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How do scientists explain UFO’s? The late Dr. Donald H. Menzel, a Harvard astronomer, and Philip Klass, former senior editor of Aviation Week, are among those who have studied the subject of UFO sightings. They affirm that UFO’s are actually IFO’s (identified flying objects). When investigated, UFO’s have turned out to be identifiable things or effects, such as weather balloons, nighttime advertising airplanes and helicopters, meteors, or sun dogs.*
Philip Klass explained UFO’s as natural phenomena or as incorrect identifications. As an example, according to him, some UFO’s were suspected of being a kind of ball lightning, or a plasma. His critics were quick, however, to say that plasmas, or highly ionized gases, can have very short lifetimes and do not adequately explain the problem. He says that some UFO’s seen on radar are artifacts of weather phenomena. However, according to some radar operators, this explanation does not account for the seemingly intelligent behavior sometimes observed. Klass’s thought is that people who are suddenly exposed to a brief unexpected event “may be grossly inaccurate in trying to describe precisely what they have seen.”
In his book Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, Terence Hines states that “careful investigation has resulted in straightforward natural explanations for even very impressive-sounding UFO reports. . . . All these cases make clear the nearly total unreliability of eyewitness reports. In almost every case, the witnesses’ reports differed substantially from the actual stimulus, but in only a very few cases were the witnesses willfully lying. Their knowledge about what UFOs ‘ought’ to look like influenced their reports, along with the effects of visual illusions.”
UFO’s—Guided by Beings From Space?
A popular theory is that UFO’s may be associated with intelligent beings from outer space. The late Dr. James McCampbell was a leader among those who came to this conclusion. He warned: “It would appear that a superintelligent alien species is indeed becoming a more intimate part of our earth’s environment.” Major Donald E. Keyhoe, “a retired Marine Corps officer turned free-lance writer . . . first popularized UFOs and claimed they were extraterrestrial spacecraft,” according to Philip Klass, writer of UFOs—The Public Deceived. Keyhoe also advanced the “beings from space” theory and warned: “If the aliens’ purpose should be migration to Earth, it would set off a wave of fear and hysteria.”
Another concept that has captured the interest of some investigators is that UFO’s are superior beings that inhabit a “parallel universe.” According to this theory, these beings may be “able to manipulate the electrical circuits of the human mind.” With this ability, they could presumably control human governments. Some say they may be connected with “intelligences [that involve] the world’s leading religious movements, miracles, angels, ghosts, fairies, poltergeists, and the like.”—UFO and The Limits of Science, by Ronald D. Story.
UFO’s—Can We Identify Them?
As we have observed, some investigators are quite positive that they can identify all UFO’s as natural things or known phenomena. Others, however, present their own special theories.
It was while the Condon Report and the subject of UFO’s was still a matter of public concern that Awake! provided a review of the subject along with a discussion of some of the more spectacular cases.* Awake! reached the conclusion that “the great majority of all [UFO] reports have their origin in the same kinds of things that Project Blue Book [an earlier government study] named: Planets, airplanes, balloons, meteorites, mirages.”
The article continued: “The more thorough investigation [summarized in the Condon Report] has clarified the part played by physical and psychological distortions. It has explained how ordinary objects, seen in the sky by persons who do not recognize them under the perhaps unusual circumstances, can be misconstrued in perception, magnified in the telling, further exaggerated in the newspapers, and end up as spaceships landing little green men from Mars.”
The official Condon Report and conclusions as above, coupled with diminished UFO reports, seemed to end the matter for many. Nevertheless, two decades later we find UFO’s still getting public attention. As mentioned in our first article, a writer for one prominent journal observed that a new element has been added. We live with a backdrop of “deep-seated and apocalyptic fears” as we approach the year 2000.
Even more uncertainties developed from recent claims that in the past the United States and even other governments may have ignored or covered up some evidence of UFO’s. The author of a 1988 publication took advantage of the Freedom of Information Act, established in 1966 in the United States, together with sources in other countries, to gather information that according to him “proves beyond doubt that there has been a monumental cover-up of the UFO subject.”—Above Top Secret, by Timothy Good.
Gary Kinder, in his book Light Years, raises questions as to what proof is needed to convince the authorities of the existence of UFO’s. He notes that one observer asks: “What constitutes proof [of UFO’s]? Does a UFO have to land at the River Entrance to the Pentagon, near the Joint Chiefs of Staff Offices? Or is it proof when a ground radar station detects a UFO, sends a jet to intercept it, the jet pilot sees it, and locks on with his radar, only to have the UFO streak away at phenomenal speed?”
On the other hand, Professor Hines argues that the 997 pages of documents released, covering the period from 1949 to 1979, do not reveal an attempt at a government cover-up. He states: “An examination of the secret CIA papers and documents on UFOs reveals an agency mildly interested in the phenomenon but skeptical of the extraterrestrial hypothesis. These documents . . . also contradict the oft-repeated claims of a government cover-up of the ‘truth’ about UFOs.”
One of the foremost reasons for the lack of proof is that no UFO has ever been publicly exhibited, nor have any extraterrestrial beings officially presented themselves for public recognition. Furthermore, alleges Professor Hines, “there is no UFO photo that can be considered genuine showing anything other than vague shapes or blobs of light.” Time and again, experts have identified UFO’s as misinterpreted sightings of Venus or of other celestial bodies. It is evident that no solution to the UFO problem has been satisfactory to all.
At the time that the Condon Report was in the news, an Awake! contributor discussed privately some of the results with one of the associated scientists working at Boulder, Colorado. The scientist seemed to think that in the unexplained cases, the UFO experiences involved “mental perceptions” of some kind. Thus, although many UFO sightings can be explained scientifically as physical things or wrong identifications, some may involve mental or psychological experiences or perceptions.
Is There an Occult Influence?
When reviewing the mental or psychological experiences of some who have reported contacts with UFO’s, it is also possible to recognize similarities with spiritistic or other paranormal phenomena. One example of this is the testimony of John H. Andrews in his book The Extraterrestrials and Their Reality. In his acknowledgments of help in producing the book, he states: “Great appreciation also goes to the four space people [“ET’s in physical human bodies who circulate unnoticed among us”] who told me their stories and who wished to remain unnamed, to the numerous psychics and channels who assisted me with my many experiments, to the extraterrestrials for their many informative messages.” Regarding these “space people,” he states: “They were all quite intelligent; all were channels for invisible entities.”—Compare 1 Samuel 28:7, 8; Ephesians 6:12.
Andrews also claims to have received messages from extraterrestrials. He lists some of these as: “There is no such thing as death. . . . There is no such thing as good or evil. [Compare Genesis 3:3, 4.] . . . Creation, evolution, and reincarnation are valid processes at work in the Universe. . . . We (the ET’s) are not here to control or rule you, but to guide you. . . . The Earth will soon undergo tremendous, cataclysmic changes. When these changes are completed, less than 1/1,000 of the present population will still be alive!”
The Bible also speaks of extraterrestrials, spirit creatures, such as obedient angels and disobedient, rebellious angels who became demons. Down through Bible history, God on many occasions used faithful angels to communicate with men. (Genesis 22:9-18; Isaiah 6:1-7) Satan still uses his demon followers to mislead mankind with all kinds of philosophies, fads, messages, communications, and cults that distract from the message that God’s Kingdom, his heavenly government, will soon rule over a restored earth.—Compare Luke 4:33, 34; James 2:19; Revelation 12:9; 21:1-4.
The Christian apostle Paul gave due warning of demon influence in the last days when he wrote: “The inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons.”—1 Timothy 4:1.
Keeping in mind how deep we are into these apocalyptic days, it would not be advisable for Christians to spend their valuable time investigating in depth matters of this kind. Rather, we should concern ourselves with the more important challenge at hand, that is, obeying the command of the extraterrestrial holy angel who proclaimed: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of the judgment by him has arrived, and so worship the One who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.”—Revelation 14:6, 7.
A sun dog, or parhelion, is a bright spot that appears on either side of the sun, also known as a mock sun.
UFO’s—The Scientific View
“Astronomy and UFOs are related: if people knew more about astronomy, there would be far fewer UFO sightings.”—Astronomy, December 1988.
“Venus is the brightest of all the planets in the night sky and is responsible for more UFO reports than any other single object. . . .
“Modern airport radars now automatically identify all aircraft in their area . . . As radars have become more sophisticated at correctly identifying aircraft and filtering out sources of error, the number of radar UFO reports has dropped almost to zero. Of course, if UFOs were real, one would expect . . . modern radar to increase the number of UFOs seen on radar. . . .
“In nearly forty years of investigation, not one authentic photo of a UFO has been taken and not one piece of genuine debris or other physical evidence has been found. Impressive-sounding sightings are reported year after year and, year after year, when carefully examined, they disappear into the mists of misperceptions, misidentifications, and hoaxes.”—Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, by Terence Hines.
“Much of the trouble arises from the fact that the sky presents an almost endless variety of peculiar sights and objects, only a few of which are likely to be encountered by one person in a lifetime. And when this does happen, he may be misled into thinking that he has seen something extraordinary—instead of merely unfamiliar. . . .
“Seldom has any subject been so invested with fraud, hysteria, credulity, religious mania, incompetence, and most of the other unflattering human characteristics.”—The Promise of Space, by Arthur C. Clarke.
“I should like to see these profound words inscribed on the threshold of all the temples of science: ‘The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe in something because one wishes it to be so.’”—Louis Pasteur, 19th-century French scientist.
Depending on the angle of vision, nighttime advertising balloons, airplanes, and helicopters can be misperceived as UFO’s
Philip Klass explained UFO’s as natural phenomena or as incorrect identifications. As an example, according to him, some UFO’s were suspected of being a kind of ball lightning, or a plasma. His critics were quick, however, to say that plasmas, or highly ionized gases, can have very short lifetimes and do not adequately explain the problem. He says that some UFO’s seen on radar are artifacts of weather phenomena. However, according to some radar operators, this explanation does not account for the seemingly intelligent behavior sometimes observed. Klass’s thought is that people who are suddenly exposed to a brief unexpected event “may be grossly inaccurate in trying to describe precisely what they have seen.”
In his book Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, Terence Hines states that “careful investigation has resulted in straightforward natural explanations for even very impressive-sounding UFO reports. . . . All these cases make clear the nearly total unreliability of eyewitness reports. In almost every case, the witnesses’ reports differed substantially from the actual stimulus, but in only a very few cases were the witnesses willfully lying. Their knowledge about what UFOs ‘ought’ to look like influenced their reports, along with the effects of visual illusions.”
UFO’s—Guided by Beings From Space?
A popular theory is that UFO’s may be associated with intelligent beings from outer space. The late Dr. James McCampbell was a leader among those who came to this conclusion. He warned: “It would appear that a superintelligent alien species is indeed becoming a more intimate part of our earth’s environment.” Major Donald E. Keyhoe, “a retired Marine Corps officer turned free-lance writer . . . first popularized UFOs and claimed they were extraterrestrial spacecraft,” according to Philip Klass, writer of UFOs—The Public Deceived. Keyhoe also advanced the “beings from space” theory and warned: “If the aliens’ purpose should be migration to Earth, it would set off a wave of fear and hysteria.”
Another concept that has captured the interest of some investigators is that UFO’s are superior beings that inhabit a “parallel universe.” According to this theory, these beings may be “able to manipulate the electrical circuits of the human mind.” With this ability, they could presumably control human governments. Some say they may be connected with “intelligences [that involve] the world’s leading religious movements, miracles, angels, ghosts, fairies, poltergeists, and the like.”—UFO and The Limits of Science, by Ronald D. Story.
UFO’s—Can We Identify Them?
As we have observed, some investigators are quite positive that they can identify all UFO’s as natural things or known phenomena. Others, however, present their own special theories.
It was while the Condon Report and the subject of UFO’s was still a matter of public concern that Awake! provided a review of the subject along with a discussion of some of the more spectacular cases.* Awake! reached the conclusion that “the great majority of all [UFO] reports have their origin in the same kinds of things that Project Blue Book [an earlier government study] named: Planets, airplanes, balloons, meteorites, mirages.”
The article continued: “The more thorough investigation [summarized in the Condon Report] has clarified the part played by physical and psychological distortions. It has explained how ordinary objects, seen in the sky by persons who do not recognize them under the perhaps unusual circumstances, can be misconstrued in perception, magnified in the telling, further exaggerated in the newspapers, and end up as spaceships landing little green men from Mars.”
The official Condon Report and conclusions as above, coupled with diminished UFO reports, seemed to end the matter for many. Nevertheless, two decades later we find UFO’s still getting public attention. As mentioned in our first article, a writer for one prominent journal observed that a new element has been added. We live with a backdrop of “deep-seated and apocalyptic fears” as we approach the year 2000.
Even more uncertainties developed from recent claims that in the past the United States and even other governments may have ignored or covered up some evidence of UFO’s. The author of a 1988 publication took advantage of the Freedom of Information Act, established in 1966 in the United States, together with sources in other countries, to gather information that according to him “proves beyond doubt that there has been a monumental cover-up of the UFO subject.”—Above Top Secret, by Timothy Good.
Gary Kinder, in his book Light Years, raises questions as to what proof is needed to convince the authorities of the existence of UFO’s. He notes that one observer asks: “What constitutes proof [of UFO’s]? Does a UFO have to land at the River Entrance to the Pentagon, near the Joint Chiefs of Staff Offices? Or is it proof when a ground radar station detects a UFO, sends a jet to intercept it, the jet pilot sees it, and locks on with his radar, only to have the UFO streak away at phenomenal speed?”
On the other hand, Professor Hines argues that the 997 pages of documents released, covering the period from 1949 to 1979, do not reveal an attempt at a government cover-up. He states: “An examination of the secret CIA papers and documents on UFOs reveals an agency mildly interested in the phenomenon but skeptical of the extraterrestrial hypothesis. These documents . . . also contradict the oft-repeated claims of a government cover-up of the ‘truth’ about UFOs.”
One of the foremost reasons for the lack of proof is that no UFO has ever been publicly exhibited, nor have any extraterrestrial beings officially presented themselves for public recognition. Furthermore, alleges Professor Hines, “there is no UFO photo that can be considered genuine showing anything other than vague shapes or blobs of light.” Time and again, experts have identified UFO’s as misinterpreted sightings of Venus or of other celestial bodies. It is evident that no solution to the UFO problem has been satisfactory to all.
At the time that the Condon Report was in the news, an Awake! contributor discussed privately some of the results with one of the associated scientists working at Boulder, Colorado. The scientist seemed to think that in the unexplained cases, the UFO experiences involved “mental perceptions” of some kind. Thus, although many UFO sightings can be explained scientifically as physical things or wrong identifications, some may involve mental or psychological experiences or perceptions.
Is There an Occult Influence?
When reviewing the mental or psychological experiences of some who have reported contacts with UFO’s, it is also possible to recognize similarities with spiritistic or other paranormal phenomena. One example of this is the testimony of John H. Andrews in his book The Extraterrestrials and Their Reality. In his acknowledgments of help in producing the book, he states: “Great appreciation also goes to the four space people [“ET’s in physical human bodies who circulate unnoticed among us”] who told me their stories and who wished to remain unnamed, to the numerous psychics and channels who assisted me with my many experiments, to the extraterrestrials for their many informative messages.” Regarding these “space people,” he states: “They were all quite intelligent; all were channels for invisible entities.”—Compare 1 Samuel 28:7, 8; Ephesians 6:12.
Andrews also claims to have received messages from extraterrestrials. He lists some of these as: “There is no such thing as death. . . . There is no such thing as good or evil. [Compare Genesis 3:3, 4.] . . . Creation, evolution, and reincarnation are valid processes at work in the Universe. . . . We (the ET’s) are not here to control or rule you, but to guide you. . . . The Earth will soon undergo tremendous, cataclysmic changes. When these changes are completed, less than 1/1,000 of the present population will still be alive!”
The Bible also speaks of extraterrestrials, spirit creatures, such as obedient angels and disobedient, rebellious angels who became demons. Down through Bible history, God on many occasions used faithful angels to communicate with men. (Genesis 22:9-18; Isaiah 6:1-7) Satan still uses his demon followers to mislead mankind with all kinds of philosophies, fads, messages, communications, and cults that distract from the message that God’s Kingdom, his heavenly government, will soon rule over a restored earth.—Compare Luke 4:33, 34; James 2:19; Revelation 12:9; 21:1-4.
The Christian apostle Paul gave due warning of demon influence in the last days when he wrote: “The inspired utterance says definitely that in later periods of time some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to misleading inspired utterances and teachings of demons.”—1 Timothy 4:1.
Keeping in mind how deep we are into these apocalyptic days, it would not be advisable for Christians to spend their valuable time investigating in depth matters of this kind. Rather, we should concern ourselves with the more important challenge at hand, that is, obeying the command of the extraterrestrial holy angel who proclaimed: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of the judgment by him has arrived, and so worship the One who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.”—Revelation 14:6, 7.
A sun dog, or parhelion, is a bright spot that appears on either side of the sun, also known as a mock sun.
UFO’s—The Scientific View
“Astronomy and UFOs are related: if people knew more about astronomy, there would be far fewer UFO sightings.”—Astronomy, December 1988.
“Venus is the brightest of all the planets in the night sky and is responsible for more UFO reports than any other single object. . . .
“Modern airport radars now automatically identify all aircraft in their area . . . As radars have become more sophisticated at correctly identifying aircraft and filtering out sources of error, the number of radar UFO reports has dropped almost to zero. Of course, if UFOs were real, one would expect . . . modern radar to increase the number of UFOs seen on radar. . . .
“In nearly forty years of investigation, not one authentic photo of a UFO has been taken and not one piece of genuine debris or other physical evidence has been found. Impressive-sounding sightings are reported year after year and, year after year, when carefully examined, they disappear into the mists of misperceptions, misidentifications, and hoaxes.”—Pseudoscience and the Paranormal, by Terence Hines.
“Much of the trouble arises from the fact that the sky presents an almost endless variety of peculiar sights and objects, only a few of which are likely to be encountered by one person in a lifetime. And when this does happen, he may be misled into thinking that he has seen something extraordinary—instead of merely unfamiliar. . . .
“Seldom has any subject been so invested with fraud, hysteria, credulity, religious mania, incompetence, and most of the other unflattering human characteristics.”—The Promise of Space, by Arthur C. Clarke.
“I should like to see these profound words inscribed on the threshold of all the temples of science: ‘The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe in something because one wishes it to be so.’”—Louis Pasteur, 19th-century French scientist.
Depending on the angle of vision, nighttime advertising balloons, airplanes, and helicopters can be misperceived as UFO’s