I think that the overwhelming majority of UFO sightings reported over the years can be explained in conventional terms. People often see things in the sky that they can’t immediately identify, and what might be a commercial aircraft reflecting sunlight at a strange angle, or a weather balloon caught in unusual wind patterns, can easily be interpreted as something extraordinary. Celestial bodies like Venus, Mars, or bright stars can also appear unusual to an untrained observer, especially when atmospheric conditions distort their appearance.

That said, I believe there’s a small percentage of cases that can’t be explained so easily. These cases usually involve credible witnesses, such as military pilots, radar operators, police officers, or scientists, and sometimes come with physical traces, radar confirmation, or even photographic evidence. I think these specific incidents represent a real mystery, and I don’t believe they can be explained as mere misidentifications or hoaxes. For this subset of reports, I find the extraterrestrial hypothesis to be the most reasonable explanation. I don’t claim to know which planet or star system these craft come from, nor how they travel here, but I believe they’re not of human origin.

However, I personally don’t believe that any alien spacecraft has ever crashed on Earth, been recovered by the U.S. military, or reverse-engineered to develop advanced weapons and aircraft. I understand that this may sound surprising, especially given how common these stories are within UFO literature. But in my opinion, once you take a closer look at the evidence behind most of these claims, they simply don’t hold up.

The overwhelming majority of UFO crash stories are based on hearsay, second-hand testimony, or accounts that only emerged decades after the event supposedly occurred. And when a UFO crash-retrieval report doesn’t turn out to be a hoax, it often turns out to be something mundane, such as the fall of a bolide or the crash of a classified military aircraft.

This skeptical stance is shared by many researchers who aren’t, in principle, opposed to the idea of UFO crashes. A good example is Kevin Randle, who’s considered one of the most prominent advocates of the Roswell incident. Despite his opinions on Roswell, he has acknowledged that the vast majority of alleged UFO crashes don’t hold up to scrutiny. In his 2015 book Crash — When UFOs Fall from the Sky, Randle examined dozens of crash-retrieval stories and concluded that nearly all of them could be explained through conventional means, lacked convincing evidence, or were demonstrable hoaxes.

And speaking of Roswell, I believe that this UFO crash, like all the others, also has a reasonable terrestrial explanation. Specifically, I think the theory put forward by British UFO researcher Nick Redfern offers a much more convincing explanation than both the crashed flying saucer theory and the official explanation given by the U.S. Air Force.

In his two books Body Snatchers in the Desert and The Roswell UFO Conspiracy, Redfern argues that what came down near Corona, New Mexico, in July 1947 wasn’t extraterrestrial at all, but rather the result of a classified experiment. The craft consisted of a large polyethylene balloon, possibly coated in a reflective material similar to Mylar, tethered to a crude glider based on flying-wing designs developed by the German Horten brothers.

On board were four or five human test subjects, likely captured Japanese prisoners with physical deformities. The purpose of the entire experiment was to study the effects of high-altitude exposure on the human body. When the contraption broke apart, the huge balloon disintegrated and landed on Mack Brazel’s ranch, while the glider and the Japanese prisoners on board came down a few miles away.

To bury the truth and create confusion, the military deliberately released two conflicting stories: a sensational press release claiming that a flying disc had been recovered, followed by a second press release claiming it was just a weather balloon. I find this explanation to be the most convincing because it offers a coherent terrestrial interpretation for the strangest and seemingly extraterrestrial elements of the case.

Therefore, I think that if there’s a government cover-up related to UFOs, it has nothing to do with crashed saucers, recovered alien bodies, or reverse-engineering programs. Rather, I believe the cover-up has probably taken place in two main ways.

On one hand, the U.S. military, especially the Air Force, has been quietly and covertly gathering evidence in the form of high-resolution photographs and detailed radar data, while simultaneously using debunking and ridicule to make the entire subject seem unworthy of attention. There’s a substantial body of evidence suggesting that the Air Force was quietly gathering data behind the scenes while using Project Blue Book as a public relations tool to dismiss and debunk as many UFO sightings as possible, often offering explanations that didn’t line up with the facts and ridiculing credible witnesses.

This was confirmed by General Carroll Bolender, who openly stated that Project Blue Book was essentially a farce and that all UFO cases with potential national security implications were kept out of the Blue Book system entirely, with the data from those incidents being collected through other, more restricted channels.

On the other hand, the Air Force has also promoted sensationalistic, implausible, and convoluted UFO stories with the goal of flooding the topic with so much confusion and absurdity that any serious investigation would be drowned in noise. In fact, there’s strong evidence suggesting that the Air Force Office of Special Investigations was heavily involved in the creation of the Roswell/Majestic-12 mythology and encouraged the spread of some of the wildest and darkest stories that have circulated within the UFO community since the early 1980s, including tales of underground alien bases where extraterrestrials carry out horrific experiments on human test subjects in collaboration with U.S. military personnel.

Alongside the stories of crashed and reverse-engineered flying saucers, another area commonly linked to the UFO phenomenon that I view with a great deal of skepticism is the phenomenon of alien abductions.

To me, alien abductions can generally be attributed to three main causes:

Psychological phenomena
Covert human experimentation
Genuine extraterrestrial encounters

The majority of alien abduction reports can definitely be traced back to sleep paralysis episodes, which are fairly common and can be extremely vivid and disturbing. Once a sleep paralysis experience gets filtered through a hypnotic regression session, it can end up being reshaped into something far more dramatic and detailed than it really was, especially when you consider how easily hypnosis can distort people’s memories or even create false ones, and how frequently hypnosis is used by abduction researchers to “recover” the memory of the abductee.

That said, there’s a small percentage of abduction accounts that are harder to dismiss. For example, cases where the testimony of the abductee is accompanied by physical evidence (such as marks on the body or cerebral implants) can’t be explained away with sleep paralysis. In these cases, I think it makes sense to suggest that the person was indeed abducted by someone. However, I believe that attributing the abduction to space aliens is too hasty, because there are perfectly plausible earthly explanations that can account for many of these incidents.

For instance, in his book The Controllers, Martin Cannon suggests that many abduction experiences could be the result of covert human experimentation carried out by certain intelligence agencies. He argues that as early as the 1960s, the United States already had some fairly advanced mind-control technologies.

Some of these technologies involved implanting electronic devices directly into people’s brains to induce trance states or deep hypnosis, making it possible to manipulate their perception of reality and create false memories. To back up his claims, Cannon cites extensive documentation related to the CIA’s MK-Ultra program and mind-control research, concluding that there are many similarities between what these technologies were reportedly capable of and the experiences described in alien abduction reports.

Cannon traces these technologies back to early experiments in psychoelectronics. One well-known example is the stimoceiver, a small brain implant developed by neuroscientist José Delgado. The device could send and receive signals through radio waves, allowing an operator to stimulate specific parts of the brain and trigger emotions or behaviors at will. With the right stimulation, a person could feel anger, fear, pleasure, or exhaustion for no reason.Delgado also showed that this kind of brain stimulation could produce vivid hallucinations or alter a person’s sense of time and memory, effects that resemble many of the experiences reported by abductees.

Later researchers built on Delgado’s experiments and developed even more sophisticated technologies. One of them is RHIC-EDOM, which stands for Radio-Hypnotic Intracerebral Control and Electronic Dissolution of Memory. This technology was reportedly capable of inducing deep, recurring hypnotic states through simple radio commands, disrupting a person’s sense of time, and altering memory in ways that could make them genuinely believe they’d experienced events that never actually happened.

Essentially, Cannon suggests that intelligence agencies may have created the “alien abduction” myth as a cover for their secret operations. The abductions are real, the fear and pain are real, the forced instructions are real, but the little grey men from Zeta Reticuli are just a mask meant to disguise the true perpetrators and hide the human source of the trauma. While it’s difficult to verify everything he claims, I do think his hypothesis makes a lot of sense and could explain a great number of alien abduction reports, especially the ones involving the so-called “Greys.”

However, there are a few incidents that, in my opinion, are almost certainly of extraterrestrial origin. For example, I believe the abductions of Betty and Barney Hill, Fortunato Zanfretta, and Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker are not hoaxes, not the result of sleep paralysis, and not the result of covert human experimentation. The evidence and witness testimony in these particular cases make it very hard for me to believe they were anything other than genuine encounters with creatures from another planet. So, even though most abduction reports can probably be explained by psychological phenomena or human experimentation, I personally believe that a few (very few) of these cases reflect real encounters with extraterrestrials.

Another topic often associated with UFOs that I find hard to take seriously is the Ancient Astronaut hypothesis. I don’t believe that aliens had any role in creating the human race, building the megalithic structures we still see today, or guiding early civilizations. In my opinion, ancient human societies were perfectly capable of constructing megalithic structures and developing agriculture, writing, astronomy, and mathematics on their own, through intelligence, observation, and hard work. The idea that they needed help from spacefaring visitors not only lacks evidence, but also underestimates the ingenuity of our ancestors. I believe these cultures deserve full credit for what they accomplished independently.

For the same reason, I don’t believe that the gods described in ancient myths were extraterrestrials. I believe they were simply imaginary characters created by early humans to explain natural forces they couldn’t understand. Those who interpret ancient mythology as evidence of extraterrestrial intervention in ancient history are engaging in a form of retroactive reasoning, projecting contemporary concepts onto ancient cultures.

That said, there are a few historical reports of unusual aerial phenomena that I find interesting. I’m not referring to religious or mythological texts, but to official records describing sightings of strange lights or objects in the sky. For instance, Egyptian, Roman, and medieval chronicles mention incidents involving bright objects moving across the sky in formation. While these accounts are obviously open to interpretation and could have natural or atmospheric explanations, they remain intriguing and difficult to completely dismiss. Still, I think these events, if they truly occurred, were rare and isolated rather than part of any sustained or deliberate contact. I don’t believe they influenced human development in any meaningful way or changed the course of history. If extraterrestrial visitors did come here long ago, their presence was likely infrequent, brief, and subtle compared to the concentrated wave of activity that seems to have begun in 1947.

So all things considered, you could say that my approach to the UFO phenomenon combines healthy skepticism with open-mindedness.

Most sightings can be traced back to ordinary causes, such as aircraft, satellites, weather phenomena, or hoaxes. However, there’s a small percentage of genuinely puzzling cases involving credible witnesses and solid evidence. For those, I find the extraterrestrial hypothesis to be the most reasonable explanation, though I don’t claim to know where these alien visitors originate from or how they got here.

I’m not convinced that ancient aliens created the human race, built the megalithic structures, or guided the development of ancient civilizations. I’m also not very fond of tales involving crashed flying saucers, recovered alien bodies, and reverse-engineering programs, though I believe the governments of the major world superpowers are definitely hiding information about the phenomenon.

Overall, I maintain a balanced approach, ready to reconsider my views if compelling, verifiable evidence emerges. Until then, I rely on rational inquiry, neither rejecting the phenomenon outright nor accepting unfounded speculation.

For anyone interested in digging deeper into this subject, below is a list of what I personally consider to be the best books and papers on the UFO phenomenon and related topics:

The Flying Saucers Are Real by Donald Keyhoe
Flying Saucers From Outer Space by Donald Keyhoe
The Flying Saucer Conspiracy by Donald Keyhoe
Flying Saucers — Top Secret by Donald Keyhoe
Aliens From Space: The Real Story of Unidentified Flying Objects by Donald Keyhoe
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects by Edward Ruppelt
The UFO Evidence by Richard Hall
Report on the UFO Wave of 1952 by Richard Hall
Report on the UFO Wave of 1947 by Ted Bloecher
The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry by J. Allen Hynek
The Hynek UFO Report: The Authoritative Account of the Project Blue Book Cover-Up by J. Allen Hynek
UFO Reports Involving Vehicle Interference by Mark Rodeghier
The UFO Casebook by Kevin Randle
Faces of the Visitors: An Illustrated Reference to Alien Contact by Kevin Randle and Russ Estes
The Spaceships of the Visitors: An Illustrated Guide to Alien Spacecraft by Kevin Randle and Russ Estes
Project Blue Book Exposed by Kevin Randle
The Best of Project Blue Book by Kevin Randle
Invasion Washington: UFOs Over the Capitol by Kevin Randle
Scientific UFOlogy: How Scientific Methodology Can Prove the Reality of UFOs by Kevin Randle
Alien Mysteries, Conspiracies and Cover-Ups by Kevin Randle
Encounter in the Desert: The Case for Alien Contact at Socorro by Kevin Randle
Levelland by Kevin Randle
UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean
UFOs and Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites by Robert Hastings
Science in Default: Twenty-Two Years of Inadequate UFO Investigations by James McDonald
UFOs: An International Scientific Problem by James McDonald
Statement on Unidentified Flying Objects by James McDonald
UFOs? Yes! Where the Condon Committee Went Wrong by David Saunders
The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence by Peter Sturrock
Unconventional Flying Objects: A Scientific Analysis by Paul Hill
Earth Lights: Towards an Understanding of the Unidentified Flying Objects Enigma by Paul Devereux
Electric UFOs: Fireballs, Electromagnetics and Abnormal States by Albert Budden
Crash at Corona: The Definitive Study of the Roswell Incident by Stanton Friedman and Don Berliner
UFO Crash at Roswell by Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt
The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell by Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt
Roswell UFO Crash Update: Exposing the Military Cover-Up of the Century by Kevin Randle
Roswell in the 21st Century: The Evidence as it Exists Today by Kevin Randle
Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe by Karl Pflock
Body Snatchers in the Desert: The Horrible Truth at the Heart of the Roswell Story by Nick Redfern
The Roswell UFO Conspiracy: Exposing A Shocking And Sinister Secret by Nick Redfern
Crashed Saucers: Evidence in Search for Proof by William Moore
UFO Crash Retrievals: The Complete Investigation – Status Reports I-VII by Leonard Stringfield
Crash — When UFOs Fall From the Sky by Kevin Randle
The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours Aboard a UFO: The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill by John Fuller
Encounters at Indian Head: The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction Revisited by Karl Pflock and Peter Brookesmith
Beyond Reasonable Doubt: The Pascagoula Alien Abduction by Philip Mantle
The Zanfretta Case: Chronicle of an Incredible True Story by Rino Di Stefano
The Priests of High Strangeness: Co-Creation of the “Alien Abduction Phenomenon” by Carol Rainey
The Abduction Enigma: An Investigation of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon by Kevin Randle, Russ Estes, and William Cone
The Controllers: A New Hypothesis of Alien Abductions by Martin Cannon
The Space-Gods Revealed: A Close Look At The Theories Of Erich Von Daniken by Ronald Story
The Past Is Human: Debunking Von Daniken’s Gee-whiz Theories by Peter White
The Cult of Alien Gods: H. P. Lovecraft and Extraterrestrial Pop Culture by Jason Colavito
Faking History: Essays on Aliens, Atlantis, Monsters, and More by Jason Colavito
Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts by Jason Colavito
Ancient Atom Bombs: Fact, Fraud, and the Myth of Prehistoric Nuclear Warfare by Jason Colavito
Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery by Michael Busby
The Great Airship of 1897: A Provocative Look at the Most Mysterious Aviation Event in History by J. Allan Danelek
Project Beta: The Story of Paul Bennewitz, National Security, and the Creation of a Modern UFO Myth by Greg Bishop
Saucers, Spooks and Kooks: Disinformation in the Age of Aquarius by Adam Gorightly
X Descending: Two Extraordinary Films Reveal Lies, Deception, and Truth About Unidentified Flying Objects by Christian Lambright
Top Secret/Majic: Operation Majestic-12 and the United States Government’s UFO Cover-Up by Stanton Friedman and Don Berliner
Case MJ-12: The True Story Behind the Government’s UFO Conspiracies by Kevin Randle
The Secret Pratt Tapes and the Origins of MJ-12 by Brad Sparks and Barry Greenwood
Mute Evidence: The Cattle Mutilation Mystery Solved! by Daniel Kagan and Ian Summers
Dulce Base: The Truth and Evidence From the Case Files of Gabe Valdez by Greg Valdez

Hope this helps anyone looking for good reads on the topic.