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,lleadof fditorial:
Martin Annable
Pidur€Research:
ldiror:BrendaMarshall SophieMortimer
,ilitarial:GrahamColeman, [ditorialAssistant:
::.,:1t",t Glenday,Felix Lejac,Georgina Stewart
;1;;r8en Way leniorProduction
Controlhr:
TerenceStrongman
/endy Kwok, Harkering:
John Balmond
Humphreys-Davies, HeadofCirculation:
rmmrson ChrisJenner

I ACKI{OWLEDGFMEIITS
authon:Simon Richmond, Karl Shuke6
nny Randles.
InsrtQuest Publications.
hben lrvrnr.0scarBurnel/ladnltock/lcience
Photr
x wuuldliki to thankall rholewhohelped in the

Ilin $searchUnit.lf youan i

lody Hotlineon
,c1l!{e.Iwin

..
 ':
-:
7; ,:
,"] i:.+-f+
' f-rJ
:q,€.!
..'-
t was like looking in a
mirror. They rvere both 1.8
metres tall, and had the
same weight, build and
-facial features. It is what you
rr'ould expect of identical twins.
But the similaritieswent much
fr.u-therthan that forJim Lewis and
Jim Springer.
Apart from their olvn shared
name, both of the Jim Twins' had
married women called Linda, only
to divorce them and both marry
\\'omen called Betty. Subsequent
researchuncorreredcountless
other remarkable similarities
befir,een the nvin brothers.
But one mystery remained. \{rhv
d i d they hav e s o m u c h i n c o mmo n .
when - since they were born 39
years ago - they had lived
completelv iridependent lives,
having been separatedat birth?
Tl-relirrks benr'eenidentical
nvins bror,rght up together are
often causefor mild amazement,
b rrt l a l e l v chal l engeour vi ew son
life. Orie misht reasonably ask why
nlo indir-iduals, born at the same
ti m e . a n d shari ng l he samegeneti c
material, should not also have the
s a n rep e rsonal i tytrai tsi n common.
It seemsthat when identical twins
are separated soon after birth and
meet,vears later to find thev have
led strikingly similar lives, the
implications are not only
intriguing but also potentially
revolutionary.
Such casesof separated twins
are very rare, especially as
adoption practices have improved
A Reseorch inlo twins hos implicotions
for medicol knowledge. The results oJ
studies qt 5t Thomos' Hospitol in .,
London (inset) moy help to prevent
diseqses such os osleoporosis,
diobetes ond heort conditions.
over the years. Only 68
are known worldwide.
l n B ri tai n i n 1979.rw o other
i denti calrw i nsw ho had been
separatedat bi rth w ere bei ng
reuni ted after 34 yearsapart.
\{4ren they met researcherDr Tom
Bouchard of the Universiw of , ri:.i,
Minnesota. USA. Bridget Harrison
of Leicesterand Dorothy Lowe of

.:i:
jri
'.:,:.,
ia.......
;1i,:
Burnley, Lancashire, both wore
seven rings, had two bracelets on
one wrist and a watch and a
,bracelet on the other.
M
' They soon found out that they
,had both stopped taking piano
.lessonsat the same age, both had a
lcat called Tiger and while one of
itheir sons was named Richard
Andrew, the other was named
Andrew Richard.
Strangest of all, in 1960,
Dorothy and Bridget had both
kept a diary. They had both chosen
exactly the same brand and colour
of diary and had even left the same
days blank during the year.
Today, scientists around the
world are studying identical twins,
not only in an effort to understand
what makes them so
similar in behaviour and
appearance, but also to cast light
on the forces that shape all human
beings and the powers that we may
all be prir,y to.
TWI N F E A R .S
Down through the ages, and across
cultures, the 'strangeness'of twins
has caused people to fear them.
Some native American tribes killed
twins at birth, a course of action
also followed by lnuits in
Greenland and aboriginals in
Japan and Australia. Sometimes
the mother was also killed, or at
least subjected to a purification
ritual, since it was believed she
must have had sex with two men
for two children to be conceived.
t
i
:j
ti
,f
il
Attitudes towards trr-ins and
their parents have moved on
considerably since this time, but
our understanding of their special
powers remains incomplete.
The most influential study of
twins in modern times is being
conducted by Dr Tom Bouchard.
Since 1979, Bouchard has
interviewed and tested hundreds
of identical twins in one of the
largest research programmes of
its kind.
Bouchard's tests usually take a
week to complete and involve
personality assessmentsand
medical examinations. Blood
samples are compared, fingerprints
taken, allergies evaluated, even
{ Twins Andrew ond Sleven Rofhery
both developedlhe some rqre medicol
comploint. Doctorssoy there is no
genefic reqson why fhe l8-yeor-olds
should hove been offected ond
describeit qs q million to one chonce.

2
o
-z. 9
: information from this study and
intimate sexual histories compiled.
At the end of over 50 hours of
tesqng, Bouchard's team will know
nearly everything there is to know
about the twins, from their tastes
in food, literature and music to the
way they walk, talk and sleep.
Bouchard's work may suggest
that a person's character is shaped
more by genetic factors than social
ones, but it seemsthere is another
factor involved.
EMB RY O NI C SP T IT
The work of RichardJ. Rose,
Professor of Psychology and
Medical Genetics at Indiana
University, USA, has shown that
the degree to which identical twins
are actually identical is linked to
how early the embryo in the womb
splits into two. Rose found that the
earlier an embryo splits, the less
alike in personality identical twins
will tend to be in the future. This
conclusion suggeststhat
environmental factors will have a
role to play in forming personality
and shaping what happens to us.
Despite the wealth of
others, the phenomena associated
with identical twins are still not
fully understood. For example, why
do such similar things happen to
separated twins at the same time?
InJuly 1975,Nita Hurst
suddenly felt an agonizing pain in
her left leg and witnessed bruises
spreading spontaneously up the
left side of her body. The mystery
affliction became clear when she
later discovered that her twin
sister.Nettie Porter, had been
involved in a car crash at the very
o! I5
same time, 650 kilometres a\4iay
in California. i:::'.:
''
Martha Burke of California
as i f she ' had been cut i n tw o',
dayi n 1977,asaburni ng
tore acrossher chest and
abdomen.H ours l ater,she
discovered that her twin sister
died in an aeroplane collision-,
halfiatavacross the world.
Even more horrific is the case
four-month-old iden tical nvins
Samantha and Gabrielle Connolly.
On 8 October 1983, their mother'
Somewhere in the .',li
r eg:on of I O to 15 per
cent of us qre wolking:',,i:
oround thinking we cilii:ji
singletons when in,fu
we/re only the big
ChorlesE. Bokloge,Biologist
E\
,}
Linda discovered that both had ' : : ,'':
suffered cot deaths despite being
asleepin different beds on
different floors of the house. :,-,,,
,
,: .11.1,,.i.,:::
These'psychic' connections-.,::
between twins are proof to so*ii€!.
people that all human beings shar
the abiliry to develop and use
extra-sensoryperception (ESP).
:."-:;=-:J!.:Z
Pa
'condc*
,ktcr:

to each other, they did no better
than ordinary brothers and sisters.
But when the twins chose their
own images, they scored higher
th a n n on-rw i nsi bl i ngs.
IN T HE S TA R S
Even more radical is the view that
our fates rest with the position of
the stars on the day we are are
born. Dr SuzelFuzeau-Braesch,
director of the National Centre for
Scientific Research at Orsa\,',near
Paris, has surveyed the astrological
birth charts of twins. Since thel' are
usually born within minutes of
each otheq twins will have very
.. similar birth charts.
A one-yearstudy on rwins and ESP Two short character.
at Bristol University in the early descriptions, summarizing these
'1990s,
however.provided no small astrological differences
conclusiveresults beyond between each set of rwins,were
demonstrating that rwins had a sent to their parents, who had to
re m ar k ableabilir y to th i n k a l i k e . choosewhich description best
When the researchersprovided fitted which twin. Chance would
the s).,rnbolsfor twins to 'transmi(' dictate an equal number of right
::i. i:.' ::
'
:::.::.':
E
tr
o
-
F
o
o
and wrong responses.But, out of
218 parents, 153 matched the
descriptions to the right fivir-r-
well over the 109 expected to get
it right. Despite the similarin'of
the charts, parents rvere able to
match the fine differencesto each
of their nr-ins.
\\het1-rer or lroi astrologv proves
an insight into tl-recharactersand
destiniesof nlins is a side issueof
researchin t].risarea. Scientists
generallr'remain perplexed by
even the biological similarities
beh\:een hr,ir-rs.For example, it is
knor'r'nthat twins are more likely
to have symmetrical teeth and be
left-handed than singletons. But it
is not known why this should be
or what it means.
Every day, though, technological
advancesare helping the scientists
come closer to an understanding
of the complex area of twins.
A Jready.thanks to rhe i ncre asing
use of ul l rasound l o moni l or

embrvos, it is knorvn that twinning
is far more commor) than rvas
pr-eviousl,vthotrght. At least one in
cieht L,f a ll na llll:rl p lc qr r ar r c ic s
begin as trvins, even though onlv
about one-tenth of these actr-rally
rnake it tlrrotrgh to birth
Because there is considerable
elidence thirt one fir'in can suffer
intcnsc suilt rr'hen the other twin
dies. this thlorr's a u'hole new light
ol] the sense of loss sorne single
people feel tl-rrougl'ror-rttheir lives,
as if pz,rrtof them is not there.
Plofessor Charles E. Boklage, a
clerelopr.nent biologist at the East
C.nr-olinirUniversity School of
\Ieclicine, USA, conservatively
33 .1Rre We qre reolly
one PersoJl...we know
exoctly whqf eqch other
is t h i n k i n g . b e co u se w e
o r e i u s t o ne l w i n
/:.^+^ ^-l F , ^ J ^ .L ^ Dlin , T win s
!r,
estimatesthat around 10 to 15 per
cent of people may have had a
trr'in that died in the womb.
Irr a smzrllproportion of cases,
iclenticalnvins do not completelv
a
separatein the rvomb. The most
d f:unous conjoinecl,or 'Siamese',
:
nr'ins rvere Chang and Eng Bunker,
rrho toured rvith Barnum and
Bailey'scircus in the USA in the
1 8 0 0 sT. h el ' l ' ere born i n 1811i n
Thailand, then calleclSiam.
Today, conjoined tu'ins like
Chang and Eng. rvho u'ere.joined
at the chest bv a thick band of
tissne,could be separatedby
surgery. But evelr thor-rghthe twins
spent all of their 63 r'earstogether,
they' both married ar-rclfatherecl 21
children between them. Thel rvere
luckr,',since fen' conjoined nvius
r b el ond i rtfartcr' .
s rrrv i e
cto cK oF r r FE
ProfessorLuigi Gedda's 'clock of
life' theory is one of the f'err
scientific attempts made to explain
the nvin phenomenon. Gedda, of
{ Bridger
Hqrrison qnd
Dorothy Lowe did
not know they
were twins unfil
they met, oged
34. Bolh gove
eoch other reddy
beors ot their
reunion ond hqve
since given eoch
other identicol
birfhdoy presenls.
lf
.
I
the Gregor Menclel Institute ttt ...,
Rome, Italr', studied more than .:-*
15.000pai rs of tn i rrsbetw een 195:
and 1978 and came to the
corrclusiorrthat errcodedwithin us
'
all is a genetic blueprint for our .
lives - the so-called 'clock of life'. .:,
Gedda found that this is especially
true for twins, and may account for
the many uncanny similarities
between them in their lives. l
A DESIGN FOR IIFE
But, despite the ach'ancesmade,.:
urrrarel l i rrgthe secl etsof our
g e n e s . G e c t d a 's t h e o r i e s r e m a i n
highl,v controlersial. \\hile it mdyi
easilvexplain u'h1'theJim Twins
both suffered heart attacks and
haemorrhoids - even why they are
both healy smokers - it is not so
clear why they should marry ' , - ; ;
. :!,
\ v o m e n w i t h t h e s a m e n a m e or
choose a holidal al the same
beach in Florida.
M i g h t t h c r e b e a f o r c e w i t hi n " 1"
.'
e a c h o f u s l h a t d i c t a t e s e v e r ryl h i n go
liom the pc,ple rrhor
t o t h emo me rrt h a t ;
-: ; ; ' : ilit
C orrl d seemi rrgl lrarrdom choices '
"i'/ ' -' _ --^ ^ : J. , :
'-
srrch as (he name given lo a pel or
a h o l i d a l d c s t i n a t i o n b e p a r t o Ia n
i rrdi vi dual ' sbl rrepri ntof l i fe? For '
now t'wins remain a conundrum ,l
for rvhich scientistscontinue
to searchfol arr arrsw er.
 COMPI.]TE,RS
Onr SIMPIEERRoRcAN cAUsE
.; COMPUTERSTO TURN FROAAAAAN'S
..., BESTFRIENDTO WORST ENEMY.IS
:,
! '1 ,
O UR I NCR E A S I N GD E P E N D ENCE
ON
, CO MPUT E RT E C H N O T O G Y
M ISCUIOT O?
.
I$#$*Flll+;,".
r plane is on patrol. A foreign
craft comes into view and the pilot
of the F-22 needs to verify who it
is. As the clock ticks round to
midnight, the new millennium
l o o m ing. he ins t r u c tsth e o n -b o a rd
:"ir .l
strategic
-"^
*"'b'- systemto send a warning
rlll l
signal,expecung
slgnar, expecting a posltlve
positivereply
within a couple of seconds.
Unfortunat.ly, a programm i ng
glitch has remained buried within
the F-22'scomputer system.The
foreign plane has responded
immediately, but the computer
does not recognize this and is
already arming the weapons
systems.The Year 2000 is abour ro
begin with a bizarre and horrific
i n ter nat ional inc i d e n t.
MIT I . E NNI UM BUG
Incredible though il may seem.
this is not a storyJine from a
Llollywood disaster movie - it is a
catastrophewaiting to happen.
With the millennium fast
approaching. the world is facing
an enormous - and potentially
disastrous- technological
p roblem . Dubbed th e ' M i l l e n n i u m
Bu g' ( or ' B om b' ) , th i s p ro b l e m
concerns the inability of computer
programs that work on a six-digit
date system(i.e. 01-01-97)to
recognize the change in century.
Unless corrected by the time
the year 2000 comes around, many
computer programs will record the
year as '00' - the start of the 20th
century, instead of the 21st. The
result could be that over 80 per
cent of computers around the
world go ha;nvire or close down
automatically. At worst, the
Mi l l e n i um B ug coul d tri gger an
unintended missilelaunch, as in
the scenario above.
The strong possibility of
s u c h a n i nci dent occurri ns
was made clear in
December 1995 when a
message,originating from
the office of the US
Secretary of Defense, was
published on the Internet.
It warned the US Na\y to
ensure that all relevant
personnel knew about the
Year 2000 problem and that
'corrective actions, if not
currently under way, should
start now.'
It is not just the US
military that is worried.
Businessesand governments
 - -:s
*, ril.lS

.1111.,,,
se
d
iiill:
iPt.

arolrnd the rvorld have set up

project teams to tackle the
probl em. \\' i th computersused in
virtually e\rery aspect of modern
life - in manufacturing, banks, ,
hospi tal sas w el l as l he service
i ndustri es- the overal leffecro[
the Mi l l enni um B ug coul d be
catacl ysmi c.
It has heen esl i mal edthat t o
fix it could cost more than f400
bi l l i on. w hi l e doi ng nol hi ng could.
according to Simon Reeve,
co-aul horol rhe Mi l l enni umBnm b,
'destroy entire economies'.Worse
still, it could put the lives of
millions of people at risk.
The Millennium Bug has
become a programming error
due to the march of time. In the
1950sand 1960s,when few people
o
foresaw the massiveinfluence that
o
o
E computer technologt' r'vould have
on our lives, computers were
; hulking monsters that ran slowly,
o

= performed few tasks and had

3

limited memory space. Shortening

.9 the year by two digits freed up

? expensive space, and became

standard practice by rhe on a teaspoonful of petrol.'
1970s.But this is not the At such a rate of development
only area where it is hardly surprising that errors
programming errors have have occurred - and are still
come to lisht. being made. In particularj many
The rapid development experts feel that programming
of technology has shrunk standards for software - the
the size of computers instructions which enable
while at the same time computers to do different tasks-
increasing their have not kept pace with the
computing power by a engineering standards for
phenomenal factor. A hardware - the physical structure
comparison was made by of the computer itself.
Alex Trotman, head of
Ford Motors worldwide LETHAI E R R OR S
in March 1996: 'If car
design had developed as
fast as computers, a
Ford would be an
eighth of an inch
OATRI$K
long, and go 3,000
;:,.nt*... miles an hour

c
o
o

E
difficulties. The ambulance took
two and three quarter hours to
arrive at the Swan's home. Their
daughter died on route to hospital
- something that probably would
not have happened ifa back-up
systemor the old manual means
of dispatching ambulances had
still been in place when they had
made their emergency call.
Where engineers can see there
are potential dan'gersahead in
Ietting computers take over, the
svstemsdeveloped are often
termed 'safety critical'. For
example, transport is one such
area where safetyis a priority. In
the thousands of aeroplanes that
dailv fly around the world,
comDuters have become essential
33 ri,
The problem with
control softwqre is
thot people write it
SystemsExpert
SteveCollins,Sofety-crificol
,,
components. All use software with
safety-criticalprogramming, where
at least one back up system- and
so met im esas m any a s s i x - a re
rrse dt o double- c he c ko p e ra ti o n s .
such systemsare vital in aircraft,
such as the Airbus 4320, 330 and
340, and Boeing 777 which are
'flr'by wire'. This means that when
the pilot moves one of the flight
controls, the computer calculates
a
how much various parts of the
plane have to be adjusted to make
the right manoeuvre.
Still, despite vears of testing and
use. there have been at least fir'e
major accidents involving planes
rvhose fly-by-wire systems have
gone wrong. In fact, 1996 was one
of the worst years on record for
aircrashes,involving the loss of
hundreds of lives. Some of the
disasterswere due to on-board
computer systemsbreaking down.
Concern is running high among
experts. Mike Hennell is technical
d i rector oI softr,vare-testing
company Liverpool Data Research
Associates.'I'm particularly
A The officiol explonolion for the
Eurotunnelfire in November1995 wos
orson. Bul some experls cre concerned
thot the funnel'scompulerizedsofety
syslemmoy hove olso beenot fqult.
concerned that some planes have
four engines being controlled by
i denti cal sofhvare,'H ennel l p oint s
out. ' Thi s i s madness.There need
to be different approaches-
dilferen t computer chips. different
programming languagesand so on
- so rhat if one systeml-ailsthey
don' r al l fai l .'
tOW S TA N D A R D S
Hennell's comments underline
w hat S teveC ol l i ns- managing
director of Real Time Associates,
a company inVolved in developing'
safety-criticalsystems- has known ,'
for some ti me: that standard sand
w orki ng practi cesi n thi s cru cial
area of computing can be woet-ully
inadequate.' I ncreasingly.sofftvare
i s the w eak l i nk i n the fi nal
product.' C ol l i ns says.
However,Hennell. who once
w ent to court to try to stop the
Airbus A320 from taking off
because of his concerns about its
computer programmi ng, i s n ow
more w orri ed about the i mpact of
:
==
 ) lnodequote
computer controls
were o moior
foctor in the
{{ l*.
Chernobyl disoster
'We don't reolly on 27 April 1986.
underslond whqt we're Public concern
d o i n g , s o i t ' s i mp o ssi b l e oboul fhe sofety of
for onyone to soy Sizewell B (insef)
whqt is sofe' eventuolly forced
Mike He nnell,
Nucleor ElecfricUK
Directorof SofiworeTestingCompony
to moke chonges
1
-=---, io lhe sofeiy-
conhol softwore.
goes wrong here, the death toll
lrom the worst air crasheswould some nuclear installations.
p a l e int o ins ignif ic a n c e- a s rh e A particular focus of concern
Iong-term victims of Chernobyl in the UK has been the Sizewell B
continue to remind us. Yet. many nuclear power plant in Suffolk. In
'-- .
i n the c omrput ing i n d u s try h a v e 1993, the software responsible for
seriousdoubts about the saferyof shutting down Sizewell B in the
event of an emergency was run
through over 50,000 tests.It failed
more than half of them. The
Nuclear Installations Inspectorate
(NII) said this was entirely due to
faults in the testing equipment,
but compounded general fears by
refusing to release results of earlier
tests or asking for a re-test.
That there were problems with
the Sizewell B software is hardly
surprising, considering that it is
made up of well over 100,000 lines
of code. 'Any piece of software
longer than 20,000 lines is too
complex to be tested exhaustively,'
saysBrian Winchmann, an expert
on safety-critical software from the
UK's National Physical Laboratory.
AJl the while, though,
computers and their programmes
are becoming more complex, and,
therefore, less easyto test. At the
same time, the accident rate due
to technologv failure contrnues to '-
-9
rise. The onlv ansrver,according U
o
to Ste\,eCollins is for software -.9
z
writers to improve the quality of
5
their work. 'Until writing software
E
for control s)istemsbecomes a
proper science,rather than a
o
quick way of making money, then o
we are all at risk,' Collins warns. o
,i
A TA R MIN G IN C R E A SE
In fact, a number of experts
believe that computer bugs are
virtually ever).rvhere.In 1995,
Programming Research,a safety-
crtitical systemscompany, ran
checks on millions of lines of
code for governments and
organizations across the globe.
They discovered that even safety-
critical software contained, on
average,one glitch in every 55
l i nes.The company esti mates
that roughly ten per cent of these
errors will lead to 'catastrophic
failures'. With technology
becoming increasingly complex,
and ever more dependent on
computers, the margin of E::l
erroris likelyro expand. ffi
 nersunr.rymorning in the 1960s,local' Although its description does yrot
hunter.l Nicolas Mondongo .was recall any known living creature. it
standingon the bank of the Likouala- corr,esponds precisely with ttrat of a
w au;-Herbes River, amid the vast rnedium-sized sauropotl dinosaur!
swamplandsof the People's Republic of the
Congo, when he experienced a very close H ID D E N tIFE
Literally translated as 'the study of hidden
F
encounter o[ the cryptozciological kind. A The swomplqnds of
i9
Suddenly,to his astonishment,a small head Iife', cryptozoology is specifically defined the Congo ore iust the
borne upon a long slender neck broke the as the investigationof unidentified animals sort of ploce thot new
-:I
water surface like a living periscope. t hal are apparentl y w el l know n to thei r onimols, unknown lo !

Mondongo stood petrif,ed as.a massive Iocal human nei ghbours, but w hi ch have science, moy be found.
creature emerged, revealingan enormous, yet to be discoveredand formally described For over 2OO yeori o -9

sturdy body with srriooth, reddleh-brown by scientists. hunlers, missionories

skin, four bulky legs, and aivery lengthy, Few people doubt that many species of ond explorers in the
p o wer f ul t ail. T his e x tra o rd i n a ry a n i ma l , tiny insect or other inconspicuousanimals region hove reporled
approximately nine metres long, remained .may still await discovery, but some might seeing o beosl known
in view for at least three minutes before considerit unlikely that, in the 20rh cenlury, locolly os the
submerging out of sight igain. ' , "'there could also be large.spectacularanimals mokele-mbembe.
If science confirmg the existence of this remai ni ng undetected. One notabl e A Joponese film crew
aniriral - known locllly as the mokele- cryptirzOological iceptic was palaeontdlogist even purported to
mbembe - it may well be one of the"great- George Gaylord Simpson, who claimed: hove filmed it (inset,
e st z oologic al dis c o v e ri e s o f a l l ti me . 'The many new'animals being discovered mognified).
nowadays are rarely very novel... it is
si g nif ic ant t hat t h e d a te s fo r i n c re a s i n g l y
'l
novel discoveriestend to recede in time.'
Yet thip,issimply not true. As Karl Shuker
revealedin his book The LostArk: Newand
Rpriisrouered Animals oJ the 20th Ccniurl'. an
impressive list of dramatic creatures hitherto
u n known t o s c ie n c e h a s b e e n s te a d i l y
u n fo lding t hr ough o u t rh e 1 9 0 0 s .
.T,**TF
T hes e inc lude th e o k a p i . Z a i re ' s s h o rt-
"e#
n e c k ed f or es t gir a ffe , d i s c o v e re di n l 9 0 l :
mountain gorilla (1902); komodo dragon,
the world's laigest lizard (1912); coelacanth,
a large lobe-finned fish believed'to have
b e e n ex t inc t f or mi l l i o n s o f y e a rs t 1 9 3 8 ):
Flecker'ssea-wasp ( 1955): megamouthshark
(1976); giant, tube-dwelling, sea-wormswith
huge,scarlet tentacles (1977); Queen of
Sh eba' sgaz elle( 19 8 5 );V uQu a n g o x ( 1 9 9 2 ):
bondegezou, a tree kangaroo (1994); plus
ma n y ' new' whales.d o l p h i n sa n d p o rp o i s e s .
And these are just a handful of this
century's freshly-found anirlals. Clearly,
therefore, there are plenty ofprecedents for
uncovering major new speciestoday.

MYT HS A ND M IST A KE S
Some mystery beastsare evid€ntly imaginary, *,.
fantastic animals - just like fire-breathing
dragons. Certain others are hoaxes,*or
misidentified known species like th.
rnermaid-like ri of New Ireland, near New

'.i*

:i.e: i-

Guinea, shown in 1985 to be the dugong -, z'

a familiar sea-co\\.But lhere are alsosevera{ o
-3
hundred t1'pesof m1'sterious,unidentified E
.E
o
beastsrepolred from around the world. that
may indeed be ralid new speciesstill eluding =
sci enti fi cdetecri on.These can be gr oDped
i nto l our categori es.
The first of these are prehistoric survivors.
Karl Shuker's book In Searchof Prehistoric
Suru.iaorsis devoted to this category -
mystery bdasts (including the mokele-
mbembe) that may be undiscovered living
relatives of creatures believed to have died
out in prehistoric times.
Take, for instance, the Loch Ness
monster, reported by eyewitnessesfor many
 :t_l!:
i-'-dltls
*t: it:::tliE;ttf]

#L*'*.H.*
a}*+.+,f;e,*=**
.$sr$ :5_T-r!;;*:'"'*'*
centuries. Their descriptions,
co u p led wit h s o n a r a n d u n d e rw a te r
p h ot ogr aphicev ide n c e .s u g g e s t"
l h a ti ts s ti l l
unidentified speciesis up to 9 metres long,
w i th a v er y s lender n e c k a n d s m a l l h e a d . a
burly body, two pairs of diamond-sMped
flippers, and a long tail. This description is
re m ar k ablys im ilar to th a t o f a p l e s i o s a u r-
a large aquatic reptile that officially became
extinct around 64 million years ago.
Plesiosaur-likebeastshave been reported
fro m olher f r es hw a te r l a k e s a ro u n d th e
worlcl too. and also from many oceanic
expanses.where they comprise the 'long
n e ck ' c at egor yof s e as e rp e n l . In the early 1990s,explorer Ivan Mackerle
A very different kind of aqu4tic led an expedition to the Gobi iri search of
prehistoric survivor is rypifieclby the migo. o ne such creature- the al l ergorhaihorhai .
a se rpent inewat ermo n s te ri n h a b i ti n g L a k e of Mongolian death worm. Allegedly f There hove been
D a kar auain New B ri ta i n a n d fi l m e d b y a resemblinga fat. dark red wormomeasuring hundreds of
Ja p anes et elev is io nc re w i n J a n u a ry 1 9 9 4 . up ro l .l met.es tong. * i $r poi ,-rr.i sighrings of rhe

'; "s t t r e - p roj ecti ons at both ends of i ts body. the

d eath w orm spends much o[ the vear
creoture known os
Big.Foot. ln 1967,
hidden in the desert sands,but occasionalh' film wos foken of
. There is more sworn :
fests upon the surface. the beost of Bluff
evidence for the seo-serpenl's
Creek, €olifornio.
exisfence thqn q court of low KILTER WORM Sceplicsinsisi thol
. wou'ld,,need to prove ony The N{ongolian death worm is greatly the so-colled
oidinory cose feared by the region's nomads, because it dpemon is reclly o
Heuvelmons,
Dr Berncird Zoologist can squi rt a corrosi vepoi sor{ .and can ki l l mqn dressed in
n{
The film shows a very elongated beast
EP hrrmansand livestockvia a strangeprocess
resembling electrocution. The
recent Gobi expedition failed
onimol skins.

me as ur ing about I I me tre s . u n d u l a ti n g to unearth the death worm.

ve rti c allyas it s wim sa c ro s sth e l a k e .T h i s i s Peruvian zoologist Dr Peter
highll significanl.becadserhe only creatures Hocki ng i s currentl ypursui ng
of compaiable size that could move..likethis two mysdq/ing types of big
rvere a group of specializ& whales known cat, one of them striped and
a s zeuglodont s whi . c h s u p p o s e d l yd i e d o u t the other marked w i rh fi ne
a ro u nd 25 m illion y e a rsa g o . grey speckl es. reputedl y
Severaleminent anthropolbgists, such as lurking in Peru's remote
Professor Grover Krantz from Washington riinforests. Neither the cats
State Universiq', believe that the tall, hairy n or thei r skul l s matches an)
ma n- beas t sr epor t e d l ro m N o rth A m e ri c a recognized species.
(the Big Foot or sasquatch) and the '' The. iatzelworm has been :"x

Himalayas (the yeti) are shy modern-day reported for centuries from
**E
ffi€
desc'endantsof a giant $sian primate called the AIps of central Europe, but
Gigantopithecus, which rhysteriouslyb€came sci encehas sti l l to exami ne a
:l'N
W. E
e xti n c t about 300. 0 0 0y e a rsa g o . speci men. E yew i tnesses l i ken retrI t
Lii
 the creature to a one-metreJong serpentine
lizard with two small front less.
Freakish mystery ir"utt. well be
nothing more than abnormal -oy indiriduals of
known species. The enigmatic.h{orped
jackals of Sri Lanka seem to be normal
jackals that fbr some undefined reason bear
a small horn at the back of their head.
"-',EQuallll Fu-jian's elusive blue tigers are
,probably just an unLrsualgenetically-based
col our vari etvof the-ordi rrary ti ger.
Such mvsterv beasts are known species
erlcountered outside their normal
di stri brrti onl arrsc.rrsrral lcompri
\ si ngexolic
animals that har,e escaped from captivity.

## .u
The vyorld's greof deserfs
q n d n e q r-limit le s s o c e q ns
qre the qreqs where
s p e c t o c u lq r n e w s p e c ie s
could sfill be conceoled
Dr KorlShuker,Cryptozoologist
|i@Rr

"F
This wo.uld seem to be the explanation for
I-rke q u e f f i r e p o r f s o l 'b i g c a r s ' r e s e m b l i n g
pumas or black panthers stalkins the
c o u r r t r y s i d e i n B r i t a i r r . c o n t i n e r r t a l E ur o p e .
and Australia.

HIDING FROM SCIENCE

Even if we assumethat many of the mvsterl'
ani mal s on fi l e real l y are urrdi scor cr ed
species,how can we explain the secr-etof
theirluccess in eluding scientific scmtinv for
so long?
There are still unexplored regions of our
world and it is from these areasthat reports
of unfamiliar beastshave emerged. A prime
example is Vietnam - for so long a war zone
whose rnountain forests rvere off-limits to
sci enti sts. These A reas are now b eing
intenseh' explored and, during the 1990s,
have rei eal ed a reri tabl esl ampedeof lar gi. .
ne\\'rnarr)mal s. i ncl rrdi ngthe V u Quar r gox.
the hoi-vgoat, and severalhighly novel deer.
The dense rainforestsof New Guinea and
the Mato Grosso, the Congo's fbrbidding
swamplands, the battle-torn coul]tries of
Cambodia and Rwanda, the drug-traffickers'
jungle strongholds iu Colombia, as rvell as
the world's largest lakes and vast oceans,are
the areas where explorers mav firrd &- *
lascirrating lle\v crea[ures.
ilE
 CONTRACT

ON THE
NEW EVIDENCE
DEATHOF WPC YVONruT
FlrrcnrRsuecEsrs
THAT HER KIttER WAS
nru Ml6 oR CIA
AgsAsstN.DnvtoGuvarr
THECASE
R E -EXAM I N E S

;" o:i:.txT:#i,:i::.i-li:T;
1i1f,'-.
,;.1r.."..,,,.
\,
V ---.
normally serene StJames'sSquare in
ii_1,, x London. The ll-rouncl burst, from a
H":"r--,.,,. Sterline automatic assaultweapon, felled a
'5!;ttt.' nr*b.*. of Libyan demonstrators protest-
*1!il;, tng against their leader, Mu'ammar
'ti!:'i-: Gaddafi, outside the Libl'an embassy'
.i:',:l'-',, Killed outright was \4bman Police
.. , Constable (\ ?C) Yvonne Fletcher.

I shell-casings on the first floor of the

embassy - the Libl'an People's Bureau.
And later, intelligence sources revealed
that they had intercepted a mes-
sage from Gaddafi 24 hours prior
to the shooting, authorizing offi-
cials inside the Bureau to open
fire on the demonstrators. Public
o ut r age ens ur ed th e e x p rrl s i o no f
L i b y an diplom at s fi o m Bri ta i n .
E ight een m on th s l a te r. o n 5
April 1985, the 'La Belle' dis-
cotheque in West Berlin was razed
b1za terrorist bomb. One US ser-
vi c em an and a ) o u n g T u rk i s h
woman were killed outright, and
? 3 0 people inju re d . Pre s i d e n t
Ronald Reagan claimed to have
*
lr
l

TTTB
ITBMO Margaret Thatcher.
R efl ecti ng the continue- ,
publ i c hosti l i ty agai nst

DnATII
Li byans.Thatcher order ed
l arrnchof F-l l l bombers f r om
a US Air Force base in East
furgl i a. A sl eep i n a B e douin

PtOT
tent i nsi de Tri pol i ' s Golden
Gate barracks as the bombers
slr llck. Gaddafi e sca p e d
i nj rrrr. H i s nr' osons.however .
:

-#,W
rvere badlr r'r'ounded, and
h i s I 5-nronth-ol d adopr ed
o
daughter rvaski l l ed.
: ;
5
o DYNAMITE DOCUMENTS .:+
F
In 1992.B ri ti sh aurhor and researcher Joe '
o
V i al l s w as rummagi ng around i n his old
,f
fi l es l ooki ng for materi al for a book he was
rrl i ri us..U rhough he rrasl i ri ng i n A u st r alia
5 at thc ti me, V i al l s had heen resi d enr in
c
o
Britain rvhen Fletcher \\iasmurd.ered, work-. , li
; irrg for the Hughes Tool Company - an
z
organization tnat
orgarlzauon that olten
often lronteo
fronted tor ',,
for LIA
CIA .
c
personnel. During his research, Vialls 'r:
, .:

ms:,ffi*:lffii$#tr#*
'/:
 t wer e ' dy n a m i te ' .T h e y
the existence of what
to be an 'ultra low-
Tool Company
at 8 S t J am e s ' s Sq u a re .
t to the Libyan
s,Bureau. ..,?}9 '.;..- l i !
rli;
t r ue c ons pi ra c y th e o ri s t, "
began to wonder if there
a link between the secret,
possibly ClA-operated. office
and th e de ath of Flet c her .
. Scrutini zing a BBC film taken
T--
I t-

..'in StJames'sSquareat the time of the mur-

der, Vialls theorized that the fatal shot had
f r om t he H u g h e s b u i l d i n g . H e w a s
he pos s e s s e d a mn i n g e v i d e n c eo f
r B r it is h- US int el l i g e n c ec o n s p i ra c yto k i l l
Fletcher, but, in every respect except
Ifialls' was wrong. However, his belief
B r it is h and U S i n te l l i g e n c e w e re
Fletcher's murder is now borne out
€vidence.

R.EOPENING THE CASE

Vialls had sent a letter to Channel Four
! -ir'.,.-'-

:;::r:: Television in London, who considered the

information convincing
i^ f^ --^t i^-
^^- . ; - ^; - - enough
--^,,^h to rrequire
t^ an,,i-a
A The corner of inquest. Knapman refused tl.refilm makers
d e t ailed inv es ti g a ti o n . Ex e c u ti v e s a t 5t Jomes3 Squore accessto the autopsy findings. despite the
F our c o n ta c te d F u l c ru m outside rhe Libyon request being routed through X'onne
tions, a highly regarded documen- embossy (inset, Fletcher's mother. Receirirrg advice from
company, who set about a com- building on left) Professor Bernard Krieht. a leading
s iv e inv es ti g a ri o n . T h e a l a rm i n g oppeored ro ploy British consultant pathologist,Fulcrum re-
.'
of their meticulousresearchwere hosf to o Libyon submi tted thei r reqrrr.l - noti ng it con-
in the Channel Four Television civil wor in 1984. formed to requirements of the Coroner's
programme Dispalrhes in April 1996. New evidence, Act - and the report u'asdtrlr.released.
Fulcrum first attempted to compare though, suggests lhot
Fletcher's original autopsy with the official fhe 'profesterg' were A U TOP S Y C ON FIR MA TION
inquest report, and contacted coroner poid by the ClA. Immediateh'. a nnmber of inconsistencies
ul K napm an, w h o p re s i d e d o v e r th e were evident. Foremost was the original
findings of the pathologist, Dr Ian West,
who rvrote in his autopsy report: 'The
angle of the builet wound track indicates
that [\{?C Fletcher] was shot in the back
by a person situated at a considerably
higher 1er,e1...the track would indicate
that she had been shot from the upper
floors of an adjacent building [to the
Libyan People'sBureaul .'
Dr West noted that the bullet's entry
track was at an angle of 60"-70". During
later evidence given at the inquest, West
changed his mind. Now he agreed rvith
police investigators that the bullet had
come from the first floor of the Libvan
 j
=

=
3
-6 are even more pronounced following the
o
remor,al of part of the bullet's propellant, V The
o
! slorving its speed and, equally importantly,
_9
o creating a less audible discharge. The lat- of Fletcher being hit
.s)
s ter is a knorvn technique of British SAS oroved rhqt 12
snipers. The damage caused by a bullet shofs hod been
t
People's Bureau - signifying an entry doctored in this rr'avis horrific. The tum- fired in st Jomes3r':- .
wound of only 15'. This unusual revision bling bullet tears throush the bodr,, rip- Squore, nol I I, ,..
was to prove vital. ping tissueand vital organs bevond repair. os rhe officiol
Fulcrum then had a number of experts \{lhoer,er shot \\'onr-reFletcher rras arvareit
examine the evidence in the nvo reports, was a death shot in everv sense. concluded.
including Hugh Thomas, a former Chief The automatic rveapon used inside the ouiopsy
Consultant to the British Armv in Libvan Bureau - a 9 mm Sterling sub- (inset) olso
Northern Ireland - and an acknol'ledged machine gun - was not silenced. The sharp how the
expert on gunshot wounds. Thomas stated sounds of its 11 rapid-fire rounds being dis- wos fired f-;
"-]jl
that Dr West's testimony at the inqi.restrvas charged were caught on BBC videotape positionhigher rhcn ,
'rubbish', concluding that the updated sce- and analysed by an audio expert for the thot discussed in the
nario West painted for the coroner was Dispatchesdocumentary. An additional officiol inquiry.
'impossible'. Backtracking over the post-
rnortem report, Thomas was conrinced 1-':;;;'... -"*"J,#"'.is
:'J,Y,
that the bullet that struck \APC Fletcher
must have come from the upper floors of
iffiJ;""-""
an adjacent building. Totalling five floors,
the Libyan building simply did not have a
high enough elevation for the fatal shot.
]'*:.;,.}.;ffi,g*
::'"':e
:l.i;;:
TU MBT I NG B U IT ET
'*
Forensic examination also showed the bul-
let's energy was depleted and the round
was 'tumbling' as it hit the police officer.
po
The tumbling effect and the 'terminal

-ffi::::;.*
o

ffi:---,
velocitv' (the velocity of the bullet as it .s
o
strikes its target) are consistent with the
use of silencers. Significantly, these effects
#***********:
:-1y-,1".
-"='*''

-
"* r*:r"tilij:r".$
 was also analvsed. It oroved to be
lmpo rtan l. laKen Dy an am at eur .
t the sound of a'duller' gun-
ds after the Libyan gunman
The evidence was irrefutable
bullet had been fired.
team next learned
and US I nt e l l i g e n c ew e re ru n n i n g a
rveillanceposl on the upper floors
:James'sSquare.nvo doors awayfrom
Libyan People's Bureau. Tom Peile, a
er security officer at number 3,
:aled that as many as 40 intelligence
were active at lhe surveillance post
week spr ior to th e s h o o ti n g .
illance techniques included read-
ne and telex traffic, the use of
m ic ro p h o n e sto p i c k u p c o n -
and, where possible, physically
ibugs' inside the Bureau itself. In
MI6, MI5, CIA and the Special
had huma n ' s o u rc e s w i th i n th e
who were providing regular
r . S ignif i c a n tl y . MI5 k n e w th e
a. cache of guns sealed in a
on t he f i rs t fl o o r o f th e B u re a u .
wer e all 9 m m c a l i b re w e a p o n s- l h e
'€alibre bullet that killed Fletcher.
TETTIGENCE PRESENCE
and knowledgeable source
The X Factor that the fatal shot
:rainly came from 3 St James's
- location of the secret MIS,/CIA
lce post. The operation was engi-
areate public outrage that would
ned the existing 'soft' view of
b y the Ltrltr s h gov er nm ent .
that
A A memoriol stone The XFactor was also told that the archi- j
=
E
in 5t Jomes's Squore tects of the plan \{ere concerned that
morks the spol ot deaths of Libyan protesters by Gaddafi's U
=
which Yvonne Fletcher own assassinwould not be enough to out-
fell. As she loy dying, rage the British public. Consequently, an
her fionce, Constoble additional target was chosen that rvas cer- 6
Michoel tiddell, tain to inflame public opinion. Yvonne
crodled her in his Fletcher was the sacrificial lamb.
orms. She died 9O By 1984, Reagan-administration insiders
minufes loter in believed victory in the forthcoming elec-
hospirol. lronicolly, tions relied on the downfall of Gaddafi.
the slight 25-yeor-old However, US officials found no appetite on
WPC hqd been foo the part of their NATO allies to sr.rpportUS
short to loin the militarv action against Libra. \\-ith the
police, but hod been killing of Fletcher. the British attitudes to
given speciol Li bva hardened. and the gover nm ent
dispensotion becouse allorved US bombers to flr' from British
of her drive ond bases- an option previouslvunthinkable.
enthusiosm.
S H OOT TO K ItL P OLIC Y
In a House of Cornmons debate in the sum-
mer of 1996, the British government dis-
missed the nerr' facts disclosed about the
E Fletcher shooting. \\'hy? It would appear
; that thev do not nish to addressthe unpalat-
able fact that elements within Britain's own
o
.g securitv serrices are out of control.
Four vears after Fletcher's death,
another atrocity was to occur which again
involved Libya, Britain and the US -
the bombing of Pan Am flight 103
over Lockerbie, Scotland. This case also
;t*i,rut*ffilitT"i'$@
In the next isszz, INSIDE STORY ln uesligates the
CIA's role in the Lockerbie disaster, and the real
reason Pan Amflight 103 was bombed.
ffiX#K
0r tffi
RTCHRND WISEMAN IS THE
MEDIA,S PARANoRMAL SCEPTIC
OF THE MOMENT. BUT THERE IS
A MORE SERIOUS SIDE TO THE
AcADEMIC'S RESEARcH INTo
PSYCHIC CI-AIMANTS

he concrete campus of the University of
Hertfordshire is an unlikely place to find one
of the IIK's foremost research centres into the
iffi par.rnormal. But it's a location that, since the
Perrott-Warrick Research Unit was set up in 1992, the
media has beat a regular path to, in search of the
down-to-earth comments of Richard Wiseman.
The 3O-year-old psychologist became known to TV
viewers in the summer of 1996 with his regular spot on
tlre BBC's Out Of This Wmldprogramme. Wiseman's
role as the debunker of psychic claimants upset many
people, but the mild mannered academic remains
unrepentant. fle's all for raiiing the standards of
testing psychic claims and to this end has published
two books outlining guidelines for such research and
sits on the investigation committee of the Society for
Psychical Research (SPR). His latest book, Deception
and Sef4eception: Irwestigating Psychia, is a collection of
his ovr'n research fiodirtgr.
In his spare time Wisemano an Associate of the Inner
Magic Circle, likes to entertain himself and others with
magic tricks. In facto it was his childhood interest in
magic that set him on the trail of fake psychics.
ss
W @ I was about sevenwhen I began with those little
boxed magic setsyou can get - I used to bore
everyone at school with it. I think it was those
experiences, when you have a simple trick and you
realize that you can fool people, that made me think,
'I wonder what's going on inside people's heads that
th a t c an happen. '
Did you olwoys think much of the
pqronormql wqs iust trickery?
I'd watched the Arthur C. Clarke shows as a kid and
wondered whether the things I saw were real or more
like the tricks I was performing. But I didn't really
thi nk too much about i t.
When did you consider it more seriously?
At university, I studied psychology.At the end of the
course, I wanted to concentrate more on this area of
paranormal deception. That's when the University of
Edinburgh was advertising a Ph.D position in the
psychology ofdeception and parapsychology.So I did
that for four years.
Whqr did your reseqrch involve?
It was looking at the psychology that magicians use to
fake psychic ability - how they get an audience to look
in a certain place at a certain time, make certain
assumptions or misremember the trick. Civen that
that's how you can cheat, how can you test somebody
who claims to be psychic so they can't do those sorts of
things, so you can seewhether they're genuine?
Whqt psychic clqims did you exomine?
We tested the SORRAT fSociety for Research on
Rapport and Telekinesis] group in America, who are
best known for the 'Mini-Lab' phenomena. They take
a fish tank, turn it upside down so it's a sealed, clear
box, put some objects inside, and film it while the
'spirits' allegedly move the objects around. It's really
hokey stuff.
Their claim was that if we sealed up a deck of ESP
cards, sent them acrossto SORRAT, the spirits would
write down the order of the cards. So we thought:
how would a magician get into these without showing
any signs of tampering, and how would you block
that. In the end, we encapsulated the cards in about
500 grams of resin with chemical traces in it so that it
couldn'tr be
couron De melted
mereo clown
down ancl
and # .s
reconstituted.\,!'esent the cards & 6
€F =-
across.They came back a month
later, the spirits having written If psychicpowersexist at
down their guesses.Out of 25 cards all - and
nd it's
they had only got eight right, which then it'.'sa small ability ,L?ty
is what you would expect by chance. which
notice in eaerydryllfe
How did SORRATreqcl to
your conclusion?
They were fairly annoyed. They had
done similar testswith scientistswho hadn't gone to
such lengths to seal the decks, and SORRAI always
managed to guessthem correctly. They said maybe the
resin stopped the spirits seeing inside the deck.
Do you think some pqrqpsychologisfs hove
poor stondqrds for their tesfs?
Sometimes. I think things have changed fairly
recently, though. \A4ren I was doing the SORRAT
study, which was in 1991, there wasn't a huge amount
of understanding of deception and magic techniques
among most paiapsychologists.For example, how do
you wrap up a deck of cards so that you can tell
whether somebody else has got to it? Well, you can
use sealing wax, envelopes, all this kind of stuff. But
the fact is that there are manuals out there on how
to get into envelopes so they don't show any signs
of tampering. The CIA release such a manual called
Flaps and Seals.Scientistswho did the other studies, I
suspect,just didn't know about that sort of literature.
Whot hoppened ofter you got your Ph.D?
I moved down to the University of Hertfordshire to
set up a research unit, similar to
the one in Edinburgh, but doing
things differently in that we would
take a slightlv more sceptical
it'. a big if -
stance to the paranormal. We
rvoul d al so exami ne cl ai m s t o
)ou wouldn't psvchic abiliq'.
€:: How mqny of these clqims
= F hove you exqmined since?
Well, there are only a few people
who can produce sufficient anecdotal evidence of
their powers to convince me that they are even worth
investigating. And there are even fewer of them who
are prepared to be tested properly.
5o who hqs come forwqrd?
We tested Chris Robinson, the psychic detective, and
Carol Everret, the psychic diagnostian, lvho claims to
be able to tell what's wrong with you just bv looking at
you. We went to India and tested a couple of the local
gurus. We've also looked atJavtee, the psl'chic dog
who knows when his owner is coming home - the
biologist Rupert Sheldrake'spet project, as it were.
Hqve ony convinced you thof
they hove psychic qbiliries?
No. The pattern is alwaysthe same.
j- lir"t come along with anecdotal
i er"idence.\Arhenvou rule out self
] deception, other deception and put
! them to the test. their experiences
f look pretty ordinary. That's why I'm
very much convinced that if there
are psychic powers, they are not
large. They are not the sort of
things that people can produce a
demonstration of and you go, 'Oh,
wow, that's absolutely incredible.'
Whof obout the results of
pqst porqnormql fests, by
SPRmembers for exqmple?
The problem is knowing that what's
written down is what actually
happened. You're trusting the
memory of the people who wrote these reports. As a
magician, I know that people easily misremember a
trick you have performed. It's the same with the
reports into psychics. I did a retrospective study into
Eusapia Palladino, who was supposed to be one of the
best physical mediums at the turn of the century. She
was investigated by the SPR in an incredibly detailed
way. The report's about 250 pages. \A/hen looked at
closely,though, it's not as good as people think it is. If
that's the best evidence, I'm not convinced.
Whot oflrqcfed you to investigote Swomis?
It was the fact that these are living claimants who
seem to able to do something extraordinary. I met
Professor Erlendur Haraldsson from the University of
Iceland. who's done a lot of work with the Indian
mystic Sai Baba, and he told me he'd seen a lot of
stuff that couldn't be explained away as magic tricks.
He asked if I'd like to go with him and test Swami
Premananda under more rigorous conditions.
Whqf wqs fhis Swomi doing?
Premananda was materializing objects in his hands
during religious services - rings, trinkets, that sort
of thing. I saw him materialize things informally,
and it was very impressive.
As o mogiciqn, couldn't you tell whether he
wos using sleighr-of-hcnd or not?
Magicians don't know the answer to everything.
They'll go to magicians' conventions and be fooled
because there are new techniques coming out all the
time. It was the same with the Swami. To rule out
sleight-of-hand as much as possible, the procedure we
came up with was to examine his hand, wash it, place
a clear plastic bag over and seal it round the wrist and
then ask him to materialize an object inside the bag.
How did the Swomi's tests go?
Every time the bag was placed over Premananda's
hand, he didn't produce anything. As soon as the bag
came off, he started producing things again. We
concluded it was probably fraud, because when we
looked back at a video recording we'd made, his hand
always went out of view before objects materialized.
On TV, yovtre presenfed qs q sceptic. How
do you feel qbout being cost in this role?
I personally quite like it. I don't want unbalanced
programmes going out. For the most part, the public
believe what they see on TV and if they're only being
told one side of the story I think that's unfair. I'm not
saying that they should be told these things aren't
paranormal, just that both sides should be presented
so that the public can make up their own mind.
Whor do you recommend if people wqnf fo
tesl psychic cloims?
It should be done under conditions that are fair to
the claimant and which don't preclude cheating and
self-deception. We're pushing people to consult with
magicians or security experts as the appropriate
source of expertise. We also suggest running
informal pilot studies, videotaping them, showing
the tapes to the claimants, asking what they think.
Simple things like that improve the quality of
research in this area.
Are more people qpplying fo do reseqrch
with you qt Herffordshire University?
More people know we're there, so we get a lot more
applicants, which is fine. I think people should be
interested in these things. But what we want is good
evidence and investigations in this area because that's
the only way to work out if there's anything to it.
tr S
 H

k
T":t"t"t,'.t,

.ij

I i ..

t had been a routine nvo-hourjour- ri ght of the ai l cl ri t - possi bl rrr' i thi nj trst A Meleorifes entering
ney. Flight BA 5061 from Milan rvas a metre of them. In r.rnderthree secondsit eorlh's otmosphere
nearing the end of its rr,rn and was had gone. The first offrcer turned ashen con eosily be
s
e+ffi#s! descending through the darkness faced to his Captain and asked, 'Did vou see misloken os olien o
E
over the south Pennines on its final that?' Roger Wills had seen the object, croft, ond moy well o
o
o
approach to Manchester Airport. although none of the passengersappear to hove been behind
The time rvas6.48 p.m. on 6Januar,v1995 have been r,vitnesses. This is perhaps unsllr- the BA 5O6l
a n d t he B r ir is h Ai rrv a rs B o e i n g 7 3 7 w a s prising given their restricted r,'iervfrom the encounler (insef)over -I
6
about 4,000 feet, preparing to turn toltards small side windor,r,s. Monchesfer. The foct
runway 24. Captain Roger Wills u'as at the thqt the newspopers
controls, battling a strong north-westerh' .c._Lo==1..t__F_Il=-e_"_!t_ty:!_.1"=-*
got the heighr of the
-9
rc
o

wind, and first officer Mark Stuart rvasmon-
itoring the instruments.
Both were unprepared for r,hat hap-
pened next. 'I sau' something out of my
peripheral vision,' Stuart explains. 'M,v
instinct was to grab the controls as it
seemed to be coming towards us. But I was
unable to move more than an inch before it
was upon us and past us.'
The object flew past at high speed to the
The creu' immediately called Manchester' neor collisionso
and asked if there r'ras a radar fix on anr' wildly incorrect is on
other craft in the vicinit)'. Control reported indicotion of the
that there w as nothi ng on screen. desire for o good
Explaining their close encolrnter, the tr.vo story, rolher lhon
pilots were asked r.vhether ther, rvished to octuol focls.
file an 'air miss' report. Thel' decided to
wait and think about it.
Upon landing a felv minutes later, the
men comDared notes and made sketchesof
\1hat they had seen. These were broadly
:imilar. Stuart drew a silver-wedge shaped
craft u'ith streaks along the side. Captain
\\-ilIs thought it was less concrete and drew
ir more as a series of lights, but agreed that
it rtas still wedge shaped. The similarity
clecided the two men - thev would file an
;rir miss report. The Civil Aviation Authority
C-\\) would then have to find out what
had nearly knocked them out of the sky.

I N V ESTIG A T I O N
The case gained instant notoriety. \A4rile
both Wills and Stuart declined to give inter-
rierr's at first, the story was leaked to the
press. Even as the CAA struggled to get to
erips with the incident, the tabloids were
har-ing a field day.
The CAA investigated every possible
explanation for the near collision, but
cor-rld find no answers. Eventually, they
began speculating about UFOs - mention-
ing, possibly for the first time in an official
air miss report, 'extraterrestrial activity'. A
cautionary note added:'Fascinating though
it may be, it is not within the lair miss]
group's remit and must be left to those
rihose interest lies in that field.'
The fact that the CAA was entertaining
the possibility of UFOs was like a red rag to
the media. Many took it as an admission
that the plane had encountered aliens.
. A 5061 ' sre p u ta ti o n ma y
L'n fo rtu nat elyB
riell be unjustified. There are many natu-
rally occurring phenomena that can be mis-
taken as some kind of intelligent alien craft,
and this could have been the case in the
\Ianchester near collision. The pilots
could, for example, have observed a bright
v Sighrings of fhe fireball meteor, known as a bolide. The illu-
UFO involved in fhe sion of an alien craft is created when space
BA 506l neor-miss debri s enters the earth' s atmosphere and
were olso reported burns up. Invariably these strange lights are
from lhe ground. A high in the the atmosphere. and therefore
reconslruclion of the out of radar range, even though they
croft ollegedly seen appear to be close by. From what is known
by Monchester from eyew i tnessdescri pti ons of vari ou s
studenl Mork Lloyd other fi rebal l events.the accountsgi ven by
mqintoined fhe the experi enced B A 5061 pi l ots cl osely
triongulor shope, but matchesthat of a bol i de si ghti ng.
differed in size.
According ro Lloyd, it MID .A IR MY S TE R IE S
wos obouf 'the size of Strange, naturally occurring phenomena
Wembley Slodium'. have a l ong hi story i n U FO si ghti ngs.
During World War II there were thousands
of aircraft in flight over Europe and the
Pacific on bombing raids and reconnais-
sance missions, and there were dozens of
sightings of strange lights that appeared to
dog Altied aircraft. The US Air Force gave
them the name 'foo fighters' after a comic
strip cartoon figure. \A4rat they did not
appreciate until later was that the Axis
pilots were seeing them too. These glitter-
ing lights littered the skies as if they were
observing the battles, yet never interfered.
After the war had ended, US military air-
craft continued to report a number of
encounters with UFOs. Indeed objects very
like the foo fighters - small lights only half
a metre or so in diameter - continued to be

,-#
 seen to this day. It is barely appreciated
even by UFOlogists that these sightings still
continue, and the possibility of naturally
occurring phenomena is also routinely
overlooked by the military.

MI T I T A RY
' IAA D N ES S
Not all UFO encounters can be explained
away as atmospheric anomalies, and in
some situationsthe military are prepared to
respond with force. In August 1956, there
were two separateUFO encounters over the
UKwithin a week. Radar systemsacrossEast
Anglia detected a strange object moving
between Bentwaters and Lakenheath. A
USAF transport plane fllng at 5,000 feet
saw the object - a smudgy yellow light -
from above. Two RAF Venom fighters were
scrambled and intercepted the object above 'tr
Ely. To this date, the crew remain adamant =
o
that they had a clear radar target of a sta- 5
tionary object which, try as they might, they
o
could not lock on to.
I
A few days later, Flight Officer Wilbur
Wright was one of twoJavelin pilots over the u
sea between the Isle of Wight and
Bournemouth when they were ordered to pletely disappeared. Was this a genuine
break off their practice mission to intercept sighting, or yet another example of bizarre
a target picked up by a secret radar site atmospheric phenomena?
nearby. They quickly locked on to the There have been other similar casesthat
object and then saw it with their own eyes- deny rational explanation. In September
a bright disc reflecting the sun and sitting 1976, an Iranian Air Force Phantom rr'as
sent lo intercept a UFO on the out- ,--"-
skirts of Tehran after it was -rnn-,.&
seen by many
people on

;
ffi
 look for unusual radar targets being
tracked at Wellington Airport. John Cordy,
an air traffic controller. stated that the tar-
gets were unlike any he had ever seen
before. Captain Vern Powell took his Argosy ,:
into the area and saw a strange light which:
paced the aircraft forjust over 19 km along-.:
the coastbefore disappearing.
This sighting, and others in the area,
attracted the attention of an Australian TV,
channel. They contacted one of their
reporters. Quentin Fogarty. who happened
to be on holiday nearby. After the TV com-
pany gave him the details, Fogartyjumped
{ Foofoge shor by at the chance. He began his report by
Quentin Fogorty on interviewing the UFO witnesses, and then
3(F32 December
1978 showed o
formofion of up to
df The first officer... looked
six UFOs. These
brighr lights up in time fo see q dork
oppeored lo hqve o obiecr pqss down rhe side
dom e d 'c o b i n 'o n d of fhe qircroff ot high
on eslimoted length speedi if wqs wedge-
of 3O mefres. More shoped wirh q block stripe
importontly, New BA 506l Pilots'Neor Miss Reoort

ts
the ground. The pilot noticed a small Zeolond rodor (inset)
object eject from the glowing light and olso confirmed lhe
judged that he was under attack. presence of UFOs.
Instinctively, he powered up his computer- persuaded Safe Air on rhe night of 30-31
controlled equipment and prepared to December to let him fly the same route. .
Iaunch an air-to-air missile. As he pressed However, Fogarty and the new Argosy er€w:.i.
the button to fire ilhat might have been the V A Brirish Airwoys headed by Captain Bill Startup did not
first shot in an inter-planetary war, all power promofionol video expect what happened next. l'l
drained from his aircraft. The object then unintenfionolly Once again, radar picked up UFOs and,:,
returned into the UFO and the Phantom's copfured o UFO, strange lights flew alongside the plane..
power returned to normal. opporently 'ploying 'Let's hope they're friendly,' Fogarty wryly
In casessuch as these, there appears little tog'with o Concorde. commented as the uni i enti ded' light s
alternative to suggest that some sort of The behqviour of the danced nearby, filling the TV camera lens.
intelligent craft with superior abilities to UFO - especiolly its The film evidencewasextensivelyinvesti-
our own 'primitive' defences is evident. exfreme occelerqfion gated by optical physicistBruce Maccabee,
Natural phenomena new to science, while - suggesled il wos o who flew out from Washington to New
not ruled out, seem less likely than in cases 'foo fighfer'. Zealand. to study the case. Maccabee was
such as the foo fighter type of sighting.

PROO F AT LA ST ?
Despite the rising number of mid-air
encounters, the 'big case' which married
the credibiliq' of public sightings to pilot
testimony and radar trackings was still miss-
ing. The world waswaiting for first classfilm
footage of the UFO phenomena, and this
ideal was finally fulfilled in December 1978
above New Zealand's south island.
In the early hours of 21 December, the
crew of a Safe Air cargo plane were asked to
 convinced that something truly inexplica-
ble was recorded. and the case is widely
regarded as one of the most convincinc'
examples ol UFO realiry.
Ilowever, there ale those who disagree.
Sceptics have attempted to prove that the
UFOs were many things, from stars and
planets to moonlight shining off a cabbage
{S rB
They've tested our defences
lo see if we con withsfqnd qn
in v q s i o n . . . d t so me ti me i n th e
fufure we cqn expecf UFOs ro
become increqsingly hosfile
CIA lnformont,
os fold to Journolist
WorrenSmith
t' a\'
,,
patch. The air crew, who flew the route on
a r egular bas i s . p ro fo u n d l y d i s a g re e .
Fogarty also remains completely baffled as
to what he enc ou n te re do n th a t n i g h t.
S o do t he UFOs s i g h te d i n th e s e c l o s e
encounters represent a physical threat? In
evaluating the Manchester Airport case the
CAA appear to have thought this was possi-
ble. But they were also aware that this case
was far from unique.
FR I E ND OR FOE?
T h e p rospe ct of a c ollis ion is not m er elv
In August 1984, a Kondarr
. . *::r.rl.al.
Trislanderon a cargoflight from Stanstead
to Amsterdamwasstruck by an object with
such force that it lost an engine.The air-
_9
T
o
A Luminous oblecrs craft rvasable to fly on to Schipol, Holland,
were sighted ond u'here it made an emergency landing. A
photogrophed in the hole rvas found in the tail fin where some-
middle of o thing had passedright through. It was not a
formqtion of bird strike, as metallic frasments were dis-
Tqhikowo Ki 36 covered there.
reconnoissonce The C-\\ rr-ereunable to solve this case.
plones in 1942. Thinking that some kind of military tech-
Nicknomed'foo nologl might har-ebeen involved the MoD
fighrers' by rhe US, n-asbrought in. and l'as equally mystified.
the stronge lights Thev even speculatedthat space debris re-
olormed ond entering the atmosphere from earth orbit
confused enemy ond could hale protoked a million-to-one freak
Allied forces olike. collision. The truth is that something struck
Alien inrelligence wos the aircraft ar-rdit snrrived. The next time
suggested, but an aircraft might not be so luckv.
modern science now
rhinks ir con exploin GtOB A t S IGH TIN GS
these phenomeno os Close encounters have also been recorded
nolurol occurrences. around -\uglst 1984 br aircraft crew over
Tasmania. Brazil. France and Russia, and
there are doubtlessmanv more unreported.
The rise in mid-air encoLlntershas reached
epidemic proportions and mav rvell be con-
sidered alarming bv anvone planning to
travel br-air.
Numerons airlir-res have been involved
and, rvhile most prefer their pilots not to
talk about the episodes for fear of under-
mining passengerconfidence, no airline is
more prone than any other. As such,
despite the commercial interests of airlines,
and despite the ridicule about little green
men that inevitably attaches itself to these
stories, lve simply have to take mid-
-e
:*#Hdffi'*mm
In the next issue, UFO FILE inaestigatesthe
strange sightings reported lry l,lASA astronauts
returningfrom manned spau flights.