Copies of these newsletters have become very rare. One of the editors (David Oakley Hill) was "amazed" that I'd found copies when I contacted him recently. (In fact, all 3 sets of publications are in the archives of the AFU in Sweden and have all helpfully been scanned by our friends there).
The two surviving editors (Mark Stenhoff and David Oakley Hill) have kindly both indicated they have no objection to my uploading these publications. I have also been in touch with the family of Norman Oliver, who passed away very recently. I have now added searchable scans of these collections of newsletters to the folder on the AFU's website that I created for UFO magazines/newsletters from the United Kingdom.
David Oakley-Hill asked that I stress that he doesn't claim anything in the journals is to be taken as factual. I am happy to relay that statement here (and some further comments below from him and Mark Stenhoff).
David Oakley-Hill asked that I stress that he doesn't claim anything in the journals is to be taken as factual. I am happy to relay that statement here (and some further comments below from him and Mark Stenhoff).
Mark Stenhoff moved away from UFO research around 1974. He gave a talk to BUFORA around that time suggesting that some UFOs might be plasma vortex rings. He was "surprised to find this hypothesis (uncredited!) in the Condign Report many years later". His interests shifted to ball lightning and he had a paper published in Nature in 1976. Later, he was awarded an MPhil for his research on ball lightning and he had a book published on the subject. He remains interested in UFOs, although he is "more sceptical" than he was in the 1970s. Some UFO cases that seemed to him to be inexplicable back then, such as the 1956 Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident, seem now to have "plausible mundane explanations". He commented to me that "Dave Clarke's FOI request and his studies of the files at TNA have greatly contributed to an informed and objective analysis of cases such as these".
David Oakley-Hill kindly provided some comments and reflections on his involvement in the above UFO publications - including the following:
"Mark, myself and a colleague interviewed a few witnesses to ‘unexplained phenomena’, which we swiftly realised were natural, like lenticular clouds, plane lights seen head on, or sundogs (- a bright reflection of the sun on water droplets in a cloud - I photographed one last week). We had an objective and scientific approach, learning to judge character and ascertain whether we were hearing the truth, a lie or someone’s imagination taking flight. We noted that one sighting would set off a cluster of others, either made up or coming from people who just hadn’t spent much time looking up at our beautiful skies."
"Fireballs in the sky and ball lightning, sometimes inside buildings, generated by thunderstorms, are rare phenomena but not visitors from another world. The incredibly rare ‘close encounters of the 3rd kind’ you either believe or you don’t."
"We realised that the small groups of people running BUFORA and other societies were tempted to slant UFO reports to fit their own theories rather than being objective. I acknowledge that a very small proportion of sightings of ‘unnatural phenomena’ remain unexplained. This includes a woman in her thirties or forties we interviewed who described in completely believable terms how aged 14, sitting with a sibling or friend on a trailer pulled by her father’s tractor, they were followed up a hill by a small ‘saucer’ perhaps 2 feet across that both appeared and went away rapidly – the equivalent of a drone today but with no visible means of propulsion. I haven’t been in touch with Mark for several decades."
"UFOs are not part of my life now – I'm concerned about the future, and work to persuade people across society that we all have to act urgently to change behaviour, protect nature and cut climate emissions. I recommend you listen to this excellent series about Tipping Points. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00180cb"
"I have written a song, so far only recorded on home audio, which imagines 'ufonauts' visiting the Earth and being disappointed with the human race’s failure to look after our only home!"
"There is a copy of my poetry book ‘Stoned Columbus’ (published 1973) in the Saisons Library on the 5th Floor of the Festival Hall – it has a centre spread you would like!"
"And here are a couple of Neil Young songs to which I added extra verses – you might find After the Goldrush quite poignant. https://youtu.be/Jclr0Ecb1Wo"
"I’ve no objection to you making copies of Sirius and Gemini available online. But would like a comment inserted that I don’t claim anything in the journals to be taken as factual. There were articles by Norman Oliver, who we knew personally, that neither Mark nor I believed."
David Oakley-Hill kindly provided some comments and reflections on his involvement in the above UFO publications - including the following:
"Mark, myself and a colleague interviewed a few witnesses to ‘unexplained phenomena’, which we swiftly realised were natural, like lenticular clouds, plane lights seen head on, or sundogs (- a bright reflection of the sun on water droplets in a cloud - I photographed one last week). We had an objective and scientific approach, learning to judge character and ascertain whether we were hearing the truth, a lie or someone’s imagination taking flight. We noted that one sighting would set off a cluster of others, either made up or coming from people who just hadn’t spent much time looking up at our beautiful skies."
"Fireballs in the sky and ball lightning, sometimes inside buildings, generated by thunderstorms, are rare phenomena but not visitors from another world. The incredibly rare ‘close encounters of the 3rd kind’ you either believe or you don’t."
"We realised that the small groups of people running BUFORA and other societies were tempted to slant UFO reports to fit their own theories rather than being objective. I acknowledge that a very small proportion of sightings of ‘unnatural phenomena’ remain unexplained. This includes a woman in her thirties or forties we interviewed who described in completely believable terms how aged 14, sitting with a sibling or friend on a trailer pulled by her father’s tractor, they were followed up a hill by a small ‘saucer’ perhaps 2 feet across that both appeared and went away rapidly – the equivalent of a drone today but with no visible means of propulsion. I haven’t been in touch with Mark for several decades."
"UFOs are not part of my life now – I'm concerned about the future, and work to persuade people across society that we all have to act urgently to change behaviour, protect nature and cut climate emissions. I recommend you listen to this excellent series about Tipping Points. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00180cb"
"I have written a song, so far only recorded on home audio, which imagines 'ufonauts' visiting the Earth and being disappointed with the human race’s failure to look after our only home!"
"There is a copy of my poetry book ‘Stoned Columbus’ (published 1973) in the Saisons Library on the 5th Floor of the Festival Hall – it has a centre spread you would like!"
"And here are a couple of Neil Young songs to which I added extra verses – you might find After the Goldrush quite poignant. https://youtu.be/Jclr0Ecb1Wo"
"I’ve no objection to you making copies of Sirius and Gemini available online. But would like a comment inserted that I don’t claim anything in the journals to be taken as factual. There were articles by Norman Oliver, who we knew personally, that neither Mark nor I believed."
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