# What are UFOs if they're NOT alien spacecraft? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 26, 2024, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108 "2024-02-26T17:14:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/261 "2026-06-14T14:59:29Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > This is simply not true.AARO (the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office) have investigated all the so-called UFO debris reports, and none of them are extraterrestrial. They are all hoaxes and mistakes (as far as 'recovered UFO material’s are concerned, they are nearly all hoaxes - smelting slag, car radiator parts - the sort of stuff that can only be the result of deliberate deception). > **[Analysis%20Report%20on%20Metal%20Sample%20from%20Sphere(v5)%20(7)%20(2).pdf](https://web.archive.org/web/20211220050236/https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/Analysis%20Report%20on%20Metal%20Sample%20from%20Sphere(v5)%20(7)%20(2).pdf?token=AWxzyh5PHOL7jb7WuJ050ZV2iT8B64jx0bK7Z6sO9rW96TPBFuvPsNyPy9gmxOigM8yEYWT_BAKIrXMeK6AtLTsF8B6Y-scLlzyZnQKXdLH_7-BcnxSIq692gA1y3IVFpWzTCpxOOSJLGti9wOPb97VzUQ-YVJMWVKaUzhRHN2hJbgtUOBCHvnnyMzEeGSwQdhDgaWwRyn6qQL31YTCIPnrCERqpRr_UuNhiA6tlviG7tw)** > > 984.41 KB It would be nice to have more in depth investigations on subjects like these. Isotopic ratios are discussed on page 25 ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/262 "2026-06-14T16:08:39Z")
Again, I wasn’t asking about the underlying phenomenon, real or false; I was asking about public reporting. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/263 "2026-06-14T16:21:47Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > It would be nice to have more in depth investigations on subjects like these. Isotopic ratios are discussed on page 25 Another fake UFO from Jaime Mausson, who has produced numerous alien bodies and artefacts of dubious origin. > **[Jaime Maussan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Maussan)** > > José Jaime Maussan Flota\[a\] (born 31 May 1953) is a Mexican journalist, television personality, and ufologist. He has promoted claims of supposed alien remains that have turned out to be hoaxes. > Since 1970 he has been a reporter at various newspapers and broadcasting outlets, among them El Sol de México, XEX Radio and with Televisa, he worked at 24 Horas newscast and 60 Minutos. With Televisa he was a correspondent at the United States and a general assignment reporter for the Domingo a Doming... ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/264 "2026-06-14T16:29:37Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > For example, what percentage of reports were deliberate falsehoods, how many were from crackpots or hysterics, how many were sincere but mistaken, etc. Very few. The ‘Nazi spies’ in the US and UK were very few and far between, mostly because anybody with a German connection was interned (including a number of entirely innocent Jews). Despite the stories in Captain America and other Comic Books of the time, there were no signidicant Nazi spy rings active after 1941. > **[Duquesne Spy Ring](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duquesne_Spy_Ring)** > > The Duquesne Spy Ring is the largest espionage case in the United States history that ended in convictions. A total of 33 members of a Nazi German espionage network, headed by Frederick "Fritz" Duquesne, were convicted after a lengthy investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Of those indicted, 19 pleaded guilty. The remaining 14 were brought to jury trial in Federal District Court, Brooklyn, New York, on September 3, 1941; all were found guilty on December 13, 1941. On January ... ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/265 "2026-06-14T16:31:26Z")
Your premise involves “a theory that other intelligent life evolved on this planet other than humans and that this accounts for the phenomena.” Therefore, it must of necessity be able to address some basic questions. When did this non-human life evolve? Does it have ancestors in the known tree of life or it is unrelated to any other species? When did it get intelligence? How long has its technology been eons beyond that of humans? Where do these non-humans dwell? You claim they are from earth yet have never been seen. How do they exist? Do they have corporeal bodies? If so, what do they eat? How do they excrete? How do they reproduce? How do they dress? Are they sensitive to climates? Do they interact with other animals? Do they have houses or other shelters? Why have these never been found? Are they below-ground, on-ground, or in the air, grouped in one spot or scattered around the world? The sightings that are now called UAP seem to call for physical craft with capabilities beyond current engineering and many times beyond current science. How are these built? Where do the raw materials come from? How are they transported? Who does the work? Where are the factories? Where are the craft invisibly stored, maintained, and based? How do the ground non-humans communicate with the crafts or the crafts with one another? Why are they only seen in the air and never lifting off the ground? Why do spy satellites never have images confirmed the aerial sightings? Or, given that every square inch of surface is now covered to meter lengths, why do they not find any trace of any non-humans or non-humans structures anywhere on earth? Why do they not have satellites of their own? Any theory should be able to cover these simple, straightforward questions. They are the first set off my head; others could certainly ask a thousand more. Remember two things while answering. The entire set of questions must be addressed to have any credibility. And “they work in ways humans can never understand” is meaningless noise, equivalent to “God waved his hand and did it.” That is not a “theory” – that is a “belief”, inarguable, unfalsifiable, unworthy of debate. Have a pleasant Sunday. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/266 "2026-06-14T16:31:29Z")
Indeed, the noise-to-reality ratio for something that actually existed was incredibly high. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/267 "2026-06-14T16:34:37Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > It would be nice to have more in depth investigations on subjects like these. Isotopic ratios are discussed on page 25 Yes, it would be nice, but as guys in [reddit noticed](https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1404cjl/why_wait_for_gary_nolan_heres_a_metal_sphere/), the maker of that report has not had his paper peer reviewed, and after knowing that, one has to consider the source: > **[Man says aliens ruined his marriage and his career by giving him 'an implant'](https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/weird-news/man-says-aliens-ruined-marriage-24983074)** > > A man believes that aliens ruined his relationship and his career by abducting him and giving him an implant in his arm, adding that his perspective on life has now changed [Chemist and materials scientist Steve Colbern is a prominent guest on Coast to Coast AM](https://news.iheart.com/featured/coast-to-coast-am/content/2026-01-23-1100-the-best-of-coast-to-coas-episode-88-ufos-alien-implants-with-steve-co/), where he discusses his scientific analysis of alleged alien implants and UFO crash debris. He notably worked alongside the late Dr. Roger Leir, investigating foreign objects removed from individuals who claim to have experienced extraterrestrial contact. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/268 "2026-06-14T17:22:03Z")
I would love to believe _The Truth is out There_… I just think the truth will be inconvenient at worse and probably nothing. Yeah. You do you @Cryptoterestrial have a nice life. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/269 "2026-06-14T19:10:13Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Where do these non-humans dwell? You claim they are from earth yet have never been seen. How do they exist? Do they have corporeal bodies? If so, what do they eat? How do they excrete? How do they reproduce? How do they dress? Are they sensitive to climates? Do they interact with other animals? Do they have houses or other shelters? Why have these never been found? Are they below-ground, on-ground, or in the air, grouped in one spot or scattered around the world? This whole thing reminds me of the lost world and lost races stories from Argosy published a century ago. But not as believable. > [@Cryptoterestrial](#): > > But then the sighting generally ave a certain consistency to them, too. Spheres, cigar-shaped objets and triangles turn up a lot. Cigar-shaped flying objects were observed by many people in the South and Southwest in the 1890s. Charles Fort mentioned lots of them in his books. They were not considered to be aliens. Several people reported close encounters with the pilot, who said he was an inventor from New England who was testing this craft and would announce it soon. We’re still waiting. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/270 "2026-06-14T19:17:56Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > Yes, it would be nice, but as guys in [reddit noticed](https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1404cjl/why_wait_for_gary_nolan_heres_a_metal_sphere/), the maker of that report has not had his paper peer reviewed, and after knowing that, one has to consider the source: It should be peer reviewed to check for fraud. It would be nice if things like this were peer reviewed by mainstream scientists. Having a peer review investigation that attempts to prove or disprove all the claims made in the paper would be nice. My point is that it would be nice if there was more thorough and mainstream reviews into implants. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/271 "2026-06-14T19:29:58Z")
My advice for anyone who thinks they have an alien implant inside them? When you go to the doctors do NOT tell them you have an alien implant. Complain instead of symptoms that match cancer so they’ll do imaging and/or exploratory surgery. Play dumb and insist you have no idea how it got there, you’ve never had surgery; if they press, tell them you had this “really weird nightmare”. See for example the 2005 Syfy movie “Chupacabra: Dark Seas”. When a cruise ship had a ravening monster aboard, the captain didn’t radio for help saying that there was a monster onboard– he said there were terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/272 "2026-06-14T22:40:42Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > It should be peer reviewed to check for fraud. It would be nice if things like this were peer reviewed by mainstream scientists. Having a peer review investigation that attempts to prove or disprove all the claims made in the paper would be nice. > > My point is that it would be nice if there was more thorough and mainstream reviews into implants. Peer review does not involve checking for fraud, unless the presented results seem clearly spurious or do not follow from the reported work. Peer review for the implant paper might require that the composition of the supposed implants be reported. It would not necessarily catch a skillful fraud. After publication (if it happened) someone trying to replicate the results could ask for a sample, and then fraud would be detected. Reviewers don’t get paid, (or at least I never have) so there is only a certain amount they can do to screen papers. Peer review is just a first level quality check, and I’ve seen a real doozy get through it and into a top ranked journal. It got retracted immediately - the author was wrong, not a fraud. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/273 "2026-06-14T23:00:57Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Peer review does not involve checking for fraud, unless the presented results seem clearly spurious or do not follow from the reported work. I guess a better way to phrase it is that the original sample should be available to other researchers, as well as all the data they originally gathered along with methodology. The info should be peer reviewed before being published, then other scientists should have access to the sample to see if they can replicate the data. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/274 "2026-06-15T08:37:30Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Cigar-shaped flying objects were observed by many people in the South and Southwest in the 1890s I saw a ‘cigar-shaped object’ myself, after somebody reported it to me over the telephone as a UFO. I went outside and saw it too. Luckily I knew what it was; a close conjunction of Mars and Jupiter in the sky, close enough to look like a single object with lights at each end. There are only a few times when I’ve been able to explain a UFO in real time, and this is probably the best one; if the witness had not contacted me, they would probably still think they had seen a floating cigar in the sky. Another stimulus that sometimes causes cigar-shaped UFO reports is a disintegrating meteor - a large meteor might split up into two or several sub-meteors, which fly along in tandem and may be identified as a wingless fuselage, occasionally with windows. [![](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397534919/figure/fig3/AS:11431281724551788@1762967041563/Optical-frames-showing-mass-loss-fragmentation-phases-of-the-meteor-M20221224-183010-The.png) ](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/397534919/figure/fig3/AS:11431281724551788@1762967041563/Optical-frames-showing-mass-loss-fragmentation-phases-of-the-meteor-M20221224-183010-The.png) ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/275 "2026-06-15T08:43:25Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I guess a better way to phrase it is that the original sample should be available to other researchers, as well as all the data they originally gathered along with methodology. Maussan is a journalist, and never releases his material for proper scientific analysis. His ‘aliens’ are a joke. [![](https://images.lbc.co.uk/images/603996?crop=16_9&width=660&relax=1&format=webp&signature=icD3UXexLfETSAc0rK1hJvG-VNw=) ](https://images.lbc.co.uk/images/603996?crop=16_9&width=660&relax=1&format=webp&signature=icD3UXexLfETSAc0rK1hJvG-VNw=) ---
**Author:** ![Cryptoterestrial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Cryptoterestrial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptoterestrial)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/276 "2026-06-15T22:51:19Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > As others mentioned (even the ones you mention as being “good” researchers) the phenomenon might as well point to altered mind effects, psychological religious states, etc. yes, the phenomena likely does have to do with ASC (altered state of consciousness). what induces the ASC, though? what (or who) induces it? what would induce a person to just sort of hallucinate high strangeness like that? it has to do have a cause. ---
**Author:** ![Cryptoterestrial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Cryptoterestrial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptoterestrial)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/277 "2026-06-15T22:52:28Z")
> [@eburacum45](#): > > I saw a ‘cigar-shaped object’ myself, after somebody reported it to me over the telephone as a UFO. I went outside and saw it too. Luckily I knew what it was; a close conjunction of Mars and Jupiter in the sky, close enough to look like a single object with lights at each end. cigar-shaped UFOs have appeared in the daytime, too. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2026, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/278 "2026-06-15T23:31:27Z")
Now that it is Monday, I ask you to give us the best evidence you’ve got for the existence of these creatures and/or the vehicles they (for want of better terminology) “pilot”, as you have already told us such evidence exists. ---
**Author:** ![Cryptoterestrial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Cryptoterestrial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cryptoterestrial)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/279 "2026-06-16T00:21:00Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Your premise involves “a theory that other intelligent life evolved on this planet other than humans and that this accounts for the phenomena.” Therefore, it must of necessity be able to address some basic questions. I don’t regard cryptoerrestrials as the _only_ explanation or even the best one. With that said, I don’t think that any mundane explanation can account for the phenomena. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > \ > > When did this non-human life evolve? Does it have ancestors in the known tree of life or it is unrelated to any other species? When did it get intelligence? How long has its technology been eons beyond that of humans? How could I possibly know the answer to these questions? With that said, they don’t seem to have much in common with us, though they appear to want to pretend that they do, at times. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Where do these non-humans dwell? You claim they are from earth yet have never been see How do they exist? Do they have corporeal bodies? If so, what do they eat? How do they excrete? How do they reproduce? How do they dress? Are they sensitive to climates? Do they interact with other animals? Do they have houses or other shelters? Why have these never been found? Are they below-ground, on-ground, or in the air, grouped in one spot or scattered around the world? I suspect that they don’t have bodies like we do. They have, say, nano-swarms or similar. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The sightings that are now called UAP seem to call for physical craft with capabilities beyond current engineering and many times beyond current science. How are these built? Where do the raw materials come from? How are they transported? Who does the work? Where are the factories? Where are the craft invisibly stored, maintained, and based? How do the ground non-humans communicate with the crafts or the crafts with one another? Why are they only seen in the air and never lifting off the ground? Why do spy satellites never have images confirmed the aerial sightings? Or, given that every square inch of surface is now covered to meter lengths, why do they not find any trace of any non-humans or non-humans structures anywhere on earth? Why do they not have satellites of their own? If they have several thousands years’ jump on humans, I imagine that they can assemble “spaceships” out of atoms. Not, I stress, so that they can use them but so that humans can see them and so that the “ships” can crash and humans can retrieve them. with that said, circumstantial evidence does suggest that they have satellites orbiting Earth. I will post about that. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Any theory should be able to cover these simple, straightforward questions. Going back to my Darwin analogy, did Darwin know about DNA? Nope, he didn’t know about DNA or mutations or about this invisible force called “radiation” which causes mutations, let alone that such a thing as a “genome” existed or that humans could sequence it. He didn’t have any real idea of how humans evolved, any of that… Do you understand my analogy? We don’t even have the ufologist version of Darwin yet (as far as I know), let alone the ufologist equivalent to Watson and Crick. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2026, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108/280 "2026-06-16T00:23:24Z")
Do you have any actual evidence to back _any_ of this up? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-ufos-if-theyre-not-alien-spacecraft/998108.md?page=15)