History of UFO Sightings, Timeline & AbductionsHistory of UFO since their first observations, and most have a simple and valid explanation there are some that defy current understanding.
UFO stands for Unidentified Flying Object, and as such UFOs are real and definitely exist, they just cannot be identified by the viewer. Many people automatically associate UFO with Extra-Terrestrial, if they cannot identify something flying - it's an alien UFO.
Photographs of UFOs are investigated and usually identified as known objects such as weather balloons or aircraft. When this happens it ceases to be a UFO and is reclassified as an identified object. Some objects are clearly hoaxes and are identified as such, some are convincing but on careful inspection are found to be identifiable. There are however a few photographs that cannot be explained.
UFO's Throughout History
Unidentified Flying Objects have been reported throughout history with tales from every continent. Many of these phenomena are astronomical objects such as comets, bright meteors, planets or atmospheric phenomena such as sun dogs and lenticular clouds. Other historical reports seem to defy explanation, but evaluating such accounts is difficult at best because of inaccurate accounting of the event - some accounts have been exaggerated, whilst others lack details.
Accounts of unidentified objects date back into pre-history. Around 1450 BC, during the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose III, there was a description of multiple "circles of fire" brighter than the Sun and about 5 metres in size that appeared over multiple days. They finally disappeared after ascending higher in the sky.
During The Second Punic War (218-201 BC) there were many sightings of strange aerial phenomena. The Annales Maximi (annals kept by the Pontifex Maximus) tell of ships which gleamed in the sky coming out of the clouds. In 216 there was a similar sighting of "gleaming round shields" travelling through the air.
It was reported by Plutarch (AD46-AD119) in his book "Lucullu", that during the third Mithidratic war (75-63 BC) as the Roman army advanced on Turkey, a sudden boom announced itself over the area, and a flash spread across the sky. He then wrote that "a huge, flame-like body was seen to fall between the two armies". He stated it to be the shape of a wine jar and the colour of molten silver. Similar cases have been recorded in several ancient and modern battlefields.
Ancient sites around the world have been linked with aliens, such as the Nazca Lines and stone statues on Easter Island. There are also some theories that the Egyptian pyramids were built by aliens.
On April 14, 1561, the skies over Nuremberg, Germany were reportedly filled with a multitude of objects seemingly engaged in an aerial battle. Small spheres and discs were said to emerge from large cylinders.
Modern Sightings of UFO's
The advent of the photographic era has enabled people from all walks of life to capture images in great detail for analysis, however nearly all of them have proven to be hoaxes when examined.
The first modern recorded observation took place in Copiapo City, Chile, in 1868. Since then reports of UFO sightings have been increasing over the years, peaking in post-World War 2 America. The most famous UFO is probably that of Roswell, New Mexico, where the US Military allegedly captured a downed UFO.
There are different types of UFOs reported, interestingly they vary in design over time. In the 40s and 50's they were primarily "flying saucer" or "cigar" shaped, in the '70s and 80's they were primarily tall or round, "chandelier" style (i.e. Close Encounters), and in the 90s-00s they seem to be "black triangle" popularised by the sci-fi show X-Files. In the 21st century, we see again a change in the shape of UFO sightings with most reporting single points of light, or orbs, flying around in unison. There are also reports of jellyfish-shaped UFOs floating through the air. Whilst some believe them to be flying craft under a form of cloaking device (disguised as a cloud) others believe we are seeing gigantic alien jellyfish creatures floating in the air. Most probably they are weather balloons which had deflated and are drifting in the upper atmosphere.
UFOs have also been linked to crop circles and cattle mutilations and abductions. They have been the subject of thousands of Movies and TV shows, dating back to the earliest days of the medium. Stories have been published for many hundreds of years.
Are UFOs Real? Do UFOs Exist?
There is no one answer to the question of whether UFOs are real. It is a topic that has been debated for many years, with people on both sides of the argument claiming to have seen evidence that supports their case. Some people believe that UFOs are definitely real, citing sightings of strange objects in the sky and stories of abductions by aliens. However, many of these stories can be explained by more mundane phenomena, such as meteorites or weather balloons. There is also no scientific evidence to support the existence of UFOs, and some people believe that the whole concept is a hoax.
The question of whether UFOs are real is likely to continue to be debated for many years to come.
