Ufology

INTRODUCTION

Here are my thoughts on UFOs and aliens. They are written here to form a thesis for discussion. My views on the subject are influenced by an experience many years ago. I narrate it here to give you some idea where I’m going.
It was a windy night and it reflected my troubled mood. I looked out the bedroom window before going to bed, and in the next garden I saw a golden cascade of lights. I’ve since called it my UFO, and when I went to bed, I felt at peace and slept well.
The next morning I wondered what it was. I investigated. I laughed. Stuck on a pile of bricks was a crisp packet. The previous night it had blown in the wind and its shiny inside had reflected the glow of an orange street light.
Case closed. Or is it? What I saw changed my mood and gave me peace. The cause may be innocuous, but did the illusion have a form of reality at some level? If it didn’t, why did it affect me? Unfortunately, sceptics never look further than the mundane.

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UFO SIGHTINGS

UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object, and, according to the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis, is a sighting of a space vessel piloted by visitors from another planet. Usually known as a flying saucer, the image has become iconic.
The modern UFO epoch began in 1947 when an American businessman, Kenneth Arnold, sighted a number of strange lights in the sky from his aircraft. Reporting it on landing, the next day flying saucers filled the front pages.
This media frenzy led to popular sightings that last until the present day. Many involve sightings from aircraft, including fighter jets. Military authorities have kept an eye on the phenomenon and sometimes they even appear on radar.
To some, the phenomenon is more fundamental. Beginning with George Adamski, certain people claim to have met and talked to aliens. Alien entities regularly ‘possess’ space age prophets – known as channellers – to impart their superior wisdom.
J Allan Hynek was so fascinated with the UFO that he devised three categories of ‘close encounter.’ The term became famous with the film ‘Close Encounters Of the Third Kind,’ where alien entities are said to be seen.
Much supposed evidence of UFOs comes from photographs, yet many of them have been shown to be fakes. In the mid-1990s, however, sightings in Mexico – known as the Mexican Wave – led to some 4,000 videos of strange lights in the sky.
Sky Watching became a hobby for many enthusiasts from the 1980s onwards, groups of people meeting at night to stare at the sky. Lights were often seen, but just as likely, the watchers ended up having a party under the moonlight.
Recently, the US authorities have suggested that much of the phenomenon was down to dis-information on their part. New aircraft had to be tested, and the military wanted a blanket crack-pot explanation for the phenomena they produced.
This aside, many reasons can be given for sightings. These include clouds, insect swarms, aircraft lights, planets and laser light displays. Even retinal images can appear ‘strange’ if you don’t know you’re experiencing them.
Another interesting phenomenon is known as the BOL, or ball of light. These are known to appear occasionally above geo-physical disturbances. Lights that seem to ape the antics of the UFO, they are increasingly seen as an explanation.
Looking deeper into this phenomenon, geo-physical and atmospheric disturbances cause electromagnetic, or EM, anomalies, possibly related to the BOL. It is now known that pulses of EM to the brain can cause hallucinatory effects.
The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis aside, research into UFOs usually discounts 95% of sightings as identified phenomena. BOLs and their hallucinatory effects could go a long way to answering much of the remaining 5% …

This essay has now moved to Anthony North’s new website. Read more of it here, including his own theories and more data on Roswell, Saucer Crashes & Alien Abduction.

(c) Anthony North, December 2008