UFO ROUNDUP
Volume 3, Number 13
March 29, 1998
Editor: Joseph Trainor

UFO AND ALIEN SIGHTED
IN NORTHERN ITALY

     Early Sunday morning, March 8, 1998, an
Italian farmer spotted a UFO hovering above
his field.  The incident took place in Lombardia,
just outside the small city of Rho, 30 kilometers
(18 miles) northwest of Milano (Milan).
     The farmer described the UFO as "a white
object in the form of an upside-down pear" that
"hovered over a field of grain."
     Since he was within shouting distance of his
farmhouse, he called for his wife.  She joined him
at once, and the couple observed the UFO "for
nearly a half hour."
     Midway through the sighting, the couple reported,
a hatch slid open, and an occupant emerged.  The
witnesses described "the alien" as "a being about
60 to 80 centimeters (30 to 40 inches) high, with
two huge black eyes."
     The occupant "floated" in the air close to the 
object for about ten minutes.  The occupant then
reentered the UFO, and the object "suddenly rose
vertically as it illuminated itself."
     The case is being investigated by Italian
ufologist Giancarlo D'Alessandro of Centro Italiano
di Studi Ufologici (CISU).  (See the Italian newspaper
La Padania for March 15, 1998.)
     The previous night, Saturday, March 7, 1998,
Carabineri (Italian police--J.T.), port authorities and
local police watched a UFO "plunge headlong" through
the sky in Termoli, a port on the Adriatic Sea.
     The alert sounded at 6:30 p.m.  Police described
the UFO as "a luminous object that plunged headlong
into the sea with a smoky luminous trail."
     Termoli is in Campobasso province approximately
232 kilometers (145 miles) east of Rome.  (See the
newspaper Il Resto del Carlino for March 9, 1998.
Grazie a Eduardo Russo, Renzo Cabassi, Gian
Paulo Grassino, Goffredo Pierpaoli, Marcelo Pupilli
e Giancarlo D'Alessandro di CISU per questo
rapporto.)
(Editor's Note: Sibenik, Croatia, just across the
Adriatic Sea from Termoli, was the site of a UFO
landing earlier this year.)

FLORIDA UFO FLAP ENTERS
ITS THIRD WEEK

     Florida's UFO flap entered its third week with
more sightings reports flooding in from the Orlando
and Pensacola areas.
     James J. of Cocoa Beach, Fla. (population 12,123),
a city 7 miles (11 kilometers) south of Cape Canaveral,
says he witnessed the flyover of two UFOs on
Saturday, March 7, 1998, followed by the launch of
two D-25 Trident missiles from a U.S. Navy submarine.
     "I saw those UFOs as well around 6:45 that evening,"
James reported.  "I thought they were UFOs because
I've had three sightings in the past six months."
     "It was dusk.  I saw two white glowing lights as if
they were (enveloped) in a cloud.  As I traveled south on
(Highway) A1A in Cocoa Beach, the objects hovered and
fled.  Then I noticed something.  Contrails coming up
from the ocean.  I have a friend at the Kennedy Space
Center, and she said there were no launches scheduled
for that day."
     "We saw the contrails (again) a couple of days later,"
he reported, adding that "no scheduled launches" were
set for that day, either.  "Florida Today claimed that the
Navy was conducting missile tests over the area."
     Bermuda's Royal Gazette of March 10, 1998 stated
that the missiles had been launched from the Trident
submarine USS West Virginia.
     On Wednesday, March 18, 1998, between 10 and
10:30 p.m., Josh Harris was standing on his front lawn
in Sebring, Fla. (population 8,900), a town on Highway 17
90 miles (144 kilometers) southeast of Tampa, when
he spotted a UFO.
     "At first I saw six bright orange lights in the northeast
sky that disappeared," he reported.  "Four lights in a line
appeared in the eastern sky, then also disappeared.
Back at the original location, eight new lights appeared.
There were four lights, with another four lights in a row
beneath them."
     On Friday evening, March 20, 1998, Don and Cindy
Rash saw a UFO in their hometown of Gulf Breeze, Fla.
(population 5,530), located in the Florida panhandle
7 miles (11 kilometers) south of Pensacola.  They
described the object as "a disc with lights all around it"
hovering "over the big bridge" connecting Gulf Breeze
and Pensacola Beach.  This was Don Rash's second
UFO sighting of the month.
     That morning, Friday, March 20, 1998, John S., his
wife and his son were "driving west on (Interstate Highway)
I-4 approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers) outside of
Orlando at 7:45 a.m. when I witnessed something in the
sky overhead."
     Orlando (population 164,693) is located 229 miles
(366 kilometers) north of Miami.
     "It was a grayish vapor trail that moved to the right,
left, right, then left again, all in what appeared like
quarter-mile (0.6 kilometer) increments," he reported.
"This was right over the interstate.  It looked like some
drivers noticed it because I saw some looking up as
we passed them.  I couldn't see a shape or anything
flying at the end of the trail (contrail).  Also, it didn't
seem like it was turning but more like changing
directions back on itself."
     The following day, Saturday, March 21, 1998,
Jeff Ritzmann, a Maryland man vacationing in Florida,
spotted a UFO while standing outside Chan's Cafe,
located in the Best Western Hotel near Gulf Breeze, Fla.
     According to columnist Carole Baker of the
Pensacola Beach Islander, Ritzmann grabbed his
camcorder and "shot an approximate 13-second video
of a UFO flying from west to east between Pensacola
Beach and Gulf Breeze...The video shows a bright
white/silver object traveling quite fast across the sky.
Toward the end of the video, the object seems to tilt,
or turn, showing a bright flash as it catches the sun's
rays.  After that, it appears to fade, probably turning away,
it pursues and erratic course until it is out of sight.  This
object does not appear to be an airplane approaching
Pensacola airport, since its speed and altitude are too
high and fast" for a conventional aircraft.
     On Monday, March 23, 1998, Florida authorities
closed Highway 192 in Holipaw, about five miles
(8 kilometers) north of Narcoossee, the site of the
March 17 flyover of a V-shaped UFO.
     The highway was closed following a head-on
collision between a pickup truck and a semi-tractor
trailer hauling a load of chemicals.  The crash took
place near the intersection of Highways 192 and 441.
The semi spilled an unspecified quantity of the
chemical Dithan.  As a result, the authorities began
hazardous material (HAZMAT) clean-up procedures.
     Highway 192 in Holipaw was supposed to remain
closed "for a day."  However, on Wednesday, March 25,
authorities said the road would remain closed "until
sometime tomorrow."
     Ufologist Daniel Cox pointed out that Holipaw, Fla.
is in a "rural, wooded and swampy" area, adding,
"Closing of Highway 192 in this vicinity, near the
intersection of Highways 192 and 441, effectively
eliminates all civilian traffic in the region, at least as
far as primary roads are concerned."
     This has led some UFO buffs to wonder if a
saucer landed early last week in Holipaw.
     On Wednesday evening, March 25, a newspaper
reporter from Sebring, Fla. spotted mysterious lights
in the sky over Highway 60 as he was driving to
Lake Wales (population 9,670), a city 53 miles
(85 kilometers) east of Tampa.
    Each night from Monday, March 23, to Friday,
March 27, "a crew of five to ten people harvesting
palms at night have been seeing lights in the sky an
estimated 20 to 30 miles (32 to 48 kilometers)" north
of Lake Okeechobee, according to Jean Brown of
Tampa Bay MUFON.
     On Friday, March 27, 1998, the operations manager
at the U.S. Air Force's Avon Park Bombing Range
informed Ms. Brown that "for the past two weeks, the
Air Force has been dropping flares attached to
parachutes, two at a time, for A-10s at high altitude
testing night vision goggles.  He said testing was
supposed to end last night (Thursday, March 26), and
that they have received many calls as these flares
have been seen from Lake Wales south."
(Many thanks to Jean Brown, Carole Baker, Danny Cox,
Josh Harris, Courtland Lewis, Steve Wilson Sr. and
others for these Florida reports.)

FOUR LUMINOUS UFOs SEEN
NEAR FRENCH AIR BASE

     On Sunday evening, February 15, 1998, three
people--Ferdinand D., Simone B. and Beatrice S.--
were driving on Autoroute RN13 between Evreux
and Saint Andre de l'Eure when they spied "four
luminous objects in the sky."
     A UFO was first seen near the perimeter
of the Armee de l'Air (French Air Force--J.T.)
Base 105 Evreux/Fauville.
     "It had a spherical form and remained stationary
in front of us," Ferdinand reported.  "As we drove into
'old Evreux,' the object was on our right."
     They dropped off Beatrice at her home in the
Val David section of Evreux and then drove down
Chaussee (local road) D67, heading back to Saint
Andre de l'Eure.
     "We then saw three other spheres in a stationary
group," Simone reported.  "The first one came and
made a jerky motion.  Then the UFOs dispersed in
all directions."
     Stopping the car, Ferdinand and Simone stepped
outside to get a better look.  They watched the first
UFO return.  "The intensity of the light varied, seeming
to give an impression of shrinkage and expansion.  It
disappeared after ten minutes."
     Evreux is a city in the department of Eure
about 140 kilometers (84 miles) west of Paris.
(Merci beaucoup a Thierry Garnier pour ces
nouvelles.)

ANOTHER UFO SIGHTED IN
WESTERN AUSTRALIA

     On Monday, March 23, 1998, at 9:45 p.m.,
witnesses in Bindoon, Western Australia (W.A.),
84 kilometers (51 miles) north of Perth, saw
"a large, multicoloured light moving around high
up in the eastern sky."
     For fifteen minutes, the witnesses watched
what they described as "a light yellow/gold object"
with "red/green lights move around in a weird fashion
never seen before...The illumination appeared too large
for a star or planet."
     Earlier in the week, two UFO sightings were
reported in New South Wales, Australia.
     On Thursday, March 19, 1998, at 9:15 p.m.,
people living 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of
Mussellbrook, N.S.W. reported seeing "a large,
low-flying aerial craft with lots of odd surging noises,
no lights."  The UFO "passed overhead on a bearing
of southeast to northwest."  No Royal Australian
Air Force (RAAF) activity was reported in that vicinity
at the time of the sighting.
     On Sunday, March 22, 1998, sometime after
midnight, people in Taylor Lakes, N.S.W. reported
seeing a UFO with "multicoloured flashing lights
and some windows" fly overhead.  (Many thanks to
Ross Dowe and the Australia/New Zealand National
UFO Hotline for these reports.)

UFOs APPEAR IN PANAMA

     Following a two-month hiatus, UFOs returned
to Central America on February 25, 1998, turning
up in the nation of Panama.
     On Wednesday, February 25, at 2:39 a.m.,
police in the small city of Santiago de Veraguas
received calls from residents claiming to have
seen an OVNI (Spanish acronym for UFO) in
the night sky.
     By morning, city authorities were checking
out rumors of "a possible UFO landing."
     Santiago is on the Pan-American Highway
240 kilometers (150 miles) west of Balboa.
     That evening, at 9:15 p.m., a mysterious explosion
rocked the Barriada Florestal section of Santiago.
Investigating police and firefighters found a perfectly
circular hole in the roof of one of the houses.  The
cause of the hole remains unexplained.
     The following day, Thursday, February 26, 1998,
at 11:23 p.m., a triangular UFO was seen hovering
above Cerro Gordo hill on the outskirts of Santiago.
Fifteen people witnessed the object and described
it as "another UFO...with three lights of different
colors, shaped like a boomerang or a triangle.
There was no U.S. Air Force or Panamanian air
traffic in the area" at the time.
     MUFON investigator John Thompson contacted
NORAD and spoke to "Scott Johnson, a public relations
officer for NORAD, about" Panama, and Johnson "said
a careful check was made of the area around Santiago"
that night "but NORAD found no 'space junk' reentering"
Earth's atmosphere at that location.  (See Filer's Files
#12 for 1998.  Many thanks to George A. Filer and
John Thompson for this report.)
(Editor's Note:  Santiago is 200 miles (320 kilometers)
east of Golfito and Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica, where
disc-shaped UFOs appeared during the last week of
December 1997.)

SILVER SPHERE UFOs SEEN IN
CANNONVILLE, GEORGIA

     After a few quiet months, the tiny town of
Cannonville, Georgia (population 400) is again the
focus of UFO activity.
     Cannonville is on Highway 29 just east of
West Point Lake, about 75 miles (120 kilometers)
southwest of Atlanta.
     On Saturday, February 21, at 10 p.m., a few
Cannonville residents spotted "a UFO with three
lights on it...flashing and blinking in the Hogg
Mountain area.  Witnesses were close enough to
have heard any sound, but there was none."
     On Sunday, March 22, 1998, at 4 p.m., a 57-year-
old Cannonville woman "was driving east on Long Cane
Road and saw two bright 'silver balls' hanging in the
air, just west of Hogg Mountain.  The silver balls were
about one mile (1.6 kilometers) away from her on the
horizon at approximately 60 degrees height.  The
silver balls each had an apparent size several times
bigger than Venus and a real size larger than a four-room
house.  The southern-most UFO 'disappeared' straight-up
in a streaking fashion.  The second UFO did the same a
few seconds later."
     When she arrived in Cannonville, the woman rushed
into her house and told her family what she had just seen.
"Her sister went outside to look up and saw a yellow
prop (propellor-engine) plane."  She then spotted a
hovering "silver ball" and "yelled for everyone to come
outside.  As the family ran out, the UFO disappeared."
(See Filer's Files #12 for 1998.  Many thanks To George
A. Filer and John Thompson of MUFON for this report.)

ANOMALOUS PAINTING FOUND
BENEATH ROMAN RUINS

     An unusual wall painting discovered in Rome by
Italian archeologists has raised eyebrows in the
Fortean community.  The fresco shows an ancient
Italian city...from the air!
     According to the Reuters report, "An Italian
archeologist has stumbled on a richly colored wall
fresco, thought to be about 2,000 years old,
showing a detailed cityscape that experts say
could be a bird's-eye view of ancient Rome."
     "The depiction of a walled city measuring about
12 feet wide by eight feet wide, was discovered
during an excavation of a dank passageway at the
Trajan Baths near Rome's Colosseum."
     "A pale bridge resembling Florence's Ponte
Vecchio arches over an azure river in one corner of
the fresco.  Elsewhere is a bright red theater with
a white roof and a cluster of houses."
     "On the painting's right flank is a large city
square of tomato-red buildings, built around a set of
ocher daubs that archeologists said represented
bronze statues."
     "The city wall is broken at one point by a gateway
topped with cream bell-like towers."
     "'It's impressionistic,' said Rita Volpe, Rome
City Council archeologist.  'The period is certainly
the second half of the first century after Christ."
     "Nero, emperor from A.D. 54 to 68, committed
suicide shortly after his sumptuous palace was
finished.  A later emperor, Vespasian, tore it down
and built the Colosseum on one of its lakes."
     "Trajan,who ruled Rome from 98 to 117, later
built the baths on top of the rest of the (Nero's)
complex.  Archeologists said the fresco almost
certainly predated Trajan, because when his baths
were constructed, the walls were bricked up, covering
the painting."
     "Volpe said it was unclear whether the artist had
depicted Rome or whether the cityscape was
imaginary."
     "'It's certainly a city, but I can't say which city
it is.  It could be an ideal city,' she said."  (See the
New York Daily News for March 8, 1998, page 52.)
(Editor's Comment:  I think the fresco is 1,200 years
older than Nero's palace.  Here's why:
     (1) Roman civilization lasted only 800 years.
Not long enough to produce "impressionist" art.
Roman painting and sculpture, like the Etruscans
before them, was painstakingly realistic.
     (2) Ponte Vecchio-type bridges and "cream
bell-like towers" are not features of Roman architecture.
     (3) "Bright red" multi-story buildings are not
mentioned in either Roman or Etruscan literature.
     (4) Rome was built on the ruins of an earlier
city, Saturnia, just as today's Mexico City was built
on the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan.
     (5) Saturnia was overrun by northern barbarians,
the Rasenna, who later became the Etruscans, about
the time of the Trojan War in 1,200 B.C.  Just as the
Vandals overran and sacked Rome itself in 410 A.D.
     My theory:  The fresco is a remnant of that lost
Italian civilization of Saturnia.  Remember the strange
"Cicero's Daughter" case, that weird catacomb found
under Rome's Capitoline Hill back in the Middle Ages?)

ROUNDUP CORRIGENDA:
     In a recent story on the UFO sightings in Toms
River, New Jersey, your editor cited Ellis Smith's
sighting as taking place at 4:30 p.m. on February 19,
1998.  In actuality, the Smith family's sighting took
place five days earlier, on Saturday, February 14, 1998.
     Ellis Smith writes, "I can also readily ascertain the
day it took place, and I believe the event actually began
when my family and I were in the theater watching the
first showing" of the movie Sphere "which began at
12:30 p.m., Saturday, February 14."
     "At 4:30 p.m. (that day), my son age 9, my
daughter age 5 and myself were driving home from the
theater in Toms River when I noticed about 20 miles
to the southwest, 40 to 45 degrees up from the horizon,
what appeared to be an 'instant' contrail descending
from a very bright white object."
     "I informed Starfriends and IUFO almost immediately
upon arriving home from where the sighting took place,"
he added, "and so have the original submissions
complete with time stamp."
     Mr. Smith has made the original emails and time
stamps available to your editor for review.  I am
satisfied that his family's sighting took place on
Saturday, February 14, 1998.  UFO ROUNDUP
regrets the error.  Thank you, Mr. Smith, for helping
to set the record straight.
     In a story on the 1965 Everglades UFO case,
your editor mistakenly identified an airboat as a
"swamp buggy."  Florida reader Courtland Lewis
wrote, "A swamp buggy is an automobile or truck
chassis (no body panels) mounted on four oversized,
deep-tread mud tires."  I stand corrected, Court.
Thanks for writing.)

from the UFO Files:

1867: PHENOMENAL HAIL
          FALLS IN INDIA

     On March 28, 1867, gigantic hailstones pounded
the villages north of Adoni, a city in Andhra Pradesh
state 424 kilometers (265 miles) northwest of Madras.
Here's the original report:
     "In Adoni to the north of the talook, at
Nakkulmittah and other villages, the hail is described
as being the size of cocoa nuts (coconuts) to
woodapples, and lying to one foot (25 centimeters)
in depth; in some places destroying the wet and dry
(season) crops."
     "In Gooti, at eight p.m. on the (March) 28th,
the hail was described as ranging from the size of
bullets to limes..."
     "In Anantapur talook the size of the hailstones
is apparently incredible.  I give, however, the local
report, that in a field in the village of Bondalavada,
some of the (hail)stones were two-thirds of a
cubic yard (576 square inches or 1,152 square
centimeters--J.T.) in size."
     "In the village of Chadula a cubic span, and
in other villages of six seers, or three pounds
in weight; this last was verified by the Tahsildar
(local official--J.T.).  Two men 2,470 sheep and
eight cattle were killed, and some thatched houses
were destroyed."  (See Symon's Monthly 
Meteorological Magazine, volume 2, number 53
for 1867, "Severe Hailstorm in India."  Reprinted
in TORNADOS, DARK DAYS, ANOMALOUS
PRECIPITATION, AND WEATHER-RELATED
PHENOMENA, compiled by William A. Corliss,
Sourcebook Project, April 1983, page 100.)

FUN UFO WEBSITES:
     The website for NICAP, also known as the National
Investigating Committee for Aerial Phenomena, is up
and online.  UFO news is available at the NICAP site
at this URL: http://www.evansville.net/~slk/ufoi.html.
     Columnist Carole Baker of the Pensacola Beach
Islander just opened her website, which lists the latest
UFO news from Gulf Breeze, Fla.  Carole's "Skywatch
Diary" can be found at this URL: http://www.deleree.com/
skywatch-diary/index.html.
     Don't miss our parent site, UFO INFO.  Check out
the news, photos, features and links at this URL:
http://ufoinfo.com
     Back issues of UFO ROUNDUP can be read at
our webpage.  Drop in at http://ufoinfo.com/roundup/

     Today is the birthday of another great-grandad of 
the Internet.  On March 29, 1853, American inventor
Elihu Thomson, discoverer of alternating current (AC),
was born.  Thomson died on March 13, 1937 at age 83,
having lived long enough to witness the advent of radio
and black-and-white television.

     Join us next weekend for more saucer news from
"the paper that goes home--UFO ROUNDUP."  Have
a great week!

UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 1998 by Masinaigan
Productions, all rights reserved.  Readers may post
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