Phantoms and Monsters

New UFO Flap Over North Central Texas?
Fortean / Alternative News: IUFOC Conference, New Stonehenge Theory and Fatal First Kiss
Bigfoot Mania in Central North Carolina

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 12:44 PM PST

February 10, 2011: Several sightings in the Hill Country of North Central Texas, as witnesses from Dublin, DeLeon, Brownwood, Eastland and Goldthwaite report spheres, lights, triangle UFOs and swarms of military aircraft. I want to thank my friend SW at Lights In The Texas Sky for confirming these sightings by telephone today. All of reports were posted at the MUFON CMS and are unedited:

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MUFON Case # 27770
Date/Time: 2011-02-10 00:00
Location: Texas
Shape: Flash,Unknown
Distance: Unknown
Vallee Index: AN1
Summary: multiple lights with sporatic flashing no consistency. would disapear and reappear. 4 bright orange lights would slowly appear and then disapear.

My mother and i were pulling into the driveway when she stopped and asked me if i could see the strange lights in the sky. Sure enough there were strange flashy lights that appeared to be bouncy and extremely inconsistent. We called my father, who was riding his horse in our arena, he could see them as well. My mother and i parked the car and ran to the arena to continue watching them. They would dissappear and reappear. Just when the sky would be dark and we would think they were gone these bright orange lights would appear slowly first one, then a second one, a third, and then a fourth. These lights were compleyely still. Sometimes they would be really close together, even over lapping, while other times they would be spaced out... At one point they were lined up in a. straight line. Then they would completely dissappear again. The flashy, bouncy lights would reappear. When we first the lights they were really close but seemed to be moving west. We are used to seeing planes and fighter jets and these lights were nothing of the sort. The movements were so inconsistent and sporatic.. Its completely unxplainable. My mom reported our sighting and within 20 minutes there were fighter jets or similar air crafts flying near our property... But after they left the sporatic lights reappeared in the west and occasionally we would see the still bright orange lights. We called our friend lived not too far from us and he ccould see them too. We watched them for about an hour. I tried taking pictures but could not capture the lights.

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MUFON Case # 27758
Date/Time: 2011-02-10 19:00
City: De Leon
State: Texas
Shape: Triangle
Duration: 00:10:00
Distance: Over one mile
Vallee Index: FB1
Summary: TRIANGLE W/ AIRCRAFT ESCORT

UPON ARRIVING AT HOME AT APPROX 1900 HOURS I OBSERVED TO THE EAST OF THE CITY OF DELEON TEXAS TOWARDS THE CITY OF DUBLIN TEXAS WHAT APPEARED TO BE A SINGLE RUNNING LIGHT OF AN AIRCRAFT, BUT UPON FURTHER OBSERVATION I OBSERVED TO MORE LIGHTS FLASHING IN UNISON IN A TRIANGLE PATTERN,THE OBJECT WAS BEING FOLLOWED BY TWO AIRCRAFT WHICH I PERCEIVED TO BE LARGE JET POWERED AIRCRAFT,I OBSERVED THE TRIANGLE CRAFT AND CAME TO THE CONCLUSION IT WAS MASSIVE IN SIZE COMPARED TO THE TWO AIRCRAFT THAT WERE FOLLOWING,THE TRIANGLE CRAFT MOVED FROM NORTH TO SOUTH AT A RAPID PACE, THE TWO "CHASE" AIRCRAFT THEN BROKE OFF AND HEADED WEST TOWARD ABILENE TEXAS,THE TRIANGLE CRAFT CONTINUED SOUTH AND AFTER APPROXIMATELY FIVE MINUTES ON THIS COURSE THE THREE CORNER RUNNING LIGHTS LITE UP RED,THE CLOSEST THING I CAN COMPARE THIS TO IS AFTERBURNERS OR FLAMES,THE OBJECT WAS SOON OUT OFF VIEW AND I COULD NO LONGER OBSERVE,AFTER THE CRAFT WAS OUT OF VIEW A THIRD JET POWERED AIRCRAFT APPROACHED FROM THE WEST FROM THE ABILENE TEXAS AREA AND WAS ON COURSE TO INTERCEPT THE LAST AREA I SAW THE TRIANGLE SHAPED CRAFT.DURING THE TIME I OBSERVED THE CRAFT THE HAIR ON MY NECK WAS STANDING UP AND I COULD HEAR THE NEIGHBORHOOD DOGS BARKING AND MAKING MORE OF A FUSS THAN USUAL.

MUFON Case # 27759
Date/Time: 2011-02-10 19:15
City: Dublin
State: Texas
Shape: Sphere
Duration: 00:00:15
Location: Town
Visibility: Clear
Weather: None
Vallee Index: MA1
Summary: 2 glowing gold/bronze spheres

I was getting in my vehicle and noticed a bright glowing object in the sky South/West over Dublin. I looked at the sphere and it disappeared, then a second one appeared just left of the where the first one disappeared. It glowed for about 5 to 10 seconds then it disappeared as well. After it disappeared then I notice 5 or 6 of what I think are military jets right in the same area all in a very small area just where the spheres were. Within 30 seconds or so the jets (I can tell by their flashing lights) started dispersing in all different directions. Then they all generally moved to the west for 30 to 60 seconds, then the all turned around and headed back east, all 5 seemed to group up again in a smaller area and all were traveling east. I watched another minute or two and never saw anything else except the jets, so I went on.

About 8 weeks ago my wife and I both saw 3 of these same gold/bronze spheres in the same exact locations. They flashed on a off several times with up to 2 on at the same time. Each time one would disappear then another, or the same one would reappear in a different location a couple of sphere widths to the side. This lasted 30 seconds or so, after they quit then we saw the jets again but not in as a close pattern this time, more just searching.

Approximately 1 year ago, I, my wife,my son and his wife all saw 3 or 4 of these same gold/bronze spheres in the s/w sky but we were at the west side of Stephenville at the time. That time they lasted about 1 minute, long enough for me to pull of the road into the Wal Mart parking lot and we all got out of the car to view them.

MUFON Case # 27760
Date/Time: 2011-02-10 19:45
City: Goldthwaite
State: Texas
Shape: Star-like
Distance: One mile or less
Vallee Index: FB1
Summary: spotted two star-like objects at about a 25 degree angle in sky. Then in seconds they were gone

I was passenger in auto driving between Mills and Brown counties and glanced up to see two bright objects moving at the same speed across the sky. At first glance I thought of UFO's since they were climbing together at about a 20-degree angle; then both just dissapeared. I was mistified at seeing such objects; however a few miles further I again caught sight of seven objects; ascending at about a 30-degree angle; and they two then dissappeared within a matter of seconds.

MUFON Case # 27761
Date/Time: 2011-02-10 19:36
City: Eastland
State: Texas
Shape: Sphere
Distance: One mile or less
Summary: Row of orange lights again

I went for a drive around Lake Leon tonight. Truthfully, I just had a hunch that I would see something tonight, and I did. I was making a loop around the lake going south on Ranch Rd 2461 (I was at the southeast corner of the lake). I was making the bend right before the road meets up with Ranch Rd 2214. While taking that bend I saw the orange lights. They were in the southern sky, were quite low in altitude and quite close. There was a string of 4 or 5 orange lights in a row with two "stray" orange lights above and out to the sides of the main row. The lights came on slowly, burned brightly then dimmed out. The lights were in the same formation and behaved in exactly the same way as the lights I reported over Eastland cemetery in November of 2008. After the lights had disappeared I noticed a large swarm of military jets in the area. Their white strobes covered the sky, and they seemed to sweep the area farther south after the sighting towards De Leon and eventually seemed to split up into pairs and sweep north. Immediately after the sighting, I stopped the car at the intersection of 2461 and 2214 and texted some friends who had seen the same type of ufo with me 11 months earlier over the nearby town of Cisco. One of my friends texted me back and said he was on his way to the nearby town of Ranger (northeast of where I was). I told him to keep his eyes peeled. A few minutes later at 7:50pm, he texted me and said he just saw two ufos. A few minutes later at 7:52 he texted me again and said he saw the ufo again. I texted him and told him that what I had seen was a row of orange lights like the ones we saw over Cisco last year and asked if he was seeing the same thing. He texted me back and said "yes" he was seeing the rows of orange lights like we had seen together over Cisco. Later at 8:27pm he texted me stating he was seeing jets everywhere. I have seen these same orange lights in Eastland county for several years. I'm curious about them but can never deduce anything about them except that they are arbitrary lights in the sky. The lights always appear disembodied--no visible craft they appeared attached to, but seeing the lights in the similar rows of 4 or 5 with a few extra above makes me wonder if they aren't actually attached to a fixed-shaped craft that happens to be "cloaked" in some way. The lights seem to hover or creep along at a snail's pace and are totally silent. Military jets always accompany the sightings. One more thing. I also have noticed that the sightings tend to occur when the moon is in its quarter phase (tonight is first quarter--this is what gave me my "hunch" that I would see something). Sorry, no footage. Again, event happens within a matter of seconds with no time to grab a camera.

MUFON Case # 27762
Date/Time: 2011-02-10 00:00
City: Brownwood
State: Texas
Shape: Star-like
Summary: Stopped at traffic light & saw 5 to 7 bright orange spots of light in sky north of Brownwood, TX

I was sitting in passenger side of auto stopped at red light. Looked up through front windshield and saw one ob-long trail of orange light; which broke into 5 - 7 individual star-like objects. I was puzzled at the site of orange lights in sky. The objects dissapeared one by one.

This was the second incidence of seeing foreign objects in the sky within a 30 minute time-frame. Two people in another car, pulled up beside my auto as I arrived at Early, TX; motioned for me to roll down the window and asked "Did You See The Lights In The Sky BACK THERE?" I answered "YES", and the woman passenger said "OK, GREAT, Now I know we aren't going crazy"!

MUFON Case # 27764
Date/Time: 2011-02-10 07:47
City: Dublin
State: Texas
Shape: Circle,Flash,Star-like
Summary: WOW

I was on my way home from work, traveling on highway 377 from stephenville to dublin. i saw out of the corner of my eye some lights.. i thought it was the cell phone tower, realized that the tower was not there, it was on the opposite side of the highway.. about 1/2 mile or so back towards stephenville. i looked and saw 2 rows of lights. there were a total of 6 lights. these looked to be from the way i had seen it about the size of volkswagen lights. they seemed to be rotating around something. whatever they were on was ENORMOUS!! as i reached for my cell phone to call my husband, by this time i had slowed down to about 30mph on the highway. i also noticed that the car beside me had slowed down as well. i called my husband and told him to go outside. then it was like the lights shut off, they did not fade or anything, not even get smaller, as if flying away. they just turned off!! then it was as if they seperated and there were more, my husband stayed on the phone w/me until i pulled into the driveway. we stood in our front yard and watched.there were random lights flying in all kinds of directions. one of them had a green light. i called my dad, who was in the marines for the majority of my life. i know that these were not f-18's flying in any sort of formation..for i grew up on a military base until i was 16. i am of sound mind, my father came to my house (he lives a couple of blocks from my house) he watched some of it w/us. then it these things, lights that seemed to have seperated and had gotten smaller got closer and took off.not much longer we saw jets take off after them! it was the most amazing, and scary thing i have ever seen ever in my life! WOW...we tried to record w/ our camcorder. i believe all we caught was one of the lights in the sky and the sound of the jets taking off after what is was we saw.

Fortean / Alternative News: IUFOC Conference, New Stonehenge Theory and Fatal First Kiss

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 12:02 PM PST

Former military officials present evidence of UFOs at conference

abc15 - Organizers say former American, Canadian and British military officials will present evidence of the existence of UFOs at a Valley conference this month.

The International UFO Congress (IUC) will hold its 20th convention in Scottsdale at the end of February.

Maureen Elsberry, Marketing Director for Open Minds Production, said the event moved to Arizona this year because the group wanted to expand the audience.

Open Minds Production is a group dedicated to investigating and reporting extraterrestrial phenomena, according to their news release.

"We wanted to expose the event to everyone, not just UFO buffs," Elsberry told ABC15.

Since the organization was established in 1991, it has hosted an annual conference in Laughlin, Nevada. This year UFO enthusiasts will descend on Fort McDowell Resort & Casino near Scottsdale, February 23-27.

The conference is expected to host over 20 speakers and international exhibitors, who present on UFO phenomenon. According to the IUC website, topics include government cover-ups, exopolitics, crop circles and alien visitation.

Among the presenters this year is journalist Leslie Kean, who will share excerpts from her new book, "UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials go on the Record," which includes ex-Arizona Governor Fyfe Symington's sighting of the Phoenix Lights, a mass UFO sighting in 1997. Frances Barwood, former Phoenix city council woman during the Phoenix Lights incident, will reportedly share her struggle to represent citizens who wanted to investigate the event.

Panels of astrophysicists, nuclear physicists, abductees and former top-secret-clearance military are among the other presenters at the five-day conference.

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New theory on Stonehenge transport from Wales

BBC - Island-based designer and engineer Garry Lavin has set out to revolutionise ideas on how the ancient monument of Stonehenge was built.

The current accepted theory is that each three-quarter tonne stone was rolled for more than 200 miles on logs, but Mr Lavin disagrees.

He thinks the historic monument could have been built using wicker basket constructions to roll the boulders all the way from Wales.

"I constructed a 0.5-metre diameter structure in hazel and willow into which I placed a sharply rectangular 40kg stone from a collapsed dry stone wall," he said.

"I packed the gaps inside with reeds and rolled it down a hillside. The stone fell out at the bottom but my construction was still intact.

"The project was then taken to the edge of the local canal and pushed in and it floated with about an eighth of the mass protruding above the water, but easily towable along the canal."

So could this really have been the way our ancient ancestors chose to achieve such an incredible feat of engineering as Stonehenge?

Mr Lavin says woven structures were used widely at the time so it makes sense to assume they could also have been used in this way.

In past experiments Mr Lavin succeeded in moving a large one-ton stone in a wicker cage that he had made himself.

This year he will try to move a five-ton stone during the Summer Solstice at a time when the eyes of the world are firmly fixed on the Stonehenge monument.

"I have no doubt a four-fifths of a tonne stone could be moved great distances by surprisingly few people. The method of pulling rope like a giant bobbin creates leverage that puts the process streets ahead of other theories."

"I look forward to getting an opportunity to float our bluestone replica down a river and maybe across the Severn estuary. We've done the maths to determine the ratio of wood to stone needed to suspend it in water."

Mr Lavin hopes the project will expand people's understanding of those who lived in Britain over 5,000 years ago. He says he wants to "put some flesh on a society whose achievements rival or maybe even surpass those of the very familiar Romans in Britain".

This intriguing story has now been reported on many websites around the world and has been translated into numerous languages- so it is possible Mr Lavin will have an international audience as he attempts to revolutionise established thought on the building of one of England's most famous heritage sites.

NOTE: honestly, this is the best and most probable theory I had read...Lon

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Dreamworks Hear VOICES FROM THE DEAD, Houdini & Doyle Investigate…

obsessedwithfilm - The X-Files was among the most successful television programmes ever made. Based on certain strands of mythology in Ufology and other supposed paranormal phenomena, at its heart was the relationship between "the believer"- Special Agent Fox Mulder- and "the sceptic"- Special Agent Dana Scully- it became synonymous with the 1990s and helped inspire a rebirth in interest in all manner of conspiracy theories, from the intriguing to the outright barmy. Some fifteen years later, it appears that the prolific American screenwriter, J. Michael Straczynski, is keen to relive a similar relationship from history- that of illusionist, Harry Houdini, and author, Arthur Conan Doyle.

In Straczynski's new script, Voices from the Dead, the one-time friends are charged with solving a murder case in New York City with the help of a psychic. Now, while this may seem more than a little far-fetched, Doyle did indeed investigate crimes in his day- his efforts freed two innocent men- as well as being deeply involved in- and convinced of- spiritualism. Houdini, conversely, spent a great deal of his time investigating the fraudulent methods of the psychic's, and it was this that ultimately ended the friendship of the two men.

Straczynski is riding a big screen high at the moment having scripted the, broadly speaking, well received The Changeling and the cultish Ninja Assassin, after a long and respected career on numerous television writing teams. Though it is unknown, thus far, who will be charged with directing or production duties at this stage, the script has been picked up by Dreamworks, apparently with a view to beginning pre-production towards the end of the year. The news, perhaps, implies a future trend in revisionist tales about 19th century authors as it will follow a film about Edgar Allan Poe starring John Cusack, in which he too is made the unlikely investigator of a murder mystery.

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Brigadier General Stephen Lovekin talks about Roswell

Click for video

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A Third of Russians Believe the Sun Revolves Around the Earth

popjolly - If you thought America was the land of the uneducated–that's a joke, because it's not–wait till you find out that one third of Russians believe the sun revolves around the earth.

No joke. According to a survey published on Wednesday by the Russian Center of Public Opinion Research, Thirty-two percent of Russians reject a heliocentric solar system, believing instead in Ptolemy's 2000-year old geocentric model.

The survey highlighted scientific superstitions among Russians and was released as President Medvedev called for a revival of the lunar and deep space programs that brought Russia out of the industrial age and into the space age decades ago.

The same survey also found 55 percent of Russians believe that radioactivity is a human invention, which betrays a misunderstanding of how X-Rays work.

A further 29 percent also believe humans lived in the era of dinosaurs, much like the Flintstones. The survey found women more likely (though it does not specify by how much) to believe in such superstitions than men.

The survey was conducted in January among 1,600 people in different regions with a 3.4% margin of error. Discounting the fact that some of them could've been trolls, a large percentage of those who participated in the survey are either old and senile, or completely ignorant.

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Teenage girl collapses and dies after first kiss

telegraphJemma Benjamin, 18, was kissed by fellow university student Daniel Ross, 21, at his home after a night out together.

But Miss Benjamin suddenly slumped onto the sofa - and died in front of Mr Ross's eyes.

The inquest heard Jemma died from SADS, a rare heart condition which kills 500 people in Britain each year.

Mr Ross, who had known Miss Benjamin for three months, tried desperately to save her before paramedics arrived on the scene.

But the inquest heard nothing could have be done for Miss Benjamin, who was described as a "picture of health".

Mr Ross told police that he and Miss Benjamin had been friends for three months - but that was the first time they had kissed.

He said: "It was not a sexual relationship but we saw each other a couple of times a week.

"We were going to go to a bar for some food and went back to my house for a credit card which I had forgotten.

"We were talking and ended up kissing in the hallway by the front door.

"We went into the kitchen and then the living room and Jemma sat down on the sofa."

Mr Ross said that Miss Benjamin's eyelids "suddenly began to droop" and her mouth started to froth before she collapsed at his student flat in Treforest, Pontypridd, South Wales.

He said: "I rang her mother to see if she had epilepsy. She fell in and out of consciousness."

He rang 999 and was given CPR instructions on the phone by a Welsh Ambulance Service control operator but he was unable to revive her.

Det Con Richie Andrews, who interviewed Mr Ross, told the inquest: "Jemma and Daniel started chatting and ended up kissing each other - it was possible that it was the first time they had kissed."

Miss Benjamin's father told the hearing that he thought his daughter and Mr Ross were "just friends".

He said: "Jemma was very shy and timid."

The hearing was told Miss Benjamin was athletic and sporty but was "stressed" about forthcoming exams in sports science.

Her mother Charlotte Garwood said Miss Benjamin - a long distance swimmer and hockey player - was "a picture of health one minute and taken away from me the next".

She said: "I am not able to put into words how much I miss her."

Mr Ross has since finished his studies at the University of Glamorgan in Pontypridd, South Wales, and returned to his home city of Birmingham.

A post mortem examination by pathologist Dr Jason Shannon could find no medical reason for her death in April 2009.

The hearing was told she had no history of cardiac problems.

Glamorgan coroner Peter Maddox recorded a narrative verdict at the inquest in Aberdare.

After the hearing, builder Mr Benjamin, 38, of Llantwit Fardre, South Wales, said: "We were shocked and devastated that such a fit girl as Jemma should have died."

He said he was setting up an appeal to raise £5,000 for a heart screening programme for young people in the area through the charity CRY - Cardiac Risk In The Young.

Bigfoot Mania in Central North Carolina

Posted: 11 Feb 2011 12:01 PM PST

foxcharlotte - About an hour east of Charlotte, Troy, NC has a population of just over 3000, residents say everyone knows their neighbor. That was until super bowl Sunday when someone spotted a hairy beast.

"Sasquatch, Bigfoot, in Florida they call it the skunk ape, in the Appalachians and in parts of Tennessee and Kentucky it's known as the Wollybooger," says John Pate.

Whatever you call it, residents say they have proof it exists with pictures of 17 inch footprints.

"When I came out the stretch between the prints is 10 to 12 feet, you know that's a pretty big stretch," said Leonard Braley. Strides that are too big to be a human says the B.F.R.O. or the Bigfoot Field Research Organization.

"Every state, except Hawaii, has had some type of Sasquatch/ Bigfoot sighting," said John Pate who is an investigator with the B.F.R.O. and is certain between 3 and 6 thousand big foot creatures exist in North America. "They are very very intelligent they have great eyesight they have great hearing and they know how to survive," said Pate. He says they often communicate by knocking on wood.

Bigfoot also reportedly eats plants and meat and throws rocks at campers.

One hundred fifty people showed up at a planning meeting Tuesday night where Pate and others organized a grid search. That search will happen on Saturday.

Click for video

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wxii12 - The quest to find the mythical Bigfoot continued in Montgomery County on Tuesday night.

Producers, actors and the crew from Animal Planet met with members of the community at the Troy Fire Department from 6 to 9 p.m. to share their Bigfoot encounters.

There have been several alleged sightings in the Uwharrie National Forest.

Michael Greene has been hunting Bigfoot for 20 years and helped organize a search party with film crews from the cable channel.

Greene said he has video of a mysterious apelike creature and said he even knows Bigfoot's favorite treat.

On Saturday, searchers will head into the forest to try to flush the big guy out.

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wxii12 - Is the legendary Bigfoot a Tar Heel? A Salisbury man thinks so, and he's trying to prove it.

The Charlotte Observer reports that Michael Greene plans to lead an expedition Saturday in search of Bigfoot in the Uwharrie National Forest in Montgomery County. Greene says he shot three minutes of video of a creature he thinks was Bigfoot in the national forest two years ago.

A crew from the cable channel Animal Planet will join the expedition. The channel is making a series on reputed Bigfoot sightings around the country.

If the fabled animal is in the Uwharrie, it's doing a good job of hiding. At just under 79 square miles, it's the smallest of North Carolina's four national forests.

NOTE: is this 'expedition' for finding actual evidence...or more about 'Animal Planet' being in town? I guess we'll need to wait and see...Lon

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