Do you believe in UFOs? It seems that every so often, we get a report that someone somewhere has spotted one. This past November, several United Airlines employees reported seeing a saucer shaped object hovering over Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. The workers reported that the unlit object hovered over a terminal before disappearing into the clouds.
A United Airlines supervisor called the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ask if anyone else had seen the object. None of the controllers saw it and nothing appeared on radar. The FAA has written the sighting off as a “weird weather phenomenon” and decided that an investigation is not necessary.
When did we become so obsessed with UFOs? I believe man has always been interested in flying and the idea that there may be intelligent life outside of our own planet, but one incident that intensified the beliefs in UFOs, at least in the U.S., occurred in Roswell, NM in 1947. It all started in July 1947 when the Roswell Army Air Field issued a statement saying they had recovered a crashed “flying disc.” That sparked much interest and later that day; the Commanding General stated that it was a weather balloon, not a flying disc. They displayed debris that seemed to confirm the weather balloon theory. The Roswell incident was largely forgotten – until 1978. That year, an ufologist named Friedman interviewed Major Jesse Marcel who had recovered the debris. Marcel insinuated that the military had covered up the fact that the crash was indeed an alien spacecraft. Witnesses to the crash came forward with their stories and a mortician by the name of Glenn Dennis even claimed autopsies were performed on the aliens recovered from the crash.
To try to squelch the rumors, the Air Force issued two reports in the mid-1990s, saying the debris was likely from a secret government experiment called Project Mogul, which used high altitude weather balloons. However, in 1991, retired General Thomas Dubose signed a statement saying the military had covered up the real story and he had posed with the debris after the incident. The story grew and grew and now, the city of Roswell is almost synonymous with the mysterious 1947 crash.
One thing is for sure – people will continue to report UFO sightings. What about you? Have you ever seen a UFO? Do you believe they are real or just the figment of some overactive imaginations?
Other blogs about unexplained phenomenon:
The Haunting of the Battleship North Carolina