SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS: Weather Phenomenon - Dramatic Lenticular Cloud Photographed Over Sicily, Italy!

Mario Pappalardo

January 10, 2016 - SICILY, ITALY - Dramatic lenticular clouds have been offered as an explanation for some UFO sightings.

Well looking at this one in the sky of Sicily I don't blame ufologists.

Mario Pappalardo captured these insane lenticular clouds at sunset on January 5, 2016 and published them on his Facebook page.

Lenticular clouds in scientific jargon also known as Altocumulus lenticularis are stationary lens-shaped clouds that form in the troposphere.

Mario Pappalardo

Mario Pappalardo

Mario Pappalardo

Mario Pappalardo

This cloud formation is most regularly found near mountainous areas and can appear singular or stacked like pancakes.

Lenticular clouds are formed when air moves over mountains, cooling sufficiently for condensation to take place. They are continually reformed over the same location by new air rising up and over a mountain, condensing and producing the clouds.

The UFO cloud was observed by another person driving on a highway. - Strange Sounds.

SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS: "It Was Like A Black Cloud" - Mysterious Black Ring Hovers Over Village In Northern Kazakhstan; Was About 100 Meters In Diameter And Lasted In The Air For 15 Minutes!

Screenshot from YouTube user tutlinkvideo

April 5, 2015 - KAZAKHSTAN - A strange black circle was spotted in the sky above a village in northern Kazakhstan. Baffled residents captured the mysterious spectacle on video as it hovered in the air for fifteen minutes before dissipating.

Villagers living in Shortandy, some 70 kilometers north of the Kazakh capital Astana, witnessed the spooky event on Friday afternoon.

“It was like a black cloud. We saw it at around 4 pm on April 3. It dissipated like smoke, but it was completely odorless,” Oleg Menshikov, a village resident, told Today.kz.

Andrey Solodovnik, associate physics professor at the Northern Kazakhstan State University estimates the ring was about 100 meters in diameter and floated at an altitude of between 200 meters to a kilometer.


WATCH: Mysterious black ring in the sky baffles Kazakh village.

As to its mysterious origins, Solodnovik suggested the giant hoop was most likely a large smoke ring and was the result of combustion, a theory that confirms what most experts have said about similar circles seen in the past.

Black rings have been sighted all over the world. Last April, a video of one such event recorded in Leamington Spa, England, left internet users puzzled after making the rounds on social media. Dozens of other videos featuring rings nearly identical to the one seen in Kazakhstan can be found on YouTube.


WATCH: Schoolgirl videos strange black ring in the sky.

Mysterious or not, some equipment is known to produce rings of smoke just like that. Smoke rings generators are rather associated with parties, like in the video below.


WATCH: Giant fireballs and smoke rings at Burning Man 2008.

- RT.

WEATHER PHENOMENON: Rarely Seen Disc-Shaped Clouds Sighted Over Cheshire, United Kingdom!

March 16, 2015 - UNITED KINGDOM - Swirling through the air in mesmerising saucer-like shapes, these exceptionally rare lenticular clouds are the most common explanation for UFO sightings. The remarkable-looking disc shapes were spotted by amateur photographer Glenn Spencer, 42, in the sky above Chester in Cheshire.

The formations, also known as wave clouds, were scattered over miles, producing a stunning spectacle. Rarely seen in the UK, lenticular clouds are formed when a tall geographic feature, such as the the top of a mountain, obstructs a strong wind.

Rare spectacle: These lenticular clouds, also known as altocumulus standing lenticularis, are hardly ever seen in British skies

Stunning: They form when wind blows over high ground and then undulates down in a stream of waves creating a rippled effect as the air cools

Pilots of powered aircraft tend to avoid flying near lenticular clouds because of the turbulence of the rotor systems that accompany them

The interruption in airflow creates a wind wave pattern in the atmosphere on one side of the mountain and at the top of these waves, moisture in the air condenses and forms a cloud. As air moves down into the trough of these waves the water evaporates again, leaving behind clouds in a characteristic lenticular shape.

Mr Spencer noticed them while driving to the shops and was so amazed that he stopped the car to retrieve his camera from the boot. He said: 'I tried to follow them to higher ground to get a good view. They were just so mesmerising and I thought they looked amazing. It is easy to see why people mistake them for UFOs. They are brilliant. I've never seen anything like it.'  - Daily Mail.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?

January 18, 2013 - WORLDWIDE UFOs - Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Melbourne, Australia - 7th of January, 2013.

Midlothian, Scotland - 7th of January, 2013.

Warren, Michigan, United States - 10th of January, 2013.

Detroit, United States - 13th of January, 2013.

Phoenix, Arizona, United States - 13th of January, 2013.

Buckeye, Arizona, United States - 13th of January, 2013.

Victoria, Canada - 14th of January, 2013.

The Sun - 15th of January, 2013.

Berlin, Germany - 16th of January, 2013.

Phoenix, Arizona, United States - 16th of January, 2013.

International Space Station - 16th of January, 2013.

UFO SIGHTINGS: An Encounter On The Dark Side Of The Moon - "UFO" Spotted Soaring Above The Lunar Surface; Scientists, Astronauts And YouTube Users Report Strange Sightings?!

January 17, 2013 - THE MOON - People claim to videotape UFOs in the sky above Earth. They also spot unusual-looking objects in NASA camera feeds at the International Space Station. Now, a growing number of individuals insist they're using their telescopes and cameras to reveal UFOs around the moon, according to the International Business Times.

This image reportedly shows a group of UFOs heading from space toward the moon.

Many odd things have been seen by amateur and professional astronomers on the moon over decades, and YouTube affords the opportunity to look at alleged UFOs flying across, toward and away from our nearest astronomical neighbor. Part of the problem with most videos like these is the lack of specific, helpful information to accompany the visual "evidence," so it's difficult to know what's real and what was created from a clever software app. But, lunar anomalies are not new phenomena. They've been reported by astronomers going back to the 1700s. Strange things seen by the scientists of centuries past included mysterious bright lights or glowing spots on the moon. In 1869, Great Britain's Royal Astronomical Society conducted a study of unusual moving lights.

WATCH: Lights moving rapidly, slowly and changing directions - Jan. 2013.

After numerous observations of this activity, the lights just turned off. On July 29, 1953, New York Herald Tribune science editor John J. O'Neill noticed, through his telescope, a huge bridge-like object spanning 12 miles in the lunar area known as Mare Crisium. Other observers, including Hugh Percy Wilkins of the British Astronomical Association, confirmed O'Neill's sighting on the lunar surface. The object that became known as O'Neill's Bridge, was eventually thought to be nothing more than a combination of lights and shadows. The history of the Apollo flights to the moon in the late 1960s into the 1970s included countless tabloid stories of supposed UFO encounters experienced by the astronauts. - Huffington Post.

WATCH: Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin describes a UFO that accompanied them en route to the moon in 1969.

UFO SIGHTINGS: Strange Objects Seen Flying Near The International Space Station?!

January 14, 2013 - SPACE - As 2012 ended and 2013 began, numerous UFOs were reported around the country -- nothing earth-shattering there -- but what about alleged unidentified objects seen in space near the International Space Station (or ISS), a couple of hundred miles above Earth? 

This composite image shows four different times that alleged UFO were photographed above Earth by either space shuttles or the International Space Station. The big question is whether or not they are truly unidentified objects or if they are more likely reflections from spacecraft windows, meteors or fast-moving spacecraft-generated debris.

Videos have cropped up on YouTube showing images taken by NASA cameras of objects of different shapes, some moving very slowly, others rapidly hurtling through space.  What, exactly, are we looking at here? Alien spacecraft dropping by for a visit with the ISS? Reflections from ISS windows? Meteors? Or various types of orbiting or fast moving spacecraft-generated debris?  On Christmas Day, YouTube poster Streetcap1 recorded video of a silvery object, moving slowly near the curvature of Earth. At :46 into the following video, the object can be seen in faraway perspective.

WATCH: Silver UFO near the ISS.

Streetcap1 also recorded the following two objects -- one circular, the other disc-shaped -- outside the ISS on New Year's Day. Could it be a mere window reflection?

WATCH: Objects seen by ISS from the outside camera.

"Spacecraft-generated 'dandruff' has been seen since the very first human spaceflights, when the non-intuitive relative motions and impossible-to-judge distances in the earthly environment of outer space tricked observers into misinterpreting visual stimuli," according to James Oberg, a former space engineer who specialized in NASA space shuttle operations and is currently the NBC News Space Consultant.  "It shouldn't be surprising that only half a century later, most folks watching YouTube videos are still totally flummoxed by what they understandably and excusably can't comprehend," Oberg told The Huffington Post in an email.  Oberg doesn't give much credence to any speculation that unidentified flying objects near the ISS originate from an alien civilization. But he also feels it's important for people to keep looking at camera feeds which may result in visual information that can help prevent potential technical problems for the ISS.  "It's good to keep scanning space video for possible anomalies and reporting them quickly," Oberg said. "The reason is, there is always a real chance that it could be a genuine anomaly, either a spacecraft malfunction or other threat, expected or unexpected. In the past, missions have failed because a clue that should have been seen out the window was overlooked." - Huffington Post.

WATCH: Here's a compilation of alleged UFOs flying around Earth as seen from space and posted by YouTube user danielofdoriaa.

UFO SIGHTINGS: UFO Mystery Talk Of The Town In Amherst, Massachusetts?!

January 13, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A "flying saucer," signs of extraterrestrial life, or an unidentified flying object; whatever you call it, some people in Amherst say they saw it.

Witnesses told the Daily Hampshire Gazette that on Tuesday night, an object the size of two or three cars was seen hovering over Belchertown Road in Amherst.  One woman said that it wasn't far from her car.
The unusual news was all the talk at the Black Sheep Deli on Main Street Thursday.

“If people saw something, they saw something. But I don't believe that an object in the sky was necessarily or was at all alien,” Amy Ware of Sunderland said. “I believe in it, because we are such a speck in the universe,” said Juliet Rose of Bernardston. “Who are we to think that we are the only ones?”

Police say they did receive one call, but didn't investigate. Westover Air Reserve Base has a radar tower in Amherst, they told the Gazette radars didn't pick up any aircrafts in the area at that time. - WWLP.

WATCH: Eye-witness report of the UFO.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?

January 10, 2013 - WORLDWIDE UFOs - Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Worldwide - 2012.

Cape Town, South Africa - 29th of December, 2012.

Bucharest, Romania -  1st of January, 2013.

Venice, California, United States  -  2nd of January, 2013.

Arkhangelsk, Russia  - 4th of January, 2013.

Victoria, Australia - 4th of January, 2013.

United States -  6th of January, 2013.

Colombia - 8th of January, 2013.

Miami, Florida, United States - 8th of January, 2013.

Mora, Sweden - 9th of January, 2013.

UFO SIGHTINGS: Mysterious Lights Reported In Skies Over Yankton Area, South Dakota?!

January 10, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A resident just west of Yankton claims he has seen unexplained lights in the sky on multiple recent nights.  A male resident along Rainbow Street in Riverside Acres reported to the Yankton County Sheriff’s Office at 8:40 p.m. Friday that he had observed an unknown object in the sky.  Sheriff Jim Vlahakis said two of his deputies subsequently observed the light and believed it to be a satellite or, more likely, an airplane due to the flashing red light common on all aircraft.  A message was left by the Press & Dakotan at the residence of the individual who reported the light, but it was not returned by press time.  According to Jim Klancnik, the state director for the Mutual UFO Network, Inc. (MUFON) who resides in Spearfish Canyon, the same individual submitted a report to the organization’s public UFO case files Sunday. MUFON is a Greeley, Colo.-based organization dedicated to the study of unexplained flying objects.  In the report, the man said he was outside around 10:15 p.m. Jan. 3 when he noticed what looked like police lights in the sky to the south of his location.

FILE.

 “The part of the sky I was looking at is a pretty busy flight path,” the report states. “On any day at any time of the day, I see planes and, especially, helicopters flying by, usually flying (northeast). This was definitely not a plane or helicopter.”  While watching the light, the man said a smaller object appeared to fly out of and away from it in parabolic curve toward the ground.  “As soon as object #2 disappeared behind background trees and houses I heard a herd of cows about a mile away freak out briefly,” the report reads. “Nothing really happened; no cows were harmed and the diving craft didn’t crash.”  Looking around, he said about four more similar lights were observed.  On Friday night, the man said he saw about six of them. Approximately 11 lights were spotted around 1 a.m. Saturday night.  As the report was being written around 6:30 p.m. Sunday, the witness said they were directly overhead.  “I can see the shape of it (maybe triangle or stealth fighter shape),” he states.

“There are no military bases around here or anything else that should bring so much aircraft other than the usual traffic of private planes, crop duster planes and medical helicopters.”  The sheriff’s office has received no other reports of strange aerial activity.  MUFON allows photos to be attached to the reports but none were submitted.  Klancnik said it’s not the first instance of a possible UFO sighting in the region in recent times.  “I’ve had about six different reports within 100 miles of Yankton of a lot of different UFO sightings,” he stated. “Most of them have to do with orange lights.”  For example, a witness reported May 17 of last year that two sets of orange orbs were spotted in the sky at Pickstown.  “They appeared only for a few seconds then disappeared,” the Pickstown report states. “I tried to get the images on my camera and it was unsuccessful. (Fifteen minutes) later a squadron of jet fighters circled the area and looked like they were sweeping the area around the (site). At first, we thought it was military training activities with flares. The more I thought about it, flares don’t stay stationary. Or do they?”  Klancnik said he planned to conduct an interview with the witness in Yankton. During his investigation process, he attempts to gauge the reliability of the individual to make sure they aren’t just making up a story.  “For all of the reports we receive, 98 percent of them are explainable,” Klancnik added. “About 2 percent are not, and that’s the stuff that makes us wonder.”  You can follow Nathan Johnson on Twitter at twitter.com/AnInlandVoyage. - Press & Dakotan.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?

January 06, 2013 - WORLDWIDE UFOs - Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Texas, United States - 30th of December, 2012.

Cardwell, Queensland, Australia - 2nd of January, 2013.

Melbourne, Australia - 4th of January, 2013.

The Sun - 5th of January, 2013.

Johannesburg, South Africa - 5th of January, 2013.

International Space Station - 1st of January, 2013.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: Orange Orbs Light Formation Cause UFO Buzz In South Africa?!

January 04, 2013 - SOUTH AFRICA - Reports of orange unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen over parts of Centurion on Monday night have been flooding into the Pretoria News.  While celebrating the start of the new year and looking to the night sky, some city residents did not see fireworks but a display of another kind.  Centurion resident Louise Schoeman said she saw the first orange orbs at about 8pm, followed by dozens more through the course of the evening.

"The lights appeared in formations of two or three at a time. They glowed orange but did not twinkle or flash," she said.  "They appeared to be moving quite quickly, from the north, east and west, and would travel for a few minutes and then disappear. They were not conventional aircraft, they moved in a linear fashion and were definitely not fireworks.  "We watched one that stopped in mid-air, turned white and appeared to stay in the same spot for approximately an hour. It did not twinkle like a star. The object was gone when we looked again at 1am."  Another city resident asked: "Did the Mayans perhaps get the date wrong?" 

Twitter and Facebook were abuzz with reports of similar sightings locally - including Johannesburg and Durban - and internationally.  - UFO sighting in Elk Grove, California, on January 1, 2013 - four red-orange lights - Akashar Kentaloon  - Orange UFOs over New Port Richey, Florida. Burning orange pulsating lights moving erratically, hovering, disappearing - ufostalker.com  - happy new years everyone seen #orangelights in the sky tonight kinda freaky - Anna Peters  - Did anyone else see three consecutive orange lights in the sky? Flying too high to be planes or helicopters. Woah. Insane. - Rachael Cantu  - These 5 orange lights directly up in the sky moving around and shining then dissapearing and yes i am sober! - nuuch'  Is there a logical explanation? Were they simply Chinese lanterns or flares? Or perhaps the result of one too many festive beverages?  You be the judge. Please let us know if you saw this strange phenomenon. - IOL News.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: UFO Alert in Cardwell, North Queensland - Silent Lights Phenomenon Hover Over Town?!

January 03, 2013 - AUSTRALIA - A tiny town in north Queensland is on full UFO alert following sightings of strange lights in the night sky. Cardwell businessman Greg Smith said he and his son watched the lights for 15 minutes and are convinced that what they saw was some sort of UFO.

"This was a couple of months ago. I used to be the world's biggest sceptic about this stuff, but I'll tell you what, this really rattled me and my son,'' he told The Townsville Bulletin. Mr Smith said they watched the lights from the front of the Lyndoch Motel on the highway towards the northern end of the town. "There were two large orange lights. There was no beam and no noise. It was absolutely silent and they were moving slowly across the sky towards the north-west. We couldn't tell if the lights were from one or two machines. At first we thought they were over buildings between the highway and the beach, but other people said they were just out over the water,'' he said.

Mr Smith said he thought it must have been one or two helicopters, but discounted the possibility due to the fact there was no noise. Another Cardwell resident, Phil Mulley and his wife Helen saw the lights on two consecutive nights. "We thought it was a chopper coming up the channel. We watched it for a few minutes and then it disappeared in cloud. The next night my sister rang me and said to look outside. I went and looked and there were two lights. We watched them for a while until they disappeared in cloud,'' he said. Mr Mulley said he knew of at least six or seven people who saw the lights. President of UFO Research Queensland Sheryl Gottschall said she could not say what the lights were, but added she had no qualms in saying there were extraterrestrials which visited earth from time to time. "I've been with this organisation for 25 years and in that time I've spoken to 3000 people who have seen strange lights and objects and to another 600 to 700 who have had close encounters,'' she said. - Courier Mail.

WATCH: Light phenomenon over Cardwell.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?

January 03, 2013 - WORLDWIDE UFOs - Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Russia - 26th of December, 2012.

New York City, United States - 31st of December, 2012.

New York City, United States - 1st of January, 2013.

Phoenix, Arizona, United States - 1st of January, 2013.

International Space Station - 1st of January, 2013.

King's Lynn, United Kingdom - 1st of January, 2013.

Elsinore, California, United States - 2nd of January, 2013.

The Sun - 2nd of January, 2013.

CLASSIFIED REVELATIONS: Project Seal - U.S. And New Zealand Secretly Tested "Tsunami Bomb" Designed To Trigger Tidal Waves And Destroy Coastal Cities In World War II!

January 02, 2013 - NEW ZEALAND - The tests were carried out in waters around New Caledonia and Auckland during the Second World War and showed that the weapon was feasible and a series of 10 large offshore blasts could potentially create a 33-foot tsunami capable of inundating a small city.

Photo: ALAMY.

The top secret operation, code-named "Project Seal", tested the doomsday device as a possible rival to the nuclear bomb. About 3,700 bombs were exploded during the tests, first in New Caledonia and later at Whangaparaoa Peninsula, near Auckland. The plans came to light during research by a New Zealand author and film-maker, Ray Waru, who examined military files buried in the national archives. "Presumably if the atomic bomb had not worked as well as it did, we might have been tsunami-ing people," said Mr Waru. "It was absolutely astonishing. First that anyone would come up with the idea of developing a weapon of mass destruction based on a tsunami ... and also that New Zealand seems to have successfully developed it to the degree that it might have worked." The project was launched in June 1944 after a US naval officer, E A Gibson, noticed that blasting operations to clear coral reefs around Pacific islands sometimes produced a large wave, raising the possibility of creating a "tsunami bomb".

Mr Waru said the initial testing was positive but the project was eventually shelved in early 1945, though New Zealand authorities continued to produce reports on the experiments into the 1950s. Experts concluded that single explosions were not powerful enough and a successful tsunami bomb would require about 2 million kilograms of explosive arrayed in a line about five miles from shore. "If you put it in a James Bond movie it would be viewed as fantasy but it was a real thing," he said. "I only came across it because they were still vetting the report, so there it was sitting on somebody's desk [in the archives]." Forty years after the joint testing, New Zealand faced a dramatic breakdown in its security ties with the US after it banned the entry of nuclear-armed ships from entering its territory during the 1980s. The dispute led to the US downgrading its relationship with New Zealand from an "ally" to a "friend". In his new book Secrets and Treasures, Mr Waru reveals other unusual findings from the archives including Defence Department records of thousands of UFO sightings by members of the public, military personnel and commercial pilots. Some of the accounts of the moving lights in the sky include drawings of flying saucers, descriptions of aliens wearing "pharaoh masks" and alleged examples of extraterrestrial writing. - Telegraph.

EXTRATERRESTRIAL & UFO MEMES: National UFO Alert - Four American States Report 200 December Cases!

January 01, 2013 - UNITED STATES -The National UFO ALERT Rating System has been updated January 1, 2013, with California, Michigan, Florida and Texas moving to a UFO Alert 3 as the highest reporting states during the month of December 2012, filed with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON).

California was the leading high-reporting state in December with 75 cases, up from 53 cases in November, 83 cases in October, 69 cases filed in September and 75 in August.  Those states in a UFO Alert 4 category with 13 or more reports include: Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, New York, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona and Maryland.  All other states move to a UFO Alert 5 category with lower numbers of UFO activity. The Watch States - with 10 or more cases - are Colorado, New Jersey, Kentucky and Tennessee.  MUFON released December statistics January 1, where the total number of reported UFO sightings is listed by state. The UFO Examiner uses these statistics to rate states. The entire country was moved back to the lowest alert level - UFO Alert 5.  California takes the lead with 75 cases; Michigan, 45; Florida, 42; and Texas, 38 cases.

Those states with 13 or more reports, the next reporting tier level, are a UFO Alert 4 status: Pennsylvania, 22; Georgia, 20; North Carolina, 19; New York, 17; Indiana, 14; Ohio, 13; Arizona, 13; and Maryland, 13.  Our Watch States this month are - with 10 reports or more: Colorado, 11; New Jersey, 10; Kentucky, 10; and Tennessee, 10 cases.  The sphere remains the most-reported UFO shape with 158 December reports; down from 168 reports in November; 161 in October, 246 in September and 238 August reports. Other shape reports include: Circle, 121; Star-like, 95; Triangle, 84; Fireball, 69; Disc, 67; Other, 66; Unknown, 63; Oval, 54; Flash, 36; Cylinder, 29; Cigar, 25; Diamond, 14; Square/Rectangle, 13; Boomerang, 12; Chevron, 9; Egg, 9; Bullet/Missile, 9; Blimp, 8; Cone, 8; Teardrop, 6; Saturn-like, 3; and Cross, 1. The object's distance from the witness includes: Less than 100 feet, 71 cases; 101 to 500 feet, 92 cases; 501 feet to one mile, 140 cases; over one mile, 146 cases; unknown, 190; and no value stated, 8.  In addition, there were "25 landings, hovering, or takeoffs reported and 2 entities observed."  The most interesting UFO reports do not necessarily come from high reporting states - but those states with higher numbers do account for some of the most interesting evidence to study. While UFO sightings seem to pop up randomly around the country, this list is meant to offer a small insight into where Americans are filing reports. - Roger Marsh / UFO Examiner.

EXOPOLITICAL DISCLOSURE: From UFOs To "Tsunami Bomb" - New Zealand's National Archives Reveal Lots Of Secrets!

January 01, 2013 - NEW ZEALAND - A new book has revealed rare historical gems buried in New Zealand's national archives, including a bizarre WWII plan to create a "tsunami bomb" and military files detailing supposed UFO sightings.  Author Ray Waru said he wrote "Secrets and Treasures" to highlight the material publicly available at Archives New Zealand in Wellington -- where almost 100 kilometres (62 miles) of shelf space is crammed with historical artefacts.  "It was totally overwhelming at the beginning," he told AFP.  "I knew I wanted to get in the important things, the Treaty of Waitangi (New Zealand's founding document), the Declaration of Independence, the women's suffrage petition, and a few other things.  "But once you start digging, one story leads onto another and I'd just follow my nose." 

The suffrage petition Waru refers to contains 36,000 signatures and was dramatically unfurled on the floor of the New Zealand parliament in 1893 by supporters of women's right to vote.  Stretching for almost 300 metres (980 feet), the petition, currently undergoing restoration, proved successful and led New Zealand, then a British colony, to become the first country in the world to grant women the vote later that year.  Alongside notable historical documents, such as a letter written by explorer captain James Cook before his final voyage, are curiosities like "Project Seal", a top-secret US-New Zealand attempt to create a doomsday device to rival the nuclear bomb.  The project was launched in June 1944 after a US naval officer noticed that blasting operations to clear coral reefs around Pacific islands sometimes produced a large wave, raising the possibility of creating a "tsunami bomb".  Explosive tests carried out in waters north of Auckland led scientists to conclude that the weapon was feasible and a series of 10 massive blasts offshore could create a 10-metre (33-foot) tsunami capable of inundating a small coastal city. 

"It was absolutely astonishing," Waru said.  "First that anyone would come up with the idea of developing a weapon of mass destruction based on a tsunami... and also that New Zealand seems to have successfully developed it to the degree that it might have worked.  "I only came across it because they were still vetting the report, so there it was sitting on somebody's desk (in the archives)."  Waru said the project was shelved in early 1945, despite the success of initial, small-scale tests.  "If you put it in a James Bond movie it would be viewed as fantasy but it was a real thing," he said.  Among the other oddities in the archives are Defence Department records of hundreds of UFO sightings by members of the public, military personnel and commercial pilots, mostly involving moving lights in the sky.  Some of the accounts include drawings of flying saucers, descriptions of aliens wearing "pharaoh masks" and alleged examples of extra-terrestrial writing.  New Zealand's most famous close encounter was when a television crew recorded strange lights off the South Island town of Kaikoura in 1978.  However, in a disappointment for ET spotters, the military concluded the lights could be explained by natural phenomena such as lights from boats being reflected off clouds or an unusual view of the planet Venus.  Waru said it was seemingly humdrum documents, like school magazines from the early 1900s extolling the virtues of the British Empire, that provided a window into the attitudes of the past.  "There's masses of records and kilometres of important files but you realise pretty quickly that every piece of paper is related to an individual at some point in time," he said.  "So it gives the modern researcher a peek into the private lives of individuals, which I found interesting -- divorce files from Dunedin, letters a young soldier wrote home to their parents." - Terra Daily.

UFO SIGHTINGS: Man Captures Video Of Strange Explosion In The Skies Over Sacramento?!

January 01, 2013 - UNITED STATES - A Sacramento man scanning the night sky caught a sudden burst of light through his telescope. He recorded that strange sight with his smart phone.

CBS13 shared the video with experts to see if they could solve the mystery. This mysterious little tale begins earlier this week when Good Day Sacramento's Cody Stark got this message on Facebook: "I have something on video no one has ever seen. I had my telescope out, caught an explosion in space. Wanna see the video?" Cody's response? Absolutely! The video was shot with an iPhone through the eyepiece of a telescope, so CBS13 had to enlarge it to get a better look. It was shot on Dec. 20 around 5 p.m. in Sacramento by viewer Elijah Prychodzko.

"I saw something that I'd never seen before. I saw another object orbiting this - whatever it was up there, and I've never seen anything like that before," said Prychodzko. He thought it was a little strange so he put his phone down, called his nephew, and then returned to shoot a second video clip. "Oh my God, it just blew up. Something blew up," he's heard saying on the video. "As soon as I put the camera to the telescope it just blew up and I didn't know what to say," he told CBS13. So Cody sent the video off to Dr. Stephen P Maran, who wrote the book Astronomy for Dummies. Dr. Maran responded by saying he didn't recognize the "explosion" as a known astronomical phenomenon. "My personal opinion is that it is not an astronomical event," he wrote. Whatever it was, it was almost never seen by Dr. Maran or anyone else - because Prychodzko nearly sold it on Craigslist. "Almost got rid of it a week before. I was trying to sell it on Craigslist and I was getting offers and, man, you know what, at this time I'm glad I didn't sell it," he said. CBS 4 also contacted a Vatican expert who said it could be some sort of light refraction. What do you suspect the "explosion" is? - CBS13 Sacramento.

WATCH: Man Captures Video Of Strange Explosion In The Sky.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: The Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around the World?

December 31, 2012 - WORLDWIDE UFOs - Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

Moon - December, 2012.

Santiago, Chile - 12th of December, 2012.

Chicago, Illinois, United States - 19th of December, 2012.

Turin, Italy - 24th of December, 2012.

San Antonio, Texas, United States - 24th of December, 2012.

Tijuana, Mexico - 25th of December, 2012.

Chester, Pennsylvania, United States - 25th of December, 2012.

Thailand - 27th of December, 2012.

San Antonio, Texas, United States - 28th of December, 2012.

Worldwide - 2012.

FIRE IN THE SKY: Mysterious Lights Appear Over Trout Lake, B.C., Canada?!

December 30, 2012 - CANADA - It could have been space junk, a meteor shower or something else flying across Trout Lake earlier this week that caught the attention of several people. Dave Palangio was entertaining guests on Christmas Eve when he saw several yellowish-orange lights over top Trout Lake. His guests at his Lakeside Drive home saw them too.

© The Nugget, Canada.

"I said 'turn off the lights', then I grabbed my camera and shot through the living room glass," Palangio said. "It was really mysterious. The lights were travelling in a single file and then changed directions and went into a formation travelling east to west across Trout Lake," he said. "We kept our eyes on the skies, but there was nothing else." Palangio said it lasted about a minute and then the lights faded out. He said the lights came from the east around Redbridge, however Palangio said he couldn't tell how high they were." Palangio, a retired North Bay Nugget photographer, believes it was fallen space junk. "I suspect it was orbiting decay or a satellite breakup," he said Friday.

There could be several possible explanations, however Palangio is ruling out one possible cause. "It wasn't fireworks," he said, adding he has photographed fireworks displays numerous times and know what they sound and look like. "Fireworks usually explode and they didn't. There was no spark." Palangio said the lights resembled something similar to tracer bullets, but they were moving way too slowly. He reported the sighting to Canadian Forces Base North Bay and was asked to send the pictures he took. The pictures were also sent to Transport Canada for examination. Canadian Forces Base North Bay and Transport Canada didn't respond to The Nugget by press time. Meanwhile, Eric Blais is also wondering about the cause of several white light beams in the West Ferris area Thursday night. He said he was headed out on his balcony when he saw the beams. "They went from the sky to the ground and I know they weren't spotlights." - The Nugget.

MASS UFO SIGHTINGS: Rash Of UFOs Seen Over New Zealand - More Sightings Of Lights Across Country?!

December 28, 2012 - NEW ZEALAND - The mysterious lights spotted over Taranaki have also been reported in Napier, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch, but a rational explanation has been offered. Jennie Velvin was startled by the sight of two orange orbs travelling past her house on Ngamotu Rd in close succession on Christmas night. She said the objects looked like low, fast-moving fiery suns travelling southward. Since the Taranaki Daily News reported on the sighting yesterday calls have flooded in of further sightings of unidentified flying objects. Anne Murdoch, of Oakura, said she saw three on Christmas Eve. "They seemed to be coming from Ahu Ahu Rd.

"They got about halfway through the beach then disappeared." "I saw that! I was on my way to a church type thing on Christmas day and I saw it go over Francis Douglas going southwest towards the Westown shops! I thought it was just me!" a commenter on the Daily News Facebook page offered. It appears the mysterious fiery orbs are not new on the local scene. Jacinta Lawrence, of New Plymouth, said she saw an object of the exact same description about a year ago. "It was a big orange ball, very strange." Georgina Hudson, who lives near Ngamotu Rd, said she saw similar objects that were triangular-shaped in February. Ms Hudson said she rang the police and asked them to contact the control tower at the airport to warn them, but the police did not take action. She didn't think the objects were extra-terrestrial but they were definitely some sort of craft, she said. "I don't think it's somebody from space, but probably Nasa doing checks."

But one self-described UFO fanatic from New Plymouth said there was a darker explanation for the objects. "They're coming in different shapes and forms," Shane Lowery said. "Sometimes people get hypnotised when they see them, they can't move, they are paralysed. "They are demonic, there is something going on." But there are also plenty of people offering a rational explanation for the floating fire balls. "I was drunk, saw four of them and wasn't even dumb enough to think they were UFOs. "They were lanterns as you could see them burn out and fall back down," Corey Nicolson wrote on the Daily News Facebook page. "They would have been paper lanterns. "I saw some of these being set off in Merrilands around 8:30-9pm," one stuff.co.nz commenter said. New Plymouth Astronomical Society president Rod Austin said paper lanterns were the most logical explanation for the unidentified objects. "We've had a lot of fog and they get up to a height where they appear larger than they actually are." He said the south-west direction the objects were reported as travelling in could be explained by the easterly breeze Taranaki has had in the last few days. "I don't think it's got anything to do with the Mayan end of the world," Mr Austin said. - Stuff.