UFOs and the U.S. Air Force
PART I
Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs)
What is an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO)?
From the United States Air Force Academy
(Department of Physics) Textbook Introductory
Space Science, Volume II
Well, according to United States Air Force Regulation 80-17 (dated
19 September 1966), a UFO is "any aerial phenomenon or object which
is unknown or appears to be out of the ordinary to the observer."
This is a very broad definition which applies equally well to one
individual seeing his first noctilucent [luminous] cloud at twilight
as it does to another individual seeing his first helicopter.
However, at present most people consider the term UFO to mean an
object which behaves in a strange or erratic manner while moving
through the Earth's atmosphere.
That strange phenomenon has evoked strong emotions
and great curiosity among a large segment of our world's population.
The average person is interested because he loves a mystery, the
professional military man is involved because of the possible threat
to national security, and some scientists are interested because of
the basic curiosity that led them into becoming researchers.
The literature on UFOs is so vast, and the stories so many and
varied, that we can only present a sketchy outline of the subject in
this chapter. That outline includes description classifications,
operational domains (temporal and spatial), some theories as to the
nature of the UFO phenomenon, human reactions, attempts to attack
the problem scientifically, and some tentative conclusions.
33.1—Descriptions
One of the greatest problems you encounter when attempting to
catalog UFO sightings, is selection of a system for cataloging.
No effective system has yet been devised, although a number of
different systems have been proposed. The net result is that
almost all UFO data are either treated in the form of individual
cases, or in the forms of inadequate qualification systems.
However, these systems do tend to have some
common factors, and a collection of these factors is as follows:
-
Size
-
Shape (disc, ellipse, football, etc.)
-
Luminosity
-
Color
-
Number of UFOs.
Behavior:
-
Location (altitude, direction, etc.)
-
Patterns of paths (straight line, climbing,
zigzagging, etc.)
-
Flight characteristics (wobbling, fluttering,
etc.)
-
Periodicity of sightings
-
Time duration
-
Curiosity or inquisitiveness
-
Avoidance
-
Hostility
Associated Effects:
-
Electro-magnetic (compass, radio, ignition
systems, etc.)
-
Radiation (burns, induced radioactivity,
etc.)
-
Ground disturbance (dust stirred up, leaves
moved, standing wave peaks of surface of water, etc.)
-
Sound (none, hissing, humming, roaring,
thunderclaps, etc.
-
Vibration (weak, strong, slow, fast)
-
Smell (ozone or other odor)
-
Flame (how much, where, when, color)
-
Smoke or cloud (amount, color, persistence)
-
Debris (type, amount, color, persistence)
-
Inhibition of voluntary movement by observers
-
Sighting of "creatures" or "beings."
After Effects:
-
Burned areas or animals
-
Depressed or flattened areas
-
Dead or "missing" animals
-
Mentally disturbed people
-
Missing items
We make no attempt here to present available data
in terms of the fore-going descriptors.
33.2—Operational Domains—Temporal and Spatial
What we will do here is to present evidence that UFOs are a
global phenomenon which may have persisted for many thousands of
years. During this discussion, please remember that the more
ancient the reports the less sophisticated the observer. Not
only were the ancient observers lacking the terminology
necessary to describe complex devices (such as present clay
helicopters) but they were also lacking the concepts necessary
to understand the true nature of such things as television,
spaceships, rockets, nuclear weapons and radiation effects.
To some, the most advanced technological concept
was a war chariot with knife blades attached to the wheels. By
the same token, the very lack of accurate terminology and
descriptions leaves the more ancient reports open to
considerable misinterpretation, and it may well be that present
evaluations of individual reports are completely wrong.
Nevertheless, let us start with an intriguing story in one of
the oldest chronicles of India—the
Book of Dzyan.
The book is a group of "story-teller" legends which were finally
gathered in manuscript form when man learned to write. One of
the stories is of a small group of beings who supposedly came to
Earth many thousands of years ago in a metal craft which orbited
the Earth several times before landing.
As told in the Book:
These beings lived on Earth while largely
keeping to themselves and were revered by the humans among
whom they had settled. But eventually differences arose
among them and they divided their numbers, several of the
men and women and some children settled in another city,
where they were promptly installed as rulers by the
awe-stricken populace.
Separation did not bring peace to these people
and finally their anger reached a point where the ruler of the
original city took with him a small number of his warriors and
they rose into the air in a huge shining metal vessel. While
they were many leagues from the city of their enemies, they
launched a great shining lance that rode on a beam of light. It
burst apart in the city of their enemies with a great ball of
flame that shot up to the heavens, almost to the stars.
All those who were in the city were horribly
burned and even those who were not in the city—but nearby— were
burned also. Those who looked upon the lance and the ball of
fire were blinded forever afterward. Those who entered the city
on foot became ill and died. Even the dust of the city was
poisoned, as were the rivers that flowed through it. Men dared
not go near it, and it gradually crumbled into dust and was
forgotten by men.
When the leader saw what he had done to his own people he
retired to his palace and refused to see anyone. Then he
gathered about him those warriors who remained, and their wives
and children, and they entered their vessels and rose one by one
into the sky and sailed away. Nor did they return.
Could this foregoing legend really be an account of an
extraterrestrial colonization, complete with guided missile,
nuclear warhead and radiation effects?
It is difficult to assess
the validity of that explanation—just as it is difficult to
explain why Greek, Roman and Nordic Mythology all discuss wars
and conflicts among their "Gods." (Even the Bible records
conflict between the legions of God and Satan.) Could it be that
each group recorded their parochial view of what was actually a
global conflict among alien colonists or visitors? Or is it that
man has led such a violent existence that he tends to expect
conflict and violence among even his gods?
Evidence of perhaps an even earlier possible contact was
uncovered by Tschi Pen Lao of the University of Peking.
He
discovered astonishing carvings in granite on a mountain in
Hunan Province and on an island in Lake Tungting. These carvings
have been evaluated as 47,000 years old, and they show people
with large trunks (breathing apparatus?) or "elephant" heads
shown on human bodies. (Remember, the Egyptians often
represented their gods as animal heads on human bodies.)
Only 8,000 years ago, rocks were sculpted in the
Tassili plateau of Sahara, depicting what appeared to be human
beings but with strange round heads (helmets? or "sun" heads on
human bodies?) And even more recently, in the Bible, Genesis 6:4
tells of angels from the sky mating with women of Earth, who
bore them children. Genesis 19:3 tells of Lot meeting two angels
in the desert and his later feeding them at his house. The Bible
also tells a rather unusual story of Ezekiel who witnessed what
has been interpreted by some to have been a spacecraft or
aircraft landing near the Chebar River in Chaldea
* (593 B.C.).
* An
ancient region of Mesopotamia.
Even the Irish have recorded strange visitations.
In the
Speculum Regali in Konungs Skuggsa (and other accounts of the
era about 956 A.D.) are numerous stories of "demonships" in the
skies. In one case a rope from one such ship became entangled
with part of a church. A man from the ship climbed down the rope
to free it, but was seized by the townspeople. The bishop made
the people release the man, who climbed back to the ship, where
the crew cut the rope and the ship rose and sailed out of sight.
In all of his actions, the climbing man appeared as if he were
swimming in water. Stories such as this makes one wonder if the
legends of the "little people" of Ireland were based upon
imagination alone.
About the same time, in Lyons, France, three men and a woman
supposedly descended from an airship or spaceship and were
captured by a mob. These foreigners admitted to being wizards,
and were killed. (No mention is made of the methods employed to
extract the admissions.) Many
documented UFO sightings occurred
throughout the Middle Ages, including an especially startling
one of a UFO over London on 16 December 1742. However, we do not
have room to include any more of the Middle Ages sightings.
Instead, two "more recent" sightings are contained in this
section to bring us up to modern times.
In a sworn statement dated 21 April 1897, a prosperous and
prominent farmer named Alexander Hamilton (Lea Roy, Kansas) told
of an attack upon his cattle at about 10:30 P.M. the previous
Monday. He, his son, and his tenant grabbed axes and ran some
700 feet from the house to the cow lot where a great
cigar-shaped ship about 300 feet long floated some 30 feet above
his cattle. It had a carriage underneath which was brightly
lighted within (dirigible and gondola?) and which had numerous
windows. Inside were six strange-looking beings jabbering in a
foreign language.
These beings suddenly became aware of Hamilton
and the others. They immediately turned a searchlight on the
farmer, and also turned on some power which sped up a turbine
wheel (about 30 feet in diameter) located under the craft. The
ship rose, taking with it a two-year-old heifer which was roped
about the neck by a cable of one-half inch thick, red material.
The next day a neighbor, Link Thomas, found the
animal's hide, legs and head in his field. He was mystified at
how the remains got to where they were because of the lack of
tracks in the soft soil. Alexander Hamilton's sworn statement
was accompanied by an affidavit as to his veracity. The
affidavit was signed by ten of the local leading citizens.
On the evening of 4 November 1957 at Fort Itaipu, Brazil, two
sentries noted a "new star" in the sky. The "star" grew in size
and within seconds stopped over the fort. It drifted slowly
downward, was as large as a big aircraft, and was surrounded by
a strong orange glow. A distinct humming sound was heard, and
then the heat struck.
A sentry collapsed almost immediately, the other
managed to slide to shelter under the heavy cannons where his
loud cries awoke the garrison. While the troops were scrambling
towards their battle stations, complete electrical failure
occurred. There was panic until the lights came back on but a
number of men still managed to see an orange glow leaving the
area at high speed. Both sentries were found badly burned—one
unconscious and the other incoherent, suffering from deep shock.
Thus, UFO sightings not only appear to extend back to 47,000
years through time but also are global in nature. One has the
feeling that this phenomenon deserves some sort of valid
scientific investigation, even if it is a low level effort.
33.3—Some Theories as to the Nature of the UFO Phenomenon
There are very few cohesive theories as to the nature of UFOs.
Those theories that have been advanced can be collected in five
groups:
-
Mysticism
-
Hoaxes, and rantings due to unstable
personalities
-
Secret Weapons
-
Natural Phenomena
-
Alien visitors.
[a] Mysticism.
It is believed by some cults that the mission
of UFOs and their crews is a spiritual one, and that all
materialistic efforts to determine the UFOs' natures are
doomed to failure.
[b] Hoaxes, and Rantings due to Unstable Personalities.
Some have suggested that all UFO reports were
the results of pranks and hoaxes, or were made by people
with unstable personalities. This attitude was particularly
prevalent during the time period when the Air Force
investigation was being operated under the code name of
Project Grudge. A few airlines even went as far as to ground
every pilot who reported seeing a "flying saucer."
The only way for the pilot to regain flight
status was to under-go a psychiatric examination. There was
a noticeable decline in pilot reports during this time
interval, and a few interpreted this decline to prove that
UFOs were either hoaxes or the result of unstable
personalities. It is of interest that NICAP (The National
Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena) even today
still receives reports from commercial pilots who neglect to
notify either the Air Force or their own airline.
There are a number of cases which indicate that not all
reports fall in the hoax category. We will examine one such
case now. It is the Socorro, New Mexico sighting made by
police Sergeant Lonnie Zamora. Sergeant Zamora was
patrolling the streets of Socorro on 24 April 1964 when he
saw a shiny object drift down into an area of gullies on the
edge of town. He also heard a loud roaring noise which
sounded as if an old dynamite shed located out that way had
exploded. He immediately radioed police headquarters, and
drove out toward the shed.
Zamora was forced to stop about 150 yards
away from a deep gully in which there appeared to be an
overturned car. He radioed that he was investigating a
possible wreck, and then worked his car up onto the mesa and
over toward the edge of the gully. He parked short, and when
he walked the final few feet to the edge, he was amazed to
see that it was not a car but instead was a weird egg-shaped
object about fifteen feet long, white in color and resting
on short, metal legs. Beside it, unaware of his presence,
were two humanoids dressed in silvery coveralls.
They seemed to be working on a portion of the
underside of the object. Zamora was still standing there,
surprised, when they suddenly noticed him and dove out of
sight around the object. Zamora also headed the other way,
back toward his car. He glanced back at the object just as a
bright blue flame shot down from the underside. Within
seconds the egg-shaped thing rose out of the gully with "an
ear-splitting roar."
The object was out of sight over the nearby
mountains almost immediately, and Sergeant Zamora was moving
the opposite direction almost as fast when he met Sergeant
Sam Chavez who was responding to Zamora's earlier radio
calls. Together they investigated the gully and found the
bushes charred and still smoking where the blue flame had
jetted down on them. About the charred area were four deep
marks where the metal legs had been. Each mark was three and
one half inches deep, and was circular in shape.
The sand in the gully was very hard packed,
so no sign of the humanoids' footprints could be found. An
official investigation was launched that same day, and all
data obtained supported the stories of Zamora and Chavez. It
is rather difficult to label this episode a hoax, and it is
also doubtful that both Zamora and Chavez shared portions of
the same hallucination.
[c] Secret Weapons.
A few individuals have proposed that UFOs are
actually advanced weapon systems, and that their natures
must not be revealed. Very few people accept this as a
credible suggestion.
[d] Natural Phenomena.
It has also been suggested that at least
some, and possibly all of the UFO cases were just
misinterpreted manifestations of natural phenomena.
Undoubtedly this suggestion has some merit. People have
reported, as UFOs, objects which were conclusively proven to
be balloons (weather and skyhook), the planet Venus,
man-made artificial satellites, normal aircraft, unusual
cloud formations, and lights from ceilometers (equipment
projecting light beams on cloud bases to determine the
height of the aircraft visual ceiling).
It is also suspected that people have
reported mirages, optical illusions, swamp gas and ball
lightning (a poorly-understood discharge of electrical
energy in a spheroidal or ellipsoidal shape . . . some
charges have lasted for up to fifteen minutes but the ball
is usually no bigger than a large orange). But it is
difficult to tell a swamp dweller that the strange,
fast-moving light he saw in the sky was swamp gas; and it is
just as difficult to tell a farmer that a bright UFO in the
sky is the same ball lightning that he has seen rolling
along his fence wires in dry weather.
Thus accidental misidentification of what
might well be natural phenomena breeds mistrust and
disbelief; it leads to the hasty conclusion that the truth
is deliberately not being told. One last suggestion of
interest has been made, that the UFOs were plasmoids from
space-concentrated blobs of solar wind that succeeded in
reaching the surface of the Earth.
Somehow this last suggestion does not seem to
be very plausible; perhaps because it ignores such things as
penetration of Earth's magnetic field.
PART II
Alien Visitors
The most stimulating theory for us is that the UFOs
are material objects which are either "manned" or remote-controlled
by beings who are alien to this planet. There is some evidence
supporting this viewpoint. In addition to police Sergeant Lonnie
Zamora's experience, let us consider
the case of Barney and Betty
Hill. On a trip through New England they lost two hours on the night
of 19 September 1961 without even realizing it.
However, after that night both Barney and Betty began
developing psychological problems which eventually grew sufficiently
severe that they submitted themselves to psychiatric examination and
treatment. During the course of treatment, hypnotherapy was used,
and it yielded remarkably detailed and similar stories from both
Barney and Betty. Essentially they had been hypnotically kidnapped,
taken aboard a UFO, submitted to two-hour physicals, and released
with posthypnotic suggestions to forget the entire incident.
The evidence is rather strong that this is what the
Hills, even in their subconscious, believe happened to them. And it
is of particular importance that after the "posthypnotic block" was
removed, both of the Hills ceased having their psychological
problems.
The Hill's description of the aliens was similar to descriptions
provided in other cases, but this particular type of alien appears
to be in the minority. The most commonly described alien is about
three and one half feet tall, has a round head (helmet?), arms
reaching to or below his knees, and is wearing a silvery space suit
or coveralls. Other aliens appear to be essentially the same as
Earthmen, while still others have particularly wide (wrap around)
eyes and mouths with very thin lips. And there is a rare group
reported as about 4 feet tall, weight of around 35 pounds, and
covered with thick hair or fur (clothing?). Members of this last
group are described as being extremely strong.
If such beings are visiting Earth, two questions
arise:
1) Why haven't they attempted to contact us
officially? The answer to the first question may exist partially
in Sergeant Lonnie Zamora's experience, and may exist partially
in
the Tunguska meteor.*
* A
massive explosion that occurred in Siberia in 1908.
It was suggested that the Tunguska
meteor was
actually a comet which exploded in the atmosphere, the ices
melted and the dust spread out. Hence, no debris. However, it
has also been suggested that the Tunguska meteor was actually an
alien spacecraft that entered the atmosphere too rapidly,
suffered mechanical failure, and lost its power supply and/or
weapons in a nuclear explosion.
While that hypothesis may seem far-fetched,
sample of tree rings from around the world reveal that,
immediately after the Tunguska meteor explosion, the level of
radioactivity in the world rose sharply for a short period of
time. It is difficult to find a natural explanation for that
increase in radioactivity, although the suggestion has been
advanced that enough of the meteor's great Kinetic energy was
converted into heat (by atmospheric friction) that a fusion
reaction occurred.
2) This still leaves us with no answer to the
second question: Why no contact?
That question is very easy to answer in several
ways:
-
We may be the object of intensive
sociological and psychological study. In such studies
you usually avoid disturbing the test subjects'
environment;
-
You do not "contact" a colony of ants,
and humans may seem that way to any aliens (variation: a
zoo is fun to visit, but you don't "contact" the
lizards);
-
Such contact may have already taken place
secretly;
-
Such contact may have already taken place
on a different plane of awareness and we are not yet
sensitive to communications on such a plane.
These are just a few of the reasons. You may add to
the list as you desire.
33.4—Human Fear and Hostility
Besides the foregoing reasons, contacting humans is downright
dangerous. Think about that for a moment! On the microscopic
level our bodies reject and fight (through production of
antibodies) any alien material; this process helps us fight off
disease but it also sometimes results in allergic reactions to
innocuous materials.
On the macroscopic (psychological and
sociological) level we are antagonistic to beings that are
"different." For proof of that, just watch how an odd child is
treated by other children, or how a minority group is socially
deprived. ... In case you are hesitant to extend that concept to
the treatment of aliens let me point out that in very ancient
times, possible extraterrestrials may have been treated as Gods
but in the last 2000 years, the evidence is that any possible
aliens have been ripped apart by mobs, shot and shot at,
physically assaulted, and in general treated with fear and
aggression.
In Ireland about 1000 A.D., supposed airships were treated as
"demon-ships." In Lyons, France, "admitted" space travelers were
killed. More recently, on 24 July 1957 Russian anti-aircraft
batteries on the Kouril Islands opened fire on UFOs.*
* The
Kouril Islands are located north of Japan.
Although all Soviet anti-aircraft batteries on
the Islands were in action, no hits were made. The UFOs were
luminous and moved very fast. We, too, have fired on UFOs. About
ten o'clock one morning, a radar site near a fighter base picked
up a UFO doing 700 miles per hour. The UFO then slowed to 100
miles per hour, and two F-86s scrambled to intercept. Eventually
one F-86 closed on the UFO at about 3000 feet altitude.
The UFO began to accelerate away but the pilot
still managed to get within 500 yards of the target for a short
period of time. It was definitely saucer shaped. As the pilot
pushed the F-86 at top speed, the UFO began to pull away. When
the range reached 1000 yards, the pilot armed his guns and fired
in an attempt to down the saucer. He failed, and the UFO pulled
away rapidly, vanishing in the distance.
This same basic situation may have happened on a more personal
level. On Sunday evening 21 August 1955, eight adults and three
children were on the Sutton Farm (one-half mile from Kelly,
Kentucky) when, according to them, one of the children saw a
brightly glowing UFO settle behind the barn, out of sight from
where he stood. Other witnesses on nearby farms also saw the
object. However, the Suttons dismissed it as a "shooting star,"
and did not investigate.
Approximately thirty minutes later (at 8:00
P.M.), the family dogs began barking, so two of the men went to
the back door and looked out. Approximately 50 feet away and
coming toward them was a creature wearing a glowing silvery
suit. It was about three-and-one-half feet tall with a large
round head and very long arms. It had large webbed hands which
were equipped with claws.
The two Suttons grabbed a twelve gauge shotgun
and a .22 caliber pistol, and fired at close range. They could
hear the pellets and bullet ricochet as if off of metal. The
creature was knocked down, but jumped up and scrambled away. The
Suttons retreated into the house, turned off all inside lights,
and turned on the porch light. At that moment, one of the women
who was peeking out of the dining room window discovered that a
creature with some sort of helmet and wide slit eyes was peeking
back at her. She screamed, the men rushed in and started
shooting.
The creature was knocked backwards but again
scrambled away without apparent harm. More shooting occurred (a
total of about fifty rounds) over the next twenty minutes and
the creatures finally left (perhaps feeling unwelcome?). After
about a two hour wait (for safety), the Suttons left too. By the
time the police got there, the aliens were gone but the Suttons
would not move back to the farm. They sold it and departed. This
reported incident does bear out the contention though that
aliens are dangerous.
At no time in the story did the supposed aliens
shoot back, although one is left with the impression that the
described creatures were having fun scaring humans.
33.5—Attempts at Scientific Approaches
In any scientific endeavor, the first step is to acquire data,
the second step is to classify the data, and the third step is
to form a hypothesis. This hypothesis is tested by repeating the
entire process, with each cycle resulting in an increase in
understanding (we hope). The UFO phenomenon does not yield
readily to this approach because the data taken so far exhibits
both excessive variety and vagueness.
The vagueness is caused in part by the lack of
preparation of the observer—very few people leave their house
knowing that they are going to see a UFO that evening.
Photographs are overexposed or underexposed, and rarely in
color. Hardly anyone carries around a radiation counter or
magnetometer. And, in addition to this, there is a very high
level of "noise" in the data.
The noise consists of mistaken reports of known
natural phenomena, hoaxes, reports by unstable individuals, and
mistaken removal of data regarding possible unnatural or unknown
natural phenomena (by overzealous individuals who are trying to
eliminate all data due to known natural phenomena). In addition,
those data, which do appear to be valid, exhibit an excessive
amount of variety relative to the statistical samples which are
available. This has led to very clumsy classification systems,
which in turn provide quite unfertile ground for formulation of
hypotheses.
One hypothesis which looked promising for a time was that of
ORTHOTENY (i.e., UFO sightings fall on "area circle" routes). At
first, plots of sightings seemed to verify the concept of
orthoteny but recent use of computers has revealed that even
random numbers yield "great circle" plots as neatly as do UFO
sightings.
There is one solid advance that has been made though. Jacques
and Janine Vallee have taken a particular type of UFO—namely
those that are lower than tree-top level when sighted—and
plotted the UFOs' estimated diameters versus the estimated
distance from the observer. The result yields an average
diameter of 5 meters with a very characteristic drop for short
viewing distances. This behavior at the extremes of the curve is
well known to astronomers and psychologists as the "moon
illusion."
The illusion only occurs when the object being
viewed is a real, physical object. Because this implies that the
observers have viewed a real object, it permits us to accept
also their statement that these particular UFOs had a rotational
axis of symmetry.
Another, less solid, advance made by the Vallees was their
plotting of the total number of sightings per week versus the
date. They did this for the time span from 1947 to 1962, and
then attempted to match the peaks of the curve (every 2 years, 2
months) to the times of Earth-Mars con-junction (every 2 years,
1.4 months). The match was very good between 1950 and 1956 but
was poor outside those limits. Also, the peaks were not only at
the times of Earth-Mars conjunction but also roughly at the
first harmonic (very loosely, every 13 months).
This raises the question why should UFOs only
visit Earth when Mars is in conjunction and when it is on the
opposite side of the sun. Obviously, the conjunction periodicity
of Mars is not the final answer. As it happens, there is an
interesting possibility to consider. Suppose Jupiter's
conjunctions were used; they are every 13.1 months. That would
satisfy the observed periods nicely, except for every even data
peak being of different magnitude from every odd data peak.
Perhaps a combination of Martian, Jovian, and Saturnian (and
even other planetary) conjunctions will be necessary to match
the frequency plot—if it can be matched.
Further data correlation is quite difficult. There are a large
number of different saucer shapes but this may mean little. For
example, look at the number of different types of aircraft which
are in use in the U.S. Air Force alone.
It is obvious that intensive scientific study is needed in this
area; no such study has yet been undertaken at the necessary
levels of intensity needed. Something that must be guarded
against in any such study is the trap of implicitly assuming
that our knowledge of physics (or any other branch of science)
is complete. An example of one such trap is selecting a group of
physical laws which we now accept as valid, and assuming that
they will never be superseded.
Five such laws might be:
-
Every action must have an opposite and equal
reaction.
-
Every particle in the universe attracts every
other particle with a force proportional to the product of
the masses and inversely as the square of the distance.
-
Energy, mass and momentum are conserved.
-
No material body can have a speed as great as
c, the speed of light in free space.
-
The maximum energy, E, which can be obtained
from a body at rest is E=mc2, where m is the rest
mass of the body.
Laws numbered 1 and 3 seem fairly safe, but let
us hesitate and take another look. Actually, law number 3 is
only valid (now) from a relativistic viewpoint; and for that
matter so are laws 4 and 5.
But relativity completely revised these physical
concepts after 1915, before then Newtonian mechanics were
supreme. We should also note that general relativity has not yet
been verified. Thus we have the peculiar situation of five laws
which appear to deny the possibility of intelligent alien
control of UFOs, yet three of the laws are recent in concept and
may not even be valid. Also, law number 2 has not yet been
tested under conditions of large relative speeds or
accelerations.
We should not deny the possibility of alien
control of UFOs on the basis of preconceived notions not
established as related or relevant to the UFOs.
33.6—Conclusion
From available information, the UFO phenomenon appears to have
been global in nature for almost 50,000 years. The majority of
known witnesses have been reliable people who have seen
easily-explained natural phenomena, and there appears to be no
overall positive correlation with population density. The entire
phenomenon could be psychological in nature but that is quite
doubtful. However, psychological factors probably do enter the
data picture as "noise." The phenomenon could also be entirely
clue to known and unknown phenomena (with some psychological
noise added in) but that too is questionable in view of some of
the available data.
This leaves us with the unpleasant possibility of alien visitors
to our planet, or at least of alien controlled UFOs. However,
the data are not well Suppressed Inventions and Other
Discoveries
correlated, and what questionable data there are suggest the
existence of at least three and maybe four different groups of
aliens (possibly at different states of development). This too
is difficult to accept. It implies the existence of intelligent
life on a majority of the planets in our solar sys-tem, or a
surprisingly strong interest in Earth by members of other solar
systems.
A solution to the UFO problem may be obtained by the long and
diligent effort of a large group of well-financed and competent
scientists; unfortunately there is no evidence suggesting that
such an effort is going to be made. However, even if such an
effort were made, there is no guarantee of success because of
the isolated and sporadic nature of the sightings. Also, there
may be nothing to find, and that would mean a long search with
no profit at the end.
The best thing to do is to keep an open and skeptical mind, and
not take an extreme position on any side of the question.
Back to Contents
or
Continue
Back to The Saga of Flying Objects
|