Tell Me Your Experiences Of Ufos, Esp, Etc.

[♦ Fuego ♦]

My wife and I saw a series of red dots in an odd snaking formation over a local park. We got out of our car and watched for a while. The pattern seemed familiar to me after a while. We eventually got back in the car and went home because it was very late. She still thinks it was a UFO or similar, I think it may have been a long kite tail with red LEDs on it (the familiar movement I mentioned). The only way they could be seen was if it was flown at night. But it would have had to been a pretty long tail.

 

Once when I was a young teen bicycling home around sunset, I saw what appeared to be an object composed of 4 chevrons locked together, or perhaps a square shape with holes in it. It was moving silently along, rather far away, off over a hill. No idea what it was, and didn't have any means of magnifying my view.

 

The most interesting experience was when I was in 1st grade and in a new school in Oregon. I couldn't remember which way home was from the school, so I chose a direction and started walking. I walked and walked. I had my coat with me, but it was hot and sunny out. I had my head down a lot because I missed my home in California where me used to live. There was litter by the roadside and a lot of cars and eventually as I walked, I came to the end of the pavement. It came to a point and the highway I was next to went into a tunnel in a hillside covered with ivy, and perhaps an overpass running the other direction. I thought about trying to run through the tunnel, but knew it would be dangerous. Plus I didn't come through a tunnel to get to school, so I knew it was probably the wrong way. People began stopping their cars and yelling to me, wondering what such a little boy was doing there. I explained that I was trying to walk home from school. They said "What school? There's no schools for miles." I told them the name and they hadn't heard of it. Someone offered me a lift, but I declined, and said I'd go back the way I came, which I did. When I got back to the school, my brother was there and trying to find me. As we walked home, I told him about the tunnel. He said "There are no tunnels in Corvallis". I told him of course there is, I was just there. I told my dad at dinnertime and he also said that there are no tunnels. We even drove around, but never found anything like what I saw. I spent 30 years in that town and never did find any tunnels. I'd like to remember in detail what I actually experienced, but the memories are not crisp anymore.

 

I also saw a fireball when coming back from the coast one night with a buddy. Green flames with bits coming off as it went over the horizon and suddenly flashed brightly. They aren't that uncommon.

[directionless]

My wife and I saw a series of red dots in an odd snaking formation over a local park. We got out of our car and watched for a while. The pattern seemed familiar to me after a while. We eventually got back in the car and went home because it was very late. She still thinks it was a UFO or similar, I think it may have been a long kite tail with red LEDs on it (the familiar movement I mentioned). The only way they could be seen was if it was flown at night. But it would have had to been a pretty long tail.

 

Once when I was a young teen bicycling home around sunset, I saw what appeared to be an object composed of 4 chevrons locked together, or perhaps a square shape with holes in it. It was moving silently along, rather far away, off over a hill. No idea what it was, and didn't have any means of magnifying my view.

 

The most interesting experience was when I was in 1st grade and in a new school in Oregon. I couldn't remember which way home was from the school, so I chose a direction and started walking. I walked and walked. I had my coat with me, but it was hot and sunny out. I had my head down a lot because I missed my home in California where me used to live. There was litter by the roadside and a lot of cars and eventually as I walked, I came to the end of the pavement. It came to a point and the highway I was next to went into a tunnel in a hillside covered with ivy, and perhaps an overpass running the other direction. I thought about trying to run through the tunnel, but knew it would be dangerous. Plus I didn't come through a tunnel to get to school, so I knew it was probably the wrong way. People began stopping their cars and yelling to me, wondering what such a little boy was doing there. I explained that I was trying to walk home from school. They said "What school? There's no schools for miles." I told them the name and they hadn't heard of it. Someone offered me a lift, but I declined, and said I'd go back the way I came, which I did. When I got back to the school, my brother was there and trying to find me. As we walked home, I told him about the tunnel. He said "There are no tunnels in Corvallis". I told him of course there is, I was just there. I told my dad at dinnertime and he also said that there are no tunnels. We even drove around, but never found anything like what I saw. I spent 30 years in that town and never did find any tunnels. I'd like to remember in detail what I actually experienced, but the memories are not crisp anymore.

 

I also saw a fireball when coming back from the coast one night with a buddy. Green flames with bits coming off as it went over the horizon and suddenly flashed brightly. They aren't that uncommon.

thanks, Fuego. It's interesting that none of the drivers had heard of your school (or any school) in that area. Most people in a town that size would probably know their schools. How long were you walking? That's weird.

[RogueScholar]

I had an "out of body/near death experience" as I child. Of course, I was quite ill and undoubtably hypoxic, so I would not attach anything "supernatural" to said experience.

[Deva]

Rogue Scholar - Despite what your experience may or may not have been, may I ask if it has affected your life? Obviously, you still remember it.

[Voice]

 

The only time I saw a UFO, it wasn't a UFO, it was an unregistered blimp.  I'm not sure what to make of UFO phenomenon.  If you go by accounts, there are definitely some things that need explaining.  If you go by social status and credibility, there are no UFO's.

 

I like to speculate.  It's terrifying to think there could be beings like that, and mathematically (Carl Sagan did all the calcs) it's probable that higher life forms travel stars.  Hell, we have higher life forms (more advanced and adaptive than us) on Earth but we're too arrogant to acknowledge it.  

Anyway, doesn't everyone know that aliens are just humans returning from the future?  The White House colony ended up being the evil ones.

The most common UFO misidentification IMO is Chinese lanterns. I used to read the MUFON latest reports every morning and about half of them were orange lights moving slowly across the sky. But there were always a couple of more interesting reports too. Geezer's UFO report in this thread is hard to explain as anything but secret earth technology, alien technology, or paranormal IMO. So why do so many people cling to their skeptical model when there are so many anomalous experiences that don't fit that model?

 

I believe social standing/social status/peer pressure has great influence on the skeptic's model.  My data set is by no means complete, but from what I've noted, the "higher" you climb social ladders, the more frowned upon are the notion that there are UFO's at all, and the people who support such ideas.  I'm not talking about high class among celebrities and Californians, they have a separate chart in the pie graph.  Also, based on my calcs (incorporating Sagan's) secret Earth technology checks to be the most likely candidate for most sightings.  There's enough evidence, and more evidence for that scenario than any other.

[RogueScholar]

 

What a great question. I wish I had a great answer. Clearly it must have had an effect as it is something that I remember, (or think I remember) from my youth. Maybe, it was something I made up later on in life? It is hard to say. However, I do know that when I remember having the experience, I was found down on the bathroom floor. I had apparently been throwing up all night and had collapsed. I was taken to the hospital, but remember little about the hospitalization. I do know that I had developed a severe pneumonia and spent time in the hospital after being rushed there after I was found on the floor.

 

As an aside, I actually see UFO's all of the time. I have my own telescope and am somewhat of an amateur astronomer. I often see small specks of moving light at night that do not have the typical light patterns of aircraft. Therefore, these "objects" are technically unidentified flying objects (UFO's). This does not mean that I need to shoehorn "alien" stories into the mix in an attempt to explain something that is...well...unidentified.

There are a number of phenomena that may appear strange such as Iridium flares from the Iridium satellites and so on that are often interpreted as something else. Also, many stories of abductions follow similar patterns and are likely related to people regaining a measure of "consciousness" during phases of sleep where the body in fact paralyzes its self. I actually had the chance to do a sleep medicine rotation during my undergraduate studies and found it to be an interesting field. I think it is prudent to fully explore known physical phenomena before defaulting to the "super natural or extra normal."

 

I think Feynman said it best:

 

"Listen, I mean that from my knowledge of the world that I see around me, I think that it is much more likely that the reports of flying saucers are the results of the known irrational characteristics of terrestrial intelligence than of the unknown rational efforts of extra-terrestrial intelligence."

[directionless]

...

As an aside, I actually see UFO's all of the time. I have my own telescope and am somewhat of an amateur astronomer. I often see small specks of moving light at night that do not have the typical light patterns of aircraft. Therefore, these "objects" are technically unidentified flying objects (UFO's). This does not mean that I need to shoehorn "alien" stories into the mix in an attempt to explain something that is...well...unidentified.

There are a number of phenomena that may appear strange such as Iridium flares from the Iridium satellites and so on that are often interpreted as something else. Also, many stories of abductions follow similar patterns and are likely related to people regaining a measure of "consciousness" during phases of sleep where the body in fact paralyzes its self. I actually had the chance to do a sleep medicine rotation during my undergraduate studies and found it to be an interesting field. I think it is prudent to fully explore known physical phenomena before defaulting to the "super natural or extra normal."

 

I think Feynman said it best:

 

"Listen, I mean that from my knowledge of the world that I see around me, I think that it is much more likely that the reports of flying saucers are the results of the known irrational characteristics of terrestrial intelligence than of the unknown rational efforts of extra-terrestrial intelligence."

I admire Feynman, but I think this quote illustrates the casual way that many scientists dismiss UFO sightings. If only one person sees a UFO then I would agree that hallucination or delusion is the most likely explanation. But many UFO sightings come from multiple people at different locations along with radar or ground traces.

[RogueScholar]

 

I will grant you that people have had experiences that may appear to be fantastic or caused by unknown phenomena. However, the irrational character of the human experience is well documented and we know that many "strange" experiences end up being explained by physical phenomena that are already established.

 

Take your glowing raccoon story. It may appear compelling and seem reasonable to you, but if you investigate the doctor further, other possibilities must be considered and are likely strong candidates. For example, his experiences with hallucinogenic substances such as LSD are well known and he has admitted as much. Even though he denies that LSD had anything to do with the raccoon experience, our knowledge of the long term effects of LSD use are compelling nonetheless.

[directionless]

I will grant you that people have had experiences that may appear to be fantastic or caused by unknown phenomena. However, the irrational character of the human experience is well documented and we know that many "strange" experiences end up being explained by physical phenomena that are already established.

 

Take your glowing raccoon story. It may appear compelling and seem reasonable to you, but if you investigate the doctor further, other possibilities must be considered and are likely strong candidates. For example, his experiences with hallucinogenic substances such as LSD are well known and he has admitted as much. Even though he denies that LSD had anything to do with the raccoon experience, our knowledge of the long term effects of LSD use are compelling nonetheless.

RogueScholar, if you read the article fully, you will notice that Kary Mullis did not mention this experience to anybody until his daughter later experienced something similar at this cabin and mentioned it to him. And then his friend had a similar experience independently. (BTW I linked to the glowing raccoon story because I liked his quote about anecdotal evidence - not because I thought this case was one of the most compelling.)

 

I don't blame researchers for ignoring UFOs, because study of UFOs has yielded nothing useful so far. But anybody who bothers to learn about UFOs would probably admit that there is a mystery IMO.

[♦ Fuego ♦]

thanks, Fuego. It's interesting that none of the drivers had heard of your school (or any school) in that area. Most people in a town that size would probably know their schools. How long were you walking? That's weird.

 

 

I don't remember how long I was walking. At the time it seemed quite long, but I was a first grader, so kids often think it's a long time when it was more like 30 minutes.