When Did You First "Get Into" Ufology & How Have Your Views Changed?

At what age did you first take up Ufology and all its sub genres as an interest or a subject to pay close attention to? Have your views changed over the years? How old are you now?

I'm 28 and have been a big fan of science fiction, remmeber watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and then all the other ST series. I also love Battlestar Galactica and all the quality SF in general.

Aliens? I always had interest in that subject. I learned about ATS relatively recently after watching some Youtube UFO videos and then I stumbled upon the John Lear Interview in which he mentioned this forum and Sleeper's thread.

And this is how I got stuck here with you. And you with me.

I remember checking out & reading books on UFO's in grade school (4th grade), so my interest started at the latest then...

The one thing that gets me is that in the past, when only a handful of people carried around cameras regularly, and even less than that video cameras, there seemed like there were a lot of "quality" UFO photos & videos (in comparison to picture quality available then). Now that cameras (picture & video) have gotten cheaper (to where a majority of the people have them), smaller (so more people carry them more often), and the quality has gone up, it seems like (to me anyway) a majority of reported UFO videos and photos are of dots of light really far away. Not to mention the fact that its much easier today for some joe nobody to put a picture up on the internet so tons of people now have the ability to look at them...

I'm left scratching my head over why it seems (to me, again) as if the quantity and quality of UFO photos and videos have not grown in proportion to the increase in camera owners and increase in picture quality plus the ease of which the internet allows those photos and videos to see the light of the public eye...

[edit on 1/2/2008 by bobbyt]

My interest started at a young age... At the tender age of ten I remember reading a book on ufo's. but I really got consumed by the subject at the age of 13. Me and my best friend watched a show called sighthings every weekend. Both of us tried to learn everything we could on the subject. Even at that age, our knowledge was growing at such a fast pace, that even today I feel impressed by what we learned together.

But what really blasted me into my quest for the truth was when me and that same friend had a close encounter. I was 15 at that time, it changed my views and set the course for many mind altering experiences.

I'm now 27, still learning new aspects of ufology. The more things I accept as truth, the more it burdens my everyday view of life itself. My sense of humanity, spirituality and identity somethimes leave me in a saddened state .

But, I'm a positive human at heart, and have many coping mechanisms for such world views. I luv this web site and appreciate all the people who contribute!

[edit on 3-1-2008 by SpiritBlaze]

[edit on 3-1-2008 by SpiritBlaze]

My first experience was during an earthquake in Chile - i was 5 years old, i remember thinking it was Santa clause dropping presents in my backyard, then seeing nothing, that a UFO was causing the earthquake. I do not recall hearing about UFO's prior to then so my memory of it being a UFO is also a mystery.

Then here in Western Australia i saw some strange lights over Rottnest Island, i was 12 then. After that in highschool i read unexplained mysteries book in the school library and sort of went on from then.

In 2001 i followed the work of Stewart Swerdlow, a Montauk Project survivor - talks about many races of alien beings, met him about 4 times and was a mentor for about 4 years. Says i have Alderbaren Genetics as well as lemurian and atlantean energies - thats another story.

From there i followed Holographic Kinetics - i personally saw one man being possessed by either a winged reptilian or draconian during a seminar of the course, his arms went arched as well as his legs and could do nothing but hiss and spit at the instructor (www.holographickinetics.com)

From then on I've sort of stayed on low ground, awaiting a Swerdlow prediction of an alien invasion in August 2008 by beings supposedly positioned outside of Kuipers Belt. (www.expansions.com).

I got interested in ufology because of mental problems.

I remember the exact moment I became interested in the paranormal. I was four years old, in a doctor's waiting room. To keep me entertained while we waited, my dad read to me from a children's book about Bigfoot. From that moment, I was hooked.

Throughout school, I checked out every book on the paranormal offered at the various schools I attended. Given the current state of hysteria and paranoia in the school-systems of the nation, I am sure my interests and attire (consisting of long black hair, horror-movie and metal t-shirts and a trench-coat) would have landed me on "the watch list," and trotted before the school counselor every week. When I started earning my own money, the occult/paranormal section of Borders became a frequent stop for me; Timothy Good, John Keel, David Jacobs, Loren Coleman and others began lining my shelves.

I don't know when it happened, but sometime after I graduated and moved on to college, I started becoming a skeptic. There was no clear mark of dileniation. It was a gradual process, and I didn't notice I had become a skeptic when my long-time girlfriend presented me with a "I Want to Believe" poster for Christmas, and told her, "I don't believe in that stuff anymore." I even took a philosophy class entitled "Occult and the Paranormal" and didn't notice until after the fact that apapers I wrote for it were from a skeptical viewpoint.

Being a skeptic has taught me a lot. Where-as before, when I was a "believer" I just accepted what was being told to me as fact. Becoming a skeptic, I began researching claims, and it lead me to studying a wide variety of fields. I can honestly say I have learned as much in studying on my own as I did in college (where my background was Political Science).

I did keep the poster. I would love it if aliens were visiting the planet, if Bigfoot were stalking the woods. I get as excited as everyone else when someone claims to have the smoking-gun proof. Because I do want to believe.

reply to post by Jeremy_Vaeni
I got interested as a young 6 yr old boy watching those smash potatoe alien adverts.I was involved in a real good sighting when ten with a mate.Alas seen nothing since. FOR MASH GET SMASH HEE HEE HEE
HAA HAA

I got interested when i was about 8 years old. Was in a bookshop and started reading a book on UFO's. I was so enthralled with it that my Mother bought it for me. i still have that book somewhere. From then onwards i was hooked. I've not had an encounter that i am conciously aware of though. However having read many books (am a big fan of Timothy Good's books!!) i am convinced that the Governments of this world are holding back on what they do know. To my releif i am now able to come "out of the closet" in my interest in UFO's, as a child i learnt that talking about such things was a taboo subject. This has clearly changed since the 1970's !!!

Originally posted by bobbyt
I remember checking out & reading books on UFO's in grade school (4th grade), so my interest started at the latest then...

Must have gone to the same school. Mine started the same way - checked out books in 5th grade. This was also the start of my interest in other topics such as bigfoot. I remember the books scared the #%^ out of me but I couldn't stop reading them...

I like most people here got into UFO's in grade school. I would go to the library and get any book I could find regarding them.

My views have not really changed that much. I dont know if there are aliens that visit or not...I too have thought of time travel as an alternate explanation.

Then I see movies like Fire in the Sky and it peaks my interest in aliens visiting our planet. I think its Uber Interesting

about 1958........got my first velikovsky book at 7 yeras of age...
always been interested in ufo's, earth history, etc.

The exact moment for me was a awesome one. I was 13, it was the summer, and I lived on Long Island. I was outside the Junior High at 10pm on a Friday night and we got out of a program to keep kids off the streets. We were waiting for our ride and we looked up and saw a disc. It had a red light that rotated around it. It didn't move or make any sound. It just hovered there. We pointed it out to a teacher and he told us to get inside and wait. When our ride got there it was still there. It didn't move. When I got home, it just disappeared. It was a bone fide UFO.
That started a lifetime of looking up and an interest in astronomy and NASA.

i member the way i got intrested nd pulld into the ufo topic....its was on march 13th 1997(PHOENIX LIGHTS) i was watin up late for my dad to get back from work an dwen he came home he told me that he had seen a huge ufo craft wen he was comin home i was 7 at the time since then i researchd alot read alot nd not many teens know and talk bout the ufo topic i been intrested in this topic and as well wen u read bout ufos u read bout history,government,sci,ect..i am now 17 nd i seen ufos since nd am into this to the fullist,,i still think that i have alot more to experince nd i think that everybody that likes nd is intrested in this nd has the chance 2see a ufo is gifted cuz not everybody gets to experince an amazing moment like that........

[edit on 3-1-2008 by PHXWATCHER]

Hello all.

Like most of you, my interest in the subject of the paranormal really began with childhood. I was prone to checking out as many books on the subject from the library (vampires and magick especially) as I could carry. Then "Sightings" began airing and I became hooked to UFOs as well. At some point in between though, I began focusing on the here and now - high school and college demanded that attention from me. However, the Chicago O'Hare incident brought my passion of the UFO phenomenon back full force and I've been intensely following ufology since and now I'm hopeful to soon be a field investigator for I.C.A.R (International Community for Alien Research)

Wicked