reply to post by Phage
What you neglect to mention is that misidentification works both ways. There are probably, just as many genuine UFOs that go unreported because people
do not expect to see strange things in the sky. People assume that flashing light must be an aircraft of some sort. That tiny light zipping across a
dark clear sky must be a satellite.
As with many of my generation i did a couple of skywatches down at Warminster in the late 70s and early 80s. I really didn't expect anything to come
of it and was very lucky in that, we had clear weather and no moon for the ones i participated in. In the space of those visits I, along with about a
dozen other people saw a couple of lights that weren't aircraft or satellites. They moved way too fast to be aircraft and one of the party had a
listing of all the satellites that were due to be visible and they didn't fit into the flight pattern or brightness they should have been. Neither
were they meteors, what they were i haven;t a clue. What i do know is that, they were genuine unknowns.
I also know from, frankly way too long in the field, that a good number of UFO reports have come in, after the fact as it were. That is, people who
when they first saw something assumed it was; "just something from a strange angle, secret project etc etc", later realised others have seen similar
objects , with better qualifications than they had and they were mystified as to what they actually were.
For instance,as a child of about 8 i remember being utterly convinced that the object i saw one school lunch time was undoubtedly a weather balloon.
It was perfectly spherical, it shone as if reflecting the sun. I don't know how many other kids watched it for the whole of the lunch hour. Several
teachers saw it and pronounced it a weather balloon. It might well have been one, that said, it stayed in exactly the same position for nearly 2
hours. All logic says it was a weather balloon, however, that afternoon we had sports. A gaggle of us stood and watched the object and then it was
gone. It didn't float off, it didn't drift off, it just vanished, one second there the next, gone. At the time I don;t think a single person
thought of UFO, Now i look back and wonder what it was. All logic and common sense says, it was a weather balloon, but how does something disappear
in cloudless blue sky? How did it manage to stay in exactly the same place for not just minutes but a couple of hours? was it tethered to the floor?.
Quite possibly. That really isn't, in someways, the crux of what happened. it was the simple blind acceptance that this object, must be perfectly
normal and have every right to be there, if a little unusual.
So, while there is no doubt that people see things as more *interesting* than they truly are, it also has to be admitted, for balance that.There are
almost certainly some very very interesting sightings that have gone completely ignored because the peer group meme , of the group that saw it was;
its' a perfectly normal object,we are just seeing it in a strange way. The truth is, sadly, people in peer groups don't want to rock the boat.
Individuals, alone, confronted with the *unknown* would often rather assimilate something strange into the everyday mundane so as not to be forced
from their comfort zone.
One of the funniest and yet in a way slightly tragic tales i was told by another in the UFO involved some classic British *little old Lady*. She had
lived through two World Wars. She had led an incredibly interesting life and at times, somewhat tragic. Her art was her passion and she was proud of
the picture she had drawn to show my colleague of what she saw from her garden one afternoon. My colleague described how she sketched, with such care
a craft, the like of which he had never seen before in his life. When he asked her; "Didn't she think it a little unusual?" ..her reply was ...
"Well i just assumed it was those lovely young men from the airfield having a joke". She had absolutely no interest in reporting a UFO or, for that
matter becoming involved in a UFO case. So much so, she later told my colleague she had destroyed the picture as she didn't want to cause any trouble
for the young men at the airfield. That was her rationalisation of it. her generation assumed that, if it's unusual it's probably secret, one of
ours and *mums the word*.
Again, for every attention seeking, me me me i saw it person, there is probably another who wouldn't dream of ever going public. That's just a part
of studying UFOs one has to live with and deal with.