From: Greg Sandow <greg@gregsandow.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2003 13:04:57 -0400
Fwd Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2003 11:14:58 -0400
Subject: Latest From Pine Bush


 From the Times-Herald Record, the daily newspaper in the Hudson
Valley region of New York State:

Believers keep eye on Pine Bush sky

By Beth Quinn
Times Herald-Record
bquinn@th-record.com

During the cleanup at Ground Zero two years ago, a National
Guard reservist took some photographs of the site.

When he got them developed, he noticed dozens of round, blue,
semi-opaque spots in the pictures. He showed the photos to his
pal, Jim Smith.

"My friend figured there was something wrong with the film,"
said Smith, a 49-year-old sergeant at Woodbourne Correctional
Facility. "But I knew what they were right away."

Smith told his friend that the camera had captured images of
orbs -- also called Tesla globes. He explained that the orbs are
associated with UFO and alien activity on Earth. They can't be
seen with the naked eye. They show up only on film.

And he told his friend that he'd never seen so many orbs in one
place before.

"You mean to tell me you've seen these things before?" his
friend asked.

"Of course," Smith said. "All the time. After all, I'm from Pine
Bush."

  * * *

For more than two decades, Pine Bush has been considered the UFO
capital of the Northeast.

Since the 1980s, local residents and visiting ufologists have
reported hundreds of phenomena in the town and surrounding area:
photographs of Tesla globes (some of them containing aliens
called "grays" sitting in lotus position); sightings of lighted
boomerang-shaped spacecraft, called "triangles";
interdimensional gateways; and alien abductions.

In 1994, the now-deceased ufologist Ellen Crystall chronicled
her own 11-year investigation into alien activity in Pine Bush
in her book, "Silent Invasion." Magazine articles, talk shows
and TV documentaries followed.

It's been a while, though. The media attention has died down.
Some newcomers might not even know they've moved to an area
famous for its alien activity.

So what exactly is going on in Pine Bush? Have the aliens pulled
up stakes and gone back to their planet? Or is Pine Bush still a
UFO hot spot?

"It's just part of our lives," said Sue Wiand, who lives in
nearby Walker Valley. "I hear stories of sightings all the time
standing in line at the grocery store."

At the moment, she said, nine out of 10 sightings occur in the
portion of Pine Bush that lies in the Town of Shawangunk near
Oregon Trail, Indian Springs Road and Galeville Road.

In fact, there's a bridge on Galeville Road that just won't stay
painted.

"They have to paint it over and over," Wiand said. "That area is
known as a UFO landing area, so maybe the heat from the craft
peels the paint off."

Whether you're a believer or not, there is no question that
something is still going on in Pine Bush.

Just listen to those who've been there when it's happened.
They're regular folks with regular lives who happen to be well
acquainted with the others who inhabit Pine Bush. These are
their stories, in their own words.

* * *

I'm out on the road sky-watching a lot. One night I was out on a
little country road near the Jewish cemetery (Congregation Beth
Hillel Cemetery on Route 52).

It was a little damp with ground fog coming and going. Then the
fog enveloped the truck. I started seeing silhouettes of people.
At one point, a guy on a bike came right at the truck. He should
have hit the windshield, but he didn't. He just disappeared.

I sat there for half an hour watching. It was like the truck was
parked in an alley between two tall buildings -- maybe 6 feet in
and facing outward toward a busy street. All kinds of pedestrian
traffic was walking past the alley opening through the fog. They
were normal human size, but silhouettes. I couldn't see any
faces.

But it was a busy, busy street in some other dimension, right
there on a back country road in Pine Bush.

Tony "Smoothie" Stevens, 56,
Pine Bush,
Retired Lieutenant,
Department of Correctional Services

* * *

My husband, John, doesn't like to talk about his encounters.
They've been happening since he was 3 years old, and they make
him very angry, very scared. He's retired from the Rockland
County Sheriff's Department, and he doesn't scare easily. But
this scares him.

His most recent encounter happened when he was driving home from
work. He got out at midnight, so it was late. His whole car was
suddenly enveloped in angel hair -- stuff that's like white
Christmas tree icicles. It's associated with lots of people's
encounters.

He knew what was coming, and it made him angry. He grabbed his
steering wheel hard, very tight. "Why are you doing this to me
again?

Why?" he said.

The next thing he recalls was lying on a table with two beings
nearby. They were speaking in their own language, but John could
understand them.

One said, "He'll be able to do it." The other one said, "No,
he's too angry."

And then John was in his car again. The angel hair had
dissipated. He could drive again.

Susan Mann, 47, Town of Newburgh

* * *

A lot of people in Pine Bush talk about abduction. That's real
common around here.

I was taken when I was 11, but I had been seeing them most of my
life.

When I was taken, there were bright lights, a table. They'd get
close and I couldn't move away from them. One held up a needle
and I could see it glistening. He jabbed it into my head behind
my ear. I blacked out. When they returned me, they put me back
in bed wrong. My feet were on the pillow. I guess they didn't
know the difference.

I've looked for explanations. I don't know what it was, but I
know what it wasn't. It wasn't sleep paralysis. It wasn't
epilepsy.

There are different kinds, different sizes of beings. The most
common are the "grays" -- they're small, 3- to 4-feet tall. There
are also the "Nordics" -- beings with large blue eyes and fine
blond hair. It's not OK for them to be doing this. No one, no
matter who, has the right to do this to us.

John DiTuro, 40, Pine Bush,
computer engineer

* * *

I've seen so many of the beings, I know exactly how they move.
They're different sizes, different shapes, but when you see them
so much, you know they're not of this earth.

Not long ago, I saw this figure -- about 6 foot 6 and dressed all
in black -- standing beneath the traffic light in Pine Bush.

I said to Hilda (my fianc=E9e), "What's that woman doing?"

Hilda said, "Oh my God, I thought I was the only one who saw the
thing."

When she moved, it wasn't like walking. It wasn't in frames,
either, like most of them move. In frames, they're someplace and
then they're suddenly in another place, like time-lapse
photography.

But this one moved horizontally.

In Pine Bush, you see things you don't expect. I've seen a cat
with no head walking across the floor. It just had a piece of
cardboard where the head should be. A lot of people in Pine Bush
tell me they've seen that cat.

But not everyone can see the cat or the beings. You have to be
open to things like that.

Jim Smith, 49, Pine Bush,
Sergeant, Woodbourne Correctional Facility