UFO Glossary

Aerial Phenomena Research Organization

Founded in 1952 in Tucson, Arizona, but disbanded in the late 1980s, the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) was the ...
Read More

Alien Autopsy Film

UFO experts who refer to the “alien autopsy film” are referring to a seventeenminute-long silent black-and-white film supposedly made in ...
Read More

Alien Implants

Many alien abduction stories include descriptions of medical examinations during which the aliens insert a small device somewhere just beneath ...
Read More

Alternative Explanations for Alien Abduction Experiences

Those who are skeptical of claims that aliens abduct humans contend that these recollections are hallucinations, fantasies, visions, or dreams ...
Read More

Ancient Monuments

Over the centuries scholars have debated how certain large objects and structures, such as the pyramids of ancient Egypt, could ...
Read More

Bullard, Thomas E.

Folklorist Thomas E. Bullard is best known for his scholarship on the place of UFO reports in popular culture. In ...
Read More

Descriptions of Aliens

In reports given by people who claim to have seen extraterrestrial beings, there are two types of aliens. The first ...
Read More

Edwards, Frank Allyn

Frank Allyn Edwards (1908−1967) was a writer, radio announcer, and radio political commentator and was one of the founders of ...
Read More

Flying Saucer

“flying saucer” An expression commonly used to describe an unexplained aerial phenomenon. The words do not always convey a just ...
Read More

Foo Fighters

The term foo fighters is often used to refer to UFOs that are reported by pilots flying at night as ...
Read More

Gulf Breeze sightings

So many unidentified flying objects have been sighted over Gulf Breeze, Florida, that the town is considered by enthusiasts to ...
Read More

Keyhoe, Donald E.

Keyhoe, Donald E. (1897?–ca. 1988) : During the 1950s journalist Donald E. Keyhoe became one of the leading proponents of ...
Read More

Little Green Men

During the 1950s and 1960s, when science-fiction stories often depicted aliens as having green skin, the phrase little green men ...
Read More

Men in Black

The phrase Men in Black refers to mysterious men wearing black suits and sunglasses. Witnesses of UFOs and other seemingly ...
Read More

Missing-Time Episodes

A missing-time episode is the perception on the part of a person that he or she cannot account for a ...
Read More

National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena

The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP) was once one of the most prominent organizations of UFO researchers and ...
Read More

Physical Evidence of Alien Contact

Ufologists and others who believe that aliens regularly visit Earth say there has been physical evidence of these visits. The ...
Read More

Project Blue Book

Begun in 1952, Project Blue Book was the last in a series of U.S. Air Force investigations into the nature ...
Read More

Psychological Signs of Alien Contact

Whether they have remembered an abduction experience on their own or through hypnosis, people who claim to have been abducted ...
Read More

Robertson Panel

Named for its leader, physicist H.P. Robertson, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Defense Department, the ...
Read More

Roswell Incident

Among people who believe that UFOs are alien spacecraft, the Roswell incident is considered to be proof not only that ...
Read More

Sitchin, Zecharia

Zecharia Sitchin (1920s−2010 ) : Zecharia Sitchin was one of the leading proponents of the ancient astronaut theory, an idea ...
Read More

Starchild skull

Starchild skull, the In 1999 an oddly shaped skull was displayed at conferences attended by ufologists as proof that alien-human ...
Read More

The Condon Committee

Headed by and named for physicist Edward U. Condon of the University of Colorado, the Condon Committee was a U.S ...
Read More

The Watchers

The name the Watchers is sometimes used to refer to extraterrestrials whose motive for visiting Earth is said to be ...
Read More

Unidentified Submarine Objects

As their name implies, unidentified submarine objects (USOs) are objects seen beneath the sea that defy identification. In some cases ...
Read More