Unidentified Flying Objects History FAQ
The modern era of UFOs started in 1947, when pilot Kenneth Arnold was flying over the state of
Washington, and spotted 9 objects in the distance. They were boomerang shaped, and moved
very rapidly. From the report of how they moved, "skipping like a saucer on water", the term
"flying saucer" was coined, and has stuck to this day. Most people prefer the term Unidentified
Flying Object, aka UFO. Whether UFOs are alien spacecraft, or something more unusual, they
still belong to the world of today
After the publicity of Arnolds report, many other reports of strange things in the sky followed, and
the rest is history, so to speak.
Q. Have UFOs ever appeared over the nations capital?
A. 1952 was highlighted by a wave of UFOs over the capital of the United States, Washington
DC. These UFOs appeared both on radar, and visually. This caused quite a bit of a panic, but the
government denied everything, and claimed the radar sightings were due to a temperature
inversion. One note, the famous picture of UFOs (lights, really) over the White House is a hoax.
The lights in the sky are reflections in the camera lens of lights on the ground. (I've seen the
orignal, uncropped photo with the lights on the ground)
Q. What is a contactee?
A. A contactee is a person who communicated regularly with the aliens/beings that occupy UFOs.
Often this commuication is beneficial in nature, although not always. The beings communicate
through many ways, speech, telepathy, appliances, etc.
Q. Who was the first so called contactee?
A. The first one contactee is considered to be George Adamski, a hot dog vendor on Mt.
Palomar. Amamski wrote a popular book in which he tells of his dealing with Venusians,
Martians, and other people from the other planets in our solar system. Modern astronomical
knowledge makes his story unlikely to say the least.
Q. What is an abductee?
A. An abductee is a person who is taken aboard a UFO by the beings. Sometimes they are
examined, somethings other things happen to them. Some abductions are a one time event, while
other people are repeatedly abducted. The number of abductees have exploded since the mid
80s, when awareness of the subject grew to great heights.
Q. What was the first widely known abduction?
A. The first widely known abduction happened in 1961. Betty and Barney Hill had been driving
home on a derserted highway, and they saw a UFO approach closly. They stopped their car, and
got out to look at it. Getting scared, they got back into the car, and drove off. While driving off,
they started getting drowsy. A couple weeks after the sighting, Betty started having dreams about
UFOs and Aliens. To stop this, they visited a psychologist. Upon being hypnotized, Betty
remembered being taken aboard the UFO and examined. Barney produced a somewhat similar
tale, yet different in several points. Their psychologist came to the conclusion that they were
remembering the dream, but Betty and Barney disagreed, saying they
were remembering what really happened.
Q . Who was the first widely know repeat abductee?
A. That distinction goes to Betty Andreasson, a housewife in Massachusetts. Her story began in
1967, when aliens entered her house through the walls. Under hypnotic regression, she told a
remarkable story. Probably the most famous abductee is Whitley Strieber, whose book
Communion was a best-seller.
Q. Have people ever shot at aliens/beings from UFOs to keep them away?
A. 1955 was spotlighted by a pecular incident in Kelly-Hopkinsville, Kentucky. On a remote
farm, the Sutton and Taylor familty fought a "battle" with some strange creatures. For several
hours, the Suttons and Taylors shot at these creatures, as they tried to enter their home. The
family members eventually rushed to town for help from the Sheriff, but on return, the creatures
were gone. However, soon after the Sheriff left, the creatures came back. As daybreak drew
close, the appearances of the creatures were fewer and fewer, and eventually stopped. There
have been many other cases of similar incidents, where gun toting witnesses have shot at the
critters. There are no reliable reports of the beings being injured by gunfire, though.
Q. What happens when the aliens/beings get shot?
A. At most, they get knocked down, only to get up undamaged. On one occasion, an alien/being
remarked "What the Hell did you do that for?" , after getting shot.
Q. Has anyone been killed because of a UFO?
A. In 1948, the first death directly attributable to a UFO occured. Thomas Mantell, a pilot in the
National Guard , was ordered to pursue a UFO. Chasing a UFO in a F51 Mustang (earlier
known as P51s), he went too high up, lost unconciousness due to lack of oxygen, and crashed,
dying instantly. Mantell's death was completely accidental.
There have been a few incidents where UFOs are suspected of causing deaths, although that has
yet to be proven in a court of law. Also, on several occasions, witnesses have been badly burned
by UFOs, requiring hospitalization.
Q. Has anyone ever had, uh, relations with a being from a UFO?
A. In 1957, a Brazilian farmer named Antionio Villas Boas was taken aboard a UFO, and met a
lovely blonde haired alien. After using sign language, He determined that she wanted to make
love, and they did so, twice. While this story may sound outlandish, Villas Boas did show signs of
something happening, markings on his skin, and some radiation burns. There have been other
similar cases, including some reported by women.
Q. What is a Delphos Ring?
A This interesting case happened in 1971, in Delphos, Kansas. A UFO allegedly landed, and left
a ring of material on the ground. Although this case won an award in a contest given by a tabloid
magazine, most experts consider this a hoax, or at best a cases of mistaken identity. Still, the name
of this case has stuck, and is applied to when a landed UFO leaves a ring.
Q. What is the Pascagoula case?
A. 1973 saw another alleged UFO abduction. In Pascagoula, Mississippi, two Fishmen saw a
UFO, and it subsequently picked them up in a beam of light. In this case, most evidence pointed
to a real encounter, not a possible dream.
Q. What incident is that movie, Fire in the Sky based on?
A. In 1975, Arizona woodcutter Travis Walton was taken aboard a UFO, after a beam of light
knocked him out. Walton was missing for 5 days. Upon his return, he could only recall a few
hours of the experience aboard the UFO, and those experiences did not match the movie at all.
He remembered waking up on a table, and shortly after meeting some small aliens. After driving
them off, he wandered about an apparent Alien base, and was eventually placated by a group of
human looking beings. He was then returned to Earth.
Q. Has a UFO ever crashed?
A. Yep. UFOs seem to crash all the time. The most widely known case happened in 1947, in
Roswell NM. See the UFO Crashs FAQ for more info.
Q. Were there UFO reports before Kenneth Arnold?
A. Actually, it turns out that there were. In fact, there is one case of a UFO being described as a
"Flying Saucer", well before Arnolds sighting and the subsequent use of the phrase by the press.
Just before the turn of the century (1897), there was a rash of airship sightings across the United
States. Historical records have shown many strange objects in the sky, usually described as
wheels in the sky, or with religious overtones. In fact, the government of Japan debunked UFOs
sometime in the early 2nd millenium (1200s, I think), by saying the strange moving lights in the sky
were just the wind making the stars sway.
Q. What is a MIB?
A. A MIB stands for Men in Black. They are mysterious men that often visit witnesses of UFOs,
or UFO investigators. The first such report happened in 1947, in the Maury Island case. One of
the witnesses there claimed the MIB threatened him not to talk about his sighting, although there
have been mentions of mysterious black dressed strangers throughout history.
MIBs are always men, almost always dressed in black, and are usually described as foreign
looking and acting (no matter what the locale). Most often, the MIBs are very pale, and speak
like English is not their native language. They commonly either ask bizare questions of witnesses,
or threaten them not to speak about the cases. In one case, a witness noticed a wire coming from
a sock (or shoe?) going into the flesh of the leg of a MIB.MIBs almost always get to the witnesses
house by a black car, usually an older model, but in immaculate shape. Some witnesses have
noticed the new car smell inside. Often these cars appear out of no where, and do not use
headlights, even at night.
What exactly these Men in Black are, remains to be resolved. Many think they are operatives
from some government agency. Others, noting the extreme weirdness of them, think they are
aliens, or some sort of strange being. Recent sightings of MIBs have been sparse, but they may
have been replaced by the Black Helicopter phenomenon. (See UFO Current Events FAQ for
that, coming soon!)
Text Copyright 1996 by Jeremy Reaban