UFO Phenomenon
by Krysta Cardinale“True Stories of UFO Sightings”
Do UFO’s exist? This is a central question raised by many throughout history. UFO stands for unidentified flying object. It is the common belief that UFO’s are extraterrestrial spacecrafts. However, there is no real concrete evidence to support that they exist other than supposed UFO “sightings.” About 50-90% of unidentified flying objects are identified, and the remaining 10-20% that are left unidentified are considered “garbage cases” due to their lack of evidence.
UFO Sightings
Many sightings may be attributed to what is a natural occurrence, or experimental aircraft amongst other things. These apparent UFO phenomenons have been documented since ancient history. Examples of this are included in 1450 BC, 329BC, and 1561. In 1450BC, during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III, there were “circles of fire” in the sky. They were described as brighter than the sun and about 5 meters in size. The vision of these fire circles lasted for a period of about five days before ascending higher into the sky and disappearing. A UFO phenomenon was reported by Alexander the Great’s arm in 329BC. When the troops crossed a river into India, two silver discs were spotted in the sky. These discs apparently dove repeatedly at the men causing panic. In the skies of Nuremburg, Germany on April 14, 1561 the sky was said to be filled with objects that appeared to be battling. It is said the smaller discs and spheres emerged from larger cylinder objects during this aerial battle.
The UFO sightings continued throughout more modern history beginning in the late 1800’s. Spottings of alien spacecrafts became popularized a lot in the mid western United States, with their big clear night skies. Many describe these flying objects as elongated silver sphere shaped glowing objects, and were given the nickname “Flying Saucers.”
The most popular modern day story of UFO’s would be “Area 51.” Area 51 is in Southern Nevada and owned by the government of the United States. It is a remote piece of land that consists of an airfield. The government uses it for classified development and testing of new military aircrafts. It became famous as the center of UFO conspiracy theories. Some of the rumored activities of Area 51 include meetings with extraterrestrial beings, the storage and examination of an alien spaceship, and other activities related to a shady world government.
Stories of UFO Sightings
There are many people who claim to have actually seen these “Flying Saucers.” Here are a few of the stories from witnesses.
Jevanica Wetsio, a wine grower:
“I was hang gliding over an area I knew well; it was nothing special. My attention was attracted by something unusual. It was going towards the horizon above the woods. It was something I couldn’t define, considering the distance. The shape was about 2000 meters away, and the closer I came, the more the object became difficult to define. It was hovering like a helicopter. I realized it was nothing like that. It generated a very strong light and lacked hard outlines. It had a very strong bright halo of light. When it was three to four thousand meters, it went away from me in a very impressive way. It was so fast that you could barely follow it with your eyes. In form, it was domelike with three or four objects hanging from the sides. The diameter was between 5 and 10 meters and it was black colored. Within a moment it had disappeared over the horizon without a sound, and without a smoke trail or anything. I wanted to keep it to myself as these types of things are unexpected. That evening, when I got home, I didn’t even talk to any family about it. Later when I went to a restaurant I met a friend interested in hang gliding who had seen me flying in the area. He insisted I must have seen something special, because he had. Looking up he had seen something, which he couldn’t define but which had hurtled across the sky and then disappeared. We decided that he had seen the same thing as me.”
Stefano, a Swissair Captain:
“I was flying over the Alps in the region of Biasco at 5,000 meters when I saw a light to the North. A few seconds later I lost it from my field of vision. I didn’t manage to see it again. At that moment another pilot was flying in an Easterly direction in the same area of the Alps and I asked radar control if it was an object in the same place where I had seen my object. It wasn’t visible to radar control. The pilot said he saw a strange unidentified form which corresponded to the one I had seen in my airspace. He couldn't explain it and said apparently, it was quite big, but clearly not an airplane. Could it have been a meteorite? No, because meteorites move, and this one was stationary. The object probably didn’t show on the ground radar at that point because it wasn’t moving like a normal airplane. It was an enormous area of white light, as big as four jumbo jets. According to both of us, it stopped and then went away and was neither an airplane, nor a meteorological phenomenon.”
Captain Schmitt, Swissair:
“The Radar Station at Maastricht informed us that a UFO was proceeding in a Northerly direction, it then turned towards us at a speed to 4,000 to 5,000 km/hr -- very fast indeed. Eventually, it stabilized in relation to our position to three nautical miles to our right at 45 degrees -- that’s about five kms from us. We put on the headphones and looked to the right; and suddenly there was an immense flash in front of us. I haven't seen anything like it; very fast and very intense. The radar didn’t gave any signal; nothing at all. Maastricht told us that the object stopped for a minute behind us and then went South at great speed. It was traveling four to five times the speed of sound. Later, I read the report of the radar controller. After checking the data, he wrote that the speed was double that, which means it was 10,000 to 12,000 kms an hour. It went away in a Southerly direction. It returned and went away again. It was as if it was playing hide and seek with us. The UFO was enormous -- very fast, and it was flying at 10,000 to 12,000 kms an hour. It was seen on radar and seemed to play with the airliner; not behavior that you would expect to the military or experimental aircraft.”
Studies of the UFO Phenomenon
In 1989 and 1990 there were numerous sightings of UFO's in Belgium, by more than 2000 civilians and numerous police controls. It was a triangular object with three lights at the top and one in the center. It was flying silently at very low altitude just above the ground. Belgium military aviation authorities have officially joined a collaborative study of the case. After ground radar revealed the presence of the object, some jet fighters were scrambled to intercept the UFO but without success because the object performed some incredible maneuvers, demonstrating it was in some way guided. Was it an experimental military aircraft like The Stealth Bomber? The US government has denied this possibility. The Stealth Bomber is also noisy and the question is, why would a foreign experimental plane fly at low altitude over a densely populated area? Belgium Air Force General Charles De Brouwer held a press conference on the 18th of December 1989 to confirm that they had intercepted UFO’s. His written report states, ‘There were no signs of danger. The mystery of their origin remains but the phenomena exists. It is real.’
An exceptional case occurred from Woodbridge in Suffolk. It involved what is believed to be a case of a broken down UFO. Air Force police patrols who went to the spot described the object as metallic, and resting on three legs emitting a strong white light. As they got closer to the object, the engines of their cars cut out and radio contact was lost. This was not science fiction. The episode is confirmed in the report by the deputy commander of the base Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt. In it you can read that the next day traces left by the object were found on the ground. According to the reports of The Air force Patrol, three humanoids were seen to leave the UFO. They were approximately one meter tall with big heads and dressed in silver. The commander of the base, General Gordon Williams is reported to have said that the creatures seem to communicate by a series of gestures and telepathy. This encounter has never been officially confirmed.
In France of February 1974, the then Minister of Defense Robert Galley declared in an interview that for 20 years, the French have been studying UFOs. The results of the official studies were published, including the analysis of traces left by two UFOs in 1975 and 1981 in the South of France. An extract from the report states, “The physical phenomenon exists; its place of origin, method of proportion and behavior are all beyond human comprehension.” Since this all information has actually been embargoed by the French.
The Swiss government has often said that it pays little credence to the UFOs. But since 1990, the Federal Military Department has given free access to a map showing civilian UFO sightings. No military sightings are recorded. On this map, are two reports of sightings by military radar, the first was on August the 2nd at eleven o’clock at night. This UFO sighting lasted for a whole hour. It wasn’t a meteorite, as it moved in a zigzag fashion. It wasn’t birds, because of high speed; and they ruled out aircraft. On the 13th of June 1993, radar showed a UFO moving not horizontally, but vertically over a military base. The changes of altitude from five and a half thousand meters to eight and a half thousand in just a few minutes. The object was also capable of moving from 8,000 meters to 20,000 meters in a few seconds.
In the Soviet Union in 1990, a short while after the sightings in Belgium, General Igor Maltsev, Supreme Chief of the Soviet Air Force admitted the existence of alien UFOs and extraterrestrial life forms. He said that some MIGs had observed a saucer of 100 to 200 meters in diameter. They were able to stay motionless in the air, and performed extraordinary aerial maneuvers. Ground radar had confirmed this phenomenon. The Soviet Defense Chief had decided not to attack the UFO. He calculated such an attack would be pure folly. In 1991, Soviet government documents reported that an Atomic base in Kapustin, Yar had sighted a UFO over the base for two hours in 1989. During its flight, the UFO emitted a ray of light which seemed to inspect the installation.
In 1984, a UFO was seen in Ukraine above a missile base, but no intervention was possible. After the UFO left the airspace of the base, the guidance systems for the missiles used on the base were found to be inoperative. All the systems had to be reprogrammed. US atomic bases have experienced similar systems malfunctions after supposed UFO appearances.
The Berlin wall fell in 1989 and the official Soviet News Agency TASS, for the first time reported the landing of a UFO at Voronezh. Some children and numerous adults were witnesses. TASS reported that the Voronezh UFO had landed humanoids and robots. This episode was repeated three times. The witnesses were questioned by western experts and were thought to be credible. Studies of traces left by the UFO revealed substances not known on earth. The disc had the form of an egg; it was 15 meters high and five to six meters long. On the basis of the earth’s disturbance, it had to weigh at least 11 tons.
Even in the US, UFO sightings are classified as top secret. However, the door has been opened or cracked by the law on freedom of information brought in, in 1970. This was a law supported by President Jimmy Carter. He saw a UFO in 1969 when he was a State Governor.
Another important case is that of the then Lieutenant Graham Bethune during a 1951 flight from England to the US on a C54 transport. The incident was confirmed by the whole crew.
Whether or not the existence of extraterrestrial life exists is yet to be determined. However, the fact that so many instances of unidentified flying objects have been seen and described in similar ways across the whole world seems more than just coincidental.
