20 May 2008

Any great (and true) flying saucer stories?

| nanzan
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I am researching a 42-year-old flying saucer story (as you do) from Melbourne’s (then) south-eastern fringe.

On 6 April, 1966, at a place called Westall, a large number of people at two schools (and surrounding areas) in Westall, witnessed a classic flying saucer-shaped object fly over and then descend in a nearby paddock near a thicket of pine trees. Large circles in the grass were later found by people in the paddocks where the objects were seen to descend. The media visited the school and paddock, and the story ran on the Channel Nine news that night in Melbourne, and was featured in the local newspaper “The Dandenong Journal”, and was briefly mentioned in “The Age”. This event occurred mid-morning on a fine day, and the witnesses numbered approximately 200, including a couple of teachers from the high school. Many of the witnesses – and I have interviewed about 150 thus far – talk about the event being hushed up at the time and that any open discussion of the incident was actively discouraged. (For more information please refer to my web site: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Westallhighschoolufo/)

My query is whether anyone out there has any recollection about this flying saucer event, or any event like it from around the same time (1966), or, indeed, any authentic stories about UFOs in or around Canberra (from then, or perhaps more recently).

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Regarding the 1966 Westall flying saucer incident, some photos were taken of the paddock containing the circles by investigators in the days after, and one of those is on my Westall web site (although the quality of this copy of that photo is not great). See:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Westallhighschoolufo/

Rumours persist of a teacher having taken a photo of the flying object and/or the paddock, and that this film was confiscated, but none of this is yet confirmed.

Some witnesses are sure some of the local people who came down to view the circles over the following hours and days took photos, but none have yet surfaced.

The Channel Nine news film contained images of the circles in the paddock, but that film has now gone missing from the Channel Nine archives in Melbourne.

This was a rather poor part of Melbourne’s fringe in 1966, and cameras were not common.

Absent Diane4:27 pm 21 May 08

persinger’s theory might explain some instances of ufo sightings but probably not all eg. sitings reported by astronaughts, documented military accounts (at least the documents that are publicly available).

Interestingly, I myself never mentioned or asked about aliens or extraterrestrials. My post was about flying saucers (and UFOs). It is fascinating to see that so many of us make that connection.

it’s a bit of an obvious conection but – if they’re really ‘flying saucers’ as you ask, then how’d they get there? anyway, persinger’s theory relates to seismic fault lines and prevalence of ‘sightings’ and other mystic experiences…

Absent Diane12:32 pm 21 May 08

thats the one!!

Absent Diane12:08 pm 21 May 08

there is a webiste that people can log suspected ufo encounters. You can search by city and goes in chronological order – didn’t seem to be too many a.c.t. encounters however. Can’t remember the site name however.

Woody Mann-Caruso11:21 am 21 May 08

Did anybody have a camera? I know it was the 60s and people couldn’t snap it on their Nokias and upload to Flickr, but are there any photos at all? Of the rings? The men in uniforms that might be police or air force or firemen but we’re not sure? The tilled / burned / tilled then burned / burned then tilled earth? Just people standing around at the site?

Growling Ferret8:33 am 21 May 08

RealBasic – maybe they should post on http://www.canberracrackpots.com if they want a serious answer

ummm… it’s pretty much all we do RealBasic… Welcome!

Shame on you people who sh*t on others’ interests. Have some respect. This is not a teenage blog.

I saw a UFO harassing a chicken who was just trying to cross the road.

CanberraResident11:33 pm 20 May 08

Seriously. There was a sighting of an oval or egg-shaped silver sphere moving just above the horizon to the east of Canberra, early one evening in the late 70s. I didn’t see it myself, but a family member certainly did. I think it made the news which would have been the lovely Karen Barlin … what ever happened to her I wonder?

Anyway, try the Canberra Times microfische at the National Library, search for the months November through to February, 1978 or 1979, or maybe as early as 1977 but I don’t think it was 1980 but who knows. No pics, sorry.

Good luck,

oh, and nannoo nannoo

Thank you for all your comments thus far on my post. Very revealing.

Interestingly, I myself never mentioned or asked about aliens or extraterrestrials. My post was about flying saucers (and UFOs). It is fascinating to see that so many of us make that connection.

As for the Westall story from 1966, the jury is still out I think on the provenance of the flying object seen that day by so many.

I would love to hear more about the Canberra UFO story, and any others. All photos gratefully received!!

Yes, but those aliens breed like flies, and in a few years the alien reserve would be over-populated and they’d propose an alien cull, and there’d be Trouble (/robocop).

have a look on the web at michael persinger’s stuff (canadian neuroscientist, also did work on the ‘godspot’), especially his ‘tectonic stress/strain theory [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Persinger#Tectonic_Strain_Theory]

aliens schmaliens…

I saw them flying near the tip, across the road, near macarthur. I think they should declare the area where they propose building the power plant to be a protected alien zone.

CanberraResident7:30 pm 20 May 08

andy pandy, an alien hybrid of the ACTEW cube perhaps? Was it singing “you take me hiiiiiigher, and hiiiiigher ….”

Is there a convent in Canberra? I have a … habit of forgetting these things.

walking home thru campbell after a night of orange juice and fun at jolly jugs, I turned around and realised I was being followed by a green ball with sparks coming off it. It wasn’t particularly threatening, I therefore decided that it had as much right to be there as my good self and left it at that. It might have lived at the old convent,has any one else encountered it? ; )

I saw some UFO’s doing doughnuts in a parking lot one night. Got arrested for reckless flying.

I WANT TO BELIEVE

CanberraResident4:50 pm 20 May 08

… alien with a pepper “saucer please waiter …

hehe

Alien with ginger and lime washed down with a nice chilled white is just superb.

Might have it tonight.

Absent Diane4:06 pm 20 May 08

Has anyone eaten alien? i particularly like grey salad. Tastes a bit like kangaroo.

Wow pretty brave question to ask on here..!

Wish I’d seen one 😉

Aliens landed in my backyard and offered to share futuristic alien technologies with us all. My NIMBY neighbours were upset cos their view of the new power station was blocked and they had a whinge to Paul McCartney about it on RIOT ACT.

CanberraResident3:12 pm 20 May 08

Went to a wedding once … father of the bride had a bit too much Ouzo …

… saucers went flying all over the place …

aaah, those Greeks, gotta love ’em …

My eleven year old got a laugh out of that, and that’s all that matters …

No, seriously. After watching the very convincing Independence Day the other night. I believe in aliens. No doubt about it. Will Smith convinced me. They exist.

Demosthenes said :

I met a guy at a party who believes reptiles live under airports and control the world. This also warrants serious investigation.

We should excavate Canberra Airport immediately, I will start a petition.

& I once met a guy at a party who believed that some all powerful being called “God” created & now rules over all of existence!

I met a guy at a party who believes reptiles live under airports and control the world. This also warrants serious investigation.

We should excavate Canberra Airport immediately, I will start a petition.

Holden Caulfield2:23 pm 20 May 08

I remember being disappointed when Skylab didn’t land in my backyard at Scullin.

Avy,

Maybe he was watching the 5th release of stars wars, attack of the cones?

My neighbour, an ex chopper person, claims he and his wife saw a ufo in canberra some years ago. He’s very good with aircraft, can identify them by the sound (and helicopters by the ‘whup whup’ of the blades). sorry, no more info than that.

I met a bloke at a BBQ who claimed aliens abducted him from Black Mountain Peninsula and gave him the full treatment … including the anal probe.

At least that’s what he told his wife.

Maybe some people have been stung by the Tranquiliser(sp?) darts hence their drug addled thoughts?

Maybe authorities were embarassed that a untested water additive caused hallucinations. Would explain the hushing up. I would be embarassed too.

yeah, there are aliens in belco

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