Often referred to as UFOs or „unidentified flying objects“ these can be attributed to various geophysical phenomena, as I have listed here:
1. Earth lights; geostatic plasma discharges that usually occur when quartz and metal rich ground strata come under tectonic stress, especially around volcanoes and tectonic fault lines.
2. Swamp gas; stagnant bodies of water rich in decomposing biomatter, produce a great deal of methane and phosphorous. Rich concentrations can ignite, shooting off fire balls with a loud bang. This igniting can also occur deep in ancient peat moors, releasing some pretty lethal gases, if disturbed.
3. Water sprites; water, especially with high levels of salinity has a great capacity to suspend charges on its surface. Under certain atmospheric conditions, these charges can reach levels where sparkles or veins of blue or spectral light appear to dance on the surface.
4. St. Elmo’s Fire; similar to water sprites but more an atmospheric phenomena of supercharged moisture under turbulence.
5. Atmospheric light refractions; namely things like sundogs, partial light halos from sunlight, moon or even bright starlight refracted by thin cloud.
6. Upper atmospheric sprites; electrostatic plasma discharges from the ozone layer into the ionosphere. This can also include localized auroral effects from solar radiation ionizing the atmosphere.
7. Lenticular clouds; the effect of convectional air pockets usually over mountain peaks.
8. Mirage; thermal air conditions, heat domes, etc. Sometimes the lens effect of such conditions can be so great that mirror images of cities have been seen over the arctic. At night such heat domes over cities can mirror the street lights below. At the horizon, air density can oblate the light of a bright star or planet. The same distortions can happen to the lights of low flying aircraft in the distance.
Experimental aircraft, rockets, hot air and weather balloons, even passing satellites, are often mistaken for alien craft. Remove all the misidentifications and you’re left with no more than 2% cases of possible “unknowns” in the global scheme of things. Unfortunately, these statistics are also hampered by the credibility of the observer. In Dr. Jacques Vallee’s book “Messengers of Deception”, he points out many of the religious cults that evolved out of the deleterious want of spiritual guidance and metamorphosis into “supreme cosmic beings”, often the case of narcissistic personality and other psychological overcompensations of deep childhood traumas. He also points out how this psychological effect has been exacerbated by certain counterintelligence agencies experimenting in psychological warfare. No, this is not something out of a Tom Clancy novel. In 1979 at the International UFO Symposium in Switzerland, several serious scientific researchers basically told J. Allen Hynek that none of his “close encounter” data could be considered valid if the alleged contactees had been hypnotically regressed to obtain these testimonies. It had come to the attention of the scientific community that the CIA was using these regressions in NICAP to experiment with inducing false memories. It was bad enough that religious cults were using much the same methodologies to indoctrinate their followers. Hence, hypnosis and cult hysteria (ie. rapture) are taboo to any serious researcher in the field of aerial phenomena. This does not say that sightings of the unknown are just a figment of the imagination, but one should use a healthy degree of scrutiny over the nature of what one is mentally processing. Indeed, as pagans, we know the consequences of trying to read too much into a visionary or psychic experience especially if psychogens are used. As you know, yogic method (ie. Chakra stimulation) is also used to alter serotonin and dopamine levels in the body to induce euphoria. Personally, I’ve found euphoria only clouds the psychic impression I am processing, especially empathic signatures. It’s much the same as trying to process this information when you are in a deeply emotional state.
Nonetheless, despite all wishful thinking, there are still the odd valid sightings but they are few and far between. In many of his books, Dr. Vallee expresses the hypothesis that these may not be alien at all, but phenomena of parallel reality much like the classic legends of the fae folk. Indeed there are many uncanny parallels there that fascinate me much more than strange lights in the sky.
Indeed this and the aforementioned natural phenomena such as plasma discharges and tidal force effects are also witnessed where such ghostly events and manifestations seem to occur. Some explorers may refer to these as “portals” whereas others may describe it as a “thinning of the veil of reality”, either way though, it involves transdimensional overlap where we can see everything from phantoms of the past to strange beings of all kinds. Different cultural folklores are full of these diverse testimonies, some imaginative, some quite personable and some quite nasty if you don’t tread carefully.
Finally, I see alot of various photographic defects on the internet being passed off as spirit orbs, ghost lights and etherial entities. If you have any real experience with professional photography, you know perfectly well how dust, moisture, smoke or an errant camera strap can cause these things. In fact, it’s amazing what you can do with photoshop and a few morphing tools these days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Vall%C3%A9e
