The Temple of Nim

Monthly Newsletter
of

BLUE MOUNTAINS UFO RESEARCH CLUB.

Vol. 5 Issue No 3

March 2009

INSIDE:
Mega-sharks of Oceania. Eerie ETs of the Gympie Triangle. UFOs Mysteries of Old Australia.

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club News. Our meetings are held on the third Saturday of the month, at the Gilroy residence, 12 Kamillaroi Road, South Katoomba, from 2pm onwards.

We are situated on the corner of Kamillaroi Road and Ficus Street, and as we always say, park in Ficus Street where there is safer parking. PLEASE NO SMOKING ON THE PREMISES. ALSO, NO LARGE BAGS IN THE CINEMA OR THE HOUSE. PLEASE NOTE. Please contact us prior to bringing along any new friends interested in UFOlogy and the mysteries generally. Anyone with any personal experiences involving UFOs or the unexplained are invited to share them with us all. Contact Information: Phone: 02 4782 3441, Email: randhgilroy@optusnet.com.au [or catch our website on rexgilroy.com or mysteriousaustralia.com]. A plate of food to share for afternoon tea is appreciated.

PROGRAM FOR THE 21ST MARCH

Latest Blue Mountains UFO reports. Any UFO sightings reports from members. Documentaries on UFOs and related subjects. Strange Beings and UFOs documentary. There will be DVD/Video documentary presentations on UFOlogy/Astronomy and/or archaeological subjects. Weather permitting there will be a Skywatch out on Narrow Neck Plateau. [Dont forget - warm clothing a necessity as the weather can change very quickly!]. Dont forget to bring your torch and binoculars.

Rex and Heather Gilroy, Australias top UFO and Unexplained Mysteries Research team. Photo copyright Rex Gilroy 2004.

MEGA-SHARKS OF OCEANIA.
By Rex Gilroy Copyright Rex Gilroy 2009.
In the midwinter of 1983, two fishermen operating their trawler in the offshore waters of southern Tasmania, accidentally caught a monstrous White Pointer Shark [Carcharodon carcharias] in their net. Later, when spread out on a pier, it was measured at 6 metres in length. Slightly larger White Pointer captures are on record. These sharks belong to the Family Lamnidae, which includes the largest species ever known to have lived, Carcharodon megalodon, which evolved during the Oligocene period, about 40 million years ago [the earliest fossil remains of this species, come from the Oligocene rocks of New Zealand], and which is supposed to have died out by the beginning of the Pleistocene period 2 million years ago. Yet fossil teeth younger than 2 million years are known, and as I am about to show, Carcharodon megalodon, better known as the megatooth shark, may be very much alive, or else some other unknown species very much like it! The maximum length of Carcharodon megalodon is widely debated by palaeontologists, with most estimates being around 15 to 18 metres, while some authorities have even argued lengths of from 23 to 24 metres! Certainly there are modern-day eyewitnesses who, unless they were exaggerating, have claimed to have observed monstrous sharks of these lengths. The jaws of Carcharodon megalodon, when fully extended, would have been capable of receiving a Volkswagen car! The teeth of these monsters alone are terrifying enough, all 182 of them! The four largest teeth ever discovered of this species measure up to 19cm length, suggesting the creature to which these belonged measured up to 22.85m in length. Against such estimates, its modern-day relative, the Great White Shark, or White Pointer pales into insignificance!

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

Megatooths main prey were probably the large whales which evolved about the same period. By the time of the Miocene period [5 to 22 million years ago] Carcharodon megalodon was flourishing worldwide, but is believed by scientists to have gone into decline during the Pliocene to vanish in early Pleistocene times. Certainly it appears to have vanished from much of the worlds oceans, but could megatooth have found a haven in Pacific waters, particularly within that region of Oceania containing Australia and its near-island neighbours of New Zealand, and the island chains of Western Polynesia, and those of Melanesia to New Guinea? I suggest this possibility, based upon the numbers of modern-day sightings of gargantuan sharks from these waters. ***** Fossil teeth of megatooth are well known from Australian fossil sites dating to the late Miocene period, around 10 million years old, and some scientists have estimated these monsters to have weighed in excess of over 20 tons! How such giants of the primordial oceans could have evolved has been a point of contention among palaeontologists for a long-time. However, it must be remembered that, during the Cretaceous period, around 100 to 65 millions years ago, the world was dominated by dinosaurs. Sea crocodiles 30.47m in length were commonplace, as were the Plesiosaur and Icthysaur, as well as many other giant-size marine creatures. The sharks would have taken advantage of this abundance of food that swarmed in the warm oceans of those times, and as the species they fed upon grew larger, so did the sharks, until Carcharodon megalodon appeared on the scene. It has been said that nothing would have been safe from a giant shark of Carcharodon dimensions, not even a submarine or modern hulled ship! During the 1970s scientists measured the jaw power of sharks. Employing the Snodgrass Dynamometer to calculate the shearing action of the jaws of a 2.45m shark, they were astonished to find it had a biting power of 6,613.8 pounds of pressure per square centimetre! Thats over three and half tons! If this is normal jaw power for a modern 2.45m length shark, imagine the awesome power that the jaws of Carcharodon megalodon must have possessed - or still does, if as some believe this species still survives! The serrated shearing teeth of these monsters would have made short work of marine dinosaurs, and are estimated to have been capable of shearing through steel plate as if it were no more than tissue paper. Be this as it may, Carcharodon megalodons life-history and habits were probably much the same as modern sharks, particularly todays Great White Shark, which is believed to be able to detect movement in the water from up to 4 miles away, although they have poor eyesight. That Carcharodon megalodon could still survive is not impossible. After all, the Coelacanth was thought to have died out by the close of the Cretaceous period, 66.4 million years ago, and whose history can be traced back in the fossil record some 300 million years to the Carboniferous period; then one was caught alive in a fishing net off the Comoros Islands, which lie off the Southern African east coast, near Madagascar in 1938. Others have since been caught alive, thus demonstrating that living fossils is a scientific reality. In modern times Great White Sharks are known to reach lengths of up to 9.1m, even more, and weights of thousands of pounds have been recorded. The Great White is the most fearsome shark known to man and they are known to bite a human in half or eat them whole. Their range appears to be between Antarctica and the coast of South Australia - the region where they are said to be most plentiful - and are known to attack people in as little as 1.2m of water. They also occur off the Western Australian coast as well as off the Australian east coast to the Solomon Islands. Another modern giant of the deep is the Whale Shark, Rhincodon typus, which can reach a length of 15.2m and around 10 tons in weight, yet it lacks the reputation of the Great White. It was identified as the Shark God Kamaka of the Solomon Islanders and known to the Japanese as Mano, a God of the Deep. Lately a chilling thought has crossed the minds of some ichthyologists, who for years have been concerned with the practically identical nature of the teeth of megalodon and his modern-day cousin the Great White. These researchers suggest that both species are one and the same, and that either Carcharodon carcharias is a dwarf descendant of the gargantuan megalodon, or else that the Carcharodons being caught today are merely young megalodons that have not yet reached maturity! ***** We begin our modern day Carcharodon megalodon sightings on the New South Wales coast.... In November 1986 I received a letter from Mr John Rogers, then of Tomakin NSW: I worked as a deckhand with an abalone diver, Chris Theodore, we usually work between Ulladulla and Moruya. A few years ago in October 1983, going home one day from Moruya, off Burrawarra Point, we saw several humpback whales, we stopped in fairly close to them and watched them. Also with the whales we saw another, what we thought was a whale too, it was white and was much bigger than humpbacks, it had a huge looking dorsal fin in shark shape. It would have been certainly over 50ft [15.24m] in length. It was very close to the humpbacks. We looked up several marine books when we got back to shore, but could not find anything like it. I went to the library in Canberra and could not find it there either, I then thought it must have been some sort of albino whale. We were very close to them and observed them for nearly five minutes.

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

On Tuesday 4th November, 1986 I learnt from Mr Ron Svechheiners of Wollongong, that there was supposed to be a giant shark, affectionately called Noah by Aborigines and surfers who had seen it moving off Wreck Bay or Summer Cloud Bay near Jervis Bay. The Aborigines also called the giant big boy and claimed he had been around for hundreds of years. Obviously more than one creature was involved here, suggesting this region of the NSW south coast was a breeding area for them. Fishermen working off Port Stephens have often claimed to have seen 11m length White Pointers, and that, occasionally, something far larger, greyish-white in colour has surfaced. During 1986 a monster shark of approximately 15.2m length followed a fishing trawler for quite some distance off the Central Coast, much to the terror of the crew! And 10 years earlier off Port Stephens, an 11m boat was passed by a huge white shark of the same length. Queensland has had a considerable number of gargantuan shark reports. During 1975 off Bowen, far north Queensland, a fishing trawler with two dead White Pointer sharks in tow behind, was attacked by some enormous shark whose large dorsal fin projected high above the water. The giant bit off some 4.5m of the two whites before disappearing into the depths. When later interviewed by a newspaper reporter, the crewmen described how they initially observed the great dorsal fin appear to a height 1.8m above the water about 100 yards behind their vessel, then rapidly approach them. They described seeing a dark shape below the surface, then both the White Pointers in tow were set upon. There was a great disturbance in the water, then the monstrous form vanished, but not before the men observed the great length of the monster moving past their vessel below surface. They agreed it was at least up to 90ft [27.43m] length! Another monster shark of 24 to 27m length and as big as a house as some local fishermen claimed, was sighted off Cairns harbour by deep sea fishermen from their vessel during November 2000. The monster had surfaced some distance from their vessel, revealing a huge dorsal fin, then submerged. This monster, described as being of a whitish colour by the men, had been sighted on and off for some months before this incident by other local fishermen, and also some locals along the shoreline of Cairns harbour, where the monstrous creature had swam on two or more occasions. Monster sharks have been a tradition of north Queensland coastal residents since the 19th century. They have been claimed by many people for over the past 100 years, to frequent the length of the Great Barrier Reef, and one or two skin divers in the 1970s claimed to have seen such massive forms moving deep below the surface. At Belambi Reef what may have been a baby Carcharodon in excess of 40ft [12.2m] was seen by a number of eyewitnesses on more than one occasion during February 1979. One researcher who has devoted considerable time to investigating this mystery is noted Australian shark expert Theo Brown. He once met the captain of an 85ft length [25.9m] fishing vessel in Queensland, who related to him an interesting personal experience. Apparently his vessel was on its way to Townsville from Brisbane and was travelling along the outer edge of the Great Barrier Reef, when something suddenly went wrong with the engine. He said the weather was calm and the sea as smooth as glass, so they heaved to and began repairs. Then the Captain and crew became aware that a huge shark had come up close to them, so they hove to and estimated the monster to be as long as, if not longer than, their 85ft length vessel! Theo Brown asked him if he had ever seen a whale, to which the Captain replied that he had and that he knew the difference between whales and sharks as well as any other seaman, and that what he and his crew had seen had most definitely been a shark. Further south, off the coast of Brisbane, in the early years of the 20th century, there had been reports of close encounters between vessels and oversized giant white sharks, which brings to mind the appearance of a giant Great White Shark, which caused a sensation amongst the deepwater Cray fishermen of Port Stephens on the NSW coast. It is said that, for days following the appearance of this monster, no fishermen would venture out to sea. The incident was investigated by the great Australian naturalist David Stead, who wrote down the story..... The men had been at work on the fishing grounds - which lie in deep water - when an immense shark of almost unbelievable proportions put in an appearance lifting pot after pot containing many crayfish, and taking, as the men said, pots, mooring lines and all. These crayfish pots, it should be mentioned, are about 3ft 6inches [1.7m] in diameter and frequently contained from two or three good-sized crayfish, each weighing several pounds. The men were all unanimous that this shark was something the like of which they had never dreamed of. In company with the local fisheries inspector I questioned many of them very closely and they all agreed as to the gigantic stature of the beast. But the lengths they gave were, on the whole, absurd. I mentioned them, however, as an indication of the state of mind which this unusual giant had thrown them into. And bear in mind that these were men who were used to the sea and all sorts of weather, and all sorts of sharks as well. One of the crew said the shark was 300ft [99m] long at least. Others said it was as long as the wharf on which we stood - about 115ft [35.4m]! They affirmed that the water boiled over a large space when the fish swam past. They were all familiar with whales, which they had often seen passing at sea, but this was a vast shark. They had seen its terrible head which was at least as large as the roof on the wharf shed at Nelsons Bay. Impossible of course! But these were prosaic and rather stolid men, not given fish stories not even to talking at all about their catches. Further, they knew that the person they were

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

talking to [myself] had heard all the fish stories years before! One of the things that impressed me was that they all agreed as to the ghostly whitish colour of the vast fish. The local fisheries inspector of the time, Mr Paton, agreed with me that it must have been something really gigantic to put these experienced men into such a state of fear and panic.... This fishy tale brings to mind the old Polynesian legends from New Zealand to the Central Pacific, of the Lord of the Deep, a pale ghostly white shark as long as a 100 man canoe. If Carcharodon megalodon survives today in the great depths of the Pacific Ocean what do they feed upon? The marine dinosaurs are supposed to be long gone [although, as I will demonstrate later in this book, plesiosaurs may still be with us], and apart from giant sea snakes to be dealt with in a future chapter, there can only be whales, particularly the mighty Sperm Whales. These are toothed whales that feed on flesh and not plankton like the others. They are found throughout the ocean and are known to dive to great depths - up to 3,000ft or more - where in total darkness they hunt with the aid of their extremely well developed sonar, the giant squid, Architeuthis. These huge squids are rarely seen on the surface, but are known to be common throughout the deep waters of the ocean. And they are enormous. One such squid, measuring 34.7m in length was once found on a South Island, New Zealand beach. When examined by marine scientists, it was found to have sucker discs on its tentacles with a diameter of 15.4cm, and this was accepted as the maximum size of these creatures. However, Russian scientists who have studied harpooned Sperm Whales have found squid disc marks over their bodies up to 46cm in diameter, suggesting the existence of a species of giant squid up to 60.94m in length! Should this creature ever do battle with Carcharodon it would surely be a titanic struggle, and such combats must from time to time occur. Those who doubt Carcharodon megalodon could still survive should remember that the Coelacanth, the lobefinned fish mentioned earlier, has survived the age of dinosaurs, and it is not the only such example of living fossils that have defied the extinction decree of conservative scientists. Therefore, and in the face of modern-day sightings claims, we should all keep an open mind on the matter. The shark family of fishes is known scientifically as the Elasmobranchs, or strap gilled fishes, a reference to the shape of their gills. The first sharks appeared in the seas of Devonian times around 400 million years ago. They were the first successful group of fishes to evolve. Among the earliest sharks was the species Cladoselache, which resembled modern species - they have changed little in 400 million years! Few humans, if ever, have been close enough to a living Carcharodon megalodon to observe the shape of its gills, although the crew of one fishing trawler off the coast of Bowen, far north Queensland came close to doing so! During January 1959, in broad daylight, as the men were hauling in a big catch in their net, their vessel was suddenly struck on one side by a long, huge dark shape observed below the surface. Then, as crewmen watched, enormous fins emerged, and a great head, the head of a monstrous shark which leapt onto the vessel, tipped it on its side, smashing their wooden lifeboat in the process. As quickly as it had crashed itself on the deck, the monstrous shark, whose body was said later to be a good 6ft [1.83m] thick, and still only partly out of the water, [as the terrified men grabbed for whatever they could to hold on to as the boat began rolling over], slid back into the depths, allowing the vessel to right itself. The men lost no time in heading for shore. My publication of the above report during the 1980s led to a number of people coming forward with experiences of their own. One of these concerned a family, who during July 1967, were out for the day in their small cruiser, along the coast off Coffs Harbour, on the NSW far north coast. The time was late morning, when a massive white shark [as they described it] appeared on the surface about 100 yards from their vessel. They reckoned the creature to be in excess of 15m length and they observed huge fins. The monster followed their vessel at 100 yards distance for several terrifying minutes, before submerging out of sight. During 1942, at the height of the Second World War, an Australian bomber crew, while flying from Cairns to Darwin across the Gulf of Carpentaria, thought they had spotted three Japanese submarines, moving together far below. Descending for a closer inspection, they realised by the movements of the objects, that they were actually enormous sharks of at least 40ft [12.2m] length each! Circling for another look, they saw the monsters dive out of sight. Back in 1918 on the New South Wales coast, at Port Stephens just north of Newcastle, a monstrous ghostly white shark was claimed sighted by fishermen. They claimed it was at least 80ft [24.38m]. That same year a monstrous white shark was claimed seen by the crews of fishing vessels, while trawling further north up the coast off Port Macquarie. Estimates for the sharks length varied between 80ft and 100ft [30m]. At one stage a whole flotilla of fishing vessels, filled with crewmen armed with rifles hoping to shoot the gargantuan creature left port, but the mysterious giant eluded their efforts, and after a few more sightings vanished into the depths never to be seen again. ***** The island chains to Australias east possess ages-old traditions of gargantuan white sharks. In New Zealand, where Maori traditions tell of encounters with such monsters, modern-day fishermen have stories of their

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

own to tell, of sightings of monstrous sharks exceeding lengths of from 50 to 80ft [ie about 15 to around 24.4m]; and even up to 90ft [around 27.4m]! Such was the size of one monstrous white shark claimed sighted off the Bay of Plenty coast of North Island, by a trawler crew in 1990. Native traditions state there were at least two occasions during the 20th century, when a monstrous unknown species of shark appeared and was seen by fishermen. These eyewitnesses described the sharks as being from 40 to 50ft [12.19 to 15.25m] in length. In both cases the colouration of the sharks was described as yellowish with white speckles throughout. They described the heads of these monstrous creatures as being at least 10ft [13.5m] in width! Ages-old tales of The Lord of the Deep are to be found among the Polynesian peoples from Hawaii to Tahiti and on to Tonga and New Zealand. These traditions speak of gargantuan sharks of up to 100ft [30m] in length. There is but one shark that could possibly fit these descriptions, Carcharodon megalodon, supposedly extinct since the beginning of the Pleistocene period. Yet there is no reason why this has to be so. Why should Carcharodon megalodon survive for millions of years just to suddenly become extinct? The environmental explanations of marine scientists just do not hold water. For one thing, other shark species that were contemporaneous with Carcharodon megalodon have survived into the present and the ocean has not changed; so why should a single shark species just become extinct? I believe the great many modern-day sightings reports answer these questions. In 1875 off Tahiti the British survey vessel, HMS Challenger, dredged up two Carcharodon megalodon teeth, which in 1959 were dated at just 11,000 years old! There are a number of native tales of monstrous 23-24m length white -bodied sharks sighted off the Solomons and New Ireland. In January 1997 just off Kiriwina Island [aka Trobriand] two natives fishing in a small motorboat, spotted a huge dorsal fin projecting up to 2m above the water, moving along the coast from south to north. Similarly, in 1980 in an inlet near Tufi, east coastal Papua New Guinea, tribespeople claimed there had been visitations to a particular inlet, both day and night over some months, by a monstrous shark that may have been 24m or over in length, with a body the size of a semi-trailer, as one Australian visitor to the area, Mr Ted Rivett, of Brisbane, Queensland, said at the time. Back in 1955, a native canoe was found shattered on a beach near Buna, northwards up the coast from Tufi. The occupants had vanished while on a fishing trip - taken, it was believed, by a great shark monster. Similarly, in 1960, a large outrigger canoe with several natives was claimed to have been smashed to pieces by a monstrous shark that attacked the vessel, leaping from the water to crash down upon the boat, off the coast of Lae. Two of the natives disappeared, believed swallowed by the monster. One full moon evening in November 1981, villagers near Daru, on the west side of the Gulf of Papua and north of the Great North-East Passage, saw a 24m length dark shape surface offshore. A huge dorsal fin was seen, then the creature slid below the surface. During 1986, while researching giant shark traditions of the Melanesians, I was visited at my then Kedumba Nature Display museum at Echo Point, Katoomba by Mr Neville Sagibo, a former skin diver who had operated for some years in Melanesian waters, in the course of which he had gathered a considerable amount of information concerning the local cultures and beliefs. He informed me that, 15 years previously, in 1971, he was with other divers on a dory while spearing crayfish off Bardoo Island in Torres Strait, when they all noticed a reef appear nearby their vessel. The reef should not have been there. However, as we all watched the reef began to move and swam away! It was of a mottled brown colour, with barnacles and about 50ft of the object appeared above water. The thing must have been sunning itself on its side*, because a huge dorsal fin then appeared - like a sailboat - and from 10 to 16ft up in the air. Obviously, the monster was a shark and not all its body length was visible above the surface. The monster swam forward to submerge. We were all, to say the least, stunned at what we saw, said Neville. [*Unusual, as sharks must swim to stay alive, so the water can pass through the gills to extract air]. Neville went on to relate that the Bardoo Islanders have also seen plesiosaur-type sea monsters in these waters. Shark sizes differ with the species. A Wobbygong and a grey shark of the Strait is harmless and sits on the ocean floor off these islands. Both are up to 10ft [3.5m] in length; the Tiger Shark is up to 20ft; and the Hammerhead and White Pointer [ie the Great White Shark] are normally about this length. There can of course be exceptions in size, so any of these species, especially the great white shark, can grow longer. Therefore, the 50ft body area that was visible and the 10-16ft dorsal fin, suggest a monster approaching, or exactly 90ft in length, he added. During 1979, media publicity about my giant shark researches resulted in the following letter from Mr Obed Ontimo, of the Department of Decentralisation, Boroko, Papua New Guinea: I do agree with your claim that enormous sea monsters, believed to be left-overs from the age of dinosaurs, are swimming off the coast of Papua New Guinea and North Queensland.

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

I strongly support you where you said [in a Papua New Guinea Post-Courier article at the time] and I quote, There is even a giant 90ft long shark. This creature is believed by scientists to be the Carcharodon megalodon, the giant ancestor of the modern day White Pointer, thought extinct for at least 2 or 3 million years. End of quote. For your information, I would like to tell you a very true story of a very big white shark which was seen by some boys from my village that were fishing in the night. Before I start with the story I want you to know where my village is located in Papua New Guinea. It is situated on the east coast of the New Ireland Province, about 70 kilometres from Kanieng, the Administrative Headquarters of the Province. One night in 1977, when the sea was calm and the moonlight was bright, 3 boys from my village took their diving goggles, fishing spears and waterproof torches and set out to fish in the deep sea. When they were diving around flashing their torches in the dark sea searching for fish, a big white monster was always following one of them by the name of Patrick. Because of this Patrick didnt catch any fish at all, whereas the other two boys didnt know that there was a big monster in their vicinity. Patrick first saw this big white monster as it was cruising along under him when he was floating on the surface of the sea. When he flashed the torch at this white monster to have a good look, he discovered that it was a big white shark, which he described as big as a plane. It was very big that Patrick was very scared in case it would swallow the all three of them. However, on the other hand, Patrick said the white shark was very friendly [!]. It was always following him wherever he could see it clearly without the torch light because it was very white in colour and also the moon was shining brightly. After watching the shark for several hours, Patrick decided to swim ashore leaving the other two boys still busy fishing. When he came onto the beach, he was shaking with fright. He sat there on the beach waiting for the other two boys until they came ashore. When he asked them whether they saw anything while they were fishing, the two boys said they didnt see anything. Patrick then started to tell them the story of the big white shark that was spreading around in the village and the village elders said that it was true that there was a big white shark in the area. It was confirmed that it has been sighted by many people in the past years. The elders later said that this big shark can only be found during the night when you are fishing, and when you have destroyed a plant which grows on the rocks near the beach. The plant is like a vine but it crawls on the rocks and when you cut a bit of it, and go out fishing in the night, you can find this big white shark. This shark if sighted can affect your fishing whereby you wont catch any fish at all. In my village, there is a name given to this shark which I have now forgotten. When Patrick was asked whether he has destroyed a plant which grows on the beach, he admitted that he has cut the vines in the other village the previous morning. That was why the big white shark was following him and also, he didnt catch any fish. I think we can prove this story by cutting the vine and go out fishing during the night when there is a bright moonlight. Yours Faithfully, Obed Ontimo. It is obvious the Great White Shark plays a prominent part in the local native superstition of the area, and in some coastal parts of the New Guinea landmass these monster sharks are worshipped as gods. These monstrous creatures are very real to the Melanesians, and also the many Europeans who have seen them thereabouts. It would therefore appear that Carcharodon megalodon continues to survive in the waters of Oceania.
--0

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009. Carcharodon megalodon, the upwards 23 to 24m length giant shark species ancestral to todays White Pointer Shark, has been claimed to be extinct for the past 2 million years by scientists. However, fossil teeth younger than 2 million years have been found, and sightings claims made by fishermen and others over a wide area of the Pacific region over many years to the present, suggest this monstrous species still survives in the ocean depths. Sketch copyright Rex Gilroy 2006.

Copyright Rex Gilroy 2006.

A fossil tooth of the extinct giant shark, Carcharodon megalodon, alongside that of a modern Carcharodon carcharis. Photo copyright Rex Gilroy 2006.

Megamouth Megachasma pelgion, one of the worlds rarest sharks, first discovered in Hawaii in November 1976, astounded scientists that such a large species had escaped discovery for so long. It is proof that giant species still unknown to zoologists continue to inhabit the worlds oceans. Growing over 5m in length, its large mouth houses rows of small, sharp teeth. It has a bulbous head, a puglike snout, gill slits, two dorsal fins and a long tail, making Megamouth a shark of unusual appearance. The third specimen known to science at the time, it was found at Mandurah, 50km south of Perth WA, in August 1988. It had been seen alive in a feeble condition swimming close to shore, and was discovered lying on the beach the next morning close to death. After death it was retrieved by Western Australian Museum scientists, where it is now displayed. Photo Western Australian Museum Perth.

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

Photo from the Megamouth display at the Western Australian Museum, Perth. The first Megamouth was a male caught in Hawaiian waters in November 1976. It measured 4.5m length and had been trapped in a parachute sea-anchor. M2 was caught in a gill net off California in November 1984, measuring 4.5m length. Following M3s discovery, M4 a 4.0m male was found stranded on a Japanese beach in January 1989. M5, [also Japan] caught by set net was 4.9m length in June 1984 and released alive. M6 was caught in a drift net off California, measuring 4.9m in length in October 1990. A male, it was released alive. M7 was a 4.7m length female found stranded on a Japanese beach in November 1994. M8 was a 1.8m length immature male, caught in a purse seine net off Senegal, West Africa in May 1995 and M9 was a 0.9m length

The head of Megamouth, from the display on this species in the Western Australian Museum, Perth. Photo Rex Gilroy The Mandurah WA Megamouth shark on display at Western Australian Museum, Perth. This species is a reminder that many more mysterious giants of the deep, including the supposed long extinct Carcharodon megalodon must continue to elude scientists in the worlds oceans. Photo Rex Gilroy.

The modern White Pointer Shark, which can reach lengths of up to 9.1 metres. Its ancestor is Carcharadon megalodon. Photo Western Australian Museum, Perth. 9

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

EERIE ETS OF THE GYMPIE TRIANGLE.

By Rex Gilroy. Copyright Rex Gilroy 2009. One hardly ever reads about Unidentified Flying Objects or claimed encounters with their eerie occupants or abductions by them in the local media. Could it be that the city councillors and associated tourism body would rather that these reports remains unknown. After all, the fear of being abducted by space aliens would, in the minds of the city officials be enough to keep prospective tourists away! This may sound pure nonsense but thats the way some city fathers and their money-making tourism boards think. However, people claim to have been abducted and returned safely; UFOs buzz over the city so often that some locals wouldnt give them a second look and reports of strange beings seen emerging from saucers or other spacecraft continue, and tourists still flock to Gympie! The district seems alive with eerie happenings. As recently as June 2008 a Mr John Hodgeson was exploring the forests of Mothar Mountain, when he heard subterranean rumblings. An earthquake, he thought. He was camped on a ridge nearby. That night there were more rumblings, but this time with an ear to the ground they sounded more like the sounds of a suburban train, or some other conveyance rumbling along tracks, but inside a mountain? John later asked the local tourist people in Gympie if there was an underground railway, or perhaps a mining operation going on within the mountain, but was told there was none. He returned to the site of his camp a fortnight later with two mates. That night around 11pm they heard the rumblings. That night there was a full moon. At around 2am Johns mates were woken from their sleep by some strange sound coming form beneath them, then John woke up. At this point a strange glow was visible moving through the trees on all sides of them, then the origin of the glow emerged into full view, in the form of large orbs of glowing orange light, dozens of them and some between 20 and 40cm in diameter, as John said later. Some of these orbs displayed humanoid faces, which looked over the young men, moving around them as they looked on in wonder. At first we thought to make a bolt for the car down on a flat, he said. They found the light orbs to be transparent, then all but a few of the face orbs drifted away, those remaining scattered slowly to observed the men from over head, then they too departed. It was incredible to say the least. We packed up and used our torches to work our way down through the bush to the car, John added in a phone call to me. Strange lights in the sky high above Mothar Mountain are not new, but one August night in 2001 several large silver-glowing objects were seen by a group of people to rise from behind the eastern side of the summit at short intervals of about 5 minutes, before flying off at great speeds to the south-east. Back in 1969 a young couple camped in the mountain scrub one night in May, afterwards claimed they were approached by a shimmering yellow seven-foot tall being with human-like facial features. He had long legs and long arms with five fingers much longer than ours, they told two disbelieving policemen afterwards. The being stood looking at them, then moved away to just disappear as if into a nearby vertical rockface. On the road to Tin Can Bay northeast of Gympie, a reddish-glowing triangular-shaped craft appeared above a car one night in March 1996, increased speed. Then the craft descended in front of the car and the man and woman inside could go no further. The man stopped the car and they both ran towards a nearby house for help, at which the craft, about 6 metres in length and width, rose into the air, then shot off at an incredible speed. Was there any link between this incident, and another a week later in bushland near Rainbow Beach, across the inlet from Tin Can Bay where two eerie yellowish-glowing humanoid forms were claimed seen at night wandering through swampy bushland? A local phoned a disinterested local newspaper reporter and thats as far as the incident got. The Durong South area was the scene, on April night in 1970 of a UFO landing on the edge of scrubland. The throbbing sound coming form the dull yellowish-glowing craft was enough to wake up four male campers. Through bushes they watched as three dark beings, silhouetted against the light from an open door behind them, stepped out of the craft, which rested on the ground. They appeared to be of the typical ET physical appearance as they stood together, emitting chattering sounds which sounded like

10

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

they were having a discussion. Then, they returned inside the craft, the door closed, and the craft quickly vanished into the night sky. This spacecraft was afterwards described by the man as hexagonal in shape and about 15 metres in width. A similar spacecraft was claimed to have landed in a field outside Bell, about 105 kilometres southwest of Murgon, on February 20th 2000. The time was around 1am and the farmer whose property it had landed on, is said to have gone to investigate what it was. As he approached it, a reddish-glowing 6ft tall human-shaped being emerged from the opposite side of the craft. As it began approaching him the man took off for his house, from where he and his wife watched, as the mysterious being returned to the craft and it flew away emitting a loud roaring sound. In scrubland westward from the town of Howard, which lies north of Maryborough, a Mrs Carol H was having car trouble after a forest drive. It was late afternoon and she didnt want to have to walk out of that area in the dark. She alighted from the vehicle intent on seeing what the problem was. As she bent down to look at the engine she heard a foreign-sounding voice tell her, You will be alright. I just stopped your car so I could talk to you, and find out a few things about you, the world you inhabit, and whatever else you can tell me! The presence never once showed itself but calmed Mrs H who felt rather ridiculous talking to someone who wasnt there. The question and answer session lasted for an hour, between 5 and 6 pm. A nervous Mrs H was then thanked by the unseen presence, who told her to get back into her car, and that You are free to leave now, which she did! These and other reports given to me by phone or word of mouth by people, which include stories they have heard from others, quite often parallel so many others coming in from throughout Australia, so that they are certainly not confined to any given area. However, those emerging from the Gympie Triangle beg the question as to whether they have any connections with the series of underground cobweb of research centres of the greater Gympie complex. If, as we suspect they may be, then it would appear that these ETs have a vested interest in this vast underground world, for it is the technology of the inhabitants of the particular planet concerned which is the very reason for this, and many other underground bases existence. ***** West of Murgon, in scrub country north of Chinchilla, a 4-wheel drive vehicle was being driven by two men along a dirt road late one night in December 1999. At one point on that dark night their headlights caught a tall image in the distance, which as they got closer was seen to be a silvery-glowing, 3.66 metre tall featureless human-like shape. It then quickly strode off the road and stood there as they drove past, fearful of what might happen if they tried to approach to out-of-this-world being. In another incident earlier that year, one night a carload of people afterwards claimed they drove right through a huge glowing man that suddenly appeared from out of nowhere on the highway directly in front of them, at a spot north of Childers. Stopping, they hurriedly got out thinking they had hit someone, but there was nothing there. Over the years, along the same road and also near Dalby and Kingaroy truck drivers have reported on and off of seeing either the same being, or one or more smaller ones, all white glowing beings. These Earth-based light energy beings are yet one more eerie and intriguing mystery of the Gympie Triangle which continues to attract the attention of UFOlogists. -0-

UFO Mysteries of Old Australia.

By Rex Gilroy Copyright Rex Gilroy 2009. The UFO mystery has been with mankind since Stone-Age times, if we take all the ancient myths and legends as well as intriguing ancient astronaut rock art found in Australia and worldwide into account. Mystery objects seen in the sky are to be found in the surviving records of old World civilisations, such as Sumer, Egypt and China among others, as well as those of Mediaeval European chroniclers. Here in Australia our early pioneer settlers saw many strange objects in the heavens. Back in the 1870s and 1880s gold prospectors and miners camped under the stars in the Bathurst and Adelong districts of New South Wales according to old stories, as said to have observed many strange moving

11

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

lights in the sky. My late father Mr W.F. [Bill] Gilroy informed me many years ago that he heard many such accounts from prospectors with whom he worked during his time spent in the Bathurst and Adelong districts during the 1920s and 1930s. For example, back in October 1874 a mystery object was seen flying over Beechworth, Victoria and early settlers of the Snowy Mountains and eastern fringe of the Victorian side of the Australian Alps, were said to have periodically observed strange lights in the sky, or shining silvery objects by day flying over the ranges throughout the 1880s. The Blue Mountains west of Sydney which today remains one of the worlds major UFO hot spots, has a long tradition of European sightings and close encounters with UFOs and their occupants. In 1875 a gigantic, squarish flying craft was claimed seen by day over a wide area of the Blue Mountains. It glided over farms, frightening stock as well as settlers. In the Kurrajong area a great number of people left their homes in panic, in sulkies, wagons or on horseback, gathering in droves in a paddock, where many thought the world was about to end and began praying, while other stalked about where they might escape from the mysterious giant craft. However, it disappeared as mysteriously as it had appeared and was not seen again. The earliest ET abduction account known from the Blue Mountains at present, took place in 1885, when a large saucer craft landed in a paddock in Megalong Valley. Two farmhands approached it as two figures emerged from a door, dressed in what the men later called divers suits [which was the nearest description they could give for the strange garments worn by the beings]. The beings each carried a silver rod which they pointed at the men and they were both immediately stunned. Taken on board they were placed in a dark room. They were frightened but soon regained their mobility. The craft lifted off the ground and flew for some distance, for when it soon landed in a paddock a door slid open and they dashed out into the open, to watch stunned, as the craft silently rose over them and zoomed off to the north-west. The men soon afterwards met a passer-by and asked him where they were. The men informed them that they were in the Bathurst district. They also discovered afterwards that their entire bodies had turned reddish like sunburn, but their normal skin colour later returned. Bathurst was the scene in 1893 of sightings by locals of a strange object seen flying high over the town. What may have been the same craft was seen by many other people over a wide area of the surrounding district as well as in other localities of the New South Wales central west. One Bathurst farmer claimed that an apparent saucer-shaped flying machine landed on his property one day. Puzzled at this amazing sight he approached it on foot to get a closer look at the craft. As he drew nearer, a human-looking figure in strange garments emerged, raised its right arm in which it held a wand-like object, then shone a beam of light at the farmer, throwing him to the ground, knocking him out. When he eventually regained his senses, the flying machine was gone with its occupant. The light had struck the man on the left hand, which for the rest of his life was paralysed! In 1900 a large saucer-shaped silver craft was seen hovering over the Byng area near Bathurst in broad daylight. A number of property owners watched it as it flew low over the tree-covered hillsides. ***** ETs have not always been concerned with abducting Earthlings. One story passed onto this author back in 1977, from an Adelaide man, Mr Ray Bradburn, concerned his great grandfather, who while mustering cattle in the Robe district as a young man during the 1860s, was camped under the stars with fellow drovers one night, when he and his companions observed d dozen large silvery glowing objects in a cluster descending from high in the sky to the west. The glowing objects were circular and perhaps 50ft in diameter. The hovered some few hundred feet above the flat plain on which the cattle were grazing, then as the men watched, began slowly dispersing in various directions, at which point each began emitting strong light beams from the centre of their undersides. The cattle stampeded in a panic in all directions while the drovers looked on helplessly. Then, after a few minutes of mayhem the light beams of each of the craft began fading, the mystery objects gathered together high in the sky, and commenced flying off eastwards at an increasing speed out of sight over the horizon. The next morning a count showed that at least 30 head of stock were missing. A thorough search around that flat landscape failed to find them, although an Aboriginal stockman afterwards found a number of sets of hoof impressions which came to a dead stop, as if the animals had been plucked from the ground. Had they been taken by the mystery visitors the men wondered. In more recent times, during 1986 there were two incidents involving vehicles in the Moree area.

12

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

The first account concerned two Aboriginal boys who one night drove a truck to a fishing spot on the Gwydir River. The time was about 11pm when as they were leaving for home, a large yellow-glowing saucer shaped craft appeared overhead, enveloping the vehicle. We tried to drive away, said one young man, Tom Coleman, but the truck just left the ground and we were hovering some feet above the dirt road we were driving along. Then as we were drifted for some distance, and as my mate Joe and I were panicking, the craft just let us go and we hit the ground with a crash, the craft flying on silently ahead of us a big 50ft or so wide yellow-glowing disc, said Tom. In the same district one night that year tow Aboriginal men were camped outside the town when a large saucer shaped craft about 60ft or so across as the said later, suddenly descended from high above, hovered over their car parked about 100 ft away. At this point a wide bright beam of white light, very blinding, shot out from beneath the craft, at which their vehicle was sucked up into the craft, then before the startled men flew off at an increasing speed to disappear over bushland! As with UFO sightings, there must be many ET abduction experiences that were never reported in the past, even well into the early 20th century. One early 20th century report, although it does not concern an abduction, occurred in 1927 when a Mr Cecil McGann saw a saucer at Fernvale, in the Murwillumbah area of northern New South Wales. What was probably the same craft was alter reported, again in the same area, having landed in a dense forest. The man who saw the strange craft rushed away to inform friends, but by the time they all returned hours alter the craft was gone, leaving a large circular depression in the foliage. It was also in 1927, at Orange in the New South Wales central west, that a farmer, a Mr Stokes saw a saucer type craft land in a field in broad daylight. Out of it emerged three weird beings. The saucer somewhat resembled a Mexican sombrero in appearance, with a high, pointed dome. As Mr Stokes watched from a distance, the three beings proceeded to collect soil samples with strange digging implements, then returned to their craft through a side door from which they had first emerged. Shortly afterwards the craft rose from the ground with a loud hissing sound and zoomed westwards high over the surrounding hills. Mr Stokes later described the strange visitors as having heartshaped faces and long trunk-like noses. He did not see their mouths due to the distance. They were, he observed, clothed in dark, tight-fitting garments, with high neck collars. Mr Stokes thought they had hands and fingers similar to ours and very large boots. The Gungal district, roughly north-west of Denman, had long been an area of UFO sightings, and there are indications that some of these sightings dated back to the late 19th century, when in late 1951, a passing prospector, Graem Stout, while camped by a creek during a search for gemstones, met up with a passing Aboriginal family who informed him that he was not camped very far from the spot where, earlier that years, a huge saucer-shaped airship had descended upon six Aborigines as they camped near their truck at a campfire one evening having their dinner. As two other local Aborigines saw from some distance away, all six campers were sucked up through a big opening beneath the craft. It then flew away with them! It is often hard to judge such stories, but then they have been occurring for so many generations across Australia that the authors prefer to keep an open mind and gather the available evidence for our readers to form their won opinions. The fact is that ET abductions have been occurring for a very long time and they are still occurring; and the abductees believe they have not imagined their often terrifying experiences. -0-

13

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

r previous meeting was a huge success and we look forward to seeing you at our next one. There should be some good Skywatches ahead of us up here at Katoomba, weather permitting. Meanwhile, there a lot happening up there at present so Until our next meeting

Watch the Skies!

Rex and Heather

PYRAMIDS OF DESTINY
_________

Coming Soon!
To be released in 2009

Lost Pacific Colonies of the Bronze-Age God-Kings.

Rex and Heather Gilroy

Pyramids of Destiny
Lost Pacific Colonies of the Bronze-Age God-Kings.
by Rex and Heather Gilroy

Price to be advised.
URU Publications

14

Blue Mountains UFO Research Club Newsletter March 2009.

15