MUFOB ARCHIVE/04 1966 MUFORG Bulletin 02

MUFORG Bulletin. April 1966 Edited by John Harney

COMMENT

Since 1947 UFO sightings have tended to come in waves, first in one part of the world, then another. Last year saw what seemed to some people to be the beginning of a change in the pattern. Instead of last year’s “flap” dying down, reports have continued to pour in.

Of course, with so many satellites in orbit, high speed aircraft, weather and research balloons, there are bound to be a lot of vague reports of “mysterious” lights in the sky. However, a feature of sightings during the past year has been the large number of reports of UFOs seen on or near the ground and described in detail.

There now seems to be a general expectation among seasoned ufologists that we are in for an even more spectacular parade of UFOs in the near future. Unfortunately, these expectations, when pubkicly voiced, may help to generate a spate of spurious reports, for which the popular science pundits can readily provide explanations, whilst twisting the details of genuine reports to fit their off-the-peg explanations.

The disturbingly lareg lunatic fringe of ufology will have a marvellous time, too, no doubt. Reception committees galore will be formed to welcome “our Space Brothers”. Those who attend lectures given by the saucerers in a spirit of idle curiosity will come away converted and eager to spread the good news. “Flying saucers are real!” they will cry exultantly.

Meanwhile others will be patiently and carefully checking the reports and trying to separate facts from fantasies. They will be less cosily reassuring than the pundits and less amusing than the crackpots, but they are the people we would like to hear from.

MUFORG NEWS

Hon. Sec. resigns. Alan Rawlinson has resigned the office of Hon. Secretary of MUFORG, due to pressure of work, but he remains a member of the Group. His resignation was accepted with regrets at a Committee meeting held on April 2nd. This will be a great loss, as Mr Rawlinson founded the Group three years ago and has been its most active member.

IGAP Meeting. The recent IGAP lecture on Adamski in Manchester seems to have disgusted most of the MUFORG members who attended it. The views of one member are published elsewhere in the Bulletin.

• • SKYWATCHING SCHEME**

The Midland Interplanetary Association holds sky-watches on the night of the last Saturday of each month. Other groups are encouraged to take part. The Hon. Secretary of the Association is Mr D.C. Samson, Solihull, Warwickshire.

BOOTLE UFO SIGHTINGS

Alan Rawlinson provides the following sketches and details from his investigations of UFO sightings in Bootle.

(Numbers refer to numbers on sketches.)

1. February 4th 6.30 p.m.

Brighter than moon. Hovered, changed brightness and throbbed, appeared solid. White, with hazy, blue line along centre and orange light on one end. Resembled cigar with end chopped off. Appeared in W, then disappeared “in a flash” towards E. Elevation 45-50 degs. Blurred edges. Two witnesses watched it for about 5 mins. Size: twoce as big as a plane. Distance: 3 miles. Weather: clear sky, fairly warm, no wind, just after rain. Comparative size: twice as big as 6d at arm’s length. Shortly after object disappeared, three planes appeared and went off in same direction.

2. February 5th 6.0 p.m.

Round object seen entering a bluish-white cloud. Two witnesses. Visible for 4-5 mins.

3. February 4th 6.0 p.m.

Brighter than the moon. Hovered, rotated, changed brightness, throbbed. Solid. Blurred edges. First seen in E, then increased speed and shot off in N direction, leaving trail of white light. Elevation: 60 degs. White glow. One witness watched for 3-4 mins. Height: 600 ft. Distance: 1/3 mile. Speed: faster than jet plane. Weather: clear sky, cold, no wind, moist. Comparative size: shilling at arm’s length.

4. February 3rd 11.30 p.m.

Brighter than the moon. Throbbed and left trail of light. Appeared to be solid object, glowing with white light. Sharp edges. First came from NE, then climbed higher and disappeared in N direction. Approximate elevation when first seen: 30 degs. Two witnesses, who watched it from bedroom window, described it as a “luminous ball”. Had no idea what it was. Visible for about 3 minutes. Photographed on FP3 film with W. German camera set at f3.5, 1/25th, focused on infinity. Comparative size: “as large as the sun”. Weather: clear sky, cool, dry, light breeze.

5. February 4th 8.30 p.m.

Brighter than moon. Rotated and throbbed, appeared solid, had sharp edges. First appeared from W, then shot off in E direction. Elevation 30 degs. Eight witnesses were travelling at 25 m.p.h. in car when first seen. Visible for 4-5 mins. Bigger than plane and faster. Height: 600 ft. Distance ½ mile. Weather: no clouds, cool, no wind, moist, just after rain.

Possible Explanations

The MUFORG Committee, at their meeting on April 2nd, considered some possib;e explanations for the sightings. It will be seen, though, that these explanations depend on the theory that the witnesses may have unwittingly exaggerated, or made inaccurate observations.

Possibly the Russian satellite, Cosmos 97. Insufficient information given. Possibly a satellite. No explanation suggested. It has been suggested that this may have been a fireball, or even ball lightning. However, the photograph shows a well-defined, round object, with what seem to be tiny wisps of vapour trailing from it. No explanation suggested.

THER NORTH WEST SIGHTINGS:

WIGAN INCIDENTS

Three witnesses reported seeing a flying saucer early in the morning of March 11th, at Shevington, near Wigan.

The witnesses were Mrs Faith Hudson, of Inward Drive, Shevington, her daughter Pauline, and her daughter’s boy-friend, Frank Round. Mrs Hudson described the object as follows (according to the Liverpool Daily Post):

“The object had a sort of glow about it and was flying up and down and sideways. It disappeared for a time and then came back. Finally it went off towards Gathurst. It seemed the size of an aeroplane.”

This sighting lasted for about a quarter of an hour.

Twelve hourse earlier two objects were sighted by rugby players at Saddleworth, near Oldham. The players thought they were meteors at first, until they doubled back on themselves. Manchester Weather Centre suggested that they could have been balloons from the radiosonde station at Aughton, near Liverpool.

In the Liverpool Echo, on March 24th, there appeared a report of a sighting at Up Holland, near Wigan (Up Holland is about four miles away from Shevington). The report is vague about the time and date, but it was probably the evening of March 22nd.

The witness, Mr Norman Comber, licensee of the Plough and Harrow Inn, Ormskirk Road, Up Holland, described the object as being about 15 ft long and dark orange in colour. It was round and flat, with a small dome. It appeared to be low down and it flew fast, leaving a thin trail behind it. It appeared to be illuminated from the inside.

On top of all this, another Wigan mystery received wide press publicity on March 29th and 30th.

Witnesses reported seeing a mysterious animal, like a small lion. The affair was similar to the persistent reports of a mysterious animal, or animals, in the South of England throughout 1963 and 1964. Readers are referred to an article by Charles Bowen in Volume 10, No. 6, of Flying Saucer Review, in which he postulates a possible connection between such mystery animals as UFOs.

The incident that brought the Wigan “lion” to the attention of the national press seems to have been a report by Farmer Smith, of Shepherds Farm, Aspull, near Wigan. Mr Smith reported large paw prints around his outbuildings and in a field.

The prints were said to be four and a half inches across and two feet six inches between each stride. The prints were made on the night of March 27th. Police took plaster casts, to take to Belle Vue Zoo, Manchester, for evaluation by experts.

Two weeks earlier, a woman at Worsley, 12 miles away, reported seeing a lion “loping along” in her back garden. She and her husband were positive it was not a dog.

Police found more paw-prints by a canal at Abram, near Wigan, after another “lion” sighting. The witness said that it was definitley not a dog.

Mr Raymond Legge, superintendent of Belle Vue Zoo said that the paw=prints were probably made by an outsize dog.

All witnesses, however, were unanimous in their belief that it was not a dog. It is difficult to imagine how such a dog could fail to be caught, or its owner fail to be identified.

A further report in the Daily Telegraph, on March 31st, tended to undermine the large dog theory. A lorry driver reported to the police that he nearly ran over a lion on the A6, about 15 miles from Aspull. Police said that the driver, Mr John Waring, once worked with a circus and was most definite that the animal was a full-grown lion. It had jumped over a hedge.

WILMSLOW SIGHTING

A sighting at Wilmslow, near Manchester, received wide publicity on March 3rd and 4th, although the incident occurred in January.

While he was on his beat in Wilmslow on January 7th, at about 4.10 a.m., Police Constable Perks heard a high-pitched whining noise. He then saw the object hovering 100 yards away, 35 feet from the ground, surrounded by a greenish glow. After a couple of seconds he could make out its shape. It was about 30 feet long and “went up in three sections”, the top one looking something like a dustbin lid. The object remained hovering for about 5 seconds and then shot away horizontally at a tremendous speed, taking only about one second to disappear from view.

A dog had been barking nearby for about an hour before the sighting.

A sketch of the object, published in the Daily Telegraph, shows the familiar flying saucer shape, complete with flanges and dome.

The sighting was investigated by the Ministry of Defence, but they had no explanation to offer. BUFORA and DIGAP (Direct Investigation Group on Aerial Phenomena) also investigated, and pronounced the sighting genuine. Arthur Tomlinson of DIGAP writes:-

“As far as P.C. Perks is concerned, we accept his sighting as a genuine ADAMSKI type saucer.”

Mr Tomlinson also mentions two other sightings:-

“Round about the same day a saucer was seen near Marple by a man and his wife while in their car.

“A Mr John Ackerley saw a cyslindrical shape with red flame coming out of both ends, which flew so low over his shop in Tatton Street, Salford, that he thought it would hit the roof. The object whizzed over at about the same time as P.C. Perks saw his flying saucer.”

DALEKS AND CONDITIONED EARTHLINGS AT MANCHESTER LECTURE

Some frank impressions and opinions of a recent International Get-Acquainted Programme meeting – by Paul Hopkins

A disjointed array of faithful Muforgians converged on Manchester. The date was February 26th, 1966. To us the College of Adult Education was our Mecca. Our voices echoed down the empty corridors; it was 6 p.m. yet there was no sign of a meeting. A tatty poster advertising the UFO film adorned one of the walls, with its gaudy lettering spelling out the excitement that was to follow.

Aha! Action! Parts of DIGAP arrived and money was exchanged for tickets. From that moment on a steady trickle of homo sapiens gradually filled the lecture hall until the very floor groaned under the weight of the infilling humanity.

At approximately 7 p.m. the speaker surmounted the stage. He was impeccably dressed. He wore a flying saucer in his buttonhole and his shirt screamed of detergent. He reminded me of a super salesman, such as one sees on the television.

Hush fell upon the audience as he stood poised for action by the table that was covered by Adamski books and the tattered evidence relating to the case.

His voice was quiet and soft and had a hypnotic essence about it. Soon your eyes were either transfixed upon him, or you were asleep. One hour passed. His voice droned on – and on. One and a half hours passed.

Ah! He is finishing.

Oh, no he isn’t.

Yes, he is.

No! Off he goes again.

At last! After what seemed aeons, the brain-washing was over. The audience was conditioned. Dalek-like mutterings filled the room, as the audience impatiently waited for the film -

The Black Dalek: “Adamski is a good chap.”

Chorus: “Yes! Yes!”

Black Dalek: “Adamski is right.”

Chorus: “Yes! Yes!”

Black Dalek: “He is genuine! He is genuine!”

Chorus: “Yes! Yes!”

Black Dalek: “Join IGAP! Join IGAP! Join IGAP!”

Chorus: “We obey!”

The assembled Daleks disappeared in a puff of cigarette smoke as the projector whirred. Silence descended upon the room. The lights went out and the little screen was filled by the figure of a grotesque humanoid. Is this what the space intelligences look like? Oh, sorry! It is Adamski out of focus.

The house lights flickered nervously off and on as adjustments were made to the projector.

At last, in between one or another shots of Adamski, his books, or his still UFO pictures, we saw a little black thing bopping about the sky in front of the camera.

The lights went on. A gentleman behind us made a rude comment about the show being an utter swindle and that he could produce fakes as good as that. In fact this gentleman just would not shut up. He had been niggled and he was determined to have it out with the lecturer.

Then a third gentleman sitting on the right stood up and explained how he had seen something in the sky, just like that he saw on the film! The lecturer pounced on this bit of shredded evidence. After a few more questions the meeting broke up. There was a general handout of International Get-Acquainted Programme literature and the faithful and the cynics poured out into the murky darkness of the street. Our space brothers will not save us today. Perhaps tomorrow! We went and drowned our troubles in cups of British Railways tea. I must admit it was not only my troubles I wished to drown.

Seriously, though. A meeting conducted in a manner such as this one doed no credit to the public image of ufology. How are we ever going to get our subject into the realsms of respectability when the scientific facet is dropped almost entirely and this, more flowery aspect is presented instead?

These people running IGAP have, perhaps unintentionally, turned the flying saucer mystery into a religion, with Adamski one step up the ladder beneath Chirst Himself. Poor Adamski. Whatever he was, would he have wished this to happen? Flying saucers as a subject is in its infancy yet, within one year of the death of an alleged contactee, the frail evidence is taken as Gospel Truth and a quasi-religious mania sweeps the world. I am sorry to have to say this; I am sorry to hurt people’s feelings, but the whole business of IGAP stinks of the worst aspects of American commercialism, cashing in on Adamski’s good fortune.

You are all entitled to your own views, especially when one is concerned with UFOs, but please! – as far as MUFORG is concerned we only deal with facts. Let’s keep it that way.

• • UFO FILM SHOWN ON TV**

Independent Television gave great prominence to a UFO sighting, supported by a few seconds of 8 mm film, which took place on April 1st.

A Mrs Joan Oldfield, with her husband Tom, were on board a Viscount on a flight from Manchester to Southampton. At the time of the sighting the plane was flying over Cannock Chase, Staffordshire, at an altitude of about 10,000 feet and a speed of about 270 m.p.h.

Mrs Oldfield spotted the object to the rear of the plane. She at first thought it was another aircraft, but it appeared to fall away behind the Viscount and she lost sight of it. She filmed it with a cheap, 8 mm cine camera. When the Oldfields got their film back from the processing laboratory they saw that they had successfully filmed the object. The film was shown several times on ITV. It appeared like an airship, with a set of fins at each end. After a few seconds it appeared to turn quickly end on and suddenly disappeared. Mrs Oldfield said it was dark grey in colour and had a set of square portholes. She did not remember seeing any fins on it.

No satisfactory explanation has been forthcoming so far. Experts have suggested that it could have been the shadow of the aircraft, or a mirage. The solid appearance of the object on the film makes these theories unconvincing.

Unfortunately none of the crew or other passengers in the aircraft noticed anything.

AMERICAN FLAP

Reports from America appearing in the British press indicate that there is a major UFO “flap” in progress over there, particularly in Michigan.

SCIENTIFIC UFO INVESTIGATION

ANTHONY DURHAM, Hon. Secretary of the Cambridge University Group for the Investigation of UFOs, offers some interesting comments on the article by R.D. Hughes, which was published in our last issue.

– What I really write this letter for is to comment on Mr Hughes’s article on the possibilities for scientific UFO research. The Group here is thinking about the possibilities and in fact I hope personally to go into print for the BUFORA Journal with some ideas. The point about using a spectrograph is a good one. Have you done any serious thinking about how and where to place one’s instruments like this, in order to try and catch a saucer? Short of a real flap like Warminster, just sitting waiting is useless. The obvious answer, of course, is to make them all automatic, such as a cine-camera to pick up anything moving in the sky. This is, of course, what meteor astronomers already do, and it might be worth while finding out where such observatories function, with a view to checking a known sighting against photographic records. We are thinking along the same lines with regard to magnetic and pseudo-seismic effects here in Cambridge. It strikes me that Manchester University has a strong tradition in astronomical research, and with a little perseverance it should be possible to find out if the idea has any hope of success at all.

We havew been asked, on our Technical Information Service, to take a look at Kraspedon’s book and that was something that I did personally. Frankly, I find it very surprising you should regard Kraspedon as any use at all. He gives no real details at all about his supposed meetings with the saucer, and even if he did meet one there is no guarantee that the “Saucer Captain” told him anything but a load of platitudes to keep him in blissful ignorance. My real quibble with the book is that it falls into the all too common trap of trying to take some parts of our currently accepted physical theories and show that they are inconsistent with other parts. Much better brains than K’s have tried and failed. If he is to make an original contribution he needs to show much more originality. Most of the book that I read is just snippets of half-understood information crudely stuck together. As an example, I would take the places where he harps away at the old bogey of the wave/particle dualism of matter and says that it is unexplained. The simple answer is that it is well understood, but that popular exposition of the often difficult concepts involved, lags badly behind. The Bismuth Cycle is not all mysterious. It is the name given sometimes to the bismuth phosphate process used for the extraction of plutonium from spent uranium fuel rods during the war, and now long since obsolete. The mere fact that it happens to be performed on a radioactive element adds an air of glamour to a rather hack piece of chemical cookery. I rather gather that the details of the process were declassified and presumably available in garbled form in the newspapers about the time he claimed to meet the Saucerer.

All that was very destructive, chiefly because I found the book a most irritating one. When I read it, I naturally tended to assume that where he used the concepts of conventional science, he was talking about the science that I know, with the unstated assumptions, that underlie all scientific thought, used in the normal way. On this basis, it is a load of tripe! However, if someone else would like to digest the book in detail, without preconceived ideas, he might be able to extract any valid points. We have a fairly large range of scientific know-how available here (our strength seems to be theoretical physics this year) and would be glad to hear of any conclusions and offer comments.

BOOK REVIEW

Flying Saucers Through the Ages, by Paul Thomas, translated from the French by Gavin Gibbons, Neville Spearman, 21/-

The subject of this book is one which will already be familiar to most ufologists. The author takes various references in ancinet writings, particularly the Bible, as indications of extraterrestrial intervention in human affairs. His attitude, though, is not anti-Christian.

The theme of the book perhaps places it outside the strictly scientific approach to the UFO problem, but it is certainly not a crackpot book. The author merely sets out his ideas in the hope that they will be taken up and studied further by others.

He suggests that some extraterrestrials may act as intermediaries between God and man.

Most ufologists will find this book interesting, whatever their opinions may be on religions, myths and legends. J.H.

TALKING POINT – “RESPECTABILITY”

There seems to be a general antipathy in some UFO groups against “respectable” groups, i.e. those who insist on a factual, scientific approach to the UFO problem. Mr Alex Kenyon, President of the Nottingham UFO Group writes:-

” . . . I would like to make one comment though if I may, and you can quote me if you like, that is in regard to the article on Ron Caswell and the Get-Acquainted Programme. The way I read it was as though it was said tongue in cheek (I may be wrong) but I feel too many “respectable” groups have what I feel we are all fighting, and that is a closed mind. These groups lose before they start . . .”

This opinion ties in with the Editorial in the February issue of Orbit, Journal of the Tyneside UFO Society. The most relevant paragraph reads:-

“Those individuals or societies, whose approach is purely factual and who believe that only in this way will the subject gain ‘respectability’ are indeed on dangerous ground. Some of the very people whom such groups wish to impress, namely the scientists themselves, are already way ahead and working on ideas which are anathema to those who seek to appear ‘respectable’.”

It also seems that we “respectable” groups are accused of being dogmatic, in spite of the fact that the dogmatic types will not touch the subject of ufology with a barge pole. And as for the closed minds. It is those who blindly accept all the contactees’ fairy stories and reject a critical and methodical approach to this most difficult of difficult subjects who have the closed minds. — J.H.

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