Searching for Extraterrestrials
On June 24,1947 Kenneth Arnold saw nine disk shaped unidentified flying objects. Ten days later Capt. E.J. Smith of United Airlines and his co-pilot Ralph Stevens reported seeing five of these UFOs. Upon recieving these reports the Air Force became concerned for national safety and in 1948 Project Sign was organized.
Initinally Project Saucer, Project Sign was designed to keep all branches of the military informed. Sign worked under the assumption that UFOs were real and of national concern. The following year Sign was renamed Grudge and then eventually Project Blue Book.
For 20 years Dr. J. Allen Hynek worked as a consultant on Projects Sign and Blue Book. During that time Project Blue Book filed 12,600 cases. All but 701 were identified. The 701 remain classified as "unidentified". Dr. Hynek organized the sightings into six groups.The first three groups are sightings at a distance of more than 500 ft. These are Nocturnal Lights-well defined lights that cannot be explained by conventional lighting sources. Daylight Disks-oval or saucerlike metallic-appearing objects. Radar Visuals-unidentified blips on radar screens that confirm simultaneous sightings. The second three groups are sightings at a distance less than 500 feet. Close Encounters of the First Kind there is no interaction between the UFO and the environment. Close Encouters of the Second Kind there is some interaction between the UFO and the environment.Close Encounters of Third Kind the UFO occupants are actually seen. After Project Blue Book was disorganized a fourth, and probably the most disturbing, encounter was discovered. Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind, alien abductions.
Sightings were comming in from everywhere. The Air Force was beginning to fear mass hysteria. In 1966 the Air Force sponsered an independent investigation. Under Dr. Edward U. Condon, a team of scientist from the University of Colorado undertook the search.
Over the next two years the group chose 59 cases and put them under close scrutintiy. After two years 23 cases remained "unidentified". Still, in 1969, Condon concluded that UFOs posed no threat to national security, and warranted no futher study. He also stated," it is safe to assume that no intelligent life elsewhere outside of our solar system had any possiblity of visiting Earth in the next 10,000 years." (why 10,000 years no one knows.) Project Blue Book was terminated. All of it's files were suppose to have been declassified, but all were not.
During these 20 years rumors had surfaced that Project Blue Book was actually a government cover-up. Lack of scientifically qualified staff and the Air Forces reluctance to declassify all of their findings, lead people to believe the real investigation was and still is going on, secretly conducted by high-level government personnel.
Many private organizations have begun their own investigations. Even project Brlue Books Dr. Hynek, who began as a skeptic organized his own nonmembership investigative team in 1973 (CUFOS-Center for UFO Studies.) Sightings continue to pour in, about 20% of these remain "unidentified." Other countries are even conducting investigations.A June 15, 1997 CNN/Time poll reported that 80% of all Americans believe UFOs are real and there is some type of government cover-up.
Is it mass hysteria, lack of trust in our government, or highly advaced beings visiting earth? This phenomena remains a mystery and the search for extraterrestrials continues on.