The Winner Of The 2009 International UFO Sky Watch As Been Named,And Its Me

Back on October 21st the Facebook group International Sky Group held this years sky watch,I believe I did a blog post here about it at that time.People from all around the world took part in this event,and the rule was the person who takes the best photo of a UFO wins.I sat out when it turned October 21st at 12:00am but the sky was cloudy so I did not see anything,but I went back out around 3:30 and it was clear,I stayed out till 8am and took 28 photos.I was really counting on that night the skies would be clear just after sunset,thats when we get most of our UFOs here on the Gulf coast,but when the sun set,and I seen it was raining and was not going to let up I submitted the photos I had taken earlier that day.As I uploaded them and reviewed them I was surprised I caught some good photos.We being everyone who took place in this once a year sky watch had to wait until November 19th to find out who won.I had forgot that was the day,but I got a phone call from a friend telling me what I thought about winning the 2009 International UFO Sky Watch,I could not believe it,me I said there were so many other great photos.The photo that won it for me was not even the best one I took in my opinion,but I was thrilled,so I went on the groups page to confirm it,and it was true.The winner of the event gets autographed photos from Nick Pope and a few other top UFO Researchers.My story even made it in my local paper,below is the article.To see all the photos I submitted for the watch Click Here

Local winner in International Skywatch

by Billy Cox

Impossible to tell how many people participated in an Internet project called the International UFO Skywatch. The idea was to recruit Earthlings scattered across in every time zone to monitor the skies over a 24-hour period on Oct. 24 and shoot UFOs.

Englewood UFO blur deemed best of show by International UFO Skywatch/CREDIT: Jamie Havican

According to British organizer Melanie Trinder, 115 images were forwarded to the Web page. Theoretically an entire planet’s worth of images to choose from, and the one judged to be the best of the lot turns out to be a fuzzy white blur suspended in black. Ambiguous at best.

Yet, it’s probably no coincidence the photo was taken by Englewood resident Jamie Havican. This guy’s relentless; when most people are dissolving by their TV sets, Havican is in his back yard, camera ready, tracking the myriad blips that crawl across the stars. Havican doesn’t think it’s his best shot, and he would’ve preferred to submit video, but the rules called for stills, so whatever.

Anyhow. Despite the disappointing results, Mark Easter, the Nevada state director for Mutual UFO Network and the national organization’s new PR guy, dropped a quick line of support for the Skywatch folks. “The only way we’re going to make any progress,” he explains from his home in Reno, “is to work together.”

Easter, whose day job involves video production, is currently running down leads on a rash of sightings in eastern Nevada now beginning to attract media attention. Specificly, the suckers appear to be taking a shine to remote mining operations, and one family of eyewitnesses grabbed some on video. Orange lights. At night. With little environmental perspective. But Easter isn’t discouraged.

“The laws of averages are against it, but you never know when somebody just might take a good picture,” he says. “You’re never going to see anything unless you look. And you’ll never get anything unless you’ve got a camera with you.”

So kids — tell Santa what you want for Christmas. Next year, the International UFO Skywatch runs a whole week, from June 12-19. Plenty of time to limber up.

To see all of Billy Cox Stories click his name below the headline.

Sky Watch Team Member Gets In Local Paper

Trolling for evidence

by Billy Cox

The massive hovering thing flashed its running lights and parked itself some 50 feet above Gwen Gleason’s house near San Jose, Calif., then vanished as abruptly as it had appeared, without a sound. She was 12 years old. She never figured it out. But she tried.

When she reached her 30s, she even tried hypnotic regression to recover details she might’ve forgotten. But the therapist “was trying to put stuff in my mind,” Gleason recalls. “She’d say things like, ‘Do you remember seeing a door open?’ or ‘Do you remember an alien?’ That wasn’t the way I wanted to go.”

But the impression lingered. She graduated into the Internet age. Images, blogs, chat rooms. Now 50 and living in Bradenton, Gleason saw the video below and got inspired. It was recorded on July 28 in the night skies over Dundee, Scotland, by Gary McDaid. At the 1:03 mark, two apparent UFOs emerge and begin scissoring in tandem, as if tethered by an invisible rubber band. According to the narration, they swing from north to east to west, their proximity to each other fluctuating like breathing rhythms.

Gleason contacted McDaid online and found out how he acquired the images. She got herself a Yukon Night Vision monocular, bought a tripod, hooked her camcorder up to portable TV monitor. She even traveled to Englewood to rendezvous for a skywatch with Jamie Havican.

“And he was right. I can start seeing them right after sunset, one after another, boom boom boom,” Gleason says. “If it’s a clear night, I can count on seeing anywhere from one to 12 — easy.”

She visited orbital tracker Web pages and began realizing the extent of the clutter upstairs.  In fact, given the mindless tumbling volume of derelict hardware and satellites — unclassified and black — reflecting sunlight, she quickly got over her fascination with single white dots traveling in straight lines. She started looking for directional shifts, and/or multiple synchronized targets.

On Oct. 13, from the eastward-facing window of her home, Gleason finally bagged what she was looking for — a UFO that appears to make course adjustments. It’s a subtle thing, practically ambiguous. She vows to improve once she acquires a better TV monitor. She wants to get as good as Scotland’s Gary McDaid, a guy she’s never met. She makes him sound like a NASCAR points leader.

“You’ve got to look for the ones that go really fast. That takes skill, because you never know when it’s going to happen,” Gleason says. “We both use tripods, but he’s got his hand on it constantly. He’s got really good reaction time.”

Maybe it’s skill, maybe it’s luck. Either way, Gleason’s bottom line is self evident. “I am,” she says, “totally hooked.”