An unidentified flying object (UFO), or unidentified anomalous phenomenon (UAP), is any perceived airborne, submerged or transmedium phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. Upon investigation, most UFOs are identified as known objects or atmospheric phenomena, while a small number remain unexplained.
In ufology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object (UFO) at relatively close range, where the possibility of mis-identification is presumably greatly reduced. This terminology and the system of classification behind it were first suggested in astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek's book The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry (1972). Categories beyond Hynek's original three have been added by others but have not gained universal acceptance, mainly because they lack the scientific rigor that Hynek aimed to bring to ufology.
Ufology, sometimes written UFOlogy, is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins. While there are instances of government, private, and fringe science investigations of UFOs, ufology is generally regarded by skeptics and science educators as an example of pseudoscience.
Alien abduction refers to the phenomenon of people reporting what they believe to be the real experience of being kidnapped by extraterrestrial beings and subjected to physical and psychological experimentation. People claiming to have been abducted are usually called "abductees" or "experiencers". Most scientists and mental health professionals explain these experiences by factors such as suggestibility, sleep paralysis, deception, and psychopathology. Skeptic Robert Sheaffer sees similarity between some of the aliens described by abductees and those depicted in science fiction films, in particular Invaders From Mars (1953).
Elliot Budd Hopkins was an American artist, author, and ufologist. He was a prominent figure in alien abduction phenomena and related UFO research.
The International UFO Congress is an annual conference established in 1991 in Arizona dedicated to the dissemination of information related to many aspects of ufology. Previously held in Laughlin, Nevada, the conference moved to the Phoenix, Arizona area in 2011. It features presentations given by authors, researchers, experts, enthusiasts, and those who claim to have witnessed paranormal or anomalous phenomena from all over the world. This week-long event usually has over thirty speakers, a film festival, vendors, and "experiencer" and findings-discussion sessions. Topics generally covered are alien abduction, UFO sightings, UFO crashes, crop circles, paranormal experiences, and government conspiracy. Previous speakers include Richard Dolan, Travis Walton, Yvonne Smith, Kathleen Marden, George Knapp, Jeremy Corbell, David Childress, Kevin Day and Alejandro Rojas among others.
Australian ufology refers to a historical series of Australian events and or activities pertaining to government departments, civilian groups or individual Australians, which centre on or around the study of Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) reports, sightings, encounters and other related phenomena, known as ufology within the Australian context before 1984.
The National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDSci) was a privately financed research organization based in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, and operated from 1995 to 2004. It was founded in 1995 by real-estate developer Robert Bigelow, who set it up to research and advance serious study of various fringe science and paranormal topics, most notably ufology. Deputy Administrator Colm Kelleher was quoted as saying the organization was not designed to study UFOs only. "We don't study aliens, we study anomalies. They're the same thing in a lot of people's minds, but not in our minds." NIDSci was disbanded in October 2004.
James Willett Moseley was an American observer, author, and commentator on the subject of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Over his nearly sixty-year career, he exposed UFO hoaxes and engineered hoaxes of his own. He was best known as the publisher of the UFO newsletters Saucer News and its successor Saucer Smear, which became the longest continuously published UFO journal in the world.
Kevin Douglas Randle is an American ufologist, science fiction and historical fiction writer and a military veteran. Within the UFO community, he is often regarded as one of the preeminent experts on the reported crash of a UFO near Roswell, New Mexico in July 1947.
The Society for Scientific Exploration (SSE) is a group committed to studying fringe science. The opinions of the organization in regard to what are the proper limits of scientific exploration are often at odds with those of mainstream science. Critics argue that the SSE is devoted to disreputable ideas far outside the scientific mainstream.
The narrative of the abduction phenomenon is an alleged core of similarity in contents and chronology underlying various claims of forced temporary abduction of humans by apparently otherworldly beings. Proponents of the abduction phenomenon contend that this similarity is evidence of the veracity of the phenomenon as an objective reality, although this belief is disregarded by most scientists, who regard alien abduction as a purely psychological and cultural phenomenon.
Alien abduction claimants are people who have claimed to have been abducted by aliens. The term "abduction phenomenon" describes claims that non-human creatures kidnapped individuals and temporarily removed them from familiar terrestrial surroundings. The abductors, usually interpreted as being extraterrestrial life forms, are said to subject experiencers to a forced medical examination that emphasizes the alleged experiencer's reproductive system.
Perspectives on the abduction phenomenon are explanations that are intended to explain claims of abduction and examination by apparently otherworldly beings. The main differences between these perspectives lie in the credence ascribed to the claims. Perspectives range from the assertion that all abductions are hoaxes to the belief that the claims are of objective happenings and separate from the consciousness of the claimants.
Alien abduction entities are the beings alleged to secretly abduct and subject experiencers to a forced medical examination which often emphasizes their reproductive system. Mainstream scientists and mental health professionals overwhelmingly doubt that the phenomenon occurs literally as reported and instead attribute the experiences to "deception, suggestibility, personality, sleep phenomena, psychopathology, psychodynamics [and] environmental factors." Skeptic Robert Sheaffer also sees similarity between the aliens depicted in early science fiction films, in particular, Invaders From Mars, and those reported to have actually abducted people. The first alien abduction claim to be widely publicized was the Betty and Barney Hill abduction in 1961, which featured diminutive, large-eyed beings who wore military-style uniforms.
David Michael Jacobs is an American historian and retired Associate Professor of History at Temple University specializing in 20th-century American history. Jacobs is a prominent figure in ufology and the study of the alien abduction phenomenon, including the use of hypnosis on subjects claiming to be abductees. Jacobs has authored several books on the subject.
Ademar José Gevaerd, also known simply as A. J. Gevaerd was a Brazilian ufologist. He was editor of Revista UFO, founder and director of the Brazilian Center for Flying Saucer Research (CBPDV) and Brazilian Director for Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). He represented Brazil at the Center for UFO Studies. He appeared on the Globo Network, the Discovery Channel and the History Channel. He spoke in many cities in Brazil and in other 29 countries, and conducted over 700 field investigations of UFO cases in Brazil. He was described as one of the most respected of ufologists.
Raymond Eveleth Fowler is an American author and UFO researcher.
Barney and Betty Hill were an American couple who claimed they were abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural portion of the state of New Hampshire from September 19 to 20, 1961. The incident came to be called the "Hill Abduction" and the "Zeta Reticuli Incident" because two ufologists connected the star map shown to Betty Hill with the Zeta Reticuli system. Their story was adapted into the best-selling 1966 book The Interrupted Journey and NBC's 1975 television film The UFO Incident.
