Australian UFO Bulletin - 1977 02 - February

Magazine Overview

This issue of the Australian UFO Bulletin, dated February 1977, is published by The Victorian U.F.O. Research Society and covers a range of UFO sightings and related phenomena reported across Australia and internationally. The publication features detailed accounts from witnesses, interviews, and summaries of newspaper reports.

Key Articles and Reports

Orange Light Stops Vehicle (Victoria, Australia)

Mrs. J., a 44-year-old woman, recounts an incident on July 17, 1974, where an orange light in her rear vision mirror caused her Mazda utility truck's engine to roar and then stop. She experienced a 'blackout' and a strange feeling of numbness. Another car had stopped nearby. The incident lasted approximately 20 minutes.

An Unusual Ground Mark (Victoria, Australia)

A Croydon man reported finding a puzzling ground mark in Ainsley Park in September 1976. The mark was circular with a criss-cross pattern. His dog refused to enter the circle. The grass inside the circle stood vertically and was dry, despite heavy rain. The mark was approximately 40 feet in diameter and remained visible for several weeks.

More Lights in the North West (Victoria, Australia)

This section details sightings in the Mildura area, following previous reports. A police officer at Werrimull attempted to observe these lights. Reports include a large red light seen near a farm and a stationary light west of a farm. Locals discuss a phenomenon known as the 'Lantern'. Samples from a previous Karawinna site were examined by a local university, showing no abnormal radioactivity.

Sightings Move to Swan Hill (Victoria, Australia)

The Swan Hill Guardian reported several sightings in early January 1977. Four people reported an unidentified flying object near Lake Boga that appeared as a vapour trail and then followed their car. Another report from Swan Hill describes a large, bright white object seen hovering over a house, which then descended rapidly, performed manoeuvres, and moved off. A young woman reported seeing a large red glowing ball rise from the northern skyline.

Interstate Activity

South Australia: An 'Occupant Report' from Daw Park in May 1976 describes a figure in a silver suit with a symbol on its chest, who appeared humanoid and spoke incomprehensibly before taking to the air and entering a metallic silver cigar-shaped object. Footmarks were found around the lawn days later.

Queensland: A 'Circle Starts UFO Puzzle' report from near Mt. Garnet describes a brown circular spot on the ground with smaller satellite marks, linked by some to unusual dog behaviour and poor TV/radio reception.

Western Australia: A nurse reported a sighting of a brightly lit bell-like object near Sawyer's Valley in December 1976. The object, described as a large bell, followed her car and then disappeared into a gully. The RAAF and USAF reported no unusual radar activity.

Interstate Activity (Continued)

New South Wales: A 'Flap of Activity' in the Gosford Area during September and October 1976 included reports of a brilliant white light hovering over a lake, a strange object with car-headlight-like lights, and five witnesses observing an object with revolving lights. A disc-shaped object emitting light beams was reported near the North Entrance Peninsula.

Interstate Activity (Continued)

Victoria: A creature was seen at Crackneck Lookout in October 1976 by two young couples. It was described as off-white with large eyes and joints in its arms. A rectangular orange light was also seen out at sea.

New South Wales: A 'Strange Sighting Over Bellbrook' in October 1976 involved a bright red, pulsating light observed moving erratically.

Shock UFO Find! (Overseas)

This section reports on the discovery of 'angel hair', a sticky, cob-web-like silver material, dropped by a black triangular UFO over South Auckland, New Zealand. The substance was collected for analysis. Captain Bruce Cathie, a UFO expert, expressed excitement about the find.

Overseas Reports

• United Kingdom:
• The Night A UFO Dropped In (Harlow, Essex): A 13-year-old boy and his mother reported seeing a disc-shaped object with rotating lights. Later, five identical objects were seen, one of which broke formation to pace an aircraft. Other witnesses also saw the objects.
• Two Recent British Sightings (Suffolk): Mr. and Mrs. S. witnessed a large, grey, saucer-shaped object hovering silently over farmland. Their dog became agitated. The object took off incredibly fast. TV interference was also reported, with the object reappearing the following night.

• United Kingdom (Continued):
• Humanoid Occupant Encounter (Hampshire): Joyce Bowles and Ted Pratt reported an encounter with a 15-foot glowing orange cigar-shaped object and three figures, one of whom materialized and interacted with their car before vanishing with the object. This report is linked to other sightings of cigar-shaped UFOs and a man in a silver suit in the area.

Russians Debate UFO Mysteries (Moscow)

An unusual debate is occurring in the Soviet Union regarding intelligent beings in outer space. Professor Alexai Zolotov suggests the 1908 Siberian explosion was caused by a nuclear-powered vehicle from outer space. The debate spans science and philosophy, with differing views on humanity's place in the universe. The 'Bermuda Triangle' is also discussed, with theories ranging from navigational interference to unusual weather conditions.

Interstate Activity (Continued)

Soviet Union: The issue notes that the topic of UFOs gained traction in the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. A clandestine lecture on UFOs by Professor F. Zigel of the Moscow Aviation Institute circulated, reporting landings and numerous sightings. The Soviet government reportedly bans publication of UFO-related information, making such topics of wide interest.

UFO Abductions

New Zealand: A report from the journal 'Xenolog' details a case involving Helene Giuliana, who experienced a two-hour period of lost time on June 11, 1976. Under hypnosis, she recounted being taken aboard a machine by two short, dwarf-like beings with large eyes and rounded heads.

Iranian Air Force Incident

On September 19, 1976, the Iranian Air Force received calls about a bright star-like object. An F-4 jet investigating the object lost all communications and instrumentation. The object exhibited rapid acceleration and unusual maneuvers, including a smaller object emerging and pursuing the jet. The incident concluded with the UFO disappearing at high speed and a smaller object landing in hills.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes in this issue are UFO sightings, aerial phenomena, alleged occupant encounters, and ground traces. The publication presents a wide array of reports from various locations, suggesting a global interest in the UFO phenomenon. The editorial stance appears to be one of documenting these reports, often with a degree of skepticism or by presenting multiple viewpoints, as seen in the Soviet Union section and the concluding note on 'angel hair' potentially being spider webs. The publication aims to inform readers about UFO-related events and investigations.

Title: AUSTRALIAN UFO BULLETIN
Issue Date: February, 1977
Volume: 12

This issue of the Australian UFO Bulletin delves into various aspects of UFO research and reporting, featuring articles on a UFO database, classification systems, and personal accounts of sightings. It also touches upon the history of UFO investigation groups and upcoming events.

Article: At dawn that morning...

This section recounts a UFO sighting involving a helicopter crew. While flying over a dry lake bed, the crew found no trace of a previous landing. However, as they departed, the helicopter picked up a beeper signal. Upon investigation, they landed at a farm house where the resident reported hearing a loud sound and seeing a bright light in the landing site area the previous night. The crew also experienced significant UHF radio interference and lost communications when passing through a specific magnetic bearing.

*Condensed from a report in NICAP Investigator, Nov., 1976.*

Article: EXCERPTS FROM UFOCON TWO

This section presents papers from the second national UFO conference held at Mt. Gambier, S.A., from October 24-26, 1976.

UFOCAT: A Unique Tool For UFO Research by Harry Griesberg, ACOS

This article introduces UFOCAT, a computer file containing approximately 79,000 UFO reports. Dr. D. R. Saunders initiated UFOCAT in 1967 and later donated it to the Centre For UFO Studies. The file is used for statistical studies, such as "Extriasis Factors in UFO Reporting" and "A Spatio-Temporal Invariant for Major UFO Waves." UFOCAT also provides catalogues of reports of particular interest, allowing selective listing by factors like geographical location, report type (occupants, abductions), date, special features (imprints, electromagnetic effects), and sightings from aircraft or by military personnel.

The file has grown at an average rate of 10,000 entries per year. Initially maintained as a card deck, the file was moved to magnetic disc with tape backup by 1972. The current structure can theoretically handle up to 350,000 entries without significant inefficiency, meaning two-thirds of its existing capacity is unused.

UFO Report Classification:

UFOCAT uses ten different types to classify UFO reports:

• 0: Considered not a UFO report by the direct source, but of ufological interest. Explained reports receive other codes.
• 1: Essentially stationary during observation (up to 15 degrees per hour).
• 2: Moved in a continuous trajectory at a speed greater than 15 degrees per hour.
• 3: Moved in a non-continuous trajectory with a single discontinuity (e.g., a sharp corner).
• 4: Moved in a non-continuous trajectory with more than one discontinuity (complex trajectories).
• 5: Entered the witness's frame of reference (includes Vallee's "Type I", Keel's "Low Level", and Hynek's "Encounter" cases, as well as photo, radar, EM, and investigated cases).
• 6: Landed within the witness's frame of reference (physical traces may or may not be present).
• 7: One or more "occupants" reported.
• 8: Intelligent communication associated with the experience, at a level of abstraction requiring language (e.g., telepathic communication, but not mere gestures or light signals).
• 9: Caused lasting physical or functional effects on the witness or other animal life.

Information from a typical UFO report is extracted into 256 columns and fed into UFOCAT. A printout of all Australian and NZ cases on file revealed 2,276 cases dating from 1700 to early 1976. Mr. Bill Chalker is currently studying this printout to identify errors and missing details for updating the Centre's database.

It is announced that Australia will begin a similar computer file in early 1977, operated by A. Cole of UFOIC, Sydney, using a Univac 1004 Card Processing Machine. All Australian groups have agreed to use a uniform reference and coding system for this initiative.

Message to UFOCON TO by Dr. Hynek

Dr. Hynek sent greetings and best wishes for the conference via a tape-recorded address. Some of his comments are taken from a transcript by G. Griesberg for ACOS:

"Let me start from square one so to speak to tell you how the Centre for UFO Studies here came to be in the first place and then to tell you some of the exciting things that have happened since then and especially just lately. So, taking a deep breath and casting our minds back, let's cast them back clear to the early 17th century. Science was quite young in those days, at least science as we know it, and the scientists were rather suspect of perhaps being in league with the devil for doing strange experiments and making telescopes and that sort of thing, and so it frequently happened that scientists would meet rather clandestinely to discuss their experiments, sometimes meeting in cabins, sometimes in their own homes, and so on, and at that time they called themselves "The Invisible College". Well, a few centuries later we had another group of scientists meeting rather clandestinely and furtively to discuss their interest in UFOs and we also called ourselves "The Invisible College", thinking that it was rather appropriate, because in a sense many people felt that we also were in league with the devil. One of the main members of this little group of ours was Jacques Vallee, another was Fred Beckman, and Dave Saunders and a number of others from time to time. We felt for years that it would be unwise to surface and I was sort of the spokesman for the group since I was already visible, and I, in a sense, protected their invisibility. But there came a time, namely in 1973, when we had quite a flap of UFOs here in the States, especially in the south eastern part of the US, and it was at this time that the famous Pascagoula Mississippi two fishermen case occurred. That hit the press and caused a great deal of comment, but of course what most people don't realise is that that instance was really one of 70 other instances of humanoids that had been reported in a two month period. Altogether there were many hundreds of reports that came at that time. Since the Air Force was out of it and nobody seemed to be paying any particular attention, nobody so to speak was minding the store, our invisible college got a little disturbed at this and we decided at that time to go visible to create, in short, the Centre for UFO Studies....

Then, however, came the problem how to get funds.... We finally hit upon a plan to get our necessary research funds through the publication of a new type of newsletter. It starts in October and will be a ten page publication aimed to keep readers current with the UFO scene so to speak. I am to be the editor, and we have through some very excellent financial backers for this purpose only been able to obtain the full time of a managing editor and investigator, and we now have an outgoing unlimited telephone service limited to the US. This means that when calls come in on our police hotline as they do several times a day, our full time paid investigator can make free use of the phone lines as much as is needed to track down witnesses, airports, weather bureaus, character references and what have you....

Our newsletter is called "The International UFO Reporter"....We want to maintain and build a strong and international flavour to this small publication as we can. Since it is a newsletter the things will be brief and a person will be able to read as he runs, so to speak, but above all, since I am the editor of it, anything that one finds in there one can regard as having been documented as far as we could go....

Now I must tell you of a more amusing turn of things, and I hope it doesn't shock you in any way, but believe it or not I am going to be part of a movie playing myself.... Steve Speelberg (director of "Jaws") has decided to do a UFO movie and asked me to be technical consultant on the script. One thing led to another and a spot opened up where I could be myself....I think the impact of the movie, since it is spectacular and done very well, is going to set an awful lot of people thinking, and I think its impact will be considerable. (The title of the film is "Close Encounters of the Third Kind")

• Subscription Information for The International UFO Reporter:
• Rate: US$15 per year, US$26 for two years.
• Address: International UFO Reporter Inc., 924 Chicago Ave., Evanston, Ill., 60202.

Article: Definitions For an Indefinite Phenomenon Summary of a paper by Paul Jackson, TUFOIC

This paper highlights that the phenomenon of UFOs does not stand up to the scientific method's prerequisite of "repeatability," leading to a general lack of scientific interest. The author argues that it is not the phenomenon's fault, but rather science needs to adapt to the phenomenon's requirements. Investigators play a crucial role in extracting fundamental elements from observed situations and filtering out extraneous information. For objective study, data requires organization, systematization, and uniform terminology. This will enable the establishment of the phenomenon's reality, definition of its characteristics, and eventually, the building of a theoretical model and new hypotheses.

Society News and Publications

General Meeting in May

A general meeting is scheduled for May, with the exact date to be announced. Annual elections for committee positions will be held. The committee is arranging for a lecturer and encourages members to attend and show support. Members are also encouraged to invite friends and acquaintances.

Additions to the Library

A list of new books added to the library is provided, including titles in English and French, covering various UFO-related topics.

FOR SALE

• Back Issues of "Australian Flying Saucer Review" (VUFORS magazine): Specific issues and prices are listed, with postage extra.
• Back Issues of the "Bulletin" (Members only): Specific issues and prices are listed, with postage extra.
• Society Badges: Clip-on type available for $1.25 each.
• Car Stickers: Blue for 10¢ each, Bi-coloured for 20¢ each, with postage for up to a dozen.

Society Information

Australian UFO Bulletin Production

The Australian UFO Bulletin is produced by the Victorian UFO Research Society, P.O. Box 43, Moorabbin, Victoria, Australia, 3189. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to the objective investigation of the UFO phenomenon and welcomes eye-witness accounts and information on unidentified flying objects and unusual aerial phenomena.

Annual Subscription Fees (4 issues per year):

• Australia: Adults - $5.00, Pensioners & Juniors - $3.00 (Juniors under 18).
• Overseas: US$5.00.

A note indicates that membership expires with the current issue if an 'X' appears in a designated box.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes in this issue revolve around the systematic investigation and cataloging of UFO phenomena, emphasizing the need for organized data collection and analysis. The editorial stance appears to be one of promoting objective research, encouraging public participation through reporting sightings, and disseminating information through publications like the "Australian UFO Bulletin" and "The International UFO Reporter." There is a clear effort to bridge the gap between anecdotal reports and scientific inquiry, advocating for a more adaptable scientific approach to understanding UFOs.