Are there UFO landing sites at the bottom of your garden?

The following item was sent by Bernard Howard of Christchurch. It appeared in the (Christchurch) Observer of 22 January 1990 under the headline "Hagley visits on UFO agenda—claim".

Sceptics may find it hard to believe that UFO's exist—let alone that they may have even landed in Hagley Park.

Dr Jan Pajak of Dunedin not only strongly believes this is fact but was prepared to back it up by pinpointing these landing sites during a weekend workshop held in Christchurch this month.

The free workshop was held in the hope of encouraging new members to join the newly formed Unexplained Phenomena Research Society Inc.

Three branches of the society are already working in Invercargill, Dunedin and Lawrence and Dr Pajak is hoping a branch will be formed in Christchurch.

The society has been established to try and counterbalance the very negative attitude to unexplained phenomena, Dr Pajak said.

"There are a lot of anti-groups such as the Sceptics Society but there were no pro-groups who had the education and knowledge to give a true picture of unexplained phenomena," he said.

The most common evidence of UFO's is their landing place sites, Dr Pajak said.

"These can be easily found if you know what you are looking for."

To prove his point Dr Pajak took members of his workshop on a walk through Hagley Park and was able to identify four landing sites.

"Because of the UFO's pulsating magnetic field, it leaves a ring of scorched vegetation when it lands. The smallest craft would leave a ring of about 3m with eight burned areas at regular intervals," Dr Pajak said.

The most popular explanation for these markings is that they are mushroom rings.

Dr Pajak does not believe in this theory and believes instead that the mushrooms are in fact an effect of UFO landings and not the cause of the markings.

"When a vehicle lands its magnetic force sterilises the earth which in turn provides ideal conditions for mushrooms to grow," he said.

Some of the clearest landing sites are to be found in the Weka Pass and Dr Pajak plans to take a group to view these sites on January 28.

As well as conducting workshops on unexplained phenomena, Dr Pajak has devoted much of his spare time during the past 18 years to designing his own spaceship.

The "magnocraft" bears a striking resemblance to the common view of a flying saucer and is capable of flying in the air, into free space, moving underwater and also flying underground at a normal speed of close to the speed of light, claims Dr Pajak.

These facts are based on contemporary physics and Dr Pajak believes he may be able to get government sponsorship for the development of the craft once he is able to produce a working model.