'Flying Object' Followed Family

Nearly 30 years after a late-night encounter with a UFO, Temuka man Ken Thew remains convinced he saw something extraordinary on Waitohi Rd.

Yesterday, after authorisation from the Defence Force, more than 2000 pages of secret files held by Archives New Zealand were released. The files are said to include every witness account of unidentified flying objects reported to authorities since the 1950s and Mr Thew said he would be interested in reading the files.

The now-retired mechanic said he did not think about the encounter unless other people brought it up in conversation, but he had spoken to others who had seen UFOs.

"What they have seen is different compared to what we have seen but that's apparently the way it is."

The memory of the large, bright object which accompanied Mr Thew,his wife, and their three young daughters home from Pleasant Point to Temuka on July 12, 1981 was still vivid, Mr Thew said.

"My thoughts are the same: what you see is what you see. "It was a bit frightening for a start. We were just travelling home from a night at me cobber's place. The oldest girl said, `what's that over there?' and I said I had no idea."

The couple described to the Temuka Herald in 1981 how a multi-coloured flying object paced them along the road, approaching to within 110 metres of their car and changing colours as it went. They knew by the hour of the night, the manoeuvres and closeness of the object that it was not an aeroplane.

Yesterday, Mr Thew said the size and the brilliance of the object, which was shaped like a football, told him it was unusual. However, while the encounter was reported in media, they kept a second part of the story to themselves and close friends – several visits by a man to their home and workplace shortly after seeing the object.

Introducing himself as Mr Wright, an "investigator" from Christchurch and dressed in a musty suit, he warned them not to contact or approach the object, Mr Thew said.

The man's behaviour was peculiar: he drank a cup of boiling tea in one gulp, read a page by scanning from bottom to top and knew the name of their pet dog before it could be told to him. Before the encounter with the object, Mr Thew said he had a
divided opinion on UFOs.

"If somebody had told me what I had seen myself I would sort of look at them and think, `well, okay'."

The object was something he was not familiar with and had never seen the likes of before, he said. He did not rule out a natural explanation but said the speed at which it travelled and the intensity of its light were unusual.

The Thews' account garnered media attention in 1981 and they were visited unexpectedly by a television crew.

"They got the kids to draw pictures of what they saw," Mr Thew said.

Most of the responses they got were positive; people called them to ask them about the incident, and later a Polish professor visited them to learn more about their experience. Their story attracted a small negative response, with about five calls from people suggesting they were mad, he said. However, Mr Thew stands by what he saw. "I had my faculties; I know what I saw."

CENTRAL SOUTH ISLAND UFO REPORTS
Local sightings reported on ufoinfo.com:
September 26, 2009: Two Timaru witnesses report seeing about 10 bright orange, moving objects at 8.15pm, which suddenly veered sideways.

November 27, 2006: A witness reports seeing a silvery white and cylindrical object taking off from the Richard Pearse Airport about 7.30am.

June 30, 2006: A witness took two photos. One showed a mysterious object over Oamaru between 1pm and 3pm.

February, 2006: Two adults and a boy, 11, report seeing a slow-moving object in the sky between Pleasant Point and State Highway 1 about 4pm.

August 5, 2005: Two witnesses travelling between Kurow and Omarama between 8pm and 9pm report seeing a slow-moving, orange, pulsating object "far bigger than any stars".

July 20, 1996: Five people at Rosewell near Timaru report seeing a triangular shape, with three lights, in the night sky.

August 15, 1990: One witness reports seeing an orange glow appear in a rear-view mirror about 1am.

New Zealand Releases UFO Government Files

New Zealand's military has released hundreds of documents detailing claims of sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs).

The files, dating from 1954 to 2009, include drawings of flying saucers and alleged samples of alien writing.

The files include details of New Zealand's most famous UFO sighting when strange lights were filmed off the South Island town of Kaikoura in 1978.

An official report from the time said natural phenomenon could explain it.

Although the incident made international headlines at the time, the military report suggested it could be lights from boats reflected in clouds or an unusual view of the planet Venus.

Following the release of the files, New Zealand Air Force spokesman Kavae Tamariki said the military did not have the resources to investigate UFO sightings and would not be commenting on the documents' contents.

"We have just been a collection point for the information. We don't investigate or make reports, we haven't substantiated anything in them," he told the Dominion Post newspaper.

The reports have been released under freedom of information laws after officials removed names and other identifying material.

The files - which run to about 2,000 pages - include accounts by members of the public, military personnel and commercial airline pilots describing close encounters, mostly involving moving lights in the sky.

All the original documents on which the reports were based are to remain sealed in the national archive.

Bright Red UFO Spotted

GLADSTONE is being visited by UFOs, according to a Gladstone local.
The local listed sighting a strange, bright red object Monday morning on a UFO sighting website.

The website, The UFO Clearinghouse, accepts reports from people who have seen something they can’t explain, hence, an unidentified flying object (UFO).

“While at work in the state forest north of Gladstone, I noticed to my left a bright red light,” the local who remained anonymous said.

“Thinking I might have a car coming through the bush towards me, I moved out of the donga I was in and waited for the car to arrive.

“I went outside and noticed that the light was above the tree line above the north end of Mount Larcom.

However, the witness couldn’t work out if it was round or any other shape.

“There were times the light hurt my eyes but not enough for me to look away. I noted that it was slowly moving downwards on the other side of the Mount Larcom range

“There were no other light sources located outside the donga, and no other reason what this red light might have been caused from.”

UFO Research Queensland chair Sheryl Gottschall told The Observer this year alone they have had 123 reported sightings from the public.

“What we find is that the reports come from a broad cross section of society,” Ms Gottschall said.

“We have people from small business owners to professional people like lawyers, teachers and pilots. We get reports from basically everybody,” she said.

Close UFO Encounters On The Coast

They're perhaps not the kind of visitor tourism bodies are looking to attract to the region – they don’t come through customs, they arrive in non-regulation aircraft and never spend any money in the local economy. But if the many reported sightings of their visits are to be believed, UFOs are making regular visits to the Sunshine Coast.

UFO Research Queensland has been compiling data related to sightings throughout Queensland since 1956, and Lee Paqui from the organisation confirmed to Finda that the Sunshine Coast and Glasshouse Mountains area receives a lot of reports.

“Balls of orange or white light are the most frequently reported UFO in the area. These balls of light usually appear singly, but also in triangular, boomerang or straight-line formations, and occasionally they’re seen travelling in clusters of up to 20 or more objects. But while glowing balls of light dominate, there have been a number of far more unusual objects and phenomena sighted as well,” Lee said.

Reported Sightings
According to UFO Research Queensland in 1999, campers on Bribie Island witnessed a glowing green object at midnight that “turned the night into day.” The object was circular, hovered just above the ocean and lit up the sea and the nearby town of Caloundra with a green light for about eight seconds.

In 2004, a group was out four-wheel-driving in the Glasshouse Mountains. They drove along a fire road when one of them screamed. Hovering just above the trees, was a capsule shaped object roughly the size of a petrol tanker truck's trailer. It was emitting a low humming noise and glowing like a dull fluorescent light just above the trees. It was “close enough to throw a rock and hit it”. After a few minutes it tilted forward and drifted west like a balloon down into a ridge. They followed in their car and got out to look for it but it was gone and so was the humming sound.

In 2001 a woman travelling at night towards Bli Bli pulled off the road to allow what she thought was a brightly lit car behind her to overtake. However, instead of overtaking, the lights behind her moved backwards and changed into a crescent shape before disappearing into the sky.

In early 2000 a Caloundra resident reported an object in the sky that looked like “castles joined together,” and estimated it to be about the size of four football fields.

In 2007 a couple witnessed an oval object the size of a football field hovering over Burpengary. It was brightly lit, red on the bottom and white on top, and tilted itself on an angle before disappearing.

(Reported sighting information provided by UFO Research Queensland).

Advice
We asked Lee at UFO Research Queensland what advice he would give to people if they spot something.

“The first thing is to not panic. Our experience has shown that people are not harmed by their encounters with UFOs, in fact, they can come away with a feeling of elation. So, don't panic, don't run, simply stand and watch and observe.

“Try and work out how large the object might be, and how far away it is from you. Hold your arm out and see how big it is compared to your thumb. Notice any discernible markings, what the shape is, if it is glowing or not, what colour it is, does it change colour or shape while you're watching.

“Try to time how long the object is visible for, and how does it disappear. Does it simply vanish like a light going off or does it take off in a particular direction? Try and see what is happening to the world around you - is the sky cloudy or clear, are dogs barking, or have the birds stopped singing? Is there anybody nearby that you could point the object out to? And, most importantly, does anybody have a camera?”

"Of course, expecting people to do all this when they have only a few seconds to think about it could be asking a bit much, but if they can let us know as much as they can about their experience that’s the main thing,” Lee said.

My Mum Talks To Aliens

Later this month SBS screens a documentary that follows the work and personal life of one of the world’s leading authorities on extraterrestrial life, Mary Rodwell (not to be confused with Roswell!).

This Australian woman works in this field all over the world, counselling people who have experience an alien encounter. She has worked in the US, Canada, Asian, European, Russia and other countries but her son is a sceptic. A mother and son Scully and Mulder?

My Mum Talks to Aliens is an intriguing documentary that follows a mother and son on a journey of discovery, as they travel the country in pursuit of solid evidence of an alien presence here on Earth.

There is one issue that is driving a wedge between mother and son – Mary and Chris Rodwell – the existence of extraterrestrial life. Chris is a self-confessed alien sceptic, whilst his mum Mary is a leading global authority on the subject. But her beliefs have come at a cost, her husband left and it is now impacting on her relationship with Chris.

Mary attempts to convince and educate her son, and thus the world about aliens. She introduces her son to her clients who have had first-hand alien abduction experiences, as well as revealing clear, never before- seen footage of UFO’s.

She also visits acclaimed Astrophysicist, Ragbir Bhatal from the University of Western Sydney. Bhatal is one of only three people in the world whose job it is to scan the skies for alien communications.

Mary may be one of the world’s leading alien abduction councillors, and she may be in demand all over the world for her expert extraterrestrial advice, but can she convince her own son about her out-of-this-world beliefs, and save her most precious relationship of all?

My Mum Talks to Aliens airs 8:30pm Tuesday November 30th on SBS ONE.

40 Convincing Blogs About UFOs

We received this blog link via our web site. Hope you find something of interest there.

http://tinyurl.com/2cjysdq

UFO cut off my car

A woman claims she was cut off by two alien beings in a spaceship shaped like a Ford station wagon - before it took off surrounded by green, blue and red flames.

It was just one of the stories to come out after ABC morning show presenter Leon Compton opened up the airwaves to UFO believers.

Betty from Alice Springs said her close encounter occurred in 1969. She was driving 20km south of Aileron towards Alice Springs at 4am with her six year old daughter when they saw the vehicle "flying alongside us". "We saw these two figures inside this thing. It looked like a Ford station wagon, with the windows. It came in front of us really quickly."

Her daughter then said, "There's nothing to be afraid of."

"I said, 'Why did you say that?' She said, 'I don't know, it just came out of my mouth'.

"And as I was talking, the whole think took off like a shot out of a gun ... And then there was all this green and blue and red flames or lights all around it.

"I'll never forget it."

Other callers gave reasons why they believed in visitors from other planets - with one even quoting the Bible.

Dennis from Batchelor said his sighting was shared by a crowd of people on the Dripstone Cliffs at sunset.

"A mate and I were looking down the beach and saw this orangey-pink light progressing towards us. No sound at all," he said.

"We just watched it in silence as it cruised on past the casino."

And Cameron from Alice Springs said he was visiting a water hole in 1983 when he saw a flying saucer land 700m away.

"It was half the size of a football field," he said.

Source :www.ntnews.com.au/article/2010/09/11/178671_ntnews.html

Something surprising happened while we weren’t looking. The last few months have seen a rash of very public speculation about the nature of extraterrestrial life from the most unexpected places – places and people from whom the UFO community has so far received only ridicule.

Ever since Stephen Hawking planted his robust seed of fear into the world’s minds, all anybody can talk about is not whether ET exists, but what ET will do with us when he gets here. Thanks to Hawking (who has either lost his mind or is working covertly for the New World Order), the discussion in high places now centres around what ET could possibly want with, shudder, us! So far there’s been no mention of the old schlock standby ‘they want to suck our blood’, but amazingly denial of the ET reality has joined the discussion.

But while Hawking argues that visitors to Earth will see us only as a mineral resource, and in order to rape and pillage the planet, will need to strip-mine us out of existence, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer for SETI (whose very name conjures intimations of evil), poo-poos that notion, arguing that Earth is simply too far away to come for gold and tin. Maybe.

However, just in case ET does decide to pop in for a visit, media reports pronounce that the UN has actually ‘appointed a space ambassador for extraterrestrial contact affairs.’ Even stranger, a group of scientists is preparing a demo-tape to keep them entertained while they’re here (they think ET will like Bach, although we roundly disagree). And, not to be outdone, the Pope is preparing to baptize any ETs that might drop into the Vatican. (Sure. That’s the first place they’ll go.)

Now, we don’t know about you, but given that just a few short months ago the existence of Et was still being hotly denied, this turnaround is, to put it mildly, somewhat startling. And in a somewhat more sinister vein – do these people know something that we don’t know?

Like…. Could open contact be imminent? Or…has the Hubble telescope spotted a big alien wrecking ball headed our way?

The Australian Westall UFO Incident of 1966

The mystery surrounding the famous Westall UFO incident of 1966 has been put up in lights with a documentary exploring the event set to air on Foxtel's Sci Fi channel next month.

The event, broken by The Journal in 1966, involved 200 Westall High School and Westall State School students, staff and local residents watching as a strange object hovered overhead for several minutes, landing briefly at Grange Reserve, before lifting off and vanishing.

Witnesses described it as a low-flying, silver-grey and shiny craft, shaped like a cup turned upside down on a saucer, accompanied by five light aircraft.

The new film focuses on former Mulgrave resident Shane Ryan tracking down former students and staff and searching for authorities who presided over the day.

"We hope the airing of the documentary will help us flush out the people who were in uniform from some sort of government authority and who so many remember investigating the scene and coming to the school to talk to kids," Mr Ryan said.

"Many witnesses remember police officers and soldiers being involved in the examining of the site and that's been an important focus for me to try and make contact with those people.

"It would seem that whatever they were doing, they would have a great knowledge of what happened."

Mr Ryan said he had contacted about 265 people who were connected with the story in one way or another.

"The stories were remarkably similar and every witness was extremely happy to talk to me. They were gobsmacked someone was showing an interest after all these years.

"They were still passionate about what they had experienced and that no one really believed them at the time - for some of them there was a deliberate and obvious push from certain people not to talk about what they had seen."

Westall ' 66: A Suburban UFO Mystery will screen on Australia's Foxtel Sci Fi Channel at 8.30pm on Friday, June 4.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/2cxu9lu

NASA scientists last night unveiled compelling evidence of life on Mars.

A special mission to the Red Planet has revealed the likely presence of a form of pond scum - the building blocks of life
as we know it.

NASA unveiled the results of the recent Opportunity and Spirit probes sent millions of miles through the solar system to discover signs of extraterrestrial life. The results are so promising boffins have already planned a host of other missions to discover whether there is extraterrestrial life in the universe.

The recent missions have gathered evidence of sulphates on Mars, a strong indication there is water on the planet and therefore life. Previous missions to Mars have concluded there is probably water on the planet. But the NASA boffins said the recent missions have gone further than any others in proving there is life on Mars. They were particularly excited about the discovery of a sulphate called gypsum which, it has emerged recently, is found in large quantities among fossils in the Mediterranean.

Jack Farmer, researcher at the Arizona State University, in Tempe, Arizona, said he was "optimistic" there was - or had been - life on Mars. Another of the scientists Bill Schopf, researcher at the University of California in Los Angeles, added: "One, thanks to Opportunity and the rovers and orbital imaging it is clear that there are literally vast areas of Mars that are carpeted with various sorts of sulphates, including gypsum.

"Two, it turns out on earth there just hasn't been hardly any work done at all to show whether gypsum ever includes within it preserved evidence of former life. "The age doesn't matter. We just didn't know that fossils and organic matter and things like that were well preserved within gypsum.

"So, three, it turns out that now we have made that first step we are going to find out how widespread it is in other sulphate deposits on earth. "And those lines of evidence will then give us a way to justify going to Mars and looking at gypsum because it looks as though based on these findings that is going to turn out to be a really excellent place to find evidence of ancient life, regardless of age, if in fact it is there."

Five experts took part in last night's press conference to celebrate 50 years of astrobiology research. Dr Steve Squyres, of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, said the only way of being sure there is life on Mars was to bring back a sample of Mars rock. He also said that the detection of methane in the martian atmosphere - as revealed exclusively by The Sun - raised the possibility that there was still life on Mars today.

"Methane is a molecule that should go away very quickly. We need to send a mission to find out if the source is biological. "We also need to send a mission to return samples from Mars. That would enable scientists to find out whether Mars might ever have harboured life. "If we are ever going to show if there was ever life on Mars, I think we're going to have to study samples back on Earth."

Almost 30 other NASA missions to discover life in space - including one to bring back rocks from Mars - have already been planned. There are also plans to visit Jupiter's moon Europa to explore its deep underground ocean and a moon of Saturn, Enceladus, which spouted ice volcanoes. Long-term missions will also return to Saturn's biggest moon Titan, sending a balloon flying through its atmosphere and landing a probe in its surface lakes. Future missions would also visit comets.

NASA scientists have been searching for extraterrestrial life on other planets for some time. Last November the space organisation launched the Kepler space telescope to look for Earth-size planets in this galaxy. The telescope is on a three-and-a-half-year mission to find planets. NASA has so far been able to download data - but many believe there are aliens out there.

British physicist Stephen Hawking said this week aliens might be traveling through the cosmos right now - but he warned they might have evil intentions.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/37n2jax

Are Aliens About To Invade Australia?

A MASS of UFO sightings has Territorians wondering if we are on the brink of an alien invasion. There have been seven separate Top End UFO sightings reported in the past week. Hardly a night has passed without a sighting of some "unexplained phenomena" since the first sighting last week. Almost all of the sightings have been in Darwin's rural area.

The first sighting was reported by a woman who wanted to be identified only as Shirel on April 21.She said she saw the strange lights from her Humpty Doo home hovering over Howard Springs. "The lights were really low in the sky, really bright, with flashing dots," she said. "Three of them formed a semi-circle and they hovered over the area for at least half an hour."

There were three separate sightings on Friday night including British backpacker Kylie Myers who said she had "never believed in anything like UFOs" before her strange encounter. The 27-year-old tourist said she turned into a "believer". Ms Myers said she stopped her car on the side of the road to grab her camera from the glovebox, but the light disappeared. "It was pretty spooky."

There were more sightings at Coolalinga on Saturday, Acacia Hills on Sunday and again in Howard Springs on Tuesday.But astronomer Geoff Carr yesterday told the Northern Territory News he was "far from believing any of this UFO stuff". "Unless aliens have found a way to travel faster than light speed, it's a doubtful thing to believe they came to visit us," he said.

Mr Carr said he believed 99.9 per cent of all the UFO sightings could be explained as simple weather phenomena.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/2asezae

UFO: The Truth Is Out There

A UFO photographed in the night skies at Evans Head two weeks ago may actually be a ghost according to Wardell purveyor of all things paranormal David Delaney. The photograph taken by Lismore Heights woman Korrinne Stewart appeared in Friday’s Northern Star.

“It’s a pretty difficult one to pick from a photo, but I believe it is an orb,” Mr Delaney said. An orb, according to Mr Delaney, is a ghost or a human soul in the form of light. Appearing as an orb is the preferred form of apparition by ghosts because it requires less energy, Mr Delaney said.

Ms Stewart took the photo,in which both the moon and a mysterious shape can be seen, while fishing in the Evans River. She sent the photo to The Northern Star after reading about another UFO sighting at Evans Head when two men on their way home from the pub saw strange shapes in the sky, resembling a crescent moon.

There have been several reported UFO sightings in the region recently, including one last week in the skies at Nimbin where party-goers saw a bright red light which quickly faded to green before disappearing.

Mr Delaney said the most likely explanation for the photo taken by Ms Stewart was a ghost not a UFO. Ghost sightings increase over the winter months. “In the colder months you get more,” Mr Delaney said. “It is easier (for ghosts) to take on apparitions and manifestations in winter.”

Mr Delaney, who owns and operates ghost tour company Paranormal Pursuit, said orbs were very common. “They are the most common thing to be photographed on the tours,” Mr Delaney said. “We see them 100 per cent of the time. “They can be very photogenic when they want to.”

Mr Delaney said sometimes people’s camera batteries went flat when photographing an orb because it could draw on a variety of energy sources. “They can draw on powerlines and people as well,” Mr Delaney said. Mr Delaney has a Facebook group on which people can post their photographs of orbs for him to authenticate.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/yan2faz

Possible UFO spotted at Evans Head

'There has got to be something out there’, Lismore Heights woman Korrinne Stewart said after capturing with her camera a mysterious object in the night sky at Evans Head.

There have been several reports from around the region of mysterious bright lights in the Northern Rivers’ skies in recent weeks.

Ms Stewart contacted The Northern Star after reading a report in Tuesday’s newspaper about a UFO sighting by two Evans Head men. The men were on their way home from the pub when they saw moon-like objects in the sky. They were the same size and brightness as a crescent moon, but vertical.

Ms Stewart was fishing at Evans Head the week before when she began taking photographs of the Moon. Sometime after 10.30pm a strange object, which she could only see through the lens of her camera, appeared beside the Moon.

Ms Stewart said while she did believe in UFOs, she did not know if that was what she had captured. “I thought it might have been some kind of shadow,” she said.

Ms Stewart said she had taken photos of the Moon earlier that night in Ballina, but the object did not appear in any of those images.

Party-goers at Nimbin also reported seeing a strange object in the sky last Saturday night towards the west.

Silvia Tribolet, of Lillian Rock, said she saw a bright orange light, like fire, which quickly faded to green and then disappeared. “It was beautiful,” she said. “I saw it for just one second. It was about one-third of the size of the Moon.” Ms Tribolet said she had never seen anything like it before, but thought it was probably space junk.

Astronomer Philip Hood said people often saw things in the sky which were unexplainable. “The sky is usually very predictable from an astronomy point of view,” Mr Hood said. “And most things can be explained.”

Mr Hood runs the Starry Night Planetarium, which holds astronomy nights at Brunswick Heads on the foreshore on the first-quarter moon.

UFO Research Queensland will be holding a workshop on UFOs in Byron Bay on April 17.

Source http://tinyurl.com/ybpxhs5

UFOs Spotted Over Evans Head

Strange lights spotted over Evans Head at the weekend have been listed as a possible UFO sighting. The sighting is one of ‘a constant stream’ of such events recorded as ‘worthwhile’ by UFO Research Queensland, which monitors the skies from New Guinea to northern New South Wales. The high incidence of sightings in the area had prompted the group to man a stall at this year’s Starlight Wellbeing Expo in Bangalow over Easter, and also to hold a workshop in Byron Bay on April 17.

Tino Pezzimenti, who ran a seminar at the Expo, said the Evans Head sighting occurred when two men were walking back from the pub on Saturday night. One of the men, who swore he was completely sober, had reported seeing ‘moon-like objects’ in the sky besides the real one. “They were of the same size and brightness as the crescent Moon, but vertical,” Mr Pezzimenti said. “A third appeared and they all started moving erratically, zigzagging in the air. “One moved to the left, another to the right and the third straight up. They then rejoined themselves in the blink of an eye, back in their original position.”

Mr Pezzimenti said it was possible to discount other phenomena, such as hot-air balloons or aircraft. “It was also at 10.30pm, so it could not have been Venus,” he said. “It’s something we cannot explain. “But many UFOs have been reported as behaving in this way – erratically, and making sudden right-angled turns without slowing down.”

Australia has been something of a hotspot for UFO sightings in the past. Almost 900 a year were recorded throughout the 1990s, and there have been 200 this year. UFORQ has about 220 financial members and records reported sightings from all over the world. It had been in existence since 1956 and was the oldest still-running such group, Mr Pezzimenti said. One of the services it offered was a confidential support group for people who believed they had seen something but felt unable to tell anyone for fear of ridicule, or even worse, feared they might be going crazy.

UFO Research NSW spokesman Doug Moffett said the majority of the sightings in the state had been in rural areas.
The reason for this was because the aliens’ actions were largely ‘covert’. “They do not land and say ‘take me to your leader’,” he said. They could get lower and not be seen by so many people in country areas, he said.

Grafton-based UFO researcher and sky-watcher Barry Taylor said the phenomena went in 20-year cycles, known as ‘flap activity’. He said the 1950s, the ’70s and the ’90s had been active years for sightings, and he expected activity to increase again this year.

SIGHTINGS
The Gold Coast, with 25 reports, ranks second to Brisbane in the number of unexplained sightings in Queensland between October 2008 and September last year. Out of a total of 123 statewide, Brisbane had 28, while Caboolture, Cairns and Logan were next on the list, with five.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/yb7zrwn

Gold Coast UFO Sightings Rocketing

The Gold Coast has reported the second highest number of UFO sightings in Queensland in a year.

According to UFO Research Queensland, an organisation established in 1956 which records and researches UFO sightings, the Gold Coast ranked second to Brisbane in the number of unexplained sightings between October 2008 and September 2009, with 25 reports out of a total 123 coming from the Coast. Brisbane had 28, while Caboolture, Cairns and Logan were next on the list, all with five reports recorded.

For many years, the Australian Air Force was responsible for handling Unusual Aerial Sightings at the official level but in the 1990s, the department stopped archiving reports. Nowadays sightings are reported to local police authorities or civilian UFO research groups in the State, if at all.

UFO Research Queensland president Sheryl Gottschall said sightings ranged from strange lights in the sky to detailed descriptions of craft. She believed the Gold Coast recorded more sightings because of its location and holiday appeal.

"If you look at the population difference (between Brisbane and the Gold Coast), it's interesting," she said. "We think it's because of the geography of the Gold Coast, because it is fairly flat and you can see more of the sky, particularly out over the ocean and/or because of the population. "Many (people) are on holidays so they might be more casually looking at the sky (and notice these things)."

The latest sighting was two Saturdays ago, when Robina resident Pat Gatward saw four strange orange lights in the sky about 6.20pm. Mrs Gatward said she was having dinner with her husband when they noticed the phenomena in the sky.

"It wasn't fireworks or anything like that, I don't know what it was. I've never seen anything like it ... it was very strange," she said. Mrs Gatward was undecided about whether or not she believed in extra-terrestrial life.

Police said they had not received a report about the lights.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/ybf8eg6

That Wild Australia Night

By 1988, at least publicly, the U.S. Air Force had long since washed itshands of UFO sightings reported by mere citizens, no matter the anxietyfactor, putting the burden firmly on the shoulders of local law enforcementagencies. The cops. Police and sheriffs' deputies weaponised with automobilesunable to fly. The last place on Earth where anybody would have the timeor inclination to give a damn about some light in the sky. Yes, there was Dr. J. Allen Hynek's public lifeline, the Center for UFO Studies, poorly funded then, as now, and a few other national private organizations, but UFO manifestations didn't care a whit about investigative protocol.

So, the UFO enigma continued to assume center stage, sometimes dramatically. Unfortunately, other countries emulated the U.S. and deferred the troublesome UFO issue, as it affected the man or woman on the street,

to police agencies.

Twenty-two years ago, some very strange and frightening things happened in Australia, according to Associated Press reports emanating from Sydney, and -- to my knowledge -- the integrity of these events was never discredited.

Based solely upon AP reports, the story developed as follows. . .At about 2:45 a.m. on a Wednesday in January, 1988 Faye Knowles, driving, and her three sons (brothers Sean and Wayne are pictured here, both having

confirmed their mother's story) were proceeding on a lonely outback highway through the Nullabor Plain from Perth in western Australia, when she spotted a glowing object through her rear window. In an attempt to escape pursuit by

what seemed an egg-shaped object, Knowles accelerated to speedsapproaching 120 m.p.h. However, the UFO easily paced the automobile and ultimately, according to Sgt. Jim Furnell of the Ceduna Police, "apparentlypicked the car up off the road, shook it quite violently and forced the car back with such pressure that one of the tires was blown." Knowles' vehicle was left facing the direction from which it had come.

Apparently associated with the incident was a layer of a black powdery ashen substance found inside and outside of the car, and forensic scientists were scheduled to take samples. But, as in the best detective thrillers, there was

more to the story.

First, a tuna boat crew 50 miles away in a water area known as the Great Australia Bight -- a crew whose members had absolutely no contact with the Knowles family -- reported being buzzed by a bright object just minutes after the Knowles incident. "We were a little bit skeptical at first," continued Furnell, "but after investigating, we are treating the reports very seriously."

Second, and this was a particular point of interest to me because sound was involved, both the Knowles family and tuna fishermen noted similarly bizarre effects in the presence of a strange object. Explained Furnell, "While this was happening, the (Knowles) family said their voices were distorted and it was as if they were talking in slow motion." In the tuna boat, crew members' voices became "unintelligible" during the object's presence.

While these sound/voice/slow motion UFO incidents, almost suggestive of interference in some space & time mode, may seem uncommon, they do exist, probably in far greater numbers than are reported, and should be taken quite seriously in any scientific court of UFO conjecture. Wendy Connors' (now completed) Faded Discs project retrieved an old recorded interview with a young woman, once living as a child with her family at a British Air Force base in the 1960s. Recounting the appearance of a large UFO cruising at treetop level over base housing, the woman remembered that sounds were interrupted and voices could not be heard or comprehended until the thing departed.

Her active duty military father, and presumably others suddenly involved in this crisis alert situation, refused to speak of the incident and, whatever visited the base, it obviously wasn't regarded as "ours."

Getting back to the Australian events: A Royal Australian Air Force base representative in Edinburgh claimed he wasn't aware of any military aircraft in the area during the encounters. Still, instant explanations weren't to be

avoided because the media, as usual, went running to the nearest skeptical astronomer for a feel-good moment and, as usual, this expert was more than happy to oblige, with his version of events anxiously lapped up by the media

a week later.

Charles Morgan of the Sydney Observatory postulated a "carbonous meteorite shower" as the culprit (!) which would explain the ash and the Knowles' report of a "smell of dead bodies" inside the car. He also indicated the possibility of a sonic boom associated with such an event, which might explain the hearing difficulties. Acknowledging that some "unexplained phenomenon" might instead be responsible, Morgan nevertheless went on to suggest that the tire blew because the driver became frightened, drove off the road, hit a bump and became airborne.

It must be noted, however, that the Knowles family drove 400 miles to the Ceduna police station following the encounter, and officer Furnell noted that the car's roof was dented, covered with a blackish-gray ash -- and family

members were visibly shaken.

Keith Basterfield of UFO Research Inc., awaiting confirmation of the event, stated at the time that the Knowles case could "certainly be the most physical of encounters ever recorded in Australia. "All of this brings me to ask an unlikely but relevant question -- What's the energy source of a presumably unknown object able to pursue and lift a heavy automobile filled with passengers? If the world truly craves the highest levels of energy independence, the UFO phenomenon might provide answers. . .answers that governments may not learn if they turn away or deny interest

in just one special observer among the masses who happens to experience a UFO encounter of more than passing significance. Despite all the good things law enforcement agencies do, their crime forensics labs aren't exactly stocked with scientists yearning to examine UFO incidents.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/yabt5d2

UFO spottings on Central Coast of NSW

There's something strange happening in the skies over a little patch of our pristine holiday coast.

The suburbs around Gosford, on the Central Coast, are the state's biggest hot spot when it comes to UFO sightings, with dozens of seemingly authentic cases reported every year.

Each month, as many as 30 people turn up to meetings to share their UFO experiences.

UFO Research NSW secretary Joann Kanda, who helps organise the meetings, saw what she believed was a UFO near her home at The Entrance in the mid-1990s.

"It was just a sort of a glowing light in the middle of the night," she said.

"The dogs made a strange noise and I got up. There was something up in the sky with a greenish glow."

The region was the scene for one of Australia's most baffling UFO cases - a series of sightings in 1995 and 1996 - that were reported by police and many other credible witnesses.

Residents have told of seeing shiny, spherical, illuminated UFOs that often hovered above water.

UFO Research NSW's Doug Moffett said UFOs were commonly spotted over water or near power plants and the Central Coast had plenty of both.

The geography of the Central Coast may also play a part. It is heavily populated in parts, which means there are people around to spot UFOs, but still isolated enough for them to be visible in the night sky.

"What UFOs do is, largely speaking, covert in nature. They're obviously not landing at the steps of the Opera House and saying, 'Take me to your leader'," Mr Moffett said.

The UFO and Paranormal Research Society of NSW said the Blue Mountains also figured heavily in UFO sighting reports.

A group of enthusiasts spent the weekend in the mountains searching for UFOs they say visit the area each year in the last week of March.

One of the group, who declined to be named, said that in past years the craft had appeared above the Burragorang Valley, beyond Jenolan Caves, and were seen to hover for some time.

Several readers have reported seeing UFOs near Wollongong a week ago.

Could It Be A UFO?

Eagle Vale resident Shawaan Peck took this photo on an early Winter morning last year.

He took the photo on his mobile phone and rushed inside to grab his handycam but claimed when he returned the ''glowing objects'' in the sky had disappeared.

This week, there have been reports of UFO sightings in Chipping Norton and Mr Peck believed that was what he captured in this shot.

``I've seen freaky things before, but they've been satellites or shooting stars,'' he told the Advertiser.

``But this thing, I was like hello? what's that?

``I thought it was just weird...I don't think we're alone.''

He said he included the street light in the shot to compare the objects with.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/yjwfrq3

UFOs Over Sydney - The Intergalactic Neighbours Drop By

THEY emerged from a blazing light in the clouds, descending on a busy Sydney street before zipping off silently into the sunset.

Just what - or who - propelled the strange flying discs across the sky may never be known. But while the close encounter was over in seconds, it was enough to convince mother-of-two Fiona Hartigan that she'd just seen a UFO. And she has the photos to prove it. Ms Hartigan yesterday said she had just got out of her car on Sunday evening to snap a few sunset photos when the amazing events began. "As I was about to take the picture this black object appeared and then it started to move," she said.

"It started off about 800m away but it came closer - to about 400m - and then two other little round things appeared from this bright orange light above. "There was no noise. It was calm and peaceful but it was very weird." Ms Hartigan said the main UFO then "shot off" above Governor Macquarie Drive at Chipping Norton, with the smaller UFOs zipping away in the opposite direction. "I don't know how to explain it - I'm still totally bewildered," she said.

To the sceptic, Ms Hartigan's photo might show a speck of dust on the lens or something small floating in the air close to the camera. But close encounters like Ms Hartigan's came as no surprise to UFO Research NSW spokesman Doug Moffett: "It could be some electrical anomaly that no one has ever seen, it could be an extra-terrestrial craft, it could be something else.

"There does appear to be a blur around the image, which could just be the way it's shaped, or - and this is pure speculation - it could be due to its propulsion system. "Whatever the case, it's an opportunity to learn something new." Mr Moffett said there were between 1000 and 1500 UFO sightings in Australia every year, "but that is just the tip of the iceberg". "Why would anyone make these stories up? They are setting themselves up for ridicule," he said.

Source: http://tinyurl.com/yj3awqw

Facing The Important Issues In Ufology

If you've been around in the UFO field for some time now, you will have realised what a whirlwind ride this subject can take you on. However, over the years you may have come to learn, like many others before you, that finding answers to your questions about ETs is not the real goal of your quest. The goal for many, and we believe for our civilization, is not to find the answers but to ask the right questions, for it is only in the work of unearthing the right questions that we will create the impetus within our civilization to take us forward into galactic citizenship.

The years that researchers have spent taking reports from the public, interviewing witnesses, conducting investigations, reading, researching etc, are important steps and have built the foundations for the future of UFO research. However, the UFO subject has a way of acting like a boomerang for many of us. When we stray too far from it's centre it returns us to our personal entry point, which for many has been reports of extraterrestrial worlds and ET societies that function with no war, far less disease (in some cases no disease), how various ETs govern their society by the people and for the people, how those societies handle the issue of longevity and their great reverence for all life.

Curiously, questions about extraterrestrial life have a funny way of turning us inward to question life on Earth. Moreover, we're challenged to reassess our understanding of life, where it comes from, how we respond to it and how tolerant we can be of other lifeforms which may be very different from us. In it's own way the UFO subject prepares us for open contact.

The process of how our present civilization can get from where we are now to the ET model before us contains the most important social questions of our time. No wonder the UFO cmmunity keeps avoiding them, but these are questions we need to face if we are to take the next step towards understanding both our inner and outer worlds.

Are You Willing To Be An Avatar?

Avatar the movie is a unique combination of cinematography, characters and storyline combining all three in a magical way to plants seeds that will hopefully germinate many questions about our own future as a species. Set light years away from Earth on Pandora where Earth corporations are mining a rare mineral that will solve Earth’s energy problems, a former marine comes face to face with the unexpected. Because the atmosphere on Pandora is toxic to humans, the Avatar program has been created where genetically created bodies suited to the atmosphere have been grown and human consciousness can be downloaded into the drivers seat of these bodies thereby enabling humans in Avatar bodies the freedom to move about freely in Pandora’s atmosphere.

Whether it meant to or not, right up the movie asks questions about the possibility of transferring consciousness from one body to another, thereby exploring immortality. What would it be like if we could change bodies when the one we were using was no longer useful? What if you could retain memories from one lifetime to another? How would that affect your “getting of wisdom” in a very long life? Can humans remain at our current level of development and become immortal? What would happen if we discover the technology to transfer consciousness before we gain the wisdom of extending the existence of people who use this to human detriment?

This is an issue raised by contactees who claimed to communicate with ETs far older than us and much further along in their social development. Could they have been using bodies suited to earth’s environment all along? As we progress down this avenue, and if we are successful at pulling off this technology in the future, how will it change our perspective of life, of All life, in the universe. Will we eventually see with the penetratingly spiritual eyes like the Na’vi people of Pandora?

Until that time, would it be best to develop a peaceful mentality so that when we do gain longevity, through whatever means, we won’t be unleashing harmful human behaviour in our corner of the universe. If so, how do we as a civilization change from a military power driven perspective to the spiritual perspective shared by the Na’vi? Would that be in our best interest anyway? And what are the steps towards gaining a deep reverence for all living things, to being in touch with what drives our humanity? How do we humans return to life as part of nature while healing our mental and emotional abstinence from it? All issues raised by the Na’vi lifestyle.

While some in the UFO community are blathering about not going to see the movie because they consider it portrays humans as a blight wherever they go, they’ve failed to identify Avatar as a unique film that is very relevant to the ET issue and that it should be mined for it’s riches. Wouldn’t it be a surprise if we could actually learn something from it?