How To See A UFO
Every so often, I’m asked the question: “Have you ever seen a UFO?”
Well…it depends on what people mean when they say “UFO.” I have come to learn that when they ask that question, most people actually mean: “Do you think that you’ve ever seen an alien spacecraft?”
And my answer would have to be: “No; I don’t think I’ve ever seen an alien spacecraft.”
But, if someone were to ask me in literal terms, have I ever seen something moving in the skies that I could not identify, then the answer would have to be a definitive: “Yes.” In the summer of 2005, for example, I spent a couple of nights out in the woods of Texas’s Big Thicket region.
Also along for the ride was fellow-Brit author and investigator, Paul Devereux; researcher and writer, S. Miles Lewis; and the man who planned the trip to the area, Rob Riggs, author of the book, In The Big Thicket. The woods of the Big Thicket are noted for the presence of several mysterious “things” - one being out-of-place Big Cats; another being shambling, hairy, Bigfoot- and Wildman-style entities; and a third being so-called “Ghost Lights” not unlike the Marfa Lights, or the Brown Mountain lights.
Well, as I said, we spent two nights in the woods; and on more than one occasion - I am pleased to say - we actually caught sight of the elusive lights. What they were, I have no idea. Rob has posited a link between the lights and the assortment of weird creatures that lurk in the depths of the Big Thicket; and I recommend you read his aforementioned book if you are interested in learning more about Rob’s theories. You won’t be disappointed.
Others see the lights as being akin to the somewhat notorious “swamp gas” that so dominated UFO discussions for years; while some consider them to be the disembodied spirits of the dead. But all I know for certain is that they exist. The one I saw for a fleeting moment was perhaps slight larger than a football, brightly lit and seemed to float through the trees rather than fly, and vanished as mysteriously as it had first appeared.
And this brings me to another point: UFO sightings are largely random events; and predicting where a UFO might appear is nigh-on impossible. But, if you take a midnight walk deep into the Big Thicket and check it out for perhaps two or three nights, you are very likely to get lucky. One lesson I learned to my cost, however: unless you want to look like a victim of some bizarre attack by a particularly lethal biological warfare agent, take plenty of mosquito spray with you…
(Check out the Big Thicket’s “Ghost Light Road” at night - this photograph was taken by me during daylight last year - if you want to have a good chance of seeing a genuine, literal UFO.)
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Dec 20 2006 
December 20th, 2006 at 1:38 pm
You’re fortunate to have seen something when you were specifically there for that purpose. I’ve spent lots of time looking up in various locations, including around the reservation in Yakima, Washington, and seen zilch.
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.
December 20th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Good account, Raven.
December 21st, 2006 at 4:28 pm
I’ve been fortunate enough to see several UFOs; some, on thinking back, I’m of the opinion they were “ours” (including one of the Triangles; although, while I tend to think they are ours, they’re still awfully . .. . weird) one I now have come to think was someone fooling around with a remote control “toy” but two UFOs I’ve seen, I have no idea. As Raven said, it could have been ours, theirs, or — ‘THEIRS’ - very strange.
And while I’m of the person opinion entities are about, that doesn’t mean every UFO is an alien spacecraft.
December 22nd, 2006 at 7:13 am
Reganlee:
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!
December 22nd, 2006 at 11:14 am
Nick, I read your article on the triangles in UFO magazine, very interesting. And that’s the “thing” about the Triangles, on the surface it seems that they are “ours” (and they most probably are) but then, there’s just enough weirdness to make it all…weirder. The fact they’ve been around for so long, decades, is curious.
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.
December 22nd, 2006 at 11:51 am
Reganlee:
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.