My 1986 UFO Dream Gave Me Crash Coordinates. 31 Years Later, I Went to Greenland to reconnect.
A few weeks after my sighting and the journal headlines I had a strange dream. The memory of it has never felt like my own. It feels borrowed, imprinted on my mind one night in 1986. It began not as a dream, but as a violent awakening into another place.
I found myself on the bridge of a ship not of human design.
Dream reconstruction
Around me, a frantic crew moved with a desperate, failing grace. The air was thick with a cacophony of shrieks that I understood not with my ears, but with my soul: they were terrified. Through a viewport, I saw a sea of ice churning below, rushing toward us. In the chaos, my eyes locked onto a single point of clarity: a digital display, flickering with a sequence of numbers.
They were the last thing I saw before a final, violent lurch plunged everything into darkness.
I awoke with a gasp in my own bed, the digits seared into my memory. Before they could fade, I scrawled them onto a notepad. For two days, they stared back at me, a meaningless string of numbers. But a thought began to form in my mind. The numbers weren’t random. They were a location.
Discovering Disko Island: From Dream to Destination
At the public library, an old atlas confirmed my suspicion. My fingers traced the lines to a desolate patch of icy water off the coast of Greenland, near a place called Disko Island.
“Disko Island,” I thought, a smile touching my lips. “A bit on the nose, isn’t it?” The idea that my dream was some kind of psychic mayday from a crashed UFO seemed utterly ridiculous, but the chain of events was too compelling to ignore. I hadn’t “known” that the coordinates pointed to a location in the Arctic Circle. Despite this, what I had seen from the alien bridge were Arctic waters. This made sense.
In the following days I filed the experience away, a fascinating but seemingly unsolvable mystery.
For thirty-one years, that knowledge festered. A splinter in my mind. What really happened that night? Was it a warning? A memory? An echo of a tragedy that bled through space and time into my sleep?
Turning Curiosity into Action: The Journey to Greenland
In 2017, I finally had the opportunity to know. After a redundancy I was given a severance cheque. I used part of it to travel to Greenland, to the edge of the world, to confront the ghost that had haunted me for decades. My search started from a distance, poring over satellite images, hunting for any anomaly, any scar on the seabed that could betray a secret. The best I could do however, was to scour the coastline of Disko Island.
Disko Island: the discovery of the shipwreck of the steam whaler Wildfire from 1868, by Erich Habich-Traut
But the sea holds its secrets close. The true coordinates, the point of impact from my dream, are out in the crushing deep. A place where oceanographic data is a modern myth and the icy darkness swallows all light. It’s down there, a place I can point to on a map but can never reach by myself.
The author (right) before the dive to the shipwreck from 1868
I discovered a ship along the coastline of Disko Island, but it wasn’t the vessel I had hoped to find. Instead, I uncovered an even deeper mystery. I journeyed to Greenland for answers, yet only encountered a cold, silent confirmation that something waits in the abyss. My experience taught me that we shouldn’t fear the unknown, but embrace it with hope and curiosity.
And it knows I have its address.
Some may now say that this is the Holy Grail. I have waited 39 years to talk about this. Are you ready?
The Salthill UFO encounter occurred on a cold Sunday morning in Galway, 23 February 1986. When I first recorded the event in 2016, I believed it was the only time I had witnessed something that did not belong in our skies. Later, however, I came to realize that this was not the case. The sighting unfolded in Salthill, but the object itself hovered out over the Claddagh.
An Unexpected Adventure
The 1986 experience kicked off an unexpected adventure, one that took me from the hills of Salthill to the icy shores of Greenland.
The pleasures of life in Galway were simple. For me, one of the finest was walking along the coastal promenade: “the prom,” as everyone called it. My neighbours in Fairlands Park had a boisterous ten-month-old puppy named Rocky, and I often took him out to burn off some of that boundless energy.
That morning was a fine one: after a spell of rain, the skies had cleared to a mostly blue expanse, bright with sun. A crisp layer of frost still clung to the grass in the field.
“Come on, Rocky,” I said, tugging at his leash. “Let’s get a move on before the weather changes its mind.”
It was about eleven o’clock when we began making our way up the hill on Dalysfort Road toward Salthill Beach.
The sky was a patchwork of moody grey and brilliant blue, and I was trying to guess whether we’d get soaked. As I tilted my head back, scanning the clouds, something caught my eye.
The Cigar-Shaped Object
Framed perfectly between the rooftops of a row of houses a solid, grey, cigar-shaped object hung silently in the air. It was utterly still. Rocky, meanwhile, was far more interested in a promising-looking patch of grass.
I didn’t have my 35mm camera with me, a fact I’d regret for years. The object seemed to be hovering a mile or two away, just above the rooftops, as motionless as myself, as I stood there contemplating it and looking for a “rational” explanation.
“It looks like a Zeppelin,” I finally murmured to myself, and dismissed the idea that I was seeing a UFO.
So, I continued the walk. And I kept the object in my sights. Due to the change in perspective, a house and some trees slid in front of it, temporarily, for few seconds, blocking my view.
Naturally, I expected the object to reappear on the other side as we cleared the obstruction.
But it didn’t. The patch of sky where it should have been was empty.
Searching for Answers
“Hold on a minute,” I said, turning around. Rocky looked up at me, confused. I walked back to the exact spot where I’d first seen it. Nothing. The sky was just sky. A slow-moving blimp would still be there, or at least nearby. This was just… gone.
It had vanished in a matter of seconds. I paced back and forth three times or more in disbelief. I had to see it again. It was impossible that it wasn’t there anymore. Rocky started whimpering, having had quite enough of this strange game of walking back and forth. We carried on our walk.
Western House corner store, Salthill
Down at the Salthill promenade, we turned left at the corner store. The green across the road was buzzing with activity. In spring 2016 a full-blown festival was underway. At the seafront, I scanned the wide-open sky one more time. Clear.
Seeking Witnesses
A question crossed my mind: could others have seen the same object as me? I overcame my naturally shy nature to quiz a few people milling about:
“Have you just seen a blimp or any balloons in the sky here?” It felt like being a market researcher. I just got shrugs and shakes of the head in response
I’d already given up hope of finding anyone else to ask when I spotted my friend, Jim, who owned the local amusement arcade. “Jim, good to see you!” I shouted over the noise of a live band. “What’s all this then?”
“College Week, Eric!” he grinned. “Or Rag Week, depending on how much of a mess they make. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“Not a ghost,” I said, lowering my voice. “More like… a blimp? Did you see anything up there in the sky? Big, grey, cigar-shaped?”
Jim laughed. “The only thing I’ve seen in the sky is my profits from the slot machines. You’ve been working too hard, mate.” He gave me a funny look, and we left it at that. College week carried on and came to a close on the 1st of March.
Galway Advertiser archive, 27th February, 1986 pg. 21: “COLLEGE Week is in full swing at the moment. Tonight is a fancy dress Rock ‘n Roll night at Leisureland with John Keogh and Full Circle.“
From this, College week 1986 ran from Sunday, February 23, to Saturday, March 1, 1986. There are no other records for the timing of College Week in 1986.
About two weeks later, I went on another walk to Salthill promenade. I went inside inside the Western House corner store to buy cigarettes. Scanning the magazine rack, a headline suddenly jumped out at me:
“UFO flap reported over Irish coast and England”. My heart hammered in my chest. I grabbed the magazine and read the article right there and then. It turned out I wasn’t the only one who had seen strange things that week.
It was a small piece of a much larger puzzle.
Parallel Sightings at about the same time
“Charles in UFO Riddle” On 23rd February 1986: according to the Sunday Mirror, Prince Charles was flying over the Irish Sea in a RAF VC-10, returning from the USA. The pilot reported a glowing red object to Shannon air traffic control that had lit up the cockpit. The Ministry of Defence confirmed there was no danger. Other aircraft in the area reported the same object.
Miles Johnston, an investigator in Belfast, saw a red fireball with a tail over the Irish Sea on 23rd February and reported it to Armagh Observatory. This account appears in “Northern UFO News, number 118” from 1986.
In his book “Extra-Terrestrials Among Us,” George Clinton Andrews recounts the Prince Charles incident. Prince Charles is quoted as saying, “I felt I was in the presence of something outside our knowledge or control,” though the book cites tabloid sources.
Five witnesses reported nocturnal lights over the Irish Sea during this period (the website that held this reference is offline 13.09.2025).
From Salthill, Galway, the Irish Sea lies to the east, less than 200 miles away – a distance any aircraft or UFO could easily cover in minutes.
30 years later
I banished this memory for almost 30 years. In 2016 I reengaged and reconstructed what I had seen that day in 1986, close to Mutton Island in Galway. I would soon discover that this spot had a history of strange sightings.
Reconstruction MUFON #82139, the Mutton Island lighthouse is in the background.
When I revisited my 1986 Salthill UFO sighting in 2016, I reported it to MUFON for the first time. Trying to remember as much detail as possible, I decided to remotely investigate the beach over which the object had been hovering.
I was surprised to find on Google maps various odd circles. They reminded me of the X-Files episode “Biogenesis.” I measured them.
Top: Claddagh circles, Bottom: still photo from X-Files “Biogenesis”
Wait, hadn’t I seen this before on Claddagh Beach in 1999? I remembered discovering this and taking a photo of a circle from the ground for my website, “Virtual Galway.” Afterwards, I walked around Claddagh Beach, asking numerous people if they knew what these circles were. I didn’t get an answer.
Photograph taken from Claddagh beach in 1999.
How strange. Since no one knew what these were, I wondered if these circles were perhaps a new type of “permanent crop circle” – a remnant from when I saw my UFO there thirteen years earlier. I was very hopeful.
After some research, however, they began to remind me of the Miami circles, remnants of prehistoric roundhouses discovered in Florida. Eager to get to the bottom of this, I contacted the archaeological department at the University of Galway to find out if they had any information on these circles.
Within two hours Dr. Sherlock (that’s really his name), the Director of the Galway Archaeological Field School, responded: the structures were designed by Martin Byrne and Padraig Conway as part of the ‘Solas Atlantis Galway 1993’ art project. I thanked Dr. Sherlock, telling him that I had actually contacted the archaeologist Martin Byrne five days earlier.
I also mentioned that I had linked the circles to a UFO sighting, and that Martin was probably laughing all the way to the pub about that:
I wrote that email in jest. How could Martin have any information on unidentified flying objects, right? Surely, there was no connection between an art installation and any cosmic conundrum.
Then, the creator of the circles, Martin Byrne, got back to me. He had named the circles “Solas Atlantis,” apparently from Old Irish solas (“light, brightness”), related to solus (“light”) in Latin. The source of light was originally always the sun (sōl).
Martin said that this was an environmental art project, loosely inspired by Native American medicine wheels, Irish megalithic art, and the proposed sewage plant on Mutton Island.
The position and direction from which I saw the “Salthill UFO” in 1986.
What Martin Byrne didn’t mention explicitly was the connection of his art installation to the origin story of the Irish people: the legend of the Tuatha Dé Danann.
There are two interpretations of the legend of how the Tuatha Dé Danann arrived in Ireland: via the Northern route or the Southern route. The Southern route was particularly popular during the 18th and 19th centuries. Supporting this version is the fact that antiquarians of the time interviewed local people and travelers, recording their folklore. Sir William Wilde, the father of Oscar Wilde, wrote extensively about the Southern route in his book Lough Corrib: Its Shores and Islands (1867).
The reconstructed position of the UFO was the Claddagh, near the site of Martin Byrne’s “Solas Atlantis” geoglyphs.
In my recreation of the Tuatha dé Danann arrival route I concentrate on the Southern route, first landing at the Claddagh. Because that is corroborated by my UFO sighting, however unlikely that may sound.
The Tuatha Dé Danann came in great ships like clouds, that flew through the air and brought with them magical items, for instance a sword of light (light-sabre, anyone?) They were God-like beings, sometimes called “the shining ones”, immune to ageing and sickness, with the abilities of healing and shape-shifting. They brought civilization, arts and advanced skills to Ireland. The legend of the Tuatha was written down by monks in the eleventh century, well before George Lucas wrote Star Wars.
Was it over Galway Bay, that the mythological Tuatha Dé Danann arrived in dark cloud ships, burned some of them, and then landed on a mountain further inland?
In a sense, the Salthill UFO sighting and connected events are a verification of the Southern route…
The Tuatha Dé Danann as Ancient Astronauts: From Galway to Cong
The legends of the Tuatha Dé Danann read less like an ordinary migration tale and more like the memory of an extraordinary descent. In ancient astronaut interpretations, these figures are seen as otherworldly beings whose arrival reshaped Ireland’s landscape and whose legacy survives in the great stone monuments scattered across the island. Where later ages saw impenetrable cairns and massive tombs, the myth supplied an answer: they were built by gods who came from the sky.
The manuscripts describe them arriving in “ships that flew through the air,” a phrase that resonates uncannily with modern visions of spacecraft. They brought with them shining artifacts of immense power – tools or technologies that early chroniclers could only describe as magical treasures. Their arrival story functions as a mythic technology-transfer: beings descending from above, demonstrating feats of construction and energy beyond the scope of any human community of the time.
The Southern Route through Galway
In this retelling, their landing at Galway Bay takes on the quality of a controlled descent. The Claddagh becomes a liminal zone, the chosen beachhead for their craft. From there, they did not disperse aimlessly; instead they advanced inland in formation, following the River Corrib into the vast inland sea of Lough Corrib (Oirbsean). Each landmark became etched with their presence: Galway linked to a maiden of their retinue, Maigh Cuilinn named for their navigator, the lake consecrated to the sea-lord Manannán, perhaps remembered as a commander.
Knockma as a Signal Hill
The imposing limestone mass of Knockma (Cnoc Meadha) rises along their route. Crowned with ancient cairns, it becomes in this reading a natural command post, a hilltop transformed into a beacon or observation point. Later folklore remembered it as the seat of Fionnbharr, king of the fairies, but in the ancient astronaut perspective it recalls the elevated stations from which the newcomers might have surveyed or directed their activities.
Cong and the Cairns of Moytura
The culmination of their advance is at Cong, the battlefield of Moytura. Here the legends place their great war with the Fir Bolg. Ballymacgibbon Cairn, massive and unopened, could be read as a repository or installation; Ecohy’s Cairn, bound to a fallen king, may in fact mark a burial with cosmic significance; Daithi’s Cairn, vast like the monuments of Sligo, forms part of a great terrestrial network. These are not random tombs but nodes in a prehistoric system, aligned with myth and memory.
A Landscape Reforged
What emerges is a cognitive map transformed into a sacred grid. Galway Bay, Corrib, Knockma, and Cong become stages in a procession of beings from beyond. Their story sanctifies the land, but it also encodes memory of technology and power beyond ordinary human means. Whether remembered as gods, fairies, or ancestors, the Tuatha Dé Danann fit within the wider pattern of ancient astronaut lore: those who descended from the skies, forged landscapes into symbols, and left behind monuments too great to forget.
In a more modern context, the Claddagh, Galway’s oldest district, was selected as the site for the “Solas Atlantis” environmental art project, which created geoglyphs and Medicine Wheels inspired by Irelands megalithic designs, highlighting its role as a nexus. From the Claddagh beach, one can see both the cairn-dotted landscape of the Burren and the ancient stone forts of the Aran Islands, making it a symbolic bridge connecting the urban present to the monumental past.
Creating map of the arrival of the Tuatha DeDanaan,
The Arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann – Southern Tradition (Galway → Cong)
1. Galway Bay / Claddagh — First Sight of Ireland
Coordinates: 53.269037, –9.056382
Event: The fleet of the Tuatha Dé Danann appears out of sea-mist, entering Galway Bay and beaching near the Claddagh.
Mythic detail: Here they perform the ritual burning of their great ships — symbolically severing ties to the Otherworld.
Interpretation: This act need not mean the destruction of every vessel; rather, it marks their irrevocable settlement. Smaller craft (or magically preserved ships) could still carry them inland.
Archaeological echo: Across the bay, the Poulnabrone Dolmen (53.0426, –9.1373) and other Burren tombs anchor this landfall in a Stone Age landscape.
2. The Passage Inland — River Corrib and Lough Oirbsean
Event: After their landing ritual, the Tuatha Dé Danann move inland via the River Corrib into the vast expanse of Lough Corrib (anciently called Oirbsean, linked to Manannán mac Lir).
Mythic detail: This inland voyage is described as a fleet moving through an inland sea, carrying the host of gods toward battle.
Archaeological echo: Shores of Corrib are dotted with cairns, crannogs, and megaliths — prehistoric staging points.
3. Knockma (Cnoc Meadha) — The Fairy Hill of Connacht
Coordinates: 53.48186, –8.96054
Event: En route northward, the Tuatha are tied to Knockma, the limestone hill later famed as the seat of Fionnbharr, king of the Connacht fairies.
Mythic detail: Cairns atop Knockma (including Cesair’s Cairn) link this site to the earliest layers of invasion lore.
Archaeological echo: Neolithic cairns at the summit, later reused in fairy lore.
4. Cong — Plains of Moytura (First Battlefield)
Coordinates: 53.555384, –9.289087
Event: The Tuatha Dé Danann reach Cong, the narrow neck between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask. Here they meet the Fir Bolg.
Mythic detail: The First Battle of Moytura unfolds across the plains; Nuada loses his arm, King Eochaid of the Fir Bolg is slain.
Archaeological echo:
Ballymacgibbon Cairn (~53.530, –9.280): vast unopened passage grave, linked to the slain of Moytura.
Ecohy’s Cairn (Carn Eochaid) (~53.568, –9.270): said to be the burial mound of King Eochaid.
Daithi’s Cairn (~53.628, –9.225): immense cairn further north, reinforcing the sacred battlefield landscape.
Stone circles, standing stones, and other cairns cluster around Cong and Cross.
Map 2: The Northern Tradition (Sligo)
This tradition is based on 20th-century scholarly analysis, which argues that a mistranslation moved the site of the First Battle of Moytura to Cong. This perspective holds that both great battles occurred in County Sligo, a region with an unparalleled concentration of Neolithic monuments that provide a fitting backdrop for a race of master builders.
Route and Key Locations:
Arrival Point: Sligo Bay While not explicitly stated as a landing point, the concentration of the most significant and earliest Neolithic sites around Sligo Bay, such as Carrowmore and Knocknarea, makes it the logical entry point for this tradition.
Heartland of Danann Activity: Instead of a linear route, this tradition proposes that the entire Sligo region was the primary center of the Tuatha Dé Danann’s power and the locus of their conflict with the Firbolg.
Key Archaeological and Mythological Sites:
The traditional site of the Second Battle of Moytura is located on the plain of Kilmactranny, east of Lough Arrow and in the shadow of Carrowkeel. The geographical coherence of the Second Battle’s location lends strong support to the argument that the First Battle also took place in Sligo.
Myth and Mystery: The Arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann
The story of the Tuatha Dé Danann arriving in ships that landed on a mountain is most prominently featured in the Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland). This collection of poems and prose recounts the mythical origins of the Irish people.
According to these accounts, the Tuatha Dé Danann – a race of god-like beings with mastery over magic and craftsmanship – arrived in Ireland under a shroud of mystery. The texts describe them coming in “dark clouds” or “flying ships,” which enveloped the land in shadow for three days. The striking image of a people making their initial appearance on a mountaintop enhances the mythical nature of their arrival.
Reclamation, Not Refuge
Their journey is best understood as a reclamation of ancestral lands rather than a flight to asylum. Some scholarly interpretations draw parallels between the story of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the biblical narrative of the Israelites returning from exile.
… and the lasting folklore of the Tuatha Dé Danann is that they will return. In fact, some folk prophecy states that they will return for one last great battle, some end-of-the-world scenario, some apocalypse, and that they will be victorious.
I have made several FOI requests, regarding Irish and British UFO sightings for 1985-1986 and I will update this page when they are released (date of writing 27.August. 2025). This is regarding the Prince Charles UFO and Shannon ATC. More information is on Facebook.
The digital age began with a spark of innovation the day before Christmas in 1947. Some speculate that Roswell reverse engineering influenced this era, sparking much intrigue and debate over the years.
Transistor One
On December 23rd, 1947, researchers Shockley, Bardeen, and Brattain at Bell Labs demonstrated the world’s first working transistor to their colleagues. This revolutionary semiconductor device would become the foundational building block of modern electronics, fundamentally reshaping human civilization by ushering in the digital age.
The Roswell Connection
Yet, a tantalizing question lingers about the origins of this revolution, tied to a mysterious event that occurred just six months earlier in the New Mexico desert. In July 1947, an object crashed near Roswell, New Mexico.
Could the reverse engineering of Roswell finds have given birth to modern electronics?
Roswell, NM,
While officially labeled a weather balloon, eyewitness reports from the time painted a far different picture. The debris was described as a strange, foil-like material with extraordinary properties. Witnesses, including Major Jesse Marcel of the 509th Bomb Group, claimed it was impossibly strong and possessed a kind of shape-memory; it could be crumpled into a ball, only to unfold itself without a single crease.
The timing is provocative. An alleged craft of unknown origin, made of materials beyond our comprehension, crashes. Within months, a breakthrough occurs that hinges on semiconductor materials, launching the digital revolution. This has led to speculation: did the Roswell wreckage contain a piece of technology, perhaps a communications chip, that was recovered and successfully reverse-engineered?
The Probability of Visitors
For such a scenario to be plausible, we must consider the likelihood of alien visitors. The Copernican Principle provides a philosophical foundation, stating that Earth holds no privileged position in the cosmos.
Our planet is one of countless worlds orbiting one of countless suns. If the conditions for life arose here, it follows that life has likely arisen elsewhere throughout the universe.
Our sun (M) is one amongst many. Illustration by Iohannes Kepler, Epitome Astronomiae Copernicanae, 1618
This creates a paradox. If life is common, why haven’t we heard from anyone? Why the silence? Are we listening for the wrong signals?
The assumption that advanced civilizations would use interstellar radio waves might be flawed. It’s possible they have reasons not to broadcast their existence intentionally by radio. For one thing, conventional radio transceivers are awfully slow, given the enormous distances between worlds. Secondly, they may be afraid to expose their location (Dark Forest theory.)
If they aren’t communicating via radio waves, are they perhaps visiting or sending probes?
Since 1947, thousands of UFO testimonies have been logged. While many are misidentifications of mundane objects like the planet Venus, a significant number remain unexplained by conventional means.
If these reports are considered evidence of a physical presence, then accidental encounters, like the alleged crash at Roswell, move from the realm of impossibility to probability. The ultimate “message” from such a civilization might not be a radio signal, but something else waiting to be understood.
“Alien lifeforms would visit Earth only if life in the universe is rare, but then there wouldn’t be enough alien visitors to explain the countless UFO reports.”
Did Carl Sagan privately believe in UFOs, despite his public skepticism? 🤔 Dive into ‘The Sagan Paradox, Chapter 6,’ which explores Sagan’s famous argument against extraterrestrial visits and fascinating claims about his alleged private views. Investigative journalist Paola Harris shares an account from Dr. J. Allen Hynek, suggesting Sagan might have admitted to believing UFOs were real, but couldn’t risk his research funding by speaking openly. Discover the tension between Sagan’s public stance and these intriguing allegations.
Sagan’s Defining Argument
The “Sagan Paradox” was first formulated in 1969 at an American symposium on the UFO phenomenon in Boston. Carl Sagan and Thornton Page served as co-chairs of this event. It was sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The title of the symposium was: UFOs – The Scientific Debate
It was here that the renowned astrophysicist Carl Sagan advanced an argument. The argument was meant to explain why there could be no extraterrestrially crewed “flying saucers.”
The Boston War Memorial Auditorium, site of the AAAS symposium in December 26.-28. Dec. 1969
The Rare Earth Hypothesis: Sagan’s Core Premise for “THE SAGAN PARADOX”
Carl Sagan argued that the Earth had to be somehow special in the cosmos to attract the attention of aliens. The special position of the Earth is its life on it, which Sagan said is very rare in the cosmos.
Because life in the cosmos is so rare, according to Carl Sagan, there are not enough extraterrestrial civilizations in the vicinity of the Earth. Therefore, they cannot visit us in the huge numbers that the thousands of UFO sightings every year since 1947 suggest (~2312 yearly).
On the other hand, if there were actually as many alien civilizations as the number of sightings suggests, then life on Earth would not be special. Consequently, our planet would not be worth visiting with a spaceship.
As a result, UFOs controlled by aliens could not exist but are exclusively false alerts, implied Sagan.
Mock-up and additional enhancement of the famous British Calvine UFO photo, after Nick Pope. The original six photos are in color. The MOD has blocked their release until 2072. Wikipedia
The core of this paradox, as presented by Sagan, lies in the tension between the potential number of advanced technical civilizations in the galaxy and the lack of convincing evidence for frequent visits to Earth.
Sagan’s Skepticism: Witness Testimony
Carl Sagan regarded witness evidence for UFOs as insufficient to constitute robust scientific proof. He attributed accounts to human fallibilities, including emotional desire, boredom, paranoia, and a low tolerance for ambiguity. Consequently, these factors often result in self-deception and the misinterpretation of ordinary phenomena.
Photographic Evidence
Sagan also found UFO photographs unconvincing, due to their poor quality and ease of manipulation. Moreover, the lack of physical evidence and the influence of psychological and cultural factors were concerning. They all failed to meet the high standards required for extraordinary claims under the scientific method.
Would Sagan Have Accepted the Pentagon’s UAP Videos?
Regardless of Carl Sagan’s private views, his public stance on UFOs was unequivocal. He dismissed them as either misidentifications or deliberate hoaxes. This position dominated UFO discourse for decades. Moreover, it continues to influence the field, where the default approach among many researchers remains the systematic debunking of sightings—often without thorough evaluation.
This mindset, reinforced by ‘Sagan’s Paradox’ and his famous dictum ‘extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence,’ gave rise to a peculiar scientific orthodoxy. While the existence of extraterrestrial life is deemed plausible, any connection between UFOs and alien intelligence is treated as inherently implausible. This conclusion is enforced rather than investigated.
Sagan was convinced that given the number of stars in the universe—”billions and billions” as he used to say—the chances are very high that highly developed civilizations must exist. He simply doubted that emissaries from these civilizations had a habit of appearing at distant farms. He also doubted their emergence above Uncle Fritz’s garden, as popular reports often claimed.
Speaking of the back garden
UFO sighting by Dennis & Mandy. The object was seen within just a few meters from the backyard of the authors house. The author didn’t see this UFO himself. What he and his wife did notice at night was a strange “hum”, that persisted for long periods of time.
Sound of the “hum”.
The sound and, for instance, the UFO pictured here, remained in place for over 20 minutes. Planes don’t remain stationary for such extended periods of time.
“Erich” marks the location of the author’s house. “Dennis and Mandy” witnessed the UAP sighting—initially unknown to the author. He later interviewed them in person because he suspected he was being pranked.
Carl Sagan’s Alleged Private Beliefs on UFOs: An Examination
“Renowned astronomer and astrophysicist Dr. Carl Sagan revealed to Dr. J. Allen Hynek that he believed UFOs were real. However, he avoided any public statements to prevent the loss of academic research funding.“
This allegation suggests a divergence between Sagan’s public skepticism and his private views.
Paola Harris’s Account: Sagan’s Alleged Admission
Investigative journalist Paola Leopizzi-Harris met astronomer, professor, and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek in 1978 at CUFOS, the Center for UFO Studies. Upon learning Harris was Italian-American, Dr. Allen Hynek enlisted her for translation work. Moreover, she was his assistant in UFO investigations. Their collaboration occurred mainly from 1980 to 1986. This association provided her with significant exposure to UFO research and key individuals involved in the subject.
According to Paola Harris :
“My recollection is that Hynek said it was backstage at one of the many Johnny Carson Tonight shows Sagan did. He basically said (to Hynek) in 1984, ‘I know UFOs are real, but I would not risk my research funding, as you do, to talk openly about them in public.’ ” Paola Leopizzi-Harris
This quote has been verified by Paola Leopizzi-Harris.
Another correspondent, Bryce Zabel, said Sagan had to downplay his passionate belief in extraterrestrials. This was in order to avoid being written off as a crank—a cool crank but a crank nonetheless: “The truth of the matter, to me, is that he felt giving any quarter on the UFO issue could kill his career.”
Debating UFOs with Carl Sagan
Early in Bryce Zabel’s TV career, he debated UFO reality with Carl in a PBS parking lot after the Voyager II Saturn encounter.
The UFOs Carl Sagan Was Convinced Of But Couldn’t Talk About
Writer Bryce Zabel recalls a dispute with Sagan on the topic in a parking lot 40 years ago, during the Voyager 2 flyby — which changed Zabel’s career.
DEEP DIVE
The following is a fact check of this anecdote: Dr. J. Allen Hynek once remarked about Carl Sagan: “I knew Carl Sagan. We had lunch one day and he said that UFOs were bunk. I asked him his thoughts on a multitude of cases and he said, ‘don’t know anything about it”. Then I said, ‘Carl, you know we scientists are not supposed to comment on anything we haven’t sufficiently studied and he said, ‘yes, I know, but I don’t have the time’. True or false?
Hynek vs. Sagan: UFOs, Science, and the Battle for Belief
Reference: UFO’s: A Scientific Debate, Papers presented at a symposium sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, held in Boston on Dec. 26-27, 1969, Pages 265 – 275, https://archive.org/details/ufosscientificde0000unse
In 1971 Dr. Sagan, writing under the pseudonym “Mr. X” described his history of marijuana use.
As the paragon of reasoned, evidence-based science, what could have possibly prompted Carl Sagan to light up a joint? He argued that marijuana can be a powerful tool for facilitating mind expansion. When he was high, he had breakthroughs in knowledge and moments of true insight, according to his experience.
He vigorously defended the validity of these pot-fueled realizations:
“There is a myth about such highs: the user has an illusion of great insight, but it does not survive scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that this is an error and that the devastating insights achieved when high are real insights; the main problem is putting these insights in a form acceptable to the quite different self that we are when we’re down the next day. Some of the hardest work I’ve ever done has been to put such insights down on tape or in writing. The problem is that ten even more interesting ideas or images have to be lost in the effort of recording one.”
Reference: Psychiatrist Grinspoon Smoked Pot with Sagan—A Lot
Dr. Lester Grinspoon, associate professor emeritus of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, recalls exploring the cosmos with a little help from cannabis, and his best friend Carl Sagan.
What could be the worst-case scenario upon announcing the discovery of extraterrestrial technological intelligence? This list is not inclusive.
Scenarios after Human-ETI Contact. This list is not inclusive of all possibilities.
Potential Consequences:
1. Mass Panic:
The crisis of order. Exploitation could surge, with doomsday cults gaining followers and charlatans claiming to be “ambassadors” for the aliens, preying on the fearful.
Economic collapse might occur, as markets could crash due to radical uncertainty following an extraterrestrial discovery. Misinformation would fill the information vacuum, leading to conspiracy theories and fear-mongering, potentially inciting violence and civil unrest.
However, studies of disasters (including the COVID-19 pandemic) suggest that true, sustained mass panic is less common than often assumed.
2. A Retraction: The Crisis of Credibility
What if subsequent investigations prove the discovery to be false, requiring a retraction? This could discredit the entire SETI field.
Such a scenario would be a catastrophic embarrassment. The field already struggles with what some call the “giggle factor,” and being discredited for a generation could severely damage public trust in scientists and science as a whole. Securing funding for future searches might become nearly impossible after a failed extraterrestrial discovery.
3. Humanity Dethroned: The Crisis of Meaning
What if the extraterrestrial discovery implies that humankind no longer occupies the pinnacle of evolution in the cosmos?
Religions centered on human exceptionalism could face a fundamental crisis. However, studies on this subject have shown that the impact may be negligible.
Will Discovering Extraterrestrial Life Challenge Religion?
Examining the reaction of religion to the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligence. Will beliefs be challenged or transformed? Discover more.
Read More
contactproject.org
Our entire worldview, which places humanity at the center of meaning, could be invalidated. This could lead to profound, species-wide depression, a loss of purpose, and what philosophers term “cosmic despair.” Why strive, create, or even continue if we are but ants on an unremarkable anthill?
(I disagree.)
4. The Optimistic View (The Cosmic Perspective):
Would this discovery temper humankind’s worst instincts, such as warfare, and diminish the power of despotic rulers?
Carl Sagan and others have hoped that knowing we are not alone would foster a “cosmic perspective.” Realizing we are all citizens of a fragile, shared planet in a vast cosmos could make nationalism, racism, and warfare seem petty and childish. Such an extraterrestrial discovery could unite humanity and pose a threat to despotic rulers whose power relies on manufacturing “us vs. them” conflicts.
(I agree.)
5. The Pessimistic View:
A despotic ruler thrives on controlling information and manipulating fear. An alien intelligence could become the ultimate propaganda tool.
A dictator might claim that the aliens pose a demonic threat, justifying crackdowns and military expansion to “protect” the populace.
They could also claim that the aliens have endorsed their rule, creating a new “divine right” to govern after such an extraterrestrial discovery.
The discovery could trigger an unimaginably high-stakes Cold War, where nations fight not for territory or resources but for control of communication channels and any technological secrets the aliens might reveal.
(Well, that’s why we have HAM radio operators and satellite dishes.)
Commemorating the historic Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting—24 June 1947 (Full transcript and link to original radio interview from the 26th of June, just two days later.)
THE SIGHTING THAT STARTED IT ALL
Seventy-seven years ago today, a 32-year-old Idaho businessman and experienced pilot named Kenneth Arnold unwittingly ignited the modern fascination with unidentified flying objects. While flying his CallAir A-2 over the Cascade Mountains on 24 June 1947, Arnold spotted nine silvery objects weaving in formation near Mount Rainier. He later described their motion as “like a saucer if you skip it across water,” a phrase newspapers soon shortened to “flying saucers,” forever branding the phenomenon.
ON-AIR EXCLUSIVE
The broadcast of the first radio interview with Kenneth Arnold itself has its own remarkable backstory: for over forty years, the KWRC interview existed only in second-hand reports—until researcher Pierre Lagrange uncovered the original vinyl in 1988. This pristine recording finally lets us hear Arnold’s exact words and raw emotion in the immediate wake of his sighting and the media storm that followed.
Kenneth Arnold interviewed by Ted Smith, KWRC, 26 June 1947:
“Every newspaper across the nation has made headlines out of it, and this afternoon we are honored, indeed, to have here in our studio the man himself, Kenneth Arnold, who we believe can give us a first-hand account of what happened. Kenneth, first of all, if you’ll move a little closer to the microphone, please tell—in your own words, as you told us last night in your hotel room and again this morning—what you were doing and how this entire thing started. Go ahead, Kenneth.”
ARNOLD RECOUNTS THE FLIGHT
(Kenneth Arnold) “Well, at about 2:15 p.m. I took off from Chehalis, Washington, en route to Yakima. Every time any of us fly over the country near Mount Rainier, we spend an hour or two searching for the Marine plane that’s never been found; they believe it’s in the snow somewhere southwest of that area, at an elevation of about 10,000 feet.
I had made one sweep close to Mount Rainier and down one of the canyons, looking for any object that might be the Marine ship, and about fifteen minutes later, as I came up out of the canyon, I was approximately 25–28 miles from Mount Rainier. I’d climbed back to 9,200 feet when I noticed, to my left, a chain that looked like the tail of a Chinese kite—weaving and moving at terrific speed across the face of the mountain.”
FIRST IMPRESSION
“At first I thought they were geese, because they flew like geese, but they were traveling so fast that I immediately decided it had to be a formation of new jet planes.”
TIMING THE OBJECTS
“As the objects reached the edge of Mount Rainier, heading about 160° south, I thought I’d clock them. It was such a clear day, and I could use Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams as reference points—pilots love arguing about speed. They flipped and flashed in the sun like mirrors, and the glare through my Plexiglas windshield nearly blinded me.”
TAILS—OR LACK THEREOF
“It was about 2:59 p.m. when I started timing them with my sweep-second hand. I kept looking for their tails; they had none. Thinking something might be wrong with my eyes, I turned the plane around, opened the window, and looked out—still no tails.”
BRIEF BUT MEMORABLE
“The entire observation lasted no more than two and a half minutes. I could see them clearly only when they tipped and reflected the sunlight. They looked like a pie plate cut in half with a convex triangle at the rear.”
UNCONVENTIONAL FLIGHT
“I thought perhaps they were jet planes with their tails painted green or brown and didn’t think much of it, but I kept watching. They didn’t fly in the conventional formation taught in our Army; they wove in and out above the mountaintops and even dipped into canyons—probably by about 100 feet. Against the snow on Mount Rainier and Mount Adams, they were unmistakable.”
INCREDIBLE SPEED
“When the last one passed Mount Adams, I checked my watch: 1 minute 42 seconds. Later, using my map, I calculated their speed. Allowing for error, it was roughly 1,200 mph—even if I stretched the flight time to three or four minutes, they’d still be exceeding 800 mph. To my knowledge, nothing but some German rockets could do that.”
LEVEL FLIGHT, NO DIVES
“They maintained a more or less constant altitude—no climbing or diving, just straight and level. I joked with the fellows at the airport that they must have had a tailwind, but the joke didn’t help much.”
HAND ON THE BIBLE
“To the best of my knowledge, that is exactly what I saw. As I told the Associated Press, I’d be glad to confirm it with my hand on a Bible.
Kenneth Arnold in front of his CallAir A-2 plane
Whether it involves our Army or Intelligence, or some foreign country, I don’t know. But I did see it, and I did clock it. I just happened to be in the perfect position, and it’s as much a mystery to me as to anyone who’s been calling me for the last 24 hours.”
NEWSROOM FRENZY
(Newscaster Ted Smith)
“Kenneth, thank you very much. I know you’ve been busy these last 24 hours—I’ve spent some of that time with you myself—and both the Associated Press and United Press have been after you every minute. This story has been on every newscast and in every newspaper I know. United Press in Portland has made several telephone calls to Pendleton—to me and to you—and New York is clamoring for details.”
LOOKING FOR ANSWERS
“We may have an answer before nightfall. If it’s some new type of Army or Navy secret missile, there will probably be an announcement and that will be the end of it—or perhaps we’ll finally get a definite explanation. I understand United Press is checking with the Army and Navy now, and we hope for something concrete soon.”
STAY TUNED
“We certainly want to thank you, Kenneth, for coming into our studio. We’re pleased to give our KWRC listeners this first-hand report. Listeners, keep tuned to this station: any time we get something on our United Press teletype—from New York, Chicago, Portland, or any bureau across the nation—we’ll have it on the air.”
A CALL FOR SERIOUS INVESTIGATION
“We’ve seen something—hundreds of pilots have seen something—in the skies. We have dutifully reported these sightings, yet it seems we need fifteen million witnesses before anyone looks into the problem seriously. This is utterly fantastic—more fantastic than flying saucers or people from Venus or anything else, as far as I’m concerned.”
Most of us will never see a strange light dart across the night sky, let alone claim to be whisked aboard a craft not of this Earth. Yet, tucked away in public databases, government archives, and academic journals lie more than 200,000 firsthand accounts from people who insist such events happened to them. It makes one wonder if there is an extraterrestrial message hidden among the accounts.
No, I don’t have the time to read all those accounts personally, so I told Gemini AI DeepResearch to analyze them all for me. That’s what Large Language Models are good at. An unexpected picture emerged from the mountain of testimony: the alleged visitors, if real, seem far less interested in dazzling us with technology than in warning us about the way we run our planet.
How Many Cases Are We Really Talking About?
• Public databases: Roughly 170,000 sighting and contact reports sit in the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) catalogue, with hundreds added every month. • Declassified government projects: Project BLUE BOOK’s 12,618 files and the FBI’s post-war “Vault” documents add a further trove. • Academic & clinical work: Thirty-plus peer-reviewed psychology papers (from Harvard, Goldsmiths, and others) and at least half-a-dozen social-science surveys have examined self-identified abductees and “channelers”—people who claim to relay telepathic messages from non-human intelligences. • Independent qualitative studies: Another six to ten book-length investigations—by scholars such as the late Harvard psychiatrist John Mack or the late Temple University historian David Jacobs—bring the formal research count to “just over forty.”
Summary
The tenor of over 200,000 UFO reports from credible experiencers, military personnel, and contactees is delivering the same urgent warnings, and it’s time we listened. There appears to be a deliberate, intelligent effort to guide humanity away from self-destruction. Here’s what they’re telling us:
Cosmic Wake-Up Call: Five Urgent ET Messages for Humanity’s Survival
“Disarm Now—Or Face Extinction” (Nuclear Warnings: A Clear Pattern) Resonance: Moderate to Low, with pockets of High Concern. Politicians & People in Power: While there’s widespread acknowledgment of the catastrophic potential of nuclear weapons, the urgency of immediate and complete disarmament is a highly contentious issue.
UFOs didn’t just happen to appear over nuclear facilities during the Cold War—they were intervening. Missiles mysteriously deactivated. Radar systems jammed. Military witnesses confirm: Something was sending a message. The message? “Your weapons are a threat to the entire cosmos.” This isn’t speculation—it’s documented.
“Earth is Dying—Act Immediately” (Environmental Crisis: A Dire Alert) Resonance: High in Acknowledgment, Moderate to Low in Sufficiently Urgent Action. Politicians & People in Power: There is now widespread, almost universal, acknowledgment among world leaders and major institutions that climate change and environmental degradation represent a significant, even existential, crisis.
From Jim Sparks to countless abductees, the message is consistent: “Your planet is in critical condition.” Crop circles, telepathic warnings, and visions of ecological collapse aren’t coincidences—they’re a galactic SOS. ETs aren’t just observing—they’re urging us to change before it’s too late.
“You Are Starseeds—Awaken” (Spiritual & Evolutionary Guidance) Resonance: Extremely Low to Non-Existent in mainstream political discourse. Politicians & People in Power: This type of message, rooted in specific spiritual or esoteric beliefs like the “Starseed” concept (which posits that some humans originated from other planets or dimensions to help Earth), generally does not resonate in mainstream political circles or among those in positions of secular power.
The most profound encounters aren’t about fear—they’re about ascension. Contactees describe downloads of cosmic knowledge, sudden healing abilities, and an overwhelming sense of universal connection. This isn’t fantasy—it’s a consciousness upgrade. ETs are trying to help humanity evolve beyond war, greed, and separation.
“Unite or Perish” (A Call for Global Solidarity) Resonance: Moderate, with Fluctuations based on Context. Politicians & People in Power: The idea of global solidarity is frequently invoked in international forums, especially when addressing transboundary challenges like pandemics, climate change, economic crises, and major conflicts.
The idea that ET contact could end human conflict isn’t wishful thinking—it’s inevitable. Once we accept we’re not alone, borders, religions, and ideologies will seem trivial. The message? “You are one species. Start acting like it.”
“The Great Filter is Real—Don’t Fail” (Warning of Civilizational Collapse) Resonance: Low in terms of the specific “Great Filter” terminology; Moderate in terms of underlying concern about civilizational threats.
Politicians & People in Power: The specific astrobiological/futurist concept of “The Great Filter” (a hypothesis suggesting that some event or condition prevents life from becoming an advanced space-faring civilization) is not commonly part of mainstream political discourse.
Advanced civilizations may have already fallen to the same traps we face: war, environmental abuse, and technological recklessness. UFOs could be survivors—or even guardians—trying to steer us away from the cliff.
The Truth is Here—Will We Listen?
This isn’t random noise. The patterns are too consistent, the witnesses too credible, and the stakes too high to ignore. The messages are real. The question is: Will humanity wake up in time?
1. Disarm Nuclear Arms 2. Heal a Dying Planet 3. Awaken Your Cosmic Heritage 4. Foster peace and unity 5. Avoid the Great Filter
An Overview of Online UFO Experiencer Reports: Accessibility, Themes, Hostility, and Messages for Humanity
The Enduring Mystery of UFOs & UAPs
The phenomenon of Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs), now more commonly referred to as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), continues to captivate public imagination and spark intense debate. At the heart of this mystery are the firsthand accounts of individuals who claim encounters with these unexplained objects—or even their alleged occupants. These UFO experiencer reports serve as a unique body of qualitative data, offering insights into personal interpretations of extraordinary events.
This report examines: ✔ The accessibility and estimated number of online UFO reports ✔ Core themes and narratives in experiencer accounts ✔ The spectrum of reported interactions—from hostile to benevolent ✔ Potential messages for humanity embedded in these encounters
Given the diverse and often controversial nature of these reports, a comprehensive approach is necessary—one that acknowledges both scientific skepticism and the profound personal impact these experiences have on those who report them.
🔍 Accessibility & Estimated Number of Online UFO Reports
The internet serves as a vast repository for UFO-related information, with numerous platforms hosting firsthand accounts, government documents, and independent research.
Archived websites from MUFON, NUFORC, and UFO forums.
📌 Estimated Total Online Reports: 200,000+
NUFORC: ~170,000
Project BLUE BOOK: ~12,000
CORGIS/GitHub datasets: ~80,000
FBI & other archives: Thousands more
👽 Core Themes in UFO Experiencer Reports
Analysis of these reports reveals recurring patterns in abduction narratives, entity descriptions, and emotional responses.
🛸 The Abduction Narrative
Many accounts follow a structured sequence:
Capture – Sudden inability to move/resist.
Examination – Invasive medical procedures (often reproductive).
Communication – Telepathic messages or warnings.
Return – Often with missing time or physical marks.
👾 Reported Alien Entities
✔ Grey Aliens (most common in North America) Small, large-headed, slanted black eyes. ✔ Nordic Aliens (often described as benevolent) Tall, human-like, blond hair. ✔ Non-Humanoid Beings (less common but reported globally).
✔ Fear & Trauma (most common in abduction cases). ✔ Mystical or Spiritual Awakening (some report profound love/connection). ✔ Sense of Purpose (belief in being part of a “cosmic plan”).
⚠️ Recurring Warnings
✔ Environmental Collapse (“Our planet is dying”). ✔ Nuclear Danger (UFOs frequently seen near nuclear sites). ✔ Humanity’s Self-Destruction (warnings about technology outpacing wisdom).
⚔️ Hostility vs. Benevolence in Alien Encounters
Reports vary widely—from terrifying abductions to uplifting contact.
🔴 Hostile Encounters
✔ Forced Abductions (loss of bodily autonomy). ✔ Medical Experiments (often described as painful). ✔ Animal Mutilations (linked to UFO activity in some cases). ✔ Military Concerns (UAPs in restricted airspace seen as potential threats).
✔ Early Contactees (1950s) – Aliens as peaceful guides. ✔ Spiritual Experiences – Feelings of universal love. ✔ Even modern abductees sometimes report healing, guidance, or spiritual uplift. ✔ Environmental Warnings – Urging humanity to change.
⚖️ Neutral/Ambiguous Cases
✔ UFO Sightings Without Interaction (most common). ✔ Observation-Only Encounters (no clear intent).
🌍 Potential Messages for Humanity
While no verified extraterrestrial communication exists, recurring themes suggest:
🌱 Environmental Crisis – Urgent warnings about Earth’s future. 25-35%
🕊️ Call for Unity – Speculation that contact could unify humanity.
🚀 Technological Caution – Fears of self-destruction via unchecked advancement. 15-25%
📌 Key Takeaway: These “messages” may reflect human anxieties.
How is society responding?
Popular culture, for one, has embraced the subject with gusto. Streaming platforms feature dozens of alien-abduction docuseries, while TikTok’s #uaptok hashtag has sailed past half a billion views. Mental-health practitioners quietly report more clients looking for “experiencer support groups” rather than traditional PTSD counseling, suggesting that people who believe they were taken no longer feel entirely alone.
Mainstream science moves more cautiously. In 2023, NASA convened an independent study that called for “serious, stigma-free data collection,” and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics followed suit with its own UAP committee. Medical literature still explains abduction memories largely in terms of sleep paralysis, dissociation, or fantasy proneness, yet outright dismissal is no longer the reflex it once was.
Politics remains the slowest arena. The 2024 U.S. National Defense Authorization Act ordered every federal agency to hand historically significant UAP files to the National Archives, marking an unprecedented bid for transparency. The Pentagon’s All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has already analyzed more than 800 military encounters and promises a civilian reporting portal. France, Japan, and the United Kingdom have reopened or expanded their public UAP desks. Even so, no head of state has addressed the substance of the alleged messages—neither the nuclear warnings nor the environmental pleas. The United Nations has never tabled a resolution on them. In the halls of power, stigma still whispers more loudly than data.
Are we listening?
Polls by Pew and IPSOS show that a slim majority of Americans now believe intelligent life is visiting Earth. Only twelve percent, however, think their elected leaders treat the subject seriously. Meanwhile, global carbon emissions continue to rise, and the world’s nuclear stockpile just grew for the first time in two decades. If the visitors’ messages are real, we remain stubbornly off script.
A quiet crossroads
The existence of the data is no longer in dispute: more than 200,000 public reports and at least forty formal studies document the phenomenon. Stripped of lurid headlines and Hollywood tropes, the core warnings are surprisingly consistent—dial back nuclear brinkmanship, mend the biosphere, and evolve beyond tribal conflict. Governments have begun to lift the veil of classification, but policy inspired by those warnings is still in its infancy.
Perhaps the most telling statistic is not how many files exist, but how few decision-makers have read them. Disclosure, in other words, is happening. Whether we choose to heed the cosmic nudge remains an open question—one whose answer may determine whether humanity, too, becomes just another cautionary tale in someone else’s sky.
Physicist Michio Kaku has publicly discussed the theoretical capabilities of extraterrestrial civilizations, particularly in the context of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs or UFOs). He argues that if such objects are indeed spacecraft from non-human intelligences capable of interstellar or intergalactic travel, they would likely originate from a highly advanced civilization, potentially a Type III on the Kardashev scale, possessing the ability to manipulate space and time.
The Challenge of Cosmic Distances
Kaku emphasizes the immense distances separating stars and galaxies, which render travel by conventional means (like current human rocket technology) impractical for interstellar voyages, requiring tens of thousands of years to reach even the nearest stars. For intergalactic travel, the distances are millions of times greater.
Could UAPs be the scout spacecraft of a galactic civilization?
UAPs: are they from Kardashev Type III civilizations?
To answer that, we must journey into the realm of theoretical physics and cosmic evolution. Imagine beings who have mastered energies on a scale that dwarfs our planetary concerns. That is the domain of a Kardashev Type III civilization.
The Kardashev Scale (after Soviet astronomer Nikolai Kardashev) classifies civilizations by their energy consumption:
A Type 0 civilization, like our own, derives its energy from dead plants and animals (oil, coal) and is still subject to the whims of nature. We are, in cosmic terms, infants.
Type I civilization has mastered planetary energy. They can control the weather, harness the power of their entire planet, and utilize all the sunlight that strikes its surface. Think of Buck Rogers.
Type II civilization has graduated to stellar power. They can consume the entire energy output of their parent star. Dyson spheres, theoretical megastructures that could encompass a star, are a hallmark of such a civilization. Star Trek’s Federation is beginning to approach this level.
Then, there’s Type III: a galactic civilization. They command the power of an entire galaxy, perhaps harnessing the energy of billions of stars, maybe even manipulating black holes. Think of “Star Wars” or the ancient builders in many science fiction sagas.
Intergalactic travel isn’t a matter of building a bigger rocket. To traverse millions of light-years in any reasonable timeframe, you must manipulate space-time itself—harnessing Planck-scale energies to open wormholes or drive a warp bubble.
Who could wield such power?
Type I powers a planet. Type II powers a solar system. Only a Type III civilization can treat a galaxy as its playground—warping, folding, or tunneling through space-time at will.
So, if these UFOs are indeed piloted by beings from another world, and if they demonstrate capabilities like instantaneous acceleration, right-angle turns at hypersonic speeds, and, crucially, the ability to traverse interstellar or even intergalactic distances, then we are not dealing with a civilization just a few centuries ahead of us. The sheer energy requirements and the physics involved point to something far grander.
Such beings would likely be the product of a Type III civilization. They would have long ago mastered the fundamental forces, unlocked secrets of space-time that we are only just beginning to ponder, and command energies that could light up (or extinguish) stars.
While we must always approach these UAP reports with scientific rigor and skepticism, it’s an intriguing thought experiment. If they are real, and not of this Earth, then the beings behind them are not just visitors from another star; they are potentially emissaries from a civilization so advanced, they are practically gods in their ability to manipulate the cosmos.
It opens up the tantalizing, and perhaps humbling, possibility that we are but a tiny part of a much larger, far more advanced, cosmic neighborhood. The universe, it seems, is far more fascinating than we ever imagined.
FACT CHECK
The above text aligns with Dr. Michio Kaku’s public statements on:
The Kardashev Scale and Civilizational Classification
Type III civilizations’ capacity for intergalactic travel
The physics of space-time manipulation (Planck energy, wormholes, warp drives)
Recent UAP commentary (extreme maneuvers in Navy pilot footage, implied G-forces, trans-medium capabilities)
1. On the Kardashev Scale and Classification of Civilizations
Dr. Kaku frequently uses the Kardashev Scale as a framework to discuss the potential advancement of civilizations based on their energy consumption. He describes:
• Type 0 (like ours, reliant on fossil fuels) • Type I (planetary; controlling weather and planetary energy) • Type II (stellar; harnessing the entire output of their star, e.g. via a Dyson sphere) • Type III (galactic; commanding the energy of an entire galaxy)
2. On Type III Civilizations and Intergalactic Travel
The article posits that intergalactic travel requires mastering energies on a galactic scale—a feat of a Type III civilization. Dr. Kaku agrees, suggesting such a civilization would have colonized its galaxy and harnessed the energy of billions of stars. He explicitly links Type III civilizations with space-time manipulation technologies (wormholes, warp drives).
3. On Advanced Technology and Manipulating Space-Time
The article notes that traversing intergalactic distances necessitates manipulating the fabric of space and time, including harnessing Planck energy. Dr. Kaku explains that while Special Relativity forbids FTL locally, General Relativity allows global warping of space-time. He emphasizes that only the colossal energies of a Type III civilization could achieve such feats.
4. On UFOs/UAPs and Highly Advanced Civilizations
The article speculates that if UAPs are extraterrestrial and exhibit capabilities beyond our physics, they might originate from Type III civilizations. Dr. Kaku has spoken increasingly about UAPs, noting new Navy pilot footage and other evidence. He points out that UAP characteristics (Mach 5–20 speeds, rapid acceleration, hundreds of Gs, transmedium travel) imply technologies far beyond ours. He cautions that these beings could be thousands or millions of years more advanced, placing them in the realm of Type III.
A Science Fiction Short Story: In a universe filled with mysteries, the discovery of an extraterrestrial signal could change everything.
Chapter 1: The Question
Ray Faser leaned back in his chair, fingers steepled, staring at the projection of Earth’s nuclear test history—a timeline of detonations stretching from 1945 to 1996. The data pulsed like a slow, irregular heartbeat.
Two thousand nuclear blasts. Each one had sent an electromagnetic scream (EMP) into the void.
On the other side of the screen, Dr. Elias Varen, a senior astrophysicist with the SETI Institute, adjusted his glasses. “You’re suggesting we’ve already announced ourselves.”
“I’m saying we lit a bonfire in the ‘Dark Forest‘. And now we’re whispering ‘Hello?’ like we’re afraid of being rude.”
Varen exhaled. “The difference is intent. A nuclear EMP is noise. A structured message is a handshake.”
Ray leaned forward. “You think an advanced civilization hears a thousand atomic explosions and thinks, ‘Hmm, must be background radiation’? They’ll know what it is. And they’ll know it’s dangerous.”
Chapter 2: The UAP Variable
The Pentagon’s recent disclosures hung between them like an unspoken specter. Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena—craft defying known physics, lingering in Earth’s skies for decades.
Ray tapped the table. “If they’re already here, silence isn’t caution. It’s stupidity. We should be sending ‘We come in peace’ in every frequency we’ve got.”
Varen’s jaw tightened. “Or we’re confirming we’re a threat. Nuclear weapons, uncontrolled emissions—what if they’re waiting to see if we grow up?”
“Or waiting to see if we shoot first,” Ray countered. The Dark Forest isn’t just a theory. It’s a mirror. We’re the ones who nuked ourselves two thousand times. We’re the predators.”
Chapter 3: The Silence Gambit
A new voice cut in—Dr. Elena Papadakis, a xenopsychologist. “Assume they have detected us. Silence could be read as hostility. A predator hiding.”
Varen shook his head. “Or prudence.”
Ray laughed bitterly. “Prudence? We’re ostriches. Heads in the sand, asses in the air.”
He pulled up the latest UAP footage—a tic-tac object maneuvering at Mach 10. “They aren’t hiding. Why are we?”
Chapter 4: The Decision
The room fell quiet. The screen flickered, overlaying Earth’s radio bubble—expanding at light speed for a century, a glowing sphere of TV broadcasts, radar pings, and nuclear EMPs that might just serve as an unintended extraterrestrial signal.
Elena broke the silence. “If they’re here, they already know who we are. The question isn’t if we signal. It’s what we say.”
Ray leaned back. “How about ‘We’re not all psychopaths’?”
Varen didn’t smile. “Or we prove it.”
Outside, the stars burned cold and distant. Waiting.
Epilogue: The First Message
Three months later, the Arecibo successor array sent a single, repeating sequence toward a UAP hotspot.
Not mathematics. Not science.
Music. Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”
A handshake—or a plea.
The Dark Forest listened.
——————-
Author’s note The character of Ray Faser (and his author) have been waiting for reactivation ever since their first and last appearance in a short science-fiction story in a school newspaper in 1979.
Reference: The history of nuclear testing began early on the morning of 16 July 1945 at a desert test site in Alamogordo, New Mexico when the United States exploded its first atomic bomb. In the five decades between that fateful day in 1945 and the opening for signature of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, over 2,000 nuclear tests were carried out all over the world. https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-nuclear-tests-day/history
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Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
