UFO: What we know so far about the flying saucer phenomena

Two senior United States defense intelligence officers testified before a House of Representatives intelligence subcommittee regarding UFOs in May 2022. This was the very first public hearing on the issue in fifty years in the United States Congress. The hearing took place eleven months after a government assessment revealed more than 140 occurrences of unexplained aerial phenomenon (UAPs) reported by US military aircraft since 2004.

The Sun, a British news organization, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) demand to the US Department of Defense, which caused the release of over 1,500 pages of records linked to UFO-related sightings from the covert Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), back in April 2022.  Claims of radiation burns and nerve damage, linked to the sighting were among the records found. The publication of these papers has reignited interest in alien UFO sightings.

And to a Pew Research Center analysis from 2021, nearly half of Americans believe that UFO encounters recorded by military personnel are probable proof of life beyond Earth. About 40% believe that UFOs reported by the military are “probably” signs of alien life.

The general people do not consider UFOs to be a big danger to the nation. UFOs are neither a menace nor a slight one, according to 87 percent of respondents in the same study. Only one in ten people believe UFOs pose a danger to national security in the United States.

Officials from the military, on the other hand, hold a different viewpoint. Officials from the Defense Department have previously stated that UFOs are not fake and constitute a major threat to the country. Military authorities, on the other hand, do not believe UFOs are of alien origin. Instead, military authorities think that greater observation and research can explain virtually all inexplicable situations.

Who coined the phrase “unidentified flying object” (UFO)?

A UFO would be any kind of flying object that you observe in the skies but are unable to identify. Numerous conspiracy theorists claim that such unidentified objects are extraterrestrial spaceships from another planet that have arrived on Earth. The UFO notion gained prominence during the Cold War era, when several countries, including the United States, were creating new kinds of fighter jets and related technology to improve their air combat capabilities.

In 1947, the current age of UFO encounters began. Kenneth Arnold, an American aviator, claimed to have seen nine dazzling blue-white things flying in a “V” configuration over Washington’s Mount Rainier on June 24, that year.

He calculated their speed to be around 1700 miles per hour, and associated their motion with “skipping a saucer across the sea.” At the time, newspaper accounts misconstrued this and referred to the objects as “flying saucers”.

Many UFO sightings were recorded in the years following the “flying saucer” revelation, and the subject of UFOs got so intricate that even the US Air Force began discreetly researching sightings. Air Force Captain Edward James Ruppelt was in charge of a project code-named Blue Book that looked investigated UFO reports in the 1950s. The project’s main goals were to conduct a scientific investigation of all UFO-related evidence available at the time and to determine if UFOs could be deemed a national security concern. It was based at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.

Throughout the study, the team behind Ruppelt and their followers came to the conclusion that no UFO which had been evaluated or disclosed was a threat to national security. They claimed this because there was no proof that the sightings displayed technology beyond the understanding of modern science.

They also came to the conclusion that the characterization of “flying saucers” clearly doesn’t apply to all UFO experiences. Numerous reports of unidentified flying objects defined things that did not resemble a flying saucer or a flying disc. As a result, Ruppelt invented another, more appropriate name, ‘UFO,’ which stands for an unidentified flying object; nevertheless, other sources claim that the phrase was originally used by American writer and marine pilot Donald Edward Keyhoe in 1953.  

The most amazing UFO sightings

The first public legislative hearing on UFOs was just held in the US Capitol in Washington, DC on May 17, 2022. During the meeting, the Pentagon revealed that between 2004 and 2022, military members reported at least 400 UFO occurrences. Surprisingly, the UAP study team confirmed just 144 UFO incidents till 2021.

At the meeting, Scott W. Bray, Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, stated that they had witnessed an increase in the number of illegal and/or unidentifiable aircraft or objects, as well as military control training zones, training ranges, and other specified airspaces. He also stated that they cannot point to something that was not created by humans, but he can provide many cases that remain unanswered.

Aside from the incidents addressed at the previous hearing of Congress, there have been countless UFO encounters in the past that continue to amaze ufologists and pique the public’s interest.

Below are some of the most amazing UFO sightings:

The Roswell crash – find out more about the Roswell crash

Rancher W.W. “Mac” Brazel discovered debris on his land in June or July 1947, about 75 miles north of Roswell, New Mexico. Tinfoil, thick paper, and rubber strips were among the debris found in the wreckage. He gave part of the information to the Roswell sheriff, who forwarded it to Colonel William Blanchard, the commanding officer of the RAAF.

The Roswell Daily Record published an article that featured the media release, but Army officials swiftly issued a fresh statement, claiming that the discovered debris was really from a weather balloon.

Many conspiracy theorists and ufologists expressed skepticism of the government’s contradictory accounts in the years since, and have claimed, without proof, that many UFOs containing alien beings crashed at the Roswell site, and that the US government had the spacecraft and the extraterrestrials under its control.

Kevin D. Randle, an army veteran, told All About Space in an interview that everyone believes that something dropped at Roswell, but no terrestrial explanation exists. The US Air Force, on the other hand, has dismissed all extraterrestrial and UFO-related reports. In 1994, it issued a report acknowledging that the weather balloon narrative was false but alleging that the wreckage originated from top-secret espionage equipment at the time. The gadget was made up of a series of high-altitude balloons with microphones that were supposed to float silently above the Soviet Union, monitoring nuclear testing. The bogus weather balloon scenario, according to the study, was an attempt to hide the existence of the covert espionage mission.

The extraterrestrial invasion of Levelland

On November 2, 1957, farmworkers Pedro Saucedo and Joe Salaz in Levelland, Texas, reported having seen a 200-foot rocket-shaped UFO. They informed the local sheriff that a mysterious flying object with a blue headlight was likely to hit their truck, causing them to leap out. Even though the UFO did not collide with the truck, it tampered with its electronic system, causing the lights engine to quit operating.

Amazingly, that wasn’t the only UFO sighting on that particular day. Many residents, including motorist Jim Wheeler, Newell Wright a student at Texas Tech University, and Levelland Fire Commissioner Ray Jones, observed blue light flashes, weird objects, automobile electronics, and engine system problems while driving. The reports were eventually probed by the US Air Force’s Project Blue Book, which found that the sightings and electronic malfunctions in the cars were caused by powerful ball lightning and electrical storm incidents.  

UFO sighting in Westall

On April 6, 1966, hundreds of pupils and instructors at Westall Secondary College in Clayton South, Australia, saw a flying saucer-shaped UFO. Although no photographs were obtained, multiple eyewitnesses claimed to have seen a UFO in various interviews.

Later, authorities from the local weather office claimed that a weather balloon was launched that same day. The balloon may have crashed in the field or the college and been mistaken for a UFO, they alleged. The Royal Australian Air Force likewise rejected accusations that there was an inexplicable aerial phenomenon in the skies on April 6th. 

Yet, in 2021, one of the instructors who observed the incident, Andrew Greenwood, stated that two individuals purporting to be members of the government came to his house following the occurrence. Greenwood was informed by the guys that he was “wrong about what he observed” and that he must not say something further about it. When Greenwood objected, the guys threatened to dismiss him, according to him.

Ronald Reagan saw UFOs twice during his presidency.

One of the most widely reported UFO sightings in US history. According to certain stories, Ronald Reagan observed UFOs long before he became president of the United States. The first meeting is said to have occurred in the 1950s when Reagan was on his way to actor William Holden’s house in Hollywood for a party. In her book, Lucy in the Afternoon, American actress Lucille Ball, who was also there, claims that Reagan and his spouse Nancy claimed to see a UFO on their trip to LA.

As governor of California in 1974, Reagan witnessed another bizarre airborne phenomenon. That time, he was traveling in a Cessna with two security guards on his way to Bakersfield when Reagan’s pilot Bill Paynter saw a peculiar yellow light following their plane. Every person on board was taken aback as the UFO suddenly accelerated from a typical cruise speed to a phenomenal speed.

Reagan, predictably, stayed mute about his UFO sightings during his presidency. He did, however, employ the idea of alien contacts in a UN address about reducing Cold War tensions, where he mentioned the potential of the Earth being invaded by some extraterrestrial power, which would simply demonstrate how feeble we, as humans, are.

A UFO fleet has arrived in Belgium.

In November 1989 and March 1990, a storm of triangular-shaped UFOs was sighted in the Belgian skyline for many weeks. Over 13,000 individuals reported seeing big black triangles floating in the sky throughout the occurrences. The Belgian Air Force also identified unusual objects on their radars and dispatched two F-16 fighter jets to investigate.

During their hunt, the pilots also noticed some activity on their radar but did not see any UFOs floating about in the sky. Many researchers and specialists who analyzed the Belgian UFO wave later pointed out that SOBEPS, a ufologists’ team who stated to have investigated the incidents, had circulated disinformation and produced a mass hallucination. According to the researchers, SOBEPS manipulated individuals into thinking that anything strange in the sky may be a UFO.

An image of a triangular UFO also went viral, however, it was discovered in a TV interview in 2011, that the image was not real. The forger made a polystyrene UFO model, painted it, and took a shot that resembled what several people claimed to have seen in Belgium.

Interesting UFO and associated sightings facts

Here are some interesting and little-known UFO facts:

Even though media sources began reporting on UFOs in earnest following the Kenneth Arnold event does not indicate that sightings were not made prior to this. Ancient authors, historians, astronomers, and philosophers have occasionally written about unusual flying objects. For example, Julius Obsequens, a 4th and 5th-century Roman writer, talked of the appearance of marvelous things, including inexplicable occurrences in the sky. Tales from Germany and Switzerland, on the other hand, mention conflicts in the skies in the 16th century.

The earliest reported UFO sighting in the United States occurred in 1639. At the time, John Winthrop, governor of the Massachusetts Bay area, reported about a flying object seen by a man called James Everell. The alien object was spotted above a dirty river located in Boston, according to the account retrieved from Winthrop’s diary. It could shrink in size and had flames.     

UFO enthusiasts throughout the world honor World UFO Day on July 2 (in commemoration of the Roswell incident), while others observe it on June 24 (remembering the Kenneth Arnold sighting). Persons join in groups and then go skywatching in the hopes of seeing a UFO. Furthermore, the purpose of these events is to increase awareness of UFOs and to persuade the government to provide more secret material on aliens and UFOs. 

NASA has just chosen to become engaged in the UAP investigations. The verdict follows a legislative hearing on UFOs, throughout which the United States House also reviewed the security threats involved with unidentified flying objects.

We don’t know for certain whether UFOs of alien origin exist. However, the increased interest in UFO studies by scientists, the government, and research organizations such as NASA is a promising indication. Their combined efforts may yield rational answers for the numerous UFO encounters that occur each year, as well as raise public awareness of this intriguing subject.