Ever seen a U.F.O ?

[Jedi Dad]

This Saturday I was lounging in my pool (Glendale, Arizona) when I noticed a strange flash of light in the sky. It was a very small circular metal looking object. It had to be pretty high as it kept going behind the clouds and back under them into view.

The UFO stopped and hovered a few times, it also made turns at angles that a plane just could not do. I was so happy that when I pointed it out my wife saw it as well or I would think I was mad. It flew around for about 30 minutes before I lost sight of it.

So, anyone else ever see a UFO? :D

[alleycat]

I haven't even seen U2.

[Shady Lane]

I haven't even seen U2.

Me neither. *Pout*

[Danger Jane]

Area 51??

One of my friends thought her brother caught one on camera but then he confessed that he just took a really close up picture of the words AUX on the auxiliary channel on the TV.

In her defense, he woke her up in the middle of the night, well into sleeping, to confuse her with the picture.

[Zoombie]

My mother once saw a UFO. Except that she, unlike almost everyone else who saw them, actually knew what they were (becuase she works with the people who launches them). And they were...balloons with flares attached to them. Used to test observational radar and such. Or at least that's what she told me. Who knows...they might have been top secret US hovercraft being funded with a waylaid Nazi gold shipment, using technology stolen from Aliens that spray deadly good from their fingertips...

[Shady Lane]

Maybe your mother's an alien.

[Dancre]

This Saturday I was lounging in my pool (Glendale, Arizona) when I noticed a strange flash of light in the sky. It was a very small circular metal looking object. It had to be pretty high as it kept going behind the clouds and back under them into view.

The UFO stopped and hovered a few times, it also made turns at angles that a plane just could not do. I was so happy that when I pointed it out my wife saw it as well or I would think I was mad. It flew around for about 30 minutes before I lost sight of it.

So, anyone else ever see a UFO? :D

Oh, I really don't care if there are aliens out there. Just as long as I don't have to do their taxes during tax season.

kim

[Zoombie]

Actually, I once read a story where aliens showed up to ask why there wasn't a third season of Faulty Towers. Then, when they found out just how much mindless bureaucracy and filing there was here, they decided to stay.

[Plot Device]

I never seen one. But here's my take on the whole UFO scene. Only one of three explanations can be reached. Take your pick:

1) There are no aliens (at least not visintg Earth). And so every last sighting of a UFO or space ship or aliens is nothing but lies and/or hallucinations of deviant/crazy people.

2) There are no aliens (at least not visiting earth). And so every last sighting of a UFO or space ship or aliens is attributable to secret military technology that the US government is constantly testing unbeknownst to the rest of the world. And as it turns out, the alien-life-form controversy makes for a very convenient red herring/smoke screen for them to hide behind.

3) There really are aliens visiting Earth, these sightings are legitimate, and the government might or might not be invovled in contributing to all the secrecy via cover-ups and disinformation.

[Dancre]

Actually, I once read a story where aliens showed up to ask why there wasn't a third season of Faulty Towers. Then, when they found out just how much mindless bureaucracy and filing there was here, they decided to stay.


If you see these aliens, would you be so kind as to send them to me? We could use some help at work. In fact, I could use some help around the house.

kim

[Chumplet]

When I lived in Spain in 1975, I was on the balcony looking out on the Bay of Palma late at night, when I saw a white light, like a little pin moving across the sky. I figured it was an airplane, but then it speeded up, zoomed westward, stopped suddenly, then went straight up and dropped behind the horizon. My sister saw it, too.

[Evaine]

We were driving home one evening on the road towards Builth Wells in Mid Wales, when we saw what looked like car headlights moving along a road on the other side of the river. The only trouble was, there was no road where we saw the 'headlights'.

[Gary]

I saw 4 of them in formation, in the middle of the day, with no clouds. They were seen by hundreds of people and were never explained, though a couple of the usual answers were offered.

I have no idea what they were, but they were not swamp gas, balloons, reflections, airplanes, or a host of other explanations. They looked solid and metalic. Beyond that, there was no detail to be seen, and I looked at them through a good set of binoculars.

[Jersey Chick]

Back when I was a kid, I used to go to summer camp on this freakin' hot mountin in eastern PA. One day - a clear, blue-skied, freakin' hot day, as I was hiking up to the mountain to get to the pool, I saw something flash silver against the sky.

It was there, it flashed, it was gone and I don't know if anyone else saw it and, until now, I've never mentiond it. I get enough weird looks as it is.

Dunno what it was, but it was kind of cool.

[Ziljon]

I saw 4 of them in formation, in the middle of the day, with no clouds. They were seen by hundreds of people and were never explained, though a couple of the usual answers were offered.

I have no idea what they were, but they were not swamp gas, balloons, reflections, airplanes, or a host of other explanations. They looked solid and metalic. Beyond that, there was no detail to be seen, and I looked at them through a good set of binoculars.

Gary, how many years ago was this, where was it?

I'd love to see something "paranormal" one day, I desperately want to believe, I'm open minded, but I can't help being sceptical.

ANyway, how did your experience effect you? Do you now believe in extraterestial life? Have you fashioned an old microwave into a kind of personal transmitter with which you hope to contact the aliens . . . oh wait, that's one of my unwritten novel ideas.;)

[Gary]

Gary, how many years ago was this, where was it?

I'd love to see something "paranormal" one day, I desperately want to believe, I'm open minded, but I can't help being sceptical.

ANyway, how did your experience effect you? Do you now believe in extraterestial life? Have you fashioned an old microwave into a kind of personal transmitter with which you hope to contact the aliens . . . oh wait, that's one of my unwritten novel ideas.;)

It was back in the mid-fifties, in North Dakota, and it didn't affect my life in any way except to have an interesting topic of conversation for a few days. My mother, father, sister, cousin, and a friend got to watch the UFOs for several minutes, so it wasn't just me. None of them went off the deep end about it either.

I don't know if intelligent life exists elsewhere. The universe is far too large to say its impossible, but our limited knowledge of technology would suggest that space travel outside our solar system isn't feasible.

I'm open minded, but I'm not working on the microwave, and my faith isn't threatened, nor do I fear the thought that something alive might be out there.

[Feathers]

I don't belive in aliens.
On that note, I have seen unidentified flying objects, mostly when I slept out on the trampoline in the summer.
The main example was one night, sometime around maybe 10-11 pm, when my brother and I had our sleeping bags out onto the afore-mentioned trampoline and were lying on our backs looking up at the stars. Two trees kinda framed our view of the sky, which was decently clear, with plenty of stars.
We'd just gotten to the point where you stop talking and start dozing when I realized something funny was happening. The stars were moving. All of them. By all, I mean about maybe a hundred or so that I could see. They moved slowly, steadily, so where you wouldn't think they were moving unless you had something stationary to measure them by. I pointed this out to my brother, and togethor we used the frame of tree branches to mark the star's movements--and after fifteen twenty minutes of watching, we had both agreed the stars were moving and it wasn't our imagination.
The wierd thing was it didn't stop. I ended up falling asleep beneath it. Never happened again, and of course, no one believed us.

[Ronin1459]

I never seen one. But here's my take on the whole UFO scene. Only one of three explanations can be reached. Take your pick:

1) There are no aliens (at least not visintg Earth). And so every last sighting of a UFO or space ship or aliens is nothing but lies and/or hallucinations of deviant/crazy people.

2) There are no aliens (at least not visiting earth). And so every last sighting of a UFO or space ship or aliens is attributable to secret military technology that the US government is constantly testing unbeknownst to the rest of the world. And as it turns out, the alien-life-form controversy makes for a very convenient red herring/smoke screen for them to hide behind.

3) There really are aliens visiting Earth, these sightings are legitimate, and the government might or might not be invovled in contributing to all the secrecy via cover-ups and disinformation.


Sorry, but as a philosopher I feel compelled to point out the false dichotomy (trichotomy?) here. If no aliens have visited earth, then it doesn't follow that either all UFO sightings are hallucinations or all sightings are of secret gov't aircraft. It would be far more probable that some sightings are hallucinations, some are secret technology, some are weather balloons, etc. On the other hand, even if aliens have visited earth, it doesn't follow that all sightings are legit; some could be legit and others still be hallucinations, etc, or they could all be hallucinations and we have yet to see the real aliens.

My point is, any given UFO sighting must be explained individualy with the hypothesis that best fits the facts of that one particular case. Explanations cannot be extrapolated to other sightings.

[CoriSCapnSkip]

That is so kewl! I never saw one but know a few people who have and have long wanted to. You might post about it here: http://www.paranormalsoup.com/forums/index.php?&&CODE=autologin&fromreg=1

[Jamesaritchie]

I never seen one. But here's my take on the whole UFO scene. Only one of three explanations can be reached. Take your pick:

1) There are no aliens (at least not visintg Earth). And so every last sighting of a UFO or space ship or aliens is nothing but lies and/or hallucinations of deviant/crazy people.

2) There are no aliens (at least not visiting earth). And so every last sighting of a UFO or space ship or aliens is attributable to secret military technology that the US government is constantly testing unbeknownst to the rest of the world. And as it turns out, the alien-life-form controversy makes for a very convenient red herring/smoke screen for them to hide behind.

3) There really are aliens visiting Earth, these sightings are legitimate, and the government might or might not be invovled in contributing to all the secrecy via cover-ups and disinformation.

There's a fourth possibility that's also popular with many. Sometimes in the future, ten years from now, or a thousand years from now, a form of time travel is discovered, and UFOs are really our own future scientists coming back, or possibly just looking back, to study the past.

[Jamesaritchie]

I've seen three UFOs that were not planes, balloons, or birds. Have no idea what they were, though. I've also seen film of UFOs taken by the good old US military, and one film shot by a group of scientists. No planes or birds or balloons, and certainly no hallucinations, on the film.

[RumpleTumbler]

There's a fourth possibility that's also popular with many. Sometimes in the future, ten years from now, or a thousand years from now, a form of time travel is discovered, and UFOs are really our own future scientists coming back, or possibly just looking back, to study the past.

Actually India takes over the world a few years from now and so people are coming back for steak. The excitement gets the best of them though and they take all the wrong parts of the cow.

[RumpleTumbler]

I've seen three UFOs that were not planes, balloons, or birds. Have no idea what they were, though. I've also seen film of UFOs taken by the good old US military, and one film shot by a group of scientists. No planes or birds or balloons, and certainly no hallucinations, on the film.

If you can't identify it, then it's a weather balloon. :)

[Plot Device]

Sorry, but as a philosopher I feel compelled to point out the false dichotomy (trichotomy?) here. If no aliens have visited earth, then it doesn't follow that either all UFO sightings are hallucinations or all sightings are of secret gov't aircraft. It would be far more probable that some sightings are hallucinations, some are secret technology, some are weather balloons, etc. On the other hand, even if aliens have visited earth, it doesn't follow that all sightings are legit; some could be legit and others still be hallucinations, etc, or they could all be hallucinations and we have yet to see the real aliens.

My point is, any given UFO sighting must be explained individualy with the hypothesis that best fits the facts of that one particular case. Explanations cannot be extrapolated to other sightings.

Okay--I'll ammend as follows:

I never seen one. But here's my take on the whole UFO scene. Only one of three explanations can be reached. Take your pick:

1) There are no aliens (at least not visiting Earth). And so every last sighting of a UFO or space ship or aliens is nothing but misperceptions of innocent people, hallucinations of crazy people, and/or lies from liars.

2) There are no aliens (at least not visiting earth). And so every last sighting of a UFO or space ship or aliens is ALL OF THE ABOVE, PLUS secret military technology that the US government is constantly testing unbeknownst to the rest of the world. And as it turns out, the alien-life-form controversy makes for a very convenient red herring/smoke screen for them to hide behind.

3) There really are aliens visiting Earth. And so every last sighting of a UFO or space ship or alien is ALL OF THE ABOVE, PLUS actual aliens. Meanwhile,the government might or might not be invovled in contributing to all the secrecy via cover-ups and disinformation.




And for Jamesaritchie:




4) They're all just time travellers from our own future.

[RumpleTumbler]

And for Jamesaritchie:

4) They're all just time travellers from our own future.

If that is the case I wish I would come back and give myself some money. :)

[Ziljon]

If there are aliens, chances are they're monitoring this board, so I'd like to take this oportunity to say . . .

We're not so bad, especially with some fava beens and a nice chianti.

What is gravity, really?

If God is all powerful, can he make a stone so heavy that he himself cannot lift it?

[Ronin1459]

If that is the case I wish I would come back and give myself some money. :)

Better yet, go back about 100 years and open a savings account in your name with, say, a dollar. Then your present self will inherit a fortune in interest ;)

[Button]

I fail to see how we could possibly be the only planet in the entire universe that has life and has any sort of sense as to explore beyond their own universe.

If there is one thing I do believe, is that if there are enough good and credible people out there that see something and say so, then it has to be real. If an eye witness can be enough to put a man in jail, it should be enough evidence for anyone.

And as for the question, yes, in Indiana here not a year ago before. The other half has also had an encounter, rather up close and personal, somewhere in California.

I don't know why people make a fuss about 'what if they land' sort of thing. I think it is rather silly because I firmly believe they are already here.

[Leva]

Not to be a spoilsport or anything, but if you're in Glendale, AZ, you're practically next door to Luke AFB, and under the flight pattern for Sky Harbor. There's also quite a few small airports for experimental craft in the area. And depending on atmospheric conditions, you may also be able to see some of the flares, balloons, unmanned craft, and other goodies launched over the Barry Goldwater range. (I'm surprised more UFOs don't get reported based on what's in the sky on a busy night over Barry Goldwater.)

Not aliens, but probably something military or civilian experimental. Some of those experimental craft are very weird looking and both the experimental military and civilian craft can do some very weird looking manuevers that you wouldn't think a plane could do.

Leva

This Saturday I was lounging in my pool (Glendale, Arizona) when I noticed a strange flash of light in the sky. It was a very small circular metal looking object. It had to be pretty high as it kept going behind the clouds and back under them into view.

The UFO stopped and hovered a few times, it also made turns at angles that a plane just could not do. I was so happy that when I pointed it out my wife saw it as well or I would think I was mad. It flew around for about 30 minutes before I lost sight of it.

So, anyone else ever see a UFO? :D

[Ragnarok]

I saw ufo's on three occasions. The most striking was a white light ball swooping up and down over a city 3 miles away from where I was standing. There was another one pretty much static nearby and a third moving around.

[RumpleTumbler]

I was so happy that when I pointed it out my wife saw it as well or I would think I was mad. It flew around for about 30 minutes before I lost sight of it.

If you get a chance to film one just make sure the camera is out of focus at all times. This is a requirement for any UFO video. To encourage yourself say something like....."I could make millions of dollars with this video but I must stick to the code."

[Jamesaritchie]

If you get a chance to film one just make sure the camera is out of focus at all times. This is a requirement for any UFO video. To encourage yourself say something like....."I could make millions of dollars with this video but I must stick to the code."

Actually, 99% of the UFQ films I've seen have been in perfect focus. When they appear out of focus, it's usually because of distance. The zoom in makes them appear out of focus.

[RumpleTumbler]

Actually, 99% of the UFQ films I've seen have been in perfect focus. When they appear out of focus, it's usually because of distance. The zoom in makes them appear out of focus.

You should alert The History Channel to the existence of those. If you have any web sites with photos in focus I'd love to see the links.

[Jamesaritchie]

If you can't identify it, then it's a weather balloon. :)

That's what the military says, isn't it? But I have a real problem with weather balloons that travel twice as fast as a pursuing jet.

[RumpleTumbler]

That's what the military says, isn't it? But I have a real problem with weather balloons that travel twice as fast as a pursuing jet.

:roll:

Come on James! They're experimental weather balloons don't ya know!

[traveller]

Back in the 60's I was at a friends house way out in the boonies. Now, when I say boonies, I mean it. We never hung out way out there because even for small town country folk, this place was isolated. Anyway, her folks were out of town, so we decided to have a small party. We were all outside, sitting on car hoods. You could do that back then, because the cars were made of real metal - not fiberglass. Unless, of course, you had a vette - but then - no one in their right mind would sit on the hood of a vette. Anyway, no drinking, hadn't started that yet. Actually, we never got around to doing that. There we were, sitting on the hoods, when off in the distance appeared balls of color. Like balloons, but real translucent, and a bit luminescent. It's nighttime, and way out in the middle of nowhere west Texas, when it's dark, it's truly dark. No street lights, no town lights, no neighborhood lights. Nothing but dark, black sky and millions of stars. You could see the stars back then, they were brilliant. Anyway, these balls floated around, bobbed up and down, over and around. Just drifted, mostly. Sometimes several went off together, and other times one would leave the others and bob around. We watched them for hours. We didn't talk at first, casue we were a tad bit alarmed. It was beautiful and scary at the same time.

The next few days reports came in from sightings all over the area. The powers that be finally called it a phenomenum akin to swamp gas. Yep. In good ole, dry, flat, west Texas. Hasn't happend around these parts since.
:scared:

[shakeysix]

saying they do or do not exist is a type of fallacy because we simply do not have enough evidence to decide one way or another. in 1880 no one could say with any accuracy that man could fly. at that time speculating on man's ability to fly was an argument from ignorance.

i did have a very credible uncle who saw one with his wife in the mid fifties. he was a butcher at an army base. they were driving home from a shopping trip and came upon lines of stalled cars on the highway. people were sitting on top of the cars watching. they told cecil and dorothy that flying saucers were coming. soon a formation of lights criss crossed the sky. he said it was like they were dancing. then they left and the cars started. he would not talk about it. got very angry if anyone teased him.

he told the story to my sister and me while we were sitting in the hospital with my grandfather--his brother. that would have been about 1969. i had heard the story before from my mom. we were told never to talk about it because cecil might lose his job.

years later when i saw "close encounters" i was struck by the similarites in his story and the movie sightings--s6

[traveller]

saying they do or do not exist is a type of fallacy because we simply do not have enough evidence to decide one way or another. in 1880 no one could say with any accuracy that man could fly. at that time speculating on man's ability to fly was an argument from ignorance.

i did have a very credible uncle who saw one with his wife in the mid fifties. he was a butcher at an army base. they were driving home from a shopping trip and came upon lines of stalled cars on the highway. people were sitting on top of the cars watching. they told cecil and dorothy that flying saucers were coming. soon a formation of lights criss crossed the sky. he said it was like they were dancing. then they left and the cars started. he would not talk about it. got very angry if anyone teased him.

he told the story to my sister and me while we were sitting in the hospital with my grandfather--his brother. that would have been about 1969. i had heard the story before from my mom. we were told never to talk about it because cecil might lose his job.

years later when i saw "close encounters" i was struck by the similarites in his story and the movie sightings--s6
I was going to say that exact thing about the bobbing balls and the movie! When I saw those flying balls of color in CITK, almost ten years later, I thought, "wow! How'd they know?"

[Bo Sullivan]

I thought I did once, and I even convinced by five year old son to believe it too; then I realised I was drunk and we both conceded that it was a helicopter in the night sky!

[Storm Surge]

If there are aliens, chances are they're monitoring this board, so I'd like to take this oportunity to say . . .

We're not so bad, especially with some fava beens and a nice chianti.

What is gravity, really?

If God is all powerful, can he make a stone so heavy that he himself cannot lift it?
Come on! Can't you think of better questions than that?
Who cares about gravity-- where can I get the winning ticket for the lottery?

[Beware_of_Italics]

I have actually, and I'm not really "into" ufo's. I saw it around 10 pm one night. Ever seen the Disney movie "Flight of the Navigator?" It looked a lot like that ship, only the underside was a little larger than the top. A bright fluorescent green strip of light wrapped around it. (It was in the center b/w the top and bottom and was a solid line of green). I watched it travel down... and down... and right before it hit a wispy cloud it disapperared. Could have been a secret government plane for all I know. (We lived near Ellington Field back then).

My brother and his now-wife saw something one night, too. That evening the lights went out in the city and the weather was really strange. Incredibly windy. It was just an all around WEIRD night. I wish I'd seen what they saw, but I was at home. They said that when this thing passed over a store the lights went out there first, and then everywhere else directly afterward. (Including our neighborhood).

[WorldPlanter]

I don't belive in aliens.
On that note, I have seen unidentified flying objects, mostly when I slept out on the trampoline in the summer.
The main example was one night, sometime around maybe 10-11 pm, when my brother and I had our sleeping bags out onto the afore-mentioned trampoline and were lying on our backs looking up at the stars. Two trees kinda framed our view of the sky, which was decently clear, with plenty of stars.
We'd just gotten to the point where you stop talking and start dozing when I realized something funny was happening. The stars were moving. All of them. By all, I mean about maybe a hundred or so that I could see. They moved slowly, steadily, so where you wouldn't think they were moving unless you had something stationary to measure them by. I pointed this out to my brother, and togethor we used the frame of tree branches to mark the star's movements--and after fifteen twenty minutes of watching, we had both agreed the stars were moving and it wasn't our imagination.
The wierd thing was it didn't stop. I ended up falling asleep beneath it. Never happened again, and of course, no one believed us.

How fast were the stars moving? I shouldn't presume to understand exactly what you saw, but it seems it could be possible that you simply saw the stars traversing the sky like they do every night. People usually never notice because they never watch the stars with a frame of reference long enough. If you stay up for a few hours under the stars you'll notice that the entire sky rotates significantly. Now if they were moving fast then it would certainly be something to take note of.

[Jamesaritchie]

If there are aliens, chances are they're monitoring this board, so I'd like to take this oportunity to say . . .

We're not so bad, especially with some fava beens and a nice chianti.

What is gravity, really?

If God is all powerful, can he make a stone so heavy that he himself cannot lift it?


What is gravity? It's the weak force that bonds everything together.

Can God make a stone so heavy he can't lift it? Of course He can. . .and then He can lift it anyway. Whoever dreamed up this question had no concept of what omnipotence really is.

[benbradley]

What is gravity? It's the weak force that bonds everything together.

Can God make a stone so heavy he can't lift it? Of course He can. . .and then He can lift it anyway. Whoever dreamed up this question had no concept of what omnipotence really is.

That clears it up for me, omnipotence defies logic.

[RumpleTumbler]

James,

I was serious about the links. Do you have any?

[RumpleTumbler]

Anyone else see Buzz Aldrin cry bullshit on the fact that the had ever seen a UFO last night on Larry King live? I found that interesting since I've heard UFO proponents use his name as a credible witness for a while now.