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Looking For a Link Between Sci-Fi UFOs and UFO Reports

Posted by timothy on from the it's-spooky-how-the-aliens-manipulate-hollywood dept.

NewsWatcher writes "The BBC has an interesting story about the link between sightings of UFOs and sci-fi films. From the article: 'Documents from the Ministry of Defence released by the National Archives show the department recorded 117 sightings in 1995 and 609 in 1996.' Those years correlate with the screening of the film Independence Day (1996) and when The X-Files was at the height of its popularity in the UK (1995). 'The more that alien life is covered in films or television documentaries, the more people look up at the sky and don't look down at their feet,' said an expert on UFO sightings based at Sheffield Hallam University."

38 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. Just my imagination? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Tell that to my ass.

  2. i wonder ... by neonprimetime · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ... if there is also a link then between Government Conspiracy Theories & shows like the x-files?

    1. Re:i wonder ... by mwvdlee · · Score: 3, Funny

      Why? You suspect a conspiracy that government pushes TV shows about conspiracy theories to cover up real conspiracies?

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    2. Re:i wonder ... by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 4, Funny

      Of course! Don't you realize that Wormhole X-treme! is just a coverup for the secret government Stargate project?

    3. Re:i wonder ... by koolfy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you look closely, you will learn that most of X-Files episodes are based on real cases and mysteries.
      While this includes people's imagination being debunked by FBI's investigation, it also includes references to "top secret" projects only known by early "conspiracy theorists" and some of them were sometimes revaled true a few years later.

      That's why it got that sucessful (besides the quality of the show itself) : it mixed mystic theories, unbelievable myth, and real theories about government and UFO's that were sometimes factual.

      I don't have much examples in mind right now, but I remember hearing much words like "aurora" "blackbird" or theories about UFO's when I was kid, and later, discover that those were based on real reports of people claiming to have experienced those things.

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    4. Re:i wonder ... by OctaviusIII · · Score: 2, Funny

      Psh, don't you realize that Wormhole X-treme is just a cover-up of the fact that Stargate is a cover-up for the real Stargate program?

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    5. Re:i wonder ... by lennier · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Yes, exactly. The X-Files was the first TV show I saw which 'got' the vibe of the conspiracy underground and managed to portray the strange mix of fact, conjecture, truth, outright lies, paranoia and contradiction which you get from doing serious study of the UFO phenomenon and related subjects. The show was at its best when it made no attempt to make anything make sense or add up and just generated a 'wtf' SF anthology feel. 'WHAT IF ALL the freaky things you've ever read in zines or on Usenet were, in fact, real...'

      Remember, the MJ-12 papers (of dubious provenance) and Whitley Streiber's Communion surfaced in the 1980s. Moore's Philadelphia Experiment in the late 70s. Stan Deyo's Cosmic Conspiracy in 1978, just after Close Encounters. Lots of other stories had been circulating for some time. David Hatcher Childress' 'The Antigravity Handbook', for instance.

      But for the most part, in the 80s, you couldn't really talk about the 'alien conspiracy' mythos even in entertainment without a snigger, or at least without a gung-ho humans-vs-aliens war movie feel. X-Files was the first show to really play the Area 51 underground vibe straight - and to a great extent, the only one to really even try to get it sort of halfway right.

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  3. Of course by geekoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

    people see what they have been thinking about.

    For example: when you buy a new car, all of a sudden you see that same model car everywhere.

    Add to that peoples inability to think critically, and you get UFO's.

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    1. Re:Of course by maxume · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My favorite is when the serious conspiracy theorists trot out the fact that the Air Force had an officer making reports about UFO sightings to the president. Of course, this was during a period when the United States was developing a variety of secret aircraft, so it stands to reason that the Air Force was keeping track of people who saw unidentified flying objects.

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    2. Re:Of course by TheSoepkip · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I wonder how and if it relates to priming ...

      Any psychologists around ?

    3. Re:Of course by Ron_Fitzgerald · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I wholly agree but will look at that from another perspective. I was raised in Boston and moved to northern New Hampshire, I have never seen a moose or a deer in the wild. Being here for 17 years now I am able to pick them out in a wooded field driving down the road or highway at 65 mph just by a glance. Because I am used to seeing these things they are easier to spot. Being able to tell what type of creature is far ahead of me by how it is moving across the road. Take that into account with any media type and you have people that may be used to spotting irregular shapes and movement in the skies. I have never seen a UFO or even known a person who has claimed that they have and as much as I would like to believe that 'we are not alone' in this universe, that is only speculation and I really need to see it for myself. I also have to believe that statistically speaking, out of all the reports and sightings, at least one of them has to be real.

      --
      ~ Ron Fitzgerald
    4. Re:Of course by elrous0 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It always cracks me up that none of these conspiracy theorists, with all their reams of "secret information" never make the obvious connection that most of these sightings of strange aircraft at night were around secretive air force bases at the height of the Cold War. It takes a unique mindset to jump over the obvious conclusion of this evidence and to go right to "alien visitors from across interstellar space!" I guess it's cooler to think of "Men in Black" as aliens rather than boring old FBI and NSA agents in their ugly-ass generic suits. And why assume the military is covering up mere military secrets when you can go with the much more impressive "They're hiding little green men, dude!"

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    5. Re:Of course by cetialphav · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think it is more than just the mindset. When I have seen these claims, the people are usually saying that the UFO did some odd aerobatic maneuver that is impossible for conventional aircraft. They really seem to believe this. To them, the only explanation is that the aircraft they see must not be man made.

      The true fallacy that they make is believing too much in their eyes. They are completely unqualified to determine whether the high performance, experimental aircraft(s) flying miles away is doing something impossible. Decades of research has shown that people are notoriously bad eye witnesses and that they overestimate their own accuracy. Combine that with a real desire to discover alien life and a general distrust of government (both of which are normal and prevalent in the wider society) and you can see where people can fool themselves.
      I can see where even highly intelligent, rational people could fool themselves in the right circumstances.

      The only people that I think are delusional are the people that put all of their faith in these eyewitnesses.

  4. A slip? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 4, Funny

    The more that alien life is covered in films or television documentaries, the more people look up at the sky and don't look down at their feet,' said an expert on UFO sightings based at Sheffield Hallam University.

    Which means that they are seeing something.

    UFOs have been observed since ancient times. The apostle John saw one. The Egyptians inscribed a UFO in their hieroglyphics. And the ancient Hebrews recorded the interactions of aliens and humans as the Nephilim.

    I think there's more than the authorities are willing to divulge. It's interesting to see leaks like the quote above confirm what some of us have believed for a long time.

    1. Re:A slip? by Beelzebud · · Score: 3, Informative

      The apostle John also talked to god. The Egyptians do NOT have a UFO in hieroglyphs, no matter what new age internet sites claim, and the Hebrews weren't talking about off-planet aliens when discussing the Nephilim, they're talking about children of fallen angels...

      If you honestly think there is a "leak" in that quote you mentioned, then WOW...

    2. Re:A slip? by DragonWriter · · Score: 2, Insightful

      the Hebrews weren't talking about off-planet aliens when discussing the Nephilim, they're talking about children of fallen angels...

      How, exactly, are angels, fallen or otherwise, not off planet aliens (aside from the belief that their off-planet origin is supernatural in nature rather than mundane, which, one would note, would apply equally to the ancient Hebrews conception of human origins.)

    3. Re:A slip? by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The more that alien life is covered in films or television documentaries, the more people look up at the sky and don't look down at their feet,' said an expert on UFO sightings based at Sheffield Hallam University.

      Which means that they are seeing something.

      UFOs have been observed since ancient times. The apostle John saw one. The Egyptians inscribed a UFO in their hieroglyphics. And the ancient Hebrews recorded the interactions of aliens and humans as the Nephilim.

      I think there's more than the authorities are willing to divulge. It's interesting to see leaks like the quote above confirm what some of us have believed for a long time.

      [citations desperately needed]

      Ahhh, the human imagination and psyche. Full of so much wonderful things as the ability to conjure up grand imaginations and interactions ... as well as post a third hand account of several unrelated occurrences thousands of years ago in one paragraph.

      I wish the article had gone back further to War of the Worlds time or the old classic 50s black and white abduction movies. Note the first abduction didn't happen until it had already been in pulps and film. And, from my own personal savior, Carl Sagan:

      In The Demon-Haunted World astronomer Carl Sagan points out that the alien abduction experience is remarkably similar to tales of demon abduction common throughout history. "...most of the central elements of the alien abduction account are present, including sexually obsessive non-humans who live in the sky, walk through walls, communicate telepathically, and perform breeding experiments on the human species. Unless we believe that demons really exist, how can we understand so strange a belief system, embraced by the whole Western world (including those considered the wisest among us), reinforced by personal experience in every generation, and taught by Church and State? Is there any real alternative besides a shared delusion based on common brain wiring and chemistry?" (Sagan 1996 124)

      It's fun stuff to read about and write tall tales about ... and nothing more.

      --
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    4. Re:A slip? by Chris+Mattern · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You can't conceive of "off-planet aliens" when you haven't yet conceived of *planets*.

    5. Re:A slip? by ColdWetDog · · Score: 2, Insightful

      How, exactly, are angels, fallen or otherwise, not off planet aliens?

      Maybe we've been watching too much Stargate? Just saying... And one more question if I might:

      You're statement implies that there are 'on-planet aliens'. Just curious as to whom you're referring to.

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    6. Re:A slip? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      He's referring to ILLEGAL aliens!

    7. Re:A slip? by catbertscousin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      As a nit pic, Angels would be aliens for all intents and purposes, as would God.

      I am an atheist, so don't construe this as defending someone imaginary man in the sky, or Santa Clause.

      I dunno . . . I think it depends on your concept of the universe. I would think beings from another planet within the physical universe would be aliens, while beings from outside of (apart from, however you want to put it) the physical universe would be something else.

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  5. Movies and imagination by Cstryon · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sounds to me like Independence Day got a lot of people thinking about aliens. So than, when they look at the sky, and see something they don't recognize, it must be an alien/ufo.

    I want to know why we always have crummy video of some ufo, when everyone has a camera on there cell phones, with fairly good resolution?

    --
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    1. Re:Movies and imagination by AP31R0N · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you see an OBJECT, that is FLYING, and you can't IDENTIFY it (making it UNIDENTIFIED)... it *is* a UFO (relative to me).

      That blurry, fast moving thing in the sky that i can't recognize is a UFO.

      UFO does not state or imply that the object is or might be alien... that's a leap people make on their own. If i say "i saw a UFO", i am NOT saying i saw something from outer space, just that it was in the air and i don't know what it was. Nothing more, nothing less.

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    2. Re:Movies and imagination by geekoid · · Score: 2, Insightful

      For all practicality,. when someone says UFO, there talking about aliens.

      Yes, you are technically correct; which is the best kind of correct!

      Why would some call 911 to report a terrestrial airplane in the horizon they can't see ID Numbers on?

      --
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    3. Re:Movies and imagination by dbet · · Score: 3, Interesting

      A very common way that people think is "if I can't prove it's something mundane, than the most fantastical explanation is probably right". It's simply more fun to live this way than to live in the real world. This not only explains religions but to some extent politics.

    4. Re:Movies and imagination by 4D6963 · · Score: 2, Funny

      And for all practicality, when someone says "there talking", they mean "they're talking".

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  6. Alien Web Profit by emailandthings · · Score: 3, Interesting

    1.- Create not so intelligent creatures

    2.- Have them go at it

    3.- Laugh at their culture, religion's belief, politics, and overall problems

    4.- Sell the broadcast to other aliens

    5.- Profit!

    1. Re:Alien Web Profit by mwvdlee · · Score: 2, Funny

      Alien life must be even more boring than earth life if THAT show were to make a profit. Highly unlikely.

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    2. Re:Alien Web Profit by maxume · · Score: 5, Funny

      Really, the show ended after the Dinosaur Wars, they just didn't bother to tear down the studio.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    3. Re:Alien Web Profit by blhack · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or much more likely:

      1: Find a planet full of potentially exploitable resources that can possibly support life
      2: Seed it with basic life
      3: Wait for the life to evolve
      4: Oh, yep, it can support life
      5: Move in
      6: Profit.

      One of the silliest things that humans seem to get stuck in their heads is that other creatures would have the same sort of life expectancy as we do. Animals on our own planet have drastically varying lifespans and we all evolved from the same goop.

      Start thinking about having a lifespan in the hundreds of millions of years (or no lifespan at all...something like...oh, I don't know, a machine/biological hyrbid intelligence) and suddenly those lightyears which seem SOOOOOOOO FAR are not so far any more.

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  7. Don't look down at their own feet? by DragonWriter · · Score: 4, Funny

    'The more that alien life is covered in films or television documentaries, the more people look up at the sky and don't look down at their feet,' said an expert on UFO sightings based at Sheffield Hallam University.

    I'll start to believe this might be credible when there is a proven, positive correlation between the prominence of UFOs in film and on TV and the incidence of trip-and-fall accidents.

  8. And your word for today is... by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Pareidolia

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  9. Re:missing tag... by mwvdlee · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is a case of "if you look hard enough, you will find". If they looked for evidence that reruns of 70's sitcoms were the cause of UFO sightings, they would have found evidence too.

    TFA mentions an average level when E.T. was released as contradictory (which was noted and, apparently, ignored) and TFS mentions an average level when X-Files was aired as evidence.

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  10. That is old news by aepervius · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If you look at UFO sighting report from the earliest to the latest you would remark that alien face evolved with time, and surprise surprise, cinematography. There is a web page somewhere which shows that somewhere , too bad I did not bookmark it. Same for alien "saucer" evolution by the way.

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    1. Re:That is old news by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you look at UFO sighting report from the earliest to the latest you would remark that alien face evolved with time, and surprise surprise, cinematography. There is a web page somewhere which shows that somewhere , too bad I did not bookmark it. Same for alien "saucer" evolution by the way.

      I've looked into this some, and it's not so clear cut. The chicken and egg have fuzzy boarders. For example, (alleged) abduction experts point out that one generally does not recall the abductor's (alien's) face except under hypnosis, and until the Hill case, nobody was bothering to perform hypnosis for such purposes. Thus, there's very little pre-Hill material to compare (and some of it does match).

      As far as the "saucer" shape, there appeared to be an increase in saucer sightings even before the original "saucer" news article came off the press. A weatherman spotted about a dozen disks, for exammple, just before the paper. True, the rate jumped even further after the paper came out, but it's hard to tell whether people are simply looking and/or reporting harder, or whether they are imagining things they read about.

      I've read fairly extensively on the UFO phenom, and generally conclude it's premature to make any conclusions. If it's not a "space mystery", then it certainly is a psychological mystery. We'd have to toss out a lot of court cases and free a lot of "criminals" if eyewitness accounts from UFO-observing professionals such as airline pilots, emergency response, and cops is dismissed because of an alleged propensity to hallucinate based on media exposure.

      Something is really odd, either in the sky or in our heads. It's a fascinating topic regardless of the real answer.

         

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  11. Does it have an antenna? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does it have an antenna?

  12. The UFO ATC problem by Animats · · Score: 2, Funny

    Something like 0.2% of the US population claims to have been abducted by a UFO. This means about 16 flights per night for a medium-sized city. Do UFOs coordinate with air traffic control, or what?

    UFO 149A, you are cleared to descend to 6000, turn right heading 240, report when over LAX VOR.

  13. FAQ by Fantastic+Lad · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Q: With so many high-quality digital cameras out there in every cell phone, why do we only ever get crappy videos and fuzzy images of UFO's?
    A: Take your cell phone right now and photograph the nearest airplane in the sky. Then come back and ask that question.

    Q: Okay, but what about professional astronomers? Why don't they ever see UFO's?
    A: Who says they haven't?

    Q: If alien life is out there, why don't they just talk to us?
    A: Go to your local factory farm and try opening lines of communication with the livestock. Then come back and ask that question.

    Q: Why would the government want to keep alien life a secret from us?
    A: Go tell your bank manager during your next loan application that you are under the complete domination of a freaky bully who does with you and your family whatever it pleases and that you are utterly powerless to stop it, and that it insists you orchestrate the mass-murder of everybody in the bank and that you fully intend to go along with this plan. Then come back and ask that question.

    Q: But Occam's Razor says that the simplest solution is usually the right one.
    A: Occam didn't take into account that people are conceited to the point where they believe that any idea which hasn't yet occurred to them is less likely to hold validity than those ideas which they have thought of. Example: When Alexander Graham Bell first announced to the world the existence of the Telephone, very smart critics refused to believe it, even going so far as to publish treatises and diagrams in the leading journals of the day, declaring that the physics of sound simply made it impossible that voice could travel any distance through metal tubes (wires) of the diameter described in Bell's experiment; Was it more likely, they asked, that Bell had discovered some New Magical Force or that he was simply lying? --If we only believe in things we already know and understand, then we would never learn anything new.

    Q: Okay, but people are very good at seeing patterns where none exist. People have been fooled before!
    A: Right, and by the same logic, since, "All cows are Animals, all Animals must therefore be Cows."

    Q: Show me proof! All you are doing is offering non-falsifiable arguments! Proof, damn it!
    A: There's tons of it out there. You're simply refusing to look at it. Crop circles are a great place to start because they don't fly away; watch the film, "Crop Circles, Quest for Truth". Also, read Richard Dolan's, "UFO's and the National Security State." After you do some basic research, you won't feel compelled to wave that question around.

    This concludes the FAQ.

    -FL