Yet these thousands of written words and millions of spoken words
-all attesting to the general interest - have generated more heat than
light. Out of this avalanche of print and talk, the full, factual,
true story
of UFOs has emerged only on rare occasions. The general public, for
it's
interest in UFOs, has been paid off in misinformation.
Edward J. Ruppelt
I am not a ufologist, I have not spent years of my life researching government
archives or anything like that. I do however take an interest in the
subject. I am convinced that there must exist other forms of
intelligent life in the universe, I do not see any reason why we humans
should be the sole inhabitants of the universe. Holding the opinion that
we are 'not alone' does not mean that I believe that we have received visits
from extraterrestrials! It
is a fact that people see and report UFOs, perfectly sane and rational
people have witnessed strange objects in the sky. I
don't know the precise nature of these strange phenomena. Some of these
witnesses have been highly trained military or civilian pilots, there
have been reports of UFO sightings from policemen and scientists. It is
not the the case that only nutters or weirdos see these strange
objects. Of course the UFO phenomenon attracts a great number of very
strange people, but the subject has been taken seriously enough to
warrant governments setting up official investigations. With the
release of previously classified documents it is possible to form some
idea as to a particular government's attitude toward UFOs. Many
declassified documents are now available on-line and can be accessed by
anyone. The early reports and investigations into UFOs
provide a fascinating insight into how the UFO phenomena has evolved,
are we more cynical and sceptical these-days? Two such early
documents are Analysis of Flying
Object Incidents in the United States, Study #203,10 December 1948
(USA, United States Air Force) and Unidentified
Flying Objects, Flying Saucer Working Party, Report No 7 1951 (UK,
Ministry of Defence). A very instructive background to the US
reports from 1948 can be
found at the excellent
Project 1947 website.
The conclusions of Analysis of Flying Objects:
CONCLUSIONS
11. SINCE the Air Force is responsible for control of the air in
the defense of the U.S., it is imperative that all other agencies
cooperate in confirming or denying the possibility that these objects
have a domestic origin. Otherwise, if it is firmly indicated that
there is no domestic explanation, the objects are a threat and warrant
more active efforts of identification and interception.
12. IT MUST be accepted that some type of flying objects have
been observed, although their identification and origin are not
discernable. In the interest of national defense it would be unwise to
overlook the possibility that some of these objects may be of foreign
origin.
The US report clearly indicates that UFOs were taken seriously.
Is there any suggestion in the report of these UFOs having an extraterrestrial origin?
Is there any suggestion in the report that the USAF had secret knowledge of visitors
from outer space?
The McCoy Memo
Here is another document from 1948 the "McCoy Memo"
In this document the possibility that UFOs may originate from beyond
the earth is mentioned. At the time scientists thought that
the planet Mars might be capable of supporting complex lifeforms, this was before
space probes had been sent to investigate the planet. Given the
state of knowledge of the Martian environment in 1948 the possibility
that some form of intelligent life existed on Mars could not be ruled
out.
8. The possibility that the reported objects are vehicles from another
planet has not been ignored. However, tangible evidence to support con
clusions about such a possibility are completely lacking. The occurrence
of incidents in relation to the approach to the earth of the planets Mercury,
Venus and Mars have been plotted. A periodic variation in the frequency of
incidents, which appears to have some relation to the planet approach curves
is noted, but it may be purely a coincidence.
It seems that opinion as to the origin of UFOs was divided between:
The Soviet Union (Secret Aircraft)
Extraterrestrial (Spacecraft)
The conclusions of the Flying Saucer Working Party:
Conclusions and Recommendations
15. When the only material available is a mass of purely subjective
evidence, it is impossible to give anything like scientific proof that
the phenomena observed are, or are not caused by something entirely
novel, such as an aircraft of extraterrestrial origin, developed by
beings unknown to us on lines more advanced than anything we have
thought of. We are, however satisfied that the bulk of the
observations reported do not need such an explanation, and can be
accounted for much more simply. There is a very old scientific
principle usually attributed to William of Occam, which states that
the most probable hypothesis is the simplest necessary to explain the
observations. We believe that this principle should be applied to the
present case, and accordingly conclude that all the observations
reported were due to one or other of the following causes:-
(1) Astronomical or meteorological phenomena of known types.
(2) Mistaken identification of conventional aircraft, balloons, bird, or
other normal or natural objects.
(3) Optical illusions and psychological delusions.
(4) Deliberate hoaxes.
We consider that no progress will be made by attempting further
investigation of unco-ordinated and subjective evidence, and that
positive results could only be obtained by organising throughout the
country, or the world, continuous observations of the skies by a
co-ordinated network of visual observers, equipped with photographic
apparatus, and supplemented by a network of radar stations and sound
locators. We should regard this, on the evidence so far available, as
a singularly profitless enterprise. We accordingly recommend very
strongly that no further investigations of reported mysterious aerial
phenomena be undertaken unless and until some material evidence
becomes available.
The tone of the Flying Saucer Working Party report is somewhat
sceptical, the fears regarding national security present in the
earlier US report are not expressed here, the lack of solid material
evidence in UFO reports is emphasised.
Nathan Twining's letter
One document that is often cited as evidence that the US Air Force secretly
knew all about flying saucers is General Nathan Twining's
letter to
Brigadier General Schulgen. The following part of the report has been
interpreted by some researchers as indicating a cover-up.
(2) The lack of physical evidence in the shape of crash
recovered exhibits which would undeniably prove the
existence of these subjects.
In July of
1947 a flying saucer was alleged to have crashed near the town of
Roswell New Mexico. The crashed saucer was transported to Wright Field
air base at Dayton Ohio. Conspiracy theorists argue that Twining must have been
aware that the crashed saucer was taken to Wright Field, and so his
statement about a lack physical evidence was untrue. The wreckage
found near Roswell consisted of bits of tin foil, rubber, balsa wood
and adhesive tape, this material was transported to Wright Field, but
I would not describe it as physical evidence of a 'flying
disk'. Given the nature of the material found near Roswell, Twining's statement concerning physical evidence
seems perfectly reasonable. Now I am not so naive as to believe that
governments never lie to or deceive the public. It's hardly a
revelation to discover that there are genuine
cases where governments have been involved in some extremely sinister,
deeply unpleasant, and immoral activities. But in saying that, to be honest some
of the conspiracy theories that surround cases like Roswell are
convoluted in the extreme, the reasoning used to fit the conspiracy
becomes increasingly torturous and paranoid.