What happened to the UFO?

Sceptics, Films and the Internet: 
The decline in the UFO (And other weird things)

What’s happened to the paranormal? With fewer reports of alien activity on Earth, the decline in UFO sightings and a general lack of strange in society, Matthew James looks at whether films and TV Sci-Fi play a part in reported UFO sightings and so called alien activity. He also investigates how technology has played a role in the declining of the paranormal, and looks at the future of the unknown.
The flying saucer was once a symbolic and popular type of the UFO. It has been portrayed in many films as the means of transportation for an alien life that have far better advanced technologies than us mere Earthlings. Like giant Frisbees with noise reduced engines, these aircrafts have also been the source of much controversy in the big debate on life in the cosmos, as some believe these spacecraft are the evidence in proving that there is in fact life out there in our gigantic universe. However, if aliens were visiting our planet in these vessels from outer space, why would they not make it known to us? And why are most of the photographs of these alien transportation machines usually blurred, and in most cases low quality. Like much paranormal activity and the unknown such as the living dead, also known as ghosts, the evidence of real, alien driven UFO’s is pretty weak. An example of poor evidence to prove to the masses that there are real-life paranormal happenings can be seen with TV shows such as ‘Most Haunted’ which has been creeping on up on our TV Screens for years. It started in 2002 and thankfully, apart from ‘specials and reruns, it left the airwaves in 2010. Considering the title and the amount of footage the programme produced - which was often shot in some of the scariest mansions, pubs and village houses in the country, it would seem plausible for at least one episode to show its viewers a ghost – if they existed in the first place. 
Although there was a  lack in ghost footage, ‘Most Haunted’ did do a good job in reporting the paranormal. It showed us that ghosts are not real, and despite Derek Acorah’s insane antics and best efforts to prove to us that there was in fact a spirit in the room as he cried out:   “I can feel him inside me, the spirit is entering me,” none of the episodes actually showed us any kind of ghostly spirit. Not even once. That may be the reason that the programme got cancelled. Yes, sure they showed us ‘orbs’, as brave faced presenter, Yvette Fielding would often tell us are the “particles of the ghost coming through to our dimension”, when in fact there were most likely pieces of dust falling from the ceiling, or a few flies in the same room reflecting a little light. While this was happening, producer Steve Davies was probably sat on a stool knocking on a door off camera view while responding to Yvette’s request: “If there’s anyone there, please knock,” which would often be a phrase used in their non-scientific proof of the existence of a haunting afterlife.  

With the decline of the ghost and many other forms of the unknown comes a decrease in reported UFO sightings. The Association of the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (Assap) has reported this huge decline in sightings. They have said that cases have dropped by a massive 96 percent from the late 1980’s onwards; and from hundreds of sighting in the 1990’s, there are now just double figure reports of UFO activity in the UK of about 30 sightings per year.  There are probably many factors in the reasons why the number of sightings have slumped. The obvious one being that they were not real in the first place. Other factors could be the Internet: Yes, the Internet which is also responsible for many other things, a decline in the high-street, rubbish music like ‘Gangnam Style’ and in the future, the will probably be the cause in the ending of mankind and civilization, so why not hold it accountable for declining UFO’s too? As Liam Simpson, a member of the global sceptic society states:  “People are now using the Internet to share everything. If someone did see a UFO and shared a picture of it on Facebook or Twitter, it probably wouldn’t be long until one of their friends or followers close by would actually check out the skies to see whether there was actually a UFO in view to wherever this person may be.

“For that reason, people don’t bother saying they’ve seen a UFO, because the chances are they haven’t and they’ll be caught out if they make it up”.

David Wood, the chairman of Assap said: “It’s certainly possible that in ten years’ time, it [the UFO] will be a dead subject”.  Although the future of the UFO may seem bleak, its history is rich in alien activity, human abductions, conspiracies and cover ups.

The origins of the term UFO go back to the 1950’s. It was made up by the US air force to replace the titles of previous popular descriptions of unusual aircraft such as ‘flying saucer’, or ‘flying disc’. Early recorded sightings of weird objects in the sky go back as early as 400BC. These were most likely comets or lenticular clouds rather than anything supernatural, although it has been reported that many believed these unusual objects to be angels or a sign from God. In the days that the photograph was not possible it is difficult to address what was actually seen in these cases. However, Chris Worlfolk, the leader of the 'sceptics in the pub' group in Leeds, West Yorkshire said: “The UFO has never existed. They’re either innocent mistakes; confusing nature for the unknown or purposely made up hoaxes. I’ve investigated deeply into this area and looked at a hundreds of cases dating far, far back and never found any substantial evidence that shows us that there has ever been a space ship on our planet.”  

The group hold many meetings to discuss pressing matters in the media and address issues that may be cropping up in society such as alternative medicines and global warming. The subjects vary from month to month; however, the UFO has always been big on the agenda of any sceptic club.

We meet at the Victoria Hotel, near the city centre on a cold, snowy January day. The meeting on this occasion is about the social impact of stereotypes presented quite literally as a lecture in the pub. Upon arrival I entered the venue only to see an empty bar. Before dismissing that the event had be cancelled due to poor weather conditions, I decided to walk into the next room past the bar and a grand staircase where I saw a sign printed on A4 paper securely taped to a door that said ‘sceptics meeting’. I wasn’t sure how many people were going to be there. There was no noise coming from the room with the closed door, but as I entered, the room was packed. It was a full house. I looked around for Worfolk. Having only been in touch through email, I had to guess which guy he was. I saw a man with long black hair, wearing a faded blue Evanescence jumper, with the band’s name looking washed out. He was also wearing jeans, the non-fashionable sort. This man started approaching me and reached out his hand for a shake. “Matthew?” he said. It was him. He explained that the talk was about to start and we can chat afterwards. 
I felt at home sitting through a lecture in a pub. This could be the future of education; having a pint and listening to someone presenting their power point. It could be on any subject, it wouldn’t matter. It was warm, there was beer and the people seemed mostly friendly even though clearly the sceptical sort as I discovered during the Q and A session which lasted almost as long as the lecture itself.  Today it was a talk by Harriet Rosenthal of Durham University in which she explained why stereotypes are so dangerous, and she also told us that not all French people eat snails and wear funny clothes, while adding that some plumbers can in fact be female.  Afterwards, I finally got the chance to meet Worfolk.

During our discussion, it was evident that Worfolk was not just mildly sceptical while he dismissed anything to do with the unknown as nonsense. He claims there are several reasons why UFO numbers have dropped so much. “I don’t think anyone really believes in UFO’s anymore. In the past, people didn't know to a full extent of what the military was doing with cases such as Area 51 and Roswell and you didn't know the full extent of how films can be faked,” he said.  “Now we all live in a world in which we’re brought up with films like the ‘Blair Witch Project’ and the first thing we think when we see something unbelievable is ‘this is probably Photo shopped’”. 

Like Simpson, Worfolk also believes that our online culture plays a vital part in why reported sightings are not taken as seriously: “I think one of the big differences now is that everyone can go on the Internet and look things up on Wikipedia and go and look at all the Photoshops’ and its editing capabilities, and if they want to find out about any topic, it’s just a click away.  People are not as much in the dark as they used to be and people are just more exposed to seeing nonsense as well. I mean, the one thing the Internet did was it gave everyone a voice,” he explains.  “Suddenly people have realised that a lot of people speak a lot of nonsense, so we’re actually used to seeing crackpot theories about things like nine eleven and UFO’s, and nobody is actually that surprised to see that many theories and nobody actually takes it in, but if someone was talking like that say fifty years ago, it could be acceptable to think that the person may know what they are talking about, but now it’s clear that everyone on the Internet is touting this nonsense.”

Worfolk believes that there is other evidence that illustrates the fake-ness of any alien space ships: “Science fiction definitely increases sightings of UFO’s. If you look at what is being reported, they’re all the same – a saucer shaped ship – why would that be? - Why would all aliens build the exactly the same ships that happen to be far more human looking. It’s far more likely that people are projecting what they think it would look like onto what they think they’re seeing”.

Sci-fi and popular fiction have certainly played a role in many cases of the paranormal. Simpson explains that this is not just limited to film and television either and is formed from the same principle that comes from feeling scared at night while being entertained by something of the Horror genre. “If you were to play ‘Dead Space’ late at night and in the dark while on your own, then the chances are a shadow from a tree outside, or a lamp post, or noises from the central heating, or even the cars outside could cause a damaging emotional response. The imagination would go into overdrive and you would be left with a feeling of being watched, scared and concerned. This is similar to why Sci-Fi has made people think they have seen some alien craft. They are on an imagination over drive and that causes fear in the mind and makes us see things that are not really there.”  

This theory of over imaginative viewers demonstrates why there is often a massive rise in reported UFO sightings when Sci-Fi is big in the mainstream and how the influence of fiction is an important factor in most mysterious happenings.

“This could be a case for Mulder and Scully” were the words once sung by Welsh band Catatonia back in 1995 when they had a hit single with ‘road rage’. In the same year as the song, UFO sightings were up, as were the ratings of the ‘X-Files’ which was being shown on the BBC.  Some of the programmes on screen paranormal antics involved all kinds of UFO, alien and sometimes completely insane goings on.

Agent Mulder, played by David Duchovny was quite the sceptic and always wanted to believe there was a logical explanation for the bizarre occurrences that took place in most episodes, whereas Scully (Gillian Anderson) always seemed to believe that the weirdest explanations were the most rational. This usually proved to be the case, and Mulder was left in a state of disbelief before moving onto the next case in another episode that practically repeated the previous.  

‘The truth is out there’ was a phrase associated with the popular US show. This could lead the curiously minded to ask questions about such a bold statement such as; what is the truth? And just where is out there: Are you talking about a particular location? These questions could be raised by sceptics of UFO phenomena around the world, or perhaps even by viewers that like to look a little further than the material presented to them. However, it seems that for some viewers of the ‘X-Files’ asking questions about the truth was pointless, and it was far more interesting for them to make up their own weird incidents. The ‘X-Files’ was such a crazy show that it was responsible for an increase in the supernatural by giving  rise to the global imagination rate and encouraged viewers and fans to create fake photographs of not- so- normal looking aircraft.  If this kind of effect was common amongst the likes of ‘CSI’ then perhaps the world would be in even more trouble than it already is. Murder rate would certainly be up and if ‘House’ had any impact on society as the likes of some science fiction then the world would be surrounded by smart arses waving sticks in each other’s faces just as Hugh Laurie does so well in his portrayal of Doctor House.   

Thankfully though, this effect has not been seen by said programmes and is more limited to UFO sightings and in this instance will be referred to as the Sci-Fi effect.  According to researchers and the MoD, this Sci-Fi effect had caused an increase in reported UFO sightings in London, UK by a massive 492 in 1995, the year that the ‘X-Files’ peaked on British TV. Perhaps the reason that the programme had more of an impact on the sightings of strange aircraft than other fictional television such as ‘Doctor Who’ which made a return to TV in 2005, is because, despite its popularity, ‘Doctor Who’ is more wackily insane and as child friendly as most of the CBBC line-up and is closer to children for one year olds such as ‘In the Night Garden’ than anything that could be deemed as being realistic. The ‘X-Files’ on the other hand was made for adults and had a much darker feel about it. Therefore, nobody has ever reported Dalek looking aliens, being abducted by Cybermen, or police box UFO’s.  Yet, grey colored,  tall aliens with large shiny black eyes are often reported as being the group responsible for much of the alien activity on Earth. These sort of aliens also existed in a pre ‘X-Files’ era.

Running off the success of the ‘X- Files’ was a magazine that reported the weird and intriguing world of the paranormal: The X Factor. It covered a vast range of content with over 90 issues across 8 volumes.  Some of the stories seemed to be of the peculiar kind. For example, issue 4 ran a story of penis snatching witchdoctors in Nigeria. As amusing or scary (certainly to the male gender) as it may sound, this was reported as actual news. If there is such a thing as witchdoctors, the chances of them stealing penises by chanting would be rather slim. There were however some stories though that did seem a little more realistic, or for the sceptical, a little easier to digest. These included the fake moon landings theories all backed up with evidence for and against the landings not really taking place.

The magazine was aimed at mass media audiences and proved that Sci-Fi on TV can influence the topics of the zeitgeist. Its release was marketed on television and the magazine was available in most high street newsagents.  

The X-Factor magazine also proved that the investigation of UFO and alien activity usually leads back to two major events. These are the famous Roswell and Area 51 conspiracies. These subjects were covered in many editions and are always hot topics in conversations on UFO’s.  Another subject that surrounded Roswell was the ‘Alien Autopsy’ footage. This film at first glance appeared to be actual proof of alien life on Earth. It was televised on the US network, Fox in 1995, a moment in history that could have been titled “the year of the alien”. It was aired with the belief that it was in fact an actual alien autopsy. The footage looked grainy and was black and white and it appeared that an actual dead alien was being sliced up in front of a camera. It was also reported that the film dated back to the time of the Roswell incident and Kodak had verified the date of the film. However, Kodak denied any involvement and claimed to have never received any film sample. To add to the realism, the footage also showed some alien like items that were said to have been found at the site with the dead alien. These included alien hand-prints that were cast in metal with two arched strips at the top of each hand. This hand certainly didn’t appear to be of the human sort, but it would have been quite simple to make from a moulded cast.  The ‘Alien Autopsy’ footage really did look like the real deal. It caused quite a debate in the press and the public, and people actually started to believe that this was the hard hitting evidence to prove that the Roswell incident really did occur. It was also reported by Fox to have been the alien that was captured as part of the scene at Roswell where a UFO had reportedly crash landed and parts of the aircraft was found by local man William Brazel in July 1947. After years of conspiracy theories that surrounded the Roswell incident, it seems that the strange craft that landed was in fact a weather balloon and there was nothing extra-terrestrial about it after all and this was also the case of the video: It became clear that there was in fact nothing unearthly about it, it turned out that the alien was made up by John Humphreys, a model maker and sculptor from Manchester, UK . He told the BBC in 2006 that “…then you make an aluminium armature, which you then cover in clay, and then add all the detail. That’s it in simple terms, but it involves some complex 3-D thinking."  The footage was produced by British musician and film maker Ray Santilli. Although the Roswell film never really had any major influence in increasing the number of UFO sightings, it remains clear that it did become a major talking point and its realistic effects led even the most sceptical to question its authenticity. The first broadcast reached 10 million viewers. Philip Mantle was a UFOlogist at the time of the video being shown on TV, and told the X-Factor: “We’ve got surgeons saying the creature in the film is flesh and blood.  We’ve got military personnel who recognize the alien as the same thing they saw in 1947”. Luckily other alien and UFO sceptics looked closer at the matter, otherwise Earthlings across the world could have been spoon fed the false truth of alien existence through the autopsy video. 

Anything that points to Area 51 as being a site of captured aliens and a center that houses their technology can also be dismissed. Despite being classed as a restricted area and the US government not showing any form of acknowledgement to the base until 1995, and aside from the fact that it doesn’t appear on maps, the site has been reported as being a test base for the military and their newest aviation technology, and therefore not quite the top secret alien test center made out to be in many popular Sci-Fi features.

According to Movie News, other films that pushed UFO sightings upwards include the likes of Spielberg’s ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’. The film was released in 1977 and reissued in 1980 as a ‘special edition’ to cash in on its success. The space crafts in the film looked very much like the typical saucer shaped flying machines that have been reported on many occasions and were often described in sightings following on from the film.  David Clarke is a UFO expert and adviser to the MoD. He believes that films are one of the biggest influences in reported sightings. He also suggests that even Will Smith and the ridiculous blockbuster ‘Independence Day” was solely responsible for another UFO peak in 1996 following on from the ‘X-Files’: “Popular culture informs what we see in the sky and then how we interpret it,” he explains. “We’ve grown up with science fiction movies like ‘Independence Day’, and no one can divorce themselves from it. Not that people were seeing that one movie, and then going out to look for UFOs - It simply raised their awareness, and they became more likely to report things”.

In fact, ‘Independence Day’ raised such considerable awareness of the UFO nationwide that it also caused quite a rise in the reporting of UFOs within the press. National papers started running campaigns of sightings and people forwarded pictures that had been taken decades before the film’s release. In the UFO world, this became known as the ‘Will Smith’ effect. What is most surprising about this title being such a influence in the culture of UFO’s is that the movie was really a big scale ‘blow things up’ action with scenes that were clearly green screen, poorly acted, and extremely predictable; a film that required no attention whatsoever and was painstakingly mind numbing at the same time. If that’s all it took to dramatically increase the amount of sightings of the UFO in the UK, then we can only hope that some much needed changes to the education system have now taken place.

Another film that played a part in increasing reported alien incidents was the 1993 Martian abduction movie ‘Fire in the Sky’. The story was based around ‘actual events’ which were published in the book The Walton Experience, which tells the story of an actual alien kidnapping and is written by former logger Travis Walton in 1978, just 3 years after the horrific ‘events’ took place.  The film should be credited for some of the space ship footage, as these scenes actually looked as though they could have been shot in some sort of craft from another planet, unlike the big budget film set appearance that is so often generated in the likes of ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek.’  It also had a horror feel about it with many scenes of suspense, particularly in the flashback scene in which the aliens decided to operate on Walton – the needle in eyeball makes for some unpleasant viewing. Interestingly, more recently in 2010 when taking a polygraph on US TV show ‘The Moment of Truth’, Walton was asked whether or not in 1975 he was abducted by a UFO. He replied “yes”. The polygraph concluded that the answer was deceptive. Walton’s response was that: “the polygraph is only 97 per cent accurate not 100”.

Whatever the case may be with Walton and his tales of abduction, the sceptics once again believe that there are more logical explanations to being taken on board a space craft and operated on. Many of these reported incidents include a similar set of events: The victim is usually asleep and then a light appears or a figure enters the room. Then they are somehow transported to the ship and suffer from some kind of alien probing and then hours later, they find themselves back in bed feeling the need for counselling and probably feeling slightly ashamed depending on what happened during their abduction.  One of the most rational and probably most logical explanations that can explain this particular set of events and the feeling of floating is sleep paralysis. A Google search on the subject offers a vast range of crazy ideas, from astral projection in which the soul leaves the body, to visiting angels and of course, alien abduction.

Entertainment manager, Daniel Pope regularly suffers from sleep paralysis and can understand how the condition can be confused with the mystical. “The first time it happened, I was afraid, I was confused and I couldn't understand what was going on.

“It felt as though I had left my body and was floating, while at the same time I could sense some kind of evil spirit. I understand that it sounds a little barmy, but that’s the only way to describe it,” he said. “After visiting the doctor and looking online, I came to the realization that it’s a perfectly normal experience and it’s probably brought on by a messed up sleeping pattern because of the split shift patterns at work,” he explains. “So, anyone thinking that they’re getting visited by little green men while trying to sleep at night and not being able to move and experiencing a tingling sensation can rest assured that they are experiencing a natural human occurrence”.

Interestingly, our extreme sceptic, Worfolk does not dismiss the idea of alien life itself, but does believe that alien abductions are simply made up; “I believe that there is intelligent life out there somewhere, but I don’t think it’s ever been to this planet given the challenges in covering such distance and if they have, why would they just fly around into the hills, abduct a farmer and then put him back six hours later.”

In more recent times Sci-Fi has played less of a role in UFO sightings. This is most likely because technology has got better alongside our methods to communicate.

Graphic designer Stuart Mapplebeck is responsible for the making of many CD covers for bassline and house DJs’. One of his covers shows a landscape of the Yorkshire hills with what looks like a UFO in the sky. It looks the sort of image that could be put forward as a reported UFO sighting. He said “It’s so easy for people to fake a UFO on any image; be a family picture at a theme park, a picturesque landscape, or the skyline at night. With software that’s getting more powerful and easier to use, it’s the sort of thing that can now be done without training and can probably be achieved on a tablet like the iPad with a simple press and swipe on the screen.

“Only a few years ago, this sort of photo editing was reserved for the elite but now it’s open to everybody. That may be why loads of UFO pictures have declined, because even though more people can easily make these pictures, most people are also now aware that editing images can be so easily achieved, so it’s more difficult to believe the picture is real”. After meeting with Mapplebeck I decided to make a UFO picture to discover just how simple it can be. It only took about 5 minutes. I used a picture taken from a family christening and it clearly demonstrates the simplicity and speed in using computer software. It became clear why people find it hard to believe these pictures are real. In the past, to fake a photograph with a UFO it would have taken a huge amount of effort, whereas today, it really is a couple of clicks.

Simpson also agrees that technology is also responsible for a decline in the UFO. “These days, most people take photographs with their smartphones. This means that it is more difficult to use excuses when a UFO picture is out of focus. Most smartphone cameras offer auto focus and touch-up software features that enhance the image and can even bring it back into focus. If you look back at most of the UFO pictures of the 1980s and the 1990s, they were low quality, blurred and never clearly showed the UFO,” he said. “Also, if they did show a UFO, it looked that unrealistic, it was almost laughable to suggest that it was a spaceship from another planet”.  

On YouTube there are many UFO videos. Some of the clips are montages of news networks reporting on sighting over the years, while others appear to be home made.  There is just one slight problem though. Most of the footage looks rubbish. Its poor quality and most of the videos simply appear to be lights in the sky and not very alien like at all. In fact, many of these online UFO videos look as though one person has a torch and is pointing it upwards in the dark at night while their friend holds the camera. Some of them also seem to be footage of birds that are obviously flying in the sky. Despite the problems that come with much of YouTube and home video content such as shaky footage and poor audio, this is the one area that shows us that the UFO is still going relatively strong without a Sci-Fi influence. Many of the videos have high view counts – some over 12 million and there is always the comments section for instant debate. Despite the sceptics claiming that the Internet has killed the UFO, it also seems that the Internet is also their new home, for now anyway. 

The question that remains to be answered is whether up and coming Sci-Fi will see a re-occurrence of the Sci-Fi effect, or have we all become intelligent enough to differentiate between film and real life?

Simpson feels that we have learnt from our previous mistakes: “No matter what films come out at the cinema now, people are not stupid anymore. We’re not going to see thousands of people come away from ‘Star Trek: Into Darkness’ that suddenly start seeing aliens and UFO’s, because the influence of fiction in film has now gone,” he explains. “If the new ‘Star Trek’ happened to be the first ever Sci-Fi movie showing its audience their first ever encounter of the idea that there are aliens in the universe and there are transportation machines that can go from planet to planet, then the case may be different, but nowadays, it’s something that we’ve all seen before.”

It looks like the UFO may be fading away. We may have just learnt enough to realise that if there are aliens coming to the planet, they would have probably somehow managed to formally say hello by now. They may have even acted like our friends and then eaten us like in the original series of ‘V’, or perhaps it should be considered that the only life out there in the universe consists of tiny microorganisms that are struggling to survive the overheated conditions on some sizzling rocky terrain. The fact is, we’ll never really have the answer to whether there have been aliens on Earth and if they are flying round in saucers, and whether they make pointless circles in fields and taking a select few of us for probing. The evidence and the sceptics tell us that there is in fact very little hard scientific proof that the aliens have landed but it’s also important to address that if we lived in a world without fiction then this debate probably would not even be relevant.

In the future, unless the aliens make a public announcement or blow up the white house or invite us on board to join them for lunch, it would seem plausible for any one that talks of UFO’s as real, actual things will be seen as a mental person. But as Wood told the Telegraph in 2012, “The danger is that we throw out the baby with the bathwater. And as I used to say to the MoD, the believers only have to be right once”.

Matthew James