The Debunk Dossier: UFOs

Are they myth or reality?

OpinionsSelina Martelli — Published October 2, 2024 0 minutes

Regardless of your belief on the topic, there are many accounts of alien sightings, abductions and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) out there. Alien encounters  have been a topic of discussion for many generations.

In 1947, a rancher and his son encountered the debris of a UFO near Roswell, New Mexico, USA. Known as the Roswell incident, this event is one that caused mass hysteria, bringing curiosity and commentary about the possibility of alien life to the forefront of social conversation at the time. There are many conflicting beliefs surrounding whether or not the incident was truly from an alien visit, I believe it was.

The rancher, W.W. Brazel, brought the unidentified object to Roswell’s sheriff who was just as confused about the origins of the debris as Brazel had been. After investigating the crash site, U.S. intelligence officer Major Jesse Marcel announced to the public that they had found a flying saucer.

Had the U.S. truly come into contact with relics of an alien nature or was the government hiding something more sinister? 

According to the official FBI documents, the UFO resembled a “high altitude weather balloon with a radar reflector.” However, the documents failed to confirm whether or not the object was a weather balloon, concluding that there would be no further investigation into the origin of the UFO. 

Their story changed.

In 1994, the U.S. Air Force reported that the story was fake and instead a coverup for Project Mogul, a spy mission involving a balloon that would effectively spy on the USSR. If this report is to be believed, why would Major Jesse Marcel announce the presence of a flying saucer in the first place?  Why would the FBI write reports on a UFO if they knew it was from Project Mogul? Their response was fishy.

We may never know what truly happened in Roswell, but we do know that the UFO sighting that occurred there was not an isolated incident. 

Besides UFOs, more compelling incidents of alien encounters include abductions. In a study conducted on people who believe that they had been abducted by aliens, it was observed that they respond to their memories of the alleged abduction in ways that are similar to post-traumatic stress disorder. 

However, it was concluded that the encounters recalled by the abductees are actually part of a phenomenon called sleep paralysis. As someone who has experienced sleep paralysis in the past, my sleep paralysis demon sure doesn’t try to abduct me from my bedroom and have me engage in odd alien activities.

Though it might be scary, our universe is boundless and the likelihood that there are other sentient beings lurking in the cosmos is very probable. Although we have not detected them on other planets yet, who’s to say they haven’t met us here, on Earth, first? 

Whether you believe in the existence of alien life or not, the stories of such encounters are quite interesting. Hopefully within our lifetime, we will have all the answers on the existence of extraterrestrials. 

But, until then, we can always wonder. As Ravi Kopparapu, winner of NASA’s medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement in 2020, said it best, "It's not a question of ‘if,’ [there is alien life to be found], it’s a question of ‘when’ we find life on other planets.”