New Hampshire has embraced its UFO abduction, but in Mass. they’re more hesitant

By David Brooks

New Hampshire, of course, is home to the first and probably most famous case of alien abduction – Betty and Barney Hill’s tale of being taken up into a spaceship near Franconia Notch back in 1961. We’ve got an official monument for the event, and Betty Hill’s papers, plus items like the dress she was wearing at the time, are kept at her alma mater, UNH, for researchers to ponder.

Turns out they have a sort of similar-ish event in western Mass, where a 9-year-old boy saw a flying saucer in 1969 in Sheffield, Mass., an event marked by a monument that received approval from the state government. Sort of. But maybe it has to move.

That’s the story I learned from the Boston Globe tale (which you can read right here):

As an adult — and in what he calls an effort to preserve the facts of his family’s case — Reed began speaking publicly about the incident, traveling to UFO conventions and appearing on a variety of TV programs dealing with the paranormal. He won a following among UFO believers, his family’s case getting its own display at the UFO Museum in Roswell. Then, in 2015, he secured formal recognition by the Great Barrington Historical Society.

In a decision she now labels a “mistake” and a “professional embarrassment,” then-society director Debbie Oppermann penned a short letter of testimonial on behalf of the historical society declaring the off-world event as “true” and “historically significant.”

On Nov. 3, 2015, nine months after the historical society’s endorsement, Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker signed a state citation — a kind of ceremonial honor issued by the hundreds for birthdays, anniversaries, retirements, and “other outstanding achievements” by state residents who request them — honoring the Reed family’s claim.

Just like New Hampshire!  But it gets messy: “Responding to inquiries from the Globe, Baker spokeswoman Lizzy Guyton said in an e-mail that the citation was ‘issued in error and was not authorized by Governor Baker.’ ” And the 5,000-pound monument might be on public land without permission and might have to be shifted. UFO fans, of course, are outraged.

Stay tuned!

The head of the Pentagon called the 5 signs looks like a real UFO

By Jan Hartman / The Siver Telegram

The former head of the secret service of the Pentagon said that during his career had seen many mysterious object of alien origin. Now the expert did not hide and called 5 signs that help to distinguish a real UFO from other objects.

The former head of a secret Department of the Pentagon to search for UFOs Luis Elizondo says: “UFOs exhibit characteristics that do not currently exist in the military equipment of the United States or any other country. Alien objects are likely to have extreme maneuverability and greater speed.” The specialist also unveiled the 5 factors that will help to identify UFO from other objects in the sky. First, UFOs don’t use aerodynamic or thrust to stay in the air.

Secondly, they are very maneuverable as any manmade flying device. Thirdly, UFOs fly with no sound and don’t have the noise of the engine. The fourth attribute is almost never possible to consider the shape of the object in the sky. The fifth feature – the ships humanoids can suddenly take off and instantaneously at speed to stop the movement.

Lita To Host Strange Show That Has Nothing To Do With Wrestling

The Hall of Famer is going beyond the ring as she investigates sites
with reported UFO sightings in The UFO Sho on ASY TV. 

There are a whole lot of ex-Wrestlers and ex-WWE personalities that have shows and podcasts and video casts. And pretty much all of them are about... surprise, surprise... wrestling. Well, former women's champion and WWE Hall of Famer, Lita, is about to join her fellow former superstars with her upcoming show - although hers will stand out from the crowd in that it isn't about wrestling at all. It's about UFOs!

There will be three episodes of the show that will follow Lita as she visits Roswell/Santa Fe, New Mexico and Sedona, Arizona. But don't expect to see any aliens on the show. While the truth might be out there - Lita isn't looking for it on The UFO Sho. Speaking with Punk Rock and UFOs about the show, she said:

"My premise of the show is incorporating being on the road and stopping and pulling over at every [UFO themed] road side attraction, but we weren't going to be that show that actually proves anything... We aren't 'hunting' UFOs. It's more of a human interest show. The theme that links all the parties together."When it comes to UFOs there are believers and non-believers. But Lita isn't trying to change anyone's mind with her show, "With the show, it's all about 'let's just talk about it.' I'm not trying to change anyone's mind." And she also told a story about talking to The Miz (a strong non-believer) about aliens:

 

"[In general] I kind of lob up a question to see where someone stands on it, because people are very polarized with how they feel on it... I had a great conversation talking to The Miz about this. He so adamantly denies everything. We happened to be the only people sitting at catering and it happened to come up.

I think he saw my UFO pin on my jacket, and was like 'UFO pin, huh? What do you think there are green men flying around?' And I was like 'What do you think there's not?' and he goes 'Oh, come on' and cuts a full-on Miz promo on me. The next guy sits down, who is a a camera man, and when asked about UFOs said he saw something one time, and right after that Kalisto came and sat down and I was like 'Hey, what do you think?' and he was like 'Oh, yeah in Little League I saw' and then went on. All of a sudden I had all these supporters, and Miz was being drowned in all of these people's experiences."

UFO mysteries unraveled: How the ‘real-life X-Files’ emerged from a top secret UK project

A former official at the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence has shed new light on the circumstances surrounding a secret government UFO study that was conducted during the 1990s.

In 1996, the MoD commissioned a defense contractor to produce a comprehensive report on U.K. UFO sightings. The report was compiled at a time of huge public interest in UFOs fueled by the wildly popular “X-Files” TV series and 1997’s 50^th anniversary of the purported UFO incident in Roswell, New Mexico.

Careful to avoid using the term UFO, the report described sightings as Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).

UFO INTRIGUE: HOW THE UK DEALT WITH 'REAL-LIFE X-FILES'

Code-named Project Condign, the report analyzed a database of sightings between 1987 and 1997 and was delivered to officials in 2000. The study, entitled ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) in the UK Air Defence Region,’ found that that sightings could be explained by a variety of known phenomena, both man-made and natural. The incidence of relatively rare natural phenomena was also noted. “No evidence exists to associate the phenomena with any particular nation,” it said.

Project Condign has been compared to Project Blue Book, a U.S. Air Force effort to investigate UFOs that closed in 1969.

Nick Pope, a former MoD UFO investigator who is now an author and journalist, told Fox News that he was involved in setting up the study with his counterpart in the Ministry’s Defence Intelligence Staff. “The reason for the study was that while we'd been investigating UFO sightings on a case-by-case basis for decades, we'd done very little trend analysis,” he explained, via an emailed statement. “Project Condign was supposed to rectify this and be a proper intelligence assessment that would look for patterns in data we already had.”

“We were trying to draw everything together and say in relation to UFOs: 'OK, what's our best assessment of what we're dealing with, what are the threats, and what are the opportunities?',” he added.

ALIEN SHOCKER: CONGRESS WANTS TO SPEND MILLIONS SEARCHING FOR ET

Initial discussions about the study started in 1993, according to Pope, who was no longer involved in the Ministry's UFO investigations by the time work on the report itself started. 

Pope, who left the MoD in 2006, has been quoted extensively in the media as a result of his links to what remains a highly controversial topic. His involvement in MoD UFO investigations lasted from 1991 to 1994, according to his website. 

“The study was highly classified and extremely sensitive, not least because the MoD consistently told parliament, the media and the public that UFOs were of limited interest and ‘no defense significance’,” Pope said. “Our concern was that if the existence of the study became known, it would have exposed an internal position on the phenomenon that was different from our public position.”

The report only entered the public domain in 2006 following a Freedom of Information request from academic Dr. David Clarke. The identity of the report’s author has not been revealed.

STEPHEN HAWKING'S SEARCH FOR ALIENS GETS A BOOST

A new set of previously-unseen documents recently obtained by Clarke, a principal research fellow at the U.K’s Sheffield Hallam University, have thrust Project Condign into the spotlight once again. The records show how over-worked MoD officials were keen to reduce their commitment to investigating reports of UFO sightings. With its findings, Project Condign duly laid the foundations for the MoD to start scaling back its UFO-related operations. The Ministry’s DI55 department, which had secretly collected data on potential UFO sightings since 1967, closed at the end of 2000. The MoD’s UFO Desk closed in 2009.

Pope found the final Project Condign report disappointing. “In places it looked like a conclusion-led study where data had been used to support a personal opinion,” he said, but acknowledged the challenges involved in compiling such a confidential report.

“The problem with an intelligence study like Project Condign is that it's so secret and sensitive that those involved don't reach out to subject matter experts outside the intelligence community,” he explained, adding that consultation with the U.K.’s Met Office weather service, other scientists and academics would have been helpful.

COULD ALIEN LIFE CLING BENEATH THE ICY CEILINGS OF FRIGID OCEAN MOONS?

The report also suggested that atmospheric plasma may account for some UFO sightings, which Pope sees as confusing. “In speculating about exotic atmospheric plasma phenomena the report's author had made the classic mistake of trying to explain one mystery in terms of another,” he said.

The former MoD employee was also surprised by the discussion of “novel military applications” that could be supported by greater understanding of the UFO phenomenon. “This was essentially a reference to weaponization, including the construction of a directed energy weapon,” he said. 

In a statement provided earlier this week to Fox News, the MoD explained that all its historic files that refer to UFOs have either been released, or are in the process of being released to the U.K.’s National Archives. “The MOD continues to have no opinion on the existence, or otherwise, of extra-terrestrial life and does not investigate reported unidentified flying object sightings,” it said.

Trent University student discusses UFO research on CBC Radio’s Ideas show

Matthew Hayes

Matthew Hayes is writing a PhD dissertation on the history of Canada's investigation into UFO sightings, states a posting on Trent's website.

His work was featured on the CBC Radio show Ideas last Friday evening. The show is hosted by Paul Kennedy.

Hayes is a PhD candidate in the Canadian studies department at Trent University.

His research has included a review of 15,000 pages of government documentation compiled from 1950 to 1995.

The Trent website explains that Hayes became interested in the history of UFO sightings in Canada after he saw an online exhibition on the subject presented by the National Archives in 2000.

"I didn't realize that Canada has its own UFO investigation at all," he stated. "It just kind of snowballed from there."

Hayes also holds a bachelor of arts in anthropology from Trent University, states the site.

He explains on the Trent website article that his research revealed a "consistency" in the reports of UFO sightings over 45 years.

"People are still seeing the same thing over and over again," he said. "That makes you question even more acutely why the government didn't take this seriously when there's

such a continuity and such interest."

Rogue Planet - Aliens and Beyond with Heidi Gadd

Radio host Heidi Gadd visits the show to preview her new UFO project titled,

"Aliens and Beyond."

UFO hunt: US Congress proposes $10million fund to find aliens with Artificial Intelligence

THE US House of Representatives has proposed a staggering £7.3million ($10million) in funding to aid NASA’s hunt for signs of extraterrestrial life in the cold depths of space.

The proposed bill includes two years of funding to “search for technosignatures” from potentially intelligent and developed alien species.

The technosignatures would include radio waves which an advanced civilisation could be intentionally blasting into space much like humans are.

The Congress bill marks the first time in 25 years the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) is being given proper funds.

However renowned astronomer Dr Jill Tarter, former director of the SETI Institute, warned the bill is far from a done deal.

She said: “This is an authorisation bill, not an appropriation bill.

“Even if it passes, the appropriators may not provide any SETI funding in their bill.

“But if they do, that would be a very big deal.”

The search for alien life outside of our solar system has generally been focused on the detection of artificially created radio waves.

But a revision of SETI’s mission statement could lead to a brand new approach in the hunt for extraterrestrials.

In order to avoid false positives and misleading signals, SETI could employ the help of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to sift through the noise.

Dr Tarter has pointed out that UFO hunters often look for signs of intelligence and technology in space that are similar to our own.

But the expert argued the hunt for technosignatures is a limited approach because non-human intelligence, technology and language appears in all shapes and forms.

For example, chimpanzees have been recognised to have culture and use tools.

As such, alien intelligence could take on a completely different and unrecognisable from somewhere out in space.

Astrobiologist Nathalie Cabrol, who organised a “Decoding Alien Intelligence” workshop at SETI, said the time has come to search for life “as we do not know it”.

In 1992 NASA initiated the SETI programme to build the required instruments to scan the cosmos for signs of extraterrestrial life.

However, the SETI initiative was shut down just a year later by Nevada Senator Richard Bryan.

But the Congress bill now promises a breath of fresh air for SETI Dr Tarter stressed.

She said: “If it passes, it would definitely be a sea-change in Congressional attitude since Senator Bryan terminated NASA’s SETI program, the High Resolution Microwave Survey, in 1993.”

The sizeable budget would allow SETI to build new instrumentation and collect data on a global scale.

Dr Tarter added: “By smoothing out the funding roller coaster that has characterised this research field from the beginning, it will be possible to attract the best and brightest minds with the best ideas from everywhere, and commit to the long-term search efforts that might be required for success.”