SUBJECT: "BUBBA" BACK IN DRAMATIC DAYLIGHT SIGHTINGS FILE: UFO2467
Gulf Breeze Update
"Bubba" Back in Dramatic Daylight Sightings
by Andy Abercrombie
With what may prove to be the BIG Story of 1993, the town of Gulf
Breeze, Florida, again steps into the UFO spotlight with a blockbuster of a
story... videotaped and still footage of a structured daylight disk! No, this
is not another Mexico City misidentification of the planet Venus but, rather,
what appears to be the "real thing" as both the video and the Polaroid photo
have been analized and proclaimed to be genuine by not only MUFON's Jeff Sainio
, but optical physicist, Dr. Bruce Maccabee as well. As many of you know, since
1987, Gulf Breeze, Florida, has been nick-named the unofficial UFO capital of
the world due to the extraordinary number of sightings that have been
witnessed and recorded th ere. The most famous photos were those taken by Ed
Walters and published in the book detailing his experiences, The Gulf Breeze
Sightings, in 1990. Until July of 1992, skywatchers had documented an average
of 7 to 8 sightings a month... after that, the elusive UFO, affectionately
named "Bubba," apparently disappeared for his 30,000 light-year check-up. But
then toward the end of November, a few phone calls were received saying that
"Bubba" was back. These reports turned out to be true, but the UFO's visits
have become much less frequent. I've been told if the Gulf Breeze Research
Team is lucky, now they'll have a sighting about once every two weeks, so the
appearance of a structured craft during the daylight hours is a truly
significant development.
In a telephone interview with Bland Pugh, MUFON investigator and
editor of the Florida MUFON News ( and creator of one of the finest red-
beans-and-rice recipes in the Northern Hemisphere), the following facts were
reported: On March 25, a Mr. Martin "Allen" looked up and saw something coming
out of the northwest at a tremendous rate of speed. He first thought it must
be some type of aircraft he'd never seen before. Later, the object reappeared
and again moved toward him from the same direction and toward the southeast.
The next day, "Allen" set up his video camera in hopes of recording the object
and that's exactly what it did! Returning from having gotten an apple inside
his house, he was stunned to see the sa me UFO coming at himfrom the southeast.
The camera recorded the whole sequence as the UFO sped across the screen. In an
article by Bland appearing in the June 9th issue of The Islander,"Allen" said,
"I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw that round, silver thing racing
across the sky. But, when it shot overhead a second time, I knew it wasn't a
normal airplane. By God, I knew it was that UFO that I read about in the
newspaper! It was round and kind of crown-shaped with a lower level and a dark
red circle in the bottom center." It was at that point that Bland decided to
enlist the aid of another MUFON investigator, Gary Watson, well known for his
investigation of the Ed Walters case. That decision proved to be a timely one
as less than a week later, on March 31, Bland said he received another call
from "Allen." This time he said he had videoed the same UFO hovering out over
the Gulf of Mexico from his home on Santa Rosa Island. After being recorded
for about 45 seconds, the UFO made an extraordinary exit to the southeast.
Allen exclaimed, "It was fast, real fast! I videotaped it! I couldn"t believe
this was happening and that it was happening in broad daylight!" Bland told me
that when he saw the tape that night, he couldn't believe it either but, there
it was... hovering with the sun reflecting off of it and the clouds moving
behind it, sat the UFO. The object was silver in color and reflected the light
of the sun. It seemed that "Bubba" had definitely returned and, this time,
without a hint of shyness.
On April 2, Bland received yet another call from "Allen" saying that
at 10:30 that morning, because the batteries on his video camera weren't
charged, he'd photographed the UFO with his Polaroid camera! This time the
object had been hovering over the beach to the south of his home. Charles
Flannigan, Florida State Director for MUFON, was now also called into the
investigation, and the decision was made to forward the videos and Polaroid
photo to Jeff Sainio, Photo Analyst and Manager of Imaging Research and
Development at the Quad/Tech division of Quad/Graphics in Wisconsin. Dr. Bruce
Maccabee, optical physicist for the U.S. Naval defense lab in Maryland, w as
also contacted and both Sainio and Maccabee were given the original of the
Polaroid photo for analysis. After two weeks of intensive tests and several
calls for additional information, such as weather reports and atmospheric
conditions, Jeff Sainio submitted his findings and returned the videos and
photo to the investigative team. The results: The UFO is genuine and not a
hoax. According to Sainio, in the first video, the UFO's speed in relation to
its size eliminates all aircraft as a cause, since known airplanes can't move
this fast. A 100-foot long fighter jet would need to move 300 feet, 3 times its
own length, in 1/30 second, or 9,000 feet per second or about 6,000 mph. below
clouds at 7, 000 feet. To stay below the sound barrier, a plane length of 10
feet would be required. Of the second video, where the UFO is seen hovering
motionless over the Gulf and then flashes off, Sainio says in The Islander,
"Initial calculations show the UFO accelerated, then slowed 20% and then
surpassed 2,000 mph, all in under l/lOth of a second!" Dr. Maccabee's
assessment of the March 24 video states, "A frame -by- frame analysis shows
that the object moved so fast it traveled several times its own length in each
frame, making rectangular images on the screen. It only took about one sec ond
to cross the nearly 30� field of view of the camera. Unfortunately, the actual
speed cannot be determined because the distances are not known, but estimates
range from several hundred to several thousand mph corresponding to distance
estimates of 1, 000 to 10,000 feet."
Concerning the second tape, Dr. Maccabee stated, "The video
shows a compact image with a bright area which may be the sun glint from a
metal surface. As he tracked the object, it suddenly disappeared from his
viewfinder. When viewing the video at normal playback speed, the object
appears to streak to the right, off the screen and almost too fast to see.
Frame analysis shows that the object accelerated at a tremendous rate. The
actual acceleration cannot be calculated because, again, the distance is not
known. However, if the assumed distances are only 1,000 feet, then the
videotape shows that it accelerated at about 500g's (500 times the acceleration
of gravity which is about 100 times greater than a jet) and reached a speed
twice t hat of sound before it passed out of view of the camera. Yet there was
no sound! At an assumed 1,000 ft. distance, the size of the object was a bit
less than 10 feet. For other assumed distances, the size, acceleration and
departing speed are proportional to the distance." Regarding the photo taken
on April 2, Dr. Maccabee said, "This photo shows a circular object to the south
at an angular of 60� to 79�. The sun in the east made a shiny glint at the left
side. In the perspective view from below, the object appears like a layer cake
with the upper layer having a larger diameter than the lower layer. The image
is too small and at the wrong angle to reveal any windows in the side of either
layer. There is a slight hint of a protuberance at the top, but this might be
a photographic artifact." As if all of this photographic evidence wasn't
enough, there's more! On Friday, April 21, Bland reported he received a color
slide and a map from a gentleman named Thomas "Bryant," a visiting elected
official from Alabama. The map pointed to a location called the Sugar Bowl in
the Big Sabine area, at the east e nd of Pensacola Beach. The slide showed a
beach scene of sand dunes, sea oats and shrub bushes but, most importantly,
what appears to be the same UFO that Martin "Allen" had photographed. The map
contained a hand written note dated April 2, and 2:30 pm as the time of day.
Mr. Thomas "Bryant" who had withheld his name for political reasons, said, "At
first I told myself that what I saw had to be something from the military, but
I know of nothing that can suddenly appear, hover and disappear like it did."
Both Sainio and Maccabee, I am told;, will have the opportunity to
analyze this slide, but according to Bland, there's no doubt it is the
identical craft that Martin "Allen" had photographed at 10:30 am that same day!
At this point, I could no longer wait to ask Bland the BlG question... were
these new objects the same ones that Ed Walters had photograpphed in 1987?
Bland's response was, "They could be brothers." I learned a few days later,
according to the story on the front page of The Islander, that both experts,
Sainio and Maccabee, agreed that "the overall shape of the object resembles,
but is not identical to, the shape of the objects photographed by Ed Walters."
Could it be that during "Bubba's" absence from July to November of 1992, that
its owner traded up to a newer model? Who knows, but stay tuned! This is an
on-going investigation that will probably continue for quite some time. In
conclusion, I would like to note that it is to the credit of the Gulf Breeze
investigators that they have "sat" on this story for over two months until they
and their independent experts had verified the evidence before releasing this
report to the public. Thanks for a job well done, guys !
Epilogue: In an earlier and, perhaps, related story, Bland Pugh was
the investigator on a case concerning mysterious markings at the first of this
year. In an article written for the May/June issue of the Florida MUFONNews,
Bland writes, "The story began on January 9, when "Bill" went to Pensacola
Beach at sundown to skywatch. It is not unusual for someskywatchers, myself
included, to go out by themselves. After parking, he set up his equipment for
what he hoped would be a sighting. He didn't have to wait long. Over the Gulf
appeared the bright light of the Gulf Breeze UFO. "Bill" looked at the object
through his 8x40 binoculars for a minute or so when he began to feel his face
flushing hot. Then his face felt like it had been exposed to cold for a long
period of time. Putting the binoculars down, he began to feel nauseated and
even a little faint. After about a minute, the dizziness seemed to be passing
somewhat. He looked for the UFO, but it was gone. "Bill" climbed into his
vehicle to regain his composu re. By now, the time was something like 8:00 pm.
He headed for Shoreline Park where a skywatch was underway. He told the people
at the park about his experience and was standing around talking when he
discovered he'd hurt his hand. Noticing the small amo unt of blood on the back
of his right hand, "Bill" thought that he must have hit it on something while
gathering his equipment and putting it into his vehicle. He didn't think too
much about it after that. On Friday of the next week, "Bill" showed me his
hand and said he was a little concerned about it because it hadn't healed, only
gotten worse. When he first discovered the marks, they were only small
perforations. They progressively got larger . Towards the first of the week,
the enlargement of each separate wound prompted him to call a doctor about it,
as it was very unusual in nature. The wound consisted of a circle of seven
separate and evenly spaced punctures, with one in the center. When "Bill"
talked to the doctor, he was told that he had "seen this type of wound
before." As of this writing, the circles are still visible on "Bill's" hand. He
has asked me to write this article in hopes that anyone with a similar mark
would contact him through me. Please write me (Bland Pugh) at P.O. Box 6111,
Gulf Breeze, FL 3 2561. All replies will be kept confidential. Please include
your address, telephone number and, if possible, a picture of the affected area
ONLY."
In my 20-minute conversation with Bland on Sunday evening, June 20, I asked,
since Bland had been the investigator on this case, if he felt the incident may
have been hoaxed. Bland's response was "No," based on two reasons. First, the
integrity of the w itness who, surprisingly, did not feelthat he had been
abducted or was missing any time and, secondly, the flood of similar accounts
he has recelved since the reporting of this incident in The Islander and the
Florida MUFON News.
People in southern Florida, several other Eastern states, and as far
away as England have also recounted mysterious wounds forming exactly the same
pattern on different extremities. Bland added that one case in Oklahoma dated
as far back as 1981. As it now appears that this new Gulf Breeze case is not
an isolated incident or unique in its character. Bland tends to feel the
circular pattern of wounds is genuinely of a mysterious nature and, therefore,
is deserving of further investigation. In response to the question concerning
the cause of these markings, Bland said at the present time, he has no idea,
nor has he heard of any theories being advanced on what is producing this
peculiar pattern of marks. Is the mystery UFO-related, or is this another
"syringe in the Pepsi can" phenomenon? Only time will tell. Meanwhile, the
investigation and reports of additional cases continue. All I can say is to
keep looking up and behind you... you don't know what may be watching you!
** End **
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