It's interesting that the Strange Object made a strange noise and is being explained as a whirlwind - it is reminiscent of the Furl-wind of the fairies. And there are many parallels between fairies and UFOs too!
Surveying the damage.
Mr Joseph Bennett standing beside the tree which was hit by the mysterious object.
Mystery of Flying Object Which Cut Tree in Two.
A middle-aged Portglenone farmer is still thinking about a mysterious black object which went over his head on Sunday afternoon - and cut a tree in two. Mr Joseph Bennett of Bracknamuckley, was out walking when he heard a strange noise. He looked up.
"It made a sound like rushing wind," he said. "The thing- it was about seven feet broad - flashed towards me some 18 or 20 feet up. It came from the south and was travelling in a north-westerly direction. Next thing I saw was its swift passage through a row of trees which divide two farms at Gortfadd. It cut one of the trees in half; the trunk was two feet thick. In a matter of seconds it had vanished. It was an oak tree, 40 ft. high, and it is sliced clean eight feet from the base."
And the question they were asking in Portglenone today was: "What was that thing?"
Belfast Telegraph, 30th December 1958.
Farmer's Description.
Mysterious flying object snaps tree at Portglenone.
There is much speculation in the Portglenone district about a mysterious "black flying object" which hurtled over the district on Sunday, snapped a two-foot thick oak tree and narrowly missed a house. Few people saw the object, but one of those who did was a farmer, Mr Joseph Bennett, of Bracknamuckley. He says that he was standing at the top of a hill overlooking a valley when the object went past. He told a reporter:-
"Its speed was such that I only had it in my vision for a fraction of a second. First thing that attracted my attention to the fact that something unusual was happening was a vicious, hissing sound. Then I saw the object, about two-foot thick and about seven-foot across. It was not rotating, nor did it give me the impression that it was a whirlwind as, apart from the stricken oak tree, it disturbed nothing else.
It was travelling from the south, in a north-westerly direction and, as it passed through a row of trees which divide two farms at Gortfad, near the Orange Hall, it snapped the oak tree about eight feet from the ground. Before I could collect my senses, it was gone from my view."
About 40 feet of the felled tree is lying in a meadow. There is no sign of burning on the tree, but there are indications that it was subjected to great pressure.
Belfast News-Letter, 31st December 1958.
Q.U.B. Scientist Probes 'Flying Axe' Mystery.
"Belfast Telegraph" Reporter.
The strange black object reported to have ripped apart a large oak tree at Portglenone, Co. Antrim, on Sunday, has already entered the files of U.F.O. (unidentified flying object) researchers. Mr Terence Nonweiler, lecturer in the aeronautical engineering department of Queen's University, and a former member of the Council of the British Interplanetary Society, today visited the scene.
Before leaving for Portglenone, Mr Nonweiler told me: "This would appear to be the first case in the United Kingdom where such a mysterious happening has been reported and in which some tangible evidence remains in the shape of the damaged tree."
The farmer, Mr Joseph Bennett, of Bracknamuckley, insists that the tree was sliced in two by a huge, black object which passed over his head, and then proceeded on its way. He says it was moving at a height of 18 to 20 feet. The tree shows no sign of scorching, which would indicate lightning, and there is no damage to adjoining trees.
Thousands of U.F.O.'s in many parts of the world, are now on record. The term is used by scientists who refuse to accept the description "flying saucer," which came into vogue a few years ago after several pilots had reported circular objects travelling at speeds of thousands of miles an hour. In Great Britain, U.F.O. enthusiasts are formed into clubs and keep watch at week-ends from mountain tops. They even have their own magazine.
The Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture are interested in the oak tree, and today instructed their forester at Portglenone, Mr A. McLean, to examine the tree. An official said: "This is most unusual in an oak tree but not in an elm. We have never had an instance of this before. We will be glad to have full details for the record." Mr Nonweiler spent about 15 minutes at the tree. He found that there were signs of rotting at the point where it had broken off, and there were also four marks on the bark - three on the trunk and one on a large branch, all in a direct line. He said: "I think that the rotten state of the trunk explains why it broke at that particular point, and the four cuts in the bark may have some significance." He was not prepared to say positively, however, that the tree had been brought down by a flying object.
Mr Bennett told Mr Nonweiler: "At about 3.30 pm on Sunday I saw what looked like a small black cloud giving off a hissing sound and travelling at fantastic speed along the valley from the direction of Lough Neagh at a height of about 20 feet. It passed right through the tree which crashed and proceeded on its way at the same speed as if nothing had happened. The tree came down with a terrible crash. It was going so fast that I could not tell whether it was a solid object or not. It was going at many times the speed of a jet plane."
Mr Alfred Connolly, who owns the field in which the tree stood, said that the state of the branches made it look as if something solid had torn across the tree as it came down. He added: "Mr Bennett is a most reliable witness. If he says he saw a black flying object you can be sure that he saw it."
The tree was today the main object of interest in the Portglenone area and cars stopped every few minutes on the nearby road as the occupants alighted to examine it.
What was it? Mr Joseph Bennett beside the fallen oak tree at Portglenone, Co. Antrim, which he saw felled by the mysterious object. He described it as being like a black cloud, about seven feet wide, travelling at a very high speed an dmaking a hissing noise.
Belfast Telegraph, 31st December 1958.
The "Flying Object" Still A Mystery.
The large oak tree at Portglenone, Co. Antrim, reported by a local farmer, Mr Joseph Bennett, to have been struck by a mysterious flying object on Sunday, was examined yesterday by Mr Terence Nonweiler, of Queen's University, Belfast. Mr Nonweiler, who is lecturer in the aeronautical engineering department and a former member of the Council of the British Interplanetary Society, found that there were signs of rotting at the point where the tree had been broken. "You could pull great lumps out of it," he said. A stump of about 8ft. high had been left standing. He thought that the rotten state of the trunk explained why it had broken at that point. Mr Nonweiler was not prepared to say if the tree was broken by a flying object.
The Forestry Department of the Ministry of Agriculture had instructed their local forestry officer to make a report on the tree. Mr Nonweiler said he was told that the officer had seen the tree yesterday.
Interest was aroused in the tree when Mr Bennett reported that he saw it sliced in two by an object like a small black cloud, moving at tremendous speed less than 20 feet from the ground. It seemed to strike the tree, about 40 feet of which fell to the ground.
Belfast News-Letter, 1st January 1959.
Mr Terence Nonweiler, of Queen's University, formerly a Council member of the British Interplanetary Society, examines the shattered trunk of the oak tree at Portglenone which was struck by a mysterious object.
Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, 1st January 1959.
Whirlwind snaps tree.
On Sunday afternoon, December 21, Mr Joseph Bennett, farmer, of Bracknamuckley, was out for a walk when he heard the sound of rushing wind. Looking up, he saw about 18 or 20 feet above him a black cloud some seven feet broad, travelling from the south at a very great speed. It passed over the Gortfad district and right through a row of trees between two farms near the Orange Hall, cutting one of them in half, leaving only eight feet of tree standing. Where the tree was cut measured about two feet in diameter. The fallen tree remains there to be seen.
Ballymena Observer, 2nd January 1959.
Portglenone wood puzzle.
Mr Arthur Simpson, an expert on timber diseases, examining pieces of the Portglenone tree which is said to have been knocked down by a mysterious object. Mr Simpson, who is attached to the Forestry Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, found traces of fungal rot in the tree close to the point of breaking, strengthening the opinion that the tree was diseased.
Belfast Telegraph, 2nd January 1959.
'Flying Axe' was really a whirlwind, say forestry experts.
Forestry experts gave their verdict today on the Portglenone "flying object" which felled a two-foot thick oak tree last Sunday - it was a whirlwind. Samples of the sheared trunk were examined under a microscope at the Ministry of Agriculture's Forestry Division in Belfast and were found to be decayed. "The tree snapped just below a dead branch," an official said today. "It was very heavily branched at the top and the strain over the years had damaged the cells. A sudden gust of wind was all it needed."
Just one thing puzzles the experts - the cleanness of the break. "It could be that the fungus developed in a regular pattern," the official said, "but it is unusual. There was certainly no evidence of impact damage on the outside of the tree, or on trees nearby."
To get the samples local forester Andy McLean had to climb the eight-foot tree stump. Souvenir hunters have been at work on the felled section of the tree.
Dr E.M. Lindsay, director of Armagh Observatory, today put forward the theory that the tree had been brought down by a waterspout. He said that the fact that the black object was said to have come from the direction of Lough Neagh, together with many examples in the files of the Observatory of waterspouts near the lough helped to support this theory.
"Oddly enough," said Dr Lindsay, "practically all these reports were made in the last century, but they are well authenticated. One official, who lived at Loughgail, observed several. There were many such reports in the early 1800s."
Dr Lindsay has not seen a waterspout in Northern Ireland, but he has experienced many on visits to South Africa. The water taken up by the whirling current of air accounts for the blackness, he says.
Belfast Telegraph, 2nd January 1959.
Flying Object - 'Evidence is too flimsy'.
Although an element of mystery still surrounds the felling of a tree at Portglenone by a small black object travelling, according to a local farmer, "at fantastic speed," an examination of the Meteorological Office records have shown that gusts of wind of 52 miles an hour occurred about the time of the incident. Weather experts inclined to the view that a local whirlwind, similar to that at Kilkeel a few months ago, had been responsible.
"It may be," a Meteorological Office spokesman said, "that it was not severe enough to do any other damage."
Mr Terence Nonweiler, Queen's University lecturer on aeronautical engineering and a former member of the council of the British Interplanetary Society, who examined the tree last week, said afterwards that the evidence was "too flimsy" to say that the tree had been brought down by a solid flying object. He thought the marks on the tree would not fit the theory that it had been brought down by the object. He was impressed, however, by the testimony of Mr Joseph Bennett, a local farmer, who told him that he had watched the object from its appearance over Lough Neagh until it left the valley after bringing down the tree.
And it is the opinion of local people that "something very odd" happened on Sunday afternoon.
Forestry experts have also given their verdict on the Portglenone "flying object"; they, too, consider that the felling force was a whirlwind. Samples of the sheared trunk were examined under a microscope at the Ministry of Agriculture's Forestry Division in Belfast and were found to be decayed. "The tree snapped just below a dead branch," an official said later. "It was very heavily branched at the top and the strain over the years had damaged the cells. A sudden gust of wind was all it needed."
Just one thing puzzles the experts - the cleanness of the break. "It could be that the fungus developed in a regular pattern," the official said, "but it is unusual. There was certainly no evidence of impact damage on the outside of the tree, or on trees nearby."
To get the samples local forester Andy McLean had to climb the eight-foot tree stump. Souvenir hunters have been at work on the felled section of the tree.
Dr E.M. Lindsay, director of Armagh Observatory, has put forward the theory that the tree was brought down by a waterspout. He said that the fact that the black object was said to have come from the direction of Lough Neagh, together with many examples in the files of the Observatory of waterspouts near the lough helped to support this theory. "Oddly enough," said Dr Lindsay, "practically all these reports were made in the last century, but they are well authenticated. One official, who lived at Loughgall, observed several. There were many such reports in the early 1800s."
Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, 8th January 1959.
