Throughout the ages, man has always been eager to explain the mysterious occurrences in the sky. Unidentified Flying Objects (U.F.O.) pose a great mystery to the present scientists. Some American scientists have categorically negated the phenomenon. But some do agree. They explain U.F.O. as objects from other distant galaxy. Yet no unanimous decision has been reached. The mystery of U.F.O. continue to be elusive and intriguing.
Almost everyone have heard of it, if not seen it. Reports of sighting U.F.O. have come from 133 countries of the world. Out of the 70,000 reports, 95 percent have been dismissed as fake. They have been explained as weather balloons, lightning, rockets, birds and even insects. But the remaining five percent have not been explained till today. And these mysterious sightings have been called U.F.O.
In 1978, a unique case occurred in Melbourne. Pilot Frederick Valentich noticed something approaching towards him. He aired, ‘The thing is orbiting on top of me. It’s hovering and it’s not an aircraft. It is “ At this point, the transmission broke off. Nothing was heard from Valentich after that. It was thought that his plane must have crashed into the Tasmanian Sea. But no traces of the plane were found. On the other hand, there occurred more reports of mysterious objects in New Zealand.
These bizarre incidents caused Melbourne television crew to mark the air route between Wellington and Christchurch. The TV cameraman shot some 20,000 frames of 16mm film. They documented the presence of some mysterious objects. So, when research was carried out by Dr. Bruce Maccabee, Optical physicist at U.S. Navy, the film revealed an intriguing mysterious fying object that oscillated at a constant frequency from a large bright, yellowish-white circular shape to a dim yellow and red triangular shape. Dr. Maccabee suggested that the object was emitting a powerful light, equivalent to 100,000 watts. He also calculated that each object must be between 60-100 ft. And that they might be travelling at the speed of 3000 miles per hour.
The history of sighting such objects in the sky is primitive. Some of the sightings were raised to the pedestal of Gods by ancient people. Even in the biblical book of Genesis, Jacob dreamt of an angel-lined ladder ascending to Heaven. Colombus also reported, “a light glimmering at a great distance.”
Some scholars have suggested that U.F.O. was nothing but space ships from another galaxy which visited earth. The most active propagator of this theory is the Swiss author, Erich Von Daniken. He published a book in 1968, ‘Chariots of the Gods’. In this book, he suggested that many of man’s ancient works like pyramids and the entire Summerian civilization must have been built up by the help of the superior beings from other planets.
The actual modern research began somewhere in 1947. Kenneth Arnold, a businessman and a pilot, was flying his private plane when suddenly he noticed a disc like objects. The objects, he explained were fying in a chain and must be travelling at a speed of 1200 miles per hour.
The experience of Arnold was elaboratively stated in newspapers. Following his report, a series of such incidents were reported from elsewhere. Some claimed that they had seen seven foot beings wearing transparent suits, while some narrated that they saw three footed of ways. A few even claimed that American government had arrested three such mysterious men and that President Eisenhower had personally met them.
The sudden outburst of so many hypothesis forced U.S. Airforce to deal with the subject seriously. The name given to the team was Project Blue Book. The research with barely three to four people continued for 20 years. The consultant of the team was Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who was an astronomer with Ohio State University. He later became associate director of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and Chairman of the astronomy department. For a few years, Hynek did not believe in the existence of U.F.O. but in 1960, he proposed that a proper research should be conducted in this field.
It was because of his efforts that today we have a centre for UFO Studies at Evanston, Illinois. The director of the institute is none other than Dr. Hynek. He has divided the sighting of U.F.O.s into three classes – nocturne lights, daylight discs and radar visuals.
Hynek further classified three different types of encounter – first, second and third kinds. The first encounter of the UFO is just visible. It does not have a direct physical trace on the environment but emotionally it does leave an impact on the observers. He cites the case of Dale Spaur of Ohio. In the morning of April 17, 1966, Spaur and another person stopped at the side ofj a road to investigate an abandoned car. Suddenly, they saw something rising above a nearby wood. They chased the object for more than 70 miles at the speed of 105 miles per hour. In this chase Spaur was helped by other policemen and radio too. The chase ended in Conway, Pennsylvania.
In 1970, an incident occurred in Saladare in Ethiopia. A red ball, making a sound like an aeroplane swept the area. It destroyed houses and knocked down the stone walls of a bridge and uprooted trees. Surprisingly, no incident of fre was reported. In 1972, several mysterious radioactive impressions were discovered in Nams Fjora. Contrary to the reports of destruction caused by UFO, there are many cases in which patients have felt better and they found that their wounds were healed.
The third category of encounter with UFO is completely different. In this category, some of the creatures of the UFO are said to look like humans. Such encounters have usually occurred with clergymen, housewives, physicians and farmers. They claimed that they few with UFO. But when asked to prove it, they merely said that they were kidnapped by Humanoids (as UFO beings have been nicknamed).
Most amusing are the reactions of people toward UFO. The reactions of the people depict their cultural pattern. French curiously approach towards UFO humanoids. US citizens react with fear and hostility and the priests of Papua Guinea wave at them.
The vital question is what are UFOs? Since scientists have failed to explain them in contemporary term – natural phenomena, fabrication or mental aberration. A poll done in the U.S. in 1978 indicated that most citizens perceive it to be some form of extra terrestrial intelligence. Some scientists believe that intelligent life might exist beyond earth. However, scientists reject that UFOs are real.
In 1978, French government appointed a four-member committee with a psychologist. They interviewed eleven people who have been part of the UFO incidents and reached at the conclusion that these people did see some objects which were beyond the comprehension of human understanding.
The United State had earlier appointed a committee under Dr. Edward U. Condon to speculate about extra-terrestria hypothesis. But Condon committee gave the judgement about UFO. Condon said that no such thing can be proved scientifically. Dr. Hynek did not believe this report, rather he blamed Condon for not researching on Extraterrestrial hypothesis (the cause for which Condon Committee was formed).
French researcher Jacques Vallee got interested in the idea. In his book, “Passport to Magonia”, Vallee dissected the parallels between close encounters and myths from practically every culture which talked about UFO. He came to the conclusion that – “In antiquity they were visualized as ‘gods’ in our time, as interplanetary travellers It may be that it is inherent in our species, a sort of built-in defence mechanism that reveals itself in times of extreme social stress. And one of its manifestations is the phenomenon known as UFO.”
Majority of scientists believe that UFO is not a spaceship or any other planet’s peculiarity. They do not know what it is. Although Dr. Condon categorically stated that all such literature on UFO should be banned and people who claim to have seen UFO should be ostracized.
Despite such strong recommendations, people continue to witness UFO films and fiction is written about them. If so much continues to happen around the syndrome of UFO, certainly Dr. Condon could not have been right. Whatever UFO maybe, whether visitors from outer space distant galaxy or natural manifestation of unknown forces of human mind – the mysterious phenomenon does continue to elude answers.
