UFO POTPOURRI

Magazine Overview

Title: UFO POTPOURRI
Issue: 371
Date: Wednesday, June 9, 1993
Publisher: Houston Chronicle
Document Type: Magazine Issue

Content Summary

This issue of UFO POTPOURRI features several articles on unexplained phenomena.

Historian Sees UFO

The first section details an interesting UFO account from Dr. Charles L. Hogue's book, "The Armies of the Ant," published by World Publishing for the American Museum of Natural History. The account, starting on page 24, describes an experience on "the eighth of April." The author, a historian, was sitting outside a station enjoying the sunset when he saw an unidentified flying object. He describes it as a "starlike light, moving at a rate of speed far in excess of the capabilities of any aircraft." He emphasizes that it was obviously in the atmosphere and was not a star or a meteorite. The object moved continuously in a straight line from over his shoulder to the horizon in approximately thirty to forty-five seconds. He describes its intensity as "approximately equal to a medium star." He called out to Andy, an itinerant ornithologist visiting the station, who also saw the object. The historian states, "I'm a believer now, I am a believer that there is something going on which we don't understand." He notes that his temporary cook, a Costa Rican woman, has also seen similar things many times and believes it might be related to tropic latitudes. The report is credited to Victoria Schear of VISIT, Houston, TX, and is by John F. Schuessler.

Alien Search Picks Up Eery Space Signals

This article, datelined BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) and published in the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday, June 9, 1993, reports that scientists may have detected 164 messages from outer space as part of a $400,000 search for aliens. Astronomer Stuart Bowyer, who heads the search at the University of California at Berkeley, stated that further study is needed to determine if the signals are natural, man-made, or from a distant civilization. The findings were announced at the American Astronomical Society's annual meeting. Researcher Dan Werthimer expressed skepticism, saying, "It's very unlikely that any of these candidates are really from extraterrestrials," and suggested they are more likely human-made interference or natural noise sources. To confirm a signal as extraterrestrial, it would need to be detected repeatedly and show signs of being produced by technology. Since the 1960s, numerous searches have been conducted for radio signals from advanced societies. The Berkeley search, using a 1,000-foot-wide radio telescope antenna in Puerto Rico, is described as more powerful and sensitive than others, analyzing 30 trillion signals in the past 14 months. A $100 million, 10-year NASA search, which began in October using antennas in Puerto Rico and California, will eventually be more powerful. Berkeley's search started in 1980, and similar early efforts detected signals that couldn't be immediately explained.

Canadian UFO Survey

This brief report references an article from The Toronto Star on Thursday, March 25, 1993, which posed the question, "Do you believe some UFOs are directed by an unknown intelligence?" The newspaper received 258 calls, with 69% answering yes and 31% answering no.

The Taos, NM Hum

This section details reports from residents of the Taos area, New Mexico, who have experienced a pulsating low-frequency sound for the past two years. The sound reportedly upsets their lives and makes them ill. Their complaints led to a government team being sent to investigate the source of the irritation. The team, headed by Dr. Joe Mullins of the University of New Mexico and including members from Sandia, Los Alamos, and Phillips Labs, spent a week in Taos using sophisticated equipment to measure acoustic, electromagnetic, and seismic signals. However, they failed to find an answer. Horace Poteet, a physicist specializing in nuclear test-ban verification, believes the phenomenon is likely not an acoustical signal, as sensitive microphones would have detected it. Despite this, Dr. Poteet also heard the Taos hum while he was there.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes in this issue are UFO sightings, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI), and unexplained environmental phenomena like the Taos hum. The editorial stance appears to be one of reporting on these phenomena with a degree of skepticism, particularly regarding the alien signal search, while acknowledging the persistent nature of such unexplained events and the experiences of witnesses, as exemplified by the historian's account and the Taos hum reports.