| What comes to mind when someone talks about a | | | | experiences and in novels, television |
| UFO? Do you think about the cover of a | | | | programming and films. How common is it for |
| science fiction novel and the image of | | | | people to see a UFO? |
| mysterious bluish lights beaming down from | | | | |
| it? Do you think about a time when you were | | | | It's hard to say, really, because many people |
| out late at night and you saw a flash of | | | | who see an unidentified flying object in the |
| light, wondered what it was only to realize a | | | | sky are reluctant to report it. Either the |
| moment later that what you saw wasn't a UFO - | | | | person who saw a UFO believes that there is a |
| it was just the lights of a plane that was | | | | far more logical explanation or merely thinks |
| beginning its descent. Do you think of | | | | that no one would believe them if they were |
| movies, or little green men, cartoons, or do | | | | to say anything about it. And yet, there are |
| you just turn away shaking your head? | | | | UFO sightings that are shared and that become |
| | | | the topic of conspiracy theories by those who |
| A lot of people discuss UFOs as flying | | | | believe that beings from other planets and |
| saucers - it seems to be the best description | | | | galaxies have visited the earth. |
| that they can come up with. Others suggest, | | | | |
| rather dismissively, that UFO simply means | | | | One such incident occurred in 1980 in |
| unidentified flying object and that the light | | | | Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England. Those |
| that someone saw flashing in the sky was | | | | who saw the UFO all claimed to have seen |
| either a plane, a helicopter or a reflection | | | | flashing lights coming from an unidentified |
| of light off of a cell phone tower or another | | | | flying object that was descending towards the |
| metal object. | | | | woods - a UFO that was roughly the size of a |
| | | | car and seemed to float on a beam of light. |
| Reflections of light from a cell phone tower | | | | After reports were made about the object, it |
| do little to explain away "mysterious | | | | was discovered that trees were damaged, radio |
| materials" found in Roswell, New Mexico in | | | | frequencies became nothing but static and |
| the late 1940s. While the United States | | | | soil samples later showed radioactive |
| military has always stood their ground that | | | | activity. |
| these materials were merely fragments of a | | | | |
| research balloon, a top secret test that | | | | Similarly, in Gulf Breeze, Florida in 1987 |
| ended badly, others offer another | | | | tales of a UFO began to circulate when a man |
| explanation. They assert that the materials | | | | saw a strange light coming from his lawn. |
| were fragments of a UFO, an alien craft that | | | | When he saw the flying saucer, he grabbed a |
| crashed rather than safely landing. They | | | | camera and started shooting photos as proof |
| believe that the "flying disc" - as it was | | | | of what he had seen. Of course, in this |
| called by military personnel - that was | | | | situation, the story was not just of a UFO |
| recovered could not be something from this | | | | sighting, but about repeated experiences and |
| world, and so began one of the most talked | | | | of the man's being beamed up onto the craft. |
| about UFO encounters in the world. | | | | |
| | | | Though discussions of these UFO sightings |
| Many who believe that the UFO in Roswell, New | | | | continue, and there has been audio recordings |
| Mexico deserved more attention than it was | | | | and photo documentation, it is still |
| being given, believe that it wasn't something | | | | difficult to know whether or not the |
| that could just be dismissed. In part, this | | | | unidentified flying objects were indeed from |
| is likely to have something to do with other | | | | space. Many claimed, in regard to the Gulf |
| stories surrounding the flying saucer. A | | | | Breeze, Florida UFO sightings, that the man |
| farmer talked about having found materials | | | | had manipulated the photographs and |
| miles away from Roswell, and the story was | | | | fabricated the story. |
| picked up by newspapers, accompanied by | | | | |
| photos of the strange find - strips of | | | | In each case, both sides - the believers and |
| rubber, something like aluminum foil, sticks. | | | | the skeptics - find evidence to support their |
| It's a story that has gained so much | | | | claims. Those who believe in UFOs and alien |
| attention around the world that it has | | | | visitations cite facts that they claim cannot |
| influenced many people's sense of alien life | | | | otherwise be explained. Those who are |
| and alien visitations to earth. | | | | skeptical offer their own explanations along |
| | | | with their own supporting evidence. Which |
| If the Roswell, New Mexico story had never | | | | side is right? For now, that's up to you to |
| become so widespread, UFO and flying saucer | | | | decide. |
| may not be so common in our language, in our | | | | |