UFOs invade NT town
A SMALL Territory community is still reeling with shock after four UFOs descended on their Outback homes
• THIS was just one of numerous UFO/alien stories that graced the front page of the NT News over the past decade or so ... many of them with the prerequisite fuzzy, grainy pictures. But this story did attract the most interest from that self-anointed arbiter of Aussie journalism, the ABC’s Media Watch.
The exchange between Media Watch’s researchers and then-editor Julian Ricci garnered almost as much interest as the story itself did.
This is an excerpt of the NT News’ response to Media Watch’s questions: “To put it in a context you could understand, it might be like a skivvy-wearing Media Watch researcher telling a colleague that they thought they saw a Saab convertible drive past while they were drinking their skinny soy latte and stroking their toy poodle at a Double Bay coffee shop. Without scientific proof, does their colleague believe them or not?”
You can read all Media Watch’s questions and the NT News’ full response here http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/0833_ntnews.pdf
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A SMALL Territory community is still reeling with shock after four UFOs descended on their Outback homes.
Families spent hours in fear as what appeared to be three spaceships hovered in the distance with another just metres above their houses.
The drama at Marlinja, population 112 and 730km south of Darwin, began at 8pm on Sunday.
Resident Janie Dixon said it started as an “ordinary” night.
“The kids were on the basketball courts, shooting a few hoops, and I was indoors talking to my two nieces when we heard a strange, loud noise,” she said.
“We ran outside but at first we couldn’t see anything -- it was really dark and we could hear the sound.
“The sound was horrible. It sounded like something was going past.
“We thought it was a jet. I saw what I thought at first was the evening star, the first star you usually see at night.
“But then we saw three red lights in the distance, and the sound kept getting louder.
“The ground felt like it was shaking, so we ran inside and shut the doors.
“My nephew and niece were looking out through curtains. The thing came closer, circled around the basketball courts and then came so close above our house.
“The kids at the basketball courts ran -- two girls stood there looking towards the sky.
“They tried to see what it was but all they could see was this bright red light in the pitch black.”
Ms Dixon said the UFO hovered above the homes for what seemed like a couple of hours.
She said at one stage the phone rang, but went dead when she tried to answer it.
“Then the light in the house became so bright, it was like we were sitting in a football stadium,” she said.
“After a while, after the things all disappeared... I think it was about 11pm by then.
“We went outside and were just sitting around drinking tea and talking about it all. The kids were put to bed.
“We heard the noise again and it came back, but disappeared again moments later.
“We were all really frightened.
“It was a big shock and I couldn’t sleep.”
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■ This story first appeared in the NT News on June 27, 2008
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