Texas history full of UFO sightings

BY BARTEE HAILE

A torpedo-shaped sphere cruised the night sky over the West Texas town of Levelland on Nov. 2, 1957, while on the ground mysterious “eggs of light” blocked the roads.

The reexamination of the so-called “Roswell Incident” in the 1990’s revived interest in Unidentified Flying Objects. Although nothing in the Lone Star past can compete with the controversial claim that a flying saucer crashed in the New Mexico desert 73 years ago, Texas history is full of out-of-this-world sightings.

Farmworkers at Bonham filed one of the earliest reports on record in 1873. Stupefied laborers swore they saw an enormous “serpentine object” float overheard in broad daylight.

This obscure episode preceded by a generation the Great Airship Mystery, the first nationwide commotion concerning UFO’s. Starting on the Pacific coast in November 1896 and slowly moving eastward for six sensational months, thousands of Americans insisted they gazed upon giant flying machines two decades before the Wright brothers mastered heavier-than-air flight.

An oblong, propeller-powered craft supposedly churned against the wind over Sacramento on Nov. 19, 1896. The next day a similar airship mystified Oakland, where onlookers said they heard voices, laughter and Christmas carols.

During the wacky weeks that followed, flying cigars and cylinders were spotted over Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis and countless other communities. In April 1897, an entire fleet of UFO’s caused a high-altitude traffic jam over metropolitan Chicago.

A former congressman had a Kansas encounter of the much-too-close kind. As an airship hovered 30 feet off the ground, six odd-looking creatures were plainly visible inside a transparent undercarriage. The shaken ex-lawmaker said, “I don’t know whether they were angels, devils or what.”

Popular speculation picked up by the press hinted the astonishing contraptions were the secret creations of Thomas Edison, proof of the public’s boundless confidence in the inventive genius. But Edison indignantly denied any involvement and dismissed the strange phenomena as an elaborate fraud.

Meanwhile, a Dallas daily reported the crash of a spaceship at the Wise County hamlet of Aurora. According to a local correspondent named S.E. Hayden, the craft collided with a windmill and exploded killing the lone alien occupant. The blast “scattered debris over several acres of ground” but enough remained of the intergalactic guest “to show he was not an inhabitant of this world.”

“T.J. Weems, the U.S. Signal Service officer at this place and an authority on astronomy, gave it as his opinion that the pilot was a native of the planet Mars.” The tall tale concluded with the announcement that the deceased would be given a Christian burial by the compassionate earthlings of Aurora.

During the flying saucer frenzy after the Second World War, the “Lubbock Lights” focused media attention on the Panhandle. Streaking across the heavens on a crystal clear night in November 1951, the blue lights were observed and photographed by numerous eyewitnesses, including my own mother who fearing ridicule kept quiet about the experience for 50 years. Unable to chalk off four Texas Tech professors and an Atomic Energy Commission representative as crackpots, the Air Force blamed the light show on migratory birds.

Never at a loss for down-to-earth explanations, government investigators deduced the glowing “eggs” that materialized on highways outside Levelland in 1957 were simply ball lightning. To motorists, whose engines died when they drove too close to the eerie orbs, the official verdict was more far-fetched than the bizarre incident itself.

The forgotten story of the Martian mishap in North Texas was discovered in 1973 by a bored newspaperman. UFO enthusiasts descended upon tiny Aurora in search of evidence of the ancient accident but failed to find a single fragment of the shattered spacecraft.

The last straw for residents, who had politely put up with the eccentric invasion, was a request from a team of Oklahoma UFO hunters to exhume a body in the cemetery. The grave robbers were sent packing, and a guard was posted at the burial ground.

In the aftermath of this carnival-like furor, a Wise County writer proved that Hayden, the Gay Nineties chronicler, was just pulling posterity’s leg. The windmill never existed, the astronomy expert was actually a blacksmith and cemetery records showed no alien internment. Elderly Aurorans would have remembered the crash landing, yet everyone agreed nothing unusual happened in April 1897.

But hoaxes, birds and ball lightning do not explain the thousands of sightings in Texas and elsewhere during the past century or more. To borrow the tag line from a popular television show of the 1990’s, the truth may still be out there.

DNA And Our Extra-terrestrial Origins... (The Evidence Is Everywhere)

Researcher of ancient mysteries, Wayne Herschel shared his theory that modern day humans are descendants of ETs who came to Earth 10,000 years ago. Richard C. Hoagland of Enterprise Mission, appearing during the third hour, agreed with some of Herschel's concepts, but thought his timeline was off. He suggested that rather than the Egyptian pyramids being 10,000 years old that their foundations were actually created 200, 000 years ago, and the timing was associated with changes in human DNA development.

Roswell Council to vote on UFO Festival management

By Juno Ogle

During its November meeting, the Roswell City Council will consider awarding management of the 2021 UFO Festival to a professional event production company from Texas.

MainStreet Roswell had organized the festival since 2014, but MainStreet advised the city it wanted to step out of that role to focus on its mission of promoting downtown, according to an August press release from the city and MainStreet.

The city has proposed using the $40,000 it had been providing to MainStreet previously for organizing the event, to hire a professional event company to manage the festival for a one-year contract.

The city received two responses for its request for proposals to manage the festival, with staff recommending awarding the RFP to In Depth Events, McKinney, Texas.

The other proposal was from The Liberty, a Roswell private social club.

Stephanie Mervine, tourism manager for the city, said both interviewed well, showing passion and enthusiasm for the UFO Festival, but In Depth showed superior event management skills and well-defined leadership.

“In Depth spoke specifically to what we were asking for in the scope of work and the deliverables. Their focus was on what the city needs and not what the company needs. They really listened well to that,” she said at the Oct. 22 Finance Committee meeting.

Committee members voted unanimously to send the recommendation for In Depth’s management of the festival to the full City Council’s Nov. 12 consent agenda. Consent agenda items, which can include RFPs, leases, resolutions and meeting minutes, are all approved in one action unless an individual item is requested and approved to be moved to the regular agenda during the meeting.

The scope of work outline in the RFP includes creating “an elevated design that brings a refreshed experience to attract a broader national audience.”

The management company would oversee much of the work of putting on the festival including logistics; managing all aspects of entertainment, event production and contract negotiations; training and supervising volunteers; managing all communications; and preparing a budget outline and cost proposal.

The goals for the festival outlined in the RFP include increasing overnight hotel stays and length of stays; developing ticketed events; and expanding the festival’s audience to a broader national level.

As for MainStreet Roswell, Executive Director Kathy Lay said the organization still plans to be involved.

“MainStreet Roswell plans to coordinate our efforts with those chosen by the City Council to organize the official UFO Festival. As the city works toward growing and expanding this into a city-wide event, we will focus our time and energy on downtown festival activities that will encourage attendees to visit the businesses located in the MainStreet Roswell’s district, not to compete with the city-wide event, but to enhance and complement it by having more things for people to do over the festival weekend,” Lay said.

That could include MainStreet’s passport program, in which participants acquire stamps at participating businesses in a booklet that can then be entered into a prize drawing.

Downtown events would also likely include craft and merchandise tents, local musicians, a prize drawing and the pet costume contest, she said.

Strange lights, 'green balls' and buzzing noises reported across Merseyside

Was this a UFO, spotted over Bidston Hill?

By Olivia Tobin

Readers suggestions included the northern lights, reflections and genuine UFOs

Noise from the docks, aliens and reflections are just some of the theories ECHO readers have offered about mystery 'UFO' sightings.

Over four decades ago, the borough of Knowsley and parts of Liverpool were said to be visited by a wave of UFOs.

The unidentified objects, sometimes known as 'green flying saucers', have long been a source of mystery.

Alleged sightings stretch back years - and the ECHO reported some of the 'other worldly' sightings shared by our readers in the run up to Halloween.

A string of different theories have been offered by readers into the strange phenomena.

Di Ane wrote: "They always appear close to electrical pylons, which as we know are usually on the outskirts of the area, hence people saying they see them in open spaces ,where I think they recharge their crafts.

"[This] results in power cuts. Just my opinion, but its what I believe."

Kieran Grange added: "This is strange because I heard a weird buzzing noise outside my house on Sunday morning about 4am. I do live really close to the docks though and you hear all kinds of noises coming from there."

Craig Jones said: "I saw one of these years ago.

"[It] flew over the top of my work van, an emerald green ball about the size of a beach ball.

"[It was] fast. No sound [and] about thirty feet high. There were two of us [and] we both saw it."

Paul Bigley suggested it could be the northern lights, which are sometimes visible from the UK, although it's rare in the north west.

He said: "Possibly aurora borealis, AKA the Northern Lights. It has been known to be visible this far south."

Danny Lloyd Price put forward it might be something more everyday.

He said: "It’s the reflection of the indoor light against the window."

And Danny Shaw said: "It's 2020, I really wouldn't be surprised if this was actually a UFO."

In September one man was 'left puzzled' after seeing a strange object in the early hours of the morning in Prescot.

The man told the ECHO how he was at his friend's house when they spotted a strange green object floating in the sky, in the early hours of the morning.

Convinced it was a UFO he said: "It was only there for a few seconds and then it flew up into the clouds and went in the South East direction, towards Huyton and Halewood."

However according to one author "Knowsley is certainly no stranger to the baffling phenomenon."

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Popstar UFO Sightings & Melon Heads

By Paul Dale Roberts

ACCORDING TO COAST TO COAST AM:

Pop star Miley Cyrus claims she was once chased by a UFO and made eye contact with an alien being that was aboard the craft. She revealed the wild tale during a conversation with designer Rick Owens in a recently published article for Interview Magazine. Asked if she believes in extraterrestrials, Cyrus replied “I had an experience, actually. I was driving through San Bernardino with my friend, and I got chased down by some sort of UFO.” In recounting the sighting, she likened the craft to “a flying snowplow” wherein “it had this big plow in the front of it and was glowing yellow.”

Cyrus went on to indicate that her unnamed friend also saw the UFO and that “there were a couple of other cars on the road and they also stopped to look, so I think what I saw was real.” Reflecting on the experience, the pop star said that she was deeply shaken by the event for days afterward and “I couldn’t really look at the sky the same. I thought they might come back.” As if her story was not strange enough, Cyrus indicated that the initial sighting itself did not feel particularly threatening until she looked over and saw a being seemingly piloting the craft.

UFOs have been seen all over the Los Angeles Greater Area, so to hear a report from San Bernardino, California is no surprise.  Supposedly, there is an underground UFO base off Catalina Island.  UFOs have been seen by many witnesses coming out of the water near Catalina Island and  going into the water.  Reptilian aliens have been seen by many witnesses in the sewer systems of Los Angeles.  Tommy Stokes of San Bernardino says that he has lived in San Bernardino all his life and has witnessed up to 23 UFOs on several different occasions.  He has seen cigar shaped UFOs, classic disc shaped UFOs and 2 globe shaped UFOs.  On one particular night he encountered a small disc shaped UFO the size of a small house pass overhead.  The UFO then came back and shined a bluish spotlight on him.  The light remained on Tommy for about 2 minutes.  Then the light did something odd.  The light bent around as if it was looking at something from the back end.  The light also stopped midair.  The light did not shine all the way through, it stopped mid-air, like a Star Wars light saber, the light does not project out endlessly, it stops mid-air.  After the light bent around, it went back into the disc and the disc flew away at a high speed. Tommy would not be surprised to know that Miley Cyrus saw a UFO.  Besides all of the UFOs that are seen around Los Angeles and especially Joshua Tree, let’s not forget the Battle of Los Angeles, in which the military engaged with a possible UFO. 

“It looked at me and we made eye contact,” she recalled, “and I think that’s what really shook me, looking into the eyes of something that I couldn’t quite wrap my head around.” Cyrus is the second pop star to make UFO-related news this week after Demi Lovato shared a video of an unidentified craft on her Instagram page and claimed that she is able to contact ETs via meditation. Special Note:  Demi spotted her UFO at Joshua Tree with her friends and Dr. Steven Greer.  The two musicians’ willingness to talk about their experiences is rather indicative of how the phenomenon has become a significant part of the zeitgeist in recent years.

UFOs have been seen all over the Los Angeles Greater Area, so to hear a report from San Bernardino, California is no surprise.  Supposedly, there is an underground UFO base off Catalina Island.  UFOs have been seen by many witnesses coming out of the water near Catalina Island and  going into the water.  Reptilian aliens have been seen by many witnesses in the sewer systems of Los Angeles.  Tommy Stokes of San Bernardino says that he has lived in San Bernardino all his life and has witnessed up to 23 UFOs on several different occasions.  He has seen cigar shaped UFOs, classic disc shaped UFOs and 2 globe shaped UFOs.  On one particular night he encountered a small disc shaped UFO the size of a small house pass overhead.  The UFO then came back and shined a bluish spotlight on him.  The light remained on Tommy for about 2 minutes.  Then the light did something odd.  The light bent around as if it was looking at something from the back end.  The light also stopped midair.  The light did not shine all the way through, it stopped mid-air, like a Star Wars light saber, the light does not project out endlessly, it stops mid-air.  After the light bent around, it went back into the disc and the disc flew away at a high speed. Tommy would not be surprised to know that Miley Cyrus saw a UFO.  Besides all of the UFOs that are seen around Los Angeles and especially Joshua Tree, let’s not forget the Battle of Los Angeles, in which the military engaged with a possible UFO.  Many UFO sightseers flock out with Dr. Greer to Joshua Tree to see the many UFOs that gravitate to this intriguing desert area.

Now, let’s step away from popstars seeing UFOs and let’s get some chills with Melon Heads in Michigan and in Ohio.

MELON HEADS

The melon heads of Michigan are said to reside around Felt Mansion, although they have also been reportedly seen in southern forested areas of Ottawa County. According to one story, they were originally children with hydrocephalus who lived at the Junction Insane Asylum near Felt Mansion. The story explains that, after enduring physical and emotional abuse, they became feral and were released into the forests surrounding the asylum. The Allegan County Historical Society asserts that the asylum never existed, although it was at one point a prison; however, the story has been part of the local folklore for several decades. Laketown Township Manager Al Meshkin told the Holland Sentinel that he had heard the tales as a teenager, noting that his friends referred to the beings as “wobbleheads”. Some versions of the legend say that the children once lived in the mansion itself but later retreated to a system of caverns (or caves in a nearby hill left over from an abandoned zoo). Some versions of this legend say that the children devised a plan to escape and kill the doctor that abused them. It is said that the children had no place to hide the body, so they cut it up in small pieces which they hid around the mansion. Rumors exist that teenagers who had broken into the mansion saw ghosts of the children and claimed to see shadows of the doctor’s murder through the light coming from an open door. The legend has spread throughout the region, even becoming the subject of a 2011 film simply titled The Melonheads, which is based around the West Michigan legend.

Legend in Ohio

The melon head stories of Ohio are primarily associated with the Cleveland suburb of Kirtland. According to local lore, the melon heads were originally orphans under the watch of a mysterious figure known as Dr. Crow (sometimes spelled Crowe, Krohe or Kroh or known as Dr. Melonhead. Crow is said to have performed unusual experiments on the children, who developed large, hairless heads and malformed bodies. Some accounts claim that the children were already suffering from hydrocephalus and that Crow injected even more fluid into their brains.

Eventually, the legend continues, the children killed Crow, burned the orphanage, and retreated to the surrounding forests and supposedly feed on babies. Legend holds that the melon heads may be sighted along Wisner Road in Kirtland, and Chardon Township. The melon head legend has been popularized on the Internet, particularly on the websites Creepy Cleveland and DeadOhio, where users offer their own versions of the story. A movie, “Legend of the Melonheads”, released in 2010, is based on the Ohio legend and various other legends in the Kirtland area.

An interesting twist to the Melon Head story is that Stephen Hathrow from Michigan says that he was chased, along with his two camping friends by a so-called Melon Head.  The Melon Head had a large melon shaped head, that reminded Stephen of a big white honey dew melon.  The Melon Head was 3 1/2 feet tall, thin arms and hands, thin legs.  The Melon Head seemed at times to glide and float.  Stephen was not able to make out any facial features.  As the Melon Head chased Stephen and his friends, it came upon a deer.  The deer was frozen in its tracks and the Melon Head touched its snout.  The deer then collapsed.  The Melon Head then seemed preoccupied with the deer and no longer was  chasing Stephen and his friends.  About 30 minutes later Stephen and his friends saw a small triangular shaped UFO hovering in the sky and then zip away.  Could Melon Heads actually be extraterrestrial humanoids that now have a bad reputation as being fugitives from a mental ward?  Special Note:  Stephen Hathrow mentioned that his Melon Head incident occurred at Isle Royale National Park.

‘UFO’ noticed over Hawaii was a spent rocket

By Lorena Steele

Professor Richard Wainscoat, a professor on the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Institute for Astronomy, believes that that lights, which sparked nice curiosity on social media, have been possible the reentry of a spent rocket booster. The rocket had been used to launch the Venezuelan satellite tv for pc, Venesat-1, again in 2008, based on the College of Hawaiʻi

“The used rocket has been circling Earth because the launch, slowly dropping altitude as a result of friction with the tenuous environment in low-Earth orbit,” defined the college in an announcement. “On Saturday, the booster made its last orbits.”

Wainscoat works with the Pan-STARRS telescope on Haleakalā. “Seeing a reentry is comparatively uncommon for a particular location like Hawaiʻi, since we are able to solely see the reentry if it happens comparatively near us,” he stated within the assertion.

Footage obtained by SWNS confirmed the lights transferring within the sky exterior Splasher’s Grill in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, at eight:50 p.m. native time.

In 2017, a mysterious object within the night time sky above Los Angeles was identified as United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Vandenberg Air Drive base.

Earlier this 12 months a mysterious balloon-like “UFO” object was noticed over Japan. The thing, which turned a social media sensation, sparked hypothesis that it was a science experiment or a climate balloon.

Experts Probe Long Island UFO Sightings

While this V-formation or triangle that was photographed over Long Island last year looks like it was designed, the MUFON expert who studied it closely said the formation took shape purely by chance, that each light has a heat source, indicating the lights were lanterns. (Photo courtesy of MUFON)

By TIMOTHY BOLGER

From questionable orbs to planets mistaken for alien spacecraft visiting Earth, there continues to be no shortage of purported UFO sightings in the skies over Long Island, experts say.

Nassau and Suffolk counties have seen more than two dozen reports UFO sightings in each of the past two years, according to Cheryl Costa, author of UFO Desk Reference: United States of America 2001-2015.

“A single golden colored, circular UFO was perfectly still, relatively low in the sky,” an Elmont resident told the National UFO Reporting Center in June. “I have never seen something stay so still and so low in the sky before. The sky was fairly overcast and the object was visible underneath the clouds, so it was not a star or planet … Never seen anything like it!“

The U.S. and New York State is on track to record the most UFO sightings this year since 2014, Costa said. New York recorded nearly 200 sightings last year, according to multiple UFO observation groups.

Joseph Flammer, an LI-based field investigator with the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), said some reports are easily ruled out, while others are not.

“We receive a steady flow of reports, but after investigations we found many are reports of airplanes and planets—especially Venus,” he said. “One report from South Huntington arrived with a photo of a triangle of lights in the sky. MUFON’s photo expert was able to identify heat source in each of the lights, thus ruling this triangle a collection of lanterns that by chance fell into the formation of a triangle.

”On the other hand, the same expert studied a recent video from Valley Stream which showed light orbs crossing the sky and found they were genuine UFOs, no heat source, exhaust, contrails or even noise, and probably not manmade,” he continued. “The expert could tell us what they weren’t but not what they were. That’s always the biggest question. On Long Island, our major sightings typically involve orbs, often a group of seven or so at one time traveling in the sky.”

Sometimes, the unusual sightings are on the ground.

“I went out to look at something, and noticed unusual prints on our lawn,” an Old Westbury resident told NUFORC of tracks in the snow in January. “Clear footprints, but single, not two together, measuring 17 inches long. The prints are approximately 4 feet apart. Definitely not an animal, as they are huge single prints … Made my husband come out and see them. He was definitely freaked out by them, and we couldn’t figure them out.

“Even went by my local PD, and said, we’re not crazy, but these are on our lawn,” the complainant added. “We knew they wouldn’t do anything, we kind of all were kidding about a Yeti, but they definitely were trying to figure it out too … I was walking around the snow, and my foot just left prints, didn’t go down to the grass at all. These were all prints where the grass was showing, and therefore are very clear.”

'EXTRATERRESTRIAL' Organic Compounds Found Scientists Say

Security camera still of the fireball in the sky over Toledo, Ohio.

By Andrew Griffin

A fireball that fell to Earth in 2018 contains “pristine extraterrestrial organic compounds” that could help tell us how life formed, scientists say.

The meteor arrived on Earth in January 2018, as a streaking fireball visible across the sky of the US Midwest. Scientists were able to track it using weather radar, and hunters picked the meteorite up from the ground before its chemical makeup was changed by exposure to liquid water.

Now researchers say the material they recovered offers them the ability to explore such rocks as they might appear when they are still in space, but using the equipment they have down on Earth.

They describe their early findings in a new paper published in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science.

"This meteorite is special because it fell onto a frozen lake and was recovered quickly. It was very pristine. We could see the minerals weren't much altered and later found that it contained a rich inventory of extraterrestrial organic compounds," says Philipp Heck, a curator at the Field Museum, associate professor at the University of Chicago, and lead author of the new paper.

"These kinds of organic compounds were likely delivered to the early Earth by meteorites and might have contributed to the ingredients of life."

As the fireball arrived, researchers were able to track the pieces using Nasa technology usually reserved for monitoring the weather.

"Weather radar is meant to detect hail and rain," said Heck. "These pieces of meteorite fell into that size range, and so weather radar helped show the position and velocity of the meteorite. That meant that we were able to find it very quickly."

The first pieces were retrieved by meteorite hunter Robert Ward, who found it on the frozen surface of Strawberry Lake in Michigan. He gave his discovery to the Field Museum, which began the research that culminated in the newly published paper.

That research showed that the meteorite was an H4 chondrite, which represents only 4 per cent of the objects that fall to Earth. But it was even more remarkable because it was picked up so quickly that it remains relatively untouched by the conditions on Earth.

That could help researchers in their quest to understand how the organic compounds that helped life form arrived on Earth. One of the possibilities is that they were brought to the planet by similar meteorites, and so studying such examples could help us understand whether such a story is likely.

"Scientists who study meteorites and space sometimes get asked, do you ever see signs of life? And I always answer, yes, every meteorite is full of life, but terrestrial, Earth life," says Heck.

"As soon as the thing lands, it gets covered with microbes and life from Earth. We have meteorites with lichens growing on them. So the fact that this meteorite was collected so quickly after it fell, and that it landed on ice rather than in the dirt, helped keep it cleaner."

A large black triangle shaped craft about the size of four football fields filled the Pinetown sky

Stock Image

By Shaun Smillie

Something strange had blotted out the stars over Pinetown. Where the stars should have been on this clear night was a large black triangle shaped craft, perhaps three to four football fields in size.

The man who claimed to have seen this strange object ran into his townhouse complex to grab this cell phone and call his girlfriend.

But by the time he returned, the craft was no longer there. When something strange and unexplained is spotted in the sky, it is often Lee Strydom, the Mutual UFO Network SA representative who is called.

This was a good sighting and the witness, who happened to be a friend of Strydom’s, left him a message on his cellphone that night.

“When I got to work the next day, I had this message, he said that he saw something and it was coming in my direction,” Strydom explains, adding that his friend that night changed from being a non UFO believer to a believer.

Others in the town house complex had also seen the strange triangular object, but to Strydom’s frustration none of them wanted to be interviewed. Interestingly flying black triangles spotted at night are not that uncommon in UFO case files.

For decades there have been reports of them from across the world. Just this week someone reported to Mufon of sighting a large dark triangle craft in Penticton, British Columbia, in Canada.

There is even a theory as to what they are, and it has nothing to do with alien visitors. The suspicion is that these triangular craft could be a top secret US surveillance aircraft known as the TR-3A Black Manta.

The flying triangle sighting was an exception for Strydom, who has been the SA Mufon representative for six years. Most sightings that are reported to him are easily explained away.

Many of these sightings have been driven by the new unusual flying objects that over the last decade, or so, have begun cluttering South African skies. Sharing South African airspace these days are hovering drones, weather balloons and the biggest UFO let down of them all -Chinese lanterns.

“It’s difficult when you have got sightings where somebody will send you a report and they will say ‘Hey Man, I saw a light in the sky’,” says Strydom. “And I will ask, are there photos or other proof? And there isn’t. But there are so many different things happening in our skies that are natural phenomena, you get ball lightning, that people think are UFOs.”

Then, there are the hoaxes. The photographs of real flying saucers that appear in Strydom’s inbox. Here pranksters throw dinner plates in the air, photograph them and claim they are extra terrestrial vehicles.

Once somebody reported seeing the cartoon character Sponge Bob Square pants running around their garden. But on the odd occasion Strydom receives a report, where he can’t find a scientific answer and sometimes it is just a hunch that something truly unexplained happened.

Take what happened to a couple in the Northern Cape. And this case didn’t involve a UFO or as those in the alien hunting industry now like to call them UAPs, or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena.

As was reported to Strydom the couple were driving between two towns when they entered a massive thunderstorm. One of the worst they said they had ever experienced.

“It was at night and it was raining and there was this massive black cloud above them. They passed this road sign that said X town was 15 kilometres away.”

The couple continued driving through the storm for the next ten to 15 minutes. Suddenly the storm cleared and they were at the same road sign that marked that the town was 15 kilometres away. “So they hadn’t moved for 15 minutes, but they were driving. There was a time difference,” explains Strydom.

“This was very interesting because that’s not your typical I saw this light going across the sky. Whether he was lying, I don’t think so. The way he told the story, and how petrified they were afterwards, in my opinion makes it real.”

It suggests, believes Strydom, of possible time travel. The problem, like with many other sightings Strydom has been unable to corroborate the event with other witnesses.

Unlike his friend, who saw the triangle shaped UFO, Strydom is a believer. He said he saw a UFO when he was a child and he has been interested ever since.

“But I am very sceptical when it comes to sightings because most of them are either natural phenomenon or they are man made.” The organisation that Strydom volunteers for has been investigating UFO sightings since 1969. It is the largest non profit organisation of its kind in the world. They have representatives across the world and claim to have specialised teams that investigate possible physical evidence of extraterrestrial craft.

The organisation has however drawn criticism in the past, for promoting pseudo-science and moving away from its original mandate of UFO observations. Officially Strydom is the South African representative for Mufon, but he also handles cases from across Africa and even into the Middle East. One sighting he investigated happened in Israel, during a wedding.

“A woman sent me footage from a wedding, where they noticed something in the sky. When you slow down the footage, you can make out a cigar shaped UFO, then 30 seconds later it was followed by Israeli air force jets,” said Strydom.

That was a good sighting, there was video footage and several witnesses. But most aren’t like that, so for the future Strydom will continue sifting through those reports, weeding out the hoaxes and the explained phenomena. Then, just maybe, there will be one sighting that will prove what Strydom knows: that aliens have been visiting for thousands of years.