UFOs: THE OFFICIAL STORY From the beginning, society—in the persons of prominent scientists, government officials, military officers, journalists, and ordinary citizens—would make things disagreeable for those who insisted they had seen strange flying objects and those who believed them. Wherever there were “flying saucers,” there was also ridicule, dished out in generous portions to anyone … Read more
UFO Encounters, Sightings, Visitations, and Investigations: THE FIRST UFOLOGIST Although these strange sky objects were reported with increasing frequency, the press and the scientific community treated each sighting as a one-time occurrence. There was no sense that such events, far from being isolated, were part of a larger phenomenon. Even the air¬ ship wave of … Read more
A little remembered cartoon character named Smokey Stover used to declare, “Where there’s foo, there’s fire.” So when enigmatic aerial phenomena kept pace with airplanes and ships in both the European and Pacific theaters during World War II, someone called them “foo fighters.” The name stuck. Nobody knew for sure what the foo fighters were, … Read more
UFO Encounters, Sightings, Visitations, and Investigations: THE ARRIVAL OF UFOs In the 19th century, however, accounts of UFOs took on a more believable tone. As day dawned June 1, 1853, students at Burritt College in Tennessee noticed two luminous, unusual objects just to the north of the rising sun. One looked like a “small new … Read more
RUSTLERS FROM MARS On April 23, 1897, a Kansas newspaper, the Yates Center Farmer’s Advocate, reported an incredible story. On the evening of April 19, local rancher Alexander Hamilton, his son, and a hired man saw a giant cigarshaped ship hovering above a corral near the house. Hamilton claimed that in a carriage underneath the … Read more
Ufo Encounters, Sightings, Visitations, and Investigations: CLOSE ENCOUNTER, 1897 STYLE Late on the evening of April 13, 1897, as they were passing through Lake Elmo, Minnesota, on their way to Hudson, Wisconsin, Frederick Chamberlain and O. L. Jones spotted a shadowy figure in a clearing two blocks away. The figure carried a lantern and seemed … Read more
SAUCERS FROM WITHIN? In the early 19th century an American eccentric, John Cleves Symmes (1779-1829), sought funding for an expedition to enter the Earth through one of two 4,000-mile wide polar holes. Inside the Earth, he was convinced, a benevolent advanced civilization existed. Though an object of derision to most people, some took him seriously, … Read more
Ufo Encounters, Sightings, Visitations, and Investigations: EARLY UFOs In A.D. 1211 Gervase of Tilbury, an English chronicler of historical events and curiosities, recorded this bizarre story: There happened in the borough of Cloera, one Sunday, while the people were at Mass, a marvel. In this town is a church dedicated to St. Kinarus. It befell … Read more
A VICTORIAN HUMANOID? The attacker was tall and thin, had pointed ears and fiery eyes, and wore a cloak. He tore at his female victims’ clothes and ripped their flesh with hands that felt like iron. When he escaped, he did not run; he bounced away. Those who saw his feet swore he had springs … Read more
Conclusion The Possibility of Alien Life Forms and Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Since the Scientific Revolution in the 18th century, a number of unexplainable anomalies have been carefully recorded by professional astronomers (Vallee & Aubeck, 2010). As expected, these 18th- and 19th-century records of anomalous sightings are consistent with modern findings. In 1977, astrophysics professor Peter … Read more
