CNI News - Volume 21.2
August 9, 1996
Published by the ISCNI News Center
Editor: Michael Lindemann
The stories in this edition of CNI News are:
1) NASA ANNOUNCES EVIDENCE OF LIFE ON MARS!
Oh, You've Heard Already?
2) JAPAN'S "UFO MUSEUM" NOT ABOUT UFOS AT ALL!
3) NEW EYEWITNESS, MORE DETAILS EMERGE IN BRAZIL CASE
Latest Count: 7 Captured Aliens -- Possibly 6 Remain Alive
4) ISRAEL'S UFO FLAP -- "THE LARGEST EVER" -- CONTINUES
5) CROP CIRCLES SPROUT IN HOLLAND -- HOAXERS SUSPECTED
6) BRITISH GAMBLER WINS BET ON E.T. LIFE
The subject matter of CNI News is inherently controversial, and the views and
opinions reported in the news are not necessarily those of ISCNI or its
staff.
The next edition of CNI News will appear on Friday, August 16.
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MEDIA WATCH IS BACK! We're pleased to welcome Bufo Calvin as our new Media
Watch Editor. Media Watch will be emailed to you as a separate item
immediately following this edition of CNI News.
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1) NASA ANNOUNCES EVIDENCE OF LIFE ON MARS!
Oh, You've Heard Already?
by Michael Lindemann
Yes, by now just about every sentient being within range of a radio or TV
probably knows that NASA held a positively stunning press conference on
Wednesday, August 7, to announce evidence of possible primitive life found
within a meteorite from Mars.
No need to rehearse the details here -- we expect you've heard them all
before. But it does seem relevant to repeat an item we wrote in the August 1
edition of the ISCNI*Flash, a scant six days before the ANNOUNCEMENT. To wit:
"Here at the Flash, we note with both amusement and fascination a gradual but
unmistakable shift in the public statements of space scientists regarding
prospects for life on other planets. It is now considered virtually certain
that life exists elsewhere in the universe, on other planets circling other
stars. But just as significant, it is increasingly acceptable to propose the
possibility of life -- albeit primitive, or even extinct -- on very nearby
worlds, including Mars and the moons of Jupiter. If we were in charge of
gradually preparing the public for the 'discovery' of aliens, we might use
this strategy too!"
And so we might. It is notable that the public reaction to this NASA
announcement was resoundingly, stupendously positive. It is also notable that
the scientists who presented the information, along with NASA chief
administrator Daniel Goldin, seemed hardly able to contain their own
enthusiasm. Though each of them in turn articulated the necessary (and
appropriate) caveats -- "these are preliminary findings that suggest, but do
not PROVE, life on Mars, and much more work is needed to confirm them," etc.
-- the TONE of the affair seemed to say, "By God, this is true until proven
otherwise!" The net result, despite various skeptical protests, was to
implant in the public mind the vitual certainty that life did (perhaps does?)
exist on Mars.
And of course, that is a very big deal. But you know that already.
We were pleased to see that a representative of Operation Right to Know got
in a question at the press conference, a very important one concerning NASA's
plans (or non-plans) to re-image the Cydonia region of Mars (site of the
famous Face) during the upcoming missions that will arrive at Mars next
summer. Daniel Goldin, amazingly, all but promised that the Cydonia region
WOULD be re-imaged, though he also stated it was not a top priority. Now that
Goldin's assurances are public knowledge, it is important to INSIST that any
new images of Cydonia be given over without delay to impartial, independent
scientists for evaluation.
We were also pleased to see that CNN invited Richard "Mr. Face on Mars"
Hoagland to be a featured guest on their "Talk Back Live" program immediately
following the press conference. Richard, true to form but very appropriately,
said the entire affair smacked of politics. We confess we must agree.
It is also notable that President Clinton -- after making his own
enthusiastic remarks about the discovery on the White House lawn just before
the Wednesday press conference -- is vacationing in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,
this week. This can only mean, we think, that he's staying at the ranch of
Laurance Rockefeller, the billionaire who earlier this year funded and
privately circulated the "Unidentified Flying Objects Briefing Document," and
who has waged a quiet campaign for at least three years to persuade the
Clinton administration to release UFO information. We marvel at the
coincidence of NASA's announcement and Clinton's vacation.
So much more could be said... But perhaps we'll leave it right there for the
moment. One thing is certain -- this is not the end of it. It feels more like
the beginning.
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2) JAPAN'S "UFO MUSEUM" NOT ABOUT UFOS AT ALL!
by Michael Lindemann
For more than a year, international news sources and countless UFO
enthusiasts have anticipated the July, 1996 opening of a well-funded "UFO
Museum" in the city of Hakui, Japan. Promotional information about the museum
had been unequivocal: the museum was intending to present a wide variety of
exhibits pertaining to the reality of UFO phenomena and close encounters
between humans and aliens. Stories in the mainstream press said the Japanese
government had provided the equivalent of $60 million worth of funding for
the museum project. Coinciding with the museum's opening, a symposium was
planned that was to feature a number of well-known UFO researchers as guest
speakers.
On June 12, 1996, a strange announcement was issued by Teleport USA, a Los
Angeles-based provider of banking and promotional liaison services between
the City of Hakui and the United States. Previously, personnel at this office
had spoken enthusiastically about the museum and had actively promoted US
tourism to the opening symposium. Suddenly, however, the symposium was
canceled, and the reasons given were vague at best. The statement from
Teleport USA read as follows:
To whom it may concern:
RE: Cosmo Isle Hakui Museum
We regret to inform you that the Cosmo Isle Hakui Museum Symposium scheduled
for July 19 - 21 and the Tour that was set for July 16 - 23 has been
canceled. At this late stage in time, it is very unfortunate that for
political and bureaucratic reasons this symposium has been canceled. There
is opposition and controversy regarding the usage of the word UFO and some of
the material that was set to be displayed. Museum officials have decided
that now is not the appropriate time to hold this symposium.
Museum officials are looking to reschedule the symposium at a later date.
Since no official statement has been made about the Grand Opening, it is
anticipated that it will open July 1. Please be aware that The Opening
Ceremony is by invitation only.
Thank you for your understanding.
Sincerely,
TELEPORT USA
When CNI News contacted the office of Teleport USA, we learned that the
museum did open as scheduled on July 1. We asked for more information about
what pressure, if any, might have caused the museum to remove or delay its
intended UFO exhibits, but we received only politely evasive answers.
Spokesman Tetsu (Ted) Matsuo alluded to "election year" concerns among local
officials in Hakui, but would not elaborate. He also said the symposium might
be rescheduled when "more of the desired speakers" were available. He refused
to comment on the allegation, already circulating on the internet, that
pressure from U.S. officials might have derailed the museum's plans.
But Matsuo did imply, both in what he did and did not say, that the museum
had at least intended to display UFO-related material. Now, CNI News has
learned that the "UFO Museum" might have been an elaborate fiction created by
wishful thinkers, and probably never had any backing from the Japanese
government.
When asked to fax a description of the museum's displays, Matsuo assured this
writer he would do so immediately. But when the information finally did
arrive nearly a week later, it was obvious that the museum's entire focus was
on mainstream space exploration, heavily weighted to the U.S. space program.
There was no indication of any UFO material whatsoever.
But a much clearer picture of the real situation emerged from a report sent
to CNI News in early August by Mr. Jun-Ichi Takanashi, chairman of the Japan
UFO Science Society. From Mr. Takanashi, we learn that a self-styled Hakui
museum spokesman named Johsen Takano may have been responsible for creating
an unwarranted international anticipation of a "UFO museum" that would never
become reality.
With thanks to Mr. Takanashi and the Japan UFO Science Society, excerpts from
their report, titled "So-Called 'UFO Museum' and Mr. Johsen Takano" follow.
"The much publicized 'UFO Museum' in Hakui City, Japan, has opened on July 1,
1996, as scheduled... but it turned out to be an ordinary space museum.
"It has never been called UFO Museum in the district [of Hakui]. Only Mr.
Johsen Takano, an officer in charge of land planning in the Hakui City
municipal office, called it so abroad. It has always been called 'Space
Museum' in the city, and it was changed to 'Cosmo Isle Hakui' at the end of
1994.
"This 'UFO Museum' was publicized as 'the beginning of a very important
government program following adoption of a new policy to educate the Japanese
people about the UFO phenomenon within the next three years' in the Fall 1993
issue of the Circle Phenomenon Research International Newsletter, as the
result of a conversation between Mr. Johsen Takano and [British crop circle
researcher] Colin Andrews. It caused a worldwide uproar of doubts and
comments from all serious UFO researchers.
"But, it was a total laughing stock for all Japanese UFO researchers. We have
never known our government's interest in the UFO subject -- there was
absolutely no inkling of such interest on the part of our government in the
past. Perhaps Mr. Takano expressed his own interest or his small town's
interest in UFOs as government interest... and Colin Andrews was deceived,
and by his naive or deliberate propagation of this false news, the world was
deceived. Ever since, the world has been awaiting the opening of the 'UFO
Museum,' but that proved to have been a dream."
Takanashi's paper goes on to describe an apparent effort on the part of
certain Hakui city officials to draw tourism to the small (population 27,000)
and rather out-of-the-way village by establishing Hakui as "the town of UFOs"
in Japan, somewhat as Roswell, New Mexico has done in the United States.
Takanashi pointed out that many cities and towns in Japan have museums
dedicated to space exploration, a subject that is obviously very popular
among the Japanese. After a successful "International Space and UFO
Symposium" in 1990, Hakui officials evidently came to believe they could
distinguish their own museum from the many others by adding the element of
UFOs. However, that idea was dropped as the museum developed -- but not
before it had spread all over the world.
Takanashi says, "This was not the government's plan, but the city's (Hakui's)
own plan, and it now appears that they have failed in such endeavor
miserably... And it appears that the town has already given up the policy to
utilize the UFO subject as the special attraction to lure visitors to this
remote community."
CNI News sincerely regrets that "Japan's UFO Museum" has turned out to be a
fable. We admit we wanted it to be true. And we still do. If Japan is not
ready to build a truly serious UFO museum, then let it happen somewhere else
-- hopefully the United States, among other places -- and soon!
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3) NEW EYEWITNESS, MORE DETAILS EMERGE IN BRAZIL CASE
Latest Count: 7 Captured Aliens -- Possibly 6 Remain Alive
[CNI News thanks Masinaigan, editor of the UFO Roundup, for this update on
the fantastic story of captured aliens in Brazil. CNI News cannot confirm
that all details in this update are factual. We reproduce the text as it
appeared in UFO Roundup vol. 1, number 25, dated August 4.]
Brazilian UFO groups investigating the crash of a UFO north of Varginha, a
city of 120,000 in Brazil's Minas Gerais state during the early morning house
of Saturday, January 20, 1996, have released more information on the
controversial incident.
College student Hildo Lucio Galdino, 20, who lives in the Jardim Andere
section of Varginha, has reportedly told UFO investigators Ubirajara Franco
Rodrigues and Vitorio Pacaccini that he saw one of the alien survivors
shortly after 8 a.m. that morning. Opening his bathroom window, Hildo looked
out and saw "a creature with oily dark brown skin crouched in the alleyway."
The alien, which Hildo described as having "very small hands with three
extremely long fingers, kind of like a starfish," ran away when Hildo cried
out.
According to the investigators, men of Varginha's Fire Department apprehended
the first alien at 10:30 a.m. in front of the house at Rua Suecia 3, Jardim
Andere, Varginha and threw a net over it.
On Monday, January 22, after the aliens were caught and locked up at the
Escola Sargentos de Armas in nearby Tres Coracoes, Dr. Marco Alves de
Carvalho, the veterinarian at the Varginha Zoo, was reportedly brought to the
military post by the army to examine the six surviving extraterrestrials.
The following day, Tuesday, January 23, at 4 a.m., an Army truck convoy
brought the aliens from the Hospital Humanitas in Campinas, Sao Paulo state,
to the Escola Prepatoria de Cadates do Exercito, a military school outside
Campinas, where they remained for nine hours.
The dead alien was autopsied at the Hospital Humanitas. The physicians
alleged to have performed the autopsy were Dr. Fortunato Badan Palhares and
Dr. Coradin Nesve, the UFO groups claim. Dr. Badan attained notoriety in
1989 when it was revealed that he had performed the autopsy ten years earlier
on the fugitive Nazi, Dr. Joseph Mengele. Following the autopsy, the dead
alien was taken to Amarais Cemetery near the University of Campinas and
frozen for shipment to the United States.
At 9 p.m., the six aliens were driven to Campinas airport where they were put
aboard a twin-engined EMB Buffalo owned by the Forca Aerea Brasileira
(Brazilian Air Force) and flown to Sao Paulo. When they arrived, the Buffalo
taxied out to an access runway where a U.S. Air Force C-17 transport plane
was waiting. The aliens were then marched aboard the C-17. According to
sources in the Sao Paulo tower, the C-17's destination was Albrook Air Force
Base in Panama.
Sra. Thereza Starace de Magalhaes Teixeira of Campinas told the UFO
researchers that her husband, Adalberto, who was at the Hospital Humanitas
for an operation, saw the dead alien being wheeled out of the morgue on a
gurney.
Sra. Luiza Helena Fatima de Silva, mother of two of the girls who saw a live
alien in the park at 3:30 p.m. January 20, said that four "intelligence
agents," three of them American, who came to her home on April 29, offered
her $20,000 in U.S. dollars, cash, if she would go on Brazilian TV and deny
her daughters' story.
Six Brazilian groups have teamed up to solve the Varginha case. They include
the Sociedade de Estudos Extreterrestres (SEE) of Florianopolis, the Uniao
Brasileira para Pesquisa de Discos Voadores (UBPDV) of Rio de Janeiro, the
Centro de Pesquisas Exologicas (CPE) of Rio de Janeiro, Grupo de Pesquisas
Aereo- spaciais Zenite (GPAZ) of Salvador, Associao de Pesquisas Ufologicas
do Campo (APUC) of Manaus and Grupo Espirita de Pesquisa Ufologica (GEPU) of
Nova Iguacu.
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ISCNI'S WEB SITE TOPS 50,000 VISITORS IN FIRST YEAR
ISCNI is very proud to announce that over 50,000 visitors have come to our
site on the Worldwide Web (http://www.iscni.com/) since we officially opened
the site on August 20, 1995. The number went over 50,000 on August 6. At the
current daily rate, we anticipate that our first year total will be about
53,000 visitors; and we anticipate well over 100,000 visitors in our second
year.
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4) ISRAEL'S UFO FLAP -- "THE LARGEST EVER" -- CONTINUES
[CNI News thanks Dani Zisserman (hpl@actcom.co.il) of the Israel UFO Research
Center for sending this information, which he has gathered and translated
from various Israeli news sources.]
by Dani Zisserman
On Monday, July 29th, at 20:30 EET (18:30 GMT) the residents of Yad-Eliyahu,
an area in Tel Aviv, reported seeing two bright lights in the night skies,
which proceeded to emit several smaller lights, coloured red, green and blue.
The coloured lights seemed to emerge from the primary lights and continued to
fly around independently. The lights were reported to be the size of
ping-pong balls. Police who were called in reported seeing a bright light in
the sky. The lights continued to remain in the skies during the night, and
vanished only with daybreak. The IDF (Israeli Defence Force) spokesman stated
that no UFO reports were received by the Air Force.
The issue seems to be increasing in intensity, and the [public] interest is
peaking.
On Sunday, August 4th, at 1:30 a.m., a police station in the southern city of
Eilat (on the banks of the Red Sea) received a report of a UFO in the night
sky. The report was of glittering spots of light and flashes of light. The
flashes were of alternating colour. Hundreds of citizens came out equipped
with binoculars and telescopes to witness the phenomena. Some of them
reported seeing three sources of light -- one large and two smaller, which
emitted scintillating flashes of light. At 2 a.m., the UFO sighting was
reported on local radio, which caused many more citizens to come out and try
to see the UFO.
In this case, however, the policemen present reported not to have seen
anything and surmised that the lights were originating from an elevated
highway across the Jordanian border. This sighting, despite the fact that it
involved hundreds of witness, does appear somewhat inconclusive, but even
then it remains significant in showing the growing interest and awareness of
the phenomena.
The chief debunker in Israel at this time seems to be Prof. Ariel Cohen, from
the Atmospheric studies department in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Prof. Cohen has been interviewed several times by the national media, and
published several newspaper articles, where he tries to explain away the UFO
sightings as atmospherical displacement phenomena, weather balloons, or, lo
and behold, the planet Venus (Philip Klass, you've got yourself a buddy
here.). This distinguished Professor wrote to the Minister of Science, and
requested a committee to be established in order to investigate and DISCREDIT
(yes -- he actually said it), using scientific tools, all of the recent
sightings. The Minister stated that he opposes such a committee -- but I
wouldn't be too surprised if such would be eventually established.
The Israeli UFO Research centre has requested to take part in the
investigations of such a committee if it were to be established.
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5) CROP CIRCLES SPROUT IN HOLLAND -- HOAXERS SUSPECTED
[CNI News thanks Dutch journalist Filip Coppens (fsffilco@glo.be) for sending
this report on the latest crop circle activities in his country.]
by Filip Coppens
In the summer of 1994, Holland took notice of a new phenomenon: crop circles.
Suddenly, all over Holland, crop circles were discovered. Though none of them
were as grand as those appearing in English fields, complex figures were
found. What was happening? The media wanted to know and sent out TV crews to
interview people who just passed by. One woman stated she had stopped along
the road as someone was saying an ET craft had landed in the field nearby.
The evening news invited "experts" over to voice their opinion on what was
happening. Had ETs landed? Was it a natural phenomenon? Or were these just
pranks performed by students -- as some people had claimed to have made
certain formations?
The year passed by, and 1995 saw nothing but a book being published on the
subject in the Dutch language. The experts, with one year of field
experience, were confronted with a few crop circles, which they could quickly
classify as "human made formations." The media was not interested.
1996 is now an echo of 1994. The written media, not only in Holland but also
in Belgium, has devoted several pages to crop circles over the last few
weeks. The most famous formations are found in the South of Holland, close to
the Belgian border. The farmers are not happy with the situation, though one
was charging admission. Another farmer had harvested the field as soon as he
had found one. Various theories were voiced, and the media, reporting on the
phenomenon, were clearly playing the game along.
On August 6, newspapers reported a Dutch farmer had at least found part of
the solution. After having discovered a crop circle in one of his fields,
nearby he discovered a rope that had formerly been used for loading and
unloading ships. His crop circle had a diameter of 20 meters, the rope was
ten metres long and covered with pieces of wheat. He felt it was pretty easy
to put rope and circle together, and conclude humans had made the formation.
In the north of Holland, three formations were discovered. Investigators felt
they might have been made using helicopters. How they did this was, however,
unclear. Magazines specializing in the "weird" received several phone calls
of people who wanted to visit these circles; some wanted to meditate. A
patient suffering from terminal cancer went to a crop circle, hoping to find
a cure for his illness.
The farmers are pretty much in favour of a terrestrial explanation and
believe pranksters are constructing them. They want these "vandals" stopped,
if only because they fear that the massive publicity they are receiving might
lead to more crop circles, and more problems for the farmers owning the
fields they appear in.
In 1994, about 20 people became interested in investigating the phenomenon to
the core. Though it is unlikely they will achieve their objective this year,
it is quite certain others will now join their ranks, in search of the holy
grail of the crops.
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6) BRITISH GAMBLER WINS BET ON E.T. LIFE
LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuter) - A British gambler won 1,000 pounds ($1,540) with a
bet he placed last August that alien life would be discovered within a year,
The Sun newspaper said.
Little expecting Wednesday's announcement from NASA that it had found
evidence in a meteorite that life once existed on Mars, bookmaker William
Hill gave odds of 10-to-one on the bet placed on August 21, 1995.
"I'll spend my winnings on a fantastic holiday, but I won't be going quite as
far as Mars," winner Steve Upton told The Sun.
William Hill earlier said it had cut its odds on the discovery within a year
of intelligent alien life to 25-to-one from 500-to-one.
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CNI News is a proprietary publication of the Institute for the Study of
Contact with Non-human Intelligence. It is emailed exclusively to ISCNI
members and guest recipients and is not intended for redistribution in any
form without prior permission. Send all redistribution requests to Michael
Lindemann, Editor, at ISCNIMikeL@aol.com.
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