...le monde scientifique dans son ensemble a un choc lorsqu'il prend conscience de la nature étonnante du phénomène ovni et de sa déroutante complexité s1- James E. McDonald
La croyance que les gens sont de mauvais observateurs est largement maintenue ; ils se trompent facilement sur ce
qu'ils ont vu, ou ils n'arrivent pas à remarquer les détails correctement. Des expériences menées par des
psychologues, au contraire, ont montré que la capacité inhérente des gens à absorber l'information visuelle est très
grande. Dans une expériences on montra à des sujets 600 images différentes en succession rapide. Peu après ils
réussirent à en identifier de nouvelles qui avaient été ajoutées à la collection, avec une exactitude de plus de 98 %.
Leur score tomba à seulement 92 % lorsque le test fut décalé d'une semaine. Non seulement le pouvoir de la
reconnaissance visuelle est à l'évidence assez forte chez la plupart des gens, mais leur rétention est également
bonne, au moins pour les courtes périodes. En discutant des observations d'ovnis devant un Comité du Congrès, un psychologue réputé expliqua que, même dans des situations inatendues et
stressantes, le témoin moyen retient souvent un enregistrement exact, presque photographique de
l'événement
s2Shepard, Roger N.: "Some Psychological Techniques For The Scientific Investigation of
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings
before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives,
Ninetieth Congress, Second Edition, p.226, U.S. Government Printing office, July 29, 1968.. Le souvenir d'une
personne d'un événement peut être récupéré en détails considérables sur la base de la reconnaissance. La victime d'une
attaque criminelle, par exemple, pourrait reconnaître son assaillant dans une rangée de personnes bien qu'elle
pourrait être incapable de le décrire précisément. De la même manière, l'utilisation de croquis classés des yeux, nez
et bouche permet à un témoin, avec l'aide d'un artiste de la police, de développer un portrait satisfaisant d'un
suspect qui ne pourrait pas être fait sur la seule base d'une description. Les gens sont juste limités dans leur
capacité à décrire ce qu'ils ont vu ou à communiquer une expérience. Parce que ces techniques psychologiques avancées
impliquant la reconnaissance ont rarement été employées pour obtenir des information chez des témoins d'ovnis, les
données disponibles sont handicapées du fait d'être presque exclusivement de nature descriptive. Ce fait a sans aucun
doute frustré le progrès dans ce domaine.
9 grands disques volant près du Mont Rainier (Washington), set off the modern hubbub about UFOs. They were sighted by businessman Kenneth Arnold from his own plane en juin 1947. He estimated that they were 100 ft in diameter and traveling at least 1200 miles/h s3Keyhoe, Donald E.: Flying Saucers From Outer Space, p. 31, Holt, 1953.. These objects resembled pie plates, but news paper accounts of "flying saucers" introduced a new expression into English. The term eventually became obsolete, however, as people began reporting objects with shapes very unlike saucers: the more generic term "unidentified flying objects" became more suitable.
Even a cursory examination of a file of sighting reports will impress the researcher that most of the objects appeared to be discs. Seldom will the descriptions be entirely clear, and some will admit alternative interpretations. An object described merely as "round" may have been a disc, but it may also have been a sphere, or a cylinder viewed from one end. An object may have appeared "oval shaped," while in reality it was only a disc that was tipped slightly off the line of vision. It is not always easy to establish the exact shape of the reported objects, nor even to select several categories of shapes that are mutually exclusive and free from ambiguity. At any rate, the disc-shaped UFO with a diameter about 10 times its thickness is almost universally accepted as standard. This point was raised in an Air Force report s4Project Grudge Report No. l02-AC-49/15-lOO, U.S. Air Force, 1949, quoted in Hall, Richard H., Editor, The UFO Evidence, p.143, National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, 1964. as early as 1949, and it has been verified by several statistical studies. Because various and non-compatible categories were selected in the independent studies, results cannot be directly compared. However, the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena found that the discs in Air Force cases through 1963 ranged from 26% to 56%, depending upon several reasonable assumptions regarding the ambiguities just mentioned s5Hall, Richard H. (editor): The UFO Evidence, p. 143, National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, 1964.. The author independently analyzed 447 short-range sightings that occurred in the decade from November 23, 1958, through November 22, 1968. These sightings should have provided the witnesses excellent opportunities to observe the shapes. In 77 instances in which the shapes were noted, roughly 50%of the objects appeared to be discs s6Data extracted from case summaries in Vallee, Jacques, Passport to Magonia, p.273 ff, Regnery, 1969. Considering synonyms as indicated by the "equal" marks, the selected categories and the number of instances assigned to them were
s7* Disc round s831s9Egg = oval s107s11Cylinder = cigar = elongated = fuselage s1213s13Hemisphere = dome = helmet s145s15* Plate = saucer s165s17 * Lip-to-lip dishes s184s19Cone s202s21Sphere s223s23 Mushroom s243s25Top s261s27Lampshade s281. A similar result may be calculated from still another study, although it is extremely difficult to determine which of the 33 categories used in it should be taken as discs s29Shepard, Roger N., "Some Psychological Techniques For The Scientific Investigation of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena," Symposium on Unidentified Flying Objects, Hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics, U.S. House of Representatives, Ninetieth Congress, Second Edition, p.232, U.S. Government Printing Office, July 29, 1968..
The most important contribution of this last investigation is an organized disclosure of different types of UFOs within the general category of discs. One must be cautious here, for while the primary common feature is axial symmetry in the vertical direction, some of the shapes could easily be labeled something other than "disc." The researcher obtained 150 photographs of UFOs from which were culled those showing mere blobs of light devoid of any details. He then made sketches of the remaining 63 objects at the same scale, and suppressing all backgrounds, assembled the images in a single diagram. Rather than displaying a general uniformity or a clustering of a few types as would be expected, these sketches show a wide diversity of appearances.
One object had been photographed at different angles by the same witness. In a few other instances, the same type of UFO had apparently been photographed by different people at different places and times. Of special interest in this regard is a photograph taken at McMinnville, Oregon, in June 1950 that stumped the Condon staff. An almost identical object was photographed by a French military pilot near Rouen, France, in March 1954. Another pair of photographs also seem to depict the same type of object that is easily distinguishable from the McMinnville-Rouen pair. One of these pictures was taken near Rio de Janeiro in May, 1952, while the other was taken from a fighter plane in Argentina about 2 years later.
Also included in the 63 diagrams were 7 instances in which hoaxes were suspected or had been proved. Setting these cases aside, along with the duplications above, still leaves a total of about 500 different UFO models in this general category. Variations of shape in this category that appear to be most common are:
A famous sighting that was carried by Project Blue Book as an "unknown" took place early one morning in the spring of 1966. While driving near Temple, Oklahoma, a man had to stop his car because a large object was blocking the highway. Its shape reminded him of the fuselage of a Douglas C-124 Globemaster. He could detect no appendages, such as wings, engines, or tail, although there was a transparent blister on the top. Its surface was very smooth. As the witness approached, the object rose into the air and departed at high speed s30Complete Directory of UFOs, An illustrated History of Unexplained Sightings From Project Blue Book, The Official Guide to UFOs, p.47, Science and Mechanics Publishing Company, 1968.. During the summer of 1973, a similar object was observed from a distance of a city block as it hovered and maneuvered over Macon, Georgia. Five people described it as a "long tube" like a cigar, being larger than a light plane but smaller than a Boeing 727 s31 Personal communication.. According to the previous statistical studies, these elongated UFOs apparently account for about 10% of all sightings. They have been aptly compared to airplane bodies as more explicit descriptions have indicated that they are rather blunt on one end but somewhat tapered on the other.
Throughout the spring of 1973, hundreds of sightings were reported in southern Missouri. Notices of this activity were carried in specialty periodicals, but few, if any, metropolitan newspapers commented on it s32Missouri UFO Still on the Scene, UFO Investigator, p. 2, National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, May, 1973.. Several teams of investigators converged upon the area, including the principals of the International UFO Bureau. These investigators, during a total of 11 days of research over a period of several weeks, located 200 people who had seen a UFO and tape recorded interviews with them. They, themselves, also experienced two sightings. On one occasion, the relative size of the object was compared to a pea held at arms length, giving ample opportunity to observe its shape, to discern some structural details, and to estimate its size. It was a sphere about 15 ft in diameter s33Hewes, Hayden C.: Earthprobe, published by International UFO Bureau, P.O. Box 1281, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73101, 1973..
Near the end of the war in Vietnam a spherical object with a luminous, orange glow was sighted at high altitude over Hanoi where it remained nearly stationary for about an hour and a half. Thinking that some kind of air raid was imminent, the North Vietnamese fired three anti-aircraft missiles at it. They were completely ineffective, however, as none could reach the extreme altitude of the spherical UFO s34San Francisco Chronicle, 30 septembre, 1972..
These two examples will illustrate the dozens of reports of this relatively common type. They seem to be most often perfectly spherical but some variations occur, as follows:
Witnesses have used a wide assortment of words and comparisons in describing UFOs. While some of them may be synonyms
for the major types discussed above, it appears that many are not. Because some of the more odd-ball expressions have
been used several times in widely scattered sightings, the descriptions are more likely to be valid than mere bumbling
attempts at communication. Typical, but rarely occurring, examples are: football, water tank, dumbbell, plates
rim-to-rim, oval, mushroom, egg, toy top, diamond, parachute, cone, cushion,
hamburger sandwich, lampshade.
Assuming that a few of these allusions are moderately accurate leads to a proliferation of UFO models that begins to stretch the imagination. But that discomfort is an inadequate basis for discounting the record. A native boy, suddenly transported from the familiar bush of his homeland to a freeway in Los Angeles, would be amazed at the diversity of vehicles passing by. He might quickly realize that part of the reason was related to their different purposes. He could see that the size of the load was important, pickup trucks and huge trailer rigs being used to haul different amounts of freight. Similarly for the number of passengers carried by sports cars versus buses. Much less obvious to him would be the very important influence of competition among the manufacturers and personal preference of the buyers concerning economy, image, and convenience. This little allegory cannot explain the multiplicity of UFO types. It should serve, however, to prevent a setback in an investigation proven to be uncomfortably complex.
It is known, at least, that highly specialized vehicles may display weird configurations. Consider the Lunar Excursion Module. It is designed exclusively to lower two men gently onto the surface of the moon and lift them back into lunar orbit for a rendezvous with a companion vehicle. Major determinants of its design are the need to fly in a vacuum and a gravitational field that is only one-sixth that on earth. By its ungainly aspect it mimics a giant insect much better than a proper spacecraft.
Another old bugbear has plagued the study of UFOs: theoretically, the size of an unknown object flying through the sky at a considerable distance cannot be judged at all. A relatively small object at short range may subtend the same angle at the observer's eye as a larger object farther away. Without some additional point of reference, therefore, the estimated size of a UFO is of little value. But the circumstances of many sightings provide the necessary clues. Very great distance is suggested when an object is obscured by atmospheric haze in comparison to another whose distance is known. Also, the relationship of a UFO to its surroundings often helps. A UFO may be seen rising from behind a row of trees, passing in front of a mountain range, hovering under a cloud bank, or fleeing from a military jet. For limited ranges, the depth perception afforded by having two eyes provides a subjective measure of the distance. Disturbances on the ground directly under a UFO may be located. At low altitude, the width of a UFO can be readily assessed if it is seen to block a two-lane highway. Marks left on the ground by a landed UFO are a very reliable basis for judging its size. As these reference points have been involved in thousands of sightings, the data on UFO sizes is far from meaningless, especially when they are derived from close-hand observations.
One would expect the conventional methods of statistics to be most helpful in analyzing the size data. By separating cases involving only discs, for example, one should discover estimated sizes clustering about the actual dimensions of several different models. But that has not been the author's experience. The data simply display no such tendency. Contamination of the sample is suspected to be the cause of this difficulty, namely, unwitting inclusion of various types of UFOs within a particular classification. In addition, people are known to be rather poor at estimating dimensions.
The diameters of discs, nevertheless, have been estimated to cover the enormous range from about 2 ft to 300 ft. Familiar objects with corresponding dimensions would be a large serving tray and a football field. But let there be no mistake here, several different models of UFOs are involved and this disparity has nothing to do with human error. Other shapes have also been estimated at various sizes:
| Forme | Dimension (pieds) | Gamme de taille (pieds) |
|---|---|---|
| Cylindre | longueur | 12 à 210 |
| Oeuf | longueur | 9 à 75 |
| Sphère | diamètre | 6 à 21 |
Peut-être cette situation would come into sharper focus avec une analyse à grande échelle des données à l'aide d'un ordinateur. Pour le moment, on ne peut se baser que sur les estimations les plus fiables faites de près et une connaissance générale via la littérature. Les références sont malheureusement omises ici en raison de the prodigious scale du problème de récupération de données. Les types principaux d'ovnis semblent être :
Généralement, la surface extérieure des ovnis est décrite comme extrêmement lisse. De nombreux témoins ont fait des commentaires sur cet aspect, exprimant leur surprise de ne pouvoir détecter aucune ligne de jointure de plaques à la surface ni aucun rivet. Dans quelques cas, on voit une porte s'ouvrir sur le côté là où le témoin n'avait pu détecter un contour avant qu'elle commence à se mouvoir. Egalement, à la fermeture, la ligne démarquant l'ouverture de la porte ne pouvait plus être discernée, bien que le témoin n'ait été qu'à quelques pieds de distance s35Vallée, J.: Passport To Magonia, p. 24, Regnery, 1969.. Cette caractéristique de la surface pourrait être liée à la conduction électrique de la skin telle qu'explorée dans un chapitre ultérieur.
La surface extérieure n'est normalement brisée par aucun élément structurel bien que des ouvertures aient été observée en grand nombre. Dans une étude de 50 cas de ce type, les ouvertures s'avéraient généralement être rondes ou rectangulaires mais parfois de forme irrégulière. Leur arrangement intervenait selon différents schémas sur différents s36types d'ovnis s37Hall, R. E. (editor): The UFO Evidence, p. 145., National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena, 1964.. Ces fenêtres semblaient être plus fréquemment sur les véhicules à forme de fuselage, étant généralement dispersées sur une seule rangée de 4 ou 5 le long du côté. Le nombre, la forme et la position des fenêtres semble varier considérablement sur d'autres types. Une étude approfondie de ce détail devrait aider à dégager des modèles spécifiques d'ovnis, mais encore une fois, cette tache serait trop lourde sans un ordinateur.
Une caractéristique particulièrement intéressante sur certains modèles est un ascenseur abaissé alors que l'ovni reste en survol à plusieurs pieds au-dessus du sol. Ce détail est si unique qu'à lui seul il pourrait isoler un type particulier. Ces véhicules ont à l'évidence visité la Virginie Occidentale (1965), le Minnesota (1967) et le Nebraska (1967) s38Vallée, J.: Passport to Magonia, Annexe Cas 644, 812 et 902, Regnery, 1969.. Il est tout à fait possible qu'un tracé minutieux d'observations similaires où tous les facteurs seraient compatibles reconstituerait l'itinéraire d'un appareil donné.
La littérature est pleine de récits d'autres éléments structurels tels que des trains d'atterrissage, des escaliers, des balustrades et des antennes. Plus d'une fois, des gens ont regardé dans les fenêtres d'appareils au sol pour découvrir des sièges, des bancs, des tables, des lumières et des consoles de contrôle. D'autres sont entrés à l'intérieur. C'est un domaine très important qui devrait recevoir bien plus d'attention qu'il n'en a eu dans le passé.