Alien Visitations

“The liberation of the human mind has never been furthered by such learned dunderheads [priests and pedants]; it has been furthered by gay fellows who heaved dead cats into sanctuaries and then went roistering down the highways of the world, proving to all men that doubt, after all, was safe -- that the god in the sanctuary was finite in his power, and hence a fraud. One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly more intelligent.” HL Mencken

Close Encounters

•  I: Visual sighting of aerial object (UFO) •  II: Observation plus physical effects

•  Heat •  Electrical interference •  Paralysis; frightened animals •  Physical damage

•  III: Direct observation of extraterrestrials •  IV: Abduction

UFOs

What is a UFO?

• All are indeed unidentified. • Most are Venus. • Almost certainly none are alien spacecraft

Picture from Robert Sheaffer: http://www.debunker.com/ufo.html

Fata Morgana (mirage)

Extraordinary Claims

Require Extraordinary Evidence

Is UFOlogy a science ahead of its time?

Consider •  Scientific study of Witchcraft •  Phrenology •  Fairies •  Homeopathy •  N-rays •  Orgone •  … •  Cf Shaeffer 1980 (http://www.debunker.com/historical/

SmithsonianUFOtalk.html)

Nazca Lines

Nazca Desert, southern Peru Created 450 600 AD 10-30 cm deep depressions in desert

Crop Circles

Crop Circles

•  Mostly found in southern England •  Have gotten more complex with time •  Doug Bower and Dave Chorley have

admitted to making hundreds, and demonstrated how on BBC

•  Cereologists still maintain that not all can be hoaxes

If you had physical evidence of UFO visitations, could you keep it a secret? Could the government?

Area 51 Groom Lake Nevada

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Dayton Ohio

Roswell

•  Something happened in Roswell NM in June 1947

•  Yes, there was a cover-up •  No, flying saucers were not involved

Roswell: Anatomy of a Coverup

•  July 1947: Top secret Air Force balloon payload (project Mogul) crashes

•  Military rushes in to clean up evidence; •  Plants cover story of crashed “flying disc” •  AF retracts story next day and shows debris •  Nobody cares until 1980s

•  Pentagon releases top secret reports in 1994

Reports by Pilots

•  Jan 7 1948: T.F. Mantell chases UFO in P51. Crashes. Chased top secret high altitude Skyhook balloon.

•  Nov 17 1986. K. Terauchi flying JAL 1628 over Alaska reports UFO (2 lights) following for 50 minutes. 2 other planes fail to confirm. Saw Jupiter and Mars.

UFOs are •  Usually Venus •  Or lenticular clouds •  Or insects •  Or weather balloons •  Or bolides/rockets •  Or hoaxes

Do (did) they walk among us?

Dogu figurine, Japan, 1000-400 BCE Oannes

The Mystery of the Dogon Inhabitants of Mali Legends written down in the 1930s speak of •  Sirius B •  4 moons of Jupiter •  Saturns rings •  Elliptical planetary orbits

How could they have known this? cf. James Oberg in http://www.debunker.com/texts/dogon.html

Future Evolution: Biological or Mechanical?

How do aliens think?

How to Serve Man