Tony James
at the infamous Area 51, Nevada, USA 1994.
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Tony
James has been interested in the UFO phenomenon for over three
decades.
Inspired by a
speech by UFO researcher Stanton T Friedman, he founded the 'East
Midlands UFO Research Association' (EMUFORA).
Stanton said,
"If you are not in a group, go out and start one". So Tony did just
that.
After several
months of making contacts, designing questionnaires, and meeting
other enthusiasts, EMUFORA was set up in August 1990.
By this time Tony had already investigated a crop circle that appeared
in Linby, Nottinghamshire.
Tony and his wife Carole, also took trips to UFO hot spots in Gulf
Breeze, Florida, and the notorious Area 51 in Nevada. The trips
were successful in creating contacts.
Huge interest
By 1993 EMUFORA succumbed to public pressure to have regular meetings.
So they began to meet every three months, which funded the running
of the group, and also a quarterly magazine.
Tony says, "I
never intended the group to go this far, all I wanted to do was
collect first hand experiences to see if reports differed from what
were printed in books".
The meetings were a success, new volunteers joined and helped to
run the group. They had contacts all over Europe, America and some
in Australia and Japan.
Problems
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| Tony investigated
crop circles in Linby, Nottinghamshire. |
By 1995, Tony was
travelling the country representing EMUFORA, but the group had difficulties.
He says, "the workload was getting hectic and our staff seemed
to be doing less and less".
It was getting too much for Tony and Carole, they seemed to be doing
all the work as well as having full time jobs.
He says, " it eventually got too much so I disbanded the group
in the summer of 1997".
EMUFORA had a brief revival in 1998, but it was short lived. However,
Tony doesn't see the group's eight year existence as pointless.
He says, "I don鈥檛 regret a minute of my years given to this subject.
It鈥檚 a learning experience and very rewarding, we live in exciting
times".
Tony now works on his own, providing an on-line newsletter, which
is read all over the world, and who knows all over the galaxy!
E-mail us with your UFO stories
and your thoughts about this fascinating subject.
Interview
with Tony James
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When
did you become interested in the UFO phenomenon?
I first became interested during the mid 1970's when I just
happened to buy four book about UFO's, I was always interested
in things connected to space which I believe developed from
watching the Moon landing project by NASA back in the 1960's
and 70's. |
What
made you become a UFO investigator and researcher?
I read a lot of books and saw many program鈥檚 about UFO's,
and I began to wonder how accurate these reports were. I had
to see if there were any difference between the book UFO reports
and the raw statements. I decided to join a UFO group that I
believed was based in South Notts', but when I finally tracked
them down, they had disbanded and their house was empty. I consulted
a good friend of mine, UFO researcher and Author Jenny Randles,
who spurred me on to start my own group, so that's what I did.
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What's
the most baffling case you've been involved in?
It's hard to pinpoint one particular baffling case. UFO's
are weird things to the general public and I think the best
cases usually come from people who did not believe in UFO's
until they saw one. I suppose one of the strangest cases happened
over Bonsall Moore a good ten years ago (Details are on my records).
This gentleman and his family had hired a cottage on the Moore
for the Christmas period and were packing to go home on December
31st before dawn. A bright light was seen to fly erratically
on the horizon and then flew straight for the cottage and stopped
dead above the witness. He called his wife and children outside
whom were shocked and frightened at the sight of a huge strange
craft hovering at treetop level, silently above the cottage,
in full view of the family.
After a few minutes, this craft seemed to turn itself inside
out (changing shape) to make a triangular shaped craft, without
making a sound. The family was petrified and ran inside, except
for the husband, who was amazed. The craft moved off at walking
pace, again without making a sound and the husband followed.
After about 100 meters, the craft gained speed and then shot
off into the distance at tremendous speed. |
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What
has been Nottingham's biggest UFO case?
We
interviewed over 100 witnesses to two triangular objects that
flew in from the East over Calverton, Arnold, Bestwood, and
Bulwell and were last seen over Ilkeston going west. The witnesses
included several police officers including Traffic Police,
Engineers, Housewives, Miners and virtually any selection
of 100 people you could meet on the street, most described
the same thing before the story hit the newspapers. Even the
'Ministry of Defence' were involved.
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