Ufos Essays (1530 words) - Unidentified Flying Objects,

Ufo's We once believed that Earth is the only planet in the Universe that supports life. Today there is overwhelming evidence that not only suggests, but supports the very real possibility that we may share the Universe with other intelligent beings. I. Things in the Sky A. The First Documented Sighting B. The Fever Spreads 1. Pilot Encounters 2. The Lights in the Sky II. Dents in the Earth III. Unexplained Phenomenon A. The Writing on the Wall B. Geodes IV. What About Religion? A. The Christian Bible B. The Ancient Greeks C. The American Indian V. Conclusion We are not Alone. On June 24th, 1947 while searching for the remains of a downed Marine C-46 transport, lost somewhere in the Mount Ranier area, a young Idahoan businessman named Kenneth Arnold spotted something that would change his life forever. Just north of his position flying at an altitude of 9,500 feet and an unprecedented airspeed of 1,700 mph he spotted nine circular aircraft flying in formation. According to his estimate the aircraft were approximately the size of a DC-4 airliner ( Jackson 4). This account was the first sighting to ever receive a great deal of media attention. This sighting gave birth to the phrase flying Saucer coined by a reporter named Bill Begrette. Although not the first UFO sighting in history, Kenneth Arnolds account is considered to be the first documented UFO sighting. The following day Mr. Arnold discovered that in addition to his sighting there were several others in the Mount Ranier area that same day (Jackson 6). When most of think of UFO sightings we picture an unemployed, half- crazed, alcoholic hick living in a trailer park in the middle small town USA. Often times this description, although a little exaggerated, seems to fit fairly well. In the past when the average person spotted a UFO they were quickly discounted as a kook or con-artist in search of either attention or monetary reward. It wasn't until more reputable figures in our society began to come forward that w e that we started looking at this issue a little more seriously. An article written 1957, entitled Strange lights over Grenada written by Aime' Michel describes just such an account: At 10:35 p.m. on September the 4th, 1957 Cpt Ferreira ordered his wing to abandon a planned exercise and execute a 50 degree turn to port. Ferreira was attempting to get a closer look at what he described as brilliant, pulsating light hanging low over the horizon. When the turn was completed he noticed that the object had turned too. It was still directly over his left. There was absolutely no doubt that the orange light was shadowing the F-84s. For another 10 minutes, it followed the jets without changing direction or appearance. The pilots watched as four small yellow discs broke away from the large red object and took up a formation on either side of it. All at once the large luminous disc shot vertically upward while the smaller discs shot straight towards the F-84s. In an instant the flat disc sped overhead in a hazy blur and vanished. When Cpt Ferriera was questioned by Portuguese Air Force Investigators he was quoted as sayingPlease don't come out with the old explanation that we were being chased by the planet Venus, weather balloons, or freak atmospheric conditions. What we saw up there was real and intelligently controlled. And it scared the hell out of us. (32) This is only one of literally hundreds of pilot accounts that have been documented and cross verified by other sources. To date the Portuguese Government has taken no official position as to what the luminous discs were. The United States has had more than it's fair share of unexplained aerial objects. In February of 1960 the N.A.A.D.S. (North American Air Defense System) spotted a satellite of unknown origin orbiting the Earth. They knew that it sn't a Soviet satellite because it was orbiting perpendicular to trajectory produced by a Soviet launch. It also had a mass estimated at 15 metric tons, no evidence of b ooster rockets and traveled at speed three times faster than any known satellite. The satellite orbited for two weeks and disappeared