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Michael Hubbard is one of the very few most fortunate individuals who, on the night of August 11 in The Barge Inn, witnessed John Wheyleigh's original Oliver's Castle footage through the viewfinder of John's video camera. Before I share with you Michael Hubbard's story, I ask your indulgence ...
In my zealous efforts to uncover and assimilate every byte of information available from any- and everyone in support of my unflagging belief that John Wheyleigh's footage is genuine, I came across conflicting information. It was not until I read 'Ultralite Mike's' version of his experience on the night of August 11 that a large chunk of the dissonance was resolved for me. In order to piece together a coherent overall sequence of events, I needed to set aside the dissonant data - for if 'x' were true in this case, 'y' could not also be true - and based on long months of prior research, I had discovered that 'x' was, in fact, truth. I attributed the 'y'-version of events to an honest misremembering on the part of the witnesses.
The recollections of others who also sat around that table in The Barge and witnessed the footage, and who have shared what they saw on the tape, support my pieced-together understanding of how things unfolded. Most importantly, through Nick Nicholson's and Mike Hubbard's stories, I no longer have any question as to 'which tape' they saw on that night: they saw the exact same tape we have been playing over and over for these last many months. There has never been 'more than one version' of this footage. There is no evidence to support such an allegation, not even after nine months of very determined effort to come up with one. Such an allegation (more than one version) does not jive with the facts. Nor, nine months later, has there been even one technical analysis to disprove Jim Dilettosso's clean-bill-of-health findings, nor, for that matter, is there a technical analysis by anyone to prove that the footage is a hoax.
Another moment, please ...
Everything, whether manifest or unmanifest, vibrates at a particular frequency. Matter IS the interaction of vibrating electromagnetic fields. As consciousness interacts with various manifest frequencies, the energies generate various 'impressions' one upon the other ...
Because each individual who participates in a group experience has a different perception of that experience - and it would be unbelievable indeed if all participants experiencing a particular event related exactly the same story in exactly the same words - it seems reasonable to not expect that any one of the group is necessarily lying simply because his or her story is different - even, perhaps, if a version were significantly different. One's personal perspective, or vibrational frequency, determines one's perception of any event. Myriad variables determine the perceptions of any two individuals ...
Even when a group consisting of 'n' participants simultaneously experiences a single event, there will be at least 'n' variations in the participants' reports of the event. In relating their stories, each individual will highlight those facets which are of greater personal importance, and may leave out others which are deemed of less personal significance. All folks are more, and less, observant than others. Some witnesses that night noticed the Formation; some focused only upon the BoLs. How much did you, Reader, absorb after watching the 18-second sequence once? Was not your immediate response the same as Lee's: "Please rewind it and let me see it AGAIN!!!" ?
John Wheyleigh arrived in The Barge on the night of August 11 with his videocam and original tape. He showed The Footage to several people through the viewfinder of his camera, one of whom was MichaelH...
The following is reprinted from SC #61, February '97 issue, with permission from editor Andy Thomas, secured through Barry Reynolds, Sussex Branch Convenor. (SC is the CCCS/UK's Sussex Branch newsletter. If you don't yet subscribe and are serious about learning more about the Circle Phenomenon, you're missing out ...) Thank you both, Andy and Barry; and thank you, Microlite Mike, for sharing your thoughts. [Brackets contain my comments. Bold and italic words are my emphasis.]
[Editor Andy Thomas:] One of those present at the very first showing of the Oliver's Castle video was Michael Hubbard. After the many second-hand reports, now Michael tells his version of events and describes exactly what he saw through the viewfinder ... and he begs to differ with other descriptions of the video sequence ...
[Michael Hubbard:] The Testament according to Michael Hubbard, microlight pilot and aerial photographer. I would like to state that none of the persons mentioned here were previously known to myself:
August 9th, 1996: Arrive at The Barge, with frame tent and microlight in tow. Ascertain whereabouts of the local Formations, mark them on my air chart.
August 10th: Drive to Clench Common Airfield, hang around all day waiting for the wind to drop; it doesn't. Back to The Barge where I meet Terry Whitnall, his girlfriend and two male friends. Star gaze until one o'clock when low cloud moves in from the north-east.
August 11th: Wake to rain. Terry and friends drive into campsite and come over to tell me that they spent the night up at Oliver's Castle but it had clouded over and they had abandoned the night watch. A friend of Terry comes over to tell me that he had answered a call from a John W...? He wanted to contact Colin Andrews as he had some video footage of UFOs and news of a new Formation below Oliver's Castle. The bearer of this news was a Lee Winterston. He and his fiancée, Terry, myself, and three friends drive and walk to the fort. View was magnificent. The cloud base was not much higher than the hill, it was still raining and banks of cloud clung to the side of the valley to the south.
The girls go back to the Transit, five men go in to survey. We tread carefully, but the mud on our boots leaves deposits; there were no previous imprints. We notice that there are six narrow underlay arms which stop just short of the centre. I am no expert - the overall appearance looked genuine, though I did not notice any swollen nodes, and one arm was crooked. I had not brought my camera due to the wet conditions.
Drive back to The Barge, tell various people that it is well worth a visit. Terry and friends leave for home. Meet Lee in the bar at 7.30pm who is awaiting the arrival of John W with his video. Freddie Silva and lady friend come over; I give him the phone number for a microlight flight. Nick Nicholson joins us. At 10:30pm a man in his early 20s with a bearded chin, carrying an aluminium case, arrives. Lee approaches and introduces himself. The camcorder is produced, but we do not have the correct leads to couple it up to the television.
Through the viewfinder, Lee sees the footage first, then Freddie, next someone else at the table, next Nick, then myself, Freddie's lady friend last.
What I see is two balls of light approaching from Beacon Hill which descend into the valley. One starts a clockwise spiral upwards [i.e., toward the top of the screen ], the other follows in pursuit. A third ball approaches from the initial direction and descends out of shot downwards [i.e., toward the bottom of the screen]. The camcorder follows the first two up above the horizon and the third ball reappears ascending [i.e., moving toward upper screen] . They disappear and the camera pans back down to Beacon Hill.
Lee wishes to view it again, but John states that the video occasionally chews up tapes. Lee states that the tape should be analysed and kept in a secure place. To effect this, he places 100£ in cash on the table for John to come to a Swindon studio and have it analysed that night. John refuses, stating that he wishes to get back to Bath to get some sleep. He mentions that he is shortly off to America to study. John and his evasive, slightly younger male friend leave after about twenty minutes. We all feel very privileged to have seen the footage.
August 12th: Arrive at airfield and it's good for flying. I have two flights and arrange to photograph the Snowflake and fourteen other Formations, in 1 hr 30 minutes' flying time.
What a weekend to choose for my one and only visit to The Barge in 1996!
- Michael Hubbard
[Editor Andy Thomas comments:]
Michael's recollection of the video shown at The Barge is quite different to the sequence of events seen in the generally accepted Oliver's Castle video. [I disagree with Andy's comment here - see below.] As outlined in our detailed look at all this in SC #59, he doesn't remember a Formation being visible at all, and the movement of the balls of lights outlined above seem to execute quite different manoeuvres to [those] seen in the released footage.
[ilyes: I disagree that Michael's description is substantially different from what we see on the tape. I believe the phrases I inserted in brackets in the above account help to clarify Michael's use of the words "ascending", "spiral upwards", "shot downwards". If one does not consider them as relating to 3-dimensional movement [that is, ascending higher above the ground, and shooting downward lower toward the ground], but accepts the descriptions rather as referring to the locations of the BoLs on the screen, there is no variance with what we see: the BoLs 'spiral upwards' in that they begin at the bottom of the screen, sweep toward the left, and then gradually 'upward' as they continue up toward the top of the screen ...]
[Andy continues:] Nick Nicholson, on the other hand, remembers the Formation being visible right from the start of the video! Yet the others present that night seem to accept that what they saw is the same as the video now doing the rounds. There is a possible explanation for this: perhaps the sequence of the Snowflake actually appearing is just a small segment of a much longer video in which balls of light are seen to move about before the Formation begins to appear, and after it has arrived. Maybe what we've all seen so far is just the middle segment of a far longer string of anomalous lights which the cameraman filmed.
[ilyes: John did not suggest that such was the case. What he did tell Peter S¿rensen is that the initial set of BoLs is the one that awakened him with the Sound. He tracked the actions of that set with his eyes, but was unable to get his camera turned on in time to record their movements.
[ilyes: After the first set of BoLs which awakened him with the Sound left, the second set of BoLs comes into position over the field, and that's when John gets the camera turned on and begins recording, and he captures both the 2nd and 3rd sets of BoLs. After the 3rd set leaves, no additional BoLs appear, and the Formation has manifested. Settling of the crop is visible, especially in the large central Circle. At that point (or perhaps shortly afterwards), John began shooting the sequence with the tight zoom on the centre of the Formation, the pull-back, and the pan toward the Oliver's Castle Hillfort itself. As the video was being passed around that night, maybe different people caught different parts of the sequence, as perhaps the tape was not always rewound to the exact same starting place ...?]
[Andy continues:] It's interesting to note that John told Michael that he was shortly going to America. This could explain why he hasn't resurfaced since to take part in the huge debate over his footage - rather than his disappearance being part of some devious plot, perhaps he's just gone away to do whatever and simply has no idea of all the fuss he's left behind. If so, he may be in for a shock when he returns - and some pretty hefty royalties from TV companies, several of which have now broadcast the footage without his authorisation ...
- Andy Thomas
