Hearken not, the man who fears,
 All things we seek to know.
 When shadows fall and storm-cloud nears,
 His ilk, are soon to go.

As veils rise and darkness burns,
The beast called truth appears.
Strange winds will stir the tide that turns,
once 'certainty', to tears.

 —C. M. Johnson

The Unidentified Flying Object (or more commonly known UFO) ignites a certain wonderment among a great many of us. Because despite the fact that there is often a perfectly logical explanation for these sightings, in many instances the explanation is as dubious as the peculiar sighting itself. Like it or not, the situation is unusual and for this, it draws our gaze. But just as it stirs among the imaginations of those willing to believe the extraordinary, so too does it require the justification of those who see it merely as a misunderstood spectacle. And thus, the great and (seemingly) eternal dance of polarized perspectives begins.

People will go to great lengths to share their point of view on a popular matter. Especially if that matter holds a great deal of importance to so many people around the world. Some want others to share their opinion, or gain a more “logical” insight, some merely want you to be aware, some just want to be heard and don’t particularly mind what they’re saying. Whether it’s true or not, doesn’t matter to them. But despite all of these factors that seem to muddy the already turbid waters, somewhere somehow the truth will be unearthed. We may or may not like what is discovered, but truth doesn’t require an opinion to exist.

“Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

—Arthur C. Clarke

If I were to address the biggest problem (in my experience) in genuinely studying the nature of anything within the paranormal spectrum, it would be the disingenuous nature of people. Only a liar has the power to change the entire universe as they see fit (even God can’t theoretically control human free will). Unfortunately, a great many will always desire this power. It doesn’t mean that all believers and/or non-believers are lying, but that reality doesn’t always play a part in what some people define as truth. They desire a certain truth and that’s all that matters to them. Utterly blind to any other possibility, even if they’re clutching at proverbial straws.

If asked, personally, where I stand on the existence of extra-terrestrial beings and the appearance of seemingly advanced unidentified flying objects; I could only honestly say, “I don’t know.”

I remember vaguely, seeing something strange as a child (around 8). Some kind of aircraft hung extremely low, seemingly hovering at varying speeds, tailing the family car as we drove along a country road. At one stage, I pressed my face against the rear window and looked up and it seemed to be meters above the car, then quickly ascended into the cloud cover and completely out of sight. Is this a credible memory, even to me the bearer of said memory, absolutely not.

I couldn’t tell you the form of the “craft” because it was so dark, I couldn’t even tell you the layout of the lights. The lights were so bright it was difficult to look directly at them, but most lights in the night are. I can recall, however, the feeling more so than the actual visual spectacle, which was a childish certainty that something extraordinary was happening and how lucky I was to be seeing it. But there were a lot of Alien and UFO cultural influences at that juncture in my childhood. I even learned years later that we were about an hours drive from a large airbase at the time. Which has led me to speculate that what I witnessed was possibly a reckless or faltering pilot of an ordinary craft, mistaken by an 8 year old to be something out of this world. It certainly made an otherwise long and boring car trip entertaining.

This event may have contributed to my interest in the subject of UFOs, but it also led me to understand how a similar event could take place and someone could be deceived. I also appreciate the fact that maybe it was exactly as bizarre as my memory recalls and I tried to subconsciously justify it as a mundane ordinary event to keep a sturdier footing on a blissfully (and willful) ignorant state of normality.

My singular experience in no way contributes to any argument for or against extraterrestrial visitors. Unfortunately, as more and more objects get sent into the skies, we are seeing an influx in reported UFOs. Often UFO sightings also trend with the popularity of the term. Which makes sense because not only would people be more inclined to report false claims, but they would be more likely to look up to see legitimate unidentified objects.

Things like drones, various other flying/floating devices, satellites are more numerous throughout our skies now than ever before. A great many UFO sightings are also considered to be foreign nations or private endeavors utilizing seemingly highly technologically advanced aircraft. Stealth reconnaissance, testing for tactical weaknesses?

It could even be a governmental means to keep track of what makes a society tick. Almost like psychological stress tests to see how the masses respond to certain anomalies. In the same sense, if a government (or groups of) or maybe even something beyond all governments wanted to distract the world population from something, they could manufacture a distraction. A distraction the likes of a global obsession with UFOs.

If only we could go back to simpler times, surely the case would be closed if we could deduce the fact that the UFO is merely the creation of modern times. Maybe after the Roswell incident?

That couldn’t be further from the truth.

As lightly illustrated by Charles Hoy Fort, in his book published in 1919.

Sourced from The Project Gutenberg:

ᴛʜᴇ BOOK ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ DAMNED

“In the Scientific American, 40-294, is published a letter from Henry Harrison, of Jersey City, copied from the New York Tribune: that upon the evening of April 13, 1879, Mr. Harrison was searching for Brorsen’s comet, when he saw an object that was moving so rapidly that it could not have been a comet. He called a friend to look, and his observation was confirmed. At two o’clock in the morning this object was still visible. In the Scientific American Supplement, 7-2885, Mr. Harrison disclaims sensationalism, which he seems to think unworthy, and gives technical details: he says that the object was seen by Mr. J. Spencer Devoe, of Manhattanville.

“A formation having the shape of a dirigible.” It was reported from Huntington, West Virginia (Sci. Amer., 115-241). Luminous object that was seen July 19, 1916, at about 11 P.M. Observed through “rather powerful field glasses,” it looked to be about two degrees long and half a degree wide. It gradually dimmed, disappeared, reappeared, and then faded out of sight. Another person—as we say: it would be too inconvenient to hold to our intermediatist recognitions—another person who observed this phenomenon suggested to the writer of the account that the object was a dirigible, but the writer says that faint stars could be seen behind it. This would seem really to oppose our notion of a dirigible visitor to this earth—except for the inconclusiveness of all things in a mode of seeming that is not final—or we suggest that behind some parts of the object, thing, construction, faint stars were seen. We find a slight discussion here. Prof. H.M. Russell thinks that the phenomenon was a detached cloud of aurora borealis. Upon page 369 of this volume of the Scientific American, another correlator suggests that it was a light from a blast furnace—disregarding that, if there be blast furnaces in or near Huntington, their reflections would be commonplaces there.

We now have several observations upon cylindrical-shaped bodies that have appeared in this earth’s atmosphere: cylindrical, but pointed at both ends, or torpedo-shaped. Some of the accounts are not very detailed, but out of the bits of description my own acceptance is that super-geographical routes are traversed by torpedo-shaped super-constructions that have occasionally visited, or that have occasionally been driven into this earth’s atmosphere. From data, the acceptance is that upon entering this earth’s atmosphere, these vessels have been so racked that had they not sailed away, disintegration would have occurred: that, before leaving this earth, they have, whether in attempted communication or not, or in mere wantonness or not, dropped objects, which did almost immediately violently disintegrate or explode. Upon general principles we think that explosives have not been purposely dropped, but that parts have been racked off, and have fallen, exploding like the things called “ball lightning.” Many have been objects of stone or metal with inscriptions upon them, for all we know, at present. In all instances, estimates of dimensions are valueless, but ratios of dimensions are more acceptable. A thing said to have been six feet long may have been six hundred feet long; but shape is not so subject to the illusions of distance.“

The interesting thing about this text and others like it, is it suggests that people have been observing unidentified flying objects even before mankind had mastered flight in 1903. Depictions and stories hinting toward celestial “gods” and “visitors” exist throughout human history. Are the sightings a continuation of a possibly human desire? A desire for a connection with the “supreme” or “divine”?

Or have there been events taking place on this planet, all around us, which the majority of us are utterly (and in some cases willfully) blind to?