PM0: Prelude

Bishop, "mission" priest disappear in Smokies
Local resident claims alien abduction

Newport, TN, March 23, 2007

Authorities are trying to locate a Roman Catholic Bishop and a priest who dissapeared under mysterious circumstances from a remote East Tennessee village. Auxillary Bishop Atwater of the diocese of Bridgeport Connecticut was visiting a rural mission located near the village of Tom's Mill in a rugged sparsely populated region 10 miles from the North Carolina border.

Mystery surrounds the event since federal agents took over from the TBI and placed a military cordon around the area and are denying media access to the local residents.

"We are very concerned about Bishop Atwater and Father Kindly." A spokesman for the diocese of Bridgeport said in a press conference Thursday. "We are as much in the dark as anyone. All we know is that Bishop Atwater went to St. Paul's Mission house Tuesday morning with a driver, Father Kindly and two . He was supposed to return to Knoxville by Tuesday evening. When he did not return the Knoxville Diocese became concerned and alerted the Tennesse State Highway patrol. That is as much as we know."

The TBI and the State Highway patrol have refused to answer questions in regards to the Bishop and his companions but Trevor Cooke a resident of the nearby village of Harmony Grove claims to be a witness to the abduction of the Bishop by aliens.

"I was at the mission to get my toilet paper. [The Bishop] and the [black] priest was there when I saws there was a flash and a bang and this bright disk came from the sky. We was all knocked over and then a man came from the disk and grabbed them two and just hauled them off."

Cooke claims to have gotten into his pick up and attempted to ram the disk while it remained on the ground. However the craft was airborn before he had a chance. "As soons as I missed that disk thing there was another one that landed behinds me. I didn't want to be abducted again so I just went on home. I suspect the other craft came and got them other people who were still at the mission."

Within thirty minutes Cooke than saw several military helicopters flying into the area.

Bishop Atwater was a Glenmary priest for twenty years before being created an Auxilary Bishop in 1998. The mission has been run by the Glenmary fathers and brothers since 1957 .