UFO? Strange lights in Cardwell [Townsville Bulletin]

CARDWELL is on full UFO alert following sightings of strange lights in the night sky above the sleepy seaside village.

Local businessman Greg Smith said he and his son watched the lights for 15 minutes and are convinced that what they saw was some sort of UFO.
``This was a couple of months ago. I used to be the world's biggest sceptic about this stuff, but I'll tell you what, this really rattled me and my son,'' he said.
Mr Smith said they watched the lights from the front of the Lyndoch Motel on the highway towards the northern end of the town.
``There were two large orange lights. There was no beam and no noise. It was absolutely silent and they were moving slowly across the sky towards the north-west. We couldn't tell if the lights were from one or two machines. At first we thought they were over buildings between the highway and the beach, but other people said they were just out over the water,'' he said.
Mr Smith said he thought it must have been one or two helicopters, but discounted the possibility due to the fact there was no noise.
``And the lights were orange and there was no beam. Navigation lights on aircraft are green and red and they flash on and off . These were orange and they didn't flash,'' he said.
Cardwell resident Phil Mulley and his wife Helen saw the lights on two consecutive nights.
``The first night there was just one light and it was very bright. It was about 7.30pm. We thought it was a chopper coming up the channel. It was travelling at about 45 degrees to the horizon. We watched it for a few minutes and then it disappeared in cloud. The next night my sister rang me and said to look outside. I went and looked and there were two lights. We watched them for a while until they disappeared in cloud,'' he said.
Mr Mulley said he knew of at least six or seven people who saw the lights.
``The lights were bright orange and there was no sound whatsoever,'' he said.
President of UFO Research Queensland Sheryl Gottschall said she could not say what the lights were, but added she had no qualms in saying there were extraterrestrials which visited earth from time to time.
``I've been with this organisation for 25 years and in that time I've spoken to 3000 people who have seen strange lights and objects and to another 600 to 700 who have had close encounters,'' she said.
She said two brothers fishing in the Hinchinbrook Channel in 1995 contacted her to report a sighting of six UFOs in the Fishers Creek area south of Cardwell.

Hinchinbrook region UFO sightings
THE recent sightings have not been the first glimpses of UFO activity near Cardwell reported to the President of UFO Research Queensland Sheryl Gottschall.
In 1995 two brothers contacted her to report a sighting of six UFOs in the Fishers Creek area south of Cardwell.
This is an edited version of the report sent to her from the brothers:
"On May 13 1995 my brother 'D' and I were fishing between Hinchinbrook and Haycock Island. We had a flat battery and had to paddle our 4.2 metre boat back to Fishers Creek, arriving at 3am.
"We could not reach the boat ramp due to tidal rips. 'D' saw six UFOs about 30 feet in diameter disappear behind the hill at the mouth of Deluge Creek.
"Due to the angle of the boat I couldn't see them, however later I saw lights over the mangroves through a fog."
The writer then described in detail about how a rectangular fog 5m wide by 2.5m high came towards them from Deluge Creek 1.5km away.
He said the fog was white with a black strip running horizontally along the top. He described how another rectangular 'fog' came at them from Sandstone Creek, 3km away.
The fogs were of different colours, but were uniform in shape. At one stage he said he saw what appeared to be a black fish in the fog "then a black lizard like animal with no feet and then a second and third lizard".
"During the whole ordeal we couldn't move and we were at their mercy. It was with great relief that we had survived. I tried to connect mentally with whatever the force might have been but did not receive any signals," the writer told Ms Gottschall.     - John Andersen.

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2013/01/03/373022_news.html

Giant Cross Found On Mars By Rover

Here is a link to the original NASA photo.  It had to be magnified by 1,000%…but its definately there.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/703574main_MSL%20self-portrait%20pia16239%2020121101_full.jpg

Voices from the Forest [Upcoming Documentary]

Keep an eye, ear and mind open for this up coming new documentary that goes in search of New Zealand's mysterious and elusive faery forest dwellers.
A film, narrated by sacred sites Researcher Gary Cook, that will shake the ground on which you stand and challenge your old belief systems...
Cryptozoological? Extraterrestrial? Supernatural? Spiritual?....You decide.

Check regularly on www.voicesfromtheforest.co.nz for updates on the release date of this supernatural documentary.

North a UFO hot spot [The Northern Advocate]

Have you seen any UFOs in Northland?

The truth may be out and about in Northland with numerous reports of strange phenomena above the region - from curious lights, mysterious craft and even a possible alien landing, and video footage being sent overseas for expert analysis.
Suzanne Hansen, network director for Ufocus NZ research, which collates UFO/UAP (unidentified flying object/unidentified aerospace phenomena) reports, said she had received 237 such sightings so far this year, with many from Northland.
Ms Hansen said there had been a significant increase in sightings involving descriptions of actual objects (not aircraft) as opposed to "lights in the sky" sightings.
"Several of these have involved the sighting of entities in conjunction with an object," she said.
However, president of the Northland Astronomical Society Terry Hickey said there were sound explanations for what people thought they had seen. Mr Hickey said he believed there was alien life "out there" but that it had yet to make it to Earth.
But Ms Hansen said specific objects have been described, with reports coming from scientists, pilots, aviation personnel and police.
She said a "top scientist" had reported seeing an object land in an isolated part of Northland, that was "definitely not an aircraft or like anything else he had seen".
"In these cases, we have withheld most of these reports to see if corroborative reports come in. This has been the case in each of these cases, with corroborative sightings of identical objects coming in from different parts of the country," Ms Hansen said.
"We have also had a number of reports from people who said they had previously been sceptics, but have had to change their perspectives having had a sighting themselves that they could not explain. There are several photos and video footage being examined overseas by analysts."
Most of the reports this year have been from the BOP/central North Island, Auckland and Northland, Canterbury and Manawatu, with the balance spread around the country.
But Mr Hickey said in the 42 years he had been in the society he had yet to see any UFOs and doubted if any had even visited our planet.
"There are very good explanations for what people report, but it doesn't make a very good story if you can explain it," he said.
He said the recent upsurge in sightings was probably down to Venus being close to Earth and Jupiter also clearly visible, particularly around dawn and sunset. An increase in iridium satellites was also responsible for false sightings, he said.
"Because Venus is always between us and the Sun it's always close to the horizon when it's visible. It's very bright and can create an optical illusion where people think they see things that aren't there," Mr Hickey said.
But he said with billions of stars out there, and even more planets orbiting them, it was highly likely that there was intelligent life out there somewhere.
http://www.northernadvocate.co.nz/news/north-a-ufo-hot-spot/1536554/
Mike Dinsdale

Mystery of lights in sky lingers [Hawkes Bay Today]

The mystery of moving coloured lights in the night skies over Hawke's Bay continues to deepen with a third sighting since early last month.

Last Saturday night it was Onekawa resident Stephen Carr's turn to be perplexed by unexpected lights overhead after going outside just after 9pm.

And, as he discovered after calling police, he was not the only one to see them.

"I was outside having a smoke, looking for satellites ... and I looked over towards the Taradale hills and saw a bright orange light in the sky," Mr Carr said.

The light was heading toward the hills, from the east.

He watched as more appeared, in pairs, which eventually resulted in eight lights travelling at what he said was a reasonable speed across the sky, all following the same path before they banked to the left.

His partner and flatmate also saw the lights, and attempted to video them.

"It was just a solid orange light and there was no flickering, no firework type effect or anything it it," Mr Carr said.

"There was no noise and it was a still night, there were bugger-all clouds in the sky.

"They were moving pretty quick, they weren't like rockets or anything, it was a good, steady movement."

He estimated they were in the sky for about eight to 10 minutes.

"I rang the police to see if anybody has reported any strange lights and strangely enough, they'd just had someone ring up about it.

"I just thought it was really odd how they all followed the same sort of flight path."

He said he believed that given the time and the movement of the lights, other people must have seen them.

In early August Napier man Vaughan Brooks and his family watched as fast-moving red lights crossed the sky from east to west, and a fortnight later a Havelock North couple reported seeing a stream of orange lights travelling across the night sky.

Mr Brooks ruled out the suggestion they could be Chinese lanterns being released as they were moving too fast, and at a time when there was no wind.

http://www.hawkesbaytoday.co.nz/news/mystery-of-lights-in-sky-lingers/1561909/

Auckland 'ghost hunters' spend night in haunted shop

Visitors to Auckland may want to make the most of some of the haunted buildings in the city.

Published on: 25 September 2012

A team of paranormal investigators spent the night in the spooky setting of an old Auckland shop in order to get to the bottom of rumours the facility is haunted.

Mark Wallbank, who is the man behind the Haunted Auckland group, was joined by his team of ghost hunters at Smith and Caughey's to discover if there were any unearthly beings, reports stuff.co.nz.

While the squad are currently in the process of reviewing footage captured on that spooky evening, Mr Wallbank revealed there was another presence in the room with them.

He said: "There were three people in the room and they all felt something chilling at the exact same time."

Smith and Caughey's is the latest in a long line of buildings around Auckland the investigators have searched, including the Masonic Taverne, Ewelme Cottage in Parnell - regarded as one of the most haunted constructions in the city - and The Civic.
http://www.travelup.co.uk/

Busting Auckland's ghosts [Auckland Now]

Bridget Jones

 

WHO YA GONNA CALL?: Smith and Caughey's is just one in a very long list of Auckland buildings Wallbank and his team of paranormal investigators have spent time in.

 

There have been rumours for years. Whispers of more than just clothes and perfume lurking in the walls of Smith and Caughey's department store.

They were stories Mark Wallbank couldn't ignore.
The man behind Haunted Auckland, a group of like-minded locals searching for the truth about the afterlife, recently spent an evening in the Queen St shopping institution. And what he found brings more questions than answers.
While the team are still in the process of reviewing the footage and audio from the time they spent in the building's basement and top floor, Wallbank said it seemed as though something else was there with them in the bowels of the building that evening.
"There were three people in the room, and they all felt something chilling at the exact same time," he said.
Smith and Caughey's is just one in a very long list of Auckland buildings Wallbank and his team of paranormal investigators have spent time in, including The Civic, The Masonic Tavern and Ewelme Cottage in Parnell, which is regarded as one of the most haunted places in Auckland.
Armed with cameras, voice recorders, thermometers, torches, motion detectors, electro-magnetic generators, parabolic audio receiver dishes and military-grade glow sticks, the team of 10 (four men, six women) spend anywhere from an hour to a whole night in buildings.
Either they contact the owners - like Smith and Caughey's - or, as is the case with most private homes they visit, the owners call them.
It might be because of the building's history, or a general bad vibe, that they are needed. Or there may be some physical issue the occupants are experiencing.
"We have gadgets that measure electrical and magnetic fields in the air; things that may cause hallucinations, paranoia, uneasy feelings, things that may be misunderstood as being paranormal.
"If you've got a leaking power box next to where you sleep, that's going to be giving off electronic and electrical readings, which can affect you."
That's right, even the ghost hunters believe it's 50/50 in the race between supernatural and perfectly natural.
But Wallbank said it's not always that easy to find the root cause.
"We go in with our cameras and our gadgets and we film empty rooms. And you never know, there's a chance we could capture something but it's about being in the right place, at the right time, with the right equipment aimed in the right direction really." 

That luck of the draw hasn't put people off wanting to join the hunt though.
"There's a lot of people who want to get involved. They have been influenced by TV and want to be ghost hunters. But they have no idea what to expect - they expect exciting things when they go out, but actually it can be quite boring. If you took away all the soundtrack stuff from a TV scene, not a lot would happen - it would just be a creaking floorboard or something."

Ghostly goings on in Hastings [Hawkes Bay Today]

An alleged ghost sighting in the Hawke's Bay Today Hastings office has inspired a raft of claims surrounding other potentially haunted buildings in the city.

A contract cleaner was working in the Hastings office on Thursday night when she was "notified about a presence in your building".

She had been working in the building for a few weeks but could not manage to finish her Thursday night shift as the presence, which was not pleasant, scared her out of the building, she said in a message to the paper.

"I will never return to the building as this presence did not want me there. I hope the next person does not experience the same thing for it's a horrifying thing to go through."
Hawke's Bay historian Michael Fowler said part of the Hawke's Bay Today building, the brick section on the corner of Karamu Road and Queen St, survived the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake but no one died inside at the time of the disaster.
 

Darby Ryan was a popular reporter at the Hawke's Bay Tribune working at the newspaper office at the time of the 1931 earthquake. He died during the quake, hit by a falling clock tower while standing on the corner of Queen St and Russell St where he was waiting for an interview that morning.

Mr Fowler said initial thoughts that the tower building of the current newspaper office may have been built on a morgue proved incorrect as pictures showed nothing on the site before the office's construction in the 1960s.

"But down the road, where Forbes and Co use to be, there is an art shop now and the top floor of that building is reputed to be haunted," he said. "There's been a long-time rumour about something being up there."

Messages left on social media websites suggested there were also ghosts at the Hawke's Bay Opera House in Hastings including a report that said one often looked out of a top floor, small window of the historic building towards St Joseph's School.

Other popular places for ghost sightings include the former Napier Prison, the former Napier Hospital site, certain homes on Napier Hill, cemeteries and the old Waipukurau Hospital which closed in 1995. 

Lawrence Gullery