The oldest mammal hair that’s ever been found preserved in amber dates back to the Early Cretaceous period between 105 and 110 million years ago. The three strands of mammal hair and dinosaur feathers were discovered at Santa Maria mine which is located in Teruel (near Ariño), Aragon, eastern Spain.

The reason why the hair and feathers were “exceptionally preserved” in the amber was because of a “pull off vestiture” which means that the animals would have rested against the sticky resin while sleeping or resting against a tree and once it hardened up, it would have pulled the hair/feathers off of the animal.

Professor Xavier Delclòs from the University of Barcelona, an author of the study, stated, “The feature of the process described in this research is that a somewhat long time must pass between the animal’s contact with the resin and the pulling off of the vestiture.”

The animals would have rested against the sticky resin in order for their fur or feathers to be pulled off.

While mammal hair had previously been found imprinted in fossils dating back 160 million years, the oldest one that was preserved dated back around 100 million years ago (prior to this new discovery).

After experts analyzed the pieces, they were able to confirm that the hair belonged to a mammal and the feathers most likely came from an extinct bird. Sergio Álvarez-Parra, a doctoral student at the University of Barcelona and another author of the study, explained this further, “The determination of both findings is very complex, but it is likely for the feather remains to correspond to the extinct birds Enantiornithes, like other feathers in amber.”

He went on to say, “Regarding the lock of hair, we should consider that the surface scale pattern is similar to the current mammalian hair.” “Ariño was already known for its vertebrate fossils, such as the dinosaurs Proa valdearinnoensis and Europelta carbonensis, but no-one thought we could find remains from vertebrates included in amber.”

Another example of resin dripping from a tree.

Professor Delclòs added that “the findings of this study and the new process shed light on the complexity of ecosystems during the Cretaceous.”

Spain is known for their many fossils that date back to the Cretaceous period, but the fact that they found hair and feathers so well preserved in amber was a definite surprise. The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports where it can be read in full.

Pictures of the mammal hair and feathers that were preserved in amber can be seen here.

On January 7, 1970, two men by the names of Aarno Heinonen and Esko Viljo were out for a leisurely day of cross-country skiing at a quaint forest near Imjarvi Finland, training for an upcoming competition. The day had been calm and relaxing, and the two of them had chatted about their lives, and when dusk came, they stopped to admire the clear night sky and its stars. They watched the sun dipping beyond the horizon even as it grew very cold, and as they watched the darkening sky there was something rather bizarre that demanded their attention. It started as a strange buzzing sound that filled their ears and heads, and as they looked about trying to ascertain where it was coming from, they allegedly saw a bright light in the sky rapidly moving towards them, which seemed to be a metallic craft of some sort. This would mark the beginning of a rather bizarre ordeal, which has gone on to become one of the most famous and weirdest UFO cases Finland has ever seen.

As the mystery light approached, that alien buzzing sensation became more acute, until it was nearly deafening, and the object seemed to be rounded and disc-shaped, around 10 feet in diameter. It came in to hover over the ground, and they could see that is seemed to be surrounded by a strange reddish gray mist. It was all a very unusual sight, and Heinonen would say of it:

The huge disk began to descend as it was enveloped with the red gray fog, which became more thin and transparent. It began to hover at a height of 10 to 13 ft, so near I could have touched it with my ski stick. The craft was completely round. When it came down obliquely towards us we saw it had a dome on the upper side. Along the lower edge was a kind of raised part on which were three spheres or domes spaced equidistantly.

Just when things couldn’t have possibly been any weirder, an opening suddenly appeared in the bottom of the craft, from which extended a tube that burst forth an intense bright light, which created a delineated circle of black-tinged light on the snow. The bright was so bright as to be almost blinding, with the men squinting and trying to get their bearings. It was about then that Heinonen felt as if he had been yanked backwards by some invisible force, and he then saw some sort of being ahead. He would explain of this:

I don’t think we said anything to each other at all. We were completely amazed. We saw the light move a couple of times before stopping and intensely illuminating a patch of snow about a meter in diameter, with round it a dark edge, almost coal-black and 1 cm wide. I was standing completely still. Suddenly I felt as if somebody had seized my waist from behind and pulled me backwards. I think I took a step backwards, and in the same second I caught sight of the creature. It was standing in the middle of the light beam with a black box in its hands. Out of a round opening in the box there came a yellow light, pulsating. It was about 3 ft tall, with very thin arms and legs. Its face was like pale wax. The nose was a hook rather than a nose. The ears were very small and narrowed toward the head. The creature wore some kind of overall in a light green material and a conical helmet shining like metal. The creature stood in the middle of the bright light and was luminous like phosphorus, but its face was very pale. Its shoulders were very thin and slanting, with thin arms like a child’s. There were also white gauntlets going up to the elbows, and the fingers were bent like claws around the black box.

This mysterious being stood there in the light with its black box, which was illuminated by an eerie yellow glow, and the red mist was suddenly everywhere again, obscuring their view of it and becoming so thick that they could barely see each other anymore. Throughout the mist could be seen dancing purple sparks, and the whole scene was at the same time frightening, surreal, and beautiful. The entity then whipped the box upward to point it right at the startled men, and both mist and sparks flew in their direction, which caused them to feel nauseous and for their legs to go numb. Heinonen would say:

The pulsating light was very bright, almost blinding. It was very silent in the forest. Suddenly a red-grey mist came flowing down from the object and large sparks started to fly from the illuminated circle of snow. The sparks were like tapers, about 10 cm long, red, green and violet. They floated out in long curves, rather slowly; many of them hit me, but though I expected them to burn me, At first I did not feel anything. My right leg had been nearest the light. The whole leg was stiff and aching. My foot was as if anaesthetized.

The strange fog got thicker and thicker until suddenly both the humanoid and its bizarre craft just seemed to disappear. The two men managed to stumble out of there, feeling nauseous, numb, and vomiting the whole way. They would later be plagued by health problems afterwards, including what they describe as black urine like ‘black coffee,” facial swelling, headaches and vision and memory problems. A doctor who examined them, a Dr Pauli Kajanoja, would say:

l think the men have suffered a great shock. Viljo was very red in the face and seemed a little swollen. Both seemed absent-minded. They talked quickly and incoherently. I could not find anything clinically wrong with Heinonen. He did not feel well, but that could have been his stomach reacting to the shock. The symptoms he described are like those after being exposed to radioactivity. Unfortunately, I had no instrument to measure that. As to the black urine, it seems inexplicable. Possibly it could have been blood in it, but this cannot go on for several months. If blood samples had been taken, they might have revealed changes in his blood. Both men seemed sincere, and I don’t think they had made the thing up. I’m sure they were in a state of shock when they came to me; something must have frightened them.

It is all very harrowing and inexplicable, indeed, and since both men were known as being honest and reliable the case was treated as very promising by ufologists at the time. Yet, Heinonen would muddy the waters in later years, when he claimed that between 1970 and 1972 he had over two dozen further UFO experiences, sometimes involving a beautiful blonde alien who would appear and talk to him. This humanoid was described as possessing some sort of spherical object and claimed to be over 180 years old, and was sometimes accompanied by a dwarfish creature about 3 feet tall and wearing a grey suit with white stripes. He also claimed that he had received a green pen from her at some point, but would say that it had gone missing, and he also complained that every time he tried to take a picture of the creatures his camera would vanish into thin air or be knocked out of his hand by an unseen force. Convenient.

The case is so orbited by bizarreness that it is really rather hard to know what to make of it. Heinonen’s later oddball comments would certainly shed skepticism on what was originally taken to be a possibly genuine report, leaving us to wonder what is going on here. What happened out there in that frigid wilderness? Was this a real alien encounter or just delusional ranting? It remains unknown.

When, shortly before 9:00 p.m. on the night of December 29, 1980, Vickie Landrum, her grandson, Colby, and Betty Cash exited the restaurant where they had just eaten a fine Texan dinner, they couldn’t imagine what was just around the corner. As they headed towards the town of Huffman, Texas, they were terrified by the sudden sight of an unknown object in the sky. Worse, it was descending on a flight-path guaranteed to ensure it landed on the road they were on.  As they got closer, they could see the aerial thing appeared to be in flames and shaped not unlike a diamond. It reached a perilously low level of around twenty-five feet, something which ensured a screeching of brakes and the car brought to a shuddering standstill. The interior temperature of the car suddenly reached intolerable levels. The three jumped out of the vehicle and could only stare in awe and fear. Then, out of the blue, around two dozen, double-rotor helicopters were on the scene, clearly intent on caroling the UFO. Or, perhaps they were escorting it. Cash was sure they were Boeing CH-47 Chinooks. They watched as both the UFO and the helicopters left the area and were finally lost from sight.

Within days, all three fell sick: nausea and vomiting were at the forefront. Betty Cash was the one affected most of all – which may be explainable by the fact that she was the one member of the group who got closest to the object. Her hair started to fall out, her skin was covered with pustules and blisters, and the nausea got worse. Despite attempts to force the US Government to come clean on what went down, there was nothing but denial after denial from the authorities. The case is a puzzling one, with some UFO researchers believing the three encountered a real UFO, while others suspect they were unfortunate enough to cross paths with a top secret, nuclear-powered, prototype aircraft that was in deep trouble and that had to be retrieved as quickly as possible.

Interestingly, this was the same time-frame that things were going down in Rendlesham Forest, England. An official U.S. Air Force document, dated January 13, 1981, states (in part): “Early in the morning of 27 Dec 80 (approximately 0300L) two USAF security police patrolmen saw unusual lights outside the back gate at RAF Woodbridge. Thinking an aircraft might have crashed or been forced down, they called for permission to go outside the gate to investigate. The on-duty flight chief responded and allowed three patrolmen to proceed on foot. The individuals reported seeing a strange glowing object in the forest. The object was described as being metallic in appearance and triangular in shape, approximately two to three meters across the base and approximately two meters high. It illuminated the entire forest with a white light. The object itself had a pulsing red light on top and a bank(s) of blue lights underneath. The object was hovering or on legs. As the patrolmen approached the object, it maneuvered through the trees and disappeared. At this time the animals on a nearby farm went into a frenzy. The object was briefly sighted approximately an hour later near the back gate.”

Also of interest is the following. As Captain John E. Boyle of the U.S. Air Force informed me in 1988: “In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron stationed at RAF Woodbridge [provided] standby rescue coverage for the American space flights. Of course, they were never needed to provide emergency rescue actions, but at the time, the unit was trained and available to rescue astronauts with their HH-53 and HC-130 aircraft. In early 1988, the 67th ARRS was re-designated as part of the 39th Special Operations Wing, their primary mission changing from that of rescue to supporting U.S. Special Operations forces. Their secondary mission remains that of search and rescue and they would provide any assistance necessary in future space missions [italics mine].”

It should be noted that RAF Woodbridge stood right next to Rendlesham Forest. Could there have been a connection between the events in Texas and those in the U.K.? If nothing else, it’s an issue worth looking into – and particularly so with the 40th anniversary just a few weeks away.

Back in May of this year Lisa Hagan Books published my book, The Rendlesham Forest UFO Conspiracy. It’s a book that suggests the strange events that took place in those English woods in December 1980 had nothing to do with aliens, but everything to do with secret, military experiments. Taking into consideration the fact that this December is the 40th anniversary of the famous event, I figured that at least a couple more new books on the subject would surface. I wasn’t wrong. In September, Rendlesham to Redemption: A Story of Transformation appeared. The author is Steven R. LaPlume. He was one of those involved in the controversial affair. I haven’t seen LaPlume’s book yet, but I will be reviewing it soon. There is, however, yet another new Rendlesham-themed book that I’m focusing on today. The title of the book is: Weaponisation of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon.

The author is John F. Burroughs. If you know your Rendlesham history, you will know that John – along with Jim Penniston and Charles Halt – was one of the key figures in the whole story. In other words, this is a book that – if you have an interest in the Rendlesham Forest saga – you will definitely want to read. In fact, I would say the book makes for absolutely essential reading. A month or so ago, me and John discussed the idea of me doing a review of his book to coincide with its publication. John thought it was a great idea. So did I. As a result, and in no time at all, John sent me a PDF of the manuscript. I read the whole book – absorbed, I have to say. John’s book is a definitive page-turner. Whatever your thoughts on the 1980 incidents are, you are most assuredly going to want to read this one. With all of that now said, let’s get onto the content of the book.

I must say that you may be surprised by some of the things that John has to say, and particularly so in relation to what did – or what didn’t – occur. But, we’ll get to all of that shortly. As the book begins, we are treated to a good, solid introduction to John’s life and his career in the U.S. military – and also how he came to be at the Royal Air Force Bentwaters base on the night(s) that his life was changed. John makes it very clear that he is not entirely certain of what happened to him. In his very own words, John says: “Penniston and I cannot be sure our memories are accurate. We can be certain that we think they are, but between the likely power of the real phenomenon to alter reality and the effects of sophisticated debriefing techniques, we can’t be sure that what we think happened, did.” There’s no doubt that is a brave statement for John to make. And particularly so, because much of what John has to say relates to secret, government experiments of the type I present in my own Rendlesham book. Indeed, John makes it clear that in the area there was “very exotic EW [electronic warfare] and radar technologies at play in East Anglia at the time.” John expands on all of this: “What did we encounter? Advanced technology developed in a special access program project intended to produce altered-perception of reality in the enemy?” Whatever the answer, John explains that what he personally encountered was not a “terrifying experience.” Rather,  he makes clear, it was an “inexplicable experience.”

Photo by Nick Redfern

John also notes the long history of secret experimentation that has taken place very close to Rendlesham Forest, such as the legendary “Shingle Street” affair, the development of secret radar-based experiments, the work of a certain British Telecom facility, and “classified weapons used for deception and perception management.” That’s to say, John is treading on undeniably controversial ground, to be sure. Even more controversial are the following words from John: “Young airmen were subjected to truth serums combined with hypnosis. Some were handed their statements pretyped and told ‘this is the story you will tell when asked.'”  The stories of Larry Warren and Adrian Bustinza become parts of the sensational story, too. Certain words and names – such as Cobra Mist, Marconi, Harold Puthoff, Kit Green, the Berwyn Mountains, Ball Lightning, Plasmas, Tesla, Lasers, Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, Acoustic Mind-Control, and Project Condign – will soon become familiar to you as you dig further into the pages of John’s book. There’s way more, too. A man named Ron Haddow – who you can find more about at this link, and who worked for the U.K. Ministry of Defense for years – becomes one of the players, as does a certain Ralph Noyes. The latter being a man who knew a lot, but preferred to keep his mouth shut on certain, sensitive topics. Noyes, too, spent years working for the U.K.’s M.O.D. I could go on and on, such is the sheer body of fascinating material that, to some degree, places the whole affair in new light.

It’s perhaps apt for me to end the review with the following statement from John. He says that his primary goal, today, is, and I quote: “Helping my fellow veterans get the kind of support they need and deserve for their service to our country’s ideals if they can’t get it because, like me, they were a pawn in a highly classified game.”

• Weaponisation of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon will be available on December 16 in Kindle version.

A new study has suggested that around 700 years ago when Amazonians laid out their villages, they did so in a clock face pattern that represented the cosmos.

Experts (led by the University of Exeter) used LiDAR technology on helicopters to study the rainforest-covered landscape in Acre State, Brazil. They were able to discover 35 villages with circular mounds that were linked with radiating minor and major straight-lying roads. The villages date back to between 1300 and 1700 AD.

The villages were laid out in a clock face pattern.

The villages had anywhere between 3 and 32 mounds with diameters that ranged between 131 and 502 feet with enclosed plazas in the center that measured between 0.3 and 4.4 acres. Additionally, the scans “revealed that some small groups of villages positioned along streams exhibit regular distances of 2.5–3 km [1.6–1.9 miles] and 5–6 km [3.1–3.7 miles] between sites.”

Each village contained straight, sunken roads with high banks that protruded out from the center area. They also had wider and deeper main roads in addition to the smaller minor roads that linked the villages over an area of numerous miles.

That certainly proved how well organized the ancient Acreans were in laying out their villages. According to a new study, the fact that these ancient villages were laid out in a circular pattern may have been a reference to space and how the constellations moved around the planet. This provided experts with more information regarding the Indigenous communities that occupied the area.

The clock face pattern may have been in reference to the cosmos.

Jose Iriarte, who is an archaeologist with the University of Exeter and an author of the paper, described this further, “LiDAR has allowed us to detect these villages, and their features such as roads, which wasn’t possible before because most are not visible within the best satellite data available.” “The technology helps to show diverse and complex construction history of this part of the Amazon.” “LiDAR provides a new opportunity to locate and document earthen sites in forested parts of Amazonia characterized by dense vegetation.”

While this study is now finished, experts are now hoping to located more villages that are hidden within the rainforest. Their study was published in the Journal of Computer Applications in Archaeology where it can be read in full.

LiDAR images of the villages provided by the University of Exeter can be seen here.