PRINCIPLES OF UFO VISUAL SIGHTING INVESTIGATION

CHECK THESE WHEN EVALUATING A UFO SIGHTING:

1. People who report UFOs sometimes have ulterior motives:
   • Making money by selling the story to newspapers, or selling books.
   • Winning the National Enquirer prizes.
   • Cover up negligence in handling property or driving a vehicle.
   • False alibi for being asleep on the job.
   • Explain spent rounds from the gun of a security guard or policeman.
   • Cover or false alibi for illegal or illicit activity.
   • Child "explaining" lateness or damaged clothing to parents.
   • Collecting insurance for dead cattle or other items not normally covered.
   • Hiding satanic rituals, especially those that take other people's property.
   • Promoting social, economic, religious, or ecological "reforms."
   • A scam to take money from innocent people who believe in UFOs.
   • Provide an explanation for failing to complete a job on time.
   • Some crop circles were made to promote a record album.
   • Spies or saboteurs try to clog military communications with UFO sightings.
   • Some nuts want their names in the paper.
   • People will "add" a false sighting to an already reported sighting.
   • A joke that got out of control.
   • Selling tabloids.
   • Kids will always be kids.
2. People do not always see and identify what is really there. Examples:
   • Night advertizing planes seen edge on look like rotating discs.
   • Aircraft seen at unusual angles assume many varied shapes.
   • Aircraft lights at night have many configurations.
   • Various balloons (Yes, manned hot air balloons DO make lots of noise!).
   • Lighted balloons at night follow strange paths.
   • At special events, balloon launches leave many objects in the air at once.
   • An escaped toy Mylar balloon can sparkle in the sun for hours.
   • Stuff blows away in the wind. Clear plastic bags really look strange in wind.
   • Barium cloud experiments start starlike, then expand into glowing clouds.
   • Meteors, fireworks, parachutes, other brief objects are hard to identify.
   • Automobiles and other lights on the ground or at sea are often confused.
   • Illegal activity with vehicles or aircraft can follow puzzling paths.
   • Smuggling activities have used model rockets and airplanes.
   • Radio controlled model airplanes follow strange looping and weaving paths.
   • Birds and bugs can always be confused, especially under unusual lighting.
   • Jet exhaust distorts all light passing through it.
3. Pranksters are always ready to make you see a UFO:
   • Fire balloons (modified dry-cleaner bags with candles) really fly and glow!
   • Sky lanterns are ready-made fire balloons sold by fireworks companies.
   • Government surplus weather balloons will carry flares aloft just fine.
   • Chemical glow sticks have been hung from trees or wires, frightening people.
   • "Saucer Nests" have been created by pranksters to attract crowds.
   • Crop circles are easily created with a stake, some string, and some boards.
   • Lighted kites have been used, for legitimate purposes, or to create a UFO.
   • Somebody tied a flashlight on a helium balloon and pulled it behind their car.
   • In the early days of UFOs, kids threw paper plates off a cliff.
   • Lighted Frisbee disks and glow in the dark items can fool people at night.
   • A base commander gave a UFO convention "work to do" with night air maneuvers.
   • Spies or saboteurs try to clog military communications with UFO sightings.
   • Some people used 3 ultralight aircraft in formation to fake a UFO at night.
   • A flying saucer kite that spins can be found in novelty stores.
   • Edmund Scientific sold UFO balloons. They say "UFO" right on the sides.
   • Several advertizing schemes look like UFOs.
   • Tabloids will do anything to fake a sighting. That's how they make money.
4. Some sightings combine unrelated events:
   • Two groups of "investigators" seeing each other's lights.
   • A malfunctioning radar set, a bet on a balloon's altitude, and weather blips.
   • Teens in a cemetery at night see unrelated plane, vehicle, and ground lights.
   • A meteor, headlights, and a sandhill crane caused a space monster sighting.
   • A radio telescope, a police car, and vehicle lights, all seen through fog.
   • A meteor, a fire balloon, and tracks left by a circling motorcycle.
   • A motorscooter rider, swamp fires, and prowlers.
   • Unconnected lights moving together can appear as a single object.
   • Satanists mutilate cattle while independently pranksters launch fire balloons.
   • An airplane light in the sky and the humming of a nearby pole transformer.
   • A satellite re-entry and unrelated boat lights.
5. People will think of UFOs whenever something unusual happens:
   • A power failure occurs. A newscaster muses "UFOs caused the power failure."
   • An unexplained grid power failure occurs. UFOs? (NO, a phase shift)
   • Strange marks are found on the ground. "Aha! UFOs!"
   • A strange explosion with no physical evidence is attributed to UFOs (sonic boom).
   • UFOs have been blamed for missing persons.
   • The missing child's voice was heard "from the sky" when he disappeared on Christmas Eve, reports one UFO book. (Later his bones were found inside the chimney - He was trying to play Santa and got stuck)
   • UFOs left a fungus ring on the ground (Look for tasty Morel mushrooms later).
   • A lake mysteriously drains into the ground. UFOs? (oil rig drilled into a mine)
   • A glowing object at the bottom of a pond turned out to be a flashlight.
   • Object found on burnt lawn, not there when mowed yesterday (mower's muffler).
   • The sky turns yellow or green (A tornado, squall line, or dust storm can do this).
   • One "researcher" blamed UFOs for the jet stream, also got its direction wrong.
   • UFOs made the creek smell bad (algacide).
6. Power failures can cause UFOs more often than UFOs cause power failures:
   • A tree shorts out a power line in a big purplish red ball of light.
   • Exploding pole transformers make big orange balls of light fly up in the air.
   • Badly insulated wires whipped by wind and rain make a big teal ball of light.
   • Power lines make loud humming sounds during short-circuit conditions.
   • If a line breaks or a pole is hit and falls, sparks appear in various colors.
   • Utility helicopters looking for the cause of the failure cause UFO reports.
   • Citizens looking for the cause of the failure see mundane objects as UFOs.
   • A sudden surge from an outage elsewhere can cause arcing from high voltage lines.
   • A shorted substation transformer can make glowing arcs on all of its power lines.
7. If a person is told where there is a UFO, he will find one:
   • RADAR calls sentry, says where to look. He sees a star and reports back.
   • Sentry calls RADAR, says where to look. They find a weather target there.
   • Two teams of UFO investigators see each other's lights.
   • Police are called, and chase Venus for hours.
   • Papers report a sighting, hundreds go out to look, and see common items as UFOs.
   • Papers report a sighting, pranksters launch fire balloons.

   This is not meant to impugn the witnesses. The human visual system can NOT provide the information necessary for correct identification.

8. If a person has never heard of an object, that person does not know what it is:
   • Manned hot air balloons caused UFO sightings until enough pictures appeared.
   • Fire balloon pranks work only because very few people know what they are.
   • Sandhill cranes have caused many monster sightings.
   • The Stealth airplanes caused sightings during the test flights (at Area 51).
   • High altitude research balloons still cause many sightings.
   • Barium clouds released by high altitude rockets grow in size and fade out.
   • Advertizing planes have signs made of rows of flashing lights under the wings.
   • When ambulances first got whooping sirens, people reported hearing UFOs.
   • Kites can have many configurations. Unusual ones can be reported as UFOs.
   • Japanese balloon bombs and French tricks to make the Germans waste ammunition caused sightings in World War II.
9. For each list, to know any value in the list requires:
   • You need to know at least one of these to know any of them:
     • Distance of UFO from sighter.
     • Actual size of the UFO.
     • Velocity of the UFO.
     • Altitude of the UFO
   • To find all of these you need to know at least two:
     • UFO Radial velocity component.
     • UFO Perpendicular velocity component.
     • UFO True direction of travel.
     • UFO Actual speed.
   • To calculate any of these, all of the others must be known:
     • Actual brightness.
     • Distance from camera.
     • Film speed.
     • Exposure time.
     • Lens opening.
     • Image brightness.
     • Developing timing function for developer and film used.
     • Developing time.
10. The sighter can get the following data accurately with presence of mind:
    • Angular size of UFO's image as seen against background. Size categories:
      1. Star (point source)
      2. Distant plane
      3. Full moon
      4. Multiple moons
    • Changes in angular size.
    • Angular velocity of UFO(s). This includes visual angular speed and direction.
    • Changes in angular velocity.
    • Direction(s) of UFO from observer
    • Shape(s) of UFO(s), with colors and details noted.
    • Sounds (Make sure they are not normal sounds in the area)
    • Any changes
    • The date
    • The time each part of the sighting occurred, if a watch is handy
    • Location of sighter
11. People make strange assumptions about a UFO once they decide it's a space ship:
    • Thinking the UFO responded to their actions and thoughts.
    • Taking a brightening of the UFO as a motion directly toward them.
    • Feeling "psychic effects" that are more likely psychological.
    • Taking animal actions as reactions to the UFO.
    • If the UFO dims and goes out, it "rushed away at tremendous speed."
    • Assuming intelligent life is aboard, and trying to communicate with it.
    • Thinking it's dangerous, and hiding from it or shooting at it.
    • Assuming the UFO is following power lines or looking for reservoirs.
    • Assuming that any jets that appear are looking for the UFO.
    • Assuming the UFO is the size of a vehicle.
12. UFOs are unidentified for reasons other than being space ships:
    • Description so poor that investigators cannot figure them out.
    • Assumptions of actual distance, size, or speed hide the true identity.
    • Neither sighters nor investigators ever heard of the true identity.
    • Autokinesis can make stars, planets, and stationary lights seem to move.
    • Atmospheric conditions cause stars and planets to move or scintillate.
    • Description gets embellished by sighter or pro-saucer investigator.
    • Some are physiological effects in the eye or optical illusions.
    • The angular size of the object is too small to identify it.
    • Investigators can not think of anything that can make the observed effects.
    • Nobody involved thinks of the true identity.
    • UFO investigators misunderstand what they are told.
    • Crackpots add extraneous and misleading data to the case.
    • False sightings cannot be identified unless the sighter changes the story.
    • Misleading information from official sources hides the true identity:
      1. Weather bureaus and airports report the direction the wind is FROM.
      2. Many people think wind direction is the way the wind is blowing TOWARD.
      3. Reported wind directions may be for the wrong altitude or location.
      4. Reported weather conditions may be hourly or daily averages.
      5. Busy air traffic officials say nothing was there just to get off the phone.
      6. A check with the local airport will get information only on local flights.
      7. Officials who think a nut is calling will humor them to get rid of them.
      8. The civilian airport has no info on military flights, and vice versa.
      9. It is very hard to find out about everything that was in the air at a given time.
      10. An official may have never heard of the true identity of the object.
      11. Officials may not think to check for commercial and private causes.
      12. Government disinformation has been used to hide secret projects.
      13. Military officials worry about overloading communications channels.
      14. Security agencies have used unique phony UFO stories to check for security leaks.
13. UFO effects are not always what they seem:
    • A UFO making passes at a plane trying to intercept it may be a smaller, closer light on a slow balloon.
    • UFOs "dropping bombs or missiles" might be fire balloons dropping candles or wax.
    • Any sound attributed to a UFO may have come from nearby mundane activities.
    • A color changing UFO might be a scintillating star or planet.
    • Splitting and joining UFOs are usually aerial refuelings or optical phenomena.
    • Stalled cars may be just that, especially if sighters forget to de-clutch.
    • A bad battery terminal connection or the use of a 6-volt battery makes lights and radio quit when the car stalls.
    • High humidity can make an engine idle slowly and not accelerate the car.
    • Brisk winds in the desert can generate static electricity that can stop older engines with distributors.
    • A fire balloon will fade away when its candles go out.
    • An object that dims out may instead appear to rush directly away from the sighter.
    • Fire balloons produce wobbling, falling-leaf, and pendulum effects.
    • Tingling and prickly effects may be psychological reactions to strangeness, or the effects of static electricity.
    • Some "Men in Black" are tabloid reporters trying to get the original pictures.
    • Other "Men in Black" are tabloid reporters trying to make the story stranger.
    • Still other "Men in Black" might be government agents checking if secrets were seen.
    • "Angel Hair" is usually caused by ballooning spiders.
14. RADAR does not give an absolutely correct picture of where objects are:
    • Atmospheric conditions can bend radar beams, distorting locations of objects.
    • The bent beam may return from fixed ground objects, land vehicles, or boats.
    • Weather can make its own targets. Water reflects RADAR beams.
    • Changing weather can change the atmospheric bend, making superfast targets.
    • The beam may bounce off of two objects before returning to the set:
      1. The "UFO" is always in the direction of the first object struck.
      2. It is possible that both objects are moving.
      3. Open rail cars and dump trucks make efficient corner reflectors.
      4. The "UFO" distance can be found using the these facts:
         • Construct a triangle connecting both real objects and the RADAR set.
         • Try half the perimeter of the triangle first.
         • Try the sum of one of the sides containing the set and the third side.
    • An echo returns after the next pulse is sent, making far objects seem close.
    • Some sets receive second pulse echoes from meteors flying by the earth.
    • Two sets can interfere with each other.
    • A set receives pulses from another like set by "skip", making superfast blips.
    • Birds, especially with metal tags, and swarms of insects can produce targets.
    • Some RADAR sets can malfunction to make targets seem 180 degrees off.
    • A malfunction in a RADAR set can make all sorts of UFOs.
    • What is a UFO to the operator might be an IFO to the person wanting the report.
    • Ground clutter targets are ignored except when a UFO is expected.
    • Early MTI (moving target indicator) sometimes show anomalous propagation as blips.
    • One very powerful RADAR system had to be reprogrammed to ignore the Moon!
    • If the target does not show up on all RADARs covering the area, it is probably not a real object at that location.
15. Rare and unproven events that could cause UFO sightings:
    • Ball lightning. This could even provide ions that could short auto ignitions.
    • Corona discharge and St. Elmo's fire.
    • Swamp gas burning (but it is dim).
    • Fox Fire is composed of luminescent algae or fungi.
    • Earthquake flashes and electricity.
    • Sundogs, halo phenomena, and sub-suns.
    • Satellites and space debris re-entering the atmosphere.
    • Meteors, bolides, and fireballs.
    • Specular reflections of the sun from aircraft or satellites.
    • Halation from sun reflection triples size of the image in the eye or on film.
    • The Bible mentions "signs in the sky" before the apocalypse. (Hmmmm???)
    • Fire balloons are mentioned in books as folk toys in the 19th century. But some Asian peoples have been making them since the 14th century.
16. False "knowledge" sometimes prevents identification:
    • "Balloons are silent." - Manned hot air balloons make a roaring noise.
    • "Stars don't dance around in the sky." - Unless atmospherics bend the light.
    • "Stars don't follow you" - Against an earthly background, they seem to.
    • "Airplanes don't have lights going around in a circle." - Except ad planes.
    • "Planes don't hover." - Unless flying into strong wind or straight toward you.
    • "Balloons can't fly that fast." - Without fast high altitude winds.
    • "Balloons can't fly that fast." - Unless they are smaller and closer than you think.
    • "Nothing goes that fast" - Unless it's smaller and closer than you think.
    • "Nothing flutters or flickers like that." - Except fire balloon pranks.
    • "It was faster than a jet" - Assuming it was that large and that far away.
    • "Satellites always go west to east." - No! Some have polar orbits, some stay put.
    • "Meteors don't go up" - An approaching one on the horizon appears to go up.
    • "Nothing that flies looks like an amoeba." - Except some windblown soap foam.
    • "What swings like a pendulum in the sky?" - A fire balloon.
17. The UFO sighting may not be the reason for the government secrecy:
    • The procedures to intercept unknown (possibly enemy) aircraft are secret.
    • If the UFO is really clandestine activity, we don't want them to know we know.
    • The cause of a sighting may be a secret device or test (Skyhook or Mogul balloon in 1947).
    • The agency involved may not yet have the information.
    • The UFO might be a secret movement of persons or materials (e.g. nuclear).
    • The secrecy might be to keep from tipping off smugglers that caused the report.
    • Diplomatic communications are necessarily kept secret.
    • Secrecy of the identity of government agents protects their lives.
    • Publicizing accidental foreign penetrations may lead to diplomatic troubles.
    • Publication of information could lead to a libel or slander suit.
    • Witnesses do request anonymity.
    • The military may keep sightings secret to prevent communication system overloads.
    • Government experts do not want it known that they are baffled.
    • A government official or diplomat may be a witness.
    • Security agencies have used fake UFO sightings to detect leaks.
    • Government has used the unidentified label to cover secret activities.
18. All sighting methods lose information. Here are the types of information lost:
    • All visual sightings lose distance, size, velocity, true shape, position, and altitude.
    • All photos lose anything visual sightings lose, plus visual information, aperture, shutter speed, luminosity, and depth of field.
    • All still photos lose anything photos lose, plus motion, incident light, and camera motion.
    • All monochrome still photos lose anything still photos lose, plus color, material specularity, and shading.
    • All movies lose anything photos lose, plus camera motion and frames per second.
    • All monochrome movies lose anything movies lose, plus color, material specularity, and shading.
    • Radar loses shape, material, size, beam bending, pulse number, number of echoes, and often altitude.
    • All-sky cameras lose anything photos lose, plus, duration, motion direction, details, and distance.
    • Telescopes lose anything visual sighting loses, plus usually the sighting itself, and focus (if near the telescope).
19. UFOs are hard to analyze scientifically:
    • It is impossible to prove that something does not exist.
    • Hard data from most sightings are volatile, lost after the sighting is over.
    • There is no test for or against the extraterrestrial hypothesis.
    • Supernatural origins cannot be tested or proved.
    • If something has not been proved to exist, it does not prove it doesn't exist.
    • Where no evidence exists, it neither proves presence nor absence.
    • No specimens are available to analyze.
    • UFO reports are heterogeneous. Information for one is useless for another.
    • The process of elimination doesn't work: there are too many possibilities.
    • Quick, darting controlled flight does not prove intelligence. Stupid bugs do that.
    • The burden of proof is on any unconventional explanation.
    • Failure to prove unconventional explanations is not proof against them.
    • The testimony of a single witness is of little value.
    • "Necessarily Unconventional Explanation" does not imply "Extraterrestrial."
    • Use the theory that requires the smallest change in knowledge (Occam's Razor).
    • A big change in scientific knowledge needs lots of evidence for proof.
20. Evaluation of the UFO problem is hampered by nonscientific behavior:
    • False reports create false data, making of all of the data suspect.
    • Some people clam up whenever UFOs are mentioned.
    • Beliefs often affect scientific judgment.
    • Threats of ridicule often affect scientific judgment.
    • Financial incentives often affect scientific judgment.
    • Statements by witnesses can always be misunderstood.
    • Anybody, including scientists, can be wrong.
    • Anybody can make errors in logical inference.
    • "Believers" craft their statements to defy logical arguments.
    • Opinions of witness veracity or accuracy, or object origin are subjective.
    • Emotion is hard to remove from the study of UFOs.

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