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Unidentified Flying Objects: Fact or Fiction?
Unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, as they're fondly called, are
one of the century's most intriguing and controversial mysteries. Since
ancient times, UFOs of all types have been accounted for. More today than
ever, hundreds of thinkers, theologians, and scientists have tried to
answer why there are or whether there aren't UFOs. According to some, the
speculation that UFOs are alien spacecrafts from another world is an
absurd and foolish proposal. Others vehemently disagree and assert that
extraterrestrial life is not only possible, but such life forms may be
superior, technologically advanced beings who visit our Earth regularly.
Are these "flying saucers" a figment of our imagination? Or, are
they a genuine reality we prefer to dismiss because we fear the scary
truth that we are not the only master race? Are we hesitant because
society dubs such "immature" psycho tantamount to subscribing to belief in
ghosts? These are a few of the many pertinent UFO questions the mature
individual must address.
One of the most popular theories that support and explains the
existence of alien beings is the ancient astronaut theory. This theory
contains three main schools of thought. The first states that aliens bred
with our primitive forebears thereby creating modern man. The second is
quite similar. Aliens performed genetic engineering on apes thereby
creating the Homo Sapiens and man's intelligence. The third, and least
accepted, is that colonists from another galaxy came to Earth, mated with
the primitives and established a high level of culture, before being
destroyed by some natural catastrophe. And upon this catastrophe and
destruction, we build and grow (Fitzgerald 1). Berossus, a Babylonian
scholar, may have been the first astronaut historian. He said that "
animals endowed with reason" bestowed the Sumerian culture before 3000
BCE. The Sumerians, along with their cultural inheritors, the Babylonians,
never referred to such beings as gods. Rather they were depicted as
"disgusting abominations," adescription only deserved by uninvited alien
visitors (2).
One step further takes the astronaut theory and surmises that with it,
we can understand the later religious cultures, such as the Hebrews who
are thought to have borrowed much of Sumerian practice. Such religions
and secret societies, with their elaborate and complicated rituals may
actually be "preserving from a previous epoch fragments of an esoteric and
little understood knowledge, just as the Egyptian, Hebrew, and Mayan
priests guarded in their temples the inspired word of their self-possessed
creators (3)." Alien originators may have set down certain rites which
became confused over the years, resulting in the various ancient
religions; aliens being the source of our notion of God. This also may
explain how miles long designs, only viewable from the air, were created
in ancient times. The only rationalization for the possibility of such
designs is that the ancients had assistance from the sky, namely
extraterrestrial assistance. Many UFO theorists, astronomer Morris Jessup
being the forerunner, go even further: not only were pre-Biblical and
Biblical times full of Alien intervention, but he contends that the UFO
phenomenon is the missing link between Biblical supernatural accounts of
miracles and established, contradicting science. Jessup explains that
"nothing is supernatural and nothing is outside nature (12)." He
continues that the Bible is full of UFO accounts, depicted by various
descriptions: angels, the revelation on Mt. Sinai, the burning bush, and
Elijah's levitation to heaven. Jessup says the Bible is a physical record,
not a collection of divine revelation "although the miracles of this and
all religions invite rational and physical explanation, if we grant the
'existence of spatial intelligence (13).'" Another thinker, Brinsley
Trent, follows the theme of extraterrestrial interpretations of the Bible
and claims that the Garden of Eden was, as many ancient texts point out,
not the underground, but in the Underworld - i.e. outside the orbit of
earth, meaning Mars. When the Great Flood occurred, Noah built a great
"boat," a spaceship, and landed on Earth (Life 16).
However, Cornell astronomer Carl Sagan warns that this ancient
astronaut theory and the "saucer myths" represent a compromise "between
the need to believe in a traditional God and the contemporary pressures to
accept the pronouncement of science (Fitzgerald 5);" therefore, according
to Sagan, the proposition that aliens exist and the astronaut theory
should be tossed.
Many theorists assume the Bible is a totally separate entity and
don't associate or contradict the UFO phenomenon with the well established
theological belief system in the supernatural. Wilhelm Reich, for one, a
noted Austrian psychoanalyst, claimed to have witnessed various UFO
crafts and believed that these aliens are hostile. Such aliens wish to
rob Earth of orgone, a "cosmic life energy allegedly present in air, water,
and all organic matter (Life 52)." He proceeds to say that saucers run on
this orgone energy, hence exhuming a bluish color due to "orgone exhaust."
Moreover, orgone exhaust is "deadly orgone (Life)," causing sickness in
people and creating parched desert where ever the crafts land. The Swiss
psychologist, Carl Jung, totally differed. He theorized that all "people
can tap into...(a ) collective unconciousness-an area of the unconscious
that...contains information derived from the experiences of the human race
as a whole rather than the individual...This storehouse contains universal
symbols called archtypes...that present themselves spontaneously in
dreams or visions...evoking strong imaginative response...One such image
was the mandala, a disk shaped symbol that represents completion...[hence
UFOs are not] real objects, but rather mandalas...visioned by people
looking for...equilibrium (53)."
Jung's approach is quite debatable. However, as shaky an argument it
may sound, it's as viable as those who welcome the notion that aliens do
exist.
Other more common and more understood theories explain that aliens
are well intentioned visitors who wish to observe their human
contemporaries for purely scientific purposes. However, British
astronomers Sir Martin Ryle and Sir Bernard Lovell both warn that we must
regard all other life in the universe as potentially a fatal threat to
humankind and, in effect, discourage the effort to communicate with such
beings (Referring to the many attempts to communicate with aliens via
powerful satellite dishes.) (Fitzgerald 7).
With all the theories in mind, we come to the next issue. What are
people, in reality, seeing?
Kenneth Arnold was a normal businessman in Idaho. As an upstanding
and reputable citizen and an expert on flying, Arnold was believed when
he said that he witnessed a ship zoom back and forth at an approximated
1,350 miles per hour. This incident provoked a considerable amount of
national debate and gave birth to what historians termed the "modern
flying saucer era." There were sightings before the Arnold case.
However, following it, there was a myriad of reports and calls. Although
many were hoaxes, not all were. And most of those who have claimed to
have witnessed UFOs swear that in no way could they be anything but an
alien spaceship. Simply due to the fact, as in the Arnold case, that
these crafts maneuver in such humanly impossible speeds and in gravity
defying manners. At one moment the UFO is spotted hovering over a house
and one second later can be seen 25 miles away. People also have
described the crafts as huge cigar shaped buzzing objects or the more
popular silent, metallic type saucers. These reports include interference
with television signals and the halting of car ignitions. Such claims,
as Bob Bletchman, in an interview explained, are the best evidence due to
their testimonial consistency. When you have hundreds of people on an
individual basis, from all backgrounds, depict the same scenario, time and
time again, there is little room to doubt their truthfulness. People even
assert that they've seen the pilots: described anywhere between two inch
bees to Nazis (Fitzgerald 3) to little green men with six fingers.
An eerie complement of UFO sightings are these strange and exact
circular patches of parched, bent, but not cracked vegetation. Such
mysterious circles are believed to be the place of the saucers' landing.
Even more interesting, the circles can't bear any vegetable growth for
many years afterwards (Life 125).
Many allege that not only have they been visited, but kidnapped too.
One of my main research sources, a curious, but perhaps crafty David
Jacobs, Ph.D., took 60 men and women who claimed abduction and put them
under hypnosis in an effort to document and establish whether all this
mumbo jumbo is true. Although generally most abductees remember nothing
but the fact that they were abducted, hypnosis proved to uncover many
layers of lost memories. Through these hypnotic sessions, Dr. Jacobs
claimed to have found many reasons the aliens "gave" for such abductions:
scientific research, crossbreeding and general observance of the human
condition. He also "discovered" many underlying messages from the aliens:
They mean no harm. They care and respect humans and do only that which is
necessary. His book sounded very convincing, but perhaps too convincing.
Through careful reading, I began to realize that this Dr. Jacobs is full
of bologna. Session after session, Dr. Jacobs fabricates his "patients'"
conversations with the aliens. However, the conversations sound too
repetitive in personality and too sensational in respect to the aliens'
response. In an effort to sound very natural, Dr. Jacobs picks up an
almost artificial grammatically incorrect tone of voice. For example:
"Mm-hmm, but fast, not slow...like whizzed by (Secret 69)," and "I just
sink to the bottom and start to breathe (189)," and "inside out, yeah
(211)." These are just a few quotes of the literally hundreds of
repetitive speech patterns in his book. I get the feeling this "Dr."
Jacobs is trying to make a believable, sensational story by feeding the
reader what we'd like to hear: Kind aliens, cross breeding, scientific
experimentation, etc. (Although I found fault with one of my primary
sources, it by no means typifies the value of other such publications.
Each book must be valued on its own.)
Using super high-tech computer photograph analyzers, scientists were
able to determine the validity of the widely known Trent photos. In
Oregon, 1950, a Mrs. Trent was feeding rabbits in her backyard when she
saw a huge metallic disk, silently gliding through the air. She called
her husband to fetch a camera and managed to get two shots. These two
shots were scrutinized by the U.S. Air Force and a variety of other
investigators.
The 1969's skeptical Condon Report stated: "The simplest, most direct
interpretation of the photographs confirms precisely what the witnesses
said they saw (Life 138)." Later on, a William Spaulding of the Ground
Saucer Watch Inc., put these Trent photos under intense computer scrutiny
and came out with the same conclusion: It was no hoax (Life).
In World War Two, Allied and Axis air pilots witnessed these eerie
luminous balls that would either chase planes or zip in and out of the
planes' courses. Such oddities were to be eventually called "foo
fighters." World War Two was a time of secrecy and great inventions.
Instinctively, the allies thought they were some kind of high tech German
innovation. Naturally, too, the Germans thought vice versa. Therefore,
nothing of an extraterrestrial nature was ever reported (Life 26), at
least officially.
There are countless reports where U.S. air force personnel witnessed
a flying saucer and reported it; only to be told that it was probably a
jet or weather balloon. Despite the fact that Project Blue Book (a
government UFO investigation) yielded a 1,465 page scientific report
containing charts, photographs and analyses, worth about a half million
dollars in research, the government stated in a 1969 news release that
due to lack of any "significant" conclusions, UFO research would be
terminated. Most fans of the research only read the introduction and
conclusion sections of the report. Unfortunately those sections were
written by an enthusiast of the U.S. Air Force: and hence embraced their
policy of denial and falsehood (Life 118). Consequently, the
government's decision to halt research was accepted with little protest or
suspicion. Yet, the question whether the government is holding back vital
UFO information is still very strong. Many contend that the U.S.
government is doing so in an effort to ensure national safety and prevent
potential mass hysteria by publicizing the existence of alien beings.
In 1947, in New Mexico, one of the most famous and potent pieces of
evidence literally befell the United States. "Barney" Barnett, and some
local archeological students found shriveled and broken up pieces of shiny
metal and scattered dead bodies all over. A few days later, the army had
quarantined the area, shipped everything away, and told the witnesses that
it was their "patriotic duty" to keep the incident a secret. Nonetheless,
Barnett and the students went public about it (Life 74). To this day,
hundreds of reports and books detail this famous "Roswell incident" and
claim that the government, again, is hiding undeniable proof of alien life.
The Viking mission to Mars in 1976 is another prime example of the
government's policy of non cooperation and denial. The voyager had taken
two pictures of a rock form of a human face on Mars' surface. Before a
1992 Observer voyage to Mars, many requested NASA to take high resolution
photos of this "Face" to determine whether it is really a three
dimensional rock formation. NASA responded in the negative, although the
government gave NASA an extra $90 million for the exact purpose of seeking
out Martian life forms. NASA gave a stupid explanation, claiming that the
1992 Observer was only photographing meter long objects, which the
"'Face' could be a candidate target. However, there are no plans to
tailor the mission to assure that the 'Face' is imaged (Boyce)."
In a letter, Bob Bletchman cynically responded: "How can NASA not tilt
the camera to possibly answer the most profound question ever asked, 'Are
we alone?' (Bletchman)"
Nevertheless, many scientists maintain that the many UFO sightings
may simply be meteorites, some type of atmospheric phenomena, or high
tech, saucer-like airplanes used by the military. One factor that greatly
contributes to UFO skepticism is created by the thousands of UFO hoaxes
made each year. A prime and famous example of such hoaxes occurred in New
Mexico, 1963. Paul Villa claimed that UFO aliens had become so friendly
with him that they agreed to pose their ship for a camera shot. Using the
same high-tech computers as was used for the Trent photos, scientists
revealed a tiny wire that was used to suspend the "UFO" in the air (Life
140).
Although it's very easy to scoff at the thought of Martians and
flying saucers due to the subject's emotional sensationalistic attributes
and attractabilty to the fantasizer, one can not simply dismiss the
possibility. There is too much evidence and too many good and honest
people out there who can give testimony. Too often, we hear of the many
government cover-ups and attempts to keep things concealed. Although the
government tries hard, they can't keep it a secret forever. Little by
little, as more incidents occur and as more is leaked out, the world will
know that we are not alone.
It should be noted that this report by no means begins to even
scratch the surface of the UFO mystery. Not only are thousands of books
written on each issue, but each individual case is worthy of whole books
on its own. It therefore follows that this paper was a simple over of an
overview of the massive topics and subtopics that follow.
Works Cited
Bletchman, Bob. National Board, International Mutual UFO Network.
Bletchman, Bob. National Board, International Mutual UFO Network.
Letters. Connecticut: 1988
Boyce, Jacobs. Discipline Scientist, Planetary Geoscience, Solar System
Exploration Division, NASA. Letter. Washington, D.C.: 1988
Editors of Time-Life Books, eds. The UFO Phenomenon. Virginia: Time-Life
Books, 1987
Fitzgerald, Randall. The Complete Book of Extraterrestrial Encounters.
New York: Collier Books, 1979
Jacobs, David M. Secret life. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1992
Works Consulted
Fact or Fiction: The Roswell Autopsy. TV Program. N.p.: n.p., 1997.
Word Count: 2609
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