Ufo encounter 275

June/ July

275

Close Encounters in Aboriginal Cultures World UFO Day July 2nd: Best UFO Movies Colin Phillips: UFOs Fact, Fiction or Fantasy Film review: they live

!1 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

UFO ENCOUNTER! ISSUE 275!

2014

!2 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

Editor's Report PUBLIC MEETING PROGRAMME

HELD AT KENMORE LIBRARY, BRISBANE DETAILS OF LOCATION AT BACK OF JOURNAL

Greetings UFORQers!

Welcome to Issue 275 of the UFO Encounters Journal. The front page is of the cover of the Voyager Golden Records sent in both Voyager spacecrafts which were launched in 1977. They are gold gramophone records (remember them!) that contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. They were intended to be easily interpreted by intelligent extraterrestrial life forms, or future humans. It is incredible how much that recording medium has dated in just 37 years with recording media being superseded by CD, blue ray, and now USB or micro SD. Incredibly it will be 40,000 years until Voyager 1 passes within 1.6 light years of any star, Gliese 445! Will ET still have a working gramophone player by then?

This issue covers the two recent public meetings: in April the UFO experiencers and researchers panel and also an article on the UFO phenomenon in the 50s and 60s from Colin Phillips, the speaker at our June meeting.

Sheryl Gottschall, our UFORQ President has also written an interesting article highlighting Close Encounters in Australian Aboriginal Cultures.

July 2nd was World UFO Day, a recently allocated day for a celebration of UFO research, so I have included a top ten list from the site of the best UFO movies.

My personal top five recommendations are: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Paul, Mars Attacks and They Live. I have also written a review of the 1988 film They Live, a must for conspiracists as well as UFORQers.

Gem Dr Gemma Regan, Editor

!

AUG 29 SEP 26 OCT 31 NOV 28 DEC No meeting

!

If you can't make it to our public meetings tune in to t wo radio shows hosted by UFORQ committee members Paranormal Panel on 4BC (1116AM) Tuesdays 9.30-10pm or stream live at www.4bc.com.au The Witching Hour on 4ZZZ (102.1FM) Saturdays 10-12pm stream or listen on demand www.4zzzfm.org.au/program/the-witching-hour

Contents Issue 275

4-5 Sightings Report 6 Film review: They Live 7 UFORQ Public meeting May:

Open Forum with panel of UFO researchers and experiencers 8 World UFO Day 2 July 8-9 Top 10 Best Rated Alien and

UFO Movies 10-14 Close Encounters in Australian

Aboriginal Culture by Sheryl

Gottschall 15-16 UFORQ Public meeting June:

Colin Phillips 16-20 UFOs Fact, Fiction or Fantasy

by Colin Phillips 21- 23 News !3

UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

Sightings Report

he returned to bed after taking photos.

Observed for 5 minutes.

UFO report - Gordonvale, Queensland (just south of Cairns). 21 June, 2014. 19:00 to 19:20.

!

Object appeared and travelled from south to north. Looked like it was on fire. (Red/ orange) travelled across the sky, witness captured object on film. Later observed object to zigzag on film although not seen at the time. The object moved faster then slower, stopped then disappeared up into the sky. Witness called the Police and Defense Depts who "didn't want to know about it." 2 adults and 4 children witnessed the object.

Witness wondered if it could have been a Chinese Lantern.

!

UFO sighting in Dee Why: Early morning walkers witness strange disc-like object in sky

!

Don Jeffery took this picture about 6.35am on Wednesday morning of an unidentified flying object.

!

WAS the strange light hovering in the sky over Dee Why Beach on Wednesday morning a UFO? Local resident Don Jeffery said it definitely wasn’t a plane and was open to the idea that it was a UFO.

!

Mr Jeffery, who goes for 20km walks before work every morning, noticed a large gathering of people on the beachfront promenade about 6.35am.

!

“A lot of people were gazing skywards, about 20 or 30, and I asked what it was,” he said.

!

“I took three photos but I didn’t think much more about it until I came home from work and enlarged the photo on my computer.

!

“It’s brighter than the sun and it looked like a disc-like object — I’ve never seen anything like it before.

!

June 15, 2014 6am at Ipswich while looking east.

!

Photos of an object seen in the sky were taken. He took with two different lenses (50mm & 55 - 250mm). Feeling tired and cold

While the President of UFO Research (NSW), Mariana Flynn, said they had no UFO sighting reports called in on Wednesday she did confirm that Collaroy was a “hotspot”.

“I don’t know why it’s considered a hot spot to be honest, but I have wondered about underground sea bases,” Ms Flynn said.

!

!4 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

26.6.14 Victoria, Qld (evening) A woman who lived in an isolated seaside area was laying on her couch with her cat listening to the radio playing. All of a sudden she saw a light on the wall of the room which she initially thought looked like vehicle headlights. She thought this strange because she had very heavy curtains which ordinarily blocked all outside lights. Next, the radio became static and her cat jumped leaped off the couch and ran to the far end of the house. She cautiously got up and looked though the window to see a “large sparkling red globe” in the back yard. She described it as the shape of a “pom-pom” and “looking like energy”. The object took up the space of the back yard which was edged by a 7 ft high fence. The object soon “took off” and when it did she could hear a rustling sound travelling along her roof. She went to the front of the house and found her large old tree split down the middle and laying on the ground. The council came a few days later to remove the tree.

The woman is electrically sensitive and sensitive to chemicals and as a result lives in the isolated area.

1.7.14 Bolivia When 8 years old a woman was in Bolivia walking in a valley in open country. She could see the hills surrounding her and the stars above. She looked at the stars but saw them start to move. Then she saw a ball of light fly into her body. She later travelled to Western Australia and wanted to go swimming with dolphins. As she approached the area where the dolphins were she saw one of them was laying just under the water. It seemed to send her three sonar signals and a ball of light left her body.

5.7.14 Pacific Pines near Helensvale,Qld A man and woman observed a stationery star-like object high in the sky. It then started travelling towards them in a straight line from north to south then veered off in a different direction and disappeared. They could see the object change direction in relation to the trees at the rear of the house. They observed it for one minute in total as it covered a quarter of the sky before disappearing.

14.7.14 Eumundi, Qld (evening) An amateur photographer was driving north on the Sunshine Coast motorway and observed three ball-like bright lights “drop out of the western sky,” travel over the ocean and disappear. The witness had his camera in his car so stopped to film what he was seeing. When the objects came into view they had a start, stop, slow motion before doing a 90 degree turn. The objects were like white spheres with a slight orange/yellow tint. All three remained at the same altitude of 45 degrees at first then dropping down to 30 degrees. They appeared to be approximately 1km in distance from the witness.

The witness reported the sighting to the Sunshine Coast Daily newspaper who published the report, and the story was then picked up by Channel 7 who also interviewed the witness. The news crew told the witness that other people had reported sightings on the same day. One of these was a pilot who had reported seeing a cylindrical object earlier in the afternoon. *The witness used an Olympus EMI camera to film his sighting and it can be viewed on the Ch 7 Sunrise show at https:// au.tv.yahoo.com/sunrise/video/watch/ 24471011/ufos-spotted-on-the-sunshinecoast/

!

!! !! !5

UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

!! !! !! !! !! !! !! ! ! !!

Film Review

1988 film They Live reviewed by Dr Gemma Regan

!

They Live (1988) 93 min - Horror Sci-Fi Thriller released 4 November 1988 (USA) Director: John Carpenter Writers: Ray Nelson (short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning"), John Carpenter (screenplay) Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster

!

Strange events surrounding this film happened to me about a month ago. Over a week I saw and heard many references to this film despite it being twenty six years old! The references were prolific starting with a dream where I was the main character of the film. Like most dreams it was confused but lucid, where reptilian aliens were controlling the Earth. Only I could see them and the subliminal messages surrounding us via TV,

everywhere, in conversations, on the internet and in books. Paul Bolton from Montville who sat next to me on the UFO researchers panel at the April public meeting (see p7) even mentioned the film. I was compelled to watch They Live and review it on the radio show and in the journal after a week of surreal reminders, including seeing two different men wearing OBEY T shirts on the same day!

!

The premise of the film is that a struggling construction worker named Nada finds a discarded box of innocuous looking sunglasses. He takes a pair and dumps the box, disappointed that the cache hadn't contained something more promising.

However, after putting on the glasses they reveal a very different world to the one he thought he was inhabiting. The glasses enable the wearer to see the shape shifting aliens and awaken from the sleep state caused by the alien frequency transmissions from a TV tower which subdues humans. In this hypnogogic state the aliens subconsciously program the human population through subliminal messages posted in adverts and the media saying "obey," "stay asleep" and "submit to authority."

!

The film frighteningly parallels our lives in 2014 caused by the dumbing down of nations through television which is used as a drug accompanied with strict media controls.

!

The character of "Nada" (meaning nothing in Spanish) is a reference to George Nada, the main character of Ray Nelson's short story "Eight O'Clock in the Morning," which was the basis for the film. Nada is played by the wrestler Roddy Piper who was cast in the lead role mainly for a fight scene in the movie after he was seen in WrestleMania III (1987). The famous quote from this cult film "I have come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and I'm all out of bubble gum" was ad-libbed by Roddy Piper from a list of quotes he used in pro-wrestling interviews.

!

This is a must-see thought-provoking cult film despite being from 1980s with only B-movie special effects. It it is available to watch on You Tube and make sure you look out for the communicators that the guards use as they are the actual P.K.E. meters from Ghostbusters!! news and advertising. I remember trying to enlighten others and spent the entire dream fighting two battles: one to get everyone to believe me that there were sinister aliens controlling the world; and another trying to surreptitiously overthrow the aliens from positions of power.

!

I awoke vaguely remembering that the dream was like an old film I had seen years ago, but I had not been able to recall the name. That was the beginning of a truly bizarre week when references to the film "They Live" were popping up

!6 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

UFORQ Public Meeting May 30 Open

!

Questions from the audience ranged from UFO and extra terrestrial experiences to the paranormal considering the relationship between ghosts, entities and alien abductions.

!

The feedback from the audience was very positive enabling some difficult topics to be tackled and an opportunity for more controversial ideas to be aired.

!

A panel of three UFO researchers experiencers were questioned in an Open Forum night on the A-Z of UFO research by the audience.

!

!

Audience comment "I really enjoyed the meeting tonight with some interesting discussion and opinions.

Some good questions for the panel too!"

Tino Pezzimenti was the entertaining MC for the night facilitating an active question Contact

! ! !

Paul Boulton at www.lifeenhancementstrategies.com Mark Pasely at http://www.red-spirit-energy-healing.com

and answer session from the audience.

On the panel were Paul Boulton and Mark Pasley and myself. Paul is a registered psychic and a UFO researcher with the shop Opti-mystic views in Montville on the Sunshine Coast. He has established Life Enhancement Strategies to reflect the transformative work he has done as an Intuitive Therapist.

!

Mark Pasley is an Intuitive Energy Therapist for Red Spirit Energy Healing based in Ipswich. He is also a remote viewer and was previously a jet engine engineer. Mark's work restores and balances body energies across multiple dimensions.

! !7

UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

World UFO Day July 2nd

The Best Top Rated Alien And UFO Movies http://www.worldufoday.com/information/ entertainment/the-best-top-rated-alien-and-ufomovies/ Here is a small collection of top rated alien and UFO movies for you to watch during World UFO day.

!

Paul (2011) Director: Greg Mottola Actors: Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Seth Rogen Two British comic-book geeks traveling across the U.S. encounter an alien outside Area 51.

!!

The day the earth stood still (1951) Director: Robert Wise Actors: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe An alien lands and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.

It was recently World UFO day a celebration of UFO research

There are several reasons why this day has found it’s way into the world.

On of the first and foremost reasons is to raise awareness about the undoubted existence of UFO’s and with that intelligent beings from outer space.

!

Also this day is used to encourage governments to declassify their knowledge about sightings throughout the history. Many governments, the US government for instance, are believed to have gained exclusive information about UFO’s through their military departments. A subject that still raises a lot of curiosity is the Roswell incident in 1947 when a believed UFO crashed in Roswell New Mexico.

!!

The day the earth stood still (2008) Director: Scott Derrickson Actors: Keanu Reeves, Jennifer Connely, Kathy Bates A remake of the 1951 classic scifi film about an alien visitor and his giant robot counterpart who visit Earth.

!

!8 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

A thriller involving an ongoing unsolved mystery in Alaska, where one town has seen an extraordinary number of unexplained disappearances during the past 40 years and there are accusations of a federal cover up.

Alien vs predator (2004) Director: Paul W.S. Anderson Actors: Sanaa Lathan, Lance Henriksen, Raoul Bova During an archaeological expedition on Bouvetøya Island in Antarctica, a team of archaeologists and other scientists find themselves caught up in a battle between the two legends. Soon, the team realize that only one species can win.

K-PAX (2009)

Close encounters of the third kind (1977) Director: Steven Spielberg Actors: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr After an encounter with UFOs, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where strange things happen.

E.T.: The Extraterrestrial (1982) Director: Steven Spielberg Actors: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter CoyoteA meek and alienated little boy finds a stranded extraterrestrial. He has to find the courage to defy the authorities to help the alien return to its home planet.

The fourth kind (2009) Director: Olatunde Osunsanmi Actors: Mila Jovovich, Elias Koteas, Wil Patton

Director: Iain Softley Actors: Kevin Spacey, Jeff Bridges, Mary McCormackProt is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away Planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.

!

MIB – Men in black (1997) Director: Barry Sonnenfeld Actors: Wil Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda FiorentinoTwo men who keep an eye on aliens in New York City must try to save the world after the aliens threaten to blow it up.

Contact (1997) Director: Robert Zemeckis Actors: Jodie Foster, Mathew McConaughy, Tom Skerritt Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of intelligent aliens, who send plans for a mysterious machine.

Fire in the sky (1993) Director: Robert Lieberman Actors: D.B. Sweeney, Robert Patrick, Craig Sheffer A group of men who were clearing bush for the government arrive back in town, claiming that their friend was abducted by aliens.

Nobody believes them, and despite a lack of motive and no evidence of foul play, their friends’ disappearance is treated as murder.

!9 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

!

Close Encounters in Australian Aboriginal Culture

!

The Worora, Ngarinyin and Wunumbul people are the three tribes who still revere the Wandjina – these tribal groups are the custodians of the oldest known figurative art which is scattered throughout the Kimberley and today only certain individuals are given permission to paint their images. In these three tribes, which make up the Mowanjum community outside Derby in Western Australia, the Wandjina is the supreme spirit being.

by Sheryl Gottschall ©2014

INTRODUCTION Recent notions of UFOs might have been ‘born’ in the west but indigenous beliefs can easily be interpreted to provide proof of the existence of extraterrestrials in native cultures from all around the world. Many assert that stories of Star People and Sky Beings are historic accounts of encounters with extraterrestrials. Just as many other native peoples from various cultures share similar histories and traditions with ancestors from the stars, so too do the Australian aboriginal people. They believe that Wandjina lived among them and describe them as having large eyes, light skin, and no mouths, and most curiously bear a striking resemblance to the Grey aliens that are described by those reporting alien abduction experiences. !

!

Some UFO researchers believe that the Wandjina could have been extraterrestrials that for a time, lived among the Aboriginal people in Australia. Could this theory be true?

If so, why did they leave, where did they go and will they return?!

!

In western thinking the birth of the UFO era is usually traced back to 1947 when Kenneth Arnold had a sighting near Mt Ranier over Washington. But many indigenous cultures will tell you stories of sky beings and star ancestors who were the creators of those people. One of the most intriguing legends like this comes from the Australian Aboriginal people and that is of the Wandjinas who were deemed to be the supreme spirit beings and creators of the land and people. The land of the Wandjina is a vast area of about 200,000 square kilometres of lands, waters, sea and islands in the Kimberley region of northwestern Australia with continuous culture dating back at least 60,000 years but probably much older. Here, traditional Aboriginal law and culture are still active and alive. !

The tribes came together early in the 20th century at the Kunmunya Presbyterian mission and the government settlement at Munja. Since 1950, they have had to endure many forced moves. !

!

What’s most interesting about their figurative art painted on rocks and in caves is the way in which they’ve represented the Wandjinas white faces, devoid of a mouth, large black eyes, and a head surrounded by a halo or some type of helmet.!

!

The ancient paintings have received all manner of interpretations from stylized representations of people or even owls, to ancient astronaut theories which suggest that extraterrestrial beings visited Earth tens of thousands of years ago and had direct contact with the inhabitants. Some believe that the extraterrestrials even played a direct role in creation, which is reflected not only in the Dreamtime stories of the Aboriginals but also the myths and legends of many ancient civilizations around the world. !

!

One could be forgiven for thinking that there is indeed a remarkable similarity between the Wandjinas and the stereotypical image of an extraterrestrial which we see time and again in art, movies and witness accounts. Many raise logical questions such as, why were the Wandjinas painted with white skin if it was representing another Aboriginal, all of whom had black skin? Why were the eyes always painted so disproportionate to the face and nose? And why were they all painted without a mouth?!

!

But what is even more surprising is the oral account of the Wandjinas which has been

!10 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

passed from generation to generation as all of the Aboriginal Dreamtime stories have.!

were once considered fantasy. But discoveries of animal fossils belonging to ‘mega fauna’ including giant mammals confirmed that these stories were accounts of real life events, passed down by generations over tens of thousands of years.!

!

These stories tell of the Wandjina who were “sky-beings” or “spirits from the clouds” and came down from the Milky Way during Dreamtime and created the Earth and all its inhabitants. Then the Wandjina looked upon the inhabitants and realised the enormity of the task and returned home to bring more Wandjinas. With the aid of the Dreamtime snake, the Wandjina descended and spent their Dreamtime creating, teaching and being Gods to the Aboriginal people who they created. After some time, the Wandjinas disappeared. They descended into the earth and since then, have lived at the bottom of the water source associated with each of the paintings. There, they continually produce new ‘child-seeds’, which are regarded as the source of all human life. Some Wandjina also returned to the sky, and can now be seen at night as lights moving high above the earth.!

The Saethre Paper!

While conducting PhD fieldwork in Central Australia, Erik Saethre from the University of Pretoria, discovered that residents in a remote aboriginal community in the northern territory possessed detailed and unique beliefs regarding UFOs. Saethre spent the period between 1996 and 1999 in that area in an Aboriginal community of 750 individuals, located 500 kilometres from any population centre. Saethre writes, “community residents spent their days in a number of activities where family members and acquaintances discussed daily events in the community.

Conversations were just as likely to be about an individual being treated by a traditional healer as they were about Australian politics.

On their way to and from outstations in the bush, other communities or town, aboriginal people would drive cars or 4 wheel drive vehicles past buildings painted with Dreaming designs. Young men played football and basketball, and when injuries occurred both the clinic and indigenous healers were consulted. Most homes possessed one TV and three channels were available but throughout the day and into the night card games were played and both cash and boomerangs could be wagered, and it was during these games that the topic of conversation was often recent sightings of UFOs.”

!

Saethre states : "Although the sightings were brief and the inhabitants were never seen, Warlpiri people (aboriginal people) asserted that UFOs were spaceships piloted by extraterrestrial beings. The aliens were thought to search for and procure water from the desert." (p902.)

Aboriginal people, in the Kimberley also believe that even after they disappeared, the Wandjina continued to control everything that happened on the land and in the sky and sea.!

!

Aboriginal Dreamtime stories, rock art and cave paintings have often been considered more myth than reality, like the stories we find in the teachings of modern day religions.

However, recent archaeological discoveries have confirmed the reality of at least some of the Dreamtime stories. For example, those that spoke of huge mammals walking the Earth

Saethre recorded details of reports from 18 eyewitnesses and several more secondhand and says . "...everyone with whom I spoke...acknowledged that people regularly professed to have encountered UFOs in and around the community." (p904.)

!11 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

Warlpiri people said that people living in other communities rarely encountered UFOs. Saethre states, "...most of the residents with who I spoke did not refer to UFOs as either a recent or ancient occurrence. Consequently, it was impossible to establish accurately when community residents first began to have encounters with the aliens." (p904.)

clouds." (p905.)

"As a result, alien spacecraft were considered to be more prevalent in specific geographical areas and at specific time of the year." (p.906.)

Remember that the location of water in a desert is an important topic to those who live there. Inhabitants would be constantly scrutinising those locations, monitoring the effects of evaporation and rainfall.

What was seen?

He goes on to say in his paper that , "Witnesses uniformly described UFOs as similar to most television and film portrayals of flying saucers: large, disc-shaped, brightly lit objects that fly through the sky." (p904.)

Giant coloured snakes: Saethre also says, “ Interestingly, giant multicoloured snakes called Warnayarra are also said to be associated with the presence of water by the Aboriginal community. These snakes are referred to by the anthropological literature as "rainbow serpents." "Warnayarra were not believed to punish the UFOs or in any way harm them...Likewise the aliens were not thought to remove the Warnayarra with the water that they procured. Furthermore, I was never told of the aliens having any interaction with the ancestral spirits that guarded country...I have never heard any one state that the phenomenon referred to as UFOs originated in or was part of the Dreaming." (p907-8.)!

"In most instances, people reported nothing more than seeing a UFO fly overhead quickly...none involved sustained or close contact...residents uniformly assumed that UFOs were spaceships. These ships were thought to be from outer space..." (p905.)

Water: "...the aliens were thought to be able to impact upon the physical environment of the Tanami desert. Aboriginal residents asserted that the aliens were capable of finding and removing large quantities of water from rivers, rock pools, and in some instances, rain

Non-Aboriginal community members: The forty non-Aboriginal residents "...often

!12 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

engaged in discussions regarding UFOs, sharing their own beliefs and experiences..." (p908.) Their own observations (from four people) matched those of the Warlpiri in terms of their UFOs being large, disc-shaped and fast moving.

About Abductions: "Aboriginal people stated that while the aliens never harmed them, UFOs could abduct 'white' people..." (p908.) Saethre was warned of this danger on a number of occasions.

"Although non-Aboriginal people recounted anecdotes of UFO sightings, they never circulated tales of alien abductions. Instead it was Warlpiri residents who related these stories." (p909.)

Saethre goes on to say, "When I asked why non-Aboriginal people were invariably the victims of abductions, I was told that the aliens were able to recognise Aboriginal people as belonging in the area." (p909.)

!

Not isolated: Although the community was geographically isolated, the community as a whole was aware of and watched television programs such as The X-files; Stargate; Star Trek and movies such as Independence Day. "Narratives of Warlpiri ideas on UFOs were drawn from TV but also incorporated involvement with the environment, local cosmological themes..." (p910.)

"For instance, visits to water holes can be punctuated with stories of both their formation by ancestral forces and their depletion by the aliens." (p910.) "Warlpiri narratives of aliens from outer space are not simply a faithful restatement of ideas gleaned from Hollywood movies but are situated in, and reflect the close encounters of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people." (p912.)!

Saethre says he never saw anything he would regard as a UFO, but most of the people in the settlement were quite adamant about their existence. The age range of people seeing UFOs was from 12 to 51 and they were seen by men and women. Not only that, only around half the claimed sightings were by sole witnesses. The UFOs were a localised phenomenon. Saethre visited other Warlpiri communities, but if peoples in these

settlements mentioned UFOs, it was only in relation to Saethre’s home. !

!

Interestingly, these UFOs didn’t seem to have much effect on the lives of Aborginal people.

They were certainly scary to some witnesses, and most people would rather not see one but they didn’t seem to do a lot else. They didn’t bestow prestige or stigma. They didn’t steal or bestow wealth. The only way they really made much difference is that they were thought to take water from waterholes.!

!

Saethre is able to draw up a series of comparisons between rainbow serpents and UFOs. In some ways they are thought of as quite similar. Neither is cursed for taking resources, they’re accepted as a fact of life.

They both are tied to ideas of belonging to the land. In other ways they’re mirror images.

Saethre notes that warnayarra take water down, while UFOs take it up. They are dangerous to different targets. They also seem to occupy different conceptual spaces. Despite operating in the same landscape, they don’t interact. UFOs seem to occupy an ambiguous social space. They’re considered as part of the landscape as other traditional Aboriginal beings but not fully integrated with aboriginal cosmology. Nor are they a cosmology boltedon to the culture for assimilating Kardiya into aboriginal cosmology. Saethre observed aboriginal peoples talking about natural events and attributing their actions to aliens as other aboriginal peoples would to ancestor spirits.!

!

Keith Basterfield !

Australian UFO researcher, Keith Basterfield, has produced an online catalogue of UFO reports and in this catalogue he reports a 1951 encounter in Central Australia. "Members of the Unmatjera tribe of Aborigines reported seeing two shiny circular objects on the ground, some nine to fifteen metres across. A very small man-like creature with a bulbous head, wearing a shiny suit, is said to have transferred from one object to the other. Both objects then took off, making a buzzing sound." !

!

John Kernott!

West Australian researcher, John Kernott is cited (p.21) as providing accounts from

!13 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

Aboriginal women in the Great Sandy Desert and the Central Desert, about "...spirits having sex with them, about having babies when no baby ever comes."!

!

Rex Gilroy !

A 1933 account from Discovery Well, via the researcher Rex Gilroy, tells of an Aboriginal woman's abduction by grey-skinned man-like creatures. From Arhem Land comes the legend of a great silver bird which, according to local tribesmen, landed upon a certain plateau to lay a big silver egg, out of which the first tribesmen hatched; they were white skinned. Around the Ayres Rock (Uluru) region local tradition has it that the ancestors of the Aboriginal people came from the stars.

This legend was related to Rex by Aboriginal actor-historian Ben Blakenley: -"Long long ago, far back in the Dream Time, a great red coloured egg (spaceship) came down from the skies. It tried to land safely on the ground but broke (crash landed). Out of it emerged whiteskinned culture-heroes (gods) and their children.!

!

"The children's elders soon died, either through their old age or because they could not accustom themselves to our atmosphere.

The children however were young and able to adapt more easily to their new surroundings.

"They carved and painted the likenesses of their parents upon cave walls to perpetrate their memory. In time the great red coloured egg rusted away until its remains had merged with the ground, thus creating the red soil of Central Australia. "The children of the culture heroes who came from the sky grew in numbers until they eventually populated the whole land, their skins turning black due to the hot climate. The cave art depicting the elders still survives showing figures in garments reminiscent of modern day astronauts.!

!

Blue Mountains creation myths!

Rex also obtained two further creation myths of the "ancient astronaut" variety from the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. Both were myths of the Dharuk tribe which formerly occupied a vast area stretching from the Hawkesbury River-Sydney District across to the western slopes of the Blue Mountains.

The first legend concerns "Biramee the Bird

Man," who laid a great egg near what is now the town of Linden, from which the ancestors of the Aborigines hatched. The second myth is also described in carvings found upon a slab of rock unearthed during road work operations some years ago. Biame the Sky God created earth out of a big ball of mud. He then took stones from the earth's surface from which he created all the animals and plants, including the first Aboriginal people.

However, Biame had forgotten to give the first Aboriginal peoples the power to think and as a result they began starving to death due to fact they did not know how to hunt food.!

!

So together with his culture heroes Biame came down from the sky in a big dream-time hunt across the Blue Mountains he gave the Aboriginal people the spear thrower and the boomerang, teaching them how to hunt their food and also to make fire. Then together with his culture heroes he returned to the sky from whence he had come. The carvings not only depict the sky god Biame but also many strange little figures which were also the totemic figures of the various tribal groups that peopled the area. Among these totemic figures carved on the stone is a strange fishlike object which some have theorised to be space-craft. They also point to a strange human figure clad in garments which could be said to resemble an astronaut; others see a resemblance between this figure and an Egyptian soldier equipped with helmet and shield. !

!

Were the Gods of the Aboriginal people and other ancient people voyagers from other worlds? Only time can decide. All the research and numerous volumes devoted to the subject still remain inconclusive, and continually raise far more questions than answers. !

!

References:!

1. The Saethre paper http:// www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/people/ faculty/Saethre/pdfs/Saethre_UFOs.pdf!

2. Keith Basterfield on-line catalogue http:// www.project1947.com/kbcat/ kbmoreintoz.htm!

3. Rex Gilroy; Blue Mountains creation myths http://www.mysteriousaustralia.com/ strangephenomenonq.html!

!

!14 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

!

Colin Phillips presents UFOs Fact, Fiction and Fantasy UFORQ Public Meeting Friday, June 27

It was another busy meeting in June as the sightings for the month were presented by Nate and an M1 UFO sighting was related to the group by Steve, an audience member (recounted in the sightings section.)! !

Rachel (a UFORQ meeting attendee) had just returned from the USA and shared her photographs of Area 51 with the audience complete with one of the AlieInn roadhouse cafe. Unfortunately, the area was very quiet at the time Rachel visited and there was no first-hand UFO phenomena or little green Aliens!!

Colin suggested it was intense cold that caused the reeds to brown. A cold temperature is the condition required for super conductivity, that may be associated with powering the UFO craft.!

!

Active questioning from the audience concluded an interesting evening and Colin finished with the quote from Voltaire to highlight how important UFO witnesses frequently seem to die shortly after the event.!

!"It is dangerous to be right when the King is wrong!"

!

Colin Phillips joined UFORQ in 1959, at the beginning of the Worldwide UFO phenomenon and worked as sightings officer, Vice President and eventually the role of President which he held for 15 years. He presented a two-fold speech, firstly discussing the four most important people associated with the UFO phenomenon. For the second half of the talk Colin presented the most important UFO sightings from the 1950s and 60s and described their historical significance.!

!

Whilst working for UFORQ Colin was involved in the Tully nest research after the sighting in 1966 (outlined in the UFO Encounters Edition 273.) He described how samples of the area of flattened reeds were collected and noted that they had gone brown very quickly despite being aquatic plants. !

!

Audience Comments! !

I enjoyed the talk given by Colin Phillips.

The first part was a basic primer in UFO knowledge and most people would have been familiar with what he was talking about. The second part was more interesting because he shone a light on a few different topics and gave cause to think a little bit more about the subject.!

Overall I thought that his tongue in cheek humour took the edge off him taking himself too seriously while maintaining an appropriate degree of seriousness.! !

!15 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

From what I heard that night I sensed that Phillip has a lot of deeper knowledge that needs to be shared with the wider community. He is a resource of UFO knowledge that needs to be collected and stored for future UFOlogists to refer to.!

UFOs Fact, Fiction and Fantasy SOME IDEAS FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION

!

I think that if you had him as a regular speaker (on a set of topics of his choosing) you would attract more you people who could keep the club going long after we have moved on to the Great Alien in the sky.!

Regards K!

!

Colin has a huge breadth of knowledge of the UFO phenomena and an entertaining manner of delivery. I heard some old stories that were news to me! It's always good to make a modern connection or hear the back story to a well known UFO event. !

Committee member.!

!

As it was my first UFO meeting, I didn't know what to expect and enjoyed the talk given by guest speaker Collin Phillips. I would have liked to have heard more on other topics but felt he was credible and well researched in his areas of interest as he backed up his sources and I liked the fact he didn't pretend to know stuff he didn't.

He was honest and approachable. I would definitely come to another meeting to hear him talk again. Michael

! !

By Colin Phillips

Photo: Barry Taylor

After over 60 years of exposure to the UFO phenomenon the world is still in the dark on this matter. The military, the media, armaments producers, banking and religious institutions and sceptical science, have taken over the facts and what could not be swept under the carpet was denied, diluted, and corrupted by disinformation or classified beyond TOP SECRET. This has been aided by fiction writers, psychics out to make fame or fortune or just experience an ego trip, also the professional skeptics most of who by now may have come to doubt their very own existence - after all the Big Bang and the finite universe THEY live in does not exist. So let us look at all the above in more detail.

!

THE MILITARY The military supported by armament m a n u f a c t u re r s , s u p p o r t e d b y international bankers have a problem with admitting the existence of UFOs due to: 1. Their performance is always superior to any plane, ship or submarine we can design - let alone manufacture.

!

!

!

2. UFOs do not, after all these years seem to pose a threat the any nation, - the military and our economy NEEDS enemies.

!16 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

! !

!

!

!

4. UFO performance seems to be outside our science.

!

5. The most common message from contactees is that we should live in peace, and that smashing atoms (nuclear power) will be our undoing if we continue. Animal mutilations are most likely space visitors monitoring nuclear contamination.

(The nuclear industry is antithorium reactors and antithermo nuclear (cold fusion).

THE MEDIA Mark Twain, the great writer summed it up perfectly: ‘if you don’t read newspapers you are uninformed. If you do read newspapers you are misinformed.’ To put it succinctly: !

Freedom of the Press is guaranteed only to those who own one." – A. J. Liebling.

UFOs were, and presumably still are subject to ‘D’ Notices or Defense Advisory Notices, which is an official request to news editors not to publish or broadcast items on specified subjects for reasons of national security. The military and its agencies had plenty of red tape in position long before most of the civilian UFO groups were formed - we were all too late on the scene.

The media will usually have no trouble spicing up a report to make it look like nonsense and if it involves a witness – destroy their credibility, or add at the end of a serious report a comment to cancel its credibility.

6. If you are looking for an issue on which all national governments seem to agree (Official Policy) it is to cover up the evidence of UFOs. 7. Some religious institutions wish to convert the whole population of earth to their religion and the existence of extra-terrestrial civilisations does not fit in with their plans, they are the work of the devil, although the current Pope Frances recently said, “The Church would baptize aliens.” (WORLD NEWS 13 May 2014) Presumably he would withdraw the offer if they were divorced!

As you can see by the above, there are not many opportunities here for UFOs to be popular with any major earth powers.

They all seem to have some reason to shun, ignore or deny the UFOs.

!

The topic of UFOs is strange and to some people over the top bewildering.

It therefore does not need embroidering, but needs to be normalized.

3. The performance of UFOs seems not to require fuel.

The media love the word ‘alleged’, and will use spooky background music, and insert fantasy images from science fiction movies, behind the speaker or use single camera interviews… They know little on the topic and will interrupt the speaker with banal questions, side issues and putdowns.

!

FOUR FAMOUS PEOPLE INFLUENCED BY UFOS: 1) President Dwight D. Eisenhower: In his farewell address to the nation 17 January 1961 - Washington, USA !… In the councils of Government, we !17

UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes..."

He was only half-right; he did not mention that the other two forces making up the complex were the private banks and the media.

Eisenhower started life as a ‘HAWK’; he rose to a five star general, but finished up as a ‘DOVE’. It was rumored that he was missing for a day during his office as president, – the same day that a US air base was closed as a UFO was reported to have landed there…

!

It was Eisenhower who instigated the USA space program against the advice of his top advisors. This program converted thousand of military personal into civilians and became NASA. When Adamski spoke at the Brisbane City Hall 2 April 1959, he spent much time and enthusiasm on this topic, which was new to me, and I suspect most of the audience.

2) JFK According to one theory related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the CIA killed Kennedy in order to prevent him from leaking information to the Soviet Union about a covert program to reverse-engineer alien technology (i.e. Majestic 12). However he managed to make many enemies on many issues… On 4 June 1963, a virtually unknown !Presidential Decree, Executive Order 11110 was signed by President Kennedy. It returned to the United States Federal Government, specifically the Treasury Department, the constitutional power to create and issue currency - money – without going

through the privately owned Rothschild Federal Reserve Bank. - With the stroke of a pen, President Kennedy declared that the privately owned Rothschild Federal Reserve Bank would soon be out of business…" Kennedy’s intention was defeated by his assassination. Nothing has changed except that the national debt is now greater… the same as in Australia.

His promotion of the project to put a man on the moon is what history will mostly remember him for.

3) Pope John XXIII George Adamski visited the Pope at the Vatican on 31 May 1963. Exactly what information Adamski* passed on to the Pope may never be known but it sure had an effect on his ambitions for the Church…

Pope John XXIII surprised those who expected him to be a caretaker Pope by calling the historic Second Vatican Council (1962–65) the first session opening on 11 October 1962. He did not live to see it to completion. He died on 3 June 1963.

4) Dag Hammarskjold: !It is playing safe that we create a world of utmost insecurity." (Second UN Secretary 1961) He promised he would speak on UFO’s after his return from the Congo where his plane crashed (some say it was shot down.)

U Thant who succeeded Hammarskjold, also followed UFO reports with some interest; in 1967, he arranged for American atmospheric physicist James E. McDonald* to speak before the UN's Outer Space Affairs Group regarding UFOs (McDonald also came to a sad end.)

!

WHAT UFOs ARE NOT They are not paranormal- just because these ships in our skies perform amazing feats, does not give us the right to dismiss them as magic or paranormal. UFOs are unusual, amazing, a technology far !18

UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

beyond ours, worthy of our curiosity - yes.

They are machines/vehicles solid objects both manned and unmanned; to entertain other views is to deny history and jeopardize our future.

UFOs ARE SUPER NORMAL NOT PARA NORMAL. As far as possible we should not associate UFOs with Astrology, Atlantis, Ghosts, Dreams, Hallucinations, Hoaxes, Magic, Near Death Experiences, Poltergeists, Predictions, Psychical Research, Paranormal, Witchcraft, Wicca, or Science Fantasy.

!

PROPULSION EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT If all the thousands of witnesses were blindfolded we would be aware of the reality of the UFOs due to their interference with radio, TV, power stations/grids (Bris. 14 Jan 1973?) ignition systems, compasses, angels hair, radar, images on film and animal reactions all confirm that we are dealing with machines; solid objects. If any earth powers had access to these forces/ capabilities they would be winning the wars, or enforcing a much needed peace on planet earth.

!

THE SETI PROJECT (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)

!

IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE? The SETI project – This may have been a well intentioned and much supported idea, but a misguided concept - a distraction involving many sincere volunteers. It is unlikely that aliens who can travel across space faster than light would have much use for slow radio signals; you would not send a letter to your neighbor to tell him his house was on fire if you could jump the fence and yell fire.

! !

HAVE WE LOST OUR WAY? Civilization on earth seems to move forward slowly. We are, as Adamski noted technical giants but ethical infants. As our science progresses we need more responsible behavior, we have plenty of codes for our guidance, Ten Commandments, Magna Carta, to name just two. We have replaced the kings and queens with giant out of control multinational corporations with no commitment to ethics and no external power to control them. Many leaders, scientists, come to ethics late in their careers, usually too late.

Environmental destruction and nuclear accidents must be our new wakeup call – we need a Magna Carta for multinational corporations to limit their powers by international law or there will be no place left on earth for man or beast that is safe or livable…

Adamski claimed the space people were here to warn us.

We do not need space people to tell us this, but I wish they would help get this message to our leaders.

!

NO MONEY FOR UFO RESEARCH Multi-national companies fund most Universities. Scientists/academics are thus compromised.

There is always, money for sport, war, and new pharmacological drugs.

Scientists require a repeatable experiment – but UFOs come and go without timetables, totally unpredictable unfortunately.

It behooves us to try to keep focused on the serious aspects of UFO’s and resist the distractions of the above list and the disinformation from the vested interest.

These can be our personal interests, but keep them separate publicly as far as possible.

It is hard to get scientists interested in spooks… !19

UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

!

WHAT CAN WE DO? We need to keep referring to the best cases, the best research findings even if it is boring for us.

No junk science, no arguments solidarity and a firm insistent stand.

A true scientist is impressed by his own ignorance, not his own knowledge.

Quote Prof.

Barnhardt - !

The Day the Earth Stood Still . . ."

! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! !

!

Nyx Fullmoon (editor Gem) interviewed Colin Phillips on The Witching Hour show the 19th July. To listen to the interview for free:! http://ondemand.4zzzfm.org.au/the-witchinghour/2014-07-19!

!20 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

News

! ! !

The physics of crop circles are deeply weird...and entirely human by Robert T. Gonzalez http://io9.com/a-massive-crop-circle-appearedlast-night-in-italy-1594222342

!

Created by crop circle artists Francesco Grassi and colleagues, the piece is called the "LENR (Low Energy Nuclear Reactions) Clock."

!

The physics of crop circles are deeply weird...and entirely human There's no reason to think that crop circles are the work of aliens - particularly when human‌There's no reason to think that crop circles are the work of aliens - particularly when human pranksters have already admitted to making them - but they're still mysterious... not to mention a fascinating junction point between physics and art.

!

Part of the reason we don't fully understand the science that goes into making crop circles is that they're so thoroughly associated in the public consciousness with extraterrestrials, UFOs, and, well, hoaxes about extraterrestrials and UFOs. Under those circumstances, it's perhaps understandable why the average scientists decide to just leave well enough alone, content with the fact that we have the broad strokes of how hoaxers go about making them without any need to invoke an extraordinary explanation like visitors from another world.

!

Crop circles might not inflame the public imagination today like they did back in their 1970s and 1980s heyday, back before people had come forward to admit the hoax. But if anything, the art of making crop circles has become even more advanced in the ensuing years, and the artists behind these modern circles are no more forthcoming than their predecessors in explaining just how they create the intricate patterns like the one you can see up top.

To that end, researcher Richard Taylor, who is the director of the University of Oregon's Materials Science Institute, has pondered just what goes into these modern circles. He argues that modern circle-makers probably take advantage of GPS, lasers, and microwaves, which can provide them with the sort of perfect mathematical precision that you just can't get with more traditional equipment like wooden planks or bar stools.

!

The microwaves are particularly interesting. Taylor argues that these could be used to make crop stalks fall over into a horizontal position and then quickly cool - this would account for the speed and efficiency of some crop circles' construction, not to mention the incredible detail on display. This accords nicely with the work of one research team, which claims to have replicated some of the intricate geometric patterns by using a handheld magnetron which can easily be salvaged from most microwave ovens - and a 12-volt battery.

!

The basic point that Taylor keeps coming back to is that, while the makers of crop circles are definitely human, that doesn't mean their accomplishments are any less extraordinary. Indeed, one might argue that makes these circles even more amazing than if some aliens had made them: "Crop-circle artists are not going to give up their secrets easily.

This summer, unknown artists will venture into the countryside close to your homes and carry out their craft, safe in the knowledge that they are continuing the legacy of the most science-oriented art movement in history."

!

Comments Robert T. Gonzalez To everyone who thinks this is an act of vandalism: In order to make something this big happen that fast, a huge team would need to be deployed with work lights and, very likely, megaphones and radios to coordinate their activity. The likelihood they could sneak in, do their work, and sneak back out undetected is *extremely* low.

!

Additionally, as someone who's spent a bit of time working on a farm, I can tell you that is most likely a spent field that is in the dormant/grass phase of crop rotation. This is what allows depleted soil to recover naturally and it's a common technique in farming.

Note how green and ordered both adjoining fields are? I'm guessing (photo doesn't show enough detail to know for sure) that they are growing hay which is a good soil replenisher and something that needs to be knocked down before it can be bailed and/or integrated back into the soil. So nothing here probably went to waste.

!

Most likely scenario is Grassi paid the farmer for access to the field. Which the farmer was no doubt delighted about because it cost him nothing and he got to make a little extra off a dormant field. However, shame on you io9 for not doing even the most basic reporting to confirm if this was with the farmer's approval. That's just sloppy work.

!

Reply to R. Gonzalez by Paolo Attivissimo Saturday 2:15pm Just to clarify a few misconceptions: I'm Paolo Attivissimo, one of the circlemakers who did this. I'm a science journalist (feel free to Google me). The farmer gave consent and was compensated. We did not need work lights or megaphones. We worked at night, from 10:30 pm to 4 am, and in darkness, using the light from the nearbyroads and the occasional low-power handheld torch. Fewer than 10 people in total made this formation.

!21 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

assemble the telescope situated 1million miles from the earth's surface.

!

Retired US Marine claims he spent 17 years on MARS protecting five human colonies from Martians.

The details of the project will be revealed at this week's National Astronomy Meeting in Portsmouth by the president for the Royal Astronomical Society, Martin Barstow. According to Barstow, the telescope will allow astronomers to discover around 60 new planets and provide information on the levels of oxygen and other gases that might indicate potential life.

!

!

Barstow told Sunday Times: "This telescope could see Earth-like planets around stars up to 30 light years away. There are tens of thousands of stars within that distance and we estimate that at least a few thousand of those will be similar to the sun."

!

He added: "Once it found a planet, the telescope would analyse its atmosphere for ozone, methane, oxygen and other gases which suggest the presence of life."

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/secret-alien-basemars-marine-3745652 The ex-naval infantryman, who uses the pseudonym Captain Kaye, says he was posted to the Red Planet to protect five human colonies from indigenous Martian life forms.

He claims he then spent nearly three years serving in a secret 'space fleet' run by a multinational organisation called the Earth Defense Force, which recruits military personnel from countries including the US, Russia and China.

!

!

In testimony released to ExoNews TV, Captain Kaye said he was trained to fly three different types of space fighters and three bombers. He added that training took place on a secret moon base called Lunar Operations Command, Saturn’s moon Titan, and in deep space.

!

Captain Kaye says he retired after a 20 year tour of duty, describing a retirement ceremony on the moon that he claims was presided over by VIPs including ex-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

!Nasa to send astronauts a million miles into space to build massive telescope for alien hunt

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/Nasa-to-sendastronauts-a-million-miles-into-space-to-build-massivetelescope-for-alien-hunt/articleshow/37021628.cms

!

LONDON: Scientists have announced plans to build a telescope that may give us clues to whether alien life exists on planets millions of miles away.

The Atlast, or Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope, will be the most powerful telescope in the world and will be able to analyse atmospheres of planets and solar systems up to 30 light years away. It is hoped that the telescope will give astronomers crucial insights into whether extraterrestrial life forms are able to exist in undiscovered areas of space.

!

To be able to analyse these planets, the telescope will have to be the largest of its kind ever to be built and up to four times bigger than the 44-feet Hubble Space Telescope. Inside will be a mirror with a diameter of 52 feet, the largest man-made mirror ever.

!

Due to the size of the telescope, no rocket will be capable of transporting it up to space and instead, a team of astronaut construction workers will be ferried by Nasa's Orion rocket to

!

For the Atlast telescope to progress past the planning stage, it is believed a global collaboration between all of the world's space agencies will be required.

!

Barstow said: "Nasa will have to take the lead as it is the biggest space agency, but it is already in discussion with the European Space Agency, of which Britain is a member. We are looking at 2030 because that is how long these projects take."

!

First crop circle of the year appears overnight in Dorset wheat field By Harriet Hernando http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2691479/First-cropcircle-year-appears-overnight-Dorset-wheat-field-sparkingnew-it.html?login Intricate design is the first one of the year and has emerged in a field near Blandford Forum in Dorset. The number of crop circles appearing in Britain is declining: 2012 produced 50 while 2013 produced just 15. Some believe this is because of a recent crackdown by farmers as trespass and destruction of crops is illegal.

Sceptics believe crop circles are entirely man-made, while others believe they are the creation of aliens. The first crop circle of the year has appeared in a field near Blandford Forum in Dorset leaving locals stumped over who or what created it.

!

!22 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

a believer of the paranormal and has previously admitted to creating crop circles himself. He is the only man in Britain convicted of making crop circles after admitting damaging a farmer’s crop in 2000 near Marlborough, Wiltshire.

!

Mr Williams, who was fined £100 by magistrates, was prosecuted after one of his crop circles was published on the internet. He has since given up his hobby because he suffers from hayfever.

A crackdown by farmers meant that only 15 crop circles appeared in Wiltshire last year, compared to 50 in 2012.

Insiders claim farmers are fed up with crop circles and tourists looking to have an 'out of body experience' inside them. Some have taken the drastic step of mowing the formations out of their fields as soon as they appear.

!

Covering an enormous stretch of wheat field, the 400ft pattern, which is made up of geometric lines and circles, emerged overnight. While many believe crop circles are created by local pranksters, some think the mysterious shapes are evidence of aliens, including amateur pilot and crop circle enthusiast Matthew Williams, 43, who said: ‘Whoever, or whatever, created the shape must have been there all night - you have to really admire their handiwork.' Technical: Some believe the crop circle is the result of a skilled artist, while others believe the geometric points show the spot where a spaceship has landed.

Some farmers mow the incredible formations out of their field as soon as they appear to deter recurrences. Mr Williams, from Avebury, Wiltshire, added: ‘Last summer we didn't get many circles, but this beauty certainly makes up for that.

‘The first circle of the season really does mark the start of great British summer.

‘I know farmers hate them, but you really do have to appreciate the amount of effort that went in to making a 400ft pattern in a field of crops.’

!

There is increasing rivalry between the circle makers to produce ever more complex, intricate patterns. However Mr Williams is not

According to John Lundberg, who has also admitted to creating the designs, July is the best month for crop circles. He told the BBC: ‘The season runs from April, when the first crop is oil seed rape. In June it's barley and by mid-July it's wheat. That's the best crop to work in, that's when the most spectacular circles appear. Because each stem is upright, you can get pin sharp clarity.’

!

Like farmers, not everyone appreciates the efforts that Mr Lundberg goes to. He reported abuse from people who believe crop circles are in fact the work of aliens. Mr Lundberg, who is part of a group called Circlemakers, said: ‘My art collective - myself, Rod Dickinson and Will Russell - get thousands of abusive e-mails and phone calls. We've had attacks on our property, and one of my team had bricks thrown at him. But at least this is not America - people don't carry guns here. ‘I don't regard myself as a hoaxer - I'm not interested in rug-pulling anybody. Yet the assumption is that if I make a crop circle, it must be because I want to undermine the beliefs of people who think they are not man-made.’

!23 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ

!24 UFO Encounters: 275 The Journal of UFORQ