A little green figure with antennas, big eyes, an odd nose, and a spaceship to accompany it. With content spanning hundreds of years, aliens aren’t hard to imagine. There may be variations, but whether it be a friendly alien trying to find his way home or Martians invading Earth, there’s one thing they all have in common: they’re fiction. So when the end credits of E.T are rolling or the final page of The War of the Worlds is read, reality sets back in. After all, the next trip outside won’t be coupled with a flying saucer sighting. If there’s a desire to see something extraterrestrial up close, it’ll have to be done in front of a 70 mm IMAX screen.
At least that seems to be the popular consensus.
But according to former US Intelligence Officer David Grusch, some people aren’t just seeing this in their local Regal theater. Over the summer, Congress held their first UFO hearing in fifty years, and heard some intriguing testimonies, such as that from Grusch, claiming that the US had been concealing a multi-decade long program that captures UFO’s. UFO’s, officially known as UAP’s, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena, have become practically synonymous with extraterrestrial life, so naturally these hearings drew some attention. Biology teacher Brian Moretz found the witness’ statements interesting, but remains skeptical of the idea of alien spacecraft inhabiting the skies.
“A lot of times we see things in the sky and they’re just some sort of meteorological phenomenon,” Moretz said, “I don’t think they’re necessarily always some unidentified flying object. But that being said, I guess it’s a possibility.”
Possibility or not, UFO sightings aren’t a new concept. The first widespread report came on June 24, 1947, when pilot Kenneth Arnold claimed to have seen flashes that emanated from nine airborne objects, and supposedly clocked them moving at least 1,200 miles per hour, double the speed of any airplane at that time. But the news of this sighting might’ve traveled even faster, and as different media outlets published the story, America began to buzz with different speculations about what it could’ve been. Within two weeks, over 800 new UFO sightings were reported, and in New Mexico, the famous Roswell incident was about to occur. As more heads turned to the sky, searching for the unknown, one thing could already be seen: a new American craze had begun.
Incredibly quickly, mere sightings of flying spaceships turned into full-fledged interactions with aliens. One of the first notable ones occurred in 1952, when astronomy buff George Adamski claimed to have engaged in friendly telepathic conversation about the dangers of nuclear warfare with a being from Venus. Before long, however, pleasant discussions about nukes devolved into frightening abductions. In 1961, Betty and Barney Hill, a couple who were traveling through the White Mountains after a vacation, claimed that non-human inhabitants had taken them hostage on a UFO, on which they were subject to a variety of medical examinations and questioning. While the credibility of these and other similar reports were challenged, interest within the country rose, especially with the emergence of a substantial amount of popular culture pertaining to extraterrestrial life.
“Every decade has its own interesting version of what a UFO or alien looks like,” Moretz said. “Media…like Star Trek and Star Wars…have really impacted what our beliefs are.”
And now, almost eight decades after becoming mainstream, beliefs about UFOs and aliens aren’t just a dinner table discussion, but a topic of conversation occurring within the walls of the Capitol. Senior Christian Wordell, while he believes that the accounts of former intelligence officials under oath should hold more weight than the conjectures of the past, is still waiting for undeniable evidence.
“[Brusch] didn’t have any proof,” Wordell said. “He just said they existed. But if there was physical proof that extraterrestrial life and extraterrestrial objects were coming into the United States and into the world…then, yeah, I would be pretty excited.”
Until then, journey outside, look towards the clouds, for perhaps there’ll be something else out there, flying through the sky.
