Poll for all members (skeptics, debunkers, and believers) of ATS: Have you ever had a UFO sighting?

originally posted by: jhanna1701
-- snip --
I'm not saying it was "aliens", but it was certainly "unidentified".

Great job of getting the "mind picture" across. Sightings of the unexplained can be terribly frustrating to try to get across to others, especially skeptics. I'm not one of those who accepts the old saw of eye witness accounts being nearly useless. Every sighting we've had is literally branded in my mind and, though many years have passed since some, they all still make my heart race when they come to mind.

Btw, I'm glad it didn't distract you to the point of an accident!

a reply to: cuckooold

No UFO sightings for me unfortunately.

I wish that I had seen something. I have had so many people relay their own sightings though. I can say that quite a few of them are very down-to-earth people that aren't prone to imagining things or making things up. Heck, some of them aren't even really prone to imagination, period (nothing against them, these are just salt-of-the earth, VERY practical farmer/rancher types). The common refrain is some version of "I don't know what it was but it was really strange".

Just thought I would update this thread for another one I'm working on.

Apologies if the numbers are slightly off, I've been careful but it's now a very long thread, I've tried not to double count anyone:

Yes, have seen at least one true UFO: 178 out of 209 = 85%

No, never seen a UFO: 28 out of 209 = 13%

No answer: 3 out of 210 = 1%

a reply to: PlanetXisHERE

My mom passed away Easter weekend this year (before anyone offers condolences, we were not close...) and my twin brother who was killed when T-boned by a state trooper going 95mph was preceded in death by our dad just the year before. That leaves just me and a sister (& B-I-L) that I divorced a little over two years ago.

My point is that I've said in several forums other than ATS that I had made the commitment to myself that I'd not be sharing any family experiences that might get traced back until after my mother had passed away. She had a dread fear of being ridiculed because of what we'd seen a neighbor go through. The Englebrecht family farm was line of sight from our front yard. Looking NW across a fairly large field, their farm was easily visible. I'd guess 3/4 mile.

A few nights after Charlie's sighting three local girls also had a late night sighting but somehow they managed to avoid any notoriety in spite of the fact that the Project Bluebook and NICAP in investigators deemed them all credible and did lengthy interviews with each. Charlie wasn't that fortunate... I don't know how many people were involved with the visit from NICAP, but I know Bluebook had three men that spent at least two days taking samples and pictures as well as making Charlie a nervous wreck with multiple interviews that his dad described as more like interrogations. The most ridiculous part of it was that, although they took grass and soil samples from where the object (about the size of a basketball or small beach-ball) skipped across the yard and remarked within earshot of a couple of Charlie's family that the lawnmower that he'd reported rolling toward the object before it shot off at great speed had some metal parts that had been mildly magnetized, the suggested explanation offered later was that he'd mistaken a piece of drifting paper that had blown into the yard from someone's trash barrel.

Although he was just a regular teenage guy, our town was merciless in their ridicule and he joined the service and went to Vietnam at his first chance.

Mom was scared to death of living through something like that. The scorn, not the experience. Our family'd had plenty of that long before the Englebrecht sighting.

The same week that Charlie had that thing come down in their barnyard we had an interesting experience of our own. As a small family farm in the '60s there just wasn't enough cash flow to cover everything so dad had taken a job at a major industrial plant near Evansville working nights to make ends meet. My sister was little enough that she wouldn't remember this, anyway, but I sure do.

Our yard had trees along the North and West sides to the front and left. Back then the only tree out back was a large black walnut and some snowball bushes and the family garden (plus about nine acres of corn).

If I had to estimate, I'd say it was probably around 9 - 9:30pm because I was done with my homework and bath but hadn't gone to bed yet. We'd been watching TV and suddenly there was this sound that is really hard to explain. I'm not saying this is EXACTLY right, but I think it might convey the impression the sound made. Picture a huge water balloon, one so big that there would be no way in H*ll that you could drop it on a hard surface without it bursting and water going everywhere. Now picture dropping that 50 to 100 feet onto smooth concrete without it busting... I'm not saying it hit the house, but the noise it made wasn't even in the same ballpark as a sonic boom. It was something I never heard before or since...

Immediately the lights started to flicker like they do just before a brownout and mom yelled into the living room from the kitchen (they were connected by a door) to shut the lights and TV off. The entire house was vibrating at a crazy low frequency. Anyone that's stood on the arena floor of a Ted Nugent concert during his heyday has an idea of what I mean. It wasn't just your head, this was something that felt like it was physically thumping your chest.

We all ran into the kitchen and looked at the trees out front and the entire yard was lit with a dull red glow and the leaves on the trees were vibrating even though it was a hot, still night.

I got the same idea about the time mom did and we felt our way through the living room and hall toward the back (South) of the house. Mom was standing frozen in place at the bathroom window so I felt my way into our bedroom for a better look. It was the same out back. Everything had that weird glow and was doing that strange shaking.

That noise was downright physically oppressive. If you had to go through that for very long you'd probably lose it... My brother came into the room and we both sat on our beds with our hands over our ears for an indeterminate time just praying for it to quit.

Suddenly there was a tremendously loud snap and it was over. I saw the wall in the hall glowing from the nightlight in the bathroom and knew that whatever it was had gone.

Mom was almost hysterical in trying to make sure she got through to us to NEVER tell anyone what had just happened!!! There are only just so many ways to say, "Okay!"

I never asked my brother if he'd told his wife, but other than my wife and kids this is the first time I've ever shared this with anyone.

ETA:
Am I the only one that has a hard time proofreading in the small message window? I hate doing all the extra edits, but they aren't nearly as obvious as they are once you hit reply...

a reply to: CornShucker

I am or I think I am a hard nosed,dry bones science type but after my own WTF is that experience a few yrs ago I learned not to crap on other's experiences and testimonies

originally posted by: Spider879
a reply to: CornShucker

I am or I think I am a hard nosed,dry bones science type but after my own WTF is that experience a few yrs ago I learned not to crap on other's experiences and testimonies

I quit hanging around with a guy that's I'd gone all the way through school with because of his attitude. We were sharing a six-pack and I brought up an experience that he'd talking about one night when a bunch of us were together and he said, "Oh, I just made that up." That really p*ssed me off and I got up in his face about. He just shrugged and told me, "Well, everybody was telling stories and I wanted to join in."

People like him are the reason genuine experiences are written off as lies. The real world has some exceedingly strange things that happen, but liars make everyone look bad.

a reply to: CornShucker

Thanks for sharing that, quite an incredible experience.

In my opinion that is totally worthy of its own thread, sitting here few members will ever see it, but it deserves to be shared.

If you feel up to it put the complete story in the Aliens and UFO forum, some will share similar experiences, some will be grateful for just hearing such an interesting story, and some will have to knock it to assuage their cognitive dissonance created by all the realistic sounding experiences like this one that conflict with all the social conditioning they have been exposed to their whole lives.

a reply to: PlanetXisHERE

Thanks, but I'm not really looking attract a lot of attention. Technically, it wasn't a sighting because whatever it was seems to have been directly over our house... Consider this dipping my toe in the waters. Maybe as time passes I'll be a little less reluctant to risk drawing attention to myself. Since I've been a registered member I've posted enough personal info to provide a pretty good trail of breadcrumbs for anyone wanting to be an *sshole.

Both Peter Davenport and James Oberg know my name and have been cordial in what few communications we've had.

My mother's way to handle anything she couldn't deal with was to tell me I was delusional, dad just plain refused to talk about any of it. Thankfully, in the last year and a half or so my maternal grandmother validated quite a few things I'd been told never happened.

Before I go saying too much I need to weigh it against the periods went through after reading Streiber's "Communion and listening to Derrel Sims on C2C. Both times triggered months of night terrors. My family lineage matches up to the profile Mr. Sims described and I couldn't begin to estimate how many times I was found sleepwalking outside with the house totally locked or woke with blood on my pillow from a nosebleed. (never happened to my brother, he had brown hair)

I've seen that Cheech and Chong movie and I want to be able to scratch an itch if I get one!

I haven't seen any UFO. I also don't get out much so there isn't much of a chance to. I'm a believer, I guess. I believe aliens exist and something is going on but what I don't know. I haven't seen anything myself though.

a reply to: CornShucker

Months of night terrors, yikes!

I can totally understand why you would not want to talk about it.

I suppose this is one of the minor reasons why I push this subject, apart from the major ones like humanity deserves to know the truth and those keeping this secret for so long are going against the Constitution not to mention Universal spiritual laws; but once this was out in the open I think it would be easier for the tens or hundreds of thousands or even millions like you to get some professional help. Thanks to the social conditioning as it stands now most psychologists think this is just some kind of dysfunction, not a true experience which could manifest as PTSD or a myriad of other debilitating emotional trauma's. Another reason why I'm ashamed as a human of the people who perpetuate the cover-up, they have been manipulated and brainwashed just like the rest of us.

Anyway, I have come across this woman's name a few times in regards to these matters, I'm sure she can't help everyone but she seems to have helped quite a few. Do your own research please, I personally have no idea what she is like.

Eve Lorgen - Author, researcher and consultant in anomalous trauma

na reply to: cuckooold


Many and varied over the years. Started in 1956 watching a silver disc go from horizon to horizon while laying back on a picnic table. In 58 another, low with glowing red flames from entry went over our farm while I was on a tractor, and no it was not a meteor, it was only a few thousand feet up and silent and red flames. Seen a number darting rapidly, making right angle turns. One just above our anchored boat in the keys, a giant black cloaked triangle just drifting overhead at 3 am.

Recently large, very large, cylinder like, count three in two years craft over port charlotte fl. going over the gulf. Watched them for 20 minutes while commercial planes came and went way below their altitude. Then a smaller craft flashing white, literally bouncing at forty five degree angles up and down while going out towards the gulf. I had to get off the highway as I was on my motor cycle watching it..oddly no one else was looking.

Something odd about them is they seem to be able to let one know when to look. In Wisconsin a few years ago, I watched some stars and one of them did the dart around game, I was with wife and three others but said nothing. After dinner I was urged to look at some star group and announced to them to stop and "watch this". Right on cue, one of the lights again put on a show and finally went straight up and out doing maneuvers that would kill a pilot. I am a pilot and have built several planes, even watched an orb off my wingtip landing one night. My step father was a pilot in ww2 and told me in detail of the foo fighters off his bomber wing tips during missions.

My brother and I were driving to a high school basketball game in the year 1961, location rural northeast Georgia,USA and we saw three orange lights moving across the sky. It was still daylight. I stopped the car and we got out and watched them as they traveled. They just blinked off one at a time and were gone.

Nice to see members still detailing their UFO experiences.

Seems like the overwhelmingly majority have had one, also it seems like the overwhelming majority have not reported them to one of the National UFO reporting organizations such as MUFON or NUFORC.

It would be quite interesting to apply this fact to UFO stats. I think it would balloon the number of cases that were "unexplained" and most likely piloted by one group the usual suspects, either the Secret Space Program, ancient breakaway civilizations, or true ET's.

For more elaboration on that last point see these threads:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: cuckooold

I've never seen anything in the sky I could not identify. However, I have had some uncanny experiences that most people would take as evidence of ghosts. I do not believe in ghosts, although the mind can play some very convincing tricks. I submit that there are similar mechanism at work when people have "numinous" encounters, whether with ghosts, fairies, or extraterrestrials.

originally posted by: DJW001
a reply to: cuckooold

I've never seen anything in the sky I could not identify. However, I have had some uncanny experiences that most people would take as evidence of ghosts. I do not believe in ghosts, although the mind can play some very convincing tricks. I submit that there are similar mechanism at work when people have "numinous" encounters, whether with ghosts, fairies, or extraterrestrials.

So you equate seeing some kind of apparition or shadow with seeing some kind of craft in the sky?

Also, we do have numerous reporting centers/databases for UFO's such as NUFORC, MUFON and smaller other ones plus numerous other ones in various countries, yet I don't think anything of that type exists for fairies or ghosts. Was there an equivalent report such as Project Bluebook, Project Grudge, Project Sign, Project Stork, The Robertson Panel, the Condon Report, the Cometa Report done on ghosts or fairies?

More notable UFO projects

Shocking COMETA report

a reply to: cuckooold

I personally have and will be sharing it soon.

With 10,000 hours of flying in the AF all over the world and being an amateur astronomer and sky watcher for 40 years, pretty much nothing.

Hello - I signed up to ATS a while ago but don't seem to have contributed anything since. Having seen this thread re-emerge, however, I thought I'd share the following. Warning: this post was brought to you by the letters TL;DR...

I appear to have been one of quite a few witnesses to a 'display' or object that was visible from various parts of my home city of Bristol, England one night back in what I recall to have been the late Eighties or early Nineties. I thought this might potentially be of interest due to my personal experience over the intervening years of the vagaries of memory, as I'll explain. Key points of the sighting do remain relatively clear to me: the object initially appeared low to the south-east-south in a relatively clear early-evening sky as a bright but distinct blueish-white light travelling slowly, towards what I presume was north-west-west (these are my calculations now, of course). The object sped up slightly then split into at least three but possibly more smaller points of light which travelled upwards in different directions; I recall one arcing up left, one moving apparently straight up and one arcing away to the right. I estimate the whole thing took around a minute and a half to two minutes. It left a deep impression on me in terms of a belief that what I'd seen was genuinely something out of the ordinary; helicopters and light aircraft were familiar sights and sounds over our neck of the woods at the time, but this sighting despite appearing to be at relatively close range was entirely soundless.

And now for the vagaries of memory...those of us familiar with the coverage of the UFO subject in the UK at the time will recall that the whole Dreamland/Roswell/Majic caboodle was just bubbling under the mainstream at the time (note to certain UK media commentators - people did indeed see and discuss things of this nature before the X-Files); I recall Timothy Good being a regular guest on local radio before I'd had my sighting, for example. My point being that in the PSH scheme of things I presumably would have been 'primed' to interpret my sighting a certain way. Additionally, I'd come to assume that my sighting took place earlier (around 1989-1990) but having researched local sightings recently, I find that 13 August 1993 appears to be a likely candidate! I can't quite reconcile this date with my recollections, however.

Sorry for the long post, and I hope some find it to be of interest.

Yup one when I was younger late at night star watching with my bro.
We saw a satellite going across the clear sky and it stopped dead for 10 mins then went up very quick and away.

Where is the poll?

And, yes, I have seen something like that, can't say what it was, just that it had an "interesting" flight path.