The NY Manhattan UFO sightings - NOT Balloons
Yesh there were Balloons - Yes there were UFO's! I was dismayed to read today that those who would offer themselves up as UFO writers or investigators were so ready to dismiss yesterday's 'UFO flap' over Manhattan as a non event. New Yorkers are a shrewd bunch - living in a city which probably sees a large release of balloons every other day, not crediting them with the ability to discern the difference is a slap in the face delivered with arrogance. One such put down was on Technorati where I read "The flurry of UFO sighting reports caused by a flock of party balloons over Manhattan on Wednesday would seem to justify the pop culture stereotype of ufologist as tinfoil beanie-wearing nut.
While some will suggest that coverage of these obviously baseless reports is an example of mainstream media's campaign to discredit legitimate research, others might counter that the fault lies mainly with ufology itself."
If truth be told the author of the piece has missed the point entirely. Yes there were balloons on the Manhattan skyline yesterday - but there was 'something else' too. Given this event happened on the very day a UFO event was predicted to happen by Stanley A. Fulham a retired NORAD Officer, wouldn't the powers that be try to obscure such an obvious display by releasing balloons to muddy the picture? Of course it may be coincidental - they may have strayed from a nearby party but doesn't it strike the author of the piece as odd that in a city with 24 hour News Coverage provided by Helicopters that no Helicopter footage is available? Every broadcaster in the city covered the story yet no one thought to ask a helicopter to take a closer look? Doesn't it strike the author as odd that whilst New Yorkers were yelling out 'UFO's', Air Traffic Control was evacuated (ostensibly due to a smell of gas - I respectfully suggest it was something more akin to the smell of bullshit). Doesn't it strike the author of the piece as odd that hundreds have described the behaviour of what they saw as very un-balloon like? Doesn't it strike the author of the piece as odd that video footage of the objects was still being taken late at night when mere balloons would have been indistinguishable in the night sky?
One eyewitness described it as 'Jellyfish' like.
Such was the volume of calls an FAA Spokesman conceded:
"Nothing that we can account for would prompt this kind of response."
Which given that the FAA have to be notified of any release of balloons and are fully aware of how they appear on radar - should be read as meaning 'We have no explanation' - Not that 'they were Balloons'
Eyewitness Tim Powell, 28 , said it was "the most bizarre thing I've ever seen".
He added: "It looked like a jellyfish made of lights that just hovered in the sky like it wanted to be seen.
"I was half expecting the aliens to beam down and introduce themselves."
Anyone who has researched UFO's will know historically how important that description of a 'Jellyfish' is and precisely what it could imply. Recent reports too have been describing 'Jellyfish' type UFO's in the night sky but strangely only visible in the infra red spectrum.
Balloons or UFO's aside - the wealth of information from a scoiological point of view contained within a sighting like this could help unlock a vast store of knowledge about mass sightings. It's far from a non event in Ufology and could help unlock knowledge pertaining to sightings as far back as 4 centuries ago in Nuremberg or Basle or just 40 years ago in Westall.
Given all of these things - there's a lot more to this than met the eye of so many New Yorkers yesterday. What it needs is precisely the analytic, thoughtful approach to the event the author calls for in general yet which is so apparently lacking in the particular.
A forum discussion on the event can be joined in by clicking here
Ed.
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