Five UFO Close Encounters Before Roswell
by O.K. so everyone knows about Roswell but what close encounters did mankind experience before Steven Spielberg was even a twinkle in his Mother’s eye?
These days practically everyone has either seen or knows someone who has seen a UFO. Yet, when scrutinised, these Unidentified Flying Objects hardly ever remain “unidentified” and scientists, dissenters and the media in general seem to spend hours on explaining every incident away from claiming these sightings were anything from crashing weather balloons to just tricks on the eyes from the aurora borealis lights.
You can’t be blamed for wondering, however, if somehow, for some unexplained reason, the world “doth protest too much”…
Just to clear up matters of simple terminology, apparently U.F.O. researcher and astronomer, J. Allen Hynek, suggested in his 1972 book that any U.F.O. seen within a range of 500 feet could be classed as a close encounter – a fact which Steven Spielberg obviously took on board.
With that in mind, here are some of the more famous (and maybe some not quite so well-known) close encounters the human race experienced before Roswell
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11th October 1492.
Probably one of the earliest sightings on record involved Christopher Columbus whilst sailing the Atlantic Ocean in the Santa Maria – to quote from the book “The Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus” (1850)
“While patrolling the deck of the Santa Maria at about 10:00PM on October 11, 1492, Columbus thought he saw “a light glimmering at a great distance.” He hurriedly summoned Pedro Gutierrez, “a gentleman of the king’s bedchamber,” who also saw the light. After a short time it vanished, only to reappear several times during the night, each time dancing up and down “in sudden and passing gleams.” The light, first seen four hours before land was sighted, was never explained”
O.K. so not a lot happened but could this be evidence of alien activity getting interested in man as he starts to make noticeable forays into the world of exploration?
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1868 – Copiapo, Chile
This was the first nineteenth-century instance of close observation of an unknown object at low altitude.
A strange “aerial construction” bearing lights and making engine noises flew low over the town. Local people described it as a giant bird covered with large scales and producing a metallic noise.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking – this was probably the South American equivalent of the Orville Brothers trying to both look and fly like a bird but without the all crucial visual evidence (probably not forthcoming from the 1860’s), there’s no way we can tell.
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November 1886 Maracaibo, Venezuela
The US consul of Venezuela in Maracaibo reported to Scientific American that “a bright object, accompanied with a humming noise, appeared over a hut near Maracaibo.” The people in the hut subsequently developed a sickness, which one could interpret today as radiation disease. The trees surrounding the hut withered after nine days
Yet again, there is no photographic evidence but the sickness of the nine people who were in the hut at the time was very well documented. To all intents and purposes, it looks like these people did endure radiation sickness and the all burning question is: “Was man’s technological advancement in 1868 such that the machinery being produced could cause radiation?”
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February 25th 1942, Los Angeles
Known as “The Battle of Los Angeles” – just a couple of months after the attack on Pearl Harbour, The whole of Los Angeles was put on full war alert as a giant round object hovered, almost stationary, in the sky over Culver City and Santa Monica. Dozens of anti-aircraft guns bombarded it with nearly 2,000 rounds of 12 pound high explosive shells but to no avail. The craft leisurely made its way down to Long Beach and then disappeared. The attack had no affect on the craft but 6 people died from the aftermath of the exploding bombs and shrapnel.
This encounter actually does have photographic evidence and the U.S. Army acknowledges it was there because they bombarded it with shells for almost half an hour and tragically, six people died in the onslaught. Yet, even so, this incident has been conveniently forgotten in the mists of time.
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1947, Roswell, New Mexico
Probably one of the more well documented sightings on record.
Mac Brazel was said to have found a crashed alien saucer complete with alien crew. At the time, more interest was raised as the air force retracted its first statement and then said Mr. Brazel had merely found part of a weather balloon. Subsequently, rumours have been raised that an alien aircraft was indeed recovered and that it contained a living “little grey” alien.
The stories about Roswell are many and varied – some defy all credibility while others seem to have enough going for them to just keep you guessing. One interesting snippet is that the technology found was back engineered and led to the invention of fibre optics that in turn, eventually, enabled the creation of the World Wide Web.
It could be true – who knows? – yet if you take a step back and look at how man has literally rocketed in his technologies since the early 50’s… well, perhaps the impossible isn’t so improbable after all…
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