UFO ROUNDUP
Volume 2, Number 49
December 21, 1997
Editor: Joseph Trainor

PENNSYLVANIA REPORTS TWO
NEW UFO SIGHTINGS

     On Tuesday, December 16, 1997, at around 8 p.m.,
Kevin L. spotted a large triangular UFO in the skies
above his hometown of Allison Park, Pennsylvania
(Pa.), on the William Flinn Highway (Route 8) just
north of Pittsburgh.
     "My best description of color would be a dark
classical gray," Kevin reported.  "There were six large
lights on the outer rim of the object.  The two lights at
the point of the (triangular) objet were red, while the
others on the corners were white.  The lights on the
object were not very bright compared to what you see
on aircraft--they looked more like a glow."
     "The object was in constant motion.  It basically
looked like a great granitic slab crossing the sky...
My best guess was that the object was between
4,000 and 6,000 feet in the air."
     "I looked at it through a pair of binoculars that
were 7 X 35mm and rated for a view area of 578 feet
at 1,000 yards.  The object took up about one-half of
the view of the binoculars at full magnification."
     Kevin estimated that the UFO approached Allison
Park from the east at about 70 degrees above the
horizon.
     The object then "headed off in a northwesterly
direction.  This is an unusual route for air traffic.  The
Pittsburgh airport is 25 miles southwest of my house.
When I first saw the object, it was already one-quarter
of the way across (the sky) from the horizon.  I could
see it clearly for about one minute, after that it was
too small to see any real details."
     As the UFO left, Kevin estimated that it was
headed for the Franklin Park section of Pittsburgh
and nearby Marshall township.  (Email Interview)
     On December 2, 1997, at 11:33 p.m., Brian C.
was driving west on Interstate Highway 76, the
Schuylkill Expressway, just west of Philadelphia.
As his car approached the West Manayunk exit
(Belmont Avenue--J.T.), he noticed "a green light
with my peripheral vision to the right of my car out
the passenger side window.  My initial reaction was
that I thought it was a helicopter.  Air traffic copters
often fly up the (Schuykill) river for their reports.
Almost as quickly, I realized how fast it was moving,
because it shot straight up the river parallel to the
highway and no more than 300 feet in altitude."
     "The whole incident took no more than five
seconds," Brian added.  "There was no tracer following,
no smoke or trail of any kind...It could not have been a
meteor because it was so low and flew straight across
at a consistent height."  (Many thanks to Tim 
Hagemeister of NACOMM for this report.)

HORSE FOUND MUTILATED
IN SOUTHERN COLORADO

     On Wednesday, December 17, 1997, at 10:30 a.m.,
rancher Ron Gardiner found one of his horses dead
and mutilated on his property five miles (8 kilometers)
west of Alamosa, Colorado (population 1,359).
     Alamosa is at the intersection of Colorado
Highways 160 and 285 approximately 228 miles
(375 kilometers) south of Denver.
     According to Christopher O'Brien, author of THE
MYSTERIOUS VALLEY (St. Martin's Press, 1996),
"The animal was still warm, and the rancher estimated
that the animal was killed and mutilated sometime
around dawn."
     "The horse was missing its penis and an 8-inch
circular patch of hide behind the sheath, which was
still intact.  The rear end was neatly cored out in a
slightly elongated circle to a depth of 8 or 9 inches.
Eyes and tongue were intact."
     O'Brien visited the crime scene on Thursday,
December 18, and secured three sets of incisional
samples for forensic tests.
     "The animal was found lying on its right side at
the bottom of a dry 7-foot-deep irrigation channel or
canal.  There was evidence of a struggle in broken
chimisia bushes."  However, other than the horse's
own hoofprints, no other tracks of any kind were
found at the scene.
     O'Brien and investigators of the Alamosa County
Sheriff's Department found "a five-inch shallow gash"
in the horse's neck.  Also, "several drops which appear
to be blood were found in snow about 60 feet away,
over the fence and across the road."
     "The vast majority of San Luis Valley unusual animal
deaths occur from last-frost to first-frost, during the
warmer months," O'Brien said.  "Rarely are these
deaths reported during cold sub-zero nights.  This may
be a new wrinkle" in the ongoing mutilation mystery.
(Many thanks to Chris O'Brien for this report.)

GLOWING ORANGE FIREBALL
STIRS UPPER MIDWEST

     On Friday, December 12, 1997, at about 8 p.m.,
a UFO described as "a glowing orange or red" sphere
was seen over Eyota, Minnesota (population 1,448),
a town on Interstate Highway 90 about 100 miles
(160 kilometers) southeast of Minneapolis.
     Within 15 minutes, calls were received in police
stations to the south in Wisconsin, Iowa and
Missouri, reporting "a mysterious flash of light."
     Experts said the flash was "probably caused by
a meteor."
     "It was a good-sized red ball," said Wylie Peterson
of Colfax, Wisconsin (population 1,110), a town on
Highway 170 about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest
of Eau Claire and 261 miles (418 kilometers) northwest
of Milwaukee.  "It left a pretty good tail behind it.  It was
too big to be a flare."
     In Boyceville, Wisconsin (population 913), a town
20 miles (32 kilometers) west of Colfax, a private plane
was reported overdue, and townspeople organized a
search of the local woods.  The search was suspended
after they realized that the glow was "probably from
the meteor" and not a crashing aircraft.
     Astronomers at the University of Minnesota and
Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa said "the
phenomenon was best explained by a single meteor
entering the Earth's atmosphere."  They noted that
December 12 is the height of annual Geminid meteor
shower.
     "We are constantly bombarded by fragments of
old comets," said Lawrence Staunton, a physics and
astronomy professor at Drake University.  "They are
mostly not seen."
     The orange fireball, however, was also seen in
Cresco, Iowa (population 3,669) on Highway 9 about
228 miles (365 kilometers) northeast of Des Moines.
(Many thanks to Steve Wilson Sr. and Errol Bruce-
Knapp for these reports.)

MUFON MEMBER SPOTS UFO
IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

     On December 2, 1997, at 4:32 p.m., MUFON
member Carolyn S. McNellis was driving south on
New Hampshire Highway 12A, along the eastern bank
of the Connecticut River when she spotted a UFO.
     "I spotted a fireball approximately half the size of
a ping-pong ball at arm's length," Carolyn reported,
"while driving south on Route 12A at the intersection
of (Interstate) Highway 89 in West Lebanon, New
Hampshire (N.H.).  The road parallels the Connecticut
River, which forms New Hampshire's boundary with
Vermont.  I saw the object in the southwestern sky.
I concluded that because the sun was just going down
and the object was picking up the golden orange of the
setting sun."
     "That evening I questioned a local astronomer-friend
and he had not heard of a meteor at that time, but
December was supposed to be full of meteors.  I
witnessed (the) Hale-Bopp (comet) in the early spring,
and this was MUCH, MUCH larger.  It was half the size
of a ping-pong ball.  Hale-Bopp was the size of a head
of a pin and needed binoculars to really be seen
clearly."
     Ms. McNellis kept the UFO in view until she
drove into a wooded area.  "Seven minutes later, when
I emerged from the woods, it was not to be seen."
(See Filer's Files #50 for December 19, 1997.  Many
thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for this report.)

TRIANGULAR UFO SIGHTED
IN WESTERN GEORGIA

     On December 5, 1997, at 8:40 p.m., a man living
in Franklin, Georgia (population 876), located north of
West Fork Lake on Highway 34, about 50 miles
(80 kilometers) southwest of Atlanta, spotted a
triangle-shaped UFO moving through the night sky.
     "The witness observed a formation of five white-to-
amber-color lights," John Thompson, MUFON Georgia
state director, reported.  "A structured object would
have made a triangle 50 feet (15 meters) in size.  The
UFO flew to the southeast at 2,000 feet altitude or
lower."
     The witness observed the UFO for 20 seconds
before losing sight of the object among the trees.
     "He said the UFO flew slowly and made no sound,"
Thompson added.  "The lights did not flash, and he is
assuming they were on a strucutred craft he did not see.
The sky was clear, with little wind, and the UFO,
according to him, was clearly close enough for him to
have heard noise, if it had made any."  (See Filer's
Files #50 for December 19, 1997.  Many thanks to
George A. Filer and John Thompson for this report.)

MYSTERY BOOM STARTLES
PEOPLE IN THE OZARKS

     On Wednesday afternoon, December 17, 1997,
a huge aerial explosion jolted the town of
Rogersville, Missouri (population 995).
     According to news reports on KYTV (Cable
Channel 12 in Florida--J.T.), the blast "rattled 
windows and blew open storm doors" in the small
community on Missouri Highway 60 approximately
13 miles (21 kilometers) east of Springfield.
     According to KYTV, a U.S. Air Force spokesman
denied that the mysterious blast was a sonic boom
caused by low-flying supersonic jet interceptors.
    The cause of the "sky boom" is unknown.
    The mystery deepened when Cal W., a retired
farmer living in Ozark, Missouri (population 4,243),
a town on Highway 14 just seven miles (10 kilometers)
south of Springfield, telephoned a radio talk show and
told how he and his wife had seen "five or six high-altitude
jets" flying what appeared to be a crisscrossing search
pattern across the sky.  Contrails were pefectly visible
in the clear, cold upper air, he reported.

GIANT METEOR LIGHTS UP THE
SKY OVER GREENLAND

     On Tuesday, December 9, 1997, at 5:15 a.m.,
fishermen aboard the motor vessels Halton Trawl
and Regina C. cruising off the eastern coast of
Greenland heard a faint rumbling sound.  Looking
west, they spied "a giant flash split the darkness."
     The bright flash was also seen by fishermen
aboard the Timmarut, a Danish motor trawler
moored in Greenland's Julianehaab Bay.
     "The glow lit up the whole ice cap," Jens P.,
one of the fishermen, said.
     A parking lot surveillance camera in Nuuk,
the Danish territory's capital on Greenland's west
coast, "also recorded a brief illumination at that
time."
     "According to the accounts, the flash was so
huge that we have good reason to believe that
this was a giant meteor," said Bjoern Franck
Jorgenson of the Tycho Brahe Planetarium in
Copenhagen, Denmark.
     "Jorgenson said it was probably a 'one-piece,
solid meteor' that exploded.  Most meteors travel
at more than 7,400 miles per hour and explode or
break up as they enter the atmosphere," the
Reuters report noted.
     Scientists at the Niels Bohr Institute at the
University of Copenhagen and the Tycho Brahe
Planetarium estimated that the meteor struck the
Greenland ice cap at a point 50 kilometers 
(30 miles) northeast of Narsarsuaq airport.
     The meteor "can be compared to the Kap York
meteorite," which fell in "Melville Bay, Sassivik,
south of Thule."
     "The flashes observed with the meteorite were
so bright as to turn night into day at a distance of
100 kilometers and can be compared to the
light of a nuclear explosion in the atmosphere.
However, we stress that there is no reason to
believe (the flashes) were other than natural causes."
     The institute reported a strange discrepancy
in the incident, however.
     The "meteor" crashed no later than 5:15 a.m.
Greenland time or 8:15 a.m. UTC time.  Yet, six
minutes later, at 8:21 a.m. UTC, a "seismic
disturbance," attributed to the meteor, was recorded
at Svalbard, Norway.  Two minutes later, at 8:23 a.m.
UTC, a second "shock wave" was recorded by the
seismic detectors at Finmarca, Norway.  The
readings were announced by the Norwegian Seismic
Agency at Kjeller.  Similar readings were taken in
Finland and Germany.
     Yet, according to the Institute, there were no
readings of a "shock wave" or "seismic disturbance"
at Danmarkshavn and Sonder Stromfjord, Greenland
only 380 miles (608 kilometers) west of the meteor
strike zone.
     Although grounded by a severe blizzard on
Monday, December 11, planes of the Danish Air
Force continued their search for the meteor crater.
It has not yet been found.  (Many thanks to the
Geophysical Dept. at the Niels Bohr Institute and
the Tycho Brahe Planetarium for the news release.)

FOUR CHILDREN KILLED IN
COLOMBIA METEOR STRIKE

     On Sunday evening, December 14, 1997, a fire
broke out in a one-story house five kilometers
(2 miles) from Pitalito in Huila province, Colombia,
killing four sleeping children, all of whom were under
the age of six.
     Responding to the call were units of the Pitalito
municipal fire department, led by Captain Carlos
Augusto Rojas.  The children were home alone "in
their ramshackle house when the fire broke out,
and (Colombian) authorities initially suspected a
candle or an electrical short circuit."
     Capt. Rojas told the Colombian show Radionet
that, as his units were on their way to the fire,
they had seen "fireballs raining down from the
sky," adding, "We saw three distinct fireballs when
we arrived" at the fire.
     Fire marshals examined the house after the
blaze had been extinguished, noting that "the house
had no electricity and other possible causes of the
blaze--a candle or a gas lamp--had been ruled out."
     "But he said a hole measuring 25 centimeters
(10 inches) in diameter was discovered in the zinc
roof of the house, along with traces of a sulfur-like
substance that was being studied in a local
laboratory."
     "The hole in the roof had been pushed from the
outside, Rojas said, adding that this exactly seemed
to indicate that the children were the unwitting
victims of a meteorite."
     Pitalito is in Colombia's Cordillera Oriental,
approximately 633 kilometers (396 miles)
southwest of Bogota.  (See the newspaper
El Espectador for December 16, 1997.)
(Editor's Comment:  The height of the Geminid
meteor shower was December 12, two days before
this incident.  Maybe a chemistry major can help
us out.  At what temperature does zinc completely
vaporize?)

UKRAINIAN JETLINER GOES
DOWN IN GREEK MOUNTAINS

     Greek Army mountain troops located the
wreckage of an Aerosivit Yak-42 jetliner near
Fotina, Greece on Saturday, December 20,
following an intensive four-day search.
     Nearly 4,000 Greek soldiers searched the
Mount Olympus area on foot, aided by a U.S.
Navy P-3C Orion loaded with weather-piercing
surveillance equipment, after the jetliner
vanished on Wednesday, December 17, with
70 people aboard.
     "The original flight--an Aerosivit charter
flight from Kiev, Ukraine, to Salonika aboard a
Boeing 737--was scrapped when the plane
developed engine trouble after takeoff and
landed in Odessa, Ukraine, said Aerosivit
president Leonid Pogrebynak."  (See the
Boston, Mass. Globe for December 19, 1997,
"Search for jet slows in mountains of Greece.")
     "Pogrebynak said the passengers were
transferred to the Yak-42 with a new crew that
had never flown to Salonika, which is considered
to be a challenging landing site."
     Tapes of "the pilot's last conversations with
the (Salonika) tower, in which he indicated he 
was moving into landing position but was
apparently heading into the mountains."
     The Yak-42's final approach into Salonika
would have taken it in a northeasterly direction
over Thermaikos Bay.  At the point where the
pilot said he was approaching the outer marker
at Epanomi, he was actually heading northwest,
up the Aliakamon Valley toward the snow-capped
mountains on the Macedonian border, 320
kilometers (200 miles) northeast of Salonika.
(Editor's Comment: Since the Yak-42 was flying
IFR into Salonika, perhaps we should ask what
happened to the aircraft's instruments during
final approach.)

STRANGE JETLINER CRASH
CLAIMS 106 IN INDONESIA

     A SilkAir Boeing 737-300 crashed Friday,
December 19, 1997, in a river on the island of
Sumatra in Indonesia, killing all 106 people aboard.
     The twin-engine jet left Sukarno Hatta Airport
in Jakarta around 3 p.m. Friday, for a short flight
to Singapore.  The estimated time of arrival was
6 p.m.
     "There were no distress signals.  There were
no adverse weather conditions.  There was no
mountainous terrain.  It is obviously very
puzzling," said Mah Bow Tan, Singapore's
minister of communications.
     "The last radio contact at 5:15 p.m. gave no
sign of trouble.  Indonesians alerted SilkAir
that the plane was missing about 40 minutes
later."  (See the Providence, R.I. Journal-
Bulletin for December 20, 1997, "Singapore
airliner crashes; 104 believed killed.")
     "SilkAir said the plane, a Boeing 737-300,
was 10 months old and was the newest aircraft
in the fleet." (See the Boston, Mass. Globe for
December 20, 1997, "Over 100 feared dead in
Indonesia jet crash.")
     The jetliner, SilkAir Flight M-185, crashed
in the Musi River just outside the village of Parit,
near Makarti Jaya, 56 kilometers (35 miles)
north of Palembang.
     "Witnesses said the plane exploded twice
in the air and again when it hit the water, a
rescue official named Ono said in a telephone
interview.  There was no way to confirm the report."
     "A police officer said the plane crashed into
the Musi River, which winds through a large
(mangrove) swamp on its way to the sea.  Most
of the wreckage sank soon after impact."
(See the Providence Journal-Bulletin for
December 20, 1997, page 4.)
(Editor's Comment:  Shades of the May 1996
ValuJet crash in southern Florida!)

from the UFO Files...

1909: AIRSHIP FLAP SPREADS
          INTO RHODE ISLAND

     This week we continue our look back at the 1909
airship flap in the USA's New England states.  Here
are a few actual newspaper stories from Rhode Island.
     "Charles J. Greene, who is head gardener at the
estate of Colonel Robert H.I. Goddard at Potowomut
Neck (now Goddard State Park just south of East
Greenwich, Rhode Island--J.T.) noticed a moving light
in the sky somewhat north of the Goddard place.  He
and other employees watched the light until it was
out of sight to the southwest.  According to Mr. Greene,
the light was of rather a bluish tinge...Had the night
been darker, with less interference from the moon and
stars, Mr. Greene thinks it very likely that he could
have satisfied himself that it was an airship.  He
judged that it crossed the west shore of the bay
at a point above Old Warwick." (i.e. the Shawomet
section of Warwick, R.I.--J.T.)
     On December 22, 1909, at 1:15 a.m., a very large
UFO flew over the cities of Providence and Pawtucket
in Rhode Island.  Two witnesses were Mr. and Mrs.
William S. Forsythe of 85 Evergreen Street,
Providence, R.I.
     The Forsythes were putting up Christmas
decorations "when Mrs. Forsythe looked out of the
windows.  Her attention was attracted by two red lights
in the sky which were different from anything she had
ever seen before.  She called her husband to the
window and both watched the strange spectacle.
The lights appeared to be covering a course that
was varied, now rather close to the earth and then
soaring upward, but always making toward the
south.  They were able to make out an object which
appeared to be in front of the lights...It was moving
at such high speeds that they could get little more
than a superficial view of the object, although what
they saw was enough to satisfy them as to the
identity of the contrivance.  The Forsythes watched
until the lights faded out in the haze on the southern
horizon.  When they arose in the morning, they
promptly told all their friends of what they had seen."
(See the Providence, R.I. Journal for December 22,
1909.)
     In Pawtucket, people "were alerted by a whirring
noise in the heavens...and those who looked upward
beheld a dark object which was easily discerned by
the presence of two red lights.  It moved gracefully
away in a southerly direction, crossing the city over
Woodlawn as if Bound for Newport."  (See the
Pawtucket, R.I. Times for December 21, 1909.)
     And in West Warwick, "The phenomenon which
has been perplexing people from Worcester to
Willimantic for the past several nights has at last
been noticed by the Arctic Centre folks on Quidnick
Street. Last evening (December 27, 1909--J.T.) here
assembled a cluster of people, many armed with
small telescopes, field and opera glasses and each
contending as they took a peep at the bright and
shining 'Venus' which appeared so brilliantly in the
heavens, that the light moved to the westward very
rapidly and the shining rays of its searchlight were
clearly visible."
    "One lady, who was an interested spectator,
claims to have seen the light go down and entirely
disappear from the heavens.  Other claim to have
followed the course of the light for fully half an hour
and that it changed to many different angles during
that time."  (See the Pawtuxet Valley Daily Times
of West Warwick, R.I. for December 28, 1909.)

FUN UFO WEBSITES:
     For more news on the UFO scene in Brazil,
log in at Michael Wismierski's Brazilian UFO Report
located at http://www.inbrapenet.com.br/bufor
     Kentucky MUFON has a great site.  They're at
http://www.angelfire.com/ky/ufohome/ring.html
     Need a place to go on Christmas?  Why not drop
in at our parent site, UFOINFO, at http://www.
digiserve.com/ufoinfo?
     The year's best UFO stories can be found in
back issues of UFO ROUNDUP.  Visit our website
at http://www.digiserve.com/ufoinfo/roundup/

     To our readers and friends all over the Earth
(and beyond), UFO ROUNDUP wishes you a
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

     We'll be back next Sunday with more saucer
news--and the inevitable reports of red, sleigh-shaped
UFOs--from "the paper that goes home--UFO
ROUNDUP."  Enjoy your holiday season!

UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1997 by Masinaigan
Productions, all rights reserved.  Readers may post
items from UFO ROUNDUP on their websites or in
newsgroups provided that they credit the newsletter
and its editor by name and list the date of issue in
which the item first appeared.