UFO Landing 1970, THE CHARENTE, FRANCE

There are MANY reports that do not conform to the false Grey standard of ufology. The problem comes with the age of a report.

If someone reports an incident 25-30 years after it was alleged to have taken place we only have their owrd on the matter but if it conforms to Greys reports then some doubt arises.

If the reportee told other members of his/her family and/or kept some kind of written account that can be dated -a diary entry in which ink age can be tested- it helps.

Please note that I have tidied up this statement (from Ufologie http://ufologie.patrickgross.org/rep/1970-charente-fr0284.htm) to make it more readable and I apologise for the translation quality.

1970, THE CHARENTE, FRANCE:

Brief summary of the event and follow-up:

On May 27th, 2007, a gentlemen sent the following story to me by email:

"I was 20 (then), I am 57 (today). My testimony is thus 37 years old and during all these years I was haunted by what I saw that day.

I was heading home at about 1 a.m. (I live in the country in the Charente) there is a field opposite my house and in this field I saw a landed half sphere which could be clearly distinguished in the darkness.

"I did not pay any attention and I park my car a few meters further on. The orange dome is still in the field on the other side of the road. I opened the gate to get to my home and I then closed it behind me.  I was about to cross the yard that separates me from the house (I was in the dark and I found my way by habit) and it was then that i heard footsteps on the gravel in front of me -they (seem to) run away on all sides but I saw nothing. I was very frightened. I rushed into the barn to switch on the outside light .

"In the yard (I saw) nothing but behind the gate I had closed I could distinguish human shapes(of kids) that looked at me. I felt that something was wrong and my fear increased.

"I went to the house to get a rifle and then I went back to the fence then on to the road. The view between myself and the half sphere was clear  and I saw two little beings come toward me. They stopped at approximately three meters from me. They seemed to talk to me but my fear was such that I raised my rifle. They then turned back and went away slowly. 

"I went to wake up my parents but on looking they found nothing. All (entities) had disappeared. The sphere too.

"A brief article in the local newspaper reported a ufo was sighted above Angouleme that night. (The witness believes that) it landed in front of me and that changed my vision of the world"

Witness email, non anonymous, anonymity preserved, to this website (Patrick Gross, Ufologie), on May 27, 2007.

There are problems. The witness assumes that what he saw was the "UFO" sighted over Angouleme -but based on standard reporting that might have been a meteorite or anything else!

No one else witnessed the entities or object. A debunker would simply say "hoax".  However, we are unaware of the psychological state of the witness at the time -was he tired, exhausted or under stress somehow? Almost 50  years after the event, even if spoken to today, make that impossible to know.

The use of a rifle is slightly worrying. That the entities moved away on it being pointed at them could mean that they had encountered weapons in human hands before. Or, if this were an "altered state" event then to his mind the rifle did what it was supposed to -scare off intruders.

The "invisible runners" could indicate an altered state as described by "Ruth Syndrome" (detailed in UFO Contact?). One might wonder why an hemispherical object in the field had not caused alarm rather than not much interest? It is possible that the witness just gave it a casual glance and thought it might be something moved into the field by someone since aliens did not appear to be something he was thinking about. OR it might be the point at which he began to enter an altered state -a waking dream, which are quite vivid and very real to those experiencing them.

But if this was all in his head why a UFO and aliens -today you might expect it as the subject is everywhere from Japan to China to India and so on via the internet, TV and so on. 1970 was not a huge year for press coverage of UFOs -the witness mentions a brief news item AFTER his sighting.

No wish for publicity.  A joke? We just cannot tell which is why we really need to investigate -as thoroughly as we can- any and all reports that we find. 

We have probably already lost so much information.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/terry-hooperscharf/ufo-contact/paperback/product-23719040.html

New Face Book Page

Although I cannot accept anonymous reports anyone wishing to contact me can be assured that their privacy will be guaranteed.

The new Face Book page means that people can contact me directly in private.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2463400933890105/

The Hickson and Parker case

I was asked again about the Hickson and Parker case. I dealt with it at length in UFO Contact?  It seems the new book -which I have not read- has gotten a few people stirred up.

It is a case I believe is genuine.  But that is based on the information and NO ONE, other than the two men, know/knew the truth.

I feel credibility is lost when Budd Hopkins enters the scene and does a quick meet-greet-and let's do a regression session before leaving. At that point it turns into a Hopkins abduction scenario. I cannot say I believe what I am reading about the 'memory uncovered'.

As I pointed out in my book, Hickson, Parker -like Mona Stafford and others- seem to have undergone a form of post traumatic stress.

Do not criticise these people until you have read the facts.

The Yeovil Alien

This story appeared on a good few online 'news' web sites and, as is my rule, whatever I thought about it personally it needed to be looked into. I never dismiss a report until I have the facts.  

Here is what the newspapers wrote:

The Sun

SPACE COWBOY Alien sighting reported in Yeovil as man claims he saw sinister seven-foot creature wearing cowboy hat at bus stop

By CARL STROUD

22 Dec 2016, 11:41Updated: 22 Dec 2016, 12:49

Alleged encounter leaves motorist so spooked he has not been able to sleep since

A SINISTER seven-foot alien wearing a cowboy hat has been spotted at a bus stop in Yeovil.

The alleged extra-terrestrial was black, had no face, spikes down its side and “silky” hair.

 Panicked driver sent sketch of extra-terrestrial to local paper after witnessing it at bus stop

3

Panicked driver sent sketch of extra-terrestrial to local paper after witnessing it at bus stop Credit: SWNS:South West News Service

The spooked driver who claims to have witnessed it outside Yeovil College in Somerset says the encounter has left him so terrified he hasn’t been able to sleep since.

He said: "I was driving up the road as I normally do and I saw this dark looking figure by Yeovil College. It looked quite tall and had this big Stetson hat.

"I slowed down to have a closer look and thought it's not a man, it was about 7ft tall.

"It had this long thin tube coming from the top of it and spikes coming out of the side. The middle bit of it was like moleskin and hairy.

"The thing wasn't moving at all and was in this box that had sparks coming out of it. It was like something out of science fiction."

The man, who does not want to be named, drew a sketch of the creature, which he claims he saw on the afternoon of December 15, in the hope someone will tell him what it is.

In the drawing he notes that the beast, which was black in colour, wore a "weird" coat and had "silky hair".

The image also shows a long, rectangular body and a thin tube coming out of the hat, which looks like some kind of flute or long pipe.

The alien doesn't appear to have a face.

The man sent his drawing to his local paper and added that he wishes he had never stumbled upon it.

He added: "I just keep thinking I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's just mad.

"I'm struggling to sleep because of it and have been looking online seeing what it could be but am at a loss."

                                  -fin-

Then there was the Mail's account which was the same. In fact, every story on this I have seen is identical. And that suggests it was all copy and paste from a release sent in.

The Mail
By ANTHONY JOSEPH FOR MAILONLINE 

PUBLISHED: 13:28, 22 December 2016 | UPDATED: 16:08, 22 December 2016

Terrified motorist convinced he saw a 7ft alien wearing a cowboy hat at a bus stop has sketched an image of the sinister creature to show the world
He claims to have seen the sinister-looking figure outside Yeovil College 
It unnerved him so much he hasn't slept since and had to sketch an image 
In his sketch, the alien doesn't appear to have a face but was wearing a hat

A motorist says he was left terrified after spotting what he is convinced was a 7ft silky-haired alien, wearing a cowboy hat, waiting for a bus.


The driver said the sinister-looking figure, standing outside Yeovil College in Somerset, unnerved him so much he hasn't slept since and had to sketch an image to show the world.

The 'alien' had no face and a long thin tube coming from the top of it.

The creature-spotter, who has asked not to be named, said it was standing outside the college at a bus stop as he drove past.

He said: 'I was driving up the road as I normally do and I saw this dark looking figure by Yeovil College. It looked quite tall and had this big Stetson hat.

'I slowed down to have a closer look and thought it's not a man, it was about 7ft tall.

'It had this long thin tube coming from the top of it and spikes coming out of the side. The middle bit of it was like moleskin and hairy.

'The thing wasn't moving at all and was in this box that had sparks coming out of it. It was like something out of science fiction.'

The man drew an annotated picture of the alien, which he claims he saw on the afternoon of December 15, in the hope someone will tell him what it is.

In the drawing he notes that the beast, which was black in colour, wore a 'weird' coat and had 'silky hair'.

The image also shows a long, rectangular body and a thin tube coming out of the hat, which looks like some kind of flute or long pipe.

The alien doesn't appear to have a face.

The man sent his drawing to his local paper and added that he wishes he had never stumbled upon it.

He said: 'I just keep thinking I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's just mad.

'I'm struggling to sleep because of it and have been looking online seeing what it could be but am at a loss.' 
                                         -fin-

No one appears to have tried talking directly with the witness. You might think local journalists would jump on this "silly story" to sensationalise it but no.

So, I put out an appeal (and, yes, I was called an "alien hunter"!) because if this witness was so stunned and wanted to know what he had seen he would see the appeal and get in touch, right?

No. I tried everything but no one else appears to have reported this strange site. It was rather suspicious that this happened next to a college.  In fact, based on the description it seems that the alien looked more constructed...if anything was actually seen.

In my opinion, and I am open to being convinced otherwise, this was a college hoax. Allegedly one unnamed person saw this and that was it -the sources could not even tell me the original story source but, as with Cannock Chase, I knew that journalists were/are not shy to carry out a little hoaxing (oddly one journalist named was not at that paper and had no contact details online (!).

Unless there are other witnesses coming forward this has to be classed as a hoax.

The Appeals Still Open -any info welcome

Appeals made to newspapers that received no responses (rather like the Buckfastleigh appeal!)

Oxfordshire 1974

I am hoping that one of your readers may be able to help me get information on an uninvestigated UFO report from 1974. If one of the witnesses involved, who would now be in their 50's, or even one of the MoD Policemen who were one duty reads this I hope they might consider -in confidence- coming forward with their side of the account:

I am an author but also researcher and I have no interest in embarrassing or publicly naming witnesses.  My main aim is to determine exactly what happened that evening and that is all.

On the evening of the 9^th October, 1974, two 13 year old boys entered the station office of the Ministry of Defence Police at the Central Ordnance Depot, Bicester, Oxfordshire.  Both were described as appearing to be in a state of fright.  It seems that a “thing”, resembling a large, hunched man, had followed them along the Ploughly Road from the village of Ambrosden towards Lower Arncott; a distance of a quarter mile (0.8 km).

   This “thing” was accompanied by a light in the sky; neither the object nor the entity made any noise.  The boys were so shocked that they had to be treated by the MoD police officers; a dog and handler were sent to check around but saw nothing. A doctor later diagnosed one of the boys as suffering from severe shock.

Bardney  1976

  I am hoping that one of your readers may have been or know someone who was a witness to some UFO sightings in Woodall Spa and Bardney back in the summer of 1976.  I believe that one or more of those involved moved to your area at some point. One wrote to a UFO investigator at the time:

'On Sunday afternoon boys are allowed to go to Bardney. In the summer term, 1976, about mid-June, we saw a "stick man" jolting along. It was black with a round head, not making any noise. It was about 15O yards away from us, and it was quite hard to see’.

  At the time the sightings were all dismissed simply because the witnesses were youngsters.  No attempt was made to look for any other reports in the areas and that was it.
   I would like to hear from any of the boys -especially regarding the Bardney sighting- in strict confidence. I am a researcher and my interest is in finding out what actually happened and to hope that one or more witnesses will come forward so that the record can be corrected and their accounts included in records.

Nottinghamshire 1979

On the 23rd September, 1979,  six or seven primary school children went for an early evening walk in Wollaton Park in Nottingham, when they were approached by what they described as "gnomes in small cars” .  This has become known as "The Woollaton Park Gnomes case".

At the time the children spoke to their headmaster who recorded what they claimed happened.  Those children would now be adults in their late 40's.  There was never any thorough investigation since "They are just kids" was the standard response but I would be very interested in hearing from any of those involved in confidence.  I am an author and researcher but my prime interest is really in getting to the facts and what happened.

Was it just a game the kids thought up or are they still willing to state that this really happened? As I said, all in complete confidence as I can imagine they might feel a little embarrassed (either way) but I would be very interested in actually hearing from one of those there at the time rather than read the constant inaccurate rehashing on web sites.

And, of course, Buckfastleigh

On the 3^rd October, 1978, three teenagers left a youth club in Buckfastleigh, Devon. The trio were given pseudonyms at the time of Shirley, Mark and Paul.

Investigation procedures at the time as well as protocol on dealing with witnesses were not what they are today. 

We know that the trio observed a number of unidentified objects in the sky above the village and some unidentified figures on three occasions.  We might normally be cautious but a retired gentleman named Harry observed the objects himself after the nervous trio knocked on his door –his cats also behaved oddly.

The teens were traumatised and the girl identified as Shirley was said to have been most affected.

1978 seems a very long time ago now but I am trying to locate the teens and gather as much information about observations that evening as I can.  If they read this, or any family members do, then please get in touch. I cannot over-emphasise that I deal with witnesses in the strictest confidence and have done so for over 40 years.  My interest is purely for research and so I hope that the trio will consider getting in touch with me.

I can be contacted via email at aopbureau@yahoo.co.uk or blackto@hotmail.com or via Face Book Messenger –Anomalous Observational Phenomena page.

If anyone out there reads this and THEY were one of the witnesses PLEASE get in touch.  If anyone knows the witnesses please pass this along.  We have lost so much real data that these reports deserve to be looked into.

This Image from Hubble Telescope Is Absolutely Mind Blowing

Stanton Terry Friedman (July 29, 1934 – May 13, 2019)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/stanton-friedman-ufologist-dead-1.5135588

Old Cases and ufology failed: Buckfastleigh and others

Last October I posted the following item and also contacted various news outlets:

Buckfastleigh, Devon: 1977 -witness appeal

It is a long shot but you never know...

On the 3^rd October, 1978, three teenagers left a youth club in Buckfastleigh, Devon. The trio were given pseudonyms at the time of Shirley, Mark and Paul.

Investigation procedures at the time as well as protocol on dealing with witnesses were not what they are today. 

We know that the trio observed a number of unidentified objects in the sky above the village and some unidentified figures on three occasions.  We might normally be cautious but a retired gentleman named Harry observed the objects himself after the nervous trio knocked on his door –his cats also behaved oddly.

The teens were traumatised and the girl identified as Shirley was said to have been most affected.

1978 seems a very long time ago now but I am trying to locate the teens and gather as much information about observations that evening as I can.  If they read this, or any family members do, then please get in touch. I cannot over-emphasise that I deal with witnesses in the strictest confidence and have done so for over 40 years.  My interest is purely for research and so I hope that the trio will consider getting in touch with me.

I can be contacted via email at aopbureau@yahoo.co.uk or blackto@hotmail.com or via Face Book Messenger –Anomalous Observational Phenomena page.

My thanks in advance

Terry Hooper-Scharf

CE3K/AE Project

It was one of several appeals I sent out that month looking for percipients in UFO entity cases that were never investigated or were simply dismissed by ufologists because they involved entities or young persons.

I have no idea whether any of those involved in the incidents read the requests and even if some had they were treated very badly at the time by ufologists so they might not be inclined to come forward.,

During 1976 a colleague, in UFO International which I had founded, offered to look into a report of a large oval shaped object landing near to a witness' home close to Bristol.  He was going to be working in that area and I had no reason to not trust him. I was told that the report was a fake and the person in question a "Ufonut". That was it and I had to make do with a verbal 'report' as the man in question could not be bothered wasting time writing up what he had learnt. In a conversation with another group member I was told that this 'investigator' "Couldn't be bothered after the fella told him that someone had left the object and walked around it".

I exploded with anger.  We were talking about a Close Encounter of the Third Kind rather than just a landing that might involve natural phenomena. So I confronted the investigator (in private) and basically asked WTF was going on?  He told me how the man had seen the object land nearby and wartching it had seen "someone or something come out and move about for a while".  What did the man describe?  How long had the incident lasted? Did he see the object take off and did he check the landing site -and did the 'investigator' check?

No. It seems that once "something coming from inside the object" was mentioned he had switched off as he "knew" he was talking to a "nutter". Now, since I had dealt with entity/CE3K cases and talked and written about them that was pretty damn insulting.  In fact, the same person (not daring to use my name) later wrote a piece "Are you a UFOnut" that was a personal attack on me. Turns out he was even part of the Aerial Phenomena Enquiries Network (APEN) which was renowned for hoaxing and so on (I have files with my solicitor naming the other prominent British ufologists involved in APEN).

Not long after the same 'investigator' told me that a witness in another case was "Pretty useless. He was a blackie and you know what they are like". For me that was it and I distanced myself from him as well as other factions in ufology who seemed to be almost mentally retarded in their attitudes and racist attitudes. It wasn't just teenagers being treated disgustingly.

Did I try to follow up the two reports?  Yes. The witness near to Bristol refused phone calls and correspondence and I gathered that he had been treated very rudely. As for the other witness who was as Bristolian as me: he was very polite and pointed out that he would never speak to another ufologist because of the attitude and what was said to him (he never elaborated).

All of these, like the Buckfastleigh case, were high priority events that needed proper investigation but are now lost. I doubrt that we will ever know what went on but Buckfastleigh definitely appears to have had some type of activity going on because, years before I made my appeal, others had reported CE3Ks/possible abductions in and around the area in the space of a month.  It took me weeks of searching before I came across vague references and then details of what happened. and guess what? The organisations the events were reported to never made any follow-up and until I mentioned the cases and they checked they had no clue -but if I found anything out....?

At the time of publishing UFO Contact? I was unaware of these other incidents and it appears -if it turns out to be genuine- that one percipient has physical scarring that his doctors cannot explain but appear to have involved a major medical procedure.

We'll see.

There Are ALWAYS Hoaxers

Last year, after a local news service reported that "an alien hunter" (me -I had no idea!) was heading to Somerset I received a number of emails. 

One from a woman who claimed that she and others had seen UFOs "numerous times" over Yeovil and that her son and others were lifelong experiencers.  So I politely responded to the woman and people named. Nothing. Not a single word came back.

Hoax? Who knows.

As I explained in UFO Contact? what I termed "Ruth Syndrome" offers a lot of explanations for UFO abductions as well as Bigfoot reports and even the paranormal. Not all, though.
Another message I received last year was from a young man who claimed that he and his girlfriend were out sky-watching (looking for UFOs) at a location while watching Netflix. 

 Strange lights, carry battery running down, odd noises and even his companion seeing him walk back down a lane with several small misty figures.

It all sounded like a typical abduction scenario and I am sure that Hopkins and Jacobs would have loved this. Hey, his girlfriend was in the next room -he gave me a Face Book page link and I never got the chat to the young woman. What I did do, however, as standard practice, was run a background check on the person in question -including social media- and his girlfriend.

Well, it seems that 'his' girlfriend was actually engaged to another man and there was no mention of the reportee on any of her social media. Odd?  

Car battery died and the 'girlfriend's' phone "acted weird" when the lights appeared...then it was "we may have run down the battery with Netflix" (he means her phone was plugged in. It became more and more obvious that there was a strong fishy smell coming over the internet so, as he would not give me an address to send him a sighting report form I sent it via FB Messenger. He never completed it so, while the iron was still hot I gave it one final attempt:

The only indicator of time is when you say Karis saw you come back down the lane -4 am. I would like to narrow down the time of events. I’m assuming that the skywatch had been discussed that evening so at what time did you set off and why did you decide on that location in particular?

If you could write down what time you left and got to the location that helps. I’m guessing you decided to watch Netflix because nothing was happening so can you recall the time or what you watched as that takes us closer to when things started. Was the car engine running or was it just the phone plugged in when things started?

1) The car engine died but was it working okay when you started it to drive home?

2) Your girlfriend’s phone went “a bit weird”? Was this at the same time as the engine died and how did the phone go weird –has it worked okay since?

3) You used a torch to mimic the movements of the objects so that had no problems with functioning?

4) When the object flew over both (?) of you did you feel anything physically?

5) When you heard movement around you did you use the torch to see what was making the noise?

6) K***** was nervous but at what point did you leave her alone in the car to go into the field?

7) K**** saw you come back down the lane so the first question is when did you leave the field and walk off leaving her in the car and why did you go down the lane?

K***** saw greyish, vague shapes walking along with you thought that they might be children has she thought much about this part of the night in the hopes of recalling what she saw better?

A lot I know but I want to get as much detail as possible –writing an account of what happened that night often helps recollection of witnesses as well as the investigators.
I had kept John Hanson of The Haunted Skies Project posted throughout the exchanges and sent him a final set of notes on the case. As far as I could determine it had all been an ill-thought out attempt at a hoax as the person in question even noted the UFO abduction book he had been reading.

Unbelievably, when I checked with Ufologists in 2017-2018 I found that they were accepting similar accounts -some quoting previously reported incidents- as genuine. Some Ufologists had promoted reports that they had taken details off from other sites and declaring them genuine but never investigated and, making it even worse, the original sources tended to be internet sites that would not respond to requests.

When you consider that the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) operate almost the same way (it is a money making endeavor after all) and is outrightly dismissive and rude to serious researchers you get to realise why you can never take a reported case for granted.  At the same time highly credible cases are ignored and excuses given as to why they cannot be investigated.

In the UK there is no such thing as credible UFO investigation and research organisations. Money and personal agendas are the guiding factors.  This is a sad turn of events and makes the exceptional work of John Hanson and the Haunted Skies Project and books even more important.

Hoaxers (for one reason or other) are always out there and accepting a snippet from a newspaper or internet item is not scientific nor an investigation.  You are incapable of doing the work or do not want to...go and get involved in something else.

Hi.

A few questions that might help better than the report form. Firstly, I know there is a Vallis Road in Frome so I am guessing that is where you had the first sighting? I cannot find any “Bayleaf” in Somerset so can you give me an exact location or at least the nearest village/town.

Cheers

A few spluttery lines and that was it. No phone number to contact him and a girlfriend who was not a girlfriend and more than a few hints on social media that he was out to get some publicity for work he was doing.