A new Australian UFO ebook - 'UFOs Down Under'

Introduction

'UFOs Down Under' is the title of a new ebook, by Australian Barry Watts. Barry Watts, B. Ed. was born in 1936 and attended LaTrobe University. He is now a retired teacher of adults, and lives on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. In 1999, Barry and his partner started 'Pegasus Book Orphanage,' an online secondhand book business, which continues today. Between 1975 and the present, Barry has published seven books. 'UFOs Down Under' is his first self-published effort (ebook and paperback [coming next month.]) While 'Pegasus Book Orphanage' books cover a wide range of topics from Aviation to UFOs, Barry has had a specific interest in the subject of UFOs for decades.

The book

The full title of the book is 'Australasian Encounter: UFOs Down Under - The files revisited,' published by Pegasus Education Group, PO Box 223, McCrae, Victoria, 3938; 241pp.

Image courtesy of Barry Watts

The introduction includes 'In this book I have re-examined over thirty UFO encounters in Australia, New Zealand and Papua-New Guinea in detail...some of these are well known...Others are old or obscure, but are nevertheless provocative mysteries.'

Included in the well-known category are:

* 5 February 1947, Port Augusta, South Australia. Five, egg shaped objects in formation pass over the town

* May 1954, East Malvern, Victoria. Six people report a giant football.

* 31 August 1954, Goulburn, New South Wales. Radar/visual sighting.

* 22 August 1968, Zanthus, Western Australia. Aircraft encounter with a formation of one large and several smaller objects

* 21 October 1978, Bass Strait. The Valentich disappearance.

Among the lesser known cases we find:

* 14 January 1969, Childers, Queensland. A family see entities

* 23 March 1975, Nebo, Queensland. A group of people report an encounter to both the police and RAAF

* 20 October 1979, Wonthaggi, Victoria. A motorcyclist encountered an object on the ground.

Barry draws on a variety of sources, including Australian government files; books; magazines; blogs; and newspapers.

Each sighting is well researched, and references used are cited. The work is easy to read; and provides the reader with an excellent overview of each case.

In appropriate places, Barry draws attention to pieces of data which appear incorrect, or in conflict, e.g. some of the recollections of O'Farrell in the 31 August 1954 radar/visual event, and errors in newspaper reports of the 4 October 1960 Cressy, Tasmania observation.

The ebook is an excellent summary of over 30 Australian cases of interest. Barry has obviously done his homework in compiling information about each incident.

The work of Australian researchers including Bill Chalker; George Simpson; Paul Norman; Ben Hurle; Peter Norris; Ray Brooke, and myself, are cited and referenced.

This ebook (and paperback when available) is recommended as an excellent source of detailed information on some of the best Australian UFO cases. Barry is to be commended for all his hard work in drawing this material together.

Copies of the ebook are currently available through Amazon.

Well done Barry!

Could bolides cause some vehicular UAP cases?

I was talking to a friend recently about the observation of bolides (very bright meteors). He told me that on two occasions, while travelling in rural locations at night in a car, that the whole countryside had suddenly, brilliantly lit up.

Looking up, he then observed a bright fireball crossing the sky. He remarked that the entry of the meteor into the Earth’s atmosphere must have generated an immense amount of energy, which then lit up the entire countryside, as bright as daylight, for kilometres around.

I responded by telling him that one night I had been out in my back garden when the entire area lit up just like daylight, for a second or so, then went dark again. This lead us on to talk about electrophonic sounds, heard when bolides are seen in the sky.

These sounds have been heard for centuries

For centuries, observers have been reporting, that simultaneously with seeing a bolide, they heard unusual sounds around them. These sounds, later named electrophonic, were separate from the sonic booms heard moments after the passage of a bolide. Electrophonic sounds were heard at the same time the bolide was visible.

For many years, these electrophonic sounds (hissing, swishing, rushing, roaring, crackling, sizzling, rustling) were felt to be of psychological origin, for no physical mechanism seemed to be able to explain them.

Enter Australian researcher - Colin Keay

Then, Colin Keay, an Australian physicist, investigated sightings of a bolide which passed over New South Wales, Australia in 1978. He found that some observers reported electrophonic sounds. He then went on to demonstrate that large meteor fireballs generated very low frequency electromagnetic energy, which may be audible to some observers on the ground. This energy is transduced into sound waves by nearby objects such as a fence; vegetation; spectacles, and hair. It has now been scientifically accepted that this mechanism does explain the electrophonic sounds described by some, but not all, bolide observers.

I read a number of scientific papers about electrophonic sounds from bolides.

 However, it was on Colin Keay’s website homepage that I came across something very interesting.

‘In 1992 veteran fireball reporter Bob Pugh of Oregon, USA, collected several reports of a large fireball which passed over the Coos Bay region. Besides reports of hissing, crackling and popping sounds at the same time as the fireball was seen, there was a report of a house trembling and a metal lamp making a static-sizzling sound for 2-3 s. At Winston, OR a shock was also felt inside an automobile. Near Diamond Lake Junction an observer felt a pressure on his chest at the time of the fireball.’

The interesting part about the above, was the physical effects noticed, apart from the electrophonic sounds.

Long term readers of this blog, will now know where I am going with this blog post!

UAP reports

I revisited one of my catalogues of UAP reports, one which detailed observations from persons travelling in automobiles, usually in rural settings. I found four Australian sightings along the lines of interest to me.

1. March 1970, Scottsdale, Tasmania.

A forestry worker was driving alone when he saw a flash of light in the sky. His car radio was overcome with static. A soundless, green object, three times the angular size of the full Moon was seen to the rear of the vehicle. (Source – TUFOIC.)

2. 5 February 1979, Lawitta, Tasmania. 2150hrs.

While driving alone, a man noted his car radio had died. Seconds later, an intense white light enveloped the car and he could not see beyond the bonnet. The car’s lights and motor failed in the same instant. Beyond the events are vague and the next thing he knew he was being stopped by police for driving the car without lights at night. He was taken to hospital and examined, and found to be in a state of shock. His vehicle, a Ford Cortina 71TC was inspected and found to have a flat battery and the engine oil level was low. The cut-off switch on the alternator needed replacing as did wiring, especially the headlights. Radiator water was also low. (Source – TUFOIC.)

3. April 1979, Gormanston Saddle, Tasmania. 0020hrs.

A green light with a purple edge came straight at a taxi driver, seemingly going straight over the vehicle, and lighting up the interior as if it was daylight. The taxi lost power and would not accelerate, the motor just shook. The driver tried to radio for help but it was dead. After the light passed, everything returned to normal. (Source – TUFOIC.)

4. Ca. 1994, Harvey Creek, Queensland. 2030hrs.

A huge light approached two women travelling by car. The engine and lights of the car went out for no apparent reason. The light passed over the car, temporarily blinding the women. After a few seconds the vehicle’s lights came back on by themselves. The engine of the car started the first time the ignition key was turned. (Source – UFORQLD.)

Can bolides explain these case?

My question at this point, is, could electromagnetic energy from a bolide produce these kind of effects reported within the UAP literature? Obviously, a lot more research needs to be conducted.

There is one more UAP report which I would like blog readers to consider under this hypothesis.

16 September 1974, St. Helens, Tasmania. 2115hrs.

This very unusual event occurred to Mrs Andrea Richards, housewife, thirty four, and her daughters Janine (eight) and Kathleen (five) when they were travelling home to The Marches near St Helens. Weatherwise it was a light drizzling rain, on a dark night. They were all very tired when suddenly static was heard on the radio. As soon as the static began the sky directly ahead became brightly lit up. The car lost power on a gentle incline, then stopped dead. The headlights, radio, heater, and dashboard lights all went out, and it was dark apart from the light in the sky.

Aerial view of the sighting location

Mrs Richards tried to start the car but after ten seconds a deafening, vibrating noise enveloped the car. This lasted about a minute. Almost simultaneously, quite painful, electric shocks began penetrating their bodies.

The car was then filled with an invisible chocking smell. Both Mrs Richards and Janine jumped out of the car taking Kathleen with them. They fled down the road leaving the car. The light in the sky was still visible. They went to a house. Upon returning to the car the car started alright. The next day it was checked at a garage but no faults were found. Mrs Richards suffered a numb right side to the face and a two cent sized red mark above her right eyebrow. The day after, her arms and fingers were badly swollen and she had difficulty walking. (Source – TUFOIC.)

The full report on this sighting may be read here.

Still in the shadows

Last July, I decided to re-focus my UAP research, and now it is time to evaluate how this is going.

Facebook

One of the things I instituted, was to cease using Facebook in my UAP work. So, yesterday I spent a little time looking at a variety of current Australian Facebook UAP pages. I had previously noted, that I had found little actual research occurring on such pages. My review, yesterday, found that between July 2016 and now, that things were no different. Facebook UAP ‘research’ still consists of short comments; very little data exchange; and no analysis of material or sightings. So, I feel that my decision to stop using Facebook for my research, was justified.

Book reviews

A second change, was to cease writing up reviews of books dealing with UAP. This has been relatively easy to achieve. Yesterday, I used the Amazon Books website to take a look at the titles, authors and content of both hard copy and UAP ebooks, since July 2016. I can count on one hand, the number of serious books to be found. 

A recent, excellent, serious work

Since last year, I have been publishing on one blog, rather than my previous two blogs. The amalgamation has been going well.

Mass media

I have continued to receive requests from both mass media outlets, and from documentary film makers for interviews with me. I have declined each one of these, as the mass media, in my opinion, seeks only entertainment; and many documentaries never survive the process of being created, edited and then coming to market.

So, all in all, I do not regret any of the changes which I made to the way in which my research has been going.

So, what have I been doing since July 2016?

1. I completed a joint project with Anthony Clarke of UFO Research (NSW) Incorporated. This involved the two of us summarising nearly 60 audio recordings, of Australian UAP witnesses, recorded by US researcher James E McDonald, during his 1967 Australian trip. Our results may be found here.

2. I reviewed documentation about the famous 1957, Levelland, Texas, USA, multiple witness, close encounter case. I prepared, then published transcripts of three rare interviews about the incident.

4. Paul Dean of Melbourne, and I, also researched, then published, a detailed ‘cold case’ review paper, about the visual sighting and color movie film taken at Port Moresby, New Guinea, on 23 August 1953. Our paper may be found here.

5. I have contributed a review of about 40 Australian sightings, which are listed on the NICAP website. I updated both content, and references to these.

6. In addition, also on the NICAP website, I have updated some 40 non-Australian cases; all documented in the US Project Blue Book files. Here, I provided case summaries and copies of the Project Blue Book documentation, downloaded from the Fold3 website.

7. Paul Dean and I are currently working on some comments about the 1986 Japan Air Lines flight, encounter over Alaska.

Summary

As can be seen from the list of what I have been doing, my re-focus has been to work in the area of quality, detailed research, away from the rambunctious (uncontrollably exuberant; difficult to control; noisy) social media environment.

I feel it worthwhile to repeat my recent mantra, to my Australian UAP colleagues. Consider stepping away from the use of social media, and conduct your research ‘in the shadows.’ You will find an immediate benefit. 

Webs of deception

Hi all,

This month keep your (Australian) eyes to the skies!

May, in Australia, is the traditional month for reported falls of unusual looking, lengthy strands of 'silk-like' substance, which some UAP researchers refer to as 'Angel Hair.'

May 1974 - Albury, NSW - photo by Kevin Dixon

Is it simply spiders' web, or the residue of the propulsion system of extraterrestrial spaceships?

There was a very large fall of this substance around Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia,on 4 May 2015. For a detailed account of this fall, and the subsequent story which went viral on the Internet, take a look at my post dated 14 May 2015.

If the subject interests you, why not take a look at my comprehensive Australian catalogue and analysis of dozens of Australian falls, which may be found here.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has information on any 2017 falls.

The October 1967 Brisbane, Queensland, photographs

Recently, Vicente-Juan Ballester OImos, a Spanish researcher, asked me about a series of UAP photographs taken in 1967 in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. I didn't know much about this, so sought some original material to undertake some fact checking.

Thanks to another researcher, this time in the United Kingdom, I located a digital copy of issue number 12, (Nov/Dec 1967) of the Newsletter of the Queensland Flying Saucer Research Bureau (QFSRB.) This newsletter had a full account of the circumstances, the photographs, and an analysis. As few blog readers will have access to this Newsletter, I'll provide the full text of the informative article.

'The Brisbane photographs.

Last month a Brisbane man contacted the Bureau saying he had taken several photographs of a 'flying saucer' over the densely populated West End area of Brisbane.

The photographs were said to have been taken between 6.30 and 6.45 a.m. on Sunday, 22nd. October. Asked what he was doing at the time, he said he had gone outside to take a photograph of his girl-friend beside her new car, when the 'saucer' appeared in the viewfinder.

Source: SPACELINK, courtesy of Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos

Nine photographs or negatives were sighted by the Bureau: (1) the girl beside her car with the object in the top corner; (2) the girl shading her eyes, looking at object; (3) the girl pointing to object; (4) the girl taking a photo; (5) the object approaching - witnesses say here the object made 'fluttering' movement as it returned after having moved away after first approach; (6 &7) object closer; (8) object seemingly overhead - witnesses say here the object was starting to take up speed and that colour was seen for first time, 'red' and 'orange'; otherwise, object was silver-grey, metal colour; (9) object going away in distance - one witness says it was now blue colour. (No sound was reported.)

A local chemist told the Bureau that he had the film developed and that it contained photographs of the object being investigated. The film was collected on Monday afternoon (23rd. October) or Tuesday, (24th. October.)

The same day Mrs Sutton (Secretary) called on Mr Wallace and later that evening, Mr Russell (Public Relations Officer and Editor) visited his home and sighted the negatives.

Unfortunately, Mr Russell was not familiar with 35mm film and did not know that the frames were numbered, making it possible to check the actual sequence of the frames. Having sighted the negatives however, he advised Mr Wallace to put the negatives in a safe place (in a bank or with a solicitor) to avoid loss or damage before the Bureau could make a proper analysis of the film. At this point, Mr Wallace said two negatives were already lost or mislaid. One was found next day.

It should be stated that between the time he had collected the film from the chemist, which was handed back to him in a continuous roll or strip, and the time the film was sighted by the Bureau, Mr Wallace had cut the film into separate negatives or frames. It was one of these frames that remained lost. Asked why he had cut the film strip, Mr Wallace said he always did this when  he wanted particular frames enlarged or reprinted and he had wanted to have one or two of the negatives enlarged.

Mr Wallace agreed to have the negatives put in a safe place and to not make his photographs public until proper research had been completed concerning every aspect of his sighting. This was considered warranted because, at first glance, the photographs promised to be one of the best sets ever taken of a UFO. In half the set, the object is clearly seen, the shots generally included good sunlight, clouds, plenty of landmarks, houses, fences, trees, parked cars, the witnesses and so forth.

After closer research was completed, it was the abundant details that, in the end, made the photographs unacceptable to the Bureau.

A close up - courtesy Ballester Olmos

The first error in the witnesses' story was their stated time of sighting during which time the photographs were said to have been taken - 6.30 to 6.45 a.m. On Sunday 29th October, it was established by visiting the site and checking the shadows, that these photographs were taken much later than 6.30 a.m. The calculated estimate is approx, 9-9.15 a.m.

Having established the time of the photographs, a cold canvas of houses, block of flats and home units in the area was done. Except for one, five-year-old boy who said he saw the object, no witnesses were found.

To help find an independent witness, it was agreed to release some information to newspapers, asking people to report anything seen on this date. No UFO sightings were reported for this area of the city.

Source: Undated issue of Sun-Herald newspaper - courtesy of Ballester-Olmos

As anticipated, once the news was published, research could no longer, be carried out at a reasonable tempo. Overseas and interstate reporters wanted photographs and witnesses. Also, Mr Wallace and his friend had by now, attended a Bureau monthly meeting, showed the photographs to members and told the meeting what they had seen. Neither Mr Wallace or his friend are members of the Bureau.

On Tuesday, 7th. November, apart from the unsatisfactory conditions of the negatives, nothing concrete could be said about the whole affair. But on this day, Mr Stan Seers (The President) who was directing all technical investigations, came up with the findings from their shadow analysis; whereas the witnesses state that the duration of the sighting and taking of photographs was approx. 5-7 minutes; shadow movement on more  distant houses; discernible on larger photographs, showed clearly that the photographs must have been taken over a period of 75 minutes.

Bureau report - the negatives

When the Bureau several times requested the negatives for proper evaluation, Mr Wallace would not make definite arrangements. To the best of our knowledge, some negatives would be in the Bank and some would be at various photographers for the purpose of making enlargements for Mr Wallace. Four different photographic shops were involved in this investigation. But it was established that the film was developed through a local chemist whose testimony is acceptable on this count. The film was in fact, processed in D.H.A. premises as a routine job.

The negatives or frames themselves show no obvious discrepancies. But their sequence is very much open to suspicion. Only the last five negatives run in unbroken sequence, The numbers run 2A-3 then 4A-5, then 9A-10  right through to 14, being the last photograph. One badly cut negative is unplaceable and the missing negative is presumed to be of the girl pointing at the object.

The original photograph of the girl pointing was sighted by the Bureau but Mr Wallace had never afterwards produced either the negative or the photograph of this particular shot. Also, the missing negative- between 4A-5 (girl shading eyes) and 9A-10 (girl taking photograph) - leave a gap in  the film where the very discrepancies in the shadows were observed. The film, therefore, because of mutilations and missing negatives, is not acceptable to the Bureau.

(Re girl taking photograph of object: said to have been taken as 127 colour film. Only one negative said to have been used  which did not "show anything." Girl states she threw the negative away.)

The Shadow Analysis -

The following report is written by Mr Seers:-

Alleged UFO Photos, Brisbane, 22nd. October 1967

The method by which it was positively established that the photographs 1 to 5 (one to five) occupied a period of time of at least seventy-five minutes in the actual taking, as against the declared time, (see signed statement), of five to seven minutes, is well established and easy to follow.

Instructions, charts and a specially calibrated protractor are to be found in the text book: "Sunshine and Shade in Australasia." A study of the principles involved in finding the extent and direction of sunlight and shadow on buildings, together with a series of charts for different hours and seasons for the latitudes of Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea and the adjacent islands, by R.C. Phillips, B. Arch. A.R.A.I.A., crown copyright, Sydney, May 1948.

The complete characteristics of the shadow casts of the window awnings and other building structures are easily found for any hour of the day; given the aspects of the building and its geographical location. (In this case, Nth East, 0930, Brisbane, latitude: 27 1/2 degrees south, Plate 19.) This information is useful to architects, designers etc.

Conversely, local solar time of a photograph of a building can also be determined quite accurately from the charts. Hour and day is located on the appropriate chart, the protractor applied according to instructions, the rest being a matter of simple mathematics, which, in this instance, were worked out by a member of the academic staff from the University of Queensland.

The foregoing information may possibly help discourage some future would-be-hoaxers.'

Other sources of information listed by Ballester Olmos

1. Sydney Morning Herald, newspaper, 12 November 1967.

2. Hervey, M. 1975. 'UFOs Over the Southern Hemisphere.' Robert Hale. pp 145-146.

3. SPACELINK, Volume 5, number 3, July 1968, p 20 & inside back cover.

SPACELINK - courtesy Ballester Olmos

4. Juan Carlos Victorio Uranga (2017.)

Cold case review report - 23 August 1953 - Port Moresby

In a previous post, I advised that Melbourne researcher Paul Dean and I  were undertaking a 'cold case' review of the 23 August 1953, Port Moresby, visual sighting and movie film.

Port Moresby in relation to northern Australia

At about noon on 23 August 1953, Mr T P Drury, his wife, and young son, observed an unusual object in the sky. Mr Drury used a movie camera to film the object. The film was sent to the USA, and it has been claimed that when it was returned, some of the footage of the object was missing.

Close up of the Port Moresby area

In the last month, we have gathered a large amount of information, drawn from a mass of documentation; some of it courtesy of overseas researchers, including Barry Greenwood, Jan Aldrich, Mary Castner, Fran Ridge and others.

Article in South Pacific Post

The documentation gathered together, covers numerous newspaper articles; items in early Australian UAP newsletters; the USAF Project Blue Book' s records on the case; several books, and more recent Australian UAP magazines. As always, we have adopted a 'follow the evidence' approach; going back to original source material to check our facts. Something that many of today's researchers fail to do.

Early editions of the APRO Bulletin carried accounts

Despite the fact that some quite vital data is lacking in this material, it has turned out, in our opinion, that the available evidence points in a number of directions which run counter to prevailing beliefs about the case.

Australian researcher Edgar Jarrold investigated the case

Paul and I believe:

* that it is possible, that there may be no 'missing' film; which goes against current thinking

* that the object could perhaps have been a daylight meteor. The main observer, Tom Drury always maintained that the object was a guided missile. Others of course have claimed it to be a UFO

Courtesy of Bill Chalker

* that US researcher James E McDonald did not interview Mr Drury, when he (McDonald) visited Australia in 1967.

Courtesy of Melbourne researcher John Stepkowski, blog readers may now read our cold case paper.

As always, with our work, we welcome peer-review comments.

'Cold case' review underway - 23 August 1953 - Port Moresby

I have previously written about the value of conducting 'cold case' reviews of older Australian UFO cases. Sometimes, the outcome is that the review adds additional information, to what is already known. This new data, may suggest a mundane explanation for a sighting which was previously considered 'unidentified.' On the other hand, sometimes, it might strengthen the case for the unknown nature of the event.

At the present moment, Melbourne researcher, Paul Dean and I, are taking a fresh look at all the available documentation on the 23 August, 1953, Port Moresby visual sighting and 8mm film case, involving Mr Tom Drury.

NAA file series MP1279/1 c/s 99/1/478

We have enlisted the assistance of a number of overseas researchers, who have kindly provided us with copies of documents which we did not have access to.

USAF Project Blue Book document

We believe that we have brought together, in a chronology, all the know relevant first and second hand documents, including fresh newspaper articles located in the National Library of Australia's TROVE digitised newspaper collection.

Image courtesy of the National Library of Australia

From this mass of information, we will compile a paper, providing the text of, or at least a summary of, each document, and see if it is possible to come to a definitive conclusion as to the cause of the sighting, and hence the nature of object on the colour 8mm movie film.

We will publish our results in due course.