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Unidentified flying object

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"UFO" redirects here. For other uses, see UFO (disambiguation).
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Unidentified flying object (commonly abbreviated as UFO) is the popular term for any aerial phenomenon whose cause cannot be easily or immediately determined.[1] Both military and civilian research show that a significant majority of UFO sightings are identified after further investigation, either explicitly or indirectly through the presence of clear and simple explanatory factors (see Occam's Razor).[2] The United States Air Force, who coined the term in 1952, initially defined UFOs as those objects which remain unidentified after scrutiny by expert investigators,[3] though the term UFO is often used more generally to describe any sighting unidentifiable to the reporting observer(s). Popular culture frequently takes the term UFO as a synonym for alien spacecraft. Some investigators now prefer to use the broader term Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (or UAP), to avoid the confusion and speculative associations that have become attached to UFO.[4]

Studies have established that only a small percentage of reported UFOs are actual hoaxes,[5] while the majority are observations of some real but conventional object - most commonly aircraft, balloons, or astronomical objects such as meteors or bright planets - which have been misidentified by the observer as anomalies. A small percentage of reported sightings (usually 5%-20%) are classified as unidentified flying objects in the strictest sense. (see below for some studies)

UFO reports became more common after the first widely publicized US sighting - reported by private pilot Kenneth Arnold in 1947 - which gave rise to the popular terms "flying saucer" and "flying disc". Since then, millions of people have reported that they have seen UFOs[6].

Non-prosaic explanations of UFOs have received very little attention or support in mainstream scientific literature. Some scientists have argued that all UFO sightings are misidentifications of prosaic natural phenomena. [7] Historically, there was debate among some prominent scientists, including members of the AAAS, regarding whether UFOs warranted serious scientific investigation. [8] [9] [10] [11]

Contents

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History

Unexplained aerial observations have been reported throughout history. Some were undoubtedly astronomical in nature: comets, bright meteors, one or more of the five planets which can be seen with the naked eye, planetary conjunctions, or atmospheric optical phenomena such as parhelia and lenticular clouds. An example is Halley's Comet, which was recorded first by Chinese astronomers in 240 B.C. and possibly as early as 467 B.C.

Other historical reports seem to defy prosaic explanation, but assessing such accounts is difficult. Whatever their actual cause, such sightings throughout history were often treated as supernatural portents, angels, or other religious omens. Some objects in medieval paintings seem strikingly similar to UFO reports.[12]Art historians explain those objects as religious symbols, often represented in many other paintings of Middle-Age and Renaissance.[13]

Shen Kuo (1031–1095), a Song Chinese government scholar-official and prolific polymath inventor and scholar, wrote a vivid passage in his Dream Pool Essays (1088) about an unidentified flying object. He recorded the testimony of eyewitnesses in 11th century Anhui and Jiangsu (especially in the city of Yangzhou), who stated that a flying object with opening doors would shine a blinding light from its interior (from an object shaped like a pearl) that would cast shadows from trees for ten miles in radius, and was able to take off at tremendous speeds.[14]

Early modern (pre-1947) reports

Main article: List of UFO sightings

Before the terms "flying saucer" were coined in 1947 and "UFO" in 1952, there were a number of reports of unidentified aerial phenomena. These reports date from the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century. They include:

  • On January 25, 1878, The Denison Daily News wrote that local farmer John Martin had reported seeing a large, dark, circular flying object resembling a balloon flying "at wonderful speed." Martin also said it appeared to be about the size of a saucer, the first known use of the word "saucer" in association with a UFO. [15]
  • 1916 and 1926: the three oldest known pilot UFO sightings, of 1305 cataloged by NARCAP. On January 31, 1916, a UK pilot near Rochford reported a row of lights, like lighted windows on a railway carriage, that rose and disappeared[citation needed]. In January 1926, a pilot reported six "flying manhole covers" between Wichita, Kansas and Colorado Springs, Colorado[citation needed].
  • On August 5, 1926, while traveling in the Humboldt Mountains of Tibet's Kokonor region, Nicholas Roerich reported that members of his expedition saw "something big and shiny reflecting sun, like a huge oval moving at great speed"[citation needed][dubious – discuss].
  • In the Pacific and European theatres during World War II, "Foo-fighters" (metallic spheres, balls of light and other shapes that followed aircraft) were reported and on occasion photographed by Allied and Axis pilots but were explained by scientists as St. Elmo's Fire or illusions. [16][17]
  • On February 25, 1942, the U.S. Army detected a unidentified aircraft both visually and on radar over the Los Angeles, California region. No readily apparent explanation was offered. The incident later became known as the Battle of Los Angeles, or the West coast air raid.
  • In 1946, there were over 2000 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. Over 200 were tracked on radar and deemed to be "real physical objects" by the Swedish military[citation needed].

The Kenneth Arnold sightings

Main article: Kenneth Arnold#June 24, 1947 UFO sighting
This shows the report Kenneth Arnold filed in 1947 about his UFO sighting.

The post World War II UFO phase in the United States began with a famous 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.

This shows Kenneth Arnold holding a picture of a drawing of the crescent shaped UFO he saw in 1947.

Although there were other 1947 U.S. sightings of similar objects that preceded this, it was Arnold's sighting that first received significant media attention and captured the public's imagination. Arnold described what he saw as being "flat like a pie pan", "shaped like saucers and were so thin I could barely see them...", "half-moon shaped, oval in front and convex in the rear. ...they looked like a big flat disk" (see Arnold's drawing at right), and flew "like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water". (One of the objects, however, he would describe later as being almost crescent-shaped, as shown in illustration at left.) Arnold’s descriptions were widely reported and within a few days gave rise to the terms flying saucer and flying disk.[18] Arnold’s sighting was followed in the next few weeks by hundreds of other reported sightings, mostly in the U.S., but in other countries as well.

After reports of the Arnold sighting hit the media, other cases began to be reported in increasing numbers. In one instance a United Airlines crew sighting of nine more disc-like objects over Idaho on the evening of July 4. At the time, this sighting was even more widely reported than Arnold’s and lent considerable credence to Arnold’s report[19]

American UFO researcher Ted Bloecher, in his comprehensive review of newspaper reports (including cases that preceded Arnold's), found a sudden surge upwards in sightings on July 4, peaking on July 6–8. Bloecher noted that for the next few days most American newspapers were filled with front-page stories of the new "flying saucers" or "flying discs". Reports began to rapidly tail off after July 8 [20], when officials began issuing press statements on the Roswell UFO incident, in which they explained the debris as being that of a weather balloon. [21]

Over several years in the 1960s, Bloecher (aided by physicist James E. McDonald) discovered 853 flying disc sightings that year from 140 newspapers from Canada, Washington D.C, and every U.S. state except Montana. [22]

Investigations

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, Chile, Mexico, Spain, and the Soviet Union are known to have investigated UFO reports at various times. Among the best known government studies are Project Blue Book, previously Project Sign and Project Grudge, conducted by the United States Air Force from 1947 until 1969, the secret U.S. Army/Air Force Project Twinkle investigation into green fireballs (1948–1951), and Brazilian Air Force Operation Saucer (1977). A public research effort conducted by the Condon Committee for the USAF, which arrived at a negative conclusion in 1968, marked the end of the US government's official investigation of UFOs, though documents indicate various government intelligence agencies continue to unofficially investigate or monitor the situation. [23]

There has been little mainstream scientific study of UFOs, and the topic has received little attention in mainstream scientific literature. Official studies were ceased in the US in December 1969 subsequent to the statement by Edward Condon that the study of UFOs probably could not be justified in the expectation that science would be advanced. [10] It has been claimed that all UFO cases are anecdotal [24] and that all can be explained as prosaic natural phenomena. The Condon report and these conclusions were endorsed by the National Academy of Scientists, of which Condon was a member.

Ccontroversy has surrounded the report, both before and after it was released. It has been claimed that the report was "harshly criticized by numerous scientists, particularly at the powerful AIAA ... [who] recommended moderate, but continuous scientific work on UFOs". [10]. In an address made to the AAAS, James E. McDonald stated that he believed science had failed to mount adequate studies of the problem, criticizing the Condon report and prior studies by the US Air Force for being scientifically deficient. He also questioned the basis for Condon's conclusions [25] and argued that the reports of UFOs have been "laughed out of scientific court." [9]

No public government investigation has ever publicly and openly declared UFOs to be real, unexplained objects or of concern to national defense. Some private studies have been neutral in their conclusions, but argued the inexplicable core cases called for continued scientific study. Examples are the Sturrock Panel study of 1998 and the 1970 AIAA review of the Condon Report.

American investigations

Following the large U.S. surge in sightings in June and early July 1947, on July 9, 1947, Army Air Force (AAF) intelligence, in cooperation with the FBI, began a formal investigation into selected best sightings with characteristics that could not be immediately rationalized, which included Kenneth Arnold’s and the United Airlines crew’s. The AAF used "all of its scientists" to determine whether or not "such a phenomenon could, in fact, occur". The research was "being conducted with the thought that the flying objects might be a celestial phenomenon," or that "they might be a foreign body mechanically devised and controlled."[26] Three weeks later in a preliminary defense estimate, the air force investigation decided that, "This ‘flying saucer’ situation is not all imaginary or seeing too much in some natural phenomenon. Something is really flying around."[27]

A further review by the intelligence and technical divisions of the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field reached the same conclusion, that "the phenomenon is something real and not visionary or fictitious," that there were objects in the shape of a disc, metallic in appearance, and as big as man-made aircraft. They were characterized by "extreme rates of climb [and] maneuverability," general lack of noise, absence of trail, occasional formation flying, and "evasive" behavior "when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar," suggesting a controlled craft. It was thus recommended in late September 1947 that an official Air Force investigation be set up to investigate the phenomenon. It was also recommended that other government agencies should assist in the investigation. [28]

This led to the creation of the Air Force’s Project Sign at the end of 1947, one of the earliest government studies to come to a secret extraterrestrial conclusion. In August 1948, Sign investigators wrote a top-secret intelligence estimate to that effect. The Air Force Chief of Staff Hoyt Vandenberg ordered it destroyed. The existence of this suppressed report was revealed by several insiders who had read it, such as astronomer and USAF consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, the first head of the USAF's Project Blue Book. [29]

Project Sign was dismantled and became Project Grudge at the end of 1948. Angered by the low quality of investigations by Grudge, the Air Force Director of Intelligence reorganized it as Project Blue Book in late 1951, placing Ruppelt in charge. Blue Book closed down in 1970, ending the official Air Force UFO investigations. However, a 1969 USAF document, known as the Bolender memo, plus later government documents revealed that nonpublic U.S. government UFO investigations continued after 1970. The Bollender memo first stated that "reports of unidentified flying objects which could affect national security... are not part of the Blue Book system," indicating that more serious UFO incidents were already handled outside of the public Blue Book investigation. The memo then added, "reports of UFOs which could affect national security would continue to be handled through the standard Air Force procedures designed for this purpose."

Use of UFO instead of the popular flying saucer was first suggested in 1952 by Ruppelt, 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, for Unidentified Flying Object. 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.[30]

Air Force Regulation 200-2,[31] issued in 1953 and 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 as a "possible threat to the security of the United States" and "to determine technical aspects involved." As with any then-ongoing investigation, Air Force personnel did not discuss the investigation with the press.[32][33]

Well known American investigations include:

Another early U.S. Army study, established sometime in the 1940s and 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 1950s 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.[34]

Thousands of documents released under FOIA also indicate that many U.S. intelligence agencies collected (and still collect) information on UFOs, including the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), FBI, CIA, National Security Agency (NSA), as well as military intelligence agencies of the Army and Navy, in addition to the Air Force. [35]

The investigation of UFOs has also attracted many civilians, who in the U.S formed research groups such as National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP, active 1956-1980), Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO, 1952-1988), Mutual UFO Network (MUFON, 1969-), and Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS, 1973-).

Canadian investigation

The Falcon Lake incident report filed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Stephen Michalak claimed incident with a UFO.

In Canada, the Department of National Defence has dealt with reports, sightings and investigations of UFOs across Canada. In addition to conducting investigations into crop circles in Duhamel, Alberta, it still identifies the Falcon Lake incident in Manitoba and the Shag Harbour incident in Nova Scotia as "unsolved".[36]

The Canadian studies include Project Magnet (1950–1954) and Project Second Story (1952–1954)

French investigation

Sister project Wikinews has related news:

In March 2007, the French Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES) published an archive of UFO sightings and other phenomena online.[37]

French studies include GEPAN/SEPRA/GEIPAN (1977–), within the French space agency CNES, the longest ongoing government-sponsored investigation, and the private French COMETA panel (1996–1999)

British investigation

The UK conducted various investigations into UFO sightings and related stories. The contents of some of these investigations have since been released to the public.

Eight file collections on UFO sightings, dating from 1978 to 1987, were first released on May 14, 2008, to the UK National Archives by the Ministry of Defence.[38] Although kept secret from the public for many years, most of the files have low levels of classification and none is classified Top Secret. 200 files are set to be made public by 2012. The files are correspondence from the public sent to government officials, such as the MoD and Margaret Thatcher. The MoD released the files under the Freedom of Information Act due to requests from researchers. [39] These files include, but are not limited to, UFOs over Liverpool and the Waterloo Bridge in London.[40]

On October 20, 2008 more UFO files were released. One case released detailed that in 1991 an Alitalia passenger aircraft was approaching Heathrow Airport when the pilots saw what they described as a "cruise missile" flew extremely close to the cockpit. The pilots believed that a collision was imminent. UFO expert Dr David Clarke says that this is one of the most convincing cases for a UFO he has come across. [41]

British investigations include The UK's Flying Saucer Working Party. Its final report, published in 1951, remained secret for over 50 years. The Working Party concluded that all UFO sightings could be explained as misidentifications of ordinary objects or phenomena, optical illusions, psychological delusions or hoaxes. The report stated: ‘We accordingly recommend very strongly that no further investigation of reported mysterious aerial phenomena be undertaken, unless and until some material evidence becomes available’.

A secret study of UFOs undertaken for the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) between 1996 and 2000 and was publicly released in 2006. The report is titled "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Defence Region" and was code-named Project Condign. The report confirmed earlier findings that the main causes of UFO sightings are misidentification of man-made and natural objects. The report noted: "No artefacts of unknown or unexplained origin have been reported or handed to the UK authorities, despite thousands of UAP reports. There are no SIGINT, ELINT or radiation measurements and little useful video or still IMINT." It concluded: "There is no evidence that any UAP, seen in the UKADR [UK Air Defence Region], are incursions by air-objects of any intelligent (extraterrestrial or foreign) origin, or that they represent any hostile intent."

In contrast, Nick Pope, who headed the MoD UFO desk from 1991-1994, states that while about 80% of the cases he investigated were misidentifications of known objects and phenomena (while 15% of sightings had insufficient information), about 5% "seemed to defy any conventional explanation." These included cases with multiple and/or highly trained witnesses such as pilots or military personnel, corroboration from radar or video/photography, and involved apparent structured craft with speeds and maneuverability beyond that of human origin.[42] Stopping short of an extraterrestrial explanation (though not discounting it), Pope believes the UFO phenomenon is quite real and raises serious defense, national security, and air safety issues. Pope describes many of the perplexing cases, such as the Rendlesham Forest incident, and the politics surrounding UFOs in his book Open Skies, Closed Minds.

Astronomer reports

The Air Force's Project Blue Book files indicate that approximately 1%[43] of all unknown reports came from amateur and professional astronomers or other users of telescopes (such as missile trackers or surveyors). In the 1970s, astrophysicist Peter A. Sturrock conducted two surveys of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and American Astronomical Society. About 5% of the members polled indicated that they had had UFO sightings.

Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who admitted to six UFO sightings, including three green fireballs 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 LaPaz, who had headed the Air Force's investigation into the green fireballs and other UFO phenomena in New Mexico. LaPaz reported two personal sightings, one of a green fireball, the other of an anomalous disc-like object. Even later UFO debunker Dr. Donald Menzel filed a UFO report in 1949.

In 1980, a survey of 1800 members of various amateur astronomer associations by Gert Helb and astronomer J. Allen Hynek of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) found that 24% responded "yes" to the question "Have you ever observed an object which resisted your most exhaustive efforts at identification?"[44]

Identification of UFOs

Main article: Identification studies of UFOs
Fata Morgana, a type of mirage in which objects located below the astronomical horizon appear to be hovering in the sky, may be responsible for some UFO sightings. Fata Morgana can also magnify the appearance of distant objects or distort them to be unrecognizable.[45]

Studies show that after careful investigation, the majority of UFOs can be identified as ordinary objects or phenomena (see Identification studies of UFOs). The most commonly found identified sources of UFO reports are:

  • Astronomical objects (bright stars, planets, meteors, re-entering man-made spacecraft, artificial satellites, and the moon)
  • Aircraft (advertising planes and other aircraft, missile launches)
  • Balloons (weather balloons, prank balloons, large research balloons)

Much less common sources of UFO reports include:

A study by the Battelle Memorial Institute of US Air Force reports included these categories as well as a "psychological" one. However, the scientific analysts were unable to come up with prosaic explanations for 21.5% of the 3200 cases they examined and 33% of what were considered the best cases remained unexplained, double the number of the worst cases. (See full statistical breakdown in Identification studies of UFOs). Of the 69% identifieds, 38% were deemed definitely explained while 31% were thought to be "questionable." About 9% of the cases were considered to have insufficient information to make a determination.

The official French government UFO investigation (GEPAN/SEPRA), run within the French space agency CNES between 1977 and 2004, scientifically investigated about 6000 cases and found that 13.5% defied any rational explanation, 46% were deemed definitely or likely identifiable, while 41% lacked sufficient information for classification.

An individual 1979 study by CUFOS researcher Allan Hendry found, as did other investigations, that only a small percentage of cases he investigated were hoaxes (<1%) id="cite_ref-45" class="reference">[46] However, Hendry's figure for unidentified cases was considerably lower than many other UFO studies such as Project Blue Book or the Condon Report which have found rates of unidentified cases ranging from 6% to 30%. Hendry found that 88.6% of the cases he studied had a clear prosaic explanation, and he discarded a further 2.8% due to unreliable or contradictory witnesses or insufficient information. The remaining 8.6% of reports could not definitively be explained by prosaic phenomena, although he felt that a further 7.1% could possibly be explained, leaving only the very best 1.5% without plausible explanation.

UFO hypotheses

 The inclusion or exclusion of items from this list, or length of this list, is disputed. Please discuss this issue on the talk page.

To account for unsolved UFO cases, several hypotheses have been proposed.

Physical evidence

Besides visual sightings, reports sometimes include claims of indirect and direct physical evidence, including cases studied by the military and various government agencies of different countries.

  • Radar contact and tracking, sometimes from multiple sites. These may 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). [58] Another famous case from 1986 was the JAL 1628 case over Alaska investigated by the FAA. [59]
  • Photographic evidence, including still photos, movie film, and video, [60] including some in the infrared spectrum (rare).[citation needed]
  • Claims of physical trace of landing UFOs, including ground impressions, burned and/or desiccated soil, burned and broken foliage, magnetic anomalies[specify], increased radiation levels, and metallic traces. See, e.g. Height 611 UFO Incident or the 1964 Lonnie Zamora's Socorro, New Mexico encounter 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 two weeks later, in January 1981, occurred in Trans-en-Provence and was investigated by GEPAN, then France's official government UFO-investigation agency. Project Blue Book head Edward J. Ruppelt described a classic 1952 CE2 case involving a patch of charred grass roots.[61]
  • Physiological effects on people and animals including temporary paralysis, skin burns and rashes, corneal burns, and symptoms superficially 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. [62]
  • Animal/cattle mutilation cases, that some feel are also part of the UFO phenomenon. [63]
  • 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)[64]
  • Electromagnetic interference (EM) effects. A famous 1976 military case over Tehran, recorded in CIA and DIA classified documents, resulted in communication losses in multiple aircraft and weapons system failure in an F-4 Phantom II jet interceptor as it was about to fire a missile on one of the UFOs. This was also a radar/visual case. [65]
  • 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.[66]
  • 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.[67]
  • Angel hair and angel grass, possibly explained in some cases as nests from ballooning spiders or chaff. [68]

These various reported physical evidence cases have been studied by various scientist and engineers, both privately and in official governmental studies (such as Project Blue Book, the Condon Committee, and the French GEPAN/SEPRA). A comprehensive scientific review of physical evidence cases was carried out by the 1998 Sturrock UFO panel.

Ufology

Main article: Ufology

Ufology is a neologism describing the collective efforts of those who study UFO reports and associated evidence.

UFO researchers

Main article: List of Ufologists

UFO organizations

Main article: UFO organizations

Reverse engineering

Attempts have been made to reverse engineer the possible physics behind UFOs through analysis of both eyewitness reports and the physical evidence, on the assumption that they are powered vehicles. Examples are former NASA and nuclear engineer James McCampbell in his book Ufology,[69] NACA/NASA engineer Paul R. Hill in his book Unconventional Flying Objects, and German rocketry pioneer Hermann Oberth[70]. Among subjects tackled by McCampbell, Hill, and Oberth was the question of how UFOs can fly at supersonic speeds without creating a sonic boom. McCampbell's proposed solution is microwave plasma parting the air in front of the craft. In contrast, Hill and Oberth believed UFOs utilize an as yet unknown anti-gravity field to accomplish the same thing as well as provide propulsion and protection of occupants from the effects of high acceleration. [71]

UFO categorization

 This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources (ideally, using inline citations). Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

Some ufologists 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)
  • Large triangular "craft" or triangular light pattern, usually reported at night.
  • Cigar-shaped "craft" with lighted windows (Meteor fireballs are sometimes reported this way, but are very different phenomena).
  • Other: chevrons, (equilateral) triangles, crescent, boomerangs, spheres (usually reported to be shining, glowing at night), domes, diamonds, shapeless black masses, eggs, pyramids and cylinders, classic "lights".

Popular UFO classification systems include the Hynek system, created by J. Allen Hynek, and the Vallée system, created by Jacques Vallée.

Hynek's system involves dividing the sighted object by appearance, subdivided further into the type of "close encounter" (a term from which the film director Steven Spielberg derived the title of his UFO movie, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind").

Jacques Vallée's system classifies UFOs into five broad types, each with from three to five subtypes that vary according to type.

Conspiracy theories

Main article: UFO conspiracy theory

UFOs are sometimes an element of elaborate conspiracy theories in which governments are 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.

In the U.S., an opinion poll conducted in 1997 suggested that 80% of Americans believed the U.S. government was withholding such information.[72][73] Various notables have also expressed such views. Some examples are astronauts Gordon Cooper and Edgar Mitchell, Senator Barry Goldwater, Vice Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter (the first CIA director), Lord Hill-Norton (former British Chief of Defense Staff and NATO head), the 1999 high-level French COMETA report by various French generals and aerospace experts, and Yves Sillard (former director of the French space agency CNES, new director of French UFO research organization GEIPAN).[74]

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

Allegations of evidence suppression

Some[who?] 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[citation needed]. See the Brookings Report.

There have been allegations of suppression of UFO related evidence for many decades. There are also conspiracy theories which claim that physical evidence might have been removed and/or destroyed/suppressed by some governments. (See also Men in Black)

Famous hoaxes

  • The Maury Island Incident
  • The Ummo affair, a decades-long series of detailed letters and documents allegedly from extraterrestrials. The total length of the documents is at least 1000 pages, and some estimate that further undiscovered documents may total nearly 4000 pages. A Jose Luis Jordan Pena came forward in the early nineties claiming responsibility for the phenomenon, and most[who?] consider there to be little reason to challenge his claims.[75]
  • George Adamski over the space of two decades made various claims about his meetings with telepathic aliens from nearby planets. He claimed that photographs of the far side of the moon taken by a Soviet orbital probe in 1959 were fake, and that there were cities, trees and snow-capped mountains on the far side of the moon.
  • In 1987/1988 Ed Walters allegedly perpetrated a hoax in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Walters claimed at first having seen a small UFO flying near his home, and then in a second incident seeing the same UFO and a small alien being standing by his back door after being alerted by his dog. Several photographs were taken of the craft, but none of the being. Three years later, in 1990, after the Walters family had moved, the new residents discovered a model of a UFO poorly hidden in the attic that bore an undeniable resemblance to the craft in Walters' photographs. Various witnesses and detractors came forward after the local Pensacola newspaper printed a story about the discovered model, and some investigators[who?] now consider the sightings to be a hoax. In addition, a six-figure television miniseries and book deal were nearly struck with Walters.
  • Warren William (Billy) Smith, A popular writer and confessed hoaxster.[76]

Not all Ufologists who have studied some these cases agree they are hoaxes. One notable example, Naval optical physicist Dr. Bruce Maccabee extensively investigated the Ed Walters Gulf Breeze case, analyzed the various photos and videos, and deemed them authentic. In fact, some of the details would have required extensive expertise to fake. [77] Maccabee also noted there were many independent witnesses to some of the Gulf Breeze sightings besides Walters, including Maccabee himself. [78]

UFOs in popular culture

Main article: UFOs in Fiction

UFOs constitute a widespread international cultural phenomenon of the last 60 years. Gallup polls rank UFOs near the top of lists for subjects of widespread recognition. In 1973, a survey found that 95 percent of the public reported having heard of UFOs, whereas only 92 percent had heard of US President Gerald Ford in a 1977 poll taken just nine months after he left the White House. (Bullard, 141) A 1996 Gallup poll reported that 71 percent 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. In that latest poll, 56 percent thought UFOs were real craft and 48 percent that aliens had visited the Earth. Again, about 70 percent felt the government was not sharing everything it knew about UFOs or extraterrestrial life.[79][80][81] Another effect of the flying saucer type of UFO sightings has been Earth-made flying saucer craft in space fiction, for example the Earth-made craft Starship C-57D in Forbidden Planet, and the saucer part of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek And many others. For an excellent analysis of the interrelationship between popular culture and UFOs consult the research by psychologist Armando Simon, especially his contribution in Richard Haines' book, UFO Phenomena and the Behavioral Scientist.

Use in film and television

See also

References

  1. ^ Hynek, J. Allen (1969-04). "The Condon Report and UFOs". http://www.project1947.com/shg/articles/bas1.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-10.
  2. ^ Pasachoff, Jay M and Alex Filippenko (2004). The Cosmos: Astronomy in the New Millennium. Brooks/Cole div. of Thomson Learning. pp. 428–430. ISBN 053439550.
  3. ^ Air Force Regulation 200-2 text versionpdf of document, initially defined a UFO 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. ...Technical Analysis thus far has failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for a number of sightings reported." A later version [1] altered the definition to "Any aerial phenomena, airborne objects or objects which are unknown or appear out of the ordinary to the observer because of performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features," and added "Air Force activities must reduce the percentage of unidentifieds to a minimum. Analysis thus far has explained all but a few of the sightings reported. These unexplained sightings are carried statistically as unidentifieds."
  4. ^ A good example is the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena or NARCAP. [2]
  5. ^ For example, the USAF's Project Blue Book concluded that less than 2% of reported UFOs were "psychological" or hoaxes; Allen Hendry's study for CUFOS had less than 1%
  6. ^ For example, recent 2008 U.S. and U.K. opinion polls [3] indicate that at least 8% of these populations say they have had UFO sightings
  7. ^ Menzel, D. H.; Taves, E. H. (1977). The UFO enigma. Garden City (NY, USA): Doubleday
  8. ^ Sagan, Carl and Page, Thornton (1995). UFOs: A Scientific Debate. Barnes & Noble. pp. 310. ISBN 978076070916.
  9. ^ a b McDonald, James. E. (1968). Statement on Unidentified Flying Objects submitted to the House Committee on Science and Astronautics at July 29, 1968, Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Rayburn Bldg., Washington, D.D.
  10. ^ a b c COMETA Report: http://www.ufoevidence.org/topics/Cometa.htm
  11. ^ Politicking and Paradigm Shifting: James E. McDonald and the UFO Case Study http://www.project1947.com/shg/mccarthy/shgintro.html
  12. ^ Giordano, Daniela, "Do UFOs Exist in the History of Arts?" from American Chronicle, 2006-11-13; retrieved 2007-07-27
  13. ^ Cuoghi, Shaba. "The Art of Imagining UFOs". in Skeptic Magazine Vol.11, No.1, 2004. http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/archives/vol11n01.html.
  14. ^ Dong, Paul. (2000). China's Major Mysteries: Paranormal Phenomena and the Unexplained in the People's Republic. San Francisco: China Books and Periodicals, Inc. ISBN 0835126765. Pages 69–71.
  15. ^ Before the Wright Brothers...There Were UFOs
  16. ^ Foo-Fighter – TIME
  17. ^ [4] Hitler's Flying Saucers: Henry Stevens
  18. ^ Clark (1998), 61
  19. ^ http://www.project1947.com/fig/ual105.htm, http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case723.htm, http://www.nicap.org/470704e.htm
  20. ^ Ted Bloecher's bar chart of June/July 1947 UFO sightings
  21. ^ On July 9, 1947, United Press stories on the Roswell incident noted that "Reports of flying saucers whizzing through the sky fell off sharply today as the Army and Navy began a concentrated campaign to stop the rumors." UP story
  22. ^ Ted Bloecher & Dr James McDonald, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, 1967
  23. ^ See, e.g., the 1976 Tehran UFO incident where a Defense Intelligence Agency report on the event had a distribution list that included the White House, Secretary of State, Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Agency (NSA), and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
  24. ^ The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
  25. ^ McDonald, James E. (1972). "Science in Default" in American Association for the Advancement of Science, 134th Meeting. Carl Sagan, Thornton Page UFO's, A Scientific Debate, Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780393007398.
  26. ^ internal FBI memo from E. G. Fitch to D.M. Ladd concerning a request by General Schulgen of USAAF intelligence corps Office of Intelligence Requirements for the FBI to help with their investigation of UFO reports.
  27. ^ Alfred Loedding and the Great Flying Saucer Wave of 1947, Sarah Connors and Michael Hall, White Rose Press, Albuquerque, 1998. Chapter 4: The Onslaught This quotes and summarized the interim report of Lieutenant Colonel George D. Garrett.
  28. ^ The so-called Twining memo of Sept. 23, 1947, by future USAF Chief of Staff, Gen. Nathan Twining, specifically recommended intelligence cooperation with the Army, Navy, Atomic Energy Commission, the Defense Department's Joint Research and Development Board, Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), Project RAND, and the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) project.
  29. ^ Ruppelt, Chapt. 3
  30. ^ Ridge, Francis L.. "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects". National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. http://www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk/Rufo.htm. Retrieved on 2006-08-19.
  31. ^ www.foia.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070703-004.pdf
  32. ^ "Official US Air Force document in pdf format". http://www.foia.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070703-004.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
  33. ^ "Wikisource article about Air Force Regulation 200-2". http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Transwiki:Air_Force_Regulation_200-2. Retrieved on 2007-11-12.
  34. ^ Good (1988), 484
  35. ^ Many of these documents are now online at the FOIA websites of these agencies such as the FBI FOIA site, as well as private websites such as "The Black Vault", which has an archive of several thousand U.S. government UFO-related documents from the USAF, Army, CIA, DIA, DOD, and NSA.
  36. ^ Canada's Unidentified Flying Objects: The Search for the Unknown, a virtual museum exhibition at Library and Archives Canada
  37. ^ Site du GEIPAN
  38. ^ UK National Archives
  39. ^ news.bbc.co.uk Files released on UFO sightings
  40. ^ AFP Article: Britons 'spotted' UFOs, records say
  41. ^ BBC News Airliner had near miss with UFO
  42. ^ [http://www.nickpope.net/faq.htm Nick Pope website
  43. ^ Catalog of Project Blue Book unknowns
  44. ^ Herb/Hynek amateur astronomer poll results reprinted in International UFO Reporter (CUFOS), May 2006, pp. 14-16
  45. ^ Electromagnetic-Wave Ducting BY V. R. ESHLEMAN
  46. ^ Allan Hendry, The UFO Handbook: A Guide to Investigating, Evaluating, and Reporting UFO Sightings, 1979, Doubleday & Co., ISBN 0-385-14348-6
  47. ^ Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, Section II Summary of the Study, Edward U. Condon, University of Colorado
  48. ^ Good (1988), 23
  49. ^ Document quoted and published in Timothy Good (2007), 106–107, 115; USAFE Item 14, TT 1524, (Top Secret), 4 November 1948, declassified in 1997, National Archives, Washington D.C.
  50. ^ Schuessler, John L., "Statements About Flying Saucers And Extraterrestrial Life Made By Prof. Hermann Oberth, German Rocket Scientist" 2002; Oberth's American Weekly article appeared in a number of newspaper Sunday supplements, e.g., Washington Post and Times Herald, pg. AW4
  51. ^ Copy of FBI FOIA document; Text quotation in essay by Dr. Bruce Maccabee on military/CIA ETH opinions circa 1952
  52. ^ Dolan, 189; Good, 287, 337; Ruppelt, Chapt. 16
  53. ^ Good, 347
  54. ^ David Saunders, UFOs? Yes
  55. ^ Velasco quoted in La Dépêche du Midi, Toulouse, France, April 18, 2004
  56. ^ Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact, Jacques Vallée, Ballantine Books, 1989. ISBN 0345360028
  57. ^ Peter F. Coleman has advanced a theory that some UFOs may be instances of visible combustion of a fuel (e.g., natural gas) inside an atmospheric vortex. See Weather, p. 31, 1993; Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2006, Vol. 20, pp215–238, and his book Great balls of Fire–a unified theory of ball lightning, UFOs, Tunguska and other anomalous lights, Fireshine Press
  58. ^ Investigation and explanations of Belgium case
  59. ^ Links to articles on JAL 1628 case
  60. ^ http://ufos.about.com/od/visualproofphotosvideo/ig/UFO-Photographs-2006/colombia042206.htm
  61. ^ http://www.nicap.org/rufo/rufo-13.htm Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, Chapter 13
  62. ^ 1886 Scientific American article at NUFORC website
  63. ^ http://www.rense.com/general66/lumb.htm
  64. ^ http://www.controversial-science.com/current/cc-hypothesis-comparison.htm
  65. ^ Fawcett & Greenwood, 81–89; Good, 318–322, 497–502
  66. ^ Ruppelt, Chapt. 15
  67. ^ Good (1988), 371-373; Ray Stanford, Socorro 'Saucer' in a Pentagon Pantry, 1976, 112-154
  68. ^ http://english.pravda.ru/science/mysteries/30-05-2007/92473-angel_hair-0
  69. ^ online
  70. ^ Various Oberth quotes on UFOs
  71. ^ ibid; Oberth's UFO antigravity opinion as to propulsion and atmospheric air flow control also quoted by Donald Keyhoe in his 1955 book Flying Saucer Conspiracy
  72. ^ bNet (CBS Interactive Inc.), "Is the Government Hiding Facts On UFOs & Extraterrestrial Life?; New Roper Poll Reveals that More Than Two-Thirds of Americans Think So," [5] Last accessed 2 February 2008
  73. ^ Poll: U.S. hiding knowledge of aliens, CNN/TIME, June 15, 1997
  74. ^ Groupe d'Etudes et d'Informations sur les Phénomènes Aérospatiaux Non identifiés
  75. ^ PARANOIA - People Are Strange: Unusual UFO Cults
  76. ^ "Warren Smith: UFO Investigator"". http://www.middlecoastpublishing.com/ufo/warrenbillysmith.htm. Retrieved on 2008-06-15.
  77. ^ http://www.ufologie.net/htm/picgbr.htm Some of Ed Walters' photos, discussion, and details in photos difficult to fake
  78. ^ http://brumac.8k.com/GulfBreeze/Bubba/GBBUBBA.html Maccabee's analysis and photos of Gulf Breeze "Bubba" sightings
  79. ^ "The Roper Poll". Ufology Resource Center. SciFi.com. September 2002. http://www.scifi.com/ufo/roper/. Retrieved on 2006-08-19.
  80. ^ CFI – Evidence Page
  81. ^ Mutual UFO Network

General

Skepticism

Psychology

  • Carl G. Jung, "Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies" (translated by R.F.C. Hull); 1979, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-01822-7
  • Armando Simon,A Nonreactive, Quantitative Study of Mass Behavior with Emphasis on the Cinema as Behavior Catalyst," Psychological Reports, 1981, 48, 775-785.
  • Richard Haines"UFO Phenomena and the Behavioral Scientist." Metuchen: Scarecrow Press, 1979.
  • Armando Simon "UFOs: Testing for the Existence of Air Force Censorship." Psychology, 1976, 13, 3-5.
  • Armando Simon "Psychology and the UFOs." The Skeptical Inquirer. 1984, 8, 355-367.

Histories

Technology

External links

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