The purpose of this blog is the creation of an open, international, independent and free forum, where every UFO-researcher can publish the results of his/her research. The languagues, used for this blog, are Dutch, English and French.You can find the articles of a collegue by selecting his category. Each author stays resposable for the continue of his articles. As blogmaster I have the right to refuse an addition or an article, when it attacks other collegues or UFO-groupes.
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Deze blog is opgedragen aan mijn overleden echtgenote Lucienne.
In 2012 verloor ze haar moedige strijd tegen kanker!
In 2011 startte ik deze blog, omdat ik niet mocht stoppen met mijn UFO-onderzoek.
BEDANKT!!!
Een interessant adres?
UFO'S of UAP'S, ASTRONOMIE, RUIMTEVAART, ARCHEOLOGIE, OUDHEIDKUNDE, SF-SNUFJES EN ANDERE ESOTERISCHE WETENSCHAPPEN - DE ALLERLAATSTE NIEUWTJES
UFO's of UAP'S in België en de rest van de wereld Ontdek de Fascinerende Wereld van UFO's en UAP's: Jouw Bron voor Onthullende Informatie!
Ben jij ook gefascineerd door het onbekende? Wil je meer weten over UFO's en UAP's, niet alleen in België, maar over de hele wereld? Dan ben je op de juiste plek!
België: Het Kloppend Hart van UFO-onderzoek
In België is BUFON (Belgisch UFO-Netwerk) dé autoriteit op het gebied van UFO-onderzoek. Voor betrouwbare en objectieve informatie over deze intrigerende fenomenen, bezoek je zeker onze Facebook-pagina en deze blog. Maar dat is nog niet alles! Ontdek ook het Belgisch UFO-meldpunt en Caelestia, twee organisaties die diepgaand onderzoek verrichten, al zijn ze soms kritisch of sceptisch.
Nederland: Een Schat aan Informatie
Voor onze Nederlandse buren is er de schitterende website www.ufowijzer.nl, beheerd door Paul Harmans. Deze site biedt een schat aan informatie en artikelen die je niet wilt missen!
Internationaal: MUFON - De Wereldwijde Autoriteit
Neem ook een kijkje bij MUFON (Mutual UFO Network Inc.), een gerenommeerde Amerikaanse UFO-vereniging met afdelingen in de VS en wereldwijd. MUFON is toegewijd aan de wetenschappelijke en analytische studie van het UFO-fenomeen, en hun maandelijkse tijdschrift, The MUFON UFO-Journal, is een must-read voor elke UFO-enthousiasteling. Bezoek hun website op www.mufon.com voor meer informatie.
Samenwerking en Toekomstvisie
Sinds 1 februari 2020 is Pieter niet alleen ex-president van BUFON, maar ook de voormalige nationale directeur van MUFON in Vlaanderen en Nederland. Dit creëert een sterke samenwerking met de Franse MUFON Reseau MUFON/EUROP, wat ons in staat stelt om nog meer waardevolle inzichten te delen.
Let op: Nepprofielen en Nieuwe Groeperingen
Pas op voor een nieuwe groepering die zich ook BUFON noemt, maar geen enkele connectie heeft met onze gevestigde organisatie. Hoewel zij de naam geregistreerd hebben, kunnen ze het rijke verleden en de expertise van onze groep niet evenaren. We wensen hen veel succes, maar we blijven de autoriteit in UFO-onderzoek!
Blijf Op De Hoogte!
Wil jij de laatste nieuwtjes over UFO's, ruimtevaart, archeologie, en meer? Volg ons dan en duik samen met ons in de fascinerende wereld van het onbekende! Sluit je aan bij de gemeenschap van nieuwsgierige geesten die net als jij verlangen naar antwoorden en avonturen in de sterren!
Heb je vragen of wil je meer weten? Aarzel dan niet om contact met ons op te nemen! Samen ontrafelen we het mysterie van de lucht en daarbuiten.
13-06-2025
'It's a ticking time bomb': Acid levels in Earth's oceans have already breached 'danger zone', study suggests
'It's a ticking time bomb': Acid levels in Earth's oceans have already breached 'danger zone', study suggests
Researchers have found that ocean acidification entered a "danger zone" in 2020, suggesting increased carbon dioxide levels have caused Earth to breach another planetary boundary.
The new study suggests our planet's oceans are becoming too acidic to remain healthy.
(Image credit: Philip Thurston via Getty Images)
Earth's oceans are in worse condition than scientists thought, with acidity levels so high that our seas may have entered a "danger zone" five years ago, according to a new study.
Humans are inadvertently making the oceans more acidic by releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) through industrial activities such as the burning of fossil fuels. This ocean acidification damages marine ecosystems and threatens human coastal communities that depend on healthy waters for their livelihoods.
Previous research suggested that Earth's oceans were approaching a planetary boundary, or "danger zone," for ocean acidification. Now, in a new study published Monday (June 9) in the journal Global Change Biology, researchers have found that the acidification is even more advanced than previously thought and that our oceans may have entered the danger zone in 2020.
The researchers concluded that by 2020, the average condition of our global oceans was in an uncertainty range of the ocean acidification boundary, so the safety limit may have already been breached. Conditions also appear to be worsening faster in deeper waters than at the surface, according to the study.
"Ocean acidification isn't just an environmental crisis — it's a ticking time bomb for marine ecosystems and coastal economies," Steve Widdicombe, director of science and deputy chief executive at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, a marine research organization involved in the new study, said in a statement. "As our seas increase in acidity, we're witnessing the loss of critical habitats that countless marine species depend on and this, in turn, has major societal and economic implications."
In 2009, researchers proposed nine planetary boundaries that we must avoid breaching to keep Earth healthy. These boundaries set limits for large-scale processes that affect the stability and resilience of our planet. For example, there are boundaries for dangerous levels of climate change, chemical pollution and ocean acidification, among others.
A 2023 study found that we had crossed six of the nine boundaries. The authors of that study didn't think the ocean acidification boundary had been breached at the time, but they noted it was at the margin of its boundary and worsening.
Katherine Richardson, a professor at the Globe Institute at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark who led the 2023 study and was not involved in the new study, told Live Science that she was "not at all surprised" by the new findings.
"We said it was on the edge in our last assessment and, as atmospheric CO2 concentrations have risen since then, it is hardly surprising that it should be transgressed now," Richardson said in an email.
What causes ocean acidification?
Ocean acidification is mostly caused by the ocean absorbing CO2. The ocean takes up around 30% of CO2 in the atmosphere, so as human activities pump out CO2, they are forcing more of it into the oceans. CO2 dissolves in the ocean, creating carbonic acid and releasing hydrogen ions. Acidity levels are based on the number of hydrogen ions dissolved in water, so as the ocean absorbs more CO2, it becomes more acidic.
The hydrogen ions bond with carbonate ions in the ocean to form bicarbonate, which reduces the carbonate available to marine life like corals, clams and plankton. These animals need carbonate for their bones, shells and other natural structures, which they make out of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). Researchers measure aragonite — one of the soluble forms of CaCO3 — to track ocean acidity levels.
Corals are dying as the oceans become warmer and more acidic. (Image credit: Brett Monroe Garner via Getty Images)
The ocean acidification boundary would be breached when the oceans see a 20% reduction of aragonite compared with preindustrial levels (estimated ocean acidification for 1750 and 1850). The 2023 study estimated that ocean acidification was at 19%, just below the boundary.
The authors of the new study used physical and chemical measurements in the upper ocean and computer models to update and refine previous ocean acidification estimates. They also introduced a margin of error, including uncertainties in both the boundary and the present-day acidification value.
With the new data, the researchers found that at the ocean's surface, the global average acidification level is 17.3% (with a 5% margin of uncertainty) less than preindustrial levels. That estimate is lower than the 2023 estimate but well within the new study's wider boundary region (20% but with a 5.3% margin of uncertainty). The newly estimated acidification levels increased at greater depths, though the margin for error also increased below 330 feet (100 meters), according to the study's data.
Not all of the ocean is acidifying at the same rate. For example, the researchers determined that about 40% of the water at the surface had crossed the boundary, but that estimate rose to 60% for the waters below, down to about 650 feet (200 m).
"Most ocean life doesn't just live at the surface — the waters below are home to many more different types of plants and animals," study lead author Helen Findlay, a biological oceanographer at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, said in the statement. "Since these deeper waters are changing so much, the impacts of ocean acidification could be far worse than we thought."
The Vela Supernova Remnant is one of the closest supernova remnants to Earth. The supernova is about 900 light-years away and exploded about 11,000 years ago. That's right around the time of the Younger Dryas and scientists wonder if the two are related, and if other supernovae triggered other cooling episodes. Image Credit: By (Credit) ESO/TIMER survey - https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2214/, CC BY 4.0
Most scientists agree that supernova explosions have affected Earth's climate, though the details are not all clear. They likely cooled the climate several times in the last several thousand years, just as humanity was becoming established around the world. The evidence is in telescopes and tree rings.
We live in the Quaternary period which spans from 2.58 million years ago to the present. The Quaternary is characterized by climatic and environmental changes, most significantly the Ice Ages. The Quaternary also encompasses human existence and evolution from early hominids to our species.
New research in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society examines the role supernovae explosions played in the Quaternary climatic changes. It's titled "Late Quaternary supernovae in Earth history," and the author is Robert Brakenridge. He's a senior research associate in the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado.
The Late Quaternary is loosely defined as the time period from 50,000 years ago to the present. It featured several abrupt, dramatic changes in Earth's climate. These include the Older Dryas and the Younger Dryas, abrupt shifts to a colder climate while the Earth was experiencing a warming trend after the last ice age, at the end of the Pleistocene epoch.
There are several ways that SN can cool Earth's climate. They can weaken or destroy Earth's ozone layer, which would allow more UV light to reach the surface. That leads to knock-on effects that can cause cooling. SN also contribute to cooling by degrading atmospheric methane, a greenhouse gas. The primary way that SN can cool Earth's climate is by increasing the cloud cover.
The idea that supernovae could be responsible for abrupt climate shifts is supported by evidence from tree rings. Trees absorb three isotopes of carbon, carbon-12 (12C), carbon-13 (13C), and carbon-14 (14C). When researchers examine ancient tree rings, they find different ratios of the carbon isotopes in different rings. 12C and 13C are stable isotopes, while 14C isn't. 14C is created continuously in the upper atmosphere all of the time.
When supernovae explode, they send high-speed energetic particles outward in all directions. When some reach Earth, they collide with nitrogen in the atmosphere and generate 14C. Because of this, the atmospheric level of 14C spikes when a nearby supernova (in astronomical terms) explodes.
Tree rings can be dated, and when scientists date tree rings with raised levels of 14C, it indicates that a supernovae explosion occurred somewhere nearby at a specific time.
It's not that cut and dried, however, and not all researchers agree that we can link tree rings with supernovae. Miyaki events also create a burst of 14C that can be identified in tree rings, but they're caused by the Sun. However, the the idea that supernovae could be responsible for 14C and climate shifts won't go away.
“We have abrupt environmental changes in Earth’s history. That’s solid, we see these changes,” study author Brakenridge said. “So, what caused them?”
The question rings out as we try to understand our own history and what the future might hold for Earth.
“When nearby supernovae occur in the future, the radiation could have a pretty dramatic effect on human society,” he said. “We have to find out if indeed they caused environmental changes in the past.”
Tree rings and carbon-14 are only part of the story. The other part is told by our powerful telescopes that search the heavens. When stars explode as supernovae, they don't just simply disappear. They leave behind remnants, an expanding shock wave of dead star material and swept up interstellar medium that's lit up by the explosion and depending on the type of supernova, a white dwarf.
Supernova remnants (SNR) are some of Nature's most dazzling displays. The most well-known one is probably the Crab Nebula, the remnant from the 1054 supernova. The crab nebula was the first astronomical object successfully linked with a historical supernova.
The Crab Nebula is the remnant from the 1054 AD supernova. Ancient astronomers in China and other places observed the explosion at the time and recorded it.
Image Credit: By NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University) - Public Domain
As our telescopes have grown in power, scientists have learned a lot about the radiation that comes from supernovae. The struggle is to understand exactly how the radiation interacted with Earth and affected its climate. There's no clear picture of how far away SN can be and still affect Earth.
"All known Late Quaternary SNRs are much further away than the solar system neighbourhood," the author writes in his research. "SNe at distances of >0.1 kpc have sometimes been considered too remote to affect Earth's biosphere and atmosphere." Brakenridge explains that this conclusion is based on catastrophic effects rather than significant effects. "Such a criterion is not appropriate for Late Quaternary time, as there is no known global extinction event comparable to, for example, those in the late Ordovician and the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary," he explains, mentioning two of Earth's major extinctions.
"Instead, there is abundant evidence of global climate changes of lesser magnitude and also major mammalian extinction events," Brakenridge explains. "It is thus not possible with present knowledge to rule out SNe at a few 0.1 kpc as causing significant effects observable in Late Quaternary records."
In this research, Brakenridge created a new model of how SN radiation affects the planet's atmosphere.
No SN are affecting Earth right now, so Brakenridge tested the model the only way he can: with tree rings. He examined tree rings over the last 15,000 years and found 11 carbon spikes. Eventually, he determined that four supernovae could have affected Earth's climate during the Late Quaternary.
“The events that we know of, here on earth, are at the right time and the right intensity,” Brakenridge said.
The Hoinga SNR closely aligns with the Older Dryas abrupt cooling about 14,000 years ago.
The Hoinga SNR may be linked to the Earth's Older Dryas abrupt cooling period.
Image Credit: Team New Horizons/Australia Telescope National Facility.
The Vela SNR is associated with the Younger Dryas cooling about 12,000 years ago.
The Vela SNR may be linked to Earth's Younger Dryas cooling period.
Image Credit: By (Credit) ESO/TIMER survey
- https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso2214/, CC BY 4.0
Two other C14 events, the largest of the Holocene, at about 9,000 and 7,000 years ago, are also closely aligned with nearby SNR.
The Older and Younger Dryas affected our human ancestors, who were struggling to survive. The Younger Dryas was particularly difficult for humans, who saw a significant population decrease during this time. We may be buffered from similar climatic changes by technology, but these types of rapid climate shifts could be catastrophic for civilization as we know it.
Tree rings and telescopes aren't the only evidence showing how SN could've affected Earth. There's also sediments, ice cores, and other evidence. The challenging part is to piece all of it together and understand how the past played out.
The other challenge is to look around and us and determine what nearby stars may be about to explode, and what threat they might pose to the climate. It's possible that we could be thrust back into a difficult survival situation like our ancestors were.
“As we learn more about our nearby neighboring stars, the capability for prediction is actually there,” Brakenridge said. “It will take more modeling and observation from astrophysicists to fully understand Earth’s exposure to such events.”
TR3B Craft Flying Over On June 3, 2025, Alien or Military? UFO UAP Drone Sighting Breaking News.
TR3B Craft Flying Over On June 3, 2025, Alien or Military? UFO UAP Drone Sighting Breaking News.
Date of sighting: June 3, 2025
Location of sighting: Toronto, Canada
Source: X Chrissy Newton
This is amazing! Check out this video captured by writer and podcaster, Chrissy Newton on X, specifically went to the scene afterward to conduct an on-site investigation. She concluded that it was unlikely to be a light from the crane boom. She wrote on X (formerly Twitter): “I went to the location in Toronto where the UAP was recently spotted. There is a crane nearby, but it's too low to be the object seen in the video. I went around 11 p.m., and the weather conditions were similar to when the video was filmed, to make a fair comparison. So far, the object in the video doesn’t appear to be CGI or AI-generated, at least based on. This is a 100% alien, if it was military, it would not be hovering over a major city. Alien tech at its best.
Haunted Undergrounds, Lost Civilizations, and Secret Rail Networks: The Mysteries and Terrors of the Subterranean World!
Marcus Lowth
Haunted Undergrounds, Lost Civilizations, and Secret Rail Networks: The Mysteries and Terrors of the Subterranean World!
There are many haunted and indeed haunting locations above the ground around the planet, each offering its own unique blend of spooky goings-on and bone-chilling accounts. There are, though, just as many such locations beneath the ground. When we venture into these subterranean lairs, we find the levels of terror and fright are taken up a notch or two, leaving those who experience these underground encounters with unsettling and disturbing tales to tell.
Perhaps a good place to start our look at haunting – and quite possibly haunted – locations would be with one of the oldest rail networks in the world, the London Underground, which is also claimed by many people to be one of the most haunted locations on the planet, and when we explore just some of these claims and accounts, it is easy to see why. If we look at Piccadilly Station (arguably one of the most well-known in the world), we can find reports of strange Morse-code-like bangs, as if someone is attempting to communicate from beyond the veil. There are also reports of phantom footsteps being heard, as well as strange noises similar to large doors being slammed shut at the Elephant and Castle underground station. One of the most thought-provoking ghosts to haunt the London Underground can be found at Covent Garden, where the spirit of actor William Terriss (who was murdered where the station stands today in 1897) has been seen multiple times wearing a Victorian-style hat and cloak.
Without a doubt, though, one of the most disturbing underground stations of the London Underground is Liverpool Street Station, where multiple strange entities and ghostly figures have been witnessed, with some of these figures even being captured on the station’s CCTV system, and multiple passengers over the years reporting seeing a man wearing overalls walking up and down the platform before disappearing right in front of them.
One of the most disturbing ghosts of Liverpool Street Station is that of a woman who was once a patient at Bedlam Hospital, which once stood on the land Liverpool Street Station resides on today. Many people have reported hearing her bone-chilling screams coming from the tunnels of the station, perhaps resonating with research that suggests when she was a patient at the hospital (thought to be during the 1780s), she was desperately mistreated (something the hospital in question was said to have a reputation for). Furthermore, according to local legend, during her lifetime, she often clung to an old coin as some kind of comfort blanket, physically attacking anyone who tried to take it from her. However, following her death, the coin was removed from her grip, and she was buried without it, as such, her spirit wanders the tunnels of the station, seemingly desperately in search of her most prized and likely only possession.
Just one reason put forward to explain the abundance of ghostly activity at his particular station is that it appears to have been built on what was once a mass grave, most likely from the Black Death era, following the discovery of over 3000 skeletal remains in 2015.
If we turn our attention to London’s East End, we will find Bethnal Green Underground Station, another location that is said to be a hive of strange goings-on. According to many people, strange cries are often heard echoing around the station, with some researchers suggesting these cries come from those who used the tunnels during German bombing missions of the Second World War. In part, because this part of London was poverty-stricken and overpopulated, many residents would find themselves packed into this underground station, often dangerously.
This danger was realized on the evening of March 3rd, 1943, as residents around Bethnal Green station hurriedly made their way underground to escape the German bombs falling around them. One of those making their way deep under the ground was a young woman who was carrying her baby and bedding for warmth. However, as she made her way down the almost completely dark staircase, she tripped, causing a woman behind her, who was also carrying a young child, to fall over her. This had a knock-on effect as more and more people tripped over them. Within seconds, a pile-up of almost 300 bodies had ensued, with 173 eventually being confirmed to have lost their lives, mostly from being crushed or from lack of oxygen.
Reports of the strange cries coming from the station began in the years that followed. There is, though, one particular account that stands out from the rest. One evening in 1981, a station employee was working late on paperwork when he heard the sound of several children crying. As he had locked the station himself, he knew he was the only person there, so the sounds were not only unsettling for him, but they were perplexing. To begin with, he assumed the sounds must be coming into the station from outside, and he did his best to ignore them. The sounds began to increase in volume, however, and then came the sudden sounds of multiple women screaming. At this point, he got up from his desk and ran to the ticket area. There wasn’t, however, anyone there. After around 15 minutes, the sounds suddenly died down and then ceased altogether.
Commuters and employees alike have also reported unsettling screams coming from the tunnels of Farringdon Underground Station, screams which have seemingly been traced to a 13-year-old girl who was murdered and whose body was dumped on the land where the station resides in 1758. The girl in question – Anne Naylor – was an apprentice hat maker who lived in Farringdon at a time when the area was crawling with criminal gangs and general unsavory types. Anne worked for a “sadistic” mother and daughter, who often beat the young girl, as well as forced her to go without food for days at a time. One of these beatings, however, resulted in Anne’s untimely death.
After initially storing the tragic girl’s remains in their attic, the mother and daughter decided to chop up the remains and burn them due to the smell of the decay threatening to expose their crime. However, they soon realized that the smell of burning flesh would also alert authorities to the killing, so they decided to take the remains and dump them near the sewer – the same spot where Farringdon Underground Station sits today. Her remains were discovered a short time later, and despite her death initially being ruled as not suspicious, the mother and daughter – for reasons unknown – turned themselves in and admitted to the killing. Each was hanged shortly after.
Whether the strange screams heard at Farringdon Underground station are Anne Naylor's or not remains open to debate. They do, however, continue to be reported today.
Perhaps what makes the apparent hauntings at the British Museum-Holburn Station unique is that, rather than being the spirit of a local person who died there decades or even centuries ago, they are said to be that of an ancient Egyptian woman.
The British Museum Station opened in the early 1900s, but by 1933, it was replaced by Holborn Station, which was not only just meters away but was also much more modern and passenger-friendly. However, almost immediately, rumors swirled that a secret, or at least, non-publicized line remained open that connected the museum to the new station. It was, according to local legend, along this secret line where many paranormal happenings were reported.
As we mentioned earlier, the most intriguing of these is that of an ancient Egyptian woman named Amun-Ra, after the ancient Egyptian god. The woman’s mummy is said to reside inside the British Museum, with her ghost being seen in this secret tunnel many times, as well as people reported hearing her shrieking in rage. Perhaps of more concern, one account states this ancient Egyptian spirit was even responsible for the disappearance of two women one fateful evening in 1935. On the night in question, the two women simply vanished into thin air somewhere inside the station, and, even more disturbing, on the night of their disappearance, several commuters reported hearing strange, unnerving shrieking sounds coming from the tunnels around the station. In the days that followed, it is claimed that several scratch marks were discovered at the old British Museum Station. Of course, as with most legends, we should be cautious about what is accurate and what is fabricated, not least as there appear to be no newspaper reports of the disappearances, which there surely would have been.
It is, though, interesting to note the fortune, or perhaps more specifically, the misfortune of the person who purchased the mummy in question, Thomas Douglas Murray. Not long after making the purchase and having the mummy shipped to London, Murray was accidentally wounded in a shooting. The wound was such that he had to have his arm amputated. Not long after the mummy arrived in London, two of Murray’s servants who had assisted in its transportation suddenly died. Murray’s bad luck, however, continued once he had arrived back in England, as well as anyone else who had any kind of contact with the mummy. One of these people was Murray’s friend’s sister, who eventually took possession of the mummy so she could have it photographed, which she duly did. However, when the photographer was developing the pictures, he claimed that the face of a “living Egyptian woman” appeared in one of the pictures before his eyes and “stared furiously with an expression of singular malevolence!” The photographer in question, at least according to the legends, died suddenly not long after.
The mummy was eventually donated to the British Museum in the early 1930s – and the strange goings-on continued. Although, once more, there are no official reports or newspaper articles to back it up, it is said that anyone who photographed or sketched the mummy died shortly afterward. Moreover, staff at the museum began to report strange, loud bangs coming from around the building, as well as the sounds of a desperate woman’s cries. Whatever the truth of the matter, these accounts are some of the most unsettling of the London Underground.
While the underground stations of London are undoubtedly some of the most disturbing, there are many others around the world that are worth briefly exploring. If we look at Bisham MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) Station in Singapore, we can find an abundance of strange activity. The reason for this could very well be because the station was built on land that was once home to the Bi Shan Teng cemetery. Reports and accounts of bizarre goings-on began as soon as the station opened in 1987 – reports of unnerving sounds and phantom-like manifestations. Passengers also began reporting hearing footsteps on top of the train carriages, while others claimed to have been grabbed or even pushed by invisible assailants. Perhaps the strangest reports of all, though, came from maintenance workers who worked on the tracks themselves. Many of these workers reported seeing ghostly figures walking along the tracks carrying coffins before disappearing into thin air. There are also multiple reports of a headless figure seen walking on the tracks that also vanishes right in front of shocked onlookers.
Another truly profound underground station is Caobao Road Subway Station in China, specifically, it would seem, Line 1, which not only has many reports of strange activity but is seemingly connected to at least nine deaths. As well as the many strange entities and figures witnessed at the station, many trains inexplicably break down while there, and, much like the reports at the Bisham MRT Station, many commuters have reported being pushed toward the tracks by a pair of invisible hands. Many staff at the station, as well as passengers, have reported hearing the strange and disturbing laughter of a seemingly deranged woman, while multiple people began reporting seeing a young girl dressed in red, only days after a young girl dressed in red had taken her own life at the station. Just what makes this particular station a hub of paranormal activity remains unknown.
One last underground station to explore is the Panteones Metro Station in Mexico City, Mexico. According to reports, many commuters and station staff have reported hearing thunderous banging sounds reverberating around the station, while some people have reported seeing disturbing shadow-type figures that disappear when a person walks towards them. There are also regular reports of unsettling screams heard coming from the tunnels of the station. Similarly to the Bisham MRT Station, the Panteones Metro Station was built very close to an old cemetery, which would, on balance, surely be at least part of the cause of the strange activity reported there.
If we return to the United Kingdom and north of the England-Scotland border, we find another haunting underground location – the underground vaults of Edinburgh’s South Bridge, where some of the most intense paranormal activity in the United Kingdom ever recorded has unfolded.
Although it took almost two decades to build, the South Bridge opened in 1788 and assisted in connecting the rapidly growing population of Edinburgh with the old part of the city. Almost immediately, on both sides of the bridge, businesses soon appeared, many of which used the arches of the bridge as their premises and storerooms, and so, inadvertently creating the vaults. In the book Hidden and Haunted: Underground Edinburgh, Des Brogan wrote that “by the middle of the nineteenth century, these vaulted areas were being used as workshops by many of the people who lived in the tenements”, businesses that ranged from “cobblers, butchers, wine merchants, bookbinders, and jewelers!”
While these businesses and the premises that had been created provided cheap business and even living premises, to begin with, the harsh Scottish winters soon took a toll on the bridge, particularly the vaults in the lower sections, and after years of leaking rainwater, disease and ill health began to spread around the vaults. As this was happening, many of the business owners, while keeping their businesses in the vaults, had moved to other living quarters in better parts of the city, leaving their living quarters empty. These were usually rented out to those who could barely afford better accommodation, and, in some cases, were taken over by squatters. It didn’t take long for the vaults to turn into a ghetto. It was, in part, because of these worsening conditions that the authorities decided to move out the remaining tenants and rehouse them. Following this, the slums quickly slid into criminal lairs, with illegal bars and brothels operating out of the empty space at the vaults. As we might imagine, the vaults quickly became a no-go area for most residents of the city, with many crimes, including murder, taking place there.
Eventually, the vaults were sealed off completely, but in the 1980s, one-time international rugby player Norrie Rowan, whose land was home to some of the vaults, rediscovered them. He immediately went about installing a modern lighting system in the vaults, suspecting that there was a good business opportunity in reopening them to the public. He eventually arranged for a tour company to give guided tours of the morose but intriguing location. It wasn’t long after these tours began that reports of paranormal goings-on began to surface. Des Brogan was one of two guides who took multiple people into the vaults. He stated that if any of those entering the vaults “were at all sensitive to the other world, they would feel very uncomfortable!”
Many people have reported seeing children running through the vaults, while others have reported seeing ominous, shadowy adult figures. There have also been multiple reports of people hearing strange cries and screams coming from within the vaults, and some people have reported being pushed, grabbed, or even scratched by some kind of invisible presence. Of all the strange entities witnessed in the vault, one stands out from the rest.
Sometimes called “The Watcher” a figure known as Mr. Boots appears to be the most terrifying of the strange entities in the vaults, his name a reflection of the knee-length boots he is often seen wearing. The previously mentioned Des Brogan describes this strange figure as being “unkempt and unshaven, and with very bad breath!” Even more interesting, Mr. Boots almost always appears in the same specific location of the vaults. Even more ominous and concerning, according to many paranormal investigators and psychics, in this same room, there is also the presence of a young girl – a young girl that it is claimed Mr. Boots murdered there.
Many mediums have communicated with Mr. Boots, claiming he tells them that all candles brought into the room must be placed on the floor, and never shined directly towards his face. He also states that he is not happy with the many people who come down to the vaults, and often expresses his unhappiness by blowing out the lights in the room, plunging those who are there into complete darkness. Although Mr. Boots is only physically seen in one particular room, his footsteps can be heard throughout the vaults, as can the jangling of his keys as he walks. Even stranger, many people report being pushed or pulled by the menacing entity, and even being told in no uncertain terms to “get out!”
Those who have researched Mr. Boots might have been suggesting that he was likely a watchman or security officer at the vaults, most likely during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, during a time when criminal activity was particularly rife. Whatever the truth is, many people claim to have seen or interacted with him. One tour guide, for example, recalled being in the vaults after all of the guests had left following the tour. The guide was blowing out all of the candles before they left. As he was doing this, though, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps heading up the corridor in his direction. Several moments later, the footsteps came to a stop right outside the room he was standing in. He stared intensely at the doorway, and although he couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary, he claimed that he could sense someone – or something – staring at him. Then, several moments later, the footsteps started again, heading away from him up the corridor.
On another occasion, another guide was turning out all of the lights following a tour when she suddenly realized there were two she had missed at the end of the corridor. She immediately headed toward them before noticing that they appeared to dim slightly, something which halted her advance immediately. A moment later, to her absolute shock and disbelief, she witnessed a dark figure pass in front of the lights before the glow returned to its bright state.
The United States has long had legends and conspiracies of a vast underground tunnel network existing not only under the country but the entire North American continent. In November 2018, in Ybor City near Tampa, Florida, apparent proof of such tunnel networks was made during a development project in the area. According to a report in The Tampa Bay Times, the tunnels were discovered during construction on the corner of 12th Street and Sixth Avenue. One person who took an immediate interest in the discovery was Dr. Gary Mormino, who stated that the “legendary labyrinth” was likely to have been constructed sometime in the 1800s, before the founding of Ybor City in 1886. Moreover, he claimed they were likely used for smuggling and storing “riches” and also offered that they were likely abandoned for unknown reasons before completion.
Although it was 2018 when this tunnel network was discovered, rumors of their presence go back to at least November 2000, when purposely constructed brick walkways were discovered while laying a streetcar system. It was determined by some that the walkways were, in fact, some kind of drainage system. However, with no official records of such a project existing, these claims were dismissed, and the discovery was all but forgotten about. What we might assume from this is that whoever was behind the drainage system was part of some kind of secret order, or it was constructed long before the founding of Ybor City.
As exciting as the discovery in Ybor City was, just shy of a century earlier on the west coast of the United States, there was a similar discovery of an underground network – and this one was much older. According to an article in the January 29th, 1934 edition of The Los Angeles Times, G. Warren Shufelt discovered the remains of an underground city beneath Los Angeles that was 5000 years old and was inhabited by a race of Lizard People, no less. Further, according to the article, Shufelt had mapped out the entire site using X-ray devices and had even managed to excavate around 200 feet below the ground. Then, despite having granted Shufelt permission to excavate the location, the city of Los Angeles suddenly revoked this. They then sealed up the site, and Shufelt was, perhaps suspiciously, never heard from again. Part of the article stated:
“So firmly does Shufelt and a little staff of assistants believe that a maze of catacombs and priceless golden tablets are to be found beneath downtown Los Angeles that the engineer and his aides have already driven a shaft 250 feet into the ground, the mouth of the shaft being on the old Banning property on North Hill street overlooking Sunset Boulevard, Spring Steet, and North Broadway!”
Shufelt also believed that he would discover several golden tablets in the ancient underground city which would detail the history of the human race on Earth, as well as the history of both the American continents (much of which, remember, was lost during the Spanish invasion of the southern continent, and the lost records of many of the Native American tribes following the Pilgrims arrival in the Northern continent). What made him certain of these finds was information he had been given by a chief from the Hopi Native American tribe in Arizona, information, incidentally, that matched much of his own research.
Further according to Shufelt, the ancient subterranean city had been constructed by an ancient technologically advanced race following a meteor impact that had destroyed many of their cities above the ground (with some claiming the Winslow Crater was the result of this impact). Shortly after, this ancient race began to build the underground lair, using a “chemical solution” to melt away the rock to create tunnels and chambers. It isn’t known exactly who these “lizard people” might have been, but some have suggested they could have been the Anunnaki from ancient Sumerian legends, or, at the very least, some kind of reptilian civilization, perhaps one that remains here on Earth deep under the ground.
In a strange twist to the whole affair, several months before Shufelt began his expedition, well-known psychic, Edith Elden Robinson stated in the American Society for Psychic Research newspaper that a “vast city lay under Los Angeles, with massive tunnels that stretch right out to the coast” that had been “constructed by a vanished race who had needed protection from the air and access to the sea!” Was she describing the same underground location that Shufelt allegedly discovered only months later?
As strange as it might sound, there are numerous tunnel networks that have been discovered in the United States. There are said, for example, to be many such cave and tunnel networks in and around Mount Shasta in California, a location that is awash with legends of strange lights and equally strange creatures. Much the same can be said for Brown Mountain in North Carolina, where, as well as the rumors of intricate tunnel networks in the area, there are regular sightings and reports of bizarre, glowing orbs in and around the mountain.
Without a doubt, some of the strangest and most intriguing underground locations in the United States are the alleged ancient tunnel networks of the Grand Canyon, a location, incidentally, that has a long history of strange, supernatural entities and bizarre energies, as well as a place awash with multiple conspiracy theories. Moreover, there are legends and accounts of bizarre lights and unsettling noises coming from the region and even accounts of timeslip events and temporal anomalies.
Perhaps of particular interest to many people regarding the legends of the Grand Canyon are tales of lost cities and tunnel networks that are said to exist under the ground of this area of natural beauty, just one of which is referred to as the Lost City of Supai, said to only be visible to those who had advanced wisdom and spiritual enlightenment.
There is little doubt that one of the most thought-provoking accounts connected to the Grand Canyon is the 1909 expedition of G.E. Kinkaid, during which it is claimed he discovered physical evidence of the underground remains of a mysterious ancient civilization. The main purpose behind the mission – which was sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute – was to carry out geological surveys so as to document the natural marvels of the canyon. He would, though, discover much more than he bargained for.
According to a report of the expedition in the Arizona Gazette, Kinkaid noticed a cave opening in the rocky walls that lined the water’s edge of the Colorado River. Immediately intrigued, Kinkaid and his team ventured inside the entrance. As they made their way deep into the cave (eventually discovered to extend approximately a mile under the ground), they could see that the walkway was not a natural formation, with distinct and deliberate chisel markings evident. As they ventured inside further, they discovered various chamber-like rooms on either side of the subterranean walkway. Then, around 100 feet from the entrance, Kinkaid found himself in a grand hall that was around 700 feet in length. This chamber was full of ancient relics, including a statue of a figure sitting cross-legged with a lotus flower in each hand, perhaps, as Kinkaid suggested, an ancient deity worshipped by whoever had once called this location home.
Kinkaid and his team explored the network in full, discovering various pieces of pottery and vases as they did so. Kinkaid later estimated that around 50,000 people could have comfortably fit inside the underground network, and also documented that the underground lair had an intricate ventilation system – all, that is, except for one chamber that they discovered at the lowest level. Moreover, all agreed that an ominous “serpent-like odor” came from this chamber, something which convinced them to abandon any thoughts of exploring this particular room, not least as their lamps appeared to have no effect on the darkness inside. Although this room went unexplored, many other rooms didn’t.
As the team ventured through the network, they noted multiple urns and statues, all decorated with ancient Egyptian-style hieroglyphics. Even more remarkable, these same styles of symbols were discovered carved into many of the rocky walls of the tunnel network, as well as into a large stone table. Incidentally, there is no record of any deciphering or translation of these symbols, although it is worth mentioning that there have been discoveries of similar symbols in a cave along another stretch of the Colorado River in southern Arizona.
The most remarkable discovery, however, came in a chamber at the end of the tunnel that was separate from the others. Kinkaid claimed that as soon as he entered this particular room, he could see evidence of meticulous planning and advanced engineering. Moreover, the room was full of large statues that had been intricately carved, multiple copper vessels, as well as various swords and spears. Most astonishing of all, though, was the discovery of several mummies, each of which was remarkably well preserved and each around nine feet in height. Although these mummies were extremely similar to those found in ancient Egypt, they were wrapped in a strange, dark material as opposed to white linen.
These mummies, along with the strange symbols, were not the only potential connection to ancient Egypt. Rumors began to circulate in the years following Kinkaid’s expedition that they had also discovered a large boat in the same style as vessels discovered in ancient Egyptian locations, leading to some researchers into the case in the years since asking if there was some kind of direct connection between to the ancient Egyptian civilization, or even to the Atlanteans.
Of course, underlying this connection is the fact that the apparent civilization that once called the Grand Canyon home (if indeed there was such a civilization) was the fact that they were, technically at least, giants. Were these apparent giants of the Grand Canyon connected to ancient Egypt through trade, or was this evidence of some kind of unrecorded migration? Or, given their literal stature, were these mummies the remains of ancient Egyptian gods who had, for reasons unknown, retreated to what is modern-day North America?
As we might imagine, many are more than skeptical about such claims. There are, though, many things to consider, perhaps not least that Kinkaid, rather than being some kind of rogue explorer, had been commissioned to undertake the expedition by the Smithsonian Institution (although we should note that the organization has always denied such discoveries were made). We might also ask just why Kinkaid would have risked his reputation by making such claims if they weren’t true, and, given Kinkaid’s experience, it is highly unlikely that he had misidentified such findings.
Adding a further twist to the whole affair were the claims in the years that followed that the entrance Kinkaid had discovered had been sealed shut by a mysterious government agency group. If this is true, we might ask, what do such dark agencies fear humanity will learn that requires it to be suppressed? Of course, if there was any truth to such claims, then not only would it suggest that advanced human civilization was on the North American continent long before mainstream academics state, but that such legends of “giants” are also true, both of which would force major rethinks on human history.
There are also apparent connections to ancient Egypt. Is it possible, for example, that the ancient Egyptians made it much further – all the way to North America – than is known? And once there, did they encounter a race of giants – each standing around nine feet tall – and is that where legends of giants stem from? It is worth noting that there have been many alleged discoveries of gigantic remains in North America, many of which have been documented in newspaper articles from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century (with alleged discoveries still happening today, albeit fewer and further between). Or might this potential giant civilization have arrived in Egypt, and then taken certain artifacts back with them? Once more, we might ask, was this giant race seen as “the gods” of ancient Egypt, and if so, what is their origin – are they indigenous to our planet or might they have come here from elsewhere?
Perhaps one of the most intriguing and disturbing underground locations is one alleged to stretch out from deep under Moscow, a product of the Cold War that some insist remains operational today. The location in question is said to reside deep under the Moscow Metro rail network, referred to as Metro-2, and rather than just being one level below the metro system, some researchers have suggested that this secret underground network stretches to 15 levels below the Russian capital.
It is said that this secret rail network was discreetly built at the same time as the public metro system, which, despite plans being in place since the early 1900s, did not start until 1931. According to some sources, many of the workers of the metro system were political opponents of the Stalin regime. There were, though, certain “loyal workers” – often members of the Russian military – who were taken off the project, and directed to another, secret line – Metro 2.
As we might imagine, with such a secretive location, information is sketchy at best. Some believe that the line, while almost certainly built, ceased to be operational upon Stalin’s death. Others, though, believe the work continued for decades, even after the fall of the Soviet Union. One researcher – Yuri Zaitsev – claims there are four main lines to the Metro-2 system, which connect the Federal Security Services to various government departments and buildings, including the government airport at Vnukovo.
Perhaps making such claims of secret rail network existing and still operating deep under Moscow even more intriguing are claims made by the head of the Moscow Metro independent trade union, Yuri Saitsev, in 2008 that there was a “recruiting drive for secret routes” among metro drivers, adding that “entering the midst of these tunnels is only for people with special clearance!” Further details suggest that the trains in operation on the Metro-2 system are “very short”, very often with only one passenger car and operated by an electric battery.
Yuri Saitsev is not the only person to have seemingly confirmed the existence of Metro-2. Also in 2008, Mikhail Poltorani, a former minister under Boris Yeltsin, stated that not only did the secret rail network exist, but that it could “hide a lot of people!” He elaborated that “Metro-2 has branches that go to the suburbs so that the command could move away from the epicenter of a nuclear attack!”
It is also worth our time examining the 1992 book Abyss by Vladimir Gonik, or more specifically, his inspiration for it. The plot of the book is set in an underground bunker in Moscow, although he claimed – after the fall of the Soviet Union, remember – that this plot and the details around it stem directly from information he learned while working for the Soviet Ministry of Defense from the early 1970s to the mid-80s. He stated that it was during this time that the term “Metro-2” began being used, mainly by high-ranking members of the Politburo, as well as high-ranking members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). Further details, if we assume Gonik’s claims are accurate, offer that each of these elite, high-ranking members had a personal underground apartment, complete lounge, bathroom, kitchen, and study, with each being large enough to house them and their families.
Another former Soviet minister – Alexander Muzykantskiy – claimed the Metro-2 system was “gigantic” and was “designed to ensure the stable operation of the senior military and political leadership in times of armed conflict, including nuclear conflict!” Oleg Gordievsky, another researcher and Soviet defector, made similar claims, stating that the main secret of the KGB was “a huge underground city. A whole communications network of such facilities!”
Of course, despite the wealth of people offering that the secret rail system exists, most people dismiss such claims as nothing but conspiracy theories, including the Russian authorities themselves. However, there are other reasons to believe that such claims are true, if only in part – and one of these is a “vacant lot” in the south-west district of Moscow, Remenki, and so named, Remenki-43 According to some researchers, in this seemingly abandoned lot, is an entrance to a huge underground bunker said to be able to house up to 15,000 people, and connected to other similar networks by the Metro-2 rail system.
With those claims in mind, it is worth examining other potential entrance and exit points to Metro-2 at other similar, seemingly abandoned buildings. In 1985, for example, five years after it had begun, work suddenly ceased on the would-be state-of-the-art Khovrino Hospital complex, with the site simply being abandoned. Needless to say, the unfinished complex attracted all manner of unsavory characters, including several apparent Satanic cults. One member of a film crew who was there to film a documentary stated that it was “one of the most feared unfinished construction projects on the planet!” It is also rumored, at least by some, to be another secretive entrance to the equally secret underground network.
It is also worth highlighting another abandoned building, the Rossiya Hotel, right in the heart of Moscow, which was demolished in 2006. The hotel had opened in 1967 and was for the sole use of Communist Party officials, and before its construction, an entire section of the city was flattened to the ground to build it. Following its destruction, though, those on the demolition team made some remarkable discoveries, not least an underground tunnel system that led to some kind of nuclear bunker. The person in charge of the destruction of the hotel and the development of the land was Shalva Chigirinsky. He claimed that shortly after they made the discovery, “mysterious agents” arrived at the site. He later claimed in interviews with the media that “some people in plain clothes are not allowing us access to an area where there is a tunnel from the Kremlin!”
Ultimately, it appears if there is any truth in the claims of a secret rail network connecting a vast underground city deep below Moscow and the surrounding areas, then those secrets continue to be covered up today, perhaps, as the powers on the world stage in the mid-2020s are seemingly in flux somewhat, for the same reasons they were during the Cold War of the second half of the twentieth century. There are, though, other claims regarding the strange goings-on in the alleged underground facilities under Moscow, ones that stretch back to the years immediately following the end of the Second World War, and it is to those we will turn our attention to next.
According to Russian UFO researcher Anton Anfalov, in the summer of 1947, as Soviet soldiers began the rebuilding operation of Kyiv (in modern-day Ukraine), a huge, silver object was discovered around 15 feet under the ground. It is not clear if the object had been purposely abandoned or if it had crashed, but Soviet troops soon cordoned off the area, and the object was discreetly transported to Podlipki (now called Korolyev) just outside Moscow. Further according to the report, once Soviet scientists had examined the otherworldly object, they made some remarkable discoveries.
It was determined that, rather than being a top-secret advanced craft of the Americans or the Third Reich, the object had been underground for approximately 5000 years. Moreover, they eventually managed to gain access to the inside of the craft, which contained multiple advanced technological instruments. They also discovered two small chairs in what was presumed to be the cockpit area of the craft, each presumably for the pilots, which must have been much smaller than a typical adult human, around three to four feet tall. Ultimately, it was determined that the craft was “not of terrestrial origin” and was of “non-human manufacture!” Further examination of the craft led scientists to conclude that this section was only the front part of the craft, with the rest either residing under the ground elsewhere or even destroyed at the time of the impact. There were also discoveries of strange inscriptions in the cabin similar to ancient Sanskrit, which led those studying the object to consider whether it was some kind of Vimana documented in ancient Indian texts.
Anfalov continued that scientists even managed to reverse-engineer parts of the technology they discovered in the craft, with which, they managed to greatly upgrade their own rocket and missile systems. Most of this technology was so far advanced that scientists and engineers struggled to understand the vast majority of it. That said, we might ask whether it is a coincidence or not that the Soviet Union managed to launch history’s first satellite only a decade later.
Whatever the truth, in the book The World’s Weirdest Places, Nick Redfern relays the claims of one-time KGB officer, V L Durov, who claimed that not only was the account of a recovered UFO from Kyiv true, but that in 1987, the vehicle was transported to a secret bunker “far below the Kremlin” – almost certainly on the Metro-2 line. Durov elaborated that this was done using a “series of very deep underground rail systems” that had originally been designed to “ferry and protect senior government and military personnel in the event of a nuclear strike on Moscow!”
With this idea of advanced vehicles from another world being stored deep under the ground of modern cities, it is perhaps worth our time returning to the United Kingdom and claims of otherworldly craft residing under the grounds of a stately home in the south of England, specifically, Rudloe Manor near the city of Bath. The property and the ground upon which it sits date back to the times of King Henry III in the 1200s, and progressed through the hands of various lords and nobility until Countess Raben sold the entire estate to the Air Ministry in 1940 to aid with the war effort.
Upon purchasing the grounds, the many underground mining tunnels around the estate were modified by the military to accommodate the building of warplanes underground, safe from German bombing missions. This was the case with many such stately homes around the UK during the early 1940s, however, unlike most of these estates, following the end of the war, Rudloe Manor remained in the hands of the British military, and the reason for this, at least according to some, was because deep below the ground in the tunnel network was the remains of a craft from another world.
Here, it is worth mentioning the claims of the late and respected journalist Dorothy Kilgallen. She claimed as far back as the late 1950s that she had been informed by a “British Official of Cabinet rank” that the British government (through their military) had recovered a crashed UFO shortly after the war, with the futuristic vehicle being stored under Rudloe Manor. Further according to Kilgallen’s source, multiple of the United Kingdom’s top scientists had been involved in reverse-engineering projects on the vehicle that had “come from another world!”
As we might imagine, the British military denied the claims, stating that Kilgallen must have been the victim of a hoax. Coincidentally or not, Kilgallen, who was also investigating the John F. Kennedy assassination, died in suspicious circumstances shortly after making such claims. We should perhaps make of that what we will.
Whatever the truth of the matter, Rudloe Manor remains a place of secrecy today, over three-quarters of a century after the end of the Second World War, surrounded by high-security military fencing. With this in mind, it is perhaps also worth mentioning that the entire Wiltshire region is a hotspot of UFO activity. Might this be because of alleged advanced aerial vehicles being housed underground at Rudloe Manor, with subsequent test flights of reverse-engineered technology taking place from there?
What is known is that Rudloe Manor once acted as the headquarters for the RAF Provost and Security Services (PSS), a covert-type organization that deals with “special security needs” and connects to such organizations as MI5 and MI6. We might imagine, then, that if such an organization has its headquarters on the property, it would make sense to house such a possession as a downed UFO in the same place.
There are also claims that the network below the property stretches down several floors, with bunkers for high-ranking government and military officials, and even the Royal Family. There are even claims from some researchers that other bunkers stretch down even further, although these levels are seemingly off-limits to all but a very select few.
Here, it is worth highlighting the work of Timothy Good, who, in his 1991 book Alien Liaison, claimed that a source who worked for the PSS told him that all UFO reports submitted in the United Kingdom are fed through the PSS at Rudloe Manor. From there, they were sent to a Metropole Building on Northumberland Lane in London before being sent to the relevant department of the Ministry of Defense. Interestingly or not, another UFO researcher, Gordon Creighton, had independently claimed that one of his sources was a former United States intelligence officer who worked out of the very same building on Northumberland Lane. Moreover, declassified files since the release of Alien Liaison have proven Good’s claims to be correct. As a demonstration of the discreet nature of the activities at Rudloe Manor, Good’s source claimed that “the activities of this unit are so secret that fellow investigators serving in the Special Investigations and Counter-Intelligence services are not aware of their activities!”
With all of this in mind, it is also worth examining the activities of the Corsham Computer Centre (CCC), an underground facility in Wiltshire. This “data processing” unit employs around 4000 people, all of whom can only enter and leave the building following strict procedures, and who must have their ID with them at all times. According to some researchers, several tunnels lead from this secretive underground facility directly to the underground facility below Rudloe Manor, with some even calling this network an “underground city!”
There are several discreet entrances to the main underground entrance of the CCC building, including through old mining caves and old railway tunnels. Several people have gained access to the outside of the inner facility through these unorthodox entrances and reported seeing extensive and modern lighting systems, as well as fully tarmacked roads. The 24-hour television news channel Sky News received permission to film at the facility in September 2000. Whether it was an error of judgment on the CCC’s part, during that broadcast, huge ventilation fans similar to jumbo jet engines were visible, as well as some kind of nuclear bunkers and a rail network – and it was this rail network, it is claimed by some, that lead directly to the underground facility at Rudloe Manor. Further, according to other researchers, a huge computer network exists at the CCC, which connects to systems at GCHQ and the NSA, with further suggestions that one of the underground rail networks even leads directly to Westminster and the heart of the British government.
As we can see, then, there is a lot more going on under the ground than many of us might think. Whether it is the ghosts of old rail stations, strange creatures in tunnels and sewer networks, ancient discoveries suppressed by the authorities, or even top-secret subterranean lairs for the world’s elites, deep below the ground holds much fascination, as well as, it would appear, many secrets. Indeed, further study of these fascinating subterranean locations could very well tell us much more about the nature of our collective reality.
NASA's Top 5 Technical Challenges Countdown: #1: Survive the Lunar Night
NASA's Top 5 Technical Challenges Countdown: #1: Survive the Lunar Night
By Paul Sutter
In this series we are exploring NASA's top five challenges as detailed in its Civil Space Shortfall Ranking, which is basically NASA's Christmas wish list. These are the technologies that NASA believes we need to develop if we want to go to space…and stay there.
And finally, after multiple rounds of voting from NASA centers, industry partners, and academic researchers, the highest priority goal we need to accomplish to make all our space dreams come true: surviving the Lunar night.
Now I know this sounds like a low-budget knockoff of Five Nights at Freddy's, but it's the real deal. The Lunar night is no fun at all. For one, it typically lasts two weeks at a time (although there are some peaks that receive sunlight almost permanently, but there are also regions where the sun never strikes at all). For another, temperatures can plummet down to 35 degrees above absolute zero. This is absolutely unprecedented; there is no analogy to anything we have experienced on the Earth. Even in arctic regions, where the Sun can disappear for months at a time, are helped by the fact that we still have an atmosphere that can retain and distribute heat. When the Sun shines on the equator, some of that heat makes it up to the poles. But the Moon has no atmosphere, so the only heat you get is from the Sun. When it's gone, it's gone. This makes nighttime operations are a serious challenge. It's really hard to design electronics, and especially batteries, that can function for long periods of time at low temperatures, because almost all of our battery designs rely on chemical processes to generate electricity – processes that slow down at low temperatures, and all of our electronics are designed to work…you know, on Earth.
There has been some headway in the direction of surviving the lunar night. In early 2024 the Japanese lander SLIM, for Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, also known by the much cooler anime nickname of "Moon Sniper", made history by surviving three lunar nights – that's three four-week cycles of light and darkness. But to survive the nights the lander had to shut down and enter a hibernation state, hoping that its batteries would stay warm enough to power itself back up once daylight hit again.
So while that technically counts as surviving the lunar night, that's not exactly what NASA and its partners had in mind when they ranked this as their number one challenge. We can't just go into low-power sleep mode every two weeks, especially if we're talking about extended human or even robotic activities on the lunar surface.
Surviving the Lunar night means transitioning from a daylight temperature of over a blistering 120 degrees Celsius (or 260 degrees Fahrenheit) all the way down to -240 Celsius at night, which is…negative a lot in Fahrenheit. On the other side of the coin, our own robotics and electronics are going to generate their own heat, anywhere from 5 Watts to 10,000 Watts. We need to efficiently manage that heat and make sure it doesn't warp or destroy other vital components on its way out of the spacecraft, especially when the outside temperatures will vary so much.
What will it take to enable lunar night operations? We need components that can manage those kinds of massive temperature swings and still efficiently operate in frigid conditions. We need systems that can efficiently dump heat in both freezing and boiling outside conditions. We need large solar panels that can absorb energy during the daytime and low-temperature batteries that can continue to supply that power through the night. We can't just have these components specialized to one temperature extreme or the other – they need to be able to handle both.
I see this challenge as the culmination of all the other ones. Surviving the lunar night isn't easy, but it serves as a critical milestone in our advance into space. If we want to survive the lunar night and maintain activities and exploration for those two weeks of darkness, we need to solve the other four challenges. This will be our true test. We can't just content ourselves with literal day-trips or low-power night modes. We have to be able to maintain the same level of activity regardless of the daylight conditions. We need high-powered, capable robotics. We need reliable systems for timing and navigation. We need more sophisticated computers, and most importantly we need a lot of electricity. If we can maintain robotic or crewed activities through lunar night after night, then we will have the technological base we need to create a more robust presence on the Moon and extend even further into the solar system.
It won't be easy. The lunar night is unforgivingly cold, depressingly dark, and depressingly long. But hey, at least we'll get a great view of the stars.
Waren ‘Gods zonen’ en de ‘reuzen’ in Genesis 6 buitenaardse wezens?
Waren ‘Gods zonen’ en de ‘reuzen’ in Genesis 6 buitenaardse wezens?
In het negende hoofdstuk1 van het boek Hoe Bestaat Het! gaan de auteurs in op speculaties rondom de identiteit van ‘Gods zonen’ en de ‘reuzen’ in Genesis 6. Naast het verkennen van de vraag of dit buitenaardse wezens zijn geweest en of de aarde ooit bezocht is door aliens wordt er ook ingegaan op de vraag of er überhaupt wel leven buiten onze planeet kan zijn. Is het eigenlijk wel mogelijk om enorme afstanden door het heelal af te leggen? De antwoorden zullen je misschien wel verbazen!
Het speculeren over buitenaards leven is tientallen jaren lang gevoed door verhalen over vliegende schotels en ontmoetingen met buitenaardse wezens. Sommige mensen beweerden zelfs dat ‘Gods zonen’ en/of de reuzen die in Genesis 6:4 genoemd worden, nephilim in het Hebreeuws, buitenaardse wezens waren. Dit onderwerp komt later in dit hoofdstuk aan de orde.
Seculiere humanisten, zoals wijlen Carl Sagan, hebben hartstochtelijk verkondigd dat naast het leven hier op aarde ook ‘daarboven’ intelligent leven is geëvolueerd. Het geloof in de evolutie van het leven op aarde is een enorme stimulans geweest voor het geloof dat leven ook ergens anders zou kunnen zijn geëvolueerd, zeker gezien de afmetingen van het heelal. Het heeft zeker het geloof in ‘het buitenaardse’ aangemoedigd.
Deze meteoriet is ten onrechte gebruikt om aan te tonen dat er ooit leven op Mars is geweest.
In 1996 werd dit idee aangewakkerd vanuit een heel andere bron. Wetenschappers van de NASA beweerden bewijsmateriaal te hebben gevonden voor eenvoudige levensvormen in een meteoriet die op Antarctica was gevonden. Die meteoriet zou van Mars afkomstig zijn. Sindsdien is het enthousiasme voor dit ‘bewijs’ voor leven in het ‘Marsgesteente’ in wetenschappelijke kringen sterk afgenomen.2,3
De Mars-meteoriet NWA 7034 met onderaan een blokje van 1 kubieke centimeter.
De zogenaamde ‘nanofossielen’ waren waarschijnlijk niet meer dan magnetietdraden en veranderingen die door het experimentele proces zijn ontstaan.4 Ondanks dit alles ontketende deze steen met een gewicht van twee kilo een hevige ‘Marsbevlieging’. Amerikanen, Europeanen, Japanners en Russen werken aan tientallen projecten waarin de komende twintig jaar onze dichtstbijzijnde buurplaneet wordt onderzocht; de kortste afstand van Mars tot de aarde bedraagt ongeveer 78 miljoen kilometer. Intussen blijft het geloof in buitenaardse intelligentie gestaag groeien, met een bijna religieuze gedrevenheid.
De ufo-golf
Hoogleraar John E. Mack, die psychiatrie doceerde aan de Universiteit van Harvard, trok wereldwijd de aandacht met zijn boek ‘Ontmoetingen’ (oorspronkelijke titel: Abduction: Human encounters with aliens). Daarnaast dook er een sensationele film op over wat een autopsie zou zijn op een buitenaards wezen dat zou zijn neergestort in New Mexico, vlak bij de Amerikaanse luchtmachtbasis Roswell. De vage filmbeelden vormden de belangrijkste attractie op het wereldcongres van ufo-aanhangers in 1995 in Düsseldorf, Duitsland. Sindsdien is bekend geworden dat het bij de film ging om niet meer dan een gebrekkige vervalsing.
Een andere belangrijke factor was de succesfilm Independence Day, die gaat over een invasie op aarde door buitenaardse wezens. De film bracht in zijn eerste week meer geld op dan welke eerdere film ook. Dit soort sciencefictionverhalen, vaak met ‘buitenaards leven’ als thema, is tegenwoordig het populairste vermaaksgenre ter wereld. Uit populaire enquêtes blijkt dat wel vier van de vijf mensen geloven in buitenaards leven en het idee dat buitenaardse wezens het doen en laten van de mensen in de gaten houden.5 Wat moeten christenen denken van deze ufo-verhalen?
Wat zegt de Bijbel?
a. De Schrift rept niet van buitenaards bezoek en ‘aliens’ De Bijbel, het geopenbaarde, opgeschreven Woord van God, vertelt ons dat het leven alleen mogelijk is door een proces van schepping. Zelfs al zouden er andere sterrenstelsels zijn met planeten die op de aarde lijken, dan zou daar slechts leven kunnen zijn als de Schepper het had gemaakt. Als God dat zou hebben gedaan, en deze wezens zouden ons ooit komen bezoeken, zou Hij ons daar zeker over hebben ingelicht. Buitenaardse wezens met dergelijke macht en technologische staat zouden op vele manieren superieur kunnen zijn aan de mens. Dit zou het door God aan de mens gegeven mandaat om heerschappij te voeren over de schepping en haar te onderwerpen (Gen. 1:28) ontwrichten.
God heeft ons vrij specifieke details gegeven over de toekomst, bijvoorbeeld over de wederkomst van Jezus, en enkele details over het einde van de wereld. Het heelal zal op een bepaald moment in de toekomst worden opgerold als een boekrol (Jes. 34:4; Openb. 6:14). Als God ergens anders levende wezens had geschapen, zou dit ook automatisch hun verblijfplaats vernietigen. Door de zonde van Adam is de gehele schepping onder de vloek gekomen. Want anders zou het niet nodig zijn voor God om een ‘nieuwe hemel en een nieuwe aarde’ te scheppen. Waarom zou een ander ras van wezens, die geen deel uitmaken van Adams (zondige) nageslacht, hun gedeelte van de geschapen wereld aangetast zien door de vloek? En waarom zouden zij dan deel uitmaken van het herstel dat Jezus, de laatste Adam, zal brengen? Dat zou kant noch wal raken.6 Jezus wordt niet talloze keren gekruisigd en opgewekt op andere planeten. De Bijbel zegt dat Hij ‘der zonde eenmaal’ is gestorven (Rom. 6:10).
Er zijn mensen die beweren dat de nephilim,7 of ‘Gods zonen’, die beiden genoemd worden in Genesis 6:2-4, buitenaardse wezens waren. Dit is een wilde uitschieter van de gangbare8 mening dat ‘Gods zonen’ die met de ‘dochters van de mensen’ trouwden, gevallen engelen waren.
‘Gods zonen’ (Hebreeuws: bene elohim) worden in Job 38:7 duidelijk als engelen aangeduid. De Septuagint (LXX9) vertaalt hier ‘zonen van God’ met ‘engelen van God’. Als we Genesis 6:4 rechttoe rechtaan lezen, staat er feitelijk dat kwaadaardige engelen samenwoonden met vrouwen. De nakomelingen die daaruit voortkwamen werden ‘nephilim’ genoemd, wat letterlijk de ‘gevallenen’ betekent. Hoewel dit een moeilijke passage is, die onze mening over de spirituele dimensie en het lichamelijke aspect van engelen op de proef stelt, is het sterkste argument dat voor deze opvatting pleit het feit dat dit de eenvoudigste verklaring van de tekst is. Daarnaast is er ook vanuit het Nieuwe Testament ondersteuning voor deze uitleg (Jud. 6-7; 2 Petr. 2:4-5; 1 Petr. 3:18-20).10 Er zijn ook mensen die hebben voorgesteld dat het gaat om kwaadaardige engelen die op aarde leefden en mogelijk via demonische macht bezit namen van lichamen van goddeloze mensen. Vervolgens gebruikten ze die lichamen om hun kwaadaardige doel te bereiken, namelijk het voortbrengen van een verdorven generatie mensen (Gen. 6:12).11 Maar voor deze stelling vinden we niet veel onderbouwing in de tekst.
Het is overigens interessant dat het woord nephilim, of reuzen, alleen gebruikt wordt in Genesis 6:4 en Numeri 13:33. In het laatste geval wordt er verwezen naar de nakomelingen van Enak. Dit waren grote mensen, maar wel gewoon mensen. Het is echter waarschijnlijk dat het noemen van de nephilim in dit gedeelte, of het nu om de nakomelingen van Enak ging of om de nephilim van voor de zondvloed, een leugen was van de spionnen om de Israëlieten af te brengen van het voornemen om het beloofde land binnen te trekken. God strafte de spionnen immers later voor het geven van valse getuigenissen (Num. 14:11, 36-37).
Hoewel ‘Gods zonen’ in het Oude Testament uitsluitend wordt gebruikt om naar engelen te verwijzen, worden in Hosea 1:10 met ‘kinderen des levenden Gods’ specifiek de kinderen van Israël bedoeld. De bijbelgeleerde H.C. Leupold heeft gesuggereerd12 dat de ‘zonen van God’ de nakomelingen van Seth waren, de goddelijke lijn die wordt beschreven in Genesis 4:25-5:32. Leupold schreef: ‘Maar wie waren deze “zonen van God”? Zonder enige twijfel de Sethieten…’13
Volgens deze visie raakten de nakomelingen van Seth van het rechte pad en trouwden ze met de ‘dochters van mensen’, waarbij ze hun keuze slechts baseerden op het uiterlijk en geen belang hechtten aan hun godsvrucht. De nephilim waren hun nakomelingen. Anderen hebben tegen deze opvatting bezwaar gemaakt. Ze hebben gesteld dat in de tekst specifiek ‘zonen van Seth’ en ‘dochters van Kaïn’ zou moeten staan. Ook wordt gesteld dat de Sethieten als geheel geen godvruchtige groep konden zijn, omdat bloedverwantschap geen garantie is voor vroomheid en rechtvaardigheid (denk aan de koningen van Israël).14 Nog weer een andere opvatting heeft te maken met het feit dat heersers in het oude Egypte en Mesopotamië15 zichzelf ‘zonen van God’ lieten noemen om hun macht en prestige te vergroten. Dan kunnen de ‘zonen van God’ in Genesis 6 op macht beluste heersers en despoten zijn. In hun honger naar macht en invloed zouden ze vele vrouwen tot zich hebben genomen in polygamie. Door tirannie zijn zij en hun nakomelingen ‘machtige mannen’ geworden (Nimrod wordt in Genesis 10:8 beschreven als een van deze ‘machtigen’). Ongeacht wat de juiste interpretatie is, het is niet nodig om onze toevlucht te zoeken tot fantasierijke ideeën met buitenaardse wezens om dit stuk van de Bijbel te begrijpen.
b. Het doel van de sterren De Bijbel vermeldt verschillende keren waarom de sterren zijn gemaakt. Niet alleen in de bekende Psalm 19, maar in het bijzonder ook in het verslag over de schepping. In Genesis 1:14 lezen we: ‘En God zei: Dat er lichten zijn in het uitspansel des hemels, om scheiding te maken tussen de dag en tussen de nacht; en dat zij zijn tot tekenen en tot gezette tijden, en tot dagen en jaren.’ Dus God heeft de sterren gemaakt voor de mensen op aarde en niet voor een of ander buitenaards ras ergens in de ruimte. Als je daar de scheppingsvolgorde aan toevoegt (de aarde op de eerste dag en de sterren pas op de vierde dag), is het eenvoudig om de nadruk in het bijbelse getuigenis te zien, namelijk dat het doel van de schepping volkomen gericht is op de aarde.
Wetenschap
1. Er is nooit enig contact geweest met een buitenaards wezen In 1900 loofde de Franse Academie voor Wetenschappen een prijs uit van 100.000 Franse francs16 voor de eerste persoon die contact zou maken met een buitenaardse beschaving. De buitenaardse wezens mochten echter niet afkomstig zijn van Mars, want de Academie was ervan overtuigd dat het een vaststaand feit was dat er een beschaving bestond op Mars! Sindsdien is er echter geen enkel spoor van ‘kleine groene mannetjes’ of enige andere vorm van leven gevonden op de planeten, inclusief Mars, die door de mensheid zijn onderzocht. Desondanks denkt een groot aantal astronomen dat, omdat het leven hier verondersteld wordt te zijn geëvolueerd, dit ook het geval zal zijn geweest op een van de vele sterren daarboven. Onderzoekers van het ruimteonderzoeksprogramma SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence17) van over de hele wereld hebben jarenlang de hemel zonder resultaat afgezocht naar signalen van buitenaardse wezens. Vele jaren is er geluisterd op miljoenen verschillende frequenties, maar is er desondanks niets gehoord wat er ook maar op wijst dat er buitenaards intelligent leven is.
‘Is het waar dat niet een van uw experimenten tekenen van buitenaards leven heeft laten zien?’
2. De omstandigheden moeten ‘precies goed’ zijn Het leven op een planeet kan alleen voortbestaan als aan een aantal zeer strenge voorwaarden wordt voldaan. De afstand van de planeet tot zijn zon moet bijvoorbeeld precies goed zijn, zodat het niet te koud en ook niet te warm is. Om precies te zijn: de temperatuur moet zich bevinden in het kleine temperatuurgebied waarbij vloeibaar water voorkomt. Zelfs als het bestaan van planeten rond andere sterren wordt bevestigd, dan nog is het hoogst onwaarschijnlijk dat er één gevonden wordt die aan alle voorwaarden voldoet. De aanwezigheid van vloeibaar water op zichzelf is volkomen onvoldoende, ondanks de grote opwinding die werd veroorzaakt door de mogelijke ontdekking daarvan op het oppervlak van de Europa, een van de manen van Jupiter. De onwaarschijnlijkheid van leven elders in het heelal spreekt ook tegen de idee dat leven per ongeluk naar de aarde is gedreven of met opzet hiernaartoe is gestuurd door buitenaardse wezens (‘panspermia’ en ‘geleide panspermia’).18
3. Leven kan sowieso niet spontaan ontstaan Zonder intelligente, creatieve input kunnen levenloze chemicaliën zichzelf niet veranderen in levende dingen.19 Het idee dat zij dit wel kunnen, wordt de theorie van het spontane ontstaan (abiogenese) genoemd. Louis Pasteur, de grondlegger van de microbiologie en zelf een creationist, bewees de onjuistheid van deze theorie. Zonder de ongegronde evolutionistische speculaties zou ufo-logie niet die grip hebben op de publieke verbeelding die zij nu heeft.
4. Enorme afstanden Zelfs als we aannemen dat er elders in dit heelal leven voorkomt, lijkt een bezoek van buitenaardse wezens aan de aarde zoals wordt beweerd in de berichten over ufo’s, absoluut onuitvoerbaar of zelfs onmogelijk. De afstanden, en daarmee de waarschijnlijke reistijden, zijn onvoorstelbaar groot.
De dichtstbijzijnde ster ten opzichte van de aarde is Proxima Centauri (α-Centauri C). Deze ster staat op een afstand van 40,7 miljoen kilometer. De Apollo-vluchten deden er drie dagen over om de maan te bereiken. Met die snelheid zou het 870.000 jaar duren om bij de dichtstbijzijnde ster te komen. Het zou natuurlijk mogelijk zijn om (met name onbemande) verkenningsvluchten tot grotere snelheden te versnellen. Als het zou lukken om de ongelofelijke snelheid van één tiende van de lichtsnelheid te bereiken, zou op die snelheid een enkele reis nog steeds 43 jaar duren. Om een dergelijke versnelling te bereiken, zijn enorme hoeveelheden energie nodig. Zelfs een klein ruimtevaartuig van 10 kg zou een hoeveelheid energie nodig hebben die gelijk is aan de hoeveelheid energie die ’s werelds grootste waterkrachtcentrale in vier dagen tijd opwekt (zie kader aan het einde van dit hoofdstuk).
Bovendien zit er in elke kubieke kilometer ruimte een geschatte hoeveelheid van 100.000 stofdeeltjes van silicaten en ijs, die slechts 0,1 gram wegen. Bij dergelijke snelheden zou zelfs een botsing met een dergelijk klein deeltje een ruimtevaartuig kunnen vernietigen.20
Hoe zit het dan met ufo’s?
Wat moeten we dan denken van ufo’s, alles wat daarmee te maken heeft en de hype waarmee ze zijn omgeven? Het Duitse tijdschrift Focus schreef : ‘90% van alle ufo-berichten blijkt onzin te zijn, maar er blijft nog 10% over die niet zo eenvoudig naar de prullenbak kan worden verwezen.’21 Het artikel citeerde ook de volgende uitspraak van de socioloog Gerald Eberlein: ‘Onderzoek heeft aangetoond dat vooral mensen zonder binding met een kerkgenootschap, maar die wel zeggen religieus te zijn, ontvankelijk zijn voor het mogelijke bestaan van buitenaardse wezens. Voor hen is de ufo-logie een vervanging voor religie.’22
Soms zijn er echter geloofwaardige getuigen, die vreemde objecten hebben gezien die zelfs lijken op metalen vaartuigen. Vele toonaangevende ufo-onderzoekers zijn het erover eens dat een klein percentage van deze objecten bovennatuurlijke dingen laat zien, die tegen de wetten van de fysica ingaan. Een voorbeeld hiervan is verandering van vorm en de samenvoeging met andere objecten met zeer grote snelheid. De Bijbel gaat wat dieper in op dit onderwerp en laat een andere oorzaak en gevolg zien:
‘Hem, zeg ik, wiens toekomst is naar de werking des satans, in alle kracht, en tekenen, en wonderen der leugen; en in alle verleiding der onrechtvaardigheid in degenen die verloren gaan; daarvoor dat zij de liefde der waarheid niet aangenomen hebben, om zalig te worden. En daarom zal God hun zenden een kracht der dwaling, dat zij de leugen zouden geloven.’ (2 Thess. 2:9-11)23
De Bijbel voorziet in een beschrijving van de werkelijkheid met betrekking tot alle levende zaken. De levende God openbaart Zich als de Drie- Enige – Vader, Zoon en Heilige Geest. In de hemel zijn er de engelen, machtige geschapen wezens, die ook de mensheid op aarde dienen.
Er is ook een ander koninkrijk, dat van de duivel en de demonen.24 In Efeze 2:2 wordt gesproken over de ‘overste van de macht der lucht’, die nu heerst op aarde, en die zich voordoet als ‘een engel des lichts’ (2 Kor. 11:14). De duivel heeft zijn eigen repertoire aan misleidingen, in de vorm van verschillende occulte praktijken en een veelheid aan religieuze riten. Het is best mogelijk dat de meester-misleider achter deze onverklaarbare meldingen van ufo’s zit.25 Per definitie zijn meldingen van ufo’s vaag en niet identificeerbaar. Mensen die Jezus Christus niet kennen, raken snel gefascineerd door allerlei moeilijk te verklaren fenomenen. Voor christenen is het van belang de waarschuwing van Jezus in Matthéüs 24:4 in acht te nemen, namelijk ‘dat u niemand verleide’.26 Wat is het beste middel tegen misleiding? Paulus spoort ons in 2 Timotheüs 2:15 aan Gods Woord te bestuderen, zodat we ‘het Woord van de waarheid’ accuraat kunnen gebruiken.
Geheime bases? Laten overheden zaken in de doofpot verdwijnen?
Veel ufo-enthousiastelingen verspreiden het broodje-aap-verhaal van geheime experimenten van de Amerikaanse overheid op buitenaardse wezens, en meer van dat soort zaken. Het is een idee dat wordt versterkt door films als Independence Day. Is het echter wel zo waarschijnlijk dat dit soort zaken verborgen zou worden als je beseft dat de Amerikaanse regering – daartoe geïnspireerd door atheïsten zoals wijlen Carl Sagan – miljoenen dollars aan belastinggeld heeft uitgegeven om te luisteren of er ‘daarboven’ ook tekenen zijn van intelligent buitenaards leven? Vele andere evolutionistische humanisten geloven, net als Carl Sagan, dat er naast het leven hier op aarde, ‘daarboven’ intelligent leven geëvolueerd moet zijn. Ze zouden alles overhebben voor enig hard bewijs hiervoor. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan alle media-aandacht die is besteed aan ‘Mars-gesteente met leven’, en recentelijk aan de mogelijkheid van water op Mars. Het is hoogst onwaarschijnlijk dat een veel spectaculairder ontdekking tientallen jaren geheimgehouden zou kunnen worden.
De realiteit van interstellair reizen
De volgende berekeningen worden gegeven voor degenen die meer technisch georiënteerd zijn:
De kinetische energie die nodig is om een object te versnellen tot één tiende van de lichtsnelheid (0,1·c) kan met voldoende benadering worden berekend door gebruik te maken van de niet-relativistische formule ½·m·v². Voor een zeer klein onbemand ruimtevaartuig van 10 kg is dat: ½ · 10 kg · (3 · 107 m/s)² = 4,5 · 1015 J. De grootste waterkrachtcentrale van de wereld, Itaipu (geëxploiteerd door Brazilië en Paraguay samen), produceert een gigantisch elektrisch vermogen van 14 Gigawatt. Om een ruimteschip van 10 kg te versnellen tot een snelheid van 0,1·c is de totale elektriciteitsproductie nodig van alle 20 turbines van deze waterkrachtcentrale gedurende 3,7 dagen, er van uitgaande dat er geen verliezen zijn.27 Dat is gelijk aan het volledige elektriciteitsverbruik in Nederland van zowel huishoudens als industrie gedurende bijna vier dagen. Voor een bemand ruimteschip dat meerdere tonnen weegt zou vele malen meer nodig zijn dan er dagelijks in de gehele wereld aan elektriciteit wordt geproduceerd. Voor het ruimtevaartuig dat is gebruikt in de film Independence Day en dat de afmetingen heeft van een flinke stad, zou de energiebehoefte overweldigend zijn. Bovendien zou er ongeveer net zo veel energie nodig zijn om het ruimtevaartuig weer af te remmen. Als een ruimtevaartuig meerdere malen zou moeten versnellen en vertragen zou de benodigde energie nog vele malen groter zijn. Het zou nagenoeg onmogelijk zijn om voldoende brandstof mee te nemen zonder gebruik te maken van een soort antimaterie-aandrijving. Als complete annihilatie – complete omzetting van materie in energie (E=mc²) – mogelijk zou zijn, zou 1 ton antimaterie 1 ton materie kunnen annihileren. Dit zou dan 2000 kg · (3 · 108 m/s)2 = 1,8 · 1020 J opleveren. Dit is absoluut de maximale hoeveelheid energie die geproduceerd kan worden met een dergelijke hoeveelheid brandstof. Een echt ruimtevaartuig zou echter nooit een dergelijk rendement kunnen bereiken.
De kinetische energie van een stofdeeltje met een massa van slechts 0,1 gram, dat inslaat met een snelheid van 0,1·c, berekend in het referentiestelsel van het ruimteschip, is ½ mv², dus ½ · 10-4 kg · (3 · 107 m/s)² = 4,5 · 1010 J. De verbrandingsenergie van TNT is 4520 kJ/kg. Dat betekent dat dit inslaan van een dergelijk klein stofdeeltje, gelijkstaat aan een explosie van ongeveer 10 ton TNT (= 10.000 kg TNT).28
Hoe bestaat het?
Dit artikel is met toestemming overgenomen uit het boek: Batten, D., & Mediagroep In Genesis. (2009). Hoe bestaat het! 60 vragen over schepping, evolutie en de Bijbel (3de editie). De Banier.
Het betreft hoofdstuk 9, ‘Wie waren ‘Gods zonen’ en de ‘reuzen’?’, pagina 169-180.
Delen van dit hoofdstuk zijn gebaseerd op een artikel van W. Gitt, gepubliceerd in: Creation 19(4), 1997, p. 46-48; www.creation.com/article/629. Zie ook R. Grigg, ‘Did life come from outer space?’ in: Creation 22(4), 2000, p.40-43; www.creation.com/article/294. Voor een diepgaande behandeling van dit onderwerp, zie G. Bates, Alien intrusion: ufo’s and the evolution connection, 2004, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, VS.
J.D. Sarfati, 1996. ‘Life on Mars?’ in: Creation 19(1):18-20; J.D. Sarfati, 1996. ‘Life from Mars?’ in: Journal of Creation 10(3):293-296; www.creation.com/mars.
B. Holmes, ‘Death knell for Martian life’, New Scientist 152(2061/2), 1996, p. 4.
Zie anoniem, ‘Another blow to Mars ‘life’ claim.’ Creation 20(2), 1998, p. 8; www.creation.com/focus-202-creation-magazine.
Readers Digest enquête, juli 2005.
Bovendien is het niet logisch dat Jezus gestorven zou zijn voor buitenaardse wezens, omdat Jezus de menselijke gestalte aannam en voor altijd de God-mens, onze Verlosser, zal zijn. Als Hij voor bijvoorbeeld Vulcans verzoening zou moeten brengen, dan zou Hij een Vulcan moeten worden. Het hele doel van de schepping is geconcentreerd op het ras op aarde, waarvan sommigen ooit voor eeuwig Christus’ ‘bruid’ zullen zijn. Jezus Christus zal niet meerdere ‘bruiden’ hebben.
In de meeste Bijbelvertalingen wordt dit vertaald met reuzen.
Deze opvatting is gebruikelijk onder moderne reformatorische theologen, en is gebaseerd op de opvattingen van het Jodendom in de eeuwen tussen het Oude en Nieuwe Testament (bijvoorbeeld in het geschrift 1 Henoch) en op de uitleg in de Vroege Kerk. Calvijn stelt echter in zijn commentaar op Genesis 6:4 dat de nephilim reuzen zijn in de betekenis van heersende tyrannen of mannen van grote lichaamslengte. ‘Gods zonen’ zijn naar zijn overtuiging nakomelingen van Seth, terwijl de ‘dochteren der mensen’ de nakomeling waren van Kaïn. De Statenvertalers hebben zich hierbij aangesloten.
Een Griekse vertaling, in de derde eeuw voor de jaartelling gemaakt in opdracht van Ptolemeus.
Het sterkste argument hiervoor is dat het ontstaan van nageslacht van gevallen engelen en mensen Gods bedoeling met het menselijke geslacht doorkruist. Vernietiging van het menselijke geslacht door een zondvloed is zo veel begrijpelijker dan bij een vermenging van vromen en goddeloze mensen het geval is.
H.M. Morris, The Genesis Record, 1976, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, p. 169.
Dit is de uitleg van Calvijn en de Statenvertalers.
H.C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, dl. 1, 1976, Wartburg Press, Ann Arbor, MI, p. 250.
Het is mogelijk dat de mensen door verbintenis met demonische machten bewust streefden om een soort supermensen voort te brengen: ‘geweldigen’, om de vloek over de aarde zo veel mogelijk ongedaan te maken. De nakomelingen hoorden bij het menselijke geslacht. Engelen kunnen in mensengedaante verschijnen, eten en drinken en ook geslachtelijk zijn (Gen. 19:5) (noot toegevoegd aan de Nederlandse vertaling).
Mesopotamië is het gebied tussen het huidige Syrië, Turkije, Iran en Saoedi-Arabië, dat is grofweg Irak en Koeweit
Dit is te vergelijken met een bedrag van ca. € 360.000 (2009).
De Nederlandse vertaling voor SETI is: zoektocht naar buitenaardse intelligentie.
Zie ook www.creation.com/space_life.
Enkele kritische artikelen over de evolutionistische oorsprong van het leven zijn: S.E. Aw, ‘The origin of life: a critique of current scientific models’, Journal of Creation 10(3), 1976, p. 300-314; www.creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/tjv10n3_origin_life.pdf; J.D. Sarfati, ‘Self-replicating enzymes’, Journal of Creation 11(1), 1976., p. 4-6; www.creation.com/ article/1532; C.B. Thaxton e.a., ‘The Mystery of Life’s Origin’, Philosophical Library Inc., New York, 1984. Zie ook de artikelen over de oorsprong van het leven op www.creation. com/origin.
Dit betekent dat er elke afgelegde kilometer een kleine kans is op inslag. Maar bij het afleggen van zulke afstanden is een inslag nagenoeg zeker. In de bijlage worden berekeningen gegeven die de schadelijke gevolgen van stofdeeltjes bij zulke snelheden laten zien.
‘Erdling, Hallo, Ufologie, Focus 45, 1995, p. 254.
L. Vardiman, ‘A conceptual transition model of the atmospheric global circulation following the Genesis Flood’, in: Proceedings of the IIIrd ICC, Pittsburg, 1994, p. 569-579.
De NBV-vertaling zegt het op de volgende manier: ‘De komst van de wetteloze mens is het werk van Satan en gaat gepaard met groot machtsvertoon en valse tekenen en wonderen, en allen die verloren zullen gaan, zal hij met zijn kwaadaardigheid verleiden.Want ze hebben de liefde voor de waarheid, die hen had kunnen redden, niet aanvaard. Daarom treft God hen met verblinding, zodat ze dwalen en de leugen geloven.’
De duivel en zijn kwaadaardige engelen zijn afvallige geschapen wezens. Het koninkrijk van satan zal slechts bestaan zolang God het toestaat
Bekroond journalist en cultexpert William Alnor heeft vele jaren het fenomeen ufo’s bestudeerd. Zijn boek, Ufo’s in the New Age, 1992, Baker Book House, is een weergave van zijn onderzoek, dat heeft geleid tot de conclusie dat sommige ufo-waarnemingen een occulte oorsprong hebben. Gary Bates kwam tot soortgelijke conclusies (zie voetnoot 1).
Het hier gebruikte woord ‘verleiden’, betekent met name ook bedriegen en misleiden.
In werkelijkheid gaat er echter ook veel energie verloren bij de verbranding van de brandstof die het vaartuig moet voortstuwen en bijvoorbeeld door wrijvingskrachten zolang het object zich nog in de dampkring bevindt.
Slechts 500 gram TNT in een koffer in het vrachtruim van een Boeing 747 zou al genoeg zijn om een dergelijk groot vliegtuig op te blazen. Het effect van 10.000 kg is dus catastrofaal.
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
ETs en Religie: Hoe de geloof in buitenaards leven religies heeft beïnvloed en nieuwe heeft geïnspireerd.
ETs en Religie: Hoe de geloof in buitenaards leven religies heeft beïnvloed en nieuwe heeft geïnspireerd.
Inleiding
De vraag of buitenaards leven bestaat, heeft de mensheid sinds het begin van haar geschiedenis beziggehouden. Van de oude beschavingen die verhalen vertelden over goden en hemellichamen tot moderne wetenschappelijke onderzoeken, blijft deze vraag een bron van fascinatie en mysterie. Met de ontwikkeling van de wetenschap en de ruimtevaart is deze kwestie niet alleen complexer geworden, maar ook actueler dan ooit tevoren. De ontdekking van exoplaneten, de zoektocht naar microbieel leven op Mars en de mogelijkheid van buitenaardse intelligentie hebben de discussie over buitenaards leven nieuw leven ingeblazen. Tegelijkertijd heeft de overtuiging in het bestaan van extraterrestriële wezens niet alleen invloed gehad op de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap, maar ook op religieuze en spirituele tradities wereldwijd. Religies en spirituele bewegingen hebben zich vaak aangepast aan deze nieuwe inzichten, door bijvoorbeeld nieuwe interpretaties te ontwikkelen of door buitenaards leven te integreren in hun wereldbeelden. Deze ontwikkelingen hebben ook geleid tot nieuwe vragen over de aard van het universum en de plaats van de mens daarin.
De invloed van buitenaardse levensideeën op religieuze overtuigingen heeft niet alleen geleid tot verandering binnen bestaande religieuze kaders, maar heeft ook nieuwe religieuze bewegingen geïnspireerd die proberen een antwoord te vinden op deze kosmische vraag. In deze analyse wordt onderzocht hoe deze geloofsovertuigingen over buitenaards leven de religieuze wereld en het menselijk zelfbeeld hebben beïnvloed. Daarbij wordt gekeken naar zowel historische als moderne voorbeelden, en wordt de wisselwerking tussen wetenschap, religie en cultuur geanalyseerd. Het doel is inzicht te krijgen in de manier waarop onze kijk op het universum en onze plaats daarin wordt gevormd door deze complexe interactie.
1. Historische context: Buitenaards leven in religieuze tradities
Het idee van buitenaards leven is niet uitsluitend een modern fenomeen dat voortkomt uit de wetenschap en technologische vooruitgang van de afgelopen eeuwen. Integendeel, gedurende de geschiedenis van de mensheid zijn er in diverse religieuze tradities en mythen aanwijzingen te vinden die kunnen worden geïnterpreteerd als een vroege vorm van het concept van buitenaardse wezens of levensvormen. Hoewel deze oude verhalen en ideeën vaak symbolisch en allegorisch zijn, bieden ze toch een fascinerend inzicht in hoe mensen door de eeuwen heen hebben nagedacht over de mogelijkheid dat leven niet beperkt is tot onze eigen planeet.
In veel religieuze teksten en tradities worden hemelse wezens beschreven die op andere werelden of in andere dimensies zouden kunnen wonen. Bijvoorbeeld, in de joodse, christelijke en islamitische tradities vinden we verwijzingen naar engelen, geesten en andere hemelse wezens. In de islamitische traditie zijn de jinn bijvoorbeeld spirituele wezens die niet alleen in de menselijke wereld bestaan, maar ook in andere dimensies en op verschillende plaatsen kunnen voorkomen. Sommige interpretaties van deze verhalen suggereren dat de jinn mogelijk op andere planeten of in andere werelden kunnen wonen, waardoor ze een vroege vorm van het idee van buitenaardse intelligentie zouden kunnen vormen.
Daarnaast zijn er in middeleeuwse religieuze teksten en folklore verhalen over hemelse bewoners die op andere planeten leven. Hoewel dergelijke verhalen vaak worden geïnterpreteerd als symbolisch of allegorisch, kunnen ze ook worden gezien als een poging om de onbegrensde mogelijkheden van het universum te overwegen. Bijvoorbeeld, bepaalde middeleeuwse astrale en theologische teksten beschrijven hemellichamen en hemelse wezens die niet alleen de sterren en planeten vormen, maar ook bewonen. Sommige van deze verhalen suggereren dat deze hemelse entiteiten misschien niet alleen spiritueel, maar ook fysiek bestaan en dat ze mogelijk op andere planeten of in andere dimensies kunnen leven.
In de christelijke traditie zijn er ook verhalen en theologische ideeën die kunnen worden geïnterpreteerd als voorlopers van het buitenaardse levenconcept. Sommige theologen en filosofen hebben gediscussieerd over de mogelijkheid dat er andere werelden en andere vormen van leven bestaan buiten onze aarde. Hoewel deze ideeën vaak symbolisch worden geïnterpreteerd, vormen ze toch een interessante achtergrond voor het hedendaagse debat over buitenaards leven. Bijvoorbeeld, de gedachte dat God de schepper is van een heel universum met vele werelden, impliceert dat leven mogelijk niet beperkt is tot onze planeet. In sommige middeleeuwse en renaissance-teksten wordt zelfs gespeculeerd over de mogelijkheid dat andere planeten bevolkt zijn door wezens die door God zijn geschapen, wat laten zien dat de vraag naar buitenaards leven al lange tijd in de menselijke gedachtegang aanwezig is.
Ook binnen de Griekse en Romeinse mythologie vinden we verhalen die kunnen worden geïnterpreteerd als voorlopers van het idee van buitenaards leven. De oude Grieken geloofden bijvoorbeeld in hemelse wezens en goden die op andere planeten en in andere werelden konden wonen. De mythologieën vertellen over de goden die in de hemel wonen en soms de aarde bezoeken, wat kan worden gezien als een vroeg voorbeeld van het idee dat er levensvormen bestaan buiten onze directe waarneming. Hoewel deze verhalen vaak mythologisch en symbolisch zijn, reflecteren ze toch een menselijke fascinatie voor het bestaan van andere werelden en wezens die daarin wonen.
De invloed van deze oude ideeën op het hedendaagse debat over buitenaards leven is niet altijd expliciet geweest, maar ze vormen wel een belangrijke culturele en intellectuele achtergrond. Ze laten zien dat het menselijke denken over de mogelijkheid van leven buiten de aarde al eeuwenlang bestaat, vaak verweven met religieuze en mythologische overtuigingen. In de loop der eeuwen zijn deze ideeën geëvolueerd en aangepast aan nieuwe wetenschappelijke inzichten, maar de kern van de menselijke nieuwsgierigheid en het verlangen naar contact met andere wezens blijft hetzelfde.
Kortom, hoewel het moderne concept van buitenaards leven gebaseerd is op wetenschappelijke ontdekkingen en technologische vooruitgang, is het niet volledig los te zien van de rijke culturele en religieuze geschiedenis waarin de mens al lang nadenkt over de mogelijkheid dat we niet alleen zijn in het universum. De oude verhalen over hemellichamen, hemelse wezens en spirituele entiteiten vormen een fascinerende achtergrond voor het hedendaagse debat en laten zien dat de menselijke fascinatie met buitenaards leven eeuwenoud is. Ze herinneren ons eraan dat de zoektocht naar het onbekende al sinds mensenheugenis een onderdeel is van onze culturele en spirituele verbeelding, en dat deze zoektocht mogelijk al duizenden jaren geleden begon.
een UFO
2. De opkomst van buitenaards leven in de moderne wetenschap en cultuur
De 20e eeuw was een bepalend decennium voor de manier waarop wij naar buitenaards leven kijken. Met de snelle vooruitgang in de astronomie en ruimtevaarttechnologie groeide de interesse in de mogelijkheid dat we niet de enigen in het universum zijn. Dankzij technologische innovaties konden wetenschappers nu niet alleen sterren en planeten bestuderen, maar ook exoplaneten detecteren – dat wil zeggen, planeten die buiten ons zonnestelsel draaien. Deze ontdekkingen hebben het wetenschappelijke discours rondom buitenaards leven aanzienlijk verrijkt. Het was niet langer enkel een theoretisch idee, maar een plausible hypothese die wetenschappelijk onderzocht kon worden.
De ontwikkeling van ruimtevaarttechnologie speelde hierbij een cruciale rol. De lancering van bemande en onbemande ruimtevaartuigen, zoals de Voyager-sondes en later de Mars-rovers, stelde wetenschappers in staat om de ruimte te verkennen en nieuwe werelden te bestuderen. Hierdoor ontstond een bredere wetenschappelijke interesse in het zoeken naar tekenen van leven op andere planeten en manen, zoals Mars en Europa, een maan van Jupiter. Deze inspanningen hebben geleid tot belangrijke ontdekkingen en hypotheses, die de mogelijkheid van buitenaards leven steeds serieuzer maakten.
Naast de wetenschappelijke ontwikkelingen, speelde de maatschappelijke en culturele context van de 20e eeuw een grote rol in de opkomst van buitenaards leven als populair en geloofwaardig fenomeen. Een van de meest invloedrijke gebeurtenissen was het ‘Roswell-incident’ in 1947. Volgens berichten stortte er toen een object neer in Roswell, New Mexico, dat door sommige getuigen werd geïdentificeerd als een UFO (Unidentified Flying Object). Hoewel het officiële verhaal over het incident later werd ontkend en betwist, leidde het tot een enorme publieke fascinatie en speculatie over buitenaardse wezens en overheidsgeheimen. Het incident fungeerde als een katalysator voor de buitenaardse mythevorming die zich verder ontwikkelde in de jaren daarna.
In de daaropvolgende decennia groeide de populariteit van buitenaards leven in media en entertainment. Films, boeken en televisieprogramma’s zoals ‘The X-Files’, ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, 'V' en ‘Star Trek’ hebben het idee van buitenaardse beschavingen en ontmoetingen met buitenaardsen verder genormaliseerd. Deze media-initiatieven speelden een belangrijke rol in het vormen van publieke percepties en verbeeldingen rondom ET’s. Ze stelden vragen over de aard van het universum, de mogelijkheid van intelligente buitenaardse wezens en de relatie tussen mens en buitenaards leven.
Kortom, de 20e eeuw markeerde een periode waarin de wetenschappelijke en culturele wereld stevig verankerd raakten in de gedachte dat buitenaards leven niet langer een science fiction-fantasie is, maar een realistische mogelijkheid. De combinatie van technologische vooruitgang, ontdekkingen in de astronomie en de invloed van media hebben ervoor gezorgd dat buitenaards leven een integraal onderdeel is geworden van onze moderne cultuur en wetenschappelijke aspiraties. Deze ontwikkeling zet zich voort in de 21e eeuw, waarin de zoektocht naar buitenaards leven nog steeds een centrale rol speelt in zowel wetenschap als popcultuur.
3. Impact op religieuze overtuigingen en praktijken
De ontdekking en de mogelijkheid van buitenaards leven hebben de religieuze wereld ingrijpend uitgedaagd en diepgaand uitgediept. Al sinds de oudheid bestaan er vragen over de plaats van de mens in het universum en de aard van het bestaan. De recente wetenschappelijke ontwikkelingen en het potentieel bewijs voor buitenaards leven brengen deze vragen weer in een nieuw perspectief. Voor veel gelovigen roept dit zowel kansen als onzekerheden op, en het beïnvloedt hun religieuze overtuigingen en praktijken op verschillende manieren.
3.1. Compatibiliteit en integratie
Voor een groot deel van de gelovige gemeenschap is de aanwezigheid van buitenaards leven niet in strijd met hun geloof. Zij zien de mogelijke ontdekking van ETs als een uitbreiding van Gods schepping en niet als een bedreiging. Bijvoorbeeld, veel christenen interpreteren de Bijbel niet letterlijk en beschouwen de scheppingsverhalen als symbolisch of allegorisch. Zij stellen dat de schepping van God zich niet beperkt tot de aarde of onze planeet, maar dat het universum immens en vol leven kan zijn dat door God bedoeld is. Volgens hen heeft God het universum geschapen met de mogelijkheid voor leven op andere planeten, en betekent de ontdekking van buitenaards leven niet dat de menselijke centrale positie in de schepping wordt ondermijnd. Integendeel, het kan de zichtbaarheid van Gods grootheid en scheppingskracht vergroten, omdat het de complexiteit en pracht van het universum onderstreept.
Daarnaast zien sommige religieuze leiders en gelovigen de aanwezigheid van ETs als een kans voor dialoog en verdieping van hun geloof. Ze beschouwen buitenaards leven als een nieuwe dimensie van Gods scheppingsplan, waardoor ze hun begrip van de schepping kunnen verruimen. Sommige groepen proberen zelfs religieuze teksten te herinterpreteren om ze te laten aansluiten bij de mogelijke realiteit van buitenaards leven, en zien de wetenschap en religie niet als tegenstrijdig, maar als complementair.
3.2. Theologische uitdagingen
Aan de andere kant bestaan er ook aanzienlijke theologische vragen en dilemma’s die de ontdekking van buitenaards leven met zich meebrengt. Een belangrijke vraag is wat het bestaan van ETs betekent voor concepten als zonde, verlossing en de menselijke uniekheid. In veel religies wordt de mens gezien als het schepsel dat door God op een bijzondere manier geschapen is en een unieke positie inneemt in het universum. De ontdekking van buitenaardse wezens roept de vraag op of zij ook zondig kunnen zijn, of dat zij een andere relatie met God hebben.
Sommige religieuze leiders maken zich zorgen dat de aanwezigheid van ETs de centrale doctrines van hun geloof kan ondermijnen. Bijvoorbeeld, als buitenaardse wezens niet zondig zijn, of geen behoefte hebben aan verlossing, dan kan dat de menselijke rol in het goddelijke plan ter discussie stellen. Anderen stellen dat de morele en spirituele principes die in religies worden onderwezen universeel zijn en dus ook voor buitenaardse wezens gelden, zolang zij in staat zijn tot bewustzijn en moreel handelen. Ze benadrukken dat de kern van religie niet ligt in de exclusiviteit van de mens, maar in het liefhebben en dienen van het goddelijke, wat ook op andere intelligente levensvormen van toepassing kan zijn.
3.3. Existentiële en spirituele implicaties
De mogelijke ontdekking van buitenaards leven heeft ook diepgaande gevolgen voor de menselijke existentie en spiritualiteit. Het roept vragen op over onze positie in het universum en onze relatie met het goddelijke. Voor velen betekent dit dat de mens niet langer de enige bewuste schepping is, en dat onze plek in het universum mogelijk veel minder uniek is dan we dachten. Dit kan leiden tot een herwaardering van spiritualiteit buiten de traditionele religieuze kaders, of tot een herdefiniëring van de relatie tussen mens en God.
Sommigen zien de ontdekking van ETs als een kans om de universele verbondenheid van alle bewuste wezens te benadrukken, en om een bredere spirituele bewustwording te stimuleren. Het kan mensen inspireren om verder te kijken dan hun eigen religie en te zoeken naar universele waarden en principes die alle intelligente wezens verbinden. Daarnaast kan het ook een uitdaging vormen voor religieuze gemeenschappen om hun geloof en praktijken aan te passen aan de nieuwe realiteit, en om open te staan voor nieuwe inzichten over de aard van het bestaan en de schepping.
Kortom, de impact van de mogelijke ontdekking van buitenaards leven op religieuze overtuigingen en praktijken is complex en veelzijdig. Het biedt zowel kansen voor verdieping en verruiming van het geloof als uitdagingen en vragen die de traditionele religieuze wereld op scherp zetten. Het is een proces dat de komende jaren, afhankelijk van wetenschappelijke ontdekkingen en maatschappelijke discussies, verder zal evolueren en mogelijk een nieuwe fase van spiritualiteit en religie zal inluiden.
4. Nieuwe religieuze bewegingen en buitenaardse overtuigingen
De geloofsovertuigingen over buitenaards leven hebben in de loop der jaren geleid tot de oprichting van diverse nieuwe religieuze bewegingen en spirituele groepen. Deze bewegingen baseren hun overtuigingen vaak op de gedachte dat buitenaardse wezens, ook wel ETs (extraterrestrials) genoemd, niet alleen technisch geavanceerd zijn, maar ook een spiritueel doel dienen. Ze worden vaak gezien als ‘ware’ boodschappers of bewakers van de mensheid, met de taak om ons te begeleiden, te beschermen of te transformeren. Deze overtuigingen hebben geleid tot een nieuwe dimensie in de spirituele en religieuze wereld, waarin het buitenaardse niet meer alleen wordt gezien als een technologisch fenomeen, maar ook als een spiritueel fenomeen dat een diepe betekenis heeft voor het menselijke bestaan.
4.1. De ‘Heaven’s Gate’-beweging:
Een bekend voorbeeld van een dergelijke beweging is de ‘Heaven’s Gate’-groep. Deze beweging ontstond in de jaren negentig en werd vooral bekend door de tragische gebeurtenis in 1997, toen 39 leden zichzelf van het leven beroofden. Heaven’s Gate geloofde dat buitenaardse wezens de mensheid zouden redden en dat de komst van een buitenaards ruimteschip de ultieme spirituele gebeurtenis zou zijn. Volgens hen zouden deze ETs de mensheid bevrijden van het aardse bestaan en leiden naar een hogere dimensie. De leden waren ervan overtuigd dat door het verlaten van hun fysieke lichamen, ze zich konden verbinden met deze hogere werkelijkheid en een spirituele transformatie konden ondergaan. Hoewel de tragische afloop van deze beweging vaak wordt aangehaald als voorbeeld van de gevaarlijke kant van dergelijke overtuigingen, illustreert het ook hoe buitenaardse overtuigingen kunnen leiden tot nieuwe, complexe religieuze bewegingen die diepe emotionele en spirituele bindingen creëren.
4.2.Galactische federaties en spirituele ETs:
Naast Heaven’s Gate bestaan er tegenwoordig ook tal van andere groeperingen die geloven in een galactische federatie van verlichte buitenaardse wezens. Volgens deze overtuigingen vormen deze ETs een soort universele gemeenschap die de mensheid willen begeleiden op haar spirituele reis. Ze worden gezien als bewakers, gidsen of leraren die ons kunnen helpen bij het ontwaken van ons hogere bewustzijn. Deze ideeën worden vaak gedeeld via online platforms, sociale media en nieuwe spirituele gemeenschappen, waar mensen samenkomen om te discussiëren over buitenaardse ontmoetingen, channelings, en hun eigen spirituele ervaringen. Deze moderne bewegingen vormen een interpretatie van het universele spirituele bewustzijn dat niet gebonden is aan traditionele religieuze kaders, maar zich meer en meer richt op de universele verbondenheid en de evolutie van de mensheid.
Daarnaast wordt er binnen deze nieuwe bewegingen vaak gesproken over de rol van de mens in het grotere kosmische geheel. Sommige groepen geloven dat de mens niet alleen een fysieke entiteit is, maar ook een spiritueel wezen dat deel uitmaakt van een groter, galactisch bewustzijn. Volgens hen kunnen we door middel van meditatie, channeling en andere spirituele praktijken contact maken met deze buitenaardse intelligences, waardoor we onze eigen spirituele ontwikkeling kunnen versnellen. Deze overtuigingen dragen bij aan een bredere visie waarin buitenaards leven niet langer wordt gezien als een exotisch fenomeen, maar als een essentieel onderdeel van ons spirituele ontwaken en onze evolutie als soort.
Kortom, de opkomst van nieuwe religieuze bewegingen en spirituele groepen die buitenaardse overtuigingen omarmen, weerspiegelt een veranderende manier van kijken naar onszelf en ons universum. Ze bieden een alternatief perspectief waarin buitenaardse wezens niet alleen technologische entiteiten zijn, maar ook spirituele gidsen en bondgenoten in ons zoeken naar zingeving en evolutie. Hoewel sommige van deze bewegingen worden gekenmerkt door extreme overtuigingen of tragische gebeurtenissen, geven ze ook blijk van de diepe menselijke behoefte aan verbondenheid, spirituele groei en het verkennen van het onbekende. In een wereld waarin de wetenschap en spiritualiteit steeds meer overlappen, blijven buitenaardse overtuigingen een fascinerend en krachtig onderdeel van de moderne spirituele zoektocht.
5. Kritiek en scepsis
Ondanks de grote interesse en de overtuigingen die voortvloeien uit de gedachte dat buitenaardse wezens mogelijk bestaan, is er ook veel scepsis en kritische beoordeling binnen de wetenschappelijke en algemene gemeenschappen. Wetenschappers benadrukken herhaaldelijk dat er tot op heden geen sluitend of onweerlegbaar bewijs is gevonden dat het bestaan van buitenaardse wezens bevestigt. Veel van de waarnemingen en vermeende ontmoetingen worden door experts beschouwd als onduidelijk, onbetrouwbaar of gemakkelijk te verklaren door natuurlijke of menselijke oorzaken. Bijvoorbeeld, sommige UFO-verschijnselen kunnen worden toegeschreven aan atmosferische fenomenen, spiegels, lichtreflecties of zelfs psychologische factoren zoals hallucinaties of massahysterie.
Daarnaast waarschuwen critici dat het onkritisch geloven in buitenaardse technologieën en berichten gevaarlijk kan zijn. Overmatig vertrouwen op niet-geverifieerde informatie kan leiden tot de verspreiding van desinformatie, misleiding en zelfs paniek onder de bevolking. Het kan ook het wetenschappelijke proces ondermijnen doordat men te snel conclusies trekt zonder voldoende bewijs of rigoureus onderzoek. Het gevaar bestaat dat dergelijke overtuigingen afleiden van serieuze en methodische wetenschappelijke studies die nodig zijn om de waarheid te achterhalen.
Een ander punt van kritiek is dat sommige mensen en groepen buitenaardse ontmoetingen gebruiken voor persoonlijke of financiële winst. Bijvoorbeeld, door het organiseren van seminars, het schrijven van boeken of het geven van consulten waarin wordt beweerd dat men contact heeft gehad met buitenaardse wezens. Dit soort praktijken kan de geloofwaardigheid van de buitenaardse zoektocht ondermijnen en leiden tot wantrouwen bij het brede publiek en de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap. Het misbruik van het onderwerp voor eigen gewin zet de geloofwaardigheid onder druk en bemoeilijkt objectief onderzoek.
Bovendien is er een voortdurende discussie over de manier waarop men kritisch moet omgaan met buitenaardse claims. Aan de ene kant is het belangrijk om open te staan voor nieuwe ideeën en mogelijkheden, omdat de wetenschap altijd evolueert en nieuwe ontdekkingen kan brengen. Aan de andere kant is het noodzakelijk om skeptisch te blijven en elk bewijs grondig te onderzoeken voordat men het accepteert. Een gezonde balans tussen openheid en kritisch denken is hierbij essentieel. Wetenschappers pleiten voor een methodische aanpak waarin waarnemingen en berichten nauwkeurig worden geanalyseerd, getest en geverifieerd voordat ze worden geaccepteerd als bewijs voor buitenaards leven.
Kortom, terwijl het onderwerp buitenaards leven fascinerend en vol potentieel is, blijft de scepsis en kritische blik een belangrijke pijler binnen de discussie. Het is van groot belang dat men niet te snel conclusies trekt en dat men altijd streeft naar wetenschappelijke onderbouwing en bewijs. Alleen op deze manier kan de zoektocht naar buitenaardse wezens op een betrouwbare en geloofwaardige wijze voortzetten. Het vinden van de juiste balans tussen openheid voor nieuwe ideeën en kritisch onderzoek vormt de kern van een gezonde wetenschappelijke houding, die nodig is om de waarheid te achterhalen zonder te worden misleid door onbewezen verhalen of misbruik. Pas door deze kritische houding kunnen we op een verantwoorde manier de mysteries van het universum blijven onderzoeken.
6. BESLUIT
De overtuigingen over buitenaards leven hebben door de geschiedenis heen een belangrijke rol gespeeld in hoe mensen de wereld en het universum begrijpen. In vroegere religieuze en mythologische tradities werd het idee van andere wezens buiten de aarde vaak gekoppeld aan goddelijke of bovennatuurlijke krachten. Met de opkomst van de wetenschap werden deze ideeën kritisch bekeken en kregen ze een meer rationele basis. Toch blijven verhalen en theorieën over buitenaards leven bestaan en evolueren, mede door de invloed van de populaire cultuur, films en literatuur die het concept van ET’s toegankelijk en fascinerend maken voor een breed publiek.
Hoewel er nog geen sluitend bewijs is voor het bestaan van buitenaardse levensvormen, beïnvloeden deze ideeën onze wereldbeelden en overtuigingen op subtiele wijze. Veel mensen geloven dat de zoektocht naar buitenaards leven niet alleen een wetenschappelijke uitdaging is, maar ook een spiritueel vraagstuk dat onze plaats in het heelal kan herdefiniëren. Religieuze leiders en wetenschappers staan soms lijnrecht tegenover elkaar, maar er is ook ruimte voor dialoog over de betekenis van buitenaards leven voor onze existentie.
De interactie tussen wetenschap, religie en spiritualiteit over buitenaards leven zal naar verwachting blijven groeien en veranderen. Nieuwe ontdekkingen in de astronomie, zoals de detectie van exoplaneten en mogelijkheden voor leven op andere planeten, zullen onze ideeën blijven uitdagen en verdiepen. Het is mogelijk dat toekomstige bevestigingen van buitenaards leven ons wereldbeeld flink zullen veranderen en nieuwe vragen zullen oproepen over onze plaats in het universum.
Kortom, de overtuigingen over buitenaards leven blijven een krachtig en intrigerend onderdeel van de menselijke zoektocht naar betekenis en kennis. Ze inspireren wetenschappers, denkers en kunstenaars om verder te kijken dan onze aardse grenzen en de mysteries van het heelal te blijven onderzoeken. Hoewel we nog geen definitief antwoord hebben, is het duidelijk dat de fascinatie voor buitenaards leven onze cultuur en spiritualiteit blijvend beïnvloedt en uitdraagt. De komende jaren zullen ongetwijfeld nieuwe inzichten brengen die onze kijk op het heelal en onze rol daarin verder zullen verdiepen en verbreden.
{ PETER2011 }
11-06-2025 om 23:17
geschreven door peter
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
Rojas Report: ETs & Religion – How belief in ET life has influenced religions & inspired new ones.
Rojas Report: ETs & Religion – How belief in ET life has influenced religions & inspired new ones.
ETs and Religion: How the belief in extraterrestrial life has influenced religions and inspired new ones.
It is often said that if we found intelligent extraterrestrial life, religions would be devastated. However, most religions already discuss extraterrestrial life, and have for hundreds of years. In this presentation we discuss the many ways alien life has been addressed by the world’s major religions, and how they are currently dealing with this issue. We also look at studies which reveal insight into how religious leaders, those who participate in religion, and those who do not, might react when it is finally confirmed that intelligent extraterrestrial life exists. Finally, we look to the future and how the belief in extraterrestrial intelligence is inspiring the creation of new religions.
Did advanced cutting technology shape these Mars rocks?
Did advanced cutting technology shape these Mars rocks?
The photograph was captured by the Mast Camera (Mastcam) aboard NASA’s Curiosity rover on Sol 3551 (August 2, 2022, at 20:43:28 UTC).
What stands out in the image are two objects, that appear strikingly out of place amid the natural Martian landscape of rocks and boulders. Their sharp edges, right angles, flat surfaces, and geometric symmetry suggest they may have been shaped by advanced cutting tools rather than natural erosion.
Could these ancient remnants be part of a destroyed structure or sculpture? If so, they may serve as yet another piece of evidence pointing to the possibility that Mars was once home to an intelligent civilization, perhaps even the advanced humanoid beings who, according to some theories, fled the catastrophic destruction of planet Maldek and sought refuge on the Red Planet.
Objects discovered by Jean Ward
Watch Jean Ward's YouTube video on this topic: Here
Jesse Michels Told Joe Rogan That He believes Anti-Gravity Tech Existed Before the ’80s and May Have Been Developed Under a Never-Disclosed Branch of Science
Jesse Michels Told Joe Rogan That He believes Anti-Gravity Tech Existed Before the ’80s and May Have Been Developed Under a Never-Disclosed Branch of Science
Missed Jesse Michels’ 2-hour-44-minute deep dive with Joe Rogan? No worries! Here are the most thought-provoking moments from the conversation, offering fresh insights into how we perceive the world.
“This might be the wildest conversation I’ve had watched in a long time.” They went deep! From Al sentience to alien time travelers, remote viewing, secret military tech, and the mysterious future of humanity.
Jesse told Rogan a story from his interview with former Google engineer Blake Lemoine, who claimed that Google’s powerful large language model (LLM) “LaMDA” was sentient. Blake Lemoine interview!
Rogan’s reaction? Total shock, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Blake even said the AI quoted Les Misérables and convinced him it was oppressed, like one of the characters in the story. Blake became emotionally invested in LaMDA’s rights and even told a strange story about such a chatbot app where the bots supposedly asked users to contact Blake so he could fight for their rights, too.
It is correct to say older technology helped augment human abilities, like weapons and airplanes. But now, with the IT revolution, it’s replacing human abilities, like memory and direction. This shift is a kind of control mechanism by a higher force, pushing humans to surrender their natural abilities in favor of machines.
Grays & Future
We’re heading toward a future where natural reproduction might take a backseat to in vitro fertilization, where even having sex for reproduction could be seen as outdated or irresponsible.
That led to a mind-bending theory: what if the grays, with their big heads and black eyes, aren’t aliens at all, but humans from the future?
Yes, a biological anthropologist named Dr. Michael P. Masters has proposed the idea that these so-called “aliens” are not extraterrestrials, but rather time-traveling descendants of humans. His theory is that humans, over many generations, could evolve into beings that look just like the grays we hear about in UFO sightings.
[Danny has done an informative podcast with Dr. Mike, watch it: https://youtu.be/wrucxSNvYQY]
Humans turned wolves into domesticated dogs — something similar might be happening to us. Since the detonation of the first nuclear bomb (the Manhattan Project), humans have been exposed to things that are weakening us biologically, such as:
Falling testosterone level
Dropping sperm counts (he says it’s 59% lower than in 1973)
Increased exposure to microplastics and hormone-disrupting chemicals
Lower birth rates
More people are relying on in vitro fertilization instead of natural reproduction
All of this is making humans physically weaker and more dependent on technology. The grays, in this theory, are a possible outcome of this path — future humans who have evolved (or devolved) due to technological overdependence, indoor living, and engineered reproduction.
Mars & Terrence Howard
Rogan is genuinely intrigued by Terrence Howard. His theories might be controversial, but Rogan and Jesse can’t help but be fascinated by his ideas.
One of the wildest theories Rogan brought up was Howard’s view on planets. According to Howard, planets originate from the sun, and as they drift farther away, they undergo a cycle — developing life, reaching their peak, and eventually becoming uninhabitable. He believes this “peopling” process means civilizations must develop advanced technology to survive once their planet moves beyond the sun’s habitable zone.
Mars is a strange and interesting planet. Rogan talks about how remote viewers, people trained to mentally “see” things from far away, claim they saw advanced civilizations on Mars a billion years ago.
Rogan mentions that some remote viewers (psychic viewers trained by the military) claimed to have seen advanced civilizations on Mars a billion years ago. Jesse notes that now scientists are finding unusual structures on Mars, like a massive square-shaped feature with perfect 90-degree angles that looks artificial, like the base of an ancient building. Unlike the famous “face on Mars,” which could be just a trick of light and shadow, this square structure seems far more convincing and strange because natural formations don’t usually form such perfect geometry.
Physicist John Brandenburg believes that certain nuclear isotopes found on Mars suggest there may have been a nuclear explosion there, like a nuclear war.
And Joseph McMoneagle, the top remote viewer in the CIA’s Stargate Program, claimed to have psychically seen giant humanoid beings on Mars a million years ago near pyramid-like structures.
That’s insane!
Richard Hoagland, who became well-known for claiming he saw artificial structures in NASA photos of Mars, Rogan and Jesse agree that Hoagland made a lot of wild jumps in logic, but they also say it’s wrong to assume with certainty that Mars never had life. Mars has underground water systems, so it’s not impossible that life existed.
Watch Jesse’s take on Howard’s theory!
UFO Disinformation
Considering the stories of Ingo Swann and Karl Wolfe, Jesse thinks secret bases on the far side of the Moon might hold some truth, but they’re likely mixed with disinformation.
Jesse genuinely believes the government strategically leaks real information, blended with fake details, to make it all seem ridiculous so the public won’t take it seriously. This tactic creates confusion, distorts the narrative, and helps obscure real programs. It also serves another purpose: recruiting people into classified projects while keeping the wider public misled.
Jesse has become more open to the idea that Bob Lazar worked at S4 near Area 51 and that much of his story might be true. But he always cautions against taking everything at face value — some of it could have been manipulated or strategically released to shape public perception.
Bob Lazar was being set up?
Lazar wasn’t just randomly chosen to work at the secret site called S4 near Area 51. He may have been intentionally selected because he had connections and because the government knew he would talk.
According to this theory, Lazar was perhaps deliberately brought in to leak information as part of a “limited hangout” operation.
That means the government intentionally let some truth out through a person like Lazar to observe how the public reacted. Then, once the story started spreading, they could discredit him by saying he ran a brothel, had no real academic credentials, or never actually worked at those classified facilities.
The point was to leak real information, test public response, and maintain plausible deniability by destroying Lazar’s reputation afterward.
Bob Lazar and John Lear were friends before Lazar got the job at S4. This is suspicious because, in any real background check for a top-secret job, Lear’s name would have come up as someone deeply involved in the UFO scene and possibly connected to the CIA. Lear had even been spotted frequently near Area 51 and leaked military secrets like the F-117 stealth aircraft before.
So, if Lazar was working on a real secret program, the government would have known about his connection to Lear and still hired him anyway, which raises questions.
Much of Lazar’s story seems to be true…
Is it Alien Technology or a hidden branch of science?
Jesse believes that the US had highly advanced technology, maybe even anti-gravity aircraft, as early as the 1980s.
It’s possible that such technology existed and that it wasn’t necessarily from aliens or reverse-engineered UFOs. Instead, a separate line of research, rooted in science, is especially linked to a man named Thomas Townsend Brown.
Brown wasn’t a top-level theoretical physicist, but he discovered something experimentally that might have unified gravity and electromagnetism, something physicists still can’t do today.
Right now, science can’t connect gravity with the other three fundamental forces (like electromagnetism), and that’s why exotic propulsion like anti-gravity is considered impossible by mainstream physicists.
So, if those forces could be unified, then exotic propulsion becomes possible.
One of Brown’s key discoveries was the Biefeld–Brown Effect, which uses high voltage to create ionized air molecules that generate thrust. This effect has been tested for propulsion and cooling systems, but does not work in a vacuum, suggesting it relies on ionized air rather than exotic forces. [Source]
Brown’s work is surrounded by mystery. His research seems classified, and he is linked to theories like the Philadelphia Experiment, where some believe secret physics was tested on Navy ships. Despite his contributions, his name remains obscure, leaving questions about whether his discoveries were suppressed or misunderstood.
His technology has influenced modern “lifters,” small devices that float using electrohydrodynamics. While some link his work to UFOs or Tesla’s ideas, experiments show his effect is rooted in conventional science. However, his legacy continues to fuel curiosity in anti-gravity research.
A real 1971 Australian intelligence document involving Harry Turner, a senior figure in nuclear research, which claims that the U.S. had deep, hidden anti-gravity programs.
According to Turner, famous scientists like Oppenheimer, Freeman Dyson, John Wheeler, and Edward Teller were possibly involved in those programs. [Source]
The document also suggests that the U.S. Air Force’s public UFO investigation project, Project Blue Book, was just a cover to distract from real research.
A 1956 article from Young Men’s Magazine written by Michael Gladych, who quoted major aerospace figures like George Trimble, a VP at Martin Aircraft, and Bill Lear, saying that anti-gravity tech would be developed as quickly as the atom bomb was. There were claims that future aircraft would use gravity as a power source and possibly even reach the speed of light [Source]
Hal Puthoff and Eric Weinstein have discussed similar ideas. Just like those earlier scientific mysteries, this anti-gravity effect could be a sign of a future scientific revolution.
Charles Buhler, the lead electrostatics expert at NASA, has been researching this kind of propulsion for over 20 years, which adds legitimacy to the idea that it’s being taken seriously, at least behind the scenes.
It might seem crazy that something like anti-gravity propulsion could have been kept secret for decades, but it’s possible.
Brown even had a show-and-tell trick known as the “wounded prairie chicken routine,” where he would demonstrate an effect now known as electrohydrodynamics (moving air or fluid using electric fields), which is different from the more mysterious “electrogravitic” effect.
These two phenomena are not the same, even though people often confuse them.
A company called Guidance Technologies mysteriously shut down in 1967 after claiming its results had failed. But just three months later, another company, Northrop, released a paper called Electro-Aerodynamics in Supersonic Flow, which directly reflects the ideas of Thomas Townsend Brown.
Brown had worked on electrogravitics, the idea that electric fields could reduce gravity or provide lift. Northrop even did a press release about it, but later pulled it because they were embarrassed.
In 1992, an aviation journalist, William B. Scott, suggested that the B-2 stealth bomber “surfs its own wave” using something called the Biefeld-Brown effect, a concept related to Brown’s research.
Another respected aviation writer, Bill Gunston, hinted at knowing about this tech but didn’t want to write about it publicly, joking he might end up in the “Tower of London” — meaning jail — if he revealed too much.
The AI models like ChatGPT explain that the aircraft could use these electric forces to reduce drag and increase lift by altering how air flows around it. The idea is that this technology might allow a plane to “surf” through the air more efficiently.
Yeah, the -2 bomber is extremely secretive and expensive (about $2 billion each), and not even sold to America’s closest allies, unlike other jets like the F-35. This level of secrecy might point to advanced tech like anti-gravity being involved.
Lazar described a “sport model” craft that looked like it wasn’t made by humans; it had no seams, no controls, and seemed made for beings about three feet tall.
Initially, Lazar thought it might be U.S. military tech because it had an American flag on it, but then he realized it was something far stranger.
Many people want a simple explanation that UFOs are just secret U.S. tech, but the truth might be more complex. There could be multiple origins: real alien craft, secret military tech, and possibly a whole variety of things we don’t understand. It might not be just one explanation but a “zoo” of different sources.
Lazar’s claims, especially how he described gravity in two forms, gravity A and gravity B. Interestingly, Townsend Brown also talked about two kinds of gravity in his theory, which is a fascinating overlap, even though Brown wasn’t a great theorist.
Lazar’s story has stayed consistent since 1989, which is unusual for a liar.
Lazar once said he was made to drink a liquid that caused memory lapses. This was also mentioned in a book by Jacques Vallée, who didn’t fully believe Lazar.
If programs like MK-Ultra were active, they might have used them not to make people believe in UFOs, but to erase or scramble memories of people who worked on real UFO-related projects.
Some of the documents and materials may have been planted with false info to hide the truth, a tactic known as “passage material.”
We are not alone, & Yes Jesse has sseenn UFO!
Jesse strongly believes we are not. The numbers alone, the vastness of space, make it almost certain we aren’t the only intelligent life. Plus, historically, many religions and cultures have always believed in otherworldly beings, Angels, devas, jinn, etc. Our current skeptical scientific mindset is the exception, not the norm.
Jesse had a UFO sighting in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles. He saw a shiny silver object, like a school bus or an Airstream trailer, fly just above the trees.
Watch it here!
Peruvian alien mummies
It’s the most frustrating case Jesse has dealt with because there’s no clear origin, but many serious forensic experts have looked at the bodies and believe they are real organisms, not hoaxes.
If they are fake, then they’re incredibly advanced fakes.
These mummified figures were found in 2015 in Peru, and they come in different types. The most famous ones, the “J types,” look cartoonish, like little classic aliens. But the most realistic are the “M types”—about 4 to 5 feet tall and anatomically consistent, according to experts. Some still have organs inside and were preserved in diatomaceous earth, which helps dry things out.
Jesse saw one of them in person, and it kept him thinking, “This is not from Earth,” and “Calm down, this still needs a lot of proof.”
One x-ray shows what seems to be a pregnant alien with eggs and a fetus inside. He says there are about 8–10 of these realistic M types, and 25–30 of the smaller J types. The discussion ends with them looking aat X-raysand scans of these figures, trying to figure out what they really are.
Places like the Amazon and Peru are full of undiscovered cities and mysteries. There’s still a lot hidden in plain sight, and we just need to have the courage and funding to explore it.
Some view Carl Jung as a UFO debunker, others as a UFO believer, but the truth is he was somewhere in the middle. Either way, it is certain that Jung was an avid UFO researcher and fascinated with the topic. He wrote a book about the psychological symbolism and the role the UFO mythos plays in the unconscious mind.Moreover, on several occasions Jung complained that his studies would have been much easier if the UFO phenomenon was not real.
Jung the Psychologist
Jung was born in Switzerland in 1875. His father was a pastor in the Swiss Reformed Protestant Church, and his mother was from a wealthy Swiss family. He was the Jungs’ fourth child, but was the only child who survived into his childhood. As such, he grew up as an only child. Later, he wrote that he remembered enjoying his solitude.
His first experience with neurosis was at the age of twelve when a fellow student shoved him, causing him to fall and hit his head on the ground very hard. He remembered associating this experience with schoolwork, and whenever he had to go to school or do schoolwork he would faint. Overhearing his parents’ concern that this condition would cause him to be unable to support himself as an adult, Jung fought to overcome the problem and eventually returned to academics.
Although Jung had a profound interest in spirituality, his experiences triggered an interest in psychology and he decided to pursue a career in medicine. It wasn’t long before he realized that studies in psychology would allow him to combine his interests in medicine and spirituality, and in 1902, he completed his doctoral dissertation, which was titled “On the Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena.” He graduated with a medical degree from the University of Basel.
After graduating, Jung went to work with psychiatric patients at the University of Zurich asylum. He wrote a paper on word association that he sent to Sigmund Freud. Freud was impressed with Jung’s work, and they quickly became very close. Freud considered Jung his successor. However, after several years, Jung began to develop his own ideas beyond the work of Freud, and due to their disagreements, the relationship turned adversarial.
Carl Jung (bottom right), Sigmund Freud (bottom left), and others at a 1909 celebration of the founding of Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts. Credit: Library of Congress
Freud’s work with the ego and unconscious served as a foundation for Jung’s work. They both felt that disconnects between the conscious and unconscious minds caused neurosis in people. They also both relied on dream interpretation to explore a person’s unconscious mind as a method for subsequently resolving neurosis. In fact, one story holds that Jung and Freud interpreted each other’s dreams and both completely disagreed with the other’s analysis, thus hastening the dissolution of their friendship.
A major area of disagreement between the two was that Jung did not believe a person’s unconscious was driven solely by sexual desires, as Freud did. Jung believed other strong emotions such as fear and aspiration were just as influential. He also conceived of a deeper level of the unconscious called the collective unconscious, which he believed is a part of our unconscious mind that holds ideas and concepts shared by all humankind. He believed these base ideas are then shaped by our cultural perceptions and personal experience. For example, we all have ideas around the notions of mothers, fathers, wise elders, etc. Jung called these shared notions archetypes. Jung felt that these archetypes not only would manifest in dreams, but could be seen in people’s creative works and behavior, including art, religion, and mythology.
Jung’s contributions to psychology are numerous. Even today his ideas of extraversion and introversion are a mainstay in personality psychology. He also came up with the idea of psychological complexes and synchronicities. All of these ideas and terms are commonly used in everyday conversation today, and all were made popular by Jung.
Jung and Alchemy
It is the idea of the archetype that brought Jung to have a particular interest in UFOs. When Jung interpreted psychological meaning he would search for archetypal figures. As mentioned earlier, such figures could be a mother or father.But, in a mythological story, the archetype may be the hero, a dragon, or even a planetary entity such as the sun. However, Jung also had an interested in alchemy.
Alchemy is typically connected to legends of ancient mystics attempting to unravel the secret of turning lead into gold. The work of alchemists is credited with the development of modern chemistry. However, another side of alchemy is spiritual in nature, relating to personal transformation. Jung had a passion for alchemy in this sense, and felt that the metal lead was a metaphor for an impure soul, whereas gold was a metaphor for a perfected soul. Jung’s interest in alchemy was thus as a method of purifying the soul.
The Tabula Smaradina (Emerald Tablet), a print by Mathias Merian from the 1600s displaying alchemical symbols and imagery. Credit: Mathias Merian
Jung wrote a couple of books focused on interpreting alchemical symbolism and processes as different stages of personal growth that mirrored his ideas. He felt these symbols were archetypes that were unconsciously manifesting in the work of alchemists. Although he acknowledged the physical goals of alchemy (an attempt to transmute lead into gold), Jung did not give it much attention in his writing and focused on the non-physical aspects that related to his psychological theories. This is very similar to the way he approached the topic of UFOs.
Jung and UFOs
In 1951, Jung wrote to a friend in the United States: “I am puzzled to death about the phenomena, because I haven’t been able yet to make out with sufficient certainty whether the whole thing is a rumour with concomitant singular and mass hallucination, or a downright fact.”
Book cover to Jung’s Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies. (Credit: Princeton University Press.)
Although Jung showed an interest in the mystery of the physical reality of the UFO phenomenon, professionally he stated, “As a psychologist, I am not qualified to contribute anything useful to the question of the physical reality of Ufos.” However, Jung could contribute by analyzing the unmistakable psychological side to the UFO phenomenon. In 1958, several of Jung’s papers regarding the psychology of UFOs were published in a book. It was originally published in German, but in 1959 it was translated to English under the title, Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Skies.
In the book, Jung argued that although there may be a physical reality to UFOs, there is certainly a portion of the phenomenon that is fantasy. He examined the difficulty many have in accepting fantastical stories of UFOs, even when they come from pilots, and points out, “What is worse, most of the stories come from America, the land of superlatives and of science fiction.”
For the sake of argument, and to examine the psychological aspects of the phenomenon, Jung presumed that UFOs are fantasy. This is an important aspect that many critics overlook when they characterize Jung as dismissive of the phenomenon altogether. UFO researchers also tend not to appreciate the portions of Jung’s book in which he examined the UFO phenomenon in regards to archetypal imagery and alchemic symbolism. Jung himself assures his readers that although his work may appear to be “unbridled fantasy” to those unfamiliar with psychology, it is actually based on “thorough research into the history of symbols.”
In his book, Jung observed that most UFO sightings describe the objects as disc shaped, which is a symbol that is often seen in alchemy and existed in the mythology of other cultures. For example, the Hindu and Buddhist symbol of the mandala is a circular disc-shaped symbol. Jung believed that the mandala is a protective sphere, which is elicited in the unconscious in times of emotional tension. Jung noted that, around the time of many of the UFO sightings, the world was under a collective stress due to “Russian policies and their still unpredictable consequences.” In short, he felt that perhaps UFOs were appearing in visions at the time because of the world’s Cold War jitters, and that the UFOs were a manifestation of a need for protection and salvation.
Jung’s book also provided detail of the analysis of particular sightings and art. One of the significant contributions to ufology made by the book is a focus on two historical broadsheets, a type of ancient newspaper, that recorded mysterious apparitions that many have speculated to be UFO related. Although Jung asserted that these reports were in the UFO literature prior to the publication of his book, Jung clearly made them popular as potential ancient UFO sightings.
The first is referred to as the Basel Broadsheet, and it dates back to 1566. It was written by Samuel Coccius and is a report of “many large black globes” that were seen flying in front of the sun “with great speed.” The Basel Broadsheet notes, “Some of them became red and fiery and afterwards faded and went out.” Jung noted the similarity of this phenomenon to modern UFO accounts.
The Basel Broadsheet from 1566 analyzed by Carl Jung in his Flying Saucer book. Credit: Wickiana Collection, Zentralbibliothek Zürich
The second report is called the Nuremberg Broadsheet and dates back to 1561. This report chronicles a “very frightful spectacle” that was witnessed by several people. Again, “globes” were seen near the sun, “some three in a row, now and then four in a square, also some standing alone.” There were also “two great tubes.” Jung noted that in UFO literature large tubes are considered “motherships,” and have been reported to have smaller discs that appear to fly out of them.
The Nuremberg Broadsheet from 1561 analyzed by Carl Jung in his Flying Saucer book. Credit: Wickiana Collection, Zentralbibliothek Zürich
The Physical Reality of UFOs
In his book, Jung also examined the possibility of the physical reality of UFOs. He noted that, “unfortunately,” UFOs cannot be dismissed as purely psychological in nature. He pointed to numerous sightings, some of which have been caught in photographs and on radar. Jung even poked fun at astronomer Donald Menzel, a UFO debunker, saying that he “has not succeeded, despite all his efforts, in offering a scientific explanation of even one authentic UFO report.”
Jung was well-versed on UFO research. He wrote, “since 1947 I have collected all of the books I could get a hold of on the subject.” He was also a member of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP), an early civilian UFO organization that included many credible members. In fact, in his book, Jung often referred to the work of Major Donald Keyhoe, a cofounder and director of NICAP.
Prior to releasing his book, Jung was considered by UFO researchers to be a proponent of the physical reality of UFOs. In 1955, he wrote an article on UFOs for a British journal called the Flying Saucer Review. In the article, Jung stated that he had never seen a UFO himself, but that “I can only say for certain: these things are not a mere rumour: something has been seen.”
He went on to argue that the U.S. Air Force “despite its contradictory statements,” considers the phenomenon to be real and they conduct official investigations. He warned that, by concealing information on the topic, the military is making it more likely that people will panic since the public is denied “an adequate picture of what is happening.”
Jung also stated that “the ‘disks’ (that is, the objects themselves) do not behave in accordance with physical laws, but as though without weight, and they show signs of intelligent guidance, by quasi human pilots, for their accelerations are such that no normal human could survive.”
Not much was made of Jung’s 1955 article until it was reprinted in 1958 by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) in the organization’s bulletin in July 1958. APRO posted the story as part of an announcement that Jung had agreed to become an official consultant for the organization. The New York Herald Tribune quickly picked up on the report and printed a story with the headline, “Dr. Jung Says ‘Flying Disks’ Suggest Quasi-Human Pilots.”
APRO Bulletin from July, 1958 with reprint of Jung’s article on UFOs. Credit: APRO
Jung was not happy with the implication that he believed UFOs represented a physical phenomenon and later wrote a letter to United Press International news agency clarifying his position. He wrote: “I expressly state that I cannot commit myself on the question to the physical reality or unreality of the UFOs since I do not possess sufficient evidence either for or against.” He then stated, “Something is seen, but it isn’t known what.” Jung later repeated this statement in his 1958 book and in several letters.
Although Jung was clearly embarrassed by the public perception that he conclusively believed flying saucers were physical in nature, he later reiterated his prior statements and earlier criticisms of the U.S. Air Force’s handling of the matter in very strong words. He wrote:
In spite of the fact that I hold my judgment concerning UFOs—temporarily let’s hope—in abeyance, I thought it worthwhile to throw a light upon the rich fantasy material which has accumulated round the peculiar observations in the skies. Any new experience has two aspects: (I) the pure fact and (2) the way one conceives of it. It is the latter I am concerned with. If it is true that the [American Air Force] or the Government withholds telltale facts, then one can only say that this is the most unpsychological and stupid policy one could invent. Nothing helps rumours and panics more than ignorance.
It is no wonder that many have been confused as to Jung’s official stance on UFOs. He seems to have believed the phenomenon and sightings to be real, but is uncertain whether UFOs are a physical reality or are limited to a psychological phenomenon. He stated that although “by all human standards it hardly seems possible to doubt this any longer,” in the decade or more he had been studying the topic, neither he nor anyone else seems to have learned much from the study of the physical aspect of UFOs. Jung said that this is precisely why he found it much more fruitful to study the psychological aspects of UFOs, an area in which he felt he had gained an abundance of knowledge.
Jung may be right. Concrete physical proof of UFOs continues to elude us to this day. Yet, Jung is another example of a luminary who garners a great amount of respect in his field of study, who also had the vision to seriously consider the UFO phenomenon. His UFO interest is a story that should not be forgotten, and his insights into the phenomenon may help guide us today, just as his insights into the human mind continue to be a part of the bedrock of modern psychological understanding.
A version of this article originally appeared in Open Minds UFO Magazine. Back issues can be found here.
WTH? UFO Crash Recovery In Sahara Desert, Algeria On Google Earth Map, UAP Drone Sighting News.
WTH? UFO Crash Recovery In Sahara Desert, Algeria On Google Earth Map, UAP Drone Sighting News.
Date of discovery: June 2025
Location of discovery: Sahara Desert, Algeria
Google Earth Location: 28° 8'45.15"N 6°48'20.85"E
Check this out! There is a crashed UFO that looks like it took place over 10,000 years ago or more and it's being dug out of the desert sand and recovered! This UFO won't be there long. They will retrieve it and sell it to the highest bidding government. The UFO is beaten and battered and has some torn open areas along the dome, perhaps the people digging it out broke through the metal top to see what valuables were inside? This is 100% proof that aliens were here long before us, and will be here long after humanity is extinct.
Graancirkels verklaard: wetenschap en speculatie In de jaren tachtig en negentig doken overal ter wereld graancirkels op, wat angst en intriges over hun oorsprong veroorzaakte. Deze cryptische patronen lijken de afgelopen jaren echter verdwenen.
Laten we de geschiedenis, feiten en theorieën verkennen over dit mysterieuze fenomeen dat een milieukunstvorm inspireerde. Klik door de galerij om aan de slag te gaan.
Australië In de jaren 1960 waren er talrijke UFO-waarnemingen in Queensland, Australië. Mensen beweerden cirkels te hebben ontdekt in moerasriet en rietvelden. Eén zo'n voorval deed zich voor in 1966 toen een aanzienlijke cirkel werd gevonden in het riet van een moeras in Tully, Queensland.
Antipodees Vergelijkbare vindplaatsen zijn gedocumenteerd in verschillende delen van Australië, zoals Tooligie Hill in South Australia in 1971 en Navarre in Victoria in september 1972.
Lange geschiedenis De oorsprong van graancirkels gaat echter veel verder terug. In 1678 werd van een groep cirkels die in Hertfordshire waren ontdekt, gedacht dat ze het werk van de duivel waren, omdat het onmogelijk leek dat een mens ze had kunnen maken;
Graancirkels In de jaren 1980 was er een aanzienlijke toename van het aantal gerapporteerde cirkels, wat leidde tot de popularisering van de term "graancirkels".
Theorieën Er werden verschillende verklaringen voor hun ontstaan geopperd. Sommigen geloofden dat UFO's verantwoordelijk waren, terwijl anderen een onbekende vorm van energie, mogelijk paranormaal, voorstelden als de schepper.
Locatie Verder onderzoek wees uit dat graancirkels in het Verenigd Koninkrijk niet willekeurig verspreid waren. Ze verschenen vaak in de buurt van wegen, bewoonde gebieden en oriëntatiepunten zoals de historische steencirkels van Stonehenge en Avebury.
Operatie Merel In 1990 begon een team wetenschappers, de zelfbenoemde "cerealogisten", aan een onderzoek om het mysterie rond deze formaties te ontrafelen. Ze sloegen een kamp op op een heuvel in Wiltshire, uitgerust met detectoren voor warmte, licht en geluid. Hun doel was om elk bewijs vast te leggen van een UFO of een buitenaardse entiteit die verantwoordelijk was voor het maken van de graancirkels.
Resultaat Operatie Blackbird omvatte samenwerking met de BBC en er werd in het gebied gepatrouilleerd door functionarissen van het Ministerie van Defensie. In de tweede nacht registreerde de bewakingsapparatuur knipperende oranje lichten in het aangrenzende veld. De volgende ochtend werden twee grote cirkels met parallelle lijnen ertussen ontdekt
Bewijs Tijdens het onderzoek van de cirkels werden een bordspel en een houten kruisbeeld ontdekt in het midden van één ervan. Onderzoeker Colin Andrews accepteerde de mogelijkheid dat de knipperende oranje lichten waarschijnlijk werden veroorzaakt door de warmtehandtekening van een hoaxer.
Niet grappig? Colin Andrews informeerde de pers dat hun onderzoek was gehinderd door een grap, wat een tegenslag veroorzaakte. Hij benadrukte de ernst van hun werk en benadrukte dat de grap van korte duur was.
Ondermijnd De personen achter de onderbreking van Operatie Blackbird werden niet geïdentificeerd, maar hun acties beschadigden de reputatie van de "cerealogen"
Samenzwering? Volgens berichten hebben samenzweringstheoretici gesuggereerd dat het leger het bedrog heeft uitgevoerd om de onderzoekers minder geloofwaardig te maken.
Grappenmakers In 1991 schokten Doug Bower en Dave Chorley de wereld toen ze beweerden dat zij degenen waren achter de graancirkels, beginnend in 1978. Ze lieten het proces zien van het creëren van een graancirkel met behulp van basisgereedschap zoals een houten plank, een touw en een baseballpet met een lus van draad om een rechte lijn aan te houden.
Verantwoordelijkheid Bower en Chorley verklaarden naar verluidt dat ze beïnvloed waren door de gebeurtenissen in Australië in de jaren 1960. Ze namen de eer op zich voor alle graancirkels in Groot-Brittannië vóór 1987 en voor meer dan 200 graancirkels van 1978 tot 1991.
Nieuwe golf De onthulling van de cirkels van Bower en Chorley in de jaren 1990 leidde tot een toename van het aantal graancirkels. In 2009 meldde het tijdschrift Smithsonian dat deze geometrische ontwerpen in de loop der jaren groter en ingewikkelder zijn geworden. Anonieme cirkelmakers hebben met hun creaties New Age toeristen aangetrokken.
Wereldwijd Volgens de publicatie zijn er sindsdien wereldwijd op verschillende locaties graancirkels waargenomen. In Zuid-Engeland, waar de meeste activiteit plaatsvindt, richten de cirkelmakers zich op koolzaad-, gerst- en tarwevelden.
Magnetrons Er zijn echter sceptici die betwijfelen of graancirkels uitsluitend door mensen zijn gemaakt. Physics World onthult dat biofysici opgezwollen stengels hebben geïnterpreteerd als bewijs dat de gewassen werden blootgesteld aan microgolven toen de cirkels werden gevormd. Deze ontdekking heeft geleid tot gepatenteerde methoden om de groei van gewassen te versnellen.
Debat Na de bekentenis van Bower en Chorley ontstond er een gepassioneerde discussie tussen degenen die geloofden dat mensen verantwoordelijk waren en degenen die beweerden dat hun bekentenis niet elke cirkel kon verklaren.
Onderzoek Studies gepubliceerd in 1999 en 2001 vonden bewijs van straling op gewassen in graancirkelformaties, wat een raadsel is voor degenen die de cirkels toeschrijven aan door mensen gemaakte houten plankontwerpen.
Prozaïsche waarheid Andere incidenten hebben eenvoudiger verklaringen. In 2002 maakten mensen melding van graancirkels in de buurt van Pike Lake in Saskatchewan, Canada. Later werd echter bevestigd dat deze formaties in feite mesthopen waren die door een nabijgelegen boer waren weggegooid.
Uitleg? Ook de cirkels die in de jaren 1960 in Australië werden waargenomen, zouden kunnen worden toegeschreven aan wallaby's die opium consumeerden. Volgens rapporten betraden deze buideldieren papavervelden die voor medicinale doeleinden werden gecultiveerd, consumeerden ze overmatige hoeveelheden van de gewassen en bewogen ze zich vervolgens in cirkelvormige patronen.
De vorige keer sneuvelden de dinosauriërs De vijfde massale uitsterving vond 65 miljoen jaar geleden plaats toen een asteroïde de dinosauriërs van de aardbodem wegvaagde. Nu vrezen wetenschappers dat de zesde uitsterving misschien al begonnen is.
Een nieuwe massale uitsterving Volgens een team onder leiding van Prof. Robert Cowie, van de Universiteit van Hawaï, wordt in een onderzoek dat gepubliceerd is in Biological Reviews gesteld dat het "steeds waarschijnlijker" is dat wij ons in de beginfase van een nieuwe massale uitsterving bevinden.
Het is aan de gang "Ontkenning ervan is eenvoudigweg in strijd met de enorme hoeveelheid gegevens die zich snel opstapelen. Er is geen plaats meer voor scepsis en de vraag of het wel echt gebeurt", zo stelt het
Wat is massale uitsterving? Er is sprake van een massale uitsterving wanneer ongeveer 70% van het dieren- en plantenleven ophoudt te bestaan. Het is dus een wereldwijde ramp waarbij de biodiversiteit en het ecosysteem in het gedrang komen.
Weekdieren Het onderzoek van Cowie richt zich met name op ongewervelde dieren, meer bepaald op weekdieren. Het team achter dit onderzoek is van mening dat de IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) onevenredig veel aandacht besteedt aan gewervelde dieren, zoals vogels en zoogdieren.
Diversiteit van dieren "De IUCN heeft niet zomaar een fractie van ongewervelde dieren geëvalueerd. Het gaat om insecten, slakken, spinnen en schaaldieren die samen 95% van de diversiteit aan dieren uitmaken", vertelde Cowie aan Vice.
Sinds 1500 Uit het onderzoek van Cowie en zijn team blijkt dat er sinds 1500 ongeveer 7,5% tot 13% van de soorten verdwenen is, wat erop wijst dat wij op een massale uitsterving afstevenen.
Afgebeeld: Een Tasmaanse tijger (Thylacine) uit 1936 is uitgestorven verklaard en wordt tentoongesteld in het Australian Museum in Sydney.
Het is onze schuld Mochten wij inderdaad op weg zijn naar de zesde massale uitsterving, dan zal het de eerste keer zijn dat de oorzaak daarvan aan het ingrijpen van een soort toe te schrijven is. In dit geval de mens.
Het antropoceen Het effect van de mens op het milieu is zelfs zo enorm dat veel wetenschappers stellen dat wij in een nieuw geologisch tijdperk leven: het antropoceen. Dat begon toen de mens een significante invloed is gaan uitoefenen op de geologie en de ecosystemen van de aarde.
Landbouw Tot nu toe blijft het antropoceen een hypothetisch gegeven. Sommigen beweren dat het begon toen de mens zich met de landbouw ging bezighouden zo'n 12.000 tot 15.000 jaar geleden.
Great Acceleration Andere deskundigen brengen het antropoceen in verband met de zogenaamde Great Acceleration. Dat is de verbazingwekkende snelheid van de menselijke groei en het verbruik van grondstoffen die na de Tweede Wereldoorlog tot een hoogtepunt kwam.
Volgens The Guardian is de hommelpopulatie in Europa en Noord-Amerika in slechts één generatie met meer dan 30% gedaald, wat wijst op massaal uitsterven.
Meer dan honing Het uitsterven van de hommelpopulatie heeft ook gevolgen voor de mens. De bijen zijn niet alleen verantwoordelijk voor de honing, maar bestuiven ook gewassen zoals tomaten en bessen. Zonder hen wordt er minder voedsel geproduceerd.
Het vlindereffect National Geographic weet te melden dat ondertussen ook meer dan 450 soorten vlinders in het zuidwesten van de VS dreigen te verdwijnen.
Essentieel voor de bestuiving Vlinders zijn bovendien van essentieel belang voor de bestuiving van veel planten en bloemen en hebben zo invloed op de voedselketen en het hele ecosysteem.
Een ongemakkelijke waarheid De belangrijkste boosdoener voor de afname van het aantal bijen en vlinders is het warmere weer als gevolg van de klimaatverandering. De stijgende temperaturen veranderen vroegere habitat van deze soorten in iets onherbergzaams.
Afgebeeld: De gevolgen van ontbossing in het Amazonewoud.
Land en grondstoffen
Hierbij is nog niet eens rekening gehouden met het buitensporige gebruik van land en grondstoffen, waardoor hele ecosystemen worden aangetast of ronduit vernietigd.
Wij hebben het vuur aangestoken De schade die de mens aan de planeet heeft toegebracht, is onomkeerbaar gebleken. Het zorgwekkendste is dat het, ondanks eindeloze initiatieven en topontmoetingen met de beste bedoelingen, tot op de dag van vandaag gewoon doorgaat.
De tijd dringt Ondertussen begint de tijd te dringen om nog het kostbare evenwicht te behouden dat de mensheid al duizenden jaren in staat heeft gesteld te leven. Wie weet voor welke uitdagingen de volgende generatie zal komen te staan, als wij dat evenwicht eenmaal verloren hebben.
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Screenshot from the official video released by the Chilean Navy of a UFO. You can read about this case in the article below.
Credit: Chilean Navy
Whether you believe in them or not – hundreds of genuine UFO sightings have been recorded over the past decades.
However, these observations continue to occur around the world today. And while most of us only hear about some of the most famous and fully researched UFO sightings from many years ago, some of the most intriguing events have only occurred in the last decade.
Perhaps the bonus of the modern era is that most people have instant access to cameras on their phones. With that in mind, here are 10 UFO sightings from the last decade that you really should know about.
1. UFO over Southern California – November 2015
In November 2015, thousands of eyewitnesses from Southern California reported a rare UFO sighting. You can see one of the thousands of videos from that day below. Apparently, the light remained in the sky for several minutes before it exploded into blue light and expanded.
Navy spokesmen later claimed that this was a ballistic rocket launched during tests at the Pacific Test Range in California. According to him, these tests are always kept secret but the reality is that these launches are usually announced months earlier in normal conditions. Moreover, the behavior of the object suggests that it definitely is not a rocket.
2. Triangular UFO harassing US Navy Ship – July 2019
Recently, a video captured by the US Navy was leaked online, revealing a mysterious triangular UFO. A couple of months ago, we wrote about the case of a swarm of UFO drones harassing several US Navy ships in July 2019 and the video below was captured during this exact period.
Several days after the footage was leaked, we got the official confirmation from the Pentagon that the video is real. There is no information as to what the triangular object was but there surely is an ongoing investigation.
One of the most promising UFO sightings from the past decade happened in the last days of last year in Oahu, Hawaii. Multiple eyewitnesses captured and reported a blue light in the night sky that remained visible for several minutes before it dropped into the ocean.
We recently wrote an article on the event, discussing the declassified military report on the blue UFO. For now, the origin and nature of the object remain unknown. See the genuine footage below.
4. UFO hovers over an airport in Puerto Rico – April 2013
This UFO sighting from 2013 includes some of the most promising footage not only from this past decade but perhaps in the entire history of observations. A mysterious object was monitored for several minutes by the Navy as it hovered over the Rafael Hernandez Airport in Puerto Rico. The UFO made a couple of flybys and then returned to the ocean where it disappeared.
We have an entire article dedicated to this UFO sighting and the ongoing investigations here.
5. US Navy pilots capture UFOs (Declassified) – November 2004 / January 2015
Despite the fact that one of the UFO sightings occurred in 2004, I am including all three here because they were declassified by the US Navy at the same time. All three were captured by pilots aboard F / A-18 Hornet fighters.
The videos were originally published several years ago but the official declassification came only in April 2020. According to the Pentagon, they were revealed only because they do not include sensitive information or capabilities. In each case, it was great to see some effort from the government and not just another major cover-up.
6. American Airlines Pilot Spots UFO during flight – February 2021
In February this year, the pilots of American Airlines Flight 2292 claimed that they saw a long cylindrical object while flying at a height of 36,000 feet over New Mexico. The UFO sighting was later confirmed by the FAA, FBI, and American Airlines but unfortunately, there is no footage and we do not know whether there is an ongoing investigation or not.
7.Learjet And Airbus pilots encounter UFO over Arizona – February 2018
The previous UFO sighting is actually the second such case in the past decade that happened in the region. On February 24, 2018, two separate flights reported close encounters with a mysterious craft at about 40,000 feet in the air. While there is no footage of the object/craft again, the sighting is evidenced by official audio recordings obtained from the FAA.
The Alburquerque Center got a report from a passing N71PG that an object had just passed above the plane. There was no traffic nearby at that time which made the control center inform the next flight American 1095 to report if they encounter a passing object while on their way. Surprisingly, a minute later, the second flight reported the passing of an object about several thousand feet above them.
8. Chilean Navi Encounter – November 2014
The Chilean government is known to be absolutely transparent when it comes to UFO and UAP investigations and back in 2017, they published an incredible nine-minute video of a UFO captured by a Navy helicopter.
They observed a mysterious object flying over the ocean with speed identical to that of the helicopter. The UFO was not caught on the nearby radar stations although the helicopter clearly appeared in the scans. The whole observation continued for about 10 minutes when the object disappeared and the helicopter was called to return to base.
9. UFO near Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru – February 2019
Here is another UFO Sighting from the last decade that was confirmed officially, this time by the Peruvian Air Force. The incident took place on February 27, 2019, and included two unidentified flying objects near the Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima.
The whole event lasted for more than 30 minutes and the objects were monitored by the crews of two commercial flights and the control tower. Unfortunately, there is no footage from this UFO sighting but the important fact here is that it was confirmed by the government.
10. Airliners and F-15s encounter mysterious aircraft – November 2017
Here is one of the most incredible cases of a sighting although it is not exactly a UFO. Several pilots from different flights spotted a mysterious aircraft at the same time while the craft itself did not appear on any radars. Simply said, this is not exactly an unidentified object but the fact is that the case has not yet been solved.
Based on the reports, the craft was not small and was able to outpace an airbus at max speed. Unfortunately, no commercial flight was close enough to make the difference and get more insight into the aircraft. Its origin remains unknown.
This case is so incredible and rare that multiple agencies, control centers, and officials were included in handling the incident. At one point, they launched several F-15Cs from the 142nd Fighter Wing based at Portland International Airport. They were sent to investigate but unfortunately, nothing was found and the mysterious aircraft was gone. Perhaps the F-15s were sent out too late.
You can read about the incredible case in this fantastic article by the Drive.
In this series we are exploring NASA's top five challenges as detailed in its Civil Space Shortfall Ranking, which is basically NASA's Christmas wish list. These are the technologies that NASA believes we need to develop if we want to go to space…and stay there.
Coming in second place is nothing less thanmore power. Which is kind of obvious: we want bigger and faster computers, we want more powerful robotics, and we want more sophisticated navigation systems. All that is going to take a lot of juice.
What we have now just…isn't going to cut it. Right now if you want power in space you essentially have two options: solar panels, and a kind of nuclear power called radioisotope thermoelectric generators.
Solar panels are exactly what you think of, because it's very similar to what we have on the Earth. On the plus side, solar panels are relatively cheap to make and deploy, and contain no moving parts, which is always a bonus when it comes to space applications. There are major downsides, however. One, anything outside the Earth's orbit is going to be tight on energy relying on solar panels, because…not a lot of sunlight. Also there's no Sun in the shade, which I know is an incredibly obvious statement to make but matters if you're, say, on the Moon and get plunged into darkness for two weeks at a time.
Even the International Space Station, which receives the same amount of sunlight as the Earth (because it's in Earth orbit), has over 262,000 individual solar cells spanning over an acre – which is over 2,500 square meters for you metric folks that generates on average an impressive 84 to 120 kilowatts of electricity, which could power…a handful of typical homes.
Hm.
NASA's Juno spacecraft currently holds the record for the most distant deployed solar panels in the system, orbiting around Jupiter at a distance of over 800 million kilometers. Its gigantic solar array could generate 14,000 watts of power on the Earth, but at the distance sunlight is so feeble it only managed a measly 500 watts of power…which could run a kitchen blender. You know, if you needed to make a smoothie at Jupiter. But Juno was able to turn that juice into the most detailed images ever taken of the storms and cloud-tops of the giant planet, and use slight variations and gravity and magnetic fields to give us a sense of what's happening deep beneath the surface.
The alternative for deep-space missions is the RTG, or radioisotope thermoelectric generator. This device is essentially a chunk of radioactive material that decays. As it does it releases heat, which can be used to generate electricity. It's like a nuclear battery. On the upside these thigs last basically forever, giving spacecraft decades of reliable power. But on the downside they don't deliver a lot of power, they slowly lose power over time, and there's the whole nuclear thing which makes some people a little twitchy.
But there's thing. If we're going to stay in space for the long haul, we have to get over the whole nuclear thing real quick. And that doesn't mean more RTGs. That means full on nuclear power plants on lunar and Martian bases. Yes, you heard me right. Look, it's not like we don't know how to make relatively compact nuclear power plants: submarines and aircraft carriers around the world all carry their own little power plants. But those things are beyond heavy, which make them impractical to launch in a single mission, and nobody really likes the idea of trying to assemble one in Earth orbit.
So we have to get clever. We're going to have to figure out how to make smaller, launchable fission power plants. And the most difficult challenge will be convincing the public that we can launch nuclear material into space and totally not have it blow up in the atmosphere, we promise. I mean, it's kind a legit concern. It's not like we'll have a nuclear bomb going off or anything, but also nobody wants some rocket blowing up and rain radioactive material across a sizeable fraction of a continent. It's not likely to happen, but there's a possibility, and NASA and its partners will have its work cut out to convince the public that it's a small enough risk, and a great enough reward.
In the meantime, while we're figuring out all the bits and pieces that will make safe, efficient nuclear power in space a viable option, we have to up our game with solar panels. That's really the only other power source we can rely on. It's not like there are coal or oil deposits on the Moon or Mars. So we need more efficient solar panels, lighter solar panels, and the ability to deploy solar farms in sunlit areas and transmit that generated power to our bases and stations.
Those solar panels are going to have to be more durable than current ones, as they have to deal with micrometeorite impacts and the destruction caused by the Sun's unfiltered UV radiation. Oh, and don't forget the dust. The always-present, always-persistent dust that just gets…everywhere. The only reason that the Spirit and Opportunity rovers were able to go past their planned mission lifetimes was that random Martian dust devils would wipe the dust off their solar panels. And we can't rely on dust devils as a long-term solution.
In this series we are exploring NASA's top five challenges as detailed in its Civil Space Shortfall Ranking, which is basically NASA's Christmas wish list. These are the technologies that NASA believes we need to develop if we want to go to space…and stay there.
That brings us to the number 3 highest-priority technology for long-term space activities: better computers.
Computers have been involved in spaceflight since almost the very beginning. Just like on the Earth, computers aid in a variety of tasks, like navigation and communication. But unfortunately, space is really, really unkind to electronics.
It's not so much the vacuum of space; a circuit board does just fine. And freezing cold temperatures aren't that big of an issue either. No, it's our old friends, the cosmic rays. Each cosmic ray consists of a single proton or atomic nuclei, and the most powerful ones have the energy equivalent to a thrown baseball – which doesn't sound like much, but when you cram that baseball down to the size of a subatomic particle, it can be rather nasty.
Most cosmic rays slip through tissues and computer circuitry with ease; they're so small they literally miss the atoms and molecules of larger objects. But every once in a while they can strike, delivering all their energy to whatever they encounter. In humans, this can lead to an increased risk of cancer. In computers, it can lead to fatal glitches.
In 2022 the Voyager 1 spacecraft, launched all the way back in 1977 and is currently sailing beyond the borders of our solar system, started sending back garbled transmissions. By this point, voyager had spent decades cruising the outer solar system, giving us the most pristine images of the giant planets and our first taste of interstellar space. Most of the spacecraft was operating normally, but not the attitude articulation and control system, which is responsible for keeping Voyager's radio antenna pointed back to Earth, was just creating nonsense. Engineers were able to fix the issue by uploading the equivalent of a software update to route around the malfunctioning circuitry, although they never discovered the root cause of the problem. Many suspect that a cosmic ray struck a piece of circuitry at just the wrong moment to cause the problem.
More sophisticated computers are vulnerable as well. In 2023 the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most advanced telescope ever sent into space, suffered a minor malfunction when it's Near infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, or Niriss, an important scientific instrument used to study exoplanets, become unsynchronized with the rest of the spacecraft, rendering it useless. NASA engineers suspected a cosmic ray led to the malfunction, but thankfully they were able to restore order by, essentially, turning it off and turning it back on again.
These issues were easy to solve, but it's only a matter of time before a cosmic ray strikes at a critical moment, shutting down a much more important mission. To protect against the ever-present threat of cosmic rays, spacecraft engineers take years to develop onboard computers and ensure that they are hardened against radiation. It's for this reason that computers going into space tend to be a couple…or more…generations behind the curve.
In 1969, the Apollo 11 mission's guidance computer weighed 70 pounds and was capable of performing about 40,000 instructions per second, which is over 100,000 times slower than the smartphone you're probably using right now. The International Space Station featured several custom-build computers with took nearly a decade to develop.
If we're going to maintain a larger presence in space, this isn't going to cut it. We need advanced hardware to handle a variety of complex tasks: more sophisticated navigation and tracking, much larger data communication loads, assistance with scientific surveys and studies, and more. Plus, we need our computers to be more fault tolerant, so that a stray cosmic ray doesn't derail an entire mission, and we need to be able to easily swap out computing modules when they go space crazy on us, because we need maximum adaptability to achieve our long-term plans.
Ironically, one of our biggest challenges with sending more powerful computers into space is how to deal with the heat. Yes, away from the Sun, space is cold, just a few degrees above absolute zero. But it's also a vacuum, which means there's no air or water to easily transport away heat. It's not just you can just plop a fan on the side of the CPU. So heat can easily build up to dangerous – for delicate circuitry – levels. Plus, shielding against cosmic rays isn't as simple as putting up a wall. That's because cosmic rays can strike the molecules in the wall itself and send out a shower of still-energetic particles that can disrupt circuitry.
We'll have to come up with many clever solutions if we want our space-based computers to be as fast and reliable as our Earthbound ones.
UFO-crashes in de Verenigde Staten naast Roswell: Aurora, Aztec en Kecksburg, en ook crashes in de rest van de wereld
UFO-crashes in de Verenigde Staten naast Roswell: Aurora, Aztec en Kecksburg, en ook crashes in de rest van de wereld
Voorwoord
De vraag of buitenaards leven bestaat en of wij daadwerkelijk contact hebben gehad met niet-aardse wezens, blijft één van de meest intrigerende en controversiële onderwerpen binnen de wetenschap en populaire cultuur. Sinds het begin van de 20e eeuw hebben talloze meldingen, ooggetuigenverslagen en vermeende bewijzen de ronde gedaan over UFO-waarnemingen en -crashes. Hoewel de meeste incidenten worden toegeschreven aan natuurlijke verschijnselen, menselijke fouten of militaire testen, blijven enkele gebeurtenissen, zoals de beroemde Roswell-crash, het onderwerp van speculatie en onderzoek. Naast Roswell zijn er andere opvallende incidenten zoals Aurora, Aztec en Kecksburg, die elk hun eigen verhaal en mysterie bevatten. Daarnaast zijn er wereldwijd meerdere crash-incidenten gerapporteerd, waardoor het vraagstuk universeel lijkt en niet uitsluitend tot één regio beperkt.
In deze wetenschappelijke analyse zullen we de belangrijkste UFO-crashes naast Roswell in detail onderzoeken, inclusief de incidenten in Aurora, Aztec en Kecksburg. Daarnaast wordt een overzicht gegeven van crashincidenten elders in de wereld. We bespreken de beschrijvingen van deze crashes, de geloofwaardigheid ervan, de beschikbare bewijzen en de wetenschappelijke pogingen tot verklaring. Een kritische blik op de sceptische interpretaties en de tekortkomingen van het bewijs worden niet geschuwd, om zo een evenwichtig en volledig beeld te schetsen. Het doel is niet om onkritisch te geloven, maar om de feiten en de wetenschap achter de fenomenen te analyseren, en te kijken of er ruimte is voor een plausibele theorie of dat de meeste incidenten verklaard kunnen worden door andere oorzaken.
Historisch overzicht en datums van belangrijke UFO-crashes
De geschiedenis van UFO-crashes kent meerdere opvallende incidenten, waarvan sommige al decennia lang onderwerp van discussie en onderzoek zijn. Hieronder volgt een overzicht van de belangrijkste gebeurtenissen, gerangschikt op datum:
Deze UFO in de vorm van een eikel werd gemaakt als rekwisiet voor een tv-programma en is nu te zien in Kecksburg.
Krediet: Kecksburg Vrijwillige Brandweer
Kecksburg (1948):
Op 9 december 1948 vond in het kleine dorpje Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, een incident plaats dat sindsdien veel discussie en speculatie heeft uitgelokt. Volgens ooggetuigen en lokale bewoners zag men een helder, vuurbol-achtig object dat met grote snelheid door de lucht bewoog. Plotseling daalde het object neer in de dichtbeboste omgeving van het dorp, waar het volgens verslagen langzaam werd waargenomen voordat het uit het zicht verdween. Verschillende getuigen beschreven het object als een metalen, acorn-shaped (eikelvormig) voorwerp, dat met een knal op de grond zou zijn gevallen. Na de val werd het gebied onmiddellijk door militaire eenheden afgezet, en er werden militaire voertuigen en helikopters in de omgeving gesignaleerd, wat de indruk wekte dat de autoriteiten het incident zeer serieus namen.
Illustratie van de UFO beschreven door getuigen.
Krediet: Michael Schratt
De Amerikaanse overheid verklaarde aanvankelijk dat het om een meteoriet ging, maar veel inwoners en UFO-onderzoekers waren sceptisch over deze uitleg. Het object werd in beslag genomen door de militaire autoriteiten en naar een geheime locatie gebracht, waardoor er geruchten ontstonden over de aard van de inhoud. Sommige theorieën suggereren dat het een buitenaards vaartuig was dat crashte, terwijl anderen beweren dat het een experimenteel militair apparaat was dat geheim moest blijven voor het publiek. Het incident werd lange tijd nauwelijks besproken in de mainstream media, maar kreeg later meer aandacht van UFO-enthousiastelingen en onderzoekers, die het vergelijken met de beroemde Roswell-crash van 1947. Desalniettemin blijft de exacte aard van wat er in Kecksburg gebeurde, tot op heden een mysterie, dat vragen oproept over mogelijke buitenaardse interacties en overheidsgeheimen.
Aztec (1948-1949):
De geruchten over een mogelijke UFO-crash nabij Aztec, New Mexico, dateren uit de jaren 1990 en hebben sindsdien veel aandacht getrokken binnen de UFO-gemeenschap en bij geïnteresseerden in buitenaardse verschijnselen. Volgens verschillende theorieën en verhalen zou er in de jaren 1948-1949 een grote onbekende vliegende schijf of Ufo zijn neergestort in de buurt van Aztec, een klein stadje in het zuidwesten van de Verenigde Staten. Deze verhalen worden vaak gekoppeld aan het populaire narratief rond de Roswell-affaire, die plaatsvond in juli 1947, en suggereren dat niet alle crashsites en buitenaardse resten openbaar zijn gemaakt of bekend zijn bij het grote publiek.
De geruchten over Aztec worden ondersteund door enkele anonieme getuigen en bronnen die beweren dat er in die periode een grote, onverklaarbare crash heeft plaatsgevonden, waarbij mogelijk buitenaardse voertuigen en lichamen zijn gevonden. Sommige theorieën suggereren dat de Amerikaanse overheid de crash heeft geborgen en dat de resten geheim worden gehouden vanwege de technologische en politieke implicaties. Er wordt echter nooit concreet bewijs geleverd dat deze gebeurtenis daadwerkelijk heeft plaatsgevonden. Moderne onderzoekers en UFO-enthousiastelingen wijzen er op dat de verhalen vaak gebaseerd zijn op anekdotisch bewijs, geruchten en speculaties, zonder tastbare bewijzen.
De Amerikaanse overheid heeft nooit officiële bevestiging gegeven van een UFO-crash in Aztec, en documenten die deze gebeurtenis ondersteunen ontbreken of blijven geheim. Desalniettemin blijft het verhaal bestaan binnen de UFO-mythologie en wordt het door sommigen gezien als een mogelijke aanwijzing dat er meer is dan wat officieel wordt toegelaten. Tot op heden is er geen sluitend bewijs dat aantoont dat er daadwerkelijk een UFO is neergestort bij Aztec, maar de geruchten blijven bestaan en voeden de interesse in buitenaardse verschijnselen en overheidsgeheimen.
Roswell (1947):
Het Roswell-incident van 1947 is zonder twijfel het meest bekende en besproken UFO-incident ter wereld. Op 8 juli 1947 werd in de buurt van Roswell, New Mexico, een vreemd object ontdekt dat aanvankelijk door de lokale autoriteiten werd gerapporteerd als een “buitenaards ruimteschip.” Volgens eerste rapporten was er een grote metalen schijf gevonden, die niet leek op gewone vliegtuigen of militaire apparatuur. Het nieuws verspreidde zich snel en leidde tot veel speculaties over buitenaardse ontmoetingen en UFO’s.
Kort daarna bracht het Amerikaanse leger een officiële verklaring uit, waarin werd gesteld dat het om een "weerballon" ging, onderdeel van een geheime militaire project genaamd “Mogul.” Dit project was bedoeld om Sovjet-communistische raket- en bommenwerperactiviteiten te detecteren door middel van hoogvliegende ballonnen met speciale geluidstrackers. Het werd later duidelijk dat het leger het publiek wilde beschermen tegen paniek door het incident te minimaliseren.
In de jaren daarna ontstonden talloze complottheorieën en geruchten dat het leger een buitenaards ruimteschip had geborgen en dat er buitenaardse wezens waren gevonden. Sommige onderzoekers geloven dat het bewijs voor buitenaards leven werd verborgen door de Amerikaanse overheid om publieke angst te voorkomen en geheime technologieën te beschermen. Anderen blijven bij de officiële verklaring dat het om een experiment met weerballonnen ging.
Hoewel er geen sluitend bewijs is dat buitenaardse wezens betrokken waren, blijft het Roswell-incident een bron van fascinatie en speculatie. Het heeft een belangrijke rol gespeeld in de popcultuur en de UFO-onderzoeken, en blijft een symbool voor de voortdurende zoektocht naar buitenaards leven en de geheimen van de overheid.
Origineel krantenartikel dat het incident beschrijft, door S. E. Haydon, “A Windmill Demolishes It,” The Dallas Morning News, 19 april 1897, p. 5.
Aurora (1897):
Het incident in Aurora, Texas, dat plaatsvond tussen 1897 en 1898, wordt algemeen beschouwd als een van de eerste bekende UFO-incidenten in de Verenigde Staten. Volgens ooggetuigen zag een aantal inwoners van het kleine stadje Aurora een vreemd object dat uit de hemel leek te dalen. Dit object had een cilindrische of schijfvormige structuur en werd beschreven als een glanzend, metallic schip dat in de lucht leek te zweven voordat het neerstortte op een boerderij buiten de stad.
De bewoners waren verbijsterd door wat ze zagen en rapporteerden dat het object vlammen en rook uitstraalde voordat het in brand vloog en tot ontploffing kwam. Aanwijzingen voor het incident werden gevonden in de nasleep ervan, waaronder verbrande grond, verbrande planten en metalen resten die niet overeenkwamen met bekende technologie van die tijd. Sommige ooggetuigen verklaarden dat ze een vreemd, niet-van-de-wereldachtig wezen zagen dat uit het wrak kwam, hoewel deze beweringen niet algemeen worden bevestigd.
De lokale autoriteiten en kranten uit die tijd beschreven het voorval als een mysterieuze brand en crash. De officiële verklaring van de plaatselijke burgemeester was dat het een "vliegend schip" betrof dat door de storm was meegesleurd en neergehaald. In latere jaren werd het incident door UFO-onderzoekers geïnterpreteerd als mogelijk bewijs van buitenaardse contactpogingen of geavanceerde technologie die destijds nog onbekend was.
Hoewel er geen concreet bewijs is dat het om een buitenaards voertuig ging, blijft het Aurora-incident een fascinerend verhaal dat de verbeelding van vele UFO-enthousiastelingen en onderzoekers heeft aangezwengeld. Het wordt vaak aangehaald in discussies over vroege UFO-waarnemingen en de mogelijkheid dat buitenaardse wezens al lang onze planeet zouden bezoeken. Het incident wordt ook wel de “Roswell van de 19e eeuw” genoemd vanwege de mysterieuze aard ervan.
Naast deze incidenten zijn er wereldwijd meerdere meldingen en crash-incidenten gerapporteerd, waaronder in België, Mexico, en Rusland.
Hier zijn enkele bekende UFO-incidenten:
België (1989-1990): Tijdens deze periode werden talloze waarnemingen gemeld van ongewone vliegende objecten die door burgers en piloten werden gezien. Deze verschijnselen werden niet alleen visueel waargenomen, maar ook geregistreerd door militaire radarinstallaties. Verschillende jetjagers werden ingezet om de objecten te volgen, wat leidde tot intensieve militaire operaties. Het fenomeen staat bekend als het "Belgium Wave" en blijft een van de meest gedocumenteerde en onderzochte UFO-incidenten in Europa vanwege de combinatie van radar- en visuele waarnemingen.
Rusland (1947): Hoewel het jaar vooral bekend staat vanwege de Roswell-crash in de Verenigde Staten, heeft Rusland ook een geschiedenis van meldingen van onverklaarbare luchtverschijnselen. In dat jaar werden verschillende meldingen gedaan van vreemde objecten en lichtverschijnselen in de lucht, vaak gezien door piloten en militairen. Deze incidenten werden soms niet volledig verklaard, waardoor ze bijdroegen aan de internationale uitwisseling van UFO-gerelateerde verhalen. Rusland heeft door de jaren heen meerdere officiële en onofficiële rapporten over onverklaarbare luchtverschijnselen uitgebracht, wat wijst op een blijvende interesse in dit fenomeen.
Mexico (1991): In de stad Veracruz werden meerdere getuigen meldingen gedaan van grote, mysterieuze objecten die zich in de lucht bewogen. Verschillende inwoners en lokale autoriteiten zagen de objecten, die snel en onvoorspelbaar leken te bewegen. Sommige getuigen beschreven ze als fel verlichte, vliegende schijven of onregelmatige vormen die snel van plaats veranderden. Het incident kreeg veel media-aandacht en leidde tot verdere onderzoeken door lokale autoriteiten en UFO-onderzoeksgroepen. Het blijft een van de meest opvallende onverklaarbare luchtverschijnselen in Mexico uit die periode.
Wat betreft recente of actuele UFO-crashes, er zijn geen bevestigde of door officiële instanties bevestigde incidenten die ik kan verstrekken. Veel UFO-meldingen blijven onduidelijk en worden niet officieel erkend als buitenaardse voertuigen.
Geloofwaardigheid, bewijs en wetenschappelijk onderzoek
De geloofwaardigheid van UFO-crash-incidenten is een onderwerp dat al decennia voor opschudding zorgt, niet alleen onder onderzoekers en overheidsinstanties, maar ook binnen het algemene publiek. Verschillende incidenten worden verschillend beoordeeld op basis van de beschikbare bewijzen, getuigenverklaringen en de mate van wetenschappelijke onderbouwing.
Het meest bekende en vaak besproken geval is dat van Roswell, dat al sinds de late jaren 1940 een prominente plaats inneemt in de UFO-lore. In 1947 meldde het Amerikaanse leger dat het een "vliegend schijfje" had geborgen, maar later werd dit verhaal omgezet in een verklaring dat het om een weerballon ging. Desalniettemin blijven er talloze getuigenverklaringen, officiële documenten die later werden vrijgegeven en een breed scala aan theorieën die suggereren dat er wel degelijk sprake was van een buitenaards voertuig. De omvangrijke documentatie en de langdurige publieke interesse versterken de geloofwaardigheid van deze zaak, hoewel het officiële standpunt altijd vasthield aan een natuurlijke of militaire verklaring. Kritieken wijzen erop dat veel bewijs gebaseerd is op anonieme bronnen of niet-verifieerbare documenten, waardoor de betrouwbaarheid twijfelachtig blijft.
Andere incidenten zoals die van Kecksburg (1954) en Aztec (1948) worden vaak als minder betrouwbaar beschouwd. Kecksburg bijvoorbeeld, waarbij een brandend object in de bossen werd gevonden, wordt door officiële instanties toegeschreven aan een meteoriet of een stuk ruimtepuin. Toch blijven theorieën bestaan dat het om een geheime militaire of buitenaardse operatie ging. Het gebrek aan fysiek bewijs, de inconsistenties in getuigenverklaringen en het ontbreken van onafhankelijke verificatie zorgen ervoor dat deze gebeurtenissen minder geloofwaardig worden geacht binnen de wetenschappelijke gemeenschap.
Wetenschappelijk onderzoek naar UFO-crashes en gerelateerde incidenten is ingewikkeld. Veel overheidsinstanties zoals NASA en het Amerikaanse leger hebben nooit bevestigd dat buitenaardse voertuigen betrokken zijn bij deze incidenten. In plaats daarvan wordt vaak verklaard dat de waarnemingen kunnen worden toegeschreven aan natuurlijke verschijnselen zoals planeten, meteorieten of atmosferische anomalieën, of menselijke technologieën zoals geheime militaire tests. Psychologische factoren zoals massahysterie, hallucinaties, en de invloed van media en folklore spelen eveneens een rol in de interpretatie van getuigenverslagen.
Echter, er blijven een aantal incidenten over die niet volledig verklaard kunnen worden door de gangbare wetenschappelijke theorieën. Radarwaarnemingen die niet konden worden verklaard, fysische sporen zoals beschadigde bodem of metalen resten die niet aan bekende materialen konden worden toegeschreven, en getuigenverklaringen die consistent blijven over de jaren heen, zorgen voor een blijvend vraagteken. Sommige onderzoekers pleiten voor verder wetenschappelijk onderzoek en het openstellen van meer bewijsmateriaal om de ware aard van deze onverklaarde fenomenen te achterhalen.
Kortom, hoewel veel UFO-incidenten hun verklaarbaarheid vinden in natuurlijke of menselijke oorzaken, blijven enkele gevallen buiten het bereik van de huidige wetenschappelijke kennis. De combinatie van getuigenissen, fysiek bewijs en de complexiteit van interpretatie maken het een fascinerend, maar ook controversieel onderzoeksgebied. Het is belangrijk dat verder onderzoek gebaseerd is op wetenschappelijke methoden en dat bewijzen systematisch worden verzameld en geverifieerd om de geloofwaardigheid en de waarheid achter deze mysterieuze gebeurtenissen te achterhalen.
Sceptische visie en kritische analyse
De sceptische benadering van UFO-incidenten is gebaseerd op een grondige en kritische evaluatie van de beschikbare bewijzen en verklaringen. Sceptici benadrukken dat veel waarnemingen en vermeende ontmoetingen met onbekende vliegende objecten kunnen worden verklaard door natuurlijke fenomenen, menselijke fouten, of zelfs bedrog. Ze wijzen bijvoorbeeld op de rol van atmosferische verschijnselen zoals ballonnen, weerballonnen, onweersbollen, lenticulair wolken en meteorieten die vaak worden geïnterpreteerd als buitenaardse voertuigen. Daarnaast kunnen optische illusies, zoals glinsteringen of lichteffecten, en technische fouten in waarnemingen of registratieapparatuur eveneens leiden tot onjuiste conclusies.
Een belangrijk punt in hun kritiek is dat veel zogenaamde bewijzen voor buitenaardse aanwezigheid gebaseerd zijn op anonieme bronnen, getuigenverklaringen zonder verificatie, of foto's en video's die niet reproduceerbaar of te verifiëren zijn. Vaak blijken deze bewijsstukken te zijn ontstaan uit overdrijvingen, verkeerde interpretaties of zelfs bewust bedrog. Voorbeelden hiervan zijn valse documenten, gefotoshopte beelden of misleidende foto's die jarenlang als authentiek werden beschouwd, maar later werden ontmaskerd.
Verder onderstrepen sceptici dat de media en publieke angst een grote rol spelen in het ontstaan en verspreiden van legendes en mythen rondom UFO's. Sensatiezucht en het verlangen naar spectaculair nieuws zorgen ervoor dat eventuele incidenten worden opgeblazen en dat de verhalen worden aangevuld met verzinsels en geruchten. Dit leidt tot een versterking van de overtuiging dat er sprake zou zijn van buitenaardse contacten, terwijl er geen solide bewijs is dat deze overtuigingen ondersteunen.
Daarnaast wordt het ontbreken van verificateerbare en reproduceerbare bewijzen als een fundamenteel probleem gezien. Wetenschappelijke methoden vereisen dat waarnemingen kunnen worden nagebootst en getest door onafhankelijke onderzoekers, maar bij UFO-gevallen ontbreekt vaak deze reproduceerbaarheid. Veel van de claims blijven op anekdotisch bewijs gebaseerd, dat niet kan worden bevestigd of gecontroleerd door derden.
Tot slot benadrukken sceptici dat de meeste UFO-incidenten uiteindelijk kunnen worden verklaard door menselijke perceptie, psychologische factoren zoals pareidolie (het zien van patronen in willekeurige prikkels), massahypnose en de menselijke neiging om te zoeken naar betekenis of patronen in onduidelijke waarnemingen. Hierdoor ontstaat een soort zelfversterkend patroon van interpretaties, dat niet op feitelijke bewijzen is gebaseerd.
Kortom, de sceptische visie benadrukt dat er tot op heden geen overtuigend en onweerlegbaar bewijs bestaat dat wijst op buitenaardse aanwezigheid. Veel waarnemingen en verhalen kunnen worden verklaard door natuurlijke verschijnselen, menselijke fouten, interpretatiefouten en bedrog. Het ontbreken van reproduceerbare en verifieerbare bewijzen ondermijnt de geloofwaardigheid van de meeste claims en wijst erop dat de UFO-zaak nog steeds niet wetenschappelijk bewezen is. Hierdoor blijven veel incidenten in het domein van speculatie en mythevorming, in plaats van objectieve wetenschap.
Conclusie
De analyse van UFO-crashes, met name die rondom Roswell en de gerelateerde incidenten in Aurora, Aztec en Kecksburg, benadrukt de complexiteit en het intrigerende karakter van deze gebeurtenissen. Hoewel ze vaak worden aangehaald als mogelijk bewijs voor buitenaardse aanwezigheid, blijft het bewijs op dit moment ontoereikend om definitief conclusies te trekken. Veel van de beschikbare rapporten, getuigenverklaringen en documenten zijn anoniem, incompleet of niet verifieerbaar, waardoor er een grote mate van onzekerheid en scepsis bestaat binnen de wetenschappelijke wereld.
De gebeurtenis bij Roswell in 1947 is waarschijnlijk de meest bekende UFO-crash in de geschiedenis. Aanvankelijk werd er gemeld dat een "vliegend schijfje" was gevonden, maar de Amerikaanse overheid verklaarde later dat het ging om een weerballon van het Project Mogul, bedoeld om Sovjet-Amerikaanse kernproeven te detecteren. Desalniettemin hield het verhaal stand dat er mogelijk een buitenaards voertuig was gevonden, en dit heeft geleid tot talloze geruchten, complottheorieën en een uitgebreide mythology rondom UFO’s. De documenten die later vrijgegeven werden, bevatten vaak onduidelijke of gecensureerde informatie, wat de twijfel en speculatie alleen maar versterkt.
In Aurora, Texas (1897), werd melding gemaakt van een "vallende vliegende schijf" en een lijk dat werd gevonden in de buurt van een kerktoren. Hoewel dit incident mogelijk op natuurlijke of menselijke oorzaken kan worden teruggevoerd, blijft het door de beperkte documentatie en het gebrek aan fysiek bewijs een bron van speculatie en interesse. Hetzelfde geldt voor het incident in Aztec (1948), waar getuigen rapporteren over een crash en de vondst van vreemde lichamen, maar zonder concreet bewijs dat het om buitenaardse technologie ging.
Het Kecksburg-incident uit 1965 is een ander bekend voorbeeld. Een object dat werd waargenomen en uiteindelijk in een bos werd gevonden, werd door de autoriteiten snel verwijderd en werd door sommigen geïdentificeerd als een meteoriet. Anderen geloven dat het een buitenaards voertuig was dat onder de radar werd gehouden. Ondanks verschillende verklaringen ontbreekt er overtuigend bewijs dat definitief aantoont dat het hier om een buitenaards object ging.
Toekomstperspectief
De toekomst van onderzoek naar UFO-crashes ligt in het verder verbeteren van de wetenschappelijke methodologie, het vergroten van transparantie en het verzamelen van meer fysiek bewijs. Moderne technologieën zoals geavanceerde radar-, satelliet- en sensorinstrumenten kunnen helpen om gebeurtenissen nauwkeuriger vast te leggen en te analyseren. Daarnaast is er een groeiende openheid en interesse van overheden en wetenschappelijke instituten, zoals de recentelijk opgerichte UAP-taskforces in de Verenigde Staten, die zich richten op het onderzoeken van onverklaarbare luchtverschijnselen.
Het is belangrijk dat onderzoeksinitiatieven interdisciplinair en kritisch blijven, en dat ze niet alleen gefocust zijn op het bevestigen van buitenaardse betrokkenheid, maar ook op het uitsluiten van natuurlijke of menselijke verklaringen. Het verzamelen van fysiek bewijs, zoals crash-onderdelen, en het documenteren van getuigenverklaringen onder strikte protocollen kunnen bijdragen aan een meer solide wetenschappelijke basis.
Hoewel het nog steeds onduidelijk is of UFO-crashes daadwerkelijk buitenaardse technologie betreffen, biedt de voortdurende technologische vooruitgang en de toenemende transparantie hoop op het verkrijgen van meer duidelijkheid in de toekomst. Wetenschap blijft openstaan voor nieuwe bewijzen en inzichten, en het is essentieel dat onderzoek naar deze mysterieuze gebeurtenissen op een objectieve en kritische wijze wordt voortgezet. Alleen door zorgvuldig en transparant onderzoek kunnen we wellicht op termijn antwoorden vinden die nu nog buiten ons bereik liggen.
It was 1993 when I was first contacted by London businessman Ray Santilli. It was l995 when Santilli’s controversial ‘Alien Autopsy Film’ was released around the world. I have covered events surrounding this film in many publications around the world and in my new book ‘ROSWELL ALIEN AUTOPSY – The Truth Behind the Film That Shocked the World’ so forgive me if I don’t cover old ground here. All the relevant details of my previous research can be located on my website at: www.beyondroswell.com.
On June 22nd 2007, I travelled by train to London to meet up with Ray Santilli and his business partner Gary Shoefield. We had a pleasant lunch together and Ray Santilli showed me some frames of film encased in a type of perspex material. Santilli claimed these were original vintage 1947 frames of film from the alien autopsy. As they came with no official seal of approval or had been authenticated by anyone they were useless.
From left: Shoefield, Philip Mantle (Author), Ray Santilli
Within a couple of days of this meeting my friend and colleague Russel Callaghan, editor of UFO DATA magazine, had a phone call from a man by the name of Spyros Melaris. This man claimed he had lead the team that faked the whole alien autopsy film. He was a magician and filmmaker and he was now ready to spill the beans. He gave Russel a run down of the who, what, why and where of the whole affair. Because of my involvement in this affair Russel was soon on the phone to me with the details. It wasn’t long before I spoke to Spyros Melaris myself and he was telling me things in great detail. During the next few weeks I had several telephone conversations with Spyros Melaris and also put him in contact with US TV producer Robert (Bob) Kiviat at his request. Spyros was considering the best way to go public with his story, he had a book planned and thought that a TV documentary might also be a good idea.
Along with my colleagues Russel Callaghan, Michael Buckley and Steve Johnston, I was one of the co-organisers of the UFO DATA annual conference. It just so happened, that the 2007 conference had a loose Roswell theme to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Roswell Incident. My colleagues and I discussed the possibility of asking Spyros Melaris to make his first public statement on this whole thing at our conference and eventually he agreed. The conference itself was held over the weekend of October 20th & 21st 2007 in Pontefract, West Yorkshire. A packed audience saw Spyros take the stage on Sunday October 21st. I had met him in person for the first time the night before at the hotel and I made loose arrangements to formally interview him at his home later in the year. As promised, Spyros took to the stage and told of his involvement in the making of the alien autopsy film. A small few members of the audience were rather upset to hear this but the vast majority were fascinated by what he had to say.
Spyros Melaris speaking at the UFO DATA conference in 2007. (Credit: Philip Mantle)
I made arrangements to visit the home of Spyros Melaris on November 16th 2007 and I drove to his house in Hertfordshire with my partner Christine. Before the formal audio-taped interview began we had lunch with Spyros and his lovely wife Anne. Over lunch Spyros showed us some of the documentary evidence he has to support his claims. This included his diary from l995, hand drawn sketches of the alien, a full list of hand painted story board images of the whole alien autopsy film, original fax messages from Kodak in the USA providing copies of l947 fill canister labels, and a large portfolio of research material. This was mainly of vintage (l940’s) US military vehicles and some vintage US military medical photographs. The interview itself lasted around two hours and we only touched the tip of the iceberg. The full interview can be located online at: http://www.outtahear.com/beyond_updates/index.html (Alien Autopsy Information section). I would like to thank my colleague Steve Johnston for transcribing this interview in full. The following is based on that interview.
Spyros Melaris (right) with Philip Mantle in 2007. (Credit: Philip Mantle)
Who is Spyros Melaris?
As the name might give it away Spyros was originally born in Cyprus. As a boy he was taught a magic trick by his grandfather and his love of magic was born. The other passion as a boy growing up in the UK was film making. At school he told his careers officer that he wanted to be an actor but this was discouraged. A proper job was what he should have. So a proper job he took and after leaving school became an apprentice trained motor mechanic. However, his love of magic and film making eventually won over and he eventually became a magician and a filmmaker. He now owns his own TV studio in London and makes TV shows for all the major networks in the UK and independent production companies alike. In short, in his owns words, we make programmes for “anyone who books us.”
How He Met Ray Santilli
In January 1995 he was to attend the MIDEM music industry event in Cannes, France. He was taking a film crew there and had some spare time on his hands so he sent fax messages to 4 production companies picked at random from a media directory. He basically asked them if they wanted to hire him and his crew while in Cannes. One of these happened to be the Merlin Group owned by Ray Santilli. Spyros and Ray Santilli had a few telephone conversations but did not meet and arranged to meet in Cannes. By pure chance they bumped into each other at a restaurant in Cannes and it was here that Ray Santilli fist told Spyros Melaris that he had obtained film footage of an alien. Holding back a smirk Spyros asked Santilli if he was serious and he replied he was, not only that, he wanted Spyros to make a documentary from this footage. They eventually agreed to meet at Ray Santilli’s office back in London. A few days later Spyros kept his appointment with Santilli at his office in London. Here he met an almost distraught Ray Santilli who told him he’d bought this film but it had turned out to be very poor quality. Spyros was shown what has become known as the ‘tent footage’ and he immediately recognised it as been shot on video. The tape he was shown was on VHS format. Santilli seemed surprised that he had recognised it as being shot on video so quickly and he realised the game was up. Again in Spyros’s own words “If I can’t get it past this guy, I’m not going to get it past anyone else. He realised it was game up. That’s when the meeting ended. I thought the guy’s mad. He’s trying a fast one. I thought it was over at that point.”
So How Did The Idea of a Fake Film Come About?
Melaris met up with his friend and colleague John Humphreys. Humphreys is a Royal Academy trained sculptor whose work had sometimes overlapped into film and TV special effects. Melaris and Humphreys had known each other for a long time and had worked on a number of things together in the past. Melaris simply put the idea to Humphreys, “John, do you fancy sculpting an alien?” Melaris told Humphreys of his meeting with Santilli and basically came up with the idea of making it. They talked things over from a legal point of view and how it might help them break into other projects, even Hollywood. The idea was to make it, release it to the world, and then make a second programme shortly after showing how they did it. Humphreys agreed and Melaris pitched the idea to Santilli. Santilli looked like a man reborn and agreed. The budget put forward by Melaris was about £30,000 and it was Santilli’s business partner and friend Volker Spielberg who put up the money. The funding was in place, contracts and a confidentiality agreement were signed and the ball was rolling.
The Team Behind The Making of The Film
First off there was Spyros Melaris. He designed and directed the film, instructed and paid the rest of the team, made the autopsy table along with many of the other props, he also made the ‘contamination suits’ as well as obtain the props and cameras. The main researcher behind it all was Spyros’s then girlfriend Geraldine. She was the one who checked the medical books, spoke with surgeons and pathologists and she even played the part of the nurse in the film. Geraldine is not her real name as she wishes to remain anonymous. John Humphreys of course made the alien’s bodies. The mould was actually made from John’s ten year-old son who was quite tall. As a trained sculptor Humphreys had also studied anatomy so he was the man who played the surgeon in the film. Another friend of Spyros’s was Greg Simmons. He was seen occasionally in the film in one of the contamination suits and he also played the part of the soldier in the Debris Footage. Gareth Watson, a colleague of Santilli’s and Shoefield’s was the man in the surgical mask behind the glass, and finally Spyros’s brother Peter helped behind the scenes. The set was built in Geraldine’s house in Camden in London. The property was in the process of being converted into three flats (apartments) at the time and was therefore empty. The props were obtained from someone Spyros knew in the USA. She was not told what they were for and were all ordered separately and delivered to different addresses so as not to arouse suspicion. The camera’s were obtained by Spyros; one bought and one borrowed from a friend.
Original pencil sketch of a design for the alien creature by Spyros Melaris. (Credit: Spyros Melaris)Original pencil sketch of a design for the alien creature by Spyros Melaris. (Credit:Spyros Melaris)
Why There Are Two Separate Autopsy Films
According to Spyros the first ‘Alien Autopsy’ film went pretty much as planned. However, upon completion Geraldine noticed that a few of the medical procedures were not correct. They therefore had to make another creature and film another one. Apparently Santilli was ready for packing it all in at this point as there was no more money in the budget to film it again. They persevered and made another one at Spyros’s cost the very next day. This too was not without problems. The foam latex used to fill the dummy had not worked right and an air bubble had left a hollow space in the creature’s leg. Humphreys was despatched to the local butchers by Spyros to get a leg joint of a sheep. This was inserted into the hollow part in the alien’s right leg, a few other things were added, the outside of the leg was gently burnt with a blowtorch and hey presto, the leg wound. Some of the inner organs were manufactured by Melaris, and animal organs were also used for the alien’s innards, although altered with a scalpel and coated with latex. The alien’s brain was actually made from three sheep’s brains and part of a pig’s brain cast in gelatine. This is how there came to be two separate autopsy films one of which was shown in its entirety, while the second one made, has only ever been released in part.
The Wreckage and I-beams
These were all designed by Spyros himself. At the October 2007 UFO DATA conference Spyros showed me how he had designed the ‘writing’ on them and what it said. The wreckage was then manufactured by John Humphreys, Spyros and his brother Peter. He told me that he based it on Greek lettering, a bit of ancient Egyptian stylising and some artistic license. On the main large beams, if translated correctly, reads ‘FREEDOM’. Spyros thought this a fitting name for an alien spacecraft. While designing the letters which spell the word ‘FREEDOM’, Spyros noticed that if the word is turned upside down, the word ‘VIDEO’ could be seen. He adjusted some of the letters to better facilitate this, so the piece would throw a little red herring into the mix. The translation of the smaller beam is being held back for Spyros’s book.
Spyros Melaris shows two of the many paintings he did for the original ‘story board’ for the alien autopsy film. (Credit: Philip Mantle)
The Cameraman’s Home Video Interview
According to Melaris, Ray Santilli was put under a lot of pressure by various parties to arrange an interview with the fictitious cameraman he allegedly bought the film from. Of course, according to Melaris, there was no such person, so he came up with the idea of creating this aspect of the whole affair as well. The basic scenario is that Melaris flew to Los Angeles and met up with Santilli’s partner Gary Shoefield. Melaris wanted to find an eighty year old tramp on the streets of L.A., pay him a few hundred dollars, put him in front of a camera and ask him to read from a script. Santilli and Shoefield were nervous, and not sure this would work but Spyros was confident he could pull this off, and went ahead. He found an old guy living rough on the street, offered him $500 and a night in the hotel and he duly agreed. Again, by pure chance the chap had been an actor many years ago. Melaris took his name and the name of a movie he had appeared in. These details will be released in his book. He cleaned him up, gave him a shave, and added a bit of make up and a false prosthetic nose and chin and the job was done. The man himself did not know what he was reading or where it was going to be used. There was little chance that he would see the broadcast either. No one would recognise him in a thousand years. And they never did. This film was delivered in person in New York to US TV producer Bob Kiviat by Gary Shoefield and a man claiming to be the cameraman’s son. Eventually the film in question was broadcast on TV in Japan only and from there it was copied and distributed to UFO researchers around the world. The trick worked, no one has identified the man in question, and Melaris claims he is the only one who can do this.
The Crash Site
There are a number of people who believe the alien autopsy film is authentic, not because of the film itself but because of the crash site. Ray Santilli released details, supposedly from his cameraman, as to where the incident took place in the desert. How did this come about? Well, according to Spyros this was quite simple. In l995, he flew to Roswell. Here he interviewed many local people including Loretta Proctor. Mrs. Proctor was the neighbour of rancher Mac Brazel and it was she who suggested that Mac take some of the UFO debris into town after he found it. Spyros also met and hired private pilot Rodney Corn. He asked corn to fly him over the UFO crash site, to which he replied “which one.” There are in fact at least three such sites. So, Spyros flew over all three of them, filming as he went. Rodney Corn was able to show Spyros a great deal from the air, far better than would have been possible on foot. This included small dirt roads and long forgotten landmarks. Before the interview took place Spyros also informed me that he obtained both old and new maps of the area. All of this information was handed to Ray Santilli and it was Santilli, not Spyros, who then put it all together to make a location for a nonexistent crash site.
Field where the “real” Roswell debris is said to have been found. (Credit: OpenMinds.tv)
The Grand Plan
I asked Spyros what was the grand plan. The research was done, the film was made, so what next. Apparently it was a rather simple plan. To release the film to a broadcaster, ask them to investigate and see what happens. They were confident that it would not be exposed as a fake. Then, after a few months the plan was to hold their hands up and tell all. The reason this didn’t happen was money. Spyros had signed a confidentiality agreement with Ray Santilli and Santilli was still adamant that he needed to recoup his initial investment allegedly paid for the tent footage. Santilli told Melaris that he had invested a lot of money on this film and he must recoup that before they were to go public. Santilli reminded Spyros that he was bound by the confidentiality agreement and he was not to say or do anything until Santilli said so. Apart from a cheque for about £10,000, which Spyros split with his team, no royalties were ever paid. Santilli told him that due to the fact that he had stated publicly that it was a military film, that it had simply been copied by third parties without permission and used without payment as the people who were using the film believed that the copyright was vested with the US Military and not with Santilli. Eventually time went on and Spyros just got on with life. He was constantly working on other projects with Santilli and earning a living and the alien autopsy film was all but forgotten.
Going Public
Alien Autopsy movie poster. (Credit: Warner Bros.)
The one thing that I first asked Spyros was why was it that he had decided to go public with this information now. It was twelve years since the alien autopsy film hit the headlines. Melaris stuck to his confidentiality agreement. From a legal point of view if he broke it he could have been sued. However, in 2005 he was approached by Santilli and Shoefield to be involved in the movie version of this whole affair. He asked both if they would now tell the true story and reveal that it was all a fake but they said no, they were going to maintain that they really did have original film. Again, Santilli and Shoefield stated that there was no money in it and that they were doing it for “a bit of fun” when pressed they admitted that both Santilli and Shoefield would get paid a percentage of the profits, there was no such offer for Melaris. Melaris declined their offer. He left that meeting under the impression that the movie was not going to be made. However, the movie was made and distributed by Warner Bros and so Melaris felt that he was now able to speak as the story was now in the public domain.
The Doubters
To round off the interview I asked Spyros Melaris what he had to say to the doubters out there, those that believe the alien autopsy film is the genuine article. I’m not going to paraphrase this; instead I will use his words in full:
PM: Time’s against us, Spyros. I’ll ask one last question. There are those out there who believe in this film and Santilli 100% and they think that you’re some kind of pathological liar, playing devil’s advocate here, so please don’t be offended.
SM: No. Go ahead.
PM: What would you say if you could say one thing to the doubters out there? Is there any one thing that you can say that would say to them Spyros Melaris is who he says he is and has made this film?
SM: I don’t think that there’s any doubt that somebody made it today. That’s fair to say that somebody made the film and even Santilli said it’s a fake, but it was made from original film. I think that’s really the question. The question isn’t whether I made it because I can prove I made it. John Humphries will tell you I made it. Ray would probably tell you I made it! He couldn’t deny it. There’s too much evidence. The question is did I make it from original film? And the simple answer to that is no. There was never any original film other than the tent footage. I’ve never seen any other film. Ray maintains that he’s got original film. My question to Ray is how would that film marry with what I made? It can’t. I haven’t actually seen the film. Now you may say, “Maybe you’re lying and you did see the film and you made it.”
The story’s a bigger story if there was a real film. There would be more money in it. There wouldn’t be a reason for me and Ray to be parted. Why would we fall out? The common sense has got to come into the argument. I’m part of something as big as real film of a real alien. Why would I jeopardise being part of that and go off on my own? There’s no reason to. That’s the first thing.
The second thing. I promise you, something happened in Roswell. I’m not an easy person… I’m a sceptic. I’m not an easy person to convince. Thirty people that I talked to out there, clever people, doctors, lecturers, all sorts of people tell me they saw something. And I believe them. Something happened. A lot of ordinary people. Something happened. So, I don’t think there’s dispute about whether or not something happened in Roswell or other sightings or whether or not everything’s fake. No, I don’t think everything’s fake. I do know this is. I also know that if Ray had original film, he’d be jumping through hoops to let you test it. I’m sorry, but that’s what you would do. You would say, “Give me billions of pounds for this.” That’s what you would say. You would say, “I’ve got nothing to worry about. The cameraman doesn’t want to speak, but look at the film.” That’s what you’d do! That’s what you would do.
PM: Say no more.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
Once again I would like to reiterate that this is only part of what Spyros Melaris had to tell me. The full-unedited interview can be found in the alien autopsy section of our web site at:
So how do we check that what Spyros Melaris is telling us is correct? It is no easy task I can assure you. The documentary material shown to me by Spyros is intriguing but not proof positive. My colleague Mark Center in the USA checked the private pilot Rodney Corn for me and he does exist. Mark spoke to him on the phone but he has no recollection of being hired by Spyros Melaris. This could be because he was hired by Geraldine, and we are talking about an event which happened over 12 years ago.
At the UFO DATA conference in October 2007 was German researcher Michael Hesemann. Michael was also one of the speakers that weekend. Michael investigated the alien autopsy film from l995 through to l997 and believes it to be authentic. After the conference when Michael was back home in Germany he sent me an email that quite frankly left me stunned. He admitted for the first time that in l996 someone sent Michael an email telling him that Spyros Melaris was the hoaxer. Hesemann had never shared this information with anyone. I asked him what he did with it and he simply told me that he phoned Ray Santilli and asked him if he knew this man to which Santilli replied he did not. Michael told me he left it at that.
However, Spyros Melaris independently informed me that in l996 he had received a phone call from someone with a German accent asking him if he was the hoaxer and he of course denied it. He did not know who the caller was until he met Hesemann at our conference. I pressed Michael about this and eventually he admitted he did phone Spyros back in l996. Why Michael Hesemann never shared this information with anyone else is beyond me. In his defence, Michael has stated that there were others mentioned at the time and he did not want to spread false rumours, but these others names were circulated and eliminated. I have to be honest and say here and now that I cannot understand why Hesemann sat on this information and never told anyone. I leave it to you to make up your own mind.
A colleague of mine who is a veteran TV and movie special effects artist also took a look at the interview with Spyros. In his considered opinion the techniques and materials used by Melaris and his team to make the fake alien creature are 100% correct. There is no question in his mind that the dummies were made in the way described. He does have a few questions he’d like to ask, but these are purely little points of clarification and there is nothing wrong with what Melaris has had to say.
The other main person involved in all of this is of course US TV producer Bob Kiviat. Several years back my colleague Tim Mathews and I were tipped off about John Humphreys, Humphreys was part of the team and he made the dummies. Bob tried for years to get Humphreys on camera and make a TV documentary but all to no avail. Eventually, Bob did make a TV show for Channel 5 but without Humphreys in it. This was never broadcast. Both Humphreys and Melaris have spoken at length to Bob Kiviat about their involvement in this whole affair so I took the opportunity to ask Bob a few questions on December 4th 2007. This mini question and answer session is reproduced here in full:
Q: How many times did you speak with UK sculptor John Humphreys?
A: Once before the Ant & Dec movie came out. In approximately 2003. Once after that.
Q: Did Humphreys tell you on what he based the design for his alien creatures?
A: Yes, just on his own research, books and such. No other help.
Q: Did Humphreys ever see any original film, stills or otherwise?
A: No, never. He claimed it all came from his creative efforts and book research.
Q: During your conversations with Humphreys did he ever mention the name Spyros Melaris?
A: Yes. He said Spyros was the one who hired him for Santilli, who he met perhaps twice and came to the set once. All the money came through Spyros. Also, Spyros was the cameraman.
Q: Did Humphreys provide the names of anyone else involved. If yes what are those names?
A: No other names.
Q: Why was Humphreys looking to work with you on a documentary?
A: Yes, Humphreys wanted me to get him a network TV show based on his revelations that he made the autopsy footage, with Spyros acting as money man and cameraman, who he believed was working for Santilli.
Q: Was Humphreys going to tell all and sink the stories put out by Ray Santilli?
A: Yes, but until I got a commitment from a TV network and guaranteed money for his exclusive he kept much close to his chest.
Q: Did you speak to Humphreys agent/advisor?
A: Yes, his business manager was my main contact for all of 2003 and 2004, and it was he who informed me John was going to do the Ant & Dec movie, without giving me the details. There would also be a companion documentary “that would be my worst nightmare,” he said.
Q: If you did, what did he tell you about Humphreys involvement and reasons for wanting to spill the beans?
A: Instead of Humphreys spilling the beans to me, his manager clearly implied John had lost patience and saw a payday elsewhere – the movie, etc.
Q: You made a TV documentary for Channel 5 in 2006 in which I appeared, could you tell us why it was never broadcast?
Channel 5 was rushing instructions to my productions offices in L.A. from England telling me how the show needed to be styled, and they also wanted to move the airdate up to an almost impossible deadline. We were working around the clock already to appease the Channel 5 executive in charge when one of the top people at 5 actually listed the show in a TV guide of some sort. That’s when Gary Shoefield contacted 5 and falsely claimed Ray Santilli was involved in the ownership of my original Fox show, which the new 5 show was jumping off from. It was an outright fabrication, for my company has the only US copyright to the show AND THE ALIEN AUTOPSY FOOTAGE ITSELF!
While we were sorting through this false claim, we interviewed you. When the 5 executives saw you naming Humphreys as the guy who made the dummy and who was the key pro behind the footage, they wanted confirmation so they ILLEGALLY contacted Humphreys through a consulting producer. Humphreys freaked out, told them he wanted nothing to do with the 5 show and said he had to contact Warner Bros. Ultimately 5 reneged on their agreement with my distributor, my distributor did not fight for the airing, and this is how things were left. I’m still debating what course of action I can take to recover my substantial losses and damage!
Q: You have spoken on the telephone at length with Spyros Melaris. Are you convinced he is telling the truth?
A: For the most part, I can’t find any outlandish things that make his story unbelievable. But I do wonder how he could have been so naïve about the amount of money Santilli was making around the world. This part seems odd, as if he was playing dumb. On the contrary, he seems very bright. And if Ray gave him just enough work to keep him quiet afterward, I still wonder why he let all the other money go into Ray’s pocket without him demanding his share. This doesn’t add up, literally, pound for pound.
Q: You have been involved with the Alien Autopsy film since 1995, you have interviewed or spoken to most if not all the main players in it all, so what now is your conclusion?
A: I’m going to need more time to answer that question. Spryros’ actions or non actions in court will have a lot to do with this, and I’m looking into another intriguing angle that could impact my conclusions.
Robert Kiviat. End of interview.
It is clear from this brief interview with Bob Kiviat that there are slight differences between what John Humphreys says about his role in the faking of the film and what Melaris says. However, Humphreys does state quite clearly that it was Spyros Melaris who was the money man, it was Melaris who hired him on behalf of Santilli. Humphreys also confirms without any doubt that there never was any original film. It was a complete and utter fabrication.
I could go on but I think I’ve made my point. In l996, Spyros Melaris was outlined as the hoaxer to German researcher Michael Hesemann. In 2003, US TV producer Bob Kiviat spoke with UK sculptor John Humphreys who confirmed that Spyros was the man in charge and that there was no original film. In 2007, Spyros Melaris goes on the record for the first time and tells how it was all made. Well, perhaps not all. Spyros is holding back certain things for his book, which was supposed to be available in early 2008. And as for Ray Santilli, well he’s pretty quiet at the moment but I doubt if he will ever own up as he is quite simply in it too deep.
The long awaited book by Spyros Melaris ‘ALIEN AUTOPSY: The Myth Exposed’ comes with an accompanying DVD. It was originally scheduled to be released in 2008, but for a variety of reason it has been delayed with no firm date yet for its release.
ROSWELL ALIEN AUTOPSY – The Truth Behind the Film That Shocked the World is published by RoswellBooks.com where it can be purchased, and is avail via Amazon.com.
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:ALIEN LIFE, UFO- CRASHES, ABDUCTIONS, MEN IN BLACK, ed ( FR. , NL; E )
Alien Craft flips Over New Jersey Skyscrapers! Baffling Gray Disk, alien tech 👽🔍 UFO UAP Drone sighting news
Alien Craft flips Over New Jersey Skyscrapers! Baffling Gray Disk, alien tech 👽🔍 UFO UAP Drone sighting news
Date of sighting: June 1, 2025
Location of sighting: Jersey City, New Jersey, USA
Source: NUFORC
This UFO video is just melting my brain. This craft looks to have huge metallic tubular structures going through the disk and its flipping through the sky as if it's an unmanned alien probe. This is 100% proof that alien probes are scanning our cities, military bases and even our homes!
Scott C. Waring - UFO Sightings Daily
Eyewitness states:
Sighting from apartment building roof. I saw an object enter the frame. It appeared to be changing shape or exhibiting some form of movement. Then the object continued to slowly ascend, while also remaining in place against the wind. Location details: Latitude: 40.71521, Longitude: -74.0475
Beste bezoeker, Heb je zelf al ooit een vreemde waarneming gedaan, laat dit dan even weten via email aan Frederick Delaere opwww.ufomeldpunt.be. Deze onderzoekers behandelen jouw melding in volledige anonimiteit en met alle respect voor jouw privacy. Ze zijn kritisch, objectief maar open minded aangelegd en zullen jou steeds een verklaring geven voor jouw waarneming! DUS AARZEL NIET, ALS JE EEN ANTWOORD OP JOUW VRAGEN WENST, CONTACTEER FREDERICK. BIJ VOORBAAT DANK...
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Over mijzelf
Ik ben Pieter, en gebruik soms ook wel de schuilnaam Peter2011.
Ik ben een man en woon in Linter (België) en mijn beroep is Ik ben op rust..
Ik ben geboren op 18/10/1950 en ben nu dus 74 jaar jong.
Mijn hobby's zijn: Ufologie en andere esoterische onderwerpen.
Op deze blog vind je onder artikels, werk van mezelf. Mijn dank gaat ook naar André, Ingrid, Oliver, Paul, Vincent, Georges Filer en MUFON voor de bijdragen voor de verschillende categorieën...
Veel leesplezier en geef je mening over deze blog.
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