Before delving into personal sighting reports from our files, received
over the years from around the country, it is appropriate to look, first
of all, at UFO reports being carried by the Irish media - printed and
otherwise - over the past few years.
All this happened within the space of a few seconds and the object moved
parallel to his van, somtimes rising and then getting lower. It moved very
gently and peacefully, almost like a balloon would move, making no sound
and leaving no vapour trail. As he reached the dual carriageway in Finglas
the object then moved towards the graveyard where it turned left and
headed towards Finglas.
The witness turned up the Old Finglas Road and he still had it in view of
his van, although nobody else appeared to be looking skyward. While
attempting to keep the UFO in view he strained his neck as he was watching
the road as well. He then lost sight of it as it passed over houses
heading in an easterly direction. He then saw it again over Griffith Ave
and it continued in an easterly direction. As he drove into a yard on
Griffith Ave, one of his workmates came in and he asked him to look at the
object in the sky. His mate was equally baffled as to what it was, as it
did not resemble a bird of any description, but more like a wing or rather
two wings with a bump in the middle of it. They watched it passed gently
away in an easterly direction. He estimated that the object was about 12
to 14 feet long from tip to tip. He described the colour as a very 'matt
black'. It did not shine in the morning sunlight. He workmate said that it
turned horizontally and then vertically every couple of seconds, so as
maybe to propel itself along.
When it went horizontal,the bump could be seen between the wing spans. He
estimated that the object was about 100 to 120 feet high, occassionally
going lower. As the witness mentioned earlier he thought that the object
was a bird, however if it was it would have to flap its wings to keep
airbourne and neither he nor his mate noticed any flapping at all, so the
only conclusion that they could come to was that the object used the
horizonatal to vertical positon, to propel itself.
On the day in question, there was no wind and it was a beautiful calm,
morning. The witness ruled out both a kite and an aircraft, because it did
not look like any conventional aircraft and a kite could not have stayed
airbourne without any wind.
In 1984, the witness had a similar experience when he witnessed red
glowing balls in a field near his home when he lived in the country. At
the time, the area experienced several powercuts over that winter period.
Years later he began to tell some of his workmates what he saw, and was
amazed when they related similar experiences to him.
Investigation ongoing.
More updates to follow at a later date.
No part of this publication may be reproduced in any format without prior
permission of the IUFOPRA INFORMATION NETWORK RESEARCH TEAM. FAILURE TO DO
SO MAY RESULT IN LEGAL ACTION. kathycrinion@eircom.net
A cursory glance through the UFO press continuously yields a never-ending
supply of sighting reports from around the world. Some incidents are
'mysterious lights in the sky' occurrences, while others are better
documented by virtue of the fact that more substantial evidence presents
itself, such as ground traces, multiple witnesses, witness statements from
police or military personnel, military, civilian, or commercial pilots and
aircrew testimony , still or video photography, radar echoes and so on.
However, one noticeable thing about these sightings, landings, alleged
abductions, etc, is that until recently, none of those reported (or the
few that were) came from Ireland.
Since the establishment of the IUFOPRA INFORMATION NETWORK 6 years ago,
and the interest generated by people at home and abroad with regard to
Irish UFO sightings, we have produced this report in response to the many
requests that we have received over the years.
Anyone who is new to the subject and not affiliated either to ourselves or
to any research organisation, should we feel, be told just how many UFO
incidents are being reported annually. We believe it right to put forward
the case for the possibility of UFOs, no matter where they may originate.
We do not advocate any particular theory as to the origins of UFOs but we
do believe that the phenomenon should be taken seriously in this country
and studied and researched with and unbiased and scientific approach.
Also included in this update are new reports, which we have received
within the last two years since the original status report was published.
It is hoped that this new updated report will help any newcomer to the
subject make up his or her own mind about the subject.
Needless to say, we have often received UFO reports many weeks or months -
even years after the actual events occurred. These situations are
impossible to 'investigate' as such, without having a firm idea of the
date and time of the events, weather details etc, . Nevertheless, we have
included what we consider to be the most reliable accounts, having
interviewed virtually all the witnesses at length about their sighting
reports, including members of An Garda Siochana, the Irish Police Force.
Also, in several cases where the exact date and times of the sightings
were known, we checked with our contacts in local ATC centres to look for
more conventional explanations. Any sightings that they could not account
for on radar will be included here.
When investigating all UFO reports, (or paranormal incidents) generally,
one must always be wary of hoaxes.
In this regard, we screen all reports made to us as carefully as is
humanely possible! If any have slippe through the net, then all we can say
in our defence , is that any pranksters involved will not have their names
published by us, as all witnesses - whether genuine or not receive
anonymity in our publications. The only exception being a situation in
which someone's name is already in the public domain through the mass
media and willingly told their experiences to the world at large.
The main sources of printed UFO stories in the Republic of Ireland would
appear to be the popular daily tabloid, "The Star", and the Irish editions
of the popular UK Sunday papers, "The People" and "News of the World".
However, one should bear in mind that the majority of these newspapers do
not, and never will, in our opinion take the UFO Phenomenon seriously
enough to warrant it the respect it deserves and many sensationalise these
stories for entertainment purposes only and of course to sell their
newspapers.
That said however, the most interesting article to appear in The Star in
recent times was a piece about a spate of UFO sightings along the Northern
Ireland border. The article appeared in the Saturday, April 13th, 1996
edition, and related the then latest incident which had occurred a month
earlier in the area of Dromintree.
Here, a driver spotted - in broad daylight - a bright light behind his
car. The object pulled up along side his left-hand side and then darted in
and out of the trees at considerable speed. Other sightings were reported
from Armagh City and across South Armagh (and one of these sightings
reports was detailed on a news programme on BBC Northern Ireland TV).
Local people, used to military activity in the area, insisted that the
objects they saw were not British Army helicopters, or signals activity,
and some people have associated the objects with a cattle mutilation some
time earlier in the Camlough area - reported on elsewhere by ourselves.
"The People", meanwhile, periodically, publish UFO-related material,
mainly about UK incidents, or the phenomenon in general. However, in
October 1996, it ran the story of a terrifying close encounter which five
holidaymakers from Hampshire experienced while driving towards Killarney,
Co Kerry. Their car was "buzzed" by an oval object with lights around it.
Visibility was very good on the night in question, and all five people are
used to seeing all manner of aircraft, as they live only four miles from
an RAF base. We contacted The People reporter, who covered this story,
asking him to let the witnesses know that we were investigating UFO
reports from the Kerry area around the same time as their harrowing ordeal
- late July.
In other incidents, lights were seen darting around the sky all over South
Kerry. Local radio station, Radio Kerry 97FM, was swamped by telephone
calls concerning these lights. "The Star" ran this story, and in response
to our query, the radio station told us that it was a night club laser
display. However, no night club ever said that they were using lasers, and
these lights were seen many, many miles from night-clubs, disco bars, etc.
We were told that the local Garda(police) stations did not receive worried
calls nor were Knock or Shannon Airports consulted. We thus left that
situation rest for awhile, but then, in January of 1997, we heard of an
upsurge of UFO activity not just in Kerry, but in south-west Ireland in
general, which had been ongoing for several months.As of this writing our
Regional Officer for this area has uncovered some new reports since July
of this year and these are included in the new updated version of this
report.
Indeed, the south-west of Ireland frequently appears to be something of a
focal point for UFO activity in the Republic of Ireland.As long ago as
1993, RTE Radio aired a popular weekly science programme called "Light
Years Ahead, which reported that a considerable amount of UFO sighting
reports in the area began to surface as well as alleged alien abduction
episodes.Since that time, we have had some witnesses coming forward and
claiming to have had an alien abduction experience. These investigations
are currently ongoing ,and until such time as our investigations draw to a
satisfactory conclusion, and because of the sensitivity attached to these
reports we will refrain from making any further comments, while at the
same time remaining open-minded about them.
Similarly, rumours of local unexplained cattle mutilations have yet to be
substantiated. (We hope to publish a "CATTLE MUTILATIONS IN IRELAND"
report in the near future).
In May of 1996 newspapers reports told of how UFOs had been observed
hovering over the Shrine at Knock, Co Mayo, an extremely popular religious
pilgrimage site, which attracts visitors not just from the British Isles,
but from further afield as well. One is struck by the thought that the
discs observed wished to be seen by a large gathering of people, similar
to what is undoubtedly the situation over Mexico City, since July 1991 and
which is still ongoing today. It is also interesting that a renowned
religious site should host such a remarkable occurrence, bringing to mind
a very similar situation in Brazil recently.
Unfortunately,from the point of view of research, the Knock report was
quite typically of the media in general; details were sketchy, follow-up
interviews with eye-witnesses were non-existent, while no attempt was made
(or certainly not published) to glean and further details from airport
radars, local Garda authorities, weather stations, and so on. UFOs, are
apparently, still and oddity to the media and a subject which will
certainly catch the eye on newstands but which should not be delved into
too deeply or indeed taken seriously at all. This point was made clear to
IUFOPRA when, after reports of the appearance of a glowing UFO in the
Dublin/Wicklow Mountains -which was reported to local Garda Stations - in
the Spring of 1996, we received no response whatsoever when we wrote to
the Editors of the papers that carried this story, seeking further details
on the incident, and offering to meet any costs incurred searching their
back issues and microfiche archives for previous UFO related reports and
photos.
On the positive side , however, at least the subject is at last, gaining a
few column inches now and again. For example, in August 1996, "The Irish
Sun" carried a report of an alleged UFO landing, on a farm in Co Kildare,
after which soil samples were taken from the landing site by a local
archaeologist (who was not an Accredited UFO INVESTIGATOR) an associate of
the farmer. (Unfortunately this is what we are up against most of the time
- it seems that people prefer to report such incidents to the paper rather
than get IUFOPRA involved, nor do they have any desire to share any
necessary relevant data with us - it is one of these things that we have
to put up with but it makes our investigation so much more difficult and
in some cases can be very frustrating trying to get information from
people who,for whatever reason best known to themselves, will not share
the information with us or with any other interested parties).
Strangely, for what could have been very important case, no large Irish
daily or evening paper ran this story, to the best of our knowledge.
When the story appeared, the first question to be asked was "why land on a
farm of all places?". That question will probably be never answered but
the prospect looms that an animal abduction/mutilation could have been on
the agenda, similar to the incidents we have reported on from Wexford and
Armagh. Not to be overlooked, however, is the fact that, in the following
November "The Star" told how several townspeople in Athy observed a "huge
hovering orange object"? If this was a return to the area by the same
craft, or a craft with the same origins, the relatively close proximity of
military installations might have a bearing. Close by lies the Curragh
military camp, while to the North-East along the N7, lies the military
aerodrome at Baldonnel, home of the Irish Air Corp. Operating from here,
is the Naval Support Squadron, some of whose personnel encountered a UFO
while flying a Dauphin helicopter to Finner Camp in south Donegal, during
the UFO "flap" over these islands on the night of March 30th/31st 1993.
This flap DID receive front-page coverage, and will be detailed elsewhere
in this report.
As far as Irish national television is concerned, it is unfortunate that
RTE have not, to date, given much air time to the subject. Although they
have transmitted repeats of paranormal/UFO related programmes such as
"Arthur C.Clarke's Mysterious World" and ........."Mysterious Universe",
there has been virtual silence on the topic as far as home produced
programming is concerned. Whatever the inevitable cost considerations may
be in documentary commissioning, one would have thought that UFO incidents
might at least receive some coverage on news reports. Not a bit of it,
however, until one of their own newsreaders was interviewed after he had
witnessed for himself the unusual lights that were seen in the sky on that
memorable night in March 1993.
Apart from the UFO discussions on the aforementioned RTE Radio programme
"Light Years Ahead", their two national radio channels have also been
remarkably quiet on the topic. Even RTE Kerry refused to answer our
queries concerning UFO reports in their area in the Summer of 1996. That
said, however, some local stations have actively joined the deabate by
having 'phone-in'discussions programmes on not just UFOs, but other
aspects of Paranormal experiences, such as haunted houses, poltergeist
activity. Credit should go to NEAR FM105 and FM104 in Dublin.
Combing through our UFO files, it is extremely difficult to decide the
best way in which to present them; as mentioned earlier, many reports-
almost all written, though some were related to us verbally -were lodged
with us some time after the events actually occurred.
Thus, for example, one 1991 report actually refers to an incident which
occurred in the early 70s, while a 1992 report told us of a UFO event only
months earlier. Therefore, it would be difficult to put every report in
chronological order, either going by the (sometimes-undermined) dates of
the experiences themselves, or by the dates on which the reports of these
experiences were filed with us. As our paper files and data base are both
primarily kept in alphabetical order of the witnesses' names, it is not at
all surprising that many descriptions of craft and geographical locations
in the country recur again and again. After considering these factors, the
most workable solution is to attempt to divide up and categorise cases
according-as much as possible-to the county in which the events are
reported to have taken place.
One might expect that,going by population alone, Dublin would generate
more UFO reports than anywhere else. Even more so, given the capital's
close proximity to airports and the resulting, inevitable situations where
aircraft lights are mistaken for something more mysterious in the skies.
Dublin does, indeed, provide us with a steady stock of reports, but it is
WICKLOW which has provided some of the most interesting and best reports
of the 1980s and 1990s.
This country has been referred to , in the work of Jacques Vallee, as a
hotspot for unusual activity going back many years. In recent times, as
mentioned earlier, newspaper reports told of local garda stations being
notified about a UFO sighted by several motorists near the well known
Sugar Loaf Mountain. The newspapers did not give the exact date of this
occurrence, but on March 1st 1996, a source close to IUFOPRA, was driving
in the locality, when he witnessed "hovering disc" over his car, which
then shot away. It was an unnerving experience for the man involved, and
for his wife and young children, whose planned drive in the country air
had such a bizarre end.
Two other incidents immediately come to mind when dealing with Wicklow,
both of which come from extremely reliable sources and both of which had
quite disturbing follow-on events of an equally baffling nature.
The first case actually occurred just over the Wexford border, around
1980, at Clones Strand, about six miles south of Arklow. A local resident
was returning to his home at approximately 2am,after a late stroll to the
nearby village of Castletown, about half a mile inland.
As he looked out to sea, he observed two large bright orange objects
flying north-westwards-towards Wicklow. Both objects were the colour of
the setting sun, and cast reflections across the water. It was a clear
night, and the witness kept the objects in view for a minute or more as
they glided silently inland. The witness was not frightened by what he
saw, just curious, though he was reluctant to speak to anyone about his
experience until some months later, for fear of ridicule. Indeed, he
declined a further follow up on this intriguing case by IUFOPRA, or to
talk more about it after all these years. That, though, may not be too
surprising when one bears in mind what happened to him the following
summer. He was giving a lift, to some friends from Dublin, who were
staying at the local caravan site, to the local pub. Their jokes some
months earlier to the witness about "seeing little green men" were very
quickly forgotten when, on a pitch-dark road, orange and white lights
appeared behind the car. In a scene reminiscent of the "Close Encounters"
movie, they slowed down to pull into the side of the road, to allow the
other car to pass them. As the other vehicle was closing on them quickly,
with blinding headlights full-on, they wished to avoid the possibility of
what may have been a drunk driver tailgating them dangerously. As they
manoeuvred the car to the side of the road, the "car" behind them overtook
them- by lifting off and flying over their roof. The craft veered off to
the right, again towards the Wicklow border a couple of miles away, and
disappeared into the night sky. The car's engine did not stall, nor did
its' electric's shut down. Suffice to say that, though the main witness
does not drink, his passengers were only too glad to guzzle a stiff
whiskey at the pub!
Never again did they doubt the witness, who still seeks absolutely NO
publicity over the incident..
The other case that comes to mind occurred in the summer of 1988 in the
Glenmalure Valley area of the county-a heavily forested area and certainly
remote enough to conceal UFO activities. The male witness and two friends,
along with their wives and small children, were staying in the area for a
long weekend. On the first night, having arrived quite late in the evening
after working that day, and with the children tired out, everyone decided
to retire for the night, apart from the witness and one of his friends,
who decided to go for a walk and smoke a cigarette. Some distance down the
road, both of them stopped dead in their tracks when they looked into a
field beside the road. Between the distant lights of farmhouses and
holiday caravans etc; they could make out a large, dark disc sitting in
the field, quite close to the gate beside them. Both became terrified as
lights began to flash all over the object, and they instinctively turned
homeward and ran.
Sleep was, understandably, very difficult to come by that night, and again
ridicule greeted their story the following morning. That evening, however,
several of the others joined them for an evening (still daylight) walk,
past the same field. As they neared the field, they noticed a small figure
in overalls at the top of a telephone pole, examining the apparatus
carefully. Thinking it was an Eircom (Telecom) repair man; they passed him
by without looking at him too closely, though they did notice his
diminutive stature-a young apprentice, perhaps? Suddenly, they all
stopped. Not only was it a bank holiday weekend, when it would be unusual
to see such work being carried out unless of course it was a major
emergency, but they were miles away from any Eircom
office of depot - miles from anywhere really. So, where was his van? He
hadn't any vehicle whatsoever. In that second or two of realization ,they
all turned around, but he had vanished, and could not be seen either
hiding or crossing the open field. One point of interest here is that this
location is, like the landing incident on the Kildare farm, quite close to
a military range, the Glen of Immal, which is about 6 miles to the west.
Indeed the Kildare farm mentioned earlier is approximately the same
distance further west from the military site. With UFO activity very often
observed over or near military installations around the world, one wonders
if this could be the case here.
So, Wicklow certainly does appear to have had its' fair share of UFO
incidents. Apart from the above cases, other incidents have been reported
to us over the years from that part of the country. One of the latest
concerned UFOs being spotted over Blessington, several days in a row, in
mid-March of 1997. The investigation into this case is still on going and
we have good reason to believe that the witness IS reliable.
Another recent witness statement to us concerned a sighting that occurred
in the summer of 1996 in the Newtown Mount Kennedy area. The UFO described
was an oval, electric blue light which darted about the nearby mountains,
and triggered several people to 'phone a local radio station to tell of
their sighting.
An interesting witness form was returned to us by a housewife in the
vicinity of Kilpeddar, just inland from the coastal town of Greystones, in
March of 1993. Unfortunately, she could not supply us with an exact date
or time for her sighting which, she claimed, lasted about twenty minutes
altogether. This is unfortunate, as we were interested in checking
possible military involvement in the events.
The witness, Mrs X was going to bed at 23.30 or so, when , looking towards
the sea on what was a crystal clear starry night, she began observing
lights moving along the surface of the water. As her home was on slightly
elevated land, she and her husband could look out to sea, beyond the
village of Kilcoole, and often watched the lights of ships and trawlers as
they went about their trade. On this night as she watched, one of the
lights began to rise from the water. Through her husband's binoculars,
she could see that the object was a globe of coloured lights that were
"beautiful to look at". Then, a separate white light came on, shining on
the object. Behind this light she could discern the shape of a helicopter.
The object continued to rise as the helicopter followed. All of a sudden
the globe accelerated skyward, leaving the helicopter hovering. It soon
turned, and flew inland.
The area is popular for yachting and water sports, and with shipping
always present, it is possible that a search and rescue helicopter was
deployed by the military. That, however, in no way explains the object
itself, which was described as very large indeed in comparison with the
aircraft. The witness could not tell which type of helicopter was
involved; it could have been of assistance if it could be determined for
certain that an Irish Army Alouette, Dauphin, or Gazelle was involved, but
in SAR operations,Royal Air Force helicopters are permitted to operate in
and through Irish territorial airspace.
A former IUFOPRA member submitted a sighting form in 1995, about a
sighting he had when travelling into Bray, just inside the Wicklow border,
on the DART (DUBLIN AREA RAPID TRANSPORT) train, in late February or early
March of that year.Over the Bray Head peninsula he and his colleague
spotted, low in the sky, a stationary, 'pinkish red,round object', about
the size of a penny at arm's length.It looked like a small, glowing sun -
a description that repeats itself with many UFOs in Ireland for some
reason - and had disappeared by the time the train pulled into Bray
railway station. The colour of the object could have been caused by the
reflection of the setting sun, in the opposite side of the sky. As with
the previously related incident, the Bray area is also a popular holiday
spot, so the possibility of a distress flare springs to mind. However, the
precise round shape of the object makes that less likely, as does the lack
of emergency service activity during and after the event, with no rescues
or false alarms being publicized. Also, the extreme stillness and lack of
wind makes it unlikely that a weather balloon could have drifted away
from the area by the time the witnesses reached the station. Finally, it's
worth noting that the location of this object was four miles (or probably
less,given the point of observation) from the point where Mrs W.....'s UFO
came out of the water.
Most of IUFOPRAs reports from around Ireland have concerned people's
encounters with ghostly phenomena; haunted buildings and locations,
poltergeist activity, as well as experiences of all-too-real 'banshees',
and so on. However, UFO sightings are very far from being unheard of. The
following is a summary of UFO activity around Ireland, which has been
compiled to indicate just how widespread these things are being seen, not
just in or near population centres such as Dublin or Cork.
Being two of the largest counties in the area, it may be a surprise to
some that we have heard very little about UFO sightings from MAYO or
GALWAY. However, the sparse population and remoteness of much of terrain
should be borne in mind as a reasonable cause for this. That said, the May
1996 appearance of unidentified craft over Mayo's Knock Shrine did make it
into printed media, via the 'Sunday World' newspaper. As mentioned
earlier, however, no follow-up was carried out by their journalists, and,
disappointingly, no photographs or video footage was forthcoming from eye
witnesses - some of whom, having travelled considerable distances on
pilgrimage, must surly have had their cameras with them?
The most interesting event to have occurred in the last several years in
Galway took place in mid-December 1991, and was deemed important enough to
receive a half-page of coverage in the same paper. The report referred to
a UFO that was seen by at least three people in the area of Abbeyknockmoy.
Their observation lasted several minutes, and the object looked moon-
shaped and was a glowing orange colour.
It lit up several fields on what was a very dark night, and was totally
silent. When it vanished, one witness said there was "a very definite
wispy trail of smoke" left in its place, but all witnesses were very
adamant that a flare was NOT to blame. After this report was published,
IUFOPRA attempted to do some follow-up checks with those involved, but to
date, none have replied to our queries.
Moving further North, we have so far received no details of UFO activity
in the SLIGO or LEITRIM areas, but we are hopeful of receiving some in the
near future.
For DONEGAL, though, in August of 1996 we received a brief written
summary, from one of our Northern Ireland representatives who travelled to
speak to a witness there, about their UFO sighting. The incident was
actually witnessed by a husband and wife, and a group of children, while
they were driving from the town of Gortahork. A silvery object was seen
moving from west to east at a slow speed, before disappearing from view
behind nearby woods. It had a red zig-zagged insignia of some kind,
interspersed with blue lights, and made a humming sound.
Despite the fact that Donegal borders Northern Ireland, the incident
occurred on the opposite side of the county, a full thirty miles or more
away from the border, and thus any kind of low-flying activity by the
security forces in either jurisdiction. It also occurred over forty miles
north of the nearest Irish military airbase at Finner Camp, near
Ballyshannon, and the witnesses were absolutely positive that the craft
they observed was not a conventional plane or helicopter.
Beyond giving details in an interview, the witnesses did not wish to
complete a questionnaire and were reluctant to comment further, wishing
to remain anonymous. Of course, we must respect witnesses' wishes at all
times, and will not at any time apply pressure of any kind whatsoever to
coerce more from a witness than they are prepared to give. An eye witness'
reticence to be too deeply involved in any attempted investigation of
their experience not only demonstrates their concern about possible
ridicule, but often displays the very profound fear they have of whatever
it is they have seen in the first place.
The silver and red colours of the UFO in this Donegal case brings to mind
a letter we received in August of 1994 from the southern county of
Waterford, concerning an incident that had taken place as long ago as 1964
or so. The witness a Mrs C........., observed what she took to be an
aeroplane, directly above the end of her back garden. Beyond her garden
lay a football pitch, with a game in progress, and she thought this plane
was coming low to have a quick glimpse at the game. However, she realized
that, on closer inspection, no wings were visible and the craft was
silent. She reasoned that the wings weren't visible because she was
looking at the craft sideways on, and that the engine noise was being
carried away by the wind. Then, though, she saw that this object was
absolutely motionless. She called her husband out of the house to witness
what she was seeing, and both of them watched it for a further two minutes
before it turned around and accelerated away and out of sight. Both agreed
that no windows or cockpit were visible, and that it looked just like a
twelve-feet-long silver and red cigar.
They immediately phoned the nearest weather station and airfield, who
accused them of having 'hit the bottle!' Both were sober, it was a dry,
sunny day, but unfortunately for them, neither the spectators nor the
match officials or players had seen the object, to further corroborate
their story.
As yet,we have not come across any Irish cases of UFO interference with a
car's mechanical or electrical workings, despite there being many
instances reported from America, Britain, etc. However, a couple of
reports have reached us from TIPPERARY concerning terrified motorists
being 'buzzed' by unknown aerial craft. The first of these was related to
us by a retired truck driver in 1997, though his experience occurred in
the early 1960s. On the return journey to his depot in Dublin, he and his
helper decided to stop at a public house in the area of Nenagh for
refreshments. After one pint of beer each, with sandwiches, they resumed
their journey eastwards along dark small roads.To their right, they
noticed a light travelling alongside them behind the hedges, and,
thinking that it was a car driving parallel to them, perhaps on a main
road they slowed down,expecting a junction to loom up ahead of them. The
junction never came however, as the light also slowed to their pace. They
rolled down the window, in case they were looking at a reflection of the
moon, but the light was still there,now very bright and behind the nearest
hedge. They panicked, stepped up through the gears, and raced away as fast
as they safely could...................all the while with the light pacing
them. Eventually it decreased in size and disappeared, as though moving
away from them. The incident terrified them both, and, all these years
later, we have been the only people , apart from family and close friends,
to whom he has agreed to tell his story, because of, yet again, fear of
ridicule.
The second case occurred more recently, in the summer of 1994, when a man
and his niece were followed for several miles by three concentric rings
of light, from Limerick Junction, through Tipperary Town as far as Bansha.
When they stopped their car and got out, before Tipperary Town, the lights
- blue and white in colour - stopped overhead. The object(s) were observed
by a group of teenagers in the town, and no explanation could be offered
to the witness when he later rang Dunsink Observatory in Dublin, who
stated that they had received no simliar reports.This county, like
Wicklow, has seem more UFO activity than most, though the explanation for
this remains as obscure as ever. One other case of note has come our way
from this county, though, because it also involves possible ongoing
abduction/contact episodes, we are not at liberty to disclose further
details - cerainly for the time being, anway. Neither can we disclose -
under strict instruction from the witnesses involved -details of at least
four other, similar cases, from the south coast, the Dublin Area, and from
the central county of OFFALY. From one of this county's neighbours,
WESTMEATH, we received a 1996 account of flashing lights moving slowly
across the sky, on a cloudy but dry night, witnessed by an entire family
for twenty minutes or more.Before we leave Tipperary, one final sighting
from 1977, is worth looking at. The witness, Mr M......., who still
resides in the county,told us how he noticed an unusual red light over
Slievenamon Mountain while he was driving in the area. He stopped his car
and got out to take a look. Thinking it was an aircraft at first, he soon
noticed that it wasn't moving. Any thoughts he had about it being a flare
quickly disappeared when, after several minutes, the light turned white
and shot upwards into the low cloud cover.Soon afterwards it began to
drizzle, so he restared his car and continued on his journey. At the time
of his report to us, in late February 1992, he further stated that since
moving permanently to the county in 1978, some months after his sighting,
he has from time to time heard what sounds like distant thunder or
explosions, which always sets dogs off barking. None of the local people
could explain it to him, though they too had also been hearing the
rumblings for years. He also told us that since his sighting he has on
several occasions noticed distant lights in the sky that he could not
explain, even though he is a keen skywatcher and is well acquainted with
aircraft and astronomical light sources. However, he does not -quite
rightly-call these 'UFOs' as such, as they could well have perfectly
natural of manmade causes.
The 1977 incident at Slievenamon Mountain was not Mr M's fist UFO
sighting, however. His first unusual experience occurred -with several
named witnesses- in October of 1971 when he lived in the area of
Clonsilla, Dublin. Though now but all swallowed up by the continual
expansion of Dublin City, at the time Clonsilla was an outlying village.
Returning from a football match about two miles away at Blanchardstown, on
a cold and clear windless evening, he and four friends caught sight of a
bright orange ball drifting slowly from west to east direction, towards
the city. They watched it for five minutes, then, as it went out of sight,
they ran to a local water tower and climbed up for a better look. From
their high vantage point they could see the object continue to drift over
the city in the distance. The location was on the path of a busy air
corridor to and from Dublin Airport, and all the witnesses were well used
to seeing various aircraft flying overhead, and either gaining or losing
height as they approached or left the airport- and this object, which
looked like the "size of a tennis ball" in front of them, was not like any
aircraft they had ever seen. They were so positive that it wasn't a
weather balloon because of its brightness and also because of its lack of
wind to account for its motion; any slight breeze that momentarily blew
was southerly, while the object flew at a right angle to this direction.
Again in this case we see a description of the object as being somewhat
similar to a small glowing sun. Whatever, though about this type of object
been seen in ones or in small groups-such as the Clones Strand incident in
Wexford- but what about incidents of these things being seen in large
groups? One such report came our way from Dublin, from an elderly couple
living in the Navan Road area, in the summer of 1989. Mrs D---- was
resting in her bedroom, at about 10pm one evening in July. She looked out
her bedroom window, over the city, and was perplexed to see, in the
direction of the huge ESB (Electricity Supply Board) towers in Dublin Bay,
a rising orange ball. Then a second. She called her husband, and both
watched in amazement for about half an hour as more than ONE HUNDRED of
these objects, normally in twos,emerged from a single, much larger object,
and drifted towards the Clontarf district. As this incident was reported
very quickly to us, we were able to check out balloon launches and
aircraft movement in the area at the time in question, but all such
queries drew a blank as regards an explanation. This incident remains
very much open to this day, as no one else came forward to back the claims
made, though we must stress here that both witnessess seemed absolutely
genuine.
Strange aerial activity over Clontarf was also in evidence in June of
1993.On Saturday the 26th, at approximately 22.40, the witness went out to
his back garden to take in some summer chairs. As a keen astronomer, he
looked to the western sky to observe the planet Jupiter. As he did so, he
noticed a 'star'moving at an exceptionally high speed, crossing the sky in
a southeast to northwest trajectory, and crossing the path of the planet's
position. At first, he thought it was a satellite, but he had never seen a
satellite move at such a fast speed. Any thoughts of the object being a
manned spacecraft such as the Shuttle or the Mir station-which has
regularly been seen over Ireland-were quickly dispelled by the fact that
the 'star' suddenly executed a near-ninety degree turn upwards and
disappeared towards space.This is not the typical behaviour of any natural
or artifical space debris the WE know of! On the following Monday morning,
Dublin ATC confirmed to the witness-an IUFOPRA member and a trained
observer in a government job- that nothing odd had shown up or radar at
the time, nor were any craft approraching or leaving the airport in that
part of the sky. One of our researchers verified his phonecall and their
response. The sighting lasted around 6 seconds, and the extraordinary
speed and acrobatic agility displayed is certainly food for thought.
The 'orange ball' appeared again at 22.30 on April 9th, 1992. This object
was less clearly defined than many of the other situations, and was quite
hazy in appearance. Some distance away, a similarily-sized light, whithish
in colour, was also seen. Both lights, over eight to ten seconds, were
seen to race towards each other, pass each other out, then vanish.
Thinking that they may have been aircraft switching off landing lights, we
checked with Dublin Airport but they had nothing on their logs that could
explain such activity. This event occurred on a fairly clear night with
several stars visible, and no noise was heard from the 'lights'. It
happened over the Drumcondra/Griffith Ave area, and in February 1997,
another unusual light was observed over this area, by a witness walking
south from Whitehall throught Collins Avenue.The small point of light
looked just like a high-flying aircraft or satellite, but it failed to
reappear from behind a small patch of cloud. The witness could see no
stars and crystal clear skies on either side of the cloud at all times, so
the question simply doesn't arise about the cloud being moved by the wind,
and thus keeping the light covered by 'moving along with it', as it were.
Some reports made to IUFOPRA, though always interesting to read, cannot be
evaluated any further-and certainly researched, or checked-out because of
the unwillingness of witnesses to comment further or to fill in sighting
forms, let alone agreeing to meet a researcher/investigator. However, one
must bear in mind the effects that UFO (or other paranormal) experiences
have on eye witnesses; frequently they wish to unburden themselves of
their experience and are glad that they will at least be listened to in an
open-minded manner, but do not wish to proceed any further. This, of
course, does not entail that every single case is genuine and has some
objective reality, but in the absence of publicity it is difficult to see
a reason for hoaxing an incident; after all, as stated at the outset, we
never reveal witnesses' identities in our publications, nor would hoaxers
make as much as a penny out of us for their stories............ we can't
AFFORD that! Some such cases have come our way, where the witnesses wish
to proceed no further than sharing their experiences with us, involving
alleged encounters with alien entities. The area of alien abduction or
contact is obvioulsly a very personal one, and, as many of these entities
tend to come back again and again, it is quite understandable that in
these cases in particular, any witnesses cooperation whatsoever-no matter
how little-is given only on VERY strict conditions of anonymity, as
suggested earlier in this report. Therefore, though it would contravene
our confidentiality policy to discuss any current happenings, in compiling
the reports two old letters to us came to light concerning 'alien'
episodes. Some basic details about these stories follow, for what they may
be worth.IUFOPRA will ask the witnesses we are currently in touch with if
we can possibly publish an outline of their experiences at some future
time.The first of these two was sent to us in the early spring of 1994.
The witness, a student living in the southwest of the city, claimed that
he was taken on board a craft of some kind, where he saw what he described
as a "translucent apparition" with golf ball-sized groups of multi-
coloured lights floating inside it. Also, a "creature", which was
humanoid, had large black eyes and a small slit for a nose. He also
claimed that light emanatied from its mouth. The witness did not reveal
his identity to us, but through a friend of his he gave a taped interview.
Through this friend we forwarded the necessary forms but to date he has
not chosen to respond. We filed this information away in our database,
ever mindful of a hoax, but recently we have had reason to look at the
case again, following a recent report from another part of the country
about an encounter-in broad daylight- with what sounded like similiar
beings.The second case was reported to a member of theIUFOPRA Committee in
December, 1995. The 'contactee' did not wish to fill in forms or have his
name stored on any record of his encounter. Several UFO sightings he had,
while with witnesses, in the Dubber Cross area of northwest Dublin in
1981, ended with the landing of the craft behind his home, and a brief
conversation with its occupants. Telepathetically, they invited him to
board their craft, but he refused, NOT out of fear,but, as he told them
verbally, it would "screw up his life too much" if he did. They nodded in
understanding-and possible agreement-turned, and walked away, and they
never returned. Only after these events did he develop an interest in
UFOs, and he is now very interested in matters of astronomy, space travel,
and advancing technology. The witness does not want his name divulged-
ever- nor his current home area in the west of Ireland. This is
uderstandable, as he is now in senior management in a large multinational
company. What is particularly convincing about this case is that the
'aliens' were of the 'Angelic' of 'Nordic' type, though he did not use
these words to describe them. Also, they didn't give him any earth-
shattering warnings about the state of the planet, no spiritual
enlightenment, and definitely NO Adamski-style tours of the solar system!
Nothing at all. It is also worth noting that this is the only Irish
situation that we have come across where the 'Nordics' have been involved,
rather than the Greys.
The Dubber Cross and Finglas area of Dublin has yielded other reports of
various coloured lights, though most-if not all- of these incidents should
be looked at while bearing in mind that Dublin Airport is quite close by.
One witness however, provided us with two incidents which are not really
explainable. The first occurred in Finglas West in 1978. At 2 am one
morning and unable to sleep,he looked out of his bedroom window and
watched as a light flew across the sky. This suddenly stopped, did a U-
turn, and flew directly over his house. His second sighting occurred
around 1986.He was saying goodnight to two friends at about 20:45 one
evening, when he noticed a line of lights, similar to distant headlights,
above the rooftops of the houses opposite to where he was standing, on his
doorstep. Over the course of perhaps, 10 minutes, his friends slowly
walked away, stopping ever few steps to turn around and chat to him some
more. The witness noticed that any time they moved, so did the lights, in
the same direction. Finally, the lights moved directly behind a dark cloud
some distance away and never reappeared.
Over the past several years,from about 1989 onwards, the 'Flying Triangle'
has been very prominent in the UFO media.So what has been the situation in
Ireland with regard to these craft? Though seen during the March 1993
'flap', sightings of these strange craft have been few and far between. At
least, as far as reports to IUFOPRA are concerned.However, they are not
totally unknown. January 1997 saw, it was claimed, the appearance of a
huge triangle in Cork, though this was not reported directly to us. Also
it that month, we received a letter from a young Dublin man who saw a
a flashing sequence of lights in the sky, above cloud cover. His
description was reminiscent of many FT reports. The lights he saw were
accompanied by a low, pulsating dull noise. This occurred at 7am, as he
was starting his car to drive home from work. Quite alarmed, he quickly
drove to nearby Clondalkin, then switched on his car radio to hear the
news headlines. He caught the end of an FM 104 story about odd lights
having been seen in the sky around Dublin Airport earlier that morning.
Tuning in an hour later to hear the report in full, he was surprised that
the story was totally dropped. Though he pointed out to us that he could
not clearly make out any 'craft' as such in this instance, he did tell us
that as a schoolboy in 1985, he saw a wedge-shaped object hanging
noiselessly in the sky some distance above the schoolyard.
The Marino area of North central Dublin has also seen at least one
triangular shaped oddity in its skies.This, though occurred many years
before the current spate of sightings. At this time, the witness was a
teenager, which puts the sighting sometime in the early 1970s. Playing
football with some friends on Marino Green on a hot summer's day, they
finally decided to stop playing and have a drink of water while listening
to a pop station on their radio. As they all lay on the grass talking, the
witness noticed a tiny, moon-coloured triangular object directly above
them, which looked to be thousands of feet up. Between playing kickabout
games of football and relaxing on the grass, they spent the entire
afternoon in the same place, but in all this time the object did not move
at all, nor did any contrails emanate from it at any time.
Finally, as far as Dublin is concerned, in the northeastern area of
Malahide, a witness saw what was quite a spectacle towards the end of
1995. Two circular craft flew in formation out over the sea in the general
direction of the Isle of Man. Both had a bank of revolving lights towards
their top, while underneath these he noticed two stationary lights towards
the 'rim of the craft', and a flashing light in the centre. The sighting,
witnessed by one other person, continued for several minutes, until the
two craft accelerated away, followed-until outpaced, perhaps-by what he
maintained were military aircraft, a helicopter and a jet (presumbably a
Fouga).He told us he rang the Air Corps the following day to ask them what
had happened but received only a curt denial that anything occurred in the
area.This incident did not come to our attention until quite sometime
afterwards, so it is difficult to support or dismiss the notion of
military involvement. If there was such involvement one can understand the
authorities' reluctance to impart information about our airspace being so
easily violated. However, no red tape was evident when we were given
access to military and Garda reports concerning their close hand sightings
of UFOs on THE night of UFOs all over the British Isles, March 30/31 1993.
This remarkable night will be dealt with after looking at some other cases
from around the Republic, and the Northern Ireland situation.
As with Dublin, one could be forgiven for thinking that, with Shannon
Airport in the county, CLARE would have more tales of unknown aerial
lights than most other counties. Thus far, this has not been the case.
The most notable UFO sighting from there was reported to us in late
November, 1993. In August of that year, on a clear moonlight night,a
flight of three 'satellites' were seen following each other in a westerly
direction. Though 'shooting stars were prevalent in the on the night in
question, this explanation has been rejected by all of the eye witnesses
involved, as the objects did not follow a straight trajectory, but took
several abrupt turns while crossing the sky.
In December 1992, a student had a frightening encounter with what he first
thought to be a plane or a satellite. This event occurred at 5.40 in the
morning while he was walking home from his girlfriend's house in
WESTMEATH.The object grew in size very rapidly as it approached him. It
then stopped dead and began rotating vertically. The terrified witness
could make out a row of three lights along some kind of long craft. It
suddenly shot away into the distance, as he ran home, panic-stricken.
In late April or early May of 1991, a young Mongoghan man had a very
unusual sighting. To the west of his home, in the direction of Fermanagh,
he noticed a bright white light on the horizon. The light rose into the
sky, then dropped out of sight. Two further white lights then rose from
the horizon and dropped down again. He thought they were flares, but he
then noticed that several 'rods' of light could be seen below the horizon.
They were ornage-red in colour, similar to hot metal. They totalled
"between 50 and 100", and all glided off in the direction of Monaghan
town, though he finally lost sight of the lights behind a hill. Though the
white lights may have been flares being used by security forces across the
Fermanagh border in Northern Ireland, the red rods were very puzzling, not
only as regards as to what they were, but where their destination was?
From Monaghan we move to Northern Ireland, where most cases are, no doubt,
reported to reseach groups based locally, such as N.I.E.L.A. which is run
by IUFOPRA's Regional Officer for Northern Ireland, Denis Harper. Details
of such incidents, though, have come to our attention over the last few
years, thanks to IUFOPRA members living within Northern Ireland, and to
data exchange which we maintain there with various individuals, etc.
In September 1992, we received a letter from ANTRIM, from a man who had
seen an unusual light in the sky back in 1977.Then, as a young teenager
walking home from a disco, on a very clear night, he saw the light flying
at an extremely high speed across the sky, making turns of almost ninety
degrees in mid-flight. In the fifteen years between his experience and his
letter to us, he was at a total loss to explain what he had seen.
During the Christmas-New Year period of '92-'93 we received a summary of
UFO reports in Northern Ireland from a former associate in Belfast. As
related in the 'Media Reports' section, where lights in the sky are
concerned, it's important to bear in mind that many aerial lights-and even
unusually shaped objects-MAY be the result of military activity,
helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft being seen at unusual angles and so on.
Keeping this in mind, the following brief summary of various 'UFO'
incidents have been chosen because they do appear to have a genuine
unexplainable air about them.
In the early 1980s-date unspecified-a witness from the northwest had two
UFO encounters in the LIMAVADY area. The first was the sighting,
allegedly, of a landed craft in a local quarry, though we did not receive
any details of what, if anything, transpired. On a second occasion, he was
tailed by a UFO while driving his car. He stopped, got out, and observed
the object briefly. However, he became unnerved, restarted his car and
sped away.
On December the 16th, 1988, around midday, a very bright, slim disc with a
blue-white light was observed twice, half an hour apart, hovering over the
CRAIGAVON area. According to the report in our possession, Aldergrove
Airport was contacted immediately but they said that no UFO reports had
been received by them and that nothing was wrong. Of possible interest
however, might be the fact that a British Army helicopter had come down
near power lines in the Lurgan area, at the same time that the disc had
been seen. This was confirmed, the report says, by a Northern Ireland
Electricty spokesperson.
A large UFO was also seen, and photographed, in the WARRENPOINT area,
Carlingford Lough, in April 1990, and the pictures in the 'Sunday Life'. A
photo of a UFO in the same area was printed in the then 'Evening Press'in
Dublin. This could have depicted the very same craft, but the authenticity
of the picture was called into question at the time.Unfortunately, the
demise of the Dublin paper has meant that any originals can not now be
assessed for analysis purposes. Moreover, the witness who supplied the
original photos did not wish to assist in any further investigation,
perhaps showing, yet again, how traumatic a UFO experience can be
In early 1989 and late 1992, two men from the KINNEGAD area described very
similiar experiences with unknown entities. One of the men had nightmares
for about a month, and described how he often heard something tapping at
his window late at night. One day while out for a walk he was startled to
see some sort of 'energy being' floating about six feet above him. He did
not wish to elaborate any further on his experiences, which certainly
constituted a case that was very different to anything previously
reported. His situation may have remained unique, had it not been for a
very similiar occurrence almost four years later- and only a mile or so
away. In this case, while drowsing in an armchair and listening to music,
the witness awoke abruptly to see "something definately biological"
hovering about two feet above him. Thinking he may have had something in
his eye, he closed his eyes and rubbed them. However, the object was still
visible in exactly the same place. After a short period, it vanished
suddenly.
Northern Ireland sightings also featured in the 'flap of March 1993' which
will be dealt with shortly. For now, though, one further incident, which
dates back to 1973, is worth mentioning. The account is included in the
same summary we received from Belfast, and it tells of how an
unidentified object landed in fields in the MALLUSK/DIVIS area. Mention is
made of this incident and not just because landing incidents are very
rare, but because the site of this landing was near a major Army
communications base, which had a direct link with a similar US
intelligence base in Yorkshire (Menwith Hill, we presume).
The night of March 30-31st, 1993, will remain long in the memory of many
people in these islands. On that night, and, to a lesser extent, the
following night, witnesses all over Ireland and Britain observed unusual,
slow-moving lights in the sky. Without a doubt, many people had seen
debris from a Russian satellite launch burn up high above the earth.
Cosmos 2238 did indeed account for quite a number of sightings. Harder to
understand, though, are the facts that the lights were seen heading in
different directions at different times, and, more importantly, this space
junk had the capability of somehow flying at very low altitude above
electricity power lines. This fact was reported by two garda patrolmen who
witnessed this spectacle from their squad car near Askeaton, Limerick.
They observed a "large object in the sky with two lights, one at the front
and the other at the back", which they first believed to be a Jumbo jet-
except that it made no noise. Their sighting-and their being followed for
some time by this thing-were officially logged by them soon afterwards
back at their station.Both Officers' names and ranks are known to us at
IUFOPRA,and we will continue to withold them in the interests of their
privacy. Though it is our policy, at all times, to protect the
witnesses'identities from the public gaze, the Dublin-based 'Evening
Herald' did print their names in February 1996 in a piece they ran on "The
Irish X-Files". Other witnesses in Limerick City, reported their sightings
in similiar terms, as "a silent craft like a Jumbo jet gliding over
rooftops, that looked like it was about to touch electricity pylons".
In the April-May 1993 edition of 'Astromony and Space', an article was
published which set out to clear up the mystery once and for all. The
incident involving the garda officers was related, and its time was
(accurately) put at 01:13 on March the 31st. However, the explanation for
the direction these lights moved in is at odds with witness statements.
Dr. TS Kelso, Assistant Professor of Space Operations at the U.S. Air
Force Institute of Technology, narrowed down the possibilities of what the
object(s) may have been. From NORAD data he calculated that only 438
objects were above the (Irish) horizon at 00:10 UT on March 31st. Only one
was below 250 km in altitude at this time. As this object had a perigee-
the closest point that a celestial body comes to the earth-of just 107km,
it was inevitable that it would fall earthwards. This object was the
carrier rocket body of Cosmos 2238, identified by Western military
analysts as a spy satellite, despite Russian claims to the contrary, and
launched from Baikonur Cosmosdrome on March 30th. It was expected to
traverse Ireland between 01:06 and 01:12 local time, which fits in with
many of the sightings, and in a northwest to southeast direction.........
which very definitely does NOT fit in with some of them.
One such sighting took place in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, where a witness
saw two lights flying close together and in silence. Both had a contrail
behind them. They seemed to be very low in the sky but what was really odd
was that they were going to the southWEST. This was at 01:15. Further
discrepancies in their direction were observed in County Down, and also in
England.
A criticism levelled at UFO reports has often been that ordinary civilians
are not 'trained observers'. The fact that an ordinary person's eye
witness testimony is quite acceptable in a criminal trial, but not in a
UFO sighting account, speaks volumes about the failure of science and the
mass media to think seriously, for even one moment, about UFOs being
objectively real. This has been the case for countless years, but,
hopefully, with the revelations that life of some sort may have existed-or
may still exist-as close to us as Mars or Jupiter's moons, the same people
who have spent years debunking UFOs, no matter what the weight of evidence
says, will at least sit down and THINK.
What sort of testimony, one wonders, IS acceptable? Who is a 'qualified'
or 'trained' observer? Police and military personell, one would think. We
have already heard of the incident involving the patrol car in Limerick.
The Irish Air Corps graciously replied promptly to our queries, and sent
us copies of interesting statements from a Captain who was on board a
Dauphin helicopter en route from Baldonnel (Casement) Aerodrome, near
Dublin, to Finner Camp in Donegal. He and his crew of five observed a
light being "turned on" above them in their two o'clock position. During
their observation, which lasted about two minutes, by using night vision
equipment they could see contrails behind what was now two lights. Dubllin
ATC was consulted, but they radioed back that no other aircraft was
nearby. Dublin checked with Shannon ATC,who also had no radar contacts in
the area, apart from the Dauphin. They had been receiving similar reports
from people in Askeaton and Bantry. An Iona Airways flight crossing the
Welch coast overheard the conversation between the helicopter and Dublin
ATC, and said they had seen a fast aircraft formation, moving from north
to South at Fl 200, though this could have been RAF traffic.
We also received a second military report which was even more interesting,
in that the sighting had occurred on March 28th.Two "bright white lights"
were observed over Newcastle, Co Dublin, which approxminately 200ft behind
them, travelling at around 200kts; and with a dark trail behind each
object. A diagram was supplied by the witness also. Copies of these
statements and diagrams in our 1994 'Final Report;UFO Wave over England
and Ireland-March 30/31st 1993' and is available to purchase by writing to
our Box office for price etc.
In compiling that report, it was frustrating that ANSO (the Air Navigation
Services Office) stated in their reply to us-also reproduced in the
report-that they had "no records or reports" of UFO sightings at Shannon
ATC Centre for the dates in question.This is despite the fact that the
military had reported his sighting to them, they had received reports
there from members of the public in the Irish southwest, and they had told
national newspapers that they had received these reports from the public.
Indeed, the 'Evening Press' of March 31st stated that the reports were
being gathered at Shannon. It was quite understandable that the Irish
Dept. of Defence fobbed off our query to them about military radar cover
of the Republic and the possibility of 'Stealth' craft breaching national
boundaries and security. However, having referred us to ANSO, then a part
of Transport, Energy and Communications, we were disappointed that they in
turn gave no information. This is despite ANSO being part of the Civil
Service, funded by tax pounds. At least, though, we were successful in
finding out about more sightings in Britain. Both PUFORG and DUFORO kindly
forwarded details to us about sightings in England's south and Southwest,
Wales, and, via a Ministry of Defence reply from Nick Pope at Air Staff
2A, also included in our report, further sightings in Yorkshire.
In conclusion, despite the Cosmos 2238 explanation, other factors were
undoubtedly involved. How else could space debris, travelling from NW to
SE at, approximately, 01:15 or so,be seen heading due WEST at that time?
Or due NORTH, off South Wales, a full hour earlier? Some speculation,
certainly in Ireland, focused on a possible overflight of the American
'Aurora' spyplane, especially given the close proximity of RAF Macrihanish
in Scotland. Even that, though, wouldn't explain the diversity in the
times-and directions-of the sightings, especially over Wales and England.
It seems entirely possibly that something else was in the air that
memorable night besides the Russian craft. Much has been said about
controversial footage of 'UFOs' taken from the shuttle while in orbit.
Less publicized has been the monitoring by unidentified craft of Russian
space launches (as well as military manoeuvers). If UFOs do indeed exist,
wouldn't it be reasonable to assume they would watch the workings-or
malfunctions-of our leading edge technology, ie, our space programmes?
This concludes the IUFOPRA STATUS REPORT on the UFO phenomenon in Ireland.
In studying, researching and investigating the area of UFOs, things have a
tendency to move quickly! At the time this report was concluded, the
newspapers carried details of a UFO which was seen over Co Louth by
amateur astronomers observing the Hale-Bopp comet, and the intriguing news
that life may have existed, or even still exist, on Callisto and Ganymede.
Ridicule would probably have greeted anyone who, even a couple of years
ago, dared suggest life might exist as close to ourselves as the vicinity
of Jupiter. So, it is commonplace to be overtaken by events in this field!
However, this report contains what we feel to be the most reliable
accounts we've come across....so far. We are also including a new
Sightings update section, which will briefly look at more recent reports
which we have received since this original report was first compiled in
1997.
In the meantime, we hope that this Status Report is of some interest,
especially to those who are new to the Irish UFO scene.
Finally, special thanks must go to the witnesses for sharing their
experiences with us, upsetting though that can be. Also, thanks to those
who shared and exchanged research information with us regarding the
British sightings mentioned in the last section.......BOB Boyd of PUFORG,
Doug Cooper of DUFORO, and Steve Gerrard of the Southampton UFO group.
GREEN CYLINDRICAL UFO SIGHTED NEAR DUBLIN - MARCH 14TH 2000.
On Tuesday, March 14th 2000, at 10.52pm the witness was listening to the
radio at his home in Ballinteer, a suburb of Dublin, when he spotted a
strange glow in the sky.
"I saw a light -green glowing object, cylindrically shaped", he reported.
"It passed over my house and paused momentarily. I was listening to my
radio and it stopped. It took of at amazing speed over the mountains.
There was no sound".
The witness estimated that the UFO "a green cylinder about 40 feet (12
metres) long" and "flew at about 50 miles per hour (80km per hour)" and
took off at the speed of a supersonic jet.
Afterward, he added, "I rang up a local radio talk show and told them
about it." The radio station was 104.4 FM in Dublin.
UFO HIJACKS CAR:VICTIM REPORTS "MISSING TIME" - MARCH 23RD 2000.
An Ulster man claims that his car was lifted off the ground by a UFO, and
he experienced six hours of "missing time" as a result.
On Thursday, March 23rd, 2000, the witness , employed at a factory in West
Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, was on his way home from work,
after a long and tiring shift, which lasted 24 hours, and was axious to
get home to his wife and children and a few hours sleep.
As he was on his way home, he pulled into a petrol station to fill the
tank and noticed to his right a large light in the sky. At first he
thought that maybe it was the moon. But on looking again, it didn't take
the shape of the moon, but took the shape of an egg .
The witness go on to say that he was amazed at what he was looking at, and
his first thought was to go and get someone else to look at this
thing..........But as the thought crossed his mind, something told him to
get into the car and drive away from the filling station without paying
for the petrol or anything!.
As he drove away, the object followed him. He points out that he lives on
the Falls Road in West Belfast, but that he found himself driving on the
road towards Dublin - He didn't want to go to Dublin, he just wanted to
get home to his wife and children. He couldn't understand why he was
driving down this road.
While driving he noticed the object again and it started to scare him very
much indeed. So much so, in fact, that he began to scream. Without knowing
why, he stopped the car on a hillside road that leads to a farming area
northbound on the (motorway) M-3. The car, it seemed was lifting. He felt
it but for some reason, he was not aware that it was. It was as though
someone was messing with his brain, is how he describes this experience,
and telling him what to think.
All he can remember after this was driving on the Whiterock/Donegal Road
and back to his house on the Falls Road. The witness said that it takes
five minutes to get to his home from the filling station, but it was
actually 2.30am before he reached his house. The witness lost about 6
hours of his life which he cannot account for and wants to know what is
going on . This case is currently being investigated by Conor Mc Laughlin
of the Belfast UFO Society. (UFO ROUNDUP thanks the witness and Conor Mc
Laughlin).
Source: UFO ROUNDUP, edited by Joseph Trainor - April 6, 2000 issue.
Reprinted with permission).
On Saturday, August 21st, 1999, a witness, from Warrenpoint, Co Down,
Northern Ireland, close to the border of the Irish Republic, observed an
object at 5.15am . The object was described as almost bright green in
colour, and "tear-drop " shaped, and was heading due south just above the
cloud base. (It was misty at the time). The object moved very fast, and at
first the witness thought it was a flare (as he lives beside the sea and a
busy port) but then realised that it was travelling towards the mountains
rather than up in the air. He observed the object in the sky for no more
than 5 seconds and then it disappeared behind the Cooley Mountains. He
also thought it may have been a shooting star or a meteor, but that does
not explain the colour. Investigtion into this case is still ongoing, but
presently considering three possible explanations as to what the object might
have been:
1. A Balloon (Internally lit). 2. Wheather Phenomena or 3 A celstial event
(as the witness suggested himself).
On November 3rd. 1998, a witness from the Glasnevin area of Dublin,
contacted us with regard to a sighting he had on Monday August 10th, 1998.
It was a beautiful summers' day, and he was driving his van over the hump-
back bridge in the Cabra area of Dublin and made his way down the T-
junction leading onto the Ballyboggan Road. As he turned right heading in
the direction of the Finglas dual-carriageway, which runs parallel to the
Tolka River he noticed a black object in the sky. At first he thought it
might be a heron(a type of bird) or a crane (again a type of bird) and it
grabbed his attention because he has a casual interest in nature, although
he would not consider himself an expert. The object, (which at this the
time the witness still thought it was a bird) moved from his view over the
Tolka River and he then noticed two tips at the end of its wings.
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