According to a 2021 research report by the Pew Research Center, more than half of Americans consider UFO sightings reported by military personnel as evidence of intelligent life beyond Earth. About 40% of these say military-reported UFOs are “possible” evidence of extraterrestrial life.

The public no longer sees UFOs as a major threat to the country. 87% of respondents said that UFOs are not a threat or only a minor threat. Military officials have a different view, having previously commented that unidentified flying objects are real and have the potential to pose a serious threat to the country. . However, they also do not consider UFOs of extraterrestrial origin.

Who coined the term UFO?

Any flying object that you see in the sky but cannot confirm its identity is a UFO. Many conspiracy theorists believe that the unidentified object is actually an alien spacecraft to Earth. The concept of UFOs became popular during the Cold War, when many countries including the United States were increasing their air combat capabilities by developing new types of fighter aircraft and related technologies.

A CIA UFO drawing

The modern era of UFO observation began in 1947. On June 24 of that year, American aviator Kenneth Arnold reported seeing nine bright bluish-white objects flying in a “V” pattern over the sky. Mount Rainier of Washington. He estimates it has a staggering speed of up to 1700 mph and compares its movement to “a saucer if you skim water”. The press of the time misinterpreted this and described the objects as “flying saucers”.

Thousands of UFO sightings were reported in the years that followed, when the news of “flying saucers” and UFOs became such a complicated matter that the US Air Force also began to secretly investigate the truth. In the 1950s, Air Force Captain Edward James Ruppelt headed a UFO investigation in a project codenamed the Blue Book, with the main goals of which: to perform scientific analysis of all UFO-related data at that time; find out if UFOs should be considered a threat to national security.

During the investigation, Ruppelt’s team and others came to the conclusion that no UFOs had been reported or assessed as a threat to national security. Just as there is no evidence that the sightings represent technology beyond the understanding of modern science, there is no evidence that these sightings are extraterrestrial. They concluded that the description of the “flying saucer” did not match all that had been observed of a UFO.

Many reports of unidentified flying objects have described objects appearing completely different from flying saucers. Thus a new and more appropriate term ‘UFO’ for unidentified flying object was coined by Ruppelt, however, some sources suggest that the term was coined by the American writer and marine aviator Donald. Edward Keyhoe first applied it in 1953.

The most sensational UFO sightings

Most recently, on May 17, 2022, a hearing was held in the US, where the Pentagon confirmed that service members reported at least 400 UFO incidents between the years 2004 to 2022. Interestingly, as of 2021, the UAP task force, admitted only 144 UFO collisions.

Photograph of a purported UFO in Passaic

Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence, Scott W. Bray, said that they have seen an increasing number of aircraft or unidentified unauthorized objects. They still couldn’t point to something that wasn’t man-made. In addition to the facts discussed in recent congressional hearings, there are still numerous past UFO sightings that have intrigued UFO researchers and intrigued the public mind. These famous UFO sightings have even led many to believe that UFO sightings are related to extraterrestrials, but the government doesn’t want the public to know that. Here are the most astonishing UFO facts:

1. Roswell Incident

In June or July 1947, rancher WW “Mac” Brazel found a pile of rubble on his property, about 75 miles north of Roswell, New Mexico. That wreckage consisted of materials such as rubber bands, tin foil, and thick paper. He gave some of the documents to Sheriff Roswell, who then brought it to the attention of Colonel William Blanchard, commanding officer of the Roswell Army Air Defense Force (RAAF).

Roswell Army Airfield was lucky enough to own the flying saucer through a partnership between one of the local ranchers and the Chaves County sheriff’s office. The local newspaper ran a similar story, but Army officials were quick to issue a new statement, saying the debris found was indeed from a weather balloon.

In the years that followed, many researchers and conspiracy theorists remained skeptical about this, as many UFOs containing extraterrestrials crashed at the Roswell site. Kevin D. Randle, a military veteran turned UFO researcher, said everyone agreed that something fell on Roswell, but there was no clear explanation. However, the US Air Force has denied all allegations related to aliens and UFOs. They also released a report claiming the debris came from a classified spy device at the time. The device consisted of a chain of interconnected tall balloons equipped with microphones and designed to hover over the Soviet Union to monitor their country’s nuclear tests. And the story of the flying saucer is just an attempt to conceal the existence of a secret spy project.

2. Levelland Alien Attack

Texas farmers, including Pedro Sancedo and Joe Salaz of Levelland, claim to have encountered a 200-foot rocket-shaped UFO on November 2, 1957. They were quite frightened and told the local sheriff that an unidentified flying object with a blue flashlight was about to collide with the truck, prompting them to jump out of the vehicle. Although the UFO did not hit the truck, when it passed, it messed with the electronics, causing the engine and lights to stop working.

More surprisingly, this wasn’t the only UFO encounter that happened that day either. Many locals including motorsport driver Jim Wheeler, Texas Tech University student Newell Wright and Levelland fire commissioner Ray Jones have reported incidents describing flashing blue lights, foreign objects, car electronics and engine system failure on the road.

However, the US Air Force later investigated these claims and concluded that the phenomena witnessed were caused by intense electrical storms and lightning events.

3. UFO Sighted in Westall

Hundreds of students and teachers at Westall High School in Clayton South, Australia reported seeing a UFO on April 6, 1966. No photos have been taken, but many witnesses claim in various interviews to have seen UFOs.

However, officials from the local weather bureau said a weather balloon was dropped on the same day morning. They suggest that the device may have landed on the university grounds and been mistaken for a UFO. The Royal Australian Air Force also rejected claims that there were any unexplained aircraft phenomena in the sky on April 6.

More recently, in 2021, teacher Andrew Greenwood who witnessed the event reported that two men claiming to be government officials came to his home and said he was confused about what was seen. see and give no further explanation. According to Greenwood, when he protested, the men threatened to fire him.

4. President Ronald Reagan met UFO twice 

This is one of the most talked about UFO sightings in American history. Some reports claim that long before he became president of the United States, he saw UFOs. The first meeting is said to have taken place in the 1950s, when while Reagan was visiting actor William Holden’s Hollywood home for a party, Reagan and his wife Nancy admitted to spotting a UFO en route. Los Angeles.

Reagan again saw a strange phenomenon in the air in 1974, when he was governor of California. This time, he was flying in a Cessna, en route to Bakersfield with two security guards, when his pilot Bill Paynter observed a strange flash of light following his plane. Everyone on the plane was amazed, the UFO changed from normal cruise speed to extraordinary speed in an instant.

Reagan remained tight-lipped about his UFO encounters during his presidency. However, he used the theme of alien encounters in a speech to the UN about reducing tensions during the Cold War. He hypothesized: what if all of us in the world were threatened by an outside force, from space, from another planet.

5. UFO Squad in Belgium

A wave of triangular UFOs was sighted over the Belgian horizon for several weeks in November 1989 and March 1990. More than 13,000 people reported seeing large black triangles hovering over the sky. sky. The Belgian Air Force also detected a foreign object on their radar system and sent two F-16 fighter jets to investigate.

The pilots also detected some radar activity for a few seconds but did not notice any UFOs flying in the sky during their search operations. Later, many Belgian UFO wave scholars and experts emphasized that SOBEPS – a group of researchers who claimed to have investigated the events – was spreading misinformation about UFOs and creating mass delusions. The researchers point out that SOBEPS used this news to make people believe that anything unusual in the sky could be a UFO.

The photo of the triangular UFO team also went viral, but in 2011, 20 years after the sighting, in a television interview, it was revealed that the photo was a fake. The counterfeiter created a UFO model from polystyrene, painted identically, and clicked on a photo that looked similar to what many people have claimed to have witnessed in Belgium.

Interesting facts about UFOs and sightings of these objects

– Despite the serious UFO coverage after the Kenneth Arnold incident, that doesn’t mean we haven’t seen UFOs before. Ancient writers, historians, philosophers and astronomers also wrote about strange flying objects. For example, Julius Obsequens, a Roman writer of the 4th and 5th centuries, wrote about the apparitions of miracles, including unidentified phenomena in the sky. Meanwhile, legends from Germany and Switzerland describe battles in the skies in the 16th century.

The first UFO sighting in America was in 1639, when John Winthrop, the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Area at the time reported a flying object witnessed by a man named James Everell. According to the UFO description, the unidentified object was seen in a muddy river in Boston. It has a flame and can shrink in size.

– UFO enthusiasts around the globe celebrate World UFO Day on July 2 (in memory of the Roswell incident), and some also celebrate June 24 (anniversary of the sighting by Kenneth Arnold) for found they had faith in the existence of UFOs. In addition, the goal of these celebrations is to raise awareness of issues related to UFOs and to encourage the government to disclose more top secret information regarding UFOs and extraterrestrials.

The Hill Abduction is a popular UFO story that deals with a couple’s strange incident experience driving to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. According to some news reports about the incident, on September 19, 1961, Baney Hill was returning from vacation with his wife Betty when they observed a flying object in the sky rushing towards them. Barney drove away, but after a while, the subject jumped in front of their car. Betty and Barney confront the creatures that come out of the UFO and are left unconscious for a while. When they woke up, they found themselves about 35 miles away from their previous location. Betty and Barney contacted Pease Air Force Base about the events they experienced and their report was sent to Project Blue Book for further investigation. This incident has been studied by many scholars and was even made into the TV series UFO Incident. Hill’s abduction was also discussed in one of Carl Sagan’s Universe episodes and was the inspiration for another popular movie.

Last words

NASA also most recently decided to participate in the UAP (unknown phenomenon) investigation. The decision was made after a congressional hearing on UFOs in the US. The House of Representatives discussed the security risks associated with unidentified flying objects. A NASA representative said that it is evaluating how to provide expertise in Earth observation work in space, to improve understanding of Unknown Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

We really don’t know for sure if UFOs of extraterrestrial origin really exist. However, the growing interest of governments, scientists, and world-leading research agencies such as NASA, in investigating UFOs is a welcome sign. Collective efforts could come up with plausible explanations for the many UFO sightings that take place every year, plus it would make the public more aware of this fascinating topic.