The “cone of silence” you mention is very notable, since this is a key aspect of many significant UFO encounters.

Do a Google search on “Oz Factor + Jenny Randles” and you’ll find a ton of material on this issue.

Randles coined the term “Oz Factor” as a way of describing the phenomenon you talk about; and as you’ll see when you check out some of the links, this eerie silence and a feeling of things being different during an encounter are very common.

And the effects of the sighting I had: odd, and I can understand some interpreting that as “alien” but a more likely explanation is the ability/characteristics of the craft itself on the nervous system. We were right under the thing; and sound was “muffled” it was like we were in some sort of invisible cone of silence, lol. (at the time, it wasn’t too funny though) We commented to each other how weird it was and that we should tell others, — and made silly jokes about missing time and checked our watches — but at the same time, we didn’t/couldn’t move. when it left, our ears popped, we could hear normally again, and we felt “awake.”

To add to the over all typical weirdness of many UFO encounters, this sighting has stayed with me ever since. It was so intense, strange, from the object itself, to how we felt, to the responses of others at the place. And yet, a year later, a couple of the witnesses didn’t even remember! I find that as fascinating as the sighting.

The Triangles are an interesting phenomenon. On the one hand, it’s a fact that they have been seen in much greater numbers in the last 20 years - which is what leads many to think they are a “next generation”-Stealth type aircraft.

However, at both the British and US National Archives there are various reports (some filed by official sources) who had seen identical things as far back as the early 1950s.

Coincidentally, the last issue of “UFO Magazine” had an article from me on old Flying Triangle reports. It should still be on the newsstands, I think.

So, it’s a weird story. Maybe the FTs are “ours” and “theirs.” Whoever “they” are!

And while I’m of the person opinion entities are about, that doesn’t mean every UFO is an alien spacecraft.

I’ve seen two night time, aerial objects I was unable to identify. In both instances I was not looking for them. The first was in 1975. I exited a building with a group of friends and was immediately aware of a brilliant blue light in the sky, about the same color as the bright blue inner flame of an oxy-acetylene welding torch. It was larger and more intense than any of the stars in the sky, but still far enough away that I could make out no physical dimensions. It held perfectly still for about 30 seconds as I watched it. Then it shot across the sky covering roughly 45 degrees of arc in less than a second, and was gone.

The second object I saw back in the late 1980s from my bedroom window. I was reading late one night and looked out the window. There was an object approximately the size of a full moon, but more luminous that the large street lights immediately outside our house. This object was behind the tops of some tall Douglas Fir trees that are situated 200 yards or so from the house. It was such an odd critter that I took note of exactly where it was in relation to the Fir tree branches so that I could note any change in its position. I watched on and off as I continued to read. The object remained utterly motionless for an hour and a half. Then when I looked up from reading again a moment later it was gone.

Like you, I can’t say I saw a spacecraft, either ours, theirs, or…somebody else’s. But these were by definition UFOs. They were aerial, they didn’t fit the visual description or act like any known objects I have ever seen or read about (outside of UFO literature, obviously.) I guess that makes them UFOs.

Carl Sagan had a rather pithy, if not condescending line in one of his Cosmos episodes. He said, “Just because we can’t identify a light in the sky, that doesn’t make it an alien spaceship.” Gotta give it up to Carl on that one. He’s right.