Archive for Thursday 24th October 2002 - UFOs - the ever-lasting mystery

A photograph was taken in Tonbridge, Kent, this summer, showing an unidentified flying object (UFO) in full daylight. It was the classical type, solid, disc-shaped, with a central turret. It drifted away silently, said the people who saw it. Analysis of the picture revealed no evidence of hoaxing. There was a spectacular UFO over Brighton at the end of August. It was another familiar type, cigar-shaped. Brightly lit, seen and photographed by many, it passed by night along the sea-front.

This UFO business has been going on for 50 years or more. Several people I know have seen them, and so have I. Some years ago, on a summer afternoon, a metallic disc drifted over my roof. It was not a balloon or any known kind of aircraft. It was just…a mystery.

The whole thing is a mystery. Some believe that UFOs are from outer space. But there is no evidence for that, and there are many reasons why it is unlikely. Why, for example,does the UFO-intelligence not communicate with us? Another idea is that UFOs are secret government devices – prototypes of future space-craft, perhaps. If so, they have made little progress. The same types as today were seen in the 1950s.

Is there a conspiracy to hide the secret of UFOs? I cannot believe it, because too many people must be in the know. And I have met senior politicians who clearly knew nothing about UFOs.

My first book, in 1967, was called The Flying Saucer Vision. Since then I have learnt nothing new about UFOs, and I do not think anyone else has. Will we ever?

John Michell