UFO's - Anyone genuinely believe they've seen one?

Yes back in the early seventies doing One Hour Space Rock

One beautifully cold clear winter's night about 25 years ago I went out to the garden to look round before going to bed. It was approaching midnight. Our house then was in the outermost part of the town so we were in the last row of houses before the countryside proper started. Far in the distance I saw a red object in the sky, moving at such a speed, and changing direction so rapidly it definitely wasn't a normal aircraft. Surprisingly I didn't find it at all strange, and certainly not frightening in any way. If anything it seemed "strangely natural" and I felt quite pleasantly calm (that may have been the beer!). I stood watching for a few minutes before it suddenly shot off and I never saw it again. As I'd had a few beers that evening I thought it would be pointless calling the police - "OK sir, so you've been in the pub all night and now you're seeing things in the sky...". We checked all the local papers but found no reports of any other sightings which may not have been too surprising as it was relatively late on a week night, and it was in a pretty remote area.

So yes I've definitely seen a UFO. Whether it was a flying saucer is another matter, but I've still no idea what it was.

I had a very similar experience to Tom, except that I was about 15 and I called my mother to see it too. We watched it for about 20 minutes before it shot off. If you had seen it you would understand that it couldn't possibly be anything explainable.
My wife saw a formation of 3 cigar shaped UFO's over the sea when she was about 7 with her aunt. Other people apparently saw it too.

Not quite UFOs but could be if you didn't know better, well worth a look.

I liked this.

Apart from fireball meteorites I have often seen the effect where a bright star seems to zoom across the sky. It is simply a case of not quite locking one's vision onto one bright star before looking at another some distance away.

The planets Mars and Venus are both very bright. They are constantly confused with UFOs particularly when fast moving cloud is present. Though personally I would suggest the observer was daft or drunk not to recognise a bright star for exactly what it is: A bright star. Or a planet which gives the appearance of being a bright star due to its great distance.

The flying saucer nuts can claim what they like until they get a decent photograph we can all recognise as simple reality. Forget saucers and crop circles no matter how clever the perpetrators.

The problems start when reliable witnesses see tangible but unrecognisable objects flying. Not lights, but objects.

What is one supposed to believe? That something seen with all the apparent solidity and physical reality of any other visible object is simply a fiction? Just because it is not instantly recognisable as being of "man-made" origin? '

The stealth aircraft might have been "wierd" but they were instantly recognisable as man-made. Just as we know special effects spacecraft are exactly what they seem in a film. But who relieves the sober observer of the burden of having seen something unrecognisable to his own eyes? While in the presence of others.

Nime,
Believe me I'm sceptic number 1. Pure science background educationally blah blah. Despite this I'm not "tortured" by this. It may or may not have been a flying saucer although why a flying saucer should have performed a flying display over Airdrie (close to the infamous Bonnybridge) who knows. I definitely know there's stuff in the sky that's not explained by current science/technology.

I feel the UFO/circle nuts are their own worst enemy. Their crazy belief systems have actually managed to stigmatise those who claim to have seen something interesting. This must surely reduce the chance of anyone reporting what they think they have seen.

The various government's official negative/denial attitude over the years hasn't helped. Pilots, even with radar confirmation, jeopardize their careers if they make offical sighting reports.

The vast numbers of American citizens actually believing they have been abducted is even more worrying. (of their sanity!)

It would be more interesting if the strange objects people see were a time or dimension shift offering a brief view of our own activities in the future. At least it would prove the human race survived the Bush lunacy, Global Warming and threats of pandemics.

My own belief is that any advanced alien race would have a strict moral duty not to interfere in our present Dark Ages. It is hardly likely they would have anything to gain from contact with such a backward race. A White House Lawn landing would quickly bring the total collapse of the present world order.

Should anyone make contact they would need to avoid our germs and we theirs. One wonders whether this is the real reason for the lack of obvious time travellers and official public alien contact?

We are reminded of the constant development of the flu virus and the lack of resistance to new forms. One need only jump a few years backwards or forwards to potentially destroy most of the the human race. Imagine the damage a single alien nose could wreak against an unprotected population? Alien contact may be forever impossible outside of a biological suit in the safety of an isolated spacecraft. One wonders how we would communicate when we can't even talk to each other.

You're not going to believe this but I've just seen a formation of UFOs!

It all started when I switched off my TV and heard a strange high-pitched noise coming from outside. It's difficult to describe but it sounded something like distant teaspoons being rattled in a cup - perhaps a bit more melodious, though. I opened the curtains just in time to see the craft streaking across the sky in a Southerly direction, at an altitude of maybe 1000ft, leaving a slightly flourescent "con-trail" in the night sky.

It was hard to be sure in the dark, but the formation seemed to consist of three pairs of small, essentially cylindrical craft, flying in tight formation and followed closely by a much larger and less manoeuvrable seventh craft.

Each of the smaller UFOs had a pair of large antennae, while one of the front two had a bright red light on its nose.

I had been about to close my curtains when the formation made a second pass - this time at rooftop level - and I caught sight of a rotund humanoid alien in the larger craft, wearing a red and white space suit. He called out something to me as he whizzed by but it must have been in some strange alien language because, absurd as it seems, it sounded like, "Ho Ho Ho! Merry Christmas!" I've watched enough Star Trek to know that this is not the sort of first contact phrase used by alien visitors.

After the incident, which seemed to take a minute at most, I checked my watch and found that half an hour had elapsed. There was a pair of scissors and a roll of sticky tape on my desk, neither of which I had seen for weeks.