To: ET IUFO: A Primer: UFO's Throughout History
A Primer: UFO's Throughout History
MUFON
Summary: The sighting of strange objects in the sky may actually predate
the emergence of modern man. Perhaps the earliest depiction of
cylindrical objects resembling spacecraft, with what might be their
extraterrestrial occupants, are those carved on a granite mountain and on
rocks on an island in Hunan Province, China. They have been assigned a
tentative age of 47,000 years, which puts them within the time-span of
Neanderthal man, predating modern Homo sapiens.
________________________________________________________________________________
Millions of people have seen objects in the sky that they could not
identify, and many thousands have taken the time and trouble to submit
written reports about them. The vast majority of these sightings could
well be of such things as meteors, planets, stars, weather balloons,
swamp gas, and atmospheric disturbances. There remains however, a
significant body of experiences that are truly inexplicable.
There is no doubt that disk shaped objects have been seen by a great many
honest, sober, and mystified men and women. The objects have been tracked
by ground-based and airborne radar and have been photographed by still
and movie cameras in black and white and color. The craft have been
observed to hover, move straight up or down, and accelerate and maneuver
at speeds far beyond the capability of any known airplane.
The sighting of strange objects in the sky may actually predate the
emergence of modern man. Perhaps the earliest depiction of cylindrical
objects resembling spacecraft, with what might be their extraterrestrial
occupants, are those carved on a granite mountain and on rocks on an
island in Hunan Province, China. They have been assigned a tentative age
of 47,000 years, which puts them within the time-span of Neanderthal man,
predating modern Homo sapiens.
One of the first written accounts of a UFO sighting -- a fleet of flying
saucers, perhaps -- is the following excerpt from an Egyptian papyrus --
part of the annals of Thutmose III, who reigned around 1504-1450 B.C.:
"In the year 22 of the 3rd month of winter, sixth hour of the day... the
scribes of the House of Life found it was a circle of fire that was
coming in the sky... It had no head, the breath of its mouth had a foul
odor. Its body one rod long and one rod wide. It had no voice. Their
hearts became confused through it; then they laid themselves on their
bellies... they went to the Pharaoh... to report it. His Majesty
ordered...
[an examination of] all which is written in the papyrus rolls of the
House of life. His majesty was meditating upon what happened. Now after
some days had passed, these things became more numerous in the skies than
ever. They shone more in the sky than the brightness of the sun, and
extended to the limits of four supports of the heavens... Powerful was
the position of the fire circles. The army of the Pharaoh looked on with
him in their midst. It was after supper. Thereupon, these fire circles
ascended higher in the sky towards the south... The Pharaoh caused
incense to be brought to make peace on the hearth... and what happened
was ordered by the Pharaoh to be written in the annals of the House of
life... so that it be remembered for ever."
[Brinsley Le Poer Trench, "The Flying Saucer Story",
pp. 81-82.]
The prophet Ezekiel's "vision", recorded in the bible, is thought by some
to be a UFO sighting. His description is of a strange "vehicle" coming
from the sky and landing near the Chebar River (or canal) in Chaldea (now
Iraq) in the fifth year of the Judean captivity (592 B.C.) under
Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon:
"What kind of 'machine' was this?" Ezekiel continues: And from the midst
of it came the likeness of four living creatures. And from this was their
appearance: they had the form of men, but each had four faces, and each
of them had four wings. Their legs were straight, and the soles of their
feet were like the sole of a calf's foot; and they sparkled like
burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human
hands... each had the face of a man in front; the four had the face of a
lion on the right side... the face of an ox on the left side, and... the
face of an eagle at the back... and their wings were spread out above;
each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another,
while two covered their bodies. And each [creature] went straight
forward... without turning as they went... And the living creatures
darted to and fro, like a flash of lightning."
Who were these humanoid "occupants"? Space-helmeted, space-suited
astronauts with a strapped-on flying device? Or, perhaps,
extraterrestrial flying robots? The account continues:
"Now as I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel upon the earth
beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them. As for the
appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was
like the gleaming of a chrysolite... being as it were a wheel within a
wheel... The four wheels had rims and they had spokes; and their rims
were full of eyes round about. And when the living creatures went, the
wheels went beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the
earth, the wheels rose."
Were these humanoids going back and forth into a green-glowing spacecraft
surrounded by a ring of portholes? But there is more:
"...there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and
seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness as it were of a
human form. And upward from... his loins I saw as it were gleaming
bronze... and there was brightness... like the appearance of the bow that
is in the cloud on the day of the rain, so was the appearance of the
brightness round about... And when I saw it... I heard the voice of one
speaking."
Ezekiel is told that the Israelites have transgressed and are to be
punished unless they obey the Lord's commandments. Ezekiel is selected as
the messenger to his people and is taken on board ("the spirit lifted me
up"). The spacecraft takes off ("I heard... the sound of the wheels...
that sounded like a great earthquake"), and Ezekiel is carried to
Tel-abib where his fellow exiles are and where he sits "overwhelmed among
them seven days," traumatized by his experience. (Ezekiel 1-3) (As we can
see from contemporary UFO encounters, this could be interpreted as an
almost classic report of the abduction and return of humans.)
The roman author Julius Obsequens, believed to have lived in the fourth
century A.D., drew on Livy as well as other sources of his time to
compile his book "Prodigorium liber", which describes many peculiar
phenomena, some of which could be interpreted as UFO sightings. here are
just a few examples:
"[216 B.C.] Things like ships were seen in the sky over Italy... At Arpi
(180 Roman miles, east of Rome, in Apulia) a 'round shield' was seen in
the sky... At Capua, the sky was all on fire, and one saw figures like
ships...
[99 B.C.] When C. Murius and L. Valerius were consuls, in Tarquinia,
there fell in different places... a thing like a flaming torch, and it
came suddenly from the sky. Towards sunset, a round object like a globe,
or round or circular shield took its path in the sky, from west to east.
[90 B.C.] In the territory of Spoletium (65 Roman miles north of Rome, in
Umbria) a globe of fire, of golden colour, fell to the earth, gyrating.
It then seemed to increase in size, rose from the earth, and ascended
into the sky, where it obscured the disc of the sun, with its brilliance.
It revolved towards the eastern quadrant of the sky.
[Harold T. wilkins, "Flying Saucers on the Attack", pp. 164-69]
A later chronicler of inexplicable phenomena, one Conrad Wolffhart (a
professor of grammer and dielectrics who under the pen name of
Lycosthenes wrote the compendium "Prodigiorium ac Ostentorum Chronicon",
published in 1567), mentions the following events:
More..........