Common Sense Observations

The UFO Craze

Roswell, Area 51 and the Hill Star Map are but three of the most talked about, most believed and most investigated topics among UFO enthusiasts. Did an alien spaceship crash in Roswell? Are there alien spaceships, technology and alien beings locked away in Area 51? Does the Hill Star Map prove that aliens have abducted human beings and performed tests on them?

Just in case you’ve spent your life sequestered in a dungeon 1,000 feet below a polar ice cap, UFO stands for unidentified flying object. Technically speaking, UFO sightings are quite common. When anyone looks towards the sky and sees something that can’t be readily identified, it is a UFO. Some common UFO sightings include extremely high altitude aircraft, meteorites, weather balloons and the space shuttle as it re-enters earth’s atmosphere. Frequently, people who see a UFO will quickly realize what it is – after further observation, and sometimes the aid of a pair of binoculars.

The connotation of UFO is different than what the term actually defines. The mention of a UFO instantly conjures up visions of aliens and their highly advanced spacecraft. UFO has come to mean alien unidentified flying object, as in, from another planet. The internet is bubbling over with stories, accounts, photographs and even videos of these alien UFO events.

Much of the UFO information on the internet can be quickly dismissed as an obvious form of fakery, just by looking at it. I downloaded a couple of the more popular UFO photographs and magnified them in Photoshop only to find pixel-sized evidence of fakery. Some of the UFO photographs, stories and videos, however, are not so easily dismissed. But does that make them real?

UFO materials, which include all the stories, photos and videos, have some things in common. The photographs and videos are from a distance and never very clear. The stories almost never have witnesses, and when they do, they are far from credible. And there is never any proof such as alien DNA; body fluids or parts; technology; unknown elements or composites; alien writing, hieroglyphics or anything else. UFO enthusiasts quickly dismiss the lack of proof as part of a massive cover up conspiracy. Apparently, whenever a UFO comes to earth, a team is dispatched instantly to the scene to ensure no evidence of alien visitation remains for the general public to discover.

I find few, if any, concepts more tantalizing and exciting than the thought of a UFO filled with aliens visiting Mother Earth. Even the thought of an unoccupied UFO on a survey mission landing in Grand Canyon or Central Park is electrifying. The mind reels with the possibilities for progress in medicine, science, philosophy, technology and physics. But I’m going to have to keep my excitement penned up until there is some proof. Visitation by aliens in a UFO is, after all, an extraordinary claim, and should therefore be accompanied by extraordinary proof. Certainly more proof than a blurred photo, shaky video or statement of account from one person.

Personally, I believe there are countless other life forms in the Milky Way Galaxy. Some of those life forms, I’m confident, have something akin to what we call consciousness and intelligence. Of those, I’m sure some have achieved their era of technology. But why would they come and visit earth, of all places? Our planet is in the boondocks of the galaxy orbiting an average star. Not very good probabilities for finding anything interesting. And finally, if aliens did come to earth in an interstellar-capable UFO, why would they conceal themselves and their presence so thoroughly?

Many prominent scientists (and me too) desperately want a UFO event to pan out. But until there is some real proof of a UFO and/or an alien visitation, I’ll just have to keep watching the skies and hoping. What do you believe?