IPUS NEWS ALERT

The Stephenville, TX, UFO Sightings: New Developments and Old Connections

By Bill Knell

What do Rochester Creek, Utah, and South Mountain Park near Phoenix, Arizona, have to do with the recent Stephenville, Texas, UFO Sightings? A lot! Both are areas where ancient rock carvings by Native Americans feature symbols and objects that appear very similar to objects filmed and photographed in and around Erath County Texas.

Jeff Woolwine, the International Paranormal UFO Society Director for Arizona, has reported for many years that strange objects seen in the skies over the Southwestern USA and Mexico happen to match objects carved into rocks during ancient times. Jeff, an Arizona native, began reporting on these similarities after having his own UFO sighting of an object that was being followed by a helicopter in the Phoenix area.

After the phenomenon known as the Phoenix Lights appeared in the skies over Arizona, Nevada and parts of Mexico in March of 1997, Jeff found evidence that these events had been foretold on a rock carving from South Mountain Park. That carving is an exact representation of what was seen over Phoenix on March 13, 1997.

The Rochester Creek, Utah, rock cravings are generally considered to be around one thousand years old. In addition to the strange symbols that resemble objects seen in the skies of Texas recently, the carvings also show strange creatures with large heads and large eyes that tend to resemble what UFO researchers consider to be the Grey type of Alien.

The huge panel of rock carvings at Rochester Creek is located off of a graded road near Utah Highway 10 at milepost 16 or the Moore Cutoff Road and requires a short hike. The rock carving panel is considered to be one of the most spectacular in Utah. Historians say that the carvings were either made by the Fremont or Barrier Canyon Cultures. Others claim that among the strange symbols and a likeness of animals carved into the panel, a calendar exists that illustrates the coming of the summer and winter solstices.

South Mountain Park overlooks the Phoenix, Arizona, skyline. It was federal property until over seventy-five years ago when the U.S. Government donated it to the City of Phoenix. At over sixteen thousand acres and eleven miles across, it is the largest city park in the USA. Located in the Sonoran Desert, the park is part of two mountain ranges and is filled with rock carvings made by the Hohokam People.

The South Mountain Park rock carvings are over one thousand years old. Jeff Woolwine has studied these carvings and taken people on tours of South Mountain Park for many years. He points out the amazing similarities between the carvings and unknown objects seen and photographed in the same general area and in other places where similar carvings exist. He believes the objects might be some sort of living sky creatures or representations of humanoids.

A more recent connection to the Stephenville, Texas, UFO Sightings occurred in the Midwest USA. An object was filmed on January 31, 2008, that is an almost exact likeness of a drawing made by Constable Leroy Gaitan of an object he saw in the skies above Erath County. The photo was taken in Indiana (location undisclosed at this time). Likewise, one or more fast moving UFOs were spotted and filmed over San Antonio, Texas, on January 13, 2008 that match descriptions of some seen over and near Stephenville.

Every since the infamous January 8, 2008, mass UFO Sighting in the Stephenville area, a number of developments have occurred that are directly connected to that and other sightings in Texas. While initially tolerant of the attention that the UFO sightings brought to the farming communities of Erath County, Texas, the feelings of some apparently changed after a UFO research organization (not associated with IPUS) held meetings in the area to investigate the matter.

Members of the press initially received high marks from most UFO Researchers for their coverage of the Erath County UFO sightings in print, over the airwaves and on screen. That changed after the UFO witness meeting. A Texas newspaper likened members of the UFO research group that held the meeting to the Scooby Doo Gang and noted that they didn’t even bring near enough sighting reports for everyone present.

Just days after that big meeting, a local politician complained about the way the press was blowing the entire event out of all proportions. Shortly after that, Stephenville Empire- Tribune Reporter Angelia Joiner said she was told to stop writing stories about the UFO sightings. She was also asked to stop wasting newspaper time on responding to the many emails and phone calls coming into the newspaper about the sightings.

It’s fair to say that Angelia Joiner’s stories about the UFO sightings brought national and international attention to Stephenville and caused her newspaper to experience record sales for the month of January. Given that, it‘s hard to understand the sudden change that occurred in editorial policy toward the UFO sightings. Angelia gave her two weeks notice to the Stephenville Empire-Tribune feeling that she was unable to satisfy her employer.

Unwilling to simply abandon the local UFO witnesses or disregard all the emails and requests for more information coming her way, Angelia decided that leaving the newspaper would be her best course of action. At least two of the witnesses she was writing about had multiple sightings after the January 8, 2008, event and claimed they were being harassed by government or military authorities. They weren’t the only ones to experience harassment.

Just one week into her two week notice, Angelia was suddenly confronted one morning by the newspaper publisher. The published asked her to leave the building immediately and confiscated her computer and rolodex. Angelia indicated later that she was shocked believing that she was leaving the newspaper on good terms with her employer. In various interviews since that time, Angelia remains unable to understand why she was treated in such a manner.

Our own investigation of the Stephenville UFO sightings has turned up quite a lot. We heard from a private pilot that was flying his aircraft in the area of the mass UFO sighting at the time of that event. Based on his report and statements from the former employee of a government contractor known to IPUS (the International Paranormal UFO Society), we now believe that the object seen on January 8, 2008 may have been chased by military aircraft because they had breached restricted presidential airspace over the Bush Ranch located south of Erath County.

During a recent radio interview, someone that must have picked up on our findings regarding the Bush Ranch connection asked Angelia Joiner if the idea that jets were chasing the UFO because they breached presidential airspace was a possible scenario. She said that based on what witnesses and others had told her, it was. She also pointed out that a military spokesperson that had originally been cordial to her when she made initial inquiries about the military jets reportedly seen over Erath County, recently changed his attitude completely.

Joiner made a friendly inquiry to the office of Major Karl Lewis, a spokesperson for a joint military operating area that would know about any military jets over Stephenville. Angelia described his attitude as cordial and indicated that he said he would look into the matter and get back to her. Shortly after that, Lewis made his first public statement saying that no that military aircraft were flying over the Stephenville area on January 8, 2008. He later reversed that statement saying that F-16s were involved in some sort of training exercises over the town. He also said these were not unusual and that the aircrafts were operating in an area designated for such exercises.

Local pilots were quick to point out to Angelia that Major Lewis was wrong. The jets were in an area well outside of the normal airspace designated for training purposes. Even stranger, Angelia said that when she tried to call Lewis back for more comments on the matter, he was no longer cordial and sounded like he was reading a prepared statement over the phone no matter what question she asked. When confronted about it, he told her, “That’s all I can tell you.”

Our latest information comes from someone that claims to work for a member of Congress. I have exchanged emails back and forth with him for about a week. Based on the little that I know about him and have been able to verify, I do believe he has connections to a member of Congress.

Our source says that members of at least one congressional committee were briefed on the Stephenville sightings. He would not say what they were told (and may not know), but said that they were notified that the President was also briefed on whatever was happening with UFOs in Texas. I dislike unnamed sources, but what he is saying is obvious and makes sense anyway. I will provide more information on this if it comes my way.

We currently have people that represent IPUS in Texas and elsewhere that are following up on all these developments. If you have information about these or any other UFO Sightings, we invite you to report your sightings or information by calling our UFO Hotline at 765-483-9089. You can also visit our website at http://www.CanYouStandTheTruth.com where you can freely view photos related to this story and previous articles written about this and other paranormal topics.