NEWS CLIPPING SERVICE
DATE OF ARTICLE: August 5, 1989
SOURCE OF ARTICLE: Australian Post
LOCATION: Melbourne, Australia
BYLINE: Denise Dalgliesh ========================================================
(C) Copyright 1989 ParaNet Information Service
All Rights Reserved.
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'MARTIANS' WARN FARMER TO STAY AWAY
Stationhand George Blackwell used to be a dyed-in-the-wool cynic....until the night he came face to face with a UFO.
Although shocked by the close encounter George, 56, says
that if the alien beings manning the spacecraft had invited him
aboard he would have leapt at the chance.
George recalled his experience exclusively for POST in a bid
to assist the Victorian UFO Research Society, which studies
reports from witnesses who have observed UFOs at close range.
George, who lived on the cattle grazing property "White-
Acres", near Sale (V), woke at 1 am on September 30, 1980, to
hear a strange high-pitched whistling noise and the sound of
terrified animals.
"The noise was getting louder and I looked out the window
and saw what I first thought was an aircraft about to crash into
the paddock," George told POST. "Then I realized it had no
wings.
"I threw on some clothes and raced out to the porch. It was
a clear moonlit night and I could see the craft clearly.
"It was dome-shaped, about three-and-a-half metres high and
roughly eight-and-a-half metres long with blue and orange lights.
It was moving slowly about two metres above the paddock and as I
watched it cruised down to the water tank, hovered over it for
some minutes and then landed.
"I didn't know what the hell was going on...my first thought
was I had caught some cattle rustlers."
George jumped on a motorbike and bolted down to the paddock
where the craft had landed.
"I opened the paddock gate and got a hefty electric shock.
My watch stopped right at that moment and my body went numb...it
just didn't want to respond.
"That gave me a nasty fright so I just stood there stunned,
watching this thing. I'd never seen anything like it in my life.
It was bell-shaped with a smaller dome on top. I couldn't see
any doors, rivets or seams, only portholes with lights behind
them, and although I didn't see or hear anyone in it, it was
obviously under control -- its movements weren't erratic."
The UFO remained stationary for about 10 minutes then
started to take off, and if lifted gracefully off the ground. I
was so close it nearly blew me off the bike and I could feel a
blast of heat on my legs. It was incredibly graceful and I felt
quite calm -- if someone had beckoned and asked me to go for a
ride, I would have." As the spacecraft rose George noticed a
large circular rim around its base which receded as the craft
rose. The whistling noise leveled off to a hum, and rocks and
cow pats fell from beneath the UFO. It flew straight over the
ocean. Stunned, George returned to his bungalow to find that 50
minutes had elapsed.
Next morning George and Ralph Anderson, the owner of White-
Acres, discovered a brown ring about 10 metres in diameter on the
ground where George had watched the UFO landing.
The ground appeared to be scorched, and around the circle
were six distinct spots where the grass was unharmed. Upturned
cow pats and rocks were strewn around the circle under the flight
path of the UFO.
The nearby water tank, which had held 2200 litres the night
before, was nearly empty. The tank had been cracked but the
ground around it was bone dry.
"It was like the tank had been sucked in by some enormous
force and had cracked under the strain," George told POST. "I
had checked the tank the night before and it was full then. The
cattle were spooked the next morning and refused to go back in
that paddock for months."
In the cold light of day George remained adamant that what
he had witnessed was a UFO landing.
"I can assure you it wasn't science fiction -- it was
genuine," he told POST. "I used to be the sort of bloke who'd
laugh and pass rude remarks when people mentioned UFOs, but now I
think people who make those sorts of statements are ignorant.
"Whatever race of beings made that craft they were a long
way ahead of us. I don't think they'd hurt you, I certainly
didn't feel fearful. Looking back I think the shock I got off
the gate was just their way of telling me not to be so abrupt."
The Victorian UFO Research Society contacted George soon after
his experience. Paul Norman, vice president of the society, has
spent 36 years investigating UFOs.
"In the Blackwell encounter there is tangible evidence of a
UFO landing and his experience is one of the best close sightings
to occur in Australia," he told POST. "It ties in with UFO
sightings from around the world -- many are associated with
water. I investigated this sighting extensively and George
Blackwell is an honest, credible man who didn't just dream up
this encounter...it happened."
Judy Magee, president of the society, said: "We get
hundreds of reports of UFO sightings but you can write off 80
percent as natural phenomenon. George Blackwell's encounter
falls into the 10 per cent of definite sightings -- they can't be
explained in any other way."
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8/89
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