Have you ever seen a UFO?

[anarch]

Inspired by something somebody said in that other UFO thread. Just a yes or no, have you ever seen something strange in the sky that was not identifiable at the time, and has not since been adequately explained?

[qnr]

1. Hundreds of them - those little planes and birds and satellites are way

too far away for me to identify them.

[anarch]

2. nah...you just said they were "planes or birds"

At least partially identified, so we'll count this as a "no".

Of course, this poll won't be worth much unless and until we get about 50,000 responses....

[qnr]

4. Yes, but by the same token, most people who believe that they've seen

an unidentified flying object tend to identify them as alien spacecraft, so they're not UFOs either :)

[anarch]

6. you've got a point there

People do seem awfully quick to jump to conclusions...I've seen people freak right out about what were obviously birds, like "oh my god, flying saucers, aaaah!"

[skygazer]

3. I saw a strange object moving in an odd manner

It was circular and had lights all around its round body, different colored lights that were either blinking or circling the object. Three other people who were with me saw it as well but I have to admit, I was doing 3 hits of orange sunshine at the time and had drank many, many beers. But in my favor, the others had only done one hit.

[anarch]

5. hmmm...exactly the kind of witness we need

I'm thinking all that acid and beer would have made sure your judgment wasn't affected by preconceptions. We'll call this a "yes".

Actually, this is making me think I need another category for, "yes, but I was completely twisted so nobody will ever believe me."

[Swede]

7. No,but I keep an open mind.

The universe is vast. In a still and open mind, truth will be reflected. -Lao Tsu-

I hear the music, daylight disc
Three men in black said, "Don't report this"
"Ascension," and that's all they said
Sickness now, the hour's dread

All praise
He's found the awful truth, Balthazar
He's found the saucer news

I'm in fairy rings and tower beds
"Don't report this," three men said
Books by the blameless and by the dead
King in yellow, queen in red

All praise
He's found the awful truth, Balthazar
He's found the saucer news

Dead leaves always give up motion
I no longer feel the motion
Where prophecy fails, the falling motion
"Don't report this, agents of fortune"

All praise
He's found the awful truth, Balthazar
He's found the saucer news

[NJ Democrats]

8. Broke the tie

No I haven't.

[Proud_Democratt]

9. Yes....a formation of 20-30 lights, which could have been

one or several. When I tell someone, they ignore me.

[anarch]

26. well, at least ignoring you is better than ridiculing you

or insulting your intelligence by saying, "oh I saw that one debunked...it was just flares" or some such, when they weren't there, they didn't see it, and you know damn well it wasn't freaking flares or swamp gas or whatever else non-witnesses bring up.

I think the subject tends to make people uncomfortable in face-to-face conversation.

[Deep13]

32. three white and one black disks traveling together in daylight.

They were constantly shifting potion but remained in a roughly squre formation. I was stumped. A resort to binoculars revealed them to be four party baloons tied together, probably from a wedding.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. I saw something I can't explain

It exhibited aerodynamic characteristics not likely those of a machine created by Earthlings.

Wish I could meet one of 'em.

[bridgit]

11. i think so, seen them in a clear night sky in the desert filled with...

stars; i thought the first one was a satellite till i seen the other two = 3 of them cruising along perfectly triangulated, traveling high as a satellite, i tracked them across the sky for a good long while until they seemed to paused for a moment in front of, all of a sudden cause i didn't even notice it till then; but a foggy mass that someone later suggested was our milky way viewed edge-wise...and then, one by one, they simply disappeared = very strange

[TreasonousBastard]

12. Landing lights...

I've seen the same thing many times, and as the plane turns into a cloud there's often an optical illusion that it's changing course and speeding away at a brazillion miles an hour. The trick is that you don't see the cloud for some reason, and have no reference to judge distance and direction.

[bridgit]

20. too far up, again, high up as a satellite waaaay up; lights were non-

blinking but static...like a planet, they didn't 'twinkle' as one might fixed to a wing undergoing gravitational stressors, no sound...none, unobstructed sky no mountains horizon to horizon and filled with stars on a parcel it will be noted here; that was being used by the armed forces as a testing range for night vision technology in that the atmosphere had been deemed in advance by the military and the contractor, prior to the construction of the facility, to be optically pure :shrug:

[TreasonousBastard]

38. OK, I wasn't there, but...

it's often extremely difficult to judge distance and speed without the proper reference points. Near things can easily appear far in certain circumstances when the eye is tricked by some scenes.

Landing lights don't blink, and there are often three of them on a plane-- nose and wings. There might be some strobes for some reason, but not on a normal landing or takeoff. And, there could have been three planes in formation.

Not hearing the plane means little. I've seen planes pass overhead that I couldn't hear, but others blew my ears out. No idea why. although it might be wind direction.

Even in a clear sky, when the plane turns the lights often "fade out" and look like they are going in a different direction, or speeding up.

Anyway, yeah, some things just don't seem to fit into a ready explanation. Most do, but some are just plain wierd.

[Deep13]

25. I've seen them

They are a trio of Navy satellites that ravel together. The disappearance was because they were not longer in sunlight.

[bridgit]

28. "a trio of Navy satellites that travel together" now why didn't i think...

of a tin foil hat :tinfoilhat: even if that would be extremely rare, same orbit, same plane, same speed etc :shrug:

[Deep13]

30. Same orbit=same speed.

The three were intended to fly together. It is not just an unlikely coincidence. I have no idea what they do, though I can guess that high resolution spying with an interferometer is part of it.

[bridgit]

31. indicate for me the importance of a triple redundancy to which you...

have alluded

[Deep13]

33. An interferometer uses multiple telescopes ...

... at fixed distances to acheive the resolution of a single gigantic telescope. Three satellites in a precisely triangular flight might contain such an instrument. If so, it is beyond the technology of any civilian, scientific instrument as two-scope interferometers are just now being contructed on the ground. I don't really know what those satellites do, this is just a guess based on what little I know.

I do know that an object's speed in orbit depends exclusively on its altitude.

[bridgit]

34. the event i refer to occured in the mid 80's...

[Deep13]

35. Don't know what to tell yah then.

I saw it in 2004.

[bridgit]

36. well, like i say all i can do is lay it out like i saw it and let others..

fill in the blanks :hi:

[Kajsa]

13. Yes, I don't know what I saw.

but it was not an aircraft.

This happened many years ago.

My question is always,

Why not? Are we to assume that we are on the
only planet that supports life in the universe?

I think not.

That universe is very big.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

23. You're right. I believe the most arrogant belief humans have is...

that we're the only ones in this universe.

Also, how is is so ridiculous to believe that we're the most advanced. I believe there are far more advanced civilizations on other planets and that they've visited and influenced us. If I need to wear a tinfoil hat to believe then so be it.

:tinfoilhat:

[Haole Girl]

14. No

I'd like to see one someday, though. Or, maybe not since people wouldn't believe me if I did.

[Robb]

15. I shot this picture last year:

...I shot this almost straight up at an air show. :evilgrin:

And I remember thinking, if these are what we've got on this planet, I can't even imagine what might be on others.
Interesting side note: it's blacker than black. Notice the little bright "noise" dots on the bottom? That's the same effect that happens when I shoot with the digital at night. :wow:

[diamondsndust]

17. i was wondering..

if that is what we saw that night out in the 'glades. (see post in this thread) We didnt take any pictures or anything. it was wayyy too south and west to have been going to homestead AFB. maybe headed to the naval station in the Keys??

[diamondsndust]

16. I saw some down in Florida ....

after hurricane andrew. Several of us saw one one night out in the everglades when we were watching for a night launch of the space shuttle. we thought we were seeing the shuttle, thought it was cool, got back home and saw on the news that the launch had been cancelled. we all freaked out a little bit, then got to talking about what we had seen. the craft that came over us was really at too low of an altitude to have been the shuttle, but it was shaped about the same from what we could see from the bottom of it. yes, it had come right over the top of us. The really strange thing about it though... it made no noise .. nothing, nada... still don't know what it was to this day.

i've seen a couple up here in Tenn too. Call me nuts or whatever, but I personally believe in other life forms outside this planet. I believe in and have seen a ghost also, but thats another story.

Anyone who can look up into the night sky, look at all those stars and lights out in all that vast expanse of universe and think that this is the only intelligent life in the universe has got to be delusional!

[chookie]

18. A bunch of them at once

I saw about 8 things in the night sky, circling about (urban area). I guessed that there was a problem at the airport which was preventing the craft from landing.

In the next day's paper, there was an article about a weird phenomenon of the night before. It seems that many other people saw the flying objects and recognized that they were not airplanes, and did things like contact law enforcement and the local observatory. There was no immediate explanation of what many people saw that night. I didn't follow the case, so I am unaware of any ultimate explanations of this event made subsequently.

[MiniMandaRuth]

19. Yes.

Sitting awake in our trailer while parents slept.

Watching three dots, not very high in the sky (About 500-600 feet up) swirl in a circle, then slowly, more joined them until there were about 15.

Then, they all disappeared. It freaked me out. Actually, I have nightmares about it... People often say that when they witness UFOs, they feel at peace... I felt afraid.

[jschurchin]

21. Just once.

When I was 16 years old and it scared the living piss out of me. Bright lights, no noise and it moved very fast. If I never see one again it will be way too fucking soon!!!

[Mutley]

22. Nope. Just shooting stars.

[ScreamingMeemie]

24. No. Not in that sense. At least the sense of thinking it wasn't a bird, a

plane, a kite or otherwise. :hi:

[DUHandle]

27. I have family in Roswell

and no, I haven't.

[In_The_Wind]

29. I honestly have ~ more than a few times.

[bigwillq]

37. No (nt)