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]

Check out this weird shape-shifting UFO caught on camera in earlier this month in Yokohama, Japan. It changes from saucer to sphere and back again. And you have to hand it to the cameraman for keeping such a tight shot on it.

UFO, or SFX Senior Project? Let us know what you think in the comments.

The premiere site for paranormal sightings in Latin America, Inexplicata, prints this tale from a Mexican pilot. Word around the hangers is a white arrowhead has been eye balled a few times by different flight crews.

“Dear Ana Luisa – My best regards to you. This photograph was taken by Fausto Abaroa on May 21st as an Aeromexico 737-800 approached Mexico City along the San Mateo air corridor. The same image shows a black flying object that dangerously escorts the passenger jet.

“It should be noted that the allowed distance between one airliner and another is one mile (1209 meters) as per SVRM Regulations for passenger aircraft navigation in Mexican airspace.

Read the original post for the full letter. Could it be an unregistered aircraft? Military prototype? UFO?

[Inexplicata]

Sheep are being brutally murdered in the United Kingdom country side. Who’s to blame? Psychotics? Hellfire ritualists? Revenge-driven sheep?

In one man’s opinion, it’s proof of UFO visitation.

In rural Britain, dead sheep are being found by famers with mysterious – and gruesome – injuries. Mike says a “highly active” area in the UK includes Shrewsbury, Dartmouth and parts of Wales.

“We’re talking about some fairly remote areas,” he said

“These injuries to the animals – the animals are invariably killed – are very specific. If you’ve seen some of the bodies that I’ve seen, it’s just absolutely incredible.

“The flesh appears to have been cauterized indicating some sort of thermic lance or micro-sonic wand has been used. We’re talking incredible technology. There is never any blood.”

Ahhh, the tell tale signs of the thermic lance or micro-sonic wands…

[BBC News]

Do you want to study UFOs through college? Niagra County Community College just became your number one application.

The studing of UFOs and other unexplained phenomena from space should be a legitimate university subject, an American professor, Philip Haseley, has claimed….

The Niagara County Community College, a state university in New York, lecturer said due to the high amount of sightings every year, it should follow that students should be able to investigate phenomenon.

(A sighting) happens to millions of people (around the world),” he said.

“It’s about time we looked into this as a worthy area of study.

“It’s important that the whole subject be brought out in the open and investigated.”

Let’s be honest, it makes more sense than a philosophy degree…

[Telegraph via Derren Brown blog]

Is the story finally over for the Kecksburg UFO case? A lawsuit against NASA and an attempt to use the Freedom of Information Act has left UFO researchers as frustrated as ever. Check out the story on Space.com: SPACE.com — Is Case Finally Closed on 1965 Pennsylvania ‘UFO Mystery’?

From Wikipedia:

The Kecksburg UFO incident occurred on December 9, 1965 at Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, USA. A large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in at least six U.S. states and Ontario, Canada. It streaked over the Detroit, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario area, reportedly dropped hot metal debris over Michigan and northern Ohio, starting some grass fires, and caused sonic booms in western Pennsylvania. It was generally assumed and reported by the press to be a meteor.

link: Kecksburg UFO incident – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia