CNI News in Brief is a summary version of CNI News, a twice-monthly electronic newsletter addressing UFO phenomena, claims of human-alien contact, space exploration and related issues. The text of CNI News in Brief is abbreviated to about 20% of the original. CNI News and CNI News in Brief are edited by Michael Lindemann and distributed by the 2020 Group.
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Welcome to CNI News in Brief. The stories in this edition are:
On December 22, Israeli television news announced that the body of a small, strange creature had been found in the Galilee farming village of Achihod. The previous evening, villagers had seen many UFOs, the story said -- and this body reportedly fell from one of them. Other media picked up the tale, and soon it became a sensation.
A long article by Israeli journalist Barry Chamish regarding the unusual little corpse, plus additional comments by Israeli researcher Dr. Rachelle Fishman, appeared on the internet on December 27. Both Chamish and Fishman were on the scene of this latest controversy. As of our latest information, Fishman remains undecided as to the nature of the mystery creature, but Chamish has drawn some firm conclusions.
Fishman acknowledges the speculation of some ufologists that the small body may be that of an extraterrestrial creature. She laments the fact that an apparent comedy of errors prevented qualified scientists from examining the body until after it began to decompose. However, she states "that the description of the creature's body size, the hands without fingers, mucous membranes, and convulsive flexion movements, etc, fits that of an aborted fetus or newborn of a non-human vertebrate." In other words, Fishman herself leans toward a terrestrial solution to the puzzle.
Chamish tells a complex tale of a mysterious event, perhaps (though not necessarily) explainable as a case of mistaken identity, that quickly became a farce driven by visions of sudden fame and fortune. The woman who found the body, one Tziona Damti, was evidently persuaded by her husband and several other people that her find could be worth a great deal of money. Chamish himself was repeatedly asked how much money he or his publishers might pay for an exclusive story, but he responded by insisting that the body must first be scientifically examined and the results fully disclosed. Consequently, he was denied even a look at the body, though he interviewed many of the witnesses.
As of this writing, at least one laboratory is said to be analysing tissue samples, but no firm results have been announced. Though Chamish, like other researchers, can only speculate as to the true nature of the body, he is certain that its scientific value was compromised by greed and incompetence, and that those who seized control of the body were only in it for the money.
According to the London Daily Telegraph on December 16, scientists who claimed last August to have found evidence of life on Mars now say they have strengthened their case with the discovery of earth-based "nanobacteria" living two kilometers down in the basalt rock of the Columbia River Valley. Such organisms could be very similar to those found in a Martian meteorite.
Reuters reported on December 26 that a Chinese passenger plane was forced to make an emergency landing after the exterior glass of the cockpit window was cracked by an unidentified flying object at 9,600-metres (31,500 feet). CNI News speculates that the object must have been small and came from above -- perhaps a small meteorite or even a fragment of "space junk."
Philip Mantle has investigated UFO cases in the UK for more than 16 years as an associate of BUFORA, the British UFO Research Association. In 1994, he co-authored with Carl Nagaitis a book on abductions in the UK titled "Without Consent." In 1997, his next book will appear, co-authored with German researcher Michael Hesemann, titled "Beyond Roswell." In this book, Mantle will discuss the possibility that the controversial "Santilli Alien Autopsy Film" may be authentic. CNI News editor Michael Lindemann interviewed Philip Mantle on November 16, 1996, when they met at a conference in Blackpool, England. Some excerpts from the interview:
MLindemann: What do you think is the most impressive UFO case you've ever been involved with?
PMantle: In the summer of 1979, a lady phoned me, and her first words were, "You won't believe what I'm about to tell you." She related an observation, in daylight, [of] a gray-colored object -- [she said it] looked like a Mexican hat -- actually on the ground in a field... Not only was this thing there, but there were three tall men in white boiler-suits, completely covered with a visor over their faces. [The lady and her children] got so close, they could make out that [the men] didn't have gloves, they were wearing mittens; and they could see the wedge-shaped boots they were wearing, and some kind of instrument in their hands. The three men walked to the rear of this thing. [Then] it rose vertically, stopped in midair, and took off at a great speed, without making a sound.
The lady didn't want any publicity. The two conclusions that I could draw were that they were either all lying, or they had seen something quite bizarre, and I had no evidence to suggest that they were lying.
ML: You've had quite extensive contact with Ray Santilli, and have had plenty of opportunity to examine the controversy of the autopsy film. What is your current view of the film?
PM: For a long time, in private conversations with Ray, I told him that I couldn't accept the film, for a whole variety of reasons. When I became involved with him, it was my intention to expose the film to the public domain, not necessarily for the ufologists, but for the members of a variety of different professions, to see what they could make of the film.
What I and others have tried to do, to give you one example, is to show the film to members of the medical community -- physicians, surgeons, pathologists, not just in England or in the United States, but around the world. [Many of them say] that the creature is flesh and blood. That kind of swayed my opinion that perhaps we are looking at an authentic piece of film -- of what, I don't think I'm qualified to say.
We have to remember also that there are two autopsy films. Only one has ever been released into the public domain. There are two, similar looking creatures. I have seen both of them. So if it was some kind of deformed human creature, for example, it would probably have to be twins. You would have expected them to have been written up in some medical literature somewhere, because they are so unique [but no one has found that].
[I've been] asked what my reaction would be if the film was proved to be a fake. Well, if someone comes forward who can prove that it is not authentic -- one of the actors that's in it, for example -- then, fine. But until that time comes, I remain optimistic that it is the genuine article. Somebody out there, other than Ray Santilli, knows more about this film. And I'm determined that eventually, if it takes the next 10 years, we'll get to the bottom of it.
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CNI News has recently received an intriguing report from researchers Joachim Koch and Hans-Juergen Kyborg, German coordinators for the International Roswell Initiative. According to Koch, documents from an anonymous source arrived in Kyborg's mail on June 21, 1996. These documents appeared to be parts of several top secret reports from the government of South Africa, pertaining to an alleged crash and recovery of an extraterrestrial spacecraft and bodies from a farm in Lesotho in September of 1995. In the manner of their delivery and their contents, the documents immediately raised the kinds of questions associated with the infamous "MJ-12 Briefing Documents." The Lesotho event itself, as described, had all the elements of Roswell, with the attractive difference of having happened scarcely 15 months ago.
Koch and Kyborg contacted UFO-KURIER magazine and learned that Mr. Jochen Kopp, Mr. Andreas von Retyi and a Mr. Stein were already deeply involved in the research of the documents. On December 23, Andreas von Retyi released a 28 page "Exclusive Report -- UFO Crash in Lesotho." Translated excerpts from von Retyi's report, provided by Koch, follow:
On 15 September 95 at 22 h 20 local time, a black farmer, Mr. Peter Lachasa, notified Sgt. Thobo of the Leribe Police Department that he found a very strange looking craft on his farm which lay 12 km west of the Madibamatso River in Lesotho. He requested the police to remove [it] from his property as this was frightening his cattle.
The primary witness went on to explain how he and other witnesses on his farm saw the object crash near the foothills on his farm.
At 22 h 34 local time Sgt. Thobo and Constable Nandi escorted the witnesses to the site to investigate the complaint. On arrival the police officers made the following entry into their incident report.
1) A large round disk shaped object lay within the boundaries of Mr. Lachasa's farm.
2) The object measured approx. 18 meters in length and 3 meters in height.
3) The object was dull grey in color.
4) No windows / portholes or any form of entry / exit could be seen on the craft.
5) The craft did not appear to have any external damage or breakage even though the terrain surrounding the craft was severely disturbed.
At 00 h 15 local time, a Lesotho Government official was contacted and a report consisting of two pages was faxed to South African Military Command 1 SAI Intelligence Unit in Bloemfontein on authorization of the Lesotho Government.
Two Alouette rescue helicopters were sent to the area. At 01 h 17 local time rescue team leader Captain Manie Louw reported that he was at the designated area and that a fierce veld fire had engulfed the area. He went on to report his observations of the area as follows:
1) An area of approx. 400 square meters engulfed in fire.
2) A disc shaped metallic looking object of about 20 meters in length that seemed to be intact.
3) The terrain around the object was torn up and severely disturbed by the impact.
4) Due to the fact that it was night and smoke from the fire obscured vision, clear observations could not be made at the time.
Captain Manie Louw was instructed to patrol / secure the area until further instructions were given.
[Andreas von Retyi comments:]
The explosive nature of this incident -- if it happened this way -- is enlarged by information from other documents that three occupants of the craft were rescued -- of extraterrestrial origin and alive.
[Further details of this case will be reported in the next edition of CNI News.]
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CNI News has received a number of UFO reports from California in recent weeks. Many of these reports come from the coastal areas of Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties, north and west of Los Angeles.
Don Robertson reports that:
-- A videotape shot on December 3 by MUFON investigator Mary Helen Corrado clearly shows a UFO that had appeared
over a ranch in the Camarillo area for five consecutive nights, starting on Thanksgiving evening, and then again on the 3rd.
-- A Simi Valley woman on December 12 saw an object that "streaked across the sky, then rapidly slowed to a stop. After
maintaining a stationary position for a few seconds, it went straight up and began doing zig-zag maneuvers for quite a while,
before shooting off in a northeast direction.
-- On December 6, a man at his home in the Santa Monica mountains watched from his yard as a large black triangle passed
over him. The object was thick, and lighted around its periphery with red, green, and small dim, white lights. One week later,
December 13, a couple watching a meteor shower from Canalino School playground in Carpinteria saw "a large, thick, black
triangle... outlined with dim white lights around the edges... It was low, and quiet... the only sound being like a large night bird
flying overhead."
CNI News also received a report from Vic Gonzalez, recounting a sighting he experienced while on board a commercial jet circling the San Francisco airport waiting to land at about 6:30 pm on November 22. Vic writes:
"I noticed a bright star that appeared high above the horizon. Suddenly [it] streaked straight down in a vertical dive. I saw a plane fly by where the light had originally been. As it passed by and started to leave the area, the light came straight up in a vertical manner to the same spot it had previously been... Suddenly, two additional light objects appeared on either side of this light and started moving in a counter-clockwise circular motion around the center light. I watched this action for about five minutes until the captain announced that we were given clearance for landing... I left the plane with a feeling that there are indeed UFOs in our skies."
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Heard and seen on the 5 pm [California time] December 31 news on NBC-TV: A fuzzy orange object in the afternoon sky over southern Florida was captured briefly on home video and remains unexplained following calls by UFO investigators to local military and civilian aviation authorities. The video showed the object changing from a fairly distinct round shape to a very indistinct elongated shape, then back to round over a period of a few seconds.
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CNI News Editor Michael Lindemann has been named resident UFO/ET commentator on the nationally syndicated radio program "The End of the Line" with Jeff Rense, which airs live on the Talk America Radio Network six nights a week. Lindemann guests every Wednesday evening for the first hour of the show. The End of the Line is currently carried by over 100 stations and is heard in more than 300 cities in the U.S. Check out the EOTL website for a complete list of stations: www.endoftheline.com
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Michael Lindemann
Editor, CNI News