In the previous chapters I searched for life on Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. I also examined the work of SETI, Hubble and Kepler in discovering potentially habitable distant worlds. This post explores the UFO phenomenon and asks the question: what if we have already been visited by alien lifeforms?

A UFO is in it's strictest sense an unidentified flying object and simply refers to an unknown craft or aerial phenomenon. The term however has become synonymous with alien spacecraft. Thousands of UFO reports are made each year from every corner of the globe and the majority are later revealed to be an unusual weather phenomenon, a misidentified or secret military aircraft, or even regular celestial bodies such as Venus shining brighter than usual. A small percentage however defy explanation and many believe are in fact visitors from other planets.

UFO History

Sightings have been recorded throughout human history but it is reasonable to discount many of them as misunderstood astronomical events such as comets or meteors entering our atmosphere. It is widely accepted that the beginnings of UFO lore began in the early 19th century. The picture on the right is of a newspaper front page from 1806. Strange 'air ships' were seen all around the United States and many witnesses swore an affidavit to that effect. While early pioneers were devising powered airships it wasn't until 1852 that Henri Giffard made the first engine powered-flight of 25 km in a steam powered airship.

The Henri Giffard Airship

In 1904 three crew members of the USS Supply witnessed three bright red egg shaped objects flying in formation off the coast of San Francisco. They flew beneath the cloud layer and then swiftly changed course, soaring off on a direct path from the Earth at an incredible speed. The largest of these was described as being tree times the size of the sun and they disappeared from sight with a few minutes.

The Roswell Incident

The most infamous UFO report and cause for much research and debate happened in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947. The story begins when William Brazel, a foreman at the Foster Homestead stumbled upon debris strewn over a wide area of the property. Initial reports from the Roswell Daily Record spoke of a crashed disk. Brazel contacted RAAF Major Jesse Marcel and he arrived with a plain clothed gentleman to investigate and gather up the debris, described as lots of tin foil, sticks and paper. The story died down only to be resurrected in 1978 with research published by Stanton Friedman claiming that at least one other worldly craft had crashed at Roswell and that alien bodies had been recovered and secreted away by the military and taken to a secret facility at Area 51 in Nevada for analysis.

The US military had initially claimed that the Roswell incident was a crashed weather balloon but in the early 90s changed the story to a secret high altitude nuclear test surveillance balloon called Project Mogul. The conspiracy theorists claim that this is in fact a cover up for a more exotic explanation.

Of Mutilations and Abductions

Surprisingly, livestock mutilations stretch back hundreds of years. In 1606 the first reported case was documented in London and it's surrounding counties. Whole herds, some numbering 100 sheep were slaughtered. Nothing but tallow and some internal organs were taken from the animals and the incidents appear in some of King James I's official records. Many such incidents have been reported over the decades and due to the nature of the inflicted injuries speculation has run rampant as to the perpetrators. In the majority of cases the animals have appeared to have been skillfully dissected and been drained of all blood. There is no physical evidence of activity on the ground leading to speculation that the attackers came from the skies - UFO believers would claim it's due to aliens abducting animals in order to experiment on them, replacing the carcasses once they are done. Conspiracy theorists however would point to secret nefarious military operations.

Barney and Betty Hill are among the first alien abductees on record. It occurred in 1961 as they travelled at night through rural New Hampshire and began when Betty spotted a bright light moving in the sky. She had recently heard a tale from her sister regarding a UFO sighting she'd had and was naturally curious to check it out. She grabbed her binoculars and saw what she claimed was a strange craft with pulsing lights, rotating and flying erratically. Slowly it drew closer. She urged Barney to pull over and stop the car for a closer look and to let their dog out for a quick freshen up. They got back in their car and continued driving, all the while aware that the strange craft appeared to be following them. They watched and saw the craft bounce around the sky in an erratic manner. With an eerie silence it dipped down and headed straight for them. Barney pushed on the brakes and brought the car to a screeching halt in the middle of the highway. The Hills saw the craft - some 100 feet wide - looming above them, hovering silently. Barney later described it as reminding him of a pancake. He exited his car making sure his pistol was in his pocket. Mr Hill then took the binoculars and peered up at the craft and saw what he later described as 8 to 10 humanoid figures looking back at him through the windows. He heard a message to continue looking at to stay where he was. Slowly a ramp extended and the ship moved closer. Barney ran back to the car screaming "They're going to capture us!"

Quickly reaching the safety of the car he hit the gas and sped away instructing his wife to keep an eye on the craft. When Betty opened the window and stuck her head out she looked up and saw the object flying directly above them. They both hear and felt a series of buzzing and beeping sounds and they claimed they entered a different state of consciousness. The next thing they knew they somehow 'woke up' to find that they were 35 miles further down the road hours later.

In hypnotic regression they both later told the same tale of being taken on board the UFO. They were separated and subjected to numerous tests and physical examinations, some of an extremely personal nature.

Many such stories have been circulated around the world in the years since. They invariably involve being taken against one's will, sometimes in broad daylight, mostly at night for invasive physical tests and examinations. Abductees have claimed to have been woken up by strange grey figures with large heads and almond shaped lifeless eyes looming over their beds. The abductee is paralysed and cannot so much as scream. Often messages are conveyed telepathically from alien to abductee. Sometimes they are carried away, other times they are lifted by some unknown force and transported on board alien space craft. Critics claim that the phenomenon of sleep paralysis is the cause where you almost wake up from a deep sleep to find your body cannot move. Nightmares explain the menacing figures. UFO believers naturally point to an alien program of cross breeding with humans for some unknown purpose, conspiracy theorists lean towards a clandestine government program. Either way, many such incidents are reported every year although hard physical proof has so far been difficult to come by.

I have barely scratched the surface with regards the UFO phenomenon, but it is a subject that fascinates me. While I find it difficult to believe that an alien species has travelled here from somewhere out in space, just to lurk in the shadows and not directly interact with mankind, I also strongly believe that ET is in fact out there somewhere in the vastness of the cosmos. This series has I hope shined a light on my interest in this field. I am humbled at the scale of the galaxy we call home and of the wider universe it lies within. Earth is less than a grain of sand on the wide beach of this universe and our time upon it a miniscule blip in time compared to it's age. I have to hope that there is life out there somewhere, otherwise it's an awfully lonely planet we call home.