UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union First Edition 1992 Jacques Vallee A Comic

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UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat
Jacques F. Vallee, Author Ballantine Books ISBN 978-0-345-37396-0
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Before Gorbachev, the study of UFOs in Russia depended on samizdat dissemination, but with the advent of glasnost, publication of UFO sightings is no longer restricted, according to the author. In 1990, American ufologist Vallee ( Revelations ) visited the Soviet Union with French journalist Martine Castello to talk with scientists and interview those who claim to have contact with UFOs. Like accounts of sightings in this country, the Soviet sightings generally feature space vehicles either round or saucer-shaped, with creatures, if present, more or less anthropomorphic and ranging in height from three to 10 feet, some with three eyes or outsize mouths. Only believers in UFOs will find this report convincing. (Mar.)
UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat
by Jacques F. Vallée
 3.76  ·   Rating details ·  29 ratings  ·  1 review
Interviews with Soviet scientists, government and military officials, media figures, and one cosmonaut reveal classified information and anecdotes about unexplained phenomena.
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For other uses, see Unidentified flying object (disambiguation).
"UFO" and "Ufo" redirect here. For other uses, see UFO (disambiguation).
UFOs and ufology
Photograph from purported UFO sighting in Passoria, New Jersey
New Jersey, 1952
Notable sightings
Pentagon UFO videosKenneth Arnold UFO sightingRoswellMcMinnville UFO photographsFlatwoods monsterBarney and Betty Hill abductionRendlesham Forest
Government investigations
Operação Prato - BrazilProject Magnet - CanadaGEIPAN - FranceInstitute 22 - Soviet UnionFlying Saucer Working Party - UKProject Condign - UKAdvanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program - USACondon Committee - USAProject Blue Book - USAProject Grudge - USAProject Sign - USARobertson Panel - USAUnidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force - USA
Types of UFO
Black triangleFlying saucerFoo fighterGhost rocketsGreen fireballsMystery airship
UFO organisations
Kosmopoisk - RussiaArkivet för UFO-forskning - SwedenIstanbul UFO Museum - TurkeyBritish UFO Research Association - UKCenter for UFO Studies - USAFund for UFO Research - USAInternational UFO Congress - USAMutual UFO Network - USANational UFO Reporting Center - USA
Conspiracy theories
Area 51Bob LazarMajestic 12Men in blackSerpo
Religions
Aetherius SocietyChurch of the SubGeniusHeaven's GateRaëlismNation of Islam#The Mother Plane and Ezekiel's WheelScientologyUnarius Academy of Science
Lists
Reported UFO sightingsInvestigations of UFOs by governmentsIdentification studies of UFOsUFO organisationsUfologistsAlleged extraterrestrial beings
vte
Photograph of a purported UFO in Passaic, New Jersey, taken on July 31, 1952
An unidentified flying object (UFO) is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are identified as known objects or atmospheric phenomena, while a small number remain unexplained.
Scientists and skeptic organizations such as the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry have provided prosaic explanations for a large number of claimed UFOs being caused by natural phenomena, human technology, delusions, or hoaxes. Small but vocal groups of "ufologists" favour unconventional, pseudoscientific hypotheses, some of which go beyond the typical extraterrestrial visitation claims and sometimes form part of new religions.
While unusual sightings have been reported in the sky throughout history, UFOs did not achieve their current cultural prominence until the period after World War II, escalating during the Space Age. The 20th century saw studies and investigations into UFO reports conducted by governments (such as Projects Grudge and Sign in the United States, and Project Condign in the United Kingdom), as well as by organisations and individuals.
Contents
1 History
1.1 Early history before the 20th century
1.2 20th century and after
1.2.1 Notable cases, incidents
1.2.2 Astronomer reports
1.2.3 Famous hoaxes
2 Terminology
2.1 Extraterrestrial hypothesis
3 Investigations of reports
3.1 Prosaic explanations
3.2 Americas
3.2.1 Brazil (1952–2016)
3.2.2 Canada (c. 1950)
3.2.3 United States
3.2.4 FOIA release of documents in 1978
3.2.5 Uruguay (c. 1989)
3.3 Europe
3.3.1 France (1977–2008)
3.3.2 Italy (1933–2005)
3.3.3 United Kingdom (1951–2009)
4 Studies
4.1 Scientific
4.1.1 Sturrock panel categorization
4.1.2 Scientific skepticism
4.2 Governmental
4.2.1 Claims by military, government, and aviation personnel
4.2.2 Conspiracy theories
4.3 Fringe
4.4 Private
4.5 Ufology
4.5.1 Researchers
4.5.2 Sightings
4.5.3 Organizations
4.5.4 Categorization
5 In popular culture
6 Notes
7 References
8 Bibliography
8.1 General
8.2 History
8.3 Psychology
8.4 Technology
8.5 Skepticism
9 External links
History
Early history before the 20th century
The 1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg as printed in an illustrated news notice. UFO enthusiasts have described the phenomenon as an aerial battle of extraterrestrial origin. Skeptics find the phenomenon likely to have been a sun dog
People have observed the sky throughout history, and sometimes seen unusual sights: such as comets, bright meteors, one or more of the five planets that can be readily seen with the naked eye, planetary conjunctions, and atmospheric optical phenomena such as parhelia and lenticular clouds. One particularly famous example is Halley's Comet: this was recorded first by Chinese astronomers in 240 BC and possibly as early as 467 BC. As it reaches the inner solar system every 76 years, it was often identified as a unique isolated event in ancient historical documents whose authors were unaware that it was a repeating phenomenon. Such accounts in history often were treated as supernatural portents, angels, or other religious omens.[1] While UFO enthusiasts have sometimes commented on the narrative similarities between certain religious symbols in medieval paintings and UFO reports,[2] the canonical and symbolic character of such images is documented by art historians placing more conventional religious interpretations on such images.[3]
Some examples of pre-modern observations of unusual aerial phenomena:
Julius Obsequens was a Roman writer who is believed to have lived in the middle of the fourth century AD. The only work associated with his name is the Liber de prodigiis (Book of Prodigies), completely extracted from an epitome, or abridgment, written by Livy; De prodigiis was constructed as an account of the wonders and portents that occurred in Rome between 249 and 12 BCE. An aspect of Obsequens' work that has inspired excitement in some UFO enthusiasts is that he makes reference to things moving through the sky. It is possible that it is a description of meteors, and, since Obsequens is writing some 400 years after the events he describes, the text is not an eye-witness account.[4][5]
A woodcut by Hans Glaser that appeared in a broadsheet in 1561 has been featured in popular culture as "celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg" and connected to various ancient astronaut claims.[6] According to writer Jason Colavito, the image represents "a secondhand depiction of a particularly gaudy sundog", a known atmospheric optical phenomenon.[7] A similar report comes from 1566 over Basel and, indeed, in the 15th and 16th centuries, many leaflets wrote of "miracles" and "sky spectacles".
On January 25, 1878, the Denison Daily News printed an article in which John Martin, a local farmer, had reported seeing a large, dark, circular object resembling a balloon flying "at wonderful speed". Martin, according to the newspaper account, said it appeared to be about the size of a saucer from his perspective, one of the first uses of the word "saucer" in association with a UFO.[8] In April of that year, reports of such "mystery airships" in various parts of the United States are reminiscent of modern UFO waves. Many signed affidavits. Scores of people even reported talking to the pilots. Reports of strange ships and artificial lights in the sky were published in local newspapers for the next two decades culminating in a mass panic in 1897 where some people feared that Thomas Edison had created an artificial star that could fly around the country. When asked his opinion of such reports, Edison said, "You can take it from me that it is a pure fake."[9][10]
20th century and after
In the Pacific and European theatres during World War II, round, glowing fireballs known as "foo fighters" were reported by Allied and Axis pilots. Some proposed Allied explanations at the time included St. Elmo's fire, the planet Venus, hallucinations from oxygen deprivation, or German secret weapons.[11] In 1946, more than 2,000 reports were collected, primarily by the Swedish military, of unidentified aerial objects over the Scandinavian nations, along with isolated reports from France, Portugal, Italy and Greece. The objects were referred to as "Russian hail" (and later as "ghost rockets") because it was thought the mysterious objects were possibly Russian tests of captured German V1 or V2 rockets. Most were identified as natural phenomena as meteors.[12]
The popular UFO craze by many accounts began with a media frenzy surrounding the reports on June 24, 1947, that a civilian pilot named Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine objects flying in formation near Mount Rainier in the United States. At the time, he claimed he described the objects flying in a saucer-like fashion, leading to newspaper accounts of "flying saucers" and "flying discs".[13][14] Soon, reports of flying saucer sightings became a daily occurrence with one particularly famous example being the Roswell incident where remnants of a downed observation balloon were recovered by a farmer and confiscated by military personnel. The story received scant attention at the time, but interest in it revived in the 1990s with the publicity surrounding the television broadcast of an Alien autopsy video marketed as "real footage" but later admitted to be a staged "re-enactment". Various UFO claimants said that they had interacted with the aliens driving the spacecraft and a few said they had visited the crafts themselves. In 1961, the first alien abduction account was sensationalized when Barney and Betty Hill went under hypnosis after seeing a UFO and reported recovered memories of their experience that became ever more elaborate as the years went by.
As media accounts and speculation were running rampant in the US, by 1953 intelligence officials (Robertson Panel) worried that "genuine incursions" by enemy aircraft "over U.S. territory could be lost in a maelstrom of kooky hallucination" of UFO reports.[15] Media were enlisted to help debunk and discourage UFO reports, culminating in a 1966 TV special, “UFO: Friend, Foe or Fantasy?”, in which Walter Cronkite "patiently" explained to viewers that UFOs were fantasy.[15] Cronkite enlisted Carl Sagan and J. Allen Hynek, who told Cronkite, “To this time, there is no valid scientific proof that we have been visited by spaceships".[16] Fellow NICAP official Donald E. Keyhoe wrote that Vice Admiral Roscoe Hillenkoetter, the first director of the CIA, "wanted public disclosure of UFO evidence".[17]
A 1969 National Academy of Sciences panel reviewed the Condon Report and concurred with its finding, observing that, “While further study of particular aspects of the topic (e.g., atmospheric phenomena) may be useful, a study of UFOs in general is not a promising way to expand scientific understanding of the phenomena.” Referencing the panel's conclusions, the Pentagon announced that it would no longer investigate UFO reports. According to Keith Kloor, the "allure of flying saucers" remained popular with the public into the 1970s, spurring production of such sci-fi films, as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Alien, which "continued to stoke public fascination". Kloor writes that by the late 1990s, "other big UFO subthemes had been prominently introduced into pop culture, such as the abduction phenomenon and government conspiracy narrative, via best-selling books and, of course, The X-Files".[16]
Notable cases, incidents
Britain
The Rendlesham Forest incident was a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights near Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England in late December 1980 which became linked with claims of UFO landings.
France
The most notable cases of UFO sightings in France include:
the Valensole UFO incident in 1965.
the Trans-en-Provence Case in 1981.
United States
In the Kecksburg UFO incident, Pennsylvania (1965), residents reported seeing an object crash in the area.
In 1975, Travis Walton claimed to be abducted by aliens. The movie Fire in the Sky (1993) was based on this event, but greatly embellished the original account.
The "Phoenix Lights" on March 13, 1997
Astronomer reports
The USAF's Project Blue Book files indicate that approximately 1% of all unknown reports[18] came from amateur and professional astronomers or other telescope users (such as missile trackers or surveyors). In 1952, astronomer J. Allen Hynek, then a consultant to Blue Book, conducted a small survey of 45 fellow professional astronomers. Five reported UFO sightings (about 11%). In the 1970s, astrophysicist Peter A. Sturrock conducted two large surveys of the AIAA and American Astronomical Society (AAS). About 5% of the members polled indicated that they had had UFO sightings.
Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who saw six UFOs, including three green fireballs, supported the extraterrestrial hypothesis for UFOs and said scientists who dismissed it without study were "unscientific". Another astronomer, Lincoln LaPaz, headed the United States Air Force's investigation into green fireballs and other UFO phenomena in New Mexico. LaPaz reported two personal sightings, of a green fireball and a disc. (Both Tombaugh and LaPaz were part of Hynek's 1952 survey.) Hynek took two photos through the window of a commercial airliner of a disc that seemed to keep pace with his aircraft.[19]
Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi rejected the hypothesis that UFOs are extraterrestrial spacecraft and responded to the "onslaught of credulous coverage" in books, films and entertainment by teaching his students to apply critical thinking to such claims, advising them that "being a good scientist is not unlike being a good detective". According to Fraknoi, UFO reports "might at first seem mysterious", but "the more you investigate, the more likely you are to find that there is LESS to these stories than meets the eye".[20]
In a 1980 survey of 1800 members of amateur astronomer associations by Gert Helb and Hynek for CUFOS, 24% responded "yes" to the question "Have you ever observed an object which resisted your most exhaustive efforts at identification?"[21]
Famous hoaxes
Main article: List of UFO-related hoaxes
The Maury Island incident
George Adamski, over the space of two decades, made various claims about his meetings with telepathic aliens from nearby planets. He claimed photographs of the far side of the Moon taken by the Soviet lunar probe Luna 3 in 1959 were fake, and that there were cities, trees and snow-capped mountains on the far side of the Moon. Among copycats was a shadowy British figure named Cedric Allingham.
Ed Walters, a building contractor, in 1987 allegedly perpetrated a hoax in Gulf Breeze, Florida. Walters claimed at first having seen a small UFO flying near his home and took some photographs of the craft. Walters reported and documented a series of UFO sightings over a period of three weeks and took several photographs. These sightings became famous, and are collectively referred to as the Gulf Breeze UFO incident. 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. Most investigators, like the forensic photo expert William G. Hyzer,[22] now consider the sightings to be a hoax.
Terminology
The term "UFO" (or "UFOB") was coined in 1953 by the United States Air Force (USAF) to serve as a catch-all for all such reports. In its initial definition, the USAF stated that a "UFOB" was "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". Accordingly, the term was initially restricted to that fraction of cases which remained unidentified after investigation, as the USAF was interested in potential national security reasons and "technical aspects" (see Air Force Regulation 200-2).
During the late 1940s and through the 1950s, UFOs were often referred to popularly as "flying saucers" or "flying discs" due to the term being introduced in the context of the Kenneth Arnold incident. The Avro Canada VZ-9AV Avrocar was a concept vehicle produced during the 1950s, which was a functional aircraft with a saucer shape.[23] UFOs were commonly referred to colloquially, as a "Bogey" by Western military personnel and pilots during the cold war. The term "bogey" was originally used to report anomalies in radar blips, to indicate possible hostile forces that might be roaming in the area.[24]
The term UFO became more widespread during the 1950s, at first in technical literature, but later in popular use. UFOs garnered considerable interest during the Cold War, an era associated with a heightened concerns about national security, and, more recently, in the 2010s, for unexplained reasons.[25][26] Nevertheless, various studies have concluded that the phenomenon does not represent a threat, and nor does it contain anything worthy of scientific pursuit (e.g., 1951 Flying Saucer Working Party, 1953 CIA Robertson Panel, USAF Project Blue Book, Condon Committee).
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a UFO as "An unidentified flying object; a 'flying saucer'". The first published book to use the word was authored by Donald E. Keyhoe.[27]
As an acronym, "UFO" was coined by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt, who headed Project Blue Book, then the USAF's official investigation of UFOs. He wrote, "Obviously the term 'flying saucer' is misleading when applied to objects of every conceivable shape and performance. For this reason the military prefers the more general, if less colorful, name: unidentified flying objects. UFO (pronounced yoo-foe) for short."[28] Other phrases that were used officially and that predate the UFO acronym include "flying flapjack", "flying disc", "unexplained flying discs", and "unidentifiable object".[29][30][31]
In popular usage, the term UFO came to be used to refer to claims of alien spacecraft,[27] and because of the public and media ridicule associated with the topic, some ufologists and investigators prefer to use terms such as "unidentified aerial phenomenon" (UAP) or "anomalous phenomena", as in the title of the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP).[32] "Anomalous aerial vehicle" (AAV) or "unidentified aerial system" (UAS) are also sometimes used in a military aviation context to describe unidentified targets.[33]
Extraterrestrial hypothesis
Main article: Extraterrestrial hypothesis
While technically a UFO refers to any unidentified flying object, in modern popular culture the term UFO has generally become synonymous with alien spacecraft;[34] however, the term ETV (ExtraTerrestrial Vehicle) is sometimes used to separate this explanation of UFOs from totally earthbound explanations.[35]
Investigations of reports
UFOs have been subject to investigations over the years that varied widely in scope and scientific rigor. Governments or independent academics in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Peru, France, Belgium, Sweden, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Mexico, Spain, and the Soviet Union are known to have investigated UFO reports at various times. No official government investigation has ever publicly concluded that UFOs are indisputably real, physical objects, extraterrestrial in origin, or of concern to national defense.
Among the best known government studies are the ghost rockets investigation by the Swedish military (1946–1947), Project Blue Book, previously Project Sign and Project Grudge, conducted by the USAF from 1947 until 1969, the secret U.S. Army/Air Force Project Twinkle investigation into green fireballs (1948–1951), the secret USAF Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14[36] by the Battelle Memorial Institute, and the Brazilian Air Force's 1977 Operação Prato (Operation Saucer). France has had an ongoing investigation (GEPAN/SEPRA/GEIPAN) within its space agency Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) since 1977; the government of Uruguay has had a similar investigation since 1989.
Prosaic explanations
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 just above the horizon, may be responsible for some UFO sightings.[37]
Studies show that after careful investigation, the majority of UFOs can be identified as ordinary objects or phenomena. The most commonly found identified sources of UFO reports are:
astronomical objects (bright stars, bolides, bright planets, and the Moon)
aircraft (including military, civilian, and experimental aircraft as well as such peculiarities as aerial advertising, missile and other rocket launches, artificial satellites, re-entering spacecraft including space debris, kites, and various unmanned aerial vehicles often popularly termed "drones")
balloons (toy balloons, weather balloons, large research balloons)
other atmospheric objects and phenomena (birds, unusual clouds, flares)
light phenomena (mirages, Fata Morgana, ball lightning, moon dogs, satellite flares, searchlights and other ground lights, etc.)
psychological effects (pareidolia, suggestibility and false memories, mass psychogenic disorders, optical illusions, and hallucinations)
hoaxes
A 1952–1955 study by the Battelle Memorial Institute for the USAF included these categories. An individual 1979 study by CUFOS researcher Allan Hendry found, as did other investigations, that fewer than one percent of cases he investigated were hoaxes and most sightings were actually honest misidentifications of prosaic phenomena. Hendry attributed most of these to inexperience or misperception.[38]
Americas
Brazil (1952–2016)
Document on sighting of a UFO occurred on December 16, 1977, in the state of Bahia, Brazil
On October 31, 2008, the National Archives of Brazil began receiving from the Aeronautical Documentation and History Center part of the documentation of the Brazilian Air Force regarding the investigation of the appearance of UFOs in Brazil. Currently, this collection gathers cases between 1952 and 2016.[39]
Canada (c. 1950)
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 considers "unsolved" the Falcon Lake incident in Manitoba and the Shag Harbour UFO incident in Nova Scotia.[40]
Early Canadian studies included Project Magnet (1950–1954) and Project Second Storey (1952–1954), supported by the Defence Research Board.
United States
Synopsis
U.S. investigations into UFOs include:
Project Blue Book, previously Project Sign and Project Grudge, conducted by the USAF from 1947 until 1969
The secret U.S. Army/Air Force Project Twinkle investigation into green fireballs (1948–1951)
Ghost rockets investigations by the Swedish, UK, U.S., and Greek militaries (1946–1947)
The secret CIA Office of Scientific Investigation (OS/I) study (1952–53)
The secret CIA Robertson Panel (1953)
The secret USAF Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 by the Battelle Memorial Institute (1951–1954)
The Brookings Report (1960), commissioned by NASA
The public Condon Committee (1966–1968)
The private, internal RAND Corporation study (1968)[41]
The private Sturrock panel (1998)
The secret Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program which was funded from 2007 to 2012.[42][43]
The Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force, a continuing program within the United States Office of Naval Intelligence which was acknowledged in 2017.
Thousands of documents released under FOIA also indicate that many U.S. intelligence agencies collected (and still collect) information on UFOs. These agencies include the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), FBI,[31] CIA, National Security Agency (NSA), as well as military intelligence agencies of the Army and U.S. Navy, in addition to the Air Force.[note 1]
The investigation of UFOs has also attracted many civilians, who in the U.S formed research groups such as NICAP (active 1956–1980), Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) (active 1952–1988), MUFON (active 1969–), and CUFOS (active 1973–).
On November 24, 2021, the Pentagon announced the formation of the Airborne Object Identification and Management Synchronization Group, a new intelligence group to investigate unidentified objects that may compromise the airspace of the United States.[44]
USAAF and FBI response to the 1947 sightings
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Following the large U.S. surge in sightings in June and early July 1947, on July 9, 1947, United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) intelligence, in cooperation with the FBI,[31] began a formal investigation into selected sightings with characteristics that could not be immediately rationalized, such as Kenneth Arnold's. The USAAF used "all of its top scientists" to determine whether "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."[45] 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."[46]
A further review by the intelligence and technical divisions of the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field reached the same conclusion. It reported that "the phenomenon is something real and not visionary or fictitious," and there were disc-shaped objects, metallic in appearance, as big as man-made aircraft. They were characterized by "extreme rates of climb [and] maneuverability", general lack of noise, absence of a trail, occasional formation flying, and "evasive" behavior "when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar", suggesting a controlled craft. It was therefore recommended in late September 1947 that an official Air Force investigation be set up. It was also recommended that other government agencies should assist in the investigation.[note 2]
USAF
Projects Sign (1947–1949), Grudge (1948–1951), and Blue Book (1951–1970)
Main articles: Project Sign, Project Grudge, and Project Blue Book
Project Sign's final report, published in early 1949, stated that while some UFOs appeared to represent actual aircraft, there was not enough data to determine their origin.[47]
The Air Force's Project Sign was created at the end of 1947, and was 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, but 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 J. Allen Hynek and Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, the first head of the USAF's Project Blue Book.[48]
Another highly classified U.S. study was conducted by the CIA's Office of Scientific Investigation (OS/I) in the latter half of 1952 in response to orders from the National Security Council (NSC). This study concluded UFOs were real physical objects of potential threat to national security. One OS/I memo to the CIA Director (DCI) in December read that "the reports of incidents convince us that there is something going on that must have immediate attention ... Sightings of unexplained objects at great altitudes and traveling at high speeds in the vicinity of major U.S. defense installations are of such a nature that they are not attributable to natural phenomena or any known types of aerial vehicles." The matter was considered so urgent that OS/I drafted a memorandum from the DCI to the NSC proposing that the NSC establish an investigation of UFOs as a priority project throughout the intelligence and the defense research and development community. It also urged the DCI to establish an external research project of top-level scientists, now known as the Robertson Panel to analyze the problem of UFOs. The OS/I investigation was called off after the Robertson Panel's negative conclusions in January 1953.[49]
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. J. Allen Hynek, a trained astronomer who served as a scientific advisor for Project Blue Book, was initially skeptical of UFO reports, but eventually came to the conclusion that many of them could not be satisfactorily explained and was highly critical of what he described as "the cavalier disregard by Project Blue Book of the principles of scientific investigation".[50] Leaving government work, he founded the privately funded CUFOS, to whose work he devoted the rest of his life. Other private groups studying the phenomenon include the MUFON, a grassroots organization whose investigator's handbooks go into great detail on the documentation of alleged UFO sightings.
USAF Regulation 200-2 (1953–1954)
Air Force Regulation 200-2,[51] 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." The regulation went on to say that "it is permissible to inform news media representatives on UFOB's when the object is positively identified as a familiar object" but added: "For those objects which are not explainable, only the fact that ATIC [Air Technical Intelligence Center] will analyze the data is worthy of release, due to many unknowns involved."[51]
Blue Book and the Condon Committee (1968–1970)
Main article: Condon Committee
A public research effort conducted by the Condon Committee for the USAF and published as the Condon Report arrived at a negative conclusion in 1968.[52] Blue Book closed down in 1970, using the Condon Committee's negative conclusion as a rationale, thus ending official Air Force UFO investigations. However, a 1969 USAF document, known as the Bolender memo, along with later government documents, revealed that non-public U.S. government UFO investigations continued after 1970. The Bolender memo first stated that "reports of unidentified flying objects that could affect national security ... are not part of the Blue Book system," indicating that more serious UFO incidents already were handled outside 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."[note 3] In addition, in the late 1960s a chapter on UFOs in the Space Sciences course at the U.S. Air Force Academy gave serious consideration to possible extraterrestrial origins. When word of the curriculum became public, the Air Force in 1970 issued a statement to the effect that the book was outdated and cadets instead were being informed of the Condon Report's negative conclusion.[53]
Controversy surrounded the report, both before and after its release. It has been observed that the report was "harshly criticized by numerous scientists, particularly at the powerful AIAA ... [which] recommended moderate, but continuous scientific work on UFOs."[52] In an address to the AAAS, James E. McDonald said he believed science had failed to mount adequate studies of the problem and criticized the Condon Report and earlier studies by the USAF as scientifically deficient. He also questioned the basis for Condon's conclusions[54] and argued that the reports of UFOs have been "laughed out of scientific court".[55] J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer who worked as a USAF consultant from 1948, sharply criticized the Condon Committee Report and later wrote two nontechnical books that set forth the case for continuing to investigate UFO reports.
Ruppelt recounted his experiences with Project Blue Book, a USAF investigation that preceded Condon's.[56]
FOIA release of documents in 1978
According to a 1979 New York Times report, "records from the C.I.A., the F.B.I. and other Federal agencies" ("about 900 documents — nearly 900 pages of memos, reports and correspondence") obtained in 1978 through the Freedom of Information Act request, indicate that "despite official pronouncements for decades that U.F.O.'s were nothing more than misidentified aerial objects and as such were no cause for alarm ... the phenomenon has aroused much serious behind‐the‐scenes concern" in the US government. In particular, officials were concerned over the "approximately 10%" of UFO sightings which remained unexplained, and whether they might be Soviet aircraft and a threat to national security.[57] Officials were concerned about the "risk of false alerts", of "falsely identifying the real as phantom”, and of mass hysteria caused by sightings. In 1947, Brigadier General George F. Schulgen of Army Air Corps Intelligence, warned “the first reported sightings might have been by individuals of Communist sympathies with the view to causing hysteria and fear of a secret Russian weapon.”[57]
White House statement of November 2011
In November 2011, the White House released an official response to two petitions asking the U.S. government to acknowledge formally that aliens have visited this planet and to disclose any intentional withholding of government interactions with extraterrestrial beings. According to the response:
The U.S. government has no evidence that any life exists outside our planet, or that an extraterrestrial presence has contacted or engaged any member of the human race...no credible information to suggest that any evidence is being hidden from the public's eye....
— Statement by the White House[58][59]
The response further noted that efforts, like SETI and NASA's Kepler space telescope and Mars Science Laboratory, continue looking for signs of life. The response noted "odds are pretty high" that there may be life on other planets but "the odds of us making contact with any of them—especially any intelligent ones—are extremely small, given the distances involved."[58][59]
ODNI report 2021
On June 25, 2021, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released a report on UAPs.[60] The report found that the UAPTF was unable to identify 143 objects spotted between 2004 and 2021. The report said that 18 of these featured unusual movement patterns or flight characteristics, adding that more analysis was needed to determine if those sightings represented "breakthrough" technology. The report said that "some of these steps are resource-intensive and would require additional investment."[61] The report did not link the sightings to extraterrestrial life.[62][63]
Uruguay (c. 1989)
The Uruguayan Air Force has conducted UFO investigations since 1989 and reportedly analyzed 2,100 cases of which they regard approximately 2% as lacking explanation.[64]
Europe
France (1977–2008)
In March 2007, the French space agency CNES published an archive of UFO sightings and other phenomena online.[65]
French studies include GEPAN/SEPRA/GEIPAN within CNES (French space agency), the longest ongoing government-sponsored investigation. About 22% of the 6,000 cases studied remain unexplained.[66] The official opinion of GEPAN/SEPRA/GEIPAN has been neutral, stating on their FAQ page that their mission is fact-finding for the scientific community, not rendering an opinion. They add they can neither prove nor disprove the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), but their Steering Committee's clear position is that they cannot discard the possibility that some fraction of the very strange 22% of unexplained cases might be due to distant and advanced civilizations.[67] Possibly their bias may be indicated by their use of the terms "PAN" (French) or "UAP" (English equivalent) for "Unidentified Aerospace Phenomenon" (whereas "UAP" is normally used by English organizations stands for "Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon", a more neutral term). In addition, the three heads of the studies have gone on record in stating that UFOs were real physical flying machines beyond our knowledge or that the best explanation for the most inexplicable cases was an extraterrestrial one.[68][69][70]
In 2008, Michel Scheller, president of the Association Aéronautique et Astronautique de France (3AF), created the Sigma Commission. Its purpose was to investigate UFO phenomenon worldwide.[71] A progress report published in May 2010 stated that the central hypothesis proposed by the COMETA report is perfectly credible.[72] In December 2012, the final report of the Sigma Commission was submitted to Scheller. Following the submission of the final report, the Sigma2 Commission is to be formed with a mandate to continue the scientific investigation of UFO phenomenon.[73][74]
Italy (1933–2005)
Alleged UFO sightings gradually increased since the war, peaking in 1978 and 2005. The total number of sightings since 1947 are 18,500, of which 90% are identifiable.[75]
United Kingdom (1951–2009)
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The UK's Flying Saucer Working Party published its final report in June 1951, which remained secret for over fifty years. The Working Party concluded that all UFO sightings could be explained as misidentifications of ordinary objects or phenomena, optical illusions, psychological misperceptions/aberrations, 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."[76]
Eight file collections on UFO sightings, dating from 1978 to 1987, were first released on May 14, 2008, to The National Archives by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).[77] Although kept secret from the public for many years, most of the files have low levels of classification and none are classified Top Secret. 200 files are set to be made public by 2012. The files are correspondence from the public sent to the British government and officials, such as the MoD and Margaret Thatcher. The MoD released the files under the Freedom of Information Act due to requests from researchers.[78] These files include, but are not limited to, UFOs over Liverpool and Waterloo Bridge in London.[79]
On October 20, 2008, more UFO files were released. One case released detailed that in 1991 an Alitalia passenger aircraft was approaching London Heathrow Airport when the pilots saw what they described as a "cruise missile" fly extremely close to the cockpit. The pilots believed a collision was imminent. UFO expert David Clarke says this is one of the most convincing cases for a UFO he has come across.[80]
A secret study of UFOs was undertaken for the Ministry of Defence between 1996 and 2000 and was code-named Project Condign. The resulting report, titled "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in the UK Defence Region", was publicly released in 2006, but the identity and credentials of whomever constituted Project Condign remains classified. 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 Unidentified Aerial Phenomena 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." A little-discussed conclusion of the report was that novel meteorological plasma phenomenon akin to ball lightning are responsible for "the majority, if not all" of otherwise inexplicable sightings, especially reports of black triangle UFOs.[81]
On December 1, 2009, the Ministry of Defence quietly closed down its UFO investigations unit. The unit's hotline and email address were suspended by the MoD on that date. The MoD said there was no value in continuing to receive and investigate sightings in a release, stating that "in over fifty years, no UFO report has revealed any evidence of a potential threat to the United Kingdom. The MoD has no specific capability for identifying the nature of such sightings. There is no Defence benefit in such investigation and it would be an inappropriate use of defence resources. Furthermore, responding to reported UFO sightings diverts MoD resources from tasks that are relevant to Defence." The Guardian reported that the MoD claimed the closure would save the Ministry around £50,000 a year. The MoD said it would continue to release UFO files to the public through The National Archives.[82]
UFO reports, Parliamentary questions, and letters from members of the public were released on August 5, 2010, to the UK National Archives. "In one letter included in the files, a man alleges Churchill ordered a coverup of a WW II-era UFO encounter involving the Royal Air Force".[83][77]
Studies
Critics argue that all UFO evidence is anecdotal[84] and can be explained as prosaic natural phenomena. Defenders of UFO research counter that knowledge of observational data, other than what is reported in the popular media, is limited in the scientific community and further study is needed.[85][86] Studies have established that the majority of UFO observations are misidentified conventional objects or natural phenomena—most commonly aircraft, balloons including sky lanterns, satellites, and astronomical objects such as meteors, bright stars and planets. A small percentage are hoaxes.[note 4] Fewer than 10% of reported sightings remain unexplained after proper investigation and therefore can be classified as unidentified in the strictest sense. According to Steven Novella, proponents of the extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) suggest these unexplained reports are of alien spacecraft, however the null hypothesis cannot be excluded; that these reports are simply other more prosaic phenomena that cannot be identified due to lack of complete information or due to the necessary subjectivity of the reports. Novella says that instead of accepting the null hypothesis, UFO enthusiasts tend to engage in special pleading by offering outlandish, untested explanations for the validity of the ETH, which violate Occam's razor.[87]
Scientific
Ufology is not considered credible in mainstream science.[88] The scientific community has generally deemed that UFO sightings are not worthy of serious investigation except as a cultural artifact.[89][55][52][90][91][92][93]
Allen Hynek (left) and Jacques Vallée
Studies of UFOs rarely appear in mainstream scientific literature. When asked, some scientists and scientific organizations have pointed to the end of official governmental studies in the U.S. in December 1969, following the statement by the government scientist Edward Condon that further study of UFOs could not be justified on grounds of scientific advancement.[52][94]
Jacques Vallée, a scientist and ufologist, claimed there were deficiencies in most UFO research, including government studies. He criticized the mythology and cultism often associated with UFO sightings, but despite the challenges, Vallée contended that several hundred professional scientists — a group both he and Hynek termed "the invisible college" — continued to study UFOs quietly on their own time.[85]
UFOs have become a prevalent theme in modern culture,[85] and the social phenomena have been the subject of academic research in sociology and psychology.[88]
In 2021, astronomer Avi Loeb launched The Galileo Project,[95] intended to collect and report scientific evidence of extraterrestrials or extraterrestrial technology on or near Earth via telescopic observations. While Loeb's initiative does not take a position on the question of whether UFOs were a phenomenon worthy of study, his arguments have been criticized by other scientists for their extravagance.[96][97][98]
Sturrock panel categorization
Besides anecdotal visual sightings, reports sometimes include claims of other kinds of evidence, including cases studied by the military and various government agencies of different countries (such as Project Blue Book, the Condon Committee, the French GEPAN/SEPRA, and Uruguay's current Air Force study).
A comprehensive scientific review of cases where physical evidence was available was carried out by the 1998 Sturrock panel, with specific examples of many of the categories listed below.
Radar contact and tracking, sometimes from multiple sites. These have included military personnel and control tower operators, simultaneous visual sightings, and aircraft intercepts. One such example was the mass sightings of large, silent, low-flying black triangles in 1989 and 1990 over Belgium, tracked by NATO radar and jet interceptors, and investigated by Belgium's military (included photographic evidence). Another famous case from 1986 was the Japan Air Lines flight 1628 incident over Alaska investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Photographic evidence, including still photos, movie film, and video.
Claims of physical trace of landing UFOs, including ground impressions, burned 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 occurred in January 1981 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.
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.
Animal/cattle mutilation cases, which some feel are also part of the UFO phenomenon.
Biological effects on plants such as increased or decreased growth, germination effects on seeds, and blown-out stem nodes (usually associated with physical trace cases or crop circles)
Electromagnetic interference (EM) effects. A famous 1976 military case over Tehran, recorded in CIA and DIA classified documents, was associated with 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.[99]
Apparent 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 Edward J. Ruppelt in his book.
Claimed artifacts of UFOs themselves, such as 1957, Ubatuba, Brazil, magnesium fragments analyzed by the Brazilian government and in the Condon Report and by others. The 1964 Lonnie Zamora incident also left metal traces, analyzed by NASA.[100][101] A more recent example involves a teardrop-shaped object recovered by Bob White and was featured in a television episode of UFO Hunters[102] but was later found to be waste metal residue from a milling machine.
Angel hair and angel grass, possibly explained in some cases as nests from ballooning spiders or chaff.[103]
Scientific skepticism
A scientifically skeptical group that has for many years offered critical analyses of UFO claims is the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI).
One example is the response to local beliefs that "extraterrestrial beings" in UFOs were responsible for crop circles appearing in Indonesia, which the government and the National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (LAPAN) described as "man-made". Thomas Djamaluddin, research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at LAPAN stated: "We have come to agree that this 'thing' cannot be scientifically proven. Scientists have put UFOs in the category of pseudoscience."[104]
Governmental
UFO drawing, authenticity unknown, attribution and date unspecified. One of hundreds of files resulting from US President Bill Clinton's 1995 order to the CIA to declassify all documents with “historical value” that were at least 25 years old.
UFOs have been the subject of investigations by various governments who have provided extensive records related to the subject. Many of the most involved government-sponsored investigations ended after agencies concluded that there was no benefit to continued investigation.[105][106] These same negative conclusions also have been found in studies that were highly classified for many years, such as the UK's Flying Saucer Working Party, Project Condign, the U.S. CIA-sponsored Robertson Panel, the U.S. military investigation into the green fireballs from 1948 to 1951, and the Battelle Memorial Institute study for the USAF from 1952 to 1955 (Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14). Some public government reports have acknowledged the possibility of the physical reality of UFOs, but have stopped short of proposing extraterrestrial origins, though not dismissing the possibility entirely. Examples are the Belgian military investigation into large triangles over their airspace in 1989–1991 and the 2009 Uruguayan Air Force study conclusion (see below).
Claims by military, government, and aviation personnel
In 2007, former Arizona governor Fife Symington claimed he had seen "a massive, delta-shaped craft silently navigate over Squaw Peak, a mountain range in Phoenix, Arizona" in 1997.[107] Apollo 14 astronaut Dr. Edgar Mitchell claimed he knew of senior government employees who had been involved in "close encounters", and because of this, he has no doubt that aliens have visited Earth.[108]
In May 2019, The New York Times reported that American Navy fighter jets had several instances of unidentified instrumentation and tracking data while conducting exercises off the eastern seaboard of the United States from the summer of 2014 to March 2015. The Times published a cockpit instrument video which appeared to show an object moving at high speed near the ocean surface as it appeared to rotate, and objects that appeared capable of high acceleration, deceleration and maneuverability. In two separate incidents, a pilot reported his cockpit instruments locked onto and tracked objects but he was unable to see them through his helmet camera. In another encounter, flight instruments recorded an image described as a sphere encasing a cube between two jets as they flew about 100 feet apart.[109] The Pentagon officially released these videos on April 27, 2020.[110] The United States Navy has said there have been "a number of reports of unauthorized and/or unidentified aircraft entering various military-controlled ranges and designated air space in recent years".[111]
2021 Pentagon UFO Report
In March 2021, news media announced a comprehensive report is to be compiled of UFO events accumulated by the United States over the years.[112]
On April 12, 2021, the Pentagon confirmed the authenticity of pictures and videos gathered by the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force (UAPTF), purportedly showing "pyramid shaped objects" hovering above the USS Russell in 2019, off the coast of California, with spokeswoman Susan Gough saying "I can confirm that the referenced photos and videos were taken by Navy personnel. The UAPTF has included these incidents in their ongoing examinations."[113][114][115][111] In May 2021, military pilots recalled their related encounters, along with camera and radar support, including one pilot's account noting that such incidents occurred "every day for at least a couple of years", according to an interview broadcast on the news program, 60 Minutes (16 May 2021).[116][117] Science writer and skeptic Mick West suggested the image was the result of an optical effect called a bokeh which can make out of focus light sources appear triangular or pyramidal due to the shape of the aperture of some lenses.[118][119]
On June 25, 2021, U.S. Defense and intelligence officials released the Pentagon UFO Report on what they know about a series of unidentified flying objects that have been seen by American military pilots.[120] NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that the UFO sightings by pilots "may not be extraterrestrial."[121]
In December 2021, further official governmental investigations into UAPs and related, along with annual unclassified reports presented to Congress, have been authorized and funded.[122] Some have raised concerns about the new investigations.[123]
Conspiracy theories
See also: UFO conspiracy theory, Steven M. Greer, Men in black, and Brookings Report
UFOs are sometimes an element of conspiracy theories in which governments are allegedly intentionally "covering up" the existence of aliens by removing physical evidence of their presence or even collaborating with extraterrestrial beings. 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.[124][125] 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 French COMETA study by various French generals and aerospace experts, and Yves Sillard (former director of CNES, new director of French UFO research organization GEIPAN).[65]
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).
"Disclosure" advocates
In May 2001, a press conference was held at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., by an organization called the Disclosure Project, featuring twenty persons including retired Air Force and FAA personnel, intelligence officers and an air traffic controller.[126][127][128][129][130][131][132] They all gave a brief account of their claims that evidence of UFOs was being suppressed and said they would be willing to testify under oath to a Congressional committee. According to a 2002 report in the Oregon Daily Emerald, Disclosure Project founder Steven M. Greer is an "alien theorist" who claims "proof of government coverup" consisting of 120 hours of testimony from various government officials on the topic of UFOs, including astronaut Gordon Cooper.[133]
On September 27, 2010, a group of six former USAF officers and one former enlisted Air Force man held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on the theme "U.S. Nuclear Weapons Have Been Compromised by Unidentified Aerial Objects"[134] in which they claimed they had witnessed UFOs hovering near missile sites and even disarming the missiles.
From April 29 to May 3, 2013, the Paradigm Research Group held the "Citizen Hearing on Disclosure" at the National Press Club. The group paid former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel and former Representatives Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, Roscoe Bartlett, Merrill Cook, Darlene Hooley, and Lynn Woolsey $20,000 each to hear testimony from a panel of researchers which included witnesses from military, agency, and political backgrounds.[135][136]
Fringe
The void left by the lack of institutional or scientific study has given rise to independent researchers and fringe groups, including the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) in the mid-20th century and, more recently, the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON)[137] and the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS).[138] The term "Ufology" is used to describe the collective efforts of those who study reports and associated evidence of unidentified flying objects.[139]
Private
Some private studies have been neutral in their conclusions but argued that the inexplicable core cases call for continued scientific study. Examples are the Sturrock panel study of 1998 and the 1970 AIAA review of the Condon Report.
Ufology
Main article: Ufology
Swirling multicolored cloud like object in the sky
Photograph of an unusual atmospheric occurrence observed over Sri Lanka, forwarded to the UK Ministry of Defence by RAF Fylingdales, 2004
Ufology is a neologism describing the collective efforts of those who study UFO reports and associated evidence.
Researchers
Main article: List of ufologists
Sightings
Main article: List of reported UFO sightings
Organizations
Main article: List of UFO organizations
Categorization
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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.
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.[citation needed]
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 1977 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.
In popular culture
Main article: UFOs in fiction
A UFO monument at Tenjo, Colombia
UFOs have constituted a widespread international cultural phenomenon since the 1950s. 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 U.S. President Gerald Ford in a 1977 poll taken just nine months after he left the White House.[140][141] A 1996 Gallup Poll reported that 71 percent of the United States population believed the U.S. 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 are 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.[142][143]
Another effect of the flying saucer type of UFO sightings has been Earth-made flying saucer craft in space fiction, for example the United Planets Cruiser C57D in Forbidden Planet (1956), the Jupiter 2 in Lost in Space, and the saucer section of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek. UFOs and extraterrestrials have been featured in many movies.
The intense secrecy surrounding the secret Nevada base, known as Area 51, has made it the frequent subject of conspiracy theories and a central component of UFO folklore. In July 2019, more than 2 million people responded to a joke proposal to storm Area 51 which appeared in an anonymous Facebook post.[144] Two music festivals in rural Nevada, "AlienStock" and "Storm Area 51 Basecamp", were subsequently organized to capitalize on the popularity of the original Facebook event.[145]
Notes
 Many of these documents are now online at the FOIA websites of these agencies such as the "FBI FOIA site". Archived from the original on May 24, 2008. Retrieved August 9, 2007., 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.
 The so-called Twining memo of Sept. 23, 1947, by future USAF Chief of Staff, General 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.
 For example, current USAF general reporting procedures are in Air Force Instruction (AFI)10-206. Section 5.7.3 (p. 64) lists sightings of "unidentified flying objects" and "aircraft of unconventional design" as separate categories from potentially hostile but conventional, unidentified aircraft, missiles, surface vessels, or submarines. Additionally, "unidentified objects" detected by missile warning systems, creating a potential risk of nuclear war, are covered by Rule 5E (p.35).
 For example, the USAF's Project Blue Book concluded that less than 2% of reported UFOs were "psychological" or hoaxes; Allan Hendry's study for CUFOS had less than 1%.
his is a partial list by date of sightings of alleged unidentified flying objects (UFOs), including reports of close encounters and abductions.
Part of a series on the
Paranormal
PurportedUFO2.jpg
A photo of a purported UFO over Passaic, New Jersey in 1952
Main articles
Skepticism
Related
Parapsychology
vte
Contents
1 Second millennium BC
2 Classical antiquity
3 16th–17th centuries
4 19th century
5 20th century
5.1 1901–1949
5.2 1950–1974
5.3 1975–2000
6 21st century
7 By location
8 See also
9 Notes and references
Second millennium BC
Date Name City, State Country Description Sources
ca. 1440 BCE Fiery disks Lower Egypt Ancient Egypt According to the disputed Tulli Papyrus, the scribes of the pharaoh Thutmose III reported that "fiery disks" were encountered floating over the skies. The Condon Committee disputed the legitimacy of the Tulli Papyrus stating, "Tulli was taken in and that the papyrus is a fake."[1] [2][3]
Classical antiquity
Date Name City, State Country Description Sources
218 BCE ships in the sky Rome, Italy Roman Republic Livy records a number of portents in the winter of this year, including navium speciem de caelo adfulsisse ("phantom ships had been seen gleaming in the sky"). Livy's Ab Urbe Condita Libri[4][5]
76 BCE spark from a falling star unknown Roman Republic According to Pliny the Elder, a spark fell from a star and grew as it descended until it appeared to be the size of the Moon. It then ascended back up to the heavens and was transformed into a light. [6][5]
74 BCE flame-like pithoi from the sky Phrygia, Asia Roman Republic According to Plutarch, a Roman army commanded by Lucullus was about to begin a battle with Mithridates VI of Pontus when "all on a sudden, the sky burst asunder, and a huge, flame-like body was seen to fall between the two armies. In shape, it was most like a wine-jar, and in colour, like molten silver." Plutarch reports the shape of the object as like a wine-jar (pithos). The apparently silvery object was reported by both armies. [7][5]
196 CE angel hair Rome Roman Empire Historian Cassius Dio described "A fine rain resembling silver descended from a clear sky upon the Forum of Augustus." He used some of the material to plate some of his bronze coins, but by the fourth day afterwards the silvery coating was gone. [5]
16th–17th centuries
Date Name City, State Country Description Sources
1561-04-14 1561 celestial phenomenon over Nuremberg Nuremberg Holy Roman Empire Residents of Nuremberg saw what they described as an aerial battle, followed by the appearance of a large black triangular object and then a large crash outside of the city. The broadsheet claims that witnesses observed hundreds of spheres, cylinders and other odd-shaped objects that moved erratically overhead. [8]
1566-08-07 1566 celestial phenomenon over Basel Basel Switzerland A broadsheet published in 1566 depicted numerous spherical objects appearing out of the sun. This event is depicted in a 16th-century woodcut by Samuel Coccius (Samuel Koch) and Samuel Apiarius. [8]
1609-09-22 Gwanghaegun period UFO Turmoil Gangwon Province Joseon (Korea) On September 22 in 1609 multiple witnesses reported seeing UFO in Goseong, Wonju Gangneung at 사시(9am-11am), Chuncheon County at 오시(11am-1pm), Yangyang County at 미시(1pm-3pm). It looks like a Halo or washbowl and is divided into two. Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty
[9]
1668 Levoča Chronicles Levoča Hungarian Kingdom (Present-day Slovakia) The first mention of UFOs in Slovakia is from 1668 from the Levoča town's Chronicles, where the chronicler describes a silver lizard flying in the sky. [10]
19th century
Date Name City, State Country Description Sources
1803-02-22 or 03-24 Utsuro-bune at Haratono-hama Eastern shore Japan On February 22 (or March 24) in 1803 local fishermen reportedly saw a vessel drifting in close by waters. They say when they investigated it, "a beautiful young woman" they described as having red and white hair and dressed in strange clothes appeared. The fishermen claim she held a square box "that no one was allowed to touch" and she spoke to them in a language they never heard before. Some UFO believers think this story was a credible document of a close encounter of the third kind in Japan. Historians and Ethnologists consider it folklore. [11][12]
1883-08-12 José Bonilla Observation Zacatecas Observatory, Zacatecas Mexico On August 12, 1883, the astronomer José Bonilla reported that he saw more than 300 dark, unidentified objects crossing the sun disk while observing sunspot activity at Zacatecas Observatory in Mexico. He was able to take several photographs, exposing wet plates at 1/100 second. It was subsequently determined that the objects were high-flying geese. [13]
1896–1897 Mystery airships United States Numerous reports of UFO sightings and attempted abductions that took place around the United States in a 2-year period. [14]
1897-04-17 Aurora, Texas, UFO incident Aurora, Texas United States A tale of a UFO crash and a burial of its alien pilot in the local cemetery was sent to newspapers in Dallas and Fort Worth in April 1897 by local correspondent S.E. Hayden. [15][16]
20th century
1901–1949
Date Name City, State Country Description Sources
1909 Mystery airships Otago New Zealand Strange moving lights and some solid bodies in the sky were seen around Otago and elsewhere in New Zealand, and were reported to newspapers. [17][18]
1917-08-13,
09-13,
10-13 Miracle of the Sun Fátima, Santarém District Portugal Thousands of people observed the sun gyrate and descend. This was later reinterpreted by Jacques Vallée, Joaquim Fernandes and Fina d'Armada as a possible UFO sighting, but not recognized as such due to cultural differences. [19][20][21]
1940s Foo fighters Over World War II theaters Small metallic spheres and colorful balls of light repeatedly spotted and occasionally photographed worldwide by bomber crews during World War II. [22][23]
1941 Cape Girardeau UFO crash Cape Girardeau, Missouri United States First responders and a Baptist minister allegedly view crashed spacecraft and bodies. Published in 1991 based on the minister's surviving grandchild. [24][25][26]
1942-02-24 Battle of Los Angeles Los Angeles, California United States Unidentified aerial objects trigger the firing of thousands of anti-aircraft rounds and raise the wartime alert status. [27]
1946 The Ghost Rockets Mostly in Scandinavia, but also other European countries Numerous UFO sightings were reported over Scandinavia, causing the Swedish Defense Staff to express concern. [28]
1946-05-18 UFO-Memorial Ängelholm Ängelholm, Kristianstads County Sweden Gösta Karlsson reports seeing a flying saucer and its alien passengers. A model of it is now erected at the site. The case was publicly reported in 1995.[29] [30]
1947-06-21 Maury Island incident Puget Sound near Maury Island, Washington United States Harold A. Dahl reported that his dog was killed and his son was injured by debris in an encounter with four to six flying doughnut-shaped objects. He also claimed that a witness was subsequently threatened by the Men in Black. The case was first reported to Kenneth Arnold in mid-July, about three weeks after it allegedly took place. [31]
1947-06-24 Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting North of Mount Rainier, Washington United States The UFO sighting that sparked the name flying saucers. This sighting is considered as the start of the "Modern UFO era". [32][33]
1947-06/07 1947 UFO sightings mostly Washington United States Several UFO sightings reported after the sighting of Kenneth Arnold. [32]
1947-06 The Roswell Incident about 30 mi north of Roswell, New Mexico United States United States Army Air Forces announced the "capture" of a "flying saucer". Hours later, the Army announced the find was a crashed weather balloon. In 1978, the case regained attention after Army Officer Jesse Marcel told UFO researchers the weather balloon explanation was a cover story. [34][35]
1948 The Green Fireballs United States Objects were reported over several United States military bases; an official investigation followed. [36][37]
1948-01-07 Thomas Mantell Kentucky United States US Air Force sent a fighter pilot to investigate a UFO sighting over Fort Knox, Kentucky; his aircraft crashed and the pilot was killed while pursuing the UFO. [38]
1948-03-25 Aztec, New Mexico, UFO incident New Mexico United States An alleged retrieval of a grounded UFO and its occupants from a plateau in New Mexico. [39]
1948-07-24 Chiles-Whitted UFO encounter Alabama United States Chiles and Whitted, American commercial pilots, reported that their airplane had nearly collided with a UFO. [40]
1948-10-01 Gorman dogfight North Dakota United States A US Air Force pilot sighted and pursued a UFO for 27 minutes over Fargo, North Dakota. [41][42]
1950–1974
Date Name City, State Country Description Sources
1950-05-11 McMinnville UFO photographs a farm near McMinnville, Oregon United States A farmer took pictures of a purported "flying saucer". These were the first claimed photographs of flying saucers since the coining of the term. [43]
1950-08-05 or 15 Mariana UFO incident Great Falls, Montana United States The manager of Great Falls' pro baseball team took color film of two UFOs flying over Great Falls. The film was extensively analyzed by the US Air Force and several independent investigators. [44]
1951-08-25 Lubbock Lights Lubbock, Texas United States Several Lights in V-Shaped formations were repeatedly spotted flying over the city. Witnesses included professors from Texas Tech University and photographed by a Texas Tech student. [45]
1952-07-12 to 29 1952 Washington, D.C. UFO incident Washington, D.C. United States A series of sightings in July 1952 accompanied radar contacts at three separate airports in the Washington area. The sightings made front-page headlines around the nation, and ultimately lead to the formation of the Robertson Panel by the CIA. [46][47]
1952-07-14 Nash-Fortenberry UFO sighting Norfolk, Virginia United States W. Nash and W. Fortenberry, pilots of a DC-4 airliner of Pan American Airways, sighted eight large, round, glowing red objects. [48]
1952-07-24 Carson Sink UFO incident near Carson Sink, Nevada United States Two pilots saw three unusual Delta wing aircraft flying in a V-formation over Carson Sink. [49]
1952-08-05 Haneda Air Force Base incident Tokyo Japan USAF tower operators at Haneda AFB observed an unusually bright bluish-white light to their NE, alerted the GCI radar unit at Shiroi, which then called for a scramble of an F94 interceptor after getting radar returns in same general area. GCI ground radar vectored the F94 to an orbiting unknown target, which the F94 picked up on its airborne radar. The target then accelerated out of the F94's radar range after 90 seconds of pursuit that was followed also on the Shiroi GCI radar. [50]
1952-09-12 The Flatwoods Monster Flatwoods, West Virginia United States Six local boys and a woman report seeing a UFO land, and saw a spade-headed creature near the landing site. [51][52][53]
1953-08-05/06 Ellsworth UFO sighting Rapid City, South Dakota and Bismarck, North Dakota United States Over two nights, a red glowing light is witnessed by 45 people. [54]
1953-11-23 The disappearance of Felix Moncla and Robert Wilson near the Soo Locks over Lake Superior United States/Canada U.S. Air Force pilot and radar operator and their F-89C disappeared while pursuing an unidentified radar return. [55]
1954-10-27 Fiorentina Stadium Massive Sighting Stadio Artemio Franchi in Florence Italy A football game between Fiorentina and Pistoiese was under way at the Stadio Artemio Franchi when a group of UFOs traveling at high speed abruptly stopped over the stadium. The stadium became silent as the crowd of around 10,000 spectators witnessed the event and described the UFOs as cigar shaped. [56][57]
1955-08-21/22 Kelly–Hopkinsville encounter A farmhouse near Hopkinsville, Kentucky United States After the sighting of a disc-shaped aircraft a group of strange, goblin-like creatures are reported to have repeatedly approached a farm house and looked inside through the windows. Members of the two families present shot at them several times with little or no effect. The encounter lasted from evening to dawn. [58]
1956-07-24 Drakensberg Contactee Drakensberg South Africa A series of photos depicting a supposed UFO, was taken on 24 July near Rosetta in the Drakensberg region. The photographer, meteorologist Elizabeth Klarer, claimed detailed adventures with an alien race, besides having had an alien lover, Akon, who would have fathered her son Ayling. [59]
1957-05-20 Milton Torres 1957 UFO Encounter East Anglia United Kingdom U.S. Air Force fighter pilot Milton Torres reports that he was ordered to intercept and fire on a UFO displaying "very unusual flight patterns" over East Anglia. Ground radar operators tracked what was believed to be an unidentified aircraft for some time before Torres' plane was scrambled to intercept. [60]
1957-10-16/17 Antonio Vilas Boas Abduction Near São Francisco de Sales, Minas Gerais Brazil One of the first abduction claims. Farmer Antonio Vilas Boas claimed to have been abducted and examined by humanoid aliens while working in the fields at night. He also claimed to have had sex with an alien woman aboard the egg-shaped aircraft. [61]
1957-11-02 Levelland UFO case Levelland, Texas United States Numerous people describe seeing a glowing, egg-shaped object and a cigar-shaped object which caused their vehicle's engines to shut down. [62][63]
1958-01-16 Trindade UFO Incident Trindade Island Brazil 9 Separate sightings and 7 photos of UFOs were reported in the Trinidade Island during the meteorological and geological expeditions in the island. [64]
1959-02-02/03 Dyatlov Pass incident Kholat Syakhl, Sverdlovsk Oblast Soviet Union Mysterious deaths of experienced cross-country skiers in the Urals are due to official investigation believed to have been caused by an unknown "compelling natural force". Some claim relation to unidentified orange spheres. [65]
1961-09-19 Betty and Barney Hill abduction South of Lancaster on Route 3, New Hampshire United States The first widely publicized alien abduction experience. The Hills saw a huge flying disk while driving home in their car at late evening and later claimed they were abducted and medically examined by small extraterrestrials. [66]
1964-04-24 Lonnie Zamora incident Socorro, New Mexico United States Police officer Zamora reports a close encounter. [67]
1965-09-03 The Incident at Exeter Exeter, New Hampshire United States Numerous reports of UFOs in Exeter, New Hampshire. [68]
1965-07-01 The Valensole UFO incident Valensole, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur France Peasant Maurice Massé saw a landed spherical object and was paralyzed by two grey alien-like occupants. [69][70]
1965-12-09 Kecksburg UFO incident Kecksburg, Pennsylvania United States Mass sighting of a falling brilliant fireball dropping debris and causing sonic booms, followed by a cordoning-off of the probable crash site, alleged intimidation of a reporter by men in black and cover-up and the unresolved death of said witness. [71]
1966 The Mothman Prophecies Point Pleasant, West Virginia United States A wave of reported sightings of a winged humanoid are connected to other mysterious events including sightings of UFOs. [72]
1966-04-06 Westall UFO Clayton South, Victoria Australia A sighting reported by hundreds of people. Witnesses of "The Clayton Incident" still gather for reunions. [73]
1967-08-29 Close encounter of Cussac Outside Cussac, Auvergne France A young brother and sister claimed to have witnessed a brilliant sphere and four small black occupants while herding cattle outside their village. [74]
1967-10-04 Shag Harbour UFO incident Gulf of Maine near Shag Harbour, Nova Scotia Canada A large illuminated object was reported to have crashed into waters near Shag Harbour. A Canadian naval search followed, and officially referred to the object as a UFO. There were other UFO sightings in the area at the time. [75][76]
1969-01-06 Jimmy Carter UFO incident Leary, Georgia United States Jimmy Carter (US President 1977–1981) reported seeing an unidentified flying object while at Leary, Georgia in 1969. [77]
1969-04-12 Finnish Air Force sighting Pori Finland Seven disc shaped objects hovering in formation around 1500–3000 meters were spotted by the airtraffic controller and two pilots. When fighter pilot Tarmo Tukeva investigated, they accelerated away. [78]
1969-09-01 Berkshire UFO sightings Berkshire County, Massachusetts United States Four unrelated families alleged being abducted by a UFO and moved by a ray of light. [79]
1972-06-27 1972 UFO sightings in the eastern Cape Fort Beaufort South Africa A craft was observed near Fort Beaufort in the eastern Cape, which attracted the attention of the military. [80][81][82]
1972-11-12 1972 UFO sightings in the eastern Cape Rosmead South Africa A school headmaster seems to have arrived at a still smouldering UFO landing site in the town of Rosmead. [83][84]
1973-10-11 Pascagoula Abduction Near Pascagoula at the Pascagoula River, Mississippi United States Two men fishing on the river claimed to be abducted by strange-looking humanoids. [85]
1974-01-23 Berwyn Mountain UFO incident Llandrillo, Merionethshire, North Wales United Kingdom An alleged UFO crash involving lights in the sky moments before a large impact shock. The cause of the incident was however soon revealed as a 3.5 magnitude earthquake. [86][87]
1975–2000
Date Name City, State Country Description Sources
1975-01-12 Stonehenge incident North Bergen, New Jersey United States A UFO was allegedly sighted in North Hudson Park by a man, George O'Barski, while he was driving home at 2:45 AM. [88]
1975-11-05 Travis Walton Near Turkey Springs in Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Arizona United States Logger Travis Walton reports being abducted by aliens for five days. Walton's six workmates claimed to have witnessed a bright hovering large silvery disk and fled the scene leaving him lying on the ground. He reappeared on 11–10 at late evening in Heber-Overgaard. Walton described the event and its aftermath in the book The Walton Experience (1978), which was dramatized in the film Fire in the Sky (1993) (with the scenes aboard the extraterrestrials' vessel significantly changed). [85]
1976-08-20 Allagash Abductions Eagle Lake on the Allagash waterway, Maine United States Four campers claimed to have been abducted by alien beings in the Allagash wilderness. [89][90]
1976-09-19 1976 Tehran UFO incident North of and in Tehran, Mazandaran and Tehran Provinces Iran A very bright object similar to a star was seen from Shemiran; after each approach to the UFO the electronic equipment of two F-4 interceptor aircraft of the Imperial Iranian Air Force was disabled, along with ground control equipment in Mehrabad International Airport, an event thoroughly documented in the U.S. DIA report. [91]
1976-10-14 Blue House UFO Incident Seoul South Korea On October 14, 1976 there were about a dozen of bright lights and they were separated at regular intervals in the sky. The army fired with anti-aircraft guns. Several people were injured and damaged by the fallen bullets. [92]
1977-09-20 Petrozavodsk phenomenon Multiple locations in several countries Soviet Union/Northern Europe A series of celestial events of a disputed nature from Copenhagen and Helsinki in the west to Vladivostok in the east. In Petrozavodsk, a glowing object was reported that showered the city with numerous rays. The phenomenon is sometimes attributed to the launch of the Soviet satellite Kosmos-955. [93]
1977 Broad Haven Dyfed, Wales United Kingdom In the 1970s, the area was the scene of alleged UFO sightings and nicknamed the Broad Haven Triangle. [94][95]
1978-05-10 Emilcin Abduction Emilcin, Lublin Voivodeship Poland A farmer in Emilcin is said to have been abducted and medically examined by short, green-faced, humanoid entities speaking an unearthly language in a white, hovering, humming craft. There is now a memorial at the site. [96]
1978-10-21 Valentich disappearance Victoria Australia Contacting air traffic control, an Australian pilot reported seeing a UFO before both he and his aircraft vanished. [97][98]
1978-12-21 Kaikoura lights South Island New Zealand A series of sightings by a Safe Air freight plane over two nights. The airplane reported lights that changed color and size. The lights were tracked by ground and air radar, and filmed in the air by a TV crew. [99]
1979-08-27 Val Johnson incident Marshall County, Minnesota United States A deputy sheriff who was found with temporary retinal injuries and damage to his patrol car claimed he had encountered a brightly lit flying object. [100][101]
1979-11-09 Dechmont Woods Encounter Dechmont Law near Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland United Kingdom Bob Taylor, a forester, claimed he lost consciousness after being pulled toward a large spheroid object that hovered over a clearing in forest. [102]
1980-04-11 to 28 Arequipa UFO incident Arequipa Region Peru Interception of an alleged UFO by a Sukhoi Su-22. The pilot followed the object, and aimed his weapons at the UFO, firing sixty four 30mm shells. The pilot followed the object, reporting it had an enamelled cream colour; similar to an incandescent lightbulb with a much wider circular silver base. The pilot then broke off the engagement. [103][104]
1980-12-24 to 28 Rendlesham-Woodbridge Incident Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England United Kingdom A sighting by USAF personnel, which at first appeared to be a downed aircraft. [105]
1980-12-29 Cash-Landrum incident On state highway FM 1485 in New Caney, Texas United States Three people claim they suffered injuries on an isolated road from a huge diamond-shaped object expelling flame and emitting heat being followed by military helicopters. Their lawsuit filed against the US government was dismissed. [106]
1981-01-08 Trans-en-Provence Case Trans-en-Provence, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur France Retired contractor Renato Nicolai said he saw a flying object shaped like two inverted bowls that left circular traces on the grass. [107]
1985-12-27 Communion New York United States Author Whitley Strieber claims he was abducted by aliens while at his cabin in upstate New York. [108]
1986-11-17 Japan Air Lines Flight 1628 incident From eastern to south central Alaska United States First two square-shaped, then one apparent craft witnessed by the crew reportedly flew alongside Japan Air Lines Flight 1628 for 50 minutes above Alaska. Military radar detected an object trailing the Boeing 747. [109]
1987-11-11 Gulf Breeze UFO incident Florida United States Ed Walters, a building contractor claimed to see a UFO and take photos of it. [110][111]
1987-12-01 Ilkley Moor UFO incident Ilkley Moor United Kingdom A retired police officer claimed to have been abducted by aliens while walking on Ilkley Moor. He took a photograph of the Moor which he claimed shows one of the aliens that abducted him. [112]
1989-09-27 Voronezh UFO incident Voronezh Soviet Union A group of youths claimed to have seen a UFO and a "three eyed alien". [113]
1990-03-30 Belgian UFO wave Ans, Wallonia Belgium Reports of large, silent, low-flying black triangles, allegedly investigated by Belgium's military. [114]
1994-09-16 Ruwa UFO incident Ruwa Zimbabwe 62 children between the ages of six and twelve claimed that they saw one or more craft land in a field near their school. One or more beings dressed all in black then exited the craft and approached the children. They then telepathically communicated to them a message with an environmental theme before re-entering the craft and flying away. [115][116]
1996-01-20 Varginha UFO incident Varginha Brazil Brazilian Armed Forces allegedly captured extraterrestrial being after an UFO crash. The Brazilian government has officially denied these claims. According to a military inquest, a local man with disabilities was mistaken for an alien. [117]
1996-10-05 Westendorff UFO sighting Pelotas Brazil Pilot observes a UFO emerge from a mother craft. [118][119][120][121]
1997-03-13 Phoenix Lights Phoenix, Arizona United States Lights and craft of varying descriptions, most notably a V-shaped pattern, were seen by thousands of people between 19:30 and 22:30 MST, in a space of about 300 miles, from the Nevada line, through Phoenix, to the edge of Tucson, later identified as flares being dropped during military training flights.
[122]
21st century
Date Name City, State Country Description Sources
2004-03-05 2004 Mexican UFO incident Mexico A drug-smuggling air-patrol recorded on infrared camera what some claimed to be UFOs. The footage was released by Jaime Maussan. The observations were however convincingly correlated with the burn-off flares of oil platforms. [123]
2004-11-14 USS Nimitz UFO incident Off the coast of San Diego, California United States Several pilots from VFA-41 squadron flying Super Hornets from the USS Nimitz, were directed by the USS Princeton to intercept one of several unidentified flying objects detected by radar. The pilots reported a visual encounter and recorded an infrared video. The Navy has verified that the video was taken by Navy personnel and has stated that it has not yet identified the nature of the sightings which they classify as unexplained aerial phenomena. [124][125][126]
2005 Fighter jets took off for an unknown object Jaslovské Bohunice, Banská Bystrica Region Slovakia In 2005, fighter jets took off for an unknown object, which was to fly over the Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant. At that time, two planes observed unknown object flying over Central Slovakia. "There were two flying planes facing each other, of course at different heights. Suddenly one told us that something had just flown over the cockpit. The one who flew over him and against him, suddenly announced that something had flown very fast close to his wing. We asked if it was an airplane, he said, it didn't look like an airplane." the dispatcher said. [127]
2006-11-07 2006 O'Hare International Airport UFO sighting Chicago, Illinois United States United Airlines employees and pilots claimed sightings of a saucer-shaped, unlit craft hovering over a Chicago O'Hare Airport terminal, before appearing to leave with a rapid vertical rise. [128]
2007-04-23 2007 Alderney UFO sighting Alderney Bailiwick of Guernsey Two airline pilots on separate flights spot UFOs off the coast of Alderney. [129]
2007-11-28 to 2011-12-13 Dudley Dorito West Midlands conurbation United Kingdom The Dudley Dorito were multiple sightings of a black triangle over the West Midlands conurbation of the United Kingdom which began in November 2007. The phrase was coined by the local press after hearing witness descriptions of the object. [130][131]
2008-06-20 Wales UFO sightings different cities, Wales United Kingdom 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 Wales. [132]
2009-01-05 Morristown UFO hoax Morristown, New Jersey United States In the evening, citizens in Morristown and other town in Morris County, New Jersey saw five red lights in the sky. After three months, two men from the Morristown area announced they had organized an UFO hoax, meant as a "social experiment". [133]
2010-01-25 Harbour Mille incident Harbour Mille, Newfoundland and Labrador Canada At least three UFOs that looked like missiles but emitted no noise were spotted over Harbour Mille. [134]
2014-06-02 to 2015-03-10 USS Theodore Roosevelt UFO incidents East Coast of the United States United States Multiple UFO radar-visual encounters by United States Navy pilots over a period of nine months. Videos of two of the encounters were released. The Navy has verified that the videos were taken by Navy personnel and has stated that it has not yet identified the nature of the sightings which they classify as unexplained aerial phenomena. [135][136]
2014 Slovakia Pilot UFO sighting Žilina, Žilina Region Slovakia Audio recording of the dispatcher's communication with the pilot of the cargo aircraft. The pilot asks if there is any military exercise on the ground. The dispatcher replies that there is some exercise, but it is in the eastern part of Slovakia. The pilot claims that three minutes ago they saw a rocket fly right under them, from left to right. The dispatcher checked it and had no further information. The pilot identified it as a rocket, meaning it had to have its speed, it had to have some propulsion. Dispatchers inspected military bases in Slovakia, neighboring the Czech Republic and Poland. With no result. [127]
2021-02-21 Pilot's UFO sighting over New Mexico Clayton, New Mexico United States The pilot, at an altitude of 37,000 feet reported seeing a long cylindrical object that almost looked like a "cruise missile type of thing" moving really fast right over the top of them according to published audio. American Airlines confirmed that the radio transmission came from flight 2292. FAA a few days later stated: "A pilot reported seeing an object over New Mexico shortly after noon local time on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021. FAA air traffic controllers did not see any object in the area on their radarscopes." [137]
By location
  • Condition: Very Good
  • Condition: See pictures for detailed condition.
  • Book Title: UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union
  • Narrative Type: Nonfiction
  • Topic: UFOlogy
  • Format: Hardcover
  • Type: Book
  • Features: 1st Edition
  • Author: Jacques Vallee
  • Book Series: Samizdat
  • Publication Year: 1992
  • Language: English
  • Intended Audience: Adults
  • Publisher: Unknown
  • Genre: UFO

PicClick Insights - UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union First Edition 1992 Jacques Vallee A Comic PicClick Exclusive

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