Chronology of UFO History
1942
The "Battle of Los Angeles" also known as "The Great Los Angeles Air Raid" is the name given by contemporary sources to the fictional enemy attack and subsequent anti-aircraft artillery barrage which took place from late 24 February to early 25 February 1942 over Los Angeles, California. Initially, the target of the aerial barrage was thought to be an attacking force from Japan, but Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox speaking at a press conference shortly afterward called the incident a "false alarm." A small number of modern-day UFOlogists say the targets were extraterrestrial spacecraft.
The "Battle of Los Angeles" also known as "The Great Los Angeles Air Raid" is the name given by contemporary sources to the fictional enemy attack and subsequent anti-aircraft artillery barrage which took place from late 24 February to early 25 February 1942 over Los Angeles, California. Initially, the target of the aerial barrage was thought to be an attacking force from Japan, but Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox speaking at a press conference shortly afterward called the incident a "false alarm." A small number of modern-day UFOlogists say the targets were extraterrestrial spacecraft.
Non-aggressive "Foo-fighters" reported buzzing and flying formation with Allied combat airplanes in European and Pacific Theaters of War. Suggestions that they were Axis air weapons were found unconvincing.
1945
1946
Of 1500+ "ghost rockets" reported from Sweden and neighboring countries, most flew slowly, quietly and level. Attempts to blame Soviet rocket and missile tests from Peenemunde failed.
Of 1500+ "ghost rockets" reported from Sweden and neighboring countries, most flew slowly, quietly and level. Attempts to blame Soviet rocket and missile tests from Peenemunde failed.
1947
First major American wave of "flying disc" sightings started with formation of ovals seen weaving through the Cascade Mountains of Washington State at 1700 mph by businessman/pilot Kenneth Arnold. Ground observers reported seeing formations of discs at same time and place. More than 1500 reports of daylight sightings in newspapers.
Official report of crashed flying disc recovered near Roswell, New Mexico, quickly explained by Army Air Forces as weather balloon, despite later witness descriptions of unusually light and strong materials.
First preliminary study by U. S. Army Air Forces Intelligence of a dozen flying disc sightings concludes: "Something is really flying around".
First major American wave of "flying disc" sightings started with formation of ovals seen weaving through the Cascade Mountains of Washington State at 1700 mph by businessman/pilot Kenneth Arnold. Ground observers reported seeing formations of discs at same time and place. More than 1500 reports of daylight sightings in newspapers.
Official report of crashed flying disc recovered near Roswell, New Mexico, quickly explained by Army Air Forces as weather balloon, despite later witness descriptions of unusually light and strong materials.
First preliminary study by U. S. Army Air Forces Intelligence of a dozen flying disc sightings concludes: "Something is really flying around".
1948
Air National Guard fighter pilot Thomas Mantell dies during attempted intercept of UFO over Kentucky.
U.S. Air Force establishes Project Sign as first long-term, official UFO investigation.
Project Sign staff report on alien origin of UFOs is rejected by USAF Chief Hoyt Vandenberg due to lack of physical evidence.
Air National Guard fighter pilot Thomas Mantell dies during attempted intercept of UFO over Kentucky.
U.S. Air Force establishes Project Sign as first long-term, official UFO investigation.
Project Sign staff report on alien origin of UFOs is rejected by USAF Chief Hoyt Vandenberg due to lack of physical evidence.
1949
Project Grudge replaces Project Sign.
Government conference on rash of large, brilliant green fireballs leads to 1950's Project Twinkle, which allegedly failed to track and photograph any.
True Magazine publication of Donald Keyhoe's article is first in major magazine to claim UFOs are alien craft, and that the U.S. Government is withholding confirming information.
Project Grudge replaces Project Sign.
Government conference on rash of large, brilliant green fireballs leads to 1950's Project Twinkle, which allegedly failed to track and photograph any.
True Magazine publication of Donald Keyhoe's article is first in major magazine to claim UFOs are alien craft, and that the U.S. Government is withholding confirming information.
1950
First UFO books published by investigative reporter Keyhoe (elaboration of his magazine article) and Hollywood gossip columnist Frank Scully (poorly-supported tale of crashed saucer and little men).
First UFO books published by investigative reporter Keyhoe (elaboration of his magazine article) and Hollywood gossip columnist Frank Scully (poorly-supported tale of crashed saucer and little men).
1951
1952
Project Blue Book replaces Project Grudge.
Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) becomes first long-term private UFO association.
Second major American sighting wave centered on Washington, D.C.; many radar/visual sightings quietly admitted by Air Force to be unexplained.
Project Blue Book replaces Project Grudge.
Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) becomes first long-term private UFO association.
Second major American sighting wave centered on Washington, D.C.; many radar/visual sightings quietly admitted by Air Force to be unexplained.
1953
CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel of scientists concludes UFOs are probably all mistakes.
Harvard astronomer Donald Menzel becomes highly vocal spokesman for those opposed to study of UFOs.
George Adamski emerges as leading "contactee", claiming to have traveled to unknown worlds with benevolent spacemen.
CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel of scientists concludes UFOs are probably all mistakes.
Harvard astronomer Donald Menzel becomes highly vocal spokesman for those opposed to study of UFOs.
George Adamski emerges as leading "contactee", claiming to have traveled to unknown worlds with benevolent spacemen.
1954
1955
U.S. Air Force releases Project Blue Book Special Report #14, the first of several major reports in which the negative summary is contradicted by positive elements in the text.
U.S. Air Force releases Project Blue Book Special Report #14, the first of several major reports in which the negative summary is contradicted by positive elements in the text.
1956
National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) becomes first private UFO group with a Washington office.
National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) becomes first private UFO group with a Washington office.
1957
Third American UFO wave highlighted by electrical interference reports around Levelland, Texas. Air Force blames all the car stoppings on an intense electrical storm, even though the night was clear.
Third American UFO wave highlighted by electrical interference reports around Levelland, Texas. Air Force blames all the car stoppings on an intense electrical storm, even though the night was clear.
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
Report of landed UFO with nearby crew by Socorro, New Mexico, policeman is first "Close Encounter of the 3rd Kind" to attract national attention and the only one to be labeled "unexplained" by Project Blue Book.
NICAP's "The UFO Evidence" is first scientifically-based study of UFOs, analyzing 750 cases having high "strangeness" and "credibility" ratings.
Report of landed UFO with nearby crew by Socorro, New Mexico, policeman is first "Close Encounter of the 3rd Kind" to attract national attention and the only one to be labeled "unexplained" by Project Blue Book.
NICAP's "The UFO Evidence" is first scientifically-based study of UFOs, analyzing 750 cases having high "strangeness" and "credibility" ratings.
1965
1966
Sighting of landed UFO in Dexter, Michigan, is explained by Project Blue Book as "swamp gas", producing long-term public ridicule.
House Armed Services Committee hears USAF suggest university study of UFOs, which is accepted by University of Colorado, under Dr. E. U. Condon.
Story of "alien abduction" of New England couple published as first convincing case of "face-to-face" meetings with aliens.
Phillip Klass, of Aviation Week magazine, proposes (then quietly withdraws) ball lightning as explanation for many UFO reports.
Sighting of landed UFO in Dexter, Michigan, is explained by Project Blue Book as "swamp gas", producing long-term public ridicule.
House Armed Services Committee hears USAF suggest university study of UFOs, which is accepted by University of Colorado, under Dr. E. U. Condon.
Story of "alien abduction" of New England couple published as first convincing case of "face-to-face" meetings with aliens.
Phillip Klass, of Aviation Week magazine, proposes (then quietly withdraws) ball lightning as explanation for many UFO reports.
1967
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) establishes UFO subcommittee.
Wesleyan University offers first credit course on UFOs.
Soviet TV announcement reveals short-lived non-governmental UFO group.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) establishes UFO subcommittee.
Wesleyan University offers first credit course on UFOs.
Soviet TV announcement reveals short-lived non-governmental UFO group.
1968
House Science & Astronautics Committee holds one-day UFO symposium.
NICAP publishes series of once-classified Blue Book status reports, proving unclassified UFO information had long been withheld from public.
House Science & Astronautics Committee holds one-day UFO symposium.
NICAP publishes series of once-classified Blue Book status reports, proving unclassified UFO information had long been withheld from public.
1969
Final report of University of Colorado UFO study combines negative summary with positive portions of text.
U.S. Air Force uses University of Colorado report as basis for closing Project Blue Book.
Air Force scientist quantifies temperature inversions, concluding that few, if any, UFO sightings are caused by mirages.
Annual meeting of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) includes UFO session despite strenuous objections from Donald Menzel.
Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) established by Walter Andrus to stress field investigations.
Final report of University of Colorado UFO study combines negative summary with positive portions of text.
U.S. Air Force uses University of Colorado report as basis for closing Project Blue Book.
Air Force scientist quantifies temperature inversions, concluding that few, if any, UFO sightings are caused by mirages.
Annual meeting of American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) includes UFO session despite strenuous objections from Donald Menzel.
Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) established by Walter Andrus to stress field investigations.
1970
1971
1972
1973
Last (so far) wide-spread American UFO wave highlighted by abduction of two fishermen in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Center for UFO Studies established by disillusioned former USAF consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek.
Last (so far) wide-spread American UFO wave highlighted by abduction of two fishermen in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Center for UFO Studies established by disillusioned former USAF consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek.
1974
1975
Project Blue Book case files made available to the public at the National Archives, though names of all witnesses were censored.
1976
Amended Freedom of Information Act opens door to some previously classified UFO documents, but to almost none classified Top Secret or higher.
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) formed to attack promoters of what it considers anti-science.
Project Blue Book case files made available to the public at the National Archives, though names of all witnesses were censored.
1976
Amended Freedom of Information Act opens door to some previously classified UFO documents, but to almost none classified Top Secret or higher.
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) formed to attack promoters of what it considers anti-science.
1977
1978
First witnesses to 1947 Roswell crash are interviewed, including ex-Intelligence officer Jesse Marcel who handled wreckage.
1979
Fund for UFO Research incorporated by Richard Hall, Tom Deuley,
First witnesses to 1947 Roswell crash are interviewed, including ex-Intelligence officer Jesse Marcel who handled wreckage.
1979
Fund for UFO Research incorporated by Richard Hall, Tom Deuley,
1980
1981
1982
1980
1981
1984
1985
1986
198
1987
On 27 December 1998 the Laubscher family videotaped a group of roundish triangular craft passing over the town of Graaff Reinet, at about 25,000ft. These were changing colour and sometimes circled one another, before being overtaken by a much larger, shiny, gold-coloured craft. At this point all the objects departed to a cloud bank on the horizon
1999
2000
The "St. Clair Triangle", "UFO Over Illinois", "Southern Illinois UFO", or "Highland, Illinois UFO" sighting occurred on January 5, 2000 over the towns of Highland, Dupo, Lebanon, Summerfield, Millstadt, and O'Fallon, Illinois, beginning shortly after 4:00 am. Five on-duty Illinois police officers in separate locales, along with various other witnesses, sighted and reported a massive, silent, triangular aircraft operating at an unusual range of near-hover to incredible high speed at treetop altitudes. The incident was examined in an ABC Special "Seeing is Believing" by Peter Jennings, an hour-long special "UFOs Over Illinois", produced by Discovery Channel, a Sci Fi Channel special entitled "Proof Positive" as well as a 28 minute independent documentary titled "The Edge of Reality: Illinois UFO, January 5, 2000" by Darryl Barker Productions, St. Louis, Missouri.
2001
Southern Illinois UFO Between 4:00 and 7:00 am, six people, including police officers, observed a large, triangular object a few hundred feet over St. Clair County. The object glided silently and slowly to the southwest over several villages before vanishing near the town of Dupo. The object, studded with several bright lights, was as tall as a two-story house and as long as a football field.
STS-102 The Washington Sequence Video broadcast during mission STS-102, allegedly recorded by Jeff Challender, shows a flash of light and three objects which performed movements which included starting, stopping, accelerating, and making sudden angled turns. Lan Fleming compared the timing of the flash of light and a course change of one of the objects to the timing of shuttle thruster firings and alleged that the flash and movements could not have been caused by thruster firings.
NJ Turnpike/Carteret Lights Incident At least 15 people, including 2 police officers, stopped their cars along the New Jersey Turnpike to view stunning, unexplained light formations in the night sky.
2002
2003
2004
A triangular formation of reddish lights were seen at low to intermediate altitude by hundreds of witnesses, on three separate occasions in late 2004 and early 2005, producing multiple videos, photos, and mainstream local news coverage over two suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The object(s) maneuvered slowly within a busy airspace near O'Hare International Airport. The incident was investigated by MUFON, and reported widely in metropolitan media.
Mexican UFO Incident A drug-smuggling air patrol recorded on infrared camera what some claimed to be UFOs. The footage was released by Jaime Maussan. The objects were however convincingly correlated with the burn-off flares of oil platforms.
("Intruders") ignites world-wide
interest in "alien abductions".
Allegedly-official MJ-12 report describes recovery of crashed alien craft at Roswell in 1947, but remains highly controversial.
Allegedly-official MJ-12 report describes recovery of crashed alien craft at Roswell in 1947, but remains highly controversial.
1988
1989
1990
1991
Poll by The Roper Organization suggests that as many as 50,000,000 adult Americans could be "alien abductees".
Poll by The Roper Organization suggests that as many as 50,000,000 adult Americans could be "alien abductees".
1992
Four-day conference on "alien abductions" held at Massachusetts Institute of Technology includes chairmen of university psychology departments and directors of mental health groups.
Four-day conference on "alien abductions" held at Massachusetts Institute of Technology includes chairmen of university psychology departments and directors of mental health groups.
1993
UFO Research Coalition formed by MUFON, CUFOS and Fund for UFO Research to manage joint programs.
UFO Research Coalition formed by MUFON, CUFOS and Fund for UFO Research to manage joint programs.
1994
1995
Air Force announces that wreckage recovered near Roswell in 1947 was not a weather balloon, but was from then-secret Project Mogul cluster of weather balloons.
General Accounting Office investigation into Roswell crash concludes: "The debate over what crashed at Roswell continues."
Air Force announces that wreckage recovered near Roswell in 1947 was not a weather balloon, but was from then-secret Project Mogul cluster of weather balloons.
General Accounting Office investigation into Roswell crash concludes: "The debate over what crashed at Roswell continues."
1996
1997
U.S. Air Force attempt to discount reports of small bodies found in conjunction with 1947 Roswell crash produces press backlash.
Rockefeller-sponsored conference of scientists nervously concludes UFOs are worthy of study.
Central Intelligence Agency claims thousands of UFO reports were caused by secret high-altitude spy planes, even though they couldn't be seen from the ground.
The Phoenix Lights (sometimes referred to as the "lights over Phoenix") were a series of widely sighted unidentified flying objects observed in the skies over the U.S.states of Arizona, and the Mexican state of Sonora on March 13, 1997.
Lights of varying descriptions were seen by tens of thousands of people between 19:30and 22:30MST, in a space of about 300 miles, from the Nevada line, through Phoenix,to the edge of Tucson. There were two distinct events involved in the incident: a triangular formation of lights seen to pass over the state, and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area. The United States Air Force identified the second group of lights as flares dropped by A-10 Warthog aircraft that were on training exercises at the Barry Goldwater Range in southwest Arizona. Witnesses claim to have observed a huge carpenter's square-shaped UFO, containing lights or possibly light-emitting engines. Fife Symington, the governor at the time, was one witness to this incident; he later called the object "otherworldly."The lights were reported to have reappeared in and 2008, but these events were quickly attributed to (respectively) military flares dropped by fighter aircraft at Luke Air Force Baseand flares attached to helium balloons released by a civilian.
U.S. Air Force attempt to discount reports of small bodies found in conjunction with 1947 Roswell crash produces press backlash.
Rockefeller-sponsored conference of scientists nervously concludes UFOs are worthy of study.
Central Intelligence Agency claims thousands of UFO reports were caused by secret high-altitude spy planes, even though they couldn't be seen from the ground.
The Phoenix Lights (sometimes referred to as the "lights over Phoenix") were a series of widely sighted unidentified flying objects observed in the skies over the U.S.states of Arizona, and the Mexican state of Sonora on March 13, 1997.
Lights of varying descriptions were seen by tens of thousands of people between 19:30and 22:30MST, in a space of about 300 miles, from the Nevada line, through Phoenix,to the edge of Tucson. There were two distinct events involved in the incident: a triangular formation of lights seen to pass over the state, and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area. The United States Air Force identified the second group of lights as flares dropped by A-10 Warthog aircraft that were on training exercises at the Barry Goldwater Range in southwest Arizona. Witnesses claim to have observed a huge carpenter's square-shaped UFO, containing lights or possibly light-emitting engines. Fife Symington, the governor at the time, was one witness to this incident; he later called the object "otherworldly."The lights were reported to have reappeared in and 2008, but these events were quickly attributed to (respectively) military flares dropped by fighter aircraft at Luke Air Force Baseand flares attached to helium balloons released by a civilian.
1998
On 27 December 1998 the Laubscher family videotaped a group of roundish triangular craft passing over the town of Graaff Reinet, at about 25,000ft. These were changing colour and sometimes circled one another, before being overtaken by a much larger, shiny, gold-coloured craft. At this point all the objects departed to a cloud bank on the horizon
1999
2000
The "St. Clair Triangle", "UFO Over Illinois", "Southern Illinois UFO", or "Highland, Illinois UFO" sighting occurred on January 5, 2000 over the towns of Highland, Dupo, Lebanon, Summerfield, Millstadt, and O'Fallon, Illinois, beginning shortly after 4:00 am. Five on-duty Illinois police officers in separate locales, along with various other witnesses, sighted and reported a massive, silent, triangular aircraft operating at an unusual range of near-hover to incredible high speed at treetop altitudes. The incident was examined in an ABC Special "Seeing is Believing" by Peter Jennings, an hour-long special "UFOs Over Illinois", produced by Discovery Channel, a Sci Fi Channel special entitled "Proof Positive" as well as a 28 minute independent documentary titled "The Edge of Reality: Illinois UFO, January 5, 2000" by Darryl Barker Productions, St. Louis, Missouri.
2001
Southern Illinois UFO Between 4:00 and 7:00 am, six people, including police officers, observed a large, triangular object a few hundred feet over St. Clair County. The object glided silently and slowly to the southwest over several villages before vanishing near the town of Dupo. The object, studded with several bright lights, was as tall as a two-story house and as long as a football field.
STS-102 The Washington Sequence Video broadcast during mission STS-102, allegedly recorded by Jeff Challender, shows a flash of light and three objects which performed movements which included starting, stopping, accelerating, and making sudden angled turns. Lan Fleming compared the timing of the flash of light and a course change of one of the objects to the timing of shuttle thruster firings and alleged that the flash and movements could not have been caused by thruster firings.
NJ Turnpike/Carteret Lights Incident At least 15 people, including 2 police officers, stopped their cars along the New Jersey Turnpike to view stunning, unexplained light formations in the night sky.
2002
2003
2004
A triangular formation of reddish lights were seen at low to intermediate altitude by hundreds of witnesses, on three separate occasions in late 2004 and early 2005, producing multiple videos, photos, and mainstream local news coverage over two suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The object(s) maneuvered slowly within a busy airspace near O'Hare International Airport. The incident was investigated by MUFON, and reported widely in metropolitan media.
Mexican UFO Incident A drug-smuggling air patrol recorded on infrared camera what some claimed to be UFOs. The footage was released by Jaime Maussan. The objects were however convincingly correlated with the burn-off flares of oil platforms.
The
Tinley Park Lights A sequence of five mass UFO sightings, first on August 21,
2004, two months later on October 31, 2004, again on October 1 of 2005, and
once again on October 31, 2006, in Tinley Park and Oak Park, Chicago.
2005
The White House was evacuated when a UFO entered restricted air space, then disappeared. It was explained as: "probably a cloud or several birds".
2006
Chicago O'Hare UFO sighting 2006 United Airlines employees and pilots claimed sightings of a saucer-shaped, unlit craft hovering over a Chicago O'Hare Airport terminal, before shooting up vertically. The FAA initially denied having received reports, but information gained through the Freedom of Information Act revealed otherwise
2007
2007 Alderney UFO sighting Two airline pilots on separate flights spot UFOs off the coast of Alderney.UFO seen over a peace rally.On September 25, 2007, around 6:45am, a bright red light was flying fast over Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Within seconds, it travelled to Kodiak Island air space, upwards of 131 miles (211 km) away. Many claimed to have seen it descend behind a mountain. Local troopers and Coast Guard personnel were unable to find traces.Two UFOs were detected near the Indian prime minister's residence.
2008
A flaming object crashed near the Colorado river. Several witnesses claim to have seen five helicopters picking up the strange object after 17 minutes and heading in the direction of Las Vegas.According to media reports, a police helicopter was almost hit by a UFO, before it tried to pursue it. Hundreds of people reported to have witnessed a UFO on the same or preceding days, from different areas of WalesKingdomRoyal Navy aircraft engineer Michael Madden watched a UFO hover above the M5 motorway near Weston-super-Mare for around three minutes before it disappeared at high speed. Madden described the UFO as looking "like alien aircraft in the films".
2009
Scattered reports of UFO sightings all over the United States from June 3 to 22, 2009.UFO captured on BBC camera.A spinning S-shaped black flying object was spotted in broad daylight in Sheffield, and was caught on camera and uploaded to YouTube. A similar white sphere can be seen, later confirmed to be an aircraft.Report of a nearly 200-foot (61 m)-long triangle-shaped craft spotted flying at 100 feet (30 m) altitude.
2010
Over a six month span in 2010, there were 1,476 incidents reported to "Sirius UFO Space Science Research Center". 371 of these reportedly sightings were recorded digitally as photograph or video. Analyses of these material revealed that 54 of those sightings/recordings were not natural or manmade objects (like Venus, satellite, bird, etc.).
2011
A glowing round object making a speedy descent near the West Bengal-Bihar border early on January 26 left pilots of five aircraft baffled, triggering widespread speculation about unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Indian Air Force radars failed to track the object through radar.Green and red blinking lights recorded by video and still photography and witnessed by several residents who live off Southeast 192nd Avenue in Vancouver, Washington. Reported to be stationary with some side-to-side movements.Triangular formation of red non-blinking lights seen hovering over Lafayette, Colorado. Recorded by video and witnessed by several residents Metallic Disk-Shape object, pulsating red, green & blue lights. 6 witnesses saw the object. A pulsating orange-red orb that split into 6 little orbs. 15 witnesses.Pilots from domestic flights reported that they witnessed a huge luminous disc at an altitude of 10,700 m which lasted for 20 mins, some claimed the disc is about hundreds times larger than the size of the moon seen from their location.
2005
The White House was evacuated when a UFO entered restricted air space, then disappeared. It was explained as: "probably a cloud or several birds".
2006
Chicago O'Hare UFO sighting 2006 United Airlines employees and pilots claimed sightings of a saucer-shaped, unlit craft hovering over a Chicago O'Hare Airport terminal, before shooting up vertically. The FAA initially denied having received reports, but information gained through the Freedom of Information Act revealed otherwise
2007
2007 Alderney UFO sighting Two airline pilots on separate flights spot UFOs off the coast of Alderney.UFO seen over a peace rally.On September 25, 2007, around 6:45am, a bright red light was flying fast over Alaska's Kenai Peninsula. Within seconds, it travelled to Kodiak Island air space, upwards of 131 miles (211 km) away. Many claimed to have seen it descend behind a mountain. Local troopers and Coast Guard personnel were unable to find traces.Two UFOs were detected near the Indian prime minister's residence.
2008
A flaming object crashed near the Colorado river. Several witnesses claim to have seen five helicopters picking up the strange object after 17 minutes and heading in the direction of Las Vegas.According to media reports, a police helicopter was almost hit by a UFO, before it tried to pursue it. Hundreds of people reported to have witnessed a UFO on the same or preceding days, from different areas of WalesKingdomRoyal Navy aircraft engineer Michael Madden watched a UFO hover above the M5 motorway near Weston-super-Mare for around three minutes before it disappeared at high speed. Madden described the UFO as looking "like alien aircraft in the films".
2009
Scattered reports of UFO sightings all over the United States from June 3 to 22, 2009.UFO captured on BBC camera.A spinning S-shaped black flying object was spotted in broad daylight in Sheffield, and was caught on camera and uploaded to YouTube. A similar white sphere can be seen, later confirmed to be an aircraft.Report of a nearly 200-foot (61 m)-long triangle-shaped craft spotted flying at 100 feet (30 m) altitude.
2010
Over a six month span in 2010, there were 1,476 incidents reported to "Sirius UFO Space Science Research Center". 371 of these reportedly sightings were recorded digitally as photograph or video. Analyses of these material revealed that 54 of those sightings/recordings were not natural or manmade objects (like Venus, satellite, bird, etc.).
2011
A glowing round object making a speedy descent near the West Bengal-Bihar border early on January 26 left pilots of five aircraft baffled, triggering widespread speculation about unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Indian Air Force radars failed to track the object through radar.Green and red blinking lights recorded by video and still photography and witnessed by several residents who live off Southeast 192nd Avenue in Vancouver, Washington. Reported to be stationary with some side-to-side movements.Triangular formation of red non-blinking lights seen hovering over Lafayette, Colorado. Recorded by video and witnessed by several residents Metallic Disk-Shape object, pulsating red, green & blue lights. 6 witnesses saw the object. A pulsating orange-red orb that split into 6 little orbs. 15 witnesses.Pilots from domestic flights reported that they witnessed a huge luminous disc at an altitude of 10,700 m which lasted for 20 mins, some claimed the disc is about hundreds times larger than the size of the moon seen from their location.
The acronym - for Unidentified Flying Object - is so prevalent and commonplace today, There is
even some dispute about the acronym's exact origin. In his classic account of
his years spent as the director of Project Blue BookAir
Force'sofficial UFO"investigation" agency - Capt. Edward J.
Ruppelt says unequivocally that "is the
official term that I created to replace the words " (Report on Unidentified Flying
Objects, Doubleday, , p. 6). Presumably, this would have been sometime
between 1951, when Ruppelt took over , later renamed , and September , when he left the agency and the Air
Force. Elsewhere in the same book, however, Ruppelt says of
Project Grudge's final 600-page report, released in December of 1949,
that it was "officially titled 'Unidentified Flying Objects -
Project Grudge, Technical Report No. 102-AC-49/15-100. But it was
widely referred to as the Grudge Report."
This would mean that some long forgotten anonymous staffer coined the phrase at least two years before
Ruppelt did. But perhaps Ruppelt is only claiming credit for the coinage of the
acronym itself? At any
rate, UFO has now entered into common usage and appears in most
dictionaries, along with ufology, the study of s, and ufologist, one who studies s. In many ways, the term is a "loaded" one
in that it implies classification or designation prior to a proper analysis or
thorough investigation. As commonly employed, has also come to imply a spaceship, or vehicle, of
extraterrestrial manufacture and origin. In reality, well over 90 percent of
all reported UFOs prove
to be s - Identified Flying Objects- upon
investigation. IFOs can
be anything from distant airplane landing lights to the planet , with ball lightning, weather balloons, and other
astronomical and meteorological phenomena thrown in for good measure. In
strictest terms, a UFO is
just that - an apparent unidentified flying object, origin unknown. The best
scientifically accepted definition of a is probably that provided by the late astronomer J.
Allen Hynek, who said that the UFO is
simply "the reported perception of an object or light seen in the sky or
upon the land the appearance, trajectory, and general dynamic and luminescent
behavior 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." (The
UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry by J. Allen Hynek,
Henry Regnery, Chicago, 1972, p. 10.) For more than 20 years, Hynek was the Air
Force's astronomy consultant to Project Blue Book and its
predecessors, up until the former's closing on . A few years afterwards, Hynek formed the Center
for UFO Studiesthat now bears his name. He also contributed two other
terms - one inadvertently and one purposefully - to the popular lexicon:
"swamp gas" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."
Shortly before the UFO there was the flying saucerJune 24th, 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold was winging his way near Mt. Rainier in Washington state, when he spied nine, shiny crescent-shaped objects at some distance and traveling at speeds he estimated to be well over 1,000 mph, far in advance of any known of the time, the new jet technology included. Arnold told Associated press reporter Bill Bequette that the objects behaved like a rock or saucer skipping across water. An anonymous headline writer then coined the phrase "flying saucers" to describe what Arnold had seen, even though the objects he reported were crescent, not saucer, shaped. By any name, however, flying saucers and UFOs have continued to puzzle us in the half-century since the end of . Regarded as almost exclusively an American phenomenon, like hamburgers and baseball, have now been reported from virtually every country in the world. No classification or category of humanity, from the average man or woman in the street, to physicists and astronomers, is immune to the UFO phenomenon. According to a several-decades-old Gallup Poll, more than ten million American adults alone are estimated to have seen what they believed to be a UFO, a phenomenon that most skeptics routinely dismiss as non-existent by definition. In reality, whatever that reality is, are arguably the most widely reported unexplained mystery of this or any other century. Although the modern UFO era is typically dated to Arnold's landmark sighting, there is tantalizing evidence that the heavens have long been inhabited by similar "apparitions" and manifestations, even when there weren't handy words with which to describe them. The collected books of Charles Fort , sometimes considered the father of ufology, run to 1062 pages. In the whole, there is but a single illustration, a line drawing on page 280 of The Book of the Damned (his first book) that accompanies an account Fort culled from the pages of the Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. The account was an extract from the log of Capt. F. W. Banner aboard the bark Lady of the Lake, dated March 22nd, 1870. Sailors had seen a remarkable object, or "cloud," which they reported to the ship's captain. "According to Capt. Banner," Fort wrote, "it was a cloud of circular form, with an included semicircle divided into four parts, the central dividing shaft beginning at the center of the circle and extending far outward, and then curving backward." The thing was light gray in color and much lower than the other clouds. It "traveled from a point at about 20 degrees above the horizon to a point about 80 degrees above," moving from the south, southeast, where it first appeared, to the northeast, traveling against the wind. "For half an hour this form was visible," writes Fort. "When it did finally disappear [it] was not because it disintegrated like a cloud, but because it was lost to sight in the evening darkness." Aside from the extraordinary duration - most sightings are a matter of minutes or seconds - this event replicates many of the characteristics common to UFO sightings more than a century later. These include the circular shape, the gray, metallic color and the ability to travel against the wind, which would seemingly rule out such mundane sources as weather balloons and - the skeptics' favorite - airborne hoaxes of a hot-air nature, i.e., kites or plastic bags with candles attached. Needless to say, any reliable 1870 or earlier sighting would also rule out the easy "explanations" of airplane landing lights, satellites, advertising blimps and so on. While it is true that rumor, speculation and tabloid sensationalism surround the subject, it is with the collection, analysis and verification, as far as possible, of sober reports like the above that and other responsible organizations are most concerned. The phenomenon can and should be approched dispassionately and scientifically from a variety of angles, perceptual, psychological and sociological, to name but a few. If objects from another planet are indeed visiting ours, what form of propulsion system and other technologies are employed? What kinds of biological lifeforms might be onboard? What God or gods will they worship? And how will occupants - now or in the future, immediate or remote - perceive humans: as mental, emotional and spiritual equals or as vastly subpar inferiors? Should the skeptics prove right, in a "worst-case" scenario, and UFOs turn out out to be nothing more than a convoluted space age myth of our own making, surely our perceptions of the UFO phenomenon will tell us much about the contents and inner working, the built-in "plumbing" of the human mind and perhaps consciousness itself? In either event - including other scenarios and potential explanations as yet unformulated - many unanswered questions remain. It can hardly be against human nature, or the scientific method in principle, to ask and to seek answers to those questions. We welcome your assistance!
Shortly before the UFO there was the flying saucerJune 24th, 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold was winging his way near Mt. Rainier in Washington state, when he spied nine, shiny crescent-shaped objects at some distance and traveling at speeds he estimated to be well over 1,000 mph, far in advance of any known of the time, the new jet technology included. Arnold told Associated press reporter Bill Bequette that the objects behaved like a rock or saucer skipping across water. An anonymous headline writer then coined the phrase "flying saucers" to describe what Arnold had seen, even though the objects he reported were crescent, not saucer, shaped. By any name, however, flying saucers and UFOs have continued to puzzle us in the half-century since the end of . Regarded as almost exclusively an American phenomenon, like hamburgers and baseball, have now been reported from virtually every country in the world. No classification or category of humanity, from the average man or woman in the street, to physicists and astronomers, is immune to the UFO phenomenon. According to a several-decades-old Gallup Poll, more than ten million American adults alone are estimated to have seen what they believed to be a UFO, a phenomenon that most skeptics routinely dismiss as non-existent by definition. In reality, whatever that reality is, are arguably the most widely reported unexplained mystery of this or any other century. Although the modern UFO era is typically dated to Arnold's landmark sighting, there is tantalizing evidence that the heavens have long been inhabited by similar "apparitions" and manifestations, even when there weren't handy words with which to describe them. The collected books of Charles Fort , sometimes considered the father of ufology, run to 1062 pages. In the whole, there is but a single illustration, a line drawing on page 280 of The Book of the Damned (his first book) that accompanies an account Fort culled from the pages of the Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. The account was an extract from the log of Capt. F. W. Banner aboard the bark Lady of the Lake, dated March 22nd, 1870. Sailors had seen a remarkable object, or "cloud," which they reported to the ship's captain. "According to Capt. Banner," Fort wrote, "it was a cloud of circular form, with an included semicircle divided into four parts, the central dividing shaft beginning at the center of the circle and extending far outward, and then curving backward." The thing was light gray in color and much lower than the other clouds. It "traveled from a point at about 20 degrees above the horizon to a point about 80 degrees above," moving from the south, southeast, where it first appeared, to the northeast, traveling against the wind. "For half an hour this form was visible," writes Fort. "When it did finally disappear [it] was not because it disintegrated like a cloud, but because it was lost to sight in the evening darkness." Aside from the extraordinary duration - most sightings are a matter of minutes or seconds - this event replicates many of the characteristics common to UFO sightings more than a century later. These include the circular shape, the gray, metallic color and the ability to travel against the wind, which would seemingly rule out such mundane sources as weather balloons and - the skeptics' favorite - airborne hoaxes of a hot-air nature, i.e., kites or plastic bags with candles attached. Needless to say, any reliable 1870 or earlier sighting would also rule out the easy "explanations" of airplane landing lights, satellites, advertising blimps and so on. While it is true that rumor, speculation and tabloid sensationalism surround the subject, it is with the collection, analysis and verification, as far as possible, of sober reports like the above that and other responsible organizations are most concerned. The phenomenon can and should be approched dispassionately and scientifically from a variety of angles, perceptual, psychological and sociological, to name but a few. If objects from another planet are indeed visiting ours, what form of propulsion system and other technologies are employed? What kinds of biological lifeforms might be onboard? What God or gods will they worship? And how will occupants - now or in the future, immediate or remote - perceive humans: as mental, emotional and spiritual equals or as vastly subpar inferiors? Should the skeptics prove right, in a "worst-case" scenario, and UFOs turn out out to be nothing more than a convoluted space age myth of our own making, surely our perceptions of the UFO phenomenon will tell us much about the contents and inner working, the built-in "plumbing" of the human mind and perhaps consciousness itself? In either event - including other scenarios and potential explanations as yet unformulated - many unanswered questions remain. It can hardly be against human nature, or the scientific method in principle, to ask and to seek answers to those questions. We welcome your assistance!
This page
is under construction
Mirage IV - UFO
encounter, March 7, 1977:
"I had the impression of a shape
and an important mass behind us, much larger than my Mirage. When we landed at
Luxeuil, we were shaken."
Colonel René Giraud, French Air Force.
Colonel René Giraud, French Air Force.
On March 7, 1977, at 08:34pm, Major René Giraud had engaged
the autopilot of a Mirage IV supersonic nuclear capable bomber with Captain
Jean Paul Abraham as navigator. They were returning from a night navigation
exercise to the Air Force base of Luxeuil and were in the region of Chaumont in
the department of Haute Marne, flying at an altitude of 9750 meters and a speed
of Mach 0.9, under excellent visibility conditions.
They noticed a brilliant light coming towards their Mirage
from their exact right and on a collision course with them, and first thought
it may be a jet fighter, but when they radioed to the ground control at
Contrexéville for reporting it and getting it identified, they learned that the
ground radar showed nothing and that no other aircraft was known to be in that
area. The ground controller asked them to check their oxygen, which indicates
that he thought the pilots may be hallucinating.
The light appeared bigger and bigger as it approached their
aircraft from their rear right. The pilot was flying at Mach 0.98 and made a
turn to the right and then to the left to make sure the light was not a
reflection of some sort on the cockpit. As he did these maneuvers, both of the
crew could distinguish that the light was the front of a dark solid object.
Despite the evasive maneuver, the unidentified object managed to stay exactly
behind them for a few seconds, a very dangerous situation if the unknown object
were to be hostile. The then object made a turn to the North-West at an
estimated speed of Mach II, and went away to the left of the Mirage IV.
Giraud said later that though the object was away at that
time, he felt like being observed, and told Abraham: "you'll see, it will
come back."
About 45 seconds later, the unidentified flying object or
another one exactly similar reappeared at the rear right of the Mirage, and
Giraud performed a second time the evasive maneuver, banking even sharper to
the right at 6.5G then again to the left, while the UFO also performed the same
pass than the first one, and then sped away.
Ground control was still unable to detect anything on radar,
and the Mirage then returned safely to the Air Force Base at Luxeuil.
N.1 of the UFO special issues of the large audience French
magazine VSD (www.vsd.fr) published an article about the case. The author has
interviewed René Giraud who stated:
"That evening, in
command of the Arbois bomber squadron, I have just carried out a night flight
exercise on board a Mirage IV bomber with my navigator, Captain Jean-Paul
Abraham. We return to Luxeuil at an altitude of 9750 meters and at an approximate
speed of 1000 kilometers per hour. We are above Chaumont when a gleaming light
arrives toward us. It is identical to the signalisation headlight of a Mirage
III jet fighter. Does the controller radar of Contrexéville sleep? The object
continues to approach, on the same level than us... It's not normal, he should
remain below. I warn the ground controller, but he says to me that there is
absolutely nothing. And that thing approaches... It is not a plane, it is not a
missile. I gently start to turn to the right. And it remains inside my turn,
stuck to my trajectory. At once, I bank sharply. This object is
straightforwardly pacing us at less than 1 km in our back as taking position to
shoot us down! It flies much more quickly than me... And this will last 40
seconds! There is absolutely nothing I can do... I slow my turn down, and this
thing leaves at an unbelievable speed! 30 seconds after I had taken the
direction of the Air base again, I say to my navigator: "Careful, that
thing will come back!... I feel that I am being observed! I turn very sharply
to the right after having put the engines at full thrust. The object plays the
same game again. And there, it come very near. I have an impression of a shape
and large mass behind us, much larger than my Mirage. Jean-Paul tries to take
photographs. I slightly reverse my turn and the light goes again towards the
West with a fantastic acceleration, producing some sort of a trail... When we
landed at Luxeuil, we were shaken..."
Source: VSD
Hors Série OVNIS N.1.
Internal discussion in the Air Forces about the incident
made clear that the unidentified object was could only have been supersonic,
although no sonic boom were reported in the area at that time, that no other
known traffic was in the area, and that it was highly anomalous that the UFO
did not appear on the ground control radarscope.
All the radio conversations between the crew and ground
control were recorded and kept for some time, which allowed a written
transcript.
Giraud, who came out of the Air Force with the rank of
Colonel, expressed himself publicly on several occasion, including on French
national TV, about this experience. While not ready to speculate on the nature
of the object, he made clear that the UFO performed active maneuvers in
reaction to the presence of the Mirage, and reactive maneuvers when the Mirage
IV took evasive action, as if an intelligence piloted it.
The case is listed in Dominique Weinstein's famous near air
misses between aircraft and UFOs catalogue.
The case is listed among other aeronautical UFO encounters
in the famous French COMETA report 1999, a report on UFOs by a group of former
high ranking Air Force military, former experts of the French Defense
institute, and other, intended to be read by the French President Jacques Chirac
and his Prime Minister Lionel Jospin to alert them about the need for a serious
consideration of Defense implications of the UFO phenomenon as a highly
probable manifestation of extra-terrestrial presence
UFO
Sat, 5th November, 2011
UFO SUBJECTS
Please Sign Guestbook