(Possible) UFO sightings : Leaders, Explorers, Politicians, and Celebrities

As the Easter break winds down, and those of us in the southern hemisphere turn our thoughts towards cooler temperatures, and shorter days, the impending darkness of winter draws us back indoors, away from camping trips and spooky fireside chats. Conversely, those of you in the northern hemisphere have just the opposite - the glories of summer. I would like to imagine there are more sightings of UFOs in the summer months when more people are likely to be outside, but I've not analysed the data in any serious fashion.

Oftentimes, when a normal civilian reports a UFO sighting, every other option will be considered first, as if their testimony is somehow flawed. Of prominence in recent years gone by has been the testimony of professionals including military servicemen, and pilots. What I'm going to be looking at here are the sighting of various individuals who have varying degrees degrees of fame, or renown. Ultimately, whether their tales can be taken seriously depends on varying criteria - I will attempt to simply present the evidence as it exists, and allow you, the reader to make your own judgement. No doubt plenty of these cases exist in various threads on ATS already. I am simply trying to tie a number of them into an accessible thread, to view through the lens prescribed in the thread title

Explorers and Leaders

Firstly we will look at the apparent historical account of Alexander the Great. The veracity of this case is difficult to state, as I've been unable to find a reference for this sighting. This website gives a little detail of the case, and is worth reading :

ufoevidence.org...

329 BC: Alexander the Great records two great 'flying shields'

Alexander the Great records two great silver shields, spitting fire around the rims in the sky that dived repeatedly at his army as they were attempting a river crossing. The action so panicked his elephants, horses, and men they had to abandon the river crossing until the following day.

There is a record of an anomalous sighting of light during the voyage of Christopher Columbus from which he bumped into what we call today call the Americas.



According to Wikipedia:

en.wikipedia.org...

1492 light sighting

The 1492 light sighting was a sighting of unknown light during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus on October 11, 1492, by some crew members of Santa Maria, Pinta and possibly Niña[1] shortly before the landing on Guanahani. The light was reported in Columbus' journal, Ferdinand Columbus' Vita del Ammiraglio (The Life of the Admiral), the proceedings of the Pleitos Colombinos (the long lawsuit involving the heirs of Columbus) and some other sources.[1] Columbus described the light as "a small wax candle that rose and lifted up, which to few seemed to be an indication of land".[2] He received the royal reward for the sighting.[3] His son Ferdinand also characterized it as a candle, that went up and down.[4]

Politicians

Although it may be fading from public view these days, back in the 1970s, a certain peanut farmer from Georgia, who went on to become President of the United States discussed his own UFO sighting.

From UFO evidence :

www.ufoevidence.org...

Jimmy Carter’s UFO Close Encounter. Jan. 22 —

It was just another fun night at the Lion’s Club for Jimmy Carter — when suddenly from the sky a UFO “as bright as the moon” flashed before his eyes. While leaving a Lion's Club in Leary, Ga., then-Gov. Jimmy Carter noticed an object in the sky. A red and green glowing orb radiated as it hurtled across the southwestern Georgia skies that January 1969 evening. Ten minutes later, it vanished. That was Jimmy Carter’s story — and he’s sticking to it. Carter, then Georgia’s governor, became the first major politician to risk achieving “crackpot” status by claiming he had had a close encounter.

Certainly an interesting encounter, but this somewhat poor quality YouTube video appears to give conflicting words, from the mouth of the ex-President.



Perhaps of equal interest to the Jimmy Carter sighting, maybe even more interesting is the public admittance of Fife Symington, the ex-Governor of Arizono, to witnessing that amazing 1997 event, 'The Phoenix Lights'. No less a news source than CNN has reported upon this:

edition.cnn.com...

Perhaps even more surprising is the public confession of Symington which can be seen here. Symington has the honour of being one of the few to be in noth the UFO Hall of fame, as well as the Hall of Shame:

www.ufowatchdog.com...



Of interest is the fact that Symington's cousin Stuart Symington was the Air Force Secretary during the time of James Forrestal, a name no doubt some Ufologists will find familiar

www.unknowncountry.com...

Celebrities

It's common to dismiss UFO witnesses as kooks or crazies, but do our ears perk up when someone famous claims to have witnessed a UFO? How about William Shatner, of Star Trek fame? Would one be more inclined to believe him? Perhaps it's worth pausing and reading this little tidbit that can be found here :

freakinfacts.com...

William Shatner Admitted Decades Later That His 1969 UFO Sighting Was A Lie
Posted on August 25, 2013 by Freakin' Facts

William Shatner admitted that his widely-reported 1969 encounter with a UFO was a hoax. In a video on Shatner’s YouTube channel, he was asked, “Is it true that you reported seeing a UFO in the Mojave Desert in 1969?” Shatner responded, “That’s true. I lied.”

Another famous celebrity claiming not only to have seen the wreckage of a UFO (apparently told to him by no other than Richard Nixon), but to have also seen dead aliens, and tying in with the whole Roswell mythology is Jackie Gleason.

Dealt with appropriately by Skeptoid here :

skeptoid.com...

Richard Nixon, Jackie Gleason and Some Dead Aliens

Nixon and Gleason drove through the night and arrived at Homestead Air Force Base, 35 miles southwest of Miami. After entering the base, Nixon drove to a heavily-guarded building at the far end of the compound. They walked into the facility and what happened next was so shocking that only Gleason’s words can do it justice:

There were a number of labs we passed through first before we entered a section where Nixon pointed out what he said was the wreckage from a flying saucer, enclosed in several large cases. Next, we went into an inner chamber and there were six or eight of what looked like glass-topped Coke freezers. Inside them were the mangled remains of what I took to be children.

continued

Celebrities continued

Of course many would be familiar with John Lennon, and his supposed witnessing of a UFO in New York



www.ufoevidence.org...

John Lennon's UFOSummary:

On August 23rd, 1974 John Lennon walked out on to the balcony of his New York apartment, and witnessed what he later described as a "Flying Saucer" hovering closely, just above his window. This article includes an interview with Lennon's assistant/girlfriend May Pang, who also witnessed the event, which completely describes the encounter.

"It looked like a flattened cone with a brilliant light on top." -May Pang, assistant to John Lennon, describing the object they allegedly saw from Lennon's balcony in NY City.

Drawing by John Lennon of what he allegedly saw;



Another rock star who claimed anomalous contact was none other than Jimi Hendrix. I believe this tale may have been referenced on ATS before, and it is fascinating.



ufologie.patrickgross.org...

JANUARY 1965, WOODSTOCK, NEW YORK, USA, JIMI HENDRIX, CURTIS KNIGHT

Curtis McNear (1945 - 1999) aka "Curtis Knight" was a New York musician, composer and frontline man of the band Curtis Knight and the Squires. world famous guitarist Jimi Hendrix had been playing the guitar in the band before his fame days. After Hendrix obtained fame with his own band, and after his death, Knight claimed Hendrix was a very special man who had been in contact with UFOs.

Knight reportedly narrated in his 1992 book "Jimi Hendrix: Starchild", that on a cold winter night near Woodstock, New York, USA, in 1965, at 4 a.m. as the band was trying to make it back to Manhattan through a freezing blizzard, the wind was whipping the snow around their van so fiercely that they missed the turn-off leading to the state highway in the direction home.

Stuck in a drift that reached the hood of their van, the men were freezing when suddenly the road in front of them lit up, as a bright phosphorescent object cone-shaped, "like a space capsule" landed in the snow about 100 feet up ahead on a tripod landing gear.:

FBI files on Hendrix:


The final case I'm going to delve into for now is the quite bizarre case of Sammy Hagar (anybody remember him?), who believes he was abducted, and perhaps had a 'download' experience.

www.examiner.com...

Sammy Hagar alien abduction secret disclosed 20 years ago

“I saw a ship and two creatures inside of this ship… And they were connected to me, tapped into my mind through some kind of mysterious wireless connection,” explains Sammy Hagar in his new book, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. The brief memoir, whose release coincides with "Alien Abduction Day", is not the first instance in which the former Van Halen singer has offered public disclosures of ET contact. A new report from a Vancouver audio lab suggests that Sammy Hagar was covertly communicating about alien abduction as early as 1991. A secret message encrypted backwards in Mr. Hagar's 20-year-old remarks stating how “Aliens abducted me,” is the subject of a new Secret Message Report – Podcast Edition episode, produced in Vancouver by Vancouver UFO Examiner, Jon Kelly.

Would this man lie to you?



Into this Internet age, there are plenty of others. Billy Ray Cyrus, and Russell Crowe being amongst them, although I'm very dubious of some of these sightings.

Feel free to add your own 'famous' person sighting to this thread.

a reply to: cuckooold

I agree with that quote by John Lennon 100%.

Here's an interesting excerpt from David Henderson who is the author of the book titled "The life of Jimmy Hendrix".

On several occasions during his career, UFOs "just happened" to show up while Jimi was giving a concert. During the last days of his life, he performed on the rim of an extinct volcano in Maui.

Jimi played three 45-minute sets, says Henderson in his best-seller. After each set, he retired to a special sacred Hopi Indian tent. Later, witnesses in Maui testified that they heard musical tones emanating from rocks and stones. UFOs were also sighted over the volcano by people who called in to a local radio show. A cameraman on the set said that he fell from his perch after seeing a UFO through his lens.

In the film Rainbow Bridge, Hendrix rattles on for several minutes about astral projection and the philosophy of the Space Brothers. He also tried to master the art of psychic healing, through color and sound.

More quotes and detailed information:

Fellow musician and songwriter, Curtis Knight, knew all about the episode involving the UFO in Maui.
"It was an odd-looking craft that glittered in the bright sunlight. Jimi felt certain the UFO had come down to put its spiritual stamp of approval on the show. He told me that he'd been emotionally and physically recharged by the experience."

During the course of our conversation, Curtis also revealed the fascinating details of the time a UFO landed in front of them and actually saved their lives.

The event took place on a cold winteris night near Woodstock, NY in 1965. According to Curtis, if it hadn't been for the occupants of this metallic stranger, Jimi and his fellow musicians might have frozen to death.

Jimmy himself said this to the San Diego Free Press, June 1969:

"But like the solar system is going through a change soon and it's going to affect the Earth in about 30 years, you know, I am talking about the Earth itself."

The rest of that story about the cold night near Woodstock and everything quoted above can be found here.

Was the change Jimmy talked about 45 years ago actually the shift in consciousness that is occurring now? He very often talked about things of an extraterrestrial nature when interviewed by various outlets and alluded to an positive natured alien presence coming to help us in future times.

Now some may attribute these revelations to his drug usage but there is eyewitness testimony from others about the Maui incident as well as the detailed recount from his bandmate Curtis Knight about the incident that happened near Woodstock.

originally posted by: cuckooold

Feel free to add your own 'famous' person sighting to this thread.

Cuckooold, good thread matey - here's a relevant one from aviation pioneer Sir Francis Chichester in 1931 and Xtraeme has authored a great thread about it below.

"An object 'like an oblong pearl' drew steadily closer until perhaps a mile away when, right under my gaze as it were, it suddenly vanished. . . .But it reappeared close to where it had vanished. . . .It drew closer. I could see the dull gleam of light on nose and back. It came on, but instead of increasing in size, it diminished as it approached! When quite near, it suddenly became its own ghost. For one second I could see clear through it and the next. . .it had vanished."

Sir Francis Chichester - June 10, 1931 ,Flying in the Gypsy Moth over the Tasman Sea.

Aviation Pioneer, Sir Francis Chichester, Sights UFO

There are also plenty of other possible UFO sightings, statements, reports and descriptions from prominent / famous folks in this thread:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Cheers!

a reply to: cuckooold
John Lennon's sighting was on my birthday.
As a guitarist, I have speculated that Hendrix actually was from another planet.

originally posted by: cuckooold
Celebrities continued

Of course many would be familiar with John Lennon, and his supposed witnessing of a UFO in New York

www.ufoevidence.org...

John Lennon's UFOSummary:

On August 23rd, 1974 John Lennon walked out on to the balcony of his New York apartment, and witnessed what he later described as a "Flying Saucer" hovering closely, just above his window. This article includes an interview with Lennon's assistant/girlfriend May Pang, who also witnessed the event, which completely describes the encounter.

"It looked like a flattened cone with a brilliant light on top." -May Pang, assistant to John Lennon, describing the object they allegedly saw from Lennon's balcony in NY City.

Drawing by John Lennon of what he allegedly saw;

Another rock star who claimed anomalous contact was none other than Jimi Hendrix. I believe this tale may have been referenced on ATS before, and it is fascinating.

ufologie.patrickgross.org...

JANUARY 1965, WOODSTOCK, NEW YORK, USA, JIMI HENDRIX, CURTIS KNIGHT

Curtis McNear (1945 - 1999) aka "Curtis Knight" was a New York musician, composer and frontline man of the band Curtis Knight and the Squires. world famous guitarist Jimi Hendrix had been playing the guitar in the band before his fame days. After Hendrix obtained fame with his own band, and after his death, Knight claimed Hendrix was a very special man who had been in contact with UFOs.

Knight reportedly narrated in his 1992 book "Jimi Hendrix: Starchild", that on a cold winter night near Woodstock, New York, USA, in 1965, at 4 a.m. as the band was trying to make it back to Manhattan through a freezing blizzard, the wind was whipping the snow around their van so fiercely that they missed the turn-off leading to the state highway in the direction home.

Stuck in a drift that reached the hood of their van, the men were freezing when suddenly the road in front of them lit up, as a bright phosphorescent object cone-shaped, "like a space capsule" landed in the snow about 100 feet up ahead on a tripod landing gear.:

FBI files on Hendrix:

The final case I'm going to delve into for now is the quite bizarre case of Sammy Hagar (anybody remember him?), who believes he was abducted, and perhaps had a 'download' experience.

www.examiner.com...

Sammy Hagar alien abduction secret disclosed 20 years ago

“I saw a ship and two creatures inside of this ship… And they were connected to me, tapped into my mind through some kind of mysterious wireless connection,” explains Sammy Hagar in his new book, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock. The brief memoir, whose release coincides with "Alien Abduction Day", is not the first instance in which the former Van Halen singer has offered public disclosures of ET contact. A new report from a Vancouver audio lab suggests that Sammy Hagar was covertly communicating about alien abduction as early as 1991. A secret message encrypted backwards in Mr. Hagar's 20-year-old remarks stating how “Aliens abducted me,” is the subject of a new Secret Message Report – Podcast Edition episode, produced in Vancouver by Vancouver UFO Examiner, Jon Kelly.

Would this man lie to you?

Into this Internet age, there are plenty of others. Billy Ray Cyrus, and Russell Crowe being amongst them, although I'm very dubious of some of these sightings.

Feel free to add your own 'famous' person sighting to this thread.

I always suspected Jimi Hendrix of being a space alien. Check out the length of Jimi's fingers when played guitar. They were extraordinary long for the note picking.

John Lennon's ufo encounter inspired him to write "Strange Days" I love the line "Ufos over New York, Strange days, indeed, Mama".

Sammy Hager's ufo encounter has him saying that the aliens downloaded a binary code similar to James Penneston from the Bentwaters ufo incident. Hager could not understand the meaning of the it(maybe it told him he couldn't drive 55,lol. Sorry, I couldn't help myself on that one). Hager also stated on record to having a ghostly encounter with the spirit of his late father when he was in Montrose. Sammy rocks in my book. He saved Van Halen when they fired David Lee Roth.

Mick Jaggar has said he had a ufo sighting with his then girlfriend, Maryann Faithfull. I'm not sure about the details of his sighting, but I had seen a story about it in another ufo/conspiracy website.