Brett Biddington, Unusual Aerial Sightings, and the end of the RAAF's interest in the subject

Hi all,

Introduction:

Between the early 1950's and 1993, a small part of the role of a number of Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) intelligence officers, was to receive and process reports of "Unusual Aerial Sightings" (UAS.)

In a previous blog post ( click here) I recalled some of the experiences, back in the 1960's, of RAAF Squadron Leader Gordon Waller, drawn from a personal interview with him. Among other things, Waller investigated the famous Cressy, Tasmania case involving a reported observation of a large, "cigar" shaped object, associated with a number of smaller "disc" shaped objects.

In this blog post I wish to take a look at some of the experiences of an Air Force officer named Brett Biddington.

Some background:

Biddington joined the RAAF in 1980. Between 1980 and 1990 Biddington held "Several unit intelligence and staff positions at Flight Lieutenant and Squadron Leader rank levels." (1.)

While in the RAAF "...he specialised in intelligence, security and capability development. He sponsored a wide range of command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance projects, including the Jindalee Over the Horizon Radar project (JORN) and classified space projects." (2.)

Between 2002 and 2009 Biddington was a member of Cisco Systems' global space team. (3.)

However, most relevant to this blog, is that in 1982-1983 Biddington was the Command Intelligence Officer (CINTO) in the Headquarters Support Command, Melbourne. One of his responsibilities concerned the investigation of UAS in Victoria and Tasmania.

Bendigo: (4)

Bendigo, Victoria lies 150kms north-west of Melbourne. It was the centre of a small "flap" of UAS reports, between 20-29 May 1983. Hundreds of people reported seeing what they regarded as UAS, and some photographs were taken. There was a particular focus on the nights of 20-21 May and 21-22 May 1983.

Unusually, the RAAF sent an officer to investigate these sightings. This officer was Brett Biddington. His report noted that the observations were of bright, white lights with smaller red and green lights, all seen in the night sky. The lights were said to spin or rotate rapidly. Most were stationary, and unlike many other UAS, were visible for periods of up to three to four hours.

Biddington visited Bendigo, interviewed witnesses, collected weather data and obtained the original negatives of a series of photographs taken by a local, Mr Evans.

The conclusion of Biddington's report includes:

"CINTO has been unable to discover any evidence to date which suggests that the lights observed at Bendigo represents in any way a threat to national security. No unusual marks on the ground have been reported and no reports associating injury or damage to people, stock or property with the appearance of the lights have been received...The lights do not seem to have been projected by a flying object because no unusual radar returns were detected by Melbourne radar." The RAAF concluded that the lights were of astronomical origin, with temperature inversions adding to the confusion. My reading of the information on this file concludes that the RAAF assessment, as to cause of the sightings, was almost certainly correct.

Darwin: (5)

In November 1983, Biddington was posted as a Flight Lieutenant to RAAF Base Darwin. The relevant RAAF UAS file contains a number of pieces of correspondence signed by Biddington. Most are documents relating to low interest lights in the sky from the Northern Territory. However, of interest is a statement by Biddington, located on a copy of the file found in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request, that he was preparing an "...informal UAS Handbook."

In a letter dated 23 May 1984, sent to a civilian correspondent in Bendigo, Victoria, Biddington writes "I have the basis for my 'UFO Survival Manual'...There are articles from skeptics, nuts, scientists, the well informed, the ignorant etc...to produce clear advice to future RAAF officers whose
misfortune it will be to chase green men in the future."

Interestingly, the copy of file E1327 which is now in the National Archives of Australia (NAA) does not contain certain documents which were on the copy obtained years before, under the FOI Act; for example, there is no known copy of Biddington's "informal UAS Handbook." In a communication to this author, Biddington advised me that the document was actually never completed.

Perth: (6)

Biddington advised this author that he was posted on promotion from Darwin to RAAF Base Pearce in January 1986.

On 9 June 1987, two members of the Australian Special Air Services were part of a group conducting night exercises at RAAF Learmouth, Western Australia. The exercise was a free fall parachute descent, involving a C130 aircraft.

The two witnesses reported seeing an unusual light approach them in a zig-zag manner. It arrived at the northern end of the airstrip, then hovered for 6-7 minutes. The light changed colour from white to amber. It moved upwards into light cloud, and then moved to the north-east, slowly at first, then at great speed. The Army investigating officer, a Major R A Hill wrote, "Cause is unknown."

Major Hill forwarded the report to the RAAF where it was received by Squadron Leader Biddington, then stationed at RAAF Base Pearce. Biddington forwarded it on to Headquarters Support Command; Headquarters Operational Command, and Airlift Group Headquarters RAAF Richmond.

The text of this Biddington memo, dated 12 August 1987 includes:

"Of interest, and these are points that INTELO RIC may decide to follow up are:

a. air-ground VHF comms on the night of the sighting (and on that night alone) was not achieved, and
b. that at least some of the crew of the 36SQN aircraft also observed the light but decided not to report their sighting.

2. This headquarters has no explanation for the phenomenon observed..."

Naturally, the fact that neither the Army or Biddington could explain the nature of the light observed, means nothing further than the light was just that, unidentified.

Closure: (7)

In December 1993, a telex message was sent from RAAF HQ to RAAF bases announcing that the Chief of Staff had "...reviewed RAAF policy regarding Unusual Aerial Sightings (UAS)." A review had ascertained that "..consideration of the scientific record suggests that, whilst not all UAS have a ready explanation, there is no compelling reason for the RAAF to continue to devote resources to recording, investigating and attempting to explain UAS."

The telex then advises bases, that the RAAF "...no longer accepts reports on UAS..." Interestingly, the telex went on to say that "The change in policy will not be publicised by press release." The contact officer for queries from RAAF bases to Headquarters, was WG CDR B Biddington, AFPOL3.

Here then, in the wording "...whilst not all UAS have a ready explanation" was an acknowledgment that some UAS remained unidentified, but with a suggestion perhaps, that deeper study might well reveal a conventional cause.

In a communication from Biddington to the author, Biddington advised that the answer as to why the no press release, was simply that "..publicity would have brought howls of concern from a small group of "believers" which would have taken up much time to deal with."


2013:

A little while ago, Melbourne researcher Paul Dean contacted Biddington by email and posed a series of questions, which Biddington kindly responded to. I have permission from both Dean and Biddington, to post this exchange. Q = Dean and A = Biddington.

Q1 "Was there any significant UFO, or UAS event that troubled/raised serious questions of any of the staff within the RAAF, or wider DOD in general."

A1 "No."

Q2 "Did you personally believe that there was very little evidence to support bona-fide incursions into our air space even after studying the most significant reports or cases which came to your attention?"

A2 "Yes, i.e. there was no compelling evidence."

Q3 "Were yo aware of any reports being copied or otherwise sent to other departments or agencies, particularly the Joint Intelligence Organisation (JIO), the navy's intelligence arena, the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO), or any of the small directorates or groups which may be asked to concern themselves with such matters.?"

A3 "No."

Q4 "Were there any UFO/UAS events that involved Australian forces overseas, or during war games exercises with other nations, which raised major questions at any official level?"

A4 "Not to my knowledge."

Q5 "Do you often get asked about the UFO matter and/or your work with DAFI in those earlier years?"

A5 "Occasionally."

Q6 "The current departmental policy (found online at the Defence media room) on the subject of unusual aerial sightings, as set out in "Defence Instructions (General) ADMIN 55-1", dated 13 June 1996, carries a statement:

"For many years the RAAF was responsible for the handling of Unusual Aerial Sightings (UAS) at the official level. This function ceased in 1996 after consideration of the scientific record suggested that there was no compelling reason for the RAAF to continue to devote resources to the recording and investigation of UAS."

Before this 1996 offering there was the 1994 policy which had this to say:

"Unidentified Aerial Sightings...Consideration of the scientific record suggests that, whilst not all UAS have ready explanation, there is no compelling reason for the RAAF to continue to devote resources to recording, investigating and attempting to explain UAS. The RAAF no longer accepts reports on UAS..."

You will note that both policy statements include the phrase "Consideration of the scientific record..." I would like to ask, what scientific record is being referred to?"

A6 "I wrote the 1994 policy and had a hand in the 1996 policy as well. After the Melbourne sightings I conducted an informal (in the sense I did not document it) literature review of UAS. I also sought help from civilian UFO organisations which claimed knowledge and understanding of the domain. I could find nothing on record that was defensible or sustainable. This is the reference to the "scientific record."

Q7 "In one of your previous emails regarding UAS/UFO files you wrote to me:

"I culled all the DAFIS files when they were being consigned to the archives in the early 1990's. By the time the dross was removed as allowed by the Archives Act, there was not much left to send to the Archives."

Was the material you culled simply duplicate pages, illegible pages etc? Or was it simply collections of UFO reports that had such little information that they were useless? Or something else?"

A7 "The Archives Act has a series of disposal schedules. From memory I used Schedule 12 (which was the mandated one to use) to guide my decision-making about what to keep and what to toss. Broadly speaking anything that was a copy (ie had been originated somewhere else) was tossed out. And I can assure you, sadly in fact, that DAFIS, over many years produced little original material. I cannot tell you what I culled from the UAS files - if anything. Noting your comments that you have retrieved quite a lot of material, there is every possibility that I kept the lot, anticipating that, at some point, somebody like you would come along and attempt a systematic analysis.

You must not look at how UAS records were dealt with in isolation from the major reforms that RAAF (and the ADF) underwent during the 1980s/90s. You should also consider the international context - maturation of aspects of space activity in the 1970s in the cold war context etc. If you look at the UAS records outside of context you will run the risk of missing what happened. Bluntly, I had to cut functions in RAAF intelligence just as others were doing the same in their area of responsibility. There was no reason to maintain the charade of interest in UAS."

Comment:

I believe this is the first time that we have heard directly from the actual former RAAF officer who terminated the almost 50 years of RAAF involvement with UAS. His explanation of this action, adds to our knowledge of the end of this era.

References:

1. https://www.ecu.edu.au/faculties/health-engineering-and-science/staff/adjuncts-appointments/profiles/professor-brett-biddington    accessed 1 December 2013.

2. http://aca.unsw.edu.au/profile-main/40  accessed 1 December 2013.

3. http://theconversation.com/profiles/brett-biddington-7151/profile_bio  accessed 1 December 2013.

4. Bendigo. NAA file series A9755 control symbol 11, formerly file 5/6/1/Air.

5. Darwin. NAA file series E1327 control sysmbol 5/4/Air Part 6/7.

6. Perth. RAAF UAS file 5/9/Air Part 7 (located subsequent to an FOI request.)

7. Closure. NAA file series A9755 controil symbol 16, formerly file 5/3/1 Air Part 11.

Canberra 15 July 1965 - two additional newspaper articles located

Hi all,

A blog reader from the United Kingdom came across my previous posts (click here , here and here ) on the observation from Canberra, ACT, on 15 July 1965, of an unusual object in the daytime sky.  My reader forwarded me a copy of the front page of "The Sydney Morning Herald" dated Friday 16 July 1965 (click here to read the whole front page.) One article was headed "Airport staff see mysterious glowing object."

"Canberra. Thursday. Six of the staff at Canberra airport's control tower and two T.A.A. pilots saw a mysterious glowing object hovering in the sky for 40 minutes near the airport today.

The RAAF is investigating the reports of the object. The control tower staff, all employees of the Department of Civil Aviation said it was 10 miles north-east of the airport about 5,000 feet up. The men could not define its shape, but said it was a "glowing white spot" similar to the reflection of a light aircraft as a distance.

The RAAF sent up a plane to try and identify the object but it disappeared before the aircraft could reach it. The control officer in the control tower at the time Mr T Lindsay, said he first noticed the shiny spot about 10.50am when watching out for an aircraft. Several other people at the airport also said they had seen it, including two TAA Fokker Friendship pilots. The pilots. who had just taken off from the airfield were asked if they could see the object. They replied that they could.

Astronomer fails to find it:

Mt T Miller, an astronomer at Mt Stromlo observatory, said he had received many reports of the object but had been unable to find it. There was no astronomical explanation for the object that had been described. It was unlikely that it was an illusion or mirage because more than one trained observer had seen it. The object was also unlikely to have been a meteorological balloon because it would not have remained stationary for so long. "Heaven knows - it may have been an object from another planet," he said..."

My comments:

1. Interestingly, the "Sydney Morning Herald" article states that two TAA Fokker Friendship pilots saw the object after they had just taken off from Canberra airport. However, "The Australian" newspaper of 16 July 1965 states that "...there were no planes departing from Canberra at the time nor was there any record of other aircraft in the area." These two newspaper articles are clearly contradictory on this point. Can we resolve this dilemma by taking a look at online editions of the 27 August 1965 TAA timetable? (click here to read the timetable.)  Here we find that a TAA Fokker Friendship was scheduled to depart Canberra for Albury at 10.25am on Thursday 15 July 1965. If delayed it may have been taking off during the observation of the unusual object. However, we will never know for sure.

2. There are two other new pieces of information in the SMH article. a) that the RAAF sent up an aircraft; and b) that the Mt Stromlo observatory received many reports of the object. However, it should be noted that nowhere in official RAAF documents, which I located in the National Archives, is the despatch of an RAAF aircraft noted.

3. I recently learnt that although the most of the digitised newspapers in the Australian National Library are digitised only until 1954, that digitised copies of "The Canberra Times" newspaper are available up to 1995. I therefore did a search of copies of "The Canberra Times" for 1965 and located a second newspaper article which mentions the 15 July event.

The Canberra Times Saturday 24 July 1965:

"Reports on UFO not ready.
RAAF investigators have not yet completed their report on two unidentified flying object sightings in Canberra within the last fortnight.

The first sighting was reported by air traffic control officers of the Department  of Civil Aviation of a white object north-east of the control tower on July 15. This is believed to have been a daylight appearance of the planet Venus.

Last Monday night, a report was made of a "white object with a tail" which flashed across the sky and was visible for about four seconds.

This is believed to have been a meteorite or rocket body burning up in re-entering into the earth's atmosphere."

In summary:

We now have two additional pieces of information to add to the previously known data. However, there is one piece of negative information; something noticeably missing in all the accounts. There is absolutely no mention of whether or not the object was detected on radar. So, at the moment the observation remains a multi-witnessed visual event.

Animal mutilations in the Adelaide Hills?

Hi all,

Linda Moulton Howe:

A while ago, US researcher Linda Moulton Howe asked me if I had come across details of a 1984, South Australian  animal mutilation story. The story, as circulating on the Internet ( e.g. click here , here, and here ) tells of animal mutilations set in the Adelaide Hills.

As many blog readers will be aware, Linda Moulton Howe has been one of the lead investigators into possible links between UAP and animal mutilations, between the 1980's and the present. Indeed, her Earthfiles website (click here) continues to present recent information about the topic.

I had heard some details about the story Linda was chasing, and by coincidence I am currently holidaying on a property near Mount Barker in the Adelaide Hills, which was the central location in which the Internet stories are set. I was also aware of a version of the story, which appeared in the Melbourne "Truth" newspaper dated 21 July 1984. However, at the time of Linda's inquiry, I was not aware of anyone who had conducted an investigation into the story. However, a few days ago, while in the State Library of South Australia, I came across an article by someone in Adelaide who had actually conducted an in-depth investigation and published their findings. This post will provide details of this investigation.

Enter Paul Burton:

The article I found was written by one Paul Burton, and appeared in the August 1984 issue of the "Australian International UFO Flying Saucer Research" magazine. pages 10-15.

It tells how, on 11 June 1984, a caller to a radio talk-back show on Adelaide station 5DN, whom Paul nominates by the letter "J" broke the story. "J's" account, in part, reads:

"...happened last night or earlier this morning." At Mount Barker. "This is through a friend. They were called in there by the Army or Air Force...First the Air Force noted a blip on their radar screen...they got a call from a farmer...found four cows lying dead on the ground with what appeared to be a drill hole over their right eye, and they did an autopsy on the cows and they found that they had no brains...they found...three or four, egg shaped indentations on the ground...there was radiation in the area and they noticed the top of the trees had been burnt and there was some dead birds..."

Investigation:

On 12 June 1984, Burton commenced his investigation. He contacted the RAAF and the Army but failed to find anyone who knew of the story. On 21 June 1984 Burton visited a reporter working for the "Courier" newspaper, which is the local newspaper covering the Mount Barker and surrounding areas. The paper also had no knowledge of the story.

Burton located and interviewed the talk back radio caller, "J." "J" said that he had been badgered by the media since speaking of the story, but repeated to Burton, what he, "J," had told the 5DN talk back show.

Another radio station, 5KA, via a talk back caller, heard of the story, and broadcast it. Burton then again re-interviewed "J." On this occasion, with "J" was a female friend, Burton calls "K." It turned out that it was "K" who had heard the story from an individual Burton calls "B." It was "B" who claimed to be the original source of the entire story, and "B" claimed to have been a party to the event itself, i.e. a first hand participant.

However, Burton informs us that he was never able to locate and interview "B" the original source of the whole account. Burton notes that therefore, he was unable to really investigate properly.

Blog readers, should therefore be aware that this entire account of animal mutilations in the Adelaide Hills is actually based on a third hand story. There is, unfortunately, no way to verify the account as having any veracity, unless some blog reader knows of the identity of "B" and we are able to secure some original documentation of the event from "B."

Birdwood:

Five years earlier, a similar account had been recorded, again in the Adelaide Hills region of the state of South Australia. I found this second account in the May 1979 number 3 edition of the "Australian International UFO Flying Saucer Research" magazine, page 18.

The mother and girlfriend, of an Adelaide Hills farmer, saw a UFO which appeared to have landed. He went to the location and found burn marks in a paddock of lush, 100mm high clover. He found three very distinct burn/scorch marks 2-3 metres in length in the grass.

"Directly in the centre of these marks lay the body of a beheaded lamb. On examination, the head was found removed by a very sharp instrument. There was no tearing of the skin or wool. There was an incision made from the chest to the top of the throat and the heart, lungs and arteries had been carefully removed. No grass had regrown on the burnt patches. The site was at Birdwood, just behind the Old Railway Station and near a black water tank." It is unclear just what level of investigation, if any, was undertaken or whether or not the above was simply the report as claimed by the farmer.

A novel approach to the Bougainville Reef case

Hi all,

Cold case investigation:

Regular readers of this blog will be aware of my "cold case" investigation of the 28 May 1965, Bougainville Reef aircraft encounter (click here, here, and here.)  However, few people will have ever come across the version of the case, as described in the 2009 novel "UFOs: Food for Thought," by Queensland author John Meskell.

In May 1965, Meskell was in the Queensland Police force, and was the original and only source, for the Bougainville Reef event (see June-Jul 1965 NICAP "UFO Investigator.") It was therefore of great interest to me to be able to read how Meskell described the case in his novel.

The novel's version:

Pages 24 and 25 of the novel contain a discussion between two characters "Barlow" and "Carter."

"At 3.25am, May 27, 1965, a UFO paced an airliner for ten minutes over Bougainville Reef off North Queensland. I'm not sure of the exact date, and I'm now talking out of the top of my head, but I do remember the incident well. It was unofficially named the Bougainville Reef sighting. It's all documented.

"That sounds interesting - did the Government actually know about it?"

"Oh yes, they knew about it alright," Carter laughed. "I didn't have anything to do with this one, but I do remember reading much of the correspondence relating to this incident."

"What happened?"

"It's an incredible story to say the least. The Federal Government went to great lengths in attempting to cover it all up, and really carried on like bloody amateurs. It was too large to suppress, with too many witnesses, and to this day I cannot believe why they didn't come straight out and admit the facts, without going on with all the nonsense they embarked upon with their incompetent opinions."

"Just to give you an indication of how vital the circumstances of this matter were, in 1967 Dr James McDonald, a professor in the Department of Meteorology from the University of Arizona in the United States, and senior physicist in the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, came to Australia to investigate this matter as well as other Australian sightings, including the Papua sighting I have already spoken about. He was without doubt, just about the top authority on this subject in the United States. Now, what about him for a person of impeccable credibility and unimpeachable character? Makes you think doesn't it?"

"Okay, I'll go along with that. What was the result of his trip to Australia?"

Carter sat up. He leaned forward and began to tap and bounce his pencil on the desk. "Bougainville Reef is about 260 kilometres east of Cooktown, and details of this sighting were not made available until the arrival of Professor McDonald from America. Anyhow this is what I became aware of. The Captain of a DC6 airliner, which I think was a DC6 chartered by TAA from Ansett, or vice versa, I'm not too sure now, but it was one or the other. The Captain described a 'round-shaped object' flying parallel to them for ten to fifteen minutes, in a radio message to Air Traffic Control at Townsville. The radio message was tape recorded on flight control tapes at Townsville. At the time, a man named Bill Orr was the control officer. Other members of the plane crew sighted and witnessed this object, and each of them spoke, and was taped, to confirm what they were witnessing."

"The Captain advised the Townsville control tower that he was taking photographs of the saucer, which continually buzzed his aircraft and letting off what the Captain thought to be red exhaust gases. Of course all of this conversation to the Townsville Air Traffic control officer was being recorded on tape."

"Where was the DC6 travelling to?"

"From Sydney to Port Moresby. Looking back, I can now recall that when the pilot arrived back in Brisbane, he was immediately flown down here to Canberra, where he was quizzed as to what he had seen. Our Government authorities also seized the flight control tapes from the Townsville aerodrome with conversations about this incident. The Captain's camera and films were also confiscated and the entire crew, after being questioned, were warned of a penalty of immediate dismissal if they spoke to anyone about this incident."

"So what was the final outcome?"

"Well, things became a bit embarrassing for the Government when Professor McDonald arrived in Brisbane on the 9th of June 1967 to look into this matter, to say nothing of the media getting into the act with headlines such as "Why the secrecy?" Professor McDonald had been well informed, and from some source he and his investigators tracked down one of the retired air hostesses who had been a crew member that night. She confirmed without doubt what had occurred. There was another incident but it would take me too long to tell you all about it. You can read it all for yourself, and form your own opinion."

New book alert - Zimmermann

Hi all,

I have heard a lot about the large numbers of UAP sightings from the Hudson Valley ( click here) region of the US state of New York (click here for more information on the Hudson Valley itself.)

When I came across a new 2013 book, "In the Night Sky: Hudson Valley UFO sightings From the 1930's to the Present," by Linda Zimmermann, published by Eagle Press, New York, ISBN 978-1-937174-19-4, I read it with great interest.

Why the book?

 Author Linda Zimmermann, reveals that she was born "...in the Hudson Valley, a hotspot of UFO sightings for generations." (p.1.) She is also interested in astronomy, life in the universe, "...And last but certainly not least, because I have seen things I cannot explain." (p.1.)

Zimmermann lectured on a number of topics and gravitated to talking on "Astronaut Close Encounters." In 2004, a friend who was a reporter, told Linda about his personal UFO sighting. In 2011, after hearing of other UAP encounters, Linda decided to write a fictional book about UFOs but then decided to write instead a non-fiction work, and with the assistance of others, also made a documentary on the topic.

The witnesses:

Linda advertised in local papers and this brought forward a cascade of people who wished to tell their stories.

The cases:

Linda decided to group "...stories according to what they had in common, where possible..." (p.13.) So, chapter three is titled "The Triangles (mainly early 80's to mid 1990's); chapter four is "The Hoaxing Pilots" (one of the skeptics' favourite explanations.)

Chapter eight tells of accounts from Ulster County; while chapter nine explores observations from the locality of  the locality of "Pine Bush." Chapter ten takes a look at "The Skeptics" viewpoint which explores some conventional explanations for some of the events.

"Abduction alley" is the title of chapter eleven, for just as there are abduction accounts from all over the world, there are such reported occurrences in the Hudson Valley.

Later chapters cover such topics as "Out on the fringe;" weird accounts of implants;  alleged government harassment, and cover ups.

In conclusion:

Linda writes "I'm angry by the way witnesses have been mistreated. I'm angry at the official government response - or more accurately, their lack of response. And I'm angry that something has been going on in the Hudson Valley that has been affecting people for generations, and its all been mocked, ignored or generally swept under the carpet." (p.336.)

My thoughts:

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It's the sort of book on UAP which I prefer. There are details of sightings with text and pictures, which you can mull over. You can run the data presented there through your head and make your own analysis of what could have been the stimuli for the sighting.

I would recommend this work to any UAP researcher. My copy came from the local library but I'll be adding a copy to my personal bookshelf.

Vasovagal Syncope

Hi all,

The August 2013 issue of the English "Fortean Times" magazine (click here) , has another very interesting article by English researcher Jenny Randles (click here.)

This article is about a medical condition named Vasovagal Syncope (click here.) This is something which Jenny herself, has had seven or eight attacks, over a 50 year period.

Vasovagal Syncope occurs when the body over reacts to certain triggers such as the sight of blood, or emotional distresses. It causes a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure. Then a brief period of unconsciousness occurs.

Jenny provides her personal memories from age eight when she felt light headed; heard a strange buzzing noise and lost consciousness. She relates that during her worst attack, "...my mind was sharply focused and reality somehow enhanced, not diluted." (p.27.) In one episode she underwent an out-of-body experience.

Possible connection to UAP:

"The deeper that I have looked into the connection between VS, near-death experiences (NDEs), and out-of-body experiences (OOBEs) the more it seems to me that they are interconnected." (p.27.)

Jenny cites the lucidity of OOBEs, and the belief during a VS attack, that you feel like you are dying.

Jenny then presents details of the case of a Coventry, UK, woman who was in a highly stressed state. She awoke from sleep to see white, oval shaped, pulsating light above her. "Everything around her felt very 'lucid"...all of a sudden I was pulled towards the light and merged with it." She floated away.

Vasovagal Syncope:

This topic of VS has been previously discussed in this blog, please take a look at:

http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/life-with-aliens-part-two.html

http://ufos-scientificresearch.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/many-pathways-to-abduction.html

Out of body experiences:

For posts on OOBEs please take a look at:

http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com.au/2013/07/out-of-body-experiences-on-tap.html

http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com.au/2010/11/research-on-obes.html

http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/obes-in-lab.html

http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com.au/2009/10/out-of-body-experience-precipitating.html

Near death experiences:

For my blog post on a relatively new book on NDEs please go to:

http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com.au/2011/03/near-death-experiences-new-book.html

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone else who has been conducting research into this fascinating area.

New book alert - Webb

Hi all,

This is a short, 80 page length book titled "UFOs," by Stuart Webb, published by Rosen Publishing, New York, in 2013. ISBN is 978-1-4488-7176-6. (Click here to read about Rosen.)

It provides a simplified, non-sourced overview, of a range of  classic cases, including Kenneth Arnold (1947); Mantell (1948); Trinidade (1958); Exeter (1965); Bentwaters (1956); and Cash/Landrum (1980.)

Interestingly, for Australian readers, and fairly unusual for a US published book, it also covers rather a high number of Australian cases. These are, the Yerecoin, Western Australia (1967); (Click here for my own blog post on this event); Tayene, Tasmania (1974); Tully, Queensland (1966): and Valentich (1978) cases.

The book would make a good gift for someone who wanted to quickly gain a very broad overview of the phenomenon. However, there is nothing in the book cover to tell us, who Stuart Webb is, nor his qualifications or reasons for writing this book.