The federal government said yesterday that it has solved the three-year-old mystery of a small plane crash in Alabama that, at least initially, appeared to have been the result of an in-flight collision with an unexplained object.
The nighttime crash in October 2002 of the single-engine Cessna cargo plane killed the pilot, the plane's only occupant, and launched UFO and government-conspiracy theories on Web sites, pondering what it might have collided with. Red scuff marks were found on pieces of the wreckage after it was pulled from a swamp.
High Strangeness
Johnny Marlin says two employees were cutting tobacco in this barn beside his home when suddenly, they heard an explosion.
A five pound chunk of ice fell through the roof of the barn. Marlin believes it fell from a passing plane overhead.
"I called Lelan Statom, and said can you explain this one? He guessed airplane too," said Marlin.
Marlin says luckily no one was hurt, but he's keeping the ice-chunk as a keepsake.
A five pound chunk of ice fell through the roof of the barn. Marlin believes it fell from a passing plane overhead.
"I called Lelan Statom, and said can you explain this one? He guessed airplane too," said Marlin.
Marlin says luckily no one was hurt, but he's keeping the ice-chunk as a keepsake.
A West crop circle expert has lifted the lid on a previously long-forgotten chapter in the bizarre history of the West's 1990 crop circle mystery. Colin Andrews revealed to a coast-to-coast audience in America the goings-on under the cover of a summer night 15 years ago.
Mr Andrews, who left his West home for the US a decade ago, said that, far from being an embarrassing flop, the three-week vigil on the hilltops of Wiltshire was an astounding and secret success.
Listeners on US radio heard claims yesterday that the British Army watched and filmed a UFO making a ground-breaking crop circle near Silbury Hill while the world's media were camped 20 miles away.
Back in 1990, it was the high point of the crop circle hysteria gripping the world.
Mr Andrews, who left his West home for the US a decade ago, said that, far from being an embarrassing flop, the three-week vigil on the hilltops of Wiltshire was an astounding and secret success.
Listeners on US radio heard claims yesterday that the British Army watched and filmed a UFO making a ground-breaking crop circle near Silbury Hill while the world's media were camped 20 miles away.
Back in 1990, it was the high point of the crop circle hysteria gripping the world.
Somebody knows how catfish ended up on eastbound Interstate 20 near Airline Drive on Friday afternoon, Dec 23.
Just not Bossier City authorities.
Passing motorists had already pummeled, squashed and obliterated the slippery aquatic creatures by the time police were called.
They arrived about 1:30 p.m. and shut down traffic because the gooey remnants left an oily service that could pose a driving hazard.
Eastbound travel was halted completely for about 15 minutes while firefighters used grease sweep, a granulated substance, to provide traction on slippery surfaces.
Just not Bossier City authorities.
Passing motorists had already pummeled, squashed and obliterated the slippery aquatic creatures by the time police were called.
They arrived about 1:30 p.m. and shut down traffic because the gooey remnants left an oily service that could pose a driving hazard.
Eastbound travel was halted completely for about 15 minutes while firefighters used grease sweep, a granulated substance, to provide traction on slippery surfaces.
Comment: Comment: Maybe they did, maybe they didn't.
Tokyo - A disc-shaped piece of ice of unknown origin plummeted from the sky onto a golf course near Tokyo Wednesday, narrowly missing players on the fairway but causing no injuries, police said.
Authorities were investigating the bizarre incident, said Saitama prefectural (state) police spokesman Masahiko Kuwashima.
Four players at the Heisei Club golf course in Saitama, just outside Tokyo, heard a loud thud and found a disc-shaped hunk of ice - about 50 centimeters (20 inches) in diameter and 15 centimeters (6 inches) thick - broken into several pieces, Kuwashima said.
He said police investigators have asked the Transport Ministry to check a possibility that ice stuck on an airplane might have fallen, and are waiting for the ministry's response.
There have been several past reports of ice falling in Chiba prefecture (state) near Tokyo's Narita International Airport, Kuwashima said.
Authorities were investigating the bizarre incident, said Saitama prefectural (state) police spokesman Masahiko Kuwashima.
Four players at the Heisei Club golf course in Saitama, just outside Tokyo, heard a loud thud and found a disc-shaped hunk of ice - about 50 centimeters (20 inches) in diameter and 15 centimeters (6 inches) thick - broken into several pieces, Kuwashima said.
He said police investigators have asked the Transport Ministry to check a possibility that ice stuck on an airplane might have fallen, and are waiting for the ministry's response.
There have been several past reports of ice falling in Chiba prefecture (state) near Tokyo's Narita International Airport, Kuwashima said.
On Dec. 9, 1965, a fireball was reported streaking over four states, across the Pittsburgh area and toward Greensburg.
Local sightings touched off calls to police, who assumed they should be looking for an airplane on fire or a downed aircraft.
Around dinner time, residents of Kecksburg, a village in Mt. Pleasant Township, Pennsylvania, began reporting that something had fallen into a wooded area just outside the town.
Local sightings touched off calls to police, who assumed they should be looking for an airplane on fire or a downed aircraft.
Around dinner time, residents of Kecksburg, a village in Mt. Pleasant Township, Pennsylvania, began reporting that something had fallen into a wooded area just outside the town.
Kecksburg, Pennsylvania - A fire in the sky, an acorn-shaped object partially buried in the ground, odd hieroglyphic markings, the military restricting access to the site, a possible government cover-up -- all in Westmoreland County and it's all a part of what's known as the UFO incident in Kecksburg.
Friday will mark the 40th anniversary of that incident, when numerous people witnessed a fireball streak across the skies in the late afternoon.
While the fireball reportedly was seen in four states, it landed in a wooded area near the village of Kecksburg, near Mt. Pleasant.
All the witnesses interviewed said that the object in question was large, metallic, acorn-shaped, with hieroglyphic markings, and partially buried in the ground.
Soon after the object fell, the military was on the scene and cordoned off the area, forbidding access to everyone.
Even after a military flat-bed trailer truck was seen rushing out of the area carrying a tarpaulin-covered object, to this day the official story from the government was that nothing was found, that what crashed was a meteorite.
Friday will mark the 40th anniversary of that incident, when numerous people witnessed a fireball streak across the skies in the late afternoon.
While the fireball reportedly was seen in four states, it landed in a wooded area near the village of Kecksburg, near Mt. Pleasant.
All the witnesses interviewed said that the object in question was large, metallic, acorn-shaped, with hieroglyphic markings, and partially buried in the ground.
Soon after the object fell, the military was on the scene and cordoned off the area, forbidding access to everyone.
Even after a military flat-bed trailer truck was seen rushing out of the area carrying a tarpaulin-covered object, to this day the official story from the government was that nothing was found, that what crashed was a meteorite.
Lebanon, Pennsylvania - In the middle of the night, Jan Helen McGee awoke, shaking, images of murder bouncing around her head.
A dozen years ago, she dreamed of two men dining together. An argument erupted, escalated into a fight and ended as one man shot the other.
I've been having nightmares about murder my whole life, she said while seated in her home on North Eighth Street in Lebanon, her legs crossed at the knee, her hands flailing with nervous energy. I woke up with a gasp. ... I was shaking, and I told my (now) ex-husband about my dream. He told me I should go to the police.
A dozen years ago, she dreamed of two men dining together. An argument erupted, escalated into a fight and ended as one man shot the other.
I've been having nightmares about murder my whole life, she said while seated in her home on North Eighth Street in Lebanon, her legs crossed at the knee, her hands flailing with nervous energy. I woke up with a gasp. ... I was shaking, and I told my (now) ex-husband about my dream. He told me I should go to the police.
A character in Charles Dickens' Bleak House burns to death without any apparent reason. Human spontaneous combustion is a belief which has been around for centuries but does it really exist?
Viewers following Andrew Davies's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House on BBC One have just seen the dreadful moment when alcoholic Krook - played sinisterly by Johnny Vegas - finds his gin warming his stomach more than usual, and suddenly bursts into flames.
As his charred remains are found, Dickens lets the awful scene unfold: "Here is a small burnt patch of flooring; here is the tinder from a little bundle of burnt paper, but not so light as usual, seeming to be steeped in something; and here is - is it the cinder of a small charred and broken log of wood sprinkled with white ashes, or is it coal? Oh, horror, he IS here!"
Viewers following Andrew Davies's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House on BBC One have just seen the dreadful moment when alcoholic Krook - played sinisterly by Johnny Vegas - finds his gin warming his stomach more than usual, and suddenly bursts into flames.
As his charred remains are found, Dickens lets the awful scene unfold: "Here is a small burnt patch of flooring; here is the tinder from a little bundle of burnt paper, but not so light as usual, seeming to be steeped in something; and here is - is it the cinder of a small charred and broken log of wood sprinkled with white ashes, or is it coal? Oh, horror, he IS here!"
There is one question that persistently circles the community of Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) true-believers: If the government has nothing to hide, UFO fans often ask, then why is it keeping so many UFO records under lock and key?
"Well, it turns out that the government does have something to hide, but it has nothing to do with extraterrestrials," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C.
A document has surfaced that had been stamped "Top Secret Umbra" - the codeword for the highest, most sensitive category of communications intelligence.
The once-classified affidavit was originally filed by the National Security Agency (NSA) in a 1980 lawsuit to justify the withholding of records on UFOs. The document is largely declassified - with certain sections cut out, ostensibly to protect employee names, and keep NSA technologies, skills, and foreign connections out of the limelight.
"Well, it turns out that the government does have something to hide, but it has nothing to do with extraterrestrials," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, D.C.
A document has surfaced that had been stamped "Top Secret Umbra" - the codeword for the highest, most sensitive category of communications intelligence.
The once-classified affidavit was originally filed by the National Security Agency (NSA) in a 1980 lawsuit to justify the withholding of records on UFOs. The document is largely declassified - with certain sections cut out, ostensibly to protect employee names, and keep NSA technologies, skills, and foreign connections out of the limelight.
Comment: The one article entitled UFO's and the Intelligence Community Blind Spot to Surprise or Deceptive Data is used to try and show that the NSA is not at all interested in the UFO phenomenon itself.
Unfortunately, we are still left with the NSA employee who actually attended a UFO symposium and other reports, one of which is mentioned only by its title: UFO Hypothesis and Survival Questions. This paper doesn't exactly sound like something written by an agency that has absolutely no real interest in the phenomenon...
As with most "declassified" documents relating to the subject of UFOs, it seems the NSA papers are only intended to sow more confusion and distract serious researchers.
Comment: Seems to be a lot of ice chunks falling from "planes" lately. With so many instances that could make them liable to lawsuits for damages, you'd think they would "clean up their act." But then, maybe the ice chunks are NOT falling from planes...