Jodie Foster in the 1997 film 'Contact,' based on the Carl Sagan book of the same name, directed by Robert Zemeckis. Sagan published the novel вЂњContactвЂќ in 1985 12 years later it was made into a popular, transfixing film starring Jodie Foster. governmentвЂ™s Project Blue Book study in the 1960s. Hynek was one of the first scientists to take UFOs seriously and was an adviser to the U.S. вЂњ I know UFOs are real,вЂќ he told astronomer and ufologist Dr. Although he initially harrumphed the notion of UFOs, he turned around later in life. вЂњ The Demon-Haunted WorldвЂќ by Carl Sagan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist who brokered no hooey.

When a UFO-denier claimed that various reported sightings didnвЂ™t conform to the laws of physics - their hyper-rapid movement, their ability to appear and disappear - IвЂ™d think, вЂњThatвЂ™s true, but perhaps our laws of physics donвЂ™t apply to this super-intelligent life, or the creations thereof.вЂќ It certainly clarified my willingness to believe there are things we observe that are beyond rational explanation. It did not profoundly change my life, but it certainly kicked open the doors of curiosity and a lifetime of off-and-on rumination, balancing my inherent skepticism about the paranormal with what I know I saw. And that was it.ДЄs I was gazing absently out the window, a saucer-shaped object with an array of multi-colored lights circling the bottom of the craft appeared. Instead, I sort of said, вЂњhuh,вЂќ before thinking itвЂ™d be logical to count the number of seconds it was there. It hovered directly over the police stationвЂ™s dome and antenna. Through the windshield, I could see the University of Maine police station.ДЄs I was gazing absently out the window, a saucer-shaped object with an array of multi-colored lights circling the bottom of the craft appeared. I parked my car in a driveway at the side of the building, the car slightly angled up. My story: Carrying a freshly minted driverвЂ™s license, I was picking up my parents at our local church. Particularly powerful is former Navy Lieutenant Ryan Graves talking about how all four crew members witnessed a UFO - err UAP - simply disappearing. But the New Yorker and вЂњ60 MinutesвЂќ reporting feature top-level military and government personnel attempting to describe the inexplicable. Now the government has rebranded UFOs as UAPs - unidentified aerial phenomena - because, no doubt, of the decades-long connotations UFOs have.

Harry Reid has talked about how вЂњthe government has, for all these years, covered up everything. For years, itвЂ™s been denial and obfuscation, the implicit suggestion that anyone reporting such phenomena was crazy. governmentвЂ™s recognition, thatвЂ™s key here. government got over the taboo.вЂќ And itвЂ™s that tag line, about the U.S. The subhead of that New Yorker piece reads, вЂњFor decades, flying saucers were a punch line. The prompt to tell my tale now? Events that have recently crashed mainstream news media, namely a piece on вЂњ 60 MinutesвЂќ in mid-May and a massive, investigative story in the New Yorker by Gideon Lewis-Kraus: вЂњ How the Pentagon Started Taking U.F.O.вЂ™s Seriously. There was a sense of wonder and awe, but no overt drama or panic. Actually, itвЂ™s rather astounding and mundane at the same time. My story doesnвЂ™t have anything to do with little green men, alien abduction or anything terrifying. I saw what I saw: an unidentified flying object. Of course I did watch Mulder and Scully a fair amount in the вЂ90s, but I was most definitely not delusional. I didnвЂ™t want people thinking I was delusional or had watched too many episodes of the вЂњ The X-Files.вЂќ

IвЂ™ve occasionally told friends what I saw that night, but I havenвЂ™t spoken about it much because, well, I worried people would roll their eyes. IвЂ™ll say this as simply as I know how: in 1972, when I was 16-year-old high school student in Orono, Maine, I saw a UFO. I am finally, publicly, coming out of the closet. (Josh Brasted/Getty Images) This article is more than 1 year old. A converted Sprinter campervan is seen next to the Extraterrestrial Highway sign at the junction of state Routes 138 and 375 on Januin Lincoln County, Nevada.

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