The Problem with UFO Identification Sometimes people jump to conclusions, we can’t help it, it is part of our nature. When we see things, which are technologically advanced which are old, we sometimes credit aliens for creating them. Sometimes we look up in the sky and see some very strange things and think they are out worldly. If a person was to conduct a study of all the things seen in the sky, they would realize some of the most complex things are really natural. I am not saying everything is natural, but a good deal of it is. One of the problems we have with identifying some of the things in the sky is there are people who want to see UFOs so bad they believe they see then around every corner. Humans already had a tendency to see shapes when they look at the clouds in the sky. How many times has someone looked at the clouds and said this looks like a tiger, or a ship, or some other thing? Quite a few times I would imagine. Put a strange cloud into the mix and this increases the chances of an imaginary UFO being sighted. Mother nature must laugh at us when she causes these things to happen. Take sprites for example. Thunderstorms cause them to flash in the atmosphere creating dancing flashes of light. How many times has a sprite been mistaken for a UFO? I remember when Russia had tons of people calling in because they were seeing a snake like object in their sky. This all goes back to a time when under communism the leaders allowed the people to put out UFO reports and have UFO clubs. This didn’t last very long and meetings of three people in public places was put back into place. It wasn’t because anyone was trying to overthrow the government or anything like that, it was because many of the strange things in the sky were from missile tests and the UFO buffs were pointing out all the tests in their investigations and the government got nervous. Yes, missile tests can be mistaken for UFOs. Before I go any further, I would like to say it is possible some of the explanations given for UFOs being something else could also be coverups. There have been times when investigators have told witnesses they were only seeing clouds and yet objects had appeared on radar and such, but this was kept from the witnesses. Witnesses have been told what they had seen was ball lightning, which is extremely rare and swamp gas, but for now let’s ignore this. Russians had another experience they thought was extraterrestrial and it was a giant halo cloud appeared in the sky over Russia. Immediately many Russians panicked until meteorologists announced what was being seen was an optical illusion. Apparently, the sunlight and wind hit a cloud in a certain way which caused them to see this. The clouds were composed of icy water droplets which reacted to the circumstances causing the effect. Plastic bags are being taxed in many places because they are dangerous to the environment, but did you know they are a bane to UFO observations. They have been mistaken many times for other things in the sky has they are blown around changing shape. It has been suspected they may be responsible for the sightings of what people believe are some sort of flying alien. Under the correct circumstances the can take on a sort of human shape. They have also been mistaken for ghosts and spirits. A couple of years ago a clear green plastic bag floating around a gas station was caught on camera and many thought they were seeing a ghost until it was figured out it was nothing more than a plastic bag. Weather balloons also cause observational problems. Not only do they float through the air, but when the sunlight hits their surfaces they can look like other things from a distance. They have been blamed for many sightings of UFOs. When people see what they believe to be UFOs at night, some of the sightings can be traced to what are known as Chinese lanterns. The problem with this is the number of times this excuse has been used. One would think Chinese lanterns are everywhere. No doubt a minority of the sightings may be just that, but they can’t all be. Then there are flares. How many times have flares been mistaken for UFOs? If one would listen to the times this excuse was used, they would find many holes in this explanation. No doubt there have been some flares used which has caused people to think they were looking at UFOs, but truthfully not that much. Another explanation for misidentification of objects in the sky is quite a simple one. There are a lot of people who see an airplane from a strange angle and think they are seeing a UFO. If a plane is seen from the side and is flying just right the wings seem to disappear and you see what looks like a cylinder with windows. Many of these have been reported. Some have even said they could see beings looking out of the windows. Could some have been looking at an airplane with passengers looking out from their windows? Planets are another source of misidentification. The bright planet Venus has often been mistaken for a UFO. Some have said they could see it slowly moving across the sky, but this is what planets do. Then there are meteors and asteroids streaking across the sky and there always seems to be someone who believes these are extraterrestrial vehicles. There certainly is no scarcity of objects in the sky which could be identified as a UFO. MUFON is the oldest UFO reporting agency. MUFON stands for Mutual UFO Network. They have trained investigators which they send to witnesses to evaluate and obtain reports from witnesses who claimed to have seen a UFO. It has been estimated only about 6 percent of all UFO sightings are actually unidentified objects. One of the biggest problems are the witnesses themselves. They usually are not trained to identify anything in the sky with a few exceptions such as the military and pilots. That is why witnesses who are military or pilots are so prized. Unfortunately, there are probably far more of them than have come forward, because of the stigma of testifying to the event. They also are afraid of reprisals against them which could ground them if they are pilots and even job loss. You can hardly blame them.
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