New book alert - Marden and Stoner

Hi all,

Kathleen Marden and Denise Stoner have written a new book titled "The Alien Abduction Files: The Most Startling Cases of Human-Alien Contact Ever Reported," published in 2013 by New Page Books, Pompton Plains, NJ. ISBN 978-1-60-271-5.

Marden, the niece of Betty Hill; and Stoner, an experiencer from Florida, have teamed up to present and discuss some first hand accounts of abduction.

The Stoners:

Denise and Ed Stoner, and daughter Dienna, experienced a period of "missing time" in 1982 while on a trip in Colorado, USA. Other family members confirmed the Stoner's late arrival to a campsite. Their only initial unusual observation, was the sighting of two yellow-white lights in the sky, prior to their period of "missing time."

When Marden moved to Florida in 2009 she met the Stoners, and an investigation began. It ensued that Denise had "...undergone regression hypnosis with a Dr Romack..." (p.48.) Marden then performed hypnotic regression sessions with Denise, in 2011.

Regression:

Marden states "I agreed to assist her, with the reservation that her pre-existing knowledge of alien abduction might color some of her memories." (p.49.)

Marden used forensic hypnosis techniques, well aware "...the hypnotist must safeguard against the possibility that the hypnotized person might construct false memories where no real memories exist." (p.49.)

Denise responded very easily to the hypnotic process, and recalled a craft, with Greys inside. When out of hypnosis Denise sketched the craft. Marden writes "It was unlike any that I had ever received...I had to consider the possibility that she might have been filling in information when a real memory couldn't be accessed. To this day it remains uncertain to me." (p.56.)

More sessions:

Further hypnotic sessions followed with Denise, and additional information unfolded, which included a description of "...a praying mantis or insectoidal being." (p.59.) In addition there was a medical examination.

Marden comments "I wondered if this was in fact an "artifactual" memory of information that had come her way as an abduction researcher." (p.68.)

Marden then conducted a regression hypnotic session with Ed Stoner. Ed recalled being in a strange environment.

Florida:

In 1991, after a day when both Stoners went cave diving, "...when in the middle of the night, Denise rose from her bed, feeling compelled to leave the motel and drive to a remote location." (p.73.) She had vague conscious recollections of the event, but Marden regressed her and  a story emerged of her encountering a craft and entities, and going on-board. Next day, another period of "missing time" occurred to both Ed and Denise. Regression of Ed provided additional information to the conscious memories.

Further chapters document Denise's growing interest in the topic of abductions following the 1982 event. In the 1980's she came across a Dr. Robert Romack who was also interested in the subject, and underwent hypnosis with him. Marden notes "During the next several weeks, they began to learn some of Denise's suppressed memories." (pp91-92.)

At this point "I asked her to search her memory for possibly youthful visitations with extra-terrestrials." (p.92.) One merged from age 2 1/2 years with further events following.

An evaluation of the evidence:

The authors argue that the Stoners "...are credible people of excellent character. Neither has a history of substance abuse or psychiatric illness...there is no reason to believe their lost time experiences were fabricated or has a valid psychological explanation..." (p.120.) However, this is followed by "Although often accurate, when a hypnotized individual is pushed for information that doesn't exist in one's biographical memory, there is a propensity to fill in missing details from one's imagination. For this reason, the information that Denise revealed in hypnosis comes with no guarantee that it is objectively real." (p.121.)

Jennie:

The authors then move on to the story of "Jennie", a woman who "...is a long-term, multigenerational experiencer, and her alien abduction events are currently ongoing." (p.137.) The authors note "It is undeniable that Jennie exhibits nearly all of the characteristics that are common among UFO abduction experiencers." (p.200.) They note that there is widespread reporting of "paranormal activity" by experiencers.

Final section and explanations:

Finally, the authors report briefly on the accounts of a number of other experiencers. They then go on to say that along the way, several hypotheses to explain these events were examined by them. "...it has been necessary for us to examine several alternative hypotheses, including psychological states (already discussed throughout this book), demonic possession, and astral entity attachment." (p.224.)

"As we move toward the end of the book, we consider it imperative to state that Denise and I have carefully weighed each of the above hypotheses and believe that each might pertain to a particular type of experience. However, one alone should not be considered an all encompassing explanation for alien abduction." (p.228.)

Their final words are "All of this supports the extra-terrestrial hypothesis of alien visitation and the abduction of humans." (p.229.)

PANDORA

Hi all,

The National Library of Australia (NLA) has a Web Archive, established in 1996, named "PANDORA." It archives, and allows access to, numerous Australian websites.

Recently, I was contacted by the NLA who sought my permission to include this blog, and also the blog "Anomalies-an Australian perspective" in the PANDORA Archive. I have agreed.

To take a look at what's available in PANDORA, go to http://pandora.nla.gov.au/index.html

North West Cape incident - some further research notes

Hi all,

Introduction:

In a recent post ( click here)  I brought readers up to date with the "cold case" research that Melbourne researcher Paul Dean, and I have been conducting into the important 25 October 1973 incident at the US Navy Base at North West Cape, Western Australia.

This post provides details of some further research that we have been undertaking on the case, in conjunction with a Sydney based research associate, who prefers to remain anonymous. We wish to thank them for their contribution to the research.


G J Odgers:

After hearing from New South Wales  researcher Moira McGhee, that she had received the North West Cape documents from Henry Ross Rayner, who was the Director of Public Relations for the Department of Defence, in 1973, the year of the North West Cape incident, it occurred to me to take a look at the Public Relations organisational structure at the Department of Defence (DOD) at that time.

As well as a Director of Public Relations, DOD, there was also a head of Public Relations for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in 1973. We know this for a fact, as RAAF letters to Western Australian witnesses to Unusual Aerial Sightings (UAS) in October 1973, were signed by a G J Odgers, Director of Public Relations. (Source: National Archives of Australia file series A 703, control symbol 580/1/1 Part 33.)

I located the following information about George James Odgers:

"In 1965 Odgers became the head of Public Relations for the Department of Air and subsequently the RAAF. He held the position until 1975 when he became Director of Historical Studies and Information in the Department of Defence." (Source: Dennis, Peter et al. 1995. "Odgers, George James." The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History. Melbourne. Oxford University Press. p.441.)

It seems reasonable to assume that Rayner and Odgers knew each other, at least professionally. After all, Odgers took over Rayner's old job when Rayner moved to the Director of Public Relations, DOD.

It would also appear reasonable to suggest that if Rayner, in the 1974/1975 time frame that McGhee stated she received the documents, was looking for some RAAF UAS cases to pass to McGhee, that he would have sought them through Odgers - public relations officer to public relations officer. It should be recalled that it was the RAAF which was the sole Australian government agency charged to process reports of UAS.

Given the above, I thought it worth while to check if G J Odgers were still alive, in order to ask him whether or not he had any personal knowledge of these North West Cape documents. Unfortunately, my research showed that Odgers had passed away in 2008.


Date of UFOIC receipt of the documents:

We know from Moira McGhee that she was a member of the Sydney based group, UFOIC, at the time she received the documents. Looking to independently confirm this, our Sydney based research associate examined copies of the UFOIC Newsletter. No mention was found of Moira McGhee and receipt of the North West Cape documents in the Newsletter .However, issue 50 dated January-February 1977 did include that "We are pleased to announce that three new investigators joined UFOIC...Ms Moira McGhee." Therefore all we have to go on is that Moira stated that receipt of the documents was in 1974/1975. (Source: Telephone conversation between Moira and Keith Basterfield, 18 January 2013.)

What is Bill Chalker's recollection of when he saw the documents? Bill's memory is that it was around 1975. Looking for independent confirmation, our Sydney research associate found the following in issue 43 of the UFOIC Newsletter, dated April-May 1975: "The President and Committee would like to welcome a new committee member, Mr W C Chalker, BSc (Hons). Mr Chalker is now resident in Sydney." Thus 1975 fits.

So, overall, it would appear that Moira received the documents in 1974/1975 and Bill saw them in 1975.


Timing of the Defcon three alert:

In his 1996 book, "The Oz Files," (Duffy & Snellgrove. Potts Point. ISBN 1-875989-04-8) researcher Bill Chalker provides a write up of the North West Cape incident, on pages 154-159. Part of the write up refers to:

"A full nuclear alert went out to all US Forces. North-West Cape was used to communicate the alert to both conventional and nuclear forces in the region. Local time at North-West Cape was around early evening. It was then that an intruder was spotted in the airspace over the base." (p.155.)

This suggests that the alert and the UAP sighting were fairly close in time.

However, since the publication of Bill's book, US Government documents relating to the Defcon 3 alert have become available on the Internet. (click here.) Here we find that the alert was given in Washington DC at 0430hrs z on 25 October 1973. The z indicates Zulu time, or Greenwich Mean Time, not 0430 hours local Washington time. It would have been 2330hrs local time on 24 October 1973 in Washington.

What local time was it at North West Cape? It was 1230hrs on 25 October 1973, and not "around early evening" as Bill's book suggests.

Thus, based on the evidence above, the alert was almost seven hours earlier than the UAP sighting, and not the almost simultaneous timing that Bill originally suggested. I raised this issue with Bill by email and he responded that the 2330hrs 24 October Washington timing contradicts an account he found in Alistair Homes book 2009 book titled  "Kissinger's Year 1973." page 300 which refers to the small hours of the morning on 25 October.

On the basis of original documentation which we all can read, I believe the 1230hrs local time at North West Cape is the most probable timing of the alert. Thus the UAP sighting was some seven hours after the alert was issued.


Further discussions with the Pearce RAAF Base UAS officer from 1973:

In an earlier post  I reported on discussions between Melbourne based researcher Paul Dean and the occupant of the position of UAS officer in 1973 at Pearce RAAF Base in Western Australia. In an initial discussion between the two, the UAS officer, Pyers, advised he had no knowledge of the North West Cape incident. Subsequent to that initial conversation, Paul Dean sent a copy of the North West Cape incident documents to Pyers for him to examine. Paul recently spoke again to Pyers. We have Pyers' permission to report on their conversation.

Pyers confirmed that he had received and examined the documents, and stated that he had been at Pearce from 1971-1976 as a search and rescue pilot. He was the UAS officer for about two years. He definitely had never seen the North West Cape incident documents, until Paul sent them to him. Reading the documents had him stumped for an explanation for the object reported. Paul asked him if he thought it could have been a flock of birds? Pyers didn't think so. Pyers stated that while the Pearce UAS officer he never saw a UAS case which stumped him, while on this duty or at any other time while in the RAAF.


How did the RAAF learn of the incident?

Given that the witnesses to this sighting were serving in the US Navy at a US Navy base on Australian soil, and that the most likely RAAF Officer to have processed the reports (Pyers at the Pearce RAAF base) says that he never saw anything about the incident, how did the RAAF learn about the incident?

Our Sydney research associate contacted me to let me know that in Desmond Ball's 1980 book titled "A Suitable Piece of Real Estate: American Installations in Australia" Ball mentions that Area B (where one of the witnesses was) of the North West Cape base had a direct link to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in Canberra. However, this was in 1980, not 1973. Was there a RAN officer at the North West Cape base in 1973? It seems there was.

In the 9 August 1973 issue of the Canberra Times newspaper (click here) there is mention of one Australian liaison officer at the base, and in the Canberra Times newspaper of the 10 March 1973, it specifically mentions a RAN Liaison Officer (click here.)

It would appear most likely, that the witnesses reported their sightings to US Naval authorities who advised the RAN liaison officer, who transmitted their details to RAN Canberra. As RAN Canberra would be aware that the reporting procedure for UAS was to forward them to the RAAF, this is how the RAAF became aware of the incident.


The Americans investigated:

In Bill's 1996 book, in the section on the North West Cape incident, on page 150 there is a sentence "The Americans investigated the two sightings.." As our Sydney research associate pointed out to us, there was no such mention in Bill's original 1985 article, about the incident, in Omega magazine. I therefore queried Bill about this statement about an American investigation. His response was that it appears to have been inserted by his book editor. Bill further advised that he had no evidence that the Americans had investigated the sightings.


In summary:

Our research now indicates that:

1. The object sighted at North-West Cape on the 25 October 1973 was most likely seen about seven hours after the US military Defcon3 alert, and not almost at the same time, as suggested in Bill Chalker's 1996 book.

2. There is no evidence that the Americans investigated the sightings. Though our Sydney research associate suggests it should have been reported through the US military system in accordance with JANAP 146.

3. There is a difficulty in reconciling the time of the event reported by both witnesses, and the sky conditions, given the time of  sunset that night. See earlier posts for details.

4. Unfortunately, we do not have access to the RAAF's "Unit Evaluation" portion of their proformas, to see what they concluded the object was. Neither the evaluation; the first three pages, or the witnesses' written statements are to be found on the A703 files series, control symbol 580/1/1 RAAF UAS files currently held by the National Archives of Australia.

All in all, a tantalising report by US Naval personnel at a US Naval base on Australian soil, which we are unlikely to be able to further analyse, unless we can either locate further original documentation; or living individuals with personal knowledge of the event.

"Mysterious green light seen in sky off Adelaide coast"

Hi all,

The Adelaide Advertiser newspaper of 30 January 2014 carried a headline "Mysterious green light seen in sky off Adelaide coast."

The story told how residents of sea front  suburbs of Adelaide, including Tennyson, West Beach and Hallet Cove had reported sightings on the previous night.( Latitude 34.9 deg south; 138.6 deg east..)

The light in the sky was described as white or orange/red, or green in colour. It was said to be "high in the sky" and was seen about 2200hrs in the western sky. There was no associated sound.

It was also seen from country South Australia, including Beachport (latitude 37.5 deg south; 140 deg east.)

In other words, although the headline said it was seen from Adelaide suburbs it was actually seen over a much wider area of our state.

The Astronomical Society of South Australia suggested the light was either a meteor or a satellite re-entry. This fits all the known data in the newspaper article.

RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia - UAP officer from 1973 interviewed

Hi all,

Recent blog readers will be aware that Melbourne based researcher Paul Dean and I, have been conducting a "cold case" investigation of the intriguing event which is reported to have happened on 25 October 1973 at the US Base at North West Cape, Western Australia.

If you have just commenced reading this blog, it would be useful to read three earlier posts on this incident. These may be found here, here and here.  This will bring you up to date on our research. Now for some new information.

Report form used in the NW Cape incident:

In an earlier post, we noted that the format (page 2) of the RAAF UAP report form used in the North West Cape incident, did not conform to the format (page 2) of forms used by RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia, in October 1973. This suggested to us that the incident was not reported through Pearce, the nearest RAAF base with an intelligence officer, part of whose duties was to process incoming UAP reports.

The question then arose in our minds as to whether the North West Cape form came from another RAAF Base? We therefore browsed through a large number of 1973 RAAF UAP report forms, which were generated by RAAF bases in Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, and New South Wales (as well as more from Western Australia.) None had the same format (page 2) as the forms used for reporting the North West Cape incident. The mystery of exactly where the North West Cape report form came from, remains unanswered.

Paul Dean interview:

We had previously found the name of the RAAF Base Pearce, UAP officer in 1973, on a file in the National Archives of Australia. Paul Dean recently located this individual and spoke to him by telephone. Mr (at the time Flight Officer) Pyers, confirmed that he was indeed the RAAF Base Pearce UAP officer in 1973.

Paul then asked him if he recalled a UAP sighting from North West Cape in 1973? Pyers responded  that he did not recall such an incident. Even after Paul described the event to him, Pyers did not recall coming across it. This would appear to confirm our deduction that the North West Cape report form did not originate from RAAF Base Pearce, but from elsewhere.

Interestingly, Pyers said he was surprised that such an incident would have made it onto the RAAF system/proforma at all. He thought it would have been handled by Canberra or someone higher up.

RAAF UAP files:

The North West Cape sighting, is not on the current RAAF files series A703 control symbol 580/1/1 parts 1-35 held by the National Archives of Australia, even though they extend to the end of 1973. The papers we received courtesy of Bill Chalker, were not on these files when Bill reviewed these same files in 1982.

Harry Turner:

In 1973, Harry Turner was a physicist working in the Department of Defence's Joint Intelligence Bureau/Joint Intelligence Organisation. Turner had a long interest in the subject of UAP, in fact since 1954 when the RAAF asked him to review their UAP files. Turner was the unofficial liaison between JI/JIO and the RAAF's Directorate of Air Force Intelligence (DAFI.) For a detailed interview with Turner click here.

We wondered whether or not Turner had been aware of the North West Cape incident? Our understanding, via Bill Chalker, is that Turner was not aware of the incident. This, like Pyers' comment ,suggests that the report may have been processed outside of the normal UAP reporting system. However, there remains the fact, that the sighting is recorded on what appear to be two RAAF UAP report forms!

Moira McGhee:

McGhee was a member of the civilian, Sydney based UFOIC in the 1970's. Our understanding is that she was the individual who first received the North West Cape documents. I therefore went back to my notes of a telephone conversation I had with her on 18 January 2013. I asked Moira for her recollections of how the documents came to be in  her possession? She informed me that she had received them from a Ron Rayner, a Public Relations Officer with the RAAF.

Henry Ross Rayner:

An Internet search (click here) reveals that Henry Ross Rayner (1914-1989) was appointed to the position of director of Public Relations, Department of Air, in Canberra in 1959. In 1965 he was then appointed Director of Public Relations, Department of Defence. He retired in 1979.

So, in 1973, the date of the North West Cape sighting; and also in 1975, the year UFOIC received the documents, Rayner was indeed Director of Public Relations, Department of Defence.

Where do we go from here?

Paul Dean has been unsuccessful, in tracking down Bill Lynn, and Lt Commander Moyer, the US Navy personnel who reported the incident. Paul is still trying to locate the US Navy Base commander, whose name we located in a 1973 newspaper article. Given their ranks and ages at the time, it may be that one or indeed all three of these individuals may have already passed way.

We are continuing with a few other leads we have on this intriguing report. Any assistance from blog readers would be very much appreciated.

Another anomaly with the North West Cape incident

Hi all,

Introduction:

Melbourne researcher Paul Dean and I are continuing our examination of the 25 October 1973 incident, reported to have happened at the US Base at North West Cape, Western Australia. The details we have on the incident are recorded both in the form of written statements by both US Navy personnel observers, and on standard RAAF UFO report forms.

As the North West Cape incident occurred in Western Australia, then it would be logical that it was reported through the RAAF Base Pearce, in Perth, Western Australia. I would therefore expect that the format of the NW Cape report form would be identical to those used by RAAF Base Pearce in October 1973. Have we any examples of the report form used by Pearce in October 1973? It turns out we do.

National Archives:

I went to the National Archives of Australia website and on file 580/1/1 part 33, the RAAF's central files on UFO sightings, I found two reports which were processed through Pearce in October 1973.

22 October 1973 Dianella, WA (0045-0100hrs) 31 deg 53 s; 115 deg 55 e.

Mr C Lacey reported a 3-4 second observation of an object which came from the north-west, travelling rapidly to the south-east. It was a reddish colour, and there was no sound. The RAAF Unit Evaluation section of the report form states that the cause of the sighting was "A re-entering vehicle of some kind." The official Head Quarters explanation was "space debris."

26 October 1973 Geraldton, WA 1820hrs 20 secs 27deg 50 s; 114deg 06 e.

Mrs M King, sighted in clear sky to the west, at 45 deg elevation, a white object, the angular size of the moon. At its closest approach it was at 45 deg elevation, to the south. There was no sound. It was last seen at 45 deg elevation in the south-east. Lost behind trees. The report form was completed by the RAAF Pearce base UFO officer over the phone. The RAAF Unit Evaluation stated that there were no civilian or military aircraft in the vicinity. A meteorological balloon had been launched from Geraldton at 1900hrs.The RAAF Pearce investigating officer wrote on the form, the object may have been "An aircraft, although none were under the control of Geraldton FS at that time. Mrs king was interviewed over the phone and appeared quite sensible." The investigating officer was R R J Pyers, flight officer, HQ Pearce. On 10 December 1973, C J Odgers, Director of Public Relations wrote to Mrs King "...it has been determined that the most probable cause was space debris re-entering the Earth's atmosphere."

Report form comparison:

I looked at the report forms used by RAAF Pearce for Mr Lacey and Mrs King to see if they were identical to those used for the North West Cape incident. They were not. The difference lay in the number of questions on the first three pages.

In both the Lacey and King forms, page one listed questions 1 to 10; page two listed questions 11 to 23, and page three listed questions 24 to 31. Below I reproduce, courtesy of the National Archives of Australia website, page two of Mrs King's report form, which shows questions 11 to 23.

In both of the North West Cape incident report forms, page one listed questions to number 10; page two listed questions 11 to 25; and page three questions 26 to 31. Below I reproduce, courtesy of Sydney based researcher Bill Chalker, page two of one of the North West Cape witness' report form showing it lists questions 11 to 25. The second witness' form is identical in format.

It appears to me, that the form which was used to record the North West Cape incident details, did not come from RAAF Base Pearce.

The question in my mind, is why the form used for the North West Cape incident did not come from RAAF Pearce? I welcome your thoughts on this matter.

A detailed look at the 1974 St Helens, Tasmania, car stop event

Hi all

Introduction:

There are some UAP cases which stick in your memory, and which you return to time and time again, wondering what the cause of the event actually was. For me, one of these cases happened on 16 September 1974, near a place called St. Helens (latitude 41deg 20mins S, longitude 148deg 15mins E) , in North Eastern Tasmania (click here.)

Recently, I obtained a copy of the full report on the event, from Keith Roberts of the Tasmanian UFO Investigation Centre (TUFOIC click here.) A TUFOIC investigator, Mr Roger Brooks, who was a senior master in English at St Marys District School visited the Richards' remote farm on 21 September 1974 and conducted an excellent investigation. The vehicle involved was a 1968 Toyota Crown manual.

The location:

Below is an image from Google maps which shows the location of St Helens (bottom left hand corner;) and Ansons Bay Road. The event happened near a bridge, 4-5 miles north of St Helens on the Ansons Bay Road. On this map, the bridge is located at the intersection of the road (marked in gray) and the river (marked in blue.) .

Below is an image from Google maps, satellite view, which shows an overhead shot of the road bridge over the George River.

The following is a photograph showing the road and bridge, which I took whilst visiting the site in 1975.

Investigation report by Roger Brooks:

"A. Background details:

1. People present:

Mrs A Richards - housewife of "The Marshes" via St Helens (aged about 34)
Janine Richards - her daughter, aged 8
Kathleen Richards - her daughter, aged 5.

2. Location:

4-5 miles along Anson's Bay Road, north of St Helens, and 8 miles south of their home.

3. Times etc:

Sept 16 1974 9.15pm. Sky - black. Light drizzle.

4. Events before experience:

They had journeyed from Launceston and Kathleen was very tired. Stopped at sister-in-law's house (another Mrs Richards) who reported that they were all well on departure just before 9.00. Kathleen slept in the car during the visit. The car was running well.

B. Sequence of event:

1. Car approached a bridge, 4-5 miles N of St Helens, when radio went static (Prev. on good reception & hasn't done this before.)

2. The sky lighted brightly in an area roughly  marked out by one's direct vision, i.e. sky ahead was bright. This was directly after radio went static.

3. As the car crossed the bridge it lost power on a gentle incline, then stopped dead and all lights of the car went out: headlights, wireless, heater, dashboard. Total dark, except for light in sky.

4. Mrs Richards tried to start car, but after 10 secs, a deafening, vibrating noise enveloped the car "like 30-40 large jets", "I felt my head was splitting open, and thought the world was coming to an end." The noise forced her to cover her ears with her hands (During this Kathleen was asleep but Janine said the noise was "deafening.") This lasted approx 1 min.

5. Almost simultaneously, quite painful electric shocks began penetrating their bodies - like electric vibrations, far worse than shock from an electric kettle (Mrs Richards guessed at about 400-500 volts.) This lasted for about a minutes, during which she thinks she screamed.

6. Then the car was filled by an invisible, chocking smell - a penetrating gas, far stranger than commercial bottled gas, and nothing recognisable. Janine smelt it too, and both leaped out of the car for air. ("All I wanted was fresh air and to breathe properly.") They dragged Kathleen, who was dazed, half awake from the car, and fled down the road. By this time there was only light in the sky.

7. They reached a house 2 miles away, at about 9.45pm where the owner, Mr Harvey Chappel, was alarmed by Mrs Richards' uncontrolled state. Then Mr Chappel and his brother Derek and Mrs Richards returned to the car. It started faultlessly, despite there being little water in the radiator. Harvey is a mechanic and at that time, could find nothing wrong with the car, except a hot bonnet; probably the radiator had boiled.

8. The chn. were collected and Mr C drove them home.

9. The next day a St Helens garage prop. Mr  Graham Stone, examined the car thoroughly and could fins nothing wrong. Radio worked, no electrical short circuits etc.

10. At the time of the experience Mr Richards who was waiting at home, saw lights in the sky and heard a distant roar. He thought it was his wife driving along the farm road, and took little notice, expecting her to arrive at any minute. He was surprised when the car did not come over the hill.

C. Other points:

1. Mrs Richards has been quite ill since the experience, despite tranquillisers. She has had a numb right side face and a red mark (2 cent piece size) above her right eyebrow. She claims she did not bruise herself, but that the vibrations did it. The day after the event, her arms and fingers were badly swollen and she had difficulty in walking. Her "nerves have been in a shocking state."

2. However she says he greatest frustrations have come from trying to convince people of what happened. She has never had any form of mental disorder or delusion nor is she physically weak or sick. Doesn't drink.

3. The chn. suffered no after-effects.

4. Janine said that during the experience, she thought the car was on fire.

5. My opinion:

Mrs Richards is badly shaken by the occurrence. Whereas some precise details might have become confused, she has been genuinely frightened by something and as she said "I'm hardly likely to make up a story like this! Why should I?"

People I spoke to ( her sister-in-law, 2 neighbours) described her and Janine as  sane, healthy, hard working, sincere people, and were emphatic that this was not a made up story. One thing confuses me: why didn't Kathleen wake up? However, I believe her story."

Newspaper article:

Brook's report was also carried in detail, in the 21September 1974 issue of the Hobart, Mercury, newspaper. Included in this source was additional material.

"Two nights later Mr Richards was driving home after visiting a neighbour when he noticed a light in the sky. It paced his car and "seemed attracted by the headlights." When he slowed and drove with only the parking lights, the object fell behind. It followed him on the thirty-minute drive home. At the house it zoomed in from an estimated height of 2,500 feet to about 80 feet just above some trees 100 yards from the house. His wife, Janine and son Ricky (11) watched it through a window. At one stage Ricky went outside the house for a closer look but when the object came closer, the family dragged him inside. They described it as crescent shaped and a as crescent shaped and a 'vibrant egg-yellow' in colour. They watched it for five minutes. It seemed attracted by the lights of the house. When they turned the house lights off the object soon "faded out." The family have seen odd lights about the sky in the area for years, but had taken  little notice of them.

Other reports around that time:

There were a number of other interesting reports from around this time:

1. Tayene. 22 September 1974. Latitude 41deg 10mins south, Longitude 146 deg 30secs east.

Sitting in her car at 1720hrs a woman heard a radio announcer give the time on he car's radio, then all of a sudden her surroundings lit up. The radio developed a high pitched whistling noise. An object approached the car from the top of a nearby hill. As it came closer, the woman started the car and backed it up along the road until the car became bogged in mud.

The object, meanwhile continued to approach and hovered for a short while before sweeping around the road junction then back to the position in which it was first seen. The speed up until then  had been fairly slow, but when it swept around the hill a tubular shaped thing on the bottom of it opened up in sections and the object sped upwards at a rapid pace.

The woman then left the car and ran to her house. Her husband and son returned to the car but could find nothing wrong. The next day a tow truck collected the vehicle. The front of it was exceptionally clean although the rest of the body was dirty. There had previously been cats' prints all over the bonnet but the bonnet was clean when the car was brought back.  (Source: Investigation by John Dean, TUFOIC. TUFOIC's annual report 1975. Flying Saucer Review Vol 21. No 5. 1975.)

Below is a photograph I took of the location, whilst visiting Tasmania, in 1975.

2. Ledgerwood September 1974.Latitude 41deg 13mins south, Longitude 147 deg 42mins east.

"Two other witnesses taking a short cut to the Tasman Highway from Ledgerwood got more than they bargained for late one evening during the same September. The driver rounded a sharp curve in the road only to be confronted by an object about 50m from the roadside. The driver slowed the car down for a better look but, his friend said they should get out of there. Hovering just above the ground was a disc shaped object with a dome and a line of portholes or lights. It was estimated as being 10 to 15m in diameter. Coming from below was a bright beam of light which covered a 5m area on the ground. The road ahead entered an area of bush so that the UFO was rapidly obscured from view." (Source: "Tasmania A UFO HIstory." TUFOIC. 2013.)

3. The Sideling November 1974. 2300hrs. Latitude 41deg 15mins south, Longitude 147deg 23mins east.

On his way home to Scottsdale, a man saw an object the size of an enormous building about half a kilometre away to his left, in the north. There was no related sound. His car (a 1971 Mitsubishi Colt) engine, lights, and radio cut out, and the figures on his watch lit up brightly. The object travelled along and was last seen going straight upwards. The witness was able to restart the car and head for home. The watch broke down shortly after the event. The left hand mudguard of the car changed colour from red to orange and stayed that colour. (Source: "Tasmania A UFO History." TUFOIC. 2013. )

Comments:

I'd appreciate hearing from any blog readers who might have ideas on this case.