Month: May 1998

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On last week's show, Blather dealt with two reports of alleged Irish meteorite hits - both of which seemed to be accompanied by a considerable amount of spurious baggage. The Fermanagh incident With regard to the Co. Fermanagh incident of December 13th, I spoke to David Moore of Astronomy Ireland last weekend, who referred me to a full page article in the March 1998 issue of *Astronomy & Space* (available through the AI website), which I had somehow overlooked. The magazine has a photograph of the crater, showing a *very* boggy waterlogged field, with a muddy water-filled hole in the foreground. The hole is surrounded by clumps of wed sod, *suggesting* that they had been blown outwards from the hole. According to the article (which concurs with the Irish Times on the size of the hole, therefore hinting that this too is the correct measurement as measured by Armagh Planetarium),...

blather.net
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Not one, but *two* alleged Irish meteorite sites have come to the attention of Blather this week. Firstly, UFO Roundup, via the UK UFO Network (who are now presumably claiming responsibility over rocks that fall from the sky), reported on a 'mysterious crater' discovered on farmland near Belleek, Co. Fermanagh, in January 1998. Armagh Planetarium apparently investigated, where they are said to have found a 'circular crater six feet in diameter filled with water', along with a 'badly-damaged milk churn'. The report went on to state how 'investigators found a 1.5 millimetre bead of glass' which was possibly from the meteorite. Blather was a little suspicious about such news -- but did a little back-tracking, and discovered an Irish Times report on the incident. It was from the 'In the North' section of the Thursday, January 29th, 1998 issue, and stated how, based on investigations by Planetarium director Tom Mason...

blather.net
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Irish UFO After what seems to have been a lull, a new Irish UFO report has come to our attention, this time in Blanchardstown, Dublin. Blather would have reported this much earlier, but a) there was no real hurry, and b) we were far too busy regaling you with tales of the UnCon. The reports state that on April 2, 1998 at around 5pm, a certain David Martin was perambulating towards *The Bell* public house, when he saw "an object flash across the sky. It stopped and hovered over my head. It seemed circular in shape. It flew off to the east in the direction of Raheny". According to one report, the object was red. While a 'typical' sort of report, Blanchardstown is a well populated suburban area in North West Dublin, and I've yet to hear any more reports of UFOs in broad daylight there. Blather shall look into...

blather.net
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Once more into the breach we stumble, to give a run down of the second day of the Fortean Times UnConvention 98 (with a brief hark back to Saturday). This week Blather is joined by not only by Barry 'Dacianos' Kavanagh and Mark 'Firestarter' Pilkington, but also Paul Holloway, giving his dissertations on MIBs. EMIBEES Jenny Randle's talk on Men In Black Randles spoke seriously but entertainingly. I didn't start drowsing or eyeing the exit, as I have a tendency to do when most people talk UFOlogy for more than about ten minutes. In fact I thoroughly enjoyed her talk. She told of the number UFO witnesses who are happy to discuss their experiences at first -- but then suddenly clam up, refusing to talk at all. She argued that this happens too often to be entirely explained by fear of ridicule, or publicity. Her case histories of men, mostly...

blather.net
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After surviving an evening of subconsciously premeditated alcoholic beverage consumption at what has become known as the UnDrinking, the morning of Saturday 25th of April saw some ragged Blatherskites staggering through the foyer of the University of London Union, en route to the Fortean Times UnConvention 98. This report was compiled with this week's Blather guests, Barry Kavanagh and Mark Pilkington... DEATH IN 101 The Dublin contingent headed straight for Room 101, where FT's Bob Rickard initiated the proceedings. He introduced *Strange Magazine's* Mark Chorvinsky, who imbued us with stories of Grim Reaper visitations . This topic -- which some readers may find to be a rather odd topic, even for forteans -- seems to have had quite an effect on attendees. Chorvinsky identified several cases where dying people were seen to interact with an invisible, personified 'death', witnesses *close* to death meeting the Reaper (either driving it away or...