One thing truly spectacular about humanity is our creative and imaginative abilities. Over the centuries we have created myths, fables, or other cryptid creatures whether it be to teach a lesson, express some form of theme or ideal, or simply just to keep people from wandering at night. However it is truly rare when one of these stories becomes a sort of reality.

     Take it from Betty and Barney Hill, a couple in rural New Hampshire, who had apparently been abducted by aliens. Their so called abduction happened on the night of September 19, 1961 and their story became one the first widely publicised alien abduction reports during its era. Take a second and imagine how insane you must sound, saying you have been kidnapped by extraterrestrial beings with no other evidence to back it up other than your “experience”. 

    More often than not, most people conclude these experiences as misunderstandings, dreams, or even hallucinations, and in doing so it is probably for the better. Believing something with little to no evidence is a bit careless, on the contrary it is also important to not completely ignore the experience. After my research, I would consider the existence of other-worldly inhabitants watching over us to be more possible than you think.

     Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs are the prime reason for my belief. After an interview with Mrs. Latimer she stated, “UFOs are almost certainly nothing more than that- unidentified (as of yet) flying objects.  Secret aircraft of other earthly nations, natural phenomena like meteors and the Northern Lights, figments of active imaginations.” I disagree.

     Before writing this article, I’ve always thought that UFO reports simply came from regular people staring up into the sky and managed to see something unusual. Of course there are reports like these but they are most likely not taken seriously. The Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) is an unclassified, unpublicized, investigation military branch that focuses on researching UFO reports and other aerial phenomena. 

     Their reports come from scientifically trained professionals and other military personnel, in other words they are certified big boys. I bring this up because these individuals are the ones seeing and making the UFO reports and not your average masseuse who just happened to see something in their backyard at night.

     Since 1910 there have been 80,000 UFO reports here in the United States. Each UFO report is a bit different, such as some are aircrafts, while others are more strange lights or floating orbs. Let’s discuss the aircraft sightings-like UFOs. So what exactly must these objects be, or do for it be considered a UFO? It is a little more complex for it to be just some foreign military vehicle, bird, insect, or satellite. You see, one thing UFO aircrafts have in common are their advanced physical capabilities. In other words the way they fly is so advanced that humans have no ability to even reach these standards any time soon. 

     These advanced physical qualities include having complete resistance to Earth’s atmosphere, moving unnaturally or even intelligently, having no indications of propulsion or lift, and most interestingly operating at accelerations with G-forces that no human can withstand.

     For example a video was released by the Pentagon during 2019 revealing footage taken by the Navy of a UFO. Here is the official Statement from the Pentagon. The object had no wings, no exhaust, or signs of propulsion, and is said to travel at speeds beyond supersonic. To put it into perspective if a human were to travel that fast, if death was not immediate, they would suffer broken bones, misplaced organs, and burst blood vessels.

     Luis Elizondo, head of the AATIP organization, stated that there was “very compelling evidence we may not be alone”. He has since resigned from the Pentagon in 2017 in order to protest government secrecy. As for the AATIP organization it was apparently terminated in 2012 after being funded $22 million from the federal government. During the same year the DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), also stated the AATIP’s termination.

     It wasn’t until 2017 that these termination statements were proven false, apparently the exact status of the termination is unclear. The AATIP group wasn’t terminated, but the government funding was. It actually was continuing to be supported by the CIA and the Navy, this was confirmed last year.

     Since then the Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTT) was made public last year in June. Similar to the AATIP, the group studies and researches UFOs. One month later it was confirmed to have direct relations with AATIP. 

      I could continue to list evidence regarding government secrecy, UFO sightings, and alien abduction reports but it would never fully prove the existence of aliens. All in all, the reality of extraterrestrials still remains unproven to us. 

     “I believe that it is almost inevitable for there to be other life in our universe.  The universe is unimaginably vast and filled throughout with the elements we know to be the building blocks of life as we understand it,” says Mrs. Latimer. Our universe is limitless and has existed for over 13 billion years, whether it be microscopic cellular organisms or sentient beings similar to humans, other life is bound to exist somewhere in our universe.

     However just because we haven’t found these civilizations, does not mean they don’t exist. With a universe as infinite and ever growing as ours, anything is possible. Maybe our  extraterrestrial neighbors are looking for others as well, or maybe they have already found them.