Ufo’s: Fact Or Myth? Essay, Research Paper

“Deep Throat: A military UFO? Mr. Mulder, why are those like yourself, who believe in the existence of extra terrestrial life on this Earth, not dissuaded by all the evidence to the contrary? Mulder: Because, all the evidence to the contrary, is not entirely dissuasive. Deep Throat: Precisely. Mulder: They’re here, aren’t they? Deep Throat: Mr. Mulder, they’ve been here for a long, long time.” Said on the hit show The X-Files. Writ. And prod. Chris Carter (FOX)

Radars pick up strange signals everyday and some of the spacecraft are not recognizable. Are there strange crafts from outer space carrying little green men, or are they special government crafts, remained to be kept a secret? Maybe both. Who really knows for sure?

UFO’s, unidentified flying objects, are a curiosity to all of us, even if you don’t believe they exist. UFO’s first appeared over 103 years ago. (Andy 28) A craft apparently crashed into a windmill tower and exploded in Aurora, Texas. Some of the material that was recovered had strange hieroglyphic symbols on it. Since 1897, there have been thousands of sightings all over the world. From California to New Zealand and Sicily.

The most famous crash in UFO history was the crash in Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, in which an Army base issued a press release saying it had found a flying “disk”. (Fox 48) There are about 500 residents who are still living who reportedly witnessed the “alleged alien spacecraft crash” in New Mexico. The Army originally said the Roswell incident was the result of a radar reflector from a weather balloon hitting the Earth. (Associated Press A.6)

The government later admitted the explanation was false, but refused to say what had happened. Five bodies were removed from the craft and they were described as “small with large heads with skin an orange/yellow color.” The Army found strange debris which consisted of a foil like substance, balsa wood like beams, and a strange sort of string, which the sheep would not go near. (Andy 30)

Forty-nine percent of the people polled in a current Life poll think that the U.S. Government is withholding information from the public about the existence of UFO’s. (Fox 56) The U.S. Government has been trying to debunk any existence of UFO’s. There have been hundreds of requests made by the government in order to learn more about these alleged “UFO’s”, for instance, the Freedom of Information Act Requests, which have requested all documents pertaining to Unidentified Flying Objects or the UFO phenomenon and all documents pertaining to Unidentified Aerial Objects, or UAO’s. (Greenwald 3)

Have you ever had memory lapses? Strange markings on your body you’ve never seen before? You might have the symptoms of an alien abductee. Many psychiatrists think alien abduction is actually sleep paralysis, hundreds claim they’ve had experiences similar to alien abduction. (Fox 54) People who have actually claimed that they have been abducted, don’t think that’s always the case.

On November 5, 1975, a group of loggers who were exploring the mountains of northern Arizona observed a strange, bright light in the sky. They drove closer, to take a closer look at the craft. One of the loggers, Travis Walton, got out of the truck and as he walked toward the object, he was struck by a beam of light.

His friend, Mike Rogers, thought that he was dead and fled in fear. After driving for a short distance, the other workers in the truck forced him to go back and look for Travis. When they got there, there was no sign of the object or Travis. They reported the encounter to the police the next day and the police thought that they had made up the story to cover-up the murder of Travis Walton. For five days, the authorities mounted a manhunt in search of Travis or his body. The police requested that the men take a polygraph test to clear their names. The first test was inconclusive, but the second said that they were, in fact, telling the truth. (Kosmo 5)

On November 10th, five days after the “abduction”, Travis’s brother-in-law received a phone call from Travis and he went to pick him up a few miles outside of the town of Heber. When he found him, he was naked, confused and distraught. Soon afterwards, he began to recall the events of the past few days. He told a story of aliens who were about five feet tall with hairless heads, large eyes, tiny ears and nose, and a slit for a mouth who performed various tests on him. This is one of the best documented cases of UFO abductions. After the movie, “Fire in the Sky”, the loggers took two more polygraph tests and they all proved to be telling the truth. None of them had anything to gain from this, but it did change their lives forever. (Kosmo 5)

Another famous abduction case is the case of Betty and Barney Hill. They were one of the first people to come forward with a claim of abduction. During September 1961, they were driving back from a holiday vacation in Canada, when they noticed a light that seemed to be following them. They thought it was just a plane or helicopter but the light was descending and becoming closer.

Barney Hill stopped the car and got out to get a better look with his binoculars. He could see an object that he described as “banana like with pointed tips and windows.” (Kosmo 5)

Barney started to walk slowly towards the craft, and it was only after several desperate calls from Betty, that he returned to the car. He claimed to have seen aliens through the window. In fear, they drove home. They soon realized that they were missing more than an hour of time and noticed that the car had strange blotches on it. Betty reported it to the Pease Air Force Base, soon after, and they confirmed that they had tracked an unknown object around that time and location. Betty began to have strange nightmares involving aliens. She consulted with several doctors who suggested hypnosis. Both of the Hills were hypnotized by Dr. Benjamin Simon, who was amazed by what the couple were independently describing. They told of being taken aboard the UFO and having tests performed on them. Betty also remembered being shown a star map of where the aliens came from. Under further hypnotic sessions, they were able to reconstruct the star map which turned out to be very close to a star system that was later found. The exact planet that Betty was shown, circled the star Zeta Reticulli. (Kosmo 5)

Crop circles first appeared in 1975. They were very simple circles and as time went on, they became very complicated. Crop circles usually have cellular changes in the crop, radiation fluctuations in the soil, and always are unusually shaped. The latest evidence shows that the crop is exposed to some kind of microwave radiation and has boiled the water in the plant cells, causing them to burst and bend at the bottom.

Most people think crop circles are always circles, hence the name, but they have become complex and come in many different shapes and sizes. Some crop circles have been hoaxed and therefore many people dismiss all of them. On the other hand, there are ones with the above characteristics, which are a sight to behold. A true unexplained phenomenon. (Kosmo 5)

UFO’s, fact or myth? The crafts might be real but do you believe the stories of the alien abductions? Are they a figment of peoples’ imagination? Some things are left unknown and will probably remain that way.