Of all the controversial subjects that engage the attention of people, none is more popular than the UFO phenomenon. In the following, I will be using the term UFO, not in its literal meaning as unidentified flying object. Instead, when I use the term I will mean an object that is intelligently controlled, but not built by humans, and is seen in the air.

On the internet, UFOs are second in popularity only to pornography. There are an incredible number of websites on the topic, some of them quite good, some ridiculous. The vast number of ‘hits’ these sites gets, attests to the popularity of the subject. The number of books on UFOs is staggering. The number of good ones is a much smaller  number.

This is the greatest mystery confronting humankind. It shatters our paradigm of space and time. It challenges our concept of reality. It is multi-dimensional. It is multifaceted.

Concerning UFOs, people seem to be polarized into two camps, those who believe that Earth is being visited by an alien intelligence, or many alien intelligences, and those who don’t. The believers themselves are polarized into two camps, those who believe that these alien visitors are from a planet around a nearby star (the ET hypothesis) and those who believe they are from other dimensions, parallel universes, if you will.

Though many people see weather balloons, satellites, and meteors, and report them as UFOs, there are far too many sightings that cannot be explained away as any natural or manmade phenomenon.  There are hundreds of good solid cases of sightings of craft of various shapes and sizes performing “impossible” maneuvers in the sky, landing, and sometimes interacting with humans. Many times these objects have been tracked on radar at the same time that multiple witnesses on the ground are seeing them.

Despite the variety of craft and aliens described by people, there is a startling consistency of testimony concerning the basic core experience of a close encounter. I am talking about a consistency of detail that cuts across cultural and geographic boundaries, and which remains consistent throughout the centuries. Much UFO evidence comes from witness testimony and thus can be considered as anecdotal evidence. But there is the consistency that I just mentioned, as well as the fact that many witnesses or abductees, have been highly trained professional such as scientists, policemen, military officers, military and commercial pilots, etc. Many sighting have had multiple witnesses, sometimes hundreds, even thousands. Many sightings of UFOs have been tracked on radar while simultaneously being seen by observers on the ground.

Many famous people, including heads of state, have seen UFOs.  Most people do not know that Clyde Tombaugh, the man who discovered Pluto, had multiple UFO sightings. He was clear about the fact that he knew that what he had seen was neither a natural phenomenon nor manmade. Astronauts have seen objects in space that were clearly under intelligent control, but obviously were not something any human could have built. They were even seen on the moon. NASA has ordered these astronauts to keep their mouths shut, but a few, such as Edgar Mitchell, have spoken out about UFO sightings by astronauts.

There are many so-called physical trace cases in which a UFO causes physical effects on the ground, such as a burnt area where it landed, radiation burns on people who got too close, scorched or broken branches on trees, anomalous electromagnetic effects. These, in and of themselves, are not compelling, but in physical trace cases where the object was seen by multiple witnesses or tracked on radar, they become hard to ignore. There are some very good cases with very solid evidence. In my opinion, there is so much evidence for UFOs, that people who still choose to deny their existence are in the same category as those who deny the holocaust.

Sightings of saucer-shaped UFOs go back to antiquity, and in fact are depicted on the cave drawings made in Europe by prehistoric man. Alexander the Great had two sightings of what, at that time, were known as flying shields. There are paintings from medieval and renaissance painters which depict saucer-shaped objects in the sky. The Hindus have a vast literature with many stories about the saucer-shaped craft they called vimanas. Every culture in world has stories of strange beings from another world, coming here and interacting with humans.

The UFO phenomenon, by its very nature is elusive and appears to be purposely abstruse. The UFO pilots are able to manipulate our space-time continuum in ways that our scientists cannot understand. They are able to slip in and out of our reality at will. Some, if not all, can change the shape and appearance of their craft right before our eyes. Some, if not all, can change their own appearance, looking like bug-eyed monsters if they want to, or looking like humans if they so choose.

UFOs will remain on the periphery of human experience because that is what the so-called aliens want, or perhaps because they are not able to manifest themselves in our physical reality for long periods. They will continue to tease us, giving us just enough evidence to convince those in the know of such things, and at they same time, they will continue holding back just enough, so that those people who choose not to take a closer look, can remain ignorant of their reality.

Aliens From Space?

Some 20 years ago I abandoned the hypotheses that UFOs are extraterrestrials from another stellar system, and began looking at them as denizens of other realities. They are inter-dimensional travelers, not space travelers. The reasons for abandoning the ET hypothesis are many.

There are too many examples of these so-called aliens taking soil samples, stealing our animals, abducting humans and submitting them to crude medical examinations. I see no reason why ETs would not need so many soil samples, and so many of our animals. Many sightings of aliens doing things on the ground seem to be purposely staged to misguide humans into thinking of these entities as space aliens.

Many abductions result in the most traumatic experiences, complete with crude and intrusive medical examinations, but in some, the beings seem more interested in the spiritual development of the person, than in their physical makeup. As for the medical tests or examinations, I would expect a race advanced enough to get here from another star, to have much more advanced equipment for these procedures. It is undeniable that there is a strong sexual component to many abductions. Why would space-aliens be so interested in human sexuality? Many abductions seem to be done for the purpose of raising the consciousness of the abducted and taking him or her to their next level in spiritual development. Again, I say, why would space aliens be so interested in such a thing?

There are many anomalous characteristics of the UFOs and their crews. UFOs can change shape, they can perform maneuvers that would create enough G-forces to kill any human or animal. They seem at times to defy the law of inertia. Rather than being a craft, piloted by intelligent beings, the UFO itself sometimes seems to be an intelligent being.

Sometimes two saucer shaped objects, that for all appearances seem to be “nuts and bolts” craft of some kind, will come together and merge into one saucer shaped object. UFOs sometimes appear out of thin air. Sometimes they disappear into thin air to the amazement of witnesses. The beings that come out of these craft can float through the air, walk through walls, and communicate telepathically.
Common side effects of a close encounter include, poltergeist activity in the home, increased ESP, radiation burns, severe insomnia. In many cases, a person who has been abducted or had a close contact will undergo a spiritual transformation that astounds their family and friends.

The evidence points to the UFOs being a multifaceted phenomenon. Perhaps it would be more proper to speak of UFO phenomena, rather than the UFO phenomenon. There are many different sizes and shapes of the craft that are sighted, the most common being a sphere and a saucer. Some may even be holographic projections from a parallel universe. There seems to be many different species of so-called aliens, some showing a cold, indifferent attitude towards us, and some showing the most profound love for humanity. Some even engage in actions that could be seen as evil.

As for parallel universes, and their corollary, other dimensions, they have become part of mainstream theoretical physics. Though not quite enjoying a status  as being a proven fact, parallel universes are widely accepted amongst cosmologists and physicists because the concept neatly solves some very important conundrums. The only problem here is that physicists, while accepting the reality of parallel universes, usually state that it is impossible for there to be any interactions between them. I suspect that some day they will reverse that tenet of the paradigm that has been so carefully created.

Most people already believe in at least one parallel universe, even though they don’t call it by that name. Ask anyone at random if they believe they will survive the death of their body and most people will say yes. Ask them where they will find themselves after death and you will receive an answer such as “heaven” or “the spirit world.” What are those but parallel universes by another name? People do not believe that either heaven or the spirit world is to be found on Mars or Neptune. Nor do they believe it be found on a planet around a nearby star, or even in another galaxy. They can call it what they want, but they are believing in a parallel universe.

Those who refuse to believe in the reality of UFOs rarely take the time to look at the evidence. If they do, they usually become convinced. Surveys show that the higher the education level, the more likely it is that someone believes in the reality of UFOs.

UFOs are associated with many bizarre phenomena, including animal mutilations, crop circles, Bigfoot, and a host of other oddities. As for crop circles, they are not such a fleeting phenomenon as UFOs. They sit there for days on end before they finally fade. How in the world can a huge complex crop formation with many hundreds of circles in it, form overnight? It would take a team of highly skilled surveyors a month to create most of the large complex ones. Some rather complex ones have been verified to have formed in less than four hours, and there is one case in which a pilot flew over a complex crop formation and swore that he had flown over the same field 10 minutes earlier and it was not there. Their is powerful evidence that crop formations are created by an unknown intelligence that exists in some other realm, though some of them are undoubtedly man made.

There are many scientists have taken the time to look at the evidence. Very rare is the scientist who has done so and comes away not believing in the reality of UFOs. Unfortunately, it is a rare scientist who bothers to look into the phenomenon at all. Carl Sagan is a good example of a scientist who had strong views concerning the unreality of UFOs, but never took the time to investigate the phenomenon at all. His book, The Demon Haunted World, presents what appears to be a very convincing argument against the reality of the phenomenon, but upon closer inspection is full of mistakes and faulty logic, as well as betraying the fact that he knew absolutely nothing about the subject he was debunking. The vast majority of the unbelievers, as you call them, get all of their UFO information (disinformation really) from various news media, or from the debunkers.

Science, by its very nature encourages skepticism, and that is a good thing. But it also teaches open-mindedness and objectively looking at the data. The problem is, scientists are prone to the same foibles as all humans. Many scientists refuse to look at the UFO data because their minds are made up. Even some serious UFO researchers have been guilty of selectively rejecting certain evidence. Those who insist that UFOs are alien space ships will not bother to investigate cases which have a strong element of strangeness.

Another issue to consider is “What constitutes proof?” Also, who is authorized to tell the world that UFOs as an extraterrestrial or inter-dimensional phenomenon either exist or don’t exist? In science, the concept of proof is well defined and facts are not supposed to be decided by authority of any individual, but by empirical evidence and logic. But a phenomenon that is unpredictable, purposely evasive, and defies our known laws of physics, might be outside the providence of science in that it is not amenable to the scientific process, at least not with today’s technology and in terms of today’s paradigm of reality. We can use the scientific method to scrutinize the data from sightings, such as radar data, burnt ground where a UFO landed, radiation sickness and burns on people who have had close encounters, etc, and this will help us to understand the phenomenon, but I think that it is a huge puzzle of which we only have a few pieces here and a couple of fragments there, certainly not enough to see the larger picture in the type of clarity we would like. The reality of the phenomenon is undeniable. Its exact nature leaves plenty of room for debate.

Further complicating the issue is the tendency of the UFO occupants to purposely deceive. They generally play upon the cultural leanings of the people they interact with. In the 40s and 50s they were fond of telling people they are from Venus or Mars. When the space program proved those to be lifeless worlds, they began telling people they are from a nearby star, Zeta Reticuli being a favorite. An alien might present themselves as the Virgin Mary to a Catholic, or as a spirit guide to someone who has more of a new age leaning. In fact one of the best UFO sightings, with many classic aspects of UFO close encounters, occurred in Fatima Portugal in 1917 and is listed by the Catholic Church as a visitation of the Virgin Mary. Three children spoke with the female alien the first time she stepped out of her craft, which for most observers looked like a ball of light. The ball of light returned on the same day each month with the number of observers growing at almost an exponential rate. On the final visit there were some 70,000 observers. Some reported seeing a saucer-shaped object in the sky as the ball of light descended in the falling-leaf trajectory that is typical of UFOs.

Someone coined the term ‘ultra terrestrials’ to describe these beings. There seems to be quite a variety of types of these UTs but possibly not as many as it seems, since they (at some of them) have the ability to morph into any form they choose. They have probably been visiting Earth since before mankind was here. They may even be responsible for creating humans through some sort of breeding program with primates, but that is just speculation. They’re here. They’ve been here a very long time. They can slip in and out of our universe with ease.

They have always been viewed through the lens of the religious beliefs and zeitgeist of the culture that is viewing them. The myth that arose in mid-twentieth century happens to be that UFOs are spaceships piloted by space-aliens. Right after WWII the idea of space travel became very popular and naturally the myth arose that we are being visited by aliens from outer space. In the past they were seen as gods, demons, angels, messengers from the heavens, and humanlike beings from other realms. They gave rise to Celtic fairy myths, the incubus and the succubus of Catholic folklore, and the vimanas of Hindu mythology. The task of the modern UFO researcher is to separate the myth from the facts. He or she needs to look at the raw data and assess the phenomenon as much as possible without being biased by the mythology of the phenomenon. That is a difficult task and requires an incisive mind with the ability to look objectively at something that is fraught with strong emotional attachments.