By Paul Seaburn | Mysterious Universe
We have some good news and some interesting news about the much-anticipated government intelligence report on UFOs ‘promised’ to be released this month. The good news is, it definitely exists, according to anonymous senior administration officials who told The New York Times that they have been briefed on it. The interesting news is…
“The report determines that a vast majority of more than 120 incidents over the past two decades did not originate from any American military or other advanced U.S. government technology, the officials said.”
“And while a forthcoming unclassified version, expected to be released to Congress by June 25, will present few other firm conclusions, senior officials briefed on the intelligence conceded that the very ambiguity of the findings meant the government could not definitively rule out theories that the phenomena observed by military pilots might be alien spacecraft.”
Julian E. Barnes and Helene Cooper from the “All the UFO News That’s Fit to Print” newspaper reveal that the report looks at over 120 incidents over the past two decades, including many similar to the publicized incidents in 2004 and 2019 involving Navy pilots, ships and personnel that are backed up with radar, photo and video records. Many of the elected officials who have been peppered with questions ahead of the report have said their main concern is airspace security, and the Times reporters said officials who received the briefing admitted it could be experimental technology – possibly hypersonic — most likely from Russia or China. In particular, they looked at the 2004 “Tic Tac” which was estimated to be “about the size of a commercial plane” which one of the pilots, Cmdr. David Fravor, said to The Times “accelerated like nothing I’ve ever seen.”
Unfortunately, that’s all the Times reporters revealed. Inverse interviewed Mark Rodeghier, the scientific director at the Chicago-based Centre for UFO Studies, who agreed the report will be inconclusive and will probably focus on mostly military sightings. He listed three of what he believes are the strongest UFO cases, which may not have been reviewed because they’re out of the two-decade range of the report.
On November 2, 1971, a mushroom-shaped craft was reported in Delphos, Kansas. The witness claimed he was temporarily blinded by its light, and his mother took a Polaroid photo allegedly showing the ground still glowing a day after the incident. The soil was analysed and an organic compound was identified.
On October 18, 1973, a UFO was spotted near Charles Mill Lake near Mansfield, Ohio, by an Army Reserve helicopter pilot and a crew of four enlisted men. The crew claimed the UFO was headed for a collision, then bathed the chopper in a bright green light and took off. The UFO was also reported by witnesses on the ground.
From 1983 to 1986, thousands of people in New York and Connecticut reported seeing a slow-moving, low-flying V-shaped craft that was nicknamed the Westchester Boomerang. Despite all those sightings, no explanation was ever given.
Rodeghier sounds like he’s prepared to be disappointed by the report, but hopes it spurs more witnesses to come forward and more pilots to report unusual sightings.
When it comes to waiting for this report, I’m not saying it’s frustrating… but it’s frustrating.
About the Author
Paul Seaburn is the editor at Mysterious Universe and its most prolific writer. He’s written for TV shows such as “The Tonight Show”, “Politically Incorrect” and an award-winning children’s program. He’s been published in “The New York Times” and “Huffington Post” and has co-authored numerous collections of trivia, puzzles and humour. His “What in the World!” podcast is a fun look at the latest weird and paranormal news, strange sports stories and odd trivia. Paul likes to add a bit of humour to each MU post he crafts. After all, the mysterious doesn’t always have to be serious.