Unidentified flying object From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Ufo) Jump to: navigation, search

"UFO" redirects here. For other uses, see UFO (disambiguation). Semi-protected This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page. * It needs sources or references that appear in third-party publications. Ta gged since January 2009. * Its neutrality is disputed. Tagged since January 2009. * It may contain original research or unverifiable claims. Tagged since Janu ary 2009. * Its factual accuracy is disputed. Tagged since January 2009. * Its tone or style may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Tagged since Janua ry 2009. * It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagg ed since January 2009. An unidentified flying object (commonly abbreviated as UFO) is any aerial phenom enon whose cause can not be easily or immediately determined.[citation needed] B oth military and civilian research show that a significant majority of UFO sight ings are identified after further investigation, either explicitly or indirectly (through the presence of clear and simple explanatory factors: see Occam's Razo r.[1] The United States Air Force, who coined the term in 1952, initially define d UFOs as those objects which remain unidentified after scrutiny by expert inves tigators,[2] though the term UFO is often used more generally to describe any si ghting unidentifiable to the reporting observer(s). Popular culture frequently t akes the term UFO as a synonym for alien spacecraft. Some investigators now pref er to use the broader term Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (or UAP), to avoid the confusion and speculative associations that have become attached to UFO.[3] Studies have established that only a small percentage of reported UFOs are actua l hoaxes,[4] while the majority are observations of some real but conventional o bject - most commonly aircraft, balloons, or astronomical objects such as meteor s or bright planets - which have been misidentified by the observer as anomalies . A small percentage of reported sightings (usually 5%-20%) are classified as un identified flying objects in the strictest sense. (see below for some studies) The first reports and official investigations of UFOs began during World War II with sightings of so-called foo fighters by Allied airplane crews, and with wide spread sightings of European "ghost rockets" in 1946. UFO reports became more co mmon after the first widely publicized US sighting - reported by private pilot K enneth Arnold in 1947 - which gave rise to the popular terms "flying saucer" and "flying disc". Since then, millions of people believe that they have seen UFOs[ 5], and tens of thousands of such reports have been catalogued.[6] Contents [hide] * 1 History o 1.1 Early modern reports o 1.2 The Kenneth Arnold sightings * 2 Investigation and responses o 2.1 American investigations o 2.2 Canadian investigation o 2.3 French investigation o 2.4 British investigation

o 2.5 Astronomer reports * 3 Identification of UFOs o 3.1 UFO hypotheses o 3.2 Documents and investigations regarding the Extraterrestrial Hypo thesis * 4 Physical evidence * 5 Ufology o 5.1 UFO researchers o 5.2 UFO organizations o 5.3 Reverse engineering o 5.4 UFO categorization * 6 Conspiracy theories o 6.1 Allegations of evidence suppression * 7 Famous hoaxes * 8 UFOs in popular culture o 8.1 Use in film and television o 8.2 Use in Music * 9 See also * 10 References o 10.1 General o 10.2 Skepticism o 10.3 Psychology o 10.4 Histories o 10.5 Technology * 11 External links History On April 14, 1561 the skies over Nuremberg, Germany were reportedly filled with a multitude of objects. Woodcut from 1566 by Hans Glaser. Unexplained aerial observations have been reported throughout history. Some were undoubtedly astronomical in nature: comets, bright meteors, one or more of the five planets which can be seen with the naked eye, planetary conjunctions, or at mospheric optical phenomena such as parhelia and lenticular clouds. An example i s Halley's Comet, which was recorded first by Chinese astronomers in 240 B.C. an d possibly as early as 467 B.C. Other historical reports seem to defy prosaic explanation, but assessing such ac counts is difficult. Whatever their actual cause, such sightings throughout hist ory were often treated as supernatural portents, angels, or other religious omen s. Some objects in medieval paintings seem strikingly similar to UFO reports.[7] Art historians explain those objects as religious symbols, often represented in many other paintings of Middle-Age and Renaissance.[8] Shen Kuo (1031 1095), a Song Chinese government scholar-official and prolific poly math inventor and scholar, wrote a vivid passage in his Dream Pool Essays (1088) about an unidentified flying object. He recorded the testimony of eyewitnesses in 11th century Anhui and Jiangsu (especially in the city of Yangzhou), who stat ed that a flying object with opening doors would shine a blinding light from its interior (from an object shaped like a pearl) that would cast shadows from tree s for ten miles in radius, and was able to take off at tremendous speeds.[9] Early modern reports Main article: List of UFO sightings Before the terms "flying saucer" were coined in 1947 and "UFO" in 1952, there we re a number of reports of unidentified aerial phenomena. These reports date from the mid-nineteenth to early twentieth century. They include: * On January 25, 1878, The Denison Daily News wrote that local farmer John M

artin had reported seeing a large, dark, circular flying object resembling a bal loon flying "at wonderful speed." Martin also said it appeared to be about the s ize of a saucer, the first known use of the word "saucer" in association with a UFO. [10] Drawing of E. W. Maunder's November 17, 1882 "auroral beam" by astronomer Rand C apron, Guildown Observatory, Surrey, UK, who also observed it. * On November 17, 1882, a UFO was observed by astronomer Edward Walter Maund er of the Greenwich Royal Observatory and some other European astronomers. Maund er in The Observatory reported "a strange celestial visitor" that was "disc-shap ed", "torpedo-shaped", "spindle-shaped", or "just like a Zeppelin" dirigible (as he described it in 1916). It moved rapidly from horizon to horizon. The sightin g was during high auroral activity; therefore Maunder assumed it was some extrao rdinary auroral phenomenon never before seen and called it an "auroral beam". * On February 28, 1904, there was a sighting by three crew members on the US S Supply 300 miles west of San Francisco, reported by Lt. Frank Schofield, later to become Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Battle Fleet. Schofield wrote of th ree bright red egg-shaped and circular objects flying in echelon formation that approached beneath the cloud layer, then changed course and "soared" above the c louds, departing directly away from the earth after two to three minutes. The la rgest had an apparent size of about six suns. [11] * 1916 and 1926: the three oldest known pilot UFO sightings, of 1305 catalog ed by NARCAP. On January 31, 1916, a UK pilot near Rochford reported a row of li ghts, like lighted windows on a railway carriage, that rose and disappeared. In January 1926, a pilot reported six "flying manhole covers" between Wichita, Kans as and Colorado Springs, Colorado. In late September 1926, an airmail pilot over Nevada was forced to land by a huge, wingless cylindrical object. * On August 5, 1926, while traveling in the Humboldt Mountains of Tibet's Ko konor region, Nicholas Roerich reported that members of his expedition saw "some thing big and shiny reflecting sun, like a huge oval moving at great speed". * In the Pacific and European theatres during World War II, "Foo-fighters" ( metallic spheres, balls of light and other shapes that followed aircraft) were r eported and on occasion photographed by Allied and Axis pilots but were dismisse d by scientists as St. Elmo's Fire or illusions. [12][13] * On February 25, 1942, the U.S. Army detected a unidentified aircraft both visually and on radar over the Los Angeles, California region. No readily appare nt explanation was offered. The incident later became known as the Battle of Los Angeles, or the West coast air raid. * In 1946, there were over 2000 reports of unidentified aircraft in the Scan dinavian nations, along with isolated reports from France, Portugal, Italy and G reece, then referred to as "Russian hail", and later as "ghost rockets", because it was thought that these mysterious objects were Russian tests of captured Ger man V1 or V2 rockets. Over 200 were tracked on radar and deemed to be "real phys ical objects" by the Swedish military. The Kenneth Arnold sightings Main article: Kenneth Arnold#June 24, 1947 UFO sighting This shows the report Kenneth Arnold filed in 1947 about his UFO sighting. The post World War II UFO phase in the United States began with a famous sightin g by American businessman Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947 while flying his priva te plane near Mount Rainier, Washington. He reported seeing nine brilliantly bri ght objects flying across the face of Rainier. This shows Kenneth Arnold holding a picture of a drawing of the crescent shaped UFO he saw in 1947. Although there were other 1947 U.S. sightings of similar objects that preceded t his, it was Arnold's sighting that first received significant media attention an d captured the public's imagination. Arnold described what he saw as being "flat

like a pie pan", "shaped like saucers and were so thin I could barely see them. ..", "half-moon shaped, oval in front and convex in the rear. ...they looked lik e a big flat disk" (see Arnold's drawing at right), and flew "like a saucer woul d if you skipped it across the water". (One of the objects, however, he would de scribe later as being almost crescent-shaped, as shown in illustration at left.) Arnold s descriptions were widely reported and within a few days gave rise to the terms flying saucer and flying disk.[14] Arnold s sighting was followed in the ne xt few weeks by hundreds of other reported sightings, mostly in the U.S., but in other countries as well. After reports of the Arnold sighting hit the media, other cases began to be repo rted in increasing numbers. In one instance a United Airlines crew sighting of n ine more disc-like objects over Idaho on the evening of July 4. At the time, thi s sighting was even more widely reported than Arnold s and lent considerable crede nce to Arnold s report. American UFO researcher Ted Bloecher, in his comprehensive review of newspaper r eports (including cases that preceded Arnold's), found a sudden surge upwards in sightings on July 4, peaking on July 6 8. Bloecher noted that for the next few da ys most American newspapers were filled with front-page stories of the new "flyi ng saucers" or "flying discs". Reports began to rapidly tail off after July 8 [1 5], when officials began issuing press statements on the Roswell UFO incident, i n which they explained the debris as being that of a weather balloon. [16] Over several years in the 1960s, Bloecher (aided by physicist James E. McDonald) discovered 853 flying disc sightings that year from 140 newspapers from Canada, Washington D.C, and every U.S. state except Montana. [17] Investigation and responses UFOs have been subject to various investigations over the years, varying widely in scope and scientific rigor. Governments or independent academics in the Unite d States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Sweden, Brazil, Chile, Me xico, Spain, and the Soviet Union are known to have investigated UFO reports at various times. Among the best known government studies are Project Blue Book, pr eviously Project Sign and Project Grudge, conducted by the United States Air For ce from 1947 until 1969, the secret U.S. Army/Air Force Project Twinkle investig ation into green fireballs (1948 1951), and Brazilian Air Force Operation Saucer ( 1977). A public research effort conducted by the Condon Committee for the USAF, which arrived at a negative conclusion in 1968, marked the end of the US governm ent's official investigation of UFOs, though documents indicate various governme nt intelligence agencies continue to unofficially investigate or monitor the sit uation. [18] No public government investigation has ever openly declared UFOs to be real, une xplained objects or of concern to national defense. (However, see below for some internal, secret studies that have concluded otherwise.) Some private studies h ave been neutral in their conclusions, but argued the inexplicable core cases ca lled for continued scientific study. Examples are the Sturrock Panel study of 19 98 and the 1970 AIAA review of the Condon Report. American investigations Following the large U.S. surge in sightings in June and early July 1947, on July 9, 1947, Army Air Force (AAF) intelligence, in cooperation with the FBI, began a formal investigation into selected best sightings with characteristics that co uld not be immediately rationalized, which included Kenneth Arnold s and the Unite d Airlines crew s. The AAF used "all of its scientists" to determine whether or no t "such a phenomenon could, in fact, occur". The research was "being conducted w ith the thought that the flying objects might be a celestial phenomenon," or tha

t "they might be a foreign body mechanically devised and controlled."[19] Three weeks later in a preliminary defense estimate, the air force investigation decid ed that, "This flying saucer situation is not all imaginary or seeing too much in some natural phenomenon. Something is really flying around."[20] A further review by the intelligence and technical divisions of the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field reached the same conclusion, that "the phenomenon is so mething real and not visionary or fictitious," that there were objects in the sh ape of a disc, metallic in appearance, and as big as man-made aircraft. They wer e characterized by "extreme rates of climb [and] maneuverability," general lack of noise, absence of trail, occasional formation flying, and "evasive" behavior "when sighted or contacted by friendly aircraft and radar," suggesting a control led craft. It was thus recommended in late September 1947 that an official Air F orce investigation be set up to investigate the phenomenon. It was also recommen ded that other government agencies should assist in the investigation. [21] This led to the creation of the Air Force s Project Sign at the end of 1947, one o f the earliest government studies to come to a secret extraterrestrial conclusio n. In August 1948, Sign investigators wrote a top-secret intelligence estimate t o that effect. The Air Force Chief of Staff Hoyt Vandenberg ordered it destroyed . The existence of this suppressed report was revealed by several insiders who h ad read it, such as astronomer and USAF consultant Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Capt. Edward J. Ruppelt, the first head of the USAF's Project Blue Book. [22] Project Sign was dismantled and became Project Grudge at the end of 1948. Angere d by the low quality of investigations by Grudge, the Air Force Director of Inte lligence reorganized it as Project Blue Book in late 1951, placing Ruppelt in ch arge. Blue Book closed down in 1970, ending the official Air Force UFO investiga tions. However, a 1969 USAF document, known as the Bolender memo, plus later gov ernment documents revealed that nonpublic U.S. government UFO investigations con tinued after 1970. The Bollender memo first stated that "reports of unidentified flying objects which could affect national security... are not part of the Blue Book system," indicating that more serious UFO incidents were already handled o utside of the public Blue Book investigation. The memo then added, "reports of U FOs which could affect national security would continue to be handled through th e standard Air Force procedures designed for this purpose." Use of UFO instead of the popular flying saucer was first suggested in 1952 by R uppelt, who felt that flying saucer did not reflect the diversity of the sightin gs. Ruppelt suggested that UFO should be pronounced as a word you-foe. However i t is generally pronounced by forming each letter: U.F.O. His term was quickly ad opted by the Air Force, which also briefly used "UFOB" circa 1954, for Unidentif ied Flying Object. Ruppelt recounted his experiences with Project Blue Book in h is memoir, The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (1956), also the first book to use the term.[23] Air Force Regulation 200-2,[24] issued in 1953 and 1954, defined an Unidentified Flying Object ("UFOB") as "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynami c characteristics, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object." The regulation also said UFOBs were to be investigated as a "possible threat to the security of the United States" and "to determine technical aspects involved." As with any then-ongoing investigation, Air Force personnel did not discuss the investigation with the press.[25][26] Well known American investigations include: * Project Blue Book, previously Project Sign and Project Grudge, conducted b y the United States Air Force from 1947 until 1969 * The secret U.S. Army/Air Force Project Twinkle investigation into green fi

reballs (1948 1951) * Ghost rockets investigations by the Swedish, U.K., U.S., and Greek militar ies (1946 1947) * The secret CIA Robertson Panel (1953) * The secret USAF Project Blue Book Special Report No. 14 by the Battelle Me morial Institute (1951 1954) * The Brookings Report (1960), commissioned by NASA * The public Condon Committee (1966 1968) * The private Sturrock Panel (1998) Another early U.S. Army study, established sometime in the 1940s and of which li ttle is known, was called the Interplanetary Phenomenon Unit (IPU). In 1987, Bri tish UFO researcher Timothy Good received a letter confirming the existence of t he IPU from the Army Director of Counter-intelligence, in which it was stated, " ...the aforementioned Army unit was disestablished during the late 1950s and nev er reactivated. All records pertaining to this unit were surrendered to the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations in conjunction with operation BLUEBO OK." The IPU records have never been released.[27] Thousands of documents released under FOIA also indicate that many U.S. intellig ence agencies collected (and still collect) information on UFOs, including the D efense Intelligence Agency (DIA), FBI, CIA, National Security Agency (NSA), as w ell as military intelligence agencies of the Army and Navy, in addition to the A ir Force. [28] The investigation of UFOs has also attracted many civilians, who in the U.S form ed research groups such as National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena (NICAP, active 1956-1980), Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO, 1952-1 988), Mutual UFO Network (MUFON, 1969-), and Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS, 1973 -). Canadian investigation The Falcon Lake incident report filed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on St ephen Michalak claimed incident with a UFO. In Canada, the Department of National Defence has dealt with reports, sightings and investigations of UFOs across Canada. In addition to conducting investigatio ns into crop circles in Duhamel, Alberta, it still identifies the Falcon Lake in cident in Manitoba and the Shag Harbour incident in Nova Scotia as "unsolved".[2 9] The Canadian studies include Project Magnet (1950 1954) and Project Second Story ( 1952 1954) French investigation Sister project Wikinews has related news: * French Space Agency CNES releases UFO files * Pilots spot 'UFOs' near the Channel Islands In March 2007, the French Centre National d'tudes Spatiales (CNES) published an a rchive of UFO sightings and other phenomena online.[30] French studies include GEPAN/SEPRA/GEIPAN (1977 ), within the French space agency CNES, the longest ongoing government-sponsored investigation, and the private Fr ench COMETA panel (1996 1999) British investigation The UK conducted various investigations into UFO sightings and related stories.

The contents of some of these investigations have since been released to the pub lic. Eight file collections on UFO sightings, dating from 1978 to 1987, were first re leased on May 14, 2008, to the UK National Archives by the Ministry of Defence.[ 31] Although kept secret from the public for many years, most of the files have low levels of classification and none is classified Top Secret. 200 files are se t to be made public by 2012. The files are correspondence from the public sent t o government officials, such as the MoD and Margaret Thatcher. The MoD released the files under the Freedom of Information Act due to requests from researchers. [32] These files include, but are not limited to, UFOs over Liverpool and the W aterloo Bridge in London.[33] On October 20, 2008 more UFO files were released. One case released detailed tha t in 1991 an Alitalia passenger aircraft was approaching Heathrow Airport when t he pilots saw what they described as a "cruise missile" flew extremely close to the cockpit. The pilots believed that a collision was imminent. UFO expert Dr Da vid Clarke says that this is one of the most convincing cases for a UFO he has c ome across. [34] British investigations include The UK's Flying Saucer Working Party. Its final r eport, published in 1951, remained secret for over 50 years. The Working Party c oncluded that all UFO sightings could be explained as misidentifications of ordi nary objects or phenomena, optical illusions, psychological delusions or hoaxes. The report stated: We accordingly recommend very strongly that no further invest igation of reported mysterious aerial phenomena be undertaken, unless and until some material evidence becomes available . A secret study of UFOs undertaken for the UK s Ministry of Defence (MoD) between 1 996 and 2000 and was publicly released in 2006. The report is titled "Unidentifi ed Aerial Phenomena in the UK Defence Region" and was code-named Project Condign . The report confirmed earlier findings that the main causes of UFO sightings ar e misidentification of man-made and natural objects. The report noted: "No artef acts of unknown or unexplained origin have been reported or handed to the UK aut horities, despite thousands of UAP reports. There are no SIGINT, ELINT or radiat ion measurements and little useful video or still IMINT." It concluded: "There i s no evidence that any UAP, seen in the UKADR [UK Air Defence Region], are incur sions by air-objects of any intelligent (extraterrestrial or foreign) origin, or that they represent any hostile intent." In contrast, Nick Pope, who headed the MoD UFO desk from 1991-1994, states that while about 80% of the cases he investigated were misidentifications of known ob jects and phenomena (while 15% of sightings had insufficient information), about 5% "seemed to defy any conventional explanation." These included cases with mul tiple and/or highly trained witnesses such as pilots or military personnel, corr oboration from radar or video/photography, and involved apparent structured craf t with speeds and maneuverability beyond that of human origin.[35] Stopping shor t of an extraterrestrial explanation (though not discounting it), Pope believes the UFO phenomenon is quite real and raises serious defense, national security, and air safety issues. Pope describes many of the perplexing cases, such as the Rendlesham Forest incident, and the politics surrounding UFOs in his book Open S kies, Closed Minds. Astronomer reports The Air Force's Project Blue Book files indicate that approximately 1%[36] of al l unknown reports came from amateur and professional astronomers or other users of telescopes (such as missile trackers or surveyors). In the 1970s, astrophysic ist Peter A. Sturrock conducted two surveys of the American Institute of Aeronau tics and Astronautics and American Astronomical Society. About 5% of the members

polled indicated that they had had UFO sightings. In 1980, a survey of 1800 mem bers of various amateur astronomer associations by Gert Helb and astronomer J. A llen Hynek of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) found that 24% responded "yes" to the question "Have you ever observed an object which resisted your most exhau stive efforts at identification?" Astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, who admitted to six UFO sightings, including three gr een fireballs supported the Extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) for UFOs and state d he thought scientists who dismissed it without study were being "unscientific. " Another astronomer was Dr. Lincoln LaPaz, who had headed the Air Force's inves tigation into the green fireballs and other UFO phenomena in New Mexico. LaPaz r eported two personal sightings, one of a green fireball, the other of an anomalo us disc-like object. Even later UFO debunker Dr. Donald Menzel filed a UFO repor t in 1949. Identification of UFOs Main article: Identification studies of UFOs Fata Morgana, a type of mirage in which objects located below the astronomical h orizon appear to be hovering in the sky, may be responsible for some UFO sightin gs. Fata Morgana can also magnify the appearance of distant objects or distort t hem to be unrecognizable.[37] Studies show that after careful investigation, the majority of UFOs can be ident ified as ordinary objects or phenomena (see Identification studies of UFOs). The most commonly found identified sources of UFO reports are: * Astronomical objects (bright stars, planets, meteors, re-entering man-made spacecraft, artificial satellites, and the moon) * Aircraft (advertising planes and other aircraft, missile launches) * Balloons (weather balloons, prank balloons, large research balloons) Much less common sources of UFO reports include: * Other atmospheric objects and phenomena (birds, unusual clouds, kites, fla res) * Light phenomena (mirages, Fata Morgana, moon dogs, searchlights and other ground lights, etc.) * Hoaxes A study by the Battelle Memorial Institute of US Air Force reports included thes e categories as well as a "psychological" one. However, the scientific analysts were unable to come up with prosaic explanations for 21.5% of the 3200 cases the y examined and 33% of what were considered the best cases remained unexplained, double the number of the worst cases. (See full statistical breakdown in Identif ication studies of UFOs). Of the 69% identifieds, 38% were deemed definitely exp lained while 31% were thought to be "questionable." About 9% of the cases were c onsidered to have insufficient information to make a determination. The official French government UFO investigation (GEPAN/SEPRA), run within the F rench space agency CNES between 1977 and 2004, scientifically investigated about 6000 cases and found that 13.5% defied any rational explanation, 46% were deeme d definitely or likely identifiable, while 41% lacked sufficient information for classification. An individual 1979 study by CUFOS researcher Allan Hendry found, as did other in vestigations, that only a small percentage of cases he investigated were hoaxes (<1%) and that most sightings were actually honest misidentifications of prosaic phenomena. Hendry attributed most of these to inexperience or misperception.[38 ] However, Hendry's figure for unidentified cases was considerably lower than ma ny other UFO studies such as Project Blue Book or the Condon Report which have f

ound rates of unidentified cases ranging from 6% to 30%. Hendry found that 88.6% of the cases he studied had a clear prosaic explanation, and he discarded a fur ther 2.8% due to unreliable or contradictory witnesses or insufficient informati on. The remaining 8.6% of reports could not definitively be explained by prosaic phenomena, although he felt that a further 7.1% could possibly be explained, le aving only the very best 1.5% without plausible explanation. UFO hypotheses The inclusion or exclusion of items from this list, or length of this li st, is disputed. Please discuss this issue on the talk page. To account for unsolved UFO cases, several hypotheses have been proposed. * The Extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), defined by Edward U. Condon in the 1968 Condon Report as "The idea that some UFOs may be spacecraft sent to Earth f rom another civilization, or on a planet associated with a more distant star", f urther attributing the popularity of the idea to Donald Keyhoe's UFO book from 1 950 [39], though the idea clearly predated Keyhoe, appearing in newspapers and v arious government documents (see immediately below). This is probably the most p opular theory among Ufologists. * The Interdimensional hypothesis, that UFOs are objects crossing over from other dimensions or parallel universe, popularly proposed by Jacques Valle, [40] though also predating him. * The Paranormal/Occult Hypothesis; A variant of the Interdimensional Hypoth esis, invoked to explain so-called paranormal aspects sometimes associated with UFO reports * That UFOs are time machines or vehicles from a future Earth, perhaps made by our descendants. * The Psychosocial Hypothesis, that what people report as UFO experiences is the result of psychological misperception mechanisms and is strongly influenced by popular culture. * That UFOs represent poorly understood or still unknown natural phenomena, such as ball lightning or sprites.[41] * The Earthquake lights/Tectonic Strain hypothesis: UFOs are caused by strai ns in Earth's crust near earthquake faults, which can also supposedly induce hal lucinations. * That UFOs are military flying saucers; top secret or experimental aircraft unfamiliar to most people. Documents and investigations regarding the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Other private or governmental studies, some secret, have concluded in favor of t he Extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), or have had members who disagreed with off icial conclusions against the conclusion by committees and agencies to which the y belonged. The following are examples of sources that have focused specifically on the topic: * In 1967, Greek physicist Paul Santorini, a Manhattan Project scientist, pu blicly stated that a 1947 Greek government investigation that he headed into the European Ghost rockets of 1946 quickly concluded that they were not missiles. S antorini claimed the investigation was then quashed by military officials from t he U.S., who knew them to be extraterrestrial, because there was no defense agai nst the advanced technology and they feared widespread panic should the results become public.[42] November 1948 USAF Top Secret document citing extraterrestrial opinion * A 1948 Top Secret USAF Europe document (at right) states that Swedish air intelligence informed them that at least some of their investigators into the gh ost rockets and flying saucers concluded they had extraterrestrial origins: "...

Flying saucers have been reported by so many sources and from such a variety of places that we are convinced that they cannot be disregarded and must be explain ed on some basis which is perhaps slightly beyond the scope of our present intel ligence thinking. When officers of this Directorate recently visited the Swedish Air Intelligence Service... their answer was that some reliable and fully techn ically qualified people have reached the conclusion that 'these phenomena are ob viously the result of a high technical skill which cannot be credited to any pre sently known culture on earth.' They are therefore assuming that these objects o riginate from some previously unknown or unidentified technology, possibly outsi de the earth."[43] * In 1948, the USAF's Project Sign wrote a Top Secret Estimate of the Situat ion, concluding that the ETH was the most likely explanation for the most perple xing unexplained cases. The study was ordered destroyed by USAF chief of staff G eneral Hoyt Vandenberg, citing lack of proof. Knowledge of the existence of the Estimate has come from insiders who said they read a surviving copy, including l ater USAF Project Blue Book head Edward J. Ruppelt and astronomer and USAF consu ltant Dr. J. Allen Hynek. * West Germany, in conjunction with other European countries, conducted a se cret study from 1951 to 1954, also concluding that UFOs were extraterrestrial. T his study was revealed by German rocketry pioneer Hermann Oberth, who headed the study and who also made many public statements supporting the ETH in succeeding years. At the study's conclusion in 1954, Oberth declared, "These objects (UFOs ) are conceived and directed by intelligent beings of a very high order. They do not originate in our solar system, perhaps not in our galaxy." Soon afterwards, in an article in The American Weekly, October 24, 1954, Oberth wrote "It is my thesis that flying saucers are real and that they are space ships from another s olar system. I think that they possibly are manned by intelligent observers who are members of a race that may have been investigating our earth for centuries.. ." [44] * During the height of the flying saucer "flap" of July 1952, including high ly publicized radar/visual and jet intercepts over Washington, D.C., the FBI was informed by the Air Force Directorate of Intelligence that they thought the "fl ying saucers" were either "optical illusions or atmospheric phenomena" but then added that, "some Military officials are seriously considering the possibility o f interplanetary ships." [45] * The CIA started their own internal scientific review the following day. So me CIA scientists were also seriously considering the ETH. An early memo from Au gust was very skeptical, but also added, "...as long as a series of reports rema ins 'unexplainable' (interplanetary aspects and alien origin not being thoroughl y excluded from consideration) caution requires that intelligence continue cover age of the subject." A report from later that month was similarly skeptical but nevertheless concluded "...sightings of UFOs reported at Los Alamos and Oak Ridg e, at a time when the background radiation count had risen inexplicably. Here we run out of even 'blue yonder' explanations that might be tenable, and we still are left with numbers of incredible reports from credible observers." A December 1952 memo from the Assistant CIA Director of Scientific Intelligence (O/SI) was much more urgent: "...the reports of incidents convince us that there is someth ing going on that must have immediate attention. Sightings of unexplained object s at great altitudes and traveling at highs speeds in the vicinity of U.S. defen se installation are of such nature that they are not attributable to natural phe nomena or known types of aerial vehicles." Some of the memos also made it clear that CIA interest in the subject was not to be made public, partly in fear of po ssible public panic. (Good, 331 335) * The CIA organized the January 1953 Robertson Panel of scientists to debunk the data collected by the Air Force's Project Blue Book. This included an engin eering analysis of UFO maneuvers by Blue Book (including a motion picture film a nalysis by Naval scientists) that had concluded UFOs were under intelligent cont rol and likely extraterrestrial.[46] * Extraterrestrial "believers" within Project Blue Book included Major Dewey Fournet, in charge of the engineering analysis of UFO motion, who later became

a board member on the civilian UFO organization NICAP. Blue Book director Edward J. Ruppelt privately commented on other firm "pro-UFO" members in the USAF inve stigations, including some Pentagon generals, such as Charles P. Cabell, USAF Ch ief of Air Intelligence, who angry at the inaction and debunkery of Project Grud ge, dissolved it in 1951, established Project Blue Book in its place, and made R uppelt director. [47] In 1953, Cabell became deputy director of the CIA. Another defector from the official Air Force party line was consultant Dr. J. Allen Hyn ek, who started out as a staunch skeptic. After 20 years of investigation, he ch anged positions and generally supported the ETH. He became the most publicly kno wn UFO advocate scientist in the 1970s and 1980s. * The first CIA Director, Vice Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, stated in a signed statement to Congress, also reported in the New York Times, February 28, 1960, "It is time for the truth to be brought out... Behind the scenes high-rank ing Air Force officers are soberly concerned about the UFOs. However, through of ficial secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe the unknown flying objects are nonsense... I urge immediate Congressional action to reduce the dan gers from secrecy about unidentified flying objects." In 1962, in his letter of resignation from NICAP, he told director Donald Keyhoe, "I know the UFOs are not U.S. or Soviet devices. All we can do now is wait for some actions by the UFOs. "[48] * Although the 1968 Condon Report came to a negative conclusion (written by Condon), it is known that many members of the study strongly disagreed with Cond on's methods and biases. Most quit the project in disgust or were fired for insu bordination. A few became ETH supporters. Perhaps the best known example is Dr. David Saunders, who in his 1968 book UFOs? Yes lambasted Condon for extreme bias and ignoring or misrepresenting critical evidence. Saunders wrote, "It is clear ... that the sightings have been going on for too long to explain in terms of st raightforward terrestrial intelligence. It's in this sense that ETI (Extra Terre strial Intelligence) stands as the 'least implausible' explanation of 'real UFOs '." [49] * In 1999, the private French COMETA report (written primarily by military d efense analysts) stated the conclusion regarding UFO phenomena, that a "single h ypothesis sufficiently takes into account the facts and, for the most part, only calls for present-day science. It is the hypothesis of extraterrestrial visitor s." [10] The report noted issues with formulating the extraterrestrial hypothesi s, likening its study to the study of meteorites, but concluded that although it was far from the best scientific hypothesis, "strong presumptions exist in its favour". The report also concludes that the studies it presents "demonstrate the almost certain physical reality of completely unknown flying objects with remar kable flight performances and noiselessness, apparently operated by intelligent Secret craft definitely of early origins (drones, stealth aircraft, etc [beings] .) can only explain a minority of cases. If we go back far enough in time, we cl early perceive the limits of this explanation." * Jean-Jacques Velasco, the head of the official French UFO investigation SE PRA, wrote a book in 2005 saying that 14% of the 5800 cases studied by SEPRA wer e utterly inexplicable and extraterrestrial in origin. [50] Yves Sillard, the he ad of the new official French UFO investigation GEIPAN and former head of the Fr ench space agency CNES, echoes Velasco's comments and adds the U.S. is guilty of covering up this information.[51] Again, this isn't the official public posture of SEPRA, CNES, or the French government. (CNES recently placed their 5800 case files on the Internet starting March 2007.) Physical evidence Besides visual sightings, reports sometimes include claims of indirect and direc t physical evidence, including cases studied by the military and various governm ent agencies of different countries. * Radar contact and tracking, sometimes from multiple sites. These may invol ve trained military personnel and control tower operators, simultaneous visual s

ightings, and aircraft intercepts. One such recent example were the mass sightin gs of large, silent, low-flying black triangles in 1989 and 1990 over Belgium, t racked by multiple NATO radar and jet interceptors, and investigated by Belgium' s military (included photographic evidence). [52] Another famous case from 1986 was the JAL 1628 case over Alaska investigated by the FAA. [53] * Photographic evidence, including still photos, movie film, and video, incl uding some in the infrared spectrum (rare).[citation needed] * Recorded visual spectrograms[citation needed] * Recorded gravimetric (example) and magnetic disturbances (extremely rare)[ citation needed] * Claims of physical trace of landing UFOs, including ground impressions, bu rned and/or desiccated soil, burned and broken foliage, magnetic anomalies[speci fy], increased radiation levels, and metallic traces. See, e.g. Height 611 UFO I ncident or the 1964 Lonnie Zamora's Socorro, New Mexico encounter of the USAF Pr oject Blue Book cases). A well-known example from December 1980 was the USAF Ren dlesham Forest Incident in England. Another less than two weeks later, in Januar y 1981, occurred in Trans-en-Provence and was investigated by GEPAN, then France 's official government UFO-investigation agency. Project Blue Book head Edward J . Ruppelt described a classic 1952 CE2 case involving a patch of charred grass r oots.[54] * Physiological effects on people and animals including temporary paralysis, skin burns and rashes, corneal burns, and symptoms superficially resembling rad iation poisoning, such as the Cash-Landrum incident in 1980. One such case dates back to 1886, a Venezuelan incident reported in Scientific American magazine. [ 55] * Animal/cattle mutilation cases, that some feel are also part of the UFO ph enomenon. Such cases can and have been analyzed using forensic science technique s.[citation needed] * Biological effects on plants such as increased or decreased growth, germin ation effects on seeds, and blown-out stem nodes (usually associated with physic al trace cases or crop circles)[citation needed] * Electromagnetic interference (EM) effects, including stalled cars[dubious discuss], power black-outs, radio/TV interference, magnetic compass deflections[ dubious discuss], and aircraft navigation, communication, and engine disruption. [citation needed] A famous 1976 military case over Tehran, recorded in CIA and D IA classified documents, resulted in communication losses in multiple aircraft a nd weapons system failure in an F-4 Phantom II jet interceptor as it was about t o fire a missile on one of the UFOs. This was also a radar/visual case. [56] * Remote radiation detection, some noted in FBI and CIA documents occurring over government nuclear installations at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1950, also reported by Project Blue Book director E d Ruppelt in his book.[57] * Actual hard physical evidence cases, such as 1957, Ubatuba, Brazil, magnes ium fragments analyzed by the Brazilian government and in the Condon Report and by others. The 1964 Socorro/Lonnie Zamora incident also left metal traces, analy zed by NASA.[58] * Angel hair and angel grass, possibly explained in some cases as nests from ballooning spiders or chaff.[citation needed] These various reported physical evidence cases have been studied by various scie ntist and engineers, both privately and in official governmental studies (such a s Project Blue Book, the Condon Committee, and the French GEPAN/SEPRA). A compre hensive scientific review of physical evidence cases was carried out by the 1998 Sturrock UFO panel. Ufology Main article: Ufology Ufology is a neologism describing the collective efforts of those who study UFO reports and associated evidence.

UFO researchers Main article: List of Ufologists UFO organizations Main article: UFO organizations Reverse engineering Attempts have been made to reverse engineer the possible physics behind UFOs thr ough analysis of both eyewitness reports and the physical evidence, on the assum ption that they are powered vehicles. Examples are former NASA and nuclear engin eer James McCampbell in his book Ufology,[59] NACA/NASA engineer Paul R. Hill in his book Unconventional Flying Objects, and German rocketry pioneer Hermann Obe rth. Among subjects tackled by McCampbell, Hill, and Oberth was the question of how UFOs can fly at supersonic speeds without creating a sonic boom. McCampbell' s proposed solution of a microwave plasma parting the air in front of the craft is currently being researched by Dr. Leik Myrabo, Professor of Engineering Physi cs at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a possible advance in hypersonic f light.[60] In contrast, Hill and Oberth believed UFOs utilize an as yet unknown anti-gravity field to accomplish the same thing as well as provide propulsion an d protection of occupants from the effects of high acceleration. UFO categorization Some researchers recommend that observations be classified according to the feat ures of the phenomenon or object that are reported or recorded. Typical categori es include: * Saucer, toy-top, or disk-shaped "craft" without visible or audible propuls ion. (day and night) * Large triangular "craft" or triangular light pattern, usually reported at night. * Cigar-shaped "craft" with lighted windows (Meteor fireballs are sometimes reported this way, but are very different phenomena). * Other: chevrons, (equilateral) triangles, crescent, boomerangs, spheres (u sually reported to be shining, glowing at night), domes, diamonds, shapeless bla ck masses, eggs, pyramids and cylinders, classic "lights". Popular UFO classification systems include the Hynek system, created by J. Allen Hynek, and the Valle system, created by Jacques Valle. Hynek's system involves dividing the sighted object by appearance, subdivided fu rther into the type of "close encounter" (a term from which the film director St even Spielberg derived the title of his UFO movie, "Close Encounters of the Thir d Kind"). Jacques Valle's system classifies UFOs into five broad types, each with from thre e to five subtypes that vary according to type. Conspiracy theories Main article: UFO conspiracy theory UFOs are sometimes an element of elaborate conspiracy theories in which governme nts are said to be intentionally covering up the existence of aliens, or sometim es collaborating with them. There are many versions of this story; some are excl usive, while others overlap with various other conspiracy theories. In the U.S., opinion polls again indicate that a strong majority of people belie ve the U.S. government is withholding such information.[61][62] Various notables

have also expressed such views. Some examples are astronauts Gordon Cooper and Edgar Mitchell, Senator Barry Goldwater, Vice Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter (t he first CIA director), Lord Hill-Norton (former British Chief of Defense Staff and NATO head), the 1999 high-level French COMETA report by various French gener als and aerospace experts, and Yves Sillard (former director of the French space agency CNES, new director of French UFO research organization GEIPAN).[63] There is also speculation that UFO phenomena are tests of experimental aircraft or advanced weapons.[citation needed] In this case UFOs are viewed as failures t o retain secrecy, or deliberate attempts at misinformation: to deride the phenom enon so that it can be pursued unhindered. This explanation may or may not feed back into the previous one, where current advanced military technology is consid ered to be adapted alien technology (see also: skunk works and Area 51).[citatio n needed] It has also been suggested by a few paranormal authors that all or most human te chnology and culture is based on extraterrestrial contact. See also ancient astr onauts. Allegations of evidence suppression Some also contend regarding physical evidence that it exists abundantly but is s wiftly and sometimes clumsily suppressed by governments, aiming to insulate a po pulation they regard as unprepared for the social, theological, and security imp lications of such evidence. See the Brookings Report. There have been allegations of suppression of UFO related evidence for many deca des. There are also conspiracy theories which claim that physical evidence might have been removed and/or destroyed/suppressed by some governments. (See also Me n in Black) Some examples are: * On July 7, 1947, William Rhodes took photos of an unusual object over Phoe nix, Arizona.[64] The photos appeared in a Phoenix newspaper and a few other pap ers. According to documents from Project Bluebook, an Army counter-intelligence (CIC) agent and an FBI agent interviewed Rhodes on August 29 and convinced him t o surrender the negatives. The CIC agent deliberately concealed his true identit y, leaving Rhodes to believe both men were from the FBI. Rhodes said he wanted t he negatives back, but when he turned them into the FBI the next day, he was inf ormed he wouldn't be getting them back, though Rhodes later tried unsuccessfully .[65][66] The photos were extensively analyzed and would eventually show up in s ome classified Air Force UFO intelligence reports. (Randle, 34 45, full account) * A June 27, 1950, movie of a "flying disk" over Louisville, Kentucky, taken by a Louisville Courier-Journal photographer, had the USAF Directors of counter intelligence (AFOSI) and intelligence discussing in memos how to best obtain the movie and interview the photographer without revealing Air Force interest. One memo suggested the FBI be used, then precluded the FBI getting involved. Another memo said "it would be nice if OSI could arrange to secure a copy of the film i n some covert manner," but if that wasn't feasible, one of the Air Force scienti sts might have to negotiate directly with the newspaper.[67][68] In a recent int erview, the photographer confirmed meeting with military intelligence and still having the film in his possession until then, but refused to say what happened t o the film after that.[69] * In another 1950 movie incident from Montana, Nicholas Mariana filmed some unusual aerial objects and eventually turned the film over to the U.S. Air Force , but insisted that the first part of the film, clearly showing the objects as s pinning discs, had been removed when it was returned to him. (Clark, 398) * During the military investigation of green fireballs in New Mexico, UFOs w ere photographed by a tracking camera over White Sands Proving Grounds on April 27, 1949. The final report in 1951 on the green fireball investigation claimed t here was insufficient data to determine anything. However, documents later uncov

ered by Dr. Bruce Maccabee indicate that triangulation was accomplished. The dat a reduction and photographs showed four objects about 30 feet in diameter flying in formation at high speed at an altitude of about 30 miles. Maccabee says this result was apparently suppressed from the final report.[70] * Project Blue Book director Edward J. Ruppelt reported that, in 1952, a U.S . Air Force pilot fired his jet's machine guns at a UFO, and that the official r eport which should have been sent to Blue Book was quashed.[71] * Astronaut Gordon Cooper reported suppression of a flying saucer movie film ed in high clarity by two Edwards AFB range photographers on May 3, 1957. Cooper said he viewed developed negatives of the object, clearly showing a dish-like o bject with a dome on top and something like holes or ports in the dome. The phot ographers and another witness, when later interviewed by Dr. James McDonald, con firmed the story. Cooper said military authorities then picked up the film and n either he nor the photographers ever heard what happened to it. The incident was also reported in a few newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times. The official explanation, however, was that the photographers had filmed a weather balloon di storted by hot desert air.[72] * On January 22, 1958, when NICAP director Donald Keyhoe appeared on CBS tel evision, his statements on UFOs were pre-censored by the Air Force. During the s how when Keyhoe tried to depart from the censored script to "reveal something th at has never been disclosed before," CBS cut the sound, later stating Keyhoe was about to violate "predetermined security standards" and about to say something he wasn't "authorized to release." What Keyhoe was about to reveal were four pub licly unknown military studies concluding UFOs were interplanetary (including th e 1948 Project Sign Estimate of the Situation and Blue Book's 1952 engineering a nalysis of UFO motion). (Good, 286 287; Dolan 293 295) * Astronomer Jacques Vallee reported that in 1961 he witnessed the destructi on of the tracking tapes of unknown objects orbiting the Earth. (However, Vallee indicated that this didn't happen because of government pressure but because th e senior astronomers involved didn't want to deal with the implications.) * In 1965, Rex Heflin took four Polaroid photos of a hat-shaped object. Two years later (1967), two men posing as NORAD agents confiscated three prints. Jus t as mysteriously, the photos were returned to his mailbox in 1993.[73] * A March 1, 1967 memo directed to all USAF divisions, from USAF Lt. General Hewitt Wheless, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, stated that unverified informati on indicated that unknown individuals, impersonating USAF officers and other mil itary personnel, had been harassing civilian UFO witnesses, warning them not to talk, and also confiscating film, referring specifically to the Heflin incident. AFOSI was to be notified if any personnel were to become aware of any other inc idents. (Document in Fawcett & Greenwood, 236). * John Callahan, former Division Chief of the Accidents and Investigations B ranch of the FAA, Washington D.C., also a Disclosure Project witness, said that following a 1986 encounter of a Japanese airlines 747 with a giant UFO over Alas ka, recorded by air and ground radar, the FAA conducted an investigation. Callah an held a briefing a few days later for President Reagan's Scientific Study Grou p, the FBI, and CIA. After the briefing, one of the CIA agents told everybody th ey "were never there and this never happened," adding they were fearful of publi c panic.[74] * In 1996, the CIA revealed an instance from 1964 where two CIA agents posed as USAF representatives in order to recover a film canister from a Corona spy s atellite that had accidentally come down in Venezuela. The event was then public ly dismissed as an unsuccessful NASA space experiment. Famous hoaxes * The Maury Island Incident * The Ummo affair, a decades-long series of detailed letters and documents a llegedly from extraterrestrials. The total length of the documents is at least 1 000 pages, and some estimate that further undiscovered documents may total nearl y 4000 pages. A Jose Luis Jordan Pena came forward in the early nineties claimin

g responsibility for the phenomenon, and most[who?] consider there to be little reason to challenge his claims.[75] * George Adamski over the space of two decades made various claims about his meetings with telepathic aliens from nearby planets. He claimed that photograph s of the far side of the moon taken by a Soviet orbital probe in 1959 were fake, and that there were cities, trees and snow-capped mountains on the far side of the moon. * In 1987/1988 Ed Walters allegedly perpetrated a hoax in Gulf Breeze, Flori da. Walters claimed at first having seen a small UFO flying near his home, and t hen in a second incident seeing the same UFO and a small alien being standing by his back door after being alerted by his dog. Several photographs were taken of the craft, but none of the being. Three years later, in 1990, after the Walters family had moved, the new residents discovered a model of a UFO poorly hidden i n the attic that bore an undeniable resemblance to the craft in Walters' photogr aphs. Various witnesses and detractors came forward after the local Pensacola ne wspaper printed a story about the discovered model, and some investigators[who?] now consider the sightings to be a hoax. In addition, a six-figure television m iniseries and book deal were nearly struck with Walters. * Warren William (Billy) Smith, A popular writer and confessed hoaxster.[76] Not all Ufologists who have studied some these cases agree they are hoaxes. One notable example, Naval optical physicist Dr. Bruce Maccabee extensively investig ated the Ed Walters Gulf Breeze case, analyzed the various photos and videos, an d deemed them authentic. In fact, some of the details would have required extens ive expertise to fake. [77] Maccabee also noted there were many independent witn esses to some of the Gulf Breeze sightings besides Walters, including Maccabee h imself. [78] UFOs in popular culture Main article: UFOs in Fiction UFOs constitute a widespread international cultural phenomenon of the last halfcentury. Gallup polls rank UFOs near the top of lists for subjects of widespread recognition. In 1973, a survey found that 95 percent of the public reported hav ing heard of UFOs, whereas only 92 percent had heard of US President Gerald Ford in a 1977 poll taken just nine months after he left the White House. (Bullard, 141) A 1996 Gallup poll reported that 71 percent of the United States population believed that the government was covering up information regarding UFOs. A 2002 Roper poll for the Sci Fi channel found similar results, but with more people b elieving UFOs were extraterrestrial craft. In that latest poll, 56 percent thoug ht UFOs were real craft and 48 percent that aliens had visited the Earth. Again, about 70 percent felt the government was not sharing everything it knew about U FOs or extraterrestrial life.[79][80][81] Another effect of the flying saucer ty pe of UFO sightings has been Earth-made flying saucer craft in space fiction, fo r example the Earth-made craft Starship C-57D in Forbidden Planet, and the sauce r part of the USS Enterprise in Star Trek And many others. For an excellent anal ysis of the interrelationship between popular culture and UFOs consult the resea rch by psychologist Armando Simon, especially his contribution in Richard Haines ' book, UFO Phenomena and the Behavioral Scientist. Use in film and television * See List of major UFO film and television shows Use in Music * See Ufoetry See also

* * * * * * * *

Abduction phenomenon Ball lightning Black triangle (UFO) Bob Lazar Brookings Report Carl Sagan Cattle mutilation Chicago O'Hare UFO sighting 2006

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Condon Report Contactees Crop circle Extraterrestrial life Flying rod Foo fighter Forteana

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Hessdalen light Jacques Valle John Keel Kenneth Arnold Kodiak Island UFO, 2007 List of U.S. paranormal travel books Magazines of anomalous phenomena

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Mutual UFO Network Ralph Horton flying saucer crash Robertson Panel Roswell incident Stanton T. Friedman Scientific skepticism The Disclosure Project UFOs in fiction

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Unidentified submerged object Unusual ground marking Valentich Disappearance Westall High School UFO

References 1. ^ Pasachoff, Jay M and Alex Filippenko (2004). The Cosmos: Astronomy in th e New Millennium. Brooks/Cole div. of Thomson Learning. pp. 428 430. ISBN 05343955 0. 2. ^ Air Force Regulation 200-2 text versionpdf of document, initially define d a UFO as "any airborne object which by performance, aerodynamic characteristic s, or unusual features, does not conform to any presently known aircraft or miss ile type, or which cannot be positively identified as a familiar object. ...Tech nical Analysis thus far has failed to provide a satisfactory explanation for a n umber of sightings reported." A later version [1] altered the definition to "Any aerial phenomena, airborne objects or objects which are unknown or appear out o f the ordinary to the observer because of performance, aerodynamic characteristi

cs, or unusual features," and added "Air Force activities must reduce the percen tage of unidentifieds to a minimum. Analysis thus far has explained all but a fe w of the sightings reported. These unexplained sightings are carried statistical ly as unidentifieds." 3. ^ A good example is the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Ph enomena or NARCAP. [2] 4. ^ For example, the USAF's Project Blue Book concluded that less than 2% of reported UFOs were "psychological" or hoaxes; Allen Hendry's study for CUFOS ha d less than 1% 5. ^ For example, recent 2008 U.S. and U.K. opinion polls [3] [4] indicate th at at least 8% of these populations say they have had UFO sightings 6. ^ One of the largest maintained databases, UFOCAT, listed 172,000 sighting s as of 2003, [5][6] while the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) has collec ted over 40,000 reports since 1998. [7] 7. ^ Giordano, Daniela, "Do UFOs Exist in the History of Arts?" from American Chronicle, 2006-11-13; retrieved 2007-07-27 8. ^ Cuoghi, Shaba. "The Art of Imagining UFOs". in Skeptic Magazine Vol.11, No.1, 2004. http://www.skeptic.com/the_magazine/archives/vol11n01.html. 9. ^ Dong, Paul. (2000). China's Major Mysteries: Paranormal Phenomena and th e Unexplained in the People's Republic. San Francisco: China Books and Periodica ls, Inc. ISBN 0835126765. Pages 69 71. 10. ^ Before the Wright Brothers...There Were UFOs 11. ^ NAVY OFFICER SEES METEORS.; They Were Red Ones, the Largest About Six Su ns Big. New York Times, March 9, 1904; Dr. Bruce Maccabee analysis, with origina l log entries of sighting; Maccabee summary of sighting with log quotes 12. ^ Foo-Fighter TIME 13. ^ [8] Hitler's Flying Saucers: Henry Stevens 14. ^ Clark (1998), 61 15. ^ Ted Bloecher's bar chart of June/July 1947 UFO sightings 16. ^ On July 9, 1947, United Press stories on the Roswell incident noted that "Reports of flying saucers whizzing through the sky fell off sharply today as t he Army and Navy began a concentrated campaign to stop the rumors." UP story 17. ^ Ted Bloecher & Dr James McDonald, Report on the UFO Wave of 1947, 1967 18. ^ See, e.g., the 1976 Tehran UFO incident where a Defense Intelligence Age ncy report on the event had a distribution list that included the White House, S ecretary of State, Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Security Agency (NSA), and Ce ntral Intelligence Agency (CIA). 19. ^ internal FBI memo from E. G. Fitch to D.M. Ladd concerning a request by General Schulgen of USAAF intelligence corps Office of Intelligence Requirements for the FBI to help with their investigation of UFO reports. 20. ^ Alfred Loedding and the Great Flying Saucer Wave of 1947, Sarah Connors and Michael Hall, White Rose Press, Albuquerque, 1998. Chapter 4: The Onslaught This quotes and summarized the interim report of Lieutenant Colonel George D. Ga rrett. 21. ^ The so-called Twining memo of Sept. 23, 1947, by future USAF Chief of St aff, Gen. Nathan Twining, specifically recommended intelligence cooperation with the Army, Navy, Atomic Energy Commission, the Defense Department's Joint Resear ch and Development Board, Air Force Scientific Advisory Board, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), Project RAND, and the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) project. 22. ^ Ruppelt, Chapt. 3 23. ^ Ridge, Francis L.. "The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects". National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. http://www.nicap.dabsol.co.uk/Ruf o.htm. Retrieved on 2006-08-19. 24. ^ www.foia.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070703-004.pdf 25. ^ "Official US Air Force document in pdf format". http://www.foia.af.mil/s hared/media/document/AFD-070703-004.pdf. Retrieved on 2007-11-12. 26. ^ "Wikisource article about Air Force Regulation 200-2". http://en.wikisou rce.org/wiki/Transwiki:Air_Force_Regulation_200-2. Retrieved on 2007-11-12. 27. ^ Good (1988), 484

28. ^ Many of these documents are now online at the FOIA websites of these age ncies such as the FBI FOIA site, as well as private websites such as "The Black Vault", which has an archive of several thousand U.S. government UFO-related doc uments from the USAF, Army, CIA, DIA, DOD, and NSA. 29. ^ Canada's Unidentified Flying Objects: The Search for the Unknown, a virt ual museum exhibition at Library and Archives Canada 30. ^ Site du GEIPAN 31. ^ UK National Archives 32. ^ news.bbc.co.uk Files released on UFO sightings 33. ^ AFP Article: Britons 'spotted' UFOs, records say 34. ^ BBC News Airliner had near miss with UFO 35. ^ [http://www.nickpope.net/faq.htm Nick Pope website 36. ^ Catalog of Project Blue Book unknowns 37. ^ Electromagnetic-Wave Ducting BY V. R. ESHLEMAN 38. ^ Allan Hendry, The UFO Handbook: A Guide to Investigating, Evaluating, an d Reporting UFO Sightings, 1979, Doubleday & Co., ISBN 0-385-14348-6 39. ^ Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, Section II Summary of t he Study, Edward U. Condon, University of Colorado 40. ^ Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact, Jacques Valle, Ballantine Books, 1989. ISBN 0345360028 41. ^ Peter F. Coleman has advanced a theory that some UFOs may be instances o f visible combustion of a fuel (e.g., natural gas) inside an atmospheric vortex. See Weather, p. 31, 1993; Journal of Scientific Exploration, 2006, Vol. 20, pp2 15 238, and his book Great balls of Fire a unified theory of ball lightning, UFOs, T unguska and other anomalous lights, Fireshine Press 42. ^ Good (1988), 23 43. ^ Document quoted and published in Timothy Good (2007), 106 107, 115; USAFE Item 14, TT 1524, (Top Secret), 4 November 1948, declassified in 1997, National Archives, Washington D.C. 44. ^ Schuessler, John L., "Statements About Flying Saucers And Extraterrestri al Life Made By Prof. Hermann Oberth, German Rocket Scientist" 2002; Oberth's Am erican Weekly article appeared in a number of newspaper Sunday supplements, e.g. , Washington Post and Times Herald, pg. AW4 45. ^ Copy of FBI FOIA document; Text quotation in essay by Dr. Bruce Maccabee on military/CIA ETH opinions circa 1952 46. ^ Dolan, 189; Good, 287, 337; Ruppelt, Chapt. 16 47. ^ Ruppelt's private notes 48. ^ Good, 347 49. ^ David Saunders, UFOs? Yes 50. ^ Velasco quoted in La Dpche du Midi, Toulouse, France, April 18, 2004 51. ^ [http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc2008.htm Sillard quotes 52. ^ Investigation and explanations of Belgium case 53. ^ Links to articles on JAL 1628 case 54. ^ http://www.nicap.org/rufo/rufo-13.htm Ruppelt, The Report on Unidentifie d Flying Objects, Chapter 13 55. ^ 1886 Scientific American article at NUFORC website 56. ^ Fawcett & Greenwood, 81 89; Good, 318 322, 497 502 57. ^ Ruppelt, Chapt. 15 58. ^ Good (1988), 371-373; Ray Stanford, Socorro 'Saucer' in a Pentagon Pantr y, 1976, 112-154 59. ^ online 60. ^ Myrabo, Leik N 61. ^ bNet (CBS Interactive Inc.), "Is the Government Hiding Facts On UFOs & E xtraterrestrial Life?; New Roper Poll Reveals that More Than Two-Thirds of Ameri cans Think So," [9] Last accessed 2 February 2008 62. ^ Poll: U.S. hiding knowledge of aliens, CNN/TIME, June 15, 1997 63. ^ Groupe d'Etudes et d'Informations sur les Phnomnes Arospatiaux Non identifis 64. ^ Rhodes_Phoenix 65. ^ http://projectbluebook.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB1-913 66. ^ http://projectbluebook.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB1-920

67. ^ http://projectbluebook.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB90-218 68. ^ http://projectbluebook.org/page.aspx?PageCode=NARA-PBB90-219 69. ^ Strange rocket-like UFO over California/Nevada, June 24, 1950 70. ^ NCP-12: The White Sands Proof Maccabee 71. ^ 1952 newspaper articles of USAF jets being ordered to shoot down saucers 72. ^ McDonald, 1968 Congressional testimony, Case 41 73. ^ Detailed article and photos 74. ^ http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc1324.htm; Video testimony for Di sclosure Project 75. ^ PARANOIA - People Are Strange: Unusual UFO Cults 76. ^ "Warren Smith: UFO Investigator"". http://www.middlecoastpublishing.com/ ufo/warrenbillysmith.htm. Retrieved on 2008-06-15. 77. ^ http://www.ufologie.net/htm/picgbr.htm Some of Ed Walters' photos, discu ssion, and details in photos difficult to fake 78. ^ http://brumac.8k.com/GulfBreeze/Bubba/GBBUBBA.html Maccabee's analysis a nd photos of Gulf Breeze "Bubba" sightings 79. ^ "The Roper Poll". Ufology Resource Center. SciFi.com. September 2002. ht tp://www.scifi.com/ufo/roper/. Retrieved on 2006-08-19. 80. ^ CFI Evidence Page 81. ^ Mutual UFO Network General * Thomas E. Bullard, "UFOs: Lost in the Myths", pages 141 191 in "UFOs, the Mi litary, and the Early Cold War Era", pages 82 121 in "UFOs and Abductions: Challen ging the Borders of Knowledge" David M. Jacobs, editor; 2000, University Press o f Kansas, ISBN 0-7006-1032-4 * Jerome Clark, The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial, 1998, Vi sible Ink Press, ISBN 1-57859-029-9. Many classic cases and UFO history provided in great detail; highly documented. * J. Deardorff, B. Haisch, B. Maccabee, Harold E. Puthoff (2005). "Inflation -Theory Implications for Extraterrestrial Visitation". Journal of the British In terplanetary Society 58: 43 50. http://www.ufoskeptic.org/JBIS.pdf. * Curran, Douglas. In Advance of the Landing: Folk Concepts of Outer Space. (revised edition), Abbeville Press, 2001. ISBN 0-7892-0708-7. Non-sensational bu t fair treatment of contemporary UFO legend and lore in N. America, including th e so-called "contactee cults." The author traveled the United States with his ca mera and tape recorder and directly interviewed many individuals. * Hall, Richard H., editor. The UFO Evidence: Volume 1. 1964, NICAP, reissue d 1997, Barnes & Noble Books, ISBN 0-7607-0627-1. Well-organized, exhaustive sum mary and analysis of 746 unexplained NICAP cases out of 5000 total cases a class ic. * Hall, Richard H. The UFO Evidence: A Thirty-Year Report. Scarecrow Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8108-3881-8. Another exhaustive case study, more recent UFO reports . * Hendry, Alan. The UFO Handbook: A Guide to Investigating, Evaluating, and Reporting UFO Sightings. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1979. ISBN 0-385-14348-6. Sk eptical but balanced analysis of 1300 CUFOS UFO cases. * Hynek, J. Allen. The UFO Experience: A scientific inquiry. Henry Regnery C o., 1972. * Hynek, J. Allen. The Hynek UFO Report. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 199 7. ISBN 0-7607-0429-5. Analysis of 640 high-quality cases through 1969 by UFO le gend Hynek. * Rose, Bill and Buttler, Tony. Flying Saucer Aircraft (Secret Projects). Le icester, UK: Midland Publishing, 2006. ISBN 1-85780-233-0. * Sagan, Carl & Page. Thornton, editors. UFOs: A Scientific Debate. \Cornell University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-7607-0192-2. Pro and con articles by scientists, mostly to the skeptical side. * Sheaffer, Robert The UFO Verdict: Examining the Evidence, 1986, Prometheus Books ISBN 0-87975-338-2

* Sheaffer, Robert UFO Sightings: The Evidence, 1998, Prometheus Books, ISBN 1-57392-213-7 (revised edition of The UFO Verdict) * Sturrock, Peter A. (1999). The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Ev idence. New York: Warner Books. ISBN 0-446-52565-0 * Canada's Unidentified Flying Objects: The Search for the Unknown, a virtua l museum exhibition at Library and Archives Canada Skepticism * Philip Plait (2002). Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, f rom Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax". John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-40976-6. (Chapter 20: Misidentified Flying Objects: UFOs and Illusions of the Mind and E ye.) * Ian Ridpath "Astronomical Causes of UFOs"[11] * Michael A. Seeds. (1995). Horizons: Exploring the Universe, Wadsworth Publ ishing, ISBN 0-534-24889-6 and ISBN 0-534-24890-X. (Appendix A) Psychology * Carl G. Jung, "Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies" (translated by R.F.C. Hull); 1979, Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-018227 * Armando Simon,A Nonreactive, Quantitative Study of Mass Behavior with Emph asis on the Cinema as Behavior Catalyst," Psychological Reports, 1981, 48, 775-7 85. * Richard Haines"UFO Phenomena and the Behavioral Scientist." Metuchen: Scar ecrow Press, 1979. * Armando Simon "UFOs: Testing for the Existence of Air Force Censorship." P sychology, 1976, 13, 3-5. * Armando Simon "Psychology and the UFOs." The Skeptical Inquirer. 1984, 8, 355-367. Histories * Richard M. Dolan, UFOs and the National Security State: An Unclassified Hi story, Volume One: 1941 1973, 2000, Keyhole Publishing, ISBN 0-9666885-0-3. Dolan is a professional historian. * Downes, Jonathan Rising of the Moon. 2nd ed. Bangor: Xiphos, 2005. * Lawrence Fawcett & Barry J. Greenwood, The UFO Cover-Up (Originally Clear Intent), 1992, Fireside Books (Simon & Schuster), ISBN 0-671-76555-8. Many UFO d ocuments. * Timothy Good, Above Top Secret, 1988, William Morrow & Co., ISBN 0-688-092 02-0. Many UFO documents. * Timothy Good, Need to Know: UFOs, the Military, and Intelligence, 2007, Pe gasus Books, ISBN 978-1-933648-38-5. Update of Above Top Secret with new cases a nd documents * Bruce Maccabee, UFO FBI Connection, 2000, Llewellyn Publications, ISBN 1-5 6718-493-6 * Kevin Randle, Project Blue Book Exposed, 1997, Marlowe & Company, ISBN 1-5 6924-746-3 * Edward J. Ruppelt, The Report On Unidentified Flying Objects, 1956, Double day & Co. online. A UFO classic by insider Ruppelt, the first head of the USAF P roject Blue Book * LeRoy F. Pea, Government Involvement in the UFO Coverup, or earlier title History of UFO Crash/Retrievals", 1988, PEA RESEARCH.[1] Technology * Paul R. Hill, Unconventional Flying Objects: a scientific analysis, 1995, Hampton Roads Publishing Co., ISBN 1-57174-027-9. Analysis of UFO technology by

pioneering NACA/NASA aerospace engineer. * James M. McCampbell, Ufology: A Major Breakthrough in the Scientific Under standing of Unidentified Flying Objects, 1973, 1976, Celestial Arts, ISBN 0-8908 7-144-2 full-text online. Another analysis by former NASA and nuclear engineer. * James M. McCampbell, Physical effects of UFOs upon people, 1986, paper. * Antonio F. Rulln, Odors from UFOs: Deducing Odorant Chemistry and Causation from Available Data, 2000, preliminary paper. * Jack Sarfatti, "Super Cosmos", 2005 (Authorhouse) * S. Krasnikov (2003). "The quantum inequalities do not forbid spacetime sho rtcuts". Physical Review D 67: 104013. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.67.104013. See also the "eprint version". arXiv. http://www.arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0207057. * L. H. Ford and T. A. Roman (1996). "Quantum field theory constrains traver sable wormhole geometries". Physical Review D 53: 5496. doi:10.1103/PhysRevD.53. 5496. See also the "eprint". arXiv. http://www.arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9510071. External links * Ministry of Defence Reports in the UK from 1997 - 2007 Wikinews Wikinews has related UFO news: * * * * * July 18: MUFON releases report on UFO sighting in Stephenville, Texas January 24: Texas UFOs were actually jets, Air Force says January 16: UFO sightings reported in Texas town May 3: Britain's Ministry of Defence to release UFO files April 27: Pilots spot 'UFOs' near the Channel Islands

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