CENTAUR CAUSES PANIC
IN NORTHERN NIGERIA
"Women in Maru," a large town near the Zamfara River
in northern Nigeria, "have been found to remain inside in
the evening for fear of a strange creature which chases
them."
"The News Agency of Nigeria has learned that a
mysterious creature, said to be half-man and half-horse,
usually appears in the early hours of the morning or the
evening."
The creature fits the description of a centaur of
Greek mythology, the most famous ones being Centaurus,
Chiron and Sagittarius. However, the Nigerian version is
distinctly African. It was described as having close-
cropped hair, a goatee, horse-like ears, with a man's
torso sprouting from a horse's body where the horse's neck
usually is. The creature had two human arms and four
equine legs, and, from the human neck down, it had the
black-and-white striped coloration of an African zebra.
"The appearance of the strange creature has crippled
the socio-economic activities in the town, especially at
night as people prefer to stay home from 4 p.m." until
sunrise the next morning.
"The creature is believed to have appeared in
different locations" in Maru "and is causing much anxiety
and fear among residents, particularly women."
"When contacted about the issue, one of the sons of
the Emir of Maru, Alhaji Isa Maru, said the rumour was
strong and 'we are still trying to get to the root of
it.'"
Maru is located about 600 kilometers (360 miles)
north of Lagos, the capital of Nigeria. (See the News
Agency of Nigeria (NAN) report of May 18, 2003, "Strange
creature forces Maru women indoors." Merci beaucoup a
Robert Fischer pour cette article de journal.)
(Editor's Comment: Africa has certainly had its share of
"creature sightings" this year. First it was vampires in
Malawi. Then it was Larry the Were-Hyena, also in Malawi.
Next came the Invisible Man of Zambia. And now a centaur
in Nigeria! Will the Dark Continent play host to any more
visitations in 2003? Stay tuned.)
TWO MORE CALVES ARE
MUTILATED IN ARGENTINA
"Field researchers specializing in the subject of
animal mutilations--Raul Chavez and Esther Urban--pointed
out that 'so far this year (2003) we have accounted for
more than 60 mutilations in La Pampa and Buenos Aires"
provinces in Argentina.
"They noted that 'thanks to the fact that they
already know us, and know we research the subject, cattle
ranchers inform us when mutilated animals are discovered.
We then obtain samples which we send to the University of
Buenos Aires and document everything on videotape.'"
Chavez and Urban "referred to the two most recent
cases, on (Friday) May 16 and (Saturday) May 17 (2003),
respectively--between 45 and 30 kilometers away from Santa
Rosa," the capital of La Pampa province.
"The first of these took place on El Martin ranch 45
kilometers (27 miles) northwest of the Pampan capital and
involved a year-old calf weighing 200 kilograms."
"On the left side of its head, the absence of the
outer ear was evident along with the entire inner ear, its
eye and an oval-shaped flap of skin, measuring some 30
centimeters in diameter. The absence of vulva, edge of
the anus, hyoides, larynx, pharynx and a segment of the
trachea, as well as part of the upper muscular mass, was
also noted."
"An entire animal was found on (Saturday) May 17
(2003) on a rural property located 30 kilometers (18
miles) north of Santa Rosa. It was a two-year-old calf
weighing 250 kilograms and missing half its tongue with a
cauterized incision and missing the left ocular orb."
Chavez and Urban "stated that in both cases samples
were secured for subsequent study and analysis by
professionals." (See the Argentinian newspaper El Diario
de la Pampa for May 24, 2003, "Two more calves found
mutilated." Muchas gracias a Scott Corrales y Gloria
Coluchi para eso articulo de diario.)
CHUPACABRA KILLS FORTY
CHICKENS IN CHILE
"Farmers in a Chilean village are reportedly blaming
vampires or aliens for the deaths of 40 chickens," an
event similar to Chupacabra attacks elsewhere in the South
American nation.
"According to the newspaper El Diario Austral, the
chickens were found dead with their insides scattered all
over the owner's backyard in Perquenco," a town in the
department of La Araucania about 400 kilometers (240
miles) south of Santiago de Chile, the national capital.
"Juana Raasch, owner of the farm, said, 'It was a
horrible scene. But the strangest thing was that there
was no trace of any other animal that could have done
it.'"
"'I have raised them (chickens) for seven years, and
I have never seen anything like that. I would know if it
were the work of a pig, dog, wolf or cat. What happened
here was out of this world.'"
"Police sent to the farm were puzzled by the fact
that there was no evidence of an intruder, either animal
or human."
"A spokesman said, 'It seems silly to talk about
vampires and aliens, but you never know around here.'"
"'This farm is well-protected with all sorts of wires
and fences, and I don't see how an animal could have come
in here.'"
"'This is not the first time something bizarre like
this has happened around here, and we have never come up
with a normal explanation.'" (See the Chilean newspaper
El Diario Austral for May 18, 2003, "'Vampires or aliens'
blamed for Chilean chicken slaughter." Muchas gracias a
Scott Corrales para eso articulo de diario.)
UFO HOVERS OVER BELFAST
On Friday, May 2, 2003, at 11 p.m., Trevor Thomas was
in Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK when "facing east" he saw
"what at first I thought was an aircraft light shining in
my direction, from approximately 1,000 feet (300 meters)
in the air over Belfast. It shone continually without
flickering, and there was no sign of any pilot lights. It
shone for approximately 10 minutes without moving at all."
"There was no sound of motors or any engine (noise)
to accompany it. Then, without a trace of engine or
aircraft sound, the light just disappeared. May I point
out that the light was at least three times the brightness
of the North Star (Polaris). It was a white light, round,
spherical shaped." (Email Form Report)
COUPLE SPIES A UFO IN
DUNOON, SCOTLAND
On Sunday, May 25, 2003, a couple "was walking down a
hill next to the street we live on" in the West Bay
section of Dunoon, Argyllshire, Scotland, UK "when I
turned to my right and saw a bright green-yellow oblong
shape moving really quietly horizontally across the top of
the Bishop's Glen (hills)," the female witness reported,
"I said, 'Did you see that?' He said he saw the same
thing and noted that there was no noise."
"It was travelling faster than the speed of the (RAF)
fighter jets that fly over here on training regularly.
The object made no noise, moved quickly, was 'luminous'
green/yellow, and I noticed slight pinkish tinges around
the edges. Then it just disappeared."
"It was going from north to south, very big and very
fast. Didn't know who to report it to. Found your Web
site." (Email Form Report)
UFO SPOTTED OVER THE
WISCONSIN DELLS
On Wednesday, May 28, 2003, at 9:45 p.m., Steve H.
was at the Wisconsin Dells, a geologic feature 50 miles
(80 kilometers) north of Madison, the state
capital, when he spotted an unusual object approaching.
"The object was about the size of my thumbnail,"
Steve reported, "I was sitting outside, looking at the Big
Dipper (constellation Ursa Major). It was a bright white
light that appeared to come out of total darkness. I
watched it slowly fade out or dim as it moved towards the
south."
"About a half hour later (10:15 p.m.) I saw another
object east of the Dipper which acted in the same manner.
It was a clear night at the time of this sighting."
(Email Form Report)
MAGENTA-COLORED UFO
SEEN OVER GEORGIA
On Wednesday, June 4, 2003, at 12 midnight,
eyewitness Juliet S. was outdoors at her home in Athens,
Georgia (population 100,266), a city located 67 miles (112
kilometers) east of Atlanta when a UFO appeared from the
northeast.
"It was a big bright light that lit up the whole
area," Juliet reported, "I saw it in the sky floating, and
it flew along about 20 feet (6 meters) in the air over my
head. Bright purplish in color, sort of a magenta, and it
looked like a big raindrop. And I heard a noise that
sounded like electricity mixed with a type of gerbil
noise. It went about 70 miles per hour."
"I was freaked. I thought my family was in danger.
It was not seen by anyone else in the part" of Athens, Ga.
"where I live." (Email Form Report)
TWO GREEN-FIREBALL UFOs
SEEN IN OMAK, WASHINGTON
On Wednesday, May 28, 2003, at 10:30 p.m., the male
eyewitness was outdoors at his home in Omak, Washington
state (population 4,721), a small town on Highway 155
approximately 125 miles (200 kilometers) northwest of
Spokane, when he spotted "a UFO heading north towards
Alaska or the Yukon."
"The second one headed the same way at 11:10 p.m.
The first one came from the southeast, and the second one
came straight from the south over Omak. They were both
heading north towards the Mackenzie Mountains."
"They both glowed green, and they looked like glowing
green balls. They both seemed to be traveling fast when I
saw them, till they disappeared about four seconds later."
"Sometimes I got the impression that they were trying
to imitate a planet. They were in outer space with the
stars." (Email Form Report)
THREE TRIANGULAR UFOs
FLY OVER NORTHERN UTAH
On Friday, May 23, 2003, at 11:30 p.m., Ralee Gomez
was outdoors at her home in Clearfield, Utah (population
25,974), a city on the eastern shore of the Great Salt
Lake approximately 5 miles (8 kilometers) south of Ogden,
when "a UFO suddenly appeared from the south."
"We were sitting on the porch, facing the southeast,
looking at the sky," Ralee reported, "Then, appearing from
the south, we seen a close-knit formation of three glowing
UFOs zooming in, hovering for a split-second, then
changing direction towards the west, then (to the) north
very fast. Not a jet. Totally clear skies, no clouds at
all, no shadows following the glow."
Ralee described the UFOs as "bright, glowing,
whitish-yellow--three solid objects, triangular in shape,
a perfect formation. Speed faster than any F-16 (fighter)
or B-2 (bomber) we see everyday." (Email Form Report)
(Editor's Note: Hill Air Force Base is located two miles
(3 kilometers) east of Clearfield, Utah.)
CROP CIRCLES APPEAR
IN RURAL NEW JERSEY
A number of crop circles were discovered two weeks
ago in Lake Mount Bethel Township, near Larison's Corner,
New Jersey, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) north of
Trenton, N.J.
"When Lisa and Pete Andrews noticed odd patches of
tall grass knocked down in a field next to their house,
the first culprits that came to mind were little green
men."
"Although the Andrewses don't readily believe their
North Delaware Drive neighborhood was visited by creatures
from another world, the damage has the couple, their
neighbors and a National Weather Service meteorologist
stumped."
"'A herd of buffalo?' said weather service
meteorologist Art Kraus, when asked what could have caused
the patterns."
"The field is owned by a farmer and planted with tall
grass. It adjoins the Andrews' property."
"Lisa Andrews said she and her husband were preparing
to plant some apple and cherry saplings Sunday afternoon
(May 25, 2003) when they noticed the 2-foot-tall (0.6-
meter-tall) grass lying flat in irregularly shaped patches
throughout the field."
"The stalks of grass were lying in the same north-to-
south direction with stems bent close to the ground and
matted together. About two dozen patches ranging in size
from that of a beach towel to about 100 feet (30 meters)
across dotted the field."
"There was no apparent pattern to the patches and no
clue as to what had caused it."
"No tire tracks or footprints could be seen leading
into the field."
"Most bewildering, Lisa Andrews said, was a large
flattened patch near the edge of the field. A narrow
strip of the uncut grass stood in a straight line with the
Andrews' neat lawn on one side and flattened grass on the
other."
"The damage wasn't there the night before, and Pete
Andrews said he was awake most of the night and didn't
hear or see anything unusual."
"The field is just a few dozen miles from the Bucks
County (Pennsylvania) setting of the Mel Gibson movie
Signs. With that movie in mind, Lisa Andrews said she at
first thought the patterns might be a type of crop
circle."
"In Signs, extraterrestrials preparing to invade
Earth begin leaving crop circles around the world to serve
as signposts for their armada."
"For years, crop circles have been a curiosity around
the world, but mostly in southern England, where
mysterious signs and patterns began appearing in farm
fields in the early 1970s."
"Some believe the patterns were created by aliens,
and paranormal investigators have recorded strange energy
fields and unexplained balls of light in areas where
circles have been found, according to The Crop Circular, a
crop circle research Web site."
"Others say the circles are simply a prank pulled by
people with too much time on their hands."
"The Andewses looked to their neighbor, Phil Palmer,
19, who lives across the street."
"Palmer denied any role in the appearance of the flat
patches but did say he and his father, who used to own the
field, saw a similar flat spot in a crop there three years
ago (the year 2000--J.T.)."
"Meteorologist Kraus said wind-driven rain, intense
wind or a downdraft from a thunderstorm could cause crops
or tall grass to be knocked flat, but there wasn't any
weather like that overnight Saturday or Sunday."
"The highest wind recorded overnight at Lehigh Valley
International Airport" in Pennsylvania "was five miles per
hour (8 kilometers per hour), Kraus said. And only light
rain fell overnight, according to weather service
records."
"'It doesn't sound like it was really atmospheric or
weather-related,' he said, 'Sounds like it was more likely
caused by people or animals.'"
"Or maybe it really was little green men." (See the
New Jersey newspaper Express-Times for May 26, 2003.
Merci beaucoup a Robert Fischer pour cette article de
journal.)
CROP CIRCLE APPEARS IN
LONE STAR, TEXAS
A solitary crop circle appeared three weeks ago in
Lone Star, Texas (population 1,631), a small town on
Highway 259 about 70 miles (112 kilometers) east-northeast
of Dallas.
"It's not exactly a crop circle, but some East Texans
in Lone Star are baffled by some strange markings on the
ground."
"Residents of Lone Star feel they've had an
encounter. Lone Star resident Gayle Tigert said that
someone or something made a strange circle pattern on her
front lawn that she discovered on Monday," May 19, 2003.
"Odd dusty burned grass in regular intervals have
many thinking of outer space. We often hear tales of
circles in crop fields, but had a UFO actually landed in
an apartment section" in Lone Star, Texas?
"City authorities are explaining it as a fungus but
don't really have an answer. Whether a prank or a natural
phenomenon, it remains a mystery." (See the KLTV
broadcast for May 23, 2003, "Strange circle in Lone Star."
Many thanks to Robert Fischer and Bob Hallmark for this
report.)
From the UFO Files...
1937: SOLITARY UFO SEEN OVER THE ATLANTIC
Sightings of "daylight discs" during the pre-Roswell
era...i.e. before July 1947...were rare. But they did
occasionally occur. Such as the one below, which took
place on July 22, 1937.
That evening, "at 9:04 p.m. EDT (the USA's Eastern
Daylight Time, or New York City time--J.T.)," operators at
the Radiomarine Corporation in Chatham, Massachusetts
picked up radio messages from two ships at sea.
Located on the outer reaches of Cape Cod, the station
"said it had picked up a message from the American
freighter Scanmail which said it had picked up a message
signed GSVP, the radio call letters of the British
freighter Ranee."
Earlier, the crew of the Ranee had seen a strange
object in the sky, a silvery cigar-shaped object which
they called "a plane." However, when the crewmen sighted
the object, their vessel was approximately "500 miles (800
kilometers) off (east of) Cape Race, Newfoundland
(Canada)" at latitude 47 degrees, 10 minutes north and
longitude 44 degrees, 10 minutes west.
Both the USA's Civil Aviation Administration and the
British Air Ministry were notified. "A check by 'aviation
authorities' of the United States and Canada could not
identify the plane or the flier and did not reveal any
planes missing."
Transatlantic flights were still a novelty in 1937.
Col. Charles A. Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic had
taken place only ten years earlier. Less than a hundred
people had crossed the ocean by air. Few planes existed
that could venture so far from shore. Four-engined
propellor aircraft like the American B-17 bomber and the
German Focke-Wulf Condor were still on the drawing boards.
Observing the mystery object after dark, the Ranee's
crew's "message said that 'navigation lights' were visible
but that identification numbers were not."
In UK, the (Air) Secretary "appointed a member to
investigate." But the mystery of the Ranee sighting was
never solved. (See Doubt--The Fortean Society Magazine
for September 1937, "Something in the Sky," page 4.)
Letter from the Editor
After UFO Roundup missed a week of publication in
April, your editor hoped to get through the rest of 2003
without interruptions. Alas, it was not to be. On May
20, 2003, your editor packed up the office supplies and
moved to a new location here in Duluth, Minnesota. The
move was necessitated by the landlord's desire to sell the
building where we previously resided. Upon arrival at our
new locale, your editor put together the computer only to
find that it wouldn't power up. So, for the first time in
eight years, the UFO Roundup computer went to the repair
shop. The first visit solved the power problem, but the
repair work had paralyzed the mouse, so a second visit
became necessary. As a result, the newsletter was offline
for two weeks.
So much for striving to fit 52 issues into the year
2003.
Your editor will be almighty grateful if there are no
further interruptions in the publication schedule.
Meanwhile, your editor would like to sincerely thank our
correspondents...particularly Scott Corrales, Gloria
Coluchi, Steve Wilson Sr., Robert Fischer, Anton Anfalov,
Ayesha al-Khatabi, Jim Hickman and Mary Lou Jones-
Drown... who continued to collect paranormal news stories
while UFO Roundup was offline. Thanks also to the Duluth,
Minnesota Public Library, who offered the use of the
Computer Lab to your editor to gather the submissions.
That's it for this week. Join us next time as we
present UFO, Fortean and paranormal news from all over the
planet Earth, brought to you by "the paper that goes home-
-UFO Roundup." See you next week!
UFO ROUNDUP: Copyright 2003 by Masinaigan Productions, all
rights reserved. Readers may post news items from UFO
Roundup on their websites or in news groups provided that
they credit the newsletter and its editor by name and list
the date of issue in which the item first appeared.
E-Mail Reports to: Joseph Trainor Masinaigan@aol.com
or use the Sighting Report Form at:
http://www.ufoinfo.com/forms/form_sighting.htm
