UFOs are real! Just ask the US Navy.
The US Navy has just admitted that three excerpts of declassified military footage released in 2017-2018 are in fact “unidentified aerial phenomena” – in their sense, not ours. The
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UAPs represent just a fraction of the raids seen at Navy training ranges, Navy spokesman Joe Gradisher told CNN. Of course, the question arises: are we really alone?
Belief in alien encounters has long been a dominant feature of American life. A 1997 CNN/Time poll conducted to mark the 50th anniversary of the Roswell incident found that 80 percent of Americans believed the government was hiding the existence of extraterrestrial life.
There are thousands of reports of UFO sightings, but in light of the Pentagon’s extensive investigation into the possible existence of UFOs, here is a look back at some of the third kind’s closest encounters with America.
Many of the most famous extraterrestrial claims come from Project Blue Book, the name of the U.S. government program responsible for investigating UFO reports from 1948 to 1969.
During this period, Air Force personnel investigated 12,618 reported UFO sightings and stated that there were still 701 “unknown.”“
But the project ultimately concluded, “No UFO reported, investigated, and evaluated by the Air Force has ever indicated a threat to our national security.” Vehicles, according to a National Archives fact sheet.
The project was completed in 1969 Cost reasons, the State Archives reports.
“Nothing has happened since the closure of Project Blue Book to suggest that the Air Force should resume UFO research,” records show.
The city of Roswell, New Mexico, has become synonymous for extraterrestrial encounters in 1947 after reports of a flying object crashing into a field.
Roswell Military Airport initially reported that a “flying saucer” had been found, but a second press release clarified that the object came from a weather balloon. Since then, numerous alleged witnesses have claimed to have seen the military transporting the flying saucer and alien bodies.
Decades later, many Americans remain skeptical of the government’s claim that it was a weather balloon. In a 1997 CNN/Time poll, nearly two-thirds of respondents said the event resulted in a UFO crashing into a field.
“We had a flying saucer,” Walter Haut, a former Army public affairs officer, said in 1997.
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Roswell, now home to the Roswell UFO Museum, remains a prime destination for alien enthusiasts seeking further evidence of their beliefs.
area 51
Long believed to be where the U.S. government stores and hides alien bodies and UFOs, this mysteriously named Nevada location has been the subject of extraterrestrial conspiracies for decades.
This area has long been of public interest to both citizens and presidents. John Podesta, President Bill Clinton’s chief of staff, said his former boss “asked about some of these things, particularly what happened at Area 51.”
Area 51 became a major pop culture reference and appeared in the alien invasion film Independence Day.
In 2013, the CIA released documents that officially acknowledged for the first time that Area 51 was a secret military facility not far northwest of Las Vegas.
However, according to the documents, instead of flying saucers and alien life, Area 51 was used to test the U-2 and OXCART air surveillance programs. They argue that secrecy is about hiding information from the Soviets, not about hiding an alien encounter.
UFOs and atomic bombs
In 2010, seven former U.S. Air Force personnel described their personal encounters with UFO sightings over nuclear weapons production facilities during incidents in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Three former Air Force officers claimed to have spotted UFOs flying over nuclear missile silos around Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana in 1967, causing problems at the military base. Former Air Force Capt. Robert Salas said one of his guards told him about a bright red object about 30 feet (9 meters) in diameter hovering over the facility’s main gate.
“And as [I called my commander], our missiles began to go into what’s called a no-fire state, meaning they couldn’t be fired. They were actually deactivated while the object was still flying over our compound,” Salas said. Salas said he has not personally seen a UFO. However, Robert Hastings, the author and UFO researcher who organized the press conference, said the series of articles showed that aliens were particularly interested in nuclear weapons. “I believe – these gentlemen believe – that this planet is visited by otherworldly beings who, for whatever reason, are interested in the nuclear arms race that began at the end of World War II,” Hastings said.Phoenix Lights Incident In March 1997, several Arizona residents reported seeing a large object flying in the sky near Phoenix. Ten years later, former Arizona Governor Fife Symington wrote to CNN about his experiences leading up to the event and discussed various UFO sightings and incidents. “Ja saw a huge delta-shaped ship sail silently over Squaw Peak, a mountain range in Phoenix, Arizona. It was truly breathtaking.“I was completely amazed as I looked westward at the distant lights of the Phoenix,” Symington wrote. “To my great surprise this apparition appeared; This incredibly large and highly visible leading edge with several huge lights streaking across the Arizona sky.
Symington, a former Air Force officer, said the object did not appear to be man-made. He also rejected the Air Force’s claim that the objects were high-altitude missiles.
“I was never happy with the Air Force. The Force’s stupid statements.”“There may have been lightning in the sky that evening, but what I and hundreds of others saw was nothing of the sort,” he wrote.
Symington thanked those who spoke openly about their mysterious encounters and called on the US government to be more open about what really happened.
“We want the government to stop publishing stories that perpetuate the myth that all “UFOs can be explained in banal, conventional terms.” “The investigation must be reopened, documents must be opened, and the idea of a open dialogue can no longer be dismissed out of hand,” he wrote.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correctly characterize Project Blue Book results.
A version of this song was first released in 2017.
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