SUBJECT: IS THIS A UFO ?                                     FILE: UFO2388




   Taken from the FRONT PAGE of "The Manly Daily" May 28,1993

                        IS THIS A UFO?
            `Spiritual journey' captured on video.
                        by Jason Brown

Two young men are convinced their lives have been altered by an
extraterrestrial experience.

Ryan Williams and Skip O'Neill have captured on video what they
claim are two UFOs hovering over Frenchs Forest. [14kms NNW of
Sydney]

The excited men contacted "The Manly Daily" after reading reports
of unexplained patterned orange lights off Harbord [14kms N of
Sydney]

"The Daily" has taken graphic photos from the 11 minute video,
which shows a bright light changing shape and colour before
blooming into a large multi-coloured striped sphere. The video
also shows a smaller bright orange light hovering nearby.

Manly UFO investigator Gary Wiseman, who viewed the video
yesterday, said he had never seen an object expand and contract
so dramatically.

He said the large object looked simmilar to other footage of
alleged UFO sightings, particularly a 1978 New Zealand sighting
filmed by a news crew.

"It's not neccessarily something from outer space", he said. "But
it looks like something with extreme energy. The reaction from
the boys is very similar to those people I have spoken to in the
past."

Ryan, 19, of Frenchs Forest, and 21-year-old Skip, from
Melbourne, captured the bizarre experience on video and still
camera during the early hours of last Thursday.

The pair were returning home from a Mona Vale nightclub at about
3.30am when they first spotted a strange bright light hovering of
the Long Reef headland.

After spending about 20 minutes taking still photos of the ebbing
light, they raced to Ryan's Frenchs Forest home [7kms away] with
intensions of returning to Long Reef with a video camera to film
the spectacle.

But they claim the light followed them and "brought a friend with
it".

Ryan, a university student, captured the video footage of the
object from outside his home.

"I've no doubt about its presence, I felt invigorated," Skip
said.

"The whole time not only were we acknowledging it, but it seemed
to be acknoeledging us.

"A lot of people are going to be extremely sceptical, but it was
like experiencing a miracle. I felt like I had been on some
fantastic journey."

Ryan said he experienced a loss of time and felt like he was
being watched.

"There was a full attraction to it," he said.

"It kept changing colour from fluoroscent to reddish, even the
aura it was putting of was changing. I definately had the feeling
that there was some sort of intelligence behind it."

Ryan said he had spotted three UFOs before, but the sightings had
never been coupled with the same emotional feelings.

He takes avid interst in the unexplained and collects videos and
magazines concerning UFOs.

But Skip has never taken an active interest in UFOs and until
last Thursday did not beleive they existed.

"I've changed my views since then. I don't think I will ever be
the same again because it was like a spiritual experience," he
said.

Australian Skeptics national secretary Harry Edwards, of Newport,
said while he had not viewed the video, he beleived the light
could be a large planet such as Venus.

"It sounds like it would be rather difficult to manufacture the
video," he said.

"But there are all sorts of weird and wonderful things in the
atmosphere."

Sydney Observatory education officer Rod Somerville said the
large bright object could have been Venus which rose in the East
at 3.15am.

He said the image could change or appear to shake as a result of
atmospheric conditions.

The video may have created some distortion, he said.

A police spokesman said no helicopters were operating along the
northern beaches at that time.

Despite the disclaimers, Ryan and Skip remain convinced of their
galactic experience.

"You wouldn't know what it was like unless you were there." said
Skip.

"We can't beleive we were the only ones who saw it. It was so
intensely there.

"We have tried to speculate about the possibilities and we have
been unable to come up with anything."

Meanwhile 10 people called the "Manly Daily" yesterday and
reported seeing hovering orange lights between Manly and Avalon
on Monday night.

=============================================================================

Origin: A.L.I.E.N. BBS * Sydney Australia
Thanks to Scott Hall




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