The Texas UFO Report: Science or Psychology?

January 18, 2008

The Texas UFO Report: Science or Psychology?

A bizarre incident occurred last Tuesday in the Texas town of Stephenville that was witnessed by dozens of residents. For about five minutes a massive craft, described as “about as big as a walmart” hovered overhead and then disappeared faster than a “speeding bullet”.

Pilot Steve Allen saw the object when he was out clearing brush off a hilltop near the town of Silden. Allen described the unidentified object as having flashing lights that went from corner to corner and was strangely silent.

He said the UFO sped away at more than 3,000 mph, followed by two fighter jets that were quickly outmaneuvered. Allen said it took the craft only a few seconds to cross a section of sky that would have taken him 20 minutes to cross in his Cessna.

The veteran pilot estimated the massive craft to be around a half-mile wide and a mile long.

Although officials were flooded with reputable reports, the military quickly dismissed the sighting. The Stephenville Empire-Tribune reported that around 40 people in all reported seeing it. The report also noted that some people were too worried about being ridiculed to admit what they saw until others started coming forward.

Police officer Leroy Gatin said he was walking to his car when he saw a red glowing lights that reminded him of pictures he'd seen of an erupting volcano.

He said the object was suspended 3,000 feet in the air. Gatin said he was so awestruck that he called his son to come and see — but he didn't dare talk about it until he saw a story about a UFO in the local paper.

Military officials, however, were terse about the reports, saying that they were all “letting their imaginations run wild”. Military officials also claimed that what all of them saw from various angles all across town was actually an “optical illusion”. The residents also reported seeing two fighter jets approaching the object, but officials at the nearest air force base denied that any of their pilots were involved in the alleged incident.

Many credible people, including two former presidents, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, have reported seeing s UFO, which in their opinions, couldn't have possibly been a mere illusion. At any rate, it
is odd that 40 residents looking from a variety of different angleswould see the same "optical illusion". But whether what they saw was of terrestrial origin or not, is still up for debate.

UFO disclosure activists, including former Canadian Federal Defense Minister Paul Hellyer, note that the military and other powerful organizations rely on the “ridicule factor” to downplay the possibility that advanced extraterrestrial life could have mastered space travel.

Posted by Rebecca Sato

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Comments

Even experienced pilots can be fooled by bright light sources at night. Mr. Allen may be convinced that this UFO was flying at 3,000 mph and as big as a Wal-Mart, etc., but that doesn't mean that it actually was doing that or that it actually WAS at all. Maybe there were fighter jets chasing something. Maybe not. Just another "light in the sky" story that proves nothing.

I've seen a few UFO's, too. I've never thought that they were extraterrestrial spacecraft, though, and I've been in aviation for over 25 years. I'd say that there's some major misidentification going on here. They probably saw a new military aircraft (or an older one) under escort or maybe doing some air-to-air refuelling.

Basically, get a grip, folks.

Posted by: QuestionAuthority | January 18, 2008 at 07:10 AM

Basically, get a grip, folks.

Posted by: QuestionAuthority | January 18, 2008 at 07:10 AM

There is no way any of the distances, speeds or sizes in the article can be relied on. You can not tell the size of a distant object unless you either know what the object is (unknown is this case) or you have another object next to it of know size. This was at night and all of the witnesses only saw lights, so they had nothing to compare it with.

Posted by: William | January 18, 2008 at 12:09 PM

If the sighting had been close to an aerospace plant ( The article didn't mention if there was one nearby ) or testing facility, I would suggest that it was a prototype air craft in flight. I WOULD LOVE TO BELIEVE. These " spacecraft " usually appear near small towns, & usually the only person who sees them is someone who has little or no credibility. They never appear over Moscow, Beijing, London, Paris, Rio, New York, etc.

Posted by: Daniel Appleton | January 19, 2008 at 02:06 AM

RE William's comment:
You can't blame ETs for not visiting NYC, Moscow, etc. Even people on Earth know these cities have high crime rates. The ETs are worried about getting their UFO stolen! )))

Posted by: Lou | January 19, 2008 at 03:08 AM

More to last:
Or even worse, getting UFO-jacked. Then they'd have to take the dumb SOB who UFO-jacked them home with them. Then what? "Mom, he followed me home. Can I keep him?"

Posted by: Lou | January 19, 2008 at 03:10 AM

Obviously "question authority" (see above,) is not giving the subject a helluva lot of investigation before debunking this sighting by pronouncement only.
This is typical of the propaganda effort of the Gov Boys.....
There is forty witnesses who had TWO JET interceptors to compare(the object ) to for a size estimate mentioned in the report right off the bat, and that is hardly insignifigant....theres always these stupid comments from scoffers who havent even thoroughly read the report before ridiculing it....
Forty people all agree it was huge....thats enough to convince me....
The UFO debunkers have consistently supplied bogus, unscientific arguments which merely serve to muddy the waters, but explain nothing, and debunk less......
Your goverment is powerless before the phenomenon,thats the part they are trying to cover up.....
Our weapons have been proved useless against these visitors who seem able to outfly, and outstealth, as well as out think those sent up against them, and those who give the orders.
Its long past time to drop the viel of secrecy about these strange craft from elsewhere that roam our skies at will,buzz our space vehicles in flight,and generally do as they wish up there...
They have appeared over London Moscow,Washington,Mexico City, Bejing,Hong Kong,Tel Aviv, and pretty well every major city in the world by now.....
They have been seen by thousands at large events,show up at air shows around the planet, as well as sensitive instalations of every type......Atomic power plants very frquently have had UFOs hovering over them,in America as well as other countries.
Get a grip yerself there....
UFOs are REAL ! And the mountains of evidence (amassed by many goverments and militarys ) amount to virtual proof of. that.

Posted by: bertvere | January 19, 2008 at 03:28 AM

If anyone is interested in more info on this story, there was a piece run a couple of evenings ago on NPR's "All Things Considered" and can be heard at www.NPR.org. It includes interviews with a few of the witnesses and allows one to get a first hand account of this incident.

Posted by: TK | January 19, 2008 at 06:23 AM

RE William's comment:
Yes, they do. All the time. Go online and read about the "Phoenix Lights" incident in 1997, which almost the entire city of Phoenix witnessed.
Even the governor - who called a press conference and made fun of it - later admitted he too had seen some of the largest objects flying low.
The mere fact that authorities dismiss every single account as fake before you can say "weird lights" it's a bit funny, isn't it? It is silly of anyone to think we are alone in the Universe after we realized it is such a astonishing huge place full of possibilities.
The world is not round anymore, people.

Posted by: DZ | January 20, 2008 at 12:43 PM

Posted by: DZ | January 20, 2008 at 12:44 PM

I'm sorry folks, but everybody and their pet has a camera now a days. 40 people and not one decent pic? Believe all you want Lou, but it's all just nonsense until you show me some scientifically validate-able evidence. Besides, how on earth (no pun intended) can anyone take you seriously when you say something like " Our weapons have been proved useless against these visitors...." jeeesh man.
I for one would love to know for a fact we have been and are currently being visited by extra terrestrial life. But just pointing out that the known universe is a big place gives no more credence to the possibility of intelligent life in our neighborhood than it provides evidence for the religious notions of gods.
Regards
Dave

Posted by: Dave | January 20, 2008 at 01:44 PM

Great stuff! I've seen UFOs 3 times...

absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
ALL life is an accident

no other planets have life
Earthlings are all alone

absurd thought -
God of the Universe will
apologize for all life

it was all a BIG mistake
something just went wrong on Earth

absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
ignore UFO reports

discredit all sightings
claim all photos must be fakes

absurd thought -
God of the Universe is
sorry for life on Earth

the rest of the Universe
is properly without life

absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
tell lies to the people

of course about aliens
they can't handle the truth