BENGALURU: A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes, goes a popular quote. This has turned out to be true, considering the pace at which rumours of alien sightings have been reported in Karnataka over the past few weeks.
The most recent incident was reported in Chikkarakalgud, Hassan district, where locals claimed to have seen flying saucers. A similar incident was reported on December 9 in Mangaluru, where locals said an alien was haunting the locality.
Flying saucers
Last week, rumours were rife in Hassan that the ‘flying saucers’ had been caught on camera after a few women working on an arecanut plantation spotted them. “There were five beams of light and they were visible between 7.30 and 9.30pm. According to estimates, the source of light was about 150-200m above the ground,” said a widely-circulated message, attributing the quote to a retired military personnel.
Many people witnessed the phenomenon but the only proof that it took place is a poorly-shot video. However, local police have denied any such incident.
Boliyar ‘alien’
On December 9, 2015, there were reports of similar claims made in Boliyar, near Mangaluru. Locals said a creature with the body of a child, voice of a human but speaking an unknown language, had ‘appeared and disappeared.’ After a couple of sightings, locals launched a search operation, which ended as a futile exercise.
Periyapatna case
In October, one person was reprimanded by police after he sent voice messages to TV channels that women working in a field had spotted a peculiar bird which was alien.
In the Hassan case, Bommaiah, a local, said the whole incident could have been a mirage. He said an event was held at a nearby school and they used high-beam lights. “It is possible those who weren’t aware of the source of light may have taken it for a UFO,” he said.
What is a UFO?
UFO, short for unidentified flying object, entered popular culture owing to conspiracy theories. Experts say such claims began after the start of space race between USA and Russia. Such claims have been bolstered in recent years, owing to a conspiracy theory that world governments are covering up alien existence.
ET Sightings in india
New Delhi: A few people at Indira Gandhi International Airport said that they saw some yellow-orange object over the air cargo terminal and it disappeared in a few seconds on April 8, 2000, at around 11.55pm.
Ladakh: Soldiers of the Indian Army said that on August 4, 2013, they saw a few flying objects at Lagan Kher Area, Demchock, Ladakh. They said that they had seen many such UFOs in their seven months at the Arunachal Pradesh border.
Bengaluru: Jayanagar resident Afzal Khan said that he saw some lights moving in a triangular formation in the sky towards west/north-west direction at 9—9.30pm on April 24, 2008.
AREA 51
According to conspiracy theories, Area 51, an air force base in Las Vegas, is where the remains of a crashed alien spacecraft are stored. This with reports of unusual phenomena has led Area 51 to become a focus of conspiracy theories. Some activities mentioned are:
● Storage, examination and reverse engineering of crashed alien spacecraft (including material supposedly recovered at Roswell), the study of their occupants (living and dead), and manufacture of aircraft based on alien technology.
● Meetings or joint undertakings with extraterrestrials
● Development of exotic energy weapons for the Strategic Defence Initiative or other weapons programmes.
● Development of means of weather control
● Development of time travel and teleportation technology
● Development of exotic propulsion systems related to the Aurora Programme.
● Activities related to a supposed shadowy one world government or the Majestic 12 organization.
(Source: Internet)
Other ‘Sightings’?
June 2015: A Kanpur boy claimed to have captured a photograph of a flying saucer on his smartphone.
July 2012: Claims of UFOs were made in Pune. It was later learnt the ‘UFO’ was actually a weather balloon. According to UFO-blogger.com, Agriculture Minister of Madhya Pradesh had also captured photographs of UFOs.
August 2015: A few people claimed they had spotted a UFO over Gurgaon, Haryana.