SUBJECT: ASSORTED UFO CASES FOR 1991 FILE: UFO2621
1991 UFO Sightings
01-14-91 VANCOUVER, BC A UFO organization says tiny worms could hold a clue
to the mysterious rings that've appeared in fields from England to northern
British Columbia. The rings've been blamed on everything from whirlwinds to
UFO's. Scientific analyses of soil from 2 Canadian crop circles show
astronomically high numbers of microscopic nematodes threadlike, often
parasitic worms that live in the soil, said Mike Strainic of MUFON. Soil
samples from rings in Saskatchewan & Dawson Creek were sent to agricultural
scientists in eastern Canada & the United States. Soil from both rings'd
identical counts of nematodes 8 times that of inside & outside the rings.
"Scientists are looking into the significance of the high count," adding that
more analysis is being done on the samples.
03-12-91 LOS ALAMOS, NM Oft-maligned UFO-debunker Phillip J. Klass chided
people who cling to flying-saucer lore, telling a Los Alamos National
Laboratory colloquium such believers've failed to produce any evidence. Klass
spends 20 to 40 hours a week investigating reported sightings of unidentified
flying objects, or UFOs. All're explainable as meteor firefalls, abandoned
space junk burning up as it re-enters Earth's atmosphere, ball lightning or
retail UFO kits such as balloons with flares attached. "There's not a single
piece of physical evidence, a single piece of metal that could not've been
made in this world...not a single photograph that'll hold up under rigorous
scrutiny," Klass told about 300 people. Most of'em were Los Alamos
scientists. He drew laughter as he told of 1 sighting reported by a woman
who's dog shrank to the ground in terror. The dog was whimpering because it
was cold out that night. Her sighting on March 3, 1968, was among several
from people hundreds of miles apart. All reported seeing a cigar-shaped craft
in the sky over the Midwest. Klass said it was a jettisoned Soviet rocket
burning up as it fell to Earth. He said 98% of all such sightings come from
people who sincerely believe they saw a UFO. Kendrick Frazier, editor of
Skeptical Enquirer magazine, said Klass "is hated & detested by UFO
believers. He comes up with powerful evidence to puncture holes in their
claims." Klass, former senior avionics editor with Aviation Week & Space
Technology magazine, has written 4 books on UFO's, including "UFOs: The
Public Deceived." Klass criticized former New York Times reporter Howard
Blum, who's written a book called "Out There: The Government's Secret Quest
for Extraterrestrials." "Blum's written a book that's essentially fiction &
labeled it non-fiction."
03-11-91 CUSTER, S.D. Davina Ryszka says her hobby sometimes makes people
look at her a little funny. She likes to check into sightings of unidentified
flying objects. Ryszka's the state director of the Mutual UFO Network, a
Texas-based non-profit corporation that tries to document UFOs. Ryszka'd like
South Dakotans to keep their eyes to the skies for unusual objects butn't to
forget the ground, too. Her group's checking out some puzzling rings found in
crop fields. Circle-shaped patterns of flattened crops're most common in
England, but they've also appeared in Japan, New Zealand, the Soviet Union &
South Dakota. Last year, a circle appeared under a power line in a pasture
south of Eagle Butte. And last summer, a question mark-shaped depression
showed up in a Leola-area wheat field. Nobody's been able to explain the
patterns. Ryszka's been interested in UFOs since she was a teen-ager on her
parents' ranch in western Montana. There were plenty of UFO sightings there,
although she's never seen 1. "I've always hoped to." She's sure that reports
of unexplained events & objects like UFOs point to an exciting conclusion,
but she's not sure just what it is. "I've read so many accounts from so many
good, upstanding citizens. They'd have nothing to gain by going public." But
she'll risk having people "look at you a little funny" in order to be a
clearinghouse for observations & sightings of things that can't be readily
explained. Ryszka gets help from a Winner woman, Yvonne Hermsen, who said
some people might think she's as strange as the crop rings she's
investigated. "I may get branded as a real nut case." Recently, strange
lights in eastern South Dakota, possibly from a meteor, were all the rage.
"They caused a lot of talk & commotion around here."
03-25-91 BILOXI, Miss. It's been 17 years, but Charles E. Hickson still
remembers every detail of his intriguing abduction by aliens onto an
unidentified flying object in Pascagoula in 1973. Hickson, 1 of 4 speakers at
the first UFO International Conference held in Biloxi, told of his unique UFO
experience that occurred on a fishing trip with his friend, Calvin Parker.
Sitting on a bank near a bridge on the Pascagoula River, Hickson & Parker
unexpectedly saw an unusual round or oblong aircraft about 30 feet long land
near them. Immediately they were approached by 3 robot-like creatures who
picked Hickson up & carried him aboard the aircraft. "Calvin fainted so he
didn't know what'd happened, but I was carried aboard by these robots. Once
inside an object came out of the wall which seemed to scan my entire body
from top to bottom. I saw living beings through a window but they never
touched me or said anything to me." The beings in the window looked similar
to humans, with light colored skin & normal facial features. "I didn't know
what was going on. But I felt suspended for about an hour or hour & a half
while they inspected me." Eventually, the robots took Hickson back outside to
the river bank & the aircraft left, leaving him in a state of shock &
disbelief. However, knowing that his experience wasn't his imagination
playing tricks on him, Hickson's come very strongly to believe that what
happened to him was a visit by real alien beings who arrived on earth from
another planet or sphere in what're known as unidentified flying objects.
He's continued to've contact with the aliens in the years since that time &
that there'll be further UFO activity in the near future. "There's no doubt
in my mind that UFOs exist." Also speaking at the conference, which drew
several hundred UFO enthusiasts from across the Gulf Coast & other parts of
the United States, were UFO experts Antonio Huneeus, a UFO investigator &
researcher; Budd Hopkins, an author of UFO books who himself experienced a
sighting in 1964; & Stanton Friedman, a UFO investigator, scientist, author
& maker of documentary UFO movies. Huneeus said UFOs're a global phenomenon
& has recently, since the period of Glasnost in the USSR, been able to study
many sightings in Russia which were formerly kept secret. Sightings've
occurred in almost every country around the world. Showing slides of
photographs said to be taken of actual UFOs, 1 of the problems all legitimate
UFO investigators must deal with're the people who deliberately take photos
or make claims which later're proven to be hoaxes. "We do study UFOs
seriously, & we may not've the final answers, but we do believe we've some
evidence that some UFO sightings're real." Friedman, who's studied the
phenomenon for 32 years, is convinced that some UFOs're indeed alien aircraft
& that the US government's known this to be true since 1947. "None of the
arguments made by the skeptics can stand up under careful scrutiny. Alien
visits're the biggest story of the past millenium."
03-26-91 GRAND FORKS, N.D. A University of North Dakota professor & his
son've been interviewed about their alleged run-in with extraterrestrials for
a television show about unidentified flying objects. John Salter & his son
were interviewed for the television show "UFO Abductions" which its producer,
Sharron Gayle, said's likely to air on CBS television later this year. The
interviews'll be combined with actors' portrayals of their alleged 1988
encounters. Salter says his health's improved in 21 ways since the incident.
The professor, who chairs the Indian studies department at UND, now teaches
a class about UFOs.
04-01-91 Nebraskans who think they've seen ghosts, unidentified flying
objects or other weird things now've a telephone help line they can call for
assistance & information. E.A. Kral of Grand Island, an English teacher with
an interest in paranormal phenomena, started the Nebraska Scientific Claims
Investigation phone line 3 years ago with a $10,000 donation to the
University of Nebraska Foundation. "It seems to me it answers the question
`who do you call?' & it answers it in a responsible, professional manner.
This' not a matter of reinforcing beliefs. It's a matter of trying to seek
the truth." A caller to the line got a recorded message saying reports of
paranormal phenomena could be left on a recording device, & the call'd be
returned later. The answering machine's located in Omaha, at the University
of Nebraska Medical Center Dept. of Psychiatry. During regular business
hours, staff members take messages & either return calls or refer'em to local
people with expertise in the particular topic of the call. The phone number's
402-559-5035. Despite limited publicity, about 50 serious callers've
contacted the phone line, said facilitator Katherine Karrer. More than half
of the calls've come from students or others doing research on topics in the
paranormal. The line offers confidential help & information to people with
questions about the paranormal. Kral saw the need for the phone line after
his own experience delving into reports of UFOs during the 1970s. Originally
a believer, Kral became a skeptic after years of research. In the process, he
realized that people who were curious or concerned about paranormal topics'd
nowhere to turn for independent, scientific information. People seeking
information're referred to a collection of materials housed at the McGoogan
Library of Medicine at the medical center. The collection, which was set up
with an additional donation from Kral, includes materials by both believers
& skeptics on each topic. Other calls come from people who've had unexplained
experiences or've questions about paranormal claims. "It's mostly for people
who were very uncomfortable with the phenomena. Usually they just really want
to talk to someone who knows about it." The calls've covered a variety of
topics, including several ghostly experiences & 1 from a person reporting
time travel. The phone gets a workout whenever there's publicity about a
strange phenomenon or when a movie about the occult's released. If that
pattern holds, the line might get a rash of calls in May following the third
annual conference on Exploring Unexplained Phenomena in Lincoln. Topics to be
covered at the May 17-19 conference, sponsored by the Fortean Research Center
of Lincoln, will include ghosts, crop circles, UFOs & spontaneous human
combustion. It'll be at the Nebraska Center for Continuing Education. Among
conference speakers: John Keel, author of several books & articles on the
unexplained; Larry Arnold, a researcher on spontaneous human combustion;
Harry Jordan, who says he's evidence of architectural artifacts on Mars;
William Roll, a parapsychologist; & Budd Hopkins, a UFO abduction researcher.
There's a fee for the conference.
04-08-91 EUREKA SPRINGS, Ark. Lou Farish's heard the snickers of those who
discount talk of cow mutilations, crop circles & extraterrestrial
kidnappings. But he isn't laughing. He helped organize the third annual
Ozarks UFO Convention. "I'm assuming the skeptics don't know anything about
the subject or they don't want to face the implications of the subject. They
don't want their world disturbed." About 400 people attended. "The
implication of the subject...is we're definitelyn't alone. I don't know if
we're in danger. There's that possibility," said the part-time postal clerk
who publishes a UFO news-clipping service with worldwide circulation.
"There're beings out there who don't seem to've any hostile intent toward us.
There're other beings out there who simply don't care they've an agenda to
carry out & they don't care if we know about it. They're going to do their
job. Period. I don't know if there're any out there who're hostile or not.
But the universe's a big place." The conference featured UFO researchers from
the United States & other countries. Linda Howe, an author & film producer
from Pennsylvania, spoke about animal mutilations. Farish said a cow was
mangled in Berryville 2 months ago by an incision produced by high heat,
along the lines of a laser. Sergei Bulantsev, a UFO researcher from the
Soviet Union, told conference-goers that aliens in his country're better
looking than those in the United States. "They're just like Europeans, like
foreign tourists," he said of the aliens that visit the Soviet Union. "It
seems to be different teams of aliens're operating in our 2 countries."
George Wingfield of Glastonbury, England, said circles're being cut out of
crop fields all over the world. He wasn't sure why the numbers of
incidents're increasing. "I can't explain, but it does seem that there's been
a sort of response to the fact that people're & taking interest in these
sightings."
04-15-91 EUGENE, Ore. The UFO Contact Center International provides a haven
from the hostility & ridicule that follows the terror of being abducted by
aliens, members say. "I tried to talk to a close friend, & now we haven't
talked since. I get that from a lot of people," center board member Clay
Kruger said. "But (at the center) I wasn't laughed at, I wasn't ridiculed. I
could talk to people who'd real good track records, real pillars of society."
Several members shared their unearthly stories with a small audience at the
University of Oregon. Kruger's first contact with UFOs occurred in July 1989
at his home in Kent, Wash. He awakened 1 night to see a cylindrical object
outside, about 6 by 8 feet. It radiated a purple glow around the back yard &
later went to the front of the house. Suddenly, he found himself against a
wall with nothing beneath him. He looked down to see a grass field in his
neighborhood. Kruger recounted 2 more nocturnal episodes alien contact 1
featuring a monkey-like being in his living room. Aileen Bringle, director of
the UFO Contact Center International, said the trauma of her first encounter
38 years ago led her to organize the center in 1978. Today, there're 60
regional groups in North America. Bringle, of Federal Way, Wash., described
her first encounter in 1953. It was midnight. She was asleep in the car next
to her husband, who was driving west near Pendleton. She awakened to his
screams & looked out the window to see the entire landscape fully illuminated
in green. "When something unknown's happening, there's no way to rationalize
it. We thought it was Hanford blowing up." Eventually the sky darkened & the
couple went on their way. Since then, Bringle's seen a UFO over Wyoming; been
told by her ex-husband that 5 aliens entered his bedroom & stomped on a pair
of shoes; & earlier this year awakened to find fingerprints on the insides of
her thighs. "That really disturbed me. I live alone." Bringle said the debate
about UFO contact intensified in 1987 when author Whitley Strieber published
"Communion," an account of being abducted from his secluded New York cabin.
"Scoffing at (abductees) is as ugly as laughing at rape victims," he wrote.
In 1988's "UFO Abductions: A Dangerous Game," Philip J. Klass included a
"Post Script for Potential Abductees." "If you worry that your teenage
daughter may be abducted & impregnated with UFOnaut sperm," he wrote, "shift
your worries to more prosaic causes of pregnancy." Bringle calls Klass a
"paid debunker." Francesco Pagliaro set up the meeting after reading a letter
Bringle'd written in Omni magazine. "I know these people're sincere. You can
see it in their faces."
04-30-91 COHOES, N.Y. ALIENS GIVE ABDUCTEE GOOD HEALTH, BAD WORK RECORD!
Cruel-To-Be-Kind Space Magi Implant Disease-Killing Licorice Stick! Jobless
Victim Laments: `They Ruined My Life, But Cured My Cold!' Were life a
supermarket tabloid, those headlines'd sum up Richard Price's story. When he
was 8, aliens did take him aboard their ship. They did implant a substance
soft, like stale licorice in his stomach, an implant that seemed to keep him
healthy. They did spoil his employment prospects, messing up his mind so he
couldn't hold a job. Really. A Florida insurance company took his story so
seriously it agreed to pay off on a prank UFO abduction insurance policy.
Price's getting $10 million-a dollar a year for 10 million years. UFO
devotees & skeptics agree that Price probably believes his own story. UFO
believers say they can't absolutely prove it, but they're willing to accept
his tale. Skeptics say they don't have to prove anything that Price proves
he's a kook every time he opens his mouth. Family, friends, psychiatrists
these were the first to disbelieve Price's tale. His parents warned himn't to
talk about it; he kept talking, so they stuck him in a mental hospital when
he was 17. "I finally denied it all just to get out. After that, I kind of
kept it quiet." Lately, Price's begun talking again about his alleged
abduction Sept. 23, 1955 & people're starting to, well, almost believe him.
"We've no reason to disbelieve him," says Budd Hopkins, author of the 1987
bestseller "Intruders" about alien visitations. "I've seen nothing that'd
make me doubt that he's simply telling the truth." Retired University of
Kentucky psychologist Robert Baker, who's written scholarly articles
debunking UFO abduction claims, says Price's a harmless crank. People who
make such claims're what psychologists once called "simple schizophrenics.
They're not very bright, & they've to've some explanation for their
inadequacies." Like other UFO abduction claimants, Price's involvement with
aliens' an ongoing thing. Price says that while driving a cab, he saw 2
glowing beings in a house. After seeing them, he suffered a 3-hour memory
lapse during which aliens may've abducted him again, or at least stiffed him
on cab fare. Price also thinks he's being trailed by 1 of the MIBs-Men In
Black: human automatons with black clothes & glasses who try to intimidate
UFO abductees into silence. "I've never heard of a UFO case that can't be
explained in prosaic or earthly terms," says Philip J. Klass, whose book "UFO
Abductions: A Dangerous Game" has become something of a bible for UFO
skeptics. If anyone can prove otherwise, he'll refund the full purchase price
of all his books. He's also offered $10,000 for proof of an alien abduction.
Confirmation by the FBI'll satisfy him. Instead of aliens doing the
kidnapping, "I could sooner believe that they're ghosts or poltergeists or
some of Santa Claus' mischievous elves." Skeptics & believers admit Price's
a troubled man. Price says "UFO stress" has kept him from holding a job for
more than a decade. The incident's hurt his marriage, & his UFO claim
embarrasses his wife & 3 sons. Price says he wants to see the aliens again &
ask "'What did you do this for, why did you screw up my life?' If they're
that advanced, it seems like they'd try to do something to help the person
they're abducting." The villains're not aliens but people such as Hopkins,
who perpetuate "this type of stupidity & nonsense," Baker says. "Through
their naivete & lack of understanding of human psychology, they've ballooned
this thing into a national headache." Abduction stories appear throughout
history, tailored to the whimsies of the times. In the Middle Ages, people
claimed flying dragons swooped down & abducted them. Later, fairies & trolls
did the kidnapping. In the late 1800s, stories appeared of aliens in
spaceships like the early dirigibles. In the 1940s, spaceships were
transformed into the flying saucers popularized by science fiction pulp
magazines. That's the kind of craft Price describes. While playing in a
cemetery by his home in nearby Troy, N.Y., Price claims, 2 helmeted aliens in
red & blue uniforms took him aboard their ship. He couldn't resist, as if his
will'd been sapped. The aliens, with pinkish-gray skin & about 4 to 5 feet
tall, showed him a movie then'd him undress so they could examine him. They
inserted the implant a 4-millimeter-long chunk of dark material & told him to
leave it alone or he'd die. It lay visible just below the skin until 1989,
when it broke through & popped out, he says. Until then, Price says, he'd
been healthy & thinks the implant may've had something to do with it. Since
the implant came out, he's suffered persistent colds. The implant's intrigued
UFO investigators. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology physicist's run
tests on the substance but says he hasn't yet identified it. "I don't know if
it's animal, vegetable or mineral," says the physicist, who asked that his
name be withheld. While Price "is a little bit of a crackpot," the physicist
says he hopes the implant'll prove to be genuine. "Finding other intelligent
life in the universe'd be completing the Copernican revolution." Implants're
common in abductees' stories, though Price's among the first UFO
investigators've been able to study. UFO researchers theorize implants may be
like radio tags humans use to track wildlife. Price's story's 1 of at least
1,000 reported cases of people who claim aliens took'em aboard their
spaceships. 1 of Price's fellow travelers' Ed Walters of Gulf Breeze, Fla.,
a building contractor who thinks aliens took him on a joyride in 1988.
Walters says he was photographing UFOs when he suffered a 90-minute memory
lapse. Under hypnosis, he recalled being taken aboard a spaceship. "It's kind
of good I didn't have any conscious recall. If I could remember all that
stuff, I'm sure it'd be very disturbing." David Jacobs, a history professor
at Temple University in Philadelphia, says he & Hopkins've been awarded a
grant to find out how many people've been abducted by aliens. Jacobs won't
say how much the grant was & identifies the source of the money as a "Las
Vegas financier" who wants to remain anonymous. The details of abductees'
stories're generally hazy, a sign that they're not fabricating the tales. If
they were imagining it, dreaming or just plain faking, "every story'd be rich
& filled with idiosyncratic situations from their own lives. We know this
from hallucination & fantasy studies." In abductee accounts, the aliens seem
bored, like medical technicians tired of taking X-rays. "These creatures
don't seem to've the sensitivity of humans. They've a job to do & they do
it," says Walter Andrus, director of the Mutual UFO Network in Seguin, Texas.
"We're not talking about the standard science fiction contact, where 2 equals
meet in a dramatic situation & exchange presents. We're talking about
exploitation. Humans're just specimens." Abductees're not publicity seekers,
investigators say. Of 300 abductees Hopkins' studied, only 9 have allowed
their names to be used. Price does seek publicity, hoping it'll vindicate
him. Surprise, he's writing a book. He doesn't feel as if he's cashing in; he
figures the aliens owe him. Lately, he's gotten some dubious national
attention. He appeared on the TV tabloid show "Hard Copy" & Joan Rivers' talk
show & was written up in UFO Universe, the supermarket tabloid of UFO
magazines. Among the magazine's cover stories: "Elvis Presley's Mysterious
UFO Connection" & "Strange Pregnancies! What Do Aliens Want With Our Women?"
The purveyors of such headlines "used to be people looking for God. Now it's
aliens," says UFO skeptic Baker. "They're looking for aliens instead of God,
or Jesus, or Moses, or Napoleon. They're to be pitied. They're unfortunate
people."
05-13-91 LINCOLNTON, NC Danny Barger of Lincolnton's never seen a UFO, but
that doesn't keep him from looking for them. Barger's a field investigator
for the Mutual UFO Network. He looks into people's reports of strange
sightings & events for evidence of UFOs & for evidence of alien life. Since
1950, investigators've documented 11 fourth-kind close encounters in North
Carolina. The fourth kind're those in which a person claims to've actually
seen an alien being or been abducted. None occurred in Lincoln or Gaston
County. Right now, Barger's investigating a case in Charlotte. The reports
get strange & stranger, such as 3-finger marks without fingerprints on the
inside of house windows. Barger keeps more than 300 books on UFOs & magazines
dating back to 1953, when he was 12. Barger himself's never seen a UFO. "I
don't go out at night looking up at the sky expecting to see one. People say,
`If I haven't seen it, it's not so.' I've got the interest without seeing it.
I've met enough people. All these people're not lying. I believe some of the
sightings're actually UFOs."
05-18-91 GRAND FORKS, N.D. A UND professor whose story of an encounter with
aliens was featured on a network television special saysn't only Hollywood
filmmakers believe in UFOs. John Salter, chairman of Indian studies at UND,
claims to've come across a group of aliens in 1988 while driving with his son
on a highway near Richland Center, Wis. Studies show that a majority of
Americans recognize the reality of unidentified flying objects & attribute it
to extraterrestrials. The US government's more serious about UFO encounters
than it acknowledges, & even the pope's gotten in on the action. "The
Vatican, under urging by the Jesuits, has set up a special office to make
contact with visiting extraterrestrials & offer'em the Mother Church. While
that certainly says we're making progress, my feeling's the
extraterrestrials've a very satisfactory theology in their own right." Salter
watched CBS' special, "Visitors from the Unknown," on a wide screen
television with a group of 20 people in a lounge in Grand Forks. Salter's
story climaxed the hour-long show. The 15-minute segment on Salter contained
footage of an interview with him done in February in Grand Forks, as well as
narration by Salter & son John. Actors were used to recreate certain scenes.
Salter & his son both claim to've had amnesia right after the alleged
encounter. They later recalled through flashbacks their visit with a group of
aliens. The aliens were short & big-eyed. Their ships were spinning
saucer-types similar to those in popular movies such as "Close Encounters of
the Third Kind" & "E.T." Salter claims a larger alien used a "telekinetic
force" to prevent Salter from hitting the ground after he tripped. The aliens
also did medical examinations of Salter & his son. Salter also claims that
the aliens gave him a nose implant & injections in the throat & upper chest
that've resulted in a long list of beneficial physiological changes. None of
the changes've been verified by doctors. Salter's colleagues at UND seem to
believe his story, or at least're too polite to say otherwise. "I've
encountered virtually no open skepticism. I assume there's some. It just
hasn't been openly manifested. My UFO courses've been brimful. No sweat with
the students." The aliens were nice & he wouldn't mind seeing'em again.
05-28-91 HUNT, Texas Unlike its counterpart in England, there's no question
about who built the Kerr County arches. But why Stonehenge II was built's
just as elusive as the mystery surrounding the prehistoric megaliths rising
up from the English countryside. "We didn't set out to build Stonehenge,"
said Al Shepperd, who designed it along with neighbor Doug Hill. "We were
just messing around with rock & it kind of grew. We certainly'd no idea the
way it'd turn out." Far from the Salisbury Plain, this modern-day monument
rises in a pasture along a rural lane in the Hill Country, 2 miles west of
Hunt on Farm Road 1340 about 115 miles west of Austin. The massive
structure's generally 60% as tall as the original & 90% as large in
circumference. "When you turn the corner, you know what a great curiosity
it's & the mindset why's it here? Why's the original 1 built where it is?"
said Phil Neighbors, executive vice president of the Kerrville Area Chamber
of Commerce. Many theories exist about the origins of the English Stonehenge,
but no 1 knows for sure who built it or what prompted its conception. But
Stonehenge II was born at the Kerrville dump in the summer of 1989. Hill, a
tile contractor, was gathering limestone for his patio but decided 1 stone
was too large for his use. So he crossed the road & stood it upright in
Shepperd's field. "Doug pulled up at 7:30 am & said `I've got a rock out here
for you,'" said Shepperd. "I said, `It looks kind of funny by itself, let's
put an arch somewhere.'" Hill constructed an arch 13 feet tall, with a 3-foot
wide opening. Together, the haphazardly placed limestone & the man-made frame
reminded Shepperd of Stonehenge, which he'd visited earlier in 1989. The 2
then set out to create a replica of the famous landmark. From August 1989 to
May 1990, Hill built hollow plaster arches that were reinforced with steel
rods & metal lath. Each pillar of the arches' set in concrete for stability.
The plaster was tinted a dark gray & allowed to weather to resemble the stone
of the original. The 4 inner arches're 11-12 feet tall. The ones that ring
the outside vary from 9 to 11 feet tall to compensate for the slope of the
land. 5,000 square-feet of plaster & 800 bags of cement were used in the
construction. Hill was more interested in making the Stonehenge replica look
right than trying to match the scale of the original. He didn't attempt to
align the sculpture with astronomical bodies as the original Stonehenge
appears to be since the hills in the area block the sun at various times
anyway. "It's probablyn't perfect, but it gets the point across. It's a play
thing. I like to think of it as a work of art, but I haven't found anyone
else who needs 1." Since the early days of construction, cars've screeched to
a halt when the project comes into view. Already, there's been a wedding,
youth campouts & numerous photo sessions including 1 for a ballet troupe &
rock album cover at the site. The story's appeared on national television &
in a children's magazine. "People thought we were crazy. They thought we were
getting into satanism." Butn't everyone likes Stonehenge II. An employee of
a nearby youth camp told him she looks the other way when she drives by
because she believes the design's evil. "She's thoroughly against it, like it
was an idol." But most people see the sculpture as a quirky tourist
attraction. "It's another thing that draws attention to Kerrville & Kerr
County." The Kerrville Area Chamber of Commerce includes the sculpture on its
list of attractions. "We encourage people to come & look." Shepperd & Hill're
planning to add a log book for visitors to sign. T-shirts depicting the
project're also a possibility. The 2 designers now're discussing a second
project in the 22-acre field that'd depict the crash of an unidentified
flying object. It'll be up to the visitor to decide if the UFO's any symbolic
connection to Stonehenge. Shepperd generally visits the site during the day
& doesn't get hooked into its mysticism. Hill, though, says the replica's a
special place. "I come out every solstice. Full moons're really nice to see
the shadows on the ground's something you can't experience anywhere else." At
leastn't in Kerr County. There's a slightly scaled down, but mathematically
correct Stonehenge at the University of Missouri-Rolla that was built by some
years back by some engineering students.
06-24-91 COLLEGE PARK, Md. If you think you've seen Elvis recently, call Chip
Denman immediately for a reality check. Denman's Mr. Bah Humbug himself. He's
president of the National Capital Area Skeptics, a 350-member society of
debunkers & naysayers who claim to serve "at the front lines in the battle
against gullibility & fraud." They erupt in rib-poking laughter at rumors
that Elvis Presley's still alive. Their eyebrows arch at mention of ghosts,
UFO abductions or the wonders of astrology. Bigfoot sightings're dismissed as
hokum, New Age mysticism as balderdash. But Denman, a pony-tailed
statistician at the Univ. of Maryland, hastens to squelch any suggestion that
his colleagues're mere spoilsports. "We're not a bunch of old fogies who sit
around harrumphing & scoffing. We try to maintain a high level of good humor
& a sense of fun about what we're doing." The group publishes a quarterly
newsletter titled "Skeptical Eye" & a monthly calendar of events called
"Shadow of a Doubt." Members attend a "Seeing's Believing" film series & hear
lectures on such topics as "Magic of the Gurus of India" & "Animal Quackers:
Pseudoscience for Pets." Denman & a magician friend staged a Halloween show
titled "Seance! or Things That Go Bump in the Night," a theatrical spoof of
the clairvoyant's tricks of the trade. For more than a year, the skeptics've
offered a $1,000 award to anyone who can demonstrate psychic powers mind
reading, dousing or levitation, for example under scientific test conditions.
So far, nobody's stepped forward. Led by Denman, the skeptics banded together
4 years ago to promote scientific inquiry based on hard evidence, & to combat
"irrationality, superstition & just plain nonsense." They include scientists,
educators, lawyers, doctors & other white-collar professionals. "We all share
the idea that the scientific process' a good strategy for working in the
world & making decisions, no matter whether you're getting medical treatment
or buying a used car. We say, go kick the tires. Don't take the salesman's
word for it." Denman's not only a scientist but's been an amateur magician
since childhood, when he was fascinated by his father's card tricks. "As a
scientist, I'm concerned with how things really work. And as a magician, I've
come to appreciate how bright, well-educated, intelligent people can be
fooled so easily." Denman doesn't believe in ghosts. "To believe in
apparitions'd require a radical change in what we know about modern physics."
Most people've had some "remarkable, compelling, personally spooky
experiences' that defy explanation, but mistakenly try to explain'em as
paranormal events. "As a scientist, I'd much rather say I don't know what it
was." Denman doesn't rule out the possibility of future contact with
intelligent beings from an alien planet. He finds that prospect much more
plausible than speaking with the voice of a long-dead warrior from Atlantis,
or willing your body to float in air, or bumping into an older, wiser Elvis
somewhere. "I can say with some degree of certainty that I've never seen
Elvis walking around my neighborhood. I'm so skeptical that I can hardly
believe it." The telephone number for the National Capital Area Skeptics'
1-301-587-3827.
End of 1991 UFO Sightings Files
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