192 lines
7.8 KiB
Plaintext
192 lines
7.8 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: MICHIGAN UFO NEWSCLIP 04\93 FILE: UFO2742
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ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
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UFO Watchers Look To The Stars In Hopes Of Seeing Fire In The Sky
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by Douglas Lila
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THE DETROIT NEWS - Monday, April 12, 1993
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Aliens from outer space are saying yes to Michigan.
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And they're even taking state residents for a ride, say local UFO
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-- unidentified flying object-- "watchers".
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The recently released movie _Fire in the Sky_ tells the supposedly true
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story of Travis Walton, an Arizona Forest Service tree cutter who claims
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he was abducted by aliens in November 1975.
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Such close encounters of the third kind -- contact with extraterrestrials
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-- are happening right in our back yard, UFO students say.
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There have been 33 abductions in Michigan since Jan. 1, said Shirley Coyne,
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statewide director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).
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Have any of these abductions been documented and publicized? "Absolutely
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not," Coyne said. "People come to me in confidence. They don't come to me
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to have their stories publicized.
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"These people are traumatized. This is not like driving down the road and
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seeing a deer. These people have had a hard experience, and they don't want
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to talk about it in public. More than 60 UFO sightings have been reported
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in Michigan, according to MUFON. The most celebrated occurred 27 years ago
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in the Dexter and Hillsdale areas.
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Officials wrote off reports of the pyramid-shaped object with blinking red
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and blue lights as swamp gas, even though sheriff's deputies in Washtenaw
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County engaged the UFO in a high speed chase.
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But skeptics say UFO watchers t should get their heads out of the clouds.
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"I've had some contact with MUFON in the past when they rented the Kellog
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Center on campus," said Doug Murphy, program director for Michigan State
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University's Abrams Planetarium. l believe they tend to look at this as a
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religion, as opposed to a scientific point of view. They're very quick to
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jump on the UFO bandwagon"
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Murphy agrees there have been a great number of UFO sightings, but said
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most of them are explainable.
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Even President Carter was fooled by a bright object he saw that turned out
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to be the Planet Venus," Murphy said.
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And he was trained in astral navigation at the Naval Academy. We get lots
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of calls about people seeing unusual things in the sky. The absolute
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bottom of my list would be a visit by "UFOs".
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According to Murphy, the odds are astronomically slim that an advanced
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civilization would want to visit Earth.
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Our Milky Way is one of billions in the Universe," Murphy said. "If you were
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to shrink it to the size of the United States, our solar system would fit
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inside the palm of your hand. The nearest star would be a quarter mile away.
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That gives you some idea, of the size and depth of space."
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Murphy gives an example of the relative distances a UFO would have to travel
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to visit our planet.
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The United States launched Voyager in 1977," Murphy said. "Using the image
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of the solar system being the size of your palm, Voyager would only have
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travelled from the center of your hand to the edge of your palm in 12 years.
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And thats traveling at 40,000 mph."
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But that does not stop people from reporting sightings:
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* In July 1952, officers at the Selfridge air base in Harrison Township were
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swamped with late evening calls from residents who reported seeing mysterious
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orange and blue lights and flying disks in the sky.
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Among the witnesses were a World War II bomber pilot and a Baptist minister.
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* In October 1973, two Detroit police officers reported seeing a UFO with
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red aad white flashing lighs at 6 a.m. while patroling near Marygrove
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College. Both agreed it couldn't have been a airplane because, one said,
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"Planes can't travel that fast straight up."
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* ln September 1967, three people, including a United Press lnterntional
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business manager, reported seeing 8 UFOs behind an Air Force jet over
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Detroit one night. They thought it was a bright star or weather balloon
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until they noticed it was keeping up with the jet. The object atopped
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completely for a minute, then sped away from the plane, they said.
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UFO devotees hope _Fire in the Sky_ will bring more people forward to
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tell their tales of abduction. The movie focuses on Travis Walton,
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then 22. He and five crew members were returning from a job on a back-
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woods road near Heber, Ariz., about 100 miles southwest of Flagstaff, when
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they saw a bright light.
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They said a UFO appeared in front of their truck. Walton got out to
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investigate and was hit by a ray from the craft, the workers said.
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The remaining workers fled in terror. When they returned, Walton was
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missing. Walton turned up several days later, and staggered into Heber,
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supposedly suffering from shock and partial amnesia.
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Walton's story of abduction was revealed under hypnosis with three
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physicians in attendance. ln his retelling, Walton described his exami-
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nation in the spacecraft by aliens with large heads and hands that had
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no fingernails.
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Others called Walton's story bunk. Philip J. Klass a retired senior editor
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for Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine concluded Walton and logging
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crew leader Michael Rogers concocted a hoax to win a National Enquirer UFO
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-sighting contest and manufacture an excuse for missing a logging deadline.
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Walton, Rogers and the others split a $5,000 prize, but have denied any
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hoax Klass said Walton flunked his first lie detector test, and respected
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polygraph examiner John J. McCarthy concluded Walton committed "gross
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deception," and, "in concert with others, is attempting to perpetrate a
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UFO hoax.
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Coyne disputes Klass' findings saying: "I wouldn't give you 2 cents for
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for Phil Klas. He's thebiggest debunker out there. He's an armchair inves-
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tigator. He's a liar. He's never even talked to anyone who has been abducted.
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These abductions happen and they happen to people just like you and me.
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Does MSU's Muphy believe human beings have been abducted by UFOs?
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"Maybe I'm not the best person to ask about that,"Murphy said. "Talk to
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to a psychologist. I think there are some disturbed people out there who
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need some help."
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But he does believe life exists ouside the solar system.
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"The materials are all out there," Murphy said, "The substances of life are
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found freely in space. If the conditions are right there's a good chance
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that life does exist, but for it to be intelligent and want to visit us
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is a huge stretch of the imagination."
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Coyne and other students of UFOs say the cynicism hasn't stopped them from
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enjoying _Fire in the Sky_.
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"I thought it was well done," she said. "It sticks exactly to wht happened
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to Travis Walton."
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Detroit News Staff writers Mike Best and Tom Greenwood contributed to
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this report.
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-END-
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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-SIDEBAR-
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Most alien abduction storys share these elements:
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> A UFO is sighted.
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> Victims report a period of unaccounted, missing time.
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> Details of the abduction are revealed only after the victim undergoes
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hypnosis.
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> Someone appears to have medically examined the abducted victims.
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> Victims display psychological problems and sometimes physical after-
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effects.
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> Victims' story is substantiated with a lie detector test.
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--------------------------------------------------------------------------
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SIDEBAR: SOUNDOFF
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Have you ever seen a UFO? Tell us about your experiences.
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Please include your name, town and a daytime phone number.
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You can:
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> Fax your response at 222-2335.
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> Call the hotline at 222-2284 or 222-2287.
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> Or write Soundoff, The Detroit News, 615 W. Lafayette, Detroit MI 48226.
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-END-
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |