File 19 Southern Skies In August 1995 alone more than one hundred independent reports of encounters with a massive and truly sinister-seeming black triangular aircraft were received by local UFO groups in the south of England. Further investigation showed that this same phenomenon had been occurring on a regular basis for some years. Most reports detailed the craft's unusual flight characteristics - a "standstill/hover" capability; silent and/or virtually silent flight/propulsion system; extreme low-altitude capability; extreme slow-flight capability; the ability to simply "disappear" and "reappear," often spontaneously; top speeds beyond those of any known conventional aircraft. A researcher's dream. Other sightings (some of which have been filmed and/or photographed) included reports of mysterious black spheres, massively long cylindrical objects, luminous diamond-shaped objects, flying "Vs." "Hs," discs, rhomboids, boomerangs…all displaying similar flight characteristics to the aforementioned Black Triangle. Indeed, when reports from all over the UK appeared to match those occurring in the south it seemed a British UFO wave of mammoth proportions was under way. And so it was. The wave continues to this day. (note: book was published 1998 – ed.) File 19: Appendix 01 Case Report: Cosmic Top-XII Eyes Only Jack The first report I received was submitted by a well-known British rock musician who lives in Somerset, and who, due to his high-profile career, wishes to remain anonymous. I will call him Jack. It was around 10pm one night in July 1989 when Jack and a few friends were seated around a camp fire; two of the party decided to go in to the house to fetch some water. According to Jack, it was a clear, cloudless night and still partially light - the sun had not long gone down behind the hills to the west. Some brief time after the two had returned to the house, those still seated around the camp fire began to feel a little "strange." As the two returned with the water they were suddenly stopped in their tracks. Looking up they saw what appeared to be an object hovering directly above the trees where the camp fire was still burning. According to their account the object was hovering low, and made no sound whatever. Closer inspection of the object determined its shape as triangular, and it "appeared to pulse white and red beams of light that reflected on the trees where the others were." It should be said that by this time "the others" were feeling "tired and drained" for no explicable reason. Indeed, then I interviewed Jack he told me that they found themselves "slumping" on the ground where moments before they had been seated upright and talking. Meanwhile the craft was still being observed by the two friends on their way back to the camp fire. At some point one of the two eyewitnesses flashed his torch (flashlight) in the direction of the craft, and then watched in utter disbelief as the craft suddenly flew off at lightning speed. According to both witnesses the craft went from standstill to enormous speed with no evidence of acceleration, and finally disappeared behind the Mendip Hills - about ten miles away - "within two seconds." On their return to the camp fire - where the others were still feeling "strangely tired" - the two who had seen the craft were notably shaken and excited. "It was the weirdest thing I've ever experienced," Jack confided. And who could argue with that? File 19: Appendix 02 Case Report: Cosmic Top-X12 Eyes Only The Future Of Earth This next report was submitted by an entire family who encountered the Black Triangle on their way home from visiting relatives. Indeed, this story made the front page of the local Mid-Somerset Gazette on 24th August 1995. It should be said that when I spoke to "John" about this incident it was immediately apparent that he and his family had been seriously unnerved by their experience, which began as the family approached the small, rural village of Butleigh Wootton in Somerset while driving home from London. It was a clear, hot summer's night at around 10.45 pm, 17th August 1995. In the car with John was his wife, his son and his nephew - all four were about to experience something none of them had ever believed possible. As they drove past several grazing fields near the local church, John suddenly noticed a large airborne object hovering just above the field to his left. He observed the object as being triangular in shape with three pulsating red lights, one in each corner. Immediately he slowed down to take a closer look. It was then that he saw the triangular craft moving "very slowly" above the field - "far too slow for something that big" he said, quietly shaking his head as though still deeply affected by the experience. He added that the craft was "about the size of a large Jumbo jet." After observing the craft for several moments, John told me that it suddenly rose upwards and banked over a nearby row of silhouetted trees. As it performed this manoeuvre John was able to confirm without question that indeed the craft was triangular in shape, and "massive." It was also silent. He said the two children were so frightened at this point that they both began to cry. "They were terrified," he said. "Indeed, we all were. Although I have to say, myself and my wife couldn't help but feel intrigued by what we were seeing." Of all the witnesses I have interviewed regarding sightings of this strange black beast, John was the first one to speculate on the craft's origin. "I had this strange feeling," he told me nervously, "this inexplicable feeling when I was watching that thing that it wasn't alien, but from the future of Earth. It just felt so like Earth technology, the kind of technology they might have in a hundred years' time." Or perhaps even now, somewhere.... File 19: Appendix 03 Case Report: Cosmic Top-X13 Eyes Only Terry-fied On 15th June 1995, at around 1.30 a.m., Terry McDonough of Street, Somerset, was sitting in his back garden. It was a perfectly clear night dappled with stars, and very hot. Indeed, it was the start of the 1995 heatwave and Terry was finding it difficult to sleep, which was why he found himself sitting outside in his garden instead of being curled up in his bed, dreaming. He was soon to find himself in the middle of a dream anyway. The only difference being that this dream would reveal itself as a real-life nightmare. Because suddenly Terry saw a very bright light in the sky, far brighter than any of the stars, he said, and it seemed to be moving towards him. As the light drew nearer Terry was able to determine the shape of a large triangular craft, "about the size of a Jumbo jet." He could now see that the single light he thought he had first seen was in fact one of three lights illuminating the craft, one at each corner. According to Terry the craft was either very dark grey or black, and at one point hovered directly and noiselessly above him at an altitude of around 400/500 feet. By now, Terry was little short of terrified. Next, the craft started to make what Terry described as a "strange high-pitched sucking sound," like a "giant vacuum cleaner," which was loud enough to wake his girlfriend, Alison, from sleep. As she came out into the garden to investigate, the craft suddenly flew off at an incredible speed, and according to both Terry and Alison, it flew off "flat end first." Both Terry and Alison were extremely shaken by their ordeal. When questioned further about the craft's "strange high-pitched sucking sound," Terry produced a newspaper cutting he had found in the 31st August 1995 edition of the Bristol Evening Post (two and a half months after Terry's encounter.) The headline read: Mystery Noise Wakes City Families. The report went on to say how families in Bristol - about twenty-five miles from Street - had been awakened at 5.30 in the morning by a noise that sounded like a "jet aircraft in trouble." One of those awoken by the sound was store manager Lyndon Allen of Easton, Bristol, who told the Bristol Evening Post: It was a low engine noise that reminded me of an aircraft falling out of the sky. All of a sudden the sound of the engine became very high-pitched." Mr Allen added: "Whatever was making the noise suddenly shot off at high speed." This, said Terry, described the sound (and the capability) of the Triangle very well. But what Terry did not know was that the sound he described had been heard and reported by many others in the south-west of England during this same summer period (1995.) Most of these reports described a mysterious "high-pitched boom-and-rumble" sound that seemed to occur late at night or in the early hours of the morning. The term "skyquake" has been coined to describe these strange sounds. Indeed, this would perhaps be an appropriate place to mention the series of similar "skyquakes" reported in California in recent years. And then again the same phenomenon reported in Pordenone, north-east Italy, in 1995, where over one hundred thousand people were startled half to death by what is presumed to have been a sudden and terrifying sonic boom, but which, according to local reports, sounded more as though an earthquake had just ripped through Italian skies. Indeed, the sound shattered windows and scrambled brain cells to the point that locals thought some great and terrible "end" had suddenly been visited upon them. In California, of course, the sound has been monitored and investigated, and is now suspected to be associated with the re-entry of Aurora, the super-secret US space-reconnaissance aircraft based at Groom Lake, Nevada. Indeed, videotape evidence shot by California researcher Sean Morton tends to support this conclusion. But what of the Italian quake? Perhaps, not surprisingly, the highly Top Secret USAF Aviano Air Base is located close to Pordenone where the 1995 skyquake occurred. Indeed, due to its strategic military position and the fact that either UFOs or secret experimental aircraft have on previous occasions been reported in connection with this Italian-sited USAF base, Aviano has become known as Europe's "Area 51." I recall author Timothy Good's story (Above Top Secret) of American soldier James Blake and night watchman Benito Manfre who, in 1977, witnessed a strange "glowing disc" hovering above the hangars at Aviano Air Base, causing a total power blackout. When the disc finally glided noiselessly away from the base the lights came back on and normal activities were resumed. The security alert caused by the incident - and reported by the base's personnel - was later denied by NATO headquarters in Brussels. Those same headquarters were unable to give any explanation for the 1995 Italian skyquake. We can only wonder, then, at the sound reported by Terry and Alison, and by the residents of Bristol in August 1995. I have it on very good authority, for example, that Aurora overflies British and European airspace on a regular basis, and that Britain has its own super-secret "Stealth" prototype which is currently being developed and test-flown (see File 22.) If either of these two "non-existent" aircraft were responsible for the skyquakes - or indeed, for the "strange high-pitched sucking sound" reported by Terry - then some very serious questions need to be asked at Government level (an issue we will discuss in more detail later.) For now, the most immediate question that springs to mind is: if this immense black triangular aircraft is indeed some super-duper new military prototype, then what in God's name do the authorities think they are playing at, test-flying over such densely populated areas? The Bristol Evening Post article, for example, concluded by telling how another Bristol resident reported "windows rattling in Old Market as the area was swept by the sound." It should be added that British Aerospace (which is secretly developing Britain's new Stealth aircraft,) has a runway at Filton, near Bristol. As expected, however, the military-industrial giant said it had "nothing to do with the noise." No surprises there, then. File 19: Appendix 04 Case Report: Cosmic Top-X14 Eyes Only Low Flying Exercises This next report might just shed some light on the ET/military conundrum: Is the Black Triangle extraterrestrial? Or is it military? Freelance journalist Kevin Ollier saw it, and he is convinced it is not the latter. In May 1994 the RAF announced in the local Somerset press that "overnight low-flying training exercises" would be undertaken by Hercules C-130 transporter planes. According to the newspaper article these exercises were to be held over a three-week period in June 1994. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that a string of UFO sightings was reported at this time. However, so many of the reports were so detailed in their descriptions, and the witnesses seemed so adamant that what they had seen had not been a military or another kind of known aircraft, that I decided to include this following report for the reader's appraisal. It should be said that it is very unusual for the RAF to announce their plans for night exercises in the local press. Helicopters, jets and Hercules C-130 tactical transport aircraft are frequently seen and heard low-flying at night over the Somerset moors and levels, the point being that it is not such an unusual occurrence that the RAF should deem it necessary to publicly announce the fact. Indeed, what is more unusual is that the RAF did announce the fact. With this in mind one wonders: Was the RAF's objective to pre-empt what was to become a sizeable UFO flap by announcing its intentions to conduct night exercises? Was the military simply covering its tracks? According to freelance journalist Kevin Ollier, this is a very likely scenario. On Sunday 5th June 1994, at around midnight, Kevin Ollier was out walking with his brother-in-law Duncan Gaukroger, who was in Glastonbury visiting with his family. At some point the two men decided to take a rest; Kevin sat himself down on a roadside bench while Duncan remained standing, facing Kevin. Through the trees, approaching over a high rise known as Chalice Hill, Kevin suddenly noticed a very bright light in the sky. When I spoke to him he told me that his initial reaction on seeing the light was: "It must be Venus." But the light seemed to be getting brighter, and closer, and so Kevin finally pointed it out to Duncan. He then got up from the bench and both men walked a few yards further along the road to gain a better view. "By now the light looked like something from a Nativity scene," Kevin told me. "Duncan said: "What is that?" I told him it was probably a Hercules, but admittedly I wasn't convinced, because there was no sound and the night was perfectly breezeless. It kept getting nearer and we both began to wonder what would happen next. At this point I felt exhilarated and terrified, both at once. After three or four minutes the object passed overhead, very slowly. We were able to see it very clearly. It was big, dark, triangular, had lights underneath and was moving in a north-easterly direction. After it had passed overhead Duncan said: "I don't know what it is, but it's definitely not a Hercules!" The two men went home convinced they had seen something other than an RAF night exercise. Indeed, they went home wondering what had prompted the RAF's press announcement in the first place. File 19: Appendix 05 Case Report: Cosmic Top-X15 Eyes Only HMS Heron One further report from File 19 that also suggests a military connection to the Black Triangle phenomenon is the account of Tina Dyer, who claims to have seen the craft taking off from a highly secure Royal Navy base in Yeovilton, Somerset: HMS Heron, the flagship of the Navy's Fleet Air Arm... Dotted around the length and breadth of Britain are a host of highly secure military bases. Some would argue that, in the interests of national security, military bases should indeed enjoy the strictest security measures, if only to ensure that "prying eyes" be kept at a safe distance. However, this argument rests on the assurance that the activities carried out at such bases are themselves in the interests of national security. Much evidence now points to the possibility that this is far from the reality. Well-stocked UFO archives contain countless reports of unexplained aerial phenomena being observed over military bases. I call your attention to what were formerly the joint RAF/USAF Woodbridge/Bentwaters twin bases near Ipswich, for example, where in 1980 a UFO was seen to land in Rendlesham Forest (an area of woodland that separates the two bases.) The incident was witnessed and reported by both regular and high-ranking military officers and was subsequently covered up by the M.O.D., much to the concern of Admiral of the Fleet and former Chief of the Defence Staff and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, Lord Hill-Norton. One wonders why such a high-ranking military luminary, though aware of the cover-up, is unable to breach its defences. In his excellent book Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception, longstanding UFO researcher Jacques Vallee puts forward the theory that the Woodbridge/Bentwaters case was probably no more than a psychological operations exercise perpetrated by the US military. The reason? To monitor the response of the military personnel involved in anticipation of a similar incident occurring for real. Though I beg to differ with one or two conclusions drawn by Vallée, nevertheless this hypothesis, I believe, should not be dismissed out of hand. Indeed, if this turns out to be the case then the question must surely be asked: Just what exactly is going on behind those barbed-wire perimeter fences? And moreover, if the answer to this question is "covert operations perpetrated on unwitting subjects" (military or otherwise) then I argue that this activity is illegal and the regular national security laws should not therefore apply. On the other hand, should the answer be "the test-flying of advanced-technology experimental aircraft, such as Aurora, Halo, etc," then why are these aircraft being test-flown over residential areas? Either way, the activities of the military in this respect are highly illegal and should therefore be brought to account. By way of adding spice to this seeming conundrum I received a telephone call at around 9.30 pm on 17th April 1996 from Tina Dyer of Shaftesbury, Somerset, who told me she had just witnessed something very strange indeed above HMS Heron, RNAS Yeovilton, the Fleet Air Arm's "Flagship" air base located at Yeovilton, Somerset. It is suspected that some very exotic aircraft are indeed frequent visitors to this base, as well as to RAF Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, the allegedly deserted RAF Machrihanish in Scotland and a list of others. But it is to HMS Heron that we turn our investigations for the present. At around 8 pm that same evening, Tina said, she had been out walking when her attention was taken by a "yellow light" that rose slowly up into the sky. Tina said that at first the light seemed "diffused," but that as it rose up into the sky it became brighter and sharper, until it became about the same brightness as, say, Venus on a good night. What is intriguing is that, at the time, Tina was looking in the direction of HMS Heron, the Royal Naval Air Station at Yeovilton. "I was looking towards the air base," Tina told me. "What I saw was a fuzzy yellow light that rose up very, very slowly. I watched it for about ten minutes continuously, until it was quite high in the sky. What made me keep watching was the fact that it rose up so slowly; that's what made me think how strange it was. I continued to observe the light, and watched it rise up through some clouds (the evening was quite clear with sparse cloud cover.) As it rose up it had a sort trail underneath that wasn't like a normal aircraft trail. It didn't leave a trail in the air like a normal aircraft - the trail remained attached to the object. It's really quite difficult to put into words. Then, quite suddenly, it changed into a sort of cylinder shape, and became a brighter yellow. As it rose up even further it was angled slightly, still looking like a cylinder shape, but by now it looked longer and darker. I can't tell how high it was, but I assume it was quite high because it had been ascending now for about fifteen minutes. When it reached a certain point it jettisoned something, a small black object that fell straight to earth and disappeared from view. It was then that I caught sight of what I was really looking at. Because at this point the thing changed direction and started flying towards me. It was about 8.20 - 8.25 p.m. As it flew over me, and by this time it seemed incredibly high, much higher than a normal military aircraft, and yet it was still clearly visible. What struck me was how incredibly black it was (Tina emphasised the word "black") and very sharp, a very sharp-angled shape. There was no sound until it had passed over me, and then there was a sort of "soft thunder," again not like the noise made by either a jet or a helicopter, or any other kind of aircraft. It was all a little strange. As it flew overhead I could see that, what had appeared from a distance to be cylindrical, was in fact triangular. It was a black triangular craft, very sharp and thin. My gut feeling was this was some secret military craft, and that it was perhaps being test-flown at Yeovilton." When Tina got home she rang HMS Heron, RNAS Yeovilton and explained what she had seen. She spoke to the Yeovilton control tower and asked if they knew of any unusual aircraft that might explain her sighting. According to Tina, the man she spoke to was very abrupt, to the point. "No," was all he said. Feeling intimidated by this man's attitude, and still quite shocked by what she had seen, Tina said, "Thank you," and hung up. She then called my business number and left a message, explaining what had happened. The next morning at around 10 a.m. I contacted the Yeovilton base myself, and was told that pilots from the base had indeed been night-flying the previous evening. The night-flying had continued until 10.30 pm, I was told. When I asked why they hadn't told Tina Dyer this the night before, the woman I spoke to said she didn't know. I then told the woman that the sighting had taken place between 8pm and 8.30pm. The woman giggled and said: "But it was light then." I told her: "I know it was still light then, and that's what makes the sighting all the more intriguing." I then explained that there had been an awful lot of reports lately of a black triangular aircraft flying and hovering over the local area and in other parts of Somerset and the South-West, and could she say anything about this. Again she reiterated that aircraft had been "night-flying" the previous evening, and explained that they'd had "jets and helicopters" in the air. When I told the woman that Tina Dyer had heard no noise from the aircraft except the "soft thunder" she had reported after the aircraft had departed (remember, the aircraft had hovered and ascended for around fifteen minutes prior to its departure) and that most of the local reports filed recently seemed to tell the same story, and could she comment on this, the RNAS spokeswoman promptly said: "OK, then. Sorry I couldn't help you," and hung up. I was in no position to take this report any further. NATIONAL SECURITY took care of that.