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Aliens Sighted!

Even if extraterrestrials are visiting our Planet, they too must be sending their researchers to explore life forms just as…

Even if extraterrestrials are visiting our Planet, they too must be sending their researchers to explore life forms just as we have sent Curiosity to Mars in quest of life. rounak bose takes a closer look at some of these ‘visits’

Anything is possible in this age of Photoshop and CGI, but before all that came some pretty crazy pictures. Whether we believe it or not, these possibly extraterrestrial newspaper sensations, seen by many and photographed by few, mark some of the world’s greatest mysteries.
In Los Angeles, 1942, just three months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, between 24 and 25 February, an Unidentified Flying Object was spotted. Assumed to be another air strike from Japan, the UFO triggered a massive anti-aircraft military attack. The true identity of the object is still unknown. An unusual formation of lights flew over Lubbock, Texas, in 1951. Spotted by three professors from Texas Technical College and later photographed by a student, the UFO featured twenty to thirty lights that flew overhead in a "V" formation.
 The sighting was so popular and highly publicised that the photos and the story appeared in the Life Magazine in 1952. First spotted on an air-traffic controller’s radar, seven objects moved in unusual flight patterns that witnesses called bright orange lights. The most publicised sightings occurred in consecutive weekends with the objects moving over the White House.
The incident was so publicised that it prompted then President Harry Truman to demand an explanation. These are instances of just UFOs being photographed.
The most substantial evidence was found in the case of what is also considered the most famous UFO related incident and suspected Government cover-up in 1947. Debris from an alien ship (or experimental high-altitude balloon as is claimed) was found in the desert of New Mexico, beginning one of the biggest controversies and mysteries in US history. "I saw UFOs on four different occasions as I grew up in West Texas.  It was very exciting and each was an experience I will never forget," said a person who did not want to be named.
However, some people have said that the photos of the UFO sightings are fake. "All of these photos are fakes ~ Highway One’s a doll’s, Light beam one is a double exposure with the camera upside-down, Capitol one is dashboard lights reflected off rear windshield…" in response to some photos of alien sightings published in a magazine.
Charles Hickson, the chief claimant in the Pascagoula, Mississippi, UFO abduction case, died of a heart attack on 9 September  2011 at the age of 80. Until his death, he maintained the truth of his alien encounter- that has remained the second most famous UFO abduction case in history, according to UFO historian Jerome Clark. Hickson, then 42, was fishing from an old pier on the Pascagoula River with 19-year-old Calvin Parker Jr., on the night of 11 October 1973. Hickson claimed they heard a "zipping" sound and encountered a glowing object- an elongated UFO – hovering above the ground.
Three robot-like aliens exited from the craft: although they were gray humanoids just over five feet tall, they were otherwise of a type not reported before or since then. Each entity lacked a neck, exhibited only slits for eyes and mouth, had a nose, and ears that were sharp protrusions, and possessed clawed hands.
The legs were joined, pedestal-like, and the entity glided. The two men claimed they were taken aboard the spacecraft, where they were examined, after which they were returned to their fishing site. Unnerved, they sat in a car to regain their composure (with Hickson drinking alcohol) and then reported their experience to the Sheriff. Although the UFO reported by the men had not been seen by people on the heavily used highway nearby, there had been other UFO sightings in that area, including on the night in question.
The UFOs were variously described ~ some saw a helicopter-like object; one person reported a supposed experiment from an Air Force Base and so on. UFO believers J Allen Hynek of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) and James Harder of the Aerial Phenomena Research Organisation (APRO) accepted the pair’s veracity, and both rushed to interview the "abducted." 
Harder tried unsuccessfully to hypnotize the men but concluded that they had indeed experienced "an extraterrestrial phenomenon." Hynek believed the pair had had "a very real, frightening experience." The Sheriff’s department also felt the men were telling the truth, and Hickson requested and passed a lie-detector test arranged by the agent with whom the men had signed a contract to promote their story. Parker suffered a breakdown and was briefly hospitalized.
The men’s fantastic report drew much skepticism. Famed UFO skeptic Philip J Klass noted discrepancies in Hickson’s account (for instance, once referring to the creatures as having a "hole" for a mouth, but later calling it a "slit"). Klass also pointed out that an "inexperienced" polygraph operator conducted the lie-detector test and that Hickson refused to take another, administered by an expert police examiner. Based on other evidence- including the fact that Hickson had once been fired for improperly obtaining money from employees under his supervision ~ Klass concluded the case was a hoax.
So which was it: a genuine alien abduction, or a hoax? Or is that a false dichotomy? In reviewing the case, another possibility was found: the two men, who might have been drinking before the incident (as Hickson admitted he was after), might have dozed off. Hickson could then have entered a "hypnagogic" (waking dream) state, a trancelike condition between waking and sleeping in which some people experience hallucinations, often with bizarre imagery, including strange beings (like aliens, ghosts etc.). When all the facts are weighed, the preponderance of evidence appears not only to favour the hypothesis involving the hypnagogic state but also corroborate it. The realisation may not benefit the late Charles Hickson, but it could help others who hear of supposed alien abductions, to rest in peace.
As Clifton Fadiman had said, "Science fiction is a kind of archaeology of the future." So people like Hickson are none but highly successful science fiction story writers.  Even if the extraterrestrials pay visits to Mother Earth, let them. In that case, they must be sending their researchers to explore life forms on the Blue Planet, just as we have sent Curiosity to Mars in quest of life, there.

St. Augustine’s Day School, Kolkata

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