Alien sightings: Where have UFOs been spotted?

WHETHER or not you believe in extraterrestrial life, there have been reported UFO sightings all around the world, right back through history.

So where have these unidentified flying objects been spotted – and have any ever actually landed?

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Where have there been alien sightings?

There have been sightings of unidentified objects across the world for mellennia.

Some have later been explained, but others remain a mystery.

For example, Chinese astronomers first spotted an unusual object in the sky in 240BC – but we now know this to have been Halley’s Comet.

The belief that these unidentified sightings represent alien ships only started in the middle of the 20th century.

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1. Los Angeles, February 1942

In the early hours of February 25, 1942 , people described a large object “like a balloon” crawling through the sky over Los Angeles – while others reported several objects.

With the bombing of Pearl Harbour having taken place less than 12 weeks previously, American soldiers feared an airborne attack from the Japanese.

There was a full, city-wide blackout and shells were fired at the target for hours.

However, in the light of day, it appeared that there had been no attack – and no wreckage of a craft was ever found.

The bizarre event gave rise to all sorts of outlandish theories, with some insisting they had seen an alien spaceship looming in the sky.

The Japanese government continues to deny it was an attack from Japan, whilst the US government maintains it was a false alarm.

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2. Mount Rainier/Mount Adams, Washington State, USA, June 1947

On June 24, 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold said he saw nine glowing blue objects travelling in a “V” formation in the sky over volcano Mount Rainier, in Washington State, USA.

Arnold said the objects were travelling at speeds of over 1,200mph (1,930kmph).

He described the flying objects as travelling like a “skimming saucer” – which is believed to be the origin of the term Flying Saucer.

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However, the military said no aircraft were flying there that day.

Shortly after, similar sightings were reported near Mount Adams, also in Washington State, as well as in Idaho – but the American Government gave no explanation.

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3. Roswell, New Mexico, USA, July 1947

The UFO “mystery” in Roswell, New Mexico, in July 1947, is today considered perhaps the most famous reported UFO sighting in the history of UFO sightings.

It began when ranch owner William “Mac” Brazel and his son Vernon found metallic rods, chunks of plastic, and unusual papery scraps on their ranch land.

The American government initially reported that the crashed object was simply a conventional weather balloon, and interest subsequently waned.

But in the late 1970s, keen ufologists began to put forward a host of increasingly elaborate conspiracy theories suggesting extraterrestrial life had crash-landed, and been covered up by the military.

It took until the 1990s for the American government to finally publish an in-depth report admitting that the debris was from a top-secret high-altitude balloon, carrying equipment designed to detect Russian nuclear activity.

But by then, the Roswell case had become the most famous, most thoroughly investigated, and most debunked UFO claim in the world.

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4. Montgomery, Alabama, USA, July 1948

On July 24, 1948, two pilots of a commercial flight reported a large long craft flying close to them near Montgomery, Alabama.

They described windows along each side, a blue-ish glow and orange exhaust emissions, and said the craft sometimes flew much too close to them before disappearing suddenly.

At an airbase in Georgia several people had also seen a craft that had fit that description, half an hour before.

There were no commercial or military flights that could explain the sightings.

At first they were described as temperature inversions, and then as a meteor – but no conclusion was ever made.

5. Lubbock Lights, Texas, USA, August 1951

On August 25, 1951, in Lubbock, Texas, Professors W.I. Robinson and W.L. Ducker, as well as Dr. A.G. Oberg, saw a semi-circle of lights travelling at high speed above them.

Over the following few days many of their colleagues, as well as hundreds of others, reported seeing the same thing, and pictures were taken by Carl Hart Jr.

These sightings became known as the Lubbock Lights.

Project Bluebook, a study by the United States Air Force into UFO sightings, concluded they were luminescence from Lubbock’s new street lights reflected in birds, or in meteors or fragments of comet.

However, people who had seen the lights were unconvinced by this explanation.

6. Levelland, Texas, USA, November 1957

On the evening of November 2, 1957, dozens of people made independent reports of interference with their cars and other vehicles.

Engines and lights cut out apparently with no explanation, and they saw lights, some said rockets, in the sky.

These claims were confirmed by police, and Project Bluebook attempted to explain it away as an electrical storm – but no storms were reported in the area that night.

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7. Tehran, Iran, September 1976

In the Iranian capital city of Tehran, on September 19, 1976, there were a number of reports of a bright light in the sky.

Two fighter jets sent to investigate both experienced interference which made their instruments useless.

The pilot of the second plane said the UFO released two glowing objects, one towards him and the other towards the ground.

A memo between Iran and the USA put the events down to visions of Jupiter and a meteor shower, and instrument failure on at least one of the jets.

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8. Bass Strait, Australia, October 1978

On October 21, 1978, over Bass Strait in Australia, the pilot of a light aircraft was talking to air-traffic control in Melbourne about a long aircraft travelling three times his speed and orbiting him.

He said his aircraft was acting strangely and the engine was running roughly, and described the other craft as having beaming lights like landing lights.

The pilot, Frederick Valentich, was on a routine flight, and is reported to have said “It’s hovering”, and “It’s not an aircraft” – before losing contact and disappearing.

Neither him or his plane have been heard from or seen since.

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9. Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, UK, December 1980

In Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, between December 26 and 28, 1980, unexplained lights were reported a number of times, in what has become known as Britain’s Roswell.

The colourful lights were first spotted by US Air Force personnel stationed at nearby RAF Woodbridge.

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Other people also reported damage to trees in a clearing, and unusual radiation there the following day.

The Ministry of Defence did not continue the investigation, believing there was no threat, and the sightings are rumoured to have been a hoax played by British military on their US visitors.

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10. Belgium, 1989-1990

In Belgium, a series of sightings of a large, triangular-shaped UFO were reported over several months, from November 1989 until April 1990.

Two military stations confirmed sightings, and two jets said they were able to make radar but not visual contact, in March 1990.

Altogether there were 13,500 reported sightings, and 2,600 written official statements, from people on the ground, pilots and police – but there was no perceived threat so they were not investigated further.

A hoax photograph was made about this, and the explanation that it was a helicopter that couldn’t be heard over a loud wind was not widely accepted.

The only other explanation put forward is one of mass delusion.

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Have any UFOs landed?

There are less reports of UFO or alien landings.

Roswell is one of the most famous claimed landings, where Ray Santilli released a video of a claimed alien disection on the site in 1995.

He admitted in 2006 that this had been staged, but said it was based on original footage.

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There is still an International UFO museum and research centre at Roswell, plus a UFO festival each summer – and even the McDonald’s restaurant in Roswell is spaceship-shaped.

Rendlesham Forest is another claimed landing – one man said he found a spacecraft there, but it is thought the whole thing may have been a hoax played by British military on their American guests.

There is still a model of the spaceship there, and a UFO trail.

At Area 51, Bob Lazar claimed tests were carried out on aliens and their spacecraft, in 1989.

However, there is no record of Lazar being employed by either the US Government or military, as he also claimed.

There have been stories of alien abductions, which amount to a landing of sorts.

The most famous is the story of Betty and Barney Hill, who said their car was followed by a bright light, before they were abducted by aliens, abused, and returned home with stopped watches.

Non-believers explain UFOs as aircraft, balloons like sky lanterns, satellites, bright stars, planets, military activity – or attribute sightings to optical aids and systems like glasses and camera lenses.

Fewer than ten per cent of UFOs remain unidentified after investigation.

Ufology is the study of UFOs. The Centre for UFO Studies (CUFOS) as well as the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), and the National Investigations Committee on Arial Phenomena (NICAP), collect information on them.

The US Airforce started Project Sign to investigate UFOs in 1948, which became Project Grudge within a year, and Project Bluebook in 1952.

Contributions have also been made by the Robertson Panel and Condon report, and Canada, the UK, Sweden Denmark Greece, Australia and the US all keep UFO data.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk