UAP on 60 Minutes

 

You know that a story is heating up when 60 Minutes gets into the act.

The New Yorker's Feature Article on UFOs

 

I was pleasantly surprised to hear on NPR's The New Yorker Radio Hour this morning that The New Yorker has published a feature length article on UFOs by Gideon Lewis-Kraus titled "How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.s Seriously" (April 30, 2021).  Editor David Remnick begins the program by saying: "If you told me, when I took this job, that one day I would be publishing a long story about U.F.O.s, I would probably have guessed that we were talking about some sort of humor piece...."  Clearly the consensus on UFOs has shifted, especially in the month leading up to an expected report to Congress on the UFO phenomenon in June.  I might use Lewis-Kraus's article in my class for the Fall, though we are very likely to see a lot more useful publications this summer....  Stay tuned.  And watch the skies.

UFO Sightings Increased. Then Came COVID.

UFO Sightings on the Rise in Minnesota

UFO sightings had been on an uneven rise since 2008, but since COVID-19 they have been skyrocketing according to reports from The New York Times (They Are Not Alone: U.F.O. Reports Surged in the Pandemic) and an upstate NY paper (UFO sightings in Upstate NY nearly doubled in 2020. Where did aliens visit most?)  The cause may be COVID-related: the skies are clearer (due to less pollution) and people have been stuck at home and more likely to be looking to the skies for entertainment.  It is important to remember that "UFOs" are simply "unidentified flying objects," meaning things that witnesses cannot explain, and they might be something as benign as the Goodyear blimp reflecting the sun's rays.  UFOs also seem to get reported more often today than in the past, especially since the release of government videos and films like The Phenomenon.

Raëlians Return in Vice Documentary

Vice documentary about Raëlian cult

The Prophet and the Space Aliens is a recent video documentary from Vice about the "UFO religion" of Raëlism, a cult founded in the 1970s (not long after Heaven's Gate) by Claude Vorilhon (b. 1946), known to followers as "Raël." The cult was previously documented in the film Rael and the Clones (2006).   It's an interesting example of how the UFO phenomenon has not only been received by individuals as a type of spiritual vocation or quest, but has also been used as the basis for organized religious systems built around a shared set of beliefs (including, in the case of Raëlism, that humans were created by alien scientists) and practices (including non-violence, sexual experimentation, meditation, and human reproduction through cloning).  The documentary covers all aspects of the man, the religion, and its followers.  I especially liked hearing about Vorilhon's past as a race car driver and journalist and the origin story of his religion.  A wild ride. 

Outgoing DNI John Ratcliffe Talks UFOs on Fox

Outgoing DNI John Ratcliffe discussed UFOs on Fox News ahead of the anticipated June report that is supposed to discuss all information related to UFOs held by intelligence agencies.  The required report was part of the last COVID-19 relief bill signed by President Donald Trump in December of last year, and it included a Intelligence Authorization Act that started a 180-day countdown for a report to congress.  See stories in the Washington Post and The Guardian for more info.  Something to look forward to this summer.  As the report will be unclassified, it should quickly make its way out through the media.

Dyatlov Pass Mystery Solved?

 

At the beginning of February 1959, nine Russian hikers died under inexplicable circumstances while camped overnight in the Ural mountains in what came to be called the Dyatlov Pass Incident (after their leader, Igor Dyatlov).  The case has been examined in numerous books and documentaries, and sensationalized on film (including Devil's Pass in 2013, where nine more young people try to investigate the mystery, with horrifying results).  Like so many "unexplained" mysteries, it has become shrouded in paranormal and conspiracy theories, especially because the bodies of the young hikers were found nearly a month later (after most evidence had been obscured), with very little clothing, having died of hypothermia outside their tents.  It seemed impossible to explain what could have driven them hurriedly to give up the protection of their tents, which remained intact, and to succumb to the elements.  In their study "Mechanisms of slab avalanche release and impact in the Dyatlov Pass incident in 1959," investigators Johan Gaume & Alexander M. Puzrin present new evidence that a peculiar type of avalanche may finally explain the mystery, and the story has been covered extensively in Nature, The New York Times, National Geographic, and countless other news outlets. Is the mystery finally solved?  

Close Encounter at 37,000 feet

An American Airlines pilot reported a close encounter with an unknown craft that flew right over his plane.  I await the government debunking and I am curious to see how they explain it.