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.
Project Blue Book was the code name for the systematic study of unidentified flying objects by the United States Air Force from March 1952 to its termination on December 17, 1969. The project, headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, was initially directed by Captain Edward J. Ruppelt and followed projects of a similar nature such as Project Sign established in 1947, and Project Grudge in 1949. Project Blue Book had two goals, namely, to determine if UFOs were a threat to national security, and to scientifically analyze UFO-related data.
The Varginha UFO incident involves a series of events in 1996 when residents of Varginha, Brazil claimed seeing one or more strange creatures and at least one unidentified flying object (UFO). The reports garnered extensive media coverage. Other associated claims include the capture of one or more extraterrestrial beings by the Brazilian authorities, animal fatalities at a zoo, and a woman impregnated by an extraterrestrial. An investigation by the Brazilian Army concluded that a city resident was mistaken for an alien creature and the movement of military personnel in the region was routine.
In ufology, the psychosocial hypothesis, abbreviated PSH, argues that at least some UFO reports are best explained by psychological or social means. It is often contrasted with the better-known extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH), and is particularly popular among UFO researchers in the United Kingdom, such as David Clarke, Hilary Evans, the editors of Magonia magazine, and many of the contributors to Fortean Times magazine. It has also been popular in France since the publication in 1977 of a book written by Michel Monnerie, Et si les ovnis n'existaient pas?.
Black triangles are UFOs reported as having a triangular shape and dark color, typically observed at night, described as large, silent, hovering, moving slowly, and displaying pulsating, colored lights which they can turn off.
The Rendlesham Forest incident was a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights near Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England, in December 1980, which became linked with UFO landings. The events occurred just outside RAF Woodbridge, which was used at the time by the United States Air Force (USAF). USAF personnel, including deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles I. Halt, claimed to see things they described as a UFO.
Jacques Fabrice Vallée is an Internet pioneer, computer scientist, venture capitalist, author, ufologist and astronomer currently residing in San Francisco, California and Paris, France.
Angel hair, siliceous cotton, or Mary's yarn is a sticky, fibrous substance reported in connection with UFO sightings, or manifestations of the Virgin Mary. It has been described as being like a cobweb or a jelly.
The Mariana UFO incident occurred in August 1950 in Great Falls, Montana. The film footage of the sighting, filmed by local baseball coach Nick Mariana, is believed to be among the first ever taken of what came to be called an unidentified flying object. The U.S. Air Force, after a short investigation, concluded that what had actually been sighted were the reflections of two F-94 jet fighters, a claim that would later be retracted.
The Trans-en-Provence case was an event in which an unidentified flying object is claimed to have left physical evidence in the form of burnt residue on a field. The event took place on 8 January 1981 outside the town of Trans-en-Provence in the French department of Var. It was described in Popular Mechanics as "perhaps the most completely and carefully documented sighting of all time."
This is a list of alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects or UFOs in Brazil.
The Exeter incident or Incident at Exeter was a highly publicized UFO sighting that occurred on September 3, 1965, approximately 5 miles (8 km) south of Exeter, New Hampshire, in the neighboring town of Kensington. Although several separate sightings had been made in the area by numerous witnesses in the weeks leading up to the specific incident, it was the September 3 sighting which eventually became by far the most famous, involving a local teenager and two police officers. In 2011, Skeptical Inquirer offered an explanation of the incident, based on details reported by the eyewitnesses.
This is an incomplete list of alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects or UFOs in Argentina.
The Belgian UFO wave was a series of sightings of triangular UFOs in Belgium, which lasted from 29 November 1989 to April 1990.
Magonia is the name of the cloud realm whence felonious aerial sailors were said to have come, according to commonly-held beliefs denounced in the polemical treatise by Carolingian bishop Agobard of Lyon in 815, where he argues against weather magic. The treatise is titled De Grandine et Tonitruis .
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.
On 16 September 1994, there was a UFO sighting outside Ruwa, Zimbabwe. Sixty-two pupils at the Ariel School aged between six and twelve said that they saw one or more silver craft descend from the sky and land on a field near their school. Some of the children claimed that one or more creatures dressed all in black then approached and telepathically communicated to them a message with an environmental theme, frightening them and causing them to cry.
The Rhodes UFO photographs, sometimes called the shoe-heel UFO photographs, purport to show a disc-like object flying above Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The two photographs were reportedly taken on July 7, 1947, by amateur astronomer and inventor William Albert Rhodes. They were printed in The Arizona Republic newspaper on July 9, along with Rhodes's account of his sighting of the object. Published near the end of the 1947 flying disc craze, the photographs were among the first showing an unidentified flying object. They continue to be discussed in the media into the 21st century.
The COMETA report is an unofficial 1999 report published by the French association COMETA on unidentified aerospace phenomena (UAP), commonly known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs). The report was titled UFOs and Defense: What Should We Prepare For? and an archive was made public in 2007 by GEIPAN, the French unit responsible for researching and investigating unidentified aerospace phenomena (UAPs).
