Loading ...

By Kristi O’Toole

Little green men, flying saucers and alien abductions, all in a day’s work for Agents Mulder and Scully; but what if these things aren’t just the figment of a writer’s imagination? What if there’s more out there? To think that we could be the only inhabited planet in a solar system as vast as this one seems a little narcissistic to say the least.

I’ll admit it, I’ve really struggled with this one. There are so many theories and ideas and conspiracies that surround the existence of extraterrestrials, where does one start? Television documentaries are countless and the quality and validity of them is subject to the producer’s opinion and style.

One of my biggest issues with these programs are some of the choice guests and interviewees. It seems without fail one or more of the eye witnesses involved are less than credible. They either look like they just finished filming an episode of Jerry Springer, or just crawled out from under a rock. I sit back and shake my head in despair and wonder if it really is just local ‘crackpots’ that witness such things.

When it comes to U.F.O’s (Unidentified Flying Objects), they are just that. Something that is seen in the sky which cannot be identified, it does not automatically mean it’s of alien origin. I personally have witnessed two inexplicable aircraft in my time, but I couldn’t possibly know every aircraft ever produced by the US Government or otherwise, so how am I to know if the things I’ve seen are genuinely unidentifiable or not?

After many conversations with my husband, who is a firm believer, I found myself seeking answers. I wanted to read eyewitness accounts and see evidence produced from someone other than ‘Jimbo McCletus’. Surely there are more credible witnesses to be found.

Imagine my excitement when I stumbled upon an article detailing how airline pilots, commercial and military, have both seen U.F.O’s. While I understand pilots aren’t infallible and how a few in recent times have come under fire for excessive use of alcohol before a flight and other questionable acts, for the most part they are what I would consider believable and yes, credible.
According to the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena, (NARCAP) there have been over 3,500 documented sightings of U.F.O’s by pilots, with many more not reported for fear of ridicule. According to self proclaimed U.F.O expert Captain Jim Courant, a commercial pilot for over 31 years, these professionals remain silent not in fear of losing their jobs, but rather for the safety of their families.

Safety of their families? That begs the question, have they been told to stay silent? Suggesting that ‘higher ups’ are aware of extraterrestrial life and want to keep it quiet? The stories of those pilots brave enough to come forward are definitely interesting to hear; one such encounter details a commercial pilot flying to the far east. The story goes, the pilot was flying a 747 over the Pacific in 1980, when he came across a UFO in front of him. “You won’t believe what we saw,” the pilot had said. “This thing was bigger than a 747.” But when the pilot got to his destination in Japan, he “was debriefed and told never to talk about it again.”

Okay, fair enough if it was intended to be a secret military experiment, but what if it wasn’t? Courant told of his own encounter with a UFO. In 1995 he was flying near Albuquerque, New Mexico, when he and his co-pilot saw a blue green oval shape approaching from the left. “In a flash of burning white light, the object suddenly shot up at a 45 degree angle,” Courant said. Four other pilots reported to the air traffic control tower that they had also seen the object. That’s five credible witnessess that saw the same thing that day.

Courant added, “One pilot said it must have been a meteor, when I got on [the radio] ,and said, ‘Since when does a meteor go back up?’” When asked about his co-pilot’s reaction, Courant said, “He refused to discuss it and has never flown with me again.”

There have been a variety of reports describing aircraft that appear suddenly and move at speeds impossible with present technology. These reports correspond with what personally witnessed, once at the age of ten and then twenty five years later, and three states away.

While these pilot witnesses are in fact credible, they’re just strangers to me; so while I have no reason NOT to believe them, I certainly have no reason to either. My husband has told me of one of his encounters, a very large triangular shaped craft in the sky that zipped off at an unnatural speed. Now him, I believe.

Another story that I found incredibly interesting involves another member of our family. Names will not be mentioned to help protect his identity. This gentleman, a retired member of USAF, learned of my father’s interest in the potential existence of alien space craft. In a friendly gesture, he contacted my father in a personal message on Facebook wanting to share one of his stories of a U.F.O encounter while serving our country. Within minutes his message was removed and he was contacted by the US Government regarding never speaking of things like that again.
So now there’s this; something that I may never have given a rat’s rear-end about suddenly becomes very interesting. Why did they remove it? Why was he warned? If it’s all a bunch of rubbish and made up stories, then why the fuss about it? All of this leads me to believe there is in fact more to it than the ramblings of a crazy person.

While there are literally hundreds of very well known cases of alien abduction, a handful of them really stick in our minds. One of those stories being, the abduction of Travis Walton in 1975. Name not ring a bell? Well how about the movie, ‘Fire in the Sky?’ Released in March of 1993, Fire in the Sky is based on Walton’s extraterrestrial encounter one evening on his way home from work.
The story goes, the men were headed home when they spotted a bright light in the woods. Stopping to check it out, it didn’t take long for them to realize that what they were seeing was unlike anything they had ever seen before; all of them decided it was without a doubt an alien spacecraft. For reasons most likely still unknown, and against the wishes of his friends, Walton made his way towards the craft. Suddenly and without warning a bright light exploded from the craft with great force, knocking Walton backwards to the ground.

His friends, terrified, ran back to their vehicle and sped off leaving Walton behind presumed dead. They hadn’t gone very far when the feeling of guilt overtook their feelings of fear, sending them back to look for their friend.
When the men arrived back to the site, their friend was nowhere to be found. What followed would be many unanswered questions and a storyline straight out of Hollywood. I’ve read the book written by Travis Walton, detailing the accounts of his alleged abduction. If I’m going to be honest, I’m sincerely 50/50 on this. I completely believe the men saw something that evening, but Walton’s accounts of what took place just do not sit right with me. Instead of a movie based on his experience, it sounds more his experiences were based on a movie. I guess kudos to him for making a buck or two, but it just seems too far fetched for me to believe.

From Roswell to Betty and Barney Hill, U.F.O reports and encounters a dime a dozen. Picking the ones that are completely fabricated from the ones with a hint of truth is a job for someone else, I’m honestly not that fussed. This is a vast universe and while I’m not a hard core conspiracy theorist fearing we’re being injected with alien DNA, I refuse to think we’re alone. I want to believe and will continue to look for answers.

Next time, upon request, I’m going to talk about this whole ‘Bigfoot’ phenomenon.

Here is a a link to an excerpt from Walton’s book, check it out, it isn’t a bad read.

[si-contact-form form=’3′]