My UFO encounter

[Pingonaut]

This all sounds a little bit too much like something a disappointed conspiracist would say. We can prove it! Well, actually we can't, but if we would, you would not believe us! Why won't you believe us!

Call me optimistic, but I am certain that a single piece of good, solid evidence would sway a huge amount of scientists. There will naturally be a certain amount of scepticism to overcome, but that is only healthy. As has been stated, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

Even though I agree, I have to chime in and say he isn't wrong.

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The Loch Ness monster is known to not exist: full sonar sweeps have been done of the lake, multiple times, there's nothing in there. Regardless of that, there are plenty of blurry photos and eyewitness accounts, with more coming out every year. So here's something to start with; produce evidence more substantive than that for Nessie.

It's like saying "there's a giant snake in my backyard but no known snakes like that are believed to have habitat here" before it was discovered that the large snakes originated from pets that were discarded, which started a colony.

[Camacha]

What is proof, exactly? Investigations certainly have produced evidence.

Without substantiation I refuse to accept for a fact that there is plenty of evidence and that everyone is willingly ignoring it. Even if you take into account that novel ideas generate resistance that is just too convenient.

[Pingonaut]

Without substantiation I refuse to accept for a fact that there is plenty of evidence and that everyone is willingly ignoring it. Even if you take into account that novel ideas generate resistance that is just too convenient.

But still, what kind of substantiation?

Anyhow, I just wanted to come back before checking out of the discussion. Thanks for the enjoyment. Will check up every now and then and finish up if need be.

[benjee10]

I'm back, but not for too long.

What is proof, exactly? Investigations certainly have produced evidence.

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Then why do we study animals in the wild today, why do we protect endangered species? Curiosity, as well. For a civilization that has achieved beyond the point of only surviving, why is it far fetched to believe that they would be doing things like we are? Nature preserves, studies on species and their development, etc.

Investigations into ETs have produced no scientifically valid evidence.

I would argue that nature preserves etc are an extension of our survival instinct. We are curious because it is, or was, an advantage to our survival to be so. Obviously direct survival is rarely a key player in modern life, so that survival instinct gets diverted elsewhere. In fact that would be what I would call an empathetic survival instinct. We are tuned to be empathetic creatures because it helps us socially, allows us to look out for each other etc etc which benefits the survival of the genome. With direct survival no longer being a factor that feeling of care now extends to other species which we find to be particularly interesting or cute (note that it is the cute animals that receive the majority of public donations) - it is an unintended consequence of the powerful survival instinct.

Now you are the one claiming to know what ETs' motives are and are projecting ours onto them. I say we can guess what their motivations might be. But I don't see how hovering over some people and drawing crop circles could be logical unless their aim is just to be spoooooky.

[Kryten]

But still, what kind of substantiation?

Do you have anything that's not eyewitness accounts or blurry photos? That's what I meant.

[Brotoro]

List of things I have seen in the sky for which I have no explanation:

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[Windspren]

The Kerbals are coming...

Are you sure it wasn't a shooting star?

[Albert VDS]

That reasoning doesn't work-all views start out as 'non-mainstream', regardless of veracity.

What I was getting at is, if it is real then there would be solid proof and then it would be seen as fact.

If we were visited by aliens then we would have more than dubious photos and videos.

[randomness5555]

UFO's eh? I actually had something a little like that once. It was fairly late in the afternoon, and i'm looking out my bedroom window (after watering the plants on it). I'm looking around, and then I spot something weird. Up in the sky (about 50 degrees up) is a small black shape, pretty far away. It's moving very slowly to the left, and the shape appears to keep fluctuating very slightly, honestly looking like it was spinning a little. At first I thought it was just a helicopter but it's moving way slower than it should have been, and while it's impossible to work out exactly what i'm looking at, it doesn't look anything like a helicopter. As a BTW, i'm in England on the south coast so unlikely it's a freak rocket launch.

Edited May 30, 2015 by randomness5555

[LN400]

Just a very silly anecdote: A few weeks back, I was on my way home from college, riding my bicycle so I had a pretty good view of the evening sky. One spot of bright light on the sky caught my attention. At first I wondered if it was Venus until I remembered Venus would be lower towards the horizon. I wondered if it was another planet, but couldn't think of any that would fit the bill. The light was stationary. I couldn't figure out what it could be. I stopped and watched it for about 5 minutes wondering. Now, I live in a town where airliners fly over us every day and night on their way to the airports in the area. With their nav lights they're a familiar sight but I never saw a plane that didn't move before. This light wasn't moving at all, as far as I could tell, nor was it a planet, or a star.

Well.... if I had gotten back on my bike, I wouldn't have known what this was and it was, by definition, a UFO. However, I did wait a few more moments and lo and behold, soon I could vaguely spot a tiny green light on one side and a red light on the other. The bright light had also grown in intensity but so slowly I hadn't noticed. Soon the bright light broke into 2 bright spots close together and it became clear this was another airliner. It just came in from a direction I hadn't seen they come in from before but soon after the airliner flew overhead.

Up until I knew, this was a genuine UFO sighting. When I did know, it turned into an IFO, I got back on my bike and got myself home and forgot about it until just now when I wrote this post. Interesting while the wondering lasted, not really interesting when the wondering ended.

[Heimdall5008]

So, shouldn't we DISCUSS THESE INSTEAD :

1. Tell a possible unidentified object sighting.

2. Try figure out what it is.

Okay, I can deliver both []

Way back, about 20 years I would think, I also saw an UFO together with my parents. On an evening over a hill we could first see one and later up to three glowing red lights. They looked somehow transparent (you could guess the clouds behind) and made erratic movements over a pretty bis area of the sky. The biggest light was about half the size of a full moon (as far as I remember). We could watch the spectacle for about 5 to 10 minutes and had at this time no idea what this could have been. After discussion some other people we knew not only we had seen it.

Two days later we could read the explanation in the newspaper (it seems a few dozen people had called the police) what the lights were. At the evening of the sighting a theater was opened about 20 km away. During the opening ceremony they showed an outdoor laser show (the first time I ever heard of such a thing). Due to really low clouds this evening some of the laser spots could be seen many kilometers away.

This was my first contact with a UFO. After this I started to read a whole lot of books about them [].

Since then I could watch some other strange things in the sky, but I could always iditify them:

• reentry of the upper stage of a Russian rocket (this was really cool)
  
• some bolides
  
• a Black Hawk helicopter during dusk without lights (we have an US air base some kilometers away)
  
• Lenticular clouds (they can really look like "hard" objects, if you do not know them)
  

So for now no other UFO. And BTW I belive in aliens and UFO's, but not in alien UFO's []

[Voyager55]

So basically when we see a funny light we're supposed to be spooked and call it a UFO? While it's indeed unidentified, there's no reason to believe it's anything but a natural phenomenon. Centuries ago when we saw lightning we were horrified and thought it to be the doing of the gods, same for earthquakes and all sorts of spectacular phenomenon. If aliens are flitting about our solar system, they probably have better things to do that reveal themselves to us as tiny sky dots, and i'm sure with their technology that they wouldn't be spotted so often if they were actually trying to remain hidden.

All i'm saying is, stay skeptical.

[LN400]

So basically when we see a funny light we're supposed to be spooked and call it a UFO? *snipped for shortness*

All i'm saying is, stay skeptical.

Agree, skepticism opens up for, possibly, a real explanation. The fallacy of this whole UFO debate is the automatic 'connection' people make between unexplained and aliens. A UFO is nothing more than something that flies, and which is unexplained, unidentified. No need to drag aliens into it by default. However, an unidentified object that happens to fly is still unidentified and thus, a UFO.

[Bill Phil]

So basically when we see a funny light we're supposed to be spooked and call it a UFO? While it's indeed unidentified, there's no reason to believe it's anything but a natural phenomenon. Centuries ago when we saw lightning we were horrified and thought it to be the doing of the gods, same for earthquakes and all sorts of spectacular phenomenon. If aliens are flitting about our solar system, they probably have better things to do that reveal themselves to us as tiny sky dots, and i'm sure with their technology that they wouldn't be spotted so often if they were actually trying to remain hidden.

All i'm saying is, stay skeptical.

UFO =\= alien spaceship

[Slam_Jones]

Had another one today outside my office, which I believe is a weather balloon.

It looked like it was pretty high up, much higher than airliners usually go. It seemed to be shiny, and alternated reflecting green-blue and yellow-orange.

Weirdest part is that it seemed to be slowly moving the opposite direction of the wind... but at high altitudes like that, it's hard to tell which way the wind really is going anyway. It could be completely opposite the direction it's going on the ground.

But yeah. A UFO isn't necessarily alien in origin.

[LN400]

It looked like it was pretty high up, much higher than airliners usually go. It seemed to be shiny, and alternated reflecting green-blue and yellow-orange.

Weirdest part is that it seemed to be slowly moving the opposite direction of the wind... but at high altitudes like that, it's hard to tell which way the wind really is going anyway. It could be completely opposite the direction it's going on the ground.

Wind comes in layers. The wind direction of one layer can very well be in a completely different direction than that of a different layer. Flying RC models, I experience this when I don't even go very high up, only a few 10s of meters.