UFO Hearing totally erased all other coverage. Not.

[Kid Berwyn]

It is a subject worthy of discussion and investigation.

The military's UFO database now has info from about 400 reported incidents

NPR, May 17, 2022

A database of reports of UFOs now includes about 400 incidents, up from 143 assessed in a report released about a year ago, a Navy intelligence official told lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Tuesday.

The military's 2021 report said no evidence of aliens had been found. Scott W. Bray, the deputy director of Naval intelligence, told lawmakers that they still haven't uncovered anything "nonterrestrial in origin," even though there are incidents they can't explain.

None of the documented objects had attempted to communicate with U.S. aviators, and no attempt had been made to communicate with them, he said, as they all appeared to be unmanned.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/05/17/1099410910/ufo-hearing-congress-military-intelligence

The committee members did a descent job of questioning, including asking if the Navy or armed forces had fired on any object encountered. Going from memory, the witness said, “No, not on any UAP.” That ignores what the historical record shows, which includes reports of weapons fired at UFOs and their associated occupants.



In fact, the “first UFO hearing in 50 years” did all it could to put a lid on things. Too bad for those of us who want to see what data, including recordings, photographs, radar tracks, etc. There was a fuzzy “ball” they showed in a screen shot from their presenter’s laptop. More people know about Tucker Carlson’s tanned testicles than the radar-visual-photographic record.

[BigmanPigman]

1. US aircraft were in close calls with UFOs

11 separate times. This was revealed today.

[Kid Berwyn]

2. Encounters perhaps detailed in the private session.

Last edited Thu May 19, 2022, 08:31 PM - Edit history (1)

What did the air crews report? What did they experience? What do the data show?

[Stuart G]

35. The key to this whole question is a movie from 1950s, "The Day The Earth Stood Still"

If you haven't seen that one, then put it on the list right now. You will totally enjoy it..(Stuart's opinion of course)

[Disaffected]

3. Is that blurry blob thing

in the middle of the photo supposed to be evidence of a UFO??

What about the white and black dots? Escort space ships??

There is also a tentacled looking thing behind the power pole. Could that be an alien??

[Kid Berwyn]

4. No, that UFO photograph is from 1950.

Thus, outside the range of today’s hearing.

The image is one of two taken by Paul Trent, of McMinnville, Oregon.

https://www.oregonlive.com/history/2017/10/famous_mcminnville_ufo_photos.html

[Disaffected]

6. Why then did you include it

in your OP?

What conclusions, if any, have you drawn from it?

[Kid Berwyn]

16. As I stated in the OP, UFOs are a worthy study.

It seems that bothers you.

[USALiberal]

86. Nope, it's a total waste of time. Aliens are not visiting fucking earth.

[PSPS]

10. Yes, they had lots of hubcaps in McMinnville back then

[Kid Berwyn]

18. Maybe so, but it's very hard to duplicate for two photos.

Like throwing a frisbee to the same spot twice. Bruce McAbee analyzed the images.

I understand the object may about 50-feet in diameter.



Then, there are the eyewitnesses.

[Disaffected]

27. "I understand the object may about 50-feet in diameter"

Which would be impossible to ascertain from this photo since there is no way of determining how far away the "object" is.

Same would apply to any observer with something appearing in front of a featureless background (the sky).

[Kid Berwyn]

42. The link shows how Maccabee gave it the old college try.

Report via Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20031019153856/

[Disaffected]

45. The old college try failed IMO.

The basic problem here is that the two photos were taken from the same location and at two different times. If the "object" had also been photographed m/l simultaneously from another location, it would have been possible to calculate the object's distance by triangulation. Photos taken from the same spot either close together in time or not do not provide distance information (unless I misunderstand the situation; please clarify if you can).

Attempting to calculate distance by judging relative brightness of the object and the surroundings is far too imprecise to be meaningful.

These photos and associated testimony/anecdotes are far too subjective and nebulous IMO to draw any conclusions at all.

[Kid Berwyn]

47. Wrong. The report makes clear the photos were taken from 2 spots.

They were less than a yard apart. Maccabee goes to great lengths to explain his methodology.

Yeah, what does he know? He’s only got a PhD in the physics of optics.

[Disaffected]

51. Yeah,

less than a yard apart. For these purposes, considering the claimed distance to the "objects", that is tantamount to being in the same place.

OK, I don't have a PhD in physics or anything else - since you believe him, perhaps you can explain the geometry of this "calculation" in a way we mortals can understand(?).

BTW, stating his educational credentials as a means of supporting your beliefs is a logical fallacy (argument from authority).

Linus Pauling had PhDs, and a couple of Nobel prizes, BTW but was still a wack job in his claims for vitamin C efficacy for cancer and the cold virus (for example).

[Kid Berwyn]

53. No need to be condescending.

As for improving one’s reading and comprehension skills, I rely on Khan Academy.

You might want to give them a try.

[Eko]

29. Have you ever played frisbee golf?

[Kid Berwyn]

43. How about the Rex Heflin UFO photos from 1965?

Note the disturbance on the ground, directly underneath the object.



Can’t toss enough Frisbees and get them to line up just so fir three consecutive Polaroid shots.



Reanalysis of the 1965 Heflin UFO photos

https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.552.6587&rep=rep1&type=pdf

[Eko]

44. I don't see any disturbance.

And you
Certainly can throw frisbees with prescision. It could also be hanging from a long pole with fishing wire. So many easier explanations than it’s an alien. Just look at it, does that really look like a craft from outer space or more like a 50’s hubcap?

[Kid Berwyn]

50. Can't make you see what you don't want to see.

In the first photo, directly underneath the object, a circular patch of dirt or dust seems suspended. The soil is undisturbed in the area immediately adjacent.

[Eko]

60. Are you talking about this?

The area I circled?

[Kid Berwyn]

66. Yes. There's more.

From the Orange County Register:

OC’s moment in UFO history

By DOM ARMENTANO | Orange County Register
October 30, 2009

UFO skeptics often allege that there is no authentic photographic evidence that UFOs exist. UFO photos are often featureless “lights in the sky,” misidentified birds or airplanes, natural phenomena such as Venus or some peculiar-looking cloud, crude hoaxes (doctored negatives, string-suspended models, thrown hubcaps) or pictures and videos that have been computer-manipulated (Photoshop). There are hundreds of UFO photos and videos on the Internet, but a safe bet is that a high percentage are completely worthless.

There is at least one exception, however, and it is a huge exception. Around noon on Aug. 3, 1965, near the intersection of what is today Walnut Avenue and Myford Road in Tustin, Rex Heflin, a 38-year-old highway maintenance engineer, snapped three close-up photos through the windows of his truck of a low-flying hat-like UFO. (He also took a fourth picture; more on that later). The pictures Heflin took with the Polaroid camera he carried for work clearly show a round, hat-like object with a dark band around its raised superstructure.

The pictures of the object are unambiguously clear and present an immediate problem for skeptics: Either the photos are clever fakes or they are actual pictures of a very unconventional flying craft; there is simply no third alternative explanation. Heflin initially told investigators that he believed that he had probably photographed an experimental aircraft from a nearby Marine base. As we shall discover shortly, however, there are several unique features in the pictures themselves that lower the probability that the strange craft was one of “ours.”

Snip…

However, the recent reanalysis of all four of the Heflin photos, employing state-of-the-art technology (obviously not available back in the 1960s) now concludes that the smoke-ring photo, rather than discrediting Heflin, actually appears to strongly substantiate him.

First, the latest photo analysis was accomplished with all of the original Polaroid photos and high-resolution first-generation prints and does, in fact, show similar clouds in all four of the photographs. Second, computer enhancement of photo two shows a bright line (or light beam) extending out from the bottom center of the disc to its outer rim, which is exactly what Heflin claimed that he saw back in 1965. And finally, computer enhancement of photo three shows something quite extraordinary: There appears to be a stream of “black particulate matter” trailing behind the UFO, which was not apparent under normal viewing.

Continues…

https://www.ocregister.com/2009/10/30/ocs-moment-in-ufo-history/

[Eko]

74. Yes I already read that.

Do you think that is some type of vehicle piloted by aliens?

[Kid Berwyn]

76. It's possible UFOs involve ETs, but I don't know.

Whatever the phenomenon is, it often wants to convey that impression — that they are from another world.

I DO know UFO reports exist — including eyewitness accounts and cases that left physical traces, such as burned bushes, radar tracks and photographs.

The sighting reported by Police Sgt. Lonnie Zamora is now largely forgotten (or never known), but was front page news when it happened:

In late afternoon on Friday, April 24, 1964, Socorro Police Sergeant Lonnie Zamora departed his cruiser on a rough and rocky dirt road to investigate an unidentified flying object which came to rest in an arroyo south of Socorro. The desolate, undeveloped area was primarily made up of mesquite and creosote bushes. What Sergeant Zamora witnessed at approximately 5:45 p.m. was an “egg shaped craft” traveling into Socorro from the south. It was later reported and documented as having been witnessed (in flight) by 5 tourists traveling through Socorro. Zamora, in an interview following the incident, stated that he witnessed a bluish flame and a loud roar coming from the direction of the arroyo.

Zamora approached the area where he believed the craft had landed. Zamora later stated that he had first seen the object from about 150 yards and believed it to be a car or some sort of vehicle in need of assistance. Zamora then radioed the Sheriff’s Office about a possible accident he would be investigating. Zamora then contacted New Mexico State Police Sergeant Samuel Chavez, someone who Zamora trusted to assist in the investigation. After requesting the assistance of NMSP Sergeant Chavez, Zamora once again began approaching the object.

At about 50 feet from the object, Zamora noted seeing landing gear and a red insignia which he later drew for authorities. Zamora then noted bright blue flames and another loud roar until ultimately the object began lifting away from its resting place. Following the incident, many local residents visited the sight and witnessed not only burned bushes but also landing gear depressions in the ground. This incident has been recorded in many newspapers and magazine articles as well as written about in many books.

Source: https://www.socorronm.org/attractions/socorro-landing-a-ufo-story/

Others nearby that day also reported an egg shaped object: https://sentinel63.wordpress.com/2016/11/24/desert-encounter-with-the-unknown/

Jacques Vallee calls “those” who are behind that part of the phenomenon, the ones who make these things appear before our eyes, “Messengers of Deception.” They have an agenda. What’s on it, we can only guess.



“I don’t think there is such a thing as “the flying saucer phenomenon.” I think it has three components and we have to deal with them in different ways.

First, there is a physical object. That may be a flying saucer or it may be a projection or it may be something entirely different. All we know about it is that it represents a tremendous quantity of electromagnetic energy in a small volume. I say that based upon the evidence gathered from traces, from electromagnetic and radar detection and from perturbations of the electromagnetic fields such as Dr. Claude Poher, the French space scientist, has recorded.

Second, there’s the phenomenon the witnesses perceive. What they tell us is that they’ve seen a flying saucer. Now they may have seen that or they may have seen an image of a flying saucer or they may have hallucinated it under the influence of microwave radiation, or any of a number of things may have happened. The fact is that the witnesses were exposed to an event and as a result they experienced a highly complex alteration of perception which caused them to describe the object or objects that figure in their testimony.

Beyond those — the physical phenomenon and the perception phenomenon — we have the third component, the social phenomenon. That’s what happens when the reports are submitted to society and enter the cultural arena. That’s the part which I find most interesting."

SOURCE: http://integralnews.blogspot.com/2008/01/jacques-vallees-integral-approach-to.html
Canon

[Eko]

77. So if its not a vehicle from outer space

piloted by aliens what is it?

[edhopper]

34. None of your conclusions

Are supported

[Kid Berwyn]

37. Whatever. I quoted Bruce Maccabee.

From his analysis:

…The length of the elliptical image in photo 1 is 2.92 mm and in photo 2 the length is about 2.55 mm. The thickness (vertical dimension) in photo 2 is about 0.48 mm. Assume that Mr. Trent was standing roughly 16 ft from the nearby electrical wires which appear at the top of each photo. Since the camera focal length was about 103 mm ( 27), if the object were a small circular model UFO hanging from the wires at the time of photo 1 the size would have been about (2.92 mm/103 mm) x 16 ft = 0.45 ft = 5.4". On the other hand, if it were at a distance of about 1/2 km (not a hoax!; see Figure 5) it would have been about 14 m in diameter. The thickness, using the vertical measurement from photo 2 , would have been about (0.48 mm/103) x 16 ft = 0.074 ft = 0.95" if under the wires and about 2.3 m if at a distance of 1/2 km . The diameter of the pole would have been about 0.38" if at a distance of 16 ft, and about 0.92 m if at a distance of 1/2 km. (NOTE 2000: during a re-investigation in the year 1999 it was determined that the camera was of a type - see below - which had a rated focal length of 100 mm rather than the 103 mm assumed in 1977 when this paper was written. Hence the calculated sizes should be increased by 3%, an amount which is comparable to the "noise" in the dimensional measurements themselves because of the natural diffuseness of the edges of photographic images, even when well focused, as these are.)

http://web.archive.org/web/20040207135011/http://brumac.8k.com/trent2.html

Maccabee believed the Trents. And so do I.

[Disaffected]

46. That analysis doesn't make sense to me.

eg. "Assume that Mr. Trent was standing roughly 16 ft from the nearby electrical wires which appear at the top of each photo."

Why assume that? What difference does it make here in any case?

"...if it were at a distance of about 1/2 km (not a hoax!; see Figure 5) it would have been about 14 m in diameter. "

If the distance? The distance is what we are attempting to determine is it not?? If the distance was 1 km, the diameter would have been about 28 m - so what??? The point is we don't know the distance and that is not possible to determine IMO from the evidence presented.

Can anyone explain it in different, perhaps clearer terms??

[Kid Berwyn]

81. Photogrammetry.

What is Photogrammetry?

Photogrammetry is the science of making measurements from photographs.

The input to photogrammetry is photographs, and the output is typically a map, a drawing, a measurement, or a 3D model of some real-world object or scene. Many of the maps we use today are created with photogrammetry and photographs taken from aircraft.

Source: https://www.photogrammetry.com/

[Disaffected]

83. I know what photogrammetry is.

It is your "guru's" use of it that I question. As I saud, it doesn't make sense to me. If you can explain it, please do so, otherwise I'm done here.

[OhZone]

5. Birds and weather phenomena tend to be unmanned

ha

[Disaffected]

9. And so are fakes and tall tales as well as

camera, radar and IR detector imaging artifacts.

[OhZone]

12. Yeah

exactly

[Kid Berwyn]

19. When asked if any UAP reports included multiple types of data, they went dark.

That means some of the UAP reports include radar-photographic in addition to the eyewitness reports.

The reasoning for the closed session was our adversaries might gain insight as to our Intel collection.

[Hoyt]

7. Lots of UFOs, but few aliens. Why would they waste their time with us?

[Kid Berwyn]

21. That's a great question.

Maybe they like cowboy movies?

[Hoyt]

24. They probably saw how we treated Native Americans, and went elsewhere.

[Kid Berwyn]

25. Absolutely would, as it demonstrates our empathy for others.

The United States played a major part of the genocide against the First Nations.

I am ashamed to write that, but it is true. What’s more, my country’s immoral and illegal wars and actions inspired the NAZIs.

Perhaps the Aliens, if they exist and if they have visited, might follow the Golden Rule. When they see we don’t treat others with the kindness and respect we expect for ourselves, they won’t be bothered with giving us the time of day, let alone new insights on reality.

[Amishman]

88. Let's do a little thought exercise on that

Assumption One: Aliens are not hostile.
Basis for assumption: These sightings go back a long time, and with the technological advantage, if they were hostile they'd have acted by now.

Assumption Two: aliens are somewhat like us in terms of outlook
Basis for assumption: They developed a technological civilization of their own, ventured into the stars, clearly have an interest in passively studying us.

Assumption Three: They don't consider us an immediate or imminent threat.
Basis for Assumption: Like assumption one, if they were concerned about us, they easily could have taken direct action by now given the technology gap.

So why might they be studying us?

Biological information could easily have been collected by now and they'd be done.
We have nothing to offer them in terms of science.
If it were resources they wanted, they could have taken it by now.

The remaining option is an interest in our society and culture. What can we offer them that they cannot create themselves? Art and culture. This would also explain the largely passive observation; direct contact would impact our society and change our artistic creations.

[PSPS]

8. Aw Jeez...

[Kid Berwyn]

22. It's only been a half century since the UFO hearings.

In the meantime, some take the subject very seriously.

Harvard’s Avi Loeb Thinks We Should Study UFOs—and He’s Not Wrong

As a SETI scientist, I’m grateful that he has the freedom—and the guts—to go where few would dare to go

Avi Loeb, a Harvard astrophysicist who doesn’t hesitate to swim in the shark-infested waters of controversy, is proposing a major effort to find aliens in our solar system, perhaps even in our airspace. He has raised $1.7 million in private funding to launch something he calls the Galileo Project, an initiative to bring the rigor of experimental science to ufology.

Loeb’s plan is to use a telescope now under construction, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, to study interstellar objects that come into our solar system. In addition, the project envisions building a network of small telescopes, in groups of two, that can photograph and determine the distance to anything they see in our atmosphere.

Is this project something to be lauded, or laughed at? Although academe may dismiss the Galileo Project as nothing more than pandering to a gullible public, such prejudice is unhelpful and myopic.

Snip…

But Loeb stands by his suggestion, and he’s recently weighed in on another puzzle, one produced by the recently released report to Congress about UAP (unidentified aerial phenomena). This study was the result of a bill passed last December instructing government intelligence agencies to put on the table all they know about UAP (also known as UFOs). In particular, the report was to address the experiences of some Navy pilots who’ve seen and photographed mysterious objects in the sky. That report, delivered in late June, said nothing about alien spacecraft (at least not in the publicly released version), but did admit that of 144 intriguing incidents, the intelligence agencies could explain only one.

So, the Galileo Project is stepping in to say “Enough already.” Let’s try and nail down such enticing phenomena with legitimate science.

Continues…

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/harvard-rsquo-s-avi-loeb-thinks-we-should-study-ufos-mdash-and-he-rsquo-s-not-wrong/

Personally, 50 years missing UFO oversight may not be a bad thing for humanity. Some people have a hard time learning new things. And the subject can be scary.

[Eko]

28. Im not sure you are saying what you think you are saying.

UFO's do indeed exist. It is an unidentified flying object, nothing more nothing less. It's "I don't know what that is" in a nutshell. How do you prove that a picture of an unidentified flying object is not an unidentified flying object? By not being a UFO. I don't need to debate over 75 years of photographic and eyewitness reports of people saying "I don't know what that is".

[Stuart G]

11. They have been here, & looked us over. Decided humans not "smart enough" to have contact with.

Maybe, they will return in 100 years and announce the truth about the existence of other beings in the universe.

Please note .....................I said...........the word..............."Maybe"........................

[Kid Berwyn]

32. That would be sad. Or worse, we are too dirty.

Hazmat Souls.

[anarch]

49. except they seem to be hanging out around the planet, just in the oceans

My pet theory is that someone has made contact with the octopuses (or maybe the octopuses themselves have simply developed technology beyond ours...); but at any rate at least some of these things seem to be physical objects, behaving in ways that don't seem consistent with our current understanding of physics.

[Archae]

13. I never get an actual answer to this question, and I never will.

Nowadays, everyone and their Mothers has a video/still camera with them just about all the time.

BUT...

Still, no clear pictures.
Just blobs of fuzzy lights or fakes, admitted to or not.

[CrackityJones75]

14. I have answered this before

do me a favor next time you’re outside and you can keep playing high in the sky take off your phone and take a picture of it. Then post it here so we can all see the results of that image.

here’s another test go outside tonight and take a picture of the stars on your phone. Then I’ll sit here let’s see how many stars we can see. Know if you’re in the country you might see some stars in the city not very likely.

[CrackityJones75]

15. shoot I forgot my disclaimer

this is going to say anything about whether or not I believe there are aliens or UFOs or anything like that just a commentary on photography

[Archae]

17. Stellar objects are not the same as aerial objects.

Up at my Mom's place up north, I could see the Milky Way, but when I tried to photograph it with my el-cheapo (that I had at the time) digital camera, the sky was black.

Yet that same camera took this video.

&ab_channel=RossSauer

Quite clear and legible.
Nowadays I have a GoPro, the quality of video is lightyears ahead.
(And a good cellphone.)

And I'm not the only one who has a GoPro.
So where are the clear, legible UFO videos or pictures?

Face it, in ancient days and the Middle Ages, people saw fairies and ghosts.

In the couple years before WW1 people saw "phantom dirigibles."

After WW2, during the Cold War the fairy and ghost sightings, became in the news media of the time "flying saucers."

The zealots and con artists still can't show any credible evidence.
And they never will.

[Disaffected]

26. That is indeed their conundrum.

The zealots and con artists still can't show any credible evidence.
And they never will.

Same applies to all manner of unlikely claims and beliefs, as well as apparitions, goblins, gremlins, demons, imps, poltergeists, unicorns, sasquatches, leprechauns, horoscopes, honest politicians and chiropractic subluxations...

It is also interesting to note that rashes of UFO/alien sightings tend to correlate well with newly released movies or news items on the subject (such as now). UFO/alien sightings also seem to favor North American locations for some reason (maybe they like us best).

[Archae]

30. It does show what the human imagination can come up with.

An English teacher (in England,) was grading some papers, and was bored, so he wrote on a blank sheet of paper "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit."

And that's the beginning of the incredible tale of Middle Earth.

The human imagination can put "details" into random objects, like "windows" in a meteor.

And just look at all the UFO movies that were made, including "Close Encounters" and "Mars Attacks."

[brooklynite]

64. Ore to the point, public reports of UFOs and aliens tend to mirror the movies they've seen recently

[Archae]

71. Movies and other popular media.

Something the stories about Barney and Betty Hill (supposed "alien abductees" ) don't usually mention, Betty Hill's sister was a devotee of the lurid flying saucer magazines from that time.

[USALiberal]

20. Lol....How come the pictures in the 1950s look better?

[Mr. Sparkle]

31. Our phones are designed for portraits, close up pictures of us in everyday life

They have terrible zoom lens built in to them as no one uses them; thats why you would need a proper camera to get the kind of photo you suggested..

And with everyone walking around with smart phones, no one buys proper cameras anymore.

[Disaffected]

48. Oh, then what about

the myriad of news photographers, wild life & nature photographers we have around the world many of whom have high quality cameras with long distance lenses. How about the myriad of astronomical images taken by telescopes pretty much since the invention of photography??

"No one buys proper cameras anymore." R..i..g..h...t...

[Mr. Sparkle]

57. Unless there is an Alien invasion , the odds of a small number of professional photographers

of seeing something is very slim

[Disaffected]

58. If you are talking about flying saucers,

I would say you are correct. If you are including UAPs, I would say you are wrong.

[Kid Berwyn]

33. The Navy does. Today's hearing showed a crap picture.

They spent five minutes getting the laptop to find the frame of interest.

There’s a pic of what the committee was shown at Axios:

https://www.axios.com/2022/05/17/congress-pentagon-ufo-uap-hearing

Here’s what a Chilean Navy helicopter crew recorded in 2014:

Chilean Navy helicopter pilot shoots video of UFO

BY MCCLATCHY FEBRUARY 7, 2018, 8:03 PM

On Nov. 11, 2014, a Navy captain and technician were on a routine daytime patrol mission flying north along the Chilean coast, west of Santiago, and filmed an unidentified flying object.

Read more here: https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article125629429.html#storylink=cpy

Video here: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/latest-news/article125658529.html

For some reason, the two witnesses today failed to bring in good photos. And per Bray, we won’t hear about multi-sensor recordings. That was a subject for the closed session.

[Stuart G]

36. Yes, posted before, But the key to this whole question is a movie: "The Day The Earth Stood Still"

If you haven't seen that movie, then watch it. Or watch it again if you have seen it. About Aliens, & their
coming to earth. And you will enjoy it ....Yes, it is at the library or ...NETFLIX. or whatever cable
you are on..

And in the movie, there is a "Warning to All Earth People".....................& I won't tell you that warning..

[Kid Berwyn]

52. UFOs associated with power outages.

First, though: The original “The Day the Earth Stood Still” is a great movie. The one with John Wick is good, too.

As for turning off the juice, few may remember the Great Northeast Blackout had a UFO component:

NEW YORK SKIES

Nov. 9, 1965 — Did UFOs Turn the Lights Off?

Cheryl Costa
Syracuse New Times, Aug. 26, 2016

The time was about quarter after 5 p.m. on the Nov. 9, 1965. I was upstairs in my room listening to my ham radio when my mother shouted up to me asking, “What was I doing.” I was a 13-year-old ham radio operator, so naturally if the house lights flickered it was usually blamed on me and my army surplus radio equipment. This time is wasn’t me, the lights in the house were browning out and it scared the heck out of my mother who was home alone with three kids.

Snip…

In the days that followed, the scope of the disruption was reported and vast. New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and parts of Ontario, Canada, were largely in the dark. Over 30 million people were affected.

In the end, a technical task force blamed the whole thing on an over-current relay that had been set too low for normal operation.

But there’s another side of the story that usually gets hushed up: UFOs. There were reports all over the Northeast and right here in the Syracuse area that seemed to suggest that a formation of UFOs were seen over high tension wires and loitering around electrical sub-stations.

HERE ARE SOME OF THOSE REPORTS HIGHLIGHTS:

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. a Middletown, New York, resident reported seeing a ball of bright, green light in the sky.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. a Jersey City, New Jersey, resident reported seeing a bright object moving from north to south over Manhattan. Then over lower Manhattan, the object shot straight up at extreme velocity.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. a resident of Newton, Massachusetts, reported a bright fire ball traveling east to west.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. an Orchestra Conductor on a flight between Syracuse and Rochester observed a bright light descend toward Central New York.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. a Camillus, New York, house wife reported a huge, dome-shaped object near a local sub station about five minutes before the blackout.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. Cicero, New York, a local pilot in a small plane reported seeing a huge, bright light hover near the high tension wires crossing the Mohawk River.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. personnel from the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Power Plant in Ontario, Canada, reported four strange lights over the power plant.

Nov. 9, 1965: At 5 p.m. residents near the Niagara Falls power station reported seeing a huge, glowing object hovering over the power station.

Source: https://www.syracusenewtimes.com/nov-9-1965-did-ufos-turn-the-lights-off/

All that used to be science fiction. EMP is one ticket. Who knows the other ways?

[muriel_volestrangler]

62. Well, that's an interesting hypothesis - that films are convincing people they understand aliens

and their motivations, and that thus there must be aliens visiting us, and so they'll interpret things they see as aliens.

It's true that the sightings of UFOs increased when people started worrying about foreign aircraft being able to overfly countries, and with new technical achievements like jet engines and nuclear bombs. And the the sightings encouraged films, and the films encouraged sightings. But I think it's a bit much to blame all this on one film, in which the alien actually appears openly and communicates, rather than the "they're hiding from us" mentality that these random images have to posit.

Before our technical advances suggested aliens to us, we had lots of religious imagery to explain things in the sky.

[melm00se]

38. It's the greys

keeping this from the front page or maybe Men In Black or both.

[Kid Berwyn]

54. I've posted on DU for more than 20 years.

I have because I like to share information and talk about affairs of interest to Democrats, democracy, our nation and planet. Happy to report I haven’t done so for fame, or pay, or even clicks.

Here’s an example from 2004 that shows how little some ideas have changed over time:

Jimmy Carter asked CIA Director Bush to brief him on UFOs, and Bush (said no).

https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1956796

Lots happened since then. Thanks to DU I learned a lot about it.

[anarch]

39. I don't know why it still surprises me how many people vehemently reject this topic

but I agree, it's worthy of looking into and talking about; it's potentially significant to our understanding of our place in the universe, if nothing else.

But I think in here you'll mostly get a bunch of "shut up, we don't want to hear about that! we must focus only on electoral politics at all times!" and so on. No offense intended, that's just the vibe I get in this forum.

On the other hand, as far as "what the government knows," I think we may have seen it all...as in, they can finally admit they don't have any idea what these things are or how they are doing what they do. I mean, that's progress I guess...

[Stuart G]

55. I think the government knows more than that, but the government is not going to tell it all.

...Yes, the aliens have been here. Imagine if you can, go back around 1625, about 500 years ago, and say you could go
back and tell the leaders of that era what is coming? What would most say? Would they believe the truth?...Would they believe
what you tell them? How many would believe you?

..........about computers?
..........about flying machines?
..........about electricity?
..........about education?
..........about the definition of what government does in 2120?
..........about science?.
..........about the history since then?
..........about armies and what war is like now?
..........etc, etc, etc, etc, etc,

[brooklynite]

56. I'm guessing people "reject this topic" because there's no evidence to support it...

The bottom line is still: things that have been reported are still “unidentified”. Nothing more. No convincing photos. No convincing radar tracks. No convincing personal accounts backed up by evidence.

Conversely, I think there are a number of people (including here) who have predetermined that “UFOs=extraterrestrials” and can’t accept criticisms of what they consider compelling evidence.

I stopped believing in “UFOs=extraterrestrials” when I started to think about the implications. The CLOSEST potentially compatible location for aliens to come from is 4 years at light speed. Beyond that, the distances get exponentially larger. Alien visitors would either need substantially larger vehicles than are being reported, or are so technologically advance that they would likely also be able to cloak their presence.

[anarch]

61. you don't consider even the verified Navy videos to be compelling evidence?

Or you just don't think they show anything unusual, despite all the military eyewitnesses' testimony, etc.?

Let's just look at the facts we know, without getting into what anyone believes: there are definitely strange phenomena, some of which seem to be physical objects, that appear to defy the laws of physics as we understand them, and seem to be intelligently controlled. We don't know what they are, who they belong to, etc...we also don't know what they aren't, and shouldn't, in my opinion, rule out explanations that potentially include extraterrestrial (or at least non-human) sources, just based on the fact that we don't like the idea.

I agree, some people cling to whatever pre-conceived notion they have about these things (and a lot of other things too for that matter), but that goes both ways.

[edhopper]

75. Seem to be

Appear to be, may be. If the witnesses aren't mistaken. And then let's say extraterrestrials are a equally plausible explanation with no evidence of any such thing.
Remote possibilities should not be the defacto conclusion.

[Kid Berwyn]

59. J Allen Hynek thought the Papua encounter remarkable.

The subject is fascinating on so many levels. I’ve been reading about UFOs since 1966, when I was 9 years of age. I lived in Michigan, where a flap was in progress. The newspapers weren’t afraid to print stories on what people reported. While we don’t know many answers, yet, we can learn and share, think and talk.

Here’s one of Dr. J. Allen Hynek’s favorite cases:



Papua New Guinea Sighting (1959)

William B. Gill, an Anglican priest with a mission in Bosinai, Papas New Guinea, observed craft-like UFOs — one with Humanoid figures on top — on two consecutive evenings, June 26-27, 1959. About twenty-five natives, including teachers and medical technicians, also observed the phenomena. They “signaled” the humanoids and received an apparent response. This was one of sixty UFO sightings within a few weeks in the New Guinea area.

Continues...

https://closeencounterproject.wordpress.com/papua-new-guinea-sighting/

More...

https://www.theblackvault.com/casefiles/father-gill-1959-papua-new-guinea-ufo-sighting/

Here’s audio of a lecture he made years later in Australia:

While limited in scope, the hearing Tuesday was a start.

Thanks, anarch! There are things from the “edge of reality” that are important to know.

[Duppers]

65. +100

[Willto]

40. My Take

People are always saying how the possibility of this being alien spacecraft should be taken more seriously and investigated more thoroughly. But what exactly does that mean? In 99% of the cases were someone claims to have seen something they don't even have a photo. What are you going to look into? Their mind? Some guy claims a spaceship sucked him up out of a corn field in Arkansas back in 1965 and aliens rammed a metal probe up his ass. How do you verify that? Is there some kind of metallurgy test they can do on the lining of the rectum that will show trace metal residue? Would there still be residue there after all those decades. And if so would the test confirm it was metal of extraterrestrial origin? I doubt it. So right off the bat any old claim such as that is a non starter. There is simply no where to go with it.

As for these recent photos and videos? I have watched them and they are just completely inconclusive as to exactly what they are. They could be any of a dozen entirely mundane things. And since we live in a world where things like prop planes, jet planes, missiles, drones, weather balloons, etc, etc, all exist I would put my money in that ballpark for an answer. Also instrument indicated sightings on radar or FLIR are notorious for false or misleading readings. A fact that can be easily verified with a little objective reading on the subject. But of course if you "Want To Believe" you tend not to seek any skeptical information.

And finally further muddying the waters is that a whole cottage industry has cropped up around flying saucers. Books, movies, documentaries, tv shows, conventions, and even tourist destinations like Roswell are dangling out there to suck cash from the pocket of the "Motivated Believer". Even without a perceivable motive humans are known to lie and exaggerate. And sometimes even when trying to be honest they are just flat wrong. But man you throw the potential for fame and money into the mix and it's like gas on a fire. The end result is a clear motivation by participants in this industry and their followers to attach far more significance to these videos and photos than they really deserve.

[Archae]

41. As to the guy in Arkansas in 1965...

It's also just as possible he had a really vivid dream.

I've had some really weird dreams too.

And decades ago, I knew a guy at work, who was convinced Santa Claus was real.
The whole thing, North Pole home and workshop, flying reindeer, etc.

He claimed to have seen Santa in a sleigh fly off his roof when he was a kid.

I asked the guy if it could of been just a really vivid dream, and he got all indignant.
"I saw him!!! Now prove me wrong!"

[Kid Berwyn]

67. Understand why you feel that way.

Much, if not most, of what’s been written on the subject is crap.

If you’re interested in the science, Jacques Valle’s “Challenge to Science” and J Allen Hynek’s “The UFO Experience” make a good start.

Let me know if you’re interested in more recommendations. Always happy to help readers and Democrats.

[LeftInTX]

63. Hey, I had an affair with a Martian!

My kids are all radioactive and have x-ray vision

[Kid Berwyn]

68. Here's why The Pentagon considers UFOs "Serious Business"

Mantell, Moncla, Wilson and Valentich.

The first three were pilots, officers in the United States armed forces. The fourth name was a young Australian air cadet.

Each lost their life in association with UFOs. There likely are others. Here's a bit on them:

Thomas Mantell

Mantell Case (1948)

EXCERPT...

Mantell was an experienced pilot; his flight history consisted of 2,167 hours in the air, and he had been honored for his part in the Battle of Normandy during World War II.

On 7 January 1948, Godman Field at Fort Knox, Kentucky received a report from the Kentucky Highway Patrol of an unusual aerial object near Maysville, Kentucky. Reports of a westbound circular object, 250 feet (76 m) to 300 feet (91 m) in diameter, were received from Owensboro, Kentucky, and Irvington, Kentucky.

At about 1:45 p.m., Sgt Quinton Blackwell saw an object from his position in the control tower at Fort Knox. Two other witnesses in the tower also reported a white object in the distance. Base commander Colonel Guy Hix reported an object he described as "very white," and "about one fourth the size of the full moon ... Through binoculars it appeared to have a red border at the bottom ... It remained stationary, seemingly, for one and a half hours." Observers at Clinton County Army Air Field in Ohio described the object "as having the appearance of a flaming red cone trailing a gaseous green mist" and observed the object for around 35 minutes. Another observer at Lockbourne Army Air Field in Ohio noted, "Just before leaving it came to very near the ground, staying down for about ten seconds, then climbed at a very fast rate back to its original altitude, 10,000 feet, leveling off and disappearing into the overcast heading 120 degrees. Its speed was greater than 500 mph in level flight."

Four P-51 Mustangs of C Flight, 165th Fighter Squadron Kentucky Air National Guard already in the air—one piloted by Mantell—were told to approach the object. Blackwell was in radio communication with the pilots throughout the event.

One pilot's Mustang was low on fuel, and he quickly abandoned his efforts. Air Force Captain Edward J. Ruppelt (the first head of Project Blue Book) notes that there was some disagreement amongst the air traffic controllers as to Mantell's words as he communicated with the tower: some sources reported that Mantell had described an object "which) looks metallic and of tremendous size," but, according to Ruppelt in The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, others disputed whether or not Mantell actually said this.

The other two pilots accompanied Mantell in steep pursuit of the object. They later reported they saw an object, but described it as so small and indistinct they could not identify it. Mantell ignored suggestions that the pilots should level their altitude and try to more clearly see the object.

Only one of Mantell's companions, Lt. Albert Clemmons, had an oxygen mask, and his oxygen was in low supply. Clemmons and a Lt. Hammond called off their pursuit at 22,500 feet (6,900 m). Mantell continued to climb, however. According to the Air Force, once Mantell passed 25,000 feet (7,600 m) he supposedly blacked out from the lack of oxygen (hypoxia), and his plane began spiraling back towards the ground. A witness later reported Mantell's Mustang in a circling descent. His plane crashed at a farm south of Franklin, Kentucky, on the Tennessee-Kentucky state line.

Firemen later pulled Mantell's body from the Mustang's wreckage. His wristwatch had stopped at 3:18 p.m., the time of his crash. Meanwhile, by 3:50 p.m. the UFO was no longer visible to observers at Godman Field. The Mantell Incident was reported by newspapers around the nation, and received significant news media attention. A number of sensational rumors were also circulated about Mantell's crash. Among the rumors were claims that Mantell's fighter had been shot down by the UFO he was chasing, and that the Air Force covered up evidence proving this. Another rumor stated that Mantell's body was found riddled with strange holes. However, no evidence has ever surfaced to substantiate any of these claims. In 1956, Ruppelt wrote that the Mantell Crash was one of three "classic" UFO cases in 1948 that would help to define the UFO phenomenon in the public mind, and would help to convince Air Force intelligence specialists that UFOs were a "real", physical phenomenon (Ruppelt 30). The other two sightings were the Gorman Dogfight and the Chiles-Whitted UFO Encounter.

CONTINUED...

http://www.mufon.com/mantell-case---1948.html

Felix Moncla and Robert Wilson



USAF Radar operator stated he watched the aircraft approach the UFO; then saw the two blips merge into one return that quickly moved off the screen.

Marksville Weekly News

Avoyelles Parish has connections to a UFO mystery that goes back 49 years. Gordon Heath from Surrey, British Columbia was in Marksville recently to investigate the background of Lt. Felix E. Moncla who disappeared along with another crew member, Second Lt. Robert L. Wilson, over Lake Superior on Monday, November 23, 1953.

According to Heath, who is a UFO hobbyist, Moncla was on temporary assignment at Kinross Air Force Base in ...(sic. Michigan)... when he was sent to identify and unidentified craft over the Soo Locks, which is restricted airspace. Moncla, in an F-89C, pursued the craft for about 30 minutes flying at 30,000 feet over the middle of Lake Superior. He was flying about 500 mph when he was instructed by ground radar to descend to 7,000 feet.

When the unidentified craft was finally on radar it was noted that the two radar images, the UFO and the Air Force jet, were very close and at some point they intersected but only one remained. Heath says that the unidentified craft flew north and disappeared from radar.

Lt. Moncla's jet mysteriously disappeared without a trace.

http://www.nuforc.org/mancla.html


No remains of the crew or wreckage of the F-89C have been found.

Frederick Valentich

His late father holds the missing flyer's picture:

Delta Sierra Juliet? Do you read?

Boats and aircraft have found no trace of the 20-year old Australian pilot who disappeared with his plane on Saturday night after radioing that he was being chased by a UFO. Frederick Valentich was on a 125 mile training flight in his single engine Cessna 182 along the coast of Bass Strait when he told air traffic controllers in Melbourne that he was being buzzed by a UFO with 4 bright lights about 1000 feet above him.

Controllers said his last message was taped and was: "It's approaching from due east towards me. It seems to be playing some sort of game... flying at a speed I can't estimate. It's not an aircraft. It's...It is flying past. It is a long shape. I cannot identify more than that. It's coming for me right now." A minute later: "It seems to be stationary. I'm also orbiting and the thing is orbiting on top of me also. It has a green light and a sort of metallic light on the outside." Valentich then radioed that his engine was running roughly. His last words were: "It is not an aircraft."

The Australian Air Force said it had received 11 reports from people along the coast who said they saw UFOs on Saturday night, but the Transport Department was skeptical. Ken Williams, a spokesman for the department, said, "It's funny all these people ringing up with UFO reports well after Valentich's disappearance. It seems people often decide after the event, they too had seen strange lights. But although we can't take them too seriously, we can never discourgae such reports when investigating a plane's disappearance."

SNIP...

ACTUAL TRANSCRIPTION OF MELBOURNE FLIGHT SERVICE

The transcript portion of the communication between Valentich and Melbourne Flight Service as released by the Australian Department of Transport follows: (FS - Flight Service, DSJ - Frederick Valentich aircraft designation).

1906:14 DSJ Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet. Is there any known traffic below five thousand?

FS Delta Sierra Juliet, no known traffic.

DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, I am, seems to be a large aircraft below five thousand.

1906:44 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, What type of aircraft is it?

DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, I cannot affirm, it is four bright, it seems to me like landing lights.

1907 FS Delta Sierra Juliet.

1907:31 DSJ Melbourne, this is Delta Sierra Juliet, the aircraft has just passed over me at least a thousand feet above.

FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, and it is a large aircraft, confirmed?

DSJ Er-unknown, due to the speed it's travelling, is there any air force aircraft in the vicinity?

FS Delta Sierra Juliet, no known aircraft in the vicinity.

1908:18 DSJ Melbourne, it's approaching now from due east towards me.

FS Delta Sierra Juliet.

1908:41 DSJ (open microphone for two seconds.)

1908:48 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, it seems to me that he's playing some sort of game, he's flying over me two, three times at speeds I could not identify.

1909 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, what is your actual level?

DSJ My level is four and a half thousand, four five zero zero.

FS Delta Sierra Juliet, and you confirm you cannot identify the aircraft?

DSJ Affirmative.

FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, stand by.

1909:27 DSJ Melbourne, Delta Sierra Juliet, it's not an aircraft it is (open microphone for two seconds).

1909:42 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, can you describe the -er- aircraft?

DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, as it's flying past it's a long shape (open microphone for three seconds) cannot identify more than it has such speed (open microphone for three seconds). It's before me right now Melbourne.

1910 FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger and how large would the - er - object be?

1910:19 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, Melbourne, it seems like it's stationary. What I'm doing right now is orbiting and the thing is just orbiting on top of me also. It's got a green light and sort of metallic like, it's all shiny on the outside.

FS Delta Sierra Juliet

1910:46 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet (open microphone for three seconds) It's just vanished.

FS Delta Sierra Juliet

1911 DSJ Melbourne, would you know what kind of aircraft I've got? Is it a military aircraft?

FS Delta Sierra Juliet, Confirm the - er ~ aircraft just vanished.

DSJ Say again.

FS Delta Sierra Juliet, is the aircraft still with you?

DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet; it's (open microphone for two seconds) now approaching from the south-west.

FS Delta Sierra Juliet

1911:50 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet, the engine is rough-idling. I've got it set at twenty three twenty-four and the thing is coughing.

FS Delta Sierra Juliet, roger, what are your intentions?

DSJ My intentions are - ah - to go to King Island - ah - Melbourne. That strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again (open microphone for two seconds). It is hovering and it's not an aircraft.

FS Delta Sierra Juliet.

1912:28 DSJ Delta Sierra Juliet. Melbourne (open microphone for seventeen seconds).

SOURCE: http://www.ufocasebook.com/australianpilot.html

So that’s part of the reason why the Pentagon considers UFOs “serious business.”

As for people who ridicule those who report or discuss UFOs, that’s undemocratic.

[struggle4progress]

69. "You fools! It's getting away!"

https://media.newyorker.com/cartoons/593b697cf60db474ba953eb1/master/w_960,c_limit/DC051017A.jpg

[Kid Berwyn]

72. Great cartoon, that! And another...

[struggle4progress]

70. Two little men

[Kid Berwyn]

73. The Flying Saucer

Aerial survey camera recorded the image below over Lago Coto, Costa Rica, 1951



THE FLYING SAUCER

by T/Sgt Barnes
March 1950

Hearing tales of little men
and speeding ships on high.
Around me all most every day,
I cast a weary eye.

Today I saw men gathered
around the hangar door.
They said they saw a Saucer.
A tiny ship they swore.

They pointed to the cloudless sky.
“Past Vapor Trails”, they sigh,
I saw a faroff something,
Shining in the sky.

We watched it hard, it seemed to move
As vapors drifted by
I felt the strangest feelings
Of course I know not why.

A weather baloon sent up to give
The weather for the day.
Some said a star that shines so bright,
We see it in the day.

Elusions, stars or man made things
Ships from other planets.
We watched, we talked and wondered.
But none of us could name it.

Because I could not give them
The answer is not given,
What is the thing that shines so bright
So far up in the heavens.

T/Sgt Barnes

FINIS

[ecstatic]

78. Global warming is forcing undiscovered flying creatures into the skies

To either find new food or habitats. Some creatures have lights. Maybe they live in the ocean.

[Kid Berwyn]

79. "A frog hops. These are walking."

That there are undiscovered forms of life is a remarkable idea. And it may be correct here on earth in 2022. That’s why it’s important to learn, rather than ridicule.

When we learn, we become more intelligent. When we are forced to stay stupid, we make the Betsy DeVoses and Peter Thiels of the world happy.

Regarding the idea of what forms life at take, a report from Ann Druffel about Harrison Bailey, a regular guy out for an extended walk, who encountered something his mind could not fit in with what he knew to be right.

PDF with out of sequence page layout:

http://www.ignaciodarnaude.com/contacto_alienigena/Bailey,Contact%20E.T.%201951,Ann%20Druffel-1.pdf

[ecstatic]

80. That story was really cool

Thanks for sharing. I listened to it through a podcast by the cryptonauts.

[miyazaki]

82. Hell what about UHO's? Cause I hear more shit than I can't identify.

Whats up with that?

Bah, nobody takes me seriously.

[Kid Berwyn]

84. Your report is called an observation. It contains information...

…that can be compared to other reports. However, we only have a memory.

When we have a recording — sound, video, radar, etc. — we can compare it, as well, but it is solid.

What US, Brazilian and Chilean navy personnel photographed...

USN Chief Delbert Newhouse filmed -- on dry land in 1952.

When a dozen luminous, disc-shaped objects flashed across a clear blue sky on July 2, 1952, near Tremonton, Utah, Navy Chief Delbert C. Newhouse pulled his car off the road, grabbed his 16mm movie camera and filmed what he knew was a bizarre sight.

Newhouse, who had more than 1,000 hours of aerial photography mission experience, shot 1,200 frames of one of the objects, which has been described as "two pie pans, one inverted on top of the other."

After rigorous examination of the 75-second film, Navy analysts concluded that the objects were not conventional aircraft, but some sort of "intelligently controlled" vehicles. They stopped short of calling them space vehicles. The Air Force, however, called them "possible birds."

Source: https://www.stripes.com/news/is-the-sky-falling-this-man-says-maybe-not-1.130358

With the Argentine armada in the International Geophysical Year of 1958...



The Trindade Island UFO Incidents and Photographs

Brent Raynes, Classic UFO Cases
original source | fair use notice

Summary: On January 16, 1958, while a Brazilian Navy ship known as the Almirante Saldanha sat anchored off the south coast of Trindade, a small rocky island located in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, it seems that a most remarkable event transpired.

On January 16, 1958, while a Brazilian Navy ship known as the Almirante Saldanha sat anchored off the south coast of Trindade, a small rocky island located in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, it seems that a most remarkable event transpired. Forty-eight (48) crew members and passengers onboard at the time were witnesses. What made the event even more memorable, besides the large number of eyewitnesses, were the remarkable photographs taken by a skilled civilian photographer at the time. The incident began at 12:15 p.m., when an airborne object was spotted approaching the island. The photographer, Almiro Barauna, described as a member of the Icarai Club for Submarine Hunting, was the official photographer assigned to this unit because of his skill in underwater photography. In October 1957, the island had become a scientific research station for oceanographic and meteorological studies for the International Geophysical Year (IGY). Before that it hadn’t been occupied since World War II, when it had been used as an American and Brazilian anti-submarine base.

In a statement made soon afterwards to the Jornal Do Brasil, a newspaper in Rio de Janeiro, Barauna described how he was up on deck when a Amilar Vieira and retired Air Force Captain Jose Teobaldo Viegas began pointing toward the sky, yelling about a bright object that was moving toward the island. Barauna was trying to see it when Lt. Homero Ribeiro, the ship’s dentist, came running excitedly in his direction, also pointing skyward and yelling about some kind of object. After about 30 seconds of looking, he was finally able to see it. By this time, the object was close to the island. Barauna was able to detect it on account of a flash it emitted. He described how it glittered at certain times, and he wasn’t certain if this was the reflection of sunlight or the object’s own light.

Barauna shot two pictures of the object just before it disappeared behind a certain Desejado Peak. After several seconds the object reappeared. It was closer, flying lower and faster, and moving in the opposite direction. He then shot his third photograph. This was followed by a fourth and a fifth attempt that proved unsuccessful on account of being pushed and nudged by others also trying to observe the UFO. As a consequence, those two photographs only contained the sea and the island.

The object was then flying back out to sea, from the general direction it had arrived from. For a brief time it seemed to hang in mid-air. This was when Barauna shot his last picture, which had also been the last one on the film. About 10 seconds later, the UFO began to move off into the distance again and soon disappeared from sight.

The object was described as metallic looking, dark gray in color, was solid-looking but was surrounded by a greenish, phosphorescent haze or mist. There was also a ring around its mid- section that gave it an appearance similar to the planet Saturn.

Continues...

http://www.ufoevidence.org/documents/doc644.htm

The Chilean Navy in 2014



Chilean Navy helicopter pilot shoots video of UFO

BY MCCLATCHY FEBRUARY 7, 2018, 8:03 PM

On Nov. 11, 2014, a Navy captain and technician were on a routine daytime patrol mission flying north along the Chilean coast, west of Santiago, and filmed an unidentified flying object.

Read more here: https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article125629429.html#storylink=cpy

Video here: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/latest-news/article125658529.html

I’ve never seen — or heard — a saucer or photographed or recorded one, but I imagine it would be difficult to frame a moving subject that may be shocking to experience in person, relatively small at a distance, exhibits a bright glow, covered by what appears to be shiny or rumpled metal, might be observable/unobservable on radar, from far away...Great we have images at all. As for sound? Check out the testimony of Rev. Gill in Reply 59!

PS: While what many say they saw or heard is unbelievable, I will listen to what you or anyone says without changing how I think about you — with respect.

[USALiberal]

85. What a fucking waste of time! Nt

[Kid Berwyn]

90. If that were so, why bother posting?

Source: Studies In Intelligence Vol. 01 No. 1, 1997

A Die-Hard Issue

CIA's Role in the Study of UFOs, 1947-90

Gerald K. Haines

An extraordinary 95 percent of all Americans have at least heard or read something about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), and 57 percent believe they are real. (1) Former US Presidents Carter and Reagan claim to have seen a UFO. UFOlogists--a neologism for UFO buffs--and private UFO organizations are found throughout the United States. Many are convinced that the US Government, and particularly CIA, are engaged in a massive conspiracy and coverup of the issue. The idea that CIA has secretly concealed its research into UFOs has been a major theme of UFO buffs since the modern UFO phenomena emerged in the late 1940s. (2)

In late 1993, after being pressured by UFOlogists for the release of additional CIA information on UFOs, (3) DCI R. James Woolsey ordered another review of all Agency files on UFOs. Using CIA records compiled from that review, this study traces CIA interest and involvement in the UFO controversy from the late 1940s to 1990. It chronologically examines the Agency's efforts to solve the mystery of UFOs, its programs that had an impact on UFO sightings, and its attempts to conceal CIA involvement in the entire UFO issue. What emerges from this examination is that, while Agency concern over UFOs was substantial until the early 1950s, CIA has since paid only limited and peripheral attention to the phenomena.

SNIP…

The House Armed Services Committee also held brief hearings on UFOs in 1966 that produced similar results. Secretary of the Air Force Harold Brown assured the committee that most sightings were easily explained and that there was no evidence that "strangers from outer space" had been visiting Earth. He told the committee members, however, that the Air Force would keep an open mind and continue to investigate all UFO reports. (71)

Following the report of its O'Brien Committee, the House hearings on UFOs, and Dr. Robertson's disclosure on a CBS Reports program that CIA indeed had been involved in UFO analysis, the Air Force in July 1966 again approached the Agency for declassification of the entire Robertson panel report of 1953 and the full Durant report on the Robertson panel deliberations and findings. The Agency again refused to budge. Karl H. Weber, Deputy Director of OSI, wrote the Air Force that "We are most anxious that further publicity not be given to the information that the panel was sponsored by the CIA." Weber noted that there was already a sanitized version available to the public. (72) Weber's response was rather shortsighted and ill considered. It only drew more attention to the 13-year-old Robertson panel report and CIA's role in the investigation of UFOs. The science editor of The Saturday Review drew nationwide attention to the CIA's role in investigating UFOs when he published an article criticizing the "sanitized version" of the 1953 Robertson panel report and called for release of the entire document. (73)

Unknown to CIA officials, Dr. James E. McDonald, a noted atmospheric physicist from the University of Arizona, had already seen the Durant report on the Robertson panel proceedings at Wright-Patterson on 6 June 1966. When McDonald returned to Wright-Patterson on 30 June to copy the report, however, the Air Force refused to let him see it again, stating that it was a CIA classified document. Emerging as a UFO authority, McDonald publicly claimed that the CIA was behind the Air Force secrecy policies and coverup. He demanded the release of the full Robertson panel report and the Durant report. (74)

CONTINUES…

https://sgp.fas.org/library/ciaufo.html

And that’s from an Agency that wants us to move on from the subject.

[librechik]

87. Thanks, Kid, and hang in there! Amazing how "This is real" from the military (2017) gets forgotten

when the same old arguments get spewed on a talk board.

We now know these objects are "real" in the sense that they register on radar, other instruments and EYEBALLs of the military. And the fact that they are willing to share 400 ( among the military only!) reported incidents, when they all know a single report can sink your military career should convince anyone this phenomena, as you say, dear Kid Berwyn, is worth studying.

Even more so since reportedly the phenomena are still spotted, and I quote "Every day" by navy pilots. Like every day today.

That's a lot of sightings. A lot of evidence, since I assume they didn't turn the cameras and radar off in 2004 when the so-called tic tac etc were filmed.

This subject is not worth the mocking and ridicule as one finds at DU perennially, even now it seems.

Fortunately, Science marches on. Without those people.

[Kid Berwyn]

91. A: The speed at which Corporate News drops UAP story.

Q: What’s faster than a UFO?



Pentagon now reports about 400 UFO encounters: 'We want to know what's out there'

Officials are "reasonably" sure pyramid-shaped objects in one video were drones.

ByLuis Martinez
ABC News, May 17, 2022

Top Pentagon officials told a House panel on Tuesday that there are now close to 400 reports from military personnel of possible encounters with UFOs -- a significant increase from the 144 tracked in a major report released last year by the U.S. intelligence community.

A Navy official also said at Tuesday's hearing that investigators are "reasonably confident" the floating pyramid-shaped objects captured on one leaked, widely seen military video were likely drones.

That footage, which the military confirmed last year was authentic, had helped spur interest in purported UFOs, also referred to as "unidentified aerial phenomena" or UAPs.

Indiana Rep. André Carson, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee, called Tuesday's hearing, the first in more than 50 years focused on the aerial incidents.

UAPs, Carson said, "are a potential national security threat and they need to be treated that way."

Continues…

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pentagon-reports-400-ufo-encounters-tells-congress-theyre-investigating-video/story?id=84753756

Thank you for the kind words, librechik! The subject brings out the silence is Golden, if not undemocratic nothing for you to see here crowd.

[hunter]

89. I thought this would be a thread mocking the UFO hearings so I didn't click on it. Too easy.

Most UFO theories tend to be lacking in imagination. Any beings able to travel between the stars, or even from the outer reaches of our own solar system, are not going to be zipping about in the equivalent of the Jetson family car.

w

I've personally had some "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," half of them I attribute to my own mental illness, which sometimes includes hallucinations mostly auditory but sometimes visual, especially when I'm not sleeping enough.

Sometimes I've seen stuff that is later explained. I once happened upon a very early pre-dawn test flight of a stealth fighter back when I was prone to running long distances and minor trespasses.



That first encounter registered in my head as another UFO until the aircraft was publicized. I had a few drone aircraft register as UFOs as well. Military things like this, before they were commonplace:

w

These things look like they are zipping around at incredible speeds if you misjudge the distance. When I saw them they were probably looking at me.

Meh, that's just Hunter. He's crazy and mostly harmless.

The true interstellar visitors don't need spaceships. They already permeate everything, shifting their awareness around according to their incomprehensible whims.

On the macro-scales of the three dimensional universe we live in, faster-than-light travel is simply impossible.

That's a good thing.

There are many other species out there just like us. They don't play well with others.

The speed of light and all the ways to die in space keep us very well quarantined.

[Kid Berwyn]

92. Those are very important observations.

Add them to what has been reported. Then we can Classify. Analyze. Compare. Contrast. Collate. Catalogue. Report and begin to understand.

Jacques Vallee may see the phenomenon as you do. Going from memory, he found by computerizing contemporary and historical reports going back centuries, UFOs represents a physical object , under intelligent control, with unexplained energy levels and means of operation; the objects have photographed, recorded on radar, and interfered with communication and operations; reports may reflect a narrative or a process that appears to be space travelers, but it may just want us to think and remember that; some reports may support an inter dimensional means of operation; occupants or beings have been associated with some of the objects; a percentage of witnesses report a psychic component to their experiences; people are often affected for life by what they experienced.

[LeftInTX]

93. I used to have a book full of those photos

My dad said it was BS.

He was a USAF pilot and meteorologist.

[Kid Berwyn]

94. His analysis may be correct.

The subject of UFOs is a field filled with absurd events, individuals and hypotheses. Those who take a scientific approach are doing their best to separate the signal from the noise.

In the recent hearings, the Pentagon and Homeland Security officials reported that the US Navy photos and videos were backed up by radar records and eyewitnesses. They would not talk about the “multi-sensor” data in public session. They also did not address in public what physical traces have been recovered.

What the public data the USN has gathered seem to show: the phenomenon performs what seem like observations, tracks our aircraft and ships for hours, buzzes our ships and planes in near-collisions, seemingly travel from space to the atmosphere and sometimes into the ocean. It’s not just a few reports, but at least 400 over recent years.

I am thankful to the late Sen. Harry Reid for helping start the new studies and efforts to learn more. Here’s the unclassified 2021 report in PDF:

https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Prelimary-Assessment-UAP-20210625.pdf

PS: My dad served in the USN medical corps in the early 1960s. He told me it was all BS, too.

[brooklynite]

95. And the net result of These analyses is: they're unidentified...

… but too many people leap from that to “alien spaceships”.

[Kid Berwyn]

96. Jacques Vallee would be disappointed if that was the explanation.

The UFO phenomenon implies unknown beings, alien intelligences, Artificial Intelligence, trans-dimensional travel, interstellar travel, manipulative behavior, a compelling narrative, game theory and more. The objects have left behind evidence of their existence, including burned bushes, burned people, burned roadways, bent railroad tracks, radar tracks and more.

As far as I know, no one knows what UFO/UAP are, or who or what is behind them. I want to know, though. It’s my right.

As for those who ridicule me for my interest, I got to laugh. They’ve been proven wrong: there IS something real behind the phenomenon.