When I was six ...

Memories are strange things where, sometimes one will remember something that happened as a child that you'd otherwise 'forgotten', or at least not thought about as an item of any importance.

This memory is about possibly the only time i ever saw a 'UFO'. Please note the quotations around UFO.

When I was six, in the early summer, approaching evening, I was called outside by my parents where many of our neighbors were out in the middle of the street of our little section of neighborhood, pointing up at the sky, looking through telescopes and binoculars at the 'UFO'.
My dad asked me if I wanted to see the 'UFO' too.
I got handed some, what at the time were to me enormous binoculars, where my dad then guided me whereabouts to look.
What I saw was:



It was very high altitude. Looking back now, I'd say it was in the 50k+ altitude range.
After looking at it my satisfaction, I thought to myself it looked more like a weather balloon as seen on National Geographic or some other program, and was, if anything a little disappointed.
I'd seen cooler stuff sneaking out at night after the parents had gone to sleep, laying out in my driveway watching the night sky in seeing shooting stars.

I went back inside unimpressed while neighbors still clucked about like chickens about the 'UFO'.
This is when i was six, and on remembering this, it fascinates me how even as a child I could see this plainly as what it in highest probability was indeed a weather balloon, while grown adults were quite convinced this was an alien spaceship.

Granted, some of the adult proclamations of aliens may have been more for the benefit of the other neighborhood children also getting their turns at telescopes and binoculars, but, at the same time too, it seems some of this was indeed genuine belief.

Whatever the case, this was likely one of my earlier examples and influences in life where I learned that where one person sees one thing, another person may see another, even though they're looking at the very same thing.
Human perception is entirely unreliable, and witness testimony regardless of bias, including mine, but especially where fantastic claims are made, should really be criticised and questioned first before being bought and believed wholesale.
Were I to go back and find one of those neighbors and ask them about the 'UFO' of 19xx, I'd bet serious money they'd have a more fantastic description than what I've reported above.

Why is this? Am I just immune to imaginative distortions of observation? Do I have no imagination to corrupt and filter anything I observe into something more sugar coated? Am I lacking some fundamental human disease that allows people to see things that aren't there, that's integral to the human psychological condition as an aspect of imagination or even stress management for coping with foreign ideas?

Why is it that some people see what simply is for what it is, and can still find it fascinating and even wonderful while others, sometimes many others need filters which distort the experience into something far more fantastical?

Would it be possible that the adults were kidding?

Memories are strange things like you said, but when you try to remember things many many years back they can become garbled or grow into tall tales. This is one of the main problems with the Roswell crash. I wouldn't be surprised if the adults were just joking with you.

reply to post by Druscilla


After looking at it my satisfaction, I thought to myself it looked more like a weather balloon as seen on National Geographic or some other program, and was, if anything a little disappointed.


At age 6..? wow..impressive.


Why is this? Am I just immune to imaginative distortions of observation?


Is imaginative distortions of observation code for an 'open mind'..? If so, you may be on to something...


Thanks for sharing...

reply to post by thesearchfortruth


I think I've already addressed that where I stated that some of the talk of aliens may have been for the benefit of the children.

Some of this may indeed be partly true.

However, this doesn't account fully for all adults present where some were extremely intent on watching this object never offering to share a look through their own telescope or binoculars.

While my recollection of this event is very clear, I don't discount that the clarity may could also be a distortion.
As said, human perception is entirely unreliable, especially so in relating witnessed events. I don't discount that i may not be immune from such distortions, however, I feel my recognition of distortions in others, and experiences based on observing how many people can see the same thing and all have entirely different recollections would bolster my feeling that if I am effected by this memory distortion, or visual filter, that I am least effected where other seem to be more so.

eh.

Originally posted by facelift

Is imaginative distortions of observation code for an 'open mind'..? If so, you may be on to something...

This is entirely dependent on what someone's definition of 'open mind' is.
It seems, at least here on ATS, that 'open mind' means more the ability to believe in something fantastical despite all contrary evidence for the mundane.

As for me, 'open mind' means the ability to look at all the data, and CONSIDER even the fantastical ideas, and THEN make a decision based on the data present. Just because I favor higher statistical probabilities for something most likely being exactly what it looks and behaves like, does not mean that I have not at least considered the alternatives.

Someone with a closed mind would not even consider such alternatives.

I know UFOs exist. I was an abductee!,

I suspect that your sighting was of one of the early plastic "bag" balloons that was used to loft scientific equipment. the shape you draw exactly fits their configuration. If you could provide the approximate year of the event and the location, more than likely someone will be able to mate it with a known launch of such a balloon.

What you report is exactly what happened during some of those launches. Because there has been a government conspiracy to hide from the public the UFO phenomena for over half a century, it may be that some of those balloon launches were engineered to purposely "explain" UFO sightings.

Anyway, keep looking up and over your shoulder at Uncle. He doesn't necessarily think he has to play fair with us.

Looks like a weather baloon to me dude but good story


One love

reply to post by Druscilla


It sounds like a Skyhook balloon (high altitude balloon used in a lot of scientific research).



That is the same type of balloon that was chased by Mantell in his P-51 before he lost consciousness and crashed his plane...

I was about 15-16 sitting watching TV one summer's evening when my sister came bowling into the living room screaming.. "There's a UFO... look.... there's a UFO"; and furiously pointing towards the northern facing window of the room.

Being a teenage brother I assumed this was a just a wind up and gave her the old.."Yeah right, of course there is"

A few seconds later my sister shouts.."Oh you've missed it now"

Last year, some decades after the incident I asked her about it and said. "Come on, fess ip, that UFO sighting was a wind up wasn't it?"

I was genuinely quite shocked when she calmly replied.

"Not at all , I remember it like it was yesterday, exactly as I described it at the time, a classic silver disc that just appeared hovered there for a while and then vanished in front of my eyes as I watched"

My sister has no real interest at all in UFOs, or Sci Fi etc, etc. I thought she'd just say, "Yup it was a wind up".... Could kick myself now for not taking her seriously at the time.

There's been a couple more occasions since then when, I was with a bunch of people who think I'm a bit "out there" fro being interested in UFOs where, they were the ones bouncing up and down shouting ... "It's a UFO, It's a UFO"; and i was the one saying..."Err actually, that's a weather balloon", in one case and the other it was a blimp, low down head on to where we were viewing it from.

Then again, I was fooled fairly recently, by the ISS as NASA had dropped the tracking from its' website that I normally use to track satellites.The strange thing about that was, even now, I have no explanation for the strange " low pitched hum" that was clearly audible at the time the ISS passed over.

If there's one case that does make me chuckle it was back in the early 80s on Starr Hill the famous Warminster venue for UFOs.. There was a group of us along with some other people we looked up with for the night's viewing "looking for UFOs". The sky was a brilliantly clear summer's evening . Someone pointed to about 30 degrees above the North Western horizon to a single yellow/white light moving steadily across the sky... As it reached over head, about half a dozen of us said, as one, at the same time.... "Oh that's a satellite"... the very split second the words died in the summer night's air... that light changed to a blood red turned 90 degrees left, and shot off, disappearing over the horizon in less than 2 seconds.

I think people sometimes want to believe things enough that they create a seed of doubt. Enough to convince themselves it may have been something. Well that and it has always been my opinion that people are easily convinced of things as a whole. They say that eye witness testimony is by far the most unreliable, yet it is used in court all the time, go figure. It could just be that you are skeptical by your very nature, I know I am. Where people see 'absolute proof of xyz" I look at it and rarely ever see anything, let alone 'absolute proof'.

By the way, I noticed your user name, you don't happen to be the same Druscilla that used to post at a parenting site "the village" are you?

Witness testimony from 6 year olds isn't very reliable, but a memory of an adult from when they were 6 is even less so. I think it's possible that you did see a "UFO" but over time your mind was malleable and susceptible to contaminating influences that may have altered your memory of the event. The part about you being more knowledgeable about aerial phenomena than all the adults makes a good anecdote, but really this is just another example of how unreliable witness testimony is.

I have two strange snippets of memories or maybe dreams from my childhood. In the first one I'm walking through the apartment at night and the lighting is unusual, red like in a photographic dark-room. And then there are a few young boys leaning against the walls who seem like they want to stay hidden. The boys are dressed in what looks like tight black suits or overalls.They seem friendly.

In the second "memory" I am looking out the kitchen 4th floor window in the daytime, feeling very sleepy and I have this picture in my mind of some sort of a black craft which looks like a cockpit of a military 2-seater helicopter hovering just over there in front of the window, as close as three feet or even less. Only there's nothing else except the cockpit itself. There are two people in the cockpit, a man and a woman, I can see them through the transparent canopy. They wear some sort of dark/black uniform and the woman also has something like a forage hat.

I was about 3-5 years old and our family lived in the village not far from Moscow. About the same time/year(s?) my dad saw an actual classic flying saucer UFO one morning. The year was 1980-1981 I guess.

reply to post by WideOpenSpace


Спасибо за эту историю!
Мы не слышим много историй из России.

Ваша история очень интересна.

Very interesting.

I do believe you were abducted, and alien DNA were planted into your own DNA. It is quite possible, that your recollection of the events, is correct. However, that recollection came with the implanted dna, making you think you saw a mere air balloon, and deleting whatever other mental data you might have obtained while being implanted.

My evidence??? That weird alien language in the above post.....

vvv

Originally posted by Druscilla
reply to post by WideOpenSpace

 

Спасибо за эту историю!
Мы не слышим много историй из России.

Ваша история очень интересна.

Спасибо вам! Thanks! It's a pleasure. I do have strong doubts though whether it's a real memory, a modified memory or just a dream. "I want to believe", but when I think about it I feel like I'd rather prefer it was a dream. On second thought I have other "mind snapshots" from my childhood which have nothing to do with the subject of aliens or UFOs and which are undoubtedly a product of my imagination.

Anyway, my father's saucer sighting is much more interesting in my opinion. He was waiting for a bus at a bus stop at the break of dawn. Suddenly he saw the UFO hover quite low above the forest line which was less than a mile away. It looked like a classic flying saucer and it was "fat" in the middle. Father described its colour as opaque grey and "Moon-like". The saucer hovered silently for about half a minute and then took off and vanished behind the forest line. The speed was not incredible but it was "much faster than any airplane".

There were a few other witnesses at the bus stop but my father did not speak with them about the UFO, even though he's pretty sure they saw it as well.

reply to post by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep




Russian silly! What horrible context I can piece together of it with help from google to jar my memory.

Previous poster related story as child from Russia. I try to be friendly.

reply to post by WideOpenSpace


Yes, I think we hear so few stories from Russia because it was for a long time not very 'fashionable' to talk about things you "didn't" see.

Why is this? Am I just immune to imaginative distortions of observation? Do I have no imagination to corrupt and filter anything I observe into something more sugar coated? Am I lacking some fundamental human disease that allows people to see things that aren't there, that's integral to the human psychological condition as an aspect of imagination or even stress management for coping with foreign ideas?

I think it's just a matter of knowing. You obviously knew what the weather ballon looked like but that was not obvious for the adult witnesses. My first thought when I looked at the picture you posted was actually "weather baloon". Had it been something controversial, like a blimp of an unconventional shape, your imagination could reacted quite differently in my opinion. Sometimes children are more educated in some things than adults are.

Originally posted by VreemdeVlieendeVoorwep
Very interesting.

I do believe you were abducted, and alien DNA were planted into your own DNA. It is quite possible, that your recollection of the events, is correct. However, that recollection came with the implanted dna, making you think you saw a mere air balloon,..

No, this is how Hollywood portrays gene splicing, cloning etc, it's not how it actually works: Even if you clone yourself, the new version of you will not think the same thoughts as you. And will not know the same things as you. The clone of you is not you, it is another person with the same DNA. DNA does not harbor thoughts, your brain harbors thoughts. Thus, what you suggest is impossible.

But I've seen it many times in Hollywood movies: Someone is dying, but then they just 'clone' him and everything continues as if nothing happened. This is completely un-scientific, but seems to be a a crutch for bad writers.

Click here for more information.

reply to post by ScientificUAPer


Um, I'm pretty sure VVV was making a joke based partially off the thread topic and also the post of mine directly above his.