UFO investigator: It's 'obvious we're not alone'
Harry Willnus knows all too well that eyebrows will rise when he talks about unidentified flying objects, but that doesn't stop the retired social studies teacher from continuing his 60-year quest to see the issue become accepted by the mainstream population.
"UFO sightings are reported every day around the world and in every country around the world," said the Salem resident and former president of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), the world's largest investigative body looking into the UFO phenomena.
Willnus, like other UFO enthusiasts ask, "Are we alone in the universe?"
That question will be the focus of his appearance on the Science Channel's show "Close Encounters." Now in its second season, Willnus will appear on an upcoming episode scheduled to air at 10 p.m., March 10. Willnus will share his vast knowledge about the highly publicized March 1966 reported UFO sighting in Dexter,. He'll be on the show again, at 10 p.m., March 31, talking about a reported sighting in Exeter, N. H.
In the March 20, 1966, Dexter case a group of people, including police officers, reported seeing an object turn from a blue green to a brilliant red to a yellow coloring. It rose 500 feet and returned to the ground, one man said.
Trying to investigate further, the officers said they went out to the far edge of the wooded area and also saw a brilliant light appear and then disappear. The officers said when they returned to their patrol vehicle, a group of people had gathered and reported seeing something similar. These witnesses said the object departed in a western direction at a high rate of speed. Read more at Freep
**********
Man hit his mother because she laughed at his claim that Barack Obama was an alien
A man who claimed Barack Obama was an alien punched his mother at her home in Telford, Shropshire, because she laughed about it, a court heard on Friday. During the assault Shaun Watson told his mother: “I have hit bigger men than you and they have gone down.” Kerry Lovegrove, prosecuting, said Watson, 25, had been out drinking with his mother and girlfriend last April, and that the three of them had returned to his mother’s home.
She said a row had broken out between them about conspiracy theories and the neighbours had called the police. When officers arrived, the defendant’s mother had told them everything was fine. However, once the police had left, Watson claimed he thought Barack Obama was an alien, which made his mother laugh. He had grabbed her and punched her in the face before throwing her to the kitchen floor. Watson continued to choke and punch her and at one point bit her nose.
Miss Lovegrove said Watson had grabbed a knife and tried to harm himself and that his mother received scratches when she tried to retrieve it from him. Watson had run from the house after the attack and called his mother the next day to apologise. She was left with a severe black eye, cuts and bruising. The court was told Watson had denied assault but had been found guilty after a trial on January 30 which he had not attended.
For Watson, of Merridale Street West, Wolverhampton, Mr John McMillan said his client did not attend because he did not want to lose his position as an enhanced prisoner at Dovegate prison where he is awaiting sentence for another offence. “He loves his mum. This was something that was fuelled by drink and he’s pleased that she would not like a restraining order,” he said. Despite the prolonged beating, Watson received a three-year conditional discharge. - Shropshire Star
**********
Hong Kong policeman cleared of assault after claiming he was performing exorcism on lover
A police inspector convicted of assaulting his lover had his name cleared yesterday after the top court found his excuse that he had been performing an exorcism was not totally incredible.
Simon Lau Shing-chung, 45, was witnessed slapping the woman on January 4, 2012, according to the written judgment from the Court of Final Appeal. He then repeatedly pushed her up and down on the bed in her flat in Tai Po.
Lau claimed his acts, however, had been lawful as he had consent from the victim - named only as Ms Yau - to use limited violence while attempting to rid her of a ghost.
Lau was convicted of common assault and was fined HK$5,000 in Fanling Court in May last year. The magistrate found his explanation that his girlfriend was possessed to be an "invention" and refused to accept the phone messages as evidence.
But in yesterday's judgment Mr Justice Frank Stock wrote: "[Lau]'s story about belief in ghosts and about attempts to assist Ms Yau when apparently possessed by them would be considered by many to be inherently incredible.
"But in that setting, the account gains credence."
He found old WhatsApp messages, dating back to May 2011 supported the claim. Yau once wrote: "When you push her, pay attention to me."
Lau claimed he helped her to exorcise the ghost by treating her with a "mixed soft and hard approach" and she would become herself again.
Yau did not testify in the trial, and the judgment said she could therefore not be questioned about the meaning of her text messages.
The court heard Lau was a married man and was breaking up with Yau at that time.
The written judgment states that Lau claimed Yau would become irascible and threatening and then speak to him as if she were another person.
Stock, backed by Mr Justice Roberto Ribeiro, Mr Justice Robert Tang Ching, Mr Justice Joseph Fok and Lord Phillips, found the conviction unsafe and quashed his conviction and sentence. - SCMP
**********
What was the mystery object or creature in Plymouth Sound?
An unidentified object or creature has been spotted floating in Plymouth Sound and Herald readers want to know what it was.
Several people have contacted The Herald asking about what they saw in the waters off our shore this weekend.
He said: "On Sunday morning I spotted a large marine like creature or object in Plymouth Sound.
"I had a telephoto lens and captured a number of images. The first one I took I was up by Smeaton's tower but then went down towards the sea for some closer shots.
"The creature or object moved in circles, appeared to curve its shape and moved a considerable distance from left to right, turn and then move back the other way.
"I have circled a piece of floating wood that floated up to and past it.
"The creature or object then turned and remained stationary. It was seen by a number of people.
"I was using a 400mm telephoto lens as it was a fair distance out to sea."
Stacey Westlake contacted us on Facebook to ask: "Please could you tell me what was in the water on the Hoe.
"We saw most of it but had to get back to the car?? People was saying it looked like a shark or dolphin."
But Nathan Dale, who was on-call for the Plymouth Lifeboat, has assured people that what was spotted lurking in the water was nothing more than a piece of driftwood caught up in the rip current.
Mr Dale, who was near the waterfront with his children, said: "I borrowed a passer-by's binoculars, because it looked like a creature at first.
"Someone called the emergency services and the MoD Police took a closer look. The police had reports of it being a body, and it had me wondering so I wanted to make sure we weren't needed to assist.
"But it was just pieces of driftwood." - Plymouth Herald
**********
TODAY'S TOP LINKS
No Big Bang? Quantum equation predicts universe has no beginning
Was the Mythical Thunderbird a Real Creature?
The Beatles Plot
Please support Arcane Radio
Haunted Rock & Roll: Ghostly Tales of Musical Legends
Tragic Hollywood, Beautiful, Glamorous And Dead
Phantasmagoria: Spirit Visions, Metaphors, and Media into the Twenty-first Century
Haunted Hollywood (Scary Places)
