Drones, data and wobbly witnesses
NIGEL WATSON surveys the latest sightings and ufological news from around the world
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’
John Ratcliffe, former Director of National Intelligence, claims that US government agencies have gathered lots of UFO data that has been kept secret. Fast-moving objects that have broken the sound barrier without causing a sonic boom have been seen by pilots and multiple sensors have detected unusual aerial phenomena. Many, he admits, have plausible explanations. “But,” he said, “there are instances where we don’t have good explanations for some of the things that we have seen.” His comments have fuelled a frenzy of anticipation for a report scheduled for release in June, under the Intelligence Authorization Act, to the US Congress that will provide details of everything US intelligence agencies know about UFO sightings.
In the meantime, through FOIA requests, The Drive website reported that three US guided missile destroyers, the USS Kidd, USS Rafael Peralta and USS John Finn, were buzzed by ‘Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’ (UAVs) on the nights of 14-15, 25 and 30 July 2019. They were about 100 miles (160km) from the Californian coast, and a nearby cruise ship, the Carnival Imagination, also reported seeing five or six objects flying over the destroyers. The UAVs carried out brazen manoeuvres in poor weather conditions, and in one instance on the night of 14 July a white light was seen hovering over the Rafael Peralta’s helicopter landing pad. Even though it was night time, with reduced visibility and the ship travelling at 16 knots, the UAV was able to hover over the pad for over 90 minutes. All these factors would indicate the light was attached to a very advanced drone. The Navy, Coast Guard and FBI investigated the matter and failed to provide an adequate explanation for the sightings. Perhaps we will learn more in the forthcoming report in June. www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/39913/ multiple-destroyers-were-swarmed-bymysterious-drones-off-california-overnumerous-nights?
MEMORY METAL
Anthony Bragalia has announced that his FOIA requests to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has turned up 150 pages of technical documents “on possible ways to use strange, futuristic materials. This material, inspired by UFO debris analysis, has the potential to control the speed of light, remember its original shape when deformed, and can promote the invisibility of objects.” Kevin Randle on his ‘A Different Perspective’ blog is less impressed by Tony’s revelations, since many of these documents have already been released and they make no mention of UAPs, UFOs or extraterrestrial craft. The only link is that the FOIA officer mentions UAPs in his letter accompanying the documents. www.ufoexplorations.com/; kevinrandle. blogspot.com/2021/03/coast-to-coast-didpentagon-reveal.html
MIND BENDING
Who needs government disclosure when we have spoon-bender Uri Geller on our side? He reveals that rocket scientist Wernher von Braun showed him a piece of UFO wreckage in 1974. On his Facebook page he says: “I felt it wasn’t terrestrial – it was metallic, elongated and had a hue I have never seen before. It felt like it was alive. Like it was breathing. And the surface had a pearl-like quality that almost seemed to be in three-dimensional colour.” Uri is no stranger to ET anomalies – he has previously claimed that John Lennon gave him an alien egg.
UK UFO REPORT 2020
Collecting data from the public, organisations and government departments, Ash Ellis, who runs the North West UFO Research and Investigation Group, has compiled a detailed break-down of 484 UFO sightings reported in the UK during 2020. The majority (396) were made in England and there was a sharp increase in March and April due to the launch of SpaceX satellite trains. The most likely time to see a UFO was between 9 and 10pm on a Sunday, and the shapes seen varied from star-like (200), triangular (33), oval (31), disc (14) and cylindrical (8) to unknown (46). On Hynek’s classification scale there were only three reports of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and one abduction report. The full report can be seen on the www.ufoidentified. co.uk website. The site carries news of the latest UK sightings, where it notes there was a cluster of five sightings of triangular craft in January 2021 and a further three sightings in February, and features detailed investigation reports by the NWUFORIG.
RELIABLE WITNESSES?
Veteran Spanish UFO researcher VicenteJuan Baluster Olmos is editing the first major volume dedicated to looking at the perception of UFO phenomena. He is calling for papers that examine any aspect of this topic, including “statistical, clinical, assessment, scaling, psychometric, comparative, evaluation, case studies, etc.,” from specialists in “psychology, psychiatry, social sciences, mathematics, philosophy, anthropology, folklore, religion, clinical workers” and those who have studied UFO perceivers. The Reliability of Witnesses will be printed by UPIAR publishing house and made freely available on the www.academia.edu website. The deadline is September 2021 for a January 2022 release date. Contact Vicente-Juan at: ballesterolmos@yahoo.es
ABDUCTION NEWS
There has been a falling-out between abductee Travis Walton and Mike Rogers who was present when Walton was whisked away by a UFO. Mike posted on his Facebook page: “I am no longer to be considered witness to Travis C Walton’s supposed abduction of November 5, 1975.”
Mike has not clarified what he means by ‘supposed.’ Part of the dispute is about Mike being excluded from the planning stages of a forthcoming remake of Fire in the Sky.
In other words, money and fame are at the root of the matter. https://badufos.blogspot. com/2021/03/mike-rogers-says-that-he-is-nolonger.html
Meanwhile, Calvin Parker, who famously experienced an abduction with Charles Hickson at Pascagoula in 1973, has undergone surgery for cancer. He will need further treatment, so our thoughts go out to him and we hope he makes a full recovery.
BLURRED VISIONS
On his Twitter account, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has published two charts. One shows the rise in camera resolution, compared to a chart showing that the resolution of UFO pictures has not changed at all. This is his strongest argument against the existence of alien visitors to our skies.