Unidentified flying object

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UFO redirects here. For other uses, see UFO (disambiguation).

A UFO or Unidentified Flying Object is any object or optical phenomenon observed in the sky which cannot be identified, even after being thoroughly investigated by qualified people. Many people claim UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft but the majority of scientists say there is no definitive evidence to support that supposition.

File:PurportedUFO NewJersey 1952 07 31.gif
This is reputedly a UFO over Passoria, New Jersey, 1952. It comes from an FBI document but there is no information regarding the photo being genuine or a hoax, or to support either supposition.

History

Reports of strange apparitions in the sky have been recorded throughout history. Some may have been comets, bright meteors, or atmospheric optical phenomena such as parhelia; others remain unexplained. The army of Alexander the Great in 329 BC saw "two silver shields" in the sky. In 1235 the army of Oritsume in Japan saw mysterious lights in the sky. On April 14 1561 the skies over Nuremberg, Germany were reportedly filled with a multitude of objects, including cylinders and spheres, seemingly engaged in an aerial battle. Previously treated as divine portents, angels, and other religious omens, such phenomena came to be regarded as a non-supernatural and suitable for scientific investigation in the immediate aftermath of World War II, when the term "UFO" was coined.

There were a number of reports of strange, unidentified aerial phenomena throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In more modern times, there were several reports of unidentified aircraft in the Scandinavian nations in the 1930s. In both the European and Japanese aerial theatres during World War II, "Foo-fighters" (balls of light that followed aircraft) were reported by both Allied and Axis pilots. In 1946, there were numerous reports of unidentified aircraft in the Scandinavian nations, along with isolated reports from France, Portugal, Italy and Greece, then referred to as "Russian hail," and later as "ghost rockets," because it was thought that these mysterious objects were Russian tests of captured German V1 or V2 rockets. This was subsequently shown not to be the case, and the phenomenon remains unexplained. Experts generally believe that a significant fraction of the reports were based on misperceptions of natural phenomena, such as meteors. However, large numbers could not be explained, including about 200 picked up on radar and others seen crashing into lakes.

The post World War II UFO phase in the United States began with a reported sighting by American businessman Kenneth Arnold on June 24 1947 while flying his private plane near Mount Rainier, Washington. He reported seeing nine brilliantly bright objects flying across the face of Rainier towards nearby Mount Adams at "an incredible speed", which he calculated at at least 1200 miles an hour by timing their travel between Rainier and Adams. His sighting subsequently received significant mainstream media and public attention. Arnold would later say they "flew like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water" and also said they were "flat like a pie pan", "shaped like saucers," and "half-moon shaped, oval in front and convex in the rear. ...they looked like a big flat disk." (One, however, he would describe later as being almost crescent-shaped.) Arnold's reported descriptions caught the media's and the public's fancy and gave rise to the terms flying saucer and flying disk.

Arnold's sighting was followed in the next few weeks by several thousand other reported sightings, mostly in the U.S., but in other countries as well. Perhaps the most significant of these was a United Airlines crew sighting of nine more disc-like objects over Idaho on the evening of July 4. This sighting was even more widely reported than Arnold's and lent considerable credence to Arnold's report. For the next few days most American newspapers were filled with front-page stories of the new "flying saucers" or "flying discs." Starting with official debunkery that began the night of July 8 with the Roswell UFO incident, reports rapidly tapered off, ending the first big U.S. UFO wave.

Starting July 9, Army Air Force intelligence, in cooperation with the FBI, secretly began a formal investigation into the best sightings, which included Arnold's and the United crew. Three weeks later they concluded that the objects sighted weren't imaginary and something real was flying around. A further review by the intelligence and technical divisions of the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field reached the same conclusion, that the objects were real aircraft of some sort. It was recommended in October 1947 that an official Air Force investigation be set up. This led to the creation of the Air Force's Project Sign at the end of 1947, which became Project Grudge at the end of 1948, and then Project Blue Book in 1952. Blue Book closed down in 1970, ending the official Air Force UFO investigations.

A claimed UFO from Brazil.The circular aura suggests it is a light in the foreground.

Use of "UFO" instead of "flying saucer" was first suggested in 1952 by Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, the first director of Project Blue Book, who felt that "flying saucer" did not reflect the diversity of the sightings. Ruppelt suggested that "UFO" should be pronounced as a word — "you-foe". However it is generally pronounced by forming each letter: "U.F.O." His term was quickly adopted by the Air Force, which also briefly used "UFOB" circa 1954. Ruppelt recounted his experiences with Project Blue Book in his memoir, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (1956), also the first book to use the term. book online

Air Force Regulation 200-2, issued in 1954, defined an Unidentified Flying Object (UFOB) as "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object." The regulation also said UFOBs were to be investigated for national security reasons and to "determine technical aspects." Furthermore, Air Force personnel were directed not to discuss unexplained cases with the press and Project Blue Book was ordered to reduce the number of unexplained cases to a minimum.document

UFOs in popular culture

Beginning in the 1950s, UFO-related spiritual sects, sometimes referred to as contactee cults began to appear. Most often the members of these sects rallied around a central individual, who claimed to either have made personal contact with space-beings, or claimed to be in telepathic contact with them. Prominent among such individuals was George Adamski, who claimed to have met at tall, blond-haired Venusian named "Orthon," who came to warn us about the dangers of nuclear proliferation. The Adamski Foundation still exists today, publishing and selling the writings of George Admaski online. At least two of these sects developed a substantial number of adherents, most notably The Aetherius Society, founded by British mystic George King in 1956, and the Unarius Foundation, established by "Ernest L." and Ruth Norman in 1954. A standard message-theme from space beings to these cults was a warning about the dangers of nuclear proliferation, to both the planet earth, and the Universe at large. More recent groups organized around an extraterrestrial theme include Ummo, Heaven's Gate, Raël, and the Ashtar Command. An interesting feature that many of the early as well as the later UFO sects share is a tendency to incorporate ideas from both Christianity and various eastern religions, "hybridizing" these with ideas pertaining to extraterrestrials and their benevolent concern with the people of earth.

Movies and TV have depicted visiting aliens in a variety of ways, from hostile to benevolent to indifferent or coldly scientific, godlike, or very human in their various foibles. In one of the earliest flying saucer films, The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), the alien played by Michael Rennie was highly benevolent - almost a religious figure - bringing a friendly yet sobering message of warning from interplanetary society regarding of dire consequences for earth should humans continue on the warlike path they are pursuing. In Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), The War of the Worlds (1953 and 2005), and Independence Day (1996), they are invading the Earth. In 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), the aliens are remote, unseen and godlike (perhaps noncorporeal), and with an enigmatic agenda. In the various Star Trek (1966 to present) TV series and movies, all manner of aliens can be found, though they generally have various human-like characteristics and motives, good and bad.

In the 1970s, the aliens were generally depicted as benevolent, reinforced through movies such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., and the English musical group Klaatu's song Calling Occupants (of Interplanetary Craft), later made popular by Karen Carpenter.

This sentiment gained a new twist during the 1980s, primarily in the USA, with the publication of books by Whitley Strieber (beginning with Communion) and Jacques Vallee (Passport to Magonia). Strieber, a horror writer, felt that aliens were harassing him and were responsible for "missing time" during which he was subjected to strange experiments by 'grey' aliens. This newer, darker model can be seen in the subsequent wave of "alien abduction" literature, and in the background mythos of TV's X-Files.

However, even in the alien abduction literature, motives of the aliens run the gamut from hostile to benevolent. For example, researcher Dr. David Jacobs believes we are undergoing a form of stealth invasion through genetic assimilation. The theme of genetic manipulation (though not necessarily an invasion) is also strongly reflected in the writings of Budd Hopkins. The late Harvard psychiatrist Dr. John Mack (1929-2004) believed the aliens ethical bearing was to take a role as "tough-love" gurus trying to impart wisdom, similar to the way Strieber has sometimes depicted them, and also similar to 1950s contactee cult depictions of aliens as "space brothers." Dr. James Harder claims abductees predominantly report positive interactions with aliens, most of whom have benevolent intentions and express concern about human survival.

Another key development in 1970s UFO folklore came with the publication of Erich von Däniken's book Chariots of the Gods. The book argued that aliens have been visiting Earth for thousands of years, which he purported to explain UFO-like images from various archeological sources as well as unsolved mysteries. Such ideas were not exactly new. For example, earlier in his career, astronomer Carl Sagan in Intelligent Life in the Universe (1966) had similarly argued that aliens could have been visiting the Earth sporadically for millions of years. "Ancient astronauts" proposals inspired numerous imitators, sequels, and fictional adaptations, including one book (Barry Downing's The Bible and Flying Saucers) which interprets miraculous aerial phenomena in the Bible as records of alien contact. Many of these interpretations posit that aliens have been guiding human evolution, an idea taken up earlier by the novel and film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

An interesting 1970s-era development was a renewal and broadening of ideas associating UFOs with supernatural or preternatural subjects such as occultism, cryptozoology, and parapsychology. A substantial number of the 1950s contactee cults had incorporated various religious and occult ideas into their beliefs about UFOs, but in the 1970s this process repeated itself on a considerably larger scale. Many participants in the New Age movement came to believe in alien contact, both through mediumistic channeling and through literal, physical contact. A prominent spokesperson for this trend was and is actress Shirley MacLaine, especially in her book and miniseries, Out On a Limb. The 1970s saw the publication of many New Age books in which ideas about UFOs and extraterrestrials figured prominently.

Noting the variance of the above ideas with conventional Christian tradition, a number of conservative Protestant writers (e.g., Hal Lindsey) have suggested that UFOs and their occupants are demonic in origin, intent on seducing humanity into accepting non-Christian doctrines such as evolution. This is echoed in the character of the parson Nathaniel in Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds.

UFOs constitute a widespread international cultural phenomenon of the last half-century. Folklorist Dr. Thomas E. Bullard writes, "UFOs have invaded modern consciousness in overwhelming force, and endless streams books, magazine articles, tabloid covers, movies, TV shows, cartoons, advertisements, greeting cards, toys, T-shirts, even alien-head salt and pepper shakers, attest to the popularity of this phenomenon, its ability to hold public attention, and, yes, to sell! Gallup polls rank UFOs near the top of lists for subjects of widespread recognition -- a 1973 survey found that 95 percent of the public had heard of UFOs, whereas in 1977 only 92 percent had heard of Gerald Ford in a poll taken just nine months after he left the White House." (Bullard, 141)

In his study Gauche Encounters - Bad films and the UFO Mythos psychologist Martin Kottmeyer argued that many elements of UFO stories contain the same bad science and irrationality as low-budget science fiction movies. However, skeptics of Kottmeyer's psycho-social explanations, such as Jerome Clark, believe Kottmeyer has been highly selective in his matching and ignores obvious conflicts between the many ways the movies have depicted aliens and how people report them.

UFOs have played a role in tourism, such as in Roswell, New Mexico. Allegedly in 1947, a UFO crashed in a desolate area about 75 miles from Roswell (see Roswell UFO incident).

A 1996 Gallup poll reported that 71% of the United States' population believed that the government was covering up information regarding UFOs. A 2002 Roper poll for the Sci Fi channel found similar results, but with more people believing UFOs were extraterrestrial craft. Again about 70% felt the government was not sharing everything it knew about UFOs or extraterrestrial life. But 56% thought UFOs were real craft and 48% that UFOs had visited the Earth. The younger the person was, the more likely they were to hold such beliefs. [1]

Research

Ufology is a neologism coined to describe the collective efforts of enthusiasts who study UFO reports and associated evidence. While ufology does not represent an academic research program, UFOs have been subject to various investigations over the years, varying widely in scope and scientific rigor. Governments or independent academics in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and the Soviet Union are known to have investigated UFO reports at various times. No national government has ever publicly suggested that UFOs represent any form of alien intelligence. Perhaps the best known study was Project Blue Book, previously Project Sign and Project Grudge, conducted by the United States Air Force from 1947 until 1969. Other notable investigations include the Robertson Panel (1953), the Brookings Report (1960), the Condon Committee (1967-1969), the Green Fireballs/Project Twinkle investigation (1948-1951), the Sturrock Panel (1997), and the French GEPAN/SEPRA (1977-2004) and COMETA (1996-1999) study groups.

UFO categorization

Some researchers recommend that observations be classified according to the features of the phenomenon or object that are reported or recorded. Typical categories include:

  • Saucer, toy-top, or disk-shaped "craft" without visible or audible propulsion. (day and night)
  • Rapidly-moving lights or lights with apparent ability to rapidly change direction — the earliest mention of their motion was given as "saucers skipping on water." Disc-shaped craft are sometimes reported to move in an irregular or "wobbly" manner at low speeds.
  • Large triangular "craft" or triangular light pattern
  • Cigar-shaped "craft" with lighted windows (Meteor fireballs are sometimes reported this way).
  • Other: chevrons, equilateral triangles, spheres, domes, diamonds, shapeless black masses, eggs, and cylinders.

Hynek system

Dr. J. Allen Hynek developed another commonly used system of description, dividing sightings into six categories. It first separates sightings on the basis of proximity, arbitrarily using 500 feet as the cutoff point. It then subdivides these into divisions based on viewing conditions or special features. The three distant sighting categories are:

  • Nocturnal Lights (NL): Anomalous lights seen in the night sky.
  • Daylight Discs (DD): Any anomalous object, generally but not necessarily "discoidal", seen in the distant daytime sky.
  • Radar/Visual cases (RV). Objects seen simultaneously by eye and on radar.

The distant classification is useful in terms of evidentiary value, with RV cases usually considered to be the highest because of radar corroboration and NL cases the lowest because of the ease in which lights seen at night are often confused with prosaic phenomena such as meteors, bright stars, or airplanes. RV reports are also fewest in number, while NL are largest.

In addition were three "close encounter" (CE) subcategories, again thought to be higher in evidentiary value, because it includes measurable physical effects and the objects seen up close are less likely to be the result of misperception. As in RV cases, these tend to be relatively rare:

Hynek's CE classification system has since been expanded to include such things as alleged alien abductions and cattle mutilation phenomena.

Vallee System

Jacques Vallee has devised a UFO classification system which is preferred by many UFO investigators over Hynek' system as it is considerably more descriptive than Hynek's, especially in terms of the reported behavior of UFOs.

Type - I (a,b,c,d)- Observation of an unusual object, spherical discoidal, or of another geometry, on or situated close to the ground (tree height, or lower), which may be associated with traces - thermal, luminous, or mechanical effects.

  • a - On or near ground
  • b - Near or over body of water
  • c - Occupants appear to display interest in witnesses by gestures or luminous signals
  • d - Object appears to be "scouting" a terrestrial vehicle

Type - II (a,b,c) - Observation of an unusual object with vertical cylindrical formation in the sky, associated with a diffuse cloud. This phenomenon has been given various names such as "cloud-cigar" or "cloud-sphere."

  • a - Moving erratically through the sky
  • b - Object is stationary and gives rise to secondary objects (sometimes referred to as "satellite objects")
  • c - Object is surrounded by secondary objects

Type - III (a,b,c,d,e)- Observation of an unusual object of spherical, discoidal or elliptical shape, stationary in the sky.

  • a - Hovering between two periods of motion with "falling-leaf" descent, up and down, or pendulum motion
  • b - Interruption of continuous flight to hover and then continue motion
  • c - Alters appearance while hovering - e.g., change of luminosity, generation of secondary object, etc.
  • d - "Dogfights" or swarming among several objects
  • e - Trajectory abruptly altered during continuous flight to fly slowly above a certain area, circle, or suddenly change course

Type IV (a,b,c,d) - Observation of an unusual object in continuous flight.

  • a - Continuous flight
  • b - Trajectory affected by nearby conventional aircraft
  • c - Formation flight
  • d - Wavy or zig-zag trajectory

Type V (a,b,c)- Observation of an unusual object of indistinct appearance,i.e., appearing to be not fully material or solid in structure.

  • a - Extended apparent diameter, non-point source luminous objects ("fuzzy")
  • b - Starlike objects (point source), motionless for extended periods
  • c - Starlike objects rapidly crossing the sky, possibly with peculiar trajectories

Physical evidence

Besides visual sightings, cases sometimes have alleged associated direct or indirect physical evidence, including many cases studied by the military and various government agencies of different countries. Indirect physical evidence would be data obtained from afar, such as radar contact and photographs. More direct physical evidence involves physical interactions with the environment at close range, or Hynek's "close encounter" cases, which include so-called "landing traces," electromagnetic interference, and physiological/biological effects.

Some of these cases have been shown to be deliberate hoaxes. Others have been shown to be explainable as natural or manmade phenomena. The remaining fraction have been labeled unidentified or unexplainable, including those of government studies. Analyses of such cases have results that are usually ambiguous or inconclusive.

A list of various purported physical evidence cases from government and private studies includes:

  • Radar contact and tracking, sometimes from multiple sites. These are often considered among the best cases since they usually involve trained military personnel and control tower operators, simultaneous visual sightings, and aircraft intercepts. One such recent example were the mass sightings of large, silent, low-flying black triangles in 1989 and 1990 over Belgium, tracked by multiple NATO radar and jet interceptors, and investigated by Belgium's military (included photographic evidence). [2]
  • Photograpic evidence, including still photos, movie film, and video, including some in the infrared spectrum (rare).
  • Recorded visual spectrograms (extremely rare) — (see Spectrometer)
  • Recorded gravimetric and magnetic disturbances (extremely rare)
  • Landing physical trace evidence, including ground impressions, burned and/or desiccated soil, burned and broken foliage, magnetic anomalies, increased radiation levels, and metallic traces. See, e.g. Height 611 UFO Incident or the 1964 Lonnie Zamora's Socorro, New Mexico encounter, considered one of the most inexplicable of the USAF Project Blue Book cases). A well-known example from December 1980 was the USAF Rendlesham Forest Incident in England. Another less than 2 weeks later, in January 1981, occurred in Trans-en-Provence and was investigated by GEPAN, then France's official government UFO-investigation agency..[3] Project Blue Book head Edward J. Ruppelt described a classic 1952 CE2 case of a Florida scoutmaster, at first thought to be a hoax until soil samples revealed charred grassroots.[4] Catalogs of several thousand such cases have been compiled, particularly by researcher Ted Phillips.[5][6]
  • Physiological effects on people and animals including temporary paralysis, skin burns and rashes, corneal burns, and symptoms resembling radiation poisoning, such as the Cash-Landrum incident in 1980. One such case dates back to 1886, a Venezuelan incident reported in Scientific American magazine. [7]
  • So-called Animal/Cattle Mutilation cases, that some feel are also part of the UFO phenomenon. Such cases can and have been analyzed using forensic science techniques.
  • Biological effects on plants such as increased or decreased growth, germination effects on seeds, and blown-out stem nodes (usually associated with physical trace cases or crop circles)
  • Electromagnetic interference (EM) effects, including stalled cars, power black-outs, radio/TV interference, magnetic compass deflections, and aircraft navigation, communication, and engine disruption.[8] A list of over 30 such aircraft EM incidents was compiled by NASA scientist Dr. Richard F. Haines.[9] A famous military case from 1976 over Tehran, recorded in CIA and DIA classified documents, resulted in communication losses in multiple aircraft and weapons system failure in an F-4 jet interceptor as it was about to fire a missile on one of the UFOs. This was also a radar/visual case. (Fawcett & Greenwood, 81-89; Good, 318-322, 497-502)[10]
  • Remote radiation detection, some noted in FBI and CIA documents occurring over government nuclear installations at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1950, also reported by Project Blue Book director Ed Ruppelt in his book. [11]
  • Actual hard physical evidence cases, such as 1957, Ubatuba, Brazil, magnesium fragments analyzed by the Brazilian government and in the Condon Report and by others. The 1964 Socorro/Lonnie Zamora incident also left metal traces, analyzed by NASA.
  • Misc: Recorded electromagnetic emissions, such as microwaves detected in the well-known 1957 RB-47 surveillance aircraft case, which was also a visual and radar case; [12] polarization rings observed around a UFO by a scientist, explained by Dr. James Harder as intense magnetic fields from the UFO causing the Faraday effect. [13]

Despite the low opinion of the subject matter possibly held by many scientists, many reported physical effects would seem to be ripe for scientific analysis. A comprehensive scientific review of physical evidence cases was carried out by the 1997 Sturrock UFO panel.[14]

Some scientists and engineers have attempted to reverse engineer the possible physics behind UFOs through analysis of both eyewitness reports and the physical evidence. Examples are former NASA engineer James McCampbell in his book Ufology online and NACA/NASA engineer Paul R. Hill in his book Unconventional Flying Objects. Among subjects tackled by both McCampbell and Hill was the question of how UFOs can fly at supersonic speeds without creating a sonic boom. McCampbell's solution of a microwave plasma parting the air in front of the craft is currently being researched by Dr. Leik Myrabo, Professor of Engineering Physics at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a possible advance in hypersonic flight.[15]1995 Aviation Week article

Some recently reported developments in electronic warfare mimic electromagnetic interference and physiologic effects described in UFO cases dating back to the 1940s and 1950s, and may conceivably be examples of military reverse engineering efforts. In late 1998, the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board issued a report on 21st century air force weaponry, in which they described microwave directed energy weapons that could be used to stall vehicles, making them easy targets for bombing. The same weapon is also reported capable of disrupting aircraft navigation and communication systems, as well as ground electronics and power grids. [16] A microwave crowd control nonlethal weapon causing heating and intense pain was announced in 2001. [17] Other microwave weapons have been proposed that would cause loss of bodily functions. [18] (See also wonder weapons)

Notable UFO-related sightings and events

Explanations

Statistics compiled by U.S. Air Force studies found that the strong preponderance of identified sightings were due to misidentifications, with hoaxes and psychological aberrations accounting for only a few percent of all cases.

Nevertheless, many cases remained unexplained. An Air Force study by Battelle Memorial Institute scientists in 1954 of 3200 USAF cases found 22% were unknowns, and with the best cases, 35% remained unsolved. Similarly about 30% of the UFO cases studied by the 1969 USAF Condon Committee were deemed unsolved when reviewed by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The official French government UFO scientific study (GEPAN/SEPRA) from 1976 to 2004 listed about 14% of 5800 cases as inexplicable.

Despite many unexplained cases, perhaps the general opinion of the mainstream scientific community is that all UFO sightings ultimately result from ordinary misidentification of natural and man-made phenomena, deliberate hoaxes, or psychological phenomena such as optical illusions or dreaming/sleep paralysis (often given as an explanation for purported alien abductions).

Such opinions among scientists are certainly not universal. For example, polls of scientific colleagues by astrophysicist Peter Sturrock found strong interest in investigating the subject. Further, antagonism to studying UFOs correlated directly with ignorance about the subject matter. Sturrock also assembled his own scientific panel in 1998 for an independent review of the evidence. The panel concluded the physical evidence linked to some sightings deserved additional scientific study. [19] Similarly, the AIAA deemed the subject definitely worthy of further scientific study after reviewing the Condon Report and its large percentage of unknowns (thus directly contradicting Edward Condon's conclusions).

Popular ideas for explaining UFOs

To account for hardcore unsolved cases, a number of explanations have been proposed by both proponents and skeptics. Among proponents, some of the more common explanations for UFOs are:

Similarly, skeptics usually propose the following explanations:

Usually a combination of explanations is cited to explain all cases, and even proponents will sometimes invoke skeptical explanations, such as man-made craft, to possibly account for some unsolved cases.

Identified flying objects (IFOs)

It has been estimated from various studies that 50-90% of all reported UFO sightings are eventually identified, while typically 10-20% remain unidentified (the remainder being "garbage cases" with insufficient information). Studies also show only a tiny percentage of UFO reports to be deliberate hoaxes; most are honest misidentifications of natural and man-made phenomena.

Generally studies indicate that misidentifications fall into three basic categories: astronomical causes (planets, stars, meteors, etc.), aircraft, and balloons. These typically account for 80-90% of the IFOs, with all other causes (such as birds, clouds, mirages, searchlights, etc.) being rare and accounting for the remainder.

The actual percentages of IFOs vs. UFOs depends on who is doing the study and can vary widely depending on the used database, evaluation criteria, personal biases, and politics. Results can also fluctuate from year to year. For details, see Identified flying objects

Hoaxes

Among the many people who have reported UFO sightings, some have been exposed as hoaxers. Not all alleged hoax exposures are certain, however, and many claimants have stuck by their stories, leaving the determination of specific cases as hoaxes contentious. Some of the controversial subjects include these:

  • Contactees such as George Adamski, who claimed he went on flights in UFOs. (Some believers even contend he had real experiences and later fictionalized others, leaving the subject murky.)
  • Billy Meier, some of whose photographs are claimed to be discredited and some of which would have been nearly impossible to hoax in his day.
  • Ed Walters of the Gulf Breeze, Florida UFO reports.
  • Documents surrounding Majestic 12, a purportedly supersecret high-level United States UFO information management group formed during the Truman administration.
  • The Maury Island Incident
  • Bob Lazar, who claimed to have been hired to help reverse engineer saucer craft at Area 51
  • The Ummo affair, a series of detailed letters and documents allegedly from extraterrestrials.
  • An online list of reportedly Discredited Sightings

Even where incidents are dismissed by skeptics as hoaxes, however, there remain credible accounts such as those by American and Russians astronauts who have declared their sightings publicly, such as that of L. Gordon Cooper, Col. USAF (ret), in his letter to the United Nations in November 9 1978.

Psychology

The study of UFO claims over the years has led to valuable discoveries about atmospheric phenomena and psychology. In psychology, the study of UFO sightings has revealed information on misinterpretation, perceptual illusions, hallucination and fantasy-prone personality, which may explain why some people are willing to believe hoaxers such as George Adamski. Many have questioned the reliability of hypnosis in UFO abduction cases.

Paranormal, mystical and occult crossover

The field of UFOs does not always necessarily overlap the paranormal, although in practice it often does. Some researchers, such as John Keel and Jacques Vallee, argue that there is a direct relationship between UFOs and paranormal phenomena. See Interdimensional hypothesis.

Also, some religious sects have made UFOs a part of their core beliefs. See Paranormal and Occult Hypotheses About UFOs.

Many ancient religious paintings contain images that have been interpreted as UFOs and alien beings. Some also believe that over long periods of history, nonhuman intelligences have influenced certain religions and customs. See ancient astronauts.

Astronomers and other scientists

Astronomer Philip Plait has argued that there are 100,000 amateur astronomers in the U.S. alone, they spend many hours looking at the sky and are very familiar with astronomical objects such as meteors, Venus, or satellites that might trigger a UFO report in the inexperienced sky observer. Yet, Plait says he has never heard personally of any amateur astronomer seeing something that they absolutely couldn't explain. Plait argues there are mundane explanations for the vast majority of UFO sightings (Plait 2002:205-206).

Even Ufologists agree the vast majority of sightings have prosaic explanations (see Identified Flying Objects). However, various surveys and compendiums of sightings indicate that astronomers do indeed have UFO sightings in numbers comparable to the general population (about 10%), and also seem to report them more frequently. For example, the Air Force's Project Blue Book files indicate that approximately 1% of all their reports came from amateur and professional astronomers or other users of telescopes (such as missile trackers or surveyors), whereas less than .1% of the general population would so qualify. A survey of about 500 amateur astronomers in 1969 resulted in 22% answering "yes" to the question, "Have you ever observed an object which resisted your most exhaustive efforts at identification?" A smaller group, 8%, responded positively to a subdivision of "high strangeness" including, "the observation of point sources or extended objects in abrupt discontinuous motion, or objects observed from sufficiently close distances to leave no doubt in the mind of the individual about their unconventional nature."

Dr. J. Allen Hynek in 1952 surveyed 45 fellow professional astronomers at an astronomy convention. 5 (11%) admitted to having a sighting. One of these was Clyde Tombaugh, who admitted to 3, and later admitted to 6, including 3 Green Fireball sightings. Tombaugh supported the Extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) for UFOs and stated he thought scientists who dismissed it without study were being "unscientific." Another astronomer was Dr. Lincoln La Paz, who had headed the Air Force's investigation into the Green Fireballs and other UFO phenomena in New Mexico. La Paz reported 2 personal sightings, one of a green fireball, the other of an anomalous disc-like object.

In 1975, astrophysicist Peter A. Sturrock did a much larger internal poll of 2600+ members of the AAS or American Astronomical Society (1300+ responded). 5% admitted to UFO sightings. An earlier, smaller survey in 1973 by Sturrock of 400+ members of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) again found about 5% reporting UFO sightings.

Various scientific studies have over the past half century have examined UFO reports in great detail. Some skeptics argue that these scientific studies have not found even one report that could be concluded to be an extraterrestrial spacecraft (e.g., Seeds 1995:A4). Some studies were neutral in their conclusions, but argued the inexplicable core cases called for continued scientific study. Other private or governmental studies, some secret, have concluded in favor of the ETH, or have had members who disagreed with the official public conclusions. The following are examples of such studies and individuals:

  • One of the earliest government studies to come to a secret ETH conclusion was Project Sign, the first official Air Force UFO investigation. In 1948, they wrote a top-secret intelligence estimate to that effect. The Air Force Chief of Staff ordered it destroyed. The existence of this suppressed report was revealed by several insiders who had read it, such as Edward J. Ruppelt, the first head of the USAF's Project Blue Book. (Ruppelt, Chapt. 3)
  • An early U.S. Army study, of which little is known, was called the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit (IPU). In 1987, British UFO researcher Timothy Good received a letter confirming the existence of the IPU from the Army Director of Counter-intelligence, in which it was stated, "...the aforementioned Army unit was disestablished during the late 1950's and never reactivated. All records pertaining to this unit were surrendered to the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations in conjunction with operation BLUEBOOK." The IPU records have never been released. (Good, 484).
  • In 1967, Greek physicist Paul Santorini, a Manhattan Project scientist, publicly stated that a 1947 Greek government investigation that he headed into the European Ghost rockets of 1946 quickly came to the conclusion that they were not missiles. Santorini claimed the investigation was then squashed by military officials from the U.S., who knew them to be extraterrestrial, because there was no defense against the advanced technology and they feared widespread panic should the results become public. (Good, 23)
  • Various European countries conducted a secret joint study in 1954, also concluding that UFOs were extraterrestrial. This study was revealed by German rocketry pioneer Hermann Oberth, a member of the study, who also made many public statements supporting the ETH.
  • During the height of the flying saucer epidemic of July 1952, including highly publicized radar/visual and jet intercepts over Washington D.C., the FBI was informed by the Air Force Directorate of Intelligence that they thought the "flying saucers" were either "optical illusions or atmospheric phenomena" but then added that, "some Military officials are seriously considering the possibility of interplanetary ships." FBI document
  • The CIA started their own internal scientific review the following day. Some CIA scientists were also seriously considering the ETH. An early memo from August was very skeptical, but also added, "...as long as a series of reports remains 'unexplainable' (interplanetary aspects and alien origin not being thoroughly excluded from consideration) caution requires that intelligence continue coverage of the subject." A report from later that month was similarly skeptical but nevertheless concluded "...sightings of UFOs reported at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge, at a time when the background radiation count had risen inexplicably. Here we run out of even 'blue yonder' explanations that might be tenable, and we still are left with numbers of incredible reports from credible observers." A December 1952 memo from the Assistant CIA Director of Scientific Intelligence (O/SI) was much more urgent: "...the reports of incidents convince us that there is something going on that must have immediate attention. Sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and traveling at highs speeds in the vicinity of U.S. defense installation are of such nature that they are not attributable to natural phenomena or known types of aerial vehicles." Some of the memos also made it clear that CIA interest in the subject was not to be made public, partly in fear of possible public panic. (Good,331-335)
  • The first CIA Director, Vice Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, stated in a signed statement to Congress, also reported in the New York Times, February 28, 1960, that, "It is time for the truth to be brought out... Behind the scenes high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense.... I urge immediate Congressional action to reduce the dangers from secrecy about unidentified flying objects." In 1962, in his letter of resignation from NICAP, he told director Donald Keyhoe, "I know the UFOs are not U.S. or Soviet devices. All we can do now is wait for some actions by the UFOs." (Good, 347)
  • Nick Pope, the head of the UK government UFO desk for a number of years, is an advocate of the ETH based on the inexplicable cases he reviewed, such as the Rendlesham UFO incident, although the British government has never made such claims.
  • Jean-Jacques Velasco, the head of the official French UFO investigation SEPRA, wrote a book in 2005 saying that 14% of the 5800 cases studied by SEPRA were utterly inexplicable and extraterrestrial in origin. [20] Again, this wasn't the official public posture of SEPRA or the French government.
  • The 1999 French COMETA committee of high-level military analysts/generals and aerospace engineers/scientists declared the ETH was the best hypothesis for the unexplained cases. [21]

Conspiracy theories

Main article: UFO conspiracy theory

UFOs are sometimes an element of elaborate conspiracy theories in which the government is said to be intentionally covering up the existence of aliens, or sometimes collaborating with them. There are many versions of this story; some are exclusive, while others overlap with various other conspiracy theories.

Probably most Ufologists believe the basic premise that various world governments are covering up UFO information. In the U.S., opinion polls again indicate that a strong majority of people believe the U.S. government is witholding such information. Various notables have also expressed such views. Some examples are astronauts Gordon Cooper and Edgar Mitchell, Senator Barry Goldwater, Admiral Lord Hill-Norton, former British Chief of Defense Staff and NATO head, and the 1999 high-level French COMETA report by various French generals and aerospace experts.

There is also speculation that UFO phenomena are tests of experimental aircraft or advanced weapons. In this case UFOs are viewed as failures to retain secrecy, or deliberate attempts at disinformation: to deride the phenomenon so that it can be pursued unhindered. This explanation may or may not feed back into the previous one, where current advanced military technology is considered to be adapted alien technology. (See also: skunk works and Area 51)

It has also been suggested by a few fringe authors that all or most human technology and culture is based on extraterrestrial contact. See also ancient astronauts.

Allegations of evidence suppression

Some also contend regarding physical evidence that it exists abundantly but is swiftly and sometimes clumsily suppressed by governments, aiming to insulate a population they regard as unprepared for the social, theological, and security implications of such evidence. See the Brookings Report.

There have been allegations of suppression of UFO related evidence for many decades. (See also Men in Black) Some examples are:

  • On July 7 1947, William Rhodes took photos of an unusual object over Phoenix, Arizona.[22] The photos appeared in a Phoenix newspaper and a few other papers. According to documents from Project Bluebook, an Army counter-intelligence (CIC) agent and an FBI agent interviewed Rhodes on August 29 and convinced him to surrender the negatives. The CIC agent deliberately concealed his true identity, leaving Rhodes to believe both men were from the FBI. Rhodes said he wanted the negatives back, but when he turned them into the FBI the next day, he was informed he wouldn't be getting them back, though Rhodes later tried unsuccessfully. [23][24] The photos were extensively analyzed and would eventually show up in some classified Air Force UFO intelligence reports. (Randle, 34-45, full account)
  • A June 27 1950, movie of a "flying disk" over Louisville, Kentucky, taken by a Louisville Courier-Journal photographer, had the USAF Directors of counterintelligence (AFOSI) and intelligence discussing in memos how to best obtain the movie and interview the photographer without revealing Air Force interest. One memo suggested the FBI be used, then precluded the FBI getting involved. Another memo said "it would be nice if OSI could arrange to secure a copy of the film in some covert manner," but if that wasn't feasible, one of the Air Force scientists might have to negotiate directly with the newspaper. [25][26] In a recent interview, the photographer confirmed meeting with military intelligence and still having the film in his possession until then, but refused to say what happened to the film after that.[27]
  • In another 1950 movie incident from Montana, Nicholas Mariana filmed some unusual aerial objects and eventually turned the film over to the U.S. Air Force, but insisted that the first part of the film, clearly showing the objects as spinning discs, had been removed when it was returned to him. (Clark, 398)
  • During the military investigation of Green Fireballs in New Mexico, UFOs were photographed by a tracking camera over White Sands Proving Grounds on April 27 1949. The final report in 1951 on the green fireball investigation claimed there was insufficient data to determine anything. But documents later uncovered by Dr. Bruce Maccabee indicate that triangulation was accomplished. The data reduction and photographs showed four objects about 30 feet in diameter flying in formation at high speed at an altitude of about 30 miles. Maccabee says this result was apparently suppressed from the final report. [28]
  • Project Blue Book director Edward J. Ruppelt reported that, in 1952, a U.S. Air Force pilot fired his jet's machine guns at a UFO, and that the official report which should have been sent to Blue Book was quashed. 1952 newspaper articles of USAF jets being ordered to shoot down saucers
  • Astronaut Gordon Cooper reported suppression of a flying saucer movie filmed in high clarity by two Edwards AFB range photographers on May 3 1957. Cooper said he viewed developed negatives of the object, clearly showing a dish-like object with a dome on top and something like holes or ports in the dome. The photographers and another witness, when later interviewed by Dr. James McDonald, confirmed the story. Cooper said military authorities then picked up the film and neither he nor the photographers ever heard what happened to it. The incident was also reported in a few newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times. The official explanation, however, was that the photographers had filmed a weather balloon distorted by hot desert air. McDonald, 1968 Congressional testimony, Case 41
  • Astronomer Jacques Vallee reported that in 1961 he witnessed the destruction of the tracking tapes of unknown objects orbiting the Earth. (However, Vallee indicated that this didn't happen because of government pressure but because the senior astronomers involved didn't want to deal with the implications.)
  • In 1965, Rex Heflin took four Polaroid photos of a hat-shaped object. Two years later (1967), two men posing as NORAD agents confiscated the prints. Just as mysteriously, the photos were returned to his mailbox in 1993. detailed article and photos
  • A March 1 1967 memo directed to all USAF divisions, from USAF Lt. General Hewitt Wheless, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, stated that unverified information indicated that unknown individuals, impersonating USAF officers and other military personnel, had been harrassing civilian UFO witnesses, warning them not to talk, and also confiscating film, referring specifically to the Heflin incident. AFOSI was to be notified if any personnel were to become aware of any other incidents. (Document in Fawcett & Greenwood, 236).
  • In 1996, the CIA revealed an instance from 1964 where two CIA agents posed as USAF representatives in order to recover a film cannister from a Corona spy satellite that had accidentally come down in Venezuela. The event was then publicly dismissed as an unsuccessful NASA space experiment.

Ufology - people and organizations

See also List of UFO researchers.

Organizations: U.S.

There have been a number of civilian groups formed to study UFO’s and/or to promulgate their opinions on the subject. Some have achieved fair degrees of mainstream visibility while others remain obscure. The groups listed below have embraced a broad variety of approaches, and have seen a correspondingly wide variety of responses from mainstream critics or supporters.

Use in film and television

See List of major UFO movies/tv shows

UFOs and Aliens in Games

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to UFO.

References

General

  • Dr. Thomas E. Bullard, "UFOs: Lost in the Myths", pages 141-191 in "UFOs, the Military, and the Early Cold War Era", pages 82-121 in "UFOs and Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge" David M. Jacobs, editor; 2000, University Press of Kansas, ISBN 0700610324
  • Jerome Clark, The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial, 1998, Visible Ink Press, ISBN 1-57859-029-9. Many classic cases and UFO history provided in great detail; highly documented.
  • Douglas Curran, In Advance of the Landing: Folk Concepts of Outer Space, 2001 (revised edition), Abbeville Press, ISBN 0-7892-0708-7. One of the few non-sensational (but fair) treaments of contemporary UFO legend and lore in N. America, including the so-called "contactee cults." The author actually traveled the United States with his camera and tape recorder and directly interviewed many individuals. Highly recommended.
  • Richard H. Hall, editor, The UFO Evidence: Volume 1, 1964, NICAP, reissued 1997, Barnes & Noble Books, ISBN 0760706271. Well-organized, exhaustive summary and analysis of 746 unexplained NICAP cases out of 5000 total cases--a classic.
  • Richard H. Hall, The UFO Evidence: A Thirty-Year Report, 2001, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 0-8108-3881-8. Another exhaustive case study, more recent UFO reports.
  • Alan Hendry, The UFO Handbook: A Guide to Investigating, Evaluating, and Reporting UFO Sightings, 1979, Doubleday & Co., ISBN 0-385-14348-6. Skeptical but balanced analysis of 1300 CUFOS UFO cases.
  • Dr. J. Allen Hynek, The UFO Experience: A scientific inquiry, 1972, Henry Regnery Co.
  • Dr. J. Allen Hynek, The Hynek UFO Report, 1997 (new edition), Barnes & Noble Books, ISBN 0-7607-0429-5. Analysis of 640 high-quality cases through 1969 by UFO legend Hynek.
  • Carl Sagan & Thornton Page, editors, UFO's: A Scientific Debate, 1972, Cornell University Press, 1996, Barnes & Noble Books, ISBN 0-76070-192-2. Pro and con articles by scientists, mostly to the skeptical side.
  • Dr. Peter A. Sturrock (1999). The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 0446525650

Debunkery

  • Philip Plait (2002). Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax". John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-40976-6. (Chapter 20: Misidentified Flying Objects: UFOs and Illusions of the Mind and Eye.)
  • Michael A. Seeds. (1995). Horizons: Exploring the Universe, Wadsworth Publishing, ISBN 0-534-24889-6 and ISBN 0-534-24890-X. (Appendix A)

Histories

  • Richard M. Dolan, UFOs and the National Security State: An Unclassified History, Volume One: 1941-1973, 2000, Keyhole Publishing, ISBN 0-9666885-0-3 9. Dolan is a professional historian.
  • Lawrence Fawcett & Barry J. Greenwood, The UFO Cover-Up, 1992, Fireside Books (Simon & Schuster), ISBN 0-671-76555-8. Many UFO documents.
  • Timothy Good, Above Top Secret, 1988, William Morrow & Co., ISBN 0-688-09202-0. Many UFO documents.
  • Kevin Randle, Project Blue Book Exposed, 1997, Marlowe & Company, ISBN 1-56924-746-3
  • Edward J. Ruppelt, The Report On Unidentified Flying Objects, 1956, Doubleday & Co. online. A UFO classic by insider Ruppelt, the first head of the USAF Project Blue Book

Technology

  • Paul R. Hill, Unconventional Flying Objects: a scientific analysis, 1995, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., ISBN 1-57174-027-9. Classic scientific analysis of UFO technology by pioneering NACA/NASA aerospace engineer.
  • James M. McCampbell, Ufology: A Major Breakthrough in the Scientific Understanding of Unidentified Flying Objects, 1973, 1976, Celestial Arts, ISBN: 0-89087-144-2 online. Another classic analysis by former NASA and nuclear engineer.

External links

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