EXCLUSIVE - I attended a secret UFO meeting preparing Christians for 'the truth' and saw shape-shifting beings. Trump's files hide a clue to where these 'aliens' come from

By CHRIS MELORE, US DEPUTY SCIENCE EDITOR

The man who claims he brought pastors from around the country to a secret UFO disclosure meeting in the Tennessee mountains has revealed what he believes is a missed clue in the latest batch of files declassified by the Pentagon.

In February, six influential Christian leaders met with a group of former government insiders and military personnel who allegedly had access to classified UFO data and knew about the Trump Administration's plans to disclose the information publicly.

Evangelist Tony Merkel claims he was contacted by these operatives, and he helped organize the gathering in a private cabin hidden in the mountains.

Merkel, Pastor Joseph Bishop Zupetz and Alan DiDio of the Revival Nation Church were among the influencers in attendance who said they were shown several images of extraterrestrial beings and UFOs, including one of a squid-like alien with long limbs.

Merkel described how the pastors were shown specific images of beings, which he believed appeared to be 'interdimensional' in nature, telling the Daily Mail that the creatures seemed to be 'shifting' in the pictures, 

In other images he claimed he and the pastors reviewed, having both a physical body but vanishing 'between realms' at the same time, like a ghost or spirit.

'The thing that stood out the most to me, I would say, is how physically present some of this stuff was. And then some of the other stuff appearing to be almost in a middle ground... almost like it's physical, but not totally physical,' Merkel described.

'That's how I took what I was looking at, because what I was looking at didn't seem like it was all physically here.'

Merkel compared an image he saw of one object to a video of a craft spotted over the Atlantic Ocean in 2020 (above), which was revealed in the July 10 UFO files release which described it as a 'somewhat deformed balloon'

Images included in the UFO files released by the Pentagon have been compared to angels flapping their wings

Merkel said the images allegedly shown to the pastors reinforced his understanding of a 1967 US Air Force document which was declassified in the government's July 10 UFO files drop. 

Merkel has claimed that his theory of 'interdimensional beings' is supported by a single page from the Air Force's review of Project Blue Book, a program that investigated the nature and origin of UFOs in the 1950s and 1960s.

He cited a specific passage which stated that the military could find no evidence that sightings of strange craft were piloted by 'space travelers.'

However, the document added that an investigator, whose name was redacted, eliminated all the other causes for these sightings, 'leaving him "extra-terrestrial" as the only one remaining in many cases.'

'That doesn't make sense to us,' Merkel said. 'But, if you're thinking back in 1967 to now, is it possible that the original idea of extraterrestrial didn't mean space travelers?'

Merkel's argument hinges on the document appearing to treat 'space travelers' and 'extra-terrestrials' as two separate concepts.

If the Air Force used 'extra-terrestrial' simply to mean a visitor from another planet, he reasoned, its rejection of 'space travelers' would appear to contradict the investigator's conclusion.

Merkel therefore believes the older term may have referred more broadly to a non-human intelligence (NHI) existing beyond the physical world, or in another dimension, rather than a being that traveled to Earth through space.

However, the document does not explicitly mention other dimensions, and Merkel's theory is purely his interpretation of its wording.

The Pentagon began releasing the first files related to UFO encounters and the search for alien life on May 8

Tony Merkel said a private meeting with intelligence officials revealed images of beings described as existing in two places at once (Stock Image)

He claimed some of the beings appeared to be 'shifting' in the pictures, simultaneously possessing a physical form while seemingly vanishing 'between realms' like a ghost or spirit.

Merkel elaborated that he believes another realm may overlap with physical reality, allowing objects or beings to move between the two.

'There is something, at least something there, and I think it overlays our reality in a way that's hard to comprehend,' he said.

He then connected that belief directly to the wording in the Blue Book document.

Among other images which caught him off guard, Merkel said, was one of a solid, mechanical-looking pill-shaped craft in the sky, visible behind bare tree limbs.

The UFO appeared more rigidly designed than reported sightings of smooth metallic flying saucers recognized in pop culture.

'It didn't strike me as something that was nice and perfectly smooth, like you see in sci-fi movies. It seemed like it had intent and a design behind it that just wasn't so simple to look at.'

Merkel compared the object to a video of a strange craft spotted over the Atlantic Ocean in 2020, which was revealed in the July 10 UFO files release without any significant context, aside from describing it as a 'somewhat deformed balloon.'

However, Merkel acknowledged that the alleged images lacked enough context to establish what they depicted and that his interdimensional explanation reflected his own interpretation.

'That's how I took what I was looking at, because what I was looking at didn't seem like it was all physically here,' he said.

In late February, President Trump announced that the Pentagon would be releasing all secret files related to UFOs and the search for alien life, just as the intelligence 'operators' had warned Merkel and the pastors he would.

A 1967 document in the Air Force review of Project Blue Book appears call 'space travelers' a separate being from 'extraterrestrials'

Those files began to be released on the Department of War's website on May 8. So far, five batches of UFO files have been disclosed, containing thousands of documents, videos and pictures supposedly showing unexplained phenomena.

However, critics have widely slammed the releases as containing little to no definitive proof of whether the craft seen are real UFOs or if the US government has made contact with non-human beings.

While members of Congress, including Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee, have claimed he has been shown shocking evidence of alien life during classified briefings, no such evidence has reached the public.

The White House, Pentagon and NASA have maintained for decades that no physical proof of UFOs has ever been found, and the military has dismissed most sightings as common objects such as birds, balloons or camera glitches.

In comparison to what he called the Pentagon's 'messy' release of the UFO files, Merkel called the secret pastor meeting in Tennessee the complete opposite.

'The meetings were well thought out, well organized. [The operators] knew exactly the information they were trying to share with us. They were prepared to answer questions,' he shared.

Merkel claimed that none of the information which was disclosed to the pastors has been included in the first four UFO file releases.

That includes an image of another 'extraterrestrial' which Zupetz described to the Daily Mail as a humanoid squid-like creature. 

'They were very tall, they had very long appendages, some of them almost looked, and this is a crude way of saying it, almost like humanoid squid-type things,' Zupetz said in June.

The Daily Mail could not independently confirm that the meetings took place. Merkel said he helped organize two meetings and was in attendance for one of them.

The disclosed UFO files contained information on Project Blue Book, a program that investigated the nature and origin of UFOs in the 1950s and 1960s

A video released in the first wave of UFO files appeared to show a glowing object resembling an 'eight-pointed star' with uneven arms that has been compared to a craft from biblical times

The Project Blue Book document has caused Merkel to wonder whether the government uses the word 'extraterrestrial' to actually mean something non-human or 'extra' that exists in our world, closer to the modern term NHI.

Pictured: Evangelist and podcast host Tony Merkel, who organized the meeting between US pastors and intelligence insiders

Key Trump Administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance and Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna, chairwoman of the committee to disclose UFO secrets, have both tied the appearances of NHI to biblical entities instead of alien beings.

Luna has repeatedly said witnesses her committee has interviewed have described what they saw as 'interdimensional' beings that had similarities to angels in the Bible, defied the laws of physics and were able to move outside of space and time.

Merkel, who examines both religious and paranormal activity on his podcast, argues that the government allowed pop culture and the nation's growing interest in science fiction in the 1960s to redefine the word extraterrestrial in order to draw attention away from the beings they were secretly investigating for decades.

'We've seen throughout history, governments control narratives. It's called propaganda. It's used in every major situation that any government tries. They use propaganda to make sure they control the narrative best they can,' Merkel said.

'And so at what level of all this disclosure is purposeful conclusion or purposeful confusion being disseminated?'

I Was in the Secret Pastor UFO Briefing – Here’s What They Told Us

We Attended the Pastor UFO Alien Disclosure Meeting (URGENT)

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EXCLUSIVE - Vatican may know scripture describes alien beings... and Bible expert reveals the hidden clues

• READ MORE: I'm a pastor who attended a secret UFO disclosure meeting. We saw images of 'translucent beings' that chilled me to the bone... the files could fulfil a dark biblical prophecy
  

By ROB WAUGH

A former Bible translator says his research suggests the original Hebrew Bible texts refer to groups of alien beings, not one God, and that the Vatican is closely monitoring of his ideas.

Mauro Biglino, an Italian scholar who translated biblical texts for Edizioni San Paolo, a major Catholic publishing house linked to the Vatican, has focused his research on Hebrew words he believes describe multiple supernatural beings and even spacecraft in biblical times.

Biglino told the Daily Mail that sources he considers reliable claimed figures within the Vatican have been following his work and discussing its implications in certain theological circles.

However, he provided no evidence that the Vatican is monitoring him or considering taking action against his work. ‘Given the reach of my publications... I believe it is highly probable that, sooner or later, [the Vatican] will intervene in some way,’ he claimed.

Biglino is a proponent of the ‘ancient alien’ theory, which suggests technologically advanced beings visited Earth in the distant past and were mistaken for gods, angels or demons by ancient cultures.

In particular, he argues that the Hebrew word ‘Elohim’ refers to multiple beings rather than one God and that passages in Ezekiel describe advanced technology, including flying vehicles.

Biglino further alleged that factions within the Vatican, including historians, archaeologists and scientists, are ‘fully aware’ that the Bible may contain a radically different story from the one taught by religious leaders.

‘Many of them are fully aware that the Hebrew Bible presents a much more complex picture than the simplified version generally offered in religious teaching,’ he said.

Pictured: One of the most complete Hebrew Bibles still in existence, seen in New York in 2023

Pictured: Mauro Biglino (Left) discusses his ideas about the real meaning of the Hebrew Bible

However, Biglino’s interpretation is rejected by mainstream biblical scholars, who explain that Elohim can be grammatically plural while referring to the singular God of Israel, depending on the surrounding language.

Scholars also generally interpret Ezekiel’s extraordinary vision as symbolic religious imagery - not a literal description of spacecraft or extraterrestrial visitors.

Biglino’s argument begins with the Hebrew word Elohim, which is plural in form, and biblical passages that describe ‘assemblies’ or ‘councils’ of divine beings.

He also pointed to figures including Yahweh, Elyon and Shaddai, names or titles traditionally understood as referring to the same God, as possible evidence of multiple powerful beings.

Biglino told the Daily Mail that mainstream theology tends to interpret such figures as ‘spiritual beings, angels, symbolic expressions or manifestations of the one transcendent God.’

‘My approach is different because I begin with the Hebrew words, their grammar and the concrete actions attributed to the biblical protagonists,’ he explained.

Biglino argued that the Elohim behave more like physical rulers than an all-knowing, eternal God, traveling between locations, holding councils, dividing territory, forging alliances, fighting wars and governing different populations. 

‘They eat, drink, rest and experience emotions such as anger, jealousy and fear. Above all, they are not described as immortal,' he continued.

Biglino believes that the word 'Elohim' in the Bible refers to multiple beings - not one God - and that passages in Ezekiel seem to refer to advanced technology including flying vehicles

Biglino highlighted Psalm 82, which describes God presiding over an assembly of divine beings and warning that they will ‘die like mortals.’

He also cited Deuteronomy 32, which describes nations being divided among higher powers, as evidence of multiple powerful beings rather than one immortal God.

However, neither passage mentions aliens or extraterrestrial technology. Scholars generally interpret the other figures as spiritual beings subordinate to the God of Israel.

Although Elohim is plural in form, it is frequently paired with singular verbs when referring to Israel’s God, a grammatical detail supporting a singular meaning in those passages.

Nevertheless, Biglino argued that Vatican specialists must have considered whether the texts preserve accounts of contact with nonhuman intelligences.

He believes his theory poses a far greater challenge to Catholic teaching than the possibility that life exists elsewhere in the universe.

The Vatican Observatory has publicly discussed extraterrestrial life, but Biglino predicted that the Church would regard any aliens as creations of the same universal God.

Biglino (Left) claimed that the Vatican has been monitoring his work, which challenges the Catholic Church's interpretation of the Bible

‘Asking whether microbial or intelligent life may exist on another planet is relatively unproblematic for theology. 

'Asking whether non-human beings came to Earth in the past, interacted with our ancestors and were subsequently identified as “gods” is far more challenging,’ he said.

Biglino said his interpretation emerged while translating 17 books of the Old Testament for a Catholic publisher.

He pointed to the Hebrew word kavod, traditionally translated as the ‘glory’ of God, which he said is also associated with weight, heaviness and physical substance.

In Exodus and Ezekiel, Biglino claimed, the kavod arrives, departs, moves through space and produces noise, fire and light. It can also be dangerous to people nearby.

‘In these contexts, it behaves like something physically present,’ he said.

‘It appeared to contain the memories of different peoples who had relationships with powerful beings possessing superior knowledge, longer lifespans and technologies that the ancient writers could describe only through the vocabulary available to them.’

Biglino predicted that the Church would gradually adapt its teachings if governments eventually confirmed the existence of technologically advanced nonhuman beings.

‘It could simply say that these beings, like humanity, are creatures of the one universal God,’ he said.

However, while scholars acknowledge that ancient Hebrew words can carry several meanings, linguistic ambiguity alone does not establish that the Bible describes aliens or advanced machinery.

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Mysterious ‘cloaked UFO’ spotted hiding inside cloud over North America

• READ MORE: UFO disclosure movement's astonishing new Trump claims: Secret Oval Office meetings... Air Force One plan... and 'imminent' next move
  

By STACY LIBERATORE, US SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

A mysterious photograph appears to show a ‘cloaked UFO’ hiding inside a cloud above a Canadian mountain town.

The image was reportedly captured over Canmore, Alberta on August 2 and shows a glowing, saucer-shaped formation suspended above the landscape.

It was shared on Facebook by Chary Woods, who posted the photo in a group dedicated to clouds.

Many people in the comments were quick to congratulate Woods on capturing an epic cloud hanging in the sky, but some noted that it looked more like a UFO.

At its center is a dark oval that UFO researcher Scott C Waring claims is a classic disk-shaped alien craft concealed within the cloud.

Waring said he increased the contrast on the photograph, allegedly making the object at the center of the formation easier to see. 

He claimed the UFO had deliberately created the cloud to hide itself while flying closer to the ground.

The researcher further alleged that alien craft use clouds as cover while secretly scanning the thoughts of people below.

The image was reportedly captured over Canmore, Alberta on August 2 and shows a glowing, saucer-shaped formation suspended above the landscape

A spectacular photograph of a saucer-shaped cloud over Canmore, Alberta, has sparked a wild online debate, with one researcher claiming it hides a cloaked UFO deployed to scan human thoughts @overclassifiedx / X

The extraordinary image has divided viewers online, with some declaring it evidence of extraterrestrial visitors while others questioned whether it was created using artificial intelligence.

However, no evidence has emerged proving that the shape is a physical craft or that aliens were involved.

‘This is a UFO cloaked within a cloud that it created,’ Waring wrote on his UFO Sightings Daily website.

‘When you add contrast to the photo, the alien classic disk craft becomes visible at its center.’

Waring claimed extraterrestrials had successfully used the supposed camouflage technique for millions of years.

‘UFOs use clouds to fly closer to the ground in order to scan the thoughts of humans below,’ he added.

‘I think UFO researchers worldwide will agree with me on this.’

The photograph shows a glowing formation stretching horizontally across the sky above mountains, trees, homes and a road.

At its center is a dark o val that UFO researcher Scott C Waring claims is a classic disk-shaped alien craft concealed within the cloud

A bright point of light, appearing to be the sun, can be seen shining through the thinner cloud near the dark central area.

The cloud’s smooth edges and oval shape give it the appearance of a traditional flying saucer, while its illuminated rim makes the formation stand out against the blue-gray sky.

The striking scene immediately prompted wildly different interpretations from social media users.

‘Sauron?’ one person asked, apparently comparing the glowing formation to the all-seeing Eye of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings.

Another viewer offered a more otherworldly explanation, writing: ‘The picture looks real by the contrast of the gate in the foreground. The star family is returning home again from the stars.’

A third declared: ‘Yes, I do believe in UFOs!!!’

Others were less convinced that the photograph could be trusted in an era of increasingly sophisticated image-generation technology.

‘With AI tricks we now are stuck wondering if this beauty is real. It’s fascinating!’ one commenter wrote.

Several viewers saw nothing sinister in the formation and instead praised it as a remarkable cloud.

‘Amazing photo! Thanks for sharing,’ one person said, while another called it a ‘fabulous capture.’

Read More

EXCLUSIVE

• I'm a pastor who attended a secret UFO disclosure meeting. We saw images of 'translucent beings' that chilled me to the bone... the files could fulfil a dark biblical prophecy 

One viewer compared the formation to a heart seen from the side, while another believed it resembled a halo.

The image file does not contain original camera metadata that could confirm when, where or with what device it was captured.

A visual examination did not reveal obvious hallmarks commonly associated with AI-generated pictures, such as malformed vehicles, duplicated trees or warped buildings.

The lighting, shadows, haze and surrounding landscape also appear internally consistent.

However, the PNG file appears to have been exported or processed, meaning its authenticity cannot be conclusively established from the available copy.

The shape resembles a naturally occurring lenticular cloud, which can form smooth, lens-like structures over mountainous areas and is frequently mistaken for a flying saucer.

The dark ‘disk’ could therefore be another layer of cloud, a shadow or an opening emphasized by the sunlight behind it.

Increasing the contrast would make differences between the light and dark areas more visible, but would not prove that a solid object was concealed inside.

For now, the apparent UFO remains an unexplained shape within a spectacular cloud rather than confirmed evidence of an alien spacecraft.

Some viewers leaned into fantasy, with one person jokingly asking whether the glowing formation was the all-seeing Eye of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings. Another commenter claimed that humanity's 'star family' was finally 'returning home again from the stars.'

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What UFOs and religion have in common

Catholic religious studies professor Diana Pasulka is reframing the public conversation on how we see UFOs

By Mariya Manzhos

Mariya is a staff writer based in Boston who writes at the intersection of religion and culture. She is the author of the weekly State of Faith newsletter.

• This article was first published in the State of Faith newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Monday night.

The connection between UFOs and religion may not seem obvious, but Diana Walsh Pasulka, a Catholic religious studies scholar, has come to see the two as intertwined.

Both wrestle with the mysteries that lie beyond ordinary human experience and require language, community and a personal witness to make sense of it. And in both cases, the two have the power to transform the way that reality is perceived.

Pasulka, who is a professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, used to dismiss the whole UFO conversation.

But as she was studying the archives of the Catholic saints like Teresa of Ávila and St. Francis of Assisi, she noticed parallels between their mystical experiences and modern-day alleged UFO accounts.

She tracked Catholic accounts from the 13th and 14th centuries that referred to visions of “flying houses,” “balls of light” and “little people.” Centuries later, she argues, people reporting UFO sightings — like the wave of reports in 1947 — have similarly relied on religious language to make sense of extraordinary experiences.

These findings didn’t undermine Pasulka’s religious belief. In fact, studying the UFO reports and interviewing people with alleged encounters reinforced her Catholic faith, she recently told Joe Rogan on his podcast. “It supercharged my Christianity,” she said.

Pasulka is one of the leading voices in the current UFO conversation. She brings a fresh lens to a subject that’s long been relegated to the fringes of cultural debate.

The recent file release on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena by the U.S. government  did not prove the existence of extraterrestrial beings. But it did unsettle the purely materialist understanding of the world and reopened questions about the limits of human knowledge and science.

Pasulka has written a lot about UFOs, including in her recent book, “The Others: UFOs, AI, and the Secret Forces Guiding Human Destiny.” She groups UFOs along with other extraordinary phenomena, including angels, demons and AI, under the umbrella of “nonhuman intelligence.”

I’m making my way through the book, and I’m finding it fascinating. I was struck by the connection Pasulka makes between UFOs and religion and the way that the former opens up the possibility for belief in the supernatural and the enchanted.

“The truth is that the possibility that UFOs are real has been the best thing for religion and religious practitioners for at least 200 years,” Pasulka writes, “and certainly within the period since 1917, when sociologist Max Weber confidently asserted that the modern world was disenchanted because rationalism and science replaced religion as dominant explanatory frameworks.”

One of religion’s functions, according to Pasulka, is “to help people assess nonordinary events and phenomena. It provides ritual, language and community to metabolize encounters that would otherwise overwhelm the individual.”

She goes on:

“Throughout history, we have reports of forms of intelligence associated with religious events, and from the 20th century onward, UFO encounters that appear to exceed our capacity to comprehend them. … The UFO, oddly enough, has re-enchanted the modern world; it has re-legitimized transcendence for secular subjects. Originally, religion remains the most adaptive framework we possess for understanding and responding to potential nonhuman intelligence, from AI to alleged UFOs.”

Pasulka was raised by secular parents — although her father came from a Catholic background and her mother was Jewish — and had little exposure to faith until age 11. While watching Franco Zeffirelli’s “Jesus of Nazareth” on TV, she was captivated by a scene in which Jesus saves the woman accused of adultery by inviting those “without sin” to throw a stone at her. She immediately asked her mother to buy her a Bible and became determined to understand Jesus’ teachings.

Pasulka converted to Catholicism, but she remained more “secular” in her disposition, she shared on the Rogan podcast. Studying people’s experiences with UFOs made her more open to extraordinary manifestations of her own faith — she wanted to be a “believing believer.”

Pasulka has acknowledged in interviews that she has no secret knowledge or evidence about UFOs.

Her point is that the phenomenon should not be dismissed as either science fiction or a fringe belief but instead that UFO claims deserve attention as a significant cultural and even religious phenomenon. And as a form of modern religion, belief in the UFO can be studied as such, through scholarly methods.

As a culture steeped in materialism and hyper-rationalism begins to hunger again for mystery and transcendence, belief in UFOs may offer a new outlet for religious imagination.

Fresh off the press

The beloved and influential Latter-day Saint poet Carol Lynn Pearson passed away this week. I talked to a few people about her legacy of compassion and inclusion. And don’t miss Carol Lynn’s final poem.

A German scholar at the University of Würzburg made an unexpected discovery while studying a 12th-century manuscript containing the sermons by St. Augustine.

Did you know that almost every day for over a century, someone has played a recital at the Salt Lake Tabernacle organ? Inside one of the longest-standing traditions at Temple Square.

What I’m reading

“Literally,” “actually” and extra exclamation points. The way we speak has become more extravagant. — The New York Times

Antisemitic graffiti appeared on a California synagogue after the house of worship suffered in the LA wildfires. — Forward

One charismatic Christian couple in Maryville, Tennessee, believed that their local bookstore became “the central hub for demonic activity” and was targeted for “spiritual warfare.” — The Atlantic

In addition to Pasulka’s book, I’m in the middle of “London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth” by Patrick Radden Keefe. It’s a gripping narrative about identity and parental grief and the city’s culture of wealth.

End notes

One evangelist influencer decided to use her Alaska Airlines flight delay to preach to her fellow airplane passengers. “God’s timing is perfect,” she announced to the cabin while filming herself. Maybe God was sparing them from danger, she said. She proceeded to preach about resurrection and salvation.

The preaching session didn’t go well for her, and she was asked to disembark the plane. In a video that went viral on social media, the flight attendant appears to be saying that the crew didn’t feel safe during the incident.

“I didn’t know that the message of Jesus Christ was unsafe,” the influencer said as she was filming herself and getting off the flight. She invoked freedom of speech and described the attack as “spiritual warfare.” She recorded a seven-part video of the saga on Instagram, with one video getting nearly 3 million views.

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{ https://www.deseret.com/faith/ }

The Cape Girardeau, Missouri UFO Crash & Dead Aliens Legend of 1941

by Steve Paslow

Cape Girardeau is a principal city in Cape Girardeau County and Scott County in the USA state of Missouri. The city is the economic center of southeastern Missouri, and the home of Southeast Missouri University. The alleged Cape Girardeau UFO crash of 1941 is one of the oldest and most controversial stories in American UFO lore. If the event actually occurred as described, it would have taken place six years before the famous June 4th  to July 10th 1947 Roswell, New Mexico UFO crash incident, making it one of the earliest claimed UFO crash-retrieval cases in the United States. However, there is no physical evidence or contemporary documentation confirming the event, and historians generally regard it as an unverified legend.

According to the legend, the incident occurred in April or June 1941 in a rural area outside Cape Girardeau, Missouri. The central figure is Reverend William G. Huffman, a Baptist minister of The Red Star Baptist Church. According to accounts that surfaced decades later, Huffman received a late-night request from local authorities to travel to what he believed was an airplane crash so he could pray over; administer last rites to the victims.  When he arrived, police officers, military personnel, and plainclothes officials were already present.

The story says he found something entirely unexpected. Instead of a conventional aircraft, witnesses later claimed there was a disc-shaped metallic craft lying on the ground. Which years later would be called a “flying saucer”.  Nearby the wrecked craft were three small humanoid dead bodies. According to later re-tellings, the corpses were said to be: About 4 feet (1.2 meters) tall. Hairless. Possessing unusually large heads. Having large eyes. Small mouths. Thin arms and legs. Wearing what appeared to be a seamless  and tight metallic suit. Some versions claim strange; unrecognizable  hieroglyphic-like symbols or writings were visible inside or on parts of the craft.

The Military Arrives

According to the legend, military personnel soon arrived and secured the crash site. Witnesses were allegedly instructed never to discuss what they had seen. One frequently repeated part of the story claims a military photographer secretly gave Reverend Huffman a photograph showing him standing beside one of the bodies. The photograph has never been produced publicly.

How the Story Became Public

One reason the case remains controversial is that no reports from 1941 describing the event have been found. Instead, the story first entered UFO literature decades later. In the early 1990s, UFO researcher Leonard Stringfield published an account after receiving information from Charlette Mann, Reverend Huffman’s granddaughter. She said her grandfather privately told the family about the extraordinary incident shortly before his death and had remained silent for many years because of alleged government pressure.

Leonard H. Stringfield is one of the best-known figures in UFO research, particularly for his investigations into alleged UFO crash-retrieval cases. Although he did not claim to have personally witnessed the alleged 1941 Cape Girardeau incident, he was the first researcher to publish it in detail, bringing the story to the attention of the UFO community. Stringfield (1920–1994) served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II and became interested in flying saucers shortly after the war. During the 1950s he was associated with the civilian UFO research organization CRIFO (Civilian Research, Interplanetary Flying Objects). Later, he became famous for a long series of reports investigating claims that the U.S. military had recovered crashed UFOs and non-human bodies. Rather than insisting every story was true, he generally presented witness testimony and discussed its strengths and weaknesses.

According to Stringfield, the story reached him through another respected UFO researcher, Raymond E. Fowler. In the late 1980s or about 1990, Fowler received a letter from Charlette (or Charlotte) Mann, a woman whose grandfather had allegedly witnessed an extraordinary event in 1941. Fowler believed Stringfield would be especially interested because he was collecting reports of crashed UFOs, so he forwarded the letter to him. Stringfield then contacted Mann directly. He interviewed her by telephone and asked her to prepare a more detailed written account of what her grandfather had told the family over the years.

When Stringfield published the case

Stringfield first published the Cape Girardeau story in July 1991. It appeared in Status Report VII: UFO Crash/Retrievals – The Inner Sanctum, one installment of his well-known UFO Crash/Retrievals report series. This was not a mass-market magazine article but a special research publication distributed primarily among UFO investigators and interested readers. The publication included: Charlette Mann’s letter. Stringfield’s personal comments including that Mann’s story could be true, even though there was no real proof.  His assessment is that the report deserved preservation because it fit the pattern of other alleged crash-retrieval accounts he had collected.

Why Some People Believe It

Supporters point to several factors: The account predates the Roswell incident by six years. Reverend Huffman was reportedly considered an honest and respected minister. The family’s version of the story remained fairly consistent over time. Later researchers attempted to identify possible officials and locations that might match the narrative. No evidence about a fraud or a hoax regarding the story ever surfaced to the public, even after eighty five years, 2026, the year of this online article.

Reasons for Skepticism

Most historians and many UFO researchers remain unconvinced because: There are no official police, military, or newspaper reports from 1941 describing such a crash. No wreckage or artifacts have ever been recovered. The famous alleged photograph has never surfaced. The principal account is secondhand, based on what Reverend Huffman’s granddaughter said he privately told family members years later. The story only became widely known roughly fifty years after the alleged event.

Countering The Skeptics

The important thing to remember is that the federal government, at least, wanted the whole incident to be keep secret and ordered a big “hush up”. There would also be severe penalties for anyone who would speak about the matter which can include instant arrest and jailing. In some cases, UFO talkers, allegedly claimed, without any proof, many, many years later, to have been threatened with “disappearing and would never by found” by military authorities as punishment for not remaining silent. So naturally there is going to be no government reports publicly known about the UFO crash with dead aliens, nor wreckage or artifacts publicly recovered, no UFO photograph; no extraterrestrials photograph publicly surfacing, and a private family member story about a crashed flying disk and dead aliens taking about fifty years to be mentioned publicly when there finally seemed to be a safe time to do so.

Legacy

Despite the lack of conclusive evidence, the Cape Girardeau case has become one of the most discussed alleged UFO crash stories before Roswell. It has inspired books, documentaries, podcasts, and continuing debate within the UFO community. Some researchers refer to it as the “First Roswell,” while skeptics view it as a compelling local legend that cannot be verified. Whether the event represents a genuine, hidden historical incident or a story that grew over time remains unresolved. At present, there is no verified evidence that extraterrestrial beings or a crashed spacecraft were recovered near Cape Girardeau in 1941. But, there might be an official government file in highly protected storage on the strange occurrence that is highly classified and marked as “top secret”.

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Inside This Report

• A panel of retired French generals, scientists, and intelligence officials spent three years analyzing hundreds of documented UFO cases before reaching a startling conclusion in 1999
• The COMETA report — compiled with cooperation from France's gendarmerie, air force, and space agency CNES — found the extraterrestrial hypothesis "the best scientific hypothesis" for a small percentage of unexplained sightings
• The authors warned that continued government secrecy, particularly in the United States, carries real political, religious, and defense consequences — and recommended France build permanent structures to study the phenomenon

By Samuel López | USA Herald

For more than seventy years, the words "unidentified flying object" have summoned images of tabloid headlines and blurry photographs. But in July 1999, a document surfaced in France that forced even skeptics to sit up straight. It wasn't produced by a fringe research group or a self-styled contactee. It came from COMETA — a committee of retired French Air Force generals, a former head of the national space agency CNES, engineers, admirals, and a national police chief — operating under the umbrella of the Institut des Hautes Etudes de Défense Nationale, France's institute for advanced national defense studies.

Their report, "UFOs and Defense: What Should We Prepare For?" ran nearly ninety pages and was built on three years of methodical work: interviews with fighter pilots, cross-referenced radar data, gendarmerie case files stretching back decades, and cooperation from GEPAN/SEPRA, the CNES division tasked since 1977 with formally investigating unexplained aerospace phenomena in French airspace.

What the committee found wasn't sensationalism. It was restraint — and that restraint is precisely what made the conclusions land so hard.

The Cases That Wouldn't Go Away

The report walks through a series of episodes that French investigators say defy conventional explanation. In 1977, Mirage IV pilot Hervé Giraud and his navigator tracked a luminous object that outmaneuvered their aircraft near Luxeuil, with no corresponding radar contact from ground control — despite the object's evident speed and proximity. In January 1994, Air France Flight AF 3532's captain, copilot, and chief steward all watched an object shift shape from a "brown bell" into a lens before vanishing — a sighting independently corroborated by a fifty-second radar track recorded at the Cinq-Mars-la-Pile control center, ruling out a weather balloon.

Then there's Trans-en-Provence, a 1981 case investigators returned to twice. A witness watched a silent, ovoid object land in his garden, then depart at high speed. Soil and plant samples analyzed by INRA's ecology laboratory reportedly showed altered chlorophyll concentrations and biochemical stress consistent with exposure to an intense electromagnetic field — effects that persisted in the vegetation for years afterward.

Internationally, the report cites the 1976 Tehran incident, in which Iranian F-4 fighter jets scrambled to intercept an object that reportedly disabled their instrumentation and weapons systems on approach, and the 1957 RB-47 case over the American South, where a U.S. Air Force bomber crew tracked an object visually, on radar, and via onboard microwave-emission detectors simultaneously.

Why the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis Made the Cut

COMETA's authors didn't arrive at their conclusion casually. The report methodically works through alternative explanations — secret military technology, disinformation campaigns, holographic projections, unknown natural phenomena — and finds each insufficient to account for the small subset of cases the French call "UAP D": incidents that resist explanation even after exhaustive investigation.

The committee estimated that roughly 5 percent of the aeronautical sightings they reviewed fell into this unexplained category — a small fraction, but one drawn from a pool of nearly 500 well-documented international cases. That, they argued, was enough to warrant taking the extraterrestrial hypothesis seriously as a working theory grounded in known physics, including magnetohydrodynamic propulsion concepts already under study in the U.S. and Britain.

A Pointed Message for Washington

Perhaps the most striking section of the report isn't about the phenomena themselves — it's about American secrecy. The committee directly criticized U.S. policy, citing regulations like JANAP 146 and Air Force Regulation 200-2, which historically criminalized unauthorized disclosure of UFO sightings by military and commercial pilots alike. The authors argued this "impressive repressive arsenal" had persisted since the 1950s and warned that ongoing opacity — particularly following the 1947 Roswell incident — undermines trust between allied nations and complicates any coordinated response to a phenomenon that, by the report's own admission, does not respect national borders.

The recommendations were concrete: expand SEPRA's staffing and budget, formalize sighting-reporting protocols for pilots and air traffic controllers, integrate UFO detection into civilian and military space surveillance systems, and open diplomatic channels — including through the European Union — to press the United States for greater transparency.

More than two decades later, the COMETA report remains one of the most detailed government-adjacent examinations of the UFO question ever published by a major Western nation — a reminder that the loudest calls for disclosure haven't always come from conspiracy theorists, but sometimes from the generals themselves.

About the Author

Samuel López is a Senior Legal Analyst, investigative journalist, and legal researcher with more than two decades of experience analyzing litigation, government disclosure practices, and complex regulatory controversies. His work draws on years spent parsing declassified records, agency reporting requirements, and cross-border policy disputes — the same investigative rigor he brings to unraveling documents like the COMETA report, where separating verified fact from speculation requires both legal precision and a reporter's skepticism.

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{ https://usaherald.com/category/america/ }

12 Bible mysteries that scholars still debate today

For all the answers the Bible claims to offer, some of its greatest stories still leave the world searching for explanations.

For a book that has been studied for thousands of years, the Bible still contains remarkable mysteries that no one has fully explained. Some involve missing historical details. Others revolve around symbolic visions, unexplained people, or events that continue to puzzle theologians, historians, archaeologists, and everyday readers alike.

Those unanswered questions are part of what has kept the Bible at the center of discussion for centuries. While millions of people continue to read Scripture regularly, many passages remain open to multiple interpretations, and new archaeological discoveries occasionally add fresh pieces to the puzzle without resolving every debate.

Not every mystery has an answer—and that’s part of the fascination. Here are some of the Bible’s most enduring mysteries and why they continue to captivate readers around the world.

1. Book of Revelation and Its Prophetic Symbols

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Few biblical texts generate as much fascination and confusion as the Book of Revelation. The final book of the New Testament contains beasts with multiple heads, cosmic battles, symbolic numbers, heavenly scrolls, and vivid apocalyptic imagery that scholars still debate intensely.

Interpretations vary widely among Christians. Some readers believe Revelation predicts future global events literally, while others interpret the book symbolically as spiritual commentary about oppression, endurance, and hope.

Biblical historians frequently emphasize that Revelation was written during a period of Roman persecution under Emperor Domitian. Many symbols may have carried coded meanings recognizable to first-century believers yet appear mysterious to modern audiences.

The infamous number 666 continues to generate theories about political figures, empires, and hidden symbolism. Theologian N. T. Wright has noted that Revelation functions partly as resistance literature written to encourage persecuted Christians rather than merely serving as a future timeline chart.

2. The Identity of the Nephilim

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Genesis 6 briefly mentions mysterious beings called the Nephilim, described as mighty men or giants who existed before the flood. The passage remains one of the Bible’s shortest yet most debated mysteries because details remain extremely limited.

Some ancient Jewish traditions interpreted the Nephilim as offspring produced through unions between fallen angels and human women. Other scholars argue that the passage refers symbolically to powerful ancient rulers or violent warriors.

Interest in the Nephilim exploded in modern culture through documentaries, internet theories, and speculative books that connect them to mythology and extraterrestrial claims. Serious biblical scholars generally caution against sensationalism because the text itself provides minimal information.

Ancient Near Eastern literature, however, contains several stories involving semi-divine heroic figures, which may help explain why Genesis references them so briefly without extended explanation.

3. The Location of the Garden of Eden

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The Garden of Eden stands as one of history’s most famous lost locations. Genesis describes a paradise watered by four rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates, which has led many historians to connect Eden geographically to Mesopotamia.

Archaeologists and theologians continue to debate the garden’s possible location because river systems shifted dramatically over thousands of years. Some scholars interpret Eden symbolically rather than geographically, viewing the narrative as theological imagery communicating humanity’s relationship with God, innocence, and moral choice.

Others continue searching for historical clues through ancient geography and climate studies. The mystery persists partly because Genesis blends spiritual themes with geographic references, creating tension between literal and symbolic interpretation.

4. Noah’s Ark and the Global Flood Debate

Image credit Freebird7977 via Shutterstock.

The account of Noah’s Ark continues to generate enormous debate among scientists, theologians, and historians. Some researchers seek geological evidence of a massive ancient flood that affected large regions of the ancient world.

Others interpret the flood story primarily as theological literature carrying moral and spiritual meaning.

Expeditions near Mount Ararat in modern-day Turkey repeatedly attracted international attention after claims of unusual formations resembling ship structures surfaced. Archaeological evidence remains inconclusive, fueling ongoing speculation.

Ancient flood stories also appear in Mesopotamian literature, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh, suggesting flood traditions circulated widely across ancient civilizations. The overlap raises fascinating questions about historical memory, shared oral traditions, and cultural storytelling.

5. The Ark of the Covenant’s Disappearance

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The Ark of the Covenant represented one of ancient Israel’s holiest objects, believed to contain the stone tablets of the Ten Commandments. Biblical accounts describe the Ark possessing extraordinary spiritual significance during battles and worship ceremonies.

Then the trail suddenly disappears. Historians proposed multiple theories regarding the Ark’s fate. Some believe Babylonian forces destroyed or captured it during the conquest of Jerusalem. Ethiopian traditions maintain that the Ark resides in a guarded church in Aksum, though independent verification remains unavailable.

The Ark’s disappearance fascinated explorers, filmmakers, theologians, and conspiracy theorists for generations because Scripture never clearly explains what happened after the First Temple period.

6. The Mysterious Fate of Enoch

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Genesis states that Enoch “walked with God; then he was no more, because God took him.” The passage contains very little explanation, yet it inspired centuries of theological speculation. Unlike most biblical figures, Enoch apparently avoided ordinary death entirely.

Ancient Jewish literature expanded on Enoch’s story through texts such as the Book of Enoch, which described heavenly visions, angels, and cosmic judgment. Although the Book of Enoch does not appear in most Protestant biblical canons, it significantly influenced early Jewish and Christian thought.

Scholars continue to debate how much later traditions should shape the interpretation of the brief Genesis account.

7. The Star of Bethlehem

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The Gospel of Matthew describes a mysterious star guiding wise men toward the birthplace of Jesus. Astronomers, historians, and theologians spent centuries proposing explanations ranging from planetary alignments to comets or supernatural phenomena.

Scientific modeling software even allowed researchers to reconstruct ancient skies and search for unusual celestial events around the estimated period of Christ’s birth. Some astronomers point to rare conjunctions involving Jupiter and Saturn as possible explanations.

Others argue that the biblical description is unlike that of ordinary astronomical objects because the star appears to move in highly specific ways. The mystery continues partly because ancient cultures interpreted celestial signs differently from modern scientific frameworks.

8. The Identity of Melchizedek

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Melchizedek suddenly appears in Genesis as both king and priest, blessing Abraham before disappearing from the narrative almost immediately. Psalm 110 and the New Testament book of Hebrews later reference him again, giving the figure extraordinary theological importance despite minimal background information.

The mystery surrounding Melchizedek fueled endless interpretation because Scripture never clearly explains his ancestry or origin. Some traditions view him as a symbolic foreshadowing of Christ. Others speculated about supernatural identity or hidden priestly lineages.

Biblical scholars generally agree that the brevity of Melchizedek’s appearance contributes significantly to his enduring fascination.

9. The Meaning of the “Mark of the Beast”

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The “mark of the beast” described in Revelation continues to fuel intense speculation in every generation. Political movements, technological innovations, identification systems, and financial systems repeatedly become linked to theories surrounding the mark.

Public anxiety often rises during periods of rapid technological change or political instability. Theologians frequently caution against sensational interpretations disconnected from historical context.

Many scholars believe the imagery originally carried coded references understandable to Christians living under Roman imperial pressure. Symbolic readings often connect the mark to allegiance, worship, or moral compromise rather than a single future technology.

Debate persists because Revelation’s imagery remains intentionally layered and symbolic.

10. The Lost Years of Jesus

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The Gospels provide very little information about Jesus between childhood and the beginning of His public ministry around age 30. Those “silent years” became one of Christianity’s most discussed mysteries because curiosity naturally fills informational gaps.

Various legends and speculative theories have emerged over the centuries, suggesting that Jesus traveled extensively during that period, though historical evidence remains limited. Mainstream scholars generally emphasize that ancient biographies often focused primarily on public ministry rather than on detailed childhood development.

The silence itself continues to fascinate readers because it leaves such a significant portion of Jesus’ earthly life undocumented.

11. The Identity of the Antichrist

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The Antichrist remains one of Scripture’s most debated prophetic figures. Throughout history, political leaders, emperors, dictators, and global influencers have repeatedly been associated with Antichrist theories during periods of fear or upheaval.

The term appears in several New Testament passages, though descriptions vary considerably. Biblical scholars often emphasize that early Christian audiences associated antichrist behavior with deception, opposition to Christ, and spiritual corruption rather than solely with one future individual.

Public fascination persists because discussions of prophecy frequently intersect with geopolitical anxiety. Each generation tends to reinterpret apocalyptic warnings in light of current events, keeping the mystery culturally relevant.

12. The Timing of the End Times

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Jesus Himself stated that no one knows the exact day or hour of the end times, yet predictions continue to appear. Failed prophecies, viral social media claims, and speculative timelines repeatedly capture public attention during wars, pandemics, economic crises, and natural disasters.

Religious historians note that end-times expectation existed throughout nearly every century of Christianity. Human beings naturally search for patterns during periods of uncertainty. Scripture contains symbolic prophetic language that invites multiple interpretations across denominations and theological traditions.

The enduring mystery surrounding timing may itself serve a purpose by encouraging spiritual readiness rather than date-setting obsession.

Key Takeaways

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Many biblical mysteries persist because Scripture often combines symbolism, history, and theology.

Archaeology and historical research continue to shape modern biblical interpretation. Prophetic passages generate wide debate due to symbolic language and cultural context. Some mysteries involve missing historical details rather than contradictions.

Curiosity surrounding unexplained passages keeps biblical scholarship active globally.

More articles you might like:

• 12 Ancient Prophecies That Seem To Reflect Modern Life
• 10 Lessons From The Bible That Make Sense Even Outside Religion
• 12 People God Welcomes and Those He Turns Away

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14,000 UFO sightings in Germany: Reporting centre in Hesse investigates

Copyright AP Photo

Glowing spheres and mysterious lights are generating a wave of reports in Germany. As Pentagon files reignite debate, CENAP in Lützelbach has long sought to explain the sightings.

{ https://www.euronews.com/ }

By: Jennifer Walker-Journey

On Aug. 4, 2020, the U.S. Department of Defense approved the establishment of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF). "The mission of the task force is to detect, analyze and catalog UAPs that could potentially pose a threat to U.S. national security," according to the DoD website.  HowStuffWorks

There's a reason why you may be hearing a lot about UFOs lately. In June, the Pentagon and the Director of National Intelligence will present to Congress an unclassified report about unusual sightings by U.S. service members of UFOs — unidentified flying objects. National security folks, however, refer to them as unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs.

Apparently, there have been a lot of reports of UAPs in recent years. We — the general public — just haven't heard much about them. Any rumblings of flying saucers buzzing in our atmosphere have been vehemently denied by the government for decades. That is, until recently. So, what changed?

Contents

1. The U.S. Government Is Investigating Strange Sightings
2. What Are UAPs Capable Of?
3. What Could They Be?
4. Do UAPs Pose a Threat to National Security?
5. Is the U.S. Government Still Tracking UAPs?
6. What Will the Report Say?

1. The U.S. Government Is Investigating Strange Sightings

In 2007, the U.S. government created the Aerospace Threat Identification Program, or AATIP, a hush-hush organization hidden away in the Pentagon. The program was charged with collecting and analyzing information regarding strange aerial objects that had been reported to the Department of Defense (DoD) by service members through the years.

In 2008, Luis Elizondo joined the effort with 20 years' experience running military operations under his belt. In 2010, he was tapped to lead the program and sharpened its focus on national security. He fielded reports of UAP sightings, doing due diligence to vet them.

One tucked-away report that caught his eye was that of a strange Tic-Tac-shaped object over the Pacific Ocean reported in November 2004 by two former U.S. Navy pilots. Commander David Fravor and Lt. Commander Alex Dietrich, were training with the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group. Radar from a ship that was part of the training group had detected "multiple anomalous aerial vehicles" in the horizon descending 80,000 feet (24,380 meters) in less than a second, according to a "60 Minutes" report earlier this month. Fravor and Dietrich were sent out in separate aircraft to investigate, each with a weapons system officer in their back seat.

As they approached, they saw an area of roiling water about the size of a 737 airplane. Hovering above it was the Tic-Tac-shaped object making "no predictable movement, no predictable trajectory," Dietrich said. The object had no markings, no wings, and no exhaust plumes. When Fravor flew in for a closer look, the object flew off so fast it seemed to disappear. It was spotted seconds later on radar approximately 60 miles (96 kilometers) away.

That was just the tip of the iceberg. There were many more reports by naval aviators who witnessed strange cubes or triangles doing things that no known aircraft were capable of doing — stopping rapidly, turning instantly, and accelerating immediately to speeds of 11,000 mph (17,700 kph) or more. And they were doing these things in restricted airspace, often in airspace designated for fighter-jet training, such as off the coast of San Diego, or off the coasts of Virginia and Jacksonville, Florida.

2. What Are UAPs Capable Of?

We talked to Elizondo in an email interview and, according to him, the UAP that have been tracked and monitored for decades exhibit what have become referred to as "The Five Observables." These are:

1. antigravity lift
2. sudden and instantaneous acceleration
3. hypersonic velocities without any visible signatures, sonic booms or observable means of propulsion
4. low observability or cloaking
5. trans-medium travel — the ability to operate in extraordinary ways from the vacuum of space to the depts of the oceans without impedance or aerodynamic limitations

It's these characteristics that baffle national security experts the most. "We do not have anything in our arsenal that can perform in these ways and we have a high degree of confidence that no known terrestrial ally or adversary possesses this technology either," Elizondo says.

3. What Could They Be?

Pilots have speculated that the objects were either secret U.S. technology or adversary spy crafts, according to Elizondo on "60 Minutes."

"Remember, we've been observing these performance characteristics for many decades," Elizondo assures. "If a foreign adversary had developed these technologies 75 years ago, and we were still unaware they possessed it, it would be the most extraordinary intelligence failure in United States history."

Then does that mean they're from outer space? Rather than jumping to conclusions, Elizondo suggests we open our minds to the possibilities.

"These vehicles may originate from outer space, inner space, or even the space in between," he says. "We could be dealing with an advanced, self-replicating AI which communicates with itself instantaneously across vast distances using a quantum internet. Perhaps an advanced underwater civilization is native to our planet, and we're now advanced enough to be observing them moving through our oceans, airspace and upper atmosphere."

4. Do UAPs Pose a Threat to National Security?

There's been no active hostility or aggressive action taken by these objects, though "they're clearly powerful enough to do harm if that were their intention," Elizondo says. Any time an advanced vehicle is operating in restricted airspace with impunity, you have to consider the possibility that they could be a threat if they wanted to be, he says.

"If we want to fully understand what we're observing, and to communicate those findings to the public, we need a whole-of-government approach that is collaborative and transparent," Elizondo says.

5. Is the U.S. Government Still Tracking UAPs?

Funding for AATIP ran out in 2012, but Elizondo continued to investigate UAP sightings until 2017, when he got fed up with the Pentagon's skepticism, and quit. Before he left, however, he declassified three Navy videos of UAPs. And then he started to spread the word.

Meanwhile, Christopher Mellon, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for intelligence for presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, acting as a civilian, shared those declassified videos with The New York Times. He had to do did it, he told "60 Minutes," to get the Defense Department to take this "national security issue" seriously.

Raising public awareness prompted Congress to take notice, and the Pentagon to admit the existence of AATIP. Last August, the Pentagon reenacted the program, changing the name to the UAP Task Force. Service members were finally given the green light to share reports of UAP sightings.

When then-intelligence committee chairman Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was briefed on UAPs, he called on the Pentagon and the Director of National Intelligence to present Congress with an unclassified report of the sightings by June 2021.

"Fortunately, both Congress and the DoD are prepared to take this subject seriously, and the remaining pushback against transparency is confined to a very small cadre of individuals whose grasp over the secrecy is quickly weakening," Elizondo says. "We're hearing enough of an outcry from our men and women in uniform, and from the American people, and we have to take that seriously. ... It's become a liability for the Pentagon to exacerbate a coverup of these facts."

6. What Will the Report Say?

There's tons of data, videos, photos, telemetry, signatures collected and full electromagnetic spectrum analysis that will need to be sifted through in order to provide a complete report — "far too much to be properly collated within the 180-day Congressional mandate," Elizondo says. He expects the report to be just a teaser, with much more details in the months that follow.

"I expect that this initial report 

will draw attention to the reality of UAP, the potential scientific and technological value that exists in better understanding how they operate, and the need for a permanent office in the U.S. Government to examine the data we collect in order to present it to Congress and the American people."

Now That's Out of This World

Want to see where, when, and what types of UFOs people are reporting? Check out the National UFO Reporting Center's monthly report here.

{ https://www.howstuffworks.com/ }