UFOs

[tansy]

A question prompted by another thread.

Does anyone know of any UFO sightings recorded before the 1940's? Because that's when it seems that reports started being made. Which would seem to point to UFOs indeed being weather phenomena and military experiments.

 

[plindboe]

I'm sure there are reports of that, as there have always been things in the sky people haven't been able to identify. But with the advent of airplanes, satellites, weather ballons etc. there's no doubt that such reports will have increased in frequency.

There's also a bigger focus today, and with the flying saucer belief system, unidentified sightings will tend to get much more attention than they would have received in the past.

Peter

 

[jayem]

Claims of alien abduction is a phenomenon almost exclusively of the mid-20th century and later. I think there are earlier reports of visitations by other-worldly creatures. But it's just in the last 50-60 years that the aliens are kidnapping us, taking us on their spacecrafts, and probing our orifices.

 

[juvenissun]

A question prompted by another thread.

Does anyone know of any UFO sightings recorded before the 1940's? Because that's when it seems that reports started being made. Which would seem to point to UFOs indeed being weather phenomena and military experiments.

Ezekiel 1.

 

[tansy]

Thanks for replies everyone.
Also for yours Juvenissun...I should have made an exception of that possible example, as I was thinking more in terms of the last few hundred years really. I should have thought that if there were any particular weird happenings, they would have been recorded SOMEWHERE..historians would presumably have come across references.

 

[pgp_protector]

 

[tansy]

What's that? A hot air ballon without the basket? LOL

 

[Naraoia]

It's a giant, wingless Golden Snitch. </straight face>

 

[tansy]

Anyone know what it's supposed to represent?

 

[Tinker Grey]

I'm guessing it is a medieval representation of Ezekiel's vision.

OT: In Sagan's Demon Haunted World, he says that there are no records of UFOs recorded prior to the 40s. Prior to that, people did have experiences but they were attributed to the supernatural, e.g., succubi and incubi. That is, if we take UFOs to be those phenomena that are explained by visitors from other physical places (outside earth), UFOs were never claimed before the 1940s. All such phenomena before that were explained as spiritual experiences -- angels and demons, etc.

To call the event in Ezekiel a UFO is to impose a cultural interpretation where it isn't warranted; it's a retrofit.

 

[sbvera13]

If you look up the symptoms and descriptions, you'll find that pre-1940 descriptions of demon posession, ghosts, spiritual visitation, etc, match up 100% with the symptoms and descriptions of UFO's today.

Examples: Seeing bright lights. Sleep paralysis. A sense of being watched, or of another being in the room with you. Strange visions and dreams. Unusual skin sensations with no apparent cause. Illness or medical problems with no apparent cause. Etc.

 

[plindboe]

Anyone know what it's supposed to represent?

 

[tansy]

Cyclops?!!!!!! LOL

 

[tansy]

Interesting what sbvera and Tinkergrey said....some Christians do think UFOs and alien experiences, are in fact demons or fallen angels. Who knows...though as far as i can see UFOs seem to be a modern phenomenon, and do seem to link up with military experiments etc.

 

[The Valkyrie]

If you look up the symptoms and descriptions, you'll find that pre-1940 descriptions of demon posession, ghosts, spiritual visitation, etc, match up 100% with the symptoms and descriptions of UFO's today.

Examples: Seeing bright lights. Sleep paralysis. A sense of being watched, or of another being in the room with you. Strange visions and dreams. Unusual skin sensations with no apparent cause. Illness or medical problems with no apparent cause. Etc.

It's likely because it's all sleep paralysis.

I've had sleep paralysis happen to me before. I can easily see how someone that experiences such an event can believe it was aliens or demons or witches or something.

Sleep paralysis occurs when the brain wakes up during REM sleep, but the paralysis of sleep remains. The person is totally conscious yet completely paralyzed. When it happened to me, I could move my eyes a tiny bit, but nothing else at all- even down to the fingers and toes I was immobilized. And then the hallucinations make it scarier. I saw a dark figure over me, starring at me, and yet was unable to move. This creates a panic situation until it wears off.

It most commonly occurs to people with stress, migraines, lucid dreams, and stuff like that. If you look it up on wikipedia, you can see that all cultures around the world have interpretations of it. It can be thought of as an alien, a ghost, a demon, a djinn, a weird creature, or a witch, depending on the cultural superstitions.

 

[juvenissun]

I'm guessing it is a medieval representation of Ezekiel's vision.

OT: In Sagan's Demon Haunted World, he says that there are no records of UFOs recorded prior to the 40s. Prior to that, people did have experiences but they were attributed to the supernatural, e.g., succubi and incubi. That is, if we take UFOs to be those phenomena that are explained by visitors from other physical places (outside earth), UFOs were never claimed before the 1940s. All such phenomena before that were explained as spiritual experiences -- angels and demons, etc.

To call the event in Ezekiel a UFO is to impose a cultural interpretation where it isn't warranted; it's a retrofit.

There is nothing wrong with retrofitting, as long as it fits. In fact, to try to retrofit is a very worthy practice in science.

 

[Doveaman]

The UFO(s) is not the foreground circular object, but those little yellow background objects flying through the sky.

The circular foreground object is a close up view of a Christmas ornament dangling from a Christmas tree in front of the camera lens that took this photo.

 

[tansy]

The UFO(s) is not the foreground circular object, but those little yellow background objects flying through the sky.

The circular foreground object is a close up view of a Christmas ornament dangling from a Christmas tree in front of the camera lens that took this photo.

LOL - actually (and bearing in mind I haven't got my glasses on), don't you think those bush things in the background look rather sinster,,they look like faces in profile to me.

 

[corvus_corax]

But it's just in the last 50-60 years that the aliens are kidnapping us, taking us on their spacecrafts, and probing our orifices.

It's a cultural interpretation, that' all

Ezekiel 1.

A perfect example of cultural interpretation.

I'm guessing it is a medieval representation of Ezekiel's vision...
...That is, if we take UFOs to be those phenomena that are explained by visitors from other physical places (outside earth), UFOs were never claimed before the 1940s. All such phenomena before that were explained as spiritual experiences -- angels and demons, etc.

To call the event in Ezekiel a UFO is to impose a cultural interpretation where it isn't warranted; it's a retrofit.

However, UFO's, demonic or divine visitations, succubi, angels, etc etc etc are nothing more than cultural explanations of the same experiences.
To call it a retrofit is to miss the point.
"They" said demons, angels, gods
"We" say aliens from a different planet
Same phenomena, different interpretations, that's all.

If you look up the symptoms and descriptions, you'll find that pre-1940 descriptions of demon posession, ghosts, spiritual visitation, etc, match up 100% with the symptoms and descriptions of UFO's today.

Precisely.

Examples: Seeing bright lights. Sleep paralysis. A sense of being watched, or of another being in the room with you. Strange visions and dreams. Unusual skin sensations with no apparent cause. Illness or medical problems with no apparent cause. Etc.

Not to mention "hell like" symptoms such as being taken out of your home, being subjected to pain, humiliation, unreasoning demands, etc etc

It's likely because it's all sleep paralysis.

No, that's not all it is.
I used to suffer from sleep paralysis and the accompanying sleep terrors as well. It happened about once every 2-3 weeks when I was in my early to late 20's. Additionally, your description of SP in your post is accurate, so please don't think I'm disagreeing on principle.
HOWEVER, there are several people who have seen and experienced Unidentified Flying Objects while they were wide awake. I am one of them, although I do NOT believe that what I saw was an alien extraterrestrial spacecraft.

There is nothing wrong with retrofitting, as long as it fits.

Personally, I don't think it's a retrofit. I think it's a culture-specific explanation, nothing more

 

[The Valkyrie]

No, that's not all it is.
I used to suffer from sleep paralysis and the accompanying sleep terrors as well. It happened about once every 2-3 weeks when I was in my early to late 20's. Additionally, your description of SP in your post is accurate, so please don't think I'm disagreeing on principle.
HOWEVER, there are several people who have seen and experienced Unidentified Flying Objects while they were wide awake. I am one of them, although I do NOT believe that what I saw was an alien extraterrestrial spacecraft.

To clarify, I was referencing only sbvera's post, which was about the more personal aspects- possessions, demons, orbs, ghosts, abductions.

I think abductions, demon-sightings in bed, that sort of thing, are all sleep paralysis.

Seeing unidentified flying objects is definitely not a symptom of sleep paralysis, and was not what I was intending to mean.