97 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
97 lines
4.5 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: UFO SIGHTINGS GENERATE ZANY REPORTS FILE: UFO1274
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NEWS CLIPPING SERVICE
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DATE OF ARTICLE: March 8, 1989
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SOURCE OF ARTICLE: Times Journal
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LOCATION: Fort Payne, Alabama
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BYLINE: Dennis Benefield
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========================================================
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THIS FILE WAS PROVIDED BY THE UFO NEWSCLIPPING SERVICE
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AND PREPARED BY PARANET ALPHA -- PARANET INFORMATION
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SERVICE
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========================================================
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TABLOID REPORTS LIBERACE SEEN IN FYFFE UFO
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UFO SIGHTINGS GENERATE ZANY REPORTS
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By Dennis Benefield
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The Times Journal Managing Editor
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A British tabloid reported Tuesday that residents of Fyffe,
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Alabama, saw entertainer Liberace descend from an unidentified
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flying object and perform Hollywood showtunes on a floating
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piano.
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A physician in Kansas claims that extraterrestrials say UFO
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sightings will in Alabama.
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And a New York resident believes that UFO sightings are
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actually alien spacecraft.
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Those are among the more bizarre reports sparked by a series
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of UFO sightings near Fyffe that began on February 10th.
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Fyffe policeman Fred Works was interviewed by the BBC -- the
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British Broadcasting Company -- on Tuesday. Such interviews are
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routine since he reported seeing a UFO.
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"It does get wild sometimes," Works said. In between phone
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calls, he scheduled two television interviews Tuesday.
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"I stay on the phone all the time when I come into the
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office," he said. "I try to talk to anybody if they are serious.
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I hate to refuse to talk to people."
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What Works and fellow Fyffe police officer Junior Garmany
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saw Feb. 10 remains unexplained. Both watched a large object fly
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over them. It had lights on it and did not make any sound.
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"It was huge and it was moving on," Works said. "It passed
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over our heads and we watched it go out of sight. But there was
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no noise. That is what surprised me."
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Others in the area reported similar unexplained sightings
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that night and on subsequent nights.
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Since then the town has become a popular place on Friday
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nights, as sightseers come to watch the skies.
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Newspaper, radio, television and magazine reporters are also
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interested in Fyffe, seeking out anyone who might have seen
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something. Some reports exaggerate the sightings and many are
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unflattering to the rural south.
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Works was particularly disappointed with a TV report on the
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nationally syndicated show "Inside Edition," which aired last
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week.
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The crew had Works and Garmany re-enact a reported sighting.
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But the video was fastforwarded during the report, which showed
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the officers racing off with blue lights flashing in pursuit of a
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UFO.
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But other reports are even more zany.
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A British tabloid, The Daily Star, had a half page article
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on the Fyffe UFOs in its March 7 edition.
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The paper reported that thousands were flocking to the "tiny
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town of Fyffe, Alabama" in hopes of seeing the late entertainer
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Liberace.
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The tabloid reported that residents of Fyffe had seen
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Liberace, dressed in a "sparkling gold lame suit," descend from a
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movable staircase and perform "Singing in the Rain," and "Laura's
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Theme" on a floating piano.
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"He had a lovely, serene smile," the paper reported, and
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"flexed his long, bony" fingers at Fyffe residents. A BBC
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spokesman said the report was not taken seriously by British
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readers.
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Works doesn't take such reports seriously either.
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But the calls do disrupt the routine at Fyffe City Hall.
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"When we`re not here the ladies in the office have to take
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messages," Works said, adding that the callers "will talk to
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anybody," whether they have seen a UFO or not.
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The result, according to Vicki Cooper, of UFO Magazine, is
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that rumors and hype get confused with fact. She said her
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magazine attempts to take a serious look at sightings. She said
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sighting reports were accelerating nationwide. "This is not just
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an isolated case," she said.
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She said it may be coincidence, but sightings increase when
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the economy worsens or in times of national crisis. She said
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that most sightings remain unexplained.
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Works would like an explanation of what he saw. But he
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knows it was not Liberace. "It was really Elvis," he said.
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=================================================================
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |