Forwarded by: fwestra@hetnet.nl (Frits Westra)
Originally from: fort@yahoogroups.com
Original Subject: [fort] Digest Number 1435
Original Date: 28 Feb 2003 22:28:08 -0000


Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2003 19:48:57 -0700
From: "Terry W. Colvin" <fortean1@mindspring.com>
Subject: The best UFO cases

Science Frontiers, No. 146, Mar-Apr, 2003, p. 4

UNCLASSIFIED

The Best UFO Cases

M.D. Swords recently asked a veteran UFO researcher which UFO cases he
would rate highest in terms of believability and anomalousness. The
expert advanced the following five cases:

*White Sands Missile Test Center, New Mexico, June 10, 1949;

*Las Cruces, New Mexico, August 20, 1949;

*Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, July 14, 1952;

*Topcliffe Naval Base, North Yorkshire, September 19, 1952; and

*Boianai Mission, Papua, New Guinea, June 26-28, 1959.

The critical facts in the expert's choices were: *multiple* witnesses,
*expert* witnesses, *instrumented* observations, *anomalous* behavior,
and enough *time* to observe the phenomenon well. Each of the five
cases met all or most of these criteria.

This experienced researcher, who wished to remain anonymous, probably
because of government or academic connections, concluded:

The cases very strongly point towards physical objects,
artificially constructed, which operate in our skies in
ways which deny any normal natural or modern technological
explanation.

Swords, a professor emeritus at Western Michigan University and also an UFO
researcher, commented that he would have added several other cases to the
above list, such as Levelland, Texas, November 1957, and Coyne's helicopter
sighting, October 18, 1973.

The cases cited by both individuals occurred before 1973; none left physical
evidence; none involved abductions of the percipients. There was no claim
of extraterrestrial origins.

(Swords, Michael D.; "What's Convincing about UFOs?" *International UFO
Reporter,* 27:3, Summer 2002.)

Comment. The Sourcebook Project does maintain a few UFO files consisting
of articles extracted mainly from science journals and magazines. Our
files single out only eight major cases, including World War II's "foo
fighters"; the 1997 Arizona flyover; Lakenheath, 1956; etc. (Yes, only
eight compared with the tens of thousands in the UFOlogists' computer
files.) None in our puny files include *any* of those favored by Swords
and the anonymous expert. Apparently, we are fishing in different waters.
The list differences also reveal a lot about the selectivity of science
journals and magazines, as well as our lack of effort in the pursuit of
the UFO phenomenon! If we collected newspaper clippings our files would
overfloweth.

[Object looking like a hassock with a dome on top...]
Sketch of an unidentified object seen in the sky over the Indian Ocean in
1983 by the crew of the *m.v. Baron Pentland.* This UFO was reported in
the *Marine Observer,* 54:27, 1984, which is published by the U.K.
Meteorological Office. Our slim UFO files usually come from this class
of journals.


--
Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1@mindspring.com >
Alternate: < fortean1@msn.com >
Home Page: < http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/8958/index.html >
Sites: * Fortean Times * Mystic's Haven * TLCB *
U.S. Message Text Formatting (USMTF) Program
------------
Member: Thailand-Laos-Cambodia Brotherhood (TLCB) Mailing List
TLCB Web Site: < http://www.tlc-brotherhood.org >[Vietnam veterans,
Allies, CIA/NSA, and "steenkeen" contractors are welcome.]



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