UFO Rivista di Informazione Ufologica - No 24 - English abstracts

Magazine Overview

This document presents English abstracts for the Italian magazine UFO - Rivista di Informazione Ufologica, Issue No. 24, dated December 2001. The magazine is published by the Italian Center for UFO Studies (Centro Italiano Studi Ufologici, CISU). The publication aims to provide longer English versions of articles previously published in Italian.

Editorial and Publication Changes

The editorial board notes that due to time constraints, full English translations are not always possible. However, the magazine is undergoing a change in its publication schedule, moving from two (or sometimes one) issues per year to four issues per year starting in 2002. This change is also marked by the merging of their newsletter, 'Ufo Notizie,' and their technical journal, 'Ufo Forum,' into the main magazine. Giuseppe Stilo has joined the editorial board. The publication also includes a weekly English-language UFO Newsflash, which is a translation of their phone/Internet news service UFOTEL, thanks to the efforts of American reader Gary Presto.

Articles and Features

Editorial

An Education school for ufologists: Giuseppe Stilo argues for the necessity of establishing a school to educate new generations of ufologists, emphasizing that the activity should not be about 'chasing the aliens.' A separate box by Gian Paolo Grassino explains the new format and schedule of the publication.

News

• Unidentified Flying Iridiums: Francesco D'Agostino reports on the Motorola network of 77 telecommunication satellites, which have been causing sudden light flashes since 1997, leading to numerous false UFO sightings.
• Edoardo Russo contributes short reports on the 2001 UFO wave in Italy, which generated over 630 reports, and international items including the 1951 British UFO working group, the death of Bill Cooper, and the discovery of the first UFO publication from 1947.

Research Projects

• Hessdalen Phenomena: a Ufology for the XXI Century?: Renzo Cabassi traces the development of scientific ufology from the 1970s to the current project monitoring luminous apparitions in Hessdalen, Norway. The article includes a summary of the Hessdalen Project since 1984 and a report on the 2001 Embla mission expedition, funded by the Italian Committee for the Hessdalen Project (CIPH), for optical, photographic, radio, and radar monitoring.
• Earthquake Lights for a Better Understanding of UFOs?: Massimo Silvestri discusses the relevance of earthquake lights and seismic precursors to ufology, based on his recent monograph and a specific sub-project of the CISU committee on Luminous Phenomena in Atmosphere.
• AIRCAT 2001: Marco Orlandi updates the status of his archive cataloguing 330 UFO sightings by pilots over Italy, presenting it as a CISU monograph and commenting on seven years of project activity.
• EFCAT, the "physical effects" catalogue: Stefano Innocenti provides an overview of the CISU project on UFO encounters involving 'electro-magnetic' effects, detailing its evolution since 1988.

Cinema

• E.T., twenty years later: Gian Paolo Grassino reflects on the re-release of Steven Spielberg's classic UFO-inspired film.

History

• The Sad End of the Aluminium Man: Giuseppe Stilo reports on the debunking of a hoax involving an alien photograph allegedly taken in Arizona in 1950, citing recent booklets by Loren Gross.

Case Histories

• Federico Rosati investigated a humanoid sighting in August 1931 in Coniale di Fiorenzuola (Firenze).
• Massimiliano Grandi details a series of bedroom visitor experiences reported by a teenage girl in Arezzo and other towns between 1985 and the early 1990s. A box by Paolo Toselli discusses hypnagogic and hypnopompic images in relation to these cases.

Obituary

• Michel Figuet, the Man of the Close Encounters: Perry Petrakis shares Michel Figuet's last interview, focusing on his work cataloguing close encounter reports in France. Edoardo Russo offers a personal appreciation of Figuet, and Figuet's own criteria grid for selecting solid cases is republished.

Forum

• On the Side of the Witness: Jan Aldrich and Brad Sparks debate the value of eyewitness testimony.
• A Search for the Non-existent: Luis Alfonso Gamez and Manuel Borraz discuss the usefulness of serious ufology.
• The Moon/UFO and Trans-en-Provence: Eric Maillot responds to critiques of his study suggesting the Moon as a cause for UFO sightings, with a counter-response from Giorgio Abraini. Maillot also criticizes the CISU report on the 1981 Trans-en-Provence trace-landing case, with Paolo Fiorino and Matteo Leone providing a response on technical data and methodology.

Primordia

• Adamski, Leslie and Williamson in Italy, in the '50s: Giuseppe Stilo compiles information on early visitors and their influence on Italian ufologists and the mass media.

CISU News

• Edoardo Russo provides an overview of the CISU 16th national congress held in San Giovanni in Persiceto (Bologna) on October 13, 2001. The theme was "Luminous Phenomena in the Atmosphere and Instrumentation-assisted Ufology: New Avenues for the Research?" Presentations included topics like Instrumentation-assisted Ufology, Earthquake Lights, Ball Lightning, Ghost-Lights, the EMBLA 2001 Mission, and automatic monitoring projects.
• The newly elected CISU council for 2001-2002 includes Gian Paolo Grassino, Edoardo Russo (president), Giuseppe Stilo, Paolo Toselli, and Maurizio Verga.
• The article mentions the 20th anniversary of the UPIAR Cooperative and a new online UFO store.
• CISU has adopted the UFOIN code of ethics.
• The Alberto Lazzaro Award for 2000 was given to Daniele Parisi for his thesis on UFO Phenomenon as a Social Construction.
• CISU headquarters have moved to a new office.
• A CISU award was given for the best UFO movie at the Trash Cinema Festival.

Publication Details

All abstracts were edited by Edoardo Russo for the Italian Center for UFO Studies. The publication 'UFO - Rivista di informazione ufologica' is registered in Turin, Italy. The director is Giovanni Settimo, and the publisher is Cooperativa UPIAR. Contact information includes phone, fax, email, and website for CISU.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The magazine focuses on a wide range of ufological topics, including scientific research, historical cases, news, and cultural reflections on UFOs. There is a clear emphasis on promoting a more scientific and educational approach to ufology, as highlighted in the editorial. The CISU news section indicates an active organization involved in research, conferences, and ethical standards within the field. The publication also engages with international UFO research and historical aspects of the phenomenon.