Showing posts with label texas ufo investagors stephenville sightings. Show all posts

2/20/08

Angelia Joiner finds new Job

2/19/08

Angelia Joiner fired from the Empire Tribune

Exopolitics Alert: Reporter Sacked for Supporting Witness to Stephenville UFO Sighting

[Updated February 12, 2008 - Kona, Hawaii, Exopolitics Institute] News broke on February 9 concerning the sacking of a small town newspaper reporter who broke the Stephenville Texas UFO sightings case, and intimidation of a key witness who saw the UFO in daylight (click here for another article). The witness, Ricky Sorrells, was given threatening phone calls and visits by helicopters. The reporter, Angelia Joiner, publicized what was happening to the Sorrells in two stories on February 3 and 4 .

She claims that subsequent to her coverage of Sorrell's harassment: "A city councilman here talked to (Texas media) and said the whole thing was an embarrassment to the town (or something to that effect.)" Her employer subsequently notified her of official disapproval of her news coverage, and she was told to back off. She subsequently offered to resign. With regard to her forced resignation/sacking on Febuary 7, she is quoted as saying: "I gave two weeks notice but this morning they had confiscated my computer and I was told to pack up and get out. I'm devastated and still in shock."

As the initial stories exposing her sacking/forced resignation suggest, she lost her job as a result of her support for Sorrells. The newspaper made record sales during her coverage of the UFO reports. The idea that the Town Council was embarassed and wanted to put a stop to the news coverage appears to be a cover for the real reason. It may be that covert national security teams are in damage control and have moved into high gear to cover this story up, by approaching town officials to help. If true, 'national security' was undoubtedly given as a justification to the publisher for why Ms Joiner should be sacked. Ms Joiner, however, contests this view in a public email: "I do not believe they were contacted by some higher up telling them to stop the stories. If that were the case they would have told me." If higher authorities did intervene in Ms Joiner's case due to national security concerns, it is very possible that this would not have been relayed to her.

I also recommend reading a recent story of Sorrell's harassment,
and an Earthfiles report by Linda Howe on Stephenville and Sorrell's testimony.

A sample letter protesting the forced resignation/sacking of Angelia Joiner is also available online. The publisher of the Stephenville Empire-Tribune is Rochelle Stidham whose email is: rochelle.stidham@empiretribune.com , and the name of the Managing Editor is Sara Vanden Berge whose email: sara.vandenberge@empiretribune.com . The fax number for the Empire-Tribune is: 254-965-4269. If you choose to write a letter to the Empire Tribute protesting Ms Joiner's treatment, please maintain a respectful and courteous tone.

I request you circulate this Exopolitics Alert to friends and interested parties so this kind of treatment of reporters covering UFO issues is exposed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

New UFO Sighting Reported In Stephenville Texas

Fired Reporter Angelia Joiner Sparks Conspiracy Theories

Are there UFOs in the skies above Texas?

The truth may be out there, but, when it comes to UFO stories, it is sure hard to find. Conjecture breeds conspiracy theories. Any official denial can be labeled a cover-up. In the end, it often boils down to a he-said-she-said scenario.

Such is the case in Stephenville, Texas, a small, rural community thrust into the spotlight after several unexplained disturbances in January. Though that spotlight has now faded, the town remains altered. Some members of the community want to move on; others cannot let go. And some, if you believe them, say that UFOs are still there.

According to Angelia Joiner, the reporter who wrote the original UFO stories, there was another UFO sighting on Saturday. "If the military is testing a secret military device, why do they keep doing it here?" she asked me. "If it's not a secret why do they keep scaring the bejesus out of people?"

Adding a further wrinkle to this story, Joiner was fired from The Empire-Tribune a week ago. She claims she had been told to back off the story and thinks the town's "upper crust" was "embarrassed" by all the attention. The Empire-Tribune has avoided comment, which of course only fans the flames of the conspiracy theories.

For its part, the military has done itself no favors, first denying that it had any aircraft in the area, then flip-flopping a few days later -- after more witnesses came forward. A spokesperson blamed internal miscommunication for the mix-up. Others, including CNN's Larry King, have asked whether it wasn't a cover-up.

But who can we believe? The truth remains unidentified.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2008/02/new_ufo_sighting_reported_in_s.html?nav=rss_blog

2/11/08

A month later, Stephenville starts to settle down

By MATT FRAZIER

Star-Telegram staff writer

S-T/MATT FRAZIER

A tattoo shop identifies with the town's newfound fame.

A month later, town starts to settle down

STEPHENVILLE -- It has been one month since people reported seeing strange unidentified flying objects over Stephenville, causing a worldwide stir among curious journalists and UFO enthusiasts.

Since then, investigators have interviewed more than 100 witnesses and dug their way through grainy pictures and shaky video of supposed UFOs. Now they say they may finally have found one video of a flying craft that they can't explain -- but the photo's ownership is in question.

The military initially denied, then confirmed that it had fighter jets in the area during the sightings, leading to conspiracy theories and speculation -- including that the jets were chasing UFOs from a restricted-flight zone.

A speaker captivated an audience of hundreds at Stephenville's Tarleton State University with UFO tales that seemed strikingly similar to the accounts given by witnesses of the recent sightings. One of the university's astronomy professors is considering beginning his own investigation.

And the town of Stephenville, a farming community about 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, was shocked by the descending media hordes before deciding that it was all great fun. Now many think it may be profitable as well.

"It seems like the feeding frenzy is over," said Kathie Whiteman, manager of a bookstore at the edge of Tarleton State University. "Now the fad has begun."

Investigators

About 50 people say they saw impossibly bright lights in the skies above the Stephenville area Jan. 8. Not long after, they gathered in nearby Dublin to talk about what they saw with interviewers from the Mutual UFO Network.

Despite about 400 pushing and shoving onlookers, seven MUFON investigators gathered information from respectable sources, said Kenneth Cherry of Keller, director of the organization's Texas chapter.

Cherry said investigators are still talking to witnesses who did not want to be a part of that public event, often visiting them at home. He expects that more than 200 people will eventually be interviewed. So far, the network has interviewed about 75 percent of them, he said.

But it hasn't been easy, Cherry said.

"Some reporters are absolutely demanding information or are following us around when we interview witnesses," Cherry said. "And these are people who want to avoid publicity."

Besides collating data, the organization has filed a number of Freedom of Information requests with the military, checked with the Federal Aviation Administration and looked at meteorological patterns.

The network hopes to eventually determine exactly where and when the objects were spotted, along with their flight paths.

"There is a compelling piece of video," he said. "But there is a dispute over ownership. Everything else has been eliminated."

The organization hopes to announce its findings in its magazine's April edition.

Military conspiracies

Dozens of people in the area reported seeing UFOs -- and fighter jets -- around dusk on that date.

Maj. Karl Lewis, a spokesman for the 301st Fighter Wing at Naval Air Station Fort Worth, initially said that no F-16s or other aircraft from the base were in the area the night of Jan. 8.

Lewis said the object may have been an illusion caused by two commercial airplanes. Lights from the aircraft would seem unusually bright and appear orange because of the setting sun, he said.

But later, the military changed its tune, saying that 10 F-16s from the 457th Fighter Squadron were training between 6 and 8 p.m. Jan. 8 in the Brownwood military operating area, which includes Stephenville and Erath County.

The Mutual UFO Network says the admission adds credibility to their witnesses, who reported seeing military jets chasing the flying objects. That's leading conspiracy Web sites to the conclusion that UFOs invaded restricted military airspace.

Tarleton State

Overheard in a TSU parking lot before guest speaker Robert Hastings' UFO lecture:

"Did you find your keys?"

"No."

"I bet the aliens took them."

"Are you going to the alien speaker thing?"

"Oh yeah, it's going to be awesome!"

Since 1981, Hastings has spoken at more than 500 colleges and universities nationwide, including Stanford University and the University of Texas at Austin. Last month, he spoke to an audience of hundreds in the student center on the topic "UFOs: The Secret Story." After presenting documents and a slide show, he said the Stephenville UFO fit into a pattern of sightings, including:

Bright lights flying in ways no modern airplane could duplicate.

Military jets trying and failing to keep up with the objects.

A nearby nuclear weapons or energy production facility.

"A number of the documents refer to UFOs repeatedly violating highly sensitive airspace over nuclear weapons sites, including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, where nuclear weapons are designed," he told the crowd.

Tarleton's Michael Hibbs, an associate professor of math and physics, and Ron DiIulio, director of astronomy lab programs at the University of North Texas in Denton, said a few weeks ago that they would gather data and interview witnesses in connection with the sightings.

They have not started yet, Hibbs said, and they aren't 100 percent sure they ever will.

"We wanted to try to explain this with science and logic, but we haven't gone out there and done the work," Hibbs said. "We were really concerned with all the hype. We want to wait until that dies down."

Stephenville

Reporters swarmed the town of Stephenville soon after the UFO sightings were made public. At first residents seemed shocked; then they started having fun.

The town square in Stephenville is still dominated by a large white and red courthouse and a cow statue showing that area dairy farmers sell $223 million annually.

But alien heads, spaceships and UFO parking signs have crept into the area.

In one corner of the town square, a travel shop displays a poster featuring a UFO and offers trips that are "out of this world." Next to it is a tattoo shop featuring extraterrestrial tattoos. In another corner, a bookstore offers UFO parking on the roof.

"Of course the people who have actually seen it are not satisfied and want more answers," said Treva Thompson of the Stephenville Chamber of Commerce. "But it has died down. Some businesses are still using it as a marketing opportunity, but I feel like this is something that's going to pass over eventually."

According to Stephenville High School teacher Kimberlea Adams, the science club pre-sold 1,200 UFO shirts at $10 each. The club expects to award a $1,000 scholarship to a deserving senior for at least the next four years.

"We turned over the sales to Coyote [Designs] and they are going to donate the proceeds back to us," Adams said. "So far they have sold about 250 more shirts. We haven't quite decided what to do with the extra money."

The College Store near Tarleton recently ordered glow-in-the-dark UFO shirts, manager Whiteman said.

"I wish I had jumped onto this earlier," she said. "I'm hoping the fad will last at least through May."

This report includes material from the Stephenville Empire-Tribune, The Associated Press and the Star-Telegram archives.

mfrazier@star-telegram.com
MATT FRAZIER, 817-390-7957

2/5/08

THE TV COLUMN : It’s not double vision — 2 UFO Hunters in 2 places

MICHAEL STOREY

Posted on Tuesday, February 5, 2008

There’s no denying it. UFOs are hot and getting hotter.

The current interest has been fueled by last month’s spate of reported sightings in Texas.

It seems silent, mysterious lights were up in the sky. Dozens of credible witnesses saw them.

There was no explanation until the Air Force finally ’fessed up to having a gaggle of F-16 jets on “night maneuvers.” Right.

Those Texans around Stephenville know their noisy F-16 s. The lights were not F-16 s.

So what were they ? Sounds like a case for the UFO hunters !

Well, we’ve got your UFO hunters right here. In fact, we have two new shows titled UFO Hunters. One is on the History Channel and the other is on Sci Fi.

Confused ? Not only do they share the same name, they share the same time slot. Two different shows; two different channels; same name; same time. Both air at 9 p.m. Wednesday.

What’s a viewer concerned that aliens are among us to do ? I suggest watching one UFO Hunters and taping the other one for viewing at a later time. Can’t lose with that plan.

Here’s the poop on both shows. UFO Hunters, History Channel version: The series features a crack team of investigators from UFO Magazine as they check out reports of unexplained sightings around the world.

The show features hunters Bill Birnes, Pat Uskert, Dr. Ted Acworth and Jeff Tomlinson as they attempt to separate fact from fiction.

They’ll subject some of history’s most fascinating UFO accounts to scrutiny. Each member brings his own expertise.

Birnes is the magazine’s publisher and Uskert is also with the publication. Tomlinson is the scientific intern with the team. Acworth is a mechanical engineer and researcher who previously worked for NASA. He’s the resident skeptic.

The gang will travel each week to the site of a well-known UFO incident, examine videotapes, audiotapes, witness interviews and formerly secret files opened under the Freedom of Information Act.

Among the incidents to be investigated are the alleged alien abduction of a New Hampshire couple in 1961; the 1980 report by the pilot of a small plane that something froze his controls near Catalina Island; the 2007 report of mysterious debris falling on two villages in Mexico; and the 7, 000-plus reports of strange objects in the Hudson Valley of New York. UFO Hunters, Sci Fi Channel version: This series comes from the folks who bring us Ghost Hunters and Ghost Hunters International.

Seems like a natural progression.

Our crack team of ufologists use their razzle-dazzle bag of high-tech gizmos to investigate claims of UFO sightings and otherworldly experiences.

“What was that ?!” Co-founders Oliver Kemenczky and Ted Davis of New York Strange Phenomena Investigators, along with sidekick Dennis Anderson, investigate, study and reveal their findings after each analysis.

“Over there ! Look ! What was that ?!” I’d be stunned if they proved anything to be true.

TV TIDBITS Bochco’s back. Steven Bochco, 64, is the producer who brought us Hill Street Blues, L. A. Law and NYPD Blue. Bochco has been signed by TNT to turn out 10 episodes of a new legal drama titled Raising the Bar. The series, set for later this year, stars Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Gloria Reuben, Jane Kaczmarek, Teddy Sears and Melissa Sagemiller as lawyers who went to school together but now find themselves on opposite sides of the courtroom.

Abrams pilot in works. J. J. Abrams (Lost, What About Brian, Alias, Felicity ) is creating a twohour pilot for Fox. Fringe deals with a young female FBI agent who gets into unexplained paranormal phenomena (Mulder ? Scully ?). Weird stuff happens. Strike fallout. The writers are on strike. The networks have holes to fill. Starting Feb. 22, host Drew Carey will kill the CBS’ 7 p.m. Friday hour with The Price Is Right specials.

Ghost Whisperer will slide back to 8 p.m. and Moonlight will go on hiatus. Kenny will be killed. For those who keep asking, South Park’s new season won’t arrive until March 12 on Comedy Central. The series airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday, then encores five more times during the week.

Vile, vile TV. Unfortunately, Comedy Central plans to bring back Lil’ Bush at 9: 30 p.m. March 13. The animated series, featuring folks in the Bush administration as children, is the poster child for insipid TV.

Politics aside, this is bad stuff. You may believe that George W. Bush is the poorest excuse for a president ever to befoul the White House, but that doesn’t make this swill funny. Name change. Don’t go looking for the Discovery Times channel anymore. The thing has morphed into Investigation Discovery. The same thing is true for Court TV. It’s changed to truTV with the new slogan, “Not reality. Actuality.” Hungry for police chases involving reckless booze hounds ? Here’s your actuality. Are you free ? Don’t forget, Are You Being Served, one of the most beloved British sitcoms ever, now airs at 9: 30 p.m. Saturdays on AETN. What goes on in the men’s and ladies’ departments of Grace Brothers Department Store is still as funny as ever. The TV column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail mstorey@arkansasonline. com

Jet story doesn’t fly with Texas UFO eyewitnesses

By AP
Updated Feb 5, 2008, 08:11 am

Dozens in Texas town report seeing UFO (FCN, 01-29-2008)

The Disclosure Project (Military, Gov't Officials Research Project)

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - U.S. military officials say fighter jets were training in a rural area the night of Jan. 8 when dozens of people reported seeing a UFO.

Although officials at the Naval Air Station Reserve Base in Fort Worth initially said none of their planes were in the area of the UFO reports, they changed their story Jan 23, saying that 10 F-16 fighter jets built by Lockheed Martin Corp. were training near Stephenville, about 70 miles southwest of Fort Worth, about the time of the sightings.

But, some residents say the military’s revelation actually bolsters their claims because several reported seeing at least two fighter jets chasing an object.

“This supports our story that there was UFO activity in that area,” said Kenneth Cherry, the Texas director of the Mutual UFO Network, which took more than 50 reports from locals at a weekend meeting. “I find it curious that it took them two weeks to ‘fess up. I think they’re feeling the heat from the publicity.”

Several dozen people swear that what they saw was larger, quieter, faster and lower to the ground than an airplane. They also said the object’s lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane.

“I guarantee that what we saw was not a civilian aircraft,” Steve Allen, a pilot and freight company owner, said.

Mr. Allen said the fighter jets’ training area in the Brownwood Military Operating Area, which includes Stephenville’s Erath County, is not in the airspace where he saw the object. Also, Jan. 8 was not the only day sightings were reported.

Anne Frazor, who owns a fabric store in Stephenville said many in town have seen military aircraft zoom overhead from time to time as part of training operations. But she said that is different than what she saw Jan. 8.

“I couldn’t begin to say what it was, but to me it wasn’t planes,” Ms. Frazor said.

Since the reported sightings, the 17,000-resident town has had some fun with the international publicity. Some high-schoolers made T-shirts that read “Stephenville: the new Roswell” on the front and “They’re here for the milk!” on the back. A picture features flying saucer beaming up a cow.

The U.S. Air Force says it has not investigated UFO sightings since 1969 when it ended Project Blue Book, which examined more than 12,600 reported UFO sightings—including 700 that were never explained. That program started a few months after a 1947 crash near Roswell, N.M., which the government said involved a top-secret weather balloon but others involved later said was an alien spacecraft.

“What we want is the government to admit there are UFOs and what they know about them,” Mr. Cherry said.

More twists in the Sorrells' saga

By ANGELIA JOINER Staff Writer
Monday, February 4, 2008 11:19 AM CST

angelia.joiner@empiretribune.com

Answers.

Ricky Sorrells just wants answers. And, in light of what he's been through, it doesn't seem to be a lot to ask.

Witnessing an unidentified flying object four times since the beginning of the new year, then having military aircraft whizzing over his land and disrupting his sleep and livestock, followed by a string of mysterious phone calls and in person encounters from individuals demanding he “shut up” about what he saw, and landing unexpectedly in the international spotlight, has taken a toll on the 37-year-old man accustomed to the simple life.

“If you told me a while back that I would be sitting here talking to you about UFOs I would have said, ‘No way, not in a million years,” Sorrells said. “ Now, I know for the rest of my life I'll keep looking to find out what it was.”

Sorrells said he is receiving a lot of support from family and friends helping him to keep an eye on things. He said that support has been a great help to him.

“I'm not going to freak out or anything,” Sorrells said. “I just think the government should come forward and help us to figure out this thing. I think people should write to their congressman or something.”

Sorrells said soon after his Associated Press interview went around the world in mid-January - not only was he allegedly contacted by a Lt. Colonel telling him to keep quiet about what he saw, he was also contacted by a woman named Linda Moulton Howe.

Howe's Web site touts: “Earthfiles is a crossroads where experts, eyewitnesses and viewers meet to share the latest updates in earth and astronomical mysteries, in-depth reports that go beyond the 6 o'clock news. Earthfiles reporter and editor, Linda Moulton Howe, is an Emmy Award-winning TV producer, investigative reporter and author who goes directly to the men and women at the forefront of science and environmental challenges and to firsthand eyewitnesses of high strangeness. Earthfiles.com received the 2006 W3 Silver Award for excellence in news category. Earthfiles.com also received the 2003 WebAward for Standard of Excellence and the 2000 Encyclopedia Britannica Award honoring Internet excellence.”

Sorrells said he vaguely remembered listening to her on a radio program years ago while on a road trip and her name clicked with him. It was the only familiar name he knew and she promised to do an investigation so he agreed not to talk to anyone else until she could make the trip from New Mexico. Howe arrived in Dublin last week and stayed with Sorrells and his family to conduct the investigation and left late last week.

“I told her everything I knew and showed her my property,” Sorrels said. “After she left, I felt I had honored my commitment with her. Things have settled down a little and I feel free to talk about the experiences I have had. I just didn't want to do anything that would interfere with her investigation because I want the truth.”

He said the last time he saw the object he was able to get a video on his camera phone and said he has seen some other “pretty good footage” taken by others.

One night Sorrells said he had four helicopters flying at such low altitude that when a spotlight was shined up at them from Sorrells' pickup he could see the pilot throw his arm up in front of his eyes to block the light. But there has been another strange occurrence recently on his property that leads him to believe the military is involved. It was an unexpected visitor about 1 a.m. who may have left something behind.

“I was in bed asleep,” Sorrells said. “I keep my bird dogs on the east side of my house and three others on the west side. The black lab doesn't bark until someone comes across the cattle guard and the Catahoula doesn't bark until she actually sees someone. They were all barking so I got up to see what was going on.”

Sorrells said he walked to his bedroom window and looked out to the top of his driveway - he saw someone.

“I went around the bed and grabbed my rifle,” Sorrells said.

His family was still sleeping, so with one hand on his gun and one hand on his backdoor knob, he peered through the window of the door to see if he could spot the intruder again.

“He had positioned himself in between the car and the pickup 40 to 50 feet from my back door,” Sorrells said. “He stood staring at me rocking back and forth. I didn't think his feet were moving but the next morning when looking at his tracks I could tell they were.”

Sorrels said it was cold and misting rain and it was obvious the guy was “dressed for the elements with a heavy parka-like coat.”

He said he strained to see if the man carried a gun but could not see one but could clearly see the face of someone he thought to be in his late 20s or early 30s judging from the way he “walked and acted.”

“I'm trying to decide whether or not to open the door,” Sorrells said. “We're just standing there face to face looking at each other. I'm thinking he's dressed for the elements and the dogs are raising such a ruckus he must know he's in danger of being caught. That's when I realized he wanted me to see him.”

Sorrells said the trespasser had positioned himself in such a way he decided he could be vulnerable if opened his door. He thought of his family and then the man slowly turned and walked into the woods.

“He walked through an area where I'd cleared the brush so apparently he'd been there before because he knew where to go,” Sorrells said.

Sorrells said shortly after the unwelcome caller disappeared the dogs calmed down and he stayed up the rest of the night to keep watch.

Later, when walking through the woods on his property with Howe, he decided to return to a bare spot where his property line ends at a fence.

“It is washed out there and I like to go there to look for deer and turkey tracks.” Sorrells said. He said he's an avid hunter and keeps abreast of the wildlife on his place. He said he had not been to this particular spot in about a month.

“The first thing I saw was a man's footprint,” Sorrells said. “Ms. Howe videotaped me putting my foot beside it. The sun was going down and I saw something shiny.”

Sorrells said he walked over and picked up a bullet - a shiny new 25-06 Remington - with some dotted tarnished smudges.

“I think the man that I saw that night dropped this bullet and the tarnished spots are from the misting rain that night,” Sorrells said. “ I just think it was the military showing me they could get to me if they wanted to.”

Sorrells said he just doesn't think a hunter poaching on his property would've dropped the bullet. He said he doesn't have trouble with poachers. While he knows there is no way to prove it could have been from the same man it's something he keeps mulling over. Sorrells returned home with the bullet in hand and took it apart to look at the powder to see if he could glean any information at all. A local gun and ammunition authority said there was no way to identify if such a bullet was from a military source.

“Talking about military powder is like talking about military gasoline,” he said. “There is no difference.”

Meanwhile, Sorrells said he and other witnesses are considering setting up a Web site to encourage people to do what they can to influence government participation in finding out about the curious, sometimes frightening, sightings.

“I've heard that other countries are releasing information on what they know,” Sorrells said. “We're thinking of calling it (the site) ‘Stephenville Lights.' Too many people have seen something not to try and continue finding out about it. We want to know what it was.”

Kent Biffle: Stephenville area's had its share of UFO sightings

11:20 AM CST on Monday, February 4, 2008

kbiffle@sbcglobal.net STEPHENVILLE, Texas – "I have found it," boasted C. L. McIlhany to a newspaperman.
"Found what?" asked the reporter from Dallas, expecting a new bit of info to add to the heavenly hot topic of local conversationalists.
"Found the airship The Dallas Morning News has been talking about. It's no joke ..."
Mr. McIlhany, a prominent farmer, lived three miles down the Bosque River from this Erath County courthouse town. His words carried credible weight amid the dozens of giddy reports concerning mysterious things flying over the plains.

Also Online

Video: UFO investigators meet witnesses

Video: Stephenville-area residents describe sightings

Video: UFO footage shot by Jason Greywolf Leigh

Video: Residents talk about the sightings

Survey: What do you think of the UFO sightings?

Audio blogs:
• 1 | 2

The farmer said, "I discovered the ship on the ground early this morning ..."
By now, a reader is perhaps recalling the published and televised accounts of odd objects that promenaded across wide Erath skies last month – some of them faster than Bugattis and bigger than Wal-Marts. But that's getting way ahead of this story.
See, Mr. McIlhany made his "discovery" more than 110 years ago, on April 17, 1897.
Dallas lawyer-historian Jeffrey Dunn sent me the 1897 clipping with the Stephenville dateline, saying: "You're not going to believe this." It all suggested that extraterrestrials are fond of Erath County. What's more, an examination of newspapers dated April 1897 showed a whole slew of reports about aerial strangers roving in the Midwest and Southwest.
The farmer said the ship, crewed by a pilot and an engineer, alit in need of a minor repair. He got an eyeful and hurried off to recruit witnesses.
"The airship is very much as reported by The News ... It consists of a cigar-shaped body about 60 feet in length ... The motive power is an immense wheel at each end, in appearance much like a metallic windmill. It is driven by an immense electric engine, which derives its power from storage batteries."
The crewmen – earthlings, as it sadly turned out – gave their names as S.E. Tilman and A.E. Dolbear. They explained that they were on a test cruise in compliance with a contract they held with certain New York capitalists.
"They are confident that they have achieved a great success and that within a short time navigation of the air will be an assured fact," said the farmer.
Mr. Dunn and I had researched incredible reports of a spaceship's crash into a windmill in Wise County and the burial in the Aurora cemetery of the space alien killed in the smash-up. Historians have concluded that it was a hoax thought up by a contributor who was trying to revive Aurora's flagging fortunes. It didn't work.
The events in Stephenville and the Aurora crash were covered in the same April 19, 1897, edition of The News. There were dozens of other extraordinary aerial incidents and accidents reported in that period.
Bob Callanan is a former Air Force officer assigned to Operation Blue Book, code name for the UFO investigation project. (The Air Force no longer investigates UFOs.)
Mr. Callanan spoke candidly, saying that he believes that UFOs are "possible."
"We were able to explain approximately 90 percent of what we investigated," he said. "The rest, we reported out as 'unexplainable' or needing additional information before a final report could be issued."

1/24/08

UFOs Spotted Over San Antonio

Also seen near Victoria and Corpus Christi the night of the Stephenville sightings

By Jim Forsyth

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

The flurry of Unidentified Flying Objects spotted near Stephenville earlier this month extended to San Antonio and UFO's were also spotted over Victoria and as far south as Corpus Christi, 1200 WOAI's Bud Little has learned.

Some 200 people reported seeing UFO's over Stephenville, in Erath County southeast of Dallas on the evening of January 8th. But Walter Andrus Junior, the co-founder of the Mutual UFO Network, says the same night, unidentified objects were spotted in the skies over San Antonio, visible in the western sky and reported by observers at Interstate 10 and Wurzbach Road, on the northwest side.

"They say a large, cigar shaped object in the western sky," Andrus said. "It had many lights on it, from front to back."

Andrus says MUFON will talk with people in San Antonio, as well as in Victoria and near Corpus Christi, who also saw the objects that night. He says it's a lot easier to get statements out of people about UFO's today than when he helped start MUFON in the 1970s, because what is referred to as the 'laughter curtain' which painted people who said they saw UFOs as cranks or worse, has been lifted.

"The lights were so bright that it was difficult to estimate the size of the object," Andrus says about the UFO sightings over Texas.

He says a complete report on the sightings may not be completed until the end of 2008.

More UFO Sightings Reported Over Texas

More UFO sightings in TX reported and as far away as San Diego

By Armando Duke

(AXcess News) Houston - While the first UFO sightings over Stephenville, Texas drew mass media attention, it turns out that eyewitnesses were reporting UFO sightings over San Antonio and Corpus Christi on the same night. Now, more eyewitness accounts have come in of UFO sightings that took place in San Diego on January 8th and near Stephenville, UFO sightings were reported on the 9th and 10th.

It appears that lights in the sky over Texas ran rampant for three nights in a row following the mass near-hysteria attention the Stephenville, TX UFO sightings brought when the local newspaper reported the first unidentified flying object eye witness accounts.

According to the Stephenville Empire-Tribune story, Steve Allen, Mike Odom and Lance Jones all witnessed the phenomena that Tuesday night.

The newspaper account reported that Allen was at the home of Mike Odom in Selden about 6:15 p.m. when they suddenly noticed flashing lights about "3,500 feet above ground level," he said.

"The ship wasn't really visible and was totally silent, but the lights spanned about a mile long and a half mile wide," Allen said. "The lights went from corner to corner. It was directly above Highway 67 traveling towards Stephenville at a high rate of speed - about 3,000 miles per hour is what I would estimate."

Meanwhile, WOAI Radio in San Antonio reported that UFO sightings took place that same night over the city and were seen by dozens of witnesses. The Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON, reported that accounts were coming in as far away as Corpus Christi, all identifying similar UFO characteristics as the lights seen over Stephenville earlier that night.

MUFON's Texas chapter website carries eyewitness accounts of UFO sightings taking place the following evening and again on January 10th, reporting similar characteristics of bight lights, no sound and rapid high-speed travel.

On January 9th, one witness reported that he watched the UFO for about five minutes, using 50-power binoculars that gave him a clear image of the lights on the UFO. "I saw three distinct sets of lights, one small light on top a larger light, two fairly close together, one some distance away. I watched for approx. five minutes, they did not move," the UFO witness reported.

In a separate UFO sighting that same night, another witness said "I have seen these strobbing lights three different times now. The first time was about a month ago outside of Cisco on hwy 183. All three times it happened on the same route, only this time out of nowhere these huge bright lights appeared in the same manner as before. The lights were big and round and as they would each light up they started out dim and instantly got brighter, almost like huge spotlights," the UFO witness exclaimed.

Then on Thursday January 10th, a man traveling with his daughter driving from Eastland towards Lake Leon in a south easterly direction said, "We spotted two large bright lights like stars. The two lights moved towards each other very, very fast...faster than anything I had ever seen. They looked like they meet and then five or six smaller lights dispersed out in a circular pattern away from them and then everything just was gone." "We thought we were seeing things," the man said.

An alert reader hooked me up with a youtube video of a Fox News channel 6 report of a UFO sighting near San Diego - that took place on the same night as the Stephenville, Texas UFO sightings. In that two-minute clip, two eyewitnesses describe the unidentified flying object as being huge, with lights and making no sound at all before zipping away at lightening speed.

Many of the reports shown here were gathered by the Mutual UFO Network or, MUFON, which attempts to use a scientific approach in its investigations into the mystery surrounding UFO sightings.

MUFON co-founder Walter Andrus Jr. says more people are willing to come forward today and report UFO sightings than in the past. The Texas chapter of MUFON it seems has its hands full these days and Andrus was quoted as saying that MUFON would be working on its Stephenville and other Texas UFO sightings probably throughout the year because there was so much information to follow up on.

I hope to catch up with a MUFON representative here in Texas later this week and provide readers a first-hand interview into why all of a sudden there is so much UFO activity across Texas and if the saucer-chasers think the object seen over San Diego's evening skies on January 8th might be the same UFO -- or a different one altogether.

While I thank our many, many readers who've been sending us their own experiences with UFO sightings - and even some implant discoveries, abduction stories - and video links - please keep the emails coming. I promise, no contact will go unread and some are getting mentioned in this new series of stories on UFOs - with tonight's piece being the first. I hope to carry this investigation throughout the week and continue reporting on the sightings, conspiracies and skeptics in this fascinating look into the mysterious world of unidentified flying objects.

I want to apologize for not getting this series launched yesterday, but I wanted to be more prepared in reporting on the UFO phenomena, I hope the wait was worth it for all of you scifi buffs following along.

Military mistake?

Thursday, January 24, 2008 9:59 AM CST

Major admits F-16s in Erath County skies on January 8

By ANGELIA JOINER Staff Writer

The U.S. military knows something Erath County residents knew all along.

There were F-16s in the area the night of Jan. 8 - ten of them to be exact - when Steve Allen and friends saw an unidentified flying object appearing to be chased by two jets.

Two weeks after the sighting, Major Karl Lewis of the 301st Fighter Wing at the Naval Air Station Fort Worth Joint Reserve Base issued a press release admitting an error and releasing the fact that there were ten F-16s on training missions over Erath County that night.

Lewis said the information was released on Wednesday morning after an “internal communications error” was discovered.

When asked to clarify exactly what the error was, Lewis said, “That falls into operational procedures and we can't compromise those procedures because it could have an affect on operational security.”

Lewis said he moved forward with a press release “in the interest of public awareness.”

The document said, “Ten F-16s from the 457th Fighter Squadron were performing training operations from 6 - 8 p.m., Tuesday January 8, 2008 in the Brownwood Military Operating Area (MOA), which includes the airspace above Erath County.”

When asked what, exactly, the jets were doing that evening Lewis calmly said, “I can't speculate about what they were doing. We're a nation at war.”

Steve Allen has a question for the military now.

“If those jets were supposed to be in a military operating area then why were they over Selden?” Allen asked. “Selden and Stephenville are not supposed to be in those areas and Dublin is just right on the edge.”

Allen said as a pilot he is required to get a new aeronautical sectional map every six months.

“They should be held accountable for what they were doing here,” Allen said. “We kept saying there were F-16s in the area and nobody believed us.”

1/20/08

Texas UFO investigators probe Stephenville sightings

10:32 PM CST on Saturday, January 19, 2008
By JEFFREY WEISS / The Dallas Morning News
jweiss@dallasnews.com

DUBLIN, Texas – Anyone looking for answers about the recent mysterious lights in the Texas sky left here disappointed Saturday. But the big meeting hosted by the Mutual UFO Network delivered in plenty of other ways:

COURTNEY PERRY/DMN

Decked out in his best alien attire, Dudley accompanies owner Parks Blackwell of Fort Worth to a Texas Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) meeting Saturday at the Rotary Building in Dublin, Texas. MUFON investigators took reports from people who claimed to have seen unidentified flying objects in nearby Stephenville.

Jokers in tinfoil hats, check. Funny UFO T-shirts, check. Crop circle conspiracy theorists, check. Fresh popcorn and Dublin's real-sugar Dr Pepper dispensed by the friendly folks from the local Rotary Club, check.

And even a hint of science and a sense that the cheerful mob scene might actually contribute to knowledge, if not definitive explanations.

"I think a lot of people saw the same things," said Laura Washburn of nearby Glen Rose.

Her son, Shane, saw something odd in the sky on the nights of Dec. 31 and Jan. 2. They spent a couple of hours in the crowd of more than 500 who packed the Dublin Rotary Club building, listening to many others telling their stories.

Also Online

Video: UFO investigators meet witnesses

Video: Stephenville-area residents describe sightings

Video: UFO footage shot by Jason Greywolf Leigh

"Hearing so many other people takes away the feeling that I don't want to be the only one, the one that people say is crazy," Ms. Washburn said.

The meeting was triggered by local reports of slow-moving, glowing objects in the sky the night of Jan. 8. Three men told their stories to Angelia Joiner, a reporter for the Stephenville Empire-Tribune.

"The people were so genuine and so credible," Ms. Joiner said Saturday. "You could tell they really saw something."

Plus, it was a good tale that she figured her readers would like. She was right about that. Once her first story ran, other people came forward with similar stories. And once word of the reports traveled beyond the area, the world wanted to know more.

Every major news network has run stories about the lights in the sky near Stephenville. Two witnesses, plus Ms. Joiner, were remote guests Friday on Larry King Live.

MUFON was founded in 1969 and has chapters all over the U.S. The Colorado-based organization is a club for UFO buffs, but it's also a network of amateur investigators who try to evaluate every report they receive of something odd in the sky.

MUFON announced last week that it would hold a meeting to interview witnesses of the Stephenville-area lights.

The first site for the meeting was a livestock sales barn. That humble location didn't sit well with the Rotarians of Dublin, about 10 minutes down the road from Stephenville.

"It's kinda like we have company coming and we need to take care of them," said Pat Leatherwood, a member of the Dublin Rotary Club. "Whether or not you believe it, you can still be nice."

Texas MUFON officials gratefully accepted the Rotarians' offer of a comfortable place to talk to witnesses. By the end of Saturday afternoon, more than 200 people had formally filed their stories.

MUFON investigators are a cross between the Ghostbusters of the movie and the amateur detectives of the Scooby-Doo cartoons. Like the Ghostbusters, they know they're taking on a task with a high giggle factor.

But like Velma and Scooby's other cartoon companions, MUFON investigators take a scientific approach.

They look for clues, interview witnesses, analyze evidence. And like the Scoobies teenage detectives on the TV show, MUFON usually concludes that there's nothing unworldly about the sightings it investigates.

MUFON certifies its official investigators. They're trained to recognize unusual cloud patters, star formations, bugs flying close to the camera, light reflecting from the lens and myriad other ways an odd image can show up on a photo.

Robert Powell of Austin is MUFON's national director of research. He was in Dublin on Saturday to help out with the investigation.

What he was hoping to do was find stories that matched – people in different places who saw something similar at about the same time. But he knew that many of the stories would turn out to be something mundane.

"An unidentified flying object can turn out to be an airplane, and then it's identified," he said.

Steve Hudgeons of Fort Worth is MUFON's senior investigator for Texas. Mr. Hudgeons, 58, makes his living as a project manager for a construction company.

A few days before the big meeting, he described some of the problems his investigators would surely find. The biggest, ironically, is the massive publicity. Witnesses had a chance to hear from one another and talk among themselves. Often in such situations, people's memories shift, Mr. Hudgeons said. The other problem, he said, was that the intense media attention would pull people from the woodwork who have nothing useful to contribute.

"We are going to get people down there who have aluminum foil on their heads," he said with a sigh. "We always get that."

Which they did. They also got more witnesses in one place than MUFON had ever tried to interview. Like hooking a fire hose to a garden hose, the crowd blew out the normal careful interview process that MUFON tries to conduct about every report it gets.

One woman had a story about something she saw in 1957. Others had accounts from last month or last year.

Their descriptions of the lights ranged from included an aspirin with lights around the edges, to glowing orbs, to a wedge-shaped row of lights to and an enormous classic movie-special-effects flying saucer. Some witnesses were fuzzy about the time of their sighting. Others weren't clear about which way they were looking. But several of the witnesses were able to answer many of the long series of questions on the MUFON investigation form. How is their vision? Their hearing? Where were they at the time? Which direction did they look? Were they near an airport? Did what they see seem to hover? Wobble? Appear solid? Have fuzzy edges?

Over the next couple of months, MUFON's investigators plan to follow up with some of the witnesses and eventually produce a report about any patterns they were able to find in the accounts.

In the meantime, the locals are mostly having fun with the story. A Stephenville hotel has a goofy image of a green cartoon alien in a hotel suite sitting by the front desk. "He's on the fourth floor" of the three-story hotel, guests are told. A taco joint plays on the team colors of nearby Tarleton State University by claiming "aliens prefer purple tacos."

But some people are worried that the story will leave an image of their area as being filled with a bunch of UFO-seeing nuts.

Chris Baker, 37, lives in Dublin. He's seen only one unusual sight in the sky lately: "Just snow."

"I'm hoping after this weekend is over that people will start to forget about it," he said. "I don't think there is enough to it to make it a tourist attraction like Glen Rose and dinosaurs."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe it came from the Dog Star

By SUSAN TALLANT
Special to the Star-Telegram

STAR-TELEGRAM/TOM PENNINGTON

Truck driver Sean Kiel is the center of attention in downtown Dublin on Saturday. He took a photo of a strange object in the sky Jan. 8 on Interstate 20 near Cisco.

Once the excitement dies down in Stephenville, two scientists at area universities plan to take a scholarly look at whatever lighted the sky over Erath County this month.

Michael Hibbs, associate professor of math and physics at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, and Ron DiIulio, director of astronomy lab programs for the University of North Texas in Denton, said Saturday that they will gather data and interview witnesses to try to figure out what people saw.

"This is a chance for us to put together some science as to why," Hibbs said. "This is pretty cool. No, it's way cool."

DiIulio and Hibbs agree that people saw a UFO of sorts because it is unidentified and it appeared to be flying. They are especially interested in this sighting because of the number of people who reported seeing it.

"We know they saw something," Hibbs said. "We just want to know what it is."

DiIulio said he was not surprised that no one took photos of the UFO, since it was at night, it was cold and many people, especially older ones, don't carry cameras.

"We need more data," DiIulio said. "We want either an identified object or an unidentified one, but not a misidentified flying object."

Both scientists agreed that the photograph on the front page of Friday's Star-Telegram was not of a UFO. It was one of DiIulio's MFOs.

"From what I see by looking at this photo, it's a sun dog," DiIulio said.

Hibbs agreed. "It definitely was a sun dog," Hibbs said. "That photo has nothing to do with the Stephenville incident."

A truck driver took the photo using his cellphone camera on Jan. 8 on Interstate 20 near Cisco.

A sun dog is a little-known atmospheric phenomenon caused by ice crystals hanging in the air, reflecting sunlight through high clouds, DiIulio said. Cloud movements appear to make the sun dog move, too.

"You nearly always see them 22 degrees -- or 'two fists' -- on either side of the sun," he said. It usually happens near sunset.

DiIulio said American Indians used to report sun dogs.

"It's almost like a rainbow," DiIulio said. "It's pretty neat. Some people don't see the color, just the bright light."

He and Hibbs said they want to work with witnesses by going back to where the witnesses saw the lights. DiIulio and Hibbs will also look at the descriptions from Saturday's event in Dublin. And they're not scoffing.

"This is really exciting," Hibbs said. "Who would have guessed this would happen in Stephenville, Texas?"

Stop, look, take notes

Ron DiIulio, director of astronomy lab programs for the University of North Texas, offers these tips on what to do if you spot a UFO. DiIulio is also Jet Propulsion Laboratories-NASA's solar system ambassador, helping interpret science for the public.

Note immediate changes, such as if the object suddenly reverses or turns 90 degrees.

Know your compass points, and note the direction you are looking.

Count how far from north the object is using "fists." Stretch out your arm and level your fist on the horizon. Bring up your other fist. Cross your first arm over the second, keeping your arms together, and count how many fists left or right of north the object is. Nine fists left of north is northwest, etc.

In a similar way, find out how high the object is. Stretch out one arm and level a fist on the horizon. Then put the other fist on top of the first fist. Continue to stack fists until they reach the object. Two fists equal 20 degrees, nine fists equal 90 degrees, etc.

E-mail questions to DiIulio at starman@unt.edu.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bright lights, big crowds in Dublin

UFO investigators land in Dublin to quiz locals

By MATT FRAZIER
Star-Telegram staff writer

STAR-TELEGRAM/TOM PENNINGTON

Mutual UFO Network field investigator Michael DeGroff interviews Shane Washburn, 14, of Glen Rose in Dublin on Saturday.

DUBLIN -- It was a crowded cacophony of confusion.

On Saturday afternoon, about 50 people who saw impossibly bright lights in the skies about nearby Stephenville 12 days ago gathered in Dublin to talk about what they saw with interviewers from the Mutual UFO Network.

The witnesses were swept into whirlpools of media representatives carrying video cameras and at least one "posse" from a Dallas radio station, whose members were intent on blocking the front door of the meeting room to take pictures of themselves wearing aluminum-foil hats. And there were the circling curiosity seekers.

Despite about 400 pushing and shoving onlookers, seven MUFON investigators gathered a lot of information from respectable sources, said Kenneth Cherry of Keller, director of the organization's Texas chapter.

But did they uncover a visitation from alien beings?

"We believe there is some sort of phenomenon in action here," Cherry said. "We see a pattern. But it will take months to investigate."

Several dozen people living in or near Stephenville, including an Erath County constable and several business owners, insist that around Jan. 8, they saw a large silent object flying lower to the ground and faster than an airplane would.

They also said the object's lights changed configuration, unlike those of a plane. Some reported seeing it chased by fighter jets.

On Saturday, Steve Allen of Glen Rose, who said he was a pilot, described what he saw:

"We were sitting around the campfire. I looked off to the east, and we saw several sets of lights coming toward us very fast. They were brighter than the glare from welding.

"The first time we saw it, the duration was three minutes; then it started slowing down and passed us, and the lights in the back reformed into an arc shape, and they would flash on and off with no particular pattern. Then those changed into two vertical lines. It was totally silent."

Before talking to investigators, witnesses filled out forms that included questions about the object's direction, distance and flying behavior. They were asked to sketch what they saw. Then they sat down to be interviewed by MUFON investigators for about 15 minutes each.

"I wanted to come today because this is too important to stay silent about," said James Huse of Stephenville. "It hovered above my house."

Cherry said MUFON will study the testimony for several months to a year before releasing any findings. And even then, don't expect an announcement about green men in an alien mother ship.

MUFON doesn't use that sort of terminology. At most, the group will make a statement that whatever happened at Stephenville can be explained, or it can't.

That's it.

"We do not promote the existence of alien ships," Cherry said. "All we are trying to do is figure out if we can explain it or not, and then we'll let the chips fall where they may."

MUFON welcomed Saturday's event, Cherry said, because it made some people more comfortable talking about sightings, it got the organization's name into public view and it added to the body of data collected by MUFON, which was organized in 1969.

Seen a UFO?

To report a sighting, call MUFON state Director Kenneth Cherry at 817-379-0773 or fill out a report form at www.mufon.com.

----------------------------------------------------------

Stephenville and the end of it all

Stephenville UFO Sightings

2/20/08

Angelia Joiner finds new Job

2/19/08

Angelia Joiner fired from the Empire Tribune

New UFO Sighting Reported In Stephenville Texas

2/11/08

A month later, Stephenville starts to settle down

2/5/08

THE TV COLUMN : It’s not double vision — 2 UFO Hunters in 2 places

Jet story doesn’t fly with Texas UFO eyewitnesses

More twists in the Sorrells' saga

Kent Biffle: Stephenville area's had its share of UFO sightings

11:20 AM CST on Monday, February 4, 2008

1/24/08

UFOs Spotted Over San Antonio

More UFO Sightings Reported Over Texas

More UFO Sightings Reported Over Texas

Military mistake?

1/20/08

Texas UFO investigators probe Stephenville sightings

Texas UFO investigators probe Stephenville sightings

10:32 PM CST on Saturday, January 19, 2008

Maybe it came from the Dog Star

By SUSAN TALLANT
Special to the Star-Telegram

Bright lights, big crowds in Dublin

UFO investigators land in Dublin to quiz locals

By MATT FRAZIER
Star-Telegram staff writer

Stephenville and the end of it all

By BUD KENNEDY
Star-Telegram staff writer

Related Content

Do you believe the Stephenville UFOs are of alien nature?

Stephenville Weather

Blog Archive

2/20/08

2/19/08

New UFO Sighting Reported In Stephenville Texas

2/11/08

2/5/08

11:20 AM CST on Monday, February 4, 2008

1/24/08

More UFO Sightings Reported Over Texas

1/20/08

Texas UFO investigators probe Stephenville sightings

10:32 PM CST on Saturday, January 19, 2008

Maybe it came from the Dog Star

By SUSAN TALLANTSpecial to the Star-Telegram

Bright lights, big crowds in Dublin

UFO investigators land in Dublin to quiz locals

By MATT FRAZIERStar-Telegram staff writer

Stephenville and the end of it all

By BUD KENNEDYStar-Telegram staff writer

Related Content

Do you believe the Stephenville UFOs are of alien nature?

Stephenville Weather

Blog Archive

By SUSAN TALLANT
Special to the Star-Telegram

By MATT FRAZIER
Star-Telegram staff writer

By BUD KENNEDY
Star-Telegram staff writer