A UFO or unidentified flying object is any object or optical phenomenon observed in the sky which cannot be identified. There has been ongoing speculation that UFOs are spacecraft constructed by extraterrestrial intelligence, but no unambiguous physical evidence that such a spacecraft has ever landed on earth has been presented.
The late astronomer and UFO proponent, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, defined a UFO sighting as "the reported perception of an object or light seen in the sky or upon the land the appearance, trajectory, and general dynamic and luminescent behaviour of which do not suggest a logical, conventional explanation and which is not only mystifying to the original percipients but remains unidentified after close scrutiny of all available evidence by persons who are technically capable of making a common sense identification, if one is possible."
History
Strange unidentified apparitions in the sky and on the ground have been reported throughout history. The army of Alexander the Great in 329 BC saw "two silver shields" in the sky. Ancient Roman records occasionally mention "shields" and even "armies" seen in the sky. In 1235 the army of Oritsume in Japan saw the mysterious lights in the sky. The appropriate report was made for emperor, and other appearances occurred in Japan in 1361. On April 14, 1561 the skies over Nuremberg were filled with a multitude of objects, including cylinders and spheres, seemingly engaged in an aerial battle. This event was witnessed by hundreds of people, as was a similar event in Basel in 1566, where numerous "flaming" and black globes appeared. In 1896-97, unidentified "Mystery airships" were reported in the United States, though some of these reports are now known to have been deliberate hoaxes.
Mystery airships were seen throughout Britain in 1909 and 1912 to 1913. These were thought to be German Zeppelins spying out the land prior to invasion. The same fears generated a similar scare in New Zealand and Australia in 1909. Airships and mystery aircraft were also seen over the USA in 1909 and 1910 and were thought to be the creation of Wallace Tillinghast, though this seems very doubtful. During the First World War there were mystery aircraft scares in South Africa, Canada, Great Britain and the USA. Most of these scares can be attributed to the misperception of stars, the work of hoaxers and their promotion by the media. These phantom airship scares are detailed in The Scareship Mystery edited by Nigel Watson (DOMRA, 2000).
In his travelogue Altai-Himalaya, Russian artist and mystic Nicholas Roerich reported sighting "an oval form with a shiny surface" flying high above Amdo, eastern Tibet in 1926. Though Roerich did not express an opinion as to what he thought it might be, surrounding passages discuss the technology of ancient civilizations as recounted by Theosophical lore.
There were several reports of unidentified airplanes in the Scandinavian countries in the 1930s. In Europe during World War II, "Foo-fighters" (luminous balls that followed airplanes) were reported by both Allied and Axis pilots. In 1946, there was a "wave" of "ghost rockets" seen over Scandinavia.
The modern phase in UFOs started with a claimed sighting by American businessman Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947, near Mount Rainier, Washington. Arnold said he saw nine bright objects flying at "incredible speed" at 10,000 feet (3,000 m) altitude. Though the UFOs Arnold witnessed were not by strict definition saucer-shaped, he described their movements as being similar to that of a saucer skipping over water, hence the origin of the term flying saucer. Arnold's claims subsequently received significant mainstream media and public attention.
Beginning in the 1950s, UFO-related spiritual sects began to appear. The Aetherius Society is an early example; more recent ones include Rael and Ashtar Command. Generally speaking, the aliens purported to sponsor such groups claim benevolent purposes such as warning humanity of the dangers of nuclear war, or inviting earth to join an interplanetary federation.
Whatever claimed by different persons is it quite clear the craft are not guided by any policy to establish contact with mankind. Instead they are supposed to operate more like supervisors. This was even the case with the reported UFO encounter by police sergeant Lonnie Zamora just outside the town Socorro in New Mexico, perhaps the best documented reported encounter.
By the 1970s, popular sentiment (reinforced through movies such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.) had it that UFOs were alien spacecraft, and that the aliens involved were benevolent. This model was all but overturned during the 1980s, with the publication of books by Whitley Strieber (beginning with Communion) and Jacques Vallee (notably 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. The cover of the paperback cover of Communion led to a new standard "grey" alien-head appearance (later satirized in Schwa). Both Strieber and Vallee were led to doubt that these beings were "extraterrestrials" as the term is ordinarily understood, and see more of a connection to elf and fairy lore. (Cf. Jung's comparison with angelic visions in his article Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies.) This newer, darker model can be seen in the subsequent wave of "alien abduction" literature, as well as in the X-Files background mythos.
Another important development in UFO lore occurred in the 1970s with the publication of Erich von Daniken's book Chariots of the Gods. The book argued that aliens have been visiting earth for thousands of years, thus explaining "UFO-like" images from various archeological sources as well as various "unsolved mysteries" (such as the Egyptian pyramids). This "ancient astronauts" theory inspired numerous imitators, sequels, and fictional adaptations, including one book (Barry Downing's The Bible and Flying Saucers) which interprets various miraculous aerial phenomena in the Bible as possible records of alien contact. Many of these theories have it that aliens have been guiding human evolution, a suggestion raised earlier by the novel and film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Yet another 1970s-era development was a tendency to group UFOs with subjects such as occultism, cryptozoology, and parapsychology. Many participants in the New Age movement came to believe in alien contact, perhaps through channeling. A prominent spokesperson for this trend would be Shirley MacLaine, especially in her book and miniseries, Out On a Limb.
Noting the variance of the above theories with 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 un-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.
Etymology
On January 25, 1878, The Denison Daily News wrote that John Martin, a local farmer, the previous day had reported seeing a large, dark, circular flying object resembling a balloon flying "at wonderful speed," and also used the word "saucer" in describing it. [1] This would be the first known use of the word "saucer" to describe an unidentified flying object. Some seventy years later in 1947, the media used the term "flying saucers" to describe Kenneth Arnold's sighting.
The nine objects Kenneth Arnold said he saw were not strictly saucer-shaped. Arnold initially described and drew a picture of eight of the objects as being thin and flat, circular in the front but truncated in the back and coming to a point. (See Kenneth Arnold for drawing and verbal descriptions.) Another, later, drawing was of a ninth, somewhat larger object with a boomerang or crescent shape, more resembling a flying wing style aircraft. However, several years later, Arnold said he had described their movement as a kind of skipping, like a saucer skimmed over water. He complained that the press misquoted him, picking up the "like a saucer" phrase, and reported it as a "flying saucer".
Another term commonly used by the media to describe the objects in the late 1940s and early 1950s was "flying disks."
By mid-1950, a Gallup poll revealed that the term "flying saucer" had become so deeply ingrained in the American vernacular, that 94% of those polled were familiar with it, making it the best-known term commonly appearing in the news, easily beating out others like "universal military training" (75%), "bookie" (67%), or "cold war" (58%).
Hollywood science fiction movies in the 1950s, such as The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Forbidden Planet (1956), and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), all depicting flying saucer-like craft, further entrenched the term as a cultural icon. So did popular books on the subject such as Frank Scully's Behind the Flying Saucers (1950), Donald Keyhoe's The Flying Saucers Are Real (1950) and Flying Saucers From Outer Space (1953), and "contactee"-oriented books, such as George Adamski's Flying Saucers Have Landed (1953).
"Flying Saucer" was the preferred term for most unidentified aerial sightings through the late 1940s to 1960s, even for those that were not actually saucer-shaped. The term "UFO" was more commonly used by the late 1960s. Use of "UFO" instead of "flying saucer" was first suggested in 1952 by Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, the first director of the U. S. Air Force's Project Blue Book, who felt that "flying saucer" failed to capture the diversity of the sightings. His suggestion was quickly adopted by the Air Force, who also briefly used "UFOB" through about 1954. Ruppelt recounted his experiences with Project Blue Book in his memoir, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (1956) online.
An unforeseen difficulty with the term "UFO" is that it often leads to semantic debates between skeptics and advocates. Skeptics often argue that "UFO" simply means that the object was "unidentified" by those making the sighting and doesn't mean the object is unexplainable, much less extraterrestrial. In contrast, researchers like Hynek have argued that the term should be strictly limited to those sightings that have been intensively investigated and still defy conventional explanation, which was the actual definition adopted by the Air Force in official directives in the 1950s. For example, 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." Furthermore, investigation of UFOBs was stated to be for the purposes of national security and to ascertain "technical aspects." Obviously such concerns would not apply to the usual explanations for most UFO sightings, such as natural phenomena or man-made conventional objects, except, perhaps, previously unknown foreign aircraft.
Thus the "U" in "UFO," instead of standing for "Unidentified," would more aptly stand for "Unexplained" or "Unconventional." Along these lines, Paul Hill, an early NACA/NASA aerospace engineer, titled his 1970s book on the subject, Unconventional Flying Objects.
In Spanish, Portuguese, and French, the acronym for UFO is OVNI(e.g., in Spanish, Objeto Volador No Identificado, in French, Objet volant Non Identifié). In Italian and Japanese, UFO is an acronym instead of an initialism.
Pronunciation
Ruppelt suggested that "UFO" should be pronounced as a word — "you-foe". This is common in the United Kingdom, but those in the United States seem to prefer the initialism, and typically pronounce each letter: "U.F.O."
Physicist Edward Condon suggested the word should be pronounced "ooh-foe", but this seems to have largely been ignored.
UFOs and popular culture
Regardless of any ultimate explanation, UFOs constitute an international cultural phenomenon of the last half-century. Since the mid-1900s, UFOs have been the subject of a very large number of books, motion pictures, songs, documentaries and other media. UFO topics were amongst the most popular on early computer Bulletin board systems, and millions of people have some degree of interest in the subject. There have also been notable hoaxes involving UFO reports, some which have received substantial press attention.
UFOs have played a role in tourism, such as in Roswell, New Mexico, site of a supposed UFO crash.
A 1996 Gallup poll reported that 71% of the United States' population believed that the government was covering up some information about UFOs. Another Gallup poll in 2001 found that 33% of respondents "believe that extraterrestrials have visited the Earth sometime in the past."
These two poll results may seem confusing or contradictory if one considers only the extraterrestrial hypothesis as an explanation for UFOs. The poll results may also simply suggest that a greater percentage of those polled believe that the U.S. Government has been less than forthright in regard to UFOs than accept the ETH.
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 wasn't 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 a person was, the more likely they were to hold such beliefs.
Typical reported characteristics of UFOs
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).
The number of different shapes, sizes, and configurations of claimed UFOs has been large, with descriptions of chevrons, equilateral triangles, spheres, domes, diamonds, shapeless black masses, eggs, and cylinders. Skeptics argue this diversity of shapes, size and configurations points to a socio-psychological explanation. Other researchers argue that the large diversity of UFO shapes points to a possible paraphysical origin. Still others argue that there is a large diversity in the shapes and sizes of human flying craft, reflecting different origins, propulsion systems, and purposes, so such diversity in UFOs is not necessarily unexpected or inexplicable.
Another argument is that the true underlying shape may, in some cases, be concealed or distorted by the ionization of air around the objects, believed by some researcher advocates, such as NASA engineers Paul Hill and James McCampbell, to be a characteristic of the propulsion system. Air ionization could also partly explain the diversity of colors reported, as different air molecules are excited at different energy levels, as well as the electric, neon-like glow around the objects often reported, similar to what happens with polar auroras. Another view is that the shape may be concealed or distorted by space-time distortions arising from an anti-gravity propulsion system. However, some feel that such speculation is overly premature because the very actuality of UFOs as alien craft is itself problematic.
Other advocates, arguing for the non-conventional interpretation, reply that the volume of impressive sightings reported by witnesses, from commercial airline pilots to United States presidents, and occasionally captured on film and radar, possesses strong consistency and cannot be explained away simply as mundane phenomena (weather balloons, aircraft, Venus, etc.).
One writer contends that UFO mass sightings — sometimes called "flaps" — are "a hard core of genuinely unusual sightings ... surrounded by a great deal more misidentification, wishful thinking and general flakiness." [4]
Other researchers, such as Jacques Vallee, argue that if UFO sightings are motivated by some mechanism through which the public can release hidden fears and satisfy a psychological need for fantasies, why did "UFO waves" not coincide with such science-fiction feats such as Orson Welles' radio adaptation of The War of the Worlds in 1938, or the motion-picture versions of Flash Gordon (1936-37)? Vallee points out that the theory regarding how the general public generates and propagates UFO reports as a way of releasing psychological tensions, is denied by the absence of correlation between notable periods of interest in science fiction and major peaks of UFO activity. It should also be noted that no single, comprehensive "psychological" theory to explain the generation of all UFO reports has yet been proposed. A notable attempt on the basis of his theory of archetypes was made by the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung in his book Flying Saucers (1959). Jung, however, also felt that at least some UFOs were "nuts and bolts" craft, based on physical evidence such as simultaneous radar contact.
Science and UFOs
Ufology is the study of UFO reports and associated evidence.
While most academics prefer to ignore the subject, others, including mostly amateur and some professional scientific researchers, continue to investigate. Unfortunately, quality of investigations by amateur researchers can vary enormously.
It is a common error to assume that the only question of interest provided by the subject is whether UFOs represent alien intelligence (Peter Sturrock has argued that this emphasis on the extraterrestrial hypothesis has narrowed the field and restricted debate). Putting aside the question of physical reality of UFOs, there have been studies of UFOs and UFO enthusiast subcultures from a folklore or anthropological perspective, and some feel the subject, at the very least, may provide new insights in the fields of psychology (both individual and social), sociology, and communications.
Since the late 1940s, people throughout the world have become familiar with UFO reports. These reports have been attributed to a wide range of causes including planets, stars, meteors, cloud formations, ball lightning, deliberate hoaxes, experimental military aircraft, hallucinations, and extraterrestrial spacecraft. Despite the large number of reports and great public interest, the scientific community has shown little interest in UFOs. This may be due in part to the fact that there are no public or government funds to support UFO research. Many scientists also assume that the 1969 Condon Report settled the issue, hence UFO data is no longer worth examining. It has also been contended that the CIA's 1953 Robertson Panel recommendations of official public ridicule through the mass media has made the subject scientifically and politically taboo. Each of these may have had some impact in dampening the interest of the scientific community in regard to UFO research.
UFOs have been subject to various investigations over the years, varying widely in scope and scientific rigor. Governments or military agencies of the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Sweden, Brazil, Mexico, Spain, and the Soviet Union, are known to have carried out the investigation of UFO reports at various times. Despite a strong residue of extremely puzzling cases, no national government has ever publicly suggested that UFOs represent any form of alien intelligence. Perhaps the best known study was Project Blue Book, conducted by the United States Air Force from 1952.
Despite unexplained cases, the general opinion of the mainstream scientific community is probably 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). 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. Still many academics feel that the subject is a waste of time, due to a number of factors. Unreliability of witness testimony is often cited.
It has been suggested, however, that rather few academics have actually researched the topic themselves or become personally familiar with the literature. As the Sturrock poll results below suggest, absence of study of the subject increases skepticism and strongly affects willingness to investigate. Some academics have argued that this constitutes unacceptable bias, and that while current evidence may be lacking, new evidence should be evaluated objectively as it arises. Some in the scientific community feel there is enough evidence to warrant further investigation efforts, comparing it to the period in the history of meteorite research or atmospheric electrical phenomena such as sprites or ball lightning when there was only witness testimony available. In such examples, the eyewitness accounts of such phenomena eventually proved correct despite initial skepticism, denial, and sometimes hostility from many scientists. Others point out that it is erroneous to claim the evidence is only observational and that a number of recorded physical effects also exist that are amenable to research by the physical sciences. These include simultaneous radar contact, photographs/movies/videos, radiation increases, electromagnetic interference, and physiological/biological effects. (See Physical Evidence section below)
Probably the most favored theory among advocates is the more conventional extraterrestrial hypothesis, though the Interdimensional hypothesis and the Paranormal/Occult Hypothesis for UFOs are sometimes given as possibilities by some.
Other reasons often cited for the disdain shown by many scientists for the subject are:
Arguments that aliens could not be here because of the distances and energies required for interstellar travel in a reasonable period of time, according to present-day understanding of physical law
Lack of indisputable physical evidence
The unreliability or scientific inadequacy of many reports
The many circumstances that can lead to misidentification of ordinary objects seen at a distance in the sky — a scientific, skeptical approach can cast reasonable doubt on the "strangeness" of cases that appear at first glance to be very impressive.
The general sensationalization surrounding the subject, including the perception that many amateur researchers lack proper scientific training and instead have a "readiness to believe"
While many scientists would agree that the sighting of a genuine extraterrestrial craft is not an impossibility, some also argue that that the patterns of reported UFO behavior do not personally strike them as rational. Why, for example, would sightings occur with great frequency for decades without any attempt by the alien intelligence to communicate its presence unambiguously? Or if an extraterrestrial civilization was engaged in mapping or otherwise investigating the earth, as some have hypothesized, why would it take so long, when present-day terrestrial technology, such as satellites, can do the job so quickly?
Proponents, however, note that there are counterarguments to all of these objections. Some of these are:
Many of the skeptical arguments rest on hidden or presumed assumptions about alien intentions and technology. Why would aliens necessarily make their presence unambiguously known? Why would alien interests necessarily be restricted to simple physical surveys? Why assume interstellar travel to be nearly impossible, basically an assumption that alien science and technology would not be that much more advanced than that of present-day humans?
Some arguments show a lack of knowledge of the available evidence. Many sightings, for example, are not of distant "lights in the sky," which might easily be simple misidentifications, but are of structured objects at close range, often with associated physical effects and evidence (see below).
Why focus on only poor cases when there are also many high-quality, unexplainable ones, even when investigated by trained scientists, such as those involved with the Battelle Institute investigation for the U.S. Air Force in the 1950's or the 1960's Condon Commission?
The Condon Report's negative conclusions seem to have been particularly damaging to the likelihood of large numbers of scientists involving themselves seriously in the investigation of UFOs. However, the conclusions section of the report was written by Condon, who expressed public disdain for the subject long before the investigation was concluded. Subsequent reviews by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and more recently by a scientific panel organized by Dr. Peter A. Sturrock [8], have shown that the conclusions section was badly at variance with the report's actual contents, where about 30% of the cases examined could not be explained. When the report came out in late 1969, atmospheric physicist Dr. James E. McDonald wrote a paper called "Science in Default," criticizing the Condon Report for bad science, and furthermore criticising mainstream science for its failure to deal with the subject. [9] Nonetheless, the positive evidence presented by Sturrock and others in support of UFO reality has seen little attention or support from other scientists.
Recently, hopes that this theme might be about to become respectable again were raised when a peer reviewed article on UFOs and SETI appeared in JBIS, the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. A good introduction to this aspect of the subject is given by one of the authors, astronomer Bernard Haisch, in his website [10], an introduction to the area for scientists, which has a link to the JBIS article.
This alleged widespread negative feeling among the scientific community regarding UFOs as outlined above has been challenged as inaccurate. Following a formal 1977 survey of the American Astronomical Society, Sturrock learned that a majority of those who responded to the survey (1356 responded; over half of the AAS membership) thought that UFOs deserved scientific study, and were willing to contribute their time and expertise to such studies. His results were: [11]
53% felt UFOs were definitely or probably a topic worthy of further scientific study vs. only 20% who felt they definitely or probably were not.
80% expressed a willingness to contribute to the resolution of the UFO question, though only 13% of these could think of a way to do so.
Lack of knowledge strongly contributed to skepticism and lack of willingness to investigate. Only 29% of those having spent less than an hour reading about the subject felt further investigation was warranted vs. 68% who had spent over 300 hours.
Younger scientists were more willing to investigate than older ones.
Skepticism against the extraterrestrial hypothesis ran high. Probabilities of conventional explanations such as hoax or familiar/unfamiliar craft or natural phenomena were rated at 13% to 23% vs. only 3% for UFOs being actual alien craft.
5% of respondents admitted to puzzling sightings; only 10% of these said they had reported their sightings.
Sturrock did another survey of over 400 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics members in 1973. About two-thirds thought UFOs were possibly, probably, or certainly a scientifically significant problem. 5% said they had had UFO sightings. 10% thought UFOs were from space. [12][13]
Sturrock noted in summarizing his surveys that guaranteed anonymity was important in getting high rates of response. Possibly fear of ridicule by colleagues or fear of professional repercussions may figure in suppressing open expression of interest in the subject within the scientific community. Dr. Jacques Vallee claims many scientists are interested in investigating UFOs but prefer to work quietly in the background because of the attached "ridicule factor." Vallee refers to these scientists as the "invisible college."
Other surveys of scientific/technical and well-educated groups also show clear interest in UFOs or belief that they are real or extraterrestrial. A 1971 survey of Industrial Research/Development magazine, based on 90,000 readers, found that 76% felt the government wasn't revealing all it knew about UFOs. 54% thought UFOs definitely or probably existed and 32% thought they came from outer space. A 1978 survey of Optical Spectra readers found 42% felt it "quite conceivable" that UFOs were space ships from other civilizations. Two 1970s surveys of MENSA members revealed over 50% thought they were from space. Opinion polls of the general public have also consistently shown that the higher the education the more likely people are to believe UFOs are real. For example, a 1978 Gallup poll found 66% of college graduates thought UFOs real vs. 57% for high school graduates and 36% for those with only grade school education. [14]
Still, some claim the general perception in the scientific community remains that, if UFO reports pose a scientific problem at all, it has more to do with psychology and the science of perception than with physical science. Indeed, most reports simply comprise narrative accounts of what someone saw or thought he saw in the sky. However, it is also pointed out that trying to reduce UFO sightings to mere psychological misperceptions of individuals is often inadequate. A large fraction of reports involve more than one witness, and sometimes an event is witnessed from two or more different locations. There have also been mass sightings, sometimes involving hundreds or even thousands of witnesses. Sightings may also be accompanied by corroborating information such as radar tracking, movies, or physical effects on individuals or the environment.
Others feel that physical scientists cannot get involved in the UFO problem unless there is associated physical evidence. If there is no physical evidence, then it is contended there is no way that physical scientists can contribute to the resolution of this problem.
One objection to this argument is that even eyewitness accounts can be treated with scientific methods to obtain important information. Witnesses to meteor fireballs, for example, can be interviewed to reconstruct trajectories, and this often leads to recovery of meteorite fragments. Accuracy and reliability of individual accounts is not essential if large numbers of sightings are analyzed, because statistical analysis can reveal important trends. One example of applying such techniques in researching UFO reports occurred during investigations of the mysterious Green Fireballs that suddenly appeared over sensitive military and research installations in New Mexico in the late 1940s. Hundreds of witnesses were interviewed to determine object characteristics and also to try to recover fragments through determination of trajectories.
A massive statistical analysis of UFO cases, called Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14, was commissioned by the USAF and carried out from 1952 to 1954 by the Battelle Memorial Institute (see United States government studies above). Statistician Dr. David Saunders, a member of the Condon Commission, recommended compiling a statistical data base of cases to determine trends, which eventually resulted in a catalog of over 10,000 cases compiled by Saunders and others. [15] Various other researchers have also compiled such databases, such as Dr. Jacques Vallee, [16] or Larry Hatch, who maintains a public database of thousands of cases with online statistical analyses. [17]
It has also been argued by various people, such as physicist Dr. Michio Kaku, that the demand for hard physical evidence (the fabled "alien hubcap") is an unreasonably restrictive one. Kaku and others have noted that much of physical science consists of indirect physical evidence, such as spectrograms of stars to determine composition. Nobody, for example, demands an actual piece of a neutron star for analysis.
Physical evidence
There have, in fact been many UFO reports accompanied by physical evidence of various kinds, both direct and indirect. Hynek's close encounter scale would define indirect physical evidence as data obtained from "close encounters of the first kind," i.e. data obtained from afar, such as radar contacts or photographs. More direct physical evidence comes from "close encounters of the second kind," interactions occurring at close range, which include so-called "landing traces," and physiological effects.
A small fraction of these cases have been shown to be deliberate hoaxes. A larger fraction, including those researched by governmental and military authorities, have been labeled unidentified or unexplainable. Analyses of most cases have results that are ambiguous or inconclusive. However, even the ambiguous physical cases should be amenable to statistical analysis to reveal possible underlying trends across cases.
A list of various physical evidence cases includes:
Radar contact and tracking, sometimes from multiple sites. These are often considered among the best cases since they usually involve trained military personnel, 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.
Photograpic evidence, including still photos, movie film, and video, including some in 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 dessicated soil, burned and broken foliage, metallic and other traces (see e.g. Lonnie Zamora's encounter, or the Height 611 UFO Incident), magnetic anomalies, and increased radiation levels. A well-known example from 1980 was the USAF Rendlesham Forest Incident in England. Another from 1964 occurred at Socorro, N.M. and was considered one of the most inexplicable of the USAF Project Blue Book cases. Catalogs of several thousand such cases have been compiled, particularly by researcher Ted Phillips.[18][19]
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. [20]
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 effects, including stalled cars, power black-outs, radio/TV interference, magnetic compass deflections, and aircraft navigation, communication, and engine disruption.[21]
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. [22]
Actual hard physical evidence cases, such as 1957, Ubatuba, Brazil, magnesium fragments analyzed in the Condon Report and by others. The 1964 Socorro 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; [23] polarization rings observed around a UFO by a scientist, theorized by Dr. James Harder as intense magnetic fields from the UFO causing the Faraday effect. [24]
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.[25]
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 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.[26]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. [27] A microwave crowd control nonlethal weapon causing heating and intense pain was announced in 2001. [28] Other microwave weapons have been proposed that would cause loss of bodily functions.
Identified flying objects (IFOs)
It has been estimated that up to 90% of all reported UFO sightings are eventually identified. While a small percentage of UFO reports are deliberate hoaxes, most are misidentifications of natural and man-made phenomena.
However, the actual percentages of IFOs vs. UFOs depends on who is doing the study and can vary widely depending on criteria. For example, scientists for the Battelle Memorial Institute, who did a study for the USAF of 3201 UFO cases in the 1950s, ended up with 22% being unidentified, using the stringent criteria that all four analysts had to agree that the case had no prosaic explanation, whereas agreement of only two analysts was needed to list the case as explained.
In contrast, much more conservative numbers for the percentage of UFOs were arrived at individually by Allen Hendry, who was the chief investigator for the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS). CUFOS was founded by Dr. Allen Hynek (who had been a consultant for the Air Force’s Project Blue Book) to provide a serious scientific investigation into UFOs. Hendry spent 15 months personally investigating 1,307 UFO reports. In 1979, Hendry published his conclusions in The UFO Handbook: A Guide to Investigating, Evaluating, and Reporting UFO Sightings. Hendry admitted that he would like to find evidence for extraterrestrials but noted that the vast majority of cases had prosaic explanations. Hendry’s conclusions were:
"Out of 1,307 cases: 1,194 (91.4%) had clear prosaic (non-extraterrestrial) explanations; 93 (7.1%) had possible prosaic explanations; and 20 (1.5%) were unexplained.
Statistics: 28% of the UFO reports were bright stars or planets; 1.7% were the tip of the crescent moon; 18% were advertising plane banners (usually seen edge-on rather than the face-on); and 9% were fireballs and reentering space debris.
Distortions in the atmosphere can cause celestial bodies to appear to “dart up and down,” “execute loops and figure eights,” “meander in a square pattern,” or even “zigzag.” This helps explain why celestial bodies can so easily fool observers.
In 49 of the UFO reports caused by celestial bodies, the witness’ estimated distance to the UFO ranged from 200 feet to 125 miles (60 m to 200 km). Similarly, some witnesses believed that the UFO was “following them” even though the celestial body was actually stationary. Even police and other reliable witnesses can easily be fooled by sightings of stars and planets.
Reentering space debris or meteors may appear as a string of lights, which can be misinterpreted as lights coming from windows of a spacecraft. The human brain then creates the illusion of a spacecraft based on this misinterpretation, which then fools the observer."
Common misidentifications of human phenomena include:
Balloons (meteorological or passenger).
Military aircraft.
Flashing landing lights of conventional aircraft.
Unconventional aircraft or advanced technology (i.e., the SR-71 Blackbird or the B-2 Stealth bomber).
Advertising planes.
Artificial earth satellites (and particularly satellite flares, which can be surprisingly bright)
Hovering aircraft (such as helicopters).
Blimps.
Rockets and rocket launches.
Kites.
Model aircraft.
Hang-gliders.
Fireworks.
Lasers aimed at the clouds.
Searchlights.
Deliberate hoaxes.
Jiffy Fire Starters.
Common misidentifications of natural objects include:
The moon, stars, and planets (for example, the cusps of the rising crescent moon in the tropics, and Venus at maximum brightness)
Unusual weather conditions (such as lenticular cloud formations, noctilucent clouds, rainbow effects, and high-altitude ice crystals).
Comets.
Meteor Swarms.
Near or large meteors.
Flocks of birds.
Swarms of flying insects.
Reflections from atmospheric inversion layers.
Hot ionized gas (natural or man-made).
Earth lights (luminous electrical events from low-level earthquakes and tectonic-geological phenomena.)
Ball lightning.
Atmospheric inversion layers.
Reflected light (especially through broken clouds).
Aurora borealis (northern lights).
Evidence and explanations
Some feel that UFO study is still a worthwhile topic because of open questions, especially due to occasional reports of UFOs from professional or military astronomers or pilots — individuals whose careers, and often their very lives, rely on their ability to recognize and assess aircraft, weather conditions, distances, and other factors vital to flight. Some Ufologists argue such cases are more difficult to dismiss as misidentification of mundane objects. Gordon Cooper and Edgar Mitchell are two NASA astronauts who have expressed an interest in UFOs, and both have decried what they consider the biased attitudes of some professionals; Cooper claims to have seen UFOs in the early 1950s.
It is also noted that UFO evidence goes beyond just eyewitness accounts. There is sometimes corroborating evidence such as simultaneous radar contact, photographs/movies/video, or physical interactions with the environment, e.g., electromagnetic interference, physiological effects, or "landing traces." (see Science and UFOs section)
Skeptics and ufologists both agree that the vast majority of cases can be explained as natural phenomena, usually misidentification of objects that viewers are either unfamiliar with or see in unusual conditions. These turn out to be honest mistakes. Only a few percent of sightings have been actual hoaxes.
After investigation, most UFOs actually become IFOs — Identified Flying Objects. However, a small residual, from 3% to 30% depending on who is doing the counting, remain unexplained. The 1950s Battelle Memorial Institute statistical study, commissioned by Project Blue Book, found that it was actually the better cases with the better witnesses and evidence that tended to defy explanation. Their percentage of unexplained cases out of 3200 studied was 22%, which went up to 35% for the best cases.
However, even if the overwhelming majority of all UFOs become IFOs, one well documented case such as the Chile 1997 radar/visual case confirmed by the government in Santiago [30] is sufficient to negate the 'null hypothesis'. Similarly, Physicist Michio Kaku states that although "perhaps 99% of all sightings of UFOs can be dismissed as being caused by familiar phenomena" that "What is disturbing, to a physicist however, is the remaining 1% of these sightings, which are multiple sightings made by multiple methods of observations. Some of the most intriguing sightings have been made by seasoned pilots and passengers aboard air line flights which have also been tracked by radar and have been videotaped. Sightings like this are harder to dismiss."[31]
On the other hand, many still inexplicable cases are either ignored by the media or, if a purported skeptic offers an explanation that fails to fit the facts (e.g., Zig-zagging formation of lights and confirmed by radar are blamed on misinterpreting 'Jupiter'), it is often taken up by the press and the case is closed, as far as the media is concerned.
It is sometimes said that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", but many pro-research groups only claim that the topic deserves further investigation, not that UFOs are necessarily alien craft. The threshold of evidence for further investigation is lower than that for a conclusion about the nature of UFOs.
Skeptics say there are indeed genuine sightings of strange flying objects, which are usually logically explained, that no physical evidence of an alien spacecraft has ever been produced, and that many claims have been proven as fraudulent. They also note that the burden of proof lies with whomever makes a claim. On the other hand, however, Marcello Truzzi, (sociology professor at Eastern Michigan University) contends that some self-described skeptics are misusing the term (or even misrepresenting their opinions): "Since 'skepticism' properly refers to doubt rather than denial — non-belief rather than belief — critics who take the negative rather than an agnostic position but still call themselves 'skeptics' are actually pseudo-skeptics and have, I believed, gained a false advantage by usurping that label."[32]
Supporters also often argue that the subject is prejudiced by ridicule and stigma, (Kaku agrees with this; in the article cited above he writes that "There is no funding for anyone seriously looking at unidentified objects in space, and one's reputation may suffer if one pursues an interest in these unorthodox matters"), and that an extremely large body of compelling evidence not as yet disproved or effectively countered also exists, including photography, motion video, and multiple independently corroborated sworn affidavits.
Evidence and suppression
Some also contend regarding physical evidence that it exists abundantly but is swiftly and sometimes clumsily suppressed by governmental entities, not always in uniform, with a strong agenda to insulate a population they regard as psychologically not yet prepared for the social, theological, and security implications of such a reality. See the Brookings Report.
There have been scattered reports of suppression of UFO related evidence for many decades: In 1950, Nicholas Mariana filmed some unusal areal objects and eventually turned the film over to the U.S. Air Force, but insisted that the clearest shots of the objects had been removed from the film when it was returned to him; Jacques Vallee reported that in 1961 he witnessed the destruction of the tracking tapes of unknown objects orbiting the earth; Edward J. Ruppelt reported that, in 1952, a U.S. Air Force pilot fired his jet's machine guns at at UFO, and that the official report which should have been sent to Blue Book was quashed.
Suppression of evidence confirming the existence of extraterrestrial life was considered following the discovery of pulsars. Astrophysicist Peter A. Sturrock writes that "when the first regular radio signals from pulsars were discovered, the Cambridge scientists seriously considered that they might have come from an extraterrestrial civilization. They debated this possibility and decided that, if this proved to be correct, they could not make an announcement without checking with higher authorities. There was even some discussion about whether it might be in the best interests of mankind to destroy the evidence and forget it!" (Sturrock, 154)
Hoaxes
Among the many people who have reported UFO sightings, some have been exposed as hoaxers. Many have held to their stories in spite of persuasive evidence of a hoax, and the determination of specific cases as hoaxes has been contentious. The cases listed below are widely suspected of hoaxing, though some still have defenders among their supporters:
George Adamski, who claimed he went on flights in UFOs.
Ed Walters of the Gulf Breeze, Florida UFO reports.
Majestic 12, purportedly a secret, high-level United States UFO study group.
The Maury Island Incident
Bob Lazar who claimed to have examined UFOs at Area 51
Billy Meier, a busy photographer whose work has largely been discredited.
The Ummo affair, a series of detailed letters and documents allegedly from extraterrestrials.
An online list of Discredited Sightings
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.
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.
Do they really exists?
