HART: MISSOURI RESEARCH PROJECT
Investigator: Gary Hart // Bloomington IL
Case Updates from an Ongoing Missouri Sightings Research Project:
(Photos for this report may be accessed from the photo album.)
Using a merged database for Missouri UFO and anomalous phenomena reports of all types, I have been conducting a private, long‑term research effort to study the energy discharges present and measurable when unexplained phenomena occurs. I'm now working in cooperation with MIG, the Missouri Investigators Group, www.ufomig.com and NUFORC to investigate new UFO sightings cases and this case brief is the result of my investigating three recent NUFORC‑posted light sightings that I found especially interesting.
While MIG and NUFORC collect general sightings data, I look to study cases that contain particular factors common to other significant sightings in my database. These factors include:
1) Lights that can be easily categorized as to type.
2) Sightings that seem to represent light‑types common to particular areas of the state.
3) Sightings where a light or lights at some point in a sighting assume a particular configuration‑type.
4) Sightings occurring in areas that historically have a higher sightings frequency.
A research protocol that mines a sighting database for sightings with common factors by quick‑binning sightings into light and configuration types can produce valid results even if the original sightings contain significant detail. My work has enabled the development of several cause and effect hypothesis which are being tested electronically using experimental sensor and data acquisition equipment of my own design.
The purpose of research is to establish fact and move beyond speculation. The testing of advanced sensor systems for UFO and anomalous phenomena work to my knowledge is only being done in two other places in the world: to a limited extent in the Yakima WA area
and in Hessdalen Norway.
The most common UFO sighting‑type in Missouri involves lights ranging in color from white to orange and appearing singly or in rows. The most common sightings region in Missouri is the southern third of the state. The several recent cases that most closely resemble case‑types
currently under study in this region are these:
Occurred : 4/11/2002 22:00 (Entered as : 04/11/02 10:00pm)
Reported : 4/12/2002 7:39:23 PM 19:39
Location : Doniphan, MO
Sighted: Row of three orange lights
Occurred : 4/20/2002 22:00 (Entered as : 04/20/02 22:00)
Reported : 4/27/2002 7:30:48 PM 19:30
Location : Willow Springs, MO
Sighted: Two triangles of orange lights
Occurred : 6/17/2002 20:15 (Entered as : 06/17/02 20:15)
Reported : 6/17/2002 8:52:43 PM 20:52
Location : Licking, MO
Sighted: Row of three white lights
Since my case studies involve only particular pieces of information relevant to a case, only this information is presented here. Contact was established with the Doniphan MO observer. Additional information collected: the row of lights were first seen reflecting off the water of a nearby pond; the thunder heard when the lights were sighted stopped when the lights blinked out; the exact viewing location; the exact viewing direction: west.
Unfortunately the Willow Springs case, though extremely interesting, did not contain observer contact data so no correlation with other sightings could be done. Based on my experience there is a dramatic under‑reporting of light sightings in southern Missouri because there are several areas in this region whose history of light sightings far exceed the number of publicly‑filed reports and lights in this area can be seen from long distances. Observers should remember that every report makes a difference when research is being done in frequent sightings areas. Getting a scientific handle on the phenomena is much more likely in these areas as compared to essentially random sightings seen elsewhere.
Contact with the Licking MO witness found those persons to be have been looking northwest, which could not be further correlated with sightings data.
I am in contact with a diligent observer a number of miles to the north and west of Doniphan. This person saw lights the same evening from 9:35 to 10:10. To the northwest, a string of eight ambers; to the north, several dozen large single amber lights; to the southeast, a string of four ambers, then numerous single ambers to the south. The observer also saw another light‑type identified as peculiar to this region: a light appeared high in the northeast, sped west for three seconds, then did a hairpin turn to fly back to the east for three more seconds before blinking out.
There is a high probability that the Doniphan observers and the observer to the northwest saw the same row of lights as the individual lights usually appear and disappear rapidly, taking the observer by surprise. Plotting the sighting locations and viewing direction gives an object position four miles from the Doniphan observers and thirty‑two miles from the northern observer. This spot is near several plotted micro‑quake epicenters and within a larger area where dozens of small earthquakes have been plotted over the last several dozen years indicating a interesting pattern of ongoing seismic instability ‑ just one of several factors that can be related to the sightings region given a triangulated location.
A project of instrumented data acquisition and study of this area is underway. Pictures of lights taken on the night of 4‑11‑02 by one of the observers are attached to this report. All photos are extreme enlargements of 300 mm zoom photos using 1,600 ISO film, using a 1/15th second shutter speed. Fig. 1 shows light trails from a diamond‑pattern of four lights, trails caused by both movement of camera and lights. Fig. 2 shows a single white light, a pulsating light trail and an orange pair of light trails indicating the camera was stationary and the movement from the lights themselves. Fig. 3 is an enlargement of the pair of lights showing the apparently energy‑stable rowed light configuration, but distinct individual color, size and intensity variations can be seen. Individual lights observed as circular in all cases.
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