO reports. 
• The stated mission of MUFON is the study of UFOs for the benefit of humanity through investigations, research and education. The members who investigate claims are trained in how to interview witnesses, perform research, and how to draw conclusions from the evidence.Although investigators are not paid, they must pass both an exam based on a 265-page manual, and a background check.
• The groups intention is to furnish data that can separate explainable cases which occur because of a natural phenomena or whether it is man made such as a helicopter, military flare or stealth fighter etc. 

Field Investigator

• Cynthia became a field investigator as well as the representative for MUFON in Zimbabwe.
• she was the featured evening speaker at the MUFON 1981 UFO Symposium held at M.I.T. in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where her paper was titled "African Encounters: Case Investigations". (Dr. J. Allen Hynek was the keynote speaker). She was also appointed Continental Coordinator for Africa in 1981, a position she faithfully held in MUFON's global organization until her death in 2000 - http://www.noufors.com/Cynthia_Hind.htm
• To view all 22 UFO Afrinews issues, which Cynthia Hind published from 1988 to 2000, go to: 

http://www.ufoafrinews.com/resources.html

John Mack

John Mack

• The Report she made was conducted with John Mack
• John Edward Mack M.D. (October 4, 1929 – September 27, 2004) was an American psychiatrist, writer, and professor at Harvard Medical School. He was a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer, and a leading authority on the spiritual or transformational effects of alleged alien abduction experiences (wikipedia)
• In the 1990’s Mack began psychological study of people who had an alien abduction experience.
• He is the highest ranking Scholar in the world to have taken a serious interest in the UfO phenomena
• This was regarded with much suspicion and even hostility from his fellow faculty members.
• He subsequently became the subject of an investigation by the Dean of Harvard Medical School in which he was accused of “unprofessional Scholarship” on a subject that did “not merit the time and expense of a reputable university”. 
• The biased and prejudicial enquiry was basically exposed when it inadvertently became leaked to the public, the academic community objected to the unprofessional “investigation of a tenured professor who was not suspected of ethics violations or professional misconduct. Concluding the fourteen-month investigation, Harvard then issued a statement stating that the Dean had "reaffirmed Dr. Mack's academic freedom to study what he wishes and to state his opinions without impediment," concluding "Dr. Mack remains a member in good standing of the Harvard Faculty of Medicine.”
• John Mack was struck down and killed by a drunken driver in 2004

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cw4DdRPHuxM&list=PLXvVJ6vqlYrTzJ2rO_f9xOorT_a217PNX&index=4

Hind’s article “UFO flap in Zimbabwe: Case No 95”:

“Wednesday, 14th September, 1994, was an exciting night for Southern Africa. Round about 20:50 to 21:05 hours, a pyrotechnic display of some magnificence appeared in the almost clear night skies of this part of the continent.”

Astronomers across the region soon reported that the “pyrotechnic display”, seen as far afield as Zambia and Botswana, had been a meteor shower. Hind, though, recorded receiving dozens of reports of a capsule-like fireball, trailing fire and flanked by two smaller capsules.

She also received several reports of alien sightings around the same time: a young boy and his mother reported a daylight sighting; a trucker who had seen strange beings on the road at night. And then, on September 16, Hind received the report from Ariel School, which she records as Case 96, and describes as “one of the most exciting UFO stories of this or any year”.

initial report by Cynthia Hind in the UFO AFRINEWS, 1994: 

"On Friday 16th September, at approximately 10:15, 62 children from Ariel School, a private primary school in Ruwa (about 20 km from Harare) were in their playing field for the mid-morning break. Suddenly, they saw three silver balls in the sky over the school. These disappeared with a flash of light and then reappeared elsewhere. 

This happened three times and then they started to move down towards the school with one of them landing (or hovering) over a section of rough ground made up of trees, thorn bushes, and some brown-grey cut grass with bamboo shoots sticking up out of the ground. 

The children are not allowed in this area although it is adjacent to their playing field and is not fenced off, because of snakes, spiders and perhaps other harmful creatures. One can soon disappear from view while walking here, and there is only one very rough track used by tractors in an attempt to clear this area. 

"There is a line of electricity pylons and according to one boy, the object followed along this line prior to landing. "There is also some controversy as to whether the object _landed_ on the ground or hovered above it. 

On Tuesday, 20th September, I went out to the school with a BBC reporter and their television equipment, as well as my son and Gunter Hofer, a young man who builds his own electrical equipment, viz, a Geiger counter, a metal detector and a magnetometer, to try and see if the object left any traces behind. 

"The headmaster of the school is Mr. Colin Mackie, who was most co-operative, and although he had never been involved with UFOs or a believer in them, said that he believed the children had seen what they said they saw. 

"I was able to interview about 10 or 12 older children and this was recorded for BBC television. "One eyewitness, Barry D., said he had seen three objects flying over, with flashing red lights. They disappeared, and reappeared almost immediately, but somewhere else. This happened about three times. Then they came and landed near some gum trees; Barry said the main one (object) was about the size of his thumb nail held at arm's length. 

The reports were similar although some children were more observant than others. The consensus of opinion was that an object came down in the area where they indicated, about 100 metres from where they were at the edge of the school playing field. 

Then a small man (approx 1 metre in height) appeared on top of the object. He walked a little way across the rough ground, became aware of the children and disappeared. He, or someone very like him, then reappeared at the back of the object. The object took off very rapidly and disappeared." "The little man was dressed in a tight-fitting black suit which was 'shiny' according to one observant girl (11 years of age). 

He had a long scrawny neck and huge eyes like rugby balls. He had a pale face with long black hair coming below his shoulders. "I had suggested to Mr. Mackie prior to visiting the school and before the children had been interviewed, that he let the children draw what they had seen and he now has about 30-40 drawings, some of which are very explicit and clear, although some are rather vague. 

The children's' ages vary from 5/6 to 12 years. I have 22 photocopies of the clearer drawings as Mr. Mackie kindly allowed me to page through the pictures and choose those I wanted. Most of the descriptions are similar but some of the craft are very obviously 'flying saucers', and I wonder how many of these children have had access to the media. Others are crude but more or less in this saucer shape. 

"The children vary in cultures: there are black, white, coloured and Asian children. One little girl said to me, 'I swear by every hair on my head and the whole Bible that I am telling the truth.' I could see the pleasure on her face when I told her that I believed her. The smaller children from 5-7 years were very frightened at the time and ran shouting 'Help me, help me.' When the older children asked why they were saying this, the reply was, 'He is coming to eat us.' I should think this applied more to the black African children who have legends of tokoloshies eating children. 

"Their teachers were in a meeting and did not come out. When I queried the headmaster about this he said the children always shouted and yelled during their playtime and no-one thought there was anything unusual going on. The only other adult available at the time was one of the mothers who was running the tuckshop. 

When the children came to call her, she did not believe them and would not come out: she was not prepared to leave the tuckshop with all the food and money. 

"Gunter and the men thoroughly examined the ground around where the children had seen the object, but could get no reaction on the Geiger counter or any other equipment. If the object was hovering perhaps nothing would show. I walked, on my own, along the electricity pylons for quite a away, caught up in thorn bushes, trampling blithely over snake holes and discarding all caution. I found no place where some object could have landed and pressed down the foliage. In fact, I should think the bamboo stumps would have been a deterrent. 

The day was hot, around 33 C (91F)... "Dr John Mack was visiting Zimbabwe at the time of the event, and he spent two days at Ariel School with the children. 

He also spoke to the Headmaster, Colin Mackie, the teachers and some of the parents. John and his fellow researcher, Dominique Callimanopulos, were able to get through to the parents and teachers and convince them that even if they did not believe the children, it was counter-productive to accuse them of lying. 

Listen and think about what they were saying, he advised. His particular interest in child psychiatry was also of great use during the questioning and many former hidden memories came to light, something John is sure to make public when he has had a chance to reassess his interviewing." - See more at: http://jackbrummet.blogspot.com/2012/02/alien-lore-no-ariel-school-ufogrey.html#sthash.bZ0hkACV.dpuf 

Report made by John Mack and Dominique Callimanopulos

The Ariel School sighting is one of the most significant in recent UFO history. The event lasted about fifteen minutes, the children said, before the spaceships faded from view. But even in their state of fear, many of the children reported also being curious and fascinated by the strange beings they saw, whose eyes in particular commanded an intense attention.

“I got the feeling he was interested in all of us. ... He looked sad and without love. ...In space there is no love and down here there is.” 

John Mack and I were at the Ariel School, a small elementary school outside Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, listening to Elsa (not her real name) describe her encounter last September 16 [1994] with an “alien” being. In all, sixty children, ages six through twelve, reported seeing one large and several smaller spaceships land - hover, really - over the scrubby bushland adjoining their playground. 

The twelve children we interviewed over the course of two days all described the same event with a steady consistency of detail. In addition to the spaceships, the children had seen two “strange beings,” one sitting on one of the spaceships and the other running back and forth in the grass, “bouncing as if he were on the moon, but not quite so much.” 

The beings were described as blackwith long heads, “eyes as big as rugby balls,” with thin arms and legs. The event took place during the children’s morning recess while teachers were in a staff meeting. Many of the younger children were very scared and cried. “At first I thought it was a gardener,” one fourth-grader told us. “Then I realized it was an alien.” 

The event lasted about fifteen minutes, the children said, before the spaceships faded from view. But even in their state of fear, many of the children reported also being curious and fascinated by the strange beings they saw, whose eyes in particular commanded an intense attention. Elsa told us that she thought the beings wanted to tell us something about our future, about how “the world is going to end, maybe because we don’t look after our planet or the air.” She said she felt horrible inside when she got home that day. “Like all the trees will go down and there will be no air. People will be dying. Those thoughts came from the man - the man’s eyes.” 

Isabelle, a composed and articulate ten-year-old, echoed Elsa’s feelings. “He was just staring. He was scary. We were trying not to look at him ‘cause he was scary. My eyes and feelings went with him.” What came through her “conscience” as she looked at the being was, “We are doing harm to the Earth.” 

The Ariel School sighting is one of the most significant in recent UFO history. It is the first time such a large group of people have reported witnessing the simultaneous appearance of spaceships and alien beings. After receiving a call in September from a BBC reporter telling us that a flight of strange objects and ships had glided across Zimbabwean skies for two nights prior to September 16 culminating in the dramatic sighting at the Ariel School, we decided to investigate firsthand.

  

Good Alien Creatures or Bad?

What is intriguing to me is that the Kids said they felt very scared and the creatures gave the one kid "the creeps". John mack seems to emphasise the idea that these beings are from another Galaxy and they are here to warn us about the danger of nuclear arms or global warming. 

There is much evidence to sift here but I have to say in advance that I personally think they are not good and there is a deceptiveness to these ideas of kindly "Space brothers" that we need to investigate. 

But there is a long way to go

NEXT TIME: Westall encounter in Ausie - just in case you thought Australia has no major sightings watch this . . . 

A History of Mystery - UfO part 2

We Come in Peace

mars attacks - we come in peace

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMdC45S79uQ

• We simply do not have a clear video of a nuts a bolt machine that is totally unlike anything we have ever seen manufactured on planet earth landing on the ground with some kind of hatch sliding open and some alien beings climbing out and saying “We come in Peace, take me to your leader”. 

Perhaps our Hollywood Perceptions are misguided

• The idea of intelligent life travelling across vast aeons of space and making contact with man is a widely held hope and there are plenty of people who are convinced that this is what is actually going on.
• But the strangeness of the events the lack of clarity, there is no awareness of space traffic outside our atmosphere and no great arrival in the Nevada Desert and yet something is going on that is very strange and very persistent.
• The importance of ignoring our preconceptions and examining the phenomena as something quite beyond anything we know and experience seems to be a logical way to approach it.
• Are are these events related even? Do they have commonalities that reoccur, why is it so difficult to get a clear recording of the events described? 
• What is the governments role in these events? Do they know something we don’t? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGMGOdKOPKk

• There are no lack of tantalising stories that filter out to the public that give us just enough evidence to keep the UfO story alive. . it’s actually doing much more than that 

. . . in fact its burgeoning. 

Cover Up?

• What of all these allegations of some kind of cover up involving top secrete military officials who seem to be determined to keep any UfO sighting firmly under wraps. 
• Is it true that after a sighting of a UfO there is a sudden arrival of military personal who then confiscate all evidence and threaten and intimidate people into silence?
• This further adds to the whole mystery of the phenomenon and certainly excites even more interest that previously. If its a secret government project then why cant they say “Its a secret government project” and “we can’t tell you because we don't want bad people to have access to our development programs” or something like that.  

Video UfO’s from the past 

Famous Sighting 

The Phoenix Lights 

• The Story is one of the most well known events in UfOlogy, a good one to begin with because it is within recent memory and includes hundreds if not thousands of witnesses.
• The witnesses all stated the craft was a dull black colour and triangular in shape.
• They also stated it was gigantic in size and unlike anything they had ever seen.
• Further to this was its complete silence as it flew overhead.
• The military denied any knowledge of it and there is a debate over the possibility that it was flares dropped as part of a military exercise
• The most often shown video of the the event does appear to be flares and there is a recent video in which there is a report of the military using flares at that time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGS09LzpARs

• This does not explain the descriptions other witnesses gave of the craft flying closely overhead as a distinct boomerang triangular shape. 
• But alas there is just no photograph clearly showing the shape of the object. There are simply lots of pictures of lights in various sizes and distances.   
• But it is the witnesses who give the story its best credibility the two most famous are Doctor Lynne D. Kitei (who wrote and directed a documentary about the event called “the Phoenix  Lights”) and Fyfe Symington the governor of Phoenix at that time. 
• Frances Barwood, the 1997 Phoenix city councilwoman who launched an investigation into the event, said that of the over 700 witnesses she interviewed, "The government never interviewed even one.

There are two women are chiefly responsible for preventing the events of March 13, 1997 from fading into history without impact. 

Frances Barwood 

One is former Phoenix Councilwoman Frances Emma Barwood who risked her political career, refused to be cowered and did her job on behalf of her constituency. 

Born 1944 in Ridgewood, Queens, Frances moved from Williston, Vermont to northeast Phoenix in 1980.

Frances was elected to serve her first term on the Phoenix City Council starting January 1992 and was re-elected to a second term January 1994.

She became elected vice mayor in 1997, one of her pet projects was the development of a teen centre which became widely used. Hardly somebody who would risk her promising political career with wacky stories about UfO's.

Barwood says that her inquiry about the mystery lights began innocently. On May 6, nearly two months after bizarre light formations were seen over many parts of Arizona, Barwood was preparing to attend a city council meeting when she was approached by a camera crew from the television show "Extra."

"The reporter said, 'We've tried everybody. No one will talk to us. Will you?' So I said, 'Sure. About what?' They wanted to know why no one was inquiring about the lights," Barwood told CNI News in a telephone interview.

That day's council meeting was a televised policy session where council members were permitted to raise any question they wished. Barwood asked if the city could investigate the mysterious lights. She quickly discovered it was a subject no one wanted to touch.

"One of the deputy city managers named Pat Manion told me, 'You shouldn't have asked that. You opened Pandora's Box,'" Barwood said. "I didn't realize this, but the mayor's office had been avoiding talking to the media on this, and his office issued a statement that there are no UFOs over Phoenix."

Meanwhile, the mayor mounted a campaign of ridicule aimed directly at Barwood. She says the mayor's press secretary printed up phony business cards that said, "Frances Emma Barwood from the planet Zenon." She found a picture of herself posted in the city hall lobby with the caption "From the planet Zenon."

The mayor publicly accused Barwood of seeing little green men. Her question about the lights was characterized as an inappropriate interest in UFOs.

"I never said UFOs," Barwood insists. "I just wanted to know what it was."

Well. . .  politics is a dirtily game as we all know and her opponents  tried to use the Phoenix lights enquiry to manoeuvre her out of office. As it turns out she still retained her office after the following elections but the point is the sighting and her subsequent involvement which was really a duty of a parliamentary representative to enquire about something her constituents were concerned about.

But once again demonstrates the ridicule and hostility that any person has to endure should they ever dare speak out on anything unusual relating to UfO's. . .  is usually enough to silence most people. It takes a lot of courage and tenacity to over come this wall of ignorance and prejudice. 

The other is Dr. Lynne D. Kitei who risked her professional career to investigate, document and promote public awareness of what happened that evening. 

Who Is Lynne D. Kitei , MD?

Has become synonymous with the Phoenix Lights since she is a prime example of somebody who initially was just another witness to a strange phenomenon over the skies of Phoenix o n Thursday, March 13, 1997. 

She began phoning around to ask questions and was given the run around with very reluctant and uncooperative department officials

Dr. Lynne graduated with a Bachelors of Science degree in Secondary Science Education, with minors in Communication and Voice from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA. 1970 and an MD Degree from Temple University School of Medicine 1974. She completed her postgraduate studies at the Medical College of Pennsylvania.

She already had a successful medical career and certainly did not invited this or seek some kind of attention seeking publicity. Her efforts to get to the truth of the Phoenix Lights has been a life changing career move putting her career aside to pursue a scientific study of the Phenomenon seen in Arizona in 1997

Dr. Lynne has been a keynote speaker at the University of Arizona Tucson Medical Center with Dr. John Mack, Bay Area UFO Conference, Hollywood National UFO Conference, Borders Book Tour, Barnes & Noble Book Tours, Washington D.C. X-Conference, MUFON International Symposium Denver, CO, Cosmic International Conference, Italy, Glendale, AZ City Hall, Paradise Valley Community College Performing Arts Centre, Arizona State University Physical Science Auditorium, ASU Anthropology Museum Exhibit, Atlantic Coast UFO Conference, Trump Plaza, Atlantic City , N.J., Tri-City Prep H.S., UCLA Skype interview, International Institute of Human Sciences, Montreal, Canada, CSETI Conference Rio Rico, AZ, Scottsdale's Harkins Shea Cinema - sold out screenings and presentations. 

She continues to tour the US and abroad, introducing screenings of the internationally award winning "Phoenix Lights Documentary," as well as presentations for her best-selling book, "The Phoenix Lights…A Skeptic's Discovery That We Are Not Alone" and riveting power point lecture, "Coincidence or Communication?"

There is much more about Lynne Kitei over here. . .

http://www.thephoenixlights.net/Documentary.htm#The_Making_Of

Fife Symington - governor of Phoenix

25 years-ago few were riding as high as Fife Symington. A developer he had just brought the Camelback Esplanade to fruition. 

Privileged background: Served in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War, stationed at Luke Air Force Base in Maricopa County, Arizona. He remained in Arizona and became involved in real estate development, founding his own company, the Symington Company, in 1976.


Ambitious Symington turned his considerable assets and success into a political campaign which eventually brought him to the pinnacle of success when he became Arizona's 19th Governor in March 6, 1991.

During his first term, the governor was the subject of an investigation over his involvement with Southwest Savings and Loan, a failed Phoenix thrift. He was later cleared, and won reelection in 1994.

Symington's second term was cut short when he was convicted of bank fraud, stemming from his developments, including his beloved Esplanade. He appealed against the sentence and eventually the judgement was overturned. Ne was then exonerated by then President Clinton. 

This is an interesting aside, the story of the Phoenix lights took place right in the middle of his 2nd term as governor.

Besieged By Queries and calls 

The top elected official of the state called a press conference and then proceeded to make a complete mockery of the whole incident having an aid walk out into the conference dressed up like an alien. 

People were angry and amazed at this  reaction and there was a huge out break of frustration and anger. 

Symington's Account 

(CNN) -- In 1997, during my second term as governor of Arizona, I saw something that defied logic and challenged my reality.

I witnessed a massive delta-shaped, craft silently navigate over Squaw Peak, a mountain range in Phoenix, Arizona. It was truly breathtaking. I was absolutely stunned because I was turning to the west looking for the distant Phoenix Lights.

To my astonishment this apparition appeared; this dramatically large, very distinctive leading edge with some enormous lights was traveling through the Arizona sky.

As a pilot and a former Air Force Officer, I can definitively say that this craft did not resemble any man-made object I'd ever seen. And it was certainly not high-altitude flares because flares don't fly in formation.

The incident was witnessed by hundreds -- if not thousands -- of people in Arizona, and my office was besieged with phone calls from very concerned Arizonians.

The growing hysteria intensified when the story broke nationally. I decided to lighten the mood of the state by calling a press conference where my chief of staff arrived in an alien costume. We managed to lessen the sense of panic but, at the same time, upset many of my constituents.

I would now like to set the record straight. I never meant to ridicule anyone. My office did make inquiries as to the origin of the craft, but to this day they remain unanswered.

Eventually the Air Force claimed responsibility stating that they dropped flares.

This is indicative of the attitude from official channels. We get explanations that fly in the face of the facts. Explanations like weather balloons, swamp gas and military flares.

I was never happy with the Air Force's silly explanation. There might very well have been military flares in the sky that evening, but what I and hundreds of others saw had nothing to do with that.

I now know that I am not alone. There are many high-ranking military, aviation and government officials who share my concerns. While on active duty, they have either witnessed a UFO incident or have conducted an official investigation into UFO cases relevant to aviation safety and national security.

By speaking out with me, these people are putting their reputations on the line. They have fought in wars, guarded top secret weapons arsenals and protected our nation's skies.

We want the government to stop putting out stories that perpetuate the myth that all UFOs can be explained away in down-to-earth conventional terms. Investigations need to be re-opened, documents need to be unsealed and the idea of an open dialogue can no longer be shunned.

Incidents like these are not going away. About a year ago, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport experienced a UFO event that made national and international headlines.


What I saw in the Arizona sky goes beyond conventional explanations. When it comes to events of this nature that are still completely unsolved, we deserve more openness in government, especially our own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3wr6_-XoRE

NEXT: ARIEL SCHOOL ZIMBABWE

• let’s have a look at an incident that occurred right here in our own back yard. 
• 62 Children saw what they described as a classic UfO encounter in a playground in Zimbabwe . . .

true story. . .

NEXT BLOG

A History of Mystery - UfO's part 1

A History of the UFO Mystery

Introduction - An Old Story 

The whole UfO mystery is certainly an old story with so many people all climbing on the bandwagon with the most incredible stories ranging from unusual lights being seen in the sky to close encounters with otherworldly beings. 

There is a well documented and often repeated Chronology of events that usually begin with the Kenneth Arnold’s sighting and the subsequent coining “flying Saucer” term. 

The famous “foo fighters” of the second war. 

Then the  in/famous Roswell incident the 

Rendelsham forest account; the 

Belgium wave and the 

Phoenix Lights. 

Actually the list of mass sightings is impressively long.

SO WHY (another)THIS BLOG?

I think I may have something different to add to the mix . . . a fresh angle if you will 

BUT FIRSTLY 

We Need to introduce the subject.

Why is there such a hullabaloo about UfO's 

How many people have even seen one?

Here's something from www.alienresistance.org

 http://www.alienresistance.org/ufo-alien-deception/recent-polls-trends-belief-aliens-ufos/

Larry King ran a couple of programs about a UFO sighting in Stephenville TX a couple of years back, and on his website they posted a poll simply asking people “Do you believe in extra-terrestrial life?” It got an amazingly high number of affirmative answers – 86% said yes. That’s the highest number I’ve ever seen on any similar poll from a major media source.

So 8 percent, 12 percent, splitting the difference, as many as 1 out 10 people have seen a UFO. About one in forty, maybe one in fifty, have had an experience they identify as extra-terrestrial. 

A Change in Thinking 

Something’s definitely happening. There is a change in our world,

a changing perception

a kind of awakening 

a shift from the largely debunked era of materialistic evolution to a spiritual awareness, that is not main stream religious or wacky hippiedom.

Just like weakening and total collapse of communism in eastern Europe, so with the materialistic view of reality that accompanied it in the east and the west also seems to be cracking and collapsing upon itself as it struggles to hold on to its largely debunked beliefs and lack of evidence.

So much confidence was expressed in this idea that seemed to be so rock solid in its beliefs  it penetrated and totally took over the entire education system of the western world. I can remember as a child drawing pictures of our ancestral ape men in my science books to show to my approving teacher. 

But there are a lot of people in the new generation of scholars and scientists who are saying "hey but the emperor doesn't have any clothes on".

 A growing tide of disillusioned young scholars are becoming more and more impatient with the scientific communities dogged determination to hang on to their belief system in spite of the fact that no real evidence to conclusively prove any of their claims has ever come to light in over a century of concerted effort. 

But there is something that we can take away from the slow inevitable death of materialistic evolution.

That is honest scientific methods of research are still preferable to blind acceptance.

And it is at this point we begin . . . 

Burden of Proof 

If we put aside the verbal accounts from many witnesses and say we are only interested in hard evidence then what have we got?

•  PHOTOGRAPHS? The evidence to date ranges also from some rather blurry 

photographs from totally indistinct to relatively identifiable looking craft. 

   

• MOVIES? There are a few fuzzy film recordings from years ago. One of the most famous of the pre-digital films in the 70’s is perhaps the famous “Gaurdian” film again very indistinct and out of focus film of flashing lights on a dark background that could be just about anything. One debunker makes a compelling argument by demonstrating that the video does look suspiciously like a grounded helicopter. Another demonstration shows one an film the sky with an image on a plane of glass moved around to create a relatively convincing fake. 

• WHY SO FEW?. . . On the other hand. . . We don't have visual records for most encounters simply because  . . , someone caught alone out on on the road and suddenly assailed with an otherworldly experience doesn’t normally have filming equipment on hand to set up and record the incident. 

ALTHOUGH . . .

But that has changed somewhat in the last twenty years or so

The technological boom has certainly given the world a quick and ready to use filming device in every cell phone. So surely there is a greatly increased the chance of somebody having the means to record any unusual phenomenon they happen to stumble upon.

• And as one would expect, the amount of recorded footage of strange phenomenon has indeed exponentially increased. 

• But unfortunately the increase in video recording technology with accompanying  home editing available on every computer makes hoaxes also easier to manufacture, so the prospect of receiving genuine eye witness accounts with video proof is as disputable as ever. Also the pixelated blurry images are frustratingly vague enough to cast doubt on most of these recordings

• We simply do not have a clear video of a nuts a bolt machine that is totally unlike anything we have ever seen manufactured on planet earth landing on the ground with some kind of hatch sliding open and some alien beings climbing out and saying “We come in Peace, take me to your leader”. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMdC45S79uQ

Perhaps our Hollywood Perceptions are misguided

The idea of intelligent life travelling across vast aeons of space and making contact with man is a widely held hope and there are plenty of people who are convinced that this is what is actually going on.

But the strangeness of the events the lack of clarity, there is no awareness of space traffic outside our atmosphere and no great arrival in the Nevada Desert and yet something is going on that is very strange and very persistent.

The importance of ignoring our preconceptions and examining the phenomena as something quite beyond anything we know and experience seems to be a logical way to approach it.

Are are these events related even? Do they have commonalities that reoccur, why is it so difficult to get a clear recording of the events described? 

What is the governments role in these events? Do they know something we don’t? 

There are no lack of tantalising stories that filter out to the public that give us just enough evidence to keep the UfO story alive. . it’s actually doing much more than that 

. . . in fact its burgeoning. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8KeeKURKxI&list=PLXvVJ6vqlYrTzJ2rO_f9xOorT_a217PNX

Cover Up?

What of all these allegations of some kind of cover up involving top secrete military officials who seem to be determined to keep any UfO sighting firmly under wraps. 

Is it true that after a sighting of a UfO there is a sudden arrival of military personal who then confiscate all evidence and threaten and intimidate people into silence?

This further adds to the whole mystery of the phenomenon and certainly excites even more interest that previously. If its a secret government project then why cant they say “Its a secret government project” and “we can’t tell you because we don't want bad people to have access to our development programs” or something like that.  

Believers and unbelievers 

This is a polarised as any controversy can be, with passionate supporters on the one side and equally passionate debunkers on the other, all determined to vindicate their point of view. 

The subject is researched as much as any other field of study in History. It still seems the majority of people are incredulous and dismiss the idea with sniggers of derision and relegation to the domaine of crackpots and hoaxers.  

But having statistically speaking the pendulum is certainly swinging towards the believer’s end more than ever.

The Believers

Are these all crackpots and fringe people with serious psychological and/or mental problems? Some of them may very well be, the believers are as widely diversified as is possible and the spectrum is multilayered and complex. 

The most extreme we could say are those who firmly believe that there are other civilisations from distant planets in other Galaxy’s who have been visiting earth and are trying to make contact with us. 

This moves right across a colourful spectrum of beliefs and ideas to those who are not prepared to commit to any particular viewpoint but are prepared to admit there is definitely something going on but they have no idea what it actually is. 

Highly credible witnesses

The List of highly credible witnesses is simply enormous, here’s a few samples.

1. Astronauts:  Well they  travel in outer space surely they may have seen if anything is up there? And what about on the Moon and the apollo landings, could they have seen anything? 

Yes plenty of them Listing on this site: 

http://www.syti.net/UFOSightings.html

2. How about Pilots? They spend a lot of time flying around the earth high up in the air

 Heres a sample from the disclosure project  

http://www.educatinghumanity.com/2013/04/pilot-ufo-sightings-witness-proof-of-aliens-black-box-secrets.html

3. What about the Police? They may be called up if anything strange is happening . . . plenty here’s a sample

http://www.micahhanks.com/ufos/patrolling-the-strange-skies-law-enforcement-encounters-with-ufos/

4. Reliable researchers: J. Allen Hynek (an American astronomer, professor, and ufologist)and Jacques Vallee  (computer scientist, author, ufologist and former astronomer currently residing in San Francisco, California.)were appointed by the US government to research all these sightings and were completely sceptical to begin with but after intensive work in the field they had to admit that there was definitely something going on. 

J. Allen Hynek had gone—seemingly overnight—from a determined debunker to an ardent apostle of the UFO gospel. A longtime consultant to Project Blue Book noted for his skeptical stance toward UFOs, Hynek suddenly began telling anyone who would listen that the UFO phenomenon merited serious scientific scrutiny.

Jacques Vallée came to an equally affirming belief that there was a definite reality to the phenomenon and developed a theory about unidentified flying objects (UFOs). his idea was these and other related events involve visitations from other "realities" or "dimensions" that coexist separately alongside our own. It is an alternative to the extraterrestrial hypothesis 

More recently is the work of Dr. Stephen Greer who heads u the “Disclosure Project” which seeks the disclosure of suppressed UFO information.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vyVe-6YdUk

in the film "I know what I saw" some pretty high profile army officers, politicians, pilots and astronauts all brave ridicule to place on record their accounts of UfO encounters. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGMGOdKOPKk

You have got to ask yourself why would they do this with absolutely nothing to gain?

There are plenty more just google and you will be inundated. 

The Quest for Truth

Also one thinks of the volleys of insults and accusations they fly across from one system of belief to the other. The most obvious example is the Christians vs the atheists quite public forum on the internet. Each accusing the other of being fools and ignorant and whatever insults come to mind. 

Reminds me of dire straits industrial disease song.

I go down to Speaker's Corner I'm thunderstruck

They got free speech, tourists, police in trucks

Two men say they're Jesus one of them must be wrong

There's a protest singer singing a protest song

Prejudice 

It reminds me of a young Christian who I had a conversation with about UFO’s and I said to him “you know, the “U” designates. . . “unidentified” . . .  Flying Object  which translates as. . .  “unknown” . . . it doesn’t mean aliens from Mars. 

He just laughed at the idea and basically indicated I was being weird and a member of the crazy fringe. 

I was amazed at this display of prejudice and ignorance,I wanted to tell him how ludicrous a belief in a couple of naked people in a garden with a talking snake can sound. 

Or all the animals getting on board a giant wooden boat to avoid drowning in a world wide flood. 

The Scientific community certainly claim the monopoly on truth But close-mindedness is not the domain of the religious conservatives exclusively, 

heres some fun . . .Materialists simply can't deal with the supernatural

check out arch skeptic Bill Nye take on Bob Jacobs on Larry King Live about the incident with the VanndenBerg missile launch program.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asnaykgZE8M

Are the skeptics just close-minded refusing to accept anything is possible outside the comforting parameters of the “peer reviewed” text books? Surely we haven’t come to the end of Scientific study? Do we know know everything there is to know? 

But what about the claims of otherworldly experiences? Can we take them seriously? The skeptics will say there are acceptable limits to what we can demonstrate and prove. 

Have we reached the end of all Knowledge?

Are our formula’s and theories air tight? the answer is obviously not. In about 100 years will our technology be the same as it is today? Is it safe to assume that the technology of today will be seen as antiquated and crude in the future?

Anything outside of these must be by definition be untrue or at least unprovable. 

Well sure, but there is a contradiction here. what we can demonstrate and prove is limited by our technology. 

Our technology is changing day by day therefore what we can demonstrate and prove must also be in a state of flux, what cannot be demonstrated and proved today might be possible tomorrow. 

If we have eye witness reports of something strange we then need to send a forensics team and use our knowledge and skill to check it out. 

Maybe we cannot find the answer. . . yet! . . . but perhaps we should keep trying.

The idea that in the face of an ever growing phenomenon to simply call it a hoax or people are lying is wearing a bit thin. 

There are just too many testimonies.

 Surely a better approach is to check it out with all the scientific instrumentation and technology at our disposal? 

Well this is just part of an introduction there is much more to say and also a couple of theories of my own lets see where the rabbit hole leads us 

If these are not little grey men in anti gravitational space rockets, then what exactly is this?