UFO ROUNDUP Volume 5, Number 17
April 27, 2000
Editor: Joseph Trainor
CHUPACABRA HUNTED BY
POLICE IN CHILE
On Wednesday, April 19, 2000, Carabineros
(Chile's national police--J.T.) conducted an intensive
search for a Chupacabra on the outskirts of Calama,
a small city 300 kilometers (180 miles) northeast of
Antofagasta.
The Carabineros fired several shots at an unknown
intruder on the north bank of Rio Loa and later found
several strange footprints at the spot.
According to the newspaper El Diario, "on Wednesday
night, the fast, sudden movement of 'something' inside
the bushes, accompanied by a strange howling, alerted
police officers who fired a volley of shots in the air in the
vicinity of the local cemetery."
"Nothing was found afterward except for a pair of
strange footprints which were taken and sent to Santiago
(Chile's national capital--J.T.) for analysis."
"Carabineros searched the north bank of the Rio Loa
for more than three hours, covering four kilometers on
foot, in search of the culprit (responsible for) the deaths
of nearly 200 animals, but the possibility of human
involvement has not been discounted."
Carabineros from the cuartel (barracks) at Aguas
Buenas conducted the search and fired the shots at
the intruder, which local residents said was a
Chupacabra (Spanish for goat sucker--J.T.)
The Chupacabra first appeared on the island of
Puerto Rico in 1995. Since then the creature has
been sighted in Mexico and Brazil.
"Police officers unsuccessfully combed the farms
in the suburbs of" Calama "to search for an alleged
Chupacabra which had already slain some 200 sheep
and which had also attacked pigs in recent days,"
between April 15 and April 20.
"Alarmed by recent attacks, the regional government
ordered patrols of the outskirts of the desert mining
region about 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) north of
Santiago de Chile. Policemen, accompanied by tracking
dogs and under orders to open fire if attacked searched
the farms where the locals maintain small cultivation
operations..."
"The slaughter of pigs and sheep has been
attributed not only to the Chupacabras--attorney and
ufologist Boris Campos says that aliens from space
may be to blame for the carnage."
On Thursday morning, April 20, 2000, authorities
in San Fernando, another community of the El Loa
region, west of Calama, received "reports about the
strange deaths of some 30 hens, ducks, pigs and
dogs in several areas. These killings have also been
attributed to the Chupacabras."
"The bizarre deaths of sheep and goats in the
region of Labanda, El Loa province, led to a summoning
of a multi-agency meeting to discuss the subject and
to agree on measures aimed at putting an end to the
problem, and above all, determine who or what has
caused the deaths..."
While the interagency meeting was taking place,
more reports were received from Talcarehue, near San
Fernando, "where strange animal deaths have also been
reported over the past few days. Locals speak of the
strange deaths of a hog, a dog, six chickens and some
ducks under circumstances that remain unexplained, as
well as the presence of footprints for which no explanation
could be found."
On Saturday, April 22, 2000, authorities in northern
Chile began to attribute the rash of strange animal deaths
to a roving pack of wild dogs.
"Lucas Bouchard, chief of Environmental Hygiene and
Food in Calama, explained that these animals tend to
bite each other during fights, inflicting deep bloody wounds,
thus developing a taste for the substance (blood). This
gives rise to the hypothesis that (the dogs) running in
packs now slay animals, and given the difficulty of
consuming the flesh, are content to drink their blood."
Francisco Segocia, regional governor of El Loa
province, said, "The footprints were taken to the
Investigations lab. We cannot say what they are at this
time, but at first sight, they come pretty near to dog
prints, which tend to expand and acquire strange
shapes. An operation has been conducted, and we
want to point out that no evidence of the presence of a
strange animal was found, nor of any strange phenomena
that could be the cause of the animals' deaths." (See the
Miami Herald for April 20, 2000. Also El Diario and
El Mercurio de Chile for April 20, 2000. Muchas gracias
a Scott Corrales, auto de los libros Chupacabras and
Other Mysteries y Forbidden Mexico, y tambien Gloria
Coluchi para esas histories.)
MYSTERIOUS LIGHTS HOVER
OVER CASEYVILLE, ILLINOIS
Four months after the January 5th incident,
southern Illinois is again the stage for a UFO drama.
"A rash of bright-light sightings early Thursday,"
April 20, 2000, "could have been little green men,
but UFO experts are skeptical."
"Investigators with the National Insitutute for
Discovery Science initially were excited by reports
from the Illinois State Police and Caseyville police
early Thursday because they were so near the
January 5 sighting in Highland, Lebanon, Millstadt
and Dupo. And it occurred just after 4 a.m.--about
the same time the earlier sighting occurred, said
institute investigator Roger Pinson."
"But a lack of identifiable witnesses or a precise
UFO description--coupled with a storm Wednesday
night that pelted the area with rain, high winds and
lightning--quickly fizzled the investigation's drive,
Pinson said."
"'No one was able to see an actual shape. All
people saw was lights. There was no pattern or color or
intensity.'" added Pinson, who also reportedly said the
lack of such details "'made it difficult to, for lack of a
better word, to get excited about.'"
"He admitted there was a '100 percent possibility'
the light seen Thursday was related to the object reported
January 5 but said it was unlikely."
"Officials at Scott Air Force Base and at Lambert Field
in St. Louis (Missouri) no sightings or signs of spacecraft
on the radars."
"The Illinois State Police received an anonymous call
just before 4 a.m. Thursday reporting bright lights. And
Caseyville police received six calls between 3:30 a.m.
and 4:30 a.m. placing the bright lights over a roughly
five-mile (eight-kilometer) radius between Fairmont Park
and Illinois (Highways) 157 and 161." (See the
Belleville, Ill. News-Democrat for April 22, 2000,
"Expert: Sighting likely not UFOs." Many thanks to
Gerry Lovell for forwarding the newspaper article.)
UFO APPEARS TWICE OVER
HAMILTON, OHIO
On Saturday evening, April 15, 2000, Ronald G.
was working at the Meijer store in Hamilton, Ohio
(population 62,000), a small city on Route 127
approximately 22 miles (35 kilometers) north of
Cincinnati. Suddenly, he saw a bright gleam in
the western sky.
"I was doing the lot at Meijer, moving shopping
carts off the lot," Ronnie reported, "And all of a sudden
I looked up and saw a UFO. It was moving at a fast
rate of speed. A very fast rate of speed!"
"The color was a light red-orange color, and the
shape was like an oval or a circle. The length of the
UFO was at least 10 feet by 10 feet (3 meters by
3 meters). And it was going at a rate of speed of
about 700 miles per hour (1,120 kilometers per hour).
As it streaked over the skies above Meijer, it speeded
up and it was gone."
"The same thing happened the following night
(Sunday, April 16, 2000), and it was the same color
and shape," he added, "It slowed down to 650 miles
per hour as it approached Meijer." (Email Form
Report)
COUPLE SEES "VERY BRIGHT"
UFO OVER SOUTH AFRICA
On Saturday, April 22, 2000, at 7:45 p.m., Alan J.
and his wife were standing outside their home in
George, Southern Cape province, South Africa when
they spotted a bright object approaching from the west.
"I thought I was looking at a Satellite, but it was
very bright," Alan reported. "Much brighter than any
night star or Satellite. It went dim as my wife and I
were watching it, and it travelled at about the same
speed as a Satellite," moving from west to east.
"We studied it for about 15 seconds total."
"Alan, who was facing northwest when he saw
the UFO, added that "It was brighter than any night star
and was travelling in a straight line."
George is in Southern Cape province approximately
400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Capetown. (Email
Form Report)
FRENCH UFO GROUP OBTAINS
RADAR RECORDS FROM THE
MINISTRY OF DEFENSE
SOS OVNI, the French UFO research group, has
obtained documents proving that France's Ministry of
Defense tracked a UFO on radar during a close
encounter in 1998.
According to issue number 43 of Phenomene, a
newstand UFO magazine, "in August 1998, a civilian
living near Metz saw a spherical object which beamed
down a light as it flew over his head."
The witness reported his encounter to the
Gendarmerie (France's national police--J.T.) During
the investigation, the Gendarmerie "showed him a file
which seemed to show that the military had tracked
the OVNI (French acronym for UFO--J.T.) on radar."
The file reportedly showed that the UFO had been
tracked by radar at the Drachenbronn Air Control
Center, north of Strasbourg in eastern France.
In February 1999, SOS OVNI sent a request
for information letter to France's Ministry of Defense,
asking for a copy of the radar report. A similar request
was also sent to the facility at Drachenbronn, but there
was no response from the air control center.
"In July 1999, investigators from SOS OVNI received
a copy of the Gendarmerie report. The military radar
detection was mentioned in unquestionable terms."
Armed with this report, SOS OVNI again lobbied
the ministry to release the actual Drachenbronn radar
detection report. Their request was referred to the
Commission d'Acces aux Documents Administratifs
(CADA), a French agency that reviews all requests
made under that country's freedom of information act,
deciding "which documents may or may not be released
under the act."
Last month, CADA issued a favorable response
and turned over the Drachenbronn reports to SOS OVNI.
"The report states, 'We detected radar track ME-403
with no information about the height (altitude) of an oject
on which we have absolutely no data.'" (Merci beaucoup a
Perry Petrakis de SOS OVNI pour ces nouvelles.)
JACKRABBIT HORDE RUNS
WILD IN FARGO, NORTH DAKOTA
One of the strangest Fortean "swarms" of recent
years took place on Saturday, April 22, 2000--the day
before Easter Sunday--when hundreds of large brown
jackrabbits overran yards and streets in Fargo
(population 75,000), a large city in eastern North
Dakota.
The animals were described as prairie jackrabbits,
brown with white tails, with long ears and slightly
larger than the average rabbit of the species. They
were believed to have crossed the Red River from the
prairie east of neighboring Moorhead, Minnesota
(population 33,000).
Rabbits were seen and videotaped hopping along
University Drive and 17th Avenue, and also along
Interstate Highway I-94, particularly the grassy
median strip between the traffic lanes.
(Editor's Comment: True enough! I counted over
ten rabbits in the Fargo TV station's five-second
video clip, which aired Saturday night.)
Scientists had no immediate explanation for
the sudden and unexpected rabbit migration.
(Many thank to WDIO-TV Channel 10 here in
Duluth, Minn. for the report.)
