In 2004, when I visited Puerto Rico for the first time – in search of the Chupacabras – I was told of the account of a former civil-defense employee. He had seen a gigantic, unknown craft rise silently out of the coastal waters of the island, while he was on an early-morning jog in the spring of 1999. In this case, the vast device, which was viewed at a distance of around half-a-mile off the coast, or perhaps slightly more, wobbled slightly – rather like a falling-leaf – as it took to the skies, and then streaked vertically at a fantastic speed, before finally vanishing from view as it grew ever smaller, and was finally lost due to the effects of the bright, rising sun. It’s a fact that there are more than a few cases on record of these “falling leaf”-type UFO encounters.

In September 1952, a notable UFO encounter occurred at Royal Air Force Topcliffe, a military base in Yorkshire, England. One of the witnesses, Flight Lieutenant John Kilburn, said of the incident: “Sir, I have the honor to report the following incident which I witnessed on Friday, 19th September, 1952. I was standing with four other aircrew personnel of No. 269 Squadron watching a Meteor fighter gradually descending. The Meteor was at approximately 5000 feet and approaching from the east. [Flight Officer R.N.] Paris suddenly noticed a white object in the sky at a height between ten and twenty thousand feet some five miles astern of the Meteor.”

Kilburn continued: “The object was silver in color and circular in shape, it appeared to be traveling at a much slower speed than the Meteor but was on a similar course. It maintained the slow forward speed for a few seconds before commencing to descend, swinging in a pendular motion during descent similar to a falling sycamore leaf…After a few seconds, the object stopped its pendulous motion and its descent and began to rotate about its own axis. Suddenly it accelerated at an incredible speed towards the west turning onto a south-easterly heading before disappearing.”

From the 1953 files of NICAP (the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena) comes the following, which occurred over Barter Island, Alaska: ” 4:50 a.m. local time. Captain R. E. Barnes was thawing and heating a C-47 at Barter Island air strip when he heard a noise that seemed to be out of synchronization with the Herman Nelson heaters running nearby. He ducked out of the wheel well and walked over to the heaters located in front of the left main gear. He immediately realized that the noise was emanating from a large, round, bright object which was descending over the building area about 3/4 of a mile away. This object appeared to be at approximately 5,000 feet in altitude and descending in a sort of falling leaf pattern. Captain Barnes estimated the distance covered by the side to side movements at about 200 feet. Approximately 45 seconds later the object had reached an estimated 2000 feet directly over the building area.

“The object was described as round in shape and brilliant white in color and approximately 30-40 feet in diameter. Small ray-like appendages appeared on either lower side. After hovering for approximately 45 seconds, the object began an ascent using the same pattern as it did for the descent. During the climb out, 1st Lt. Lewis E. Griffin arrived at the aircraft and Capt. Barnes pointed out the object for Lt. Griffin. a rated pilot. At this time the object was directly overhead at an estimated altitude of 10,000 to 15,000 feet. The two witnesses continued to watch the object for two more minutes as it traveled to the east blinking as it went. Capt. Barnes is an F-94 jet pilot with 1470 hours of flying time.”

The cases that I have shared with you above are just a few of many. Are those falling leaf movements signs of malfunctions in the craft? Problems soaring through our atmosphere? I have to admit that I have no idea. All I can say for sure is that the falling leaf aspect of UFO encounters is one that dates back to the very early years of Ufology – and that still continues.

In October 2017, an odd-shaped space object was discovered with characteristics unlike any ever seen. It immediately lived up to its unusual name by defying definition, deceiving some into thinking it might be a spaceship and stumping all as to where it came from, let alone how it got here or how it got its cigar shape. Two astronomers have been pondering this space cigar since it lit up our telescopes and think they have the answers to what ‘Oumuamua is, how it formed and why they think there may be trillions … yes, trillions … more objects like it.

“It is really a mystery, but some signs, like its colors and the absence of radio emission, point to ‘Oumuamua being a natural object.”

Yun Zhang, postdoctoral researcher at the Université Côte d’Azur, co-authored the study – published this week in Nature Astronomy — of all of the available data on ‘Oumuamua. The origin in another star system, elongated shape and slight rate of acceleration not caused by gravitational forces caused him and co-author Douglas Lin, professor emeritus in the department of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, to speculate that ‘Oumuamua was once a planet or planetoid that was broken apart with a force that shattered it into odd-shaped pieces and flung them out of their solar system. A model gave them an idea of how this happened.

“Zhang and Lin ran high-resolution computer simulations to model the dynamics of an object closely flying by a star. They found that the star can dramatically split the object, if it comes enough close to the star, into extremely elongated fragments, and then eject them into the interstellar space.”

In a press release announcing the study results, Zhang and Lin explain that the model generated some elongated pieces with a greater than a 10-to-1 length-to-width ratio. The fragments may have melted but managed to stay together long enough to cool down again, giving them the same kind of surface as ‘Oumuamua, while trapping moisture inside, allowing them to release a very small vapor trail that could cause a spin like ‘Oumuamua’s. This Icarus-like event caused by space objects as large as planets or as small as disk debris getting too close to a star can explain a lot of space and interstellar objects.

“The discovery of ‘Oumuamua implies that the population of rocky interstellar objects is much larger than we previously thought. On average, each planetary system should eject in total about a hundred trillion objects like ‘Oumuamua.”

Carl Sagan

If Carl Sagan were alive today, he’d be saying “trillions and trillions” instead of “billions and billions” as he described what astronomers now expect to see when the Vera C. Rubin Observatory astronomical observatory opens later this year in Chile. The more that look like ‘Oumuamua, the closer this new model will come to fact.

Let’s just hope nothing in our own solar system gets too close to the Sun. Are you listening, Planet X?

Have you ever wondered what multidimensional beings look like? David Nemes did once, but he developed a tool for viewing them and now has thousands of images of multidimensional beings on his Facebook page. Have you ever wondered what a multidimensional being is? He’s a good person to answer that. Most believers in a multiverse or multiple universes don’t often talk about any beings living in them, other than parallel universes with some alternate form of us. Neme’s photos of multidimensional beings or entities look nothing like humans. He posts them quite frequently, so viewing them can be a welcome, albeit just as scary, alternative to watching pandemic news. (A video containing many of the images can be viewed here.)

“It is an electronic Ouija board, with image and sound, the project is quite advanced.”

According to an interview with MysteriousTimes.com, Nemes was a science and astronomy buff growing up in Madrid, Spain, and is now a scientist and inventor in Colombia. Using “mathematical calculations and optical experiments,” he developed a device that uses “special lenses, ultrasensitive screens of his invention and above all sunlight. The process – which he calls “Energivision” – allegedly generates images of … things. Some look like faces, others like bodies, sometimes with wings. With his Facebook comment about the device being an “electronic Ouija board,” he obviously thinks these could be beings that are evil and he’s convinced they exist in other dimensions or planes.

It would be nice if the images were this clear.

“The only way I have to publicize my invention and the captures are by Facebook, since 2015 I have posted 1000 photos on my facebook.”

Nemes claims he’s tried to show Energivision to the scientific community, although he doesn’t say how, and was rejected – not a surprise. He also claims the mainstream media has ignored the photos and his theories. That’s not surprising when you consider some of the comments of those who agree with him – often referring to astral planes, which is more religious of occult than science. In addition, most of the photos appear to be split mirror images – like a Rorschach inkblot. As anyone who has looked at those for any length of time can attest, the imagination, anthropomorphism and pareidolia kick in quickly and it’s easy to see faces, winged creatures, horned beings and other scary things. Finally, the faces all appear to be looking straight into the Energivision device – like multidimensional mugshots.

Rorschach inkblot – see anything?

This is not to discredit Nemes’ photos – just to point out that to make a scientific analysis, it would be helpful to know more about his Energivision device, the process he uses, the locations where he finds these beings, etc. To his credit, Nemes’ comments on Facebook have a definite philosophical and psychological angle – he promotes positive thinking and vibrations and warns viewers to avoid negative thoughts … which would probably attract these things out of their dimension and into ours – if they’re real.

Nothing wrong with using scary pictures and stories of evil beings to get people to think positive amidst the stream of round-the-clock negativity we’re getting exposed to these days. For that, and to expose your mind to the possibility that he really has invented a way to photograph multidimensional beings, it’s worth a trip to the Facebook page of David Nemes.

Scientists in Myanmar have discovered six new types of coronavirus in bats. While the viruses are part of the same family as the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), the six new types are not closely genetically related to SARS-Cov-2, SARS, or MERS.

The new types of coronavirus were identified when researchers were studying bats in Myanmar for a government-funded program that’s called PREDICT. The program is used to find infectious diseases that could possibly be transferred from animals to humans. They analyzed hundreds of samples of saliva and feces (also called guano which is used to make fertilizer) from 464 bats and at least 11 different species between the years 2016 and 2018. The samples came from bats living in three different locations around Myanmar where humans often get into close contact with them.

Map of bat capture sites in Myanmar between 2016 and 2018.

PLOS ONE

In their study (which can be read in full here), the researchers wrote in part, “Two of these sites also featured popular cave systems where people were routinely exposed to bats through guano harvesting, religious practices and ecotourism.”

The genetic sequences of the hundreds of samples were compared with the genomes of coronaviruses that have already been identified. The new types of the virus were identified in three species of bats: the Greater Asiatic yellow house bat (Scotophilus heathii) which PREDICT-CoV-90 was identified; the wrinkle-lipped free-tailed bat (Chaerephon plicatus) which was host to PREDICT-CoV-47 and -82; and Horsfield’s leaf-nosed bat (Hipposideros larvatus) which contained PREDICT-CoV-92, -93 and -96.

Bats have been named as the most likely source of the COVID-19 transmission to humans and it’s been predicted that thousands more types of coronavirus that have yet to be discovered could be living in them.

But don’t panic just yet, as more research needs to be done in order to understand fully how – or if – these new types of coronavirus could be transferred to other species and how/if they could affect the health of humans. Suzan Murray, who is the director of the Smithsonian’s Global Health Program as well as the co-author of the study, said, “Many coronaviruses may not pose a risk to people, but when we identify these diseases early on in animals, at the source, we have a valuable opportunity to investigate the potential threat,” adding, “Vigilant surveillance, research and education are the best tools we have to prevent pandemics before they occur.”

Marc Valitutto, who is a former wildlife veterinarian with the Smithsonian’s Global Health Program and the lead author of the study, weighed in by stating, “Worldwide, humans are interacting with wildlife with increasing frequency, so the more we understand about these viruses in animals — what allows them to mutate and how they spread to other species –– the better we can reduce their pandemic potential.”

In other bat news, the United States has recommended that all testing of bats be suspended in order to prevent coronavirus from spreading to North American species and ultimately causing another wave of the virus to hit the public.

In a statement, a Fish and Wildlife spokesperson told the Washington Post, “We know that many mammals are susceptible to infection by a diversity of coronaviruses,” adding, “What is not known is whether the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has the potential to infect, or cause illness in, North American wildlife, including bats.”

There have already been several reports of humans passing the virus on to animals, specifically cats and dogs, as well as a Malayan tiger that was more than likely infected by an asymptomatic worker at the Bronx Zoo. And since bats in the United States have been suffering through white-nose syndrome since 2006 – which has killed over 5.5 million bats – researchers have to be careful not to infect them with coronavirus as they may be more susceptible to catching it.

One way some people are passing the time while in coronavirus lockdown is by traveling vicariously around the world via Google Earth. And just as when really exploring, they’re finding unusual things in unexpected places. While the Nazca desert area of Peru — home of the Nazca lines — isn’t exactly an unexpected place, what one such Google Earth explorer found is definitely unusual. On a mountain just northeast of the lines he discovered some strange stone circles and a large, curved mound in the shape of a serpent. What could they be and why has no one seen them before?

“I found something about 20-25 miles NE of the famous Nazca Lines in Peru on Google Earth. Circular stone structures in the mountains above 10,000 ft in the middle of nowhere.”

YouTube user cf-apps7865 (Chuck. Las Vegas, Nevada) describes his channel as a “look at ancient history without an agenda” and that seems to be the case with this video (watch it here) he uploaded recently titled “I Unveil A Mystery Above Nazca, Peru ~ Google Earth.” Using all of the impressive features of the software, cf-apps7865 first focuses on a group of what appear to be stone circles about the size of a “football pitch” (between 100 yards (90m) and 130 yards (120m) long and between 50 yards (45m) and 100 yards (90m) wide) at an elevation of about 10,000 feet (3 km). While this seems to be in the middle of nowhere for human activity, many of the commenters on the site quickly linked them to similar structures in South Africa that have been identified as ancient livestock corrals known as the Blaauboschkraal stone ruins.

The Blaauboschkraal stone ruins have two theories of origin. One is that they were made by European settlers (most likely Dutch) in the 1600s to use as corrals or kraals (Afrikaans) in the Mpumalanga province of South Africa. They also may have been there before and were used by the local Zulu people for pens, defense and possibly areas for rituals. The other theory refers to them as Adam’s Calendar and author Michael Tellinger (among others) proposes they’re indeed part of an extraterrestrial calendar built by Annunaki 300,000 years ago. While it’s certainly plausible that Spanish and Dutch settlers could have made the same types of corrals in Peru, There are also theories that the Nazca lines are ancient calendars made by, inspired by or used to attract extraterrestrials. Are these circles a part of them, or could they be a different, unfinished attempt at an alien calendar?

“The ‘serpent’ just really jumped right out at me. It’s either a very large natural formation or a manmade artificial site like the serpent mound in Ohio.”

The serpent-shaped stone mound is more mysterious because of its resemblance to earthen mound in southern Ohio in the U.S. That Great Serpent Mound is believed to have been made by indigenous people as part of the funeral rituals for nearby graves. Some astronomical thought was put into it – the head of the serpent aligns with the summer solstice sunset, tail points to the winter solstice sunrise and the shape matches the constellation Draco, making it potentially a giant compass pointing to true north. Since the Nazca lines are believed by many to be directional guidelines, this stone mound might have a similar purpose and a study of its alignment to the solstices and the stars is in order.

Or it could just be a natural formation. That might make for sense if it weren’t for the mound’s close proximity to the stone circles – which themselves might be natural formations. It looks like an expedition is in order … except the world is currently in lockdown and travel restrictions and social distancing would prevent a proper one for now.

In the meantime, keep searching Google Earth for more unusual anomalies. It beats binge-watching old TV shows.