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Comment on The Solway Spaceman photograph by Dr David Clarke

Dr David Clarke — Sat, 26 May 2012 09:39:56 +0000

Thanks Dave – I’ve updated this article with your new information. The summary on your website is excellent. But basically, the conclusion is the same – the story about the spacemen on the launch site is pure hearsay. There is no contemporaneous evidence for such an event and still less of any cover-up. The Dalton-Morgan story is even less convincing. I spoke to Gp Captain Dalton-Morgan shortly before his death and I’m convinced he had simply picked up the story from the UFOlogists he knew in Australia who, in turn, had heard it on the grapevine – this is a perfect example of how urban legends are spread!

Comment on The Solway Spaceman photograph by daveairguitar

daveairguitar — Fri, 25 May 2012 23:28:13 +0000

“As there was no other rocket test between 24 May and 5 June 1964,”

Sorry this is wrong the History of ELDO Part 1: 1961-1964 (HSR-010) – Page 23. which covers Bluestreak/Woomera and the period says :
“The first live firing was eventually fixed for the 25 May 1964 but was stopped automatically 2 and a half hours before launch, due to ‘bad weather’ “.

More interestingly, the next launch attempt yielded something truly mysterious :

“On 2 June 1964 engines stopped automatically 3 seconds due to a ‘fault of obscure nature in safety systems of both rocket and ground installations’ “.

I have researched the Spaceman incident for the last 20 years, you may find my own research intresting re : the Bluestreak incident.
http://www.cumberlandspaceman.co.uk/spaceman-home/woomera-blue-streak-incident/
Regards,

Comment on Spring-heeled Jack is back by Dr David Clarke

Dr David Clarke — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:59:04 +0000

Many thanks John!

Comment on Spring-heeled Jack is back by John Montero

John Montero — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:32:13 +0000

Reblogged this on JOHN MONTERO LEGAL BLOG and commented: This a great old Victorian Mystery. Nothing law related, but a great mystery.

Comment on Road Ghosts by Mark Lenton

Mark Lenton — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:08:00 +0000

I am originally from Barnsley. I am well educated. When I was younger, I believe that I saw ghosts a few times. I am older now, and can rationalise most of them. In the TA, we had to set up observation posts, so we observed all kind of things, most that could be dismissed as imagination playing up, whilst tired. Once though, as a child, I awoke and saw 4 ghosts – two men, a woman and a dog – after a short while they vanished. The next day, My father asked why I was so withdrawn. I said that i had seen something strange – He then said was there 4 of them, and described them. Unless i talk in my sleep, i believe something happened on that occasion.

Comment on Worryingly big sea monsters by ncsionline

ncsionline — Tue, 15 May 2012 11:00:48 +0000

I personally treat the subject of “UFOlogy” in a serious manner. Nevertheless, I mostly agree with your assessment on both popular perception of the subject and well-known UFOlogists.
I love the “Men in Black” movies, but a constant stream of popular media like that has made the fairly innocuous term “Unidentified Flying Object” synonymous with “Little Green Men from Mars,” which is why people who are mystified by a passing satellite or a very luminous Venus and can’t tell a B52 from a Cessna will laugh in your face if you mention unidentified flying objects. A better term, perhaps, is Unidentified Arial Phenomena…which is how I look at the subject. Stuff in the sky that isn’t identifiable by the viewer, at least not at first. So, for me, the most interesting cases are ones with multiple credible witnesses–such as pilots and air traffic controllers, military personnel, or police–that also have corroborating evidence, such as radar data or physical traces.
Even with all that, a case is still just a UAP. Little Green Men are a possible answer, but they are by no means the only one.
As for “UFOlogy” being an impossibility due to lack of UFOs to study….I don’t think that is a fair way to look at it. There is no doubt that strange aerial phenomena do occur–for instance, ball lightning, sprites, “St. Elmo’s Fire”, Marfa Lights, etc–and they are, by their very nature, exceedingly difficult to study. Imagine trying to be an astronomer if the earth had a constant, thick cloud cover like Venus. Every once in a while, in random spots and at random times, there might be a break in the clouds that lasts a minute or two…astronomy would never have gotten started were that the case. And everyone would laugh at the guy who claimed one night he saw a bright glowing circle with a face on it shining through a hole in the sky.

As for sea monsters….didn’t some Japanese guys successfully document the actual existence of the giant squid recently? Another elusive and difficult subject to study scientifically. So it just wasn’t. Easier to say “Myth” and stay in the lab.

Comment on Return of Spring-heeled Jack? by NickF

NickF — Tue, 08 May 2012 12:22:16 +0000

If the phantom hitch-hiker/jaywalker tradition has any supernatural basis to it, then I suggest it is a result of faery tricks on humans for destroying their habitat. Take Bluebell Hill. It may well formerly have been a lovely area deserving of this name, but in reality today it is a horrible main road. If you were faery, you’d probably be upset at this man-made change.

Comment on Ghost Fliers by Rohan Ramchandran

Rohan Ramchandran — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:43:48 +0000

I love your site Dr. Clarke, for I myself am a writer of psychological horror fiction with two books having being published. I also do a lot of research related to historical air crashes & actually live on an air crash site here in Mumbai, India.

Comment on Mystery Booms by bathtub1

bathtub1 — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:30:55 +0000

The 12 April Typhoon deployment, the sonic booms and the intercept of a helicopter ‘sqawking’ on the wrong frequency are indeed no mystery at all. What’s been missed, however, was that prior to and during the interception (which, pace the MoD, took place near Bath, not Bristol), a cylinder-shaped ‘ufo’ was sighted ‘much higher in the sky. Some witnesses claimed this also attracted the Typhoons’ attention: inevitably, there have been suggestions that it was the true object of their attention and that the helicopter was a cover story. An image of the ‘ufo’ (probably a balloon, though I can’t confirm this) appears in the photo gallery at this link, which also includes eyewitness accounts and reader comments: http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Fighter-jet-drama-Bath/story-15794375-detail/story.html

Comment on Ghost Fliers by Dr David Clarke

Dr David Clarke — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 17:34:33 +0000

Hi Andy, are there any specific locations where you have had that feeling?