UFO files reveal 'Rendlesham incident' papers missing
BBC - Intelligence papers on a reported UFO sighting known as the "Rendlesham incident" have gone missing, files from the National Archives reveal.
The missing files relate to a report of mysterious lights from US servicemen at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk in 1980.
The disappearance came to light with the release of 8,000 previously classified documents on UFOs.
Officials found a "huge" gap where defence intelligence files relating to the case should be, the papers show.
Russian rocket
The documents are the latest MoD files on UFOs released into the National Archives which will be free to access on its website for a month.
Among the documents is testimony from an airline pilot and his son who say they spent five minutes watching an object made up of three circles fly past their garden in Hellingly, East Sussex.
The pilot reported it to Air Traffic Control in West Drayton, and an official labelled his sighting as one by "a credible witness".
But another defence official later wrote a memo saying the report "contains nothing of air defence significance".
More attention is given to the crew of an RAF Tornado who encountered an object the size of a C130 Hercules transport aircraft while flying over the North Sea in 1990.
The pilot describes flying at Mach 0.8 but being overtaken by an aircraft the like of which he had never seen before.
He talks about lights and even "an engine area" but the files also show how a possible explanation emerges - a Russian rocket booster was re-entering the earth's atmosphere on that same night.
Another file released reveals six small "flying saucers" were found by members of the public in locations across southern England in 1967. Four police forces and the army were mobilised before it emerged the incident was a rag-day hoax by engineering students from Farnborough Technical College.
There is also a report from a London man who believed he may have been abducted by aliens.
Minister's request
The files reveal that key documentation relating to the Rendlesham Forest incident has disappeared.
Some UFO researchers believe the episode, which happened over two nights in 1980 is a classic example of a "close encounter".
Crop circles provoked this sketch by a member of the public The incident took place near the fence of RAF Woodbridge - at that time being used by the US Air Force. A group of servicemen reported seeing strange lights in the trees near the base and after investigating found marks on the ground and damage to vegetation.
The files reveal the MoD received a request for its own records of the incident in 2000, but when officials looked they discovered a "huge" gap where defence intelligence files relating to it should be.
The hunt generated a series of notes, with one official speculating that the files could have been taken home by someone and another remarking that "it could be interpreted to mean that a deliberate attempt had been made to eradicate the records covering this incident".
However, among intelligence papers released in 2009, it was revealed that former Admiral of the Fleet Lord Hill-Norton wrote to the defence secretary about the incident in 1985, speculating that an unauthorised aircraft may have entered and left UK airspace at the time.
But it is not the only gap in the official record. In 2002 the MoD received a request for information from Lord Hill-Norton. He wanted to know about reports of a UFO sighting made by HMS Manchester while on exercise in the 1990s.
It emerged in the file that HMS Manchester's log for one of the periods was lost overboard after "a gust of wind" and the vessel's captain cannot remember anything unusual taking place.
Natural explanations
This latest tranche of documents covers not just people who contacted the Ministry of Defence after seeing lights or objects, but also sheds some light on official thinking about this aspect of the paranormal.
Concern about UFOs and what they might be went up to senior level and lasted several years.
Officials were dismayed when in 1977 the then Prime Minister of Grenada Sir Eric Gairy wanted to call for the United Nations to set up a unit to investigate the phenomenon.
Sketches of UFOs are among the files released by the National Archives The files show how Britain was concerned the idea would drag the UN into disrepute. The premier was persuaded to withdraw his proposal but went on to call for 1978 to be designated "the year of the UFO". He was deposed in a coup the following year.
UFOs have only ever received one debate in Parliament. It came in the House of Lords in 1979, at the height of the "winter of discontent", and the files show how officials laboured to prepare a government position on the topic.
At the end of the discussion the government spokesman Lord Stabolgi summed up what remains the official position now.
"There is nothing to convince Her Majesty's government that there has ever been a single visit by an alien spacecraft. As for telling the public the truth about UFOs, the truth is simple.
"There really are many strange phenomena in the sky, and these are invariably reported by rational people. But there is a wide range of natural explanations to account for such phenomena."
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Alien invasion hoax fooled MoD, archive papers reveal
guardian - A "war of the worlds" rag week hoax by aircraft engineering apprentices was treated as a real alien invasion of Britain – for a few hours at least, according to newly released Ministry of Defence files.
The army's southern command, four police forces, bomb disposal units, RAF helicopters and the MoD's intelligence branch were all mobilised in the early hours of Monday 4 September 1967 to meet the threat.
They went into action after the police and RAF were flooded with calls from the public reporting the discovery of six small "flying saucers" in locations in a perfect line across southern England from Sheppey to the Bristol Channel.
It was not until a Scotland Yard bomb disposal squad with orders to check one of the objects with portable X-ray equipment arrived at Bromley police station, south London, that the hoax was uncovered – the Ever Ready batteries were a bit of a giveaway.
Another of the "saucers" was sent to be examined by Home Office scientists at Aldermaston and a third was inspected by the chief designer of the guided weapons division of the British Aircraft Corporation. One saucer which was found at Chippenham, Wiltshire, was blown up in a controlled explosion.
The Whitehall papers released at the National Archives show that within Whitehall the "1967 flying saucer hoax" was regarded at the MoD as an "obviously very successful practical joke".
Perhaps under the influence of Pink Floyd's first seminal space rock album, the Piper at the Gates of Dawn, released just a few weeks before, a group of apprentices and students from the Royal Aircraft Establishment and the nearby Farnborough technical college put together the flying saucers as a rag week hoax.
The papers reveal that a Westland whirlwind helicopter was despatched from RAF Manston to investigate the alien craft that had "landed" in Sheppey.
They also show that 20 years after the incident senior MoD officials thought of gagging a retired RAF group captain who had been the intelligence officer dealing with UFO sightings as part of his MoD duties at the time. He had gone down to Bromley police station as the department's investigating officer.
The retired group captain, whose name had been redacted from the files, described the hoax as "extremely clever". When he approached the MoD in 1997 for clearance to talk about the event they considered gagging him but decided it would leave them looking a laughing stock if they did: "If we cannot trust mature retired ex-Defence Intelligence Secretariat officers, we are in a bad way," advised one senior defence chief.
The latest batch of released UFO files also show that in the late 1970s the potential threat of alien abduction and attacks by extraterrestrials became a serious issue of debate for the UN and the CIA.
A proposal from Sir Eric Gairy, then president of Grenada, that the UN set up an agency to monitor UFO activity and conduct a full-scale investigation became a matter of delicate international diplomatic manoeuvring that included the British Foreign Office.
Gairy had been influenced by the views of a former astronaut and the Grenadians distributed free tickets for the recently released film Close Encounters of the Third Kind to press their campaign.
Britain was resolutely opposed but the files show that at least one senior diplomat was relaxed about the idea: "It must also be said, in fairness, that the Grenadian proposal is no more ridiculous than many other proposals before the UN. Indeed, President Carter has in the past reportedly taken a personal interest in UFOs," said one Foreign Office man warning against taking too open a stand against the Grenadians.
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Stillborn Baby Brought Back to Life After 25 Minutes
dailymail - The warmth of her mother’s first embrace lasted only a few seconds for Ella Claxton.
When midwives realised the newborn was close to death, it was decided that only a dramatic reduction in temperature could save her.
A faint heartbeat was detected after doctors fought to revive her for 25 minutes, but there were fears that the baby’s brain had been starved of oxygen for too long.
Doctors employed a new technique which induces a state of hypothermia and, crucially, reduces the risk of brain damage.
Thanks to that treatment, today at nine months old, Ella is happy, healthy and enjoying as many of her mummy’s cuddles as she likes.
The drama began moments after Rachel Claxton, 32, and her partner Jason Anderson, 33, marvelled at the arrival of their new daughter.
But despite a seemingly uncomplicated birth, Rachel’s placenta had ruptured during the labour, restricting the baby’s oxygen and blood supply. ‘I’d held her for no more than two seconds when the midwife told Jason to pull the emergency cord,’ Miss Claxton said.
‘All of a sudden there were doctors everywhere.
‘The midwife was crying, Jason was crying and no one could tell me what was going on.
‘I begged them to tell me what was happening, but I already knew she was dead because it had been so long and I still hadn’t heard her cry. Then, after what seemed like an eternity, I heard someone say: “She’s with us”. I couldn’t believe it.’
Three hours later, the couple went to see Ella in intensive care where they were given more devastating news.
It was thought the little girl had suffered hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy – brain damage caused by lack of oxygen and lack of blood supply.
‘The doctors told us to prepare for the worst and that they didn’t think she would make it through the night.
‘They said that even if she did survive, she would have serious brain damage and might not be able to walk or talk. But we didn’t care as long as our baby was alive. That was all that mattered to us.’
It was decided to take Ella 30 miles from Peterborough District Hospital to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge, where a new freezing treatment was used to reduce the damage to her brain.
A cooling blanket took her core temperature down from around 37c to 33.5c, reducing the swelling around her brain.
After 72 hours, Ella’s temperature was slowly raised by half a degree at a time until it was back to normal.
Then at 11 days old, she was finally allowed to go home with her parents.
Since then, she has progressed well. She still needs some physiotherapy, but scans have shown no brain abnormalities.
Miss Claxton, who is campaigning to have the treatment more widely available, said: ‘In the hospital, I couldn’t wait to hold her for the first time and give her a warming hug. We still can’t be sure of the future or what problems she might face, but so far she’s gone from strength to strength.
‘She’s our little miracle and every day she gives us new hope.’
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Cracked Mayan Code May Pave Way to Lost Gold
foxnews - Led by Joachim Rittsteig, an expert in Mayan writing, a group of scientists and journalists left Germany Tuesday, on a mission to Guatemala in search of a lost Maya treasure allegedly submerged under Lake Izabal.
According to the German newspaper Bild, which sponsored the expedition, the expedition includes two reporters from the publication, a photographer, a television camera, and a professional diver who will submerge into Lake Izabal in an attempt to find eight tons of gold said to have been lost there.
The expedition is led by Joachim Rittsteig, an expert in Mayan writing, who claims to have cracked the famous Dresden Codex and discovered specific information in one of its chapters that leads to a treasure in Lake Izabal.
"The Dresden Codex leads to a giant treasure of eight tons of pure gold," said Rittsteig, who has spent more than 40 years studying the document, to Bild.
A professor emeritus at Dresden University and author of various publications about the Maya culture, Rittsteig stressed that "page 52 talks about the Maya capital of Atlan, which was ruined by an earthquake on October 30th in the year 666 BC. In this city, they kept 2,156 gold tablets on which the Maya recorded their laws."
The treasure sank, along with the city, into the waters of Lake Izabal, located in eastern Guatemala. But the German academic claims to have found the remains thanks to radar images taken in the area.
Rittsteig calculates that "just the gold in the tablets is estimated to be currently worth up to 211 million euros (290 million dollars)."
The Dresden Codex, drafted in the year 1250 AD by Mayan priests, is one of the four major documents that remain from that culture. It has been housed by the Saxon State Library in East Germany for the last 272 years.
The code was discovered in 1739 in the possession of a wealthy man in Vienna, though no one knows how he got a hold of it. He then donated it to the Dresden Library, where it is kept under bullet-proof glass in a room with other treasured documents.
Joachim Rittsteig has dedicated most of his entire life to decoding the codex, which is composed of 74 pages, 3.56 meters long with 74 distinct hieroglyphics.
The Dresden Codex contains much of what is known of Mayan Culture, including their understanding of astrology, medicine and even the end of the world. In the last chapter, the codex describes the coming apocalypse, which it says will take place on December 12th, 2012.
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BTE Radio Welcomes the Rev. Tim Shaw
Join us live Sunday night 10:00 pm ET as we welcome our good friend...the and only Reverend Tim Shaw to the program.
Reverend Tim Shaw has had a life long interest in the investigation of occult and esoteric subjects. The religion of Modern Spiritualism was introduced into his family in the 1880’s and thus he comes from a long line of psychics and mediums. Tim is also an Ordained Spiritualist Minister, Certified Medium, Reiki Healer – achieving the Master/Teacher level, trained Spiritualist Healer, Dowser, and Metaphysical Instructor.
As well as following a traditionalist approach to paranormal research he also embraces new scientific techniques and methodologies used by the modern “para” investigator. Reverend Shaw is currently researching and working with “Real Time Spirit Communication” (RTSC) and “Instrumental Transcommunication” (ITC) devices such as the modified “K-2 Meter”, the “Joe’s Box” and the “Radio Shack Hack Box”.
To his credit he has published many articles, most recently in the nationally circulated “Haunted Times” Magazine and has co – authored the book “Haunted Rochester” that is published by History Press. Rev. Tim’s next book is tentatively entitled “Haunted Buffalo, the Nickel City and Surrounding Area” and will be published by Schiffer Books in 2010.
Reverend Tim can be heard each Monday at 9PM (EST) on the Internet Radio Show the “Black Cat Lounge” on the Para-X Radio Network which is “powered” by CBS Radio. (WWW.Para-X.Com) This show embraces a multitude of topics which are of interest to the local and national paranormal and metaphysical communities. Past episodes can be downloaded from www.BlackCatPodcast.Com. He is also the co-host of a “call in” Radio Show “The Psychics Next Door” heard Wednesdays at 7PM on the Para-X Radio Network. When not investigating, teaching, lecturing, writing, or enjoying classes he lives with his wife Nancy and black Labrador Ebony in Western New York. Check out his website http://www.BlackCatLounge.Ning.com
Join Eric Altman, Lon Strickler and the crew LIVE each Sunday at 10 PM ET as we go
Beyond the Edge!
