[Chrythes]

I am just wondering what you think about UFOs in general, and if you ever had an encounter with a flying object that baffled you or was unexplainable in a way.

Since I am the one asking I will better start. What I saw is very similar to this report found in Dr Hynek's book The UFO Experience, page 62:

I suddenly noticed that two of the stars were moving... in a circle about a common center while maintaining positions at the opposite ends of a diameter, much like two paint dots at opposite ends of a spinning phonograph record. They were rotating about 30rpm counterclockwise at a very constant velocity...

The objects... abruptly stopped their motion, and this left them in a roughly north-south orientation... they started moving away from each other...

 

[GreenMamba]

My response would be more or less the same as to our recent supernatural and paranormal threads.

I do not believe our atmosphere has ever been buzzed by aliens, if that's the ultimate question.

 

[Bulldog]

I've never seen one and remain doubtful.

 

[ahammel]

I have often seen flying objects that I, personally, couldn't identify.

I doubt that any of them were aliens from outer space, though.

 

[joen_cph]

Agree with the sceptics concerning "aliens" ... Roswell seems more like a case of fiction industry, for instance.

 

[Ingélou]

In theory it is possible. But I've never seen one. Once I saw a helicopter flying over the harbour. Because of a trick of the light, the cockpit area was lit up and looked like a 'bubble' top to a flying saucer. I said to a man nearby, who was also looking at it, 'That helicopter - one might almost think it was a UFO.' He said, 'Well, isn't it?'

If that man went away and told people he'd seen a spaceship, I begin to see where all the reports of UFOs come from.

 

[ahammel]

In theory it is possible. But I've never seen one. Once I saw a helicopter flying over the harbour. Because of a trick of the light, the cockpit area was lit up and looked like a 'bubble' top to a flying saucer. I said to a man nearby, who was also looking at it, 'That helicopter - one might almost think it was a UFO.' He said, 'Well, isn't it?'

If that man went away and told people he'd seen a spaceship, I begin to see where all the reports of UFOs come from.

There are also tricks of perspective. If you think that an airborne object is much closer or much further away than it really is, it can appear to be moving in a very extraordinary way.

There is a story concerning a police officer who called in to his station saying that he was following what appeared to be a low-flying aircraft performing all manner of dangerous manoeuvres and unlikely changes of direction. This turned out to be the planet Venus. The stunt piloting was caused by the bumpy back country road on which he was driving.

 

[ptr]

Never seen one, don't think I ever will, but consider them quite possible, at least more possible than God or fairies or the sasquatch... Well, the sasquatch is quite possible as well, considering how much weird people with pets that there are in North America...

/ptr

 

[SarahNorthman]

yeah, when one dropped me off on Earth to study you all and drink your spinal fluid.

 

[Cosmos]

I legit was convinced I saw a UFO when playing in my grandma's yard one day as a child. I later realized it was just an airplane.

My opinions on UFOs? While I think it's possible/probable that there's alien life, I don't believe anyone who claims to have seen a UFO. It's like saying you saw Bigfoot or the monster in Loch Ness, or that the cucuy is gonna get you in your sleep if you misbehave, children

 

[LancsMan]

This reminds me of when I went for one of my first job interviews.

In the job application I had mentioned that for pleasure I read science fiction. So one of the interviewing panel asked if I believed in UFO's. As UFO simply means Unidentified Flying Objects (rather than Flying Saucers) these obviously exist, and so being too clever for my own good I said 'Yes they exist'. I was about to elaborate on this but they quickly moved the interview on to other topics, and I am sure they felt they were interviewing a crank believer in aliens from outer space!

 

[Guest]

Yes, Lancs. But did you get the job?

 

[Kieran]

This reminds me of when I went for one of my first job interviews.

In the job application I had mentioned that for pleasure I read science fiction. So one of the interviewing panel asked if I believed in UFO's. As UFO simply means Unidentified Flying Objects (rather than Flying Saucers) these obviously exist, and so being too clever for my own good I said 'Yes they exist'. I was about to elaborate on this but they quickly moved the interview on to other topics, and I am sure they felt they were interviewing a crank believer in aliens from outer space!

Nah, it was prolly the tinfoil hat you wore... :lol:

 

[LancsMan]

Yes, Lancs. But did you get the job?

Amazingly I was offered a job. But when I was only offered a posting in Newcastle (the wrong side of the Pennines) I turned the job down. And many years later I have still never visited Newcastle - even though apparently these days it's gone up in the world.

 

[brotagonist]

Considering the size of the Universe and the uncountable trillions upon trillions upon trillions upon tril... of stars and planets there are, I think it is nearly inconceivable that we could be the only life forms in the Universe, not even the only intelligent life forms, but there is no convincing evidence that they have come here.

 

[GhenghisKhan]

I don't think I ever saw one. There was one instances were 4 rotating lights hovered around my house, but they might very well have been search lights.

At one point, when I was a kid, I made a point to read everything I could find on UFO.

There was an incident involving two F-4 fighters, /w 2 or 3 radars as well confirming the existence of the UFO. The 1976 Tehran incident I believe. Perhaps they are not little green men coming to scout the earth for conquest.

Yet it merits investigation, probably more ressources then we are allocating today..

 

[GreenMamba]

Considering the size of the Universe and the uncountable trillions upon trillions upon trillions upon tril... of stars and planets there are, I think it is nearly inconceivable that we could be the only life forms in the Universe, not even the only intelligent life forms, but there is no convincing evidence that they have come here.

The size and age of the universe doesn't help in this respect. The intelligent life could be 100,000 light years away, or have died off a billion years ago. And those would both be close calls in the grand scheme of things.

 

[arpeggio]

No.............................................................

 

[opus55]

I want to believe

 

[Kopachris]

Yes, there are flying objects which remain unidentified. Are they extraterrestrial in origin? Some of them, most likely - meteors, misidentified planets and stars, etc. Does intelligent alien life exist somewhere in the universe? Almost certainly. Has any of it visited Earth? Almost certainly not. Have I personally seen some unidentifiable flying object which I would attribute to alien intelligence? I think you can guess from my other answers, no. The closest I've come was when I saw a bright sort of flare in the sky which slowly dimmed, pulsating as it moved. Applying Occam's Razor, I assumed that it was some sort of space debris re-entering the atmosphere or a weirdly moving satellite, rather than aliens. After doing some research, I later confirmed it was an Iridium flare.