UFO ROUNDUP
Volume 2, Number 50
December 28, 1997
Editor: Joseph Trainor

BRITISH JETLINER SIGHTS
GIANT UFO OVER YORKSHIRE

     On Monday, December 8, 1997, a Boeing 737,
owned by British Midland Airways, took off from
London's Heathrow Airport for a flight to Belfast,
Northern Ireland.
     At 2:15 p.m., the jetliner was flying over
Liverpool on a northwesterly heading.  Then one of
the passengers spotted a very large UFO off the right
wingtip at an estimated distance of 150 miles
(240 kilometers).
     According to Miles Johnston of the British UFO
Research Association (BUFORA), "It was a very big,
black, thin vehicle, with a very bright white tip.  It moved
at all times very slowly but was of considerable size.
Relative width-to-length ratio of 20:1."
     The UFO was described as "a cigar-shaped object"
2,000 feet (667 meters) long.
     The UFO "was seen almost on the horizon (at)
approximately the same height as the Boeing 737,
33,000 feet...This would position the UFO approximately
over Yorkshire," Johnston reported, "The UFO was
observed by a passenger on the plane for 15 minutes."
     Below the UFO was "heavy thick cloud" cover that
made it impossible for the object to be seen from the
ground.  "After 15 minutes, the object flew slowly flew
into very high clouds over the region."  Prior to that,
"the object was visible at all times in bright, clear
sunlight."  (See Filer's Files #51 for December 24, 1997.
Many thanks to George A. Filer of MUFON for this
report.)
(Editor's Note: A UFO was seen over Rotherham,
S. Yorks three weeks ago.)

UFO HOVERS OVER FRENCH
NUCLEAR WASTE FACILITY

     On Tuesday, December 9, 1997, security guard
Michel Collot d'Ouvrard was making his rounds at
the CARB nuclear waste storage facility in Penthe-
les-Brienne, with his K-9 guard dog on a leash.
     The plant is located near Brienne-le-Chateau,
L'Aube department, in eastern France, about 
180 kilometers (108 miles) east of Paris.
     At 4:15 p.m., Michel reported, "My dog and I were
at the center of the perimeter, when he suddenly began
barking at an unusual presence some distance in front
of us.  I had difficulty seeing it because of the powerful
searchlights on the nearby pylons.  Then I noticed a
yellow light apparently moving toward our position.
It came from the southwest, from the general direction
of the Foret d'Orient, between Piney and Vandeuvre.
It had the appearance of a car's headlight beacon at
a distance of 1.5 to 2 kilometers.  But in reality it was
much closer to us, perhaps at a distance of 300 to
400 meters (990 to 1,320 feet)."
     "The luminous object seemed to halt for a
fraction of a second, shot out a series of light beams,
and then it followed the same flight path back to the
southwest," he added.  "Up in the sky, the luminous
object was not moving but seemed to be larger.  I had
it in view for about 20 seconds."
     On Saturday, December 13, 1997, at 6:30 p.m.,
two women working at the CARB plant "discovered in
the sky the presence of two luminous objects at great
height (a high altitude--J.T.)."  They estimated the size
of the UFOs as "four centimeters if at arm's length."
     The women said the UFOs "had a dome on the top
and four lights on the underside.  The two objects left
behind a luminous rectilinear trail, cut short, that looked
like a giant neon tube."
     "The first object suddenly departed to the southeast,
towards 'La CARB,' while the other object remained in
the area, flying around at heights varying from 30 meters
to 300 meters."
     Both sightings are being investigated by French
ufologist Picot Sylvain.  (Merci beaucoup aux Franck
Marie et Banque OVNI pour ces nouvelles.)

UFO FLIES OVER A DAM IN
CENTRAL WALES

     On Friday, December 19, 1997, at 6:30 a.m., a
UFO was seen flying over the hydroelectric dam in
the Black Mountains by two rangers of the Welsh
Forestry Commission.
     The men were five miles apart at the time, but
were in radio contact with each other.  The incident
took place in the mountains overlooking Llandoverry,
approximately 66 miles (106 kilometers) northwest
of Cardiff.
     "The UFO was going in a north-northeasterly
direction," one ranger reported.  "It was a very bright
ball of light with four sparkly tails and about two miles
or so high, about three times the size of a large star.
It was over the dam for about 35 seconds, climbing in
an upward direction."
     The sightings reports were received by the Welsh
Forestry Commission office at Tirabads.  (Many thanks
to Todd Andrews and the Riskers for this report.)
(Editor's Note: Earlier this year, a large dark triangular
UFO was sighted above Highway A40 near Trecastle.)

FRANCE REPORTS TWO
MORE UFO INCIDENTS

     On Wednesday, December 3, 1997, at 9 p.m.,
Philippe Dancoisne was in downtown Rennes when
he "noticed the presence of two shining 'stars' at
40 degrees above the western horizon.  The two
stars 'gleamed' with red and green firebursts, as
if they were two luminous objects some distance
from each other--one red, the other green."
    "The objects remained stationary," he added,
"with the same relative space between them.  I
watched until 9:45 p.m." when the lights vanished.
     "In the days following, the same phenomenon
appeared again, at the very same time" and the
UFOs behaved "in an identical manner, which really
astonished me, for I had never observed stars 
(acting) in this fashion."
     Rennes is a city in the department Ile-et-Vilaine,
about 280 kilometers (175 miles) west of Paris.
     On Sunday, December 7, 1997, at 11:10 a.m.,
two hospital workers were driving on the highway
between Troyes and Lusigny near the village of
Montreuil-sur-Barce.  Suddenly, "their attention was
caught by a very bright white flash of light, what
seemed to be a reflection of the sun.  They took note
of this development in the sky, believing at first that
it was an aircraft in difficulty."
     The men observed the mysterious light moving
around inside the overcast cloud cover.  "It duplicated
its own motions, moving in a curved flight in an east-
west trajectory but drifting towards the southeast.
Its altitude was less than 1,000 meters (3,300 feet).
It seemed to be engaging in 'low-level flying.'"
     They estimated the UFO "to be 10 to 15 kilometers
(6 to 9 miles) away, towards the Foret d'Orient.  The
(UFO's) appearance was circular, elliptical and
presented itself in profile."  (See the French newspaper
L'Est Republicain for December 8, 1997.  Merci aux
Franck Marie et Picot Sylvain pour ces nouvelles.)

UFO, MYSTERY HELICOPTERS
SPOTTED IN PORTUGAL

     On Saturday, December 20, 1997, at 2 a.m.,
Roberto Cardoso "was driving home with a friend"
about 10 kilometers (6 miles) west of Leiria,
Portugal when his companion spotted something
very strange in the sky.
     On "a straight and downhill section of the road,
where we could perfectly see the sky in front of us...
Suddenly, a white-blue round object appeared from
behind a cloud and made a perfect vertical descent"
of 500 meters from the rainy overcast sky.
     "The light made the descent in no more than a
second," Roberto reported, adding that it touched
down about 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of the
Atlantic Ocean shoreline.  "The object itself could
have had a diameter between one and five meters.
The light was strong and it brightly illuminated the
clouds around it as soon as it became visible.  The
light appeared at (the) 11 o'clock (position) just
about in front of us.  We were heading west towards
the Portuguese coast."
     "'Hey!  Did you see that?' my friend said."
     "'Yes.  But it's too far away for us to find it,
damn!'"
     Roberto told his other friends about the sighting.
A few days later, one of them, Manuel Oliveira,
reported an equally strange incident near Martinha
Grande, southwest of Leiria.
     Oliveira "told of seeing some strange helicopters
of a type he had never seen before.  He told me that
they were NOT black and had some nation's insignia
on them.  He only knows the Portuguese and USA
insignias and it was not one of theirs," Roberto wrote,
adding that they might be "of the Westland type."
     Both encounters, he added, took place about
15 kilometers from the Fuerza Aerea Portuguesa
(FAP) air base at Monte Real.  (Email Interview)
     Leiria is 184 kilometers (115 miles) north of
Lisboa (Lisbon), the nation's capital.
(Editor's Note: The Westland Lynx Mk3 and Mk4 are
used by both the UK and France.  For more black
helicopter news, see the Pennsylvania story in
this issue.)

LUMINOUS UFO FLIES OVER
A CITY IN CENTRAL ITALY

     On Sunday, December 14, 1997, at 6:15 p.m.,
pedestrians in Terni, a city in the Monti Sabini
mountain range approximately 100 kilometers
north of Rome, spotted a strange luminous
object flying across the evening sky.
     The UFO was described as "a luminous white
object in the form of a pointed arch."  Witnesses
said the UFO "made a swift passage" through the
sky over Terni "along a horizontal trajectory."
     The case is being investigated by ufologist
Massimo Valloscuro of the Centro Italiano di Studi
Ufologici (CISU).  (Grazie a Edoardo Russo di CISU
per questo rapporto.)

MAN AND SON SPOT UFO
OVER NORTH CAROLINA

     On Saturday, December 20, 1997, at 5:40 p.m.,
Chuck Olmstead and his son "were in the front yard
of our home in Greenville, North Carolina (N.C.)
(population 44,972), looking into the sky.  We had
just launched a helium balloon with a return tag as
an experiment and were watching it travel to the north."
     "The sky was dark blue, a few of the early evening
stars were visible" and they also saw two aircraft,
one at 45 degrees or so from the horizon with red and
white lights visible and one in the northeast, also at
45 degrees from the horizon."
     "Looking up at zenith, I watched a group of about
6 or 7 stars of varying intensity suddenly line up in a
straight line," Olmstead reported.  "My son saw it also
and yelled out, 'Daddy!'"
     "I told him, 'Run inside and get your mommy.'"
     He estimated the formation's size as "the height of
my index finger (held) at arm's length.  Some of the stars
were large and bright--larger than Venus--and others
were dim.  I then noticed that the entire line was moving
slowly to the west in sync."
     "At the same time, I then noticed another star to the
west that seemed to be the 'leading' star, also moving in
sync with the rest of the stars.  What I visualized was an
equilateral triangle with only one leg of the three visible...
Suddenly, all of the stars seemed to converge at the
center of the triangle, and all faded out just prior to
meeting in the center.  The entire event was probably
only eight to ten seconds long.  This is the strangest
thing I have ever seen in the sky..." (Email Interview)

UFOs SEEN RECENTLY OVER
WAYNESBORO, VIRGINIA

     On Sunday, December 21, 1997, at 5:15 a.m.,
Ellen Mycroft spied a UFO from her home in
Harrisonburg, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.
    "I saw what appeared to be 3 to 5 bright lights
in a row in the eastern sky.  After a while, they just
gradually faded away," Ms. Mycroft reported,
adding that she had them in view for "a period of
five to twenty seconds.  I don't know how long they
had been up there before that, but I watched for a
while, maybe 30 seconds to a minute."
     She estimated that the UFO was flying over
nearby Waynesboro, Va. (population 18,549), on
Highway 340 approximately 96 miles (154
kilometers) northwest of Richmond.
     She also contacted another eyewitness in
Crimora, Va., 25 miles from Harrisonburg.
     "We both thought we saw a series of five lights
nearly as bright as Venus around 5:15 or 5:20 p.m.
on Sunday, December 21.  He thought the lights
were 20 to 25 degrees above the horizon, and the
lights appeared to be over the Waynesboro/
Fishersville area which is consistent with my
observation."
     She added that Waynesboro was the site of the
1964 UFO encounter reported by Horace Burns.
(Email Interview)

COUPLE SEES A UFO OVER
HOOKSETT, NEW HAMPSHIRE

     On December 3, 1997, a couple spotted a "very
bright light" in the evening sky south of Hooksett,
New Hampshire (population 2,573).
     One of the witnesses said, "You could bundle
five airplanes together and it wouldn't even come close
to this much light."
     The UFO approached from the south.  When one
witness called attention to it, "the light halted and
suddenly took off."
     Mysterious bright lights along Route 3 south of
Hooksett were also reported by two other witnesses.
     Hooksett is 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of
Concord, the state capital.
(See the Manchester, N.H. Union-Leader for
December 5, 1997.  Many thanks to George A. Filer
of MUFON for this report.)

BLACK HELICOPTERS ACTIVE
IN PENNSYLVANIA AND 
NORTHERN FLORIDA

     The night of December 16, 1997, Brett B. was at
his family's home on Hawk Mountain near Tamaqua,
Pennsylvania (population 7,843), a small city at the
intersection of Highways 209 and 309, approximately
98 miles (158 kilometers) northwest of Philadelphia.
     All at once, Brett heard the sound of a helicopter.
"It sounded as if it was really close," he reported.
"I'm guessing that it was at about mountain level.  It
sounded as if it was right outside the house.  When I
went outside, I didn't see anything" because of the
low overcast.  "I went back in the house because I
didn't have my shoes on or a coat, and it was getting
cold."
     Listening to the helicopter noise, Brett wondered
if there might have been a breakout at a state prison
nearby.  But, he added, "my aunt works at the prison,
and she usually calls us" if a breakout occurs.  After
a while, the mysterious helicopter flew away.  (Email
Interview)
     On Saturday, December 20, 1997, Corey S. saw
two black UH-1D helicopters fly over his farm near
Jasper, Florida (population 2,099).  The choppers
were "flying close to the ground, heading east."
     According to Corey, some neighbors called a
local radio talk show and reported seeing "six to
eight black helicopters, most of them Hueys
(UH-1D) but one was a Hughes 500 with airborne
radar" on the ground at a nearby rural airstrip."
     Jasper is on Florida Highway 41, approximately
85 miles (136 kilometers) east of Tallahassee,
the state capital.

from the UFO Files...

1909: AIRSHIP HOVERS OVER
          WILLIMANTIC

     In addition to Massachusetts and Rhode Island,
UFOs were seen over Connecticut during the "airship
flap" of December 1909.  Here's the actual newspaper
account of the most famous Connecticut sighting
of the period.
     
     "There was a bright light in the east last night
and the wise ones sized it up for Tillinghast's
mysterious airship.  It was about 7:30 o'clock that
the light was first noticed and it was then in the
southeast, appearing to be above the thread plant
as viewed from the foot of Railroad street but a
long ways off--from twenty to thirty miles in the
opinion of some of the people who saw it."
     "Policemen and other matter-of-fact persons
winked the other eye when the airship was mentioned
but there were plenty of people who were quite willing
to declare, and did so declare, that what they had
seen in the eastern sky answered in all particulars
the descriptions sent out of the mysterious aerial
craft that has been creating such a sensation in
Worcester and other Massachusetts cities and
villages."
     "There were several hundred in Willimantic
who saw what they believed to have been an airship,
and others said it was Hailey's (sic) comet.  Whatever
it was, it caused considerable excitement for a while
and the curious ones spent several hours with their
eyes riveted on the heavens."
     "The light in the southeast looked like a powerful
searchlight.  Because of its size and the aura it
threw, it attracted wide attention.  It remained stationary
for a few minutes, and then it seemed to shoot upwards,
and then ambled around as if the person manipulating
it was trying to get his bearings."
     "As usual, Mayor (John F.) Dunn's store was
crowded about that time, and Benjamin Murphy,
timekeeper on the New Haven (rail)road, was...calling
the men out to see the airship.  Mayor Dunn was
among them, and he stated last night (i.e. on
December 23, 1909--J.T.) when seen by a Chronicle
reporter that he would not swear it was an airship
but it certainly did look like one.  Others who saw it
were of the same opinion."
     "The light was miles away apparently and quite
high in the air.  It played in the east for about fifteen
minutes and then vanished.  Later there appeared a
brilliant star in the firmament and those who had not
seen the first light and saw this star were of the
opinion that both lights were one and the same, but
those who saw the first light said it was no star."
     "People who had come down street to do their
Christmas shopping forgot what they had come for
and stood on the sidewalk and even in the middle
of the street, looking in the east, hoping to see the
return of the airship.  Some of the skeptics who,
just because they did not hear the hissing of the
engine or got an introduction to the man running the
ship, laughed at those who claimed it was an
airship they saw.  The skeptics could not account,
though, for the strange light and its peculiar actions."
     "It was too bad that the airship, if it was one,
did not come nearer the city so that the people
could inspect the machine.  The scoffers would have
then had no grounds for scoffing."
     (See the Willimantic, Conn. Daily Chronicle
for December 24, 1909, "'Come, Ride In My Airship'
Invitation Awaited by Many!" page 1.)

LAST REFLECTIONS ON THE YEAR:
     This wraps up Volume 2 of UFO ROUNDUP.
Your editor would like to extend his heartfelt thanks
to all who submitted UFO news during 1997.  Your
contributed items are what makes it all possible.
      To our new readers in Bermuda, Japan, Norway,
Colombia and the Netherlands, thanks for being
with us.  We're repeating last year's ROUNDUP
Pledge--to bring full coverage of the global UFO
situation to readers everywhere via the Internet.
     UFO ROUNDUP will continue to publish
attribution wherever possible for every item that
appears in the newsletter.  At the same time,
UFO ROUNDUP will diligently protect the
confidentiality of eyewitnesses.
     Hopefully, the day is coming when UFO
witnesses can talk about their sightings and
encounters without being harassed by government
agents.
     To those who criticize the stories published
in this newsletter...tell me, friends, when was the
last time you saw attribution footnotes in the
New York Times and the Washington Post?
     If 1997--with Heavens Gate, the mass sightings
in Phoenix and Seattle, and the UFO crash in Nova
Brasilandia--is any indication, we could be in for a
rough saucer ride during 1998.
     But UFO ROUNDUP will be there, bringing you
complete coverage of the continuing drama of
the unidentified flying object.  Here's wishing all our
readers a "Happy New Year!" from "the paper that
goes home--UFO ROUNDUP."

UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1997 by Masinaigan
Productions, all rights reserved.  Readers may post
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