12/18/2023 0 Comments Most recent ufo sightings in usThe subject has never received more serious and thoughtful coverage and government attention than it has now. (Avid Reader Press / Elman Studio)ĭoes the “giggle factor” around UFOs, as you put it in the book, still stand in the way? Graff’s latest book, “UFO,” dives deep into the history, myths and facts behind all those objects in the sky. There are numerous fascinating answers - astronomically, atmospherically, meteorologically, within the basic rules of physics - that stop short of an alien visiting planet Earth. But every single time that anyone has begun to look at this seriously, you end up with some chunks of sightings that are not explainable by known science, astronomy or aviation.īy the way, that’s not me saying that I think the final answer is aliens visiting from Alpha Centauri. Yes, some chunk of the sightings is always going to be people being confused, and some chunk is always going to be people looking at Venus. The government has still, after 75 years, never put together a real effort to figure out what these UFO sightings actually are. But there’s also a missed opportunity that runs right up to the present day, to this summer’s UFO hearings on Capitol Hill. There’s certainly an argument that some part of this is the American character. (US Navy Photo, Naval History and Heritage Command)Ĭould it have been different? Could the military or NASA or CIA have done more to assuage that paranoia? Or is that just part of the American character? By that point, the subject has taken hold in public popular culture, and then it becomes a story of ever-rising public interest and pop-culture attention, driven by ever darker conspiracy theories about what the government may or may not be hiding. Once the Air Force figures out that UFOs are not secret Soviet craft being built by Nazi rocket scientists, they lose interest in the subject, even though there’s probably still a pretty interesting answer out there about what these crafts are. Early on, the government doesn’t really care whether UFOs are aliens. The early stages of the flying saucer age really is the story of the start of the Cold War. In that light, the book is also a kind of shadow history of Americans’ distrust in government through much of the 20th century. What I tried to zero in on was 75 years of the U.S. But that fundamentally doesn’t impact the government’s view of the subject. There’s a lot of ufology and paranormal-adjacent stuff that is important to know for a full understanding of the history of the subject. government’s debate and discussion around this subject. I tried in general to keep my thread as the U.S. How did you separate fact from fiction? I imagine you were overwhelmed with stories about abductions and sightings and cattle mutilations. 6 and why the “giggle factor” still stands in the way of knowing what truth is out there. In this conversation, edited for space and clarity, Graff spoke to The Times from his home in Burlington, Vt., about the book’s inspirations, how UFO conspiracism intersects with Jan. But any discussion about UFOs still involves engaging with matters of paranoia and wild imaginings. Since 2017, as the government has been more public about the phenomenon, the conversation has sobered up somewhat. One CIA document from the early ‘50s noted that the Air Force was keeping an eye on UFO enthusiasts such as California’s Flying Saucer Committee “because of its power to touch off mass hysteria and panic.” Since the dawn of the Cold War, he finds, the government has gathered information on inexplicable airborne incidents and strategically withheld details from the public. His new book, “ UFO,” steps into murkier territory. military and security apparatus: His books include 2011’s “The Threat Matrix” (on the FBI and the war on terror) and 2017’s “Raven Rock” (on government doomsday scenarios). If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from, whose fees support independent bookstores. Government's Search for Alien Life Here - And Out There
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