WIRE: USER: PRINTED: 04/03/92 21:03
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28501 PM-AR--UFOConvention AP-RG LOCAL NEWS RUSH 575 04/03/92 12:04:24 PM-AR--UFO Convent1on,0650 (3106j0mo--nr010) UFO Convention Speaker Describes Mysterious Encounters Eds: Note Missouri Interest. By JULIE STEWART Associated Press Writer LITTLE ROCK (AP) - For years, Karla Turner thought a terrifying childhood memory was a dream. But now, she said she believes creatures like the one she saw as a little girl have retuned to visit her several times. Ms. Turner, 44, Is a guest speaker at this weekend's Ozark UFO Conference In Eureka Springs. Other lecturers will discuss unexplained animal mutilations, mysterious circles formed In crops in Britain and reported UFO activity In the United States and other countries. Ms. Turner said she is not sure whether the ''beings'' she reports seeing are from other planets. ''One thing I do believe: These things actually exist,'' Ms. Turner said In a telephone interview. The former college English teacher said other members of her family, including her husband, have encountered the insect-like creatures, which render them helpless and sometimes abduct them for hours at a time. Ms. Turner, fearing possible harassment of her family, will say only that she lives in the "general Little Rock area." She also refused to provide her husband's first name or identify where he works. Ms. Turner said her encounters were buried in her subconscious for decades. She said memories began flooding when she underwent psychological counseling for stress-related problems in the late 1980s. She said her earliest encounter was at age five or six. She said she found herself outdoors at night, looking up at "what looked like a giant grasshopper. And it was telling me It was my mother. And I screamed back, 'No, you're not!"' Her husband also began recalling past encounters, she said. "The nature of our experiences include sightings of UFOs, missing time episodes in which we have either had conscious, partially conscious or totally unconscious episodes with whatever these beings are," she said. "We didn't tell anybody, our closest friends or family, anything." She began to do research and found reports of similar experiences, she said. "There seems to be a general pattern," she said. "People have abduction encounters throughout their lives. It doesn't seem to be a random thing, that they pick up this person at age 35." The encounters often "cluster" in families, Ms. Turner said. The first encounter usually comes in early childhood, she said, followed by another at puberty and again in young adulthood. In most cases, the creatures conduct some kind of physical examination. Sometimes, sperm and ovum are taken, she said. Ms. Turner said several types of creatures have been reported. The most frequent reports, she said, involve smooth, gray, hairless creatures about 3 1/2 feet tall, with thin bodies, no ears and "extremely large black eyes.'' Others have reported encounters with creatures resembling either insects or reptiles. Large and small aircraft have been reported, she said. Most are disc-shaped, but some are described as triangular, cigar-shaped, or bright red-and-orange balls of fire. The creatures can be "benevolent or evil,'' she said. Her experiences have been fearful. "I do not think what they are doing this with us is for our own benefit,'' she said. Some researchers theorize that the creatures are taking human genetic material to further their own survival, she said. According to the "salvation theory,'' the creatures are gathering genetic samples to propagate the human race if Earth become uninhabitable because of nuclear war or another ecological disaster. Ms. Turner hopes more people will come forward with similar encounters, and believes conventions such as the one in Eureka Springs provide them a sympathetic ear. "We may get more answers when more people are able to talk about his without fear,'' she said. Ms. Turner has written a book about her family's experiences. "Into the Fringe'' is scheduled to be published in November by the Berkley Publishing Group in New York, according to Andrew Zack, her editor at Berkley. "I think she makes a good case and she certainly gives you a lot of food for thought," Zack said. AP-NY-04-03-92 1201EST
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ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT, Little Rock, AR. - Feb. 9, 1988 UFO sighting reported near Persian Gulf
DOHA, Qatar - The official Qatar News Agency said Monday it had received several reports of an unidentified flying object over the northern Qatar peninsula Sunday night. The agency said many people described a "bright revolving disc with changing color that emits a low hissing sound". The apparition lasted for three hours, from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m., and the object, "which was shaped like a helicopter pilot's cabin", eventually took off "like a rocket", the accounts said. It did not say whether photographs were taken. The agency said that earlier UFO sightings were reported in Qatar on December 30 and that similar sightings were reported recently in Kuwait. The reports prompted one Arab publication to quip that "alien powers" may have decided to join the current foreign military buildup in the troubled Persian Gulf region. (DPA)