Recently declassified documents have stirred up one of my absolute favorite conspiracy crossbreeds: JFK was killed as part of a UFO coverup.

More specifically, a new book claims to have found actual paper trail on communication Kennedy had with the USSR about UFO sightings.

“One of his concerns was that a lot of these UFOs were being seen over the Soviet Union and he was very concerned that the Soviets might misinterpret these UFOs as U.S. aggression, believing that it was some of our technology,” Lester told AOL News.

“I think this is one of the reasons why he wanted to get his hands on this information and get it away from the jurisdiction of NASA so he could say to the Soviets, ‘Look, that’s not us, we’re not doing it, we’re not being provocative. In fact, just to show you that it’s not us, what do you think about us working together on the exploration of space?’” Lester added.

Of course many sightings of UFOs on American soil have been widely rumored to be low-flying Soviet air craft. Assuming the same might be true in reverse, was ol’ JFK trying to throw an alien smokescreen in the eyes of our Cold War nemesis?

[AOL News]

A pilot got a very good glimpse at what are some are calling a UFO over Norway. What is known is that the airborne item flew at about 8,000 feet and caused delays at the Oslo International Airport last Thursday.

Here is the pilot’s description:

Suddenly, Captain Johan Kylborn discovered something unexpected in the air. “I am sure that it was some kind of aircraft. It had a clear wing profile, and was probably a glider, it may have been a hang glider or a microlight, but it’s hard to tell,” said the Captain.

According to UFO Casebook, a hang gliding expert was among those delayed. He claims it could not have been any kind of glider at that height. Air traffic control logs also have no record of any gliders or weather balloons in the area.

It’s rare you see a UFO description include the physical structure of the aircraft at close range. Normally, lights or movement are the key characteristics. As is currently the case in Colorado.

[UFO Casebook]

Iran decided that they needed a spy drone that looks like something from a bad 1950s movie. Released at an exhibition, the machine is named “Zohal” and at least it has some modern characteristics.

The flying machine is equipped with an auto-pilot system, GPS (Global Positioning System) and two separate imaging systems with full HD 10 mega-pixel picture quality and is able to take and send images simultaneously.

Zohal uses a small, portable navigation and monitoring center for transmission of data and images and can fly in both outdoor and indoor spaces.

[Fars News Agency]

The Nation Of Islam has announced that among the topics discussed during this year’s Saviours’ Day Convention in Chicago will be a panel discussing proof of alien visitation and why global sightings are on the rise.

Flying saucers have long been a part of the official NOI doctrine, including founder Elijah Muhammad’s reports of a hovering object known as the “Mother Plane.” Current leader Minister Louis Farrakhan last year described a visitation by a floating object known as “The Wheel.”

During last year’s Saviours’ Day speech, Farrakhan for the first time in years discussed in detail a vision he had in Mexico in 1985 involving an object he calls “the wheel.” Using charts, photos and drawings, he spent almost four hours describing how he was invited aboard and heard Elijah Muhammad speak to him. Farrakhan says that experience led him to inklings about future events.

Farrakhan, 77, has said the wheel, with its great capacity for destruction, contains the “wisdom to purify the planet,” but has harmed no one so far. He also claimed there have been governmental attempts to cover-up proof of the wheel, which he says many call UFOs.

No word yet from Farrakhan if “The Wheel” in the sky keeps on turning, although he presumably knows where he will be tomorrow.

[AP]

It’s a pyramid. In China.

Wait, it gets weirder.

It’s on top of a mountain and is not (as far as researchers can tell) a burial tomb for a royal dynasty. In fact, local legend has it that the elevated platform has been used as a UFO launching ground.

Nine scientists form the team that will travel to the western province of Qinghai and the mouth of this 165-198 foot tall structure known as the “ET Relics.”

“The pyramid has three caves with openings shaped like triangles on its façade and is filled with red-hued pipes leading into the mountain and a nearby salt water lake,” says China’s state-run Xinhua agency.

To add to the mystery, iron debris and unusually shaped stones are scattered about the desolate area.

“The theory that the pyramid was created by extra terrestrials is “understandable and worth looking into…but scientific means must be employed to prove whether or not it is true,” says Yang Ji, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

More information on the pyramids of China can be found in this handy YouTube clip.

[Weird Asia News via Derren Brown blog]

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange spoke with The Guardian including this awesome tidbit:

Many weirdos email us about UFOs or how they discovered that they were the anti-christ whilst talking with their ex-wife at a garden party over a pot-plant. However, as yet they have not satisfied two of our publishing rules.
1) that the documents not be self-authored;
2) that they be original.
However, it is worth noting that in yet-to-be-published parts of the cablegate archive there are indeed references to UFOs.

So causing an international kerfuffle revealing covert forces for freedom and democracy in the regions most in need of it, putting in danger deep cover assets and confirming Moammar Gadhafi as a cold pimp is totally within bounds, but UFO cable is a little too dicey to reveal?

[Alley Insider]

According to some retired Air Force officers, UFOs have a habit of hovering over military bases and shutting down nuclear missiles. Although they concede that the objects may not have been alien in origin, according to them, their memories are undeniable.

“I was on duty when an object came over and hovered directly over the site,” Salas said, regarding the March 16, 1967, event at Malmstrom AFB in Montana. “The missiles shut down, 10 Minuteman missiles. And the same thing happened at another site a week later,” he said.

Six former officials will discuss this happening and others at an event at the National Press Club. Please tell me someone who reads this site works there or will be attending that day. Please?

[Fox News]

It’s official… we can now move objects with simple lasers.

Developed at the Australian National University, the new discovery can move small objects 100X larger than a bacterium up to a meter in water.

The device works by shining a hollow laser beam around tiny glass particles. The air surrounding the particle heats up, while the dark center of the beam stays cool. When the particle starts to drift out of the middle and into the bright laser beam, the force of heated air molecules bouncing around and hitting the particle’s surface is enough to nudge it back to the center.

A small amount of light also seeps into the darker middle part of the beam, heating the air on one side of the particle and pushing it along the length of the laser beam. If another such laser is lined up on the opposite side of the beam, the speed and direction the particle moves can be easily manipulated by changing the brightness of the beams.

Researchers are confident that with enough testing they should be able to move larger objects longer distances, eventually allowing you to become even lazier!

[Physorg.com]

How did folks describe UFO phenomenon before we had the science fiction constructs to fill in the blanks of interstellar travelers from deep space? Probably a lot like 12-year-old George Campbell of Sherman, Texas in 1898.

“Last night papa and I were riding along the ‘Eighty-foot Road’, about two and a half miles [4km] north of town, when all at once everything got very bright. We saw a great ball of fire coming down toward the ground. It got within about three feet [90cm] of the ground and seemed to rest for a while and then it went back up until it got clear out of sight. There was a buzzing sound all the time.”

George described the ball as 10 feet wide and not emitting any heat.

[Fortean Times]

The fine folks at Cracked.com list ‘em like only they can, from military dogfights to strange green fireballs.

[Cracked]

Newly declassified documents have revealed that former Prime Minister Winston Churchill demanded a cover-up of an encounter between a Royal Air Force plane and a UFO.

The revelation was found in a letter from the son of one of Churchill’s bodyguards who claimed to have witnessed Churchill viewing pictures of the incident and demanding it remain secret for at least 50 years because ‘it would create mass panic among the general population and destroy one’s belief in the Church’.

UFO experts aren’t surprised, however. Churchill is known as a big UFO buff, and even requested an update from the British government in the 50′s.

[Telegraph.co.uk]

Everyday this week…Brett Rounsaville brings us the Weirdest Places to Visit in America.

I’ve been getting ready for a big trip to Bryce Canyon later this week, which subsequently led me to thinking about my former life as America’s favorite vagrant, which in turn practically forced me to choose this week’s topic…Weirdest Places in America!

Today, we’re starting things off the only way Weird Things knows how…with crazy people and aliens.

If you’re wandering down Homestead Road in  Bowman, South Carolina you may just find yourself walking past a corrugated metal fence with a message scrawled in black spray paint. The message?

“UFO WELCOME CENTER” (I can only assume the message is intended to be seen from space.)

The UFO Welcome Center is a labor of love for Jody Pendarvis who built the (*ahem*) Center in his back yard. Behind his trailer. Next to his rusted old pickup truck. (Yeah, he’s that guy.)

The welcome center mostly consists of two plywood and metal saucers stacked on top of each other. The bottom one, and bigger of the two, is built “to be a place where aliens could be comfortable meeting people from Earth.” (Apparently aliens prefer environments that have racked up double-digit building code violations.)

The second saucer balances on the first for easy removal when the alien visitors decide to take Jody aboard with them. It has also become Jody’s de facto “summer home.” It’s mostly filled with extension cords and an airbed…

All that said, the dude clearly loves his pet project and there’s no denying that, talented craftsman or not, he put a TON of work into this place.

What do you guys think? I REALLY want to see this place in person! Has anyone out there visited? What’s your impression?

Most importantly, what’s the Weirdest Place in America YOU’VE seen?!

Check out this UFO spotted in the skies over Fresno, CA over the 4th of July weekend. The news station covering the story got several confirmations  of the lights in the sky, and even some amateur video. So, what do you think? UFO, airplanes flying in formation, or sparklers tied to balloons? Let us know in the comments!

In 1994 62 schoolchildren from England with no prior exposure to portrayals of Aliens & UFOs in the media say they had an extra-terrestrial encounter. Watch this fascinating investigation and let us know what you think in the comments!

[Part 1]

[Part 2]

We reported this when it first happened, but this footage is pretty clear proof that someone weird was going on in the sky over the Xiaoshan Airport earlier this month.

Thanks to Weird Things reader Glenn for sending this in.

From The Daily Mail:

Chinese airport was closed after this mysterious object was spotted in the sky.

Arcing over Zhejiang’s provincial capital Hangzhou, the UFO appeared to glow with an eerie white light and left a bright trail in its wake.

Xiaoshan Airport was closed after the UFO was detected at around 9 pm and dozens of flights had to be diverted.

No word yet on the origin of the mystery craft but if you have the gumption to fly across the galaxy, you could at least be courteous enough to obey local no-fly zones, right?

[Daily Mail]