Schoonaarde, Belgium (0008) 1t January, 1979

 One of the good things about Ufology in the 1970s-1980s was that most communication was by letter and whether it was Werner Walter in Germany, Rudy De Groote in Belgium etc we got to know of any pecial interests in the subject. Rudy, like Werner, knew that I wa interested in any and all reports of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Alien Entities.

In a covering letter with the Studiegroup Progressieve Wetenschappen's UFO Info publication for June 1979, Rudy said the Scoonaarde report ought to interest me and that omeone had volunteered to translate it from the Dutch (that in Belgium having some differences from the Dutch spoken in the Nederlands) for me. Sadly, nothing came of that and my smattering of Dutch is definitely no good to carry out translation work!

There is a brief summary in English at the rear of the publication -thi tended to be a standard with a lot of non English Ufological publication back then.

I have searched the internet but have not even found the report mentioned (it will be after this post has been copied!).   The following are the detail given:

"Schoonaarde   On January 1t 1979, between 8 and 9 o'clock (0800-0900 hrs or 2000-2100 hrs?-TH)Johan Van Boven (10) sees two large beings (Michelin type) walking in mid air. They wear a metallic, shining suit and helmet.  From the oppoite direction a flying saucer with two domes (as per Aveyron, France, 1967 -TH) approaches. Both figures climb a mall ladder on the ide of the craft, then the UFO flie off in the direction of Wetteren.

"The credibility of this case has not yet been established. A second boy, Dimitri Clinck (13), who also witnessed the sighting, gives a contradictory account. Moreover Johan Van Boven refuse to meet the researchers. All details collected have been given by his mother."

The UFO Info item covers pp. 5-16 and I believe this is looking at activity at the time since what is summarised could not posibly take up that much space.  Maybe one day someone can translate the full article.

We are not told what the contradictions in account are and a 10 year old may use different term to a 13 year old.  One might expect a made up account to be of a single domed flying saucer yet Van Boven describes a double domed object of which there are a few but even asking a Ufologist to name the cases might not yield the answers. So double domed is interesting.

Then we have that "Michelin type" decription. The events at Warneton wa 6 years before in 1974 so would a 10 year old know about the case or the outfits decribed?

Add to thi the fact that this is not the most sensationalist of reports and I am sure a 10 year old could have come up with a better story. As for his not meeting researchers well, he was a 10 year old boy and the sighting (if genuine) would have been scary enough so to meet adults he did not know would have been scary.

Johan would be in his 40s now as would Dimitri and it would be interesting to see whether they stuck by their accounts or could give more details.

CE3K/Alien Entity Reports from Belgium

 Updating the French CE3K/AE file has stopped for the moment so thaty I can tidy up the Belgian file.  Much smaller but some interesting reports. Sadly, not all well detailed (these I have marked "+") since back in the 1970s-1980 most communication were by letter and when it came to giving details for summaries such as Contact UKs UFO Register the space was restricted.  

If anyone has fuller report summaries thaty they can forward then please get in touch.

Report list:

0001   Spring 1935        Malines, Antwerp       +

0002   August 1946       Sint Niklaas, Antwerp   +

0003   9th Oct 1954      Nr Huy                          +

0004   20th Mar 1973   Tarcienne, Namur         +

0005   Dec 1973          Vilvorde, nr Brussels  

0006   7th Jan 1974      Warneton

0007   8th Jun  1974     Warneton

0008   1st Jan 1979       Schoonaarde  +

That is the total number of known (in English language sources) of reports from Belgium and it would be interesting to find out more details regarding 0001-0004 and 0008. If any Belgian Ufologist can help it would be appreciated.

The French File Is expanding...as is the German File!

 

Having been going through the AE/CE3K volumes I started updating the French file which is going to nee a seperate volume of its own. I even found an article I wrote around 1995 on Frnch cases -31 pages and 50 reports -all fully referenced. 

50 reports is looking rather lim now. If any French peaking Ufologist wanted work to dig into then I would say "Look at the reports from 1954" simply because the information on them is very slim and most were not investigated. If my French was up to the job then I'd be digging in.

France certainly has had some very interesting cases and some may well be classic cases of altered states.  The Aveyron incidents from 1967 are not even mentioned on the internet while others, such as the Cergy Pontoise hoax are --and still being called genuine!!

Now having said that, as I clearly showed in Contact, Germany has also had some pretty good cases though is seen as a country where only one incident has taken place (Linke).

How much could be achieved if there were several people working on this, however, this aspct of Ufology is till frowned upon unless you are a follower of Hopkins or Jacobs!

We're All Human

 Yesterday's postings of various UFO abductee videos should have allowed you to see the difference between various claimed percipients characters.  There were the "Starborn" types and their attitudes and behaviour clearly fall into a type.  

"Debbie" -I have met a couple of people like her and to date I have found no accounts given by "Tom" or others. Debbie is always the centre "My friend" -"My daughter" and the emphasi always tends to be self-focused.

We have the Wiener brothers and I have given my assessment of the Alagash incident elsewhere https://terryhooper.blogspot.com/2019/10/the-allagash-abduction-updated-appraisal.html

Travis Walton (and, no, I have not just left it with my conclusions from UFO Contact? as anything pro or con in the case that crop up I look into) is typical of the type that know they can do nothing to prove 100% that what happened did happen and so shrug and adopt the "It happened. Get on with your life". However, there is still a certain look in the eyes that when you see it you know that something is haunting them. In many cases these people are even afraid to smile or try to behave normally at events because it will be used against them.

Of course, it's very easy to say everyone falls into this or that type but they do not. You have to be aware of everything from body language, eye, mouth and other facial movements that reveal a person is being genuine or faking it. It does take a lot of covert people watching. Only experience is going to teach you but the videos I chose should be able to help you see what I mean.

One important thing never to forget is that interviews should be very informal and relaxed. Joke or see what you can spot in the room to start a conversation on. Even pet can get a relaxed conversation going. Remember that you are not talking to a "weirdo" claiming UFO abduction or an alien encounter but a human being who has had (possibly) a completely world view shattering experience.

And it is important that you listen and observe carefully but also do nbot raise eye-brows or give any other form of expression of incredulity. Keep the relaxed posture and just nod when required to show that you undertand what they are saying and mentally note points you want to come back to later -scribbling down notes whle someone is talking can be distracting and makes everything seem very official and formal. You have a tape recorder use that because it is small and soon vanishe as a distraction. 

Also, before you start any taping and have the person relaxed ask them if there is anything they want to add about their experience (before or after) that they do not want recorded.  In the case of the two girls at Oulton Marsh in 1978 the investigator was given information by the mothers while the girls were not present as it might be very embarassing if he were told in their presence.

It may seem that I keep on about this but these are people and not just a source of material for books or TV shows. There are certain things that you may be told that you can make notes on but should never include in general articles on the report.  I was once told by a witness, in hushed tones, that her menstral cycle had started earlier than expected after a UFO sighting that also involved three other people. There was no connection but the UFO experience was so outside her established world view (which included jokes about "nutters" seeing UFOs) that she had no idea.

I have spoken to people in the past who were told that seeing a UFO usually meant death followed. I explained that I had never read or heard of such a thing and that there were many local superstitions but these referred to "supernatural" things not UFOs in general. There is usually a sigh of relief -in two cases from Somerset in the 1970s I was asked whether what the witneses had seen was the "Devil' eye" -a local legend.  I put them at their ease. No laughing. No mocking. Just a simple response.  People still avoid walking under ladders.

And experience tells you that "People who stop and look down to their left when asked a question are lying" is not always true. 

We're all human.

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