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? -
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. -
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?” -
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. -
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.
译文:
在拉兹威市事件之前的五次UFO遭遇事件
这几天几乎每个人不是说看见就是说知道有人看到了UFO。但细想一下，这些UPF几乎从不逗留，科学家们，持不同意见者和媒体一般都似乎会花上数小时解释这每一个现象，而不是只为戏弄那双来自北极光的眼睛去干脆的断言这些景象就是爆炸的气象气球产生的各种东西。
你不会因为好奇而被责备。然而，如果用某种方式，这个世界由于一些无法解释的原因。。。。。（乱码！！！）
只要去弄解释清楚简单的专业术语。显然，UFO的研究者及天文学家，J.Allen Hynek在他1972出版的书中暗示到任何在500英尺的范围内看到UFO的事件都可以划分为近距离遭遇--Steven Spielberg 曾在船上的那次明显遭遇就是一个事实。
这样去理解的话，其实就有了一些比拉兹威市事件更早更著名的（也许有些不是很为人所知）人类近距离遭遇飞碟的经历。
1492年10月11日。
也许最早有记录的此类事件之一就是在克里斯多佛。哥伦布航行在Santa Maria 的大西洋上的时候--引用自书《克里斯多佛。哥伦布的航海经历和生活》（1850年）;当哥伦布在远处巡视的时候，他突然紧急的呼喊Pedro Gutierrez，国王寝宫的一位绅士，而他也看到了那光。不一会儿光就消失了，只在晚上的时候出现过几次，每一次都上下跳跃着；亮光突然出现然后消失；这样的光曾在他们能看到陆地前四个小时第一次出现过，而且无法解释。
好吧，这种情况不是很常见，但这可以被认为是外星人对人类感兴趣而做的活动并以此作为一种明显的行为而来探寻这个世界吗？
1868-Copiapo, Chile
这是十九世纪第一次在低洼地带近距离观察到不明物体。
一个奇怪的“空中建筑”亮着光芒，发出类似引擎的噪音在这座小镇上低空飞行。当地人把它描述成一只巨鸟，它覆盖着巨大的鳞状物并且发出一种金属噪音。
不错，我知道你此刻在想什么---你在想也许这东西是奥威尔兄弟在南美的一种看起来和飞起来都像只鸟的装置，但是我们没有任何实实在在的关键性证据（也许自19世纪60年代以来这个一直无法被证实）。我们没有什么线索。
1886年11月，委内瑞拉的马拉开波湖
美国驻委内瑞拉领事馆曾向美国科防部报告，有一个明亮的物体伴随着电流声出现在马拉开波湖附近的一个小屋上方。小屋里的人后来都得了疾病，这种病在当今来说就是放射性疾病。小屋周围的树木都在九天之后枯死了。
还有，虽然没有照片为证，但当时这九个在小屋里的人所得的疾病已经被充分证实。从所有的情况看来，似乎这些人忍受着辐射的病痛，而最迫切的问题是，这些是1868时的机器创造的人类科技进步成果所能产生的放射物吗？
1942年，3月25日，洛杉矶
洛杉矶战争--仅在珍珠港被袭的两个月后。整个洛杉矶城被笼罩在战争状态，因为一只巨大的圆形物体几乎静止地盘旋在Culver城和圣摩尼卡城上空 。20架用来阻击飞行器的大炮向它射击了几乎2000次12磅的高效炸药炮弹，但是都没用。这个飞行器从容地飞到长海滩，然后消失了。所进行的攻打对这个飞行物没有一点影响，但是有6个人因为攻打的炸弹和榴散弹丧生。
这次的遭遇事件确实有了证明照片，美国军队也声称确有此事，因为他们用榴散弹攻打了它近一个半小时，而且很不幸，有6人在这次攻击中死亡。然而，即使如此，这个事件也随着时间的流失而被轻易得忘却了。
1947年，新墨西哥，拉兹威市
或许这该是有记录的最为人所知的遭遇事件之一。
Mac Brazel 说找到了一架有着全体外星人的撞毁了的外星飞碟。那时，当空军拒绝陈述他们第一次的报告，并说Mac Brazel 找到的只是气象气球的一部分时，人们的兴趣被勾了起来。后来，当一家外星飞行器被再次真的找到时，传言开始增多，而且还传说有一个小小的灰色外星人。
拉兹威尔的这个故事版本有很多而且各不相同--当别人看起来似乎在竭力做这些来希望你继续猜下去时，一些质疑就显得很可靠了。有这么一个有趣的说法，科学技术的发展是被设计出来的，并导致了光学纤维被不断地发明，最终，激活了世界宽带的产生。
也许那是真的--谁知道？但如果你退一步回头看看人类自从50世纪早期开始是怎么逐步地在科学技术上飞速发展的，那么，也许这种不可能就显得不那么虚假了。