Not fakes. But what?
Most often these are fakes. In search of false sensations, people do not disdain forgeries, make a banal photomontage or pass off a film marriage as a UFO. Approximately the same happens with the discovery of ghosts and other otherworldly entities. But there are pictures that have been examined more than once.
These 10 photos are genuine, without editing and other processing. They were made at different times: from the 40s to the present day. But science still cannot explain them exactly, give an absolute assessment.
Atmospheric "tricks"
Elizabeth, the author of this photograph and six others in the same series, lived and worked in South Africa in the 1950s. She worked, for a second, in the intelligence of the South African Air Force, her husband served there, was a major in the Air Force.
Both spouses enjoyed authority in society. Elizabeth captured this strange object at the foot of the Drakensberg Mountains. And this was done in the presence of two witnesses, the pictures were taken from several angles.
Scientists shrug their shoulders. They put forward only one more or less realistic explanation for the phenomenon: an optical atmospheric phenomenon.
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Experts explain this modern photo in the same way. It was made in 2004 in Mexico by a local newspaper journalist Manuel Aguirre. A disc-shaped object emitting glowing lights "hovers" over the city of Valpara.
This photo is one of the oldest. February 25, 1942, sky over Los Angeles. That evening, the city was frightened by the howl of sirens warning of Japanese aircraft approaching the city from the ocean. In fear of the bombing, the residents, as prescribed by the instructions, turned off the lights in the houses.
American air defenses took over. They began to fire at the approaching luminous objects. But not a single shot was successful: the shells flew past the "small UFOs". The objects, according to witnesses to the incident, were small in size, red or silver in color.
The experts put forward a version suitable for the case: it was ball lightning. But doubts remain: the "balls" were moving high, but not chaotically, but in a strict order.
On December 21, 1994, a volcano erupted in Mexico in the state of Puebla. Photographer Carlos Diaz took a series of spectacular images of a rare natural phenomenon. This luminous object of a mysterious nature also got into the lens of his camera.
The photos were studied by experts for a long time, then many world publications were printed. It depicts a disc emitting bright rays of the red-yellow color range. On the sides of the disc, observant spectators saw something like portholes. But scientists believe that this is a cloud, highlighted in the process of a volcanic eruption.
The next picture belongs to the American Harold Trudel. The author captured this very clearly visible flying saucer in 1967 in the East Woonsocket area of Rhode Island. On a disc-shaped object, the dome and other details are clearly visible.
This is what alarms the experts. The aviators let the photographer too close, as if they were specially posing for the lens. Trudel claimed that he watched the UFO for five minutes, then he flew north.
Here serious researchers do not think of any other explanation other than the hoax. The pictures are genuine - yes. But what is this plate? Perhaps the photographer is fond of constructing flying objects and made it himself.
It is known that during the Second World War, on the orders of Hitler, the Germans were developing a vertical take-off aircraft. The project is still classified, but some data, accidentally or deliberately, still leaked to the public.
In 1972, the fifth American expedition landed on the moon. In the photo - astronaut Charles Duke, he is collecting samples from the lunar surface. Behind the researcher is a lunar rover and a strange object in the sky. What is this unidentified flying object, NASA has not yet determined.
Maybe there was nothing, experts of the agency put forward a version. In general, our closest space neighbor is full of mysteries and surprises. Until now, there are legends that the participants in the first American landing on the moon observed some objects and even subjects there.
However, there are other versions as well. Some analysts and conspiracy theorists do not believe at all that in 1969 astronauts landed on the lunar surface.
Waterbury (Connecticut, USA) 1987. Randy Etting took a walk in the evening outside his house. Suddenly, a garland of orange and red lights flashed across the sky. The glow was approaching from the west.
Randy armed himself with a camera and binoculars and called the neighbors. The lights drew closer, and unknown objects swept over Interstate 84. At the same time, the engines of the cars that were moving along the highway then stalled. Motorists, like Etting's neighbors, witnessed the incident. A possible explanation for this phenomenon: military experiments by NASA or the Pentagon.
And this "plate" was caught in the lens on May 8, 1950 by a resident of McMinnville (Oregon) Paul Trent. His wife noticed a mysterious object in the sky over the village and called Paul. He managed to grab a camera and shoot a UFO.
The photo was first published by a local newspaper, and in July of the same year it was reprinted by Life magazine. Experts have tried several times to challenge the authenticity of the photograph, but to no avail. Maybe it was an air probe, experts ask. The question remains unanswered.
A similar version - an air probe or a strange-shaped cloud - was put forward to explain this photo. It was taken from a cartographer plane performing routine work commissioned by the Costa Rican authorities on September 4, 1971. The picture recorded this "spot" from a height of 4500 meters, when the plane flew over one of the local lakes.
The biggest of the mysteries
This is probably the most famous and most mysterious of the series. It was taken in Washington on July 19, 1952.
Eyewitnesses then noticed a "flock" of UFOs performing mysterious "dances" in the sky over the US government buildings: the White House, the Pentagon and the Capitol. Radars at Andrews National Airport and Andrews Air Force Base detected these flying objects, but they soon disappeared without a trace.
It should be remembered that the end of the 40s and the beginning of the 50s of the last century were a period of increased attention of such objects to America.
The well-known and widely discussed incident in Roswell happened, we recall, in July 1947. Neither he nor the last photo have yet found any at least relatively realistic and scientifically substantiated explanation.
Why do UFOs "dislike" gadgets?
Analysts note that in recent years, UFO images have become less and less. Although almost every earthling today has a smartphone in his hands, and there are much more opportunities to catch such objects.
Why did the "cymbals" no longer fall into the field of view of new, more powerful lenses? Most likely, such phenomena are removed at least. But precisely because of the accuracy of the new technology, it is possible to immediately weed out defects and recognize such phenomena as the launch of an air probe, traces from the launch of a space rocket, atmospheric anomalies and other incidents that lend themselves to simple earthly logic.