Investigator #47 showing Colin Norris and a title page of the magazine he edits

 

Imagine a 10½-ton bus being lifted by an unknown force knee-high above the road and flying through the air at 70 kilometres per hour for 15 minutes.

This story told by "Anita" in a taped interview, was the highlight of the February meeting of the Australian Flying Saucer Research Society.

The meeting was opened by 75-year-old Colin Norris, Director of the Society and editor of their magazine Australian International UFO Flying Saucer Research.

Said Mr Norris, "UFOs are real. They've been coming for thousands of years."

Another speaker then summarized recent sightings in South Australia.

Then followed a tape from a radio talk-back program in which someone claimed to be the hoaxer behind the December 1994 crop circle in Adelaide. Mr Norris responded to this: "We can prove that whole thing is definitely extraterrestrial." He quoted an unnamed expert in mushrooms that, "Scientific methods would have been needed to do it."

Comment on recent media reports followed. A report about author/physicist Paul Davies speculating on life on Mars got special attention.

There was discussion about the Face on Mars, the television show Sightings, a UFO researcher who died suddenly in suspicious circumstances, the X-Files, government cover-up, etc. The speaker claimed that cover-up continued because society, religion and governments would face major changes even disintegration if the truth came out.

The audience numbered about 80 males and 20 females. In a vote on whether Anita was truthful in her story of a UFO lifting the bus, about 70 raised a hand.

Very few young people were present. During coffee after the meeting two year-12 girls with big smiles answered my questions. Both were new members. Debbie was into the occult including astrology, pyramids, crystals and channeling. Interest in flying saucers was merely an extra step.

Laura in contrast believed in UFOs and aliens but: "I’m not into the other things."

Mr Norris told me his interest started in 1942. He was a flight instructor at the time and saw a UFO. He attributed a "scar" on his brain to the UFO and claimed this resulted in him never fainting or having a nose bleed.

He gave me a copy of the Society's magazine. This contained transcripts of reports on UFOs in newspapers and magazines; filled-out copies of a "U.F.O. REPORT FORM"; plus other comment and sighting information.

The Society has a library of 360 books, hundreds of magazines, a video library of 100 films plus about forty for sale.

The membership fee is $10 yearly.