UFO Evidence - A Closer Look at Peculiar Patterns in UFO Sightings

I have read many times, maybe too many times, that ufology as a whole suffers from a lack of evidence. After Project Sign, Project Grudge, Bluebook, the Cometa report, and more recently AATIP, sceptics still maintain that there is no solid ground for proving anything related to UFOs. But is that even true one might ask? Well, the answer to that is not a simple one since ufology is not like biology, for example, where we can repeatedly study cells under our microscopes and come to verifiable conclusions.

Needless to say that ufology studies a phenomenon which is much more futile and difficult to grasp. It's a simple truth one has to accept. And there is something very particular about UFOs, as I will later show, that mainstream science will always want to stay away from. However, the good news is: we do have evidence, and we have lots of it. It is available in the form of well-documented reports and recorded data. It may be weak evidence at first glance, if presented without any structure and correlations, but it does in fact constitute evidence for the existence of the phenomenon which we refer to as UFOs.

I know all this is nothing new, but it seems to me that this vast body of evidence is sometimes all too easily neglected when faced with die-hard sceptics. I also believe that some aspects of our legacy of UFO sighting reports and related data can be used to emphasize key characteristics in the behaviour of UFOs that might urge sceptics to reconsider their stand point.

What I would like to do in this thread is to highlight a couple of patterns in the behaviour of UFOs that have frequently been observed and reported throughout the history of UFO sightings. But I would also like to mention a few cases illustrating these patterns and, lastly, I will try to put things into perspective by taking a look at the bigger picture. In summary, this is what's awaiting the curious reader of this thread (you can click on one of the links below to directly jump to a particular section):

1. Cases Illustrating Specific Behaviour in UFOs
2. Frequently Observed Patterns in UFO Sightings
3. High Strangeness and the Ridicule Factor in Ufology
4. Conclusion and References

This is going to be a longer piece and it's certainly one that's very dear to me, so please be patient and hang in there while the show unfolds. For structural purposes, I will make a new post within this thread for each of the above sections. Before going into the details, I'd like to point out that many people have researched these patterns, so I'm definitely not the first to write or post about them. But I do think that these well-documented characteristics are uttery important for UFO research, hence this thread and the need to keep emphasizing the impressive data that we already have today.

(continues in next post)

1. Cases Illustrating Specific Behaviour in UFOs

Quite a lot of UFO sightings reported over the past decades included very specific behaviour and features of UFOs which seem to point to something that many of these sightings have in common. Certain details regarding how UFOs manifest themselves have been reported so frequently that one can easily see certain patterns emerging. There are indeed many of them and I would like to focus on three categories of patterns that seem to be particularily intriguing and informative when considering the possible nature of UFOs:

■ Reports about UFOs changing colors over the course of a sighting
■ Reports about UFOs performing extremely unusual aerial maneuvers
■ Reports about UFOs producing very specific sounds

Below, you will find a selection of cases for each of the above mentioned categories. These are just some of the countless sightings where such patterns have been observed and reported. To that extent, they serve solely as examples in order to illustrate the aforementioned characteristics of UFOs in the context of actual sightings.

CASES INVOLVING COLOR CHANGE

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

▮ CASE: US NAVY FLIGHT 125

On February 10th, 1955, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster (version R5D-5) was en route from Keflavik (Iceland) to Gander (Newfoundland) with 31 persons on board incl. US Naval Reserve Lt. Graham Bethune (pictured) and his crew. Flight 125 was part of the missions flown by Atlantic-Continental Air Transport Squadron One. All persons aboard the R5D were witness to a UFO sighting which was later reported by Graham Bethune. The encounter occured over the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 150 km west of Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.

"I observed a glow of light below the horizon about 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the water. We both observed its course and motion for about 4 or 5 minutes before calling it to the attention of the other crew members... Suddenly its angle of attack changed, its altitude and size increased as though its speed was in excess of 1,000 miles per hour.

It closed in so fast that the first feeling was we would collide in midair. At this time its angle changed and the color changed [ETA: color was initally yellow]. It then [appeared] definitely circular and reddish orange on its perimeter. It reversed its course and tripled its speed until it was last seen disappearing over the horizon. Because of our altitude and misleading distance over water it is almost impossible to estimate its size, distance, and speed. A rough estimate would be at least 300 feet in diameter, over 1,000 miles per hour in speed, and approached to within 5 miles of the aircraft."

Source

Graham Bethune was one of several witnesses who spoke at the National Press Club, Washington D.C. as part of the "disclosure project" on May 9th, 2001. A more detailed version of his account can be found here and here (video).

▮ CASE: WISCONSIN SIGHTINGS 1975

Another sighting involving UFOs that displayed a sequential change of colors occured in 1975 with various witnesses, including nine deputies, throughout four counties in the U.S. The sightings were reported in The Journal Times (Racine, Wisconsin) on 20 March 1975. Also note the high-pitched sounds that were reported in connection with this sighting. In many cases, a number of rather specific sounds are often described by witnesses as we will later see.

▮ CASE: SOUTH DAKOTA SIGHTINGS 1966

In a sighting over South Dakota in October 1966, with at least four witnesses (including two policemen), two unidentified flying objects were observed that reportedly put on a show by changing their colors. A related article was published in the The Los Angeles Times on October 12, 1966.

▮ CASE: THE LEVELLAND TEXAS LANDINGS 1957

The Levelland UFO sightings that occured in 1957 include eight well-documented reports of what was assumed to be the same craft. Seven further reports by anonymous persons seemed to corroborate that something truly unknown roamed the skies and countryside back in the day. In this case, a change of colors was also reported while the craft was in motion and preparing to land on a road.

A man driving west of Levelland very close to the spot of Saucedo's initial sighting, sees a large orange ball approaching in his direction. The man testifies that this unknown craft softly lands on the road about 1/4 mile away. The motorist also related a very interesting fact. He stated that the craft, orange at first, became a bluish-green color upon landing on the road. He also noticed that the craft spanned the width of the road. After the craft landed, his engine also failed, and he sat in the cab of his truck, which was lit up by the glow from the craft. After a time, the craft lifted up and left the area.

Source

(continues in next post)

CASES INVOLVING UNUSUAL AERIAL MANEUVERS

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

▮ CASE: MIDLANDS-SOUTHWEST SIGHTINGS 1965

An extensive wave of sightings occured in 1965 over the midlands with many observers reporting strange lights that behaved and moved about in quite spectacular and unconventional ways. The below image is an excerpt of a much more detailed article that appeared in the El Paso Herald-Post on August 4, 1965.

▮ CASE: COLDWATER-MICHIGAN SIGHTINGS 1965

Lights moving in odd patterns across the sky led to countless reports and citizens informing the local police. In addition to the civilian witnesses, the reported UFOs were also seen by the deputy sherrifs that investigated the reports. The incident was reported in the Battle Creek Enquirer on October 7, 1965.

▮ CASE: MECHANICSBURG SIGHTINGS 1967

Yet more reports of forty eye witnesses came in two years later, when mysterious lights were sighted in the area around Mechnicsburg. The article below was published in the Intelligencer Journal on June 13, 1967.

▮ CASE: THE CHARLES MOODY ENCOUNTER 1975

In many cases UFOs exhibit some rather peculiar characteristics in terms of moving about, like sudden stops, erratic flight patterns, waving and pendulum motion or a steady "wobbling" on the axes of the reported objects. Such was the case when Air Force sergeant Charles L. Moody had his encounter in 1975 near Alamogordo, New Mexico, where a silver glowing object began to descend to the desert floor a few hundred feet from the startled serviceman. His experience would develop into a CE3 type sighting includig missing time and entities who allegedly abducted him. Also note that a high-pitched humming sound has been reported, a frequently described detail as we will see in the next section further below.

The UFO was about fifty feet long and eighteen to twenty feet wide. As it descended to an altitude of fifteen to twenty feet, it wobbled on its own axis. Then it began moving slowly and steadily toward Moody. He jumped into his car but was unable to start it. The UFO came to a stop about seventy feet away. Moody could hear a high-pitched humming sound. He noticed a rectangular window in the craft through which he could see shadows resembling human forms. The noise stopped and he felt a numbness crawling over his body.

Source

▮ CASE: GREAT MICHIGAN UFO CHASE 1966

Extreme aerial maneuvers were also noted during the wave of sightings in the area of Ann Arbor and throughout Michigan in 1966. Later these sightings would be corroborated by police officers and sheriff's deputies from two counties. In the end, the incident would be backed up by more than 100 witnesses including a UFO chase involving six patrol cars and a group of fifteen persons in total. The initial news coverage was launched with an article in the Ann Arbor News on March 14, 1966.

▮ CASE: THE BUFF LEDGE ABDUCTION 1968

In the Buff Ledge abduction case, two camp employees of Buff Ledge Camp in Vermont reported a UFO performing a peculiar "falling leaf motion" (in other cases also referred to as pendulum motion) upon descending. The incident allegedly took place on August 7, 1968.

As the two [witnesses] steadfastly watched the light, three smaller lights seemed to drop from the larger one, which quickly moved up and disappeared from sight. The three smaller objects began to move over the lake. They were obviously under intelligent control. The objects put on a show for Michael and Janet, doing zigzag maneuvers, loops, and then descended like falling leaves. The three objects now moved even closer to the two baffled teenagers. After forming a triangle, two of the objects pulled back. Michael would later recall a sound "like a thousand tuning forks" when the two left the third craft alone.

Source

(continues in next post)

CASES INVOLVING SPECIFIC SOUNDS

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

▮ CASE: HUDSON VALLEY SIGHTINGS 1981-1994

The Hudson Valley UFO flap included a number of reported sightings starting with waves of reports coming in as early as 1981 and lasting, according to some, until 1994. All reports were of similar nature describing multiple lights in the sky, usually moving in formation. Sometimes the lights would move through the sky as if they were all part of a single craft. The sightings were often accompanied by a humming noise emanating from the reported objects.

The lights were a brilliant red, green, and white, and at first, he thought they could be coming from an airplane in trouble. It was common for him to sit and watch the big jets fly over at night. As the lights became closer, his opinion quickly changed. The lights were moving too slowly to be a plane, and now... they were too low, and there was no noise from an engine. What was the strange craft he was seeing? As the lights came closer, he could hear a humming sound, and now he could see that the lights were arranged in a triangular shape, and there was a solid object of some kind connecting the lights.

Source

▮ CASE: PORTAGE COUNTY, OHIO, UFO CHASE 1966

Humming sounds were also reported during the Portage County UFO Chase on April 17, 1966 as mentioned in the Syracuse Herald Journal on 18 April 18, 1966.

▮ CASE: LEBANON COUNTY INCIDENT 1967

And yet more humming noise in connection with a UFO sighting was reported by the Lebanon Daily News on 8 April 1967.

▮ CASES FROM PASSPORT TO MAGONIA

A variety of sounds such as hissing and humming noises are also found in several cases mentioned in Jacques Vallée's well-known book "Passport to Magonia: A Century of UFO Landings". A few of them are highlighted below but many others can be found in the vast case archive of "Passport to Magonia" (available online here).

▮ SIOUX CITY SIGHTING 1967

Another interesting sighting involving sound (this time a "swishing noise") took place in Sioux City on May 10, 1967. According to the Sioux City Journal, the witness allegedly took a photo which, as of today, is apparently still in possession of the Air Force. So all we're left with is the article and the drawing. The below excerpt is a cropped version of the news article, the full version can be viewed here.


(continues in next post)

2. Frequently Observed Patterns in UFO Sightings

As we could see in the aforementioned cases, there are a great number of UFO sightings where specific patterns have been reported. Of course there are other relevant patterns such as electro-magnetic effects (EM), stealth, cloaking, abductions and the like. However, I deliberately chose to focus on these three categories: color change, extreme aerial maneuverability and sound or noise, respectively. The reason being that the vast majority of reported sightings does make reference to one or more of these rather special characteristics. IMO this makes for a good basis when it comes to analyzing such cases and deriving potential conclusions, especially when combinations of these charateristics merge into patterns.

It's quite surprising how much research, especially in the early days of ufology, has already been done and some have argued that these patterns could be indicators for an exotic propulsion system that is at work inside the reported objects. This would of course imply that we are talking about manufactured devices, wherever they may come from. The exotic maneuvers they perform, the sounds they produce, the frequently reported bright lights, sometimes changing color apparently related to their speed or particular maneuvers, their capability to hover for extended periods of time at ground-level or in mid-air: all this might indeed indicate a technological origin of the phenomenon. Not to mention the actual hardware that has been reported so consistently when witnesses had the chance to come close to these devices.

One is quite tempted to assume that the change of colors is caused by "sweeping" through the electromagnetic spectrum in terms of applied energy and emitted wavelengths, e.g. through ionization in connection with atmospheric gases in the surrounding air.


Source: EM-Spectrum (NASA)

In 1964, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) published a study that addressed quite a number of different chracteristics of UFOs, including color and color changes:

Study of Color Changes Related to Motion

A special study was made of cases in which UFOs reportedly changed color during flight. A sample of 82 color change cases was accumulated. In addition, 25 cases of change in luminosity or brightness (some overlapping the color changes) were singled out for examination. Could any pattern be discovered relating these changes to the motion or maneuvers of UFOs? (...)

The colors observed during acceleration were isolated. Shifts of color toward the red and violet ends of the spectrum were studied in relation to hovering, acceleration, etc. Cases in which white, or dark (absence of color) constituted one predominating color were examined as a class. Luminosity changes were similarly analyzed.

Over a decade later, in 1976, James M. McCampbell went a step further with his book "Ufology - A Major Breakthrough in the Scientific Understanding of Unidentified Flying Objects" (link to the online edition). Entire chapters of the book are dedicated to all of the patterns I'm referring too (and others as well) and he describes in much detail which physical processes could account for the observations. Among McCampbell's professional affiliations have been the American Nuclear Society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been recognized in American Men of Science and several other biographical reference publications.

Regarding luminosity and color change, McCampbell writes:

Suppose that (...) a UFO delivered a gradually increasing amount of energy to the gases surrounding it. At some point, the atmosphere would absorb enough energy to become luminous and the onset would correspond to the excitation of xenon. Further increases in energy transfer would activate the other gases in inverse order of their thresholds and their light would simply be added to that from xenon. Or if some sort of resonance phenomenon excited the various species individually, the atmosphere would take on a series of colors corresponding to each species. Some complex statistical and quantum mechanical aspects apply here but they need not be taken into account to develop the argument.

Source

And going into yet more detail, he further notes:



In a 1967 book "What We Really Know About Flying Saucers" (link to the online edition), another author, Otto Binder, also mentions color change cases in relation to speed and specific maneuvers:

A rough scale would relate the colors to motions in this way:

White when hovering or moving at uniform speed.
Red and orange when accelerating.
Blue or blue-white at extremely high speeds.
Green when making right-angle turns or performing other aerial maneuvers

When looking at the many different sightings, changes in color emitted by UFOs and their particular maneuvers seem to correlate in certain ways. In his "Hypothetical UFO Sighting", McCampbell therefore also addresses the physical foundations of a potential propulsion system that could be involved in such a sighting.

FLIGHT AND PROPULSION
Of course, the fundamental problem in understanding UFOs is that their peculiar flight pattern involves enormous accelerations for which adequate forces are not in evidence. The resolution of this dilemma appears to lie in the physical property of inertia (...) According to the Principle of Equivalence, enunciated by Einstein, it is not possible to distinguish inertial forces from gravitational forces (...) [therefore] a "gravity shield" [which could be assumed for a hypothetical UFO] must also function as an "inertial shield."

With regards to sounds emmitted by UFOs, McCampbell also offers a couple of explanations both for high-pitched noises and the frequently reported humming sounds:

HIGH-PITCHED NOISE



HUMMING NOISE



In summary, when looking at patterns like color change, extreme aerial maneuverability and particular sounds reported during UFO sightings (in connection with frequent reporting of discs and triangles as physical objects hanging in the sky), it would seem appropriate and reasonable to associate a "nuts and bolts" technology with the phenomenon. IMO it would be quite a stretch to assume that similar patterns, features and effects are based on a person's imagination alone (or misidentifications) considering the wide geographical, temporal and cultural range in which the phenomenon has been reported in pretty much the same ways again and again. Of course one has to remain open to alternative explanations until we hold final proof in our hands.

(continues in next post)

3. High Strangeness and the Ridicule Factor in Ufology

Given the strange behaviour reported in so many UFO sightings (erratic zig-zag maneuvers, sharp-angled turns, color change, incredible acceleration, strange sounds etc.) it seems kind of logical that these chracteristics would already provide a proper foundation for ridicule. The question is: why would people even report such seemingly ridiculous observations?

Especially when looking at the motivation for faking a sighintg, wouldn't it have been more appropriate for potential hoaxers to file reports of impressive spaceships (not discs ot triangles often lacking detailed features), loud engine noise like roaring thunder or regular aerial maneuvers that are in line with known propulsion systems? A lot seems to point to these reports being truthful representations of what witnesses actually observed, however improbable it may seem given the incredible claims.

Maybe it also helps to have a look at what ridicule actually means, psychologically speaking:

A Definition of Ridicule

Ridicule is caricaturing, calling attention to what’s bad or absurd about something or someone, thereby drawing attention away from what’s good or reasonable about it. [To ridicule] is to put someone down while lifting the ridiculer up. Burns demote someone, elevating the burner in the process. Ridicule is a power move.

As mentioned in the introduction, the phenomenon seems so futile and difficult to grasp that it is next to impossible to make measurements or retrieve data in a controlled, laboratory-like setup (as science usually requires). And for governments to admit that something is operating in their airspace without having any own capability to determine its cause or modus operandi doesn't seem to be an option. So maybe to that extent, official bodies kept highlighting the "no threat" rationale in order to keep things under wraps and prevent overburdening authorities with thousands of reports, phone calls and inquiries of all sorts. A little bit of ridicule here and there might help in the process.

But despite the sometimes "funny" nature of how the phenomenon manifests itself (a kind of inherent ridicule), there have been proven attempts to discredit researchers and others who have or had a sincere interest in getting to the bottom of what we're dealing with. Disinformation agents like Richard Doty or Philip J. Klaas are individual examples while the Condon Committee (and its subsequent report) indicate a more collaborative effort to conceal the reality of UFOs. Newspapers often seemed to enjoy referring to little green men, swamp gas, astronomical events and weather ballons thus making witnesses appear like inaccurate observers. Over the years, it seems, that someone pulled the strings and that leads to the involvement of intellegence agencies that have a natural interest in keeping control of anything that has the potential to influence public opinion (the UFO phenomenon is no exception). This, however, provides ground for much speculation and would be a topic for a thread of its own.

Maybe, for now, we should just remind ourselves that certain things about UFOs were already known early on, a fact that has been highlighted by General John A. Samford in a press conference in 1952 and I urge you to have a look at the entire two minute clip below:
(continues in next post)

4. Conclusion and References

When looking at the facts, the reports and the details provided by hundreds of witnesses, we have to admit that there is a close match regarding the various aspects of the phenomenon throughout the history of UFO sightings. A lot of excellent work has been done by early researchers to pin down and determine what UFOs could be and extracting certain patterns from numerous eye witness accounts. When thinking about common patterns in UFO sightings, having access to the data and details of thousands of reports is obviously a key requirement.

There are quite a few case catalogs out there, like Project Blue Book, Passport to Magonia and even electronic databases made possible through individual efforts like those of Larry Hatch who created the U* database, a vast archive of over 18.000 carefully filed UFO cases created over the course of 20 years in a vintage MS-DOS environment. After the passing of Mr. Hatch, this collection was nearly lost since it was only available on CD with no permissions in sight to release them to the public. Luckily, though, this valuable legacy of archived cases was eventually made available online in a new version thanks to the great efforts of ATS members like IsaacKoi, javarome, EvillerBob and others. It can be accessed here and features a search function that allows to look for cases in specific years or locations. Also see the U* base resurrection thread for further details.

In essence, the requirement of a large unified database is IMO very important to help ufology move a bit more towards a broadly accepted branch of research. And I'm fully aware that this is easily said, but not so easily done since it requires lots of time, money and concerted action. An important part in organizing all the information that's already available would be to specify the required parameters and categories within the datasets that can be searched for, for example:

■ Case Description
■ Date, Time and Location (preferably also GPS)
■ Shapes (disc, triangle, sphere)
■ Luminosity and Colors (incl. sequential color change)
■ Reported Sounds/Noise
■ Effects (e.g. electromagnetic effects, radiation)
■ Amount of witnesses (e.g. 1-5, 6-10, 10-20, more than 20)
■ References in literature, magazines, studies, online sources
■ Credibility and quality (e.g. involving a rating system)

In the ideal case, such an online database would have a global map that is capable of displaying only those cases in which certain parameters of interest are selected in the "search interface" (e.g. by ticking boxes). This hypothetical databse could, for example, display cases that fulfil a certain set of search criteria, such as cases that occured within a certain perimeter (e.g. 500 kilometers around a GPS coordinate), in a selected time period (e.g. August - October 1966), with a certain amount of witnesses (e.g. 2 - 5) that observed objects that displayed a sequential change of colors including electro-magnetic effects (e.g. stalling car engine). A graphical representation of what this might look like can be viewed below (click on the thumbnail for a larger version).



This is of course just an idea but maybe those who are currently working in ufology, publishing books and making a living based on their work might at some point come together to discuss such a proposal. I think there are many old cases that could be included in such a database where still new insights through correlations can be gained. This would certainly make for an even stronger case that something has been (and possibly still is) roaming our skies.

Phew, that was quite a long OP! But as always, thanks for reading up to here and I look forward to your thoughts on this!


SOURCES, LINKS AND REFERENCES:
------------------------------------------
01. The UFO Evidence (section on UFO patterns), NICAP, 1964
02. Ufology, James M. McCampbell, 1976
03. What We Really Know About Flying Saucers, Otto Binder, 1967)
04. Passport to Magonia Cases, Jacques Vallée, 1969
05. 10.000+ Case Files of Project Blue Book
06. The UFO Evidence (complete), NICAP, 1964
07. More information about James M. McCambell
08. UFO Debunking and Ridicule
09. Previous ATS thread about color change cases
10. PDF: Basic Patterns in UFO Observations, Jacques Vallée, 1975
11. Online Portal for Newspaper Clippings
12. NICAP: UFO Evidence by Categories

i like..

me...pilot...me see heap big wumpum cigar over Dallas.....99, it was...so I'm reading every bit...

did you know I'm the orb authority, I swear

nothing like a 380 foot cigar going in and out of cloak for 12 seconds.....with no sun reflecting off the nose like that MD 95 a minute ago.....it turned to go over mid field Love Field at 3500, man I was looking for the flight deck windows....none

a reply to: GBP/JPY

Thanks, mate. I really don't think, even for a minute, that the many credible witnesses of hundreds and hundreds of reports were hallucinating.

Have you ever made a thread about your sighting here on ATS? If so, feel free to post a link, would be great to learn more about it!

good to go beyond the Nocturnal Light stuff

when interpreting data one must screen the good data from the junk

I've never read the Magonia book, I'll have to look for it.

a reply to: jeep3r

WOW, what a great thread...packed with great information and resources!

I agree that there are many skeptics in Ufology, but we need them.

There are far too many instances where UFO witnesses have misidentified celestial objects, which could also account for the UFO sightings that involve color change:

Surprising as it may seem, astronomical objects are the most common cause of mistaken UFO reports, including close encounters

www.ianridpath.com...

There have been countless of cases where UFO witnesses have misidentified man made aircraft:

Many things that are reported as UFOs turn out not to be extraterrestrial at all. The Lockheed F-117 and the SR-71 Blackbird jets both had designs that looked otherworldly. Mundane objects such as paper lanterns and party balloons have been reported as UFOs.

www.businessinsider.com...

We also shouldn't leave out drones either. They've become very popular over the years and many have LED lights on them as well, which have resulted in UFO reports.

Lets also not forget the many con artists, who have fabricated false documents, stories and CGI videos that pop up on conspiracy websites and on YouTube.

Yeah, I happen to believe we've been visited by extraterrestrials. However, other than a blurry video or picture and a few eyewitness accounts that we deem credible, where's all the cold, hard evidence we need to convince all these skeptics? Perhaps in time, the evidence will be so overwhelming that many will become believers.

originally posted by: shawmanfromny
a reply to: jeep3r

I agree that there are many skeptics in Ufology, but we need them.

Good point, and we also need some people (whether they are 'Believers' or 'Knowers') to stop calling them "disinfo agents" - a label lazily thrown around countless times because a particular case doesn't hold up to personal scrutiny. It can be aggravating, especially when many of us have our own favourite cases that still defy explanation.

Mick West's 'Metabunk' site is useful, although obviously the site's very name can aggravate people. More of an issue is probably the site's rather draconian terms and conditions that frown upon the use of Humour in postings - which is bizarre and the epitome of 'Dry'. In other words, not a place for me!

I liked the list posted in the thread about UFO shapes. It included several things that highlighted "similarities in differences," such as:

1. UFOs overall do not appear to be making a coordinated effort. Their appearances and activities seem to be fairly random and not organized toward achieving a common goal.
2. While UFOs can fall into loose categories when it comes to shapes, there are so many different shapes -- which seem to evolve over time -- that there are either hundreds of different aliens trying to study us or they somehow manifest themselves according to each individual witness.
3. Continued lack of hard physical evidence that is in some way undeniably "alien" either in an outer space way or time travel / alternate dimension way.
4. Repeated reports of UFOs and their occupants doing crazy things that make no logical sense but often follow a kind of "dream logic" again suggesting that the observer is not passive but contributes significantly to the way the encounter plays out.

There's no real conclusion that can be drawn other than the phenomenon itself is for all intents and purposes "real," with real physical things being seen and photographed and tracked on radar, but also with some kind of heavy psychological overlay.

Which is again why I think it might ultimately represent something that we as an animal species are not quite smart or perceptive enough to understand, and never will without a nearly complete overhaul of our math and science and chemistry.

a reply to: jeep3r

Recognize the research links - kudos on a well put together informative thread.

Pendulum motion is an interesting aspect - solid light and water collection are also other interesting aspects.

The number of times I've read about a person's wristwatch stopping during a UFO encounter is also very interesting.

Disinformation agents like Richard Doty or Philip J. Klaas are individual examples while the Condon Committee (and its subsequent report) indicate a more collaborative effort to conceal the reality of UFOs. 

Most of the early main players in the UFO debunkery club were (or probably were) in the employ of the CIA (Klass / Condon due to suspicions of Commie espionage).

Thanks for the effort. I will be glad to read it and I'm sure many of us since we have a lot of time on our hands

Quality thread Jeep3r.

I don't think there is any doubt that the UFO phenomenon is real. But that doesn't automatically mean aliens are visiting this planet. Which seems to be a conclusion many jump to when cases remain unexplained. Every case has to be studied and dealt with based on its own merits.

I would say all UFO cases do lack sufficient data to prove beyond reasonable doubt that any UFOs are alien in nature. Now that doesn't of course rule out the possibility either. Cases like Levelland are baffling and was certainly an opportunity missed to get more data. The Hessdalen lights are also a repeating phenomenon in Norway. But even after 4 decades of, admittedly low budget, studies no one has been able to explain them.

But as J. Allen Hynek once said "I realised we don’t have UFOs........ only UFO reports".

I nearly forgot to say what an excellent thread this is - beautifully constructed with much food for thought in terms of persistent patterns.


Amongst all the fascinating material, it was also nice to read up on the 1966 case that inspired the police car-chase in 'Close Encounters' (1977)

originally posted by: mirageman
Every case has to be studied and dealt with based on its own merits.

Indeed. Many of my once beloved 'high profile' cases have collapsed under scrutiny, but the Travis Walton case (1975), for example, still bites at my ankles, especially after I created a thread dedicated to the subsequent lives of the other six witnesses, leaving me ever more confused and fascinated. If I can't accept that these guys concocted a sustained hoax for so many days, risking police arrest and local public mistrust (despite their financial problems and the timely transmission of a Betty & Barney Hill TV movie), then what am I left with? Military abduction and a US helicopter being the source of the 'searchlight' that hit him? There were exercises in the area after all, but if I'm wrong... well, that's what makes ufology so entertaining!

Sorry, that was a bit off the beaten track, but many of the cases in the OP are perfect examples of such "What if"s.



PS: A good day for the forum with two first-class threads authored, the other from Crosswinds about lens flare.

a reply to: jeep3r





General Stanford’s statement began defining UFO research from the standpoint of the military only in terms of a potential threat posed by the phenomenon and ended with a blanket statement that so far, no threat posture has been detected from the phenomenon.

There is no claim of scientific interest in the phenomenon. That has always interested me and troubled me on many levels. So, any idea of evinced progress in finding the reality of UFOs will not likely succeed with that narrow and superficial aim and analysis: only analyzing it as a threat or not.

Number one, the conclusion (no threat detected) is not based on sound evidence. And number two, the analysis and conclusions are highly superficial: since these objects haven’t blasted us with super-weapons, we assume there not any threat. And it is that superficiality of this conclusion that is the lack of evidence in itself. [We don’t know what’s around the corner making wild noises as we walk that way but we conclude it’s not a threat!]. There can be many ways a potential threat can evince itself and any facile analysis by the military and their narrow view of what a threat is is in itself troubling.

In essence, the failure to only examine the phenomenon in one narrow alley of possibilities: that of being a direct threat border on being a non sequitur. So, they don’t know what this is or it's intent yet conclude it isn’t a threat. On that basis alone such military hierarchal postures are examples of nothing less than official malfeasance.

However this sounds, I am not an advocate of any kind of conclusion that UFOs are a threat. Whether they are a threat or not we just don’t know. But to conclude there isn’t a threat is just as baseless as to conclude there is a threat.

a reply to: jeep3r

One pattern I don't see here, and one that I have heard numerous times from credible witnesses, is that the UFO inclines at a 45 degree angle to the horizon.

I find this action so intriguing, maybe you can find a correlation. But it is mentioned several times.

a reply to: jeep3r

a very well done thread!! When I have more time going to delve into it more. You did your homework here!