Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., aliens… these words bring up images of flying saucers and little green men with big ears. For years, we have been hearing of other life forms in our universe which visit our planet from time to time. Hundreds of people claim to have experienced it first hand and relate stories of their encounters. Many people disperse the notion that aliens exist, but one thing is for sure – any talk about UFOs and aliens draws a huge amount of interest from everyone.

There are thousands of such encounters and we picked a few that made news.

Kenneth Arnold Sighting (1947) – Washington, United States

Just before 3 o’clock in the afternoon, Kenneth Arnold, a private pilot and a fire control equipment salesman from Boise, Idaho, was taking a flight over the Cascade Mountains looking for the remains of a lost C-46, over which there was a $5,000 reward being offered.

Arnold did not find the missing aircraft but he saw a bright flash of light and spotted nine brilliant objects, with the lead object a little higher than the rest, moving south toward Mount Rainer. He calculated their speed at 1,700 miles per hour which was an impossible speed. The main object looked like a dark crescent; the other eight objects were flat and disc-shaped. Arnold estimated their chain length to be five miles long. They disappeared soon after. A new era of unidentified flying objects began after this widely publicized sighting in the United States. In fact, it was his descriptions that gave rise to the now common terms “flying disk” and “flying saucer.”

Roswell UFO Crash Coverup (1947) – New Mexico, United States

No discussion on UFOs is complete without mentioning Roswell. It is considered to be the bread and butter of Ufology, and the heart of UFO studies for long. The news spread worldwide about the first alien craft crash. It was considered as the long awaited proof of extraterrestrial intelligence. The Air Force announced being in possession of the flying saucer but later denied, saying it was a weather balloon.

Years later, there was talk of military cover up of an actual UFO crash. A large area filled with debris from wreckage was discovered and the material found was unfamiliar and metallic, unlike anything seen before. Although, theories are composed of conflicting accounts, there were some facts that were clear. Something huge had crashed near Corona. Rumors had it that witnesses were threatened if they revealed what they saw. There were too many witnesses who claimed to have seen alien bodies. There is also enough evidence that autopsies were done on an alien body.

The Hill Abduction (1961) – New Hampshire, United States

One of the most interesting and convincing cases is the abduction of Betty and Barney Hill. The couple was driving home at night on Interstate Route 3 in New Hampshire after a short vacation in Canada, when they noticed a while light in the sky.

Barney got out of the car to look at the object through his binoculars. The light got closer and it looked like a pancake shaped object with windows revealing occupants. They got scared and went back home and realized they had lost a couple of hours without them realizing it.

Betty started having nightmares about aliens and Barney had severe back. A respected psychiatrist in Boston, Massachusetts, felt they were suffering from anxiety syndrome and put them both under hypnosis.

He was convinced that they were abducted by the aliens. During the hypnosis sessions, both revealed separately that they were abducted by bald aliens about five feet tall, green skin and large heads. They said their skin, nail and hair samples were taken. Betty said they inserted a long needle into her naval, which they said was a pregnancy test and Barney had to provide a semen specimen.

One aspect of this investigation that cannot be explained to this day is that in 1963, Betty Hill drew a very detailed map of a star system that was only discovered later in 1969. She said she was shown this map by the aliens. Astronomers at Ohio State University compared their computer generated map with this one and both were completely alike.

Skeptics point out the inconsistencies, including the aliens speaking to Betty in English while Barney said they used some sort of telepathy.

Now, more than forty years later, it could not be proved that it was a hoax.

The Gulf Breeze UFO (1987) – Florida, United States

This wave of sightings attracted the whole world as there were many sighting reports along with photographs and videos by different people. However, the main focus was on Ed Walters, a contractor, who had taken clear pictures of the UFOs.

When working late at night, Ed saw a light shining through the window and saw a glowing object that was shaped like a top hovering just above the road. It had a ring around the bottom that glowed. He took his Polaroid camera and took many pictures. Then he moved closer and was almost underneath the UFO to get better pictures. He was suddenly lifted off the ground by a beam and heard a voice telling him that they will not harm him. All he remembers next was waking up.

He took these pictures to Gulf Breeze Sentinel, a local newspaper. He later reported more visits and furnished photographs of flying objects. His credibility was questioned. However, MUFON, which is the world’s largest UFO organization investigated and considered it one of the most incredible cases in modern UFO history.

Skeptics called it a hoax, in spite of the fact that Ed passed two polygraph tests. What makes this interesting is that Ed was not alone in this. More than 200 witnesses validated the sightings and some of them had photographs to show. The final verdict on this by the UFO community was divided.

The Ilkley Moor UFO (1987) – Ilkley Moor, UK

Philip Spencer, a policeman in London, moved to Ilkley Moor after leaving his job. While getting some photographs of the moor, he heard a humming sound and saw a small green creature, around four feet tall. That creature moved away quickly and when Spencer shouted, it turned and waved an arm dismissively, which is when Spencer said he took this photograph. It moved faster than a human. He followed it and saw a huge silver saucer disappear into the clouds. He realized the humming sound was from the saucer.

Later, he realized that he lost more than two hours of his time and his compass also went haywire. The picture was shown to a UFO researcher and a thorough investigation started. Wildlife photography experts and Kodak laboratories revealed that it was no animal and that the object was indeed part of the photo and not superimposed.

Spencer started having weird dreams and under hypnosis, he revealed a fascinating tale of being abducted by an alien and taken aboard the craft and given a medical examination before being released. Spencer could now remember that the picture was taken after his release from the UFO.

One thing that makes the researchers confident that Spencer may not have set the whole thing up was due to the fact that he never wanted publicity or money.

The Linda Napolitano Abduction (1989) – Manhattan, United States

This alien encounter that resulted in the abduction of Linda Napolitano was one of the most controversial cases that were researched by the famous Budd Hopkins.

Napolitano claimed to have been abducted by the “greys,” who had taken her to their UFO above her apartment in Manhattan, by floating her from her closed bedroom window at 3 AM.

The most incredible thing was that she received correspondence from two bodyguards of a senior United Nations statesman, Javier Perez de Cueller, visiting Manhattan, saying that the three of them had witnessed a woman floating in the air along with three other entities to a massive hovering craft.

Hopkins found the behavior of these bodyguards an enigma. They would become psychotic and kidnapped Linda twice, to try and pry information from her, thinking she had a hand in the alien abduction herself.

Hopkins finally concluded this to be a valid alien abduction and even confirmed it with Javier Perez de Cueller, but could not get him to go public.

The Alien Named “Aleshenka” (1996) – Kashtim, Russia

This is a compelling account of an Alien body from Russia. An elderly woman in the village of Kashtim saw a small creature near the Ural Mountains, and the creature was whistling to catch her attention. She took it home. The creature had skin that was gray with dark brown spots on the head. There was no hair, small holes in place of ears, small and flat nose, long fingers with sharp claws, a tiny hole in place of a mouth and no lips. The old woman nursed it back to health. After a couple of weeks, the woman was hospitalized for a psychiatric problem and left her companion at home without food.

Later, the dead body of the being that measured 8 ½ inches in length was found by the police. After testing, doctors claimed that the creature is not could not have been a child.

The body was handed over to Galina Semenkova, head of a UFO expert organization. Galina later said that aliens from a flying saucer demanded the body and she gave it to them.

However, the whereabouts of Aleshenka’s remains are a mystery to this day. Have the aliens really taken it back? Is the mummy under research in some laboratory?

There are several controversies surrounding UFOs. While proponents feel that UFOs are vehicles from other dimensions; skeptics propose the psychological-social hypothesis. There is even the man-made craft hypothesis by some who feel they are nothing but American or Russian aircraft. Fact or Fiction?